Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata Vol 1 Chapter 2.2

Volume 1 
Chapter 2-2

Part 2

 
“Fuaaaah….”

By the time I had gotten home from work, eaten dinner, and gotten into the bath, it was already close to being a new day.

I eagerly flopped down onto the bed. Today had been really tiring…
To describe that tiredness, it was not the sort of slow and pleasant kind of tiredness you feel in your body after a busy day, but rather a mentally draining kind of tiredness, like a foggy feeling inside your head.

‘You know, during Spring Break, didn’t you pick up my beret? The white one.’

“Haaaa…”

The events of what had happened on the way home were floating through my head—

—the events of my reunion with the girl who ought to have been the fated main heroine, Katou Megumi.

‘Ah, I gave it to one of my younger relatives.’

“Haaaaaaaaa~~”

Even though all the coincidences up to this point ought to have converged into a chance encounter, this was anything but a falling-in-love scenario, instead being rather undramatic and surprisingly forced in terms of all the events so far.

The correct destined meeting for the prologue of a story, the impact of such an encounter, the pureness of such an image, none of this was anything special to Katou Megumi, the girl with an excessively plain reaction.

Despite our friendly and relaxed conversation, I did not approve of demolis.h.i.+ng her flag in such a complete manner.

‘My friends have said that I seem to leave somewhat of a light impression on people.’

Closing my eyes, I recalled the numerous expressions that had appeared on the face of the girl called Katou Megumi. For now, I am able to still remember that moment clearly as not even a month has pa.s.sed yet. You could say it’s similar to being able to vividly picture what happened only a few days ago.

“Ah, she’s cute though….”

It is exactly as I told her: she is without a doubt cute. This was neither flattery nor some cheap pick-up line.

One should not say that expressions are things that change frequently, but in this case I ought to have seen some of the true faces of Katou Megumi by now. However those changes in expression of hers were beyond scarce.

Despite that, why….

Why did I not get “that feeling” at all?

If I could be allowed to put it in a more old-fas.h.i.+oned way, I didn’t get any “Kyun” feeling from her. (1)

‘You speak of me as though I’m beneath a game character.’

“……Well, yes.”

During that time, Katou, as one would expect, left only a brief impression and expressed only a bit of “that”.

So, whether it was just me or because of the absence of “that”, it made it feel like a drawn situation where neither of us would prevail.

It’s hard to believe though, that she, the one who ought to have been the G.o.ddess of fate, yet one with such weak attributes and little character, would be the one who could arouse my powerful but long-dormant, creative urges.

It really was my first time seeing someone with such a half-baked character.

Character Setting.

Heroine A (Name to be decided)
Main Heroine. A girl whom we meet in a fated encounter along a hillside road amongst the dancing cherry blossoms.

“Hmm, mm…?”

With my head still foggy, I rummaged through my desk, taking out my game proposal.

I flipped straight to the first page, where I fixed my eyes on the extensively-written character setting for the main heroine. And so where the setting for the Nameless (now known as Katou Megumi) Heroine was……

At the top of the hill there bloomed a single, large ancient cherry blossom tree. A curse hung upon that large tree, binding the heroine to live as a blossom spirit through the eternal pa.s.sage of time. In his youth, the protagonist made a promise to that girl…. The protagonist, keeping that promise, would fulfil her wish and in that moment break the curse. However, this would wipe her existence from everyone’s memories.

“A curse…, huh?”

Could it be that Katou’s light impression is due to the curse of a cherry blossom tree? No, there’s no way it could be that.

As I twisted my head back and forth over the pain of seeing those month-old lines, I crumpled up the plan and hurled it into the trash.
Naturally, I failed to hit the mark, and the paper slipped underneath my desk.

“Plan rejected….”

I twisted my head in pain again. It was my first time coming across such a difficult character.

No, it’s not as though depicting a character in general would be particularly difficult. I can create a character without really thinking of anything in particular, but, in all honesty, doing that is only just an act of creation in the sense of making up stuff. And so, creating in such a manner would never lead to a true heroine.

Breaking off a relations.h.i.+p of even a single female friend of the heroine was a next to impossible task. Actually no, just a single friend would be a high hurdle. A good approximation would be around two.

“Yeah, that is still definitely impossible. There’s no way I can go through with this plan. There’s no way I can overcome all these odds….”

“…Wait?”

In the next moment, I sprang from my bed and dived beneath my desk.

Could it be…could it be that the “excessively half-baked character” is an attribute?
Could these…could these outrageous odds stacked against me be the sparking point of a successful product….?

 

Translation Notes and References

1. Kyun, the feeling of tightness in your chest caused by strong feelings. Usually used in the context of someone being adorable or cute. An example of this is K-On! with the phrase Moe Moe Kyun!