The Hikikomori Protagonist
The hikikomori protagonist.
Eva Amethyst.
Daughter of Petra Amethyst, head of the Amethyst family.
The protagonist of Academy Yuri Princess.
A genius who mastered magic at the age of five.
Talent gifted from heaven itself.
And a shut-in hikikomori.
"That's her identity, though. It's her charm point compared to the protagonists of other novels."
Almost no web novel protagonist could ever pull that off. It was a niche trait you'd only occasionally see slapped onto TS VTuber protagonists, and I'd never once seen it succeed anywhere else. The author insisted she had charmingly resolved a character who, handled carelessly, would have gone from flawless superhuman to an invisible dragon — so absurdly overpowered that nobody even bothers talking about her.
"Surprising. I thought everything was fine except Chloe and Eva getting together."
"D-cups. You could absolutely hold your chest high at that size."
"It wasn't? I figured we were discussing the whole 'shut-in with huge tits, gloomy girl' angle."
GWAAAAH!
The Writer wailed! The effect was minimal, but still.
More importantly, I'd assumed I wouldn't lay eyes on her until the entrance exam. Running into her this early was unexpected.
Click-click-click-click!
Through the gaps in the noisy crowd came the sound of teeth chattering, playing out an irregular little melody — like a child who knew nothing of music gleefully clacking away at castanets.
She's trembling out of fear, it looks like.
In the original novel, Eva submits her enrollment application under Chloe's escort, takes the exam, passes, and becomes a student of Purity Academy. By now she should be waiting in the preparation room for a staff member — so why was she stranded alone in this crowd, shaking like a leaf?
I have no idea what actually happened here. But the Writer did say, didn't she? That unless something dramatically changed, the story would flow to exactly the same ending as the web novel I knew. And now that flow had shifted? Who else could have thrown that curveball but me?
By pure coincidence, it overlapped with the moment I destroyed the Veil. The countless people who should never have come storming into the arena. Eva, separated from Chloe.
Decision made. This is absolutely, one hundred percent my fault!
There was no dodging it and no denying it — my responsibility, all of it. Every last bit of this had happened because of me alone.
"Haah, trouble. Nothing but trouble."
"No — the problem is that I'm too amazing. My mere existence is causing collateral damage everywhere I go."
Anyway, the joking ended there. It was my mess, so I would clean it up. Left as she was, Eva would stay isolated in that crowd, paralyzed, getting shoved and jostled by everyone. Innocent, careless elbows and kicks would swamp her.
A crowded place was more than enough to trigger her trauma. And once Chloe caught up to her — far from improving the situation — she'd draw her sword with her eyes rolled back and start swinging.
"Better to just take her out of here myself."
It was doom. Doom, I tell you. Five minutes before total disaster. So — partly to prevent the accident, and partly out of simple kindness — I intended to carry her somewhere safe.
Thud!
My outstretched fingertips were pushed back as though blocked by an invisible pane of glass. There was no pain, but I felt an intense rejection radiating from the very depths of my soul.
"She's on guard."
Beneath the blanket she'd curled herself into, brilliant mana was rising in layer upon layer. A verdant, refreshing glow — like clear sky after the clouds had parted — drifted through the air like mist. Read plainly, it meant one thing: the instant I tried anything funny, she would respond.
I'm here to save you — say words like that and she wouldn't hear a single syllable. I'd only deepen her suspicion.
The only option left was force. Dragging her out whether she liked it or not.
"And this entire area turns into a war zone?"
"Did a being called a god really just say something that should never leave a god's mouth?"
"Cold. Wow. Just cold."
This is a god? I smacked my forehead at her words. Truthfully, I was only playing along because I knew Chloe would never actually cut through civilians, even if she turned the place into chaos.
"Anyway, I'm getting this one out of here."
"That depends entirely on how I handle things from here on out."
Eva sent a jolt of warning my way, like brushing bare skin against a stripped, live wire — but I ignored it and reached out my hand again.
SSSSRANG!
Thick chains burst up through the pavement, coiling around my arm and binding it tight. The limb grew heavy, as though slabs of iron had been welded to it, and a moment later my legs had stiffened, petrified solid.
Multi-casting.
The pinnacle that mages dream of their entire lives — blooming countless spells simultaneously from a single pair of lips.
And she did it without a single word of incantation. A level of power most mages could never even hope to approach, achieved through silent, chantless casting alone.
Eva's specialty. So this is the first time I'm seeing it with my own two eyes.
I'd begun to sense mana ever since possessing Solis, and one thing I learned almost immediately: the mana a person exuded unconsciously was enough to gauge their caliber.
The way a trained eye judges a face or an object's craftsmanship on aesthetic sense alone — one look at the protagonist's magic, and I could only sigh in admiration.
It was porcelain, if I had to compare. A noble vessel bearing an absolute beauty, the kind that could carve a single line into the history of a century.
Porcelain is only complete after it has been thrown into the kiln's fire and forced to take shape. And yet her magic displayed breathtaking detail so finished, so perfected, that it seemed complete despite never having passed through the tempering of training, despite never having endured the long hours of meditative patience that forging demands.
The talent and potential that would, without contest, claim first place in Class E of the Academy where the magically gifted all gather. Anyone else would have been struck speechless at her skill, jaw hanging straight off its hinges.
Unfortunately, her opponent was me.
FWOOOSH!
I channeled mana into my bound body. The mana answered — flaring with light as dazzling as the sun itself, carrying my will to break free. Her magic crumbled into a pitiful handful of ash, vanishing without a trace.
"Hweh?"
Eva froze solid, letting out a sound you'd sooner expect from a high school girl fresh out of her mandatory military service than from a prodigy mage. She took a certain pride in her magic, in her own way — so watching me dispel it like swatting a fly had clearly shocked her.
I moved quickly, wrapping her up tight in the very blanket she'd cocooned herself in — bundling her like a swaddled infant — and lifted her into my arms.
"You might get motion sick, so just bear with it for a minute."
Warning delivered, I leapt upward with every ounce of strength in my body.
The dizzying lurch of weightlessness. Wind cold enough to sting lashed furiously against my face as we soared through the open air.
"Hiiiieeek!"
With her feet off the ground, Eva plunged into pure, animal terror and thrashed violently. Afraid I might drop her, I clamped the bundle tight against my chest and let gravity take us straight down.
KA-BOOM!
We landed safely beside the arena, on a deserted walking path. I confirmed no one was around before setting Eva down out of my arms.
"G-g-g-g-go away!"
The instant her feet touched the ground, Eva shrieked and shoved at me with both hands. Not that the strength of a frail little mage could budge me.
"Got it. I'm off."
Coolly turning my back as requested, I started walking toward the arena.
"Y-you... weren't you here to t-target me...?"
Thrown off by my unexpected behavior, Eva asked me instead.
"Target you? For what?"
"Y-your l-life...?"
"I just saw someone trembling in the middle of a crowd on my way somewhere, and saved her. That's all."
Besides, I'd shown my face to the original protagonist — hardly a losing trade. Next time we crossed paths at the Academy, I could at least count on a nod of recognition.
With Eva's safety secured, my role here was done. Lingering at her side would only stir up unnecessary noise.
"Contact someone with your phone right now — call your family, find help, whatever works for you."
Those were to be my parting words as I headed for the arena —
"U-um, excuse me!"
Eva called me back in a desperately urgent voice. Had some crisis struck? I stopped mid-step and turned an ear toward her.
"My... my phone."
"What about it?"
"I-I d-d-don't have it... I forgot it..."
"I don't have one either."
"...Oh."
Well then. This just got complicated.