Please read at the translatorâs site or the hosted site, moonbunnycafe.
âYeah, Ikuto also has a point.â
âSo you think so too, Subaru nee-san[1]?â
âYes⊠well, if this werenât the world of an otome game, I think itâd seriously be a massacre. This type of loved reverse harem heroine who doesnât get attached to any side and seduces everyone.â
The same day. 15:45. A family restaurant in Animewteâs[2] neighbourhood at Ikebukuro East Entrance.
Ikebukuro East Entrance is extremely crowded due to the Comic Market held today. Ikebukuroâs ridiculously crowded in the real world even on weekends so I could imagine the Animewte head office being even more crowded when thereâs a doujin sale. However, I didnât expect even the family restaurant to be so crowded. Ikebukuro has the Otome Road and is a sacred ground for anime lovers after all. Even in the real world, I came here a number of times under Subaru nee-sanâs.
Translator: nakimushitl
âNaturally. When I recall what Iâve done so far, I feel like dying from the intense shyness and regret.â
âWhat do you regret, Mako? Taking up a vague attitude towards everyone?â
âWell⊠Honestly, Iâm aware I treat it as friendship despite realising that Soutarou and Prince are carrying romantic feelings for me.â
Please read at the translatorâs site or the hosted site, moonbunnycafe.
By this point, the assertion Iâm going to make will cause me to be a conceited woman but Soutarou and Prince definitely like me, I think. Of course, I think they like me in a romantic way.
When I consider how I think about them, honestly, I donât know. As friends, they are incomparably, incomparably important. I like them. However, if Iâm asked whether I can love one of them, I donât know. More than not knowing, Iâve avoided thinking things like that.
âThatâs cruel.â
âI know rightâŠâ
âDo you understand why thatâs cruel, Mako? Are you not vaguely interpreting it as some inexplicable act of cruelty?â
Subaru elegantly sips coffee while stuffing her cheeks with pancakes.
Going around purchasing doujinshi without having lunch, sheâs probably hungry. Although Iâm hungry too, I donât have much of an appetite. Was it due to the various blows that piled up?
Unable to immediately digest Subaruâs words, I stiffen for a while with a bewildered expression.
âHey, I know youâre estranged from romance but it takes a lot more courage than you think to tell someone your feelings. Just saying a single âLikeâ is so embarrassing that it makes one want to cry.â
Translator: nakimushitl
Thatâs something I know just by imagining.
The amount of embarrassment and nervousness to tell the person you like, âI like youâ. If things go wrong, you may lose even the position of being friends. What feelings did Soutarou and the rest have when they told me they âlikeâ me?
I should try thinking about it myself. If I like Soutarou, Prince and whatnot, will I be able to convey the single phrase âI like youâ? Will I be able to convey âLikeâ, a word so short yet heavy? Knowing Iâll be subjected to this present attitude of mine, knowing Iâll be told âWeâre friends after allâ, will I be able to properly convey âI like youâ?
âMoreover, the other party is of the same gender. I think that requires even more courage. Having that severed and thrown away with a single âWeâre friends after allâ, is expectedly cruel.â
Please read at the translatorâs site or the hosted site, moonbunnycafe.
â⊠Even if I understand that, I donât know what to do. Iâm not a character in Heartthrob Love Revolution after all. Iâm, not Sakurai Makoto⊠The current me is me but not me. My appearance, personality, status, family, everything is a lie⊠I have to return to my original world eventually. With that, how on earth can I answer everyoneâs feelings?â
âMakoâŠâ
If this world was reality, if I was me, Makoto, I may have been able to answer positively. I may have been able to like someone and become a couple with them.
However, Iâm not. Before being male or female, I must overcome the wall of 2- or 3-dimensional.
âYouâre seriously an idiot. That doesnât matter, does it? Oi unpopular woman, let me say this. Teenage love is just like measles. They happen be saying they like you now, but once you return to reality, theyâll forget such measles of a love in the blink of an eye. Theyâll immediately start running towards a new love. The value of a yearâs love when there are decades, is just that. How serious did you think such a thing was? Were you planning to become like RomeJuli or Titanic?â
âE, ⊠eh, Subaru-san?â
Subaru nee-sanâs face slides closer.
Translator: nakimushitl
âItâs not a once-in-a-lifetime or generation love story. In the real world, the continuation afterăIâll wait for you in the futureăăYes, Iâll come at once, Iâll come running.ăwill end once you get another man, Makoto. The thing called love in reality isnât something so good or romantic. Therefore, isnât it fine to like who you like and dislike who you dislike? At this rate, youâre going to lose in life.â
âNah, although Makoto is Makoto there, itâs not Makoto⊠Iâm not time leaping⊠though Iâm transported.â
Please read at the translatorâs site or the hosted site, moonbunnycafe.
As expected of Subaru nee-san. It seems like her dating experience isnât just for show.
Iâve never come to like anyone, much less dated anyone. Iâve only read romance games, novels or manga. Therefore I took the thing called love too seriously and romanticized it too much.
Perhaps itâs as Subaru says.
Although Soutarou and Prince say they like me now, they may completely forget the trivial me once I return to the other side, fall in love with someone again, marry and have children. Perhaps the feelings of love for me is just that.
Becoming 3rd-years, everyone may continue to live normally in a world without me.
I know this is selfish at this late hour, however.
Thatâs, incredibly, lonely⊠So lonely that I want to cry.
âI see⊠Thatâs persuasive, nee-san.â
âSo?! So, who do you like, Mako?!!â
My shoulders quiver in surprise at the Subaru who comes biting all of a sudden and so intensely that sheâs drooling.
Unable to keep up with the serial development as though the serious development until now was a lie, I was unable to give an answer.
âIs it Soutarou, as expected⊠Heâs your closest friend. Although the development of the heroineâs brother NTRing the heroine Mitsukiâs Prince is heart-throbbing, it must be Soutarou after all. Isnât it, Mako?! Hey, isnât it?! Or is Mako that type?! Even though Soutarouâs a doggy, heâs a beast in bed?!â
âI wouldnât know that!!â
Translator: nakimushitl
The fujoshi whose fever from Comiket has yet to settle, no, the goddess of rot fujoshi Subaru started unfolding her delusions while breathing roughly.
âEven though heâs usuallyăMako, Mako, I like you~ I like you~ woof woof, Masteră, fromăI canât endure either, MakoâŠătoăHey, tell me clearly what you want, ⊠Makoto? This area has already turned soă, is it?? A seme who speaks gently? Right, then Mako, tooăBeep to my beepăcoughâ
âOi Subaru. Shut up, grovel and apologise to me.â
With the menu, I smacked Subaruâs head with all my strength.
Although she makes a racket loudly, the surrounding females are also clamouring while showing each other their Comiket spoils of war so it seems they canât hear us. Thatâs my only consolation.
Please read at the translatorâs site or the hosted site, moonbunnycafe.
âSigh, to think itâs the majorly sadistic normie seme⊠Thatâs right huh, I thought Makoâs the uke from the difference in physique but I forgot about Soutarouâs motherhoodâŠăWeâre gonna be separated even if you like me, Soutarou⊠Forget about me and find a new manăsays Makoto as he cries while hugging Soutarou. However, with Soutarouâs natural motherhoodăI finally became one with Makoto⊠and Iâm happy⊠Thereâs no way I can find someone newăăSoutarouâŠăăEhehe, Iâll always like youâŠ, Makoăis it that pattern?â
âAre you an idiot? Do you want to die?â
âIf Iâm going to die, Iâll die after seeing SouMako.â
I give a huge sigh to Subaru who makes a smart salute.
Iâm embarrassed at myself for immediately understand the meaning of SouMako.
Soutarou is certainly a good guy. Extremely. Iâm healed watching him and while sly, heâs cute. However, if asked whether thereâs love, I donât think so.
Translator: nakimushitl
âI never looked at Soutarou that way. Heâs a good guy though.â
âWhy? Donât you get along very well? Looking from the side, youâve long jumped over the frame of friendship. Iâm not just talking about Soutarou. Your behaviour is suggestive after all~â
My gaze unconsciously swim at the poisonous words.
âIf you ask whether I want to kiss or have intercourse with Soutarou, itâs no. There are many things I want to do with Soutarou, more than those. Wanting to hang out, being together on Christmas or New Year, feelings of that sort are much stronger.â
âYou⊠Isnât that called âLikeâ? Going âLetâs have sex!â when youâre not dating, thatâs not it, right? Although I think love of that sort exists too, doesnât liking begin from wanting to be together?â
âBut itâs the same for Prince and Kaname too. I want to be with them. I donât think that regarding Soutarou alone.â
Please read at the translatorâs site or the hosted site, moonbunnycafe.
The more I think, the more confused I get.
So love was such a troublesome thing. I thought it was more romantic and fun. However, it wasnât. 1 plus 1 equals to 2, it isnât something so easy to get an answer from. Itâs a difficult thing where you find a way to break many formulas so that 1 plus 1 can become 3.
Everyone had been doing such a difficult thing. Theyâd been searching for a way to love, that you canât learn from games, novels or manga.
âYou have to find it in the remaining 3 months then. Mitsuki-chan managed to find it without borrowing your help so you can probably find it too.â
âItâs too difficult for an unpopular woman.â
âYou arenât an unpopular woman anymore, right? Youâre a splendid winner in life.â
She can say it so easily, thinking itâs someone elseâs business.
Asking a beginner in love like me to face off epitomes of winners in life like them, what a brute. However, to her who brought forth those incomparably lovely existences who are irreplaceable to me, no amount of thanks is enough.
âItâs Makoâs turn next. Heart-throb Love Revolution, Makoto version!â
Translator: nakimushitl
âWasnât Heart-throb Love Revolution an otome game?â
âUnexpected things happen in love~. Well, please consult me if you like someone. Iâm the creator after all. The capture method will be a piece of cake!â
She says such a carefree thing while stopping the waiter and asking for water.
âYouâre gonna use it as material for doujin, right?â
âGulpâ
Please read at the translatorâs site or the hosted site, moonbunnycafe.
âIâll DEFINITELY not consult you.â
I didnât think Iâd come to like someone in this world.
I didnât think Iâll come to like someone, so much.
[1] Just to clarify, they arenât siblings. Makotoâs just calling her that as a form of ârespectâ or kinda like an inside joke.
[2] Parody of animate (animeito) that sells anime goods.