I Was Reincarnated As the Hated Scummy Best Friend in a Gal Game and the Protagonist Is Useless

56

Special Edition, A Distorted Value to a Best Friend

This is an exchange between Akechi Hidetaka and Jumonji Takeru in the original timeline of the work.

It’s a story that focuses on the relationship between the two, which has nothing to do with the main scumbag story.

†

As I walk down the corridor, I spot a group of idiotic guys talking in three rows on the other side.

They’re laughing stupidly, walking down the quiet hallway, drawing disdainful looks from the students.

“Disgusting…” I think to myself, repulsed as I continue down the hall, and then I bump into the long-haired guy on the far right.

“Ah, sorry.”

“…………”

Thinking how narrow and festive his field of vision must be, I try to pass by when he shouts, “Hey,” and grabs my shoulder.

“What’s your problem?”

“I apologized, didn’t I? You apologize too! Are you mocking me!?”

“An apology like ‘sorry’ with zero sincerity is more mocking, don’t you think? And don’t walk in three rows, it’s creepy.”

“Ah!? What, you’re a loner, aren’t you? Jealous, gross!”

“Don’t touch me! I can’t stand the thought of your filthy fingerprints and bodily fluids on me.”

The long-haired guy still gripping my uniform slowly fills me with a murderous intent.

I open my mouth, contemplating whether to unleash my Gift and kill him.

“I’m so sorryyyyy!”

“Huh?”

Someone dashed up beside me, grabbing hold of my uniform.

I almost warned them not to run in the hallways.

“Sorry about this guy, he’s just a bit unfriendly! We really didn’t mean to bother you, senior!”

“Hey, Take…”

“I’ll talk to him! I promise we won’t ever do something like this again. Please, be lenient with us!”

Even though I wanted to say something, his loud apologies cut me off.

What’s with this guy? I glared at Takeru.

“Tch, fine. You’re so loud, I’ll let it slide for your sake.”

“Thank you so much, seniors!”

“I’ll steal your girlfriend.”

“Shut up, don’t talk!”

Takeru shouted over my teasing remark.

The idiot trio looked at Takeru and me with disgust and quickly walked away.

“Man, you’re asking for a fight in that state!”

“I’m not afraid of a brawl or a war of words.”

“I know you’re strong with fists and words, but against three, the odds are against you.”

“Pfft, it’s just the right handicap.”

“Hideyori!”

It’s annoying how he thinks he can fix everything with his ‘gift’.

Takeru’s lecturing face is aimed at me now.

His ‘gift’ doesn’t work on me.

He really pisses me off, I might kill him someday.

“Tch… don’t be such a hypocrite. Don’t think you’re doing me any favors, you idiot!”

“Hey, Hideyori!”

“Bye-bye.”

I ran off, as if to say I had no time for lectures.

Takeru’s sermons are long and a waste of time.

The best solution is to ignore and escape.

Several days later.

I was walking down the hallway with Takeru, heading to our PE class, when I spotted a boy being cornered by a group, just like I had been before.

“…………”

“…………”

I deliberately walked past, avoiding them, and Takeru followed behind me.

The boy being harassed already had tears in his eyes.

I alternated my gaze between him and Takeru, then spoke up.

“Aren’t you going to help him, Mr. Hypocrite?”

“Huh? Why should I have to help?”

Takeru frowned at my words as if to say, “What are you talking about?”

“I’m not a hypocrite. I helped you that time because it was you. That’s why I’m not a hypocrite.”

I emphasized twice in a row that I wasn’t trying to be a hypocrite.

“What’s that supposed to mean? You helped because it was me? Don’t mess with me, kid.”

“I’ll abandon everyone except for Hidetoyo (you) and Risa. I only protect those who are important to me. Or what? You wanted me to help him? And then call me a hypocrite for it?”

“Tch…”

“Don’t push your ideals onto me.”

I walked away from the harassed boy, heading towards the field for our class.

“I’ll steal your girlfriend.”

“Too bad, I don’t have a girlfriend! Better luck next time!”

“What, are you seriously a virgin…?”

“It’s not nice to tease about that! Besides, Hidetoyo, you too—”

“Huh?”

“Wait, you’re a v-v-virgin…?”

“As if I’d say that…”

Takeru clings to me, pulling at my gym clothes.

Somehow, I’m starting to feel guilty…

“When was the last time you did it!?”

“A week ago.”

From noble mtl dot come

“…Huh? You’ve been coming to school without a care?”

“I broke up with a girl and three hours later, I went to school with you and Emi as if nothing happened.”

“…Eh? It wasn’t with Sasaki?”

“You’re focusing on that?”

I answer with the usual nonchalance of “What’s the weather tomorrow?”

Takeru looks at me with a “whoa” expression, making me feel a bit uncomfortable.

“Give me some advice, the advice of a popular guy.”

“Don’t get dressed right after it’s over. You’ll be disliked.”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“…”

Takeru has a question mark floating above his head.

I reconsider whether I should have sent him some disastrous fake advice instead.

“Pfft. It’s knowledge you don’t need.”

“But I’ll get a girlfriend someday too!”

“Someday? When’s that? I’ll steal your girlfriend.”

“Even if Hidetoshi steals her, I’ll win her back with my charm! Ha ha, I won’t lose.”

“Drop dead.”

He’s too positive… it’s hopeless.

We’re on parallel paths for life.

Unfortunately, it seems we’ll never understand each other.

“You always have such a foul mouth… No wonder you can’t make any friends but me.”

“I don’t need them. People just betray you. Better to be alone than betrayed. I don’t feel the need for you either.”

“Don’t be a coward, Hidetoshi. If some weirdo messes with you, I’ll save you every time. Even if you reject me a hundred times, I’ll be there the hundred and first.”

“…”

Why is he so good at irritating me?

I can’t help but want to be saved…

Emotions that can’t be expressed start swirling around.

“I will never save you. If I see Takeru being hassled, I’ll just laugh and walk away.”

“That’s fine. But even if Hidetaka abandons me a hundred times, I’ll save you a hundred times.”

“It’s a one-way street, who would want your help anyway?”

I hate Takeru.

Every single day, I hate him and push him away, but then I find him close by, taking up space in my territory with that nonchalant face, and it infuriates me.

I hate him so much I could kill him.

—

“Like, seriously, his childishness is just unbearable. Even though Hidetaka is younger, I prefer him; he’s more mature.”

“Hahaha, that’s harsh, Yuna. Well, that long-haired guy did look like a grade-schooler.”

“Kyahaha!”

One day, after bumping into me and giving a half-hearted apology followed by intimidation, I stole the girlfriend of that long-haired senior and was strolling down the street from the hotel.

She was heavily made up with perfume, not really my type, but she had a big chest.

She was laughing while clinging to my right arm.

“Hidetaka’s strength is so attractive.”

“Shall we do it again today?”

“Really? Can we?”

Today was a school holiday, and I was living a lazy life.

I’ve tossed all my school assignments to someone else, and there’s nothing to do during the break.

“Hey, look, Hidetaka.”

“Hmm?”

“Some guy playing the hero is getting beaten up. Isn’t that lame?”

“Ah?”

Yuna pointed, and sure enough, there was a man being hit, another man hitting him, and a woman standing there.

She wanted a closer look, so we moved a bit closer.

“Kyahaha, that guy’s just getting pummeled.”

“…Takeru…? Risa-chan?”

“What, Hidetaka? You know that lame guy?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Eh…?”

“He’s uncool? …There’s no one cooler than him.”

I was turned off.

Utterly turned off.

I hadn’t promised to hang out during the break, but seeing that idiot’s face in my field of vision only accelerated my irritation.

Shaking off Yuna’s hand clinging to my right arm, I head towards Takeru, who is being beaten.

The woman was saying something, but I didn’t hear her.

“So apologize to Risa,”

“Get lost!”

Approaching Takeru and the man.

A voice rises from Risa-chan, “Akechi-kun!?”

“The one who’s going to disappear is you, gorilla.”

“Huh?”

“Get run over by a car and die.”

The bald, gorilla-like big man who was hitting Takeru obeys the “Command Domination” and runs away from me and Takeru.

Takeru and Risa-chan, saved, look at me with eyes of surprise.

“…Hide, …better?”

“Haha, you’re pathetic, aren’t you? Got mad because Risa-chan was involved? Pathetic, can you even protect me with that?”

“…I can protect.”

“Pfft.”

He’s been hit, and there’s a bit of mud on his face.

Risa-chan runs to her brother.

From noble mtl dot come

“Thank you, Akechi-kun! For saving my brother.”

“I didn’t save him, I just came to laugh at Takeru getting beaten. What an ugly face. It was fun seeing your hideous face, so I’m going home.”

“Hideyori… thank you.”

“I didn’t save him.”

“Haha, you’re something else…”

“You’re not the one to laugh at me.”

Turning my back on Takeru and Risa-chan.

I didn’t want to see those two tired faces in my field of vision anymore.

Having had his fill of mocking the two, he returned to Yuna.

“Hey, Hideyoshi? It looks like that guy got hit by a car or something.”

“Divine punishment comes to the wicked, you know.”

Was he speaking to the dead monk-like man?

Or was he convincing himself?

He muttered such words, uncharacteristic of him.

While hearing the beginning wails of sirens, he walked, looking up at the sky.

What would his end be like?

What kind of face would ‘he’ make at that time?

—The image of a grieving Takeru crossed his mind, and with a snort, he erased that thought…

†

In the original work, Akechi Hideyoshi’s feelings towards Jumonji Takeru were complex.

Affected by his uncle’s abuse, he was distrustful of people, trusting only those affected by his ‘Gift.’

Amidst this, Takeru’s existence, unaffected by his ‘Gift,’ was a source of fear for Hideyoshi.

He harbored various feelings towards Takeru: jealousy, admiration, and awe.

Despite this, he deeply trusted Takeru, who called him a best friend and was the first to come to his aid during tough times, unaffected by the ‘Gift.’

The more he liked Takeru, the more he disliked him,

And the more he disliked Takeru, the more he liked him.

He was caught in such a contradiction.

In this world, Hideyoshi was the one who hated Takeru the most,

Yet conversely, he was also the one who loved Takeru the most (his love was the biggest and heaviest, even more than Risa or the other heroines).

The original Akechi Hideyoshi harbored a troublesome complex towards Takeru.

Takeru, too, claimed to be Hideyoshi’s best friend and continued to be so.

Even in routes like Risa’s, where Takeru kills Hideyoshi with his own hands, Takeru never stops being Hideyoshi’s best friend.

The void of sadness from Hideyoshi’s absence in the world could never be filled, not by a heroine, his own children, or family…

Despite acknowledging each other as best friends and getting along well, Hideyoshi inevitably dies in the original work “Breaking the Chains of Sorrow,” never reconciling.

If only Takeru hadn’t been burdened with the ‘Anti-Gift,’ things wouldn’t have gotten so twisted.

But without the ‘Anti-Gift,’ Hideyoshi wouldn’t have taken an interest in him, and they wouldn’t have become best friends.

In a way, it was a coupling doomed to a bad end from the start.

Q: Why does Takeru like Hideyoshi so much?

A: It was love at first sight for Takeru. The face of Hideyori was the spitting image of his ideal man.

The outlaw-like gaze was a perfect hit for Takeru.

Even in the main story of “Scumbag Chronicles,” Takeru can’t be too tough on Hideyori because of his infatuation.

This setting exists in both the original work and “Scumbag Chronicles.”

Q: Why is Hideyori so disliked by the fans of “Breaking the Chains of Sorrow”? Did he have any popularity as a dark hero?

A: There was no popularity for him as a dark hero.

The reason for the dislike is mostly due to the lack of psychological description for Hideyori.

In other words, because Hideyori’s inner thoughts are not conveyed to the audience,

they get irritated that he does scummy things usually but only claims to be the protagonist’s best friend when it suits him.

Q: Is “I’ll steal your girlfriend” a catchphrase of the original Hideyori?

A: Yes, it’s his catchphrase.

It was a phrase that suddenly emerged in this newly written side story, but it fits the image of the original Hideyori perfectly.

He’s probably the only one who could say such a power word so casually.

The fact that he actually does it makes him a dangerous guy.

For the fans of “Breaking the Chains of Sorrow,” the image of Hideyori is that of a homewrecker.

We’ve also prepared a gift “Commanding Dominance” that’s fitting for a homewrecker role.

Q: Is there no redemption for the original Hideyori and Takeru?

A: There is none.

If anything, the greatest salvation would be for Hideyori to be killed by Takeru’s hand (since there are routes where Hideyori gets killed without Takeru’s intervention).

Thank you for all the responses!

This is an original scenario written with gratitude.

We plan to write such side stories occasionally.

If you have any questions or requests, please let us know, and we will respond.