The Pain of an Inferior: A Blistering Love Comedy That Begins After a Broken Heart - Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – Under the Sunshine

Since I was a child, I, Ise Ria, have grown up under a special circumstance.

My father and mother were never at home. I was raised by an android who took their place as my parent.

Although I have a very feminine appearance, my body is that of a man while my sexual orientation is that of a woman. It was a bit of a mismatch.

And most importantly, I started my life as a rank E citizen, the result of my father’s crimes.

I wanted to congratulate myself for growing up in such a harsh environment, since I was still able to grow up in a somewhat decent manner.

Persecuted for being a rank E citizen, I spent my primary school days in solitude.

Although I was not harassed in the open, backbiting and neglect were commonplace. My daily life was lonely, bitter, and painful.

There was no way I could ever get used to the pain. I was suffering throughout my nine years in grade school.

When I was twelve, my foster android told me everything.

She told me that my father was a pervert with a taste for male daughters, and that I was supposed to be born a beautiful girl, but that he had turned my body into that of a man’s, as well as loading me with all kinds of artificial talents.

When I heard that, I wanted to kill my father for the first time. I wished that he would get killed quickly with the death penalty, even though he was atoning for his crime in prison.

Suppressing the overflowing desire to kill, I explored my options.

The sex change operation, which produces a sex-changed clone and transplants the brain to the new body, was only available to those who have rank B citizenship or higher.

The quickest way to raise my citizen rank is to do something great that will affect many people. This was easy for me because of the talent I posess.

On the first day of the seventh year in grade school, I turned thirteen. At last, the functional limitation of my Talisman was lifted.

Once the restriction was gone, I will be able to play VR games.

With the money I saved, I purchased a VR machine and installed a major game title called [Ember].

It was an online RPG with a time rate of 4 seconds. I wasn’t too fond of the game because of its dark fantasy atmosphere, but it has the largest number of concurrent players.

I thought that if I could make a name for myself in this game, I would soon reach rank C in no time.

Reality wasn’t very kind – I showed excellent performance on every boss fights, and many players appreciated my efforts.

Inside the virtual world, the citizen rank was invisible. I remembered that the players I met treated me without prejudice which made me very happy.

I remembered that I was very happy when a player said to me, “ISERIA, you are strong, why don’t you participate in the upcoming World Tournament?”

“World Tournament?”

As I was puzzled, a senior female player from the same guild as me explained about the World Tournament.

She told me that there was a PvP tournament that only the top notoriety level players in PK, representative players of ranked guilds, and top ranking players can participate in.

“You’re the top ranked player who killed the boss solo, so you’re more than qualified. What do you say?”

“I don’t know… Well, I’ll think about it.”

“I’m not trying to flatter you, but I’m sure you’ll be able to get a top ranking since you’re ISERIA, so think positively.”

Although I had beaten back player killers several times, I was a little nervous and afraid to go out and attack other players myself.

I returned to the real world, debating whether or not to participate.

I activate my Talisman to find out more about the tournament in Ember.

Suddenly, my profile appears at the edge of my vision.

My rank “rank E citizen” seemed to have been shown prominently.

When would I have time to worry about it? If I don’t seek evaluation greedily, I will never be able to get up to even rank D.

I connected my Talisman to the official website of Ember and announced my participation not from within the game but from the real world.

Thus, I participated in the world tournament against Ember. I was 14 years old at that time.

The results were disastrous.

I won the tournament, the title of the world’s best player, and a generous prize, but I lost a lot of things.

[ISERIA, you can’t just leave the guild… We don’t think you’re a cheater. Even the officials denied the allegations of you doing so.]

[I appreciate it, but I don’t want to be a bother to anyone anymore.]

My performance was so overwhelming that I was suspected of being a cheater and the whole world ended up bashing on me. My guild was also falsely accused of receiving boosts from me, and I was maligned by many people.

The guild will continue to be vilified for a while even though I left the guild and retired. However, if I had taken them at their word and remained, the situation would not have ended well.

I thanked the guild members for keeping me, but I gracefully resigned from the guild and uninstalled Ember.

I had left a lot of achievements on my profile, but in the end, I couldn’t even reach rank D.

“I’m at my wits’ end…”

I muttered helplessly, hating my origin.

I hated my father, who was a perverted piece of trash, and I hated my fake talent that didn’t really belong to me.

I lived my life as if I were half dead, not knowing what I was living for.

And then, despite the fact that I did not study at all, I was admitted to A-10 Academy, which was said to be the most difficult school to get into in the Kanto region. I was afraid and hated myself that I was able to get in without any effort, while many people were trying to win the right to enter the school by studying hard.

I thought I would spend my days like a zombie just like in grade school, but there I met the man of my dreams.

Obi Haruka.

He was the boy sitting behind me.

He has ash-brown hair that turns blond when it hits the sun. He always wore a lot of earrings in both ears. He also had a tattoo of a flame on his left cheek, and he looked very flamboyant.

His profile was almost blank, the so called vanilla profile, showing he had done nothing of note in grade school. A-10 is a top-ranked school, so it was inevitably filled with people who value their status. With his flashy appearance and blank profile, it seemed that no one would take him seriously, just like me.

“Hey, Ise-san, are you really a man?”

His first conversation with me was a simple curiosity, without any malicious intent.

“Can I see your hand?”

I remember well that I was puzzled by his aggressive approach and held out my hand as he asked me.

“Your wrists and fingers are so thin. Your skin is so soft, I can’t believe you are a man.”

He suddenly held my hand and intertwined our fingers together, which made me very nervous. I had never imagined myself intertwining my fingers with someone like that.

He talked to me a lot. He smiled at me, as if he didn’t see the letter “E” in my rank. At first, I doubted his motives, but as I continued in engaging with him, I soon put a halt to my doubts. I can’t explain it well, but he didn’t seem like the kind of person who would be up to something like that.

Soon enough we began to make small talk, and I think we became friends little by little. It was only a week.

It was the first time I had ever talked with someone so much in the real world, let alone inside a game, and I couldn’t help but feel the presence of Haruka in my mind.

“Ria, do you want to go out with me on our day off?”

Before I knew it, the two of us started calling each other by our first name, and we started hanging out on holidays.

Though he doesn’t have any particular target in mind, Haruka invades my heart with his tricks.

[Ria, try on this dress, it’ll look good on you.]

[I brought my Nee-san’s makeup kit. Can I put makeup on you? Ria is already a very beautiful girl, but you can be even more so with makeup!]

[Wanna have a picnic at the Watch Tower area?]

[Can I play with your hair?]

[I’m free after school, Let’s go on a date, Ria]

Haruka was coming on to me three times faster than usual, and although I was confused and anxious, we gradually opened up, and I became strongly attracted to him.

I knew love for the first time.

Every time I would talk with him, my heart would warm up. Every time we touched, I would feel good. And every time we parted ways, I couldn’t help but feel sad and lonely.

I could never have imagined in the past that my heart would be so filled with a man.

When my mind was completely invaded by him, he told me a terrible thing.

It was a kind of a love talk, and he told me that he liked Uta-san, who was in the same class as us.

“Eh? You like Uta-san?”

“Yes, I have a one-sided love. We used to be in love with each other…”

Haruka says that he has been in love with Miyako-san, who is in the same class with him for almost ten years.

Remembering the happy times they used to have, he smiled differently from the way he normally smiles at me.

My heart ached.

My almost womanly body can never win against Miyako-san, no matter how hard I try.

The part of a man that I was aware of every day. I couldn’t help it. If it weren’t for this, I’m sure that Haruka would have switched to me by now.

I was suffering inwardly even though I was treating him the same as usual.

Unaware of my inner feelings, he casually told me a terrible fact during our chatting.

“What? You’re in a relationship with your older sister?”

“Oh, I forgot tell you. I’m dating my Nee-san, we’re lovey dovey.”

I was very confused.

It was true that when I talked with him, we often talked about his sister. I knew they were close, but I could never had imagined that they were dating.

“Huh? But you like Uta-san, don’t you?”

“Yes, I like Miyako too. I know it’s insincere, but I like them both equally.”

He said it so bluntly. My mouth was agape.

I was surprised, but at the same time, I thought that if he likes more than one person, there is a chance for me, too. I thought to myself.

Haruka taught me how to put on makeup.

The outfit that Haruka said would look good on me.

The hairstyle he likes.

I showed all of my feminine side to Haruka, and just tried to get his attention and liking.

I sometimes felt a passionate look from him that looks at me like I’m a woman in his eyes.

Whenever he looked at me with those eyes, I shivered with pleasure running down my back.

Before I knew it, Haruka had started to ask me out on serious dates instead of just for fun.

Gradually, I increased the frequency of my body touching, and eventually, he asked me to hold his hand while we were on a date.

When I was at school and when I went home, all I could think about was Haruka.

I realized that I had been so invaded by Haruka that I could never go back.

I never thought that I could fall in love with someone so much, even though it has only been a month and a half since we had first met.

He was not getting along with Miyako-san and seemed to be in pain every day, but when he was talking to me he seemed to forget his pain and seemed happy.

I continued to be involved with Haruka in order to take him away from Miyako-san.

Finally, the fateful day came.

It was the day that Haruka got his heart broken.

I rejoiced in this event, without being too obvious about it.

It was now or never to barge into his heart.

So I decided to change the destination of our date to a horror game.

[In the Apocalypse, I set up a game, creating a suspension bridge effect.]

Thus, my once-in-a-lifetime gamble ended in a great victory.

I became Haruka’s lover.

He told me that he would love me even though my body was like this.

Haruka never lies. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t anxious, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.

“… Haruka, I love you so much.”

Whenever I kissed the expensive necklace he bought for me, I fell asleep feeling the heat of the sun.

At last I had found happiness.

I found my purpose in life.

Translator note:

male daughter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otokonoko

Fan art of Ria shared by the author on his twitter. She’s a Saren (from Priconne) expy.