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

Ten: Through Different Eyes: Kisaragi Toshirou

KISARAGI TOSHIROU POV

I only have three friends and sadly, all of them have issues.

Kirihara Seiji had scheming evilness issues. Most likely, he's an evil mastermind in-training one should probably not get close to within a ten-foot pole but I do it anyway. Not that I truly had much of a choice, he was my cousin. I shudder at the thought that I might have inherited the mastermind gene too. My cousin was creepy enough, thanks.

Homura Kyou had issues looking like a lion and intimidating everyone when he truly was a housecat at heart. Once you get past the rough attitude, Kyou could be easily tamed. Honesty was always his strong suit but he sucked at first impressions.

Ryuugamine Mahiro had trust issues, fangirl issues, and being-a-dumbass issues. Oh, wait. Correction. Kyou also had the being-a-dumbass issue. Both of them were two pieces of idiots in a pod no matter how much they both deny it.

But then again, when it comes to people, Mahiro was the opposite of Kyou. Among all of us, Kyou was the most friendly because he was just honest and straightforward that way but Mahiro was... awkward. Not to the point where I'd call him socially inept but he just doesn't know what to do with other people yet.

Not that I have any right to say anything when I have the same problems too. I don't know what to do with other people too. Silence was a good weapon against people I don't know how to deal with. If I ignore them and stay silent, they'd stop pestering me at some point and move on.

It wasn't always this way. I wasn't always this way. Mahiro wasn't always this way too. Mahiro used to be more expressive before. He even used to have screaming matches with Kyou. Now, he shut off his emotions and tried his best not to show it to other people. And he also realized he'd look much cooler if he would ignore Kyou but then again, all that effort would go down the drain the moment his terribly short patience snapped and insult Kyou back. Idiots, the both of them. Seriously, sometimes I really don't know why he'd bother. It still worked on other people though. His fangirls especially think he's all cool and mysterious. Ew. If only they knew. At least Kouzuki was clear-headed now so I finally have a sensible companion to my everyday misery.

But back to the point. Dealing with people was our weakness. Mahiro and mine. I think I used to be more trusting too.

But that was before we woke up to certain realities.

It happened a year and a half ago.

(Flashback)

My cousin, for all his creepier tendencies, also had a protective streak. Kyou, Mahiro, and I were all younger than him by a year so he somehow saw us as his little brothers too.

There was a gathering at Seiji's home. Seiji had insisted that both Mahiro and I get something from his room. I was suspicious but I didn't point it out since I wanted to get out of the room too. We had to pass by the courtyard to get there. Mahiro and I heard a conversation we weren't supposed to hear.

There were three people already in the courtyard. One was a woman near our parents' age and the other two were her children. One was a boy two years older than us and the other was a girl our age. We knew them. The woman had been attending a lot of gatherings with our families and her children frequently played with us.