Volume 1 - CH 1.2

Translated by: Seiryuu

Revised by: Chocolala

–The mighty Demon Lord was standing in front of me.

A large man wearing a black cloak. His red eyes were shining brightly through his skull mask, his magic power destroying everything in its path. A monster that hates the human world and wields its power to destroy mankind. Sometimes he is defeated, sometimes he defeats, and he is my sworn enemy with whom I have fought a fierce battle over the world.

And so, today, the time has finally come for me to face this man.

“Oh, crap. I can’t use that magic at this time. Can I recover in time……?” I was heated up, and I operated the controller while muttering to myself. As the orchestral arrangement of the OP song played in the background, I continued to fight off the enemy’s attacks.

‘All right, I’ve got the anti-buff!’ I managed to get the party back on track and launched an all-out attack against the Demon Lord. The enemy’s health gauge began to decrease at a tremendous rate.

’Almost there……! Almost there……!’ 

The tense battle went back and forth, but I gradually began to gain the upper hand. And finally, the Demon Lord’s stamina dropped to zero.

“Yeah!” I unintentionally struck a gutsy pose.

The demon lord disappeared, leaving behind a desperate cry, and the ending movie began. My heart was filled with a pleasant sense of fatigue and accomplishment, and the excitement of seeing a happy ending.

“That was a great game……”. As I stretched my back, my spine made a nice crunching sound.

I looked at the credits roll with the staff names rolling down while savoring the lingering excitement, and when I saw the three letters ‘END’ at the end, I laid down on my bed feeling refreshed. When I looked at the time, it was three in the morning.

Even though I had school tomorrow, I got too absorbed in the game.

After all, RPGs are great. The excitement of being the main character and the sense of accomplishment of having saved the world he lives in. It was such an exceptional happiness. I’d like to indulge in this lingering sensation a little longer, but I had to go to bed soon. 

However, I was not sure if I could sleep with the excitement of saving the world still fresh in my mind. I picked up my phone and decided to kill time until I felt calmer.

After five minutes of surfing the net, I found myself looking at the game section of a shopping site, probably due to my RPG addiction.

“Oh, I didn’t know this game has a second installment… What a good chance,since I am already here, let’s buy.”

I found a sequel to a game I’d played before and decided to order it.

On the order confirmation screen, I saw a common ad that said, ‘If you bought this product, you might also like this!’; there was a game that caught my eye.

“Isn’t this ‘Robobus 2R’…….?” 

Robot Buster was an RPG series that was popular when I was in elementary school. It had been developed into an anime and a manga, but it gradually lost popularity when the main character was replaced and the series went downhill.

However, the ‘Robobus-2R’ that came out a few years ago was still considered a masterpiece and combined with its low production numbers, it was selling at a premium price in the market.

“Wow, 35,000 yen? That’s more expensive than the last time I saw it.” 

I really wanted to play this game, both for the memories and for evaluating this masterpiece, but 35,000 yen was too much for a high school student. I wondered how many other games I could buy with 35,000 yen…… Mmmm. I had been struggling with this for about a year now, and I was still struggling with it today.

“……Should I buy it when it’s a little cheaper?” In the end, I decided to postpone it as usual and ended my struggle there as I closed my eyelids, letting the drowsiness take over me.

The next day.

As expected, I overslept a bit and ended up going to school later than usual. I had no choice. It was the price I paid for saving the world, I would just have to live with it. I walked along the empty path to school, feeling a little like I owned the place, and slipped into the gate just in time to be late.

That was when I opened the shoebox.

“……?” There was something like a letter on top of my shoes.

A pale light blue letterhead with a girlish vibe. I had a slightly bad feeling about it, but I couldn’t leave it there, so I read the contents.

“A letter of a challenge! After school today, wait for me at the same place as yesterday! From your future girlfriend.”

“I don’t want to go to……” In an instant, the face of that annoying Riaju

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lady came to mind, making me feel very naïve2 in the morning.

But if I didn’t go, it was going to be more trouble than it’s worth. I couldn’t imagine that the thick-skinned narcissist would back down just because I ignored her. Rather than procrastinating, it would be better for my mental health to get it over with.

I let out a deep sigh, put the letter in my bag, and walked out. When I reached my classroom with heavy steps, I was greeted by a lively atmosphere. Since I arrived later than usual, it seemed that all my classmates were already there.

In the midst of all this, I entered the classroom, but not a single student called out to me. There were only a few who took a glance at me and looked away when they saw my face.

This scene of a serene morning was just like any other day of a loner. However, amid that, I accidentally noticed one meaningful gaze casted over here. It was Yuzu Nanamine, who was happily conversing with her friends in the center of the Riaju group. She looked at me for a moment, somewhat smiled, and then quickly turned away.

“As I thought, it was her……” I felt like clicking my tongue as I took my seat. I took out my phone and began to read an e-book…… However, the gaze just now lingered in my mind, so my attention was naturally drawn to the conversation of the Riaju group.

“Hey, aren’t Sota late? Is he still at morning practice?” What I heard was the voice of another girl in the same group as Nanamine. She was fidgeting with her fingers, twirling the ends of her long hair dyed in yellowish light brown, and her perfectly made-up face was looking around for someone.

If I’m not mistaken, she is called ‘Kotani Aki’. I had never talked to this person before, but she stood out so much that I naturally remembered her name.

“Yeah. He’s excited because he might become a regular player. You know, the third-year students have retired from the club.” One of the boys in the same group answered her question.

“Hmm… So that’s why he’s not hanging out much with us lately.” Kotani pouted his lips with a little dissatisfaction.

Seeing that, Nanamine patted Kotani’s back to encourage her. “If Sota gets to be a regular, let’s go support the game… Sota would also be happy if he’s cheered on by Aki.”

“Re-ally?” Kotani mumbled as if she was shy by what Nanamine said.

“Guu…” I groaned in spite of the dazzling exchange.

‘Oh no, I’m looking directly at the refreshing youthful love story of the Riajus. It’s too bright, I’m going blind!’ 

It was like they were plastering the fact that they were the main actors in this story of adolescence for everyone to see, shining with a light that I couldn’t hope to defeat. I once again cast my eyes down on my smartphone.

“Well, Yuzu. I’ve prepared what you asked for yesterday.”

“Really? Thank you, Keigo. Wasn’t it hard to find?”

“No, my senior just happened to have it…… But I’m surprised you want this. Are you going to play it yourself?”

“No, not really.”

Even though my eyes were on my smartphone, I naturally picked up their voices. However… 

That Nanamine, she was not showing any of the narcissism she showed me yesterday. She was just being a normal girl who was considerate. 

Well, if she’s been showing off such a strong personality to the people around her normally, I should’ve heard such rumours whether I like it or not; considering that there were none of it, I suppose she had been keeping up a harmless appearance when with others.

“…She plays the hypocrite quite well.”

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I sighed, then put my earphones on my ears and started playing BGM.

Seiryuu: I hope you like my translation! More parts will be posted soon! Liven up the comments and don’t forget to read The SS (Side Stories) Translated by chocolala, they are super cute and fun!

If you like my translation, consider sending Kofis to foxaholic including my name~

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