Side Character

Zhao Youyue was feeling particularly good today. After all, she is now a 'shifter' girl, and nowadays, where would you find a 'shifter' girl who isn't beautiful?

Now that she has shifted into a young girl, everything would turn out for the best!

Well, what is the purpose of shifting, if you don't turn into a great beauty?

Just like any other guy who crossdresses to win the affection of others, becoming a big-c*cked cutie in life, having a cute outer appearance is imperative. Likewise, if the shifting does not turn one into be a great beauty, the shifter would rather end his or her life at once!

Zhao Youyue knew all too well that she has not been equipped with the superhuman perseverance of her female senior, Wu Di. That girl was able to slim herself down into the proportions of a goddess [2] even after once shifting into a plump girl.

Without any doubt, there is nothing better than achieving one's goal in a single bound. Zhao Youyue has never been an advocate of the unproductive path of "bitterness first, sweetness later [1]."

She then took her little mirror out and stared into it with confidence, this…. is this how a pretty girl looks like?

She was a girl with beautiful facial features, delicate, fair skin, silky hair shaped into a bob cut that ended in a casual fringe that lay over her forehead. Such appearances reminded her of Katou Megumi, the heroine of the manga "Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend".

She was now as good as the three dimensional Katou Megumi. Surely enough, the all-too-common setting where all shifter girls are pretty girls, would never fail to live up to that stereotype!

At the same time, she had assimilated the memory of this body, coming to know that the body of its original owner had lived a dull and pathetic life. Her personality had deprived her of any sense of presence. Wait, isn't this what a three dimensional Katou Megumi started off as?

As she continued diving into the memories, she came across the revelation that she has never received a single love letter, and not a single person has ever confessed their love for her. Well, even her fellow classmates did not know that she existed!

At that moment, Zhao Youyue had to admit, that regarding herself as a great beauty was a misconception. Was it even possible for a true beauty to not gain any notice, at all? With such beauty, she could have conquered everything. Just like An Yi, the beautiful mangaka who had ticked off her numerous fans, only to quell their rage by the simple action of posting a cute picture of herself.

Objectively speaking, Zhao Youyue was nothing more than an adorable girl. Due to her undistinguished personality, she had never before, expressed herself prominently and had remained completely unremarkable.

As one takes a trip down memory lane of their high school days, many would easily remember the elite scholars who achieved outstanding results, as easily as they would remember the school's beauty kings and queens. Many could also remember the students who constantly flunked their exams and rebelled against the teachers in class. Apart from those two extremes, students who were neither, born with ordinary appearances, average exam results, and boring personalities, would be fortunate if anyone ever remembers them.

During a class gathering, people might only recall knowing such students when their names are mentioned.

In fact, Zhao Youyue belonged to such a category. She possessed no outstanding traits of her own. Well, despite taking up several hobby classes since young, she still remained a jack of all trades and a master of none, because she was never ambitious or bold enough to announce her presence, 'here I am, pay heed to me'!

At this point, Zhao Youyue saw a silver lining. She was allegedly the precious daughter of a rich family, albeit not filthy rich. Nevertheless, her father was the director of a private hospital, which was also her family's private property. Moreover, her mother was a university professor. Under such conditions, there would be no need for her to work for the rest of her life. She might not be able to afford a private aircraft, a luxury yacht or high-end villas, but driving a million-dollar limo, living in a luxury condominium were within the realm of possibilities.

The thought gave her some momentary relief. A side-character does not have any "protagonist's halo" hovering over their heads, none at all! The main character should either derive from the lowest class of the society, one who has to walk through a path full of thorns to achieve greatness, or be born in an aristocratic family, probably as a b*stard or a useless dandy, who would still end up as the heir of the aristocratic family in the end...

With a family background like hers, did not grant her any room to prove herself as the main character!

As things stand now, she was not the main character, so who exactly was she? Just a random, side character?

No way! She was no longer the previous Zhao Youyue. She wanted to change herself and enhance her presence. She wanted the whole world to know of her existence!

She decided to examine if she had possessed any golden fingers[3], believing that she should at least be gifted with an eidetic memory, or a brain as powerful as a computer, that could store all the iconic works of literature. If so, she could happily be a plagiarist, selling all her transcribed works in this parallel world, earning herself countless fans. Everyone would remember her this way, wouldn't they?

Much to her dismay, she failed to recollect the contents of even the iconic novels, such as Jin Yong's works, which by then, had already been adopted in one form or another by a whole multitude of plagiarists. She thought of "The Return of Condor Heroes", but could vaguely remember the storyline and its iconic characters. As such, reproducing stories based on her memory was impossible, as she had never built up her writing skill. She is not able to able to transcribe novels, let alone mangas. Ah, and don't forget how she was lacking in any form of talent.

The road to being a plagiarist was thus, cut off!

"System setting, please come out already. Without you, I would really be just a side character in this world!"

Zhao Youyue muttered to herself, hoping to hear sounds like "Ding Dong", "Bounded", "Host", but still, there was no response.

To her utmost disappointment, Zhao Youyue acknowledged her absolute lack of the golden finger [3]. Prior to shifting, she was already an ordinary side character that possessed a similar personality. How would she possibly turn herself from a side character into the heroine?

Would she really need to study hard to become an elite scholar?

Zhao Youyue opened up the high school textbook that she had just obtained, and took a glance at it, why is this so complicated… isn't this too much to become an elite scholar?

She might as well become a pornstar!

This must be a way to bring up her fame. Well, she did have an identity as the precious daughter of a hospital director, that could be quite a selling point, couldn't it?

Anyway, she would never do such a thing, besides, the competition in that field was pretty intense. Among the myriad pornstars filming in Japan, how many of them would actually be remembered by the masses?

Zhao Youyue used to be a fan of Katou Megumi from the manga "Saekano", but she did not have that "saint" mentality of hers. She would not resign solely to being a side character. In fact, in the latter part of the story, Katou Megumi, under the guidance of the male protagonist, grew much more attractive and conspicuous. She thus lived up to the title of a main character.

Zhao Youyue decided to improve her sense of presence. She now had the desire to change herself from a side character into main character, and now, her brain was completely occupied by two words - Make Trouble.

"The student behind Wang Yang, it's your turn to introduce yourself," Mr. Qiu the class teacher called out.

Zhao Youyue got to her feet, yearning to say --- "I have no interest in ordinary humans. If there are any aliens, time travelers, sliders, or espers here…come join me. That is all!" This is apparently an old joke, but it has always been effective at drawing people's attention.

What she eventually let leak was, "I'm Zhao Youyue, glad to be classmates with everyone."

Just like Katou Megumi, she spoke with a mild tone and a sweet voice, but her self-introduction was too unremarkable. Everyone just darted a glance at her without putting her in mind.

Zhao Youyue sat down in disappointment. She had the will, but not the courage to become a troublemaker. Anyway, she would not come up with Haruhi Suzumiya's disgusting way of self-introduction! Uh uh, she was not going to build up her sense of presence by such methods.

After all, what were the odds of such a side character becoming a main character? If any novel had such a main character, the author might as well drop the novel right away. It would fail sooner or later, wouldn't it?

Hence, this is the end of the novel, let us celebrate!

Nevertheless, Zhao Youyue soon found herself an outlet to become a troublemaker. Of course, this involved the discovery of her special ability!

Translation Note:

1. "Bitterness first, sweetness later" - "先苦后甜" is a Chinese idiom. It means that one has to work hard (bitterness) before enjoying life or reaping the harvest of one's hard work (sweetness).

2. Chinese always refer to a very beautiful girl as "Goddess" - "女神".

3. "Golden finger" - "金手指" refers to the extraordinary advantage granted to a character in the story, usually the main character, which allows him/her to achieve something much more easily than the other characters.