My Uncle and I Choose the Life That Will Not Be Ruined - Chapter 22

A deserted gazebo stands quietly on the side of the road that leads to the old school building. The two of them came together to the place where they could hear the bright voices of the students in the distance.

Both of them have complex facial expressions that are intertwined with several emotions. When Leon arrived at the pavilion, he faced the girl behind him.

Leon gulps and swallows saliva.

The moment he tried to talk to the girl who didn’t look away, the girl opened her mouth first.

“Nee Leon-sensei. Do you know what a convenience store is?”

“… As I thought so”

Leon muttered and crumble down, and let out a big sigh.

“It’s a place to shop.”

“I know, I know too”

Hearing the very nostalgic word “convenience store”, an indescribable emotion suddenly swirled inside Leon. Memories of a past life that is quite far away.

Ankoro Mochiko silently stared at the motionless Leon for a while. he feels her silent kindness to wait until he calms down and recovers.

Leon stood up and sat side by side on the bench in the gazebo with Mochiko Ankoro. Then they both looked straight ahead and started talking without facing each other’s faces.

——————-

“How did you know that I was, uh, the same?”

“Ankoromochi, you cut it there for a short time didn’t you. That’s why I think, oh I see~.”

“Though I was half in doubt” she adds

“Ankoro Mochiko. Isn’t your naming sense too strong with peculiarity?”

“I ate it when I first started the game didn’t I, ankoromochi” [Tl note: its legit food name.]

She should have been the heroine’s face full of loveliness, but now her charm has been halved because she speaks with cold eyes and an emotionless voice. Since the pigment is thin overall, if anything, the atmosphere had become even colder.

“Basically, I don’t use default names.”

“Even so…”

“Well yeah, I wanted to try it as soon as I bought it. I tried using the ankoromochi that first caught my eye as a temporary name you know. But when I started, the tutorial was long, so I was lost whether or not to start over, it’s still at the early stages of this grindy game, so I was thinking if I erase the character in the middle, that would be a waste and painful. Before long, I ended up springing out attachment to this name.”

“aー, un.”

A seemingly lovely girl is doing machine gun talk with cold eyes. Leon listened while feeling surreal.

“Even so, in this European-like world it’s not at all, not even a fragment of it, embarrassing to actually be called as such isn’t it. I was about to be called by Miriella just now, so I hurriedly said, “Call me Ann okay” or something. But even though with a name like this and yet, no one would feels uncomfortable is what a game world truly is! that kind of feeling right~”

“Mochiko-san, when did you come to this world?”

“Eh, I just let you know that I’m casually going with Ann, right?”

“If it’s Ankoro Mochiko, isn’t it Mochiko?”

The two silently stared at each other.

“I, realized that this was the world of ‘Hachi Rhap’, was today you know. In the entrance ceremony hall where the game begins, becoming aware and awakened, that kind of feeling.”

“What is Hachi Rhap again”

“‘Honey-coloured Rhapsody’, it’s about this world. Don’t tell me you didn’t know?”

Leon nodded while letting out an audible voice.

“Sorry, sorry, I know. Actually, the detailed memories of my previous life are fading. It’s been eight years since I became Leon when I was eighteen.”

“eh?”

“I probably died at eighteen, and before I knew it, I was eighteen years old Leon.”

Were you doing Leon for eight years? …… he nodded to the murmur.

“Rather than doing it, I feel like I’ve become Leon. Though at first, I was scared, and every time I looked in the mirror, it felt strange.”

“I see~. Eighteen huh~”

“How old is Mochiko-san, um…”

“I was around thirty years old you know”

Looking up at Leon with cold eyes, Mochiko grinned.

“I’m over 30, so I’m older than you, you know. me.”

“e, so you’re older”

“I’m over 30, but my life is all about work. Before, my only pleasures were beer, the internet, and otome games…”

Mochiko puts her hands on her knees and her eyes waver sadly.

Leon came up with an idea.

For some reason, she was suddenly thrown into this world today as a ‘heroine’. Of course, she must be confused even if the memory before her is clear.

Leon’s voice choked as he tried to comfort her, but he soon realized that he was wrong.

“… fu, fufufufufufu. That’s it see, when I realized it, I was reincarnated as a beautiful girl you know! I was terrified when I looked at my face in the hand mirror, I’m really cute after all me! No really this is lucky isn’t it?”

“eeee?”

“No~ This might be the best time to start my life over.”

“I see……”

Mochiko, who suddenly became energetic, glanced sideways at Leon’s face.

“By the way, why are you wearing glasses?”

“e. No. Doing it this way would make the school ladies don’t come near close that’s why.”

“Heeeー”

“Is it strange?”

“Uhm, It’s different from the character design I know, so I wondered why.”

Aren’t men with glasses popular here huh~. While muttering something like that, Mochiko moved her legs around. She lost her dead-fish eyes, and as soon as she did, her age-appropriate heroine cuteness returned.

“I want to ask you one more thing. Could it be that you changed Miriella?”

“e?”

“I’m talking about ‘Hachi Rhap’. I talked about it today, but it’s completely different from that girl’s personality in the game. Could it be that you taught her, is what I thought.”

“a, un.”

After staring at each other for three full seconds, Leon timidly muttered.

“Even though she’s my in-law, she’s still my niece. When I met her, she was only 7 years old see. If I left her alone, she would turn wicked and lead a miserable life right.”

“You’re kind, Leon-sensei.”

“It’s not that I’m kind, but…”

“Well, It’s not as if I particularly mind you know.”

They looked like a teacher in his mid-twenties and a girl in her fifteen, but after revealing their identities, she had the upper hand.

“You used to be doing ‘Hachi Rhap’, didn’t you? It’s rare for a boy.”

“I had an older sister see. Ordered by my sister, I was tasked with leveling up and other work you know.”

“Hmm. Did you clear all characters?”

“No, I ended it around the time I captured four people, so I don’t do the fortune teller one.”

“Honey Coloured Rhapsody” is a game where you can choose a route relatively early on. However, only the fortune teller was a kind of hidden route, and the capture was supposed to be done after seeing the endings of the other characters.

“I see, I get it. Then, I’m going home today.”

“wai, just wait”

“Rest assured.. I’m not planning to do anything like capturing Leon-sensei, and I don’t have any intention to spark a fight with Miriella either.”

“Really?”

“Un. Then later.”

The girl stood up with her bag in her hand and waved her hand with a lovely smile that was beyond words. Leon stopped her as she tried to walk away.

“Oh, Mochiko-san. By the way.”

“It’s not Mochiko, it’s Ann I say.”

“It’s fine isn’t it. I think that Ann, rather than a common name, is a name full of originality though. Ankoro Mochiko.”

“Think it’s someone else’s business… and, what?”

“Aa. Ann-san, do you know a lot about Hachi Rhap?”

Leon was a worker for his sister’s smooth game life, and in fact, he only knew the outline of the game.

He was relatively familiar with Miriella, it’s because Miriera, who was always deformed in mini-games, was on a business trip as a nuisance character.

He asked her, hoping to hear more about the game if she was familiar with the overall story.

Then Mochiko answers with an adult smile that doesn’t suit her.

“That is already. It’s cleared perfectly you know.”