Last Chance, Haruo - (Original, Side Character!MC)

Warning! This is an original story which involves the plot of: Side character is impaired due to toxic harem-like situation which has deprived him of opportunities with little rewards for himself but... he has one last chance to get his future secured.

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There are many things that I, Shoda Haruo, had been taught as a child that now held a massive importance to my life.

But the one rule that currently overrode all those nervous thoughts trying to get me to walk away from the living room was one of the simplest and one I hardly disobeyed: listen to your mother.

Sitting in that fairly large room, a pillow beneath my knees and a small table between me and the woman that was Shoda Honoka - the woman looked absolutely furious. She was angry but... not at me. Hardly one could say to have seen 'Lady Honoka's furious mood' if not family and, by certainty, his husband and my father, Renji, but the way this rage was conveyed was most unusual.

"This is your last chance, Haru-kun. And you need to stop thinking that we can keep giving you chances."

The shame was suffocating, but it was the heart-broken tone that mom was using that further rattled me. To the eyes of many, I was not that great. Sure, I was the stereotypical reliable kid at school - always have been - and my grades were nothing to scoff at as I had been awarded some potential scholarships in the past few months as high school approached its closure but...

I have to admit that I have a big secret that was now ruining all those opportunities for me.

For the last two to three years, I have been a side character to someone's impressive story. Now, many would be upset to be deemed secondary to a story, or to call something serious a story. But it always felt like a tale taken by a Manga or a Light Novel.

It all started when I was just a little boy. I remember that everything was so simple and fine: do your homework, play with the friends, have fun. I was a child, and I was also taught to be kind to others.

Especially when those people didn't have anyone else to trust or feel cared from.

My first interaction with Pendragon Akira was back during kindergarten. As a foreign student with bright green eyes and a bit of a 'lone wolf' attitude, many had thought him a bit of a jerk. The truth was that, after asking sensei about it, I learned that Akira was going through a lot of troubles in his family. So... I worked hard to get close to him.

He pushed me away at first, but ultimately he gave up and, by all means, we were buddies. Like, good buddies. So good that it kind of felt crazy for a civilian like me to get involved into some crazy situations when the Demon King returned to this realm.

...Oh right! I am skipping on some background info. I will do my best to summarize this the best possible:

A long time ago, Light and Dark forces clashed and, from that lasting battle, a new balance was struck as the wicked and chaotic Demon King was shattered in many pieces. As time went on, the pieces managed to regain power and obtained personalities from the main dark traits and tried to be the ones to reunite the rest. Now, the only way for them to do so was through the Legendary Weaver of Destiny, the Lance Rhongomyniad.

Due to his heritage as a legitimate Pendragon, Akira was selected as the primary wielder of the spear by his grandfather, and was thus tasked to train with it and then use it to destroy the Dark King for good. Which was the case as of last year when he successfully destroyed the last of the four pieces.

With that, peace was bound to return to the land... and yet Akira and I found ourselves embroiled in more trouble. First through something that came up in the form of 'the rivals for Akira's love'. The harem that my bro had was made by three girls. All of which were smitten to the bone for him.

Akira was not interested in 'choosing' any of them and, were things easier, he would have gracefully told them off but... well, it wasn't that simple. Breaking one's heart wasn't that simple, even more when they were as interested to him as they were powerful.

I helped as much as possible to keep the status quo running until something big came up to put an end to that ticking bomb, but it didn't help that one of them was a vampire that had taken a habit to sip blood from me since 'she did not want to waste any droplet from Akira-kun'.

It wasn't too tedious, but this very habit, plus several other instances, had landed me in a rather tight spot with my parents.

While I always denied that Akira was involving himself with a bad crowd, it became clear that something was up and that I was covering for him. And that I was, by extension, involved in this too.

In fact, where I had expected for things to get better as the Demon King was killed for good, I was told by Akira that the Le Fay Clan, named after the evil witch that was sister to Arthur Pendragon, was now moving in Japan to try and claim Rhongomyniad from him. This was not something that could be scoffed at considering the infamous use of dark magic that the Le Fay Clan was known to employ... but this also meant that Akira was back to train and that I had to cover for his absences many times with his harem.

Now, my mother was a lenient woman. She was the kind of person that could bend a lot over some topics, but she would never crack under the pressure unless the situation demanded that.

This caused me to lose on some important conversations or to address a few big letters I got from major universities and colleges - while I was indeed an average student in most part, I was extremely good in Chemistry and Science-related subjects. It was my point of strength during all years of school, and it was so good that it had gotten the attention of a few big names in the world of education.

Most were from Japan, but I do admit to have received some interesting emails from US-based schools too. The issue was that my busy life made it difficult to pick one of those and I had missed on some big interviews to get into any of those big places after high school.

This growing issue was the tipping point as she reached her limit and gave me a strong ultimatum.

"This is your last chance, Haru-kun. And you need to stop thinking that we can keep giving you chances."

I hadn't answered to it, merely nodding and promising to work to change that. My mother was conceding, for the time, and my father was of the same mindset as his wife.

I found myself thinking that I had to get things settled down. So I called Akira and tried to get him back home earlier but-

"I am sorry, Haru. I am still far from achieving the full scope of the training and I have to stay here - it is to avoid big issues in the future."

"A-At least try to get the girls to not be so troubling. I have my own things, Aki."

I heard a sigh, but I expected him to back me up but-

"Look, Haru. I get that school is important, but I can't get distracted and the girls are distracting. You are a friend, you should help me."

For the first time in a long time, I found myself speechless, and not for good reasons. Far from it. I felt something claw within my throat, a guttural roar of frustration at that lackadaisical dismissal of my issues. As if those were nothing. I get it, I am secondary to his needs to protect others but...

I am someone. I have a value.

"I see. Well... I had to try. Thank you, Aki."

"Don't get too ruffled. Remember that they mean well."

That had been a fair point. It wasn't like they were actively disregarding my life too or something. But while I could tell this was true for two out of the three cases, the third girl came up as the most honest of the trio and also the... one that I was the most concerned about.

Bathory Blanka was of Hungarian descent. A vampire that has moved to Japan following a deal that her parents had with the Pendragon family- they owed Akira's family a lot as they were sheltered from the Catholic Inquisition against Vampires and were thus deeply indebted to them.

Blanka, also going as 'Blan', was quite the voracious girl. Her pale white hair and her red eyes made her exotic when compared to other female classmates. But she was known as extremely playful, childish, territorial and gluttonous.

So, it wasn't that uncommon for her to corner me and ask for blood but... things got odd when I finally told her no.

"No? What do you mean 'no'? Didn't I tell ya that people like me need good blood to survive?!"

She was instantly furious, and I tried to make my case. "I get it, and I can give some of it to you after school but- but I need to be functional for the English test of today-"

One moment. It all took one moment for me to look into her eyes and feel myself hit by her charm. There was no response, only orders - follow me, enter the storage room, close the door and expose your neck.

I couldn't move by my own volition, with Blan soon biting upon my neck and drinking more than before. She was also a messy eater, some of the blood filtering from her lips and staining all over. She didn't care or mind, sipping from my wound like a ruthless leech. Then, she pushed me onto the mat and snorted, using a red handkerchief to clean her mouth.

"Clean yourself, and mind your position, mutt. I love and respect Aki, not you."

The door slammed shut behind her and... for the first time in a very long time, I felt my sight blurred by tears. I mechanically moved to clean myself, yet the sobs worked their way out of my throat in a rhytmic upset that stirred despair and sorrow. All of that bubbling from months- no, years or being subjected to this. That day was proof that a 'silly thought' wasn't just that. That it held some truth if not all of it.

All my efforts, all my good will, all those sacrifices I made - I was nothing but a slave to those girls. And my best buddy, someone that would usually help me back, someone I knew used to do that back before this shitty story came to be, was now ditching me for training. Only training. And for what? What was the threat of this Le Fay Clan? A lesser threat when compared to the fucking Demon King?!

I felt like this was enough of a response. I ultimately got a middling grade from the English Test, but my mind wasn't in there to care. I just took some precautions as I endured the last months of high school with a single goal in mind - one that I was soon giving to my mother much to her delight and relief.

"I have decided, mom. I will go to study in Prague."

AN

Side Character, the Bro, is getting attacked by nasty Harem brats while Protag Bro (who is not hiding any big secret that could unravel this mess at once) is busy training for the remainder of High School. Next time... the 'Protagonist' comes back for the last month of high school, and finds out that someone is currently missing.

Also, revealing the next two harem girls who are, compared to Blan, less rapey and yet still high-maintenance in their own ways.