Right now, I’m in a private waiting room near the royal family’s ceremony hall.

How did I get here, you ask? Well, an idiot pulled me all the way here without giving me any chance to object.

If I hadn’t had a vague guess about his true identity, I would’ve been charged with some crime about disrespecting the royal family by now.

Sigh, let’s get on with this...

“So the prince is also a reincarnation, huh?”

I haven’t spoken in Japanese in a very long time, I’m feeling kinda emotional about it. It’s as if I was on a long trip abroad in a country with a different language but I met a fellow countryman by chance.

“Hooh, it’s really been a long time. So, which one are you? Or who are you?”

“Ahh, first, if you don’t mind me asking, does the name Heishin High School ring any bells?”

“Yepp, it certainly does. So we’re both from Japan and both from the same high school as well, hmm.”

My guess about his identity has been confirmed by this point in the conversation. No one would be this dense and naïve except that guy after all.

And there he goes, completely tearing all veils hanging between us without sparing a single thought about the consequences... This is gonna be a pain.

“My original name was Shunsuke Yamada. What about yours?”

See? Exactly who I thought he would be. I can’t lie about it though; My body is filled with joy upon his confirmation.

I have been feeling incredibly lonely since my rebirth, and now it’s like a ship that’s struggling to stay above water in a storm has finally found an anchor to stabilize it.

“Pffft! Hahaha! You’re really Shun? How can someone like Shun be a prince? It doesn’t fit you at all, dude! Puhahaha!”

I couldn’t hold back my laughter even though I had guessed it beforehand. Someone like Shun, who’s the literal definition of both average and dense has become a prince. Hahaha!

Why am I laughing even though I was turned into a woman? I’ve already adapted to my new identity a while ago. And even if I didn’t, it wouldn’t prevent me from teasing him anyways!

Just look at his face. This guy is standing there gawking at me as if he’s seen a ghost! Ahahaha!

“Hey, you... you’re not Kanata by any chance, are you?!”

“Aye, sir! Although I had a slight makeover, I’m still Kanata somewhere in there.”

Now it was his turn to roar with laughter. I don’t mind though, my confusion about the gender change has been solved a while ago, so I just joined in on his laughter.

We calmed down a few moments later.

“Ahhh, it must’ve been really hard for you, huh?”

“You bet it was! I’ve been livin’ on autopilot until a couple of months ago, y’know?”

Hooh, this is getting real emotional right now, some of my past life memories started popping up in my mind, they were playing in the background like a movie.

“Ah, I’m really glad I found you. It was... hic... terrifying... hic... for me...”

Oiii! Don’t just start crying out of nowhere! I’ve been struggling hard to hold back my tears for a while now.

Ahh, it’s no use... Forgive me this one time, I really need to vent all those bottled-up emotions.

“Hey... hic ... why are you crying...? That’s ... hic... unbecoming of a prince...”

Ahhh, I really can’t blame him...

Even after I got over the issue of changing genders, I’m still extremely tense around people. Anyone would be if they suddenly find themselves amongst strangers that are now supposed to be their new family.

I tried distracting myself by spending all my time studying what I’d been taught in tutoring lessons, but there’s always been that feeling of insecurity lingering in the back of my mind.

Despite the Heretic Nullification skill I got from Tomoko fixing my previous problems and giving me a direction to walk in, it didn’t relieve my worries at all. It just changed the target of my worries to something different.

My goal is clear, I must find Tomoko and the other two girls, but I’m not really sure if my way of going about it is right. I can’t trust anyone enough to consult them about it or ask for aid, not even Shun.

His naïve personality means that he would blabber about everything to any reincarnation he meets. This would put me in a very dangerous position, I might even drag the ones I originally wanted to protect into a deadly quagmire.

I still don’t know what happened back in Japan. For the entirety of my previous life, there was always someone who came up with the solutions and I just had to follow their instructions.

My parents accompanied me throughout my childhood, they sheltered me from the serious troubles while only letting me experience the trivial ones to help my character grow.

Then I met Tomoko in elementary school. And while it is kinda embarrassing to admit this, I became very dependent on this girl who was even younger than me to help me come up with solutions.

While my parents’ guidance gradually decreased as I got older, even entirely stopping when I got into my rebellious phase, she has always been there to guide me.

It was actually thanks to her that my rebellious period didn’t last long, I remember her threatening to beat me up if I didn’t apologize to my parents back then. It is kinda worrying that she always thinks of violence as the first answer to any problem though.

Even more worrying is that according to what I heard from mother, mermaids got into a large fight with elves and humans that wanted to enslave them... I’m really worried about the dangers Tomoko might’ve encountered.

Now I have to venture through this new dangerous world alone, plan my actions by myself, and face all the consequences without anyone to shield me.

It’s as if I was sheltered by an umbrella, but then I’m suddenly thrown naked into the eye of a storm. Every direction promises grave danger, yet I must choose a suitable escape route, or I’d die.

I don’t know how it was for Shun, but I’d imagine it wasn’t any easier. The fact that you have to re-live your infant days while being reliant on someone else for all your basic life needs is terrifying in itself...

We were venting all of our fears and sorrows through our tears, it was the first time either of us felt safe enough to do so in this strange new world.

Shun even went further and subconsciously hugged me without much thought. He truly is a naïve idiot, but he’s still one of my very close friends.

I had lately started acting more like a lady, so I would’ve pushed him away if it was a normal time, but I couldn’t be bothered right now.

That was a grave mistake though, as a loud roar coming from behind the door interrupted our crying.

“What was that?!”

Immediately recovering from my daze, I panic at the thought of being discovered with Shun.

It’s normal for boys to hug each other and opposite-sex hugs are sometimes fine back on Earth, but it certainly isn’t okay in this world.

My head snapped to the door as I heard it banging on the wall. That door is literally holding on by a thread...

I didn’t have much time to inspect the damage as my face went deathly pale at the discovery of the stalker’s identity.

Holy fuck, the bro-con yandere seems to have been peeking at my reunion with her brother.

I’m fucking done for.

That was my last thought before I saw a small fist loaded with a huge amount of physical strengthening magic coming at my face.

And although Shun stopped her before that fist reached me, it was already too late.

“You can’t have my brother!”

What the hell am I gonna do with your brother?! Also, why does a little girl have so much power?!! Damn, it seems that I need to step up my efforts...

“I demand an explanation of what has occurred here this very moment!”

And there goes my dignity... It seems that the second princess’s roar has attracted the attention of someone else.

I was sprawled on the ground in a very unbecoming way for a noble lady as both my father and the king rush into the room with furious faces... Thank god they at least came in after we stopped hugging.

Damn it, Shun!! I swear I’m gonna get my revenge on you one day!

 

My daily routine was mostly unchanged after that day, except for an extra meetup with Shun every morning. Well, the second princess, Sue sometimes forcibly joins in as well.

I’d go to the castle in the morning, spend some time with them until the afternoon, then I’d return and throw myself into the sea of books in the duke’s mansion’s private library.

I realized that my efforts simply amounted to nothing when compared to Shun and Sue, both of them are next-level geniuses.

Although I’m actually more talented than them, I don’t have someone to guide me while they do. Shun always trains with his knight guard and that maid who knows magic while I’m only versed in scholar stuff.

Even if I hastily finish the rest of my studies and start magic lectures, I won’t be able to catch up with their years of experience.

So, I made a very important decision. While I might learn a couple of normal elemental magic skills, I won’t waste much time on them. I will dedicate my entire attention to the skills that Tomoko granted me.

Call it intuition or something else, but I clearly feel that I’m at least a hundred times more talented in Heretic and Spatial magic than any other types.

Only after I get those two skills up to the maximum level would I think about others. I’ll need to disguise my strength until then though, I really hope nothing out of the ordinary forces me to reveal myself beforehand...

Having to deal with the bullshit I’d get by exposing myself as a proficient heretic magic user would suck, they’d probably demote my parents to commoners and then launch some inquisition to kill me.

Theocracy is even more powerful in this world than in my previous one. The low population and the presence of monsters certainly did play a huge role in unifying humanity’s will here.

Enough brooding about, I have another outing with Shun today and it’s a really special one.

We’re going to check through a skill encyclopedia that I brought with me after I hit my father with the level 10 puppy eyes skill. That one took me over a month to level up...

I’m very excited about this book, it records all skills human beings currently know about and the methods of acquiring/leveling them. Saying that this book is anything short of a priceless treasure would be a terrible understatement.

Skills... I hope it at least covers the Spatial type skills; I really need to start working on my magic.

I was only able to borrow this book because of your worth as a royal family member, so lucky you, Shun!

I guess we can be considered even now, I'll spare you from experiencing my wrath for now, fufu.