Published: March 21, 2026
I don't like Oda Akira.
For some reason, Akira and I have been stuck together since kindergarten; we've always ended up in the same class. It's past the point of being merely a bad tie — sometimes I think it's a kind of curse. I tried to escape it in high school by taking entrance exams for a really tough school that the local kids wouldn't usually bother with, and yet somehow he was there too, in the same class again. He really didn't remember any of it, though. In our first year, I casually spoke to him and he said...
"Nice to meet you. I'm Oda Akira. What's your name?"
Akira and I had shared the same space for about ten years. We passed each other countless times, even sat next to each other sometimes. I'm not boasting, but I'm fairly good-looking, so I thought I stood out more than he did. And he couldn't even remember me properly.
The reason I hate Oda Akira is simple: he's always so nonchalant and constantly looks down on people. And the fact that he cleanly forgets anything he isn't interested in — that brain of his — irritates me to no end.
Even after coming to Morrigan and becoming the hero, it stayed the same. Akira, who is good at hiding his presence, apparently became an Assassin; he disappears sometimes and wanders off somewhere on a whim. Doesn't he understand that when you're in unfamiliar places you need to stick to the group? Why doesn't he look at me?
I'm the hero. I don't have time to be bothered by some single person when my mission is to defeat the demon king. But whenever I think about Akira, anger wells up in me and I can't keep my cool. As the hero, like any protagonist in a story, I should always remain calm.
When I try to rally everyone as the hero to boost morale, Akira won't join in; he just looks at me like he's mocking or exasperated. Even when I want to get angry because he skipped training without permission, nobody knows where his room is. It makes me want to scream that he's being ridiculous. If we don't cooperate, we can't defeat the demon king. People who refuse to cooperate can't stay in the class.
Besides, he's always alone anyway. Nobody's on his side.
That's what I thought. Until—
"Akira-kun, how are you feeling?"
"I'm getting by. My training menu is brutal compared to everyone else's, though."
"Ahaha. But you're managing it, aren't you? Even Zeal-kun would give up on that routine."
"Well, I was already in decent shape."
Before I knew it, I had grown friendly with the knight commander. I also noticed Akira had gotten better at hiding his presence than before. Even I, the hero, have plateauing stats, yet he's quietly improving his abilities somewhere no one knows about. I can't imagine he'd be stronger than me, but an assassin creeping into the hero's domain is unforgivable.
I'll get strong enough in the next labyrinth raid to astonish Akira and the knight commander. I'll make them realize that there's no comparison between me, the hero, and him.
"Just you wait, A-ki-ra!!"