Chapter 7: Katie's Trials, Part 1

Katie was led further into the luxurious mansion under the guide of Momo. After a little walking, they stopped at a large door that was painted pink.

"Here's my room! Come in!" said Momo, beckoning Katie inside.

The inside of the room was decked out in girly fixtures. Pale pink wallpaper, butterflies stenciled on the wall, a crystal chandelier... OK, that one is more opulent than girly... There was also a bed even larger than the one Katie had at her home, the bed was a mixture of pink and red lacing with an intricately carved unicorn headboard. This seems like the dream room for any 12 year old girl, and it just so happens that this 12 year old girl has the money to make those dreams come true. It was dazzling, quite literally. The chandelier was so grand and shiny, it hurt to look straight at it.

Momo took this opportunity to show Katie around, unintentionally rubbing her wealth in Katie's face by saying things like, "This doll is so rare, there are only 4 of them left!" and, "My dresses are so pretty! They haven't even come out yet, isn't that kind of cool!"

Katie could tell that none of this was intentional, Momo wasn't trying to flaunt her wealth, it's just that she hasn't known any other life. Katie ignored Momo going on and on about her ancient Chinese tea set, and looked around the room. She was almost taken aback at how perfectly the room was arranged, almost as if the room was a museum display instead of a 12 year old girl's room. It was at this moment that she picked up on one small flaw with the room's arrangement, a bookcase. The bookcase was slightly disturbed, tilting a little to the side. It was so slight that if you weren't looking carefully, you wouldn't see it, so she decided to go check it out.

Momo quickly realized that Katie was no longer listening, and looked up from the thing she was talking about, and saw Katie poking around under her bookcase. Momo shot out of her seat, and yelled to Katie while she was running over, "D-don't look under there! There's nothing important under there!"

Obviously, that just continued to fuel Katie's curiosity, and knowing what she had hidden from her parents at the age of 12 in her last life, she thought she was going to find something a tad bit spicy... Katie was not going to do anything with it, just wanted to get closer to Momo by teasing her.

The room was far too big to cross in just a few seconds, so before Momo was able to stop Katie, she unearthed a shoe box that had been cleverly hidden under the bookcase. Once Momo saw the box come out, she fell to her knees, face deep red, and tears gathering at the corners of her eyes in a mixture of anger and embarrassment. Katie looked over at the young girl with a shit-eating grin on her face as she openned the box and found... comic books? Katie opened them to see if it was a diversionary tactic, and they were just regular comic books through and through.

Momo must have pulled herself back together, because at this moment she yelled at Katie with a shaky voice, "G-get out of t-there! T-the're not y-yours!"

Katie was super confused at this point, and she asked, "Why the heck are you so embarrassed about comic books? I thought that I would find some por-"

"SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP! I don't have that kind of stuff, OK!?" Momo took a breath to calm down, and realized that compared to what Katie was about to say, comic books aren't as bad, and continued, "I l-like comic books, OK!? I-is that so bad!?" Momo then just hung her beat-red head even lower after saying that out loud.

"Why is that something to be ashamed of?" Katie asked, because as far as she knew, comic books should be even more mainstream and popular in this world, compared to her last world where comics were a fairly niche hobby.

"W-well, comic books are something for boys! I'm a girl, yet I still really like comics, and heroes!" The more Momo talked, the less embarrassed and reserved she became, and the more starry-eyed and passionate she became. Katie thought that this was far more natural than when they first entered the room, Momo liked her stuff, but she wasn't passionate about them the same way she is now.

As someone who was bullied for her hobbies, Katie can really relate to Momo right now, and thought to herself, "I think we are going to get along well."

-0- 1 Week Later

I think I've finally settled myself into this new life. I do feel really bad about it to be honest. There are plenty of people that would love to live a second life, especially in the world of their favorite anime or manga, but I'm not one of them. I died at the age of 23 in a car wreck after being hit by a drunk driver, but I felt like I lived my life with very few regrets. I did what I wanted when I wanted, regardless of how anybody else felt about it. You could say that I couldn't feel shame. If I really wanted to, I would've gone outside to check my mail in nothing but my underwear, not that I ever did.

This happy-go-lucky attitude that prevents me from feeling ashamed was something I developed in high school after being bullied. I was a really big nerd, I played tabletop games, I played trading card games, I played video games, and I even watched some anime throughout my time. Back where I came from, these were rare hobbies and were even frowned upon by others. If you were a boy then you played sports, and if you were a girl you would dress in revealing clothes and gossip.

Well, because I had these nerdy and un-girly hobbies, I was bullied really hard, even contemplating taking my own life at one point, so I tried to do what the other girls did. I wore revealing clothing, I tried to gossip with other girls, but after I tried to do this, I was targeted even worse.

I tried to understand what I was doing wrong, and why people didn't like me. After a long time of thinking about it I finally realized that I had done nothing wrong, and was simply being true to myself. After realizing that people were simply jealous or just following the example of others, I gained social enlightenment. Absolutely no one in the world can tell me who I can and can't be, and after realizing that, I gave up my sense of shame.

That was a long explanation, but even as I was dying, I never regretted a single moment of my life. I didn't want to live a second life, but I won't complain, I guess. I'll use this second life to do exactly what I did in my last one, do whatever the hell I want. It'll be even easier because of how loaded Katie was. Also, about taking over Katie's body, I don't really feel bad. She brought it on herself, and her body was just there, never to move again, I feel like I can give her the life she should have had, in spirit of course.

Anyways, I could just do whatever, but if I still want to have access to the insane amounts of money that Katie's family... I guess it's my family now, huh? Anyways, if I want to spend money like water, I need to contribute to the family business. This isn't anything unique for this family, even Momo is expected to help out, so I guess I'll give it a try.

Speaking of contributing to the family business, there is a drug company trying to appeal to us, and some family representative failed to show up, causing the entire project to virtually collapse overnight. I was told that they wanted to have a meeting with one of the family members to make up for the failed marketing campaign that was ultimately caused by us, so the family agreed with it. It ended up with me being chosen to represent the family, so I really hope that this drug company wont feel too bad that I will almost certainly fuck it up.

-0- Drug CEO

Well, it's do or quite literally die. I had one chance to get rich and disappear, and the Yaoyorozu Group took it from me. I will have my revenge, because it's only a matter of time before people realize how volatile Trigger actually is, and without the money from selling it, I won't be able to hide for long. I didn't want it to come to this, but if my plan goes well, I wont need to worry about it. I won't be blamed, and I can even play the victim card.

"Your meeting has been arranged, we can go now." Said an aged butler. I grit my teeth, buried my nervousness, and walked in stride to either my revival ground, or my open coffin.

*Knock Knock Knock* "Young Lady, the person who wanted to meet with you is here." Said the butler.

"Very well, let him enter." responded the voice of a young girl in her teens.

After the door to the conference room opened, I saw a 12 year old girl wearing a business dress, and looking incredibly uncomfortable while wearing it.

If the CEO could read her mind, then he would probably burst a blood vessel, 'Jeez, why is wearing such expensive clothes both hard, and uncomfortable!?' Ignoring her obvious and unmasked sense of uncomfortably, the butler instructed the CEO to a chair, and then left the room.

I didn't get ahead of myself though, because I knew that there were obviously people around to monitor her safety. So I began to give my drug pitch again, halfheartedly, because she wasn't as famous as her cousin for a very good reason, business sense. You can tell that the two are miles apart, Momo having sharper senses than most trained businessmen, and Katie here having the understanding of a child. I mean, just look at the confusion on her face.

-0- Katie

My memories may be a little foggy, but isn't this Trigger drug he is telling me about supposed to be close to a bio weapon!? And he's trying to say that it passed human trials without incident!? I may not remember what exactly it does, but I am more than sure that this man is fully aware of its danger. I go to press the hidden security button under the desk, but I guess I wasn't stealthy enough about it, because he just flinched, and started reaching for his briefcase.

-0- CEO

What!? How!? Did she already figure me out!? She just started slowly reaching for under her desk, which will obviously trigger security. Fuck, I guess it's now or never!!!

-0- Narrator

The drug CEO pulled a dart pistol out of his case, and pointed it at Katie, while Katie already pushed the button, and was looking down the barrel of the gun. The only thing going through Katie's mind at this moment was, "Well fuck, thanks for giving me a second life and then taking it back! Fuck you what ever powers that be!" And then the trigger was pulled. Katie closed her eyes.

...

...

...

Katie opened her eyes to find a small dart in her shoulder, and the drug CEO on his phone, looking over at her in anticipation. It was at this moment that Katie felt strange. A weird feeling spread through her body, making her feel so much stronger. She had the urge to use her quirk, to break things, to be angry! She stood up, looked at her hands, took off her gloves, and put her hands on the table. While normally, the table would slowly transmute into gold over the next hour or so, it was rapidly transformed only needing five minutes. She stopped the process halfway, looking at her hands confused, before shaking off the feeling that something was wrong, and looking at the CEO.

The man in question then began touching things around him, and causing them to flatten and stand upright. His quirk is called Wall, able to turn anything he touches into a wall that he can set up around himself. He decided he would wait for help, all the while a smug look on his face. He knew that she wouldn't be conscious enough to tell people what he did, and about the dart? Dissolves in contact with blood. It was pretty expensive to have it made secretly, but worth it if he could sue the entire Yaoyorozu group into oblivion.

He quickly saw that his wall was turning into gold, but he knew that she wouldn't be able to break through and get to him, sadly he failed to see the small cracks that were beginning to form on the floor below him.

Fun fact, one cubic foot of gold is over 1000 pounds or 500 kilograms, and the average office floor can only sustain a weight of 50 pounds per square foot, or just over 4 meters squared. If you want to do the math with how much gold Katie is indiscriminately creating, you can probably come to a quick conclusion.

*CREAK CRACK CREAK* "Huh?" That was the only thing that the CEO was able to react with as the floor collapsed out from under his feet, and by extension, Katie's.