NOVEL NEXT Arc 1, Ch.4: I, the hero
[You have a weird feeling while passing the alley…]
I actually didn’t until this prompt appeared? Was this a branching in the storyline? Was there going to be an event if I went into the alley?
I stopped walking and turned to look at the alley. Since I felt like everything was unreal anyway, I had a sudden urge to explore. With careful steps, I snuck into the alley until voices reached my ears. Inching towards the corner, I glanced around it.
Taizou was snarling at two guys. Both of them looked like brutes with a mean look on their faces, one of them grabbing Taizou’s collar in a threatening manner. I knew that Taizou was trained and could protect himself, but he was outnumbered and those guys looked like they were out for trouble, although at least they were just students and not adults.
“How’s it my fault if your girl can’t keep her eyes to herself?”, Taizou snarled darkly, prompting the bald guy holding his collar to grit his teeth.
“You little bastard!” His voice was rising and I twitched, even a good bit far away. Their bulging veins looked dangerous.
Hesitation fueled by fear kept me hidden, but I still felt like inside a game. Just like inside a dungeon, preparing to lure the mobs away from an NPC I needed to keep alive. I walked back to the entrance of the alley, took a deep breath, and then called.
"Taizou?", I shouted, waited for a second and then walked into the alley. "Are you here? Auntie is waiting!"
“There you are, Taizou, we-” I let my voice trail off, jolting to a halt just around the corner and blinking at the three people looking at me in surprise.
I cleared my throat, not even needing to fake the awkwardness. “Uh, Auntie’s here already… You weren’t at the meeting place… Am I disturbing something?”
I shuffled back a bit, glancing out onto the street as if someone I knew was there, then back at the guys. They clicked their tongues, letting go of Taizou and leaving in the opposite direction.
The alley wasn’t too far from the street, if I managed to make a commotion that alerted others, people would gather very soon. My imaginary aunt would call for help if I didn’t return, too.
Just barely a good plan but I could at least convincingly act out such an easy scene and the two guys were only students. We were close to exam time, no one wanted to get in trouble right now.
Most people were paper-tigers who were only strong as long as no trouble was showing.
I gasped for air, clutching a hand to my chest. “Holy shit, it worked!”
Taizou stared at me, maybe recognizing the guy from the train in the morning. He frowned, walking over to me in large steps and scolded me.
“Why did you interfere, idiot?!”
My sight flashed with the appearance of another choice. Reality slowed again as I took in the choices before it turned back to normal. It gave me time to read the choices, but not to think about them.
[(Please choose what to say.)
- “I wanted to help you.”
- “I couldn’t just ignore the situation and leave.”
- “Things could have been dangerous if I didn’t.”]
Three choices, all roughly saying the truth but with different nuances. I took a deep breath to calm my heartbeat, gaining another second to think about what each of them conveyed and what would probably be the best one.
I gave a quivering smile, still terribly nervous. My mouth moved to say my choice without me really doing anything.
“I couldn’t just ignore the situation and leave.”
Not just because it was him, not because I believed he couldn’t solve it himself. Just because I saw someone I knew was in trouble and outnumbered.
Taizou twitched, deflating with a long sigh. He rubbed his forehead. “What would you have done if they turned on you, too?”
“Uh. I didn’t think that far, so probably whatever idiotic idea would have popped into my mind right then?”
I chuckled awkwardly, a stupid 'hehe'.
He shook his head with another sigh, then suddenly turned grim. “Was this a coincidence?”
My eyes flicked to the side as I tried to come up with an answer. I couldn’t exactly tell him my game system gave me a pop-up message?
But his words were a bit… Did this happen often? Did people get him in trouble on purpose just to act the hero?
“I was wandering around but I thought I heard voices from the alley, so I looked out of curiosity?” Almost completely the truth. Taizou frowned a bit at that but didn’t ask any further.
Maybe because I looked like I wouldn’t plan that kind of thing, considering I was fiddling with my fingers, eyes avoiding him and head between my shoulders.
“Thanks.”
His words were honest but distant, his voice cool. I gave a crooked smile. “No problem. Uhm, then, see you.”
I hurried to cut the conversation short and left.
I didn’t want him to feel that I was following him or that I was expecting something for helping him. Of course, I would have liked to talk to him longer - he had a really nice voice, too - and introduce myself, but I’d surely botch it and make a terrible impression. I didn’t dare loiter any longer, I made my way to catch a train.
‘12/100. Remembers meeting the host, but does not know the host’s name. Has a positive impression.’
The sides of my lips were twitching upwards, forcing me to keep them down with pure willpower. ‘Positive impression’ had never sounded so nice before.
Haru’s grinning face suddenly appeared in my line of sight, quite close. “Going home, too?”
I yelped, jolting in my seat and wheezing, clutching my chest for the second time today. “Goddamnit, where did you come from?!”
I had been in a daze for most of the time, just taking a random seat inside the train.
“From the door. How’s your game system going?”, she asked, sitting down next to me and whispering. She locked her arm with mine, glancing at me with interest. I humpfed but answered.
“I think it’s a dating sim.”
She squeaked, hugging my arm closer to her. I can tell any weirdo out there with certainty: No, if it’s your sister, then you won’t care about boobs squishing against you. Or it’s because I’m gay. Who knows.
I already knew what was coming next.
“Are the targets girls or guys?” Another glare from me. I didn’t need to tell her that. Haru wasn’t a gamer, but she enjoyed visual novels and dating sims. If it was Boys Love, even better. I was sure she’d enjoy watching me struggle.
“Oh my, oh my! So who did you decide on? What are the targets like?”
“No one. Don’t be dumb, it’s just my imagination. It won’t do me any good.”
She hummed, deep in thought. “Is it really though? You know, the weight you said when you went through my info… I gained two kilos recently. The previous time I weighed myself was over a month ago and the most recent time, where my weight changed to what you named, was while everyone was out. Our scale doesn’t save the results, so how could you have known the exact weight that only I saw?”
Her long eyelashes were blinking at me. “There’s so much weird stuff on this planet, why not an actual game system?”
Uh, I guess in this world no one proved that gaming systems don’t exist, yet.
She didn’t get a reply from me. Sure, the possibility wasn’t zero, but I couldn’t imagine it. It was weird that the data had matched and everything, but life wasn’t a story. That kind of thing… couldn’t be true, right?
But if it was?, whispered the voice in my head. If it was, then even I had a chance at finding my fairytale true love? Sappy. I wanted a chance at it, nonetheless.
“Well, I wanna hear what happened. Did you meet a target? Come on, tell me!”
Haru tugged at my arm, nudging me until I gave in and quickly summarized. I regretted it immediately for her broad grin.
“Ooh, he sounds cute! Do you have a picture of him? I gotta see him. But your points are still way too low! Won’t it take forever until you two get together?” She halted. “On the other hand, this is real life, so it makes sense for feelings to need time to develop…”
She suddenly thought of something, nudging me stronger again. “Hey, in those novels, don’t they usually have, like an additional interface or something? Like an app?”
I sifted through my memories. “Not always, but there are some…”
Her sparkling eyes were enough to convey her intentions. I sighed, pulled out my phone and went through my apps. Nothing.
“Nope, take a look yourself.”
With beautifully pouting lips, Haru took my phone and placed it back in disappointment. “Boring.”
She wasn’t the only disappointed one. Had I found some weird, unerasable app on my phone, I would have less reason to doubt my mental health.
“I thought I could take a look, too… You’re probably not gonna show me your target, are you?”
I frowned, feeling my cheeks warming up. I wasn’t the type whose blush would show - thankfully - but I still felt the warmth on my face. “There's no target!”
“Embarrassed?”
“You’re just talking nonsense! This isn’t a story. Capture targets don’t nonsensically fall for you against logic.”
My voice turned lower and lower to the end. That was the painful reality. Guys going out with each other, that kind of thing, even if they were both interested in each other against all odds, they usually wouldn’t dare make it public yet. At least not where I lived.
...Ah, now I made myself sad. (｡-﹏-｡|||)
Haru cuddled herself against my shoulder. “Don’t be so sad. You’re a great guy, you’ll find someone.”
I pointed at myself with raised eyebrows.
“I mean it! I’d take a boyfriend like you. At least I wouldn’t have to be worried about him cheating.” She humpfed.
Her last boyfriend had been shot down by her after he kept on gathering women’s numbers even after they entered a relationship. And by that, I don’t mean acquaintances, but random women he talked to on the street. My sister completely flipped and slapped him when she found out.
“Once you’ve got a boyfriend, you have to tell me, okay? Find a cute one, I wanna have some eye-candy!” I glared at her.
“Rotten.” “To the core. I’m not denying anything.”
Half a miracle that the rest of my family hadn’t noticed yet. Risa was starting to go down that route, though, thanks to Haru, so she knew. I had to buy Haru a lot of snacks to make her promise to keep quiet about me, even when squealing about her Boys Love couples.
I never watched any of her stuff, by the way!
...I did play the games. But I never watched or read yaoi! And the games were still harmless! Anything else is honestly too awkward for me. That’s why she loves teasing me with it.
Letting my eyes wander through the train, I took in a number of jealous glances. We were constantly whispering and my sister was sticking close to me, so nearly every guy my age in the whole wagon was glaring at me.
Her looks were too good, that’s why we didn’t look like siblings. I dumbly wondered whether people thought we were a couple. That would be weird.
“Did you get an appointment?” “Did. Next week.” “Want me to accompany you?” “...No. It’s fine.”
I was scratching my fingers over my palm. “Don’t tell the rest yet. I don’t want to make them nervous by suddenly going to see a doctor.”
Haru sighed but nodded. Silence fell over us for the rest of the drive.
