[Title Gained: Protagonist]
"You not only have the body of a protagonist; you are a protagonist beyond the story that your body represents."
"Call me Protagonist Squared, then."
We continued our conversation, making discoveries—or, as I suspected, uncovering truths I had already anticipated.
As I've mentioned, I am the protagonist of a manga, and my supposed heroine has yet to enter my life. It's completely stereotypical of a manga: we will meet each other in high school. Furthermore, my childhood friend, whom I remember as Ma-chan, will be attending the same school.
Since my [Cold Reading] ability is now at level 100, I was confident I could discern some additional information, but I chose to ignore it. I prefer my life to remain spoiler-free... at least for now.
Regarding my other friends, there are no future isekai heroes or heroines.
Ayano is a sports manga protagonist, specifically in badminton, which is clearly due to her obsession with the sport. Noan comes from a lesser-known manga that revolves around themes of being a mangaka and incest. It was obvious to see that her little brother was overly focused on her.
My friends from university are all characters from the same series; they are all talented creators. Kyoya, as I suspected, is a time traveler. How he managed it is uncertain since his story doesn't include any magical or supernatural elements—except for the time travel, of course.
Marin is the female protagonist of a manga centered on cosplaying and costume-making. She is definitely prime waifu material. Interestingly, there isn't a character with the same appearance or name as Marin's love interest in my memories.
Last but not least is Mafuyu, who is a heroine of a slice-of-life manga. Curiously, her manga persona is a teacher who is romantically interested in a student. She has the image of a strict teacher, but is actually soft underneath her serious facade.
Now, , apart from three people whom I consider to be a lover and a friend, no one else is from a fictional story. Yes, even Amelia, the ideal submissive fantasy for many men, isn't from a story—at least not from my clone's perspective. There's also a chance that while she isn't from a story in my world, she could be from one in another world, considering multiversal theory and all that.
The unconventional ones are two or three.
Mira, by far my favorite woman, is from a hentai where she was waiting for her adopted child to reach the necessary age before making a move on him. That's definitely not happening now.
The second one is Ben, who I befriended last year. He is currently in college at Berkeley and in a relationship with the love of his life since childhood. However, I feel like there's something unusual about his situation. It's not necessarily bad, but when I use [Cold Reading], I get strange signals from his girlfriend. Although I don't know much of her, as a concerned friend, I can't help but worry about their relationship.
Maybe tomorrow I'll go say hi and finally use [King of Awakening] to gift him a skill, just to be safe.
Anyway, according to my clone, he is the protagonist of a story that is part erotica and part drama. He didn't elaborate further, but he hinted that I should advise him more about his relationship. He also mentioned that the rumors about his skills in bed are not exaggerated and told me to give him a high five for this achievement—barely twenty and already with more than fifty women.
Last and least is a girl named Cameron. Aside from being—ugh—six feet tall and having the body of a supermodel brunette, she lives in Berkeley, in Ben's setting, and that's about it. We met at a bar, chatted a bit, both recognized what we wanted and then went our separate ways. Sometimes, when we want to hook up, we text each other, but nothing more.
My clone just told me to say yes if she ever needs help. Yeah, that sounds perfectly normal and not suspicious at all.
One interesting tidbit is that he has clear memories of the manga and its characters, but they aren't from me. I was familiar with Ayano, Yuki, Marin, and Mafuyu, although I had never engaged with any original works. However, I had no prior knowledge of Mira or Ben. We don't know why, but the Essence seems to pull information out of nowhere as long as it pertains to the Settings I create that are from my previous world and places it in my clone's mind.
Another noteworthy, albeit less crucial, piece of information involves system messages and notifications. Yes, they are changing—not because of an update function, but due to my uncertainty about which phrases sound better. We noted how this kind of inconsistency could frustrate an author who needs to make retroactive changes or how it could serve as a convenient plot point reflecting the challenges faced by a novice author. Ultimately, it might just be something trivial that would never comes to light in a story.
To clarify, all my family members are characters from the manga I'm from. However, aside from Yuki and some memories of Grandpa, the others don't appear very much. That's why I don't want to view my life as an anime. My dad's characteristics are often overshadowed, if not completely defined, by the image of an absentee parent. I appreciate the external input, but I want to maintain my perspective without bias.
I don't want to completely judge someone based on the portrayal of minor characters in a story that, by definition, can't fully represent a person who isn't the main focus. While I may note what is written about them and develop some understanding of their character, at the end of the day, you cannot define a person solely through the written words of someone else.
In any case, we've decided to end our discussion on this topic.
I have a friend to make a guinea pig of by using my Unique Skill for the first time.