About the reckless girl who kept challenging a reborn man like me

1

‘A prodigy at ten, a genius at fifteen, a common man past twenty.’

Where I come from, there’s a saying like that.
No matter how far a child’s abilities are above the others, if they grow too conceited in them, those skills won’t pass through once they become an adult; it was a saying that served as a warning.
Or perhaps even if one won an award as a child, once they grow up and see how vast the world is, they learn their own abilities are insufficient, it could also be used in that sense.

Anyways, well, regardless of the praise you receive as a child, one mustn’t be satisfied in it; you must continue to put in the effort, always aiming to improve yourself, it’s that sort of life lesson sort of phrase.

… However,
To me, that saying held a slightly different meaning.

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

“Sieg! Now! It’s time for us to compete in test scores once more!”
“Anja… this again…”

Regardless of whether classes were over or not, a single young girl raced over to me with sparkling eyes.
Her pale blue hair cut short, a kerchief1 draped around it, this was the small young girl who went by the name Anja.
Her age was eight, the same as mine. A young child in her second year of school.
… No, I mean, I’m also young, but…

“What’s this again!? I’ve yet to win even a single competition with you!”
“You… when you usually act so unconcerned, when it comes to competing with me, you get way too heated…”
“Of course I do! Now that that’s settled, hurry up and pull out your test results.”

Anja held up her own grades in one hand, as she prodded my shoulder to urge me on. Good grief, I thought, as I pulled out the test I’d tucked into my bag once more.

“Here we go… we’ll show each other on go… I hope you’re ready for this…”

Anja’s face was flushed. She couldn’t contain the rising of the corners of her mouth.

“… Anja, do you have that much confidence in this time’s fundamental magic calculations test?”
“Hmph! That’s something you should decide from seeing my points! I’ll shock you into silence, you hear!”

And it seems she still couldn’t contain her eagerness, rushing through the ‘Ready, set, go,’ as fast as her mouth would take her.
I hurriedly exposed the test results in my hand over the desk.

“…”
“…”

Hmm, that’s amazing. Anja got a 97. This time’s test was filled with practical application problems, and I doubt there were any other students who could achieve such a score.
In essence, she had excellent grades, extraordinary reflexes, and possessed a level of mana a cut above the rest.
An honor student among honor students. That was what she was.

Her face grew pale.
Feebly opening her mouth, astonishment was plastered onto her face.

“… 100 points!? Sieg, you… got 100!? On a test that hard, you got 100…!?”
“Y… yeah… looks like this test went well…”