To Capture a Protagonist’s Heart!

Chapter 2

“This...this can’t be possible!”

I stared at an extraordinarily beautiful girl with snow white hair and scarlet eyes in the mirror.

Wah?! Who is this incredibly attractive girl?

I touched my face in disbelief, feeling the soft skin of a girl and slowly came to the realization that this girl was me.  This was no joke. I definitely wasn’t a high school boy anymore.

If only a girl this wonderful looking came to confess her love to me in the past. I would have cried tears of joy.

“No way!”

My dreams of being a protagonist in a harem anime ruined! I was a girl! I fell to my knees, feeling weak.

“This is too cruel...” I teared. So heartless! Goddess-sama tricked me.

“Sophia?! Are you alright?” I heard Yoko’s voice call from downstairs.

“Uh yeah! I’ll be right there!”

Okay, get it together! I looked down pitifully.

I sniffed in sadness. “Truly too cruel...”

I want a refund!

I needed a plan. Some way to get myself out of this situation! I don’t plan to live out my years as a girl in a harem anime. Even worse! If I was a girl and I’m the protagonist, guys are going to flock to me. I would be forced to constantly try to avoid their advances. I don’t swing that way!

I could feel the awkward feeling settling in. Guys approaching me, falling madly in love with me, and only I would understand that I am a guy as well.

I looked down again and teared...at least in my heart I was.

The situation seemed pretty hopeless. Surprisingly, all the memories of my past experience with anime remained despite the fact that all my more important ones seemed blurry.

I remember watching countless harem anime and came to the realization that my situation was quite dire. No matter how useless, incompetent, or indecisive I was, as a harem protagonist I was destined to be loved.

Such is the fate of all those clueless protagonists in the hundreds of harem anime. That would have been great except for the fact that I was a girl with a guy’s memories and preferences!

I’m not going to attract girls but guys!

I was so depressed. To be so close to fantasy but so far. I was destined to the fate of being surrounded by my fellow men. Goodbye! Dreams of being cushioned by the love of beautiful girls!

But even so. I had to try. All of this was an assumption. For all I know, I could be in a Yuri anime.

I shot my fist up towards the ceiling.

********************

“So what was that all about?”

“Oh, you know, I was just so excited to go to school.” I laughed beside Yoko as we walked to school.

She was apparently my childhood friend. In short, she was the responsible character who took care of my hopelessly useless self for all these years. I gave Yoko the brightest smile I could. Thank you for taking care of me~

“You were?” She gave me a dubious look.

“Of course!”

She smiled. “Maybe you matured a bit after all.”

When we got to class, I was taken aback. It really was like a Japanese high school. With the sliding doors to each classroom, shoe holders before you went in, and everything. The whole package. Geez, looks like it’ll just be a generic harem after all. How uninteresting! Even in another world, rehashed meta ideas live on!

Plus everyone here was decently attractive and I had no doubt that the main characters were bound to be even more. I could already tell that Yoko was a main character by her extra level of attractiveness.

I sighed and took my seat.

After class, we all went to PE and got divided into different teams but as I was walking to the gym, an amazingly attractive girl with silky black hair passed by me. A dramatic wind shifted her long hair to the side, causing her to hold it as she confidently walked down. Before she came out of view, however, she smiled at me. Ugh. This must be either a rival or love interest.

“Alright kids.” The instructor said. “We’re going to play kick ball.”

Most of the class started to cheer while the token unathletic students groaned.

It was a good game. I played averagely, not standing out, not trying to cause an attention grabbing scene which would lead me into a scenario where one of the love interests would inevitably fall in love with me. Phew! See that?! I triumphantly laughed. Goddess-sama, I may be in a hopeless scenario but I will not surrender that easily! Never underestimate the power of human free will!

“Wahahaha! Waha-”

Suddenly, a flying ball hit me out of nowhere, causing me to be unbalanced.

“Oh no!” Someone shouted.

As I realized that I was falling, I shut my eyes. The next thing I knew I was being held by a ridiculously handsome guy! I stared at him in a daze at what just happened.

“Are you okay?” He said.

His eyes were genuine, a deep green as well. He had soft looking brown hair and fair skin.

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Oh no...an attractive guy that saved me from falling? This guy is in the harem!

Time slowed down.

“Still think you’re the protagonist?” A teasing voice said.

I looked around and saw the goddess. I was back in the marble room.

“You lied to me!”

“Duh. You really think you were the pinnacle of human morality in your past life? Please!”

Then I noticed that I wasn’t alone. It wasn’t just the goddess and I anymore. In a circle around, I saw other guys in the room, all looking desperate and angry while they looked at the goddess.

“You all have lived unimpressive lives! Wasting your lives on anime and uselessly passing the opportunities that were given to you.”

“Your final test was the chance to have redeemed your slothful selves! When I asked you all to either pass on to a normal life or follow your lustful desires!”

We all stared at the goddess. Each of us knew that it sounded far more realistic that we were nobodies in our past lives than amazing individuals. My heart sank.

The logic dawned on us heavily. We realized that this was truth.

“So what are we supposed to do?” One of the guys said. “We’re clearly not guys in a harem anime. What are we?!”

The goddess took a moment, letting the silence settle in. She was enjoying the suspense as we waited for the answer.

“I said that you were all main characters but I didn’t say that you were the protagonist.”

?!!!!

My assumption was incorrect. We weren’t protagonists at all! In fact...

“You are all in the harem! The main girls who make it up and surround the actual protagonist!”

Everyone went silent again.

“You all will compete with one goal in mind: To capture the actual protagonist’s heart!”

“The only way that any of you will return home is if one of you obtains the protagonist’s heart.”

“...What a disaster.” One man replied. He held his head.

Only one of us will return home. The one who makes the protagonist fall in love.

“Seduce and win his heart. That is all.”

Time began to continue again and I once again saw the familiar gym field and guy.

I shook my head. He looked worried. It seems that I paused for quite awhile.

“Yeah.” I returned a smile.

As he helped me up, I froze.

I looked on as words started to appear above his head.

¥Capture Target: Located!¥