Chapter 322: The boy who should have been a minor character

322 – The boy who should have been a minor character

My overall impression of Yamada-kun, is that he’s ordinary. Both in Wakaba Hiiro’s memories and my memories from the current world.

In Wakaba Hiiro’s memories of Yamada-kun, he was a plain boy that you could find anywhere. Grades – average. Reflexes – moderate. Appearance – ordinary. A schoolboy without a single conspicuous factor – the very definition of ordinary. If he appeared in a story set in modern times, he would be a mob character who wouldn’t stand out from the background. That is Yamada-kun.

Well then, just where did Yamada-kun, who was an ordinary person in his previous life, end up in this life? He’s like a protagonist amongst protagonists. The prince of a major country. The biological younger brother of the Hero. Born with cheat level abilities, yet he still steadily put in effort without conceit. If the opportunity had arisen, even without his Hero title he would have become a considerably influential person amongst the humans of this world. Also, after taking over from his dead brother, he had the determination to stand up for the sake of the world as the Hero. It makes me want to sarcastically remark just how protagonist-like this all is.

However, Yamada-kun’s essence hasn’t changed. For better or worse, Yamada-kun is ordinary. Under normal circumstances, he’s not the sort of person who’d try to take the lead role in the middle of this huge stage. It would suit him to live outside of the stage, living a quiet and calm life. Without being the prince of a big country, without being the younger brother of the Hero, without his cheats. If he had been simply been born ordinary in this world, then most likely Yamada-kun would stayed a commoner and lived his life without incidents or poking his head into trouble I’m sure.

The reason why Yamada-kun became like a protagonist was because of the situation he was in. He was the prince of a major country. If it had just been that then it might have been fine. However, Yamada-kun was in a very delicate position. He was the child of a concubine with low standing. However, his elder brother was the Hero. In addition, the queen’s son was not good enough. Finally, Yamada-kun himself was a reincarnator. A genius is considered to be someone who demonstrates their greatness from a young age. What unfolded from there was, basically, something that frequently happens in storytelling.

With him being so capable, that’s probably why a faction appeared that wanted to push aside the first prince who was the son of the queen and raise up Yamada-kun to be the next king. Because the queen feared such a possibility, Yamada-kun didn’t receive proper education. However, the half-elf and muscle-woman who were his attendants took charge of his education instead. On top of that, because Yamada-kun was also a reincarnator he could grasp his position as a prince, so he was fortunate to be able to conduct himself appropriately by learning from the example of others. Completely betraying the queen’s expectations, Yamada-kun continued to be renowned as a child prodigy. On top of that, not allowing him to receive education backfired upon her instead – he was regarded as a child prodigy who exceeded the average despite not receiving a proper education.

It wasn’t something that he himself realised, but to others it would likely have been an awkward situation. Having the powerful support of his elder brother the Hero, he was called a genius. It was rather inevitable that the first prince got flustered. After all, even though Yamada-kun himself didn’t want it, it had became a situation where those around him were supporting him in that way. If Yamada-kun himself had been allowed to be educated properly, he wouldn’t have suffered the agonies that he did though.

「Sue, I cannot respond to your feelings. However, I will always be able to be at your side. As your brother. Is that so bad?」

......That was a pretty decent way to turn her down flatly.

「Onii-sama, I, I was......」

「The past cannot be changed. However, we are alive in the present. And, we are able to think about the future. Therefore, could you please consider a future of living together with me?」

......Eh? In a complete reversal from turning her down just now, doesn’t that now sound rather like a confession? Isn’t imouto-chan going to misunderstand due to the way you phrased that?

「Y, yes.」

Yep. Going by her beet red face, that finished off imouto-chan. And Ooshima-kun has an incredibly hard to describe expression on her face. Like this, I feel that the scene of carnage has simply been postponed, but well, whatever.

Translation notes:

In Japanese, telling someone of the opposite sex that you want to be with them for the rest of your lives can be taken as an indirect marriage proposal.