Volume 5 - CH 13

Beginning of a Tragic Scenario

“P,…….Pl!? Please be my friend!”

“Eh……?”

“Sasaki-san, you are super cute!”

Witnessing that scene unfold in the classroom, I felt extremely uneasy.

Isn’t this scene the one that takes place just before Eien-chan gets tossed down to the depth of despair!?

No good, at this rate Eien-chan will find nothing but misfortune.

This is just like [Breaking the Chain of Sadness] series.

Eien-chan started a conversation with Emi and they became friends.

During middle school, Eien-chan will consult Emi about her family because she believes that Emi is her friend.

But Emi is Hideyori’s slave.

Everything she told Emi was leaked to Hideyori.

Despite the fact that she was put through all kinds of terrible things, the protagonist Takeru was unable to notice the change in her and would know of nothing that happened between Hideyori, Emi, and Eien-chan until he entered her route in high school. Truly a useless protagonist.

At the time, the reason Hideyori did such a cruel thing to her was completely unrelated to his resentment for Takeru. The idiotic reason that he used to explain why he used his Gift on the 3 people of the Miyamura family was that [Because it’s funny].

To Eien-chan, the command he gave was [Use the knife to kill your father after he hit you twice.]

To her father, the command was [Give the house key that you confiscated from Towa to me. When your daughter comes home late and breaks the curfew, slap her cheek twice.]

To her mother, [On the day Towa breaks the curfew, stay in the living room. After Towa kills her father, blame yourself for what happened and hang yourself.]

Using his Gift, Hideyori created commands which automatically trigger the tragic scenario that destroy Eien-chan’s birdcage and subsequently her family.

It was such a depressing scenario with no way out that it’s one of the things that cultivated extreme hate for Hideyori and Emi.

Moreover, her memory of how [She killed her father] and the [involvement of Hideyori and Emi] were erased.

For her, her mother suddenly killed her father and committed suicide. It transformed her into a gloomy honor student character who does nothing but study.

Her sprite in the initial stage of the game depicted her as a heroine ridden with pain whose dead eyes no longer reflect any light.

Since I know what her heroine self looked like, I can infer from the fact that she still has such a lovely smile on her face that this is before the tragedy happened.

Furthermore, Eien-chan is a character whose eyes remain dead throughout the game except for when you enter her route or the harem route.

That’s why she’s a very popular heroine as there were many gentlemen who wished to protect her smile.

Besides, with the gap-moe between her gloomy self and her bright one, her destructive power was tremendous.

(TLN: Gap-moe: the adoration stemmed from the contrast in how a character usually behaves)

But that’s not important right now.

The problem here is Emi.

In the game, her reply was [Uwah, I’m so happy! Please, calling me Sasaki-san is too stiff, just use my first name!] or some such normie-wannabe reply.

Don’t do it, Emi.

I beg you, please give her a proper reply!

“Uwah, I’m so happy!”

Said Emi as she smiled at Eien-chan.

So even with the meddling from me and Tsugaru, it is still impossible to change the original story huh…….?

“……I’m happy you want to be my friend but I don’t know if I should take your hand.”

“Eh……?”

Eh……?

Emi’s reply is different from the original work…..?

Is she really diverging from the story right now?

Are we entering a route that was not in the game……..?

“No, it’s not that I hate Miyamura-san you know……it’s just, I’m afraid that if I take your hand I will regret it later……. It feels kinda like Deja Vu I think. I’m just worried that I might hurt you, Miyamura-san……..”

“……I don’t know why but I get a similar feeling too. I wonder what’s going on with me……it’s like I’ve seen this happen before……”

Is it the original work’s influence……?

A few years ago, there was a time that Emi saw her end on Risa route too.

Maybe it’s happening again?

I want to help them.

Both Emi and Eien-chan.

If I can keep the poisonous fang of the scumbag best friend away from them then they should be able to avoid the game’s tragic route.

“It’s okay!”

“Hideyori-kun…..”

“It will be fine…… I won’t let it happen. I won’t let Emi hurt anyone! I won’t let anything happen to Miyamura-san either. So it’s okay. Emi, don’t worry about a thing, and take Miyamura-san’s hand.”

“Okay! I got it!”

Emi answered with a determined expression.

“Let’s be friends, Miyamura-san!”

“Sasaki-san……, Akechi-san…… Yes! Please treat me well!”

It will be okay. I’m sure that there’s a way to get Miyamura-san out of her birdcage hidden somewhere.

For the time being, I will have to see how far the situation at her home has progressed first.

I still remember what happened in the original story.

She supposedly moved to this neighborhood to attend a new middle school I think.

“Miyamura-san, which elementary school did you graduate from again?”

“I, I just moved here from somewhere far away this spring…..even if I tell you the name, you probably won’t recognize it……”

Yes, that’s the same as the original story.

She didn’t want to be alone here so she called out to Emi.

It’s still in an early stage.

I should be able to influence her story as much as I want.

“I see. That must be tough…..I get how it feels when you don’t know anyone when you just moved.”

“Does Sasaki-san also have that kind of experience?”

“Yup. I moved to this town just before I started elementary school.”

Come to think of it, that was the case huh…….

Before I remembered my previous life, —–I was suffering at my uncle’s hands so I couldn’t care less who lived next door.

I wonder what kind of life I led before I remembered everything? Rather, I remember pretty much nothing from back then.

“But everyone around Hideyori-kun is a good person so I think Miyamura-san will fit right in.”

“Is, is that so…….I’m not good at talking with people though.”

“I’m the same.”

Emi and Eien-chan started giggling at each other.

……..so the development here is the one where we introduce Eien-chan to my circle of acquaintances……….?

I have to introduce Eien-chan to those weirdos……?

I’m starting to get anxious.