Chapter 42 - The Losing Heroine
…Alright, things were starting to get complicated.
"Mogami Fuko, can I speak with you for a moment?"
“Y-yesh!”
It happened after school. About a week had passed since summer break ended.
By that time, people around us had gotten used to Mogami-san’s transformation… Well, maybe not so much exactly. She still drew plenty of attention, but the buzz around her had started to die down just a little.
For some reason, Mogami-san had started coming to my classroom to pick me up every day, so walking home together had become our daily routine. That day, too, we were chatting about heading home and stopping by a ramen place I’d been curious about, when she suddenly appeared.
"Hm? And you are…"
When I turned around to see the girl who had called out from behind, my eyes widened. I knew her well, because she was a character who appeared frequently in the manga.
Blonde twin-tails.
A petite build.
A confident and haughty expression.
A completely flat chest.
A slender figure.
Her appearance was basically packed with the most common tropes you could possibly find in fiction. Her name was… if I remembered correctly…
“Wan-chan.”
“…It’s Wannai Misuzu. And who the heck are you?”
Ah, whoops. I accidentally called her by her nickname. Right, her full name was Wannai Misuzu. Among fans, she was affectionately called “Wan-chan.”
Let me explain this simply. She was one of the main heroines who was always chasing after Sanada. Nothing more, nothing less. And that's exactly why this was so weird. Why in the world... was she here, in front of us?
"His name is Sato Satoru, Wannai-san."
“…That doesn’t matter to me. My business is with you."
"It does matter! Correct yourself."
H-hey, wait a second, Mogami-san? You were totally terrified when she called out to you a moment ago, but now that it’s about me, you’re suddenly acting like a different person. Because of that, Wan-chan, I mean, Wannai-san, looked completely intimidated.
“I-I’m sorry!”
“Ah, no, I’m sorry too! I didn’t mean to scare you or anything!”
“I-I-I-It’s not like I got scared or anything, okay!?”
“...Eep! D-don’t suddenly shout like that!”
What was this? A tiny animal skirmish?
Wannai-san may look confident, but she was surprisingly delicate, and despite her haughty look, she was actually incredibly timid. That’s why fans called her “Wan-chan.” It had the meaning that although she was cute, she was also always yapping like a little puppy.
There was another meaning behind the nickname too… but I was a bit hesitant to explain that part. It's a subject I'd rather not get into. But... I might not have a choice.
“So, you said you had a business with me?”
“…A business. Yes, I do.”
“W-what is it?”
“I just wanted to tell you… to make Saiga happy. That’s all.”
See? I knew it. Wannai-san only cared about one guy. So if she had shown up, that could only mean one thing, her business with Mogami-san could only be because of him.
"I'm entrusting Sanada Saiga to you, okay!"
Wannai-san said that and firmly took Mogami-san’s hand in hers. It was exactly like that classic scene where the losing heroine concedes the protagonist to the main heroine.
(A l-loser…!)
That's right. She was a 'loser'... or rather, what people call a ‘losing heroine.’ She's the 'underdog,' the 'stalking horse,' and the 'cowardly little chicken.' A dog, a horse, a chicken... yeah, it's all mixed up, but the point is, that's just how weak her character is. She was technically one of the main heroines, but she was always at the absolute bottom of the totem pole.
“I-I’m sorry. I can’t.”
And Mogami-san... geez. If you're going to shut her down, you don't have to be that blunt. Poor Wan-chan.
“Uuuh… Why!? Why can’t you make Saiga, whom I love so much, happy!? Hic…”
She was as emotionally unstable as ever. She had appeared out of nowhere and now she was crying out of nowhere, dropping to her knees and burying her face in her hands. Seeing her current state, Mogami-san and I exchanged glances.
“Sato-kun, please do something!”
Her eyes were practically screaming those words. With zero social skills, Mogami-san clearly didn’t know how to handle the situation. No choice. I guess I’d have to step in and calm things down.
“Hey, what’s wrong all of a sudden? Want to talk about it?”
I said that and offered her my hand. Wannai-san looked up at me with tearful eyes, then smiled faintly, almost relieved.
“T-thank you. You’re really kind, huh...”
…S-she seemed way too easy to win over. If some sleazy guy took advantage of her while she was heartbroken, she’d probably fall for him in an instant.
This was precisely why everyone called her “Wan-chan.”
Because Wannai-san always looked like a cute, pitiful loser dog who seemed so easy to sway that you'd only need 'one chance' to get a 'one-night stand.’
Translator's Note
There are two main points in this chapter where the Japanese text plays with word associations and layered meanings that don’t directly carry over into English, so I want to explain them here for clarity.
The first wordplay appears in this passage:
「噛ませ犬の当て馬で、臆病なチキン小娘だ。犬なのか馬なのか鶏なのか、色々混ざっているが、とにかくそれくらい彼女は弱い。」
Here, Sato, strings together three different animal metaphors to describe Wannai-san's role as a "losing heroine." Each animal carries a distinct figurative meaning in Japanese:
"噛ませ犬" (kamaseru inu, literally "bait dog" or "decoy dog." which I translated as "underdog.") refers to a dog used to make another look stronger — figuratively, a foil or stepping stone character meant to highlight someone else's superiority.
"当て馬" (atemauma, literally "stand-in horse," which I translated as "stalking horse.") describes someone used as a romantic rival purely to emphasize the main pairing — in English, something like a plot device love rival.
"臆病チキン小娘" ("cowardly/timid chicken girl," which I translated as "cowardly little chicken.") borrows the English word chicken to mean cowardly or timid.
So when Sato jokes, "A dog, a horse, a chicken... yeah, it's all mixed up" he's humorously acknowledging how overstuffed her archetype is. She's simultaneously a decoy, a loser, and a coward. A pile-up of tropes that makes her the weakest possible "main heroine." The humor lies in how Sato reduces these layered metaphors into a literal mix of animals, mocking the formulaic writing that created such a character.
The second wordplay happens later, when Sato explains the other "hard-to-talk-about" reason why she's called Wan-chan:
「ワンナイトにワンチャン行けそうな負け犬かわいい湾内さんだった――。」
Here, several puns overlap at once. The heroine's name, 湾内 (Wannai), sounds identical to the English loanword "one-night", which Sato used at the beginning of the passage, ワンナイト (one-night), while her nickname ワンちゃん (Wan-chan) is also a pun. Wan is the Japanese onomatopoeia for a dog's bark ("woof!"), and chan is an affectionate suffix. Then there's "ワンチャン" (wan-chan), a similar sounding slang term meaning "a small chance" or "a lucky shot."
When combined, the line literally says something like, "A cute loser dog named Wannai-san who you just might have a one-night chance with." The phrase is deliberately cheeky, blending her name, her nickname, and the sexual innuendo of "one-night" with the slang "one chance."
In English, this kind of layered pun can't be reproduced perfectly, but I rendered it as:
"Because Wannai-san always looked like a cute, pitiful loser dog who seemed so easy to sway that you'd only need 'one chance' to get a 'one-night stand.'"
I don't really know if I translated it to English well, but that was the best I could come up with. Thanks.
This... this poor girl even got translator noted.... 😭
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