Surviving a Shounen Manga

The Ramirez Scramble (7)

Boing–.

I tried moving forward, but stopped at the strange foreign sensation against my chest.

“Hm?”

Naturally looking down to investigate, I was left slightly stunned.

… A, ah!

A… quite interesting scenery unfolded before my eyes.

Hmm.

Immersed in the plan for the future, I’d disregarded the possibility of ‘discomfort’ arising from ‘experiencing an unfamiliar body’.

So,

“Khm, uhm…”

I inadvertently flushed.

This girl was quite, so to say…

Of course, I was familiar with the shape itself.

Female characters in Adventure King were drawn in a way that showed off the author’s unique tastes.

Starting with Madame Rosemarietta, the first female character to appear all the way back in Virgin City, all the female characters had physical specifications that basically reflected the author’s questionable sense of aesthetics.

A chest full to bursting, under a small face, followed by a waist narrow as a reed, and finally, ridiculously long legs.

Quite an unrealistic body shape that nevertheless fit the ambience of a shounen manga.

So, that was now my… present form.

Of course, I hadn’t thought of it as a big deal before. Or rather, it was true that I had not seen much of it before. Or perhaps, it’d be more accurate to say that I’d never considered it at all.

But once I settled into that body shape, it felt… a little different.

It felt…

At that moment,

Slap!

My two palms slammed into my cheeks and brought me back to reason.

‘For god’s sake… wake up, wake up!’

I shook my head.

This was a shounen manga.

It was just a manga character.

And it wasn’t really me anyway!

Was this the time to get distracted by trivial stuff? I needed to calm down.

I had to prepare!

Soon,

“… Alright.”

I calmed my inner turmoil and checked the target in front of me once again.

The Ramirez.

Of course, actually grabbing it wasn’t the problem.

In the first place, I had the drone’s remote.

I could just turn off the power remotely. Then I could just pick up the treasure once the drone fell to the ground.

Or maybe I could jump high up and catch it. Some direction was needed to set up an eye-catching scene, after all.

The problem was after that.

I didn’t have a solid plan.

In the original story, after Tanya stole the Ramirez, she’d been chased down, and finally had to take refuge under Leo’s banner. But that way lay problems.

First of all, I’d be discovered after a while.

Even if I tried to play the character called Tanya, I definitely wouldn’t be able to mimic a woman’s natural habits or behaviour, so getting caught was an inevitability. Leo the idiot or Yan the simpleton were one thing, but I wouldn’t be able to trick an excellent decipherer like Siana.

And above all else, it was very risky for me to do what Tanya was supposed to do.

Because it might take away her ‘significance’.

Moreover, ‘snatching the Ramirez’ was a core part of the story development, at least within the original.

It’d lead to Tanya and Leo forming a strong bond, and in the end, Tanya becoming a member of the Leo Adventurers.

But me doing that?

‘… It’s dangerous.’

In fact, although I was committed to this path in order to grab the spotlight, my heart was heavy.

It was such a risky move!

So I didn’t intend to lay the secret bare anytime soon. Even to the readers.

Of course, me appearing as Tanya would definitely stir up discussion. Maybe I’d even get the lion’s share of the spotlight.

But protecting Tanya’s position was more important. I couldn’t let the plot development go further off the rails.

So, my job was to steal the Ramirez and quickly hand it over to Tanya.

Although this seemed a strange way of doing things, it wouldn’t impact Tanya’s character. Maybe she already had an idea about ​​what to do with the Ramirez.

So if I gave it to her, she’d definitely accept it.

The only problem being, I still didn’t know where she was.

Cocoa hadn’t given me any news yet, for some reason.

Although the city was quite large, I didn’t see how she could be struggling with something at this level.

‘What the hell is she up to…?’

But I couldn’t dither any longer.

So I focused.

‘Forget about it. Let’s grab it first, then I can think about it.’

My approach was simple.

Snatch the Ramirez and cover myself with a goblin silver screen.

Then, masquerading as somebody else, leave this place.

Then I’d sit down and ponder over what to do next.

Beep–.

My first step was to halt the drone’s image magnification function. Then, I turned on the function to sound a warning if anything approached within a certain distance.

The crux of all this was to ‘get people’s attention’ as much as possible without being discovered. I needed to divert not only the audience, but also readers, from the thrilling battle of Gronyan and Gelop.

Then,

“Haaahhh!”

I activated the gadgets on my arms.

Adjusting the output of the energy outlet on my left arm to make myself hover in the air, I began to manipulate the energy outlet on the right –

Pop!

Pop!

Popopop–!

– And made it go off like a firecracker, several times.

Of course, this wasn’t for no reason. It was all to catch others’ attention.

After a while, I soared into the air, and came to a halt only about 10m away in front of the drone.

Beep-!

Beep-!

The drone sounded a warning.

I looked around.

The below was covered with factories and abandoned buildings, so it was hard to be sure, but I’d apparently attracted some notice. I could hear the shouting.

Look over there, what’re you doing, thief, kill, etc…

“Alright.”

Aggro pulled successfully.

Now I had to do just advance, and…

That was then.

“Stop! You bastard!”

Suddenly, a voice intruded.

At an incredibly close range, at that.

‘What, already? Somebody was waiting here?’

I quickly turned to where the sound had come from.

And,

“Get out of there!”

I was astonished to see ‘it’ approaching me at the speed of light.

… Danger!

I quickly fired an energy cannon to gain momentum, widening the distance.

And I focused all my attention on the assailant.

This was crazy. This was somebody I knew.

“Hmm? You don’t look like a run-of-the-mill goblin. What the hell are you doing, imitating Tanya…”

“… Coocoo?”

Surprisingly, it was Coocoo.

“If I hadn’t been on patrol, I would’ve missed… huh?”

“What are you doing here?”

The stupid pigeon looked very surprised that I knew his name.

“What, what… Ta-, Tanya?”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, that’s right! Tanya couldn’t be here… No, but then who…”

I kindly dropped a few hints, since this idiot suffered from brainless syndrome.

“I know your name, and I naturally must Tanya to imitate her. Still don’t know who I am? I’m the one who freed you from that cage.”

Then,

“Wh-, what! M-, maybe… Squatjaw, is that you?”

Coocoo shouted in surprise.

“Yeah, that’s right. Where’ve you been?”

“That’s… no, that’s not the problem here, what’re you doing? Why are you pretending to be Tanya? You… really look just like her.”

“Ah, this? I was just… trying to get some attention.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Forget that. Why are you here? Standing guard?”

Then,

“Uh… well, it’s Tanya’s, so…”

“So you’re keeping watch? To see if anybody steals it?”

“Ah… I guess.”

This idiot had apparently been by Tanya’s side all this time. At her request, he was looking for an opportunity to steal it.

I could reaffirm, Tanya was definitely aiming for the Ramirez. Maybe even without my interference, she would’ve come to collect it, sooner or later.

But I didn’t regret my actions. There was no point crying over spilled milk.

It was already an urgent situation.

“Don’t worry. I’m going to give it to her, anyway.”

Then,

“Really? Youuuu! Yes, I believed in you! You were a good guy all along!”

Coocoo jumped with joy.

Phew, he believed me.

Finally,

“Okay, let’s go. Do you know where she is?”

“Over there, if you turn the corner of the building on the left…”

I quickly descended to the ground with the Ramirez in hand. Some of the pursuers were already about to close in.

“Alright, now get on my shoulder.”

As Coocoo plopped down on my shoulder, I covered myself with a goblin silver screen.

“Now let’s go.”

Coocoo guided me to an abandoned factory, and there under the shabby eaves, it was again time to greet a familiar face.

Or rather, two of them.

“Big Brother!”

“Squatjaw! What’s going on?!”

“… What do you mean, what’s going on? Why are you still here?”

Only one of them read the rebuke in my words, from their replies.

“Still? Where should we have gone instead?”

“It seems like someone was messing with the path.”

“… Really?”

Disturbing the path was a way to constrain guides, a technique the author had introduced as a ‘specialized field’ in the original.

But this concept had officially debuted long after the middle of the story, so it was inconceivable to meet somebody this early who could be capable of it. Maybe it was Tanya herself?

“Oh, that was probably the cat. He was working hard to cover her trail.”

“Cat? Ah…”

Coocoo probably meant Nero.

“Is that guy with Tanya too?”

“Uh-huh. Actually, he came first. Ah, we’re here.”

Coocoo announced our arrival of the destination.

We nudged open the doors to the factory and let ourselves in.

Creak–.

Our sudden appearance took Tanya completely by surprise.

“Coocoo! What…”

It was Cocoa who answered her question.

“Hey there, Tanya. Long time no see. I’m Cocoavi. And this is Chinuavi.”

“Nice to meet you, Tanya. I’ve heard a lot about you. You’re a guide, right? I’m Chinuavi, from the Squatjaw Adventurers.”

“… Wh-, what?”

“This isn’t the time for long introductions[1]!”

Stopping them both, I walked up to Tanya.

“I have something to tell you.”

Then,

“Y-, you… Damned squat-jawed bastard!”

Tanya groaned.

“I’m sorry I took the Ramirez.”

“Then compensate me! No, give it back to me!”

The conversation was flowing very smoothly.

“Alright, here you go.”

I held out the Ramirez.

“… Huh?”

“I’m sorry I took it from you.”

“H-huh…?”

Tanya just stared blankly at the Ramirez in front of her for a moment.

As if she was completely stunned.

In the end, I had to shove it into her hands.

“Happy now?”

“…”

“But, you know?”

“… Huh?”

“You’re going to be in a lot of danger if you have this.”

Then,

“… Ah, right. Right.”

Tanya nodded her head with a serious expression on her face, as if her brain was working again.

“Are you still going to keep it?”

I asked politely. Of course, I had no intention of getting it back even if she didn’t like the idea. I was thinking of running away if she tried to return it.

That was then.

“Of course. But you haven’t told me yet why you’re giving this to me. It’s not because you’re really sorry or anything, right?”

Tanya took the lead to ask a question.

“Oh, that?”

Naturally, I couldn’t say ‘to divert attention from Gronyan’ or ‘because you’d stolen it in the original’.

So,

“I have a request for you. It didn’t seem like you’d listen if I just asked you, so I had to bring a present.”

I responded with the excuse I’d made up beforehand.

“A request?”

“I have a small box… I can’t quite figure out what’s inside. I was wondering if your unique ability could manage it.”

“…”

The reaction was lukewarm.

Her expression spelled out ‘why me’.

So I had to stoke the flames a bit.

“I got it from the goblin chief. It’s a small box, but he said a relic of last Adventure King is inside.”

“R-, relic of the last Adventure King!?”

“How about it, did that pique your interest? Do you feel like showing off your skills?”

In fact, this ‘relic of the last Adventure King’ had an intimate connection with Tanya.

In the original, she’d played a decisive role in inferring the identity of the contents and bringing it out through her unique ability [Master Thief’s Eye].

Just then,

“Where the hell did she go!?”

“Search thoroughly!”

“There’re traces here too!”

I could hear shouting from outside.

Apparently, the guides of the adventurer teams were tracking the Ramirez’s location.

I immediately turned to Tanya.

“Well, we can talk about that later… now we have to hide first, right?”

“I can escape by myself.”

“That’s dangerous. You should know that already.”

“Then what should I do… Do you want me to stick with you?”

I shook my head.

“No way. The two of us don’t really mesh well, do we?”

“… Then?”

“Don’t you have a close friend nearby? If you ask him to protect you for a little while… he probably won’t refuse.”

As if she immediately understood what I meant,

“… Leo?”

Tanya came up with a name.

“That’s right. Ask him to shelter you for a while. I’ll come visit you soon.”

“But… I left him without a word…”

Looking at her face, she’d apparently been a bit excessive.

“He’s not the kind of guy to care about that. You should know that already.”

“… True.”

That was then.

Beep–.

The transceiver rang.

It was Haka calling.

“How is it? Is the fight over?”

– Fight? Oh, you mean the cyborg vs the Black Shadow guildmaster? That’s been cancelled.

“Is that so?”

The reason was easy to guess.

“So what’s the situation now?”

– Uh… they’re starting to move. I think it might be a bit of a big deal?

“Starting to move? Where?”

<a>– Against you. Gronyan has marked you as the main enemy. He said you broke your promise.

“Really? That’s funny, everyone should’ve seen it. I wasn’t the one to steal it.”

I winked at Tanya.

But,

“… Huh?”

Tanya looked at me with eyes full of doubt.

– Because the Ramirez didn’t respond. To be precise, the thief must’ve been wearing the same equipment that’d made it ignore you. In their minds, the two of you are on the same side. Quite a few of them have seen you alongside that redhead before, too.

“Hmm… is that so?”

– You are the main enemy, but everyone else will probably be a target, too. Eliminate everybody except those who cooperate. The orders are pretty harsh.

“… Got it. Keep in touch.”

After hanging up, I thought for a while.

Those guys had moved faster than expected. Apparently, they’d been long prepared to ‘invade’ the other areas.

Then I had no choice but to change my plans.

“Did you hear that? A guy named Gronyan from the western zone is leading an attack with all the personnel there. You know, right? Who he is?”

Tanya’s face stiffened.

She did seem to know.

“So, shall we hurry?”

Actually, there was no need for me to say that.

Tanya seemed already prepared.

“So I’ll go to Leo? And you’ll come later?”

“… No. I was planning that originally, but the route has changed.”

I turned around.

“Let’s go together. I have something to tell them, too.”

Thirty minutes later.

Outside the Gibrante factory area, a cave in the mountains.

“But right now, don’t we have to protect him, instead of him protecting us?”

Tanya looked at Leo, who was still unconscious, and muttered softly.

She looked quite shocked.

“Hmm…”

In fact, this was also an unexpected scene for me.

Leo wasn’t the type to stay unconscious for long.

No matter how much damage he took or how hard he fainted, he’d usually be back on his feet after a while.

There had to be a reason for this…

And secondly –

I turned my gaze to Yan, who was breathing exhaustedly, leaning against the cave wall.

As it turned out, Yan hadn’t summoned ‘King’ yet.

This was also a very rare situation.

The two were connected. If he’d awakened, he should’ve summoned King right away.

Leo’s late recovery, Yan’s late awakening.

Putting them together, I came to a conclusion.

These guys were waiting for a more ‘appropriate time’.

A better time to awaken.

Of course, that couldn’t be their free will. Perhaps it was part of the ‘intended development’.

At this point, it was even a bit cliché. I could guess the future plot developments intended by the author.

The main characters waiting for the time to awaken.

A powerful enemy named ‘Gronyan’ appearing just in time.

Not alone either, but with an army.

‘I rather like it.’

I thought that maybe… the author’s wishes and my wishes could coincide at some point.

Then,

“Can we talk for a second?”

I called all of Leo’s party together.

Although that meant only Yan and Siana right now.

Then, I explained the current situation.

A powerful enemy named Gronyan was trying to get rid of everyone here.

Many powerhouses had already taken refuge under him.

“So what do you want to say?”

I simply answered Siana’s question.

“Why don’t we make a united front?”

“… United front?”

In fact, I’d been dreaming of a situation like this for a long time.

Who knew it’d arrive so soon?

“Personally, I think we have a lot of common enemies. In fact, the individual stage is already over, this is now a team match.”

“Team, you mean…”

What was the rival role for, if not to start a constant cycle of fighting and reconciliation?

I smiled and held out my hand to the both of them.

“It’s simple. Stand with me.”

The Leo Adventurers, and the Squatjaw Adventures.

It was time for their first team-up!

Editor’s Notes:

[1] 통성명, lit. exchanging names and surnames at the first meeting.

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