Is it Tough Being a Friend?

Is it Tough Being a Friend? v5 Prologue

Prologue

Hinomori Ryuuga’s “Story of Supernatural Battles” is currently in the midst of its third part.

In part one, Ryuuga’s younger sister, Hinomori Kyouka, was a vessel of the revived “Evil Spirit” Hundun.

In part two, Ryuuga’s best friend, Kobayashi Ichirou, was a vessel of the revived “Evil Spirit” Taotie.

After some fierce battles, Ryuuga finally defeated them with the help of some friends. Up until now, things were proceeding smoothly, but…recently, the plot development’s been a bit slow.

The next opponent, the “Evil Spirit” Qiongqi, has not shown up on stage yet.

Furthermore, he said “I don’t think you can play the supporting role, Kobayashi boy,” and “You’ve taken the position of the protagonist away. Away from Hinomori Ryuuga,” to me.

That has greatly disturbed me. A foe with such a meta view of the world was beyond my expectations.

(Qiongqi…what are you scheming? You know that changing the protagonist in the middle of the story is a risky move, right?)

Even if she’s actually a girl, Ryuuga splendidly carries out the role of a “protagonist.”

It would be inexcusable for a friend character to abandon her and usurp her position. Who would want to watch Mitsuhiko, rather than the great detective, corner a criminal? 1Reference to Detective Conan. Mitsuhiko is one of the friend characters in the series

Doing such a thing would go against the point of Kobayashi Ichirou’s existence. I will continue carrying out my duties as a friend character. That’s how it should be. Wouldn’t you agree, Mitsuhiko?

(Anyways, it seems I’ll need to make contact with Qiongqi somehow.)

“Ah…ngh…”

(If he perceives this world as a ‘story’, then there should be a possibility for us to discuss. Qiongqi should realize that he’s an enemy character who will suffer defeat in the end.)

“No, not there…”

(The problem is that I have no means to approach him. There’s no way I would be able to contact him…)

“Aah, no~.”

While sitting on a stool inside the school infirmary, I crossed my arms and legs, contemplating.

A seductive voice, coming from the bed beside me, served as background noise.

(However, Qiongqi isn’t the only problem on my hands.)

“Jyuri, stop…at this rate, I’ll…”

“Oh my. You need to call me Hebizuka at school, don’t you? Time to punish a bad child.”

(Recently, I’ve been dragged into the main episodes with Aogasaki and Elmira.)

“Aah, that feels good. So good!”

“Hahaha. In the end, it seems you’re that kind of person. The kind who says no while actually enjoying it, aren’t you?”

(Given this trend, would Yukimiya be denied her own episode? Does such character discrimination exist…? That’s impossible. Yukimiya Shiori’s turn is coming. Wouldn’t you agree, Mitsuhiko?)

“It’s frustrating to say it…but it feels so good…I can’t hold back against this feeling…”

“That’s fine. Now then, let’s finish this.”

(Among the heroine candidates, Yukimiya is the most regal one. Even now, I still think of her as a core heroine. I don’t believe she would miss out on something like this. Mitsuhiko would have the same opinion. Genta would have the same──) 2Genta is another friend character in Detective Conan

“Aaaaaah! Something’s happening!”

“Zip it, protagonist! You’re distracting me!”

I finally stuck it to Hinomori Ryuuga, who kept raising her voice.

Getting up from my seat in anger, I opened the curtains to the bed. Sure enough, Hebizuka was giving a massage to a girl dressed as a boy.

“Oh my, you can’t do that, Ichirou. You can’t storm into a girls’ haven all of a sudden.”

Hebizuka grinded her elbow against the back of her patient while scolding me.

Each time she did that, Ryuuga let out a groan in response. She carried an expression of ecstasy.

“Ichirou…it’s amazing…Jyuri’s technique is amazing…”

“Leave those things for the doujins!”

There’s a limit to how close the protagonist and leading opponents should be. Can’t they understand that? It’s the second time this has happened already!

“Ryuga. I’m don’t want to complain, but you’ve recently been becoming more goofy. This is supposed to be the school infirmary, you know?”

“But thanks to Jyuri, my body’s been feeling light recently. It’s important to be in top shape for a battle, right?”

With a carefree smile, Ryuuga put on her blazer. Once she finished speaking, she turned pigeon-toed.

──It’s already been a week since Shizuma’s departure.

It’s now October, well into autumn.

Everyone’s in a hurry due to our school, Oumei High School, hosting a festival in a few weeks. Our class is planning to do a maid cafe.

“Good grief…by the way, Ryuga. How’s Kyouka’s condition after everything that happened?”

“Hmm. After Hundun switched hosts, she’s gotten much better. She’s already attending school again.”

That’s wonderful, but I don’t feel compelled to smile.

…In addition to hosting the “Evil Spirit” Taotie, I now also host the “Evil Spirit” Hundun. I never thought that I would carry two “Evil Spirits” despite being a mere friend character.

Though I did it to save Kyouka’s life, I ended up getting the short end of the stick. It seems that I’ve turned into an “Evil Spirit” collector at some point.

“She said that she wants to apologize to you. Can you come over to our house at some point?”

“Sure. Uncle Hundun keeps blabbering on about ‘needing to see Kyouka’ each day.”

When I unintentionally let out a sigh, Ryuuga did the same for some reason.

“Now I’m more concerned about Shiori than Kyouka.”

“Huh?”

I reacted to her mentioning Yukimiya’s name out of the blue. What? What happened to the “Shrine Maiden of Life”?

“Ichirou, did you hear? Shiori’s absent from school today.”

Is that so? Indeed, she’s also been absent for the past two days. Is it a cold? Or perhaps…

“When I met with her yesterday, she looked quite pale. I’m a bit worried.”

I’m quite worried as well. Could this be leading up to something bigger? Isn’t this a sign of trouble to come?

(First a marriage interview, then a baby, now what?)

Is the Yukimiya Group going bankrupt? Is she debuting as a star? Or perhaps she turned into an elementary schooler by the hands of a mysterious organization?3That last one is the premise of Detective Conan

At any rate, I shouldn’t drop my guard…and as I braced myself, the king cobra apostle then sighed.

“Yukimiya Shiori still doesn’t seem to accept me as a school nurse. I wonder if she hates me.”

Jyuri grumbled while folding her arms. Thereupon, she lifted up her voluptuous I-cups.

…I believe those enormous breasts are the biggest reason why the “Shrine Maiden of Life” hates her. As the daughter of a large company, the only things Yukimiya lacks are──a bust and cooking skills.

“Well then, let’s go home, Ichirou. Jyuri, I’ll see you next week.”

Once Ryuuga unfortunately reserved another massage appointment, we left the school infirmary.

I really hope that I don’t get dragged into Yukimiya’s episode…if anyone should get dragged into it, it needs to be Ryuuga.


[Previous] [TOC] [Next]

Follow 2Slow2Late MTL on WordPress.com

19 thoughts on “Is it Tough Being a Friend? v5 Prologue”

  1. I’m trying something new with translator notes this time. They’re footnotes that you click on instead of lines of text that interrupt the chapter. Tell me what you guys think of them. Do you prefer the old method or this new one?

    1. I prefer this as you can read everything and go back up to check if you don’t pressingly need to understand a tidbit.

    2. I’m used to both ways, but if I have to choose, inline links like this is better.

      But maybe you should change the link text, not “1,2,3” but “TLN” or something, using numbers usually for footnotes, not inline notes.

    3. Is the Yukimiya Group going bankrupt? Is she debuting as a star? Or perhaps she turned into an elementary schooler by the hands of a mysterious organization?

      Please, put text about Case Closed’s Reference

  2. Eh, I feel comparing himself to Mistuhiko isn’t quite right. If anything, Ichirou’s more like Ai, right?

Leave a Reply to Karyalas Cancel reply