――I think I’ve been reincarnated.

That might be the best way to describe my current situation.

I thought I died after being hit by a car, but when I came to, I was a baby. And it was in another world.

I didn’t meet any gods, so it doesn’t feel natural, but I’ve considered myself lucky to get a second chance at life. I have some regrets from my previous life, but starting over from childhood is an enticing prospect.

If there’s a problem, it’s this: after seven years of living this new life, I realized that I had become a character from a manga I once read in my previous life. And not just any character—the protagonist, Brave. There’s another thing too. It might be a source of hope, so I’ll hold off on labelling it a problem for now.

Hahaha… defeating the Demon King… if I could leverage my hero specs, it would be a piece of cake… but there is no way that’s going to happen. Phew—this isn’t good…

What’s bad about it… is that this manga follows the classic trope of a hero and his companions defeating the Demon King, who is trying to invade the world. Since it’s a typical shounen manga, the power of bonds and friendship is emphasized, and the story isn’t very dark. On the contrary, the protagonist often powers up through the encouragement of friends, which is a big concern for me.

…Can I power up through the encouragement of friends?

This was my sincere question.

In my previous life, no matter how much my classmates cheered for me during sports day, I always needed to improve my rank.

This means that the power of friendship, which should enhance my innate abilities, is something I inherently lack. And without the friendship buff, I’d be significantly weaker.

…The world is doomed.

――I can’t just do nothing while the world falls apart, especially since I’ve been reincarnated as the protagonist. I’m doing my best with daily training, thinking that even a surprise attack or anything could work. It might be futile, but there’s another concern.

Because of too much training, I’ve entirely ignored Alicia, the heroine who is supposed to be my first companion in this typical story.

I haven’t talked to her much at all, and the reason is the other issue I mentioned earlier—the mysterious boy.

I haven’t spoken much with him either, so I don’t know much about him (I don’t even know his name), but I can tell he’s another reincarnation like me. He’s been dropping lines from our previous life and flaunting his knowledge, which made it obvious. Me? I’m a loner and don’t talk much with the villagers.

So, he shouldn’t know that I’m also a reincarnator.

Can reincarnators help each other out?

If he were my ally, even if I’m not confident in my role as the protagonist, I might manage if I have a fellow reincarnator by my side! That’s what I initially thought…

But he’s just ignoring me…

He hates me.

Instead of helping each other, he’s been cosying up to Alicia and has somehow secured the childhood friend position. Seriously? Alicia is still just a kid at this point! It’s honestly creepy…

Is this another issue? Yeah, it is.

I have the issue of having my protagonist’s role usurped. Alicia, one of the heroines, is more like a stranger than a childhood friend, which will mess up the story.

If the story collapses, I won’t be able to use my knowledge of the original plot. That means the protagonist might not be able to defeat the Demon King, but that’s already irrelevant. The story was doomed from the moment I became the protagonist.

He probably wants to humiliate me, the protagonist (me). That’s why he’s been disrupting the original story from the start. If I had to title it, it would be something like, “I Reincarnated as a Mob Character and Took Over as the Protagonist to Defeat the Demon King ~ All the Heroines Followed Me Instead. The Protagonist? Let Him Try on His Own~”.

In my previous life, stories where the original protagonist loses and the reincarnation shines were popular. Maybe it’s going to be like that here, too.

I want to avoid a humiliation storyline. But it’s not all bad.

Because—this means he might defeat the Demon King for me without me having to do anything!

He might have the potential to humiliate me, but at the same time, he hopes to defeat the Demon King on his own.

So—I don’t hate him. Even though he’s spreading nasty rumours about me to the villagers, turning them against me, and making them treat me like a piece of tr*sh… somehow… I can barely tolerate it.

There’s only room for one protagonist. Let’s divide our roles. From now on, I’ll call him the true protagonist. If he aims to be the hero, I’ll step aside. I’ll head to some remote village and live a slow life. He can go ahead and defeat the Demon King or build a harem, whatever he likes.

Now that I’ve decided on my action, it’s back to training. Even if I don’t end up fighting the Demon King, I need to use my manga knowledge to train… I might need to use it against the true protagonist instead…

I hope it doesn’t come to that. I don’t want to humiliate anyone or be humiliated. I want to live a safe life.

—Ten years later.

…The true protagonist is missing?

And because of that, the Demon King’s army has made significant advances, turning the world into an apocalyptic wasteland…

—You’ve got to be kidding me…

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