This Villainess Shall Vow to Live Humbly and Frugally this Time Around

Seven: Through Different Eyes: Ryuugamine Mahiro

RYUUGAMINE MAHIRO POV

The first time I knew of her was during a family dinner when my mother casually mentioned her by name.

"You know I heard the Kouzukis had a daughter your age, Mahiro. Akina, was it? I heard she was quite a pretty little thing, quite smart too. Maybe you'll like her, Mahiro. You certainly need more friends. I wouldn't mind having her as my daughter-in-law too if what I heard was true. You'll find out for me, won't you, Mahiro?"

I did not deign to give my mother an answer and just continued eating.

If my memory wasn't as good as it was, I wouldn't have remembered that my mother mentioned her at all.

The first time I saw her was last year when I started grade school. She was my classmate.

I thought my mother truly heard it right. She was pretty. Even I could admit that. I'd have to be blind not to. She was like a doll. More like a princess. But that wasn't all. She had a presence that drew people's eyes and attention to her. Like a queen. A girl with the appearance of a princess and an aura of a queen.

I thought she might be special.

I was disappointed when she came to me with those same adoring eyes of the nameless girls that professed their 'love' to me. I was even more disappointed when she called me 'Mahiro-sama' oh so lovingly.

She was no different after all.

I regret expecting anything else.

Girls were always a nuisance around me. They shriek when they're near me and cry when I treat them harshly. They were noisy. They were annoying. They were nothing but trouble. And more than that, they look at me with those expectant eyes as if I had an obligation to pay attention to them just because they 'love' me. As if they weren't the ones forcefully pushing their one-sided feelings onto me.

A bother. That's what they were.

And love? How do they even love me anyway? They don't even know me. So what was it that they love then? My family's wealth? My family's prestige? My family's status?

I did not need those shallow feelings.

Kouzuki Akina had those shallow feelings for me and therefore I did not need her. I did not need to pay her more attention than the rest of the nameless, faceless girls that hang around me.

She wasn't anything special.

I ignored her for the rest of the year after that.

I wouldn't even have noticed that she was my classmate this year too until that morning.

She came that morning holding both of her brothers' hands.

"Kouzuki-senpai, Natsume-kun, Akina-chan, it's rare to see you three together in school. You think so too, right, Mahiro?"