[Chapter 4: Not a "shadow hero"?]
After finishing the airing of the WHKE (Weak Holy Knight of the Empire).
"Yep, still as good as last time, especially my boy Gaias." I nodded while complementing the anime.
After finishing the broadcasting of The Weak Holy Knight of The Empire, my day is now filled with satisfaction that I almost forgot that no one talked to me in the classroom again today.
What I like about Gaias in this week's episode was the way he said "I am always watching" before he disappeared in the mist produced by the rubbles, making his mysterious exit after the battle.
But still, I don't get how he knows the exact details of how certain events played out, as though he was there at those very moments. He barely gets screen time, so I don't know what he's doing off-screen. If he wasn't there, how does he know...? Hmm...
I placed my hand on my chin, lost in deep thought thinking of how Gaias could have pulled it off.
While walking down the stairs, I bump into Ayaka.
"Ayaka, let's take on an adventur-"
"No thanks."
[Ayaka refused as naturally as she breathes]
As soon as I suggested to go on adventuring, Ayaka refused before I could even finish my sentence. It's kind of sad how she always rejects my offer as soon as I try to invite her to do chuunibyou stuff. I remembered the good old days when she would look up to her big brother and go along with my whimsical roleplays.
Now, whenever I bring it up, she just ignores it or refuses as soon as I ask the question. She still goes along with it from time to time so I don't think she hates it as much tho... maybe she's at her rebellious phase?
"Don't be like that, it has been a while since I talked with anybody in school ...No, I mean, this is the path I have chosen as the shadow hero Phantom. Like a lone wolf, I never felt lonely when I was alone." I explained, slightly defensive that "Kukuku. To think they'll fear me this much with my presence alone. I guess wearing my "Phantom attire" is just too intimidating for ordinary civilians."
To be honest, I didn't think my Phantom attire was all that scary, rather, it was cool. However, people's reactions compared to my middle school classmates are just too different. Maybe they have a low resistance to powerful people. [Takin it as a positive and was proud for being intimidating as a shadow hero.]
'If you weren't my brother, I probably wouldn't associate myself with you too...' Ayaka secretly thought, thinking how cringy I looked with my edgy/flashy clothing.
Ayaka's expression turned a little soured.
'So this finally confirms it... Brother is being avoided because of his chuunibyou antics. I knew something like this would happen eventually without prior notice... Did he become a class outcast? Let's interrogate him further.'
"Um, brother. Since when did they started avoi-, I mean, fearing you?" Ayaka asked, wanting to know, 'How long has he been getting neglected. Are they bullying Onii(Brother)!?'
For some reason, Ayaka has this annoyed and fierce expression on her face. She seemed angry.
"Since school started" I proudly replied, thinking it was a great achievement.
"That long?!" Ayaka placed her hand to her chin, 'It has already been more than three months since school started... I can't imagine how uncomfortable that felt. By that, I don't mean brother, I'm sure he's enjoying it, I'm more worried about the atmosphere with his classmates.
Actually, rather than feeling lonely. I thought of it as cool. It felt like I finally became a lone wolf unlike in my middle school years. "I feel like a lone wolf, kukuku..." is what I want to say.
"Anyway, I was thinking of ways to improve my shadow hero role."
"Oh, why's that?" Ayaka inquired.
I explained enthusiastically to Ayaka about my recent interest.
"Recently I've been watching this anime called The Weak Holy Knight of the Empire and then there's this mysterious cool looking character called Gaias." I started explaining,
"Just a moment ago he said "I'm always watching". Though I haven't seen him in any of the events that occurred. It was as though he was there from the very start, so he knew right away what was going on. Isn't he just so mysterious and cool!? You just gotta wonder where his information is coming from."
When I was telling her about my recent interest in Gaias, Ayaka recalled something.
'The week holy knight of the empire... Gaias... Ah! My friend loves that anime...' is what Ayaka realized, 'Is brother talking about that?! ...If it's like this then,'
"Wait!, I know that series!"
"?"
Turns out Ayaka also knows The Weak Holy Knight of the Empire. Well, it was a populay series after all.
'If it's going like this, now is my chance!'
Her eyes lit up and spoke with a serious and determined expression on her face.
"Brother! I want to show you something."
"...?! W-what is it?.."
I was a little startled, Ayaka who seemed so disinterested in chuuni stuff looked determined for some reason.
"It's about your shadow hero character and the secret identity behind Gaias's character."
"?!"
"Come to my room."
"?! ...A-Alright?"
I was a little surprised and hesitated to answer for a moment. I haven't seen Ayaka this enthusiastic about my shadow hero roleplay for a long time now. Maybe she thinks chuuni stuff is fun again...? ...maybe ...I would be happy if that was the case.
She grabbed my hand dragging me inside her room.
Inside Ayaka's room. Soon after entering, she turned on the computer and opened a site on Google. And to my surprise it was...
The tab that she opened was a site about The Weak Holy Knight of the Empire. To be even more specific, a data book of all the characters that even includes light novel content info.
"Brother, look"
She pointed at the monitor.
"What is it?"
"This is a data book on the characters of The Week Holy Knight of the Empire. Here you can see information about the mysterious character Gaias."
Turns out it was information on all of the characters of WHKE.
"If you read here, you will get to know Gaias's real identity"
"Let's see..."
I read the parts where Ayaka was pointing at and,
"Here it says that Gaias' real identity was... wait, What!?" My voice raised from surprise.
"Yes, what you are seeing right now is the truth. Gaias, the mysterious and anonymous character you looked up to so much's true identity is one of the weak-looking classmate characters of the Holy Knights Academy. He was fighting alongside the main cast all along!"
"All this time he was this close?! ...Now that I think about it, it does make sense now that he knows everything that has been happening so far."
'I can't believe it. He was this close to the main cast all along ... THAT'S SO FRICKING COOL..!'
I was shocked by the revelation that someone as mysterious of a character as Gaias is just hiding in plain sight. No one in the series even noticed, me included. It was a feeling of disbelief, however, my admiration only became stronger now that I know.
But I did get spoiled though...
"Correct, if you play back all the episodes, you could see that every time Gaias appears, this one particular classmate character disappears from the background."
'I only figured it out because of my friend and is just repeating what she said in that one trivial talk. I didn't know it would become useful like this. I'll have to thank her later for this, and punch her for spoiling me now that I recalled.'
Ayaka then played multiple scenes where Gaias appeared on the screen. In every scene, one particular guy disappears from the background every time that Gaias makes his appearance, proving all the more it is true.
"S, so cool..." I mumbled.
I mumbled to myself from amazement at how Gaias hides his identity, watching over the cast from the sidelines as a side character, secretly helping them in the shadows.
Ayaka pointed her finger at me and told me with a serious face, "And this is why people avoid you, Onii"
"Eh!? ...W-what do you mean...?"
"Because you're not a real shadow hero."
"?! ...Why do you say so?"
Ayaka said that I was not a real shadow hero. I was shocked, especially hearing something like that from her.
"Brother, I already know that you watched a good amount of shows where there are characters secretly helping while staying in the shadows. So, you should have figured it out by now what they have in common."
"..."
I stood there silent, don't know what to answer.
"Sigh, what they all have in common is that they have two separate identities. Look at the shadow hero at The Failure Dark Knight that you recently finished before moving on with Weak Holy Knight, and the one before that, and the ones before."
"The same as Gaias and also the other shadow heroes. They all share one factor as mysterious characters helping from the shadow."
*Gulp*
I gulp, preparing myself for the revelation of what I lack as a shadow hero coming from Ayaka.
"They blend in with the crowds and don't reveal their true identities. But that's not what truly makes their characters so interesting."
Ayaka grinned and gave the big reveal why shadow heroes are so interesting.
"They belong in the [Hidden Strong Character] Category!"
'Checkmate' Ayaka thought after delivering her grand revelation.
"They wear a mask in order to avoid suspicion. They pretend to be weak but is actually strong. They blend amongst the crowds not knowing a powerful individual is walking amongst them. In contrast to heroes who wants to get recognize by the masses, they are humble without fame or reward."
Everything Ayaka has been telling me about shadow heroes in general does make sense.
"Yeah, you're right! How could I overlook such details!"
How could I have not seen this sooner... So that's why something feels off about what I have been doing until now. I was only doing what I thought as cool that I didn't consider the crucial aspect of a shadow hero, and that's-
"So that's why people avoided you, brother." Ayaka looked at me as if disappointed, "They were disappointed that you basically announced to the world that you are Phantom, the shadow hero who lives in the shadows with your clothes and overall aesthetic, making it not a secret anymore, making your shadow hero invalid!"
Ayaka keeps bringing jabs that make logical sense in the essence of being a shadow hero.
"N-not a... s, shadow hero..."
My knees fell to the floor from the sudden realization.
"I see now... All this time I was totally not a shadow hero at all."
Ayaka kneeled down to my level and placed her hand comforting my shoulder. She gave me a warm smile, as if telling me it was okay to make mistakes.
"Don't worry, brother, you can still fix this" Ayaka comforted me and advised me that, "So, what you need to do from now on is to blend in with the crowds, in order to be a real shadow hero."
'She's right. I can't stay down like this.'
I stood up and clenched my fist. "I see... I now know what I must do."
With my resolve I declared "To become the perfect shadow hero, I must become the perfect side character that can hide in plain sight."
'Yes! it worked!'
Ayaka was overjoyed that her master plan actually worked.