Intermission: Daily Life Where Supernatural powers Exist
Magic and supernatural powers exist as a matter of course. Add to that having a textbook protagonist right nearby, and daily life as a mob character is vastly different from middle school days.
Even without getting caught up in incidents or trouble, there are many opportunities to feel the reality of living in a supernatural power society.
This time, I’d like to introduce a bit of my everyday life as Ordinary Student A, who is not the protagonist.
– Commuting to School
The academy dormitory is located outside the school grounds. While the distance from the dorm to the academy isn’t unwalkable, most students use the direct train or bus service available for commuting.
By the way, I don’t use those—I commute on a scooter I bought in my first year. The reason is—
“W-wait, Touji! Don’t push so much!”
“Can’t help it, Akane. It’s crowded, so bear with it a little.”
“I know… but, um, my chest is…”
“Huh? What’d you just say?”
“Ugh~~! Nothing!!”
—because if I ride the packed train or bus, I’m subjected to flirty exchanges like this between friends and acquaintances every single morning. Please stop this when my blood sugar is low in the morning.
There’s also a high occurrence rate of the “giving up your seat to elderly people” event. It’s a direct line between the dorm and school, yet this happens. Fushigi dane.
Also, there are occasionally teleporters who ride the packed train or bus despite their power. If it’s crowded, use your power!
– Ranking System
The academy’s established ranking system divided into six levels from A to F. By the way, even after a year, I’m still E-rank. Heh.
Meanwhile, my friend Touji, who was initially ridiculed with things like “Ha-ha! Your family’s F-rank~,” has resolved various incidents, continuously demonstrated his powers, and is now treated as equivalent to A-rank by special exception.
Yes, this is the so-called “I have an amazing power but everyone’s eyes are blind, or I’m not properly evaluated because I don’t fit the selection criteria” pattern.
I’m just jealous. Jealous of the A-rank recognition. Jealous of the protagonist-like developments. I’m just jealous of everything.
And within this power ranking, there exists a hierarchy system within A-rank only. The term “hierarchy system” just sounds cool, doesn’t it? Just seeing “[Rank ○]” written alongside character names in manga gets me a little excited.
I once passed by the academy’s rank 1 person on campus. Rank 1—in other words, the existence holding the title of strongest in the academy. A woman, by the way.
When I was walking down the hallway with Touji, we happened to encounter this academy’s strongest. And just as she was about to pass by Touji, she suddenly stopped in place, turned her gaze toward Touji, and said this:
“Your power is stagnant. What a waste…”
Startled, Touji hurriedly turned around, but the academy’s strongest had already walked away. At that time, Touji was still in the period when he was being ridiculed by those around him with “You’re bad, so bad…! Bad at using powers…!”
In other words, the academy’s strongest had seen through Touji’s talent at that point. As expected, talented people can recognize other talented people like themselves.
By the way, that academy’s strongest didn’t even glance at me standing next to him. I started to dislike the hierarchy system a little.
If by some mistake I ever gain power in this academy, I’ll abolish the ranking and hierarchy systems first thing.
– Best Friend Position
Best friend position—that’s a fairly important existence in harem light novels and dating sims. The comic relief, or an almost background presence who occasionally makes a clutch play as a meat shield. And someone who absolutely never enters a romantic relationship with the protagonist’s love interest. If I had to list common characteristics, it’d be something like that (my own bias and prejudice).
For nearly half a year after enrolling in the academy, if my friend Touji was the protagonist, I was in the best friend position. Having been shown Touji’s protagonist-like qualities since enrollment, my desire to be the protagonist was crushed early on.
So I sought a role. If Touji is the protagonist, I wanted a role in the story that protagonist weaves. If I can’t be the protagonist, I at least want to avoid being a mob character.
Therefore, no matter how much Touji achieved and raised his reputation, no matter how many heroines increased and flirted right in front of me, no matter how much I was ridiculed as a hanger-on, I continued to protect my best friend position.
But then one day, he appeared—the real best friend position.
That guy casually blended into the “[Protagonist and Heroines + Me]” group and, before I knew it, had become more integrated with the group than I was. The reason he joined the group was because Touji was there, and I could immediately tell he wasn’t very interested in me. In short, to me, he was a friend of a friend—in other words, an enemy.
At first, I burned with rivalry, determined not to hand over the best friend position, but I was soon shown the difference in our caliber. For example—
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CASE 1: Duel
During a duel between a female student (who would later become a member of Touji’s harem) vs. Touji. Huh? The cause of the duel? I don’t remember, but it was probably something like Touji seeing the female student’s underwear. I dunno.
Anyway, during that duel, my position was as one of the onlookers watching the duel. And next to me was the real best friend position (hereafter “Real Posi”).
The duel between Touji and the female student was a super high-speed battle common in battle manga. While I and the surrounding onlookers didn’t understand what was happening and were spouting mob-tier lines like “I-it’s too fast to see!”, Real Posi muttered—
“Oh, he just threw in a feint before attacking. He’s mixing up the tempo.”
Do you understand? Yes, this is the “usually goofing around but actually suggesting he’s skilled” move. The level was so high that I stared intently at Real Posi’s face, ignoring the duel.
CASE 2: Rooftop
One day, Real Posi was looking down from the school building’s rooftop at Touji chatting happily with heroines in the schoolyard. And with smartphone in hand, he muttered:
“Yes, that guy is growing faster than expected—Master.”
Do you understand? Yes, this is the “belongs to a certain organization and is a spy monitoring the protagonist” move. That’s the coolest one! I was so envious that I stared intently at Real Posi’s face.
Huh? Why was I there, you ask? I was just eating lunch alone on the rooftop bench, okay?
By the way, Real Posi never noticed my presence, and coolly left the rooftop while putting his smartphone in his pocket. Even though he’s doing spy-like moves, not noticing people around him seems somewhat foolish.
CASE 3: Information Network
A standard skill for the best friend position—being well-informed.
When the protagonist hits a dead end somehow, or wants to know about someone they’re interested in, the best friend position is required to swiftly provide necessary information (my bias and prejudice).
However, the only information I can provide to the protagonist is game strategy guides. Damn it…! I can recite Pokémon base stats by heart!!
On the other hand, Real Posi casually provides information to help the protagonist escape from dead ends, has detailed information on all students, and there was no competition at all. To top it all off, he even knows the heroines’ birthdays, favorite foods, hobbies, and three sizes…
When I learned that, I stared intently at Real Posi’s face due to how creepy it was.
After all that, realizing my defeat, I decided to hand over the best friend position to Real Posi and leave Touji’s group. While there were many difficult things, when I thought about losing my current place, I felt a sense of loss somewhere.
So I’m just another mob character from tomorrow on—thinking that, the way home from school that day felt somewhat lonely, I remember.
Then the next day came, I woke up, remembered the previous day—and felt a bit embarrassed about being in a weird mood. What even is “real best friend position”?
By the way, that Real Posi’s name is Yagawa Sousuke. Me, him, dislike.
– Dress Code and School Rules
Something I felt strongly when I enrolled was that this academy allows considerable freedom in clothing and hairstyle.
So while I initially attended school wearing the uniform properly, within a month I started going to school in my preferred outfit.
As a second-year now, my current school style is wearing a gray hoodie under the designated uniform (blazer type) with navy headphones (expensive ones) hanging around my shoulders.
Huh? Why am I dressed like that? …Because, isn’t it cool…? Hoodies are cool, headphones are cool. The first time I went to school in that outfit, I was a little excited just standing against the classroom wall with my hands in my pockets.
I was later called “damn lame headphones” behind my back. They’re not lame!!!
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