(Interlude 8) If he could have become the “protagonist”
Where was the turning point?
(If I could have been the protagonist…)
Imagine.
As I look at the test paper, my consciousness flies into a world of fantasy.
What if I had made the right choice to be the protagonist?
What kind of story would that hypothetical story be?
(Maybe … it would have been a much different story.)
I don’t know if that would be better or worse.
It’s not like I can compare my happiness or unhappiness with the present.
It’s just a fantasy. There is no answer.
But I do know one thing.
If I could be the protagonist.
I’m sure Kurumizawa-san would be laughing at that time.
It might be a “romantic comedy” in the style of “harem”.
There is no doubt that it would have had its share of hardships.
But I am sure she would have been ‘happier’ than she is now.
To pick someone is also not to pick another one.
I chose Shiho and did not choose Kurumizawa-san.
As a result, she got off the stage without being chosen.
Her feelings were not rewarded, her role was done, and she was gone.
It felt so empty.
(I can’t spin a story that can make everyone happy.)
I understood again.
Despite being pushed by the unreasonable power of opportunism, the god of romantic comedies has branded me as an unqualified character.
I didn’t have what it takes to be a “harem protagonist”.
(I’m sure that only a select few … characters can make everyone happy.)
I want to see an epilogue where everyone ends up happy.
But I can’t do that.
I guess only one person has the power to get the “happy ending” where everyone can smile.
(Ryuzaki… only you have been given that right.)
As a harem protagonist, only Ryoma Ryuzaki, who has the gift of being loved by others, is allowed to speak of an ideal epilogue.
If only I had that power.
If only Kotaro Nakayama could have been Ryoma Ryuzaki.
I might have chosen that path without hesitation.
I might have walked toward the “harem end” where everyone would be happy.
If I had chosen that path, I am sure I would have made Kurumizawa-san happy as well.
Of course, I hate harems.
However, I have no hesitation in choosing… that path if it makes everyone happy.
That’s why I hated Ryoma Ryuzaki, an unjust man who didn’t choose everyone.
There is another way for him.
(There is another way for you to “choose” everyone, you know?)
There are heroines that only Ryoma Ryuzaki can make happy.
The only way for their feelings to be rewarded is for Ryoma Ryuzaki to do his best.
(If the protagonist were not you, but me…)
In the first place, the story I was weaving would have followed a different course.
I might not have been abandoned by Azusa, Kirari, and Yuzuki.
But then, I suddenly realized that Shiho Shimotsuki did not exist in the story
(No, … I wasn’t the protagonist, which is why Shiho chose me.)
She probably had no interest in me as a protagonist.
In other words, the current path was the only “possibility” to be with Shiho.
Then there is no point in having this kind of fantasy.
Since I am not dissatisfied with the current story, there is no need to think about “what if” possibilities.
So, don’t regret it.
Don’t reflect on the choices I made regarding Kurumizawa-san.
Don’t worry about her forever!
(There’s nothing I can do about it.)
I put the test paper I had been staring at back into my bag again.
I don’t want to forget that there was a girl named Kururi Kurumizawa.
But there is no point in dragging it out forever.
（I prayed that she would be happy.)
And I prayed.
(Ryuzaki … do something about it.)
I wish for the success of the protagonist-sama, anyway.
That’s all I can do…