Heroine-Saving System: Reborn In A Third-Rate Manga As The Protagonist-Chapter 131 - 132: Identity Exposed

Ichinose was tired… She was very tired.

"I think I can do it now." She muttered under her breath as she looked at the desk in her personal room.

On the desk was a Mana Pistol, usually they wouldn't be able to get anything like this especially since it was lethal and used for Monster Hunting missions outside but it was ALI and they had a saying, Individual Points could buy anything so she bought a Mana Pistol with rounds in it and had the safety removed as well so that she could use it to kill herself.

However she didn't have enough courage to do so for a long time.

'I'm so stupid.' She thought while slowly approaching the gun.

Her Streaming career had been up to a shooting start, even people like her favorite streamer stayed down for several months even years before they were able to get loyal fans, however she was focused on the gains and for that reason, she betrayed the first person that helped her.

Koya.

She could still remember how they met… She had found him exterminating the Twigspire Hive shirtless and had been enamored by his muscles, he also reminded her that she had school which made her come to ALI.

He had helped her, he had saved her on several occasions like even that day when she was trying to get closer to the Praetorian Broodminder he was fighting and nearly died, even in Salamander's Lair too and on each occasion, instead of her to acknowledge it, she did not.

They shared the same interest to be honest, they both liked manga and she wanted to take him to more Cafes too but she knew that he would reject her offer. She was not to be trusted after all.

It took destroying her career as a Streamer… and the looks of the whole class as well as the girls that were bullying her for her stupid brain to finally crack open and see all of it.

His kindness was wasted on someone like her, she could never be of use to anybody.

'I…' She thought, reaching the gun and her hands trembled. 'I have no more place in this world.'

The room was completely silent, thankfully everyone was at the party so there was nobody in the hallway here .

She had checked twice before coming back to the desk.

Online, people were hating. She could open her account right now and see hundreds of death threats telling her to kill herself.

Even on her personal chat, she could see the same thing. Her classmates, students from other classes who had gotten her number somehow were constantly telling her to kill herself.

Even Koya didn't want to look at her anymore, if her parents were alive now, it would be the same thing.

Ichinose silently lifted the gun until it cocked against her forehead and she could feel the heat of the mana from it, this was the perfect time.

It was that party that their Class Professor was holding, it had brought everyone out of the dorms so there was nobody that would hear her from Class 5 so she would die silently.

Her hand trembled against the trigger.

'Why am I hesitating…?' She thought, her life was ruined.

Her "friends" had turned against her and the true person that had been with her, Koya. She had betrayed his trust. 'I deserve to die.'

She slowly pulled the trigger and just then, the door of her room slammed open.

"Ichinose!" Koya yelled out her name and her fingers trembled.

Why was he here? However as her fingers trembled, she pulled on the trigger and everything turned slow as instead of the forehead, the gun was right in front of her eyes and she could see the blue glow from the insides as the bullet shot out.

BANG!

…

Ichinose's head hurt, it hurt so much but she slowly opened her eyes to see a familiar ALI ceiling but this bed was not hers… It had a peculiar scent that she knew belonged to Koya and she slowly turned her head to the right upon hearing some nagging.

"Master, this is why you don't throw yourself into the path of a gun." Disguise Master said while bandaging his forehead.

"I told you not to worry about me." Koya said with a sigh, "The bullet bounced off my forehead after colliding but damn, it hurt like hell. Who could have known that she put the gun to the highest setting?"

He touched the bandage once and winced. The highest setting on that Mana Pistol was rated for Silver-class monster hunting. The dent it left in his skull was already closing but it had not been a pleasant experience.

Ichinose blinked, not only was she alive but Koya had saved her. Why? For what reason? He should have let her die, she deserved that much at least.

"Please stop putting your life in danger, Master. First was the initial raid of Salamander's Raid, then the Isle Incident and even now. Are you trying to die?" Disguise Master raised her eyebrow. "If you are then you can at least let me dissect you before you go."

"Whoa whoa whoa." Koya pushed away from her. "Where did this Dissect talk come from?"

"Tee hee~"

"Aren't you a little bit too old to be Tee heeing?" He asked and she gritted her teeth before throwing a knife that she got from her dress at his head with precision.

He caught it by the hilt. "Now who's trying to kill me?"

He finally turned to Ichinose and a look of concern appeared on his face which made her chest throb uncomfortably, she didn't want him to look like that.

"You…" He stood up from the moving chair and walked over to her direction, sitting down on his bed. "Did you really want to take your life?"

She looked at him in the face and that concerned expression was still there, she was happy to know that he was still concerned about that regardless of what she had done to him.

"Y… ye–"

PAH!

He slapped her across the face, shooting her face to the right and making blood drip from her mouth.

She lifted her palm to her cheek where Koya slapped her and she was so shocked that she couldn't even cry.

The cheek was hot but the shock was hotter.

Nobody had ever hit her before… not even when she deserved it.

She had fully expected him to say something calm and instead her face was sideways while her mouth was bleeding.

"W… why?" She asked and he slowly lifted her in a way that placed her face on his lap while the rest of her body laid straight as he ran his hand through her hair, why would he hit her and then rub her hair after?

Ichinose was confused, what was even going on here?

"I should be asking you that question, why did you try to kill yourself?" He asked calmly and while she didn't want to speak, her eyes teared up and she stifled her tears.

"I… I'm a bad person." Ichinose said. "I've done so many things especially to you when you haven't done anything but help me, back then when we first met, I ran into the middle of your battle and you had to save me, you also helped remind me that I had to come to ALI and I met so many people because of that, After that, I lied to you about a sister I didn't have and got you to come to Salamander's Lair with me where you got brutally injured, I didn't come check on you but instead stole one of your daggers and mounted the bills on you…"

She let out an exhale.

"There are so many things I've done to you that I can't even list them in one breath, I also endangered the lives of students all because of some stream. Can't you see? I'm a bad person and so, I shouldn't live… It's like Mother told me all those years ago… I'm a mistake."

Her voice slowed as she stifled more tears.

"Everywhere I go, I'll bring trouble. I'm not supposed to be alive so just do me a favor and kill me." She said, "Kill me before they come back."

She couldn't bear more bullying… both online and offline.

"I forgive you." He told her and her eyes widened as she pushed his hand away to see his face. "Everything you've done to me, right from the beginning to this moment, I forgive you for all of it."

"Are you dumb?!" She asked, raising her voice. "It was because of me that Yvelion chased after you and you nearly died that day! Don't you hate me?!"

"Everyone makes mistakes."

"Mistakes?! I did all of that because I wanted, it wasn't a mistake! I wanted to hurt you!"

"So?"

"So?!" Ichinose wanted to scream some more but her throat was parched.

"Here." Disguise Master gave her a cup of water and she took it while she was lying down on his lap, drinking it however she dribbled water on his trousers too as well as her shirt.

"Thank… you." She said as Disguise Master nodded and took back the cup, leaving the room to return it.

Ichinose turned back to Koya.

"Everything I was doing… Everything I did, I just wanted more viewers. I didn't care for you or anyone else, I wanted more people to view which was why I caused chaos. From the very beginning, the only thing I cared about was how much I would make for myself." Ichinose said. "I don't deserve this kindness which is why you should kill me now, I would love to die by your hands as retribution–"

He stroked her face now.

"Wh-what are you doing? I'm saying something very serious."

"I don't really care about all that you did." Koya said as he looked down at her face. "But regardless of what happens, you shouldn't kill yourself. Life is very precious, I'd know because…"

She looked at his face and though he still looked concerned, he was also looking guilty.

"I've tried to commit suicide three times." He lifted up three fingers and she looked up at him in shock. He didn't look like he was lying.

"Why would you try to kill yourself?" She asked, "You're perfect… you're hot, you're popular, you have a personal maid, you probably have so many reasons to live so why would you try to die?"

"My face… My life… Before I awakened, before all of this, you wouldn't want to know how I was." Koya replied with a small chuckle.

In his past life, he had tried to take his own life three times.

He was ugly, he was fat, he was short too… No matter what he did, nothing changed and fellow ugly people had told him that looking at him talk about manga on stream made them more confident in their looks and bodies.

In the early days of his channel, he had tried to take his own life twice and before that, when he had just left the orphanage.

He stood on the road and waited for a car to run him over because of how bleak his life looked and all of those times, he hadn't died.

Perhaps it was because life had so much more in store for him and if he had, then he wouldn't be here at all.

He had never told anyone that. He wasn't even sure why he was telling her now but she was looking at him from his lap with wet eyes and he figured she needed to hear it from someone who actually understood rather than someone who didn't.

"Your face… you were ugly before awakening?" She asked and her own past flashed in front of her eyes, she hadn't always been like this.

The reason she was called a mistake by her now dead parents… was because she had been disfigured when she was born with a face not even a mother could love.

After Awakening, all of that was fixed but she had to spend 18 whole years of her life looking like that.

People had looked away and teachers had been kind in that uncomfortable way that was worse than cruelty. She had learned to read a room by the time she was seven… specifically learned to read when people were about to look away from her.

Which was what prompted her to want to live her life, enjoy her money before all of it was gone. Everything she did was to make a point that she was not a mistake to anybody.

"Yes, does that take away from my charm now?" Koya chuckled. "I had a face only a mother could love but it wasn't like I knew my mother though."

She died after giving birth to him and as for his father, Lucius Estes.

He ran away immediately after naming him, leaving all of the hospital debts and everything in the hands of his relatives who in turn dumped it on him after he left the Orphanage. He had spent so much of his early life paying back the debt for bringing him into this world.

"Relatable." Ichinose said and he almost chuckled.

It was hard to imagine that someone like Ichinose could understand it but Awakening upped people in crazy ways. "And I was short as hell too."

"Ah, you too?" Koya asked. "Couldn't have been as poor as me though."

"Huh?" She looked up at him. "I was poor, in debt too before I started streaming."

'It's like I can see me in her.' Koya thought as he looked into her eyes and she did the same but they both looked away shortly after.

"Anyway, don't try to take your life again. It's too precious… as for the reasons you wanted to die, I'm guessing it's Cyberbullying and actual bullying?" Koya asked while raising an eyebrow and she averted her gaze.

"Yes… but there's no need for you to worry, it's not that seri–"

He lifted up the shirt she wore making her blush and on her stomach was a gash wound that had been bandaged.

"It's not that serious?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I…" Ichinose looked down. "I deserve it."

"You do deserve it but I don't like it, you'll need to tell me the name of the people bullying you so I can report to Saki-sensei." He said, pulling out his ALI phone. "Also as for the people that are hating on you, it's because of me right? Good, I'll make a public apology that you have apologized and I have accepted, it won't eliminate all the death threats or hate but it'll reduce a majority of them. Is there anything else?"

He was meant to be saving Heroines which was why he had the Heroine-Saving System.

Koya didn't mind all of those things she did since they made him stronger and she didn't harm the people that he cared about, this would be a whole different scenario if she did.

"Why are you helping me?" She asked, looking him in the eyes. "What do you want? I won't kill myself anymore but I want to know why you're doing this, Koya-kun."

"Why…" He stroked his beardless chin to think. "I guess it's because I like you."

He liked how she was focused on streaming and took opportunities, sure the way she did it was very harmful but she had her eyes on the prize and he couldn't blame her though he wasn't able to clarify this as his regular phone rang in his pocket.

He pulled it out, not even glancing at Ichinose whose face was completely red.

She opened her mouth once and then closed it.

He had said it so casually, like it was obvious, like it wasn't the last thing she had expected to hear from someone she had gone out of her way to hurt. She stared at the ceiling from his bed and pressed both hands to her face.

"Oh? It's time for a stream." Koya said, he had been delaying it for a long time but it was time to make a stream of 「I Was Summoned as a Hero? I'll Kill Everyone」.

He stood up and looked back at Ichinose.

"Do you mind just laying here without moving for a little bit? I'm about to go live." He said and she nodded.

Soon Koya was seated on his desk and he had set his regular phone down while putting the manga volumes he had bought on the table as well and adjusting his shirt, removing the bandage from his forehead.

The bullet had bounced off leaving a small dent but it was healed now with the help of his Blessing Skill.

"Alright then." He said, placing the phone on a holder and starting stream.

Finally he was starting stream after a long while and he smiled. "Welcome back everyone, it's been a while yes but we have a new manga that we're going to be tackling today."

Immediately viewers flooded in.

「YOOOO HE'S BACK😭😭」

「where have you been bro we missed you💀」

「bro said "it's been a while" after disappearing for weeks💀💀」

「my man really just casually came back like nothing happened lmaooo」

「WELCOME BACK KING👑」

「chat is cooked rn fr」

「I literally had a notification set for this stream bro😭」

「No mask, face reveal??」

「nah wait why does he look so calm after ghosting us 😭」

However those comments quickly turned into.

「wait… this is THE Amagi Koya?? the one from ALI??」

「bro this is the guy from the Salamander's Lair footage 💀💀💀」

「HOLD ON. he's a streamer AND that guy???」

「chat we've been watching a literal monster this whole time😭」

「no way this is the same person. no WAY.」

「his viewer count is about to go insane rn watch」

「the algorithm is NOT ready for this💀🔥」

「bro was hiding in plain sight the whole time lmaoooo」

「so when he said "it's been a while"… he meant he was out there killing things??」

It was then that he remembered, over here, the original was doing streaming with a mask on and he had completely forgot about that.

'Fuck.' He thought, his streaming account had completely been found out.