Ahh, I’m glad that farce is finally over.

Such a stupid thing to care about...  A child “excessively hurting” a predator who had wanted to molest her doesn't seem like a problem to me.

I ignored whatever those guys were saying until my parents arrived and I’ve gotta say, they were not amused in the least.

What they first saw as they entered was me, still injured by the way, being scolded for hurting someone who had wanted to molest me and my friends and then blackmailing us for more using a recording of the incident.

My father just straight up asked to press charges against the criminals and lodged a complaint against every single officer that was present at the scene.

Mother carried me to the car without sparing them a glance, I could see her holding back her worry-filled tears though.

I gave her a smile filled with pride and started telling her about how I protected Aiko-chan and Segawa-chan while taking revenge for Ooshima-kun.

This seems to have successfully relieved her remaining worries about a repeat of the previous incident.

She didn’t put me down while walking though, only doing so when we arrived at our parked car.

“Oh my, it seems I’m back to being treated like a princess again.”

She chuckled while helping me lay down in the back.

“Nope, you’ll always be our little princess, you just refuse to take advantage of your privileges.”

“Ah...! The princess will always grow up one day, hehe.”

Looking away with a guilty conscience, my resolve to distance myself from them and work hard flickers a bit.

Maybe, I should rest a bit and accompany them, just a little bit.

However, recalling how ridiculous listening to those “Upholders of Justice” was, the thought is promptly thrown out of the window.

Getting more knowledge increases my safety factor and accelerates my ascendance, I have all the time in the world to accompany them after that.

I can’t just give up and stay in Japan, not only for myself but for Aiko, Segawa, and Ooshima as well.

They would all suffer without me!

My thoughts are cut off by dad getting in and starting the engine.

We’re probably going to the hospital again; I really have a close fate with that place huh?

My life and death situations in the other world will be proportional to how strong I’ll be.

Maybe I should add studying medicine to my checklist with herbology...

“I’m proud of you, Tomoko. You can ignore what those guys at the station said, as long as it’s for self-defense, you can do whatever you want, we’ll always have your back.”

Dumbfounded, I look at the rearview mirror and see dad looking at me with 7 points pride and 3 points worry.

My heart feels warm, it’s great that they don’t feel put off by what I did...

A few minutes later, we arrive at the same ol’ hospital, and dad does the same he did last time.

Here I am, hospitalized for three days again... I know you’re worried about emergencies, but this is just too much, y’know??

You won’t catch me complaining though, it’s three days of leave from school and training.

I can use this time to boost my knowledge of first aid procedures.

Aiko and the gang’s situation still has me worried, but since mom didn’t mention it, they should be fine.

 

It’s been two weeks since that incident.

My leave time was extended to a month under my request, we just gave an excuse of suffering from mental and physical trauma.

Checking on my friends’ situation was postponed.

Ooshima probably needs time to recuperate from his injury while the girls need time to calm down and get their bearings.

Although this is a valuable experience, it will take a while for them to digest it.

I also need to reflect a bit on what I did.

Normally, I would not be this violent in front of them, but I wasn’t able to control myself.

It felt like... My territory was invaded, and my possessions were going to be desecrated so I wanted to neutralize the invaders at all costs.

Going over my new life memories, it seems that I’ve actually developed some sort of yandere attributes somewhere on the way.

Even though I respect and love them, I still feel like my close ones are my belongings.

It’d feel pretty shitty for them to leave me someday, even the thought of them loving someone else irritates me to no end.

I was utterly terrified, does this mean I would have to keep my distance even after I become a god in fear of hurting them...?

But then it occurred to me that I didn’t mind them having relationships as long as it’s with another loved one, I felt no jealousy at the though of a newly born sister or brother, same with a new friend being added to the gang.

Phew, that had me scared for real.

It’s great that I could find the time to sit down and figure it out, leaving such a ticking time bomb of emotions is not a good thing.

Accepting my possessive trait is also good for my mental and social health, I can find better ways to cope in the future.

Ding dong.

Huh? We shouldn’t be expecting guests today...

A quick look through my sphere revealed the visitor’s identity.

“Aiko, Segawa, Ooshima, and their family members...? They should be at school now, though.”

Well, I guess I’ll soon find out why, but first, I gotta wear something suitable instead of pajamas.

 

 A few minutes later, I’m greeted by the scene of three little chicks waiting for their mother in the living room.

The adults had gone to a different room for a serious chat while Aiko, Segawa, and Ooshima were waiting for me with their heads down.

“Umm, what’s up, you guys?”

"""Thank you for protecting us."""

You practiced synchronization for this, right?!

“There’s no need to go out of your way to thank me, you would do the same as well. Ooshima-kun tried to do the same, remember?”

Smiling softly, I hug Aiko and Segawa while giving Ooshima a nod.

“But, I didn’t d—“

“No buts, you did your best, that’s what matters.”

He tries to object, but I interrupt him with a final sentence.

“I’m sorry for not checking up on you guys, I wanted to wait until you calm down. How’s your injury, Ooshima?”

“Ah? No no, it’s already healed a while ago Ito-san. Thank you for asking...”

Hooh, Ooshima’s used to caring about others and not the other way around, huh?

He can be surprisingly innocent for a boy sometimes, I’m looking forward to teasing him as Katia, fufufu.

“Well, you prepared the visiting fee, didn’t you?”

My face goes serious as I solemnly question them.

The question stuns them for a moment until Segawa-chan realizes what I’m talking about and fumbles to bring out something from her backpack.

“It seems Segawa-chan gets the win for today. You guys are so slow even though you spent more time with me than her.”

Doing a “yare yare daze” impression, I look at them with mock disappointment.

Segawa finally finds what she’s looking for, she then presents me the greatest offering man could make.

“Ahh, you brought cookies today! Did you bake them yourself??”

I accept the offering my dear priestess and friend presented me with shining eyes while bestowing upon her the spinning hug combo.

“Ehehe, mom was guiding me, but I made them all myself.”

Cookies presented alongside Segawa-chan’s love and effort, what a wonderful offering!

Again, if this was an otome game, Segawa-chan would be presented with the option of marrying me right now.

Aiko and Ooshima finally broke out of their stupor and stumbled to bring me their offerings as well.

Whew, I managed to get rid of the suffocating atmosphere.

We play around for a bit, then I start boasting about my heroic deed as a knight protecting the two princesses and the prince.

Even though it’d remind them of what happened, I believe letting them accept it would be better for them.

At first, they were kinda restrained in their replies, but then Aiko, who’s known me the longest started going off dreamily about the knight who saved her and her friends.

This helps Ooshima and Segawa tremendously as they relax and start joking around as well.

We were later joined by the adults who tried to do the same but were surprised to find us already over it.

The relationship between our families became closer which made us more inseparable.

However, I know we will split up someday, if not due to the reincarnation incident, our differences would be the reason.

While we are all good friends, our interests are clearly different, and this ragtag group is mostly held together by my existence, especially since Ooshima’s presence is directly tied to mine.

It does make me sad, but I know that even if we split up as a group, our friendship will still be there.

In fact, it’ll become even stronger in the otherworld.

“I’m leaving, Tomoko-chan. Thank you for protecting me, you should rest and nurse your injury.”

“I’ll bring more snacks next time!”

“Thanks for getting back at him for me back then!”

Saying our goodbyes, silence settles over the previously lively house again.

It was a comfortable silence, however, free of the previous worries that plagued my mind.

 

Our routine didn’t change much for the next few years, except for each of us getting more invested in our hobbies.

Aiko had started professional singing classes after she kept her grades in the top ten for the entirety of the elementary school.

Segawa advanced her craft even more and fully specialized in sugary dessert baking while abandoning the other types.

Ooshima’s stopped being interested in soccer and started getting more into gaming.

As for me, I joined them in doing everything.

It’s been three years since that incident and I’m now twelve years old.

Lately, Manager-san’s processing speed has started increasing and even my sphere’s range has expanded to double.

Even my comprehension and reading speeds have picked up quite a bit.

My little hooman brain is finally starting to grow, I’m so proud!

During these few years, I’ve reached a bottleneck in learning though.

I mean, I’ve basically learned everything that could be found publicly, everything else is still under experimentation and hidden in research labs...

It took a lot less time than planned, like four years early.

The trick to this was an amazing discovery I made during one of my meditative sleeps.

You see, ever since I was born, I’ve never actually slept but was always using the meditative {Soul Strengthen} instead.

It went just like this during one of my sleep sessions.

Wait, am I not technically inside my soul and using its powers now...? Can I use my archives here too?

Annndd BAAM! It really worked!

 Now you might be confused about why this sped up my learning speed.

After I discovered this, I just focused on reading the books without actually trying to understand their contents.

{Space Awareness} made it very easy to read dozens of books or articles a day if I don’t waste time trying to comprehend the information.

Then, I use my meditative state to call upon the memory of reading those books from the archives and transform them into knowledge with the vastly superior processing speed I boast during this time.

I’m a fucking genius, I tell ya!

So, my time became a lot freer all of a sudden.

Following the principle of not wasting anything, I started attending singing classes with Aiko, taste-testing Segawa’s treats, and gaming with Ooshima.

Our time spent together has become increasingly less over time as I predicted, but they could always spare time for me especially if it was for sharing their favorite hobbies.

I was also able to spend more time with my family, and my trip with Theo was SUPERB!

Ahhh, how sorrowful it is that I have to leave such delicacies when I reincarnate...

I’m going on a longer trip with him after junior high school though, and won’t waste a single chance for a food trip.

Junior high school starts a month later by the way.

Unconsciously, the countdown for my adventure has gone down to only four years!