Prologue
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The blue sky scattered with fluffy clouds resembled that of a bottom tier visual novel made by college students who sacrificed their grades and reputation by spending their precious time desperately trying to make their degenerate game actually playable. And then fail, as they realize it takes actual effort to create said game, so they settle on writing a novel instead...

Cicadas were blessing the ears of people passing by with their repeatable cacophony and the air seemed to be rippling gently near the oven-hot asphalt. Ah yes, the typical Japanese summer with the heat and humidity levels exceeding the unspoken horrors of an anime convention. 

Heroes who’d willingly stand proud in the scorching sun of that day were few and far between. I, however, stood my ground as the proper man I wish I actually was. For the reason of my sacrifice was not to be belittled…

Hi, my name is Hiro Chikakane and welcome to Jacka- Or rather, welcome to the story of my boring life. As you might expect, I’m a normal guy with no redeeming features whatsoever, uncharacteristic to the point that if I were a light novel protagonist, you’d wish my best friend was the main character instead. The only thing that’s ‘unusual’ about me is the fact that… Ever since I remember I’ve been a filthy weeb. Shounen, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, you name it. No matter the genre, I could be considered something of a scientist. I used to be the weird guy that knew every opening song from every seasonal anime and tormented his fellow weebs with useless trivia. ‘Hey, did you know that that one scene in that niche loli-vampire anime where the girl lifts a road roller is actually a motherfucking J*Jo reference?’... Yeah, you get the point. 

The world of anime, manga and games is the place where I belong. Or so it was until recently. This year I graduated high school and finally realized that I’m a total failure of a human being not capable of having any successful social life. I decided it needed to change, although inside I didn’t feel like abandoning my true degenerate self. Deep down I still wanted to be that same godforsaken loser fueled by energy drinks and cute anime girls, doing nothing but binging all of my favorite, cliché-packed rom-coms for the hundredth time. Is there any way that I could be both? Is there a way that I could become the mythical being that is the not-socially-impaired weeb?

Sure seems impossible. Especially for someone that has fallen so deep into the anime/manga rabbit hole that it basically became his whole point of existence. 

Now, however... 

“Hi, sorry for being late! You haven’t been waiting for too long, have you?”

“Oh, there you are. Don’t worry about it. Let’s get going.”

“Yeah!”

The spark of hope for the better tomorrow has been bestowed upon me by the gods that must’ve been tired of watching how miserable I am. Yes. I, The Hentai Master, The Prince of Ecchi and The Undisputed Lord of Questionable Taste, actually managed to find myself a girlfriend!

Sakura, or as she prefers, Saki Mikazuki. Even though she’s a year older than me, we actually both are first year students at our local university. She’s quite a stereotypical Japanese beauty - long, dark hair with a dense fringe and a soft-looking face decorated with brown, gentle eyes. She wasn’t particularly short or child-like for a Japanese girl, but foreigners could easily mistake her for a middle schooler.
A contemporary
Yamato Nadeshiko, in short. 

I got really lucky, I must admit. And so far, it’s going surprisingly smooth. I’m happy with her and she seems happy with me. She’s always eager to ask me about my day and listens to what I have to say with huge enthusiasm. It’s almost unbelievable that a girl like this is so much into me. 

Have I mentioned the boobs? Yeah, they’re great too. The one thing that I’m not entirely sure about though…

“Hey, I’ve watched that anime about the spirit girls and the guy that needs to date them! It was pretty good, I’m glad I gave it a shot after all!“

“Is that so…”

Even though I promised myself not to burden her with my past ‘hobbies’, I just couldn't stop myself from talking about it. She’s now been corrupted with my love for anime. Though reluctantly at first, she’s slowly been falling deeper and deeper into the abyss and instead of rescuing her from the darkness, I’m the one that keeps shoving her further inside the infinite chasm. And she no longer seems mad about it.

“Is something wrong?” Saki asked, most likely referring to the ambiguous tone in which I responded a second ago.

“No, no… I just… I just thought that you really got into anime after all. Even though you were quite reluctant at first.” To say the least.
I could swear she was not only troubled, but rather disappointed when I spilled the beans about being an otaku.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you back then! I just… how do I put it? Didn’t have the greatest experience with people that were into anime, that’s all…” She responds quickly and confidently, like a proper diplomat.”

“I seriously thought you were gonna dump me on the spot.”

“I couldn’t do such a thing! You’re my b-boyfriend, after all…”

“Yeah, but it was like our third day together.”

“Still!”

“If you say so. But yeah, I didn’t expect you to ask me for anime recommendations the very next day.”

“…T-That’s because I wanted to get to know what you like!” Her voice was filled with care, rather than irritation.

I answered her with a faint smile. The truth is, I went full-weeb mode when she asked about what she should watch. I went on a 30-minute tangent about my favorite waifus. Yeah, get a load of this guy. Thanks to some miracle, she wasn’t even put off. Hell, she even seemed to be getting more and more interested as I was explaining why Rika is better than Hifumi.

“…” We take a small break from talking and I get the chance to admire her beauty. Her long, dark hair was swaying gently in the hot air following the same motion as the hem of her white skirt. The combination of  her calm, clever eyes,  delicate smile and sun rays peeking through the trees’ leaves was almost surreally beautiful… 

Despite convincing myself that it’s all in the past, her eagerness once again awakened the demons I’d tried to seal, after all. The weeb ‘me’ was getting reincarnated. Plus, I have to say, I never expected that having an otaku girlfriend would turn out to be so much fun! Oh, thank you, my dark self, for still being there for me when I needed you.

“Hey.” She noticed that I had my head in the clouds and called out to me gently. “Was that one also the… what was it called again? ‘Sho- something’?”

“You mean ‘shounen’?”

“Yes, that one! You mentioned that there’s usually a lot of action and it's made for guys rather than girls.” She’s still quite new to this whole anime thing though. But she does learn fast.

“I guess you could say that it is a shounen… You see, the lines are quite blurry when it comes to the genre.”

“Is that so…? Well, nevermind. It was fun, that’s the important thing!”

“Exactly” - A smile creeped its way up my face once again. I felt understood. And proud. Like an old Xiao-Lin monk watching his disciple slowly becoming a master himself.

“Fufu, you’re so cute when you smile! You even blushed a bit!”

Crap, I got carried away.

“Sh-shut up, you’re the cute one here.”

“...”

Take that! A hint of red suddenly painted her cheeks. Before I noticed, she went in for one of her signature surprise hugs.

“Thank you, Hiro…”

“A-ah, yea, sure…”

That goddamn smile. It's too much for my virgin ass… Yup. Still a virgin. These things take time, you know? It’s not like we got hooked up at some college party and didn’t sleep together only because of my drunk friend, who busted into the room just in time to stop us… No, not at all…

Even though we’ve been ‘going out’ for nearly two months, it’s our first real date. We haven’t even kissed yet. Well, we kind of have. A lot actually. Back at that party, so I wouldn’t count that. Neither of us was fully aware of what was going on. But yeah, other than that, we still haven’t surpassed the hand holding and hugging phase. 

“…”

“…”

Damn, I’m too nervous. Just as I thought, a date is still a challenge for an otaku of my degree. What should I do? All I can talk about now is anime… Ah, whatever, might as well give it a shot at this point.

“Sooo, who was your favorite character?”

“Huh? In that spirit-girls show? Hmm, I really liked the protagonist! He was so brave and caring”  …For real? He was literally the most dense MC ever. “Just like you!”

“… Thanks, I guess…”

That hurt. I’d been mocked by her before that I looked like a typical protagonist (which she didn’t need to watch a lot of shows to notice), but being compared to one of the worst cliché bastards with non-existent personality hit even harder.

“And who did you like the most?”

“That’s a difficult one… I was fond of most of the girls, but let’s go with Natsuko.” 

“Oh, is that so…?” She seemed let down.

“Something’s wrong?”

“No, no. It’s just… I honestly found her a bit annoying, that’s all.“

Okay, hold up. I know she’s my girlfriend, but that doesn’t mean she can trash-talk my waifus.

“Seriously? Her double personality was adorable. A cute loli that needs to be protected on the one hand, and the ‘Ara ara’ onee-san type on the other, what’s not to like?”

“…”

I might’ve gone a little bit overboard there. She probably didn’t even understand a thing I was saying. I have to control my inner weeb some more, so that he doesn't jump out with that kind of stuff. 

“I don’t know, she just seemed to be playing the victim and kept relying on others, don’t you think?”

“That’s what made her appealing.”

“Huh, is that so?”

Yeah, despite convincing her to give it a shot, it seems that our tastes still differ quite a bit. I obviously started by recommending her some of the mainstream stuff, even if personally I’m not all that much into those kinds of shows. My true favorites are not exactly what you’d expect a beginner to watch… Yes, the genre that holds a special place in my heart is the school rom-com harem genre. And I’m especially fond of the terrible ones. I just can’t help but consume one after the other, despite knowing exactly what’s going to happen. All those repetitive, unambitious animes, mangas and most infamous of all, light novels with stupidly long titles with your standard cast of The Transfer Student Main Girl™, The Tsundere Childhood Friend™, The Not-related-by-blood Younger Sister™ and so on. Instead of developing hatred towards all the clichés I’ve grown to enjoy them like some kind of a filthy masochist.

But Saki doesn’t know about that yet. That side of me could actually put her off. I already took a great risk by telling her to watch the show we were talking about just now. Its aesthetic is dangerously close to those godforsaken rom-coms. Fortunately there’s also a lot of action and a somewhat coherent plot, which I’ve noticed she enjoys a lot. I’ll have to let her know eventually, but for now I should give her a rest from those types of shows before coming out to her about my actual trash taste. She said she enjoyed the anime, true, but I’m never 100% sure whether she really means that or she just doesn’t want to disappoint me.

“… But because I watched this show I didn’t have enough time for the Rabu-Rabu Gakusen... Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s me that’s buying a figurine from the show anyways. It’s not like you need to have watched it to go with me.”

“I guess you’re right… But I’ll watch it next week, I promise!”

“Haha, if you say so.”

That’s right. For our first date I’m taking Saki to an anime merch store… So that I can buy a figurine of my favorite character… for myself… Pathetic. But when I mentioned it jokingly, she agreed without slightest hesitation. ‘Rabu-rabu Gakusen’, or ‘RabuGaku’ is somewhat similar to the show she said she finished watching. Yes, it is action-packed, but it’s also based on a run-of-the-mill rom-com ecchi harem light novel. Think of school girls battle-royaling it out so they can win the MC’s heart... So, yeah, I’d really prefer her passing on that one for now. But I guess trying to explain it would just make things even worse. I’ve also been playing the console game of the franchise for a few years now, which she also is yet to discover. Basically, I’m a psycho-fan of the series. And when I've heard that my local merch store had the new, limited edition figurine of my number one waifu from my number one favorite anime/light novel/game I just knew it was a sign from the God of the Rom-Com Harem Animes and that I had to get it as soon as possible. Goodbye, money that was hard-earned by my mom, who still supports me financially and has no idea that I’ve been wasting it on big anime tiddies. Forgive me mother for I have sinned.

“Oh, I didn’t know there was such a pretty shrine around here.” As we were walking down the road we came across quite an infamous Shinto shrine.

“Oh right, you didn’t really have a reason to visit this part of town up until now, did you?”

“Yeah, I’ve never been to this neighborhood.”

Saki living on the opposite side of the city might’ve been the reason as to why it took us so long to finally go on a proper date. The classes are a pain in the neck and by the end of the day neither me nor Saki have enough sanity left. We just end up walking to the train station together and then we part. This makes her agreeing to the idea even more surprising. She was willing to take multiple trains and waste more than an hour of her time just to accompany me on the way to the weeb-shop. What an absolute angel she is.

“It’s quite a peculiar one, actually.” I say after both of us stop on the sidewalk to admire the beauty of classic Shinto architecture.

“The shrine?”

“Yup. A few years ago the daughter of the Shinto priest passed away from a sudden illness. It was quite a shock for the whole neighborhood.”

She was also the shrine maiden, as the whole family was in charge of taking care of this place. You could call it something of a family business.

“I had no idea…”

“Well, it’s not like it made the headlines or anything. Although the bad news eventually reached everyone living in the vicinity.“

“...Sorry for being so excited earlier. I feel a tad guilty now…” Saki’s expression saddened in an instant.

“No worries. It’s been a long time since then. Besides, look. The place isn’t rundown or anything. I suppose the parents of the girl have gotten over her death and keep up with their work.”

“‘Suppose’? You don’t come here anymore?”

Yeah… Not really. The last few years I was at my peak performance as an otaku and so I didn’t really attend any Shinto events. I would even skip the Matsuri. It’s not like I had anyone to go with after all.

“Nah, I’m not the type to stroll around the neighborhood often. Besides, the train station is in the opposite direction, isn’t it?”

“I guess so. So you haven’t seen these people since… then?”

“I’ve seen the father once or twice after that, but I’ve never spoken to him. It’s not like we were friends or anything.” It’s true that the family was generally liked and respected, but that doesn’t mean everyone was close with them.

“So you didn’t know that girl very well either?”

“Same as with the rest of the family.. I just knew she was the shrine maiden, that’s all.
I remember her more or less from all the events I used to attend with my parents when I was younger.”

“What was she like?” Saki seemed moved by the story. She is super compassionate to others after all. She must’ve felt sorry for the whole family.

“I’ve only ever seen her during the events, so I can’t say what she was like in private, but…” I try to recall the vague memories from my childhood. Nothing in particular pops into my mind. Only the general stuff. “She always seemed very passionate about her duties. She was still a kid, maybe 3 or 4 years older than me, but she did her best every time I saw her perform. She had this vibrant yet cold aura surrounding her. Like, you could clearly see she enjoyed herself, but nonetheless remained calm and focused. Quite impressive for someone who was probably forced into doing it by their family.”

As silence filled the suburban air, Saki tightened her grip on my hand. She couldn’t avert her eyes from the shrine. She was looking concerned, as if something was bothering her.

“Hiro, would you mind-”

“Want to go and pray?”

“Yeah… if that’s okay with you.”

“Sure.“

 

 

Few minutes pass by as Saki and I pray in silence by the shrine’s bell. I’m not very religious myself, so I just ask for general well-being and health without any deeper thought. Saki, on the other hand, seems to be really passionate about it. Judging by the conversation we had she’s probably asking the gods to look after the deceased maiden’s soul.

I was done with my not-so-honest prayer and waited for Saki to finish as well.

“...”

The afternoon sun was coating Saki’s face gently, making her resemble the main character of an impressionistic painting. She looked like
a proper Japanese maiden herself, praying to the gods for a better tomorrow. Beautiful…

In moments like those I can’t help but wonder. What does she see in me? Not that I’m complaining. Quite the opposite, really. It’s just that I’m not particularly good looking, confident or funny. I’m simply average. ‘Like a rom-com harem’s MC’, as Saki pointed out. It makes me worry a bit. While it’s true that Saki came to like the anime culture thanks to me, she did mention that she wasn’t fond of it beforehand, which only makes it more peculiar that I got her into it with such ease. Anyways, she says she enjoys all the shows I recommend, and it’s not as if I don’t believe her. I simply have this nagging feeling that our taste differs a lot and the only common ground are the types of shows she’s been consuming up to this point. Which is far from my favorite. I’d love to open up more, but now it’s just too much of a risk. I don’t want to see her disappointed in me again, as she was at the very beginning, when I told her I was an otaku. I can't shake off this feeling that both of us are being forced to watch not exactly the thing we’d like to. Me - in a sense of genre and Saki - in the sense of the medium as
a whole. She does seem much more ‘normal’. The person you’d rather expect to be into books and TV shows, rather than light novels and anime.

As I was slowly getting lost in my worried thoughts, my whole view suddenly became pitch-black. But not because I fainted or went blind all of a sudden. I felt a sense of warmth on my face. My body stiffened up in an instant. What the hell is going on?

“Guess who’s that!” 

From right behind, I heard a deep, manly voice completely not fitting the childish words it spoke. There’s only one person in this world capable of creeping up on a praying person, covering their eyes from behind acting like a playful 6 year old.

“It’s rude to interrupt a prayer, don’t you think? Hayato?”

“Hee? What are you saying, Hero? You were just staring at Saki-chan, not praying~”

“Wha-”

You bastard. 

“…!” Saki came back to Earth in an instant after hearing Hayato’s statement.

“I- I wasn’t staring at her! Just thinking about… stuff… And who the hell calls their friends ‘Hero’? Seriously, cut it out.”

“Is that so?. But I won’t stop calling you that. You are a Hero after all~. To get your life together so fast, it really is amazing, don’t you think? You got yourself a cute girl, started working out and living healthily… As your old pal, I’m proud!”

“Eh…”

That bulky dude that could probably snap my bones with one hand easily, calling me ‘Hero’ (Very funny, by the way) is my childhood friend with whom I recently got back in touch, Hayato Oogawa. I met him at the gym when I first started working out a few months back. We haven’t seen each other since elementary school, so that was quite a shock. Good thing that he recognized me, because he himself… Let’s just say he got a lot manlier. And bigger. The guy was just an absolute unit of a man. His out of the ordinary height and short, curly hair made him look anything but Japanese, making his appearance even more bizarre.  We’ve gotten back in touch at last.

“How you doing, Saki-chan?” Hayato, being the talkative type, quickly changed his focus to Saki.

“Ah, I’m fine, thanks. What are you doing here at this time of the day? Aren't you usually working out on Saturday afternoon?” 

“Right, you see, I forgot to renew my membership and I didn't have any money on me, so they wouldn’t let me in, ha ha.”

Typical Hayato. Not worrying about anything and just going with the flow. Sometimes I envy him.

“Anyway, I was just jogging by and saw you guys, sooo I decided to surprise you a little!”

“That’s not an excuse to act like a little girl. How come you look so manly and yet you’re so gay at the same time?”

“Who says I’m gay?”

“… You are gay.”

“Say what you want, but this week 6 different girls asked for my number at the gym~” Damn you and your sexy bod- Wait… Maybe I’m gay?

“Speaking of which, I haven’t seen you at the gym lately, everything’s alright?” Crap, he got me.

“Ah, right, I was… a bit busy lately…” Yeah, with watching anime, reading novels and fantasizing about my girlfriend. But I can’t say that as an excuse. It’s true I’ve been falling back into my old addiction and skipping work out in the process, though.

“Heee, is that so?” He sent suggestive looks towards me and Saki while saying that.

“...” Bright red blush suddenly appeared on Saki’s troubled face. I need to take a mental screenshot of that.

“Cut it out, you’re making Saki imagining stuff.”

“Sorryyyy. Oh right, how’s your ankle, Saki-chan? Still can’t come visit the club?”

“Ah, yeah, it might take a few more weeks until I can practice again… But once it’s alright, I’m definitely coming!”

“I’ll be waiting! Heard you were a beast in high school!”

“Ahaha, I guess so.” She sounded a bit troubled, but somewaht grateful for the compliment, at the same time.

“Oh yeah, you did mention you were doing karate.” I remind myself of a conversation we had the other day. Saki was apparently going to go to an international tournament, if not for the unlucky injury which is taking a lot longer than expected to heal fully.

“It’s a shame we can’t really meet on the campus, I get lonely without you guys!”
6 different girls asked for his phone number this week and he still needs us not to feel lonely?

“That’s what you get for choosing some niche dietetics course.” I tease him slightly over the fact that me and Saki are attending a different, much more popular curriculum and thus we don’t see each other often in-between lessons.

“Don’t be so mean, Heeroooo~”

“Anyways, we kinda are on a date, sooo…” I try to get rid of him before he sticks to us like an annoying tick that ruins your summer holiday.

“Oh, don’t worry about me! No need to hold back~”

…You dense motherf-

“We- we’re actually on our way to an anime merch store, so it’s not really something you’d be interested in anyway, right?” Nice one, Saki.

“Hey, don’t underestimate me! I’ve watched some of the stuff that Hero keeps talking about!”

“You’ve only seen J*Jo.”

“Exactly! And it was great!”

It was somehow completely predictable to me that he’d enjoy a show about muscular guys punching the shit out of each other with magic breathing and ghosts. Now that I think about it, it’s actually the only show all three of us have seen and enjoyed.

“Okay, we’ll be going then. See ya around.” I grab Saki’s hand forcefully and pull her away from Hayato and the shrine.

“Hey, wait wait wait~. Let’s at least go to the store together. I’ll leave you alone after we get there~”

“...” I quickly glance at Saki to see her reaction and hopefully make out what she’s thinking about all this. Yup, seems as if she doesn’t have any patience left to argue either.

“Eh, whatever. Fine. Come on.” I say with no emotion whatsoever.

“Yay! I knew you’d never let me down, Hero!” Dear God, what is wrong with him?

As me and Saki surrender our right to some time only for ourselves, the three of us leave the infamous shrine behind and head for the merch store.

 

 

After around 10 minutes of walking and putting up with Hayato’s annoying small talk, we reach our destination…

The Land of Broken Dreams, The Tenth Circle of Hell, The God-forsaken Limbo. Absolutely stunning. And in the window - The One Waifu to Rule Them All stood tall on display. As I gazed upon the shining excellence of my beloved Rika I felt the other love of my life squeeze my hand tighter. My sight turned to Saki. She blessed me with a picturesque smile as her gentle as ever voice reached my ears.

“You look so happy! I’m glad we got to go on a date like this.”

She’s just too pure. Even though it clearly isn’t the date of her dreams - taking into account that not only did we go to buy an anime figurine, but also ended up being accompanied by another dude - she still acts as if it was the best she’s ever been on.

“Saki…”

“* staaaaaaaaaare *”

“…”

“…”

“… Something wrong, Hayato?”

“Hm? No, not at all. I was just thinking how absolutely adorable you two are, that’s all~”

“Eh…”

“Oh boy, I’m so glad I invited both of you to that party! I heard rumours that you guys were totally into each-other but never actually talked, so I decided to help you get to know one-another a bit better~” Both me and Saki blushed once again. 

…Was it so obvious for everyone around that I had a crush on Saki since day one of college? I personally didn’t notice that she liked me, but oh well, maybe I’m even denser than Hayato. 

After the unexpected, and honestly, quite embarrassing news, I somehow manage to channel my resolve and regain composure. I put on
a determined face as I look at Saki in the fashion of a shounen protagonist ready to set off into the next chapter of the story - We nod at each-other and without saying a single word, dash towards the intersection dividing us from the store, leaving Hayato behind.

“Hey, wait, what are you doing?!”

We stop in the middle of the pedestrian crossing and turn back to Hayato calling out for us in perfect synch.

“We’re about to make my dream come true!” I shouted confidently, feeling as if I was possessed by some supernatural power.

Feeling like a superhero that just said the coolest thing ever, I flip my imaginary cape and start walking towards the store again. 

However, a familiar sound of a car engine stopped me in my tracks… Hehe, get it? Cause like, to stop somebody in his tracks, and the thing coming is-

“The truck! Watch out!" Hayato screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Wha-” Before I had the chance to look around I felt a strong push on my back. As I was flying inertly towards the other side of the road
I saw with the corner of my eye a truck coming full-speed towards Saki, who was stuck in the middle of the street after pushing me away.

“Saki!” Me and Hayato call out to her in terror.

“…!”

However…

 

It seems like it’s too late.

All of a sudden I felt a powerful impact. Since I was numbly flying through the air, unable to break because of the shock, I ploughed into the bottom edge of a road sign with my forehead. My consciousness became hazy. I was now falling head first towards the rock-solid curb.

In the back, I heared the sound of the truck hitting something. Unable to look back, I brace myself for the inevitable contact with the curb.
I immediately lose the remains of my consciousness as I feel an unbearable, dull pain in the back of my skull.

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