Chapter 3 - It’s Okay for a Mob Heroine to Have a Happy Ending
“Sanada-kun”
The moment that name left her lips, it felt as though someone had poured a bucket of cold water over me. The excitement that had been bubbling inside me instantly faded away.
I'd been on a total high from finally meeting my favorite character, but... yeah, this was the reality of it.
To me, she was the most precious person in the world.
But to her, I was not.
Not that my feelings for her were romantic, anyway. She's what you'd call my "oshi,” or my number one favorite character. So, it wasn’t like I felt jealous or uncomfortable that she had feelings for Sanada.
Then why did my heart sink so much?
It was because... I remembered. I'd remembered that her love was completely, utterly hopeless.
“You’re always watching Sanada, aren’t you, Mogami-san?”
“Huh? How… how do you know that?”
“Because I’ve always been watching you.”
"O-Oh... I see. You've been... watching me..."
...From a totally different world, anyway. But it wasn't a lie. She was always there, in at least one scene per chapter, tucked away in the corner of a panel. Always watching the protagonist and the main heroine from the corner of the classroom, her eyes full of quiet envy.
“You like him, don’t you?”
“I… I wonder. Maybe I do. I'm... I'm not really sure myself."
As she said that, Mobuko-chan gave a weak, powerless smile. It was completely different from the happy expression she'd had just a moment ago when she heard me call her name.
It was a pained smile. One that looked lonely... and so, so empty.
“Besides, he doesn’t even remember my name. It feels presumptuous to say I like him… It’s just, he once picked up something I dropped and returned it to me, and I just never got the chance to thank him for that.”
Ahh, that scene, huh?
It was her first appearance in the manga. She accidentally dropped her notepad in the hallway, and the protagonist, Sanada, picked it up and handed it back to her.
Mobuko-chan was totally shocked to be spoken to so suddenly. That was the moment. The scene that supposedly made her start "noticing" him.
...I know I shouldn't be thinking about it in such "meta" terms, but... In the end, that whole scene was just a bit of staging to highlight Sanada's "kindness." It was just the author's way of showing the readers, "See? He's nice not just to the main heroines, but even to mob characters!"
Mobuko-chan was nothing more than a prop. A plot device used only to establish Sanada's personality. And in the end, she... she never even appeared in the final chapter. The manga got cancelled, and her entire existence was just... forgotten.
When I remembered that, it was hard to just stand here feeling giddy.
"I've been trying to find the right time to talk to him, just to thank him... but I... I just can’t find the courage.”
So that's why. That's why she was always staring at Sanada. They never had a scene that explained this in the manga, so I had no idea what her actual reasons were.
(Why was I reincarnated into this world, anyway?)
The thought just popped into my head. Is it really enough for me to just be happy that I got to meet my favorite character?
If I don't do anything, this world will just follow the script. The manga will get cancelled, and the story will end. And what happens after that? I'm a side character, sure, but I'm part of this world now. I have no way of knowing what that "ending" means for me.
But... since I’ve been given the chance to be a part of this world…
(Maybe... just maybe... I could actually change her fate?)
Was there a route where my favorite heroine, Mobuko-chan, actually gets her happy ending?
No... even if her love doesn't work out... maybe she doesn't have to just fade away as a background nobody. Maybe she could... actually make her presence more known to everyone.
If she could just compete with the main heroines, head-on... then even if she lost, her presence would surely leave a stronger mark in the readers’ hearts.
And besides, on a purely selfish level... I want to see it.
(I want to see the route where this girl finds happiness.)
As a fan, as a reader, I wanted to cheer for her.
I wanted… to give her a push forward.
And when that thought burned bright enough in me, the words left my mouth before I realized it.
“If you’re interested in Sanada, maybe you should try talking to him.”
...Please, let this be the start.
A new route. A rom-com sub-plot where the mob heroine wins.
That’s what I wanted to see.
And that's why... I offered her my hand.
