You Call This a Happy Ending?
"What the fuck. This is really the end?"
Bullshit.
I scrolled back up and read the final chapter of Protect the Academy! all over again.
Standing upon the corpses of her companions, the world around her came into Rania's eyes.
The cultists who had been her lifelong nemeses, and the Evil God they had summoned — now nothing more than a corpse.
"Ahh..."
"Rania. People who don't know you well say you're blunt and cold, but we know better than anyone that you're deeper than anyone else."
"I don't know what happened to you, but once this journey is over, I hope we can get closer. When that time comes, you too..."
"You'll tell us your story, right?"
"......"
She had at last seen her own chivalry through to the end. But there was no one left to bear witness.
The annihilation of the Evil God, built upon the deaths of her companions.
As she stood there, vacant and frozen, people who had confirmed the victory from afar drew near.
"The cultists and the Evil God have fallen!!"
"Who's that standing over there?!"
"Lady Rania! It's only Lady Rania!!!"
Those who had confirmed the Evil God's death cheered with everything they had toward Rania, standing alone. Amid the cascade of roaring voices, she turned her own name over in her mouth as it rang out with such piercing clarity. Holding her center with unwavering composure, she raised the arm that gripped her crimson blade.
"Long live Lady Rania!!!"
"Long live House Vulcanus!!!"
"Long live the Iron-Blood Knight!!!"
A faint smile surfaced upon her expressionless face. Seeing it, the crowd roared several times louder than before.
That's right.
I am a hero, after all.
Beneath those hollowed-out eyes, the corners of her mouth she had barely managed to lift trembled.
And so Rania Vulcanus became a hero of the Marcia Empire.
This wasn't a happy ending even if you watched it doing the Zero Two dance with your grandpa. This was a bad ending.
It felt like the entire year or so of a happy journey I'd spent with Rania was being thrown out and denied. Before I knew it, my hands were on the keyboard, and I was about to pour out a 5,700-character critique—
"...No. Let's stay calm first."
Reason came back to me. Come to think of it, this was only the main story ending. The side stories were still left.
"Yeah. She'll be happy in the side stories."
The moment I said that and scrolled down—
With this, ProtAca! has reached its conclusion. There were many twists and turns along the way, but thanks to all of you readers who stayed with me, we were able to charge straight through to a happy ending. I'll see you again with an even better work!
Thank you so much for loving Protect the Academy! all this time!
"This motherfucker. You're actually hopeless."
For the first time in my life, I left a comment.
I'd just been warming up for the 5,700-character essay, lining up everything else I wanted to pile on, when—
The author had replied.
"What is this guy even saying?"
Same as the sudden bad ending itself — a reply I couldn't make any sense of at all.
Unity: No.
See? He says no, you dumbass.
What's the point of saving the world? Our Rania ended up miserable anyway!
"Hhk... my super-cool, super-strong, super-steadfast Rania... why couldn't you just say it..."
When it hurts, say it hurts.
When you're sad, say you're sad.
This frozen heart keeps telling on you.
"This bastard's actually a nasty piece of work."
Whether this was some vicious commitment to the bit, or whether he genuinely didn't know — I was starting to get confused.
"Wait. Hang on. Is this what I think it is?"
A white flash burst from the screen. In the recoil, the final chapter of Protect the Academy! that had been sitting there filled my entire vision.
"Fuck, looking at it again... the ending still sucks."
Same as ever...
And with that, I lost consciousness.
How much time had passed, I couldn't say.
After waking in a strange place, I wandered here and there for quite some time.
"Have a care not to lose thy way."
"Th-thank you, Lady Rania!"
I had met Rania Vulcanus, the protagonist of the novel Protect the Academy!.
What the hell? Is this some kind of dream I'm having because the ending was that traumatic?
"So, who art thou?"
I was so shocked I opened my mouth, and—
Admiration (Ex)
"Whoa. Peak boomer talk."
Wait, what the fuck. Why is my mouth doing whatever it wants.