Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Du Hang was surprised to hear that pen name – ‘Love The Taste Of Rice In Her House.’ It was not actually unknown to him. This person’s real name was Ke Zheng, a veteran author that Du Hang had been trying to grab hold of, and consult about the inner workings of the voice actor industry.

Indeed, he was a terrific senior writer, the plump shut-in that he was. He also happened to be the lecher type who would worship every girl who walks past him. In spite of those less-than-pleasant habits, he was an enthusiastic, learned connoisseur of voice acting. The renowned voice actress Zuo Ling Yin happened to be a favorite of his.

In animes that Ayane Sakura gets featured in, bullet screens all over the internet would feature the wordings ‘Praise the amazing Sakura!’ at least once.[1] Coincidentally, she worked in the same voice acting firm as Shong Gang. If Song Gang was the number one male actor in the firm, Ayane Sakura was undisputedly the number one female voice actor of the firm, even though she had debuted after Song Gang.

In the animation piece titled ‘The Strongest King,’ Song Gang had worked with Zhao Youyue as they recorded their lines together. He did not pale in comparison to her talent and thus rose to greater heights with her.

Back then, Zhao Youyue did not even get the opportunity to reject Ke Zheng – he did not have the nerves to approach her and ask for a date. Even so, that past Zhao Youyue was a far cry from the current Zhao Youyue – a perfect, well-rounded, unanimously certified goddess.

Ke Zheng had been wise to maintain his distance. He knew of his place, and he knew that intermediate light novelists had very little chance of procuring Zhao Youyue as a date.

All in all, Du Hang respected Ke Zheng’s skills, in spite of his inferior appearance. He would never hesitate to foot the bill whenever eating with his peers. He was a decent human being, as far as humans went – which wasn’t exactly far. If anything, his writings were too graphic or explicit at times.

Du Hang understood the necessary evil for this as there was an actual market for it. He had read Ke Zheng’s debut work and had been genuinely amazed by the bizarre twists and turns in the plot. Eventually, that work had turned out to be a massive hit. It was a remarkable light novel that soon had its anime adaptation. This also happens to be why he had started attempting to date the voice actresses to the left and right, only to be harshly rejected in return.

In the meantime, Ke Zheng was serializing the novel ‘Whole World was In A Deep Sleep Except Myself.’ Du Hang had not yet read the novel, but he knew that fans of the genre would absolutely love it.

Ever since Ke Zheng’s debut, his readers were mostly made up of males, especially hikikomoris. He did not have a single female reader, so it would come as a surprise if a female actually knew his name. How on earth did this Lady Zhou get to know this fella?

Du Hang felt pity welling in his heart. Pity for Ke Zheng. Did news of him getting demolished by a rookie voice actor spread among the peers in the field? Du Hang really had no idea how Lady Zhao could have came the pen name – ‘Love The Taste Of Rice In Her House.’ Was she actually into such heavy, explicit male chauvinistic titles?

Du Hang had always been convinced that Lady Zhao hid her true self behind the thickest of masks. Even so, it was rather absurd to think that her true self would come close to any of those hikikomoris.

Du Hang was not a fan of these pretentious fakers, and he could not care less about their reasons. Lady Zhao was just as fake as anyone else, but after getting to know more of her, he gained a slight respect for her humility, considering how successful she had been as a voice actress. He decided to help the goddess get in contact with Ke Zheng. He briefly talked her through Ke Zheng’s best traits – and since this was Du Hang, you knew he truly meant it, and it was likely to be true.

After knowing that Du Hang actually knew the author – ‘Love The Taste Of Rice In Her House,’ Zhao Youyue patted his shoulder gently, expressing that she was a devoted reader of his, and would like to ask him out for a date.

Naturally, Zhao Youyue employed such a method very frequently. Numerous authors had fallen into her pockets that way. She would never try to actually change their thinking in reality; she merely wanted to tweak some changes, especially when it came to stubborn artists like Du Hang.

Lady Zhao could earn a living with her face alone, but her tongue was far deadlier.

‘How do you rate my chances – as a relatively green voice actress – when it comes to dating a light novelist?’ Zhao Youyue meekly said, as if she was truly a small fry.

Du Hang’s honest mind could never regard Xiao Yu as just another little voice actress. In fact, most light novelists out there would consider Xiao Yu to be the Goddess of strength and beauty.

Ke Zheng would definitely be on the cloud nine if he was to know that the Ah Yu was actually asking for a date with him. Neverthelss, Zuo Lin Ying would still be number one in his heart. Ah Yu was still relatively new to the scene and was not near active enough to be serious.

‘Relax, Ke Zheng is not that kind of arrogant, hard-to-get-along-with author. He’ll also love having a little sister. He doesn’t have one himself, but he’s always writing about little sisters in his books.’ This was probably Du Hang’s attempt of trying to portray Ke Zheng in as bright a picture as possible, not knowing that it actually sounded weird and would probably raise a few eyebrows.

Fortunately, Zhao Youyue was not just any other ordinary girl. She thought that those hikikomoris were naïve and adorable in their own way. The world could do with more of them. She loved being simple and direct, just like Han Leng. Other girls might not welcome the presence of these hikikomoris, or worse, they would outrightly despise them.

The door opened, and He Weiwei strode in. Only Zhao Youyue gave her a nod of approval. The eccentric pairing of Han Leng and Du Hang did not even skip a beat in their incessant chattering. They paid no notice whatsoever to He Weiwei.

They both acknowledged that only Lady Zhao was special – she was the only one who actually understood them. No matter how they explained themselves – nobody would accept them, so there was no point even trying.

Let’s cite a sentence by Du Hang –

Assuming that others would understand you after explaining yourself is arrogance in its highest form.

A chance meeting with a kindred spirit is euphoria in its ultimate form.

He Weiwei was not one bit interested in Du Hang. On the other hand, she found Han Leng slightly attractive. If he was not already taken by Lady Zhao, she would have even approached him more proactively.

On the other hand, Han Leng was not even bothered about her. To him, He Weiwei was the type of girl who was every bit as pervasive as the rest of the world. She would have nothing new to offer, nothing new to explore.

And so, the first club activity ended with a rather unceremonious tea ceremony. Zhou Chai had lived up to her word and did not turn up, further cementing on her claims that joining the society was purely for the extra-curricular points.

Translation Note:

[1] Ayane Sakura (佐倉綾音 Sakura Ayane, born January 29, 1994) is a Japanese voice actress from Tokyo. She is affiliated with I’m Enterprise.[1] Some of her major roles are Natsumi Koshigaya in Non Non Biyori, Tsubaki Sawabe in Your Lie in April, Iroha Isshiki in My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected, Suzuka Dairenji in Tokyo Ravens, Ochako Uraraka in My Hero Academia, Cocoa Hoto in Is the Order a Rabbit? and Nao Tomori in Charlotte. She has also performed theme songs and character songs for various series she has appeared in. In 2018, she won the Best Supporting Actress award at the 12th Seiyu Awards.