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

Seventeen: I'll Stick Your Head In Boiling Water

A/N: The picture above shows Koshiro Himiko.

***

I've never felt so overwhelmingly tempted to drop dead.

Was it so bad to wish that I could actually do it for real so that knights in white garb riding a white vehicle with a red cross could come and take me far, far away?

Why couldn't Kisaragi just kill me again? It would have been so much easier.

And Kami-sama, couldn't you have given me a break and gave me one conflict at a time? I just finished up a fight just literally a few seconds ago. Couldn't you, I don't know, tell them to come another day?

Let's summarize the absurdity of the situation, shall we?

Koshiro Himiko, the only other female Regalia of Prestige in my year and self-proclaimed rival of my first life, had made an annoyance of herself when she approached a certain someone, tried to evict me from a certain table, and started to spontaneously call me a certain number of not-so-flattering terms. While her hostility was cute and her insults were quite lovely, it did snap someone's temper, specifically that certain someone she initially approached who also happened to be a friend of mine.

Who was I joking?

Kisaragi was royally pissed and I had to do damage control before Kisaragi did something that might just get him in trouble because of an insult on my person. I could take insults. I'm fairly used to it in both of the lives I've lived before. But I wouldn't be able to live with it if my friend got in trouble, much more if it's one of the first friends I've ever had as Akina, because of me. And while I don't have much desire to pick a fight with anyone, I'm not above finishing it. I'd be also lying if I wasn't pissed too. There's a limit as to how much nonsense I could take. Finding out that my so-called friends, Miyamura Kaori and Kanzaki Miyako, has been spreading lies about me was just the icing on the despicable cake. There were a few things to unpack but the first one would be setting Koshiro straight. And I did. Quite successfully, if I may add, while being painstakingly careful not to let Kisaragi strangle her.

I think I actually handled the situation quite well actually. All things considered... maybe? I did manage to reign in my own temper and Kisaragi's too, corrected some of the rumors about me in front of witnesses that might just hopefully spread the word of the correction, made Koshiro think twice about her actions and there's not much damage, I think? Though, I was a bit worried that I might have been gone a bit overboard with Koshiro considering her youthful naivety and my own advantages. I wasn't too harsh, was I?

I didn't have much time to ponder about the subject though before another thunderstruck.

Homura called from under the balcony and surprise, surprise, there were several girls who look like doomsday had come especially early for them and a girl, Miyamura Kaori, who I suspect has been wagging her tongue telling lies about me. Then there's Homura at the center of it all, pretty much like an executioner, telling Miyamura to apologize and take back her lies or else (threats underlying).

I was touched by Homura's belief in me, of course, and I'm very grateful. I would have liked to deal with Miyamura a little bit more later and in a place with a little bit more privacy, however. But before I could even begin to deal with her, the Crown's double doors slammed open and revealed the exploding temper of my misinformed older brother.

How the hell do I even start to deal with this?

"Who the hell do you think you are picking on my sister?!"

Aaaand the choice of the matter was taken out of my hands.

In big brother fashion, Natsume advanced on Koshiro glaring. Koshiro, meanwhile, stepped back, trembled, and fell to the floor like a terrified newborn fawn. Eloquently putting it, he scared the shit out of her and I was a second too late on stopping his tracks. I placed myself between them shielding the scared Koshiro behind me. I already set Koshiro straight. There's no reason to also lay my brother's rage unto her.