Read Novel Full Chapter 2
Same as my Past life
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It was 12 years ago from today, when she was 5 years old, that Francesca recalled her past life.
It was a fairly normal daily life incident that became the trigger. In attempt to hurt her father, she was kidnapped by a rival family’s thugs and during the incident, she hit her head a bit strongly.
And in that instant, the memories of her past life all came rushing back into her head.
(My parents in my past life had died when I was young, and in their stead I had been raised by my beloved grandfather. My grandpa was always dressed smartly, in a strange kind of clothing…….was it called a [kimono] I think.)
While her head swirled from the impact, Francesca continued to recall more and more of her past life.
(Vehicles that were far faster than the carriages, those were called cars. They were large, spacious, and very comfy to travel in………. grandpa’s car was driven by a driver, and its windows were all tinted in black. As a child I didn’t know that that wasn’t normal……….)
Alongside her grandpa dressed in his kimono, she also got out of the car.
The place she had come out to was a luxurious japanese-style mansion, and the path to the home was surrounded by men in black suits bowing down in a straight line on both sides.
“”Boss!! Ojou!! Welcome back!!”” (T/N: Ojou=young lady of a rich household. I’m leaving it as it is in this scenario as this par is set in japan in a yakuza family)
“”Welcome Back!!!””
“Ou, I’m back.”
In front of this bizarre scene, her past self showed no doubt or problem with it. She simply happily waved her small young hand towards the men who were greeting her.
“Everyone! I’m home!!”
When she did so, all the stern looking men instantly broke into happy smiles and knelt down.
“Ojou, how was the kindergarten?”
“It was fun! Next time we’ll have to draw our [family] with crayon! But our [family] is so big so I asked the teacher to bring me the biggest piece of paper!”
“OJOU……!!”
The men were all happy and deeply moved, as they were indeed part of the [family]. But, it would be soon after that incident that she would soon realize that her [family] was not normal at all.
At the kindergarten, when she presented the drawing of her family that included her grandfather and a bunch of men dressed in black suits, the other kids stopped playing with her from the next day.
“———run away! That girl is here again!”
Even when she went to the park to play, the mothers would quickly pick up their children and hold them close tightly and begin whispering to each other.
“Listen, you must not play with that girl okay? Be sure not to get close to her.”
“I had heard the rumours but that girl really is from that ‘family’ huh……….she’s the boss’ granddaughter right?”
“…………??”
While holding on to the small plastic shovel in her hands, she looked up towards the gang members that escorted her. When she did so, one of the men spoke out in resentment.
“How dare they exclude and ostracize Ojou like this….!!! Please wait here Ojou. I’ll go right now and……..”
“Wa,waiiit! You musn’t! Stop!”
She knew that this would only scare those people even more. So she panicked and stopped the member by pulling on his shirt.
“I’m fine! I’m okay with not having friends. After all, you all will always play with me back at home right?”
“……….Ojou………”
“C’mon, let’s go to the sandbox and play!………….actually, let’s just go home. The other kids also want to play there after all.”
Since then, no one of her age would ever come close to her or interact with her.
Furthermore, she also realized one more thing.
(Unlike me, normal kids don’t have at least 5 escorts coming with them to the kindergarten because a “disputing party might kidnap them” huh.)
On top of that, her escorts were extremely tough looking muscular men who could crush an apple with just one hand. That was most certainly not the case for other kids.
(And neither were these kids trained in martial arts, from a young age like I was, as a ‘precaution’. And most kids don’t actually get kidnapped like I do either.——and I highly doubt they have ever beaten up their kidnappers with said martial arts and then returned home safely on their own either.)
But that was a common scenario for her, although mostly because she was embarrassed of having escorts constantly with her and would often run away from their sights to try and go to school on her own ‘like normal kids’.
(I don’t think normal people have illegal hidden weapons concealed in their house either. And neither do they have their residence name tags written with brush and ink, nor do they have a pieces of paper sealed with a mysterious blood seal either.)
Whenever she played hide and seek inside the house, these things would often cause a bit of an uproar.
(I had no idea……….I have no idea what a peaceful normal life even looks like………!)
It was when she grew a bit older that she realized that her grandfather was one of those [Chivalrous Big Boss] types.
He was a rarity in these days, an old fashioned yakuza that prioritized their own sense of justice.
Because of that he was disliked even by the people who were in the same trade, however most of the underworld did feel a sense of respect towards him, or at least that’s what a retired detective told me.
It was only in the winter of her second year of high school that she directly asked her grandfather about all of this properly.
“——–Haha, what nonsense.”
While standing under the cold sky, and throwing feed to the Carps in the pond, he spoke in a self deprecating manner.
“What is chivalrous about any of this? No matter what I did and however many people try and flatter me with such things in the underworld, none of that matters to the outside world.”
“grandpa…….”
“Because of my life, I ended up making my only granddaughter go through such a tough life……….to think you’d struggle so much with making friends even when you’re 17yrs old and have no choice but to spend your christmas at home playing games………”
“I, I enjoy playing games though!! Right now there’s even a limited event going on, so for a highschooler like me that can only splurge so much on microtransactions, this is the time to put some effort you know!!”
While gripping on to the horizontally place smartphone, she thought to herself.
(……..in all honesty, it’s a game that’s super popular in class right now so I only started it because I thought that [maybe if I play it as well I’ll make some friends]……..)
But, I wasn’t going to say that out loud.
(It can’t be helped. The granddaughter of a yakuza household was bound to look like a scary person to everyone else. I was raised in such odd circumstances that I honestly don’t even know what a normal life is supposed to look like at this point anyway………But, grandpa and everyone else always look so sad when they see me like this so I don’t want to worry them too much.)
While thinking of such things, she tapped the phone screen with her finger.
In the [Friends] tab, you could see the list of people with whom you had played co-op with but, that was not exactly the kind of [friend] she was looking for.
(——–perhaps in my next life, I’ll make some. Real friends that is.)
She swore to herself in her heart.
(If I were to be reborn, I want to live a peaceful and normal life! I don’t even care about love or romance, just a few friends is all I want..….!! Yup, that’s all I need!)
At that moment, one of the gang members came up to talk to us.
“Boss, ojou! The preparations for the Christmas party are all complete! The food’s also perfect!”
“Eh, did everyone make it!?”
“Yes, we were all fired up since the morning! The kiddo even looked up Chicken recipes on the net, and although it had to be marinated till late night, I think the final taste will be exactly to your liking Ojou so please look forward to it!”
“Thank you, Can’t wait to try it! Grandpa, come on, let’s get inside the kotatsu and have some ice cream shall we? the garden’s a bit too cold………”
“Yeah, sure.”
The grandfather threw the remaining feed into the pond, and began walking towards the veranda to get inside. It was right around then.
“……….?”
She saw someone climb over the wall and get inside the garden.
She could hear the shouts of the gang members but that person didn’t stop. He put his hands inside coat pocket and was pulling something out.
“——–GRANDPA!!”
To protect her grandfather, she reflexively jumped out.
“…..……….!?!?”
A sharp pain ran through her stomach, and her breathing became rough. As her head spun from dizziness, she still held out her arm to make sure that her grandpa was alright.
“Oi!!! Oi, get a hold of yourself!!”
“………thank god……….”
She breathed out in relief, and that was her last piece of memory from her past life.
“Ughh…….”
“My lady!?”
Francesca, having recalled her memories, stayed in her bed for a full three days after getting rescued.
And while comprehending and comparing her past life’s memories, she confirmed the details of her new life.
(………the past me died, and now I am called Francesca……….my family is the Calvino family……..a family where a kidnapping attempt of their only daughter is a normal occurrence……)
While still lying on her bed, and suffering from high fever, she confirmed the reality of the situation.
No matter how she looked at it, this world was exactly the same world as the otome social game that she been playing before she had died.
(I…….have reincarnated as the heroine of the game, a daughter of one of the great mafia families of the world……!!)
Her new life was basically the same as her past one.
The moment she fully recognized that fact, her consciousness began to fade again, and Francesca went to sleep again.
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