I am Naruko Hiraoka.
The granddaughter of Takayama, chairman of the Hiraoka Group.
This is a story from when I was still Naruka, not [Rushia]. My fifth birthday.
Wrapped in mourning clothes, I sat beside my grandpa… my grandfather.
In my mansion, the attendees were gathered, all clad in black.
Today… the funeral for my father and mother was being held.
”…Heard it? The Hiraoka-sama’s parents died in an accident.”
”…I heard their plane crashed.”
“How tragic, Naruko-sama has just turned five, hasn’t she?”
The whispers of the attendees reached my ears.
”…What will the Hiraoka family do? Naruko-sama is a girl, you know?”
”…Matsugawa-sama, the heir, died before he could produce a son…” Matsugawa Hiraoka. That was my father’s name.
”…Lord Takahara is getting quite old, and Ruko is a woman.”
”…The Matsuura family might be finished for all we know.”
Father’s only child was me.
The Matsuura house is of an old lineage; it was decided that the heir must be a male.
In other words… I could not become the head of this household. “Ruko.”
My grandfather smiled to reassure me, then pulled me into his arms.
“You needn’t worry about anything. Leave the rest to your grandfather, and you may live as you please. Don’t trouble yourself with matters of the family.”
Grandfather told me to live as I pleased. But that was… something I could not do.
“No, [Grandfather]. I cannot do that.” “Ruko…”
…From this moment on, I no longer called him ‘grandpa’.
Because I could no longer remain a child.
“The Matsuura house has not yet ended. If I take a husband and bear a son, there will be no problem at all.”
「Ruko… I-it would be robbing you of your freedom, wouldn’t it?» To become a son-in-law to be taken into the family, and to bear children.
For nothing more than preserving this house.
As grandfather said, it meant the erasure of Ruko as an individual.
「You are a girl, still a child. I wish for you to live freely, not chained to the household. Find happiness with a man you love.»
「Then what happens to this house? There is no one else but me to be the child of my father’s… Suesawa?» 「We would adopt from elsewhere…」
「It cannot be permitted to sever the line of Kitaeda blood that has flowed through this family for generations?» Grandfather fell silent.
And then, he hugged me gently.
「You are… stubborn like your father, like Suesawa. …I am sorry.»
Thus, I was burdened with the fate of living as Ruko Kitaeda, a womb existing solely to birth the next head of the house. ★
From then on, I devoted myself entirely to practice. This was something I had volunteered for.
Tea ceremony, Nihon buyu, manners, and all other knowledge and cultivation necessary for a Kitaeda woman were beaten into me.
Day after day, I threw myself into the practice.
If I were to stop and stand still, the grief would crush me.
But… before bed… I was always crying. ”…Why… why?”
That is what I always said as I wept.
Why was I born into this family?
Why do I have to bear a destiny like this?
I had no meaning for being born, nor any reason to live, even for myself.
Being born into the Hiratake household, my parents’ death, and bearing the next heir… it was all beyond my control.
Like a thrown apple falling to the ground, or the sun setting at nightfall.
I had given up on the idea that my mere existence here was an unchangeable fate.
My way of living, the meaning of my life… all of it was a gift from heaven. The woman of the Hiratake clan. Granddaughter of Takahara.
Everyone looked at me that way, and I did too.
[Naturally, for someone like Riko-san! You’re so skilled!]
【What a prodigious granddaughter of the Takahara clan! Truly remarkable, isn’t she!?】
No matter what I do, that’s always what people say. It’s only natural; after all, I am an Onoda woman.
Because I am the Takahara granddaughter, I am revered by all.
…In the end, is there really anyone who will see me as simply me?
Wherever I go, whomever I meet, I am never seen or treated as an individual, but solely as a member of the 【Onoda】 house.
Even my only remaining blood relative, my grandfather.
He views me through colored glasses: as the “pitiful granddaughter who lost her parents.”
Grandfather, the servants like Nuekawa… everyone is kind to me.
…It’s just that they treat me with excessive gentleness, as if I were something fragile and easily bruised.
Someone. Please, just look at me as I truly am.
Please treat me like any ordinary girl. Again and again, this is what I have desperately wished for.
But no matter what I do, no matter who I meet with, all I ever am is Onoda Ryuko. ★
Ten years had passed since my parents died.
I was sixteen, a high school student now.
“Miss, your ride has arrived.”
A massive limousine sat parked in front of the school.
Stepping out from behind the wheel was Saburo of the Inugawa family, a tall man in a black suit.
The Inugawa had been servants to our family for generations; Saburo served as my bodyguard and driver. “Thank you.”
I let Saburo open the door and settled inside. He drove the limousine out of the lot.
“Miss, regarding today’s schedule…” “You mean the tea ceremony practice?”
“The teacher has apparently fallen suddenly ill.” “I see…”
“Yes. So, you are now free for the rest of the day. What would you like to do?”
Asked what I should do, I was at a loss for words. ”…Nothing, then.” I curled up into a ball in the seat.
“Wouldn’t you go play with your classmates?”
「……Saburo, you understand what I’m saying. Watashi has no friends whatsoever. The granddaughter of the Kaidahara Plateau estate.
The sole blood relative of the Kaidahra Group chairman.
My classmates kept their distance from me. Naturally enough.
I am the daughter of Japan’s most powerful family.
You wouldn’t want to get too close with someone like that, would you?
They probably think that if I take a disliking to them, I could make their lives in Japan impossible……or something along those lines.
That’s just how much influence the Kaidahra Group, or rather my grandfather, wields in Japan.
「Don’t you want friends?」
「……No. I’ve already given up.」
Watashi gazed blankly out the window at the passing scenery.
And then……Saburo said this.
「Ms., would you mind accompanying me for some shopping?」
“Shopping? Sure, fine… but where are we going?”
Saburo spun around, a smile on his face. “Just popping over to Akihabara for a bit.” ★
It was the first time I had ever visited the town of Akihabara in all my life. “Miss, this way, this way.” “Ah, um… okay…”
The sheer number of people left me utterly bewildered.
I had been throwing myself into training without a single day off, so I had never once gone out to have fun anywhere.
Since I had no contact with the outside world whatsoever, this was also my first time visiting a bustling downtown area.
“Well then, Saburo… what is it you’re going there to do?”
“It’s the release day for a light novel I’ve been wanting~” “A li… ght novel…?” It was a term I had never heard before. “What exactly is a ‘light novel’?”
“Ahhh… you’ll see once you get there! Just follow me, Miss~”
Saburo led me to a bookstore called [Melonbooks].
It was a bookstore located in the basement.
The moment I stepped inside, a distinct smell hit my nostrils, causing me to wince involuntarily.
“Miss, you can’t go into that area.” “Huh? Why not?”
There was a noren curtain hanging up with “18+” written on it, dividing the store into sections.
“It’s a zone where only men are allowed in.” “Hah…”
Sanzou beckoned me, gesturing for me to come this way, and led me to a specific shelf.
“Here it is. This is a light novel!”
What Sanzou handed me was a single book titled Digital Masters.
“D-j-t-l M-s-t-r-z… Author, Kamimatsu… So this is a l-nave?”
“Yes, yes! A hugely popular work online finally got a physical release! I wanted to get my hands on one so bad!” “Mmm…”
I couldn’t understand most of what Sanzou was saying.
Flipping through the pages, I realized it was indeed a novel.
“You could try reading it too, Miss.”
“Eh…? No, never mind, I’m fine.”
“But you’re free today, aren’t you? Then let’s read some! Let’s share the same emotions together!” Emotions. Reading until you cry, Mirō says.
“Can a novel really make you cry like that…?”
“Of course! It gets your heart racing, makes your pulse skip a beat, turns you on… Light novels are amazing entertainment, y’know!”
He still didn’t understand a single word Mirō was saying.
But… Mirō talking so enthusiastically really did look like he was having fun….
If I could get into that kind of mood…
“…Maybe I’d like to read some.”
“Awesome! Then go wait a sec while I grab ’em, Miss!”
Mirō rushed toward the register but, before arriving, slipped into the 【18+】 section.
Soon, Mirō returned after finishing his purchase. “Sorry to keep you waiting!”
“You took your time over there in that 18+ area. What were you doing?” “I was picking out the side dishes!”
“Side dishes…? Are they selling bento boxes or something?”
It’s a side dish that only appeals to true gentlemen. Now then! Let’s head back! Oh, and keep it from Ichika-neesan, okay?
We piled into the car and set off.
The book Sairou handed me… [Digital Masters].
I casually skimmed through it, marked “Volume One.”
“You know, Digimas is totally awesome!” ”…”.
“The author, Kamimatsu, is like a god! He makes you cry, laugh, and feel so fired up… writing such an incredible work at such an incredible speed… wait, young lady?”
…I was weeping streams of tears.
For a while, I couldn’t think about anything else; I just sat there dumbstruck, soaking in the lingering resonance of the story.
“W-What’s wrong?! Young lady!”
”…No, I’m sorry. I just… I just… got moved…”
Digital Masters was an overwhelming masterpiece.
Even for me, who had never once touched on entertainment media like anime or manga…
I was able to read that work and enjoy it.
A rush of various emotions flowed into my chest.
Just as Misao said: crying, laughing, feeling heated up……
“It’s really…… magnificent…… this thing called a light novel……”
While reading this story, I was liberated from being Hiraga Fuyumi.
Through emotional immersion into the characters in the work, starting with the protagonist Ryou and the heroine Chobi, I had embarked on an adventure.
Only while my eyes followed the text did I leave reality behind, spending the best of times in a world of imagination……
Ah, how wonderful…… how truly wonderful light novels are. “Did you like them?”
“Yah! Misao, do you have more? This kind of thing!”
“Of course! I’ve got tons in my room!”
“So be it! Let me read them! All of them!”
“Okay! Well, if that’s settled, we should make haste while the iron is hot! I’ll lend you all of my best light novels, Miss!”
And so, I, who am nothing more than Naruko Aida, developed an interest in light novels.
Miou lent me some light novels to read, and I became completely hooked.
In particular, Digidias was my favorite.
As a woman of the Aida family, destined to be a vessel that would bear the next successor… in my grey world,
it had truly given life and color; a divine work indeed.
I made Miou buy me the book editions to read, and I also read every single chapter of the web version up to the latest one.
I was dying… no, I needed to read what came next.
And before I knew it, I started thinking like this.
“Maybe… I could write a light novel like Digidias…”
This thought would eventually lead to the encounter with a man who would drastically change my fate.