Chapter 15

I woke up to an all too familiar ceiling once

Again. This time however, it was not a hospital bed. Instead, I was on the couch in Toshi’s house. Diran and I had enjoyed an innumerable number of nights here.

Our friends filled the room. Roku was telling Diran about his fight; Mack was chatting it up with Toshi about who knows what. Shai sat on the chair next to me, exhausted from healing me, and Useless was scourging the fridge. I smiled a bittersweet smile.

“What a nice scene.” I said, letting everyone know I had awoken.

“Lee! You're awake! Thank goodness.” Diran said as everyone turned to me.

I sat up. By the looks of things all my wounds had been completely healed, which was good. I didn’t really want any weird looking scars everywhere from that guy.

“Thanks for healing me Shai, great work! From now on you shall be known as ‘Useful’.” I jokingly said.

“Please don’t name me that.” She said as she buried her face deep in her hands.

Useless scoffed at my comment, before turning to walk back towards the kitchen.

“I guess I should be thanking you too, Useless.” I quietly said.

“Huh?” She replied in shock, never expecting to hear those words from me.

“Yeah! If you hadn’t stopped to take a dump, Shai would have never been there to heal me!” I happily exclaimed.

Everyone laughed at the remarks, it must have turned out well for everyone to be in such high spirits.

“Hah, hah,” Useless sarcastically said.

“At least I didn’t get hurt enough for Shai to need to heal me.” She retorted.

“I’d hope not, I don’t know how badly you’d need to mess up to get that injured in the bathroom.” I grinned.

Useless rolled her eyes before going back to the kitchen, and everyone went back to what they were doing. Mack and Toshi went back to their conversation, Shai passed right back out, but Diran and Roku stayed next to me.

“So did you win your fight or did Diran have to bail you out too?” I jokingly asked Roku.

“Oh, I won.” He smiled a wicked smile.

“The beginning was shaky, we were evenly matched, until I unveiled my new ability. It was the best fight I’ve had since Diran.” Roku said while punching the air.

“And I’m guessing you beat the third general with mid to low difficulty?” I jokingly asked Diran.

“Oh no he was tough, but I remembered my friends, and the sacrifices you made for me, and I was able to break through my limits to win!” Diran said with a smile.

“Good for you.” I smiled, before my face turned serious.

“Listen, there's something I need to talk to you about.” I told Diran.

“Oh ok, do we need to go somewhere private?” He asked.

“Nah it's alright, Roku can listen,” I said.

I looked around the room, at everyone being happy, enjoying life. I turned to the window, the sun was setting, and the colors were dancing across the river. It made me think back to that “memory”. I had never seen the ocean, and I had definitely never met that woman. I doubt I could figure out what it meant with the information I have, so I thought back to all the other memories I saw. All my failures, all the times I’d failed to do anything, every time I’d let everyone down, I thought back to them all, but most importantly, I thought back to those words once again.

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I can’t keep living this way. Things had to change. I can’t be reactive any longer, I need to make the change I want.

“I’m leaving the team.” I said.

“W-What!?” Diran responded with shock.

“I’m leaving the team.” I said once again.

“I heard you, but what!? Why!?” Diran asked as he stood up from his chair, his reaction causing a commotion.

It was time for me to make a change. A real change. To work towards what I want to do, to accomplish my dreams. To stand as my own person, and go on whatever weird journey I need to get there. I needed to restart.

I’ve lived my whole life comparing myself to Diran, validating my existence based on how I compared to him. That was no way to live. To find my own way, I need to leave...To literally find my own way.

“It's just something I have to do.” I told him.

I had to find my reason for being a hero. I had to find it for myself, without Diran. All my life we’ve been together, but now I know that if I’m going to find my individuality, I'll need to find it without him. I needed to stand on my own two feet. Of course, I couldn’t tell him all that embarrassing stuff.

“But why? If it's something you need to figure out, I can help you!” Diran pleaded with me.

“No, this is something I have to do by myself. It won't be for too long, maybe only a few arcs, but it is something I need to do. It’s about time this series got a spinoff” I said as I stood up.

“What's happening?” Mack asked, as everyone was now turned to us.

“Lee’s leaving the team.” Diran said with a sad tone to his voice.

“What!? Why!?” They all asked.

“After everything we’ve been through, before we even defeated Koun?” Mack asked.

“Eh, I know the plot will force us together again.” I responded with a shrug. No way I’d ever be able to weasel myself completely out of Diran’s story. He is the protagonist.

“What about Koun? We finally know our next move! Don’t you wanna hear it?” he asked.

“Nope. Don’t care. You guys can handle that.” I got up from the couch.

“But why? I still don’t understand why you want to leave?” Mack asked.

“I already said, it’s just something I have to do. Even if it's just for a short while..........I need to do it.” I stoically, mysteriously said as I began walking away.

I turned and slowly walked towards the door, before pausing and turning to them.

“Screw this ratio.”

“Huh?” They all replied in unison.

“Four dudes, one and a half chicks. I’ve had enough, screw this ratio.” I said.

“...”

“...”

“You can’t be serious.” Useless replied.

“Goodbye everyone, I’ve treasured our time together. Don’t frown because I’m gone, smile because you’re rid of me.” I said with a smile, a wink, and a wave before exiting the door.

It was the most fitting farewell I could give. They’ll know I wasn’t serious about the ratio thing, after all, they’re my friends, they know me. I know they’ll be alright, and it won't be too long until I see them again.

I have something I need to do; I don’t know where I’ll start, I don’t know where I’ll go. But I won't do it as a side character, I’ll do it as the protagonist of my own spin-off series.

The plot would expect me to learn to accept my fate and my place in the team. That was the expected character development of this arc. But screw that, I’m fighting against fate, against the plot. I’ll find my own path, my own reason for fighting, even if I have to do it alone.

Well, time to go home and pack. There is no time like the present to make a change. I need to hot foot it out of here before Diran can convince me otherwise.

“I’m coming with you.” A voice said, interrupting my thoughts.

I didn’t need to turn to know it was Roku, but I did anyway.

“Roku? But why?” I asked, I did not predict this.

“It's as you said,” He paused as he caught up with me.

“Screw this ratio.” He said with a smile.

I see, Roku was just like me. He was once the main character of his story, the all-powerful MC who couldn’t lose. But just like me he did lose. Diran bested him. He became a side character, just as I did. He needed to find purpose, just as I did. I was foolish to think I was the only one struggling with these feelings of incompetency. But my eyes are finally open.

“Besides, do you even know where you’re going? Or what you’re going to do? I know you’re way smarter than me, but you haven’t even been outside the central plateau.” He jokingly said.

“I thought I’d figure it out as I went.” I said with a chuckle as we began walking.

We would be side characters no more; we would change that. We would be the protagonist of our own spin-off story.