“Well, the game never mentioned him cooking before. He probably never cooked in his life,” Alex said.

“Did you not hear what I said? He set the eggs on fire! I was not exaggerating. He literally made the eggs go up in flames and I don’t know how.”

Once classes ended, I met up with Alex and we walked back to the dormitories together. I would have met up with Lady Rium, but she went to see Lord Raphael. It’s better for me not to intervene with a girl’s love. So as Alex and I were walking back, I explained my tragic quest of cooking eggs with Prince Clovis.

“If this was the twenty-first century, the fire alarm would have gone off and we would be evacuated from the building.”

“I feel like your side is more interesting than my side,” Alex voiced.

“Really? I would rather have a calm school life than this. It’s only the second day as well,” I complained.

“We’re in another world. It’s better to experience everything fun. Now, let’s go get some dinner to cheer you up,” Alex insisted.

“I rather be in a world where magic existed,” I grumbled. “This was nothing like how the anime showed me!!!”

“Yes, yes, life just sucks that way.” Alex gently pushed me towards the dining hall.

“Ugh, weekend please hurry and come,” I begged.

“We’re only day two into the week and you’re already wanting it to be the weekends.”

The calendar works similarly to the one in my previous life. There are twelve months in a year and seven days in a week. This world doesn’t use the terms like Monday or Tuesday, instead, they would say first day of the week for Monday and second day of the week for Tuesday. It’s honestly more work, but what am I to do? Not like I can suddenly change the way they call the days.

“Oh, by the way, Lady Rium is holding a gathering in the Pink Rose’s courtyard on the sixth day of the week. She invited me to come, so I thought I’d extend the invitation to you as well.”

“Sixth day of the week? Can’t you just call it Saturday?”

“But people won’t understand if we use terms from our previous life,” I said.

“It can just be between us, it’s easier that way.”

“You have been Alexandra for one year. Aren’t you already accustomed to the way things are in this world?”

“But remembering how easy the dates are in my previous life has me thinking in the twenty-first century way.”

“Well, fix your way of thinking or else you’ll expose our identity,” I warned.

Alex chuckled, “Don’t worry. Those nobles will think it's just because we’re commoners. They’re too dumb compared to our twenty-first century knowledge.”

“I can’t disagree with you on that. But don’t forget, we died young in our previous life. Compared to the adults in this world, we don’t have enough experience and too little understanding of this world, especially you since you died at the age of thirteen, so we should move forward carefully.”

Alex sighed, unable to go against my thinking. “Alright.”

“So will that be a ‘yes’ on Saturday?”

Alex grinned and gave me a thumbs up. “Anything for my isekai comrade!”

“Great. I’ll let Lady Rium know that I’m bringing a plus one.”

“It’d be great if I could become her friend. She’s my favorite rival after all. If I was reincarnated as a boy, I would totally steal her from Raphael,” Alex voiced.

“LORD Raphael,” I corrected.

“No one’s gonna hear. You need to relax.”

I only sighed, “People are gonna misunderstand your relationship with Lord Raphael.”

Alex only chuckled, “It’s fine, it’s fine. Let’s hurry to the dinning hall and get dinner.”

“I feel like you only think about food…”

“Cut me some slack,” she whined. “I just had Horseback Riding and taking care of the horses really pooped me out mentally.”

I gave her a questioning look. “Taking care of horses?”

“The teacher said we can’t ride any horses until we bond with them. While horses are cool and magnificent, they are quite scary up close. One almost bit me.”

“Isn’t Alexandra good with animals though?”

Alex gave me an annoyed look. “She’s the protagonist, do I look like the protagonist to you?”

I gave her a blank stare and replied, “Yes, Alexandra Bailey, protagonist of Fight for Love and Acceptance. You DO look like the protagonist and you ARE the protagonist,” I emphasised.

“Ah…”

“Don’t tell me you actually forgot?”

She burst out crying, “But I’m only a thirteen-year-old otaku from another world that’s actually really bad with animals! Even though I love them so much, they always bark or hiss at me!”

“Ah, I’m sorry to hear that,” I replied with a monotone.

“Please act like you sympathize with me!”

“Even if you tell me, my family owned a dog and we even owned a horse as well. I did a lot of horseback riding back when I was ten in my past life.”

“Eh! You rode horses before?”

“I did a lot of derby and I’ve even won a gold medal before,” I informed her.

“Why do you sound like more of a protagonist than me?”

I only shrugged, “You tell me, Miss protagonist of Fight for Love and Acceptance.”

Alex whimpered, “What kind of otaku are you?! The otakus I know were a bunch of shut-ins like me!”

“I may be an otaku, but I still had a life you know.”

“I think our roles should be reversed.”

“Oh, heck no,” I protested. “I don’t want to be caught up in all this love drama that’s gonna be happening soon. I like my side character.”

Alex grumbled, “More like a ‘cheat’ character.”

I felt my right eye twitch from irritation and I pinched her cheek. “Say that again.”

“It hursh… L-Lady Raeré, ish hurts! I’m sorry!”

“Thought so.” I released her cheek and walked ahead.

“You are so mean,” she whimpered as she rubbed her reddened cheek.

“I’m doing this out of love,” I said.

“What love? That was not love from what I saw in your eyes.”

I sweetly smiled at her. “No, that was certainly my love for the protagonist from my favorite novel. So I’m using this love of mine to correct you so you can act just like the protagonist.”

“Gross.”

I glared at her and asked, “What was that?”

She flinched and quickly said, “N-Nothing! I said nothing!”

I sighed, “Every time I talk to you, my impression of Alexandra is slowly fading away.”

“It’s not my fault I don’t act like the cute maiden in love like Alexandra from the game. Her character is just impossible to match. She’s super smart, likes animals, loves children, nice to everyone, selfless and is very good looking too. She’s pretty much an angel. She’s too perfect.”

“Isn’t she also the timid girl that has trouble speaking out confidently and can’t stand up for herself? That doesn't sound perfect to me.”

“Huh? Well, in the game she was very timid at first, but once she got closer to the male leads, she became very open, spoke her ideals and stood up to the rival characters as well.”

“Hmm…?”

“Why? Was she different in the light novel?” Alex asked.

“No, it’s not completely different. She does become somewhat open after befriending the male leads, but she was still very timid. She only stood up to the rival characters near the end of the book, so she was still pushed around a lot by the other characters even if she befriended the male leads.”

“Okay, maybe not exactly perfect because a completely white washed character is unrelatable, but it’s impossible for me to act like the saint that Alexandra is.”

“I wouldn’t call her a saint, but I get your point.”

“And besides, I’m Alexandra now, so the game and the novel Alexandra don't apply to me anymore.”

“That is true, but because of that, I’m worried about the story’s progression.”

“Come on, we were reincarnated! We don’t have to follow the story exactly. I honestly just want to live my life to the fullest, after all I died at the age of thirteen! I want to fall in love naturally, not because of some plot device. Having the game or novel knowledge is just an advantage for us to survive during our rough academic years. Once we graduate, these plot lines won’t affect us anymore.”

“You’re right, but I think you meant the plot lines won’t affect you anymore because, as a side character, it doesn't affect me in the first place.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “My mistake.”

I giggled at her expression. “Let’s pick up the pace and get to the dinning hall. I still have untouched assignments to do.”

“You and me both.”

“I’m just happy that it’s only Algebra, History and Language that give out homework.”

“Yeah, this world’s academic system is so different. To think that we have to take seven classes every weekday. Don’t they do rotations? I’ve only ever taken five out of seven classes in middle school and they change each day.”

“High school is pretty similar like that too. This world has it tough on us teenagers.”

“No kidding,” Alex agreed. “And this academy is my first high school experience.”

“I know what high school is like, so I have been managing. I was so close to graduating high school and even got into the college I wanted. But I just had to go and face Truck-kun! That bastard!” I cried.

Alex gave me a confused look. “Truck-kun?”

“You know, the isekai memes. I got hit by a truck, that’s how I died.”

“Eh? You too?”

“You mean, you got hit by Truck-kun too!”

“Yeah,” Alex sighed as she got a pissed off look on her face. “Some girl stupidly walked out onto the crosswalk when the light was still red and a truck that was driving way past the speed limit was approaching too. I rushed out and pushed her, but I ended up getting slamed by the truck and dying in her place.” Huffing, she cooled off and said, “While I’m upset that I died in her place, I do hope that girl was doing alright, even if she was stupid. She better be paying attention to her surroundings. I literally gave my life to a stranger.”

Hmm… Hmm? I halted in my steps and froze. Alex stopped walking as well and turned to look at me. “Reiré?”

Hmm!? I was suddenly getting cold feet. “By any chance…” Please tell me it’s not what I think it is. “Did you… Did you happen to be by Golden Street?”

“Huh?” Alex’s expression became irritated as she remembered how she died. “Forget ‘happen to be by,’ it WAS Golden Street. That’s where I saved that stupid tall girl and got run over by a truck.”

“I… I see…” I was sweating. Why? Becasue I was that ‘stupid tall girl’ that walked out onto the crosswalk when the light was red. And I think I vaguely remember someone yelling out to me and pushing me too. What kind of development was this!? To think that we are both from the exact same area! I thought she’d be at least from a different country because she knows a different Fight for Love and Acceptance. Should I mention it? That the girl she thought she saved was actually standing right beside her and the cause of her death as well? Nah, let’s just keep quiet about that.

“By the way, how did you know it was Golden street anyway?”

Crap!

Alex gave me a suspicious look. “Were you… perhaps…”

Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! “I… I…”

“Hmm?”

“I ah… I… I wonder what's for dinner!” I quickly walked ahead, avoiding Alex’s eyes. God, I feel really guilty, but I just can’t face her. It’s fine anyways. We both died together and ended up in the same world. I’ll just look after her until I no longer feel guilty for accidentally killing a thirteen-year-old. And besides, she thinks she saved me, I can’t tell her that her death was in vain. This is a good thing I’m doing. A perfectly logical thing I’m doing. Let’s not mention our deaths ever again.

“Reiré! Slow down! You’re walking too fast!”

“Oh, I am so hungry. Dinner sounds so good right now, right Alex? I wonder what they are serving.”

“You’re suddenly acting strange, Reiré.”

“What do you mean, Alex? This is just how I act when I’m hungry, so let’s hurry it up.”

Am I a cruel human being? No. Am I a selfish human being? Oh, most definitely yes. For my own safety, I shall keep this as a secret from Alex.