Ryoma put on the HMD and started the game. A world in ruins stretched out before his eyes. There was no sign of anyone there.
If you died in this game, you died in real life. You could log out, but to do it, you needed key items, which were hard to come by. He didn’t know what had happened, but he found it hard to believe everyone had managed to log out.
Ryoma logged out, removed the HMD, and glared at Ende.
“It’s not like I did it,” she said. “Don’t glare at me that way. The story just moved on while you were away. You knew that could happen, right? What made you think that events couldn’t occur if you weren’t there?”
Now that she mentioned it, Ryoma realized that he had gotten the idea into his head that he would resolve everything without issue.
“Now, how the upcoming negotiation goes was going to depend on your reaction, and... you don’t seem to be very angry, do you?” Ende added.
“Yeah,” Ryoma said. “I mean, I was feeling kind of paralyzed and approaching it with a sort of a ‘this again?’ feeling. If this had happened because I’d failed, I might feel differently, but as it is, it’s sort of a relief.”
That was how he really felt. He’d been drawn into situation after situation with no breaks in between, and he’d taken every one of them upon his shoulders. Lately he’d been keeping it up purely based on force of habit, and he’d given up on the idea that he could ever escape from that destiny.
“I see,” Ende said. “I have good news for you, then. If you help me, I’ll release you from all of that destiny. I’m preparing to participate in the Divine Vessels War. The Evil God will grant any wish to whoever gathers them all up. If you want to quit this life and be a normal person again, it wouldn’t be hard to wish for that. Of course, if there’s anything else you want, I can grant that, too.”
“The reason you came to me is because of the kind of person I am, right?” he asked. “I feel like that’s the reason you’re inviting me. But does that mean you understand what’s up with me?”
People had made vague overtures at him so many times, and drawn him into so many strange ongoing conflicts. At first he’d thought it was a coincidence, but it’d kept happening so much that it had almost felt like there must be some higher power at work.
“I do,” she said. “I’m hoping to acquire a power that you have. To put it simply, you’re a ‘Protagonist.’ Of course, there are a lot of different kinds of protagonists. ‘Datesim Protagonist’ and ‘Adult Datesim Protagonist,’ for instance. But you are generically and abstractly a ‘Protagonist.’ You draw stories to you and end up involved in them, and you have the power to draw stories to their end.”
“Protagonist...” he said slowly.
It did make sense, now that she mentioned it. It was said that everyone was the protagonist of their own life, but she wasn’t saying it in that way. She meant that he was the protagonist of a story with a dramatic plot. Ryoma had never considered that before. Somewhere in his heart, he may have dismissed it as an arrogant way of thinking.
“If I’m participating, then I want to win,” Ende said. “So I’ve been thinking about what my best piece would be if I want to win... and I settled on ‘Protagonist.’ Of course, if we take this to extremes, it’s always the writer who decides how a story ends. But if there’s a protagonist, things will probably turn out in a way that’s good for that protagonist. In other words, I want you to use your power to bend stories to your benefit — your self-preservation power, or in other words, your protagonist effect.”
“What the heck is a protagonist effect?” he demanded.
“For instance, you’re in a gunfight but you don’t get hit by bullets, or you just happen to acquire a new power in the face of an overwhelming enemy, or you have an ally suddenly run in to save you when things are looking bleak, or you’re able to pilot a robot you’ve never even seen before, or you go on a trip and just happen to run into a storm that gets you trapped in a place a murder is taking place, or the sword you buy at a weapons shop just happens to be a legendary magic sword. Does that make sense to you?”
It all sounded familiar to Ryoma. He hadn’t thought much of it all at the time, but it did seem everything that had happened to him had been the result of this “protagonist effect.”
“So, what do you think?” Ende asked. “Will you work with me? If you want a reward besides the wish, let me know. As long as it’s realistic, I can probably provide it.”
“Sure, I’m in,” Ryoma said. “If it’ll mean I can live a proper life from now on.”
He agreed to participate without even asking what the war was about. Ryoma had found Ende’s proposal much more enticing than anyone else’s so far.
Afterword
Here we are at volume five.
I wasn’t sure how long I could keep this up, but I’m managing it pretty well, I guess.
This volume has a slightly different format than usual. It’s a collection of daily life stories coming off the fourth volume, and each story ties together loosely in a way that will continue on into the sixth volume.
With short stories, I have this idea in my head that you need to explain each one, so I’ll try that here. This might contain light spoilers, so I hope you’ll read the stories before you read any further.
Light Novel Conference:
There is no connection between Orihara’s situation and mine. It’s about how new light novels aren’t selling very well nowadays, and the need to think of something that will sell.
Hinoenma:
You don’t see many people avoiding having children because they’re a Hinoenma, but the urban legend was very prevalent until recently, so I’ve always found it fascinating.
A Challenge From Chiharu Dannoura:
It was fun thinking about how Dannoura Archery worked. I haven’t used all my ideas yet, so if I get the chance to bring her back, I’d like to unveil more.
Mika:
Based on the Mary doll urban legend. It’s a bit of a cliche, but I mainly just wanted to do that closing scene.
The Yokai Fave-Stealer:
I liked the explanation of the osaki, so I remembered it, and I stuck the recent internet slang “Fave-Stealer” onto it. It’s like a modern yokai legend.
Yori’s So Popular:
I mainly wanted to do a story about how popular Yori is, but I feel like it just became another story where Yuichi goes nuts...
Spirit:
Is this the first time the Narikama ritual has been used in a light novel? I abbreviated the ritual itself a lot, but it more or less goes like that.
Now for the acknowledgments.
To my editor, I’m sorry that I barely make it (at least, I think I do) every single time.
To An2A who handled the illustrations, thank you for providing wonderful illustrations once again. I’m happy that Yori finally got the cover page.
Well, see you next volume!
Tsuyoshi Fujitaka
Copyright
My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World: The Strongest Little Brother’s Commonplace Encounters with the Bizarre?!
by Tsuyoshi Fujitaka
Translated by Elizabeth Ellis
Edited by Emily Sorensen
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 Tsuyoshi Fujitaka
Illustrations Copyright © 2015 An2A
Cover illustration by An2A
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2015 by Hobby Japan
This English edition is published by arrangement with Hobby Japan, Tokyo
English translation © 2017 J-Novel Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publishe
r is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
J-Novel Club LLC
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: August 2017
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