Volume 3 - CH 2

The Irregularity of Tsugaru Madoka

“Ohh, we’ve been waiting for you, Risa.”

“Nii-san……you don’t have to wait for us every time you know.”

If we hadn’t waited for her, I know that this brocon would get angry at her brother and stay in a bad mood for the rest of the day though.

Or so I remembered a scene like that from the love comedy that was the demo of [Breaking the Chain of Sadness].

“Hideyori-k~un, as I thought, I really can’t go on in a different class without you.”

“What’s this all of a sudden? You are being unreasonable you know……”

“As expected, you are talking about her aren’t you, Emi-san………”

“Who’s her?”

Even though this is the first time we were put into different classes, it’s my first time seeing Emi look so defeated like this.

Being the only one who knows the circumstances, Risa is comforting her by stroking her hair.

“Emi-san said hello to the classmate who’s got the seat next to hers but it seems she somehow knows both Nii-san and Akechi-san and she ended up saying a lot of cruel things to Emi-san.”

The heck is that, that doesn’t make any sense.

Since I don’t know anyone like that, this must be the work of our resident romantic comedy protagonist, no doubt about it.

“Oi, Oi, that’s scary, isn’t it! When did you meet a scary girl like that Takeru.”

“Haa!? There’s no way I know that kind of girl right!? It must have been someone Hideyori made cry in the past anyway right.”

“How the heck would I know someone like that! You’re the popular guy here right!”

“You are secretly popular yourself too you know!?”

“Stop fighting already!”

Risa stops Takeru while Emi stops me.

“M, me being secretly popular……, you’re just exaggerating it, man.”

“Saying I’m popular, you can’t trick me, dude……”

“You both seem to be happy about it though…….”

“You two really can’t have a serious fight with each other huh……”

I’m secretly popular huh…….

It seems I will have to ask him who he’s talking about later.

“So, what’s her name?”

“It’s Tsugaru-san. Tsugaru Madoka-san.”

“Nope, no clue over here.”

Even after Risa went [Really?] on Takeru, his answer was still [Seriously, I don’t know her].

She’s not among our former classmates either so it’s no wonder that he doesn’t recognize her name.

“Then what about Hideyori-kun?”

“I don’t think I’ve met her before……..”

I do know her though.

Although she’s one of the game’s characters, her position in it was rather a special one.

Unlike Risa who’s one of the heroines, she’s a supporting character who was quite close to Emi in the game.

Among the characters from [Breaking the Chain of Sadness], she’s the person that I am least vigilant about.

She’s an ordinary person who doesn’t have any dark shadows in her background setting.

She’s never been a victim of Hideyori’s evil deeds either.

No matter how cruel or miserable a route is, she’s in the safest position where she would not receive any harm whatsoever.

To put it simply, she’s a character that symbolizes the everyday life section of the game.

She stood out a lot in the romantic comedy part but she would be allocated to the back row seat when the story gets serious.

In other words, this character called Tsugaru Madoka’s role was to liven up the room.

Although [Breaking the Chain of Sadness] is usually perceived as a depressing series, its demo was quite up there in terms of school life romantic comedy.

It was this gap between light and dark that earned the series its fame.

Moreover, in case you got yourself a Bad End, you would get a mini section called [Mob-san’s Useful Information Corner] with Tsugaru as the host which completely breaks the immersion of the depressing atmosphere of the Bad End.

(TLN: Mob is a Japanese slang for minor characters)

Incidentally, since she was a girl who likes other girls in the game, she also served as a service character as she was close to Emi and Risa.

A character that I can just simply leave alone.

…..however, I can’t imagine a character like that saying cruel things to Emi.

Somehow, I feel like her action is diverging from the original script.

“So, what exactly did she say?”

“She said something about not wanting me to grasp her weaknesses.”

“She also said that she doesn’t want Emi-san to get her involved in finding Nii-san’s weaknesses.”

“That Hideyoshi-kun is behind my actions and that she’s scared of you.”

“She was saying something about a game and getting involved with something too I think.”

“What’s this about my weaknesses now though?”

The three were puzzled as they couldn’t make sense of anything.

“Maybe she’s just crazy?”

“Nii-san thinks so too?”

“It might be better if we stay clear of her then.”

The three proceeded with the conversation by themselves but my brain is now jammed packed with information.

Game? Getting involved? [Getting involved with the Game] huh.

“…….”

It seems that there’s an irregularity going on with this Tsugaru Madoka.

Eh, no way, this is too scary.”

“….Hideyori-kun, do you know anything?”

“I don’t, but well, I think I have some idea of what Tsugaru-san is going through.”

“Eh? You do?”

“She must be having some kind of paranoid delusion right. It’s probably a lost cause trying to get along with her you know.”

Or so I say.

Tsugaru Madoka was not on my radar since she’s only a supporting character but if I have to be honest right now, she’s now at the top of my list of dangerous individuals.

“Let’s just go home.”

Should I try probing about her?

Guess I should huh.

Now I have one more thing to worry about.

“[Paranoid Delusion], [A lost cause], those are quite convenient words for you to describe someone aren’t they.”

“Uwah!?”

Without any sound, shadow, or any tell whatsoever, a girl suddenly appeared behind me.

She’s wearing a hairband decorated with a star, a scrunchie on her wrist, and long flowing beautiful hair.

Green-haired heroines are not really that popular though……, no it doesn’t matter since she’s not a heroine huh.

I have slightly brownish hair myself, Emi’s hair is chestnut color, while Takeru and Risa have black hair. The game’s characters I have met so far all have relatively realistic hair colors so my first impression of her is that she’s quite flashy.

That being said, there are a lot of heroines with white hair and pink hair that will appear throughout the game though.

“That green hair is quite flashy don’t you think.”

“Eh? It’s normal right?”

“……”

From Risa’s perspective, her hair seems to be a normal color even though it’s clearly green.

In other words, the inhabitants of this world do not share my previous life’s sensibility.

With that sinking in, the fact that this is a game world felt even more real to me now.

“T, Tsugaru-san……”

Emi immediately hid behind me.

Her gaze seem to be quite scary for Emi huh……..