While I was adjusting to my newfound role as the villainess of [ Mon Étoile ], Mifune Akemi, my parents enrolled me in Asakura Kindergarten, which was coincidentally the same kindergarten where Kousuke-niisama had gone to when he was my age.
Since I've been homeschooled since even before I turned three – it's not just me either, almost, if not all of the pupils who were enrolled have their own private tutors and had been privy to homeschooling at a young age – the kindergarten saw no need to cover up the basics, like learning how to read and write, how to count, and sing the ABCs. It came as a huge relief to me, since I feared I would be forced to relearn all those again. I may be physically six, but mentally, I'm already seventeen. Just the thought of going through those again was torturous enough.
Anyway, since we're already expected to know the basics and even master them, naturally Asakura focuses on the particular subjects and areas that we have little to no prior knowledge in, knowing it would prove really helpful when we finally take the entrance examinations for Ryuujin Academy or Shiratora Academy, the latter being second to the former when it comes to fame and prestige.
If I have a choice in the matter, I would definitely choose to attend Shiratora Academy in order to remain inconspicuous and prevent the disastrous endings in the game from happening. If not Shiratora, Akatori, which is an all girls school, would also be preferable. None of them has a capture target as far as I know.
(Just any school really, aside from Kurookami Academy and Ryuujin Academy, where most of the capture targets are.)
Still, such a wish couldn't be granted.
After I graduated from Asakura, my parents employed a half Japanese, half French tutor named Suzuki Marie-sensei. She teaches French, and while I don't feel any need to learn the language, I can't deny that it's basically a necessity after I got accepted into Ryuujin. Aside from French, there is also Latin, Greek, and Italian, which the school offers as electives. In the game, Mifune Akemi took French, partly because she excels in the language, and mostly because this was the only class where she could freely interact with (and terrorize) Rikka-chan.
Aside from French lessons, Marie-sensei also teaches me how to play the piano. In my past life, I never had the chance to play an instrument. The most I could do was blow the flute during Music Class, and even then it was...an unsatisfactory performance, to say the least…
Well, that was a lie. It wasn't just unsatisfactory, it was plain embarrassing! Whenever I remember how the class stopped playing their own instruments in order to stare at me, who was blowing pathetically through the holes of the flute with nothing but air and spit coming out, I want nothing more than to dig a hole and bury my shameful, pathetic self six feet under.
That's a nightmare I have to avoid reliving at all costs.
Anyway, my first meeting with Marie-sensei went fairly well. At first, when she was first introduced by Yuna-san (my nursemaid who basically raised Nii-sama and I from birth) I thought she seemed intimidating, appearance-wise. She wore clothes that screamed designer, with eyebrows plucked into perfection, lips painted a dark shade of red, and the bun sitting at the top of her head had nary a hair out of place. At that time, she was also expressionless.
However, once Yuna-san finished her introductions, Marie-sensei's face broke into a lovely smile. That smile broke the ice, and for a moment, I just stared back at her in a daze, before I promptly remembered my manners and curtsied before her.
Marie-sensei was the perfect example of the infamous saying, "Do not judge the book by its cover". She was surprisingly amicable and easy to get along with, and her French and piano lessons were something I look forward to every day. During our breaks, I learned she has a niece who is about my age.
"I'm sure you two would get along pretty well," she said, a smile on her lips as she sipped her Darjeeling tea.
I nodded, smiling slightly. "I hope so too. Mayumi-san seems like a nice person, and we share almost the same interests. I would very much like to meet her."
"I'll see if I can bring her the next time I come to visit. Of course, after I asked permission from your parents." She paused briefly as she took another sip. "I'm certain you girls would find a kindred soul in each other, given how similar the both of you are. Both of you are quite mature for your age, judging by the way the two of you tend to speak in crypts most of the time and act too proper and formal – leading me to sometimes wonder whether I'm teaching a pair of kids or two old women," she joked.
Well, I can't speak for Mayumi-san, but in my case, you're half right, sensei.