11 Daily Life of the Protagonist from previous story
On that day, the hot-blooded boy, Necca, came to the shop with a rather downcast expression.
Necca, who was generally competitive and positive,
was rarely seen looking so gloomy.
I exchanged glances with Erea, wondering what could have happened to him.
“Welcome! What’s wrong, Necca? You look unhappy.”
“Manager…”
I gestured for Erea to handle the shop as I approached Necca.
As I crouched down to meet his gaze, Necca looked up at me with a complicated expression.
“Well… I had an argument with Crow.”
“What? That’s nothing unusual, is it?”
Honestly, I could somewhat imagine why Necca was feeling down.
It was because he wasn’t with his calm friend Crow.
They were best friends and always came to the shop together.
However, they also had a strong competitive spirit, and whenever they opened their mouths, they ended up fighting.
So, I thought it was just a typical situation.
But of course, that wasn’t the case.
It was clear that they had a serious fight, not just the usual playful banter.
If it were just a regular squabble, Necca would have shown up here expressing more anger.
He’s only saying that because he doesn’t want to lose to Crow
“I see… then why are you so down right now?”
The reason for me daring to ask this was to help draw out words from Necca and make it easier for him to talk.
And so, Necca gradually began to tell the content of their fight.
Apparently, the other day when they were challenged to a Dark Fight, Necca and Crow fought as a tag team, but their opponent seemed to be a troublesome one.
In any case, it was someone who tried to provoke discord between Necca and Crow’s relationship.
That person even threw away their own chance at victory just to create a rift between the two of them.
As a result, Necca and Crow’s argument apparently escalated into a serious fight.
“He said I didn’t believe him,”
“You don’t trust him? Sure, you fight all the time, but that’s because you recognize each other, right?”
“That’s true… but he said we don’t have a trust relationship in our fights…”
From what I heard, that was clearly just nitpicking.
However, it was a fact that such actions occurred during battles.
“Well… first, you were just unlucky.”
“Unlucky?”
“There are dark fighters out there who challenge others just to make them feel bad. It’s just bad luck to run into someone like that.”
Whether or not you get involved with malicious people often comes down to luck.
However, the fights that arise from such encounters cannot simply be brushed off as bad luck.
So, I decided to tell him an old story.
“Let me tell you a tale. It’s about a fighter and a monster…”
To be precise, it was a story about a fighter and an entity that possessed him… essentially, the story of Yuuma and Astral.
TLNOTE : Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links (ZEXAL)
In terms familiar to this world, it’s about a fighter being tempted by the enemy, leading to a monster falling into darkness due to betrayal.
“So, it means that a pure monster, who has never been betrayed, doesn’t know what to do when faced with betrayal for the first time…”
“…Come to think of it, this is my first real fight since becoming friends with Crow.”
While it didn’t directly connect to the story, the main point was the same.
As Necca said, the two had never had a significant disagreement since they became friends.
That’s precisely why they didn’t know how to deal with this discord.
“Hey, Manager, did those two go back to normal after making up?”
“No… they didn’t.”
“What?” Necca tilted his head in confusion.
“Once you start to doubt someone, you can’t trust them fully like before. You can’t go back to how things were.”
“…I see.”
“In exchange, a feeling of wanting to trust the other person was born.”
“…!”
Instead of the previous unquestioning trust, they took each other’s hands again, trying to believe in one another.
Ultimately, their trust became stronger than before.
“So, Necca, you might still have anger and doubt towards Crow right now. But if you act with the intention to trust him, those feelings will gradually fade away.”
“…Yeah! Thank you, Manager!”
It seemed I had managed to help Necca with his worries, even if just a little.
Though it wasn’t quite the same as before, Necca, revitalized, dashed out of the shop.
“Manager, I’m going to apologize to Crow!”
“Just don’t start another fight, okay?”
“If that happens… I’ll talk to Crow as many times as it takes until we make up!”
“Alright, go for it!”
And so, Necca ran off with vigor.
With that, I thought there was no need to worry anymore.
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Just as I returned to my work,
a little while later, the calm boy Crow came into the shop.
With a downcast expression, his usual gloomy demeanor seemed even more strained.
“Welcome, Crow.”
“…Manager, have you seen Necca?”
“Yeah, he was just here a moment ago.”
Upon hearing that, Crow sighed, realizing they had just missed each other.
He was clearly troubled about something regarding Necca.
Knowing his concerns already, I decided to let Crow speak.
“…And that’s what happened.”
I prompted him to speak, just like I had with Necca.
As I imagined, he was also quite troubled about his fight with Necca.
It’s understandable; it’s probably his first experience like this.
It’s only natural to be confused.
“Well… maybe we should talk a bit.”
“Talk…?”
“Those two were fighters who could be called best friends.”
The story is about one of them being brainwashed by a bad fighter and having to fight the other.
To be blunt, it’s a tale from Yu-Gi-Oh! .
One fighter tries to convince his brainwashed best friend to come back, but his words barely reach him, resulting in the use of cards banned in tournaments…
“What’s that? That’s the worst!”
“Yeah, I can’t forgive the one who brainwashed his friend. But that’s not the important part.”
“What do you mean?”
“During the fight, thanks to the fighter’s earnest persuasion, the brainwashing begins to lift little by little.”
Eventually, after various events, the best friend returns to normal.
What made that possible were the fighter’s persuasion and their friendship.
“In other words, as long as there is a solid friendship, even if someone is brainwashed, words can still reach them. More than anything, during that fight, the fighter used the card that was temporarily entrusted to him by his friend to persuade him.”
“You mean words and fights can always be conveyed, no matter how distant their hearts may seem?”
“Exactly! Even if they can’t make up right now, they can keep talking and fighting until they do. That’s what friendship is about, right?”
Hearing those words, Crow finally seemed to regain some vitality.
While he may not be able to act as calm as usual just yet, he could at least look forward.
“Thank you, Manager. I’m going to talk to Necca again.”
“Yeah, go for it.”
Just like that, I sent Crow off, following the same pattern as with Necca.
If that had been the end of it, it would have been a happy ending.
But no, that would be misleading.
While the fight between the two was successfully resolved, the next day,
the usual hot-blooded boy and calm boy were back in action.
However, getting to that point was quite eventful.
To be specific, every person related to Necca and Crow consulted me about the situation.
It must have been a significant incident, but it was quite a hassle for me.
Drawing from past lessons… my knowledge from card games in my previous life and various incidents I had experienced in this world, I managed to throw together something that seemed appropriate.
It was no small feat.
Nonetheless, it was meaningful for me to share my past experiences using this knowledge.
After all, these were some of my favorite stories from my previous life.
Now that I couldn’t share them with others, telling these stories to someone was my only way to express my past experiences.
If the people who listened to me could recover from it, that would be even better.
“That was amazing! As expected of the manager!”
“Manager, do you do this kind of thing every day? Incredible…”
Erea and Yato chan, who had been watching me help others, seemed impressed.
That said, it wasn’t like this happened every day.
Rather, consultations were genuinely rare, but when big incidents occurred, they came in succession.
By the way, you two get along well.
“We’re close.”
“Yes, we are.”
They were indeed close.
“Moreover, as far as I know, the maximum number of cases I’ve resolved in a day is ten.”
“Ten!? Did you attach a story like that to each one!? Manager, who are you really…?”
“Also, as far as I know, not once has the same story come up again.”
“Really…?”
No, that’s a misunderstanding!
I occasionally reused stories!
…Wait, did I ever reuse a story in front of Erea?
…I felt like overthinking this wasn’t good, so I quickly cut off that line of thought.
TIPS: The manager’s episode talks have recently skewed towards reality, with a ratio of 30% fiction to 70% reality.
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