Chapter 2:

Chapter 2: Side-Characters Are Real People

The Book I am Reading, Turns Out to be the Life I am Living.


Chapter 2

Class started as normal, but my mind can't stop itself from looking away from the book and also at the people in the room.

Aside from the fact that this is pretty much the same as described in the novel, I have a few doubts in my mind, let's get a little real and not get right to the conclusion.

It's true that most of the characters came to life and were obviously in front of me, and Hirose Sora, who was amazingly similar to the person I had read....

but the thing about my memories that I had felt and experienced showing a world that I live in was realistic and true, but at the same time this scenario also take a turns from my understanding, I'm pretty sure this wasn't an elaborate prank, and the thing is that if the novel came to life, and I also live and read it before, then why doesn't anyone comment on that? It was a pretty well-known novel in Japan.

To ask further, I had lived a realistic life, and a memory that there are no far irregularities, and maybe I don't even have encounter something that teleports me or summons me in the novel. It was quite normal, as if the scenario of the novel suddenly happened to appear in my real life, and everyone acted as if it always existed.

I can't explain it, but why?

Why, in fact? Tell me this is still the same world I grew up in, the same experience I had, the same world that reminds me of that particular memory....

I can't give up my world.

I looked out the window in a daze and realized that this was the same Tokyo I had lived in, the same landscape, and that Arata and the others were still here, and above all.

My precious red string that had been given to me served as my personal bookmark in all the books I had read.

When the class was done with introductions, the classroom teacher set the schedule for the semester. Meanwhile, the teacher allowed everyone to talk to each other to create a kind of harmony and get to know each other as a kind of introduction for the rest of the school year.

Arata immediately signaled me to join my former classmate, Daichi who was listening to Hajime talk about the new classmates, and Jiro who was trying to get over being ignored by the girls, and finally Kane who nodded at my "certain help", so I started to join them, and immediately sat down at the side between Arata and Hajime.

"Say, we've had quite a few transfers this year, and a beauty at that." Jiro whispered to the group on a topic we pretty much agreed on.

"There are definitely a lot of transfers, and most of our former class were either in other classes or at other schools. I also think it has to do with the people that are here."

"Gee, Beauty, I was worried about that." Kane puffed out some air and looked at the girls who were sitting quietly in the distance. It seemed that she was worried for a reason.

"Yes, they were indeed beautiful," Arata agreed, and immediately added, "But even if a girl's beauty has an appeal in my eyes, I will always choose someone in my heart." he confidently said.

"Quite a big of confidence despite your height, Arata-kun." Hajime chuckled and received a kick from Arata.

"Ouch."

Kane calmly looked at the boy responsible for her heating-up and rosy cheeks, and slowly muttered, "Yeah, but I bet no one will be more pleased than Jiro-kun here." Everyone looked at Jiro and nodded at the same time. After all, for most of us, Jiro is the one who is more interested in girls.

"Is it me, or is this class slowly becoming the setting for a harem trope novel?" Daichi spoke up, certainly opening up a rather off topic. Maybe, he thought of it during the introduction, since they were indeed transfers that had charm with them.

"Well, it seems too absurd, but," I immediately thought, almost agreeing with him, the characters are in here, too, and the novel was a harem, after all. As you'd expect from Daichi, even though he needs glasses, his eyes were still keen on pretty small details.

"Hey, did you really make that up?" Hajime almost burst out laughing, and Jiro traced his gaze to all the girls and boys in the class. 'Sorry Jiro, no one in this group is the protagonist'. I thought to myself.

"It was pretty absurd that this would happen in real life." thought Arata, simply interfering in the funny off-topic.

"Yeah, if that can happen, the advantages Haru-kun has as the main friend are definitely possible." teases Kane and pointed at me, in which Arata also agreed and added. “Yeah, this guy can be a best-friend material.”

We all laughed very hard. in the process. In which, something in me came up with an absurd idea. Most of the new faces here certainly are transferees or people in other sections aside from my former classmate that was with me right now. If the novel might certainly be real, or in fact, in my observation was real and blended itself to my real world, and then my friends that exist in that world, perhaps…

"Have you ever heard of 'The Book That Binds Our Strings'?" I asked them, to which they thought for a while and said.

"Is that a famous novel?"

"The name sounds familiar now that I remember it, it was quite a sensation three years ago."

"You shouldn't expect anyone to remember that novel anymore."

Wait, the book is still around and still existing, but why don't they feel how strange the characters in it are, and there's not a bit of confusion or absurdity of coincidence that the characters in this story are showing up in real life in front of everyone.

There is a solution to this, I immediately opened my phone and searched for the title of the series only to be stunned by the results. It was absurd, the book still had the same title, but the plot was.... changed.

‘A story about fate of two lovers, in which they wanted to create their own story in a book, that they both wishes to happen, while the other lover was unable to complete the story and bid farewell, the other persevere to make it continue, by only using his memory and trying to fantasize scenario in which both of them are together, and live a happy life in that alternative story, in the end the book ended with both of them living a happy life in that fantasy, and the one who had written it had been glad that the book bind their strings together, even if it was a scenario created by fiction, in which the writer spoke, ‘The Love was the thing that is real in those I had written, but that make all of it as possible to be real, if the fate changes’

This was so different from the novel I had read, it was a big difference, not only the story, but the whole thing itself.

'But that was an interesting story.'

It was rather a better story and maybe an enjoyable read, maybe I'll read it later.

While I was looking at it, most of my friends were talking about the book, while I am trying to avoid the spoilers they might have been carrying, but I might need that information if I missed a topic.

"Definitely most of the good books I've seen."

"Yes, and also quite sad: imagine you're alone, trying to fulfill a promise that requires both of you, but the other is gone."

"In fact, it's pretty heartbreaking to write a love story that you want both of you to fulfill, and yet you have to make it more realistic and tell it with passion so that you actually experience it."

I understand, this kind of story is worth reading, this kind of story is something that reached me more, it was a nice comfort, maybe the book has something similar with me--

"I'm glad you made it here, I'm now relaxed you fit into this environment, Sora-kun," The girl then stopped her soft voice and continued to introduce two names." This is Fukada Maria, my childhood friend, and Nakano Keiko, my art friend." A cherry sweet voice that sounded gentle and caring made me sit up and take notice, but what makes my ear listen was the name mentioned, I looked at the back of the room, glancing at the far edge of the room, in which in the novel where almost every protagonist location can be found, Hirose Sora was sitting beside the window at the back of the class.

The girl with the shiny black hair and blue eyes was sitting next to him, probably using the chair that was next to Sora, it was none other than Kitigawa Kotone.

While the other two were looking at Sora, Fukuda Maria, the blonde girl with amethyst eyes, was looking at the boy strangely, rather observantly, and Nakano Keiko, the girl with short hair and red eyes reminiscent of a ruby, was curious about this guy Kitigawa Kotone had introduced.

“Hey, I might change my opinion on this class not having a certain harem.” I spoke to the group, whereupon they turned their heads to me. While I wouldn't say that this reality matched the book I had read, a little understanding of the situation might help me and make them realize that this is a harem, as they might expect.

After all, this people with me are someone that I don’t want to be left in the dark while some play was being written in front of us, and I know that they will never do a thing and make it as a sheer laughing manner, or perhaps they will sighed of a person having that luck, A new way of having the school interesting, or perhaps a way to make fun of how can anything happen to real life, that alone is enough to give them an idea, after all I don’t want this real people to be acting like a side-character in the fictional story they never know, to act like a puppet commenting on the story, but rather have their own personality be with them, a person that was observing in different perspective, and knowing that they might experiencing some sort of a story.

"I remember most of the protagonists in stories had certain patter in which they are sitting, and the place they could be located, the potential ladies they could win at first." I spoke to them, Jaro being the first to brighten a realization.

"On the back side, next to the window."

They looked to the back row and saw Hirose Sora, looking at the pretty girl who was talking to him and the two who were quietly watching him.

“What a lucky guy, this might be a harem-cliche novel, and the girl seems to know Hirose quite a while, but the other two, it seems they have some certain interest.” Daichi noted his observation.

"Yikes, I didn't even know there was a guy like that, but do you think a harem is possible for this person? I felt like we were witnessing a harem drama," Hajime mused and sighed, "This could be a fun last year for us."

Arata and Kane also looked behind, Arata, who is a direct person, thought it was pretty absurd, he laughed." I never thought there were stories like that in reality, but it wasn't a big deal, maybe it was a nice way to enjoy the year," he smiled, to which Kane agreed with him. "To think that something like that could really exist was really a story."

I looked at Arata and Kane and thought, 'I didn't know that a Caring Gyaru and a Tsundere Shota were possible.' I laughed inwardly.

At that Arata stomped his foot for some reason, can this guy read minds?

"Why did you do that?"

"I don't know, maybe you're thinking something funny in your head right now."

"Let's just enjoy it for a while." I said, to which they looked at it for a while and decided to go back to the topic of the book we left off with.

I looked at them, the group of Hirose Sora, based on the novel, at that moment two of the heroines, Nakano Keiko and Fukuda Maria, were introduced to Hirose Sora by Kitigawa Kotone, the two of them had been quite passive on the first day and had only observed the protagonist, and were apparently interested in his temperament and appearance.

"Hello, I am Hirose Sora. It was nice to meet Lady Kotone-sama's friends."

"U-um, you can call me Nakano Keiko, it seems that Kotone-sama considered you a friend, you can call me Keiko."

"Keiko-san? If that's all right."

"I'm glad."

"I go by the name Fukuda, you're welcome to call me Maria."

"I'll be happy to."

After greeting them, Hirose Sora decided to visit two of his friends in another section, or rather, two of the heroines who were not in this class but in another section.

"Kotone-sama, do you want to come with me?" Hirose decided to finally ask, Indeed, this was the scene that made him ask Kotone if she would come with him to visit the other two heroines in the other class.

"Are we going to visit the sisters now?" asked Kotone, to which the two people accompanying her looked at her and Hirose, who seemed curious about it.

"I'll go see if they're comfortable in the environment."

"Alright, I might come along too."

The two talked for a while in class and then decided to visit the other department. While saying goodbye to the other two after introductions, the two heroines waved and whispered to each other.

They're probably talking about Hirose, I bet.

The one Hirose and Kotegawa were going to visit was none other than that,

The two heroines who were in a different section, HS3-C.

Kanemoto Michi and Sazama Sachi, the half-siblings according to their description in the novel.

These two people were the first heroines Sora met when he came to Tokyo and moved into a newly rented apartment.

If I remember correctly, they were also the characters who suffered greatly in their childhood and were only brought to light by Sora, but also these two characters....

Are the ones who disappeared in the last chapters of the book without knowing where they are and what happened to them, the author leaves it like that,

'Realizing that their feelings can neither be given nor returned, and their light decided to be with the sky, they looked up at the clouds and found that it was raining, a perfect scenario to hide their tears, but their quiet sobs could still be heard as they boarded the last train away from Tokyo.'

The author left that message as their final appearance in the novel.

Some theorize that after the end, the siblings had decided on a new life outside of Tokyo, or they decided to live a life away from the feelings they had.

But in the end, I still felt sorry for the characters, because a harem story that ends with a chosen one is truly a tragic fate.