I'm Just A Chuunibyou: Why Are Maidens Falling For Me? [Volume 1]

Chapter 11: Gias' Secret and a True Shadow Hero

After we headed inside Ayaka's room, she turned on the computer, and to my surprise... the site that she opened was a site on The Weak Holy Knight of the Empire.

"Brother, look"

She pointed at the monitor.

"What's that?.."

"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 a information on all of the characters of The Weak Holy Knight of the Empire.

"If you read here you will know Gaias' 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?!."

"Yes, what you see is true... Gaias, the mysterious anonymous character's true identity is one of the classmates of the main character in the Holy Knights Academy all along"

"All this time it was that guy all along?!... Wait, now that I think about it, it does makes sense that he knew everything that has been happening so far if he was just that close to the main cast"

I can't believe it, he was that close to the characters all along... so cool...

I was shocked from the revelation of someone as mysterious as Gaias is just in plain sight and no one in the series noticed, me included. It was a feeling of disbelief however, my admiration only became stronger.

"Correct, if you play back all the episodes, you could see that every time Gaias appeared this one particular classmate character disappear from the background"

I was actually just repeating what my friend says in that one talk. I'll have to treat her for this as my thanks.

Ayaka played multiple scenes where Gaias appeared on the screen. In every scene one particular guy disappear from the background every time Gaias appeared proving all the more it was true.

"S-So cool..." mumbled*

I mumbled to myself from amazement at how Gaias hides his identity watching over the cast in the sidelines as a background character secretly helping the cast behind the scenes.

"And this is why people avoid you brother"

"W-What do you mean?..."

Ayaka pointed her fingers at me and said with a serious face.

"Because you're not a real shadow hero"

"!?....Why do you think so?"

She said that I was not a real shadow hero. I was surprised specially hearing something like that from her.

"Brother, I already know that you watched a good amount of shows where there are supporting characters helping the main character secretly in the shadows. So you should definitely see what they have in common"

"...."

"What they all have in common is that they have two separate identities"

Ayaka started explaining what every shadow hero have in common in their characteristics that I have overlooked until now.

"Look at the shadow hero at The Ring of Sovereign that you recently finished before replacing it with Weak Holy Knight, and the one before that"

"The same as Gaias and also the other supporting characters that helps the main character in the shadows. They all follows one factor of their character as shadow heroes which is..."

Gulp*

I swallowed my saliva preparing myself for the revelation on what I lack as a shadow hero coming from Ayaka.

"That is, they all are living double lifes, as a shadow hero operating behind the scenes and a normal person in the surface... behind the façade of an ordinary classmate like Gaias, there's a vigilante hiding beneath the surface"

"Yeah! You're right!.. How could I overlook such details!"

Everything Ayaka has been telling me about shadow heroes in general all made sense.

How could I have not seen this sooner... So that's why something feels off about what I have been doing up until now. I didn't have the crucial aspect of a shadow hero which is hiding in plain sight.

"They blend in with the crowds and doesn't reveal their true identities so that's why people avoided you. They were disappointed that you basically announced to the world that you are Phantom, the shadow hero, making it not a secret anymore, making your shadow hero invalid..."

Ayaka keep bringing jabs that make sense in the logic of being a shadow hero that I overlooked.

"Not a... shadow hero..."

My knees fell to the ground from the sudden realization.

"I see... all this time I was totally not a shadow hero at all"

Ayaka kneel down in my level front and placed her right hand comforting my left shoulder.

"So brother, what you need to do now is to blend in with the crowds to be a real shadow hero from now on"

She gave me a warm smile with eyes looking at me with as if telling it was okay to make mistakes.

She's right. I can't stay down like this forever.

"I see... Now I know what I'll have to do..."

I closed my fist tightly with my resolve and resolution.

"To become the perfect shadow hero, I must become the perfect side character"

Yes! it worked!

Ayaka was overjoyed of her master plan actually working.