Side: Ayukawa Mayu
“The mister is… STRONG…!”
It was a one-sided game to a degree that defied belief.
The kind of matchup you see in manga: legendary old kung-fu master versus… a kindergartner. It would look exactly like this.
—Seriously though… WHAT is this ojisan?
・Has a skill that imports things from Japan
・Grows genuinely absurd crops
・Absurdly strong
・A good person
・Everyone around him is also absurd
The spec sheet is just… wrong. Statistically wrong.
And that’s when I noticed my way of looking at the mister had started… shifting. Bit by bit.
His face is thoroughly average. Neither plus nor minus.
But lately he looks just a LITTLE bit cool… no — it’s an aura thing, okay?
And he’s twenty-nine, so calling him an ojisan at all is honestly incorrect, isn’t it?
…is the kind of thing I’ve started thinking about. Apparently.
—Maybe I’ll start calling him Tatsuya-san.
I mean… since coming to this world it’s been pure survival, and after the sage took me in there wasn’t a single young man around, and…
…and then a weirdly high-spec, kind person saves your life, and… well… anyone’s heart would… wobble a bit…
—Ah. This is the Bad Thing, isn’t it.
And with that, I became fully aware of my own feelings.
Hmm… and I used to be famous for being unassailable, too. “Iron-Wall Mayu,” they called me.
Though honestly, the real reason I’ve never dated anyone is that men simply never interested me before.
And NOW, of all options… a twenty-nine-year-old ojisan…
Okay, fine — age-wise he still barely qualifies as an onii-san. Barely.
And then Tatsuya-san walked over to me and patted my shoulder.
“Stop… Mayu. Reconsider.”
”…Eh?”
“Forgive me if I’ve misread this, but… high school girls are off the table for me. Completely.”
“Eh? You can… read my mind?”
“Just now… a skill called Gut Feeling Level 10 got granted and activated simultaneously.”
”…Of course it did.”
So he sees through everything, apparently.
Honestly — is there anything this person DOESN’T get handed?
“Point is: high school girls are impossible.”
“WHY are high school girls impossible?”
“Under twenty is a hard problem.”
”…Eh? But Sonya-san is… generously, middle-school-LOOKING—?”
“Until now, the species barrier always supplied the standard-issue age loophole. But you’re different… you’re human, and a certified, bona fide high school girl. That is BAD NEWS.”
Ahh, I see.
The ‘actually over twenty thanks to species rules’ clause. THAT system.
I don’t fully follow, but the takeaway is that under-twenty is administratively difficult, somehow.
“We’re in another world though? I really don’t think anyone here is checking…”
“This is a Serious Problem.”
“A serious problem?”
“Yes. Even if you and I were fine with it — socially, manga-adaptationally… no, let me be precise: SQUARE-ENIX-ically, it is untenable.”
I… have no idea what that means, but the conviction is overwhelming.
And Tatsuya-san’s expression is so grave that nodding along seems like the only available move.
“But, um… Tatsuya-san?”
“What?”
And so I revealed the shocking truth I’d been keeping in reserve.
“I’m — twenty, actually? I just still look sixteen.”
Tatsuya-san’s ears gave a distinct twitch.
”…Explain.”
・A note for readers confused by the meta conversation
The comic adaptation is on sale now, in excellent health, from Square Enix. The web-manga version can be read free on Manga UP!. Also, the nipple coupon unavailable in the web version was duly issued in volume 2 of the print and digital editions.