Once again, at Y-ko’s house.
As I lazily gazed at the titles of manga packed into her bookshelf,
I noticed a familiar title: Saikano.
I read it in high school because I heard it was incredibly sad…
But all I really remember was that it was surprisingly sexy.
… Well, er.
I was at that kind of age.
Being unfamiliar with manga of that category, I found this experience very shocking.
| Y-KO: | Hmm? What’s up? |
| ME: | I’ve read this manga. This one here. That takes me back. |
| Y-KO: | Really? You’ve got good taste, sir. |
| How was it? Did you cry? |
| ME: | … Well, it was definitely moving. |
| Y-KO: | Hmph. You didn’t cry? |
| ME: | Unfortunately, it didn’t move me to tears. |
| Y-KO: | … You coldhearted brute. |
| ME: | So I’m coldhearted because I didn’t cry over a comic book? |
| Y-KO: | If you don’t cry over this manga, there is something wrong with you as a person! |
| I’ve read it dozens of times, and I still bawl my eyes out! |
| ME: | I’m just saying, I don’t know if that makes much sense… |
| Y-KO: | In fact, just reading the first chapter now reminds of the finale, and I cry!! |
| ME: | Okay, now I’m positive there’s something wrong with you… |
| Y-KO: | I’ve made up my mind! I’m going to give you a crash course in human emotions! |
| Soon you’ll be as passionate, heartfelt, and hot-blooded as anyone! |
| ME: | Hot-blooded…? |
She makes it sound like my attack power is about to be doubled.
| ME: | Anyway, how do you decide if a person is passionate or frigid based on their reaction to a manga? |
| Y-KO: | Well, how else are you going to judge? |
| ME: | Actually, I think there are plenty of better ways to determine that… |
| Y-KO: | Like whether or not you give your school lunch to an abandoned puppy on a rainy day? |
| ME: | Uh, wow… That is the corniest, most cliché idea I’ve ever heard… |
| Y-KO: | The problem is, sadly enough, I’ve never run across one of those mangalike situations in real life. |
| ME: | Can’t say I have, either. |
Plus, I thought they forbade taking home school food as a measure against food poisoning.
| Y-KO: | Also, in my experience, I’ve never run into a pretty girl carrying toast at a blind corner and later found out that she was a transfer student about to start at my school. |
| … In fact, I’ve never ever seen anyone running with toast in their mouth. |
| ME: | Oh, I’ve run with toast in my mouth before. |
| Y-KO: | Really? While shouting, “I’ll be late, I’ll be late”? |
| ME: | No, it was in a bread-eating race at a school competition. |
| Y-KO: | That’s completely different… |
| ME: | You know, there are lots of things that happen often in manga but never in real life. |
| Y-KO: | True… I’ve never been summoned to an alternate dimension to be a hero. |
| I’ve never snuck into a military lab and ridden on a secret weapon vehicle to escape. |
| Even though it was my childhood dream… |
| If it doesn’t happen soon, then I’m afraid that when it does happen, |
| I’ll be too late to be the main character age-wise. |
| I’d have to be the sexy support member. |
Heroes and top secret vehicles.
Honestly, if those are the most realistic examples you can come up with…
Doesn’t she have any fantasies that are even remotely plausible?
| ME: | To be picky, your weight might even exclude you from sexy support staff. |
| Y-KO: | …… Heh-heh-heh. |
| ME: | Ouch, ouch, ouch! Not my ear; that hurts! I’m sorry! |
She had dug her nails into my ear.
… It’s kind of a weird sensation…
Oh no. What if I get a taste for it?
| Y-KO: | But why does the pilot end up being an ordinary, innocent civilian? |
| And of course, the rival ends up being the main character’s childhood friend. |
| ME: | I’m sure they just used that to make the story exciting. |
| Y-KO: | By coincidence, the civilian protagonist’s colony is attacked. |
| By coincidence, the attacker is his friend; by coincidence, he gets in a combat vehicle; and by coincidence, he happens to have a special power— |
| ME: | Gundam SEED, right? |
| Y-KO: | —It’s an amazing setup. |
| The love that blossomed between the two enemies, Kira and Athrun, was so passionate. |
| ME: | Kira and Athrun…? |
I thought the romances were between Kira and Lacus and Athrun and Cagalli.
… Isn’t that right, Y-ko?
| ME: | You seem to have accepted the coincidences fairly readily… |
| Y-KO: | Well, it was coincidence that brought us together, too. |
| It’s a wonderful thing! |
| ME: | …… |
I wish she would have used the word fate…
Oh well, not that it matters.
| Y-KO: | Man, I wish I could ride a Gundam, even if it has to be by coincidence. |
| ME: | Your fantasies seem to have a very masculine edge to them. |
| Heroes, Gundam pilots, and so on. Don’t you have any feminine desires? |
I doubt she imagines herself working in a bakery or a patisserie.
… But if she does have them… what would they be?
| Y-KO: | Hmm? What, you want girlish ideas? |
| Of course, I’m like any girl. I’ve imagined that I was a princess in a past life. |
| ME: | A princess, huh? Well, it’s definitely more girly than Gundam. |
| Y-KO: | And in that past life, the hero came into my life. |
| ME: | And you lived happily ever after? |
| Y-KO: | No. That hero in the past life (male) and the evil sorcerer (male) experienced a burning, forbidden love… which I spied upon from the shadows. |
| ME: | Wow, that’s some epic BL! But if that was the case, where’s the necessity for you to be a princess in your past life? |
| Y-KO: | Silence, Sebas. There’s no point to having a past life if I’m not the main character. |
| But then again, speaking of heroes… |
| ME: | …? What is it? |
| Y-KO: | I get the feeling that in your past life, you were more of a Sebas than a hero. |
| In fact, I’m positive that you served my noble household. |
| ME: | … So I’ve been stuck in the same position since my previous life…? |
Should I be pleased that I at least haven’t been paired with the evil sorcerer (male)?
… But I digress. I see now that it’s been my fate to serve this person since my prior life.
Past life, present life, and I’d put good money down that in my future life I will be Sebas as well.
…… Huh? Strange, I feel happy about that?
| Y-KO: | But enough about me. What about you? |
| Don’t you think about that stuff? Outside of being a superhero. |
| ME: | Would you please just drop that topic, already? Please… |
| But of course, I have thought about that stuff before. |
| Y-KO: | I see. Please, elaborate. |
| ME: | … For example… Let’s see, like going out with an older lady and being cooked some delicious food. |
| Y-KO: | …… Ack. |
| ME: | Maybe going out with a mature lady and doing this… and that? |
| … Of course, that wasn’t all that long ago. In fact, I think of it often these days… |
| Y-KO: | …… Wh-what? |
| ME: | …… |
| Y-KO: | …… |
| ME: | …… |
| Y-KO: | …… |
—I was so young in those days…
| Y-KO: | What? Excuse me… What’s the deal?! Are you saying this is my fault?! |