“So I’m the one who has to do the work of the Protagonist in this life?”
...
Mateo Estes was never supposed to be anything special. 
He was an orphan abandoned by his shelter at seventeen, and a young man who floated between one miserable job to the next, he had learned very early that life would not hand him miracles.
Stability came only after years of grinding, after sharing rooms with strangers, after budgeting every cent until he could finally afford a cramped one-bedroom apartment. 
His biggest achievement was not glamorous, but it was his: a career as one of FaceLive’s most ruthless anime and manga reviewers, a voice that could destroy or crown a series with a single stream.
By the time he turned twenty, Mateo had built a loyal following through a single, brutal principle: honesty. 
If a story was trash, he said it. 
If a heroine was written like a cardboard prop, he mocked it. 
If the worldbuilding fell apart, he tore it limb from limb. 
His latest target was a manga with a famously long title…「Ore wa shujinkō dakara, mochiron utsukushii hiroin-tachi o sukuu！」, a series recommended endlessly by viewers who insisted he would love the setting. 
And he did… at first. 
The Crest power system had potential, the academy concept was refreshing, and the political tension of the Great Clans gave it weight. 
But everything collapsed under horrendous execution: heroines who fell in love because the protagonist breathed near them, plot armor thicker than steel, and a President’s daughter powerful enough to defeat an A-rank monster getting kidnapped by a C-rank rookie. 
It was, in Mateo’s words, peak stupidity.
He rated it a 3/10 on stream, roasted it for several minutes, and logged off feeling lighter than he had all week. 
Even a $10,000 donation couldn’t compare to the satisfaction of honest critique. He slept peacefully that night, unaware that the universe had taken his rant personally.
When Mateo awoke, nothing was familiar. His apartment layout had shifted, the cheap furniture replaced, and when he reached the bathroom mirror, a stranger stared back… a six-foot blond hunk with defined muscles, sharp features, and the exact face of the protagonist.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he got his System shortly after 
「Role Assigned: Protagonist」
「Mission: Save the Heroines」
「Failure: Erasure」
He was cooked…

In the stands where Class 2 students sat, Ryouma was sitting down next to Takeru. 


The roar of the crowd washed over them with cheers, gasps and the sharp whistle of someone's wind magic cutting through the morning heat. 


Below, the holographic scoreboard cycled through instant replays. Mio's blade caught the light for exactly one frame before the Class 4 student collapsed.


The way she vanished and reappeared, the way space bent around her movement… it wasn't teleportation, she had been moving really fast. Mio belonged to Koya, which was unfortunate but that didn't mean Ryouma couldn't appreciate the technique.


He turned to the black haired lastborn heir of the Kurohane clan.


"That looked like Frame Skip…" Ryouma said.


Takeru didn't look at him. The depressed young man shook his head with his eyes fixed on the arena floor where medics were cleaning up the aftermath.


"If it was my Clan's technique, I would know about it." Takeru said quietly.


Chapter 153 - Buffer Day [IV]