Chapter 70. Pokeni's Male Protagonists Are Really Getting More Miserable One After Another
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As the game progressed, Hirose Furukawa learned—
The male protagonist, Yamazaki Teru, had dead fish eyes, and his personality was rather introverted. When looking at people, he would always consciously or unconsciously avoid their gaze, which always led people to mistakenly believe he ["looked down on them"].
["What kind of look is that in your eyes?"]—this type of question he had heard countless times and had long grown accustomed to.
Since childhood, he had been ostracized and isolated by his peers.
He had no so-called friends.
After entering society and starting work, he was also bullied by his colleagues for similar reasons.
Especially this supervisor Oda—not only did he always bully Yamazaki, but in most cases, Yamazaki became his scapegoat.
A few months ago, Yamazaki had been in a car accident.
...
Seeing this, Hirose Furukawa couldn't help but feel sympathy for Yamazaki.
Good heavens.
[Tsubaki Furuhara] isn't even pretending anymore, is he?
From the genius onmyoji Asakura Haruka, to the utterly ordinary Moriyama Taira, to the car accident victim [Yamazaki Teru]—Pokeni's male protagonists were getting more and more miserable one after another.
No friends since childhood, and constantly suffering from bullying.
All of this inevitably stirred up some not-so-pleasant memories for Hirose Furukawa.
Yamazaki's situation and experiences reminded him of his childhood self.
Being short to begin with, and not good at sports, he was always mocked by his peers.
Fortunately, after starting work, because of gaming, he managed to make some decent friends.
Without games, Furukawa really couldn't imagine how he would face such a life.
...
Hirose Furukawa sighed and continued gripping the controller to play.
Most pitiable of all—
A car accident was bad enough, but this time Yamazaki took a cruise and encountered another disaster—hitting an iceberg.
Could such a thing even happen in reality?
Encountering two major disasters consecutively—this male protagonist was truly too miserable.
The screen was completely dark.
Below was a bottomless abyss.
In the seawater, the light became strange and eerie.
All around was oppressive darkness.
On screen, a fresh and cute girl appeared.
Like a beam of light, she suddenly illuminated the entire world.
In the game, because the contrast was so strong, even Hirose Furukawa in front of the TV couldn't help but feel that sense of beauty.
And warmth.
The girl had an exquisitely refined face.
Snow-white, tender cheeks, clear pupils, an adorably small nose...
The face of a beautiful girl that seemed to radiate light.
...
If he wasn't mistaken, this should be the heroine Suzune.
Hirose Furukawa thought to himself.
Eh?
Looking closely, Tsubaki Furuhara's heroine style was really strange, wasn't it?
From Yuuki Rei in Onmyoji, to later Asakura Reimu, and now to Suzune—their figures were really getting flatter and flatter with each iteration.
["Ah—"
I was so moved I could barely breathe.
The peace and joy I felt from the first sight of her instantly gripped me tightly.
My reaction surprised her.
"Aren't you scared of how I look?"
She asked.
It was when she asked this question that I noticed the girl was different.
The first thing that caught my eye was the huge fish tail behind her.
And combined with the gills on both sides, it made my whole body shudder.
A mermaid?
But to me, whether she was a ghost, a mermaid, or anything else, she was like a Buddha in hell giving me hope.
"Who—who are you? Why are you here—?"
As soon as I spoke, I realized something was wrong.
Clearly I was in the ocean, yet I could speak normally as usual, and the sounds around me had become more acute.
"How do you feel?"
"I..." I looked down at my hands, and there seemed to be webbed connections between my fingers.
"Am I dead, or am I somewhere else?"
I completely couldn't understand my current environment.
Without thinking, I called out to her just as she turned to leave. Without having thought about what to do after calling her, she turned back.
"What is it?"
Drawn in by her deep, clear pupils, as if even the deepest part of my soul was being cleansed and healed—my mind went completely blank, constantly searching for a topic that could make her stay.
"...Although it's not good to ask a girl for this kind of thing, right now, I have no one else to ask besides you..."
Pride and dignity no longer mattered. I continued with the words that had just burst out.
"Could you... hold my hand for a moment?"
Suzune tilted her head in surprise, then smiled charmingly as if finding it very interesting. It was a smile that dazzled me.
"What a strange person. You're the first to say such a thing to me."
Suzune extended her slender, snow-white hand.
As if touching something fragile, I carefully overlapped my palm with hers.
Human warmth.
Soft and delicate fingers.
I could feel it clearly.
In my palm, she truly existed. Tears of joy burst forth. Thinking back, I had truly been rescued from my own cruel fate.
"Hmm... What a mysterious person." Suzune slowly bent her fingers, intertwining them with mine. "You're really interesting. But please remember, never stay here too long."
"Otherwise you won't be able to go back."
"Huh?"
Can't go back—what does that mean?]
Playing up to this point, Hirose Furukawa's heart began to waver.
A strong sense of unease struck him.
Damn it...
This feeling was like going back to playing Onmyoji 2.
Although Suzune was very beautiful, something felt off somewhere.
The sense of contrast heightened the suspenseful atmosphere in the game.
No need to ask—this must have been created by that scriptwriter called [Urobuchi Gen] again, right?