A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Prologue

My name is Itsuki Kaya. Another girl who loves common sense, just like all the rest. But my friends always tell me I have this bad habit of turning a deaf ear to anyone and everything when I feel like it. And that I'm extremely dense.

I pouted, cheeks puffing, and retorted to them every time while saying with that same exact line a thousand times, "No I'm not! I'm really, really smart!"

"Yeah, yeah, we know Miss #3 in the school," they rolled their eyes and walked on home.

"That's just for now! I'll be back to #1 in no time!"

I didn't really realize I did that.

Until after I died, that is.

Now, here's what happened: I was walking home with my best friend, Takuya. Yes, he's a boy. Yes, he's my "bestest "friend from forever ago. Yes, he got me hooked on otome games and brought my ranking from #1 in the school to #3. And he doesn't feel bad about it either. Neither do I, but my "family" does.

He's also the boy who's the most constant in my life and doesn't get mad at me for my short attention span, which I already knew I had somewhat. He smiled and laughed with me, had enough patience to clear a whole otome game, plus the hidden capture target, in two days while guiding the clumsy me through.

His energetic brown eyes and tousled black hair always drew my attention, no matter what. He was the one person that I couldn't ignore out of all the people that called my name.

We were coming out of a maid cafe, chatting about "My Love For You Only!" Takuya was extremely excited because he only needed a bit more until he completed the game, playing as the heroine of the story this time. He was complaining about how dense she was, compared to me, and how she needed a long way to go before she could even think about attracting any of the capture target's attentions with those measly magic skills. But, she was cute nonetheless, he said. That was about the only thing going for her.

"What about the villainess?" I asked, curious. I only knew about the game from what he had told me, and hadn't actually played it myself.

We were ending our last year at Ukinoke Middle School and final exams were coming up, so I was trying to focus and make sure I got top grades again because my mother was hampering me about it. She was also getting on my case about how I would never become a doctor at this rate if my grades weren't top notch all the time. High school would probably be even more intense if it was this bad already, I sighed internally while holding back the boiling resentment.

Then, he sighed, thinking about the villainess. If you asked him, he loved 2D better than 3D 7/10 times, so it was expected that he blushed a little when he thought of her. Playing otome games from his multiple big sisters' influence may have made him have a more feminist take on things, but I didn't mind.

He was the one that took me to the summer festivals in a kimono when I was planning to just go in a "Pusheen" shirt and frayed shorts.

And did my makeup for my oldest brother's wedding.

Also, fixed my whole wardrobe for casual use...ironically, he was the most feminine influence on my life, since I didn't have any motherly or sisterly attention directed towards me. Being a child with an uptight Japanese mother was harsh.

"She's beautiful. Kind, smart, strong, everything that the heroine should be and is not. I can't stand how her attitude changes when she encounters the main characters though. If only the stupid plot writers of the game hadn't placed that stupid curse on her! When it's in effect, she becomes cruel, ruthless, cunning, and anything else a bad guy is to make you hate them," he huffed, earning the attention of mystified onlookers. He was a strange guy, to sum everything up. But the only person in my life willing to stay near. I'll take what I can get, and not regret it.