“Sia-chan, it’s time for dinner!” said the strawberry-blonde haired woman with cyan eyes and a light complexion. She donned an apron suitable for cooking the fried rice that was in the pan she was holding.

Hearing this, I dropped the book I was reading and headed towards the dining table. The woman saw this and wore an expression of surprise on her face.

“My… it seems that in the past week, you’ve gotten more grown up haven’t you, Sia-chan? You used to just lay on your bed for 6 hours doing nothing, but recently you’ve been reading books.”

“Y-yes, mother. Books are really interesting!” I told her.

Sorry, mother… actually, there has been a huge change that happened to your cute Sia-chan this past week! That doesn’t necessarily mean that what I told her was a lie, I did find the books to be quite interesting, being an avid reader myself.

It’s not as if I miraculously went through a 180 degree change in the past week. It wasn’t my mindset that changed, but the spirit of “Sia” as a whole.

That’s right, I—Arisa Tanaka—had been reincarnated with a different entity, Sia Analie.

How did this happen, you ask? Hell if I know! That’s something I’d like to know myself!

I, a completely normal high school youth, had been on my way to the convenience store to get some choco—ahem—groceries when suddenly I had encountered the serial killer of all light novel protagonists. That’s right, my murderer is Truck-san!

Truck-san… exactly how many people have you killed with your glaring headlights and rugged tires? The number is too many to count… And I, another one of the many innocent souls has been added to Truck-san's kill count.

After dying I had woken up, except it wasn’t in the teenage body that I was used to, but a 4-year old child's body in a bed next to my "mother".

Now that we’ve got that out of the way… laying in the bed doing nothing for 6 hours!? The real Sia-chan seems to be quite the lazy butt.

Mother served me a small portion of fried rice which contained carrots, peas, and egg.

“Today’s lunch is my special fried rice. It’s one of your favorites, right Sia-chan?”

“Yes, mother’s cooking is very delicious!”

“Thank you, Sia-chan,” she replied, smiling. Mother’s smile is really mesmerizing…

I picked up my spoon with my small hands and ate a spoonful of rice. It's yummy~

----------------------------------------

“Are you ready yet, Sia-chan?”

“Yes, mother!”

“Then let’s go,” said mother as we left the house.

After lunch, mother and I made plans to go shopping for my birthday present. I had turned 5 today and after she asked me what I wanted for my birthday I answered, “Books!”

Today would mark the first day that I leave my house after reincarnating.

Luckily, I had reincarnated into Japan, except it was a Japan 1,000 years after Arisa Tanaka died. The oriental eyes and black hair I was accustomed to seeing was rare, with ridiculous eye and hair colors replacing it. My name is pretty weird too for being Japanese, but it seems that some normal names still exist. I’m sure many other things changed too, I just haven’t seen them yet.

“What are you thinking about, Sia-chan?”

“N-nothing… it’s just that I don’t go outside a lot so…”

Oh wait, did the real Sia go outside a lot? Oops. I have to think of better excuses next time.

“Oh, then would you like to hold hands?”

“Yes, please!”

Phew. Seems like I dodged a bullet there.

Mother’s hand… it’s so warm… hehehehe.

“Oh, it looks like we’ve reached the bookstore.”

We’re already here? It would've been fine if we walked for a little longer…

Clink!

When we entered the bookstore, the door chimed to signal an incoming customer. It was a fairly small store with an old man at the register.

“Oh… what a young customer. Have you come looking for something in particular today?”

“No sir, we’re just looking around,” I replied.

When I took a moment to look around, I noticed that the bookshelves were separated by genre. While I wasn’t limited in the types of books I liked to read, this time I felt like getting a fantasy book.

Hm? What’s this?

In front of me was a bookshelf with the genre “magic”. Did so many people in Japan become otakus to the point that this bookstore needed a whole shelf dedicated to magic? Instead of Japan, I now name you Chunni-Japan.

Out of curiosity, I picked up a book titled, “The Guide to Beginner Magic". I guess I should ride the bandwagon too. Should I start preparing by getting my own magical girl stick?

“Oh, you’re interested in magic?” asked mother.

What did she just say?

“...Magic?”

“Yes, magic. It came into the world around… 700 years ago? One girl suddenly realised that she possessed magical powers, and from then people with magic started increasing. Now, it’s rare for someone without magic to appear.”

Wow. Who knew that we’d be able to use magic in this time period! How lucky am I to get to experience this?

“Do you think I’ll be good at magic?” I ask my mother.

“Sia-chan, although everyone in the world can use magic, some can use it better than others. The reason I don't use magic a lot is because I have low-affinity. Your father also has low-affinity, and since magic affinity is passed down…”

Oh… so this means that I won’t be able to throw bursts of magic screaming “Kamehameha!” or “Moon Crystal Power!” huh....

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“D-don’t be so sad, Sia-chan! I know that there are some people in the world who have high magic affinity even though their parents had low affinity! You’ll be able to find out once you start kindergarten, so don’t frown, okay?”

“Really?! Is that true?”

“Of course! So do you want this book? With this, you might even get ahead of all of your peers!”

“I want it!”

“Understood. I’ll go buy this book so go wait for me outside the store, okay?”

“Okay!”

Magic, huh… how exciting! Looks like I’ll have to practice my action poses from now on.

After I left the bookstore I saw a reflection of myself in the windows of the store across. Straight black hair reached to my waist and was accompanied with my cyan eyes which I had received from my mother.

Everytime I look at myself in the mirror, I can’t help but notice how pretty I am. I sound pretty narcissistic, but as Arisa Tanaka, I was an average looking girl.

Clink!

My mother walked out of the bookstore with the book we just bought and saw my dazed expression.

“Sia-chan? What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing, I was just thinking about some things."

With an unsatisfied ‘hmm…’ she looked towards the direction I was facing.

“Ah! You must want some clothes, huh?”

“Eh?” When I looked closely, I could see lolita dresses on the other side of the window. I had been staring at a lolita shop for children.

“Why didn’t I think of it before? To have my cute daughter wear these old shambles… Come, let’s go inside and get you a new dress.” she said as she took my hand and led me inside the shop.

Clink!

“Welcome! I see some new faces. You must be first-time customers, am I correct? Looking for a dress for your cute daughter?”

“Yes, my daughter was looking at your shop from the bookstore across from here. She’s so cute, isn’t she? If she wanted one she could’ve just said so!”

Lolita! Lolita dresses everywhere! Unknown territory alert! Even if they existed in my past life I was only a normal girl!

Though they do look kind of cute... Eh? Was mother just talking about me? I wasn't paying attention to their conversation.

My mother walked towards one of the clothing racks and started looking through the dresses one-by-one.

"Which one will look best on my daughter? This one? Or maybe this one... Hey, which one do you like Sia-chan?"

"I-I don't know..."

"You don't know, huh? It's so troubling that there are so many choices to choose from! I'm sure every dress here would look amazing on my cute Sia-chan!"

Hehe.

The shopkeeper who greeted us before giggled.

"Having trouble deciding which dress to get?" asked the shopkeeper.

"Yes. I have no doubt that everything here would look cute on Sia-chan, because she's so cute, but I wonder what would be best?"

The shopkeeper muttered, hmm… and looked around for a dress which would suit me. After stopping before a rack which contained some of the more normal dresses in the store, she took out a green dress that had long sleeves.

“How about this one?”

“It's lovely! Sia-chan, how about you try it on?”

“O-okay..” I took the dress with me to the fitting room to try it on.

“A dress, huh.... how long has it been since I’ve worn one? Well, at least it’s not frilly…”

After examining the dress, I put my arms through the sleeves and popped my head out of the top. I looked at myself in the fitting room mirror to see how it looked on me.

It fit perfectly, with the thinnest part hugging my waist and the dress reaching to my knees. I noticed that around 10 minutes had already passed and walked outside the fitting room to show my mother.

“D-do I look okay?”

My mother had sparkles in her eyes and I noticed the shopkeeper had flushed cheeks and was breathing heavily. My pervert alert signs were warning me to run away.

“Okay?! You’re not just ‘okay’, you’re adorable! I’ll take this dress!”

“Very well. The original price of this dress is 5000 yen, but because you’re first-time customers how does 2500 yen sound?”

“Oh, how nice of you! Sia-chan, what do you say to the kind lady?” said mother as she paid the shopkeeper.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Make sure to come here again, okay?”

I nodded yes and the shopkeeper handed me a bag which contained the clothes I was wearing before.

----------------------------------------

On the way back home, I got to hold mother's hand again.

I was currently engaged in my new book, and mother was receiving a package from the mailman.

"Thank you."

"No problem, Analie-san. See you again."

The mailman left after handing mother a huge box.

"Sia-chan, father sent you a present from America."

My father? I was wondering why he was never home, but why is he in America?

"Can I open it now?"

"Of course."

When I opened the box, inside was an item I was familiar with.

"A backpack?"

"You'll be starting kindergarten soon, so he must've bought you a backpack from America. Isn't that nice?"

"Yes!"

Once kindergarten starts, I'll be able to know if I have talent for magic! How exciting!