I was Reincarnated as the Scum Older Brother of the Protagonist in a Romance Battle Game, But I don't want to Die, so I'll do my Best - Episode 2

When I woke up, I had been reincarnated into the world of a game—and not just any character, but the unremarkable early-game villain who gets written off, the protagonist’s older brother, Kitano Jōji.

“Kitano Jōji, seriously…? I mean, he’s not the protagonist, but there were other options, like one of the protagonist’s friends or something…”

Crossing my arms, I paced around the room, deep in thought.

“This is bad… Really bad… If things keep going like this, I’m headed straight for the engagement annulment event, followed by the duel with the protagonist—an early-game tutorial one-way ticket to disaster.”

“I never liked Kitano Jōji as a character. I used to enjoy watching him get his just deserts early on, but now that it’s happening to me, that’s a whole different story… I’ve gotta find a way to avoid this…”

🔶

There’s a reason I know exactly what’s coming next.

Before reincarnating, my name was Nanbara Jōji—a 34-year-old single, middle-aged salaryman with nothing to show for his life.

The company I worked for was a subcontractor for a game development firm.

A small-to-medium enterprise with less than ten employees, run by a playboy president who called himself a “child of the times” while gallivanting around.

The founder and former president had fallen ill and taken a long leave, handing the company over to his son, the second-generation president.

After the transition, performance plummeted, but the workload only grew—low pay, long overtime hours, and anything beyond 44 hours of overtime was conveniently cut off.

Originally, there had been nearly thirty employees, but one by one, they quit—either fed up with the president or broken by the brutal working conditions.

It was the blackest of black companies.

Despite all its problems, back when the former president was still active, business had been steady. Five years ago, they’d even been entrusted with game development by a major game publisher.

And the game I was mainly in charge of creating was none other than Demon Capital Tokyo 1999.

But Demon Capital Tokyo 1999, along with the other games developed under commission, never became mega-hits, failing to propel the company forward.

Still, I had a deep attachment to Demon Capital Tokyo 1999 and the work I’d done under the former president, so the thought of quitting never crossed my mind.

And so, there I was, yet again, hunched over my desk debugging a game sent by a client.

“Ohhh, Nanbara, working hard as always~! I’m off to a drinking party with some girls from a trading company’s sales department, so I’ll be heading out first~!”

“…Yes, President. Have a good time…”

“What’s with the lack of energy? Oh yeah, didn’t you say your girlfriend dumped you a while back? You’ve gotta treat women right, y’know~! Well, keep up the good work~!”

The young president, dressed in a flashy suit and sporting an outdated side-part, strutted out of the office. The employees glared at the closing door with bloodshot eyes…

“That guy!! What the hell?! The reason Nanbara got dumped was because he never does any work and just parties all the time, forcing Nanbara to pick up the slack! That’s why he never had time for his girlfriend—”

“…It’s fine… That was three years ago. More importantly, work, work…”

………………………………………….

………………………………………….

In the end, I was the last one left… I barely managed to catch the last train home.

Back at my apartment, I tossed a convenience store bento into the microwave and set the timer.

After a quick change of clothes, I stood in the kitchen eating the now-warmed bento, carefully sorting the trash before heading to the shower for a quick rinse. A glance at the clock showed it was already past 11 PM.

I turned on the TV but didn’t bother with any shows, instead booting up a game.

The title Demon Capital Tokyo 1999 appeared on-screen, and I selected “Continue” to load my save file.

“Takashi… You’ve finally made it. With the power of the supreme god, you are the hero of Yamato… Yamato Takeru.”

“I’m sure I’ll seize the future with you.”

After the main characters’ dialogue, the ending credits rolled.

“Ahhh, the Airu ending is so good… So healing… The Amamiya route is great too, and so are Kuki, Amakusa, and Hijikata… Oh, and Professor Minagawa’s is nice too… Tachibana’s is… okay, I guess.”

No matter how tough work was, no matter that I didn’t have a girlfriend, the heroines of Demon Capital Tokyo 1999 healed me every day and made me happy.

Clunk. The kettle I’d set to boil clicked off.

“Maybe I’ll have some coffee and start a new game on Amamiya’s route…”

But sacrificing sleep to keep playing meant that while my spirit was healed, my body had apparently hit its limit. As I stood up to head to the kitchen, my vision warped grotesquely, followed by a sharp pain in the back of my head—and then, darkness.

🔶

Now, as I examined my face again, trying to recall Kitano Jōji’s memories, all that came to mind were the memories of Nanbara Jōji.

Noticing a smartphone on the table, I checked it—one unread message. I unlocked it with my thumbprint.

“Oh, right… Duh, this is Jōji’s phone.”

Tapping the mail icon, I saw it was from a sender labeled “Old Man.”

I scrolled through the message.

“Jōji, if you don’t produce results in this upcoming forbidden zone test… You know what happens. Your mother and I are waiting for good news.”

“Right… The forbidden zone tutorial event. But Jōji gets written off before this event… First, I’ve gotta survive the engagement annulment event with Airu.”

Just as I was thinking that, my eyes caught the date on the phone’s display—April 21st.

“No way… The engagement annulment event… It’s tomorrow?!”