Help! I changed the gender of the male protagonist in the yandere game

Waaah~~ Lord Hyakusuke, what are you doing?

You're not usually like this, are you?

And what's with that little girl?

Are you planning to betray our manly friendship?

"Brother, could you please stop biting your sleeve and making strange noises? People are staring,"

Ayaka said with a "please don't be so disgusting" expression.

"Ayaka, you don't understand…"

Yomei chewed on the corner of his sleeve.

Ayaka sighed helplessly.

"I don't want to understand, Ayaka. Also, it looks like they're leaving the teahouse and moving somewhere else?"

"Ah… Ayaka, should we follow them too?"

…

Before secretly observing the actions of the two young ladies, Hyakusuke finished his tea and asked Yomei.

"So, Yomei, what are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"I have some personal matters to attend to."

Yomei said that she was going to browse the nearby bookstores.

"There's the largest book rental shop on East Street, which sells books and rents out scrolls, and it also carries the most popular novels…"

In the island nation, books were mainly copied and transcribed in the past, and it cost a lot of money and materials to make them, so it was only natural that they were few in number and expensive.

However, in the Edo period, the introduction of printing equipment such as printing presses, copper movable type, and casting machines promoted the expansion of book printing.

In this fictional generation's island nation, the rapid circulation of technology has reduced the cost of everything from official documents and Confucian books to stories and picture books.

The popularity of books has also greatly increased. At the same time, publications are also relatively popular in this era. Popular books with illustrations and kana are very popular, and bookstores that publish and sell Confucian books, Buddhist classics, literary books, picture books, and so on are also emerging one after another.

Although most of the population, such as farmers and tenants, are illiterate, there are many people in the capital and some of the larger population centers, that is, urban areas, who can read and write simply because of the existence of private schools and terakoya that provide simple literacy education.

"Yomei, you can read and like to read? That's really amazing."

Hyakusuke didn't expect a little girl like Yomei to like reading.

"It's nothing amazing."

Yomei covered her mouth and smiled.

"I only have a superficial understanding of the characters, and I don't have the ability to do scholarship, and I only read some novels…"

She claimed that this was an interest inherited from her grandfather, Kichitei, who was very fond of the Yomihon writer Santo Kyoden's "Chushingura Suikoden."

However, Yomei's interest with her grandfather, Kichitei, was that she liked to read love stories, such as Santo Kyoden's other Yomihon novel "Sakurahime Zenzo Akebono Zoshi," which is a Yomihon that describes the tortuous and bizarre stories between men and women.

She should be talking about what she was interested in, Yomei's face was shining, she was so happy.

"Popular Yomihon these days are adapted from real events, such as 'Shinju Ten no Amijima,' 'Keisei Hangonko,' 'Yozakura and Nana,' 'Gonpachi and Komurasaki,' and other stories…"

Yomei explained eloquently, such as the mutual suicide of men and women described by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, a joruri and kabuki writer; and Nana, a girl who set fire to meet her lover.

After that, she talked about "Ameiro Monogatari," "Furyu Saga Momiji,"… well, they were all works that Hyakusuke had never heard of.

"But, what I like to read most now is a volume that is being serialized, which is a love story adapted from Nansen Shosoman's 'Adauchi Gijo Ei.'"

She told me this, which made Hyakusuke quite admire her.

"So, Yomei, are you planning to buy the latest volume of this serialized Yomihon today?"

"Yes."

She nodded.

"In the countryside like Inakadomura, if you want to read Nyūseikei Kiyomizu-sensei's new work, you have to wait at least half a year…"

"Nyūseikei Kiyomizu" is the name of a Yomihon writer, who is a best-selling writer these days, and Yomei is a loyal supporter of this writer.

"So, the next stop is the book rental shop?" Hyakusuke asked.

Yomei nodded solemnly.

…

The meaning of books, in addition to conveying knowledge, another key point is entertainment.

Hyakusuke was a little surprised at the richness of the collection of books in this book rental shop located at the end of the market street in East Street.

'I thought it was just a small book stall, but I didn't expect it to be so big?'

In front of a large bookshelf in the book rental shop were Buddhist books; the second large bookshelf contained various Confucian works—not to mention the traditional Four Books and Five Classics, the Han poetry anthology "Kobun Shinpo" was very conspicuous in the books, and there were also the Confucian scholar of the island country, Kaibara Ekken's "Shogaku Kun" and "Gojo Kun."

'Huh… isn't this Lao Wang's 'Transmission of Learning'? There's also Zhu Shunshui's 'Funayama Collection'?'

Hyakusuke was quite puzzled. Speaking of which, the Ming Dynasty has not died out in this era, could it be that Zhu Shunshui still came to the island country?

He continued to check the books here. In another bookshelf behind, there were waka books represented by "Kokin Wakashu", and he could also see military chronicles such as "Heike Monogatari" and "Taiheiki".

"But, the book I should be looking for shouldn't be in this area, right?"

Like a large bookstore, this book rental shop also has several other areas. In addition to the books on the bookshelves, the tea tables next to them are also full of messy books.

"No, many of these are not printed matter, but handwritten and transcribed, right?"

He picked up a few pamphlets and flipped through them, opening his mouth in surprise. This was more like a pile of messy old papers than books for sale.

"Forget it, the book I'm looking for seems to be 'Shinpen Adauchi Gijo Ei', just look for it by that name."

Hyakusuke shook his head.

It was also a troublesome thing. The owner of this book rental shop happened to be out on business, and the clerk watching the shop was a newbie, so he was also clueless about where the books were placed.

In order to find the new edition of "Shinpen Adauchi Gijo Ei" that had just been released, Yomei and she searched separately.

Hyakusuke was naturally literate.

For the Kurohimeyama clan, lower ninjas also need to be literate. However, most of the half-grown children sold from poor villages are illiterate. It takes extra time to educate a child who has never learned to read or write so that they can read and write smoothly.

The lower ninjas are all rushed to their "posts", and their position is as consumables. If they spend time on basic education, the meaning of the existence of "lower ninjas" will not be great.

Fortunately, this world has techniques for searching and tampering with memories, which, after improvement, can also be turned into techniques for directly transmitting "knowledge".

This sounds quite convenient, but it is not. In fact, this technique of transmitting "knowledge" is similar to cramming.

High-density "knowledge", "information", and "information" are compressed and transmitted to people's brains.

Because it is cramming-style "information compression", it will cause damage to the brains of lower ninjas during transmission, sometimes accompanied by memory distortion and loss.

Moreover, for lower ninjas, the transmitted information cannot be truly understood. It is as if there is a "memory bank" in the brain, and when needed, the brain will awaken a part of this information.

In fact, in addition to simple "reading and writing", even techniques to strengthen one's body with spiritual power, fighting skills, wilderness survival techniques, and even information about monsters can be directly transmitted.

The Kurohimeyama clan uses this method to create "lower ninjas". The clan's jutsu users directly cast jutsu on the lower ninjas, compressing various information and transmitting it to the brains of the lower ninjas.

However, this process requires enduring intense pain. As long as this person can survive it smoothly, a new lower ninja can be freshly baked.

Generally speaking, it only takes three weeks to quickly train a "qualified" lower ninja in this way and become a qualified cannon fodder on the battlefield.

The only drawback is that not everyone can flexibly use the information in their brains to survive the battle with monsters.

'However… there is one thing worth doubting. If even 'combat experience' such as taijutsu can be transmitted, can that person's related memories and past experiences also be tampered with?'

Hyakusuke thought of himself.

He had doubts about his background. Because of memory loss, he had no past memories, and even his family background could only be understood by reading letters sent from home.

"Are my memories… real memories?"

Hyakusuke was suspicious on the one hand, while his eyes scanned the bookshelves.

Finally, he found the new work that Yomei wanted to read, reached out and grabbed the book, wanting to pull it out.

However, just as Hyakusuke's hand pulled out the book, a slender white hand reached out from the other side and grabbed the book.

"P-please wait a moment."

This voice echoed softly in his ears.

It was a weak but determined voice, as if squeezed from the depths of her throat.

"T-this book was found by me first. It's the book I've always wanted. Please don't take it from me."

Hyakusuke showed a surprised expression. He noticed that there was a girl next to him at some point.

She was an unremarkable, very plain girl wearing a plain striped kimono and a brown coat. She looked about sixteen or seventeen years old.

The girl had some freckles on her face and her long hair was braided into two pigtails. When she was stared at by Hyakusuke's eyes, she was immediately startled like a frightened sparrow.

"S-sorry… can you give it back to me?"

She quickly looked away, not daring to meet his eyes.

"That's not going to happen."

Taking advantage of this moment, Hyakusuke took the book away.

"As the saying goes, 'the first mover wins, first come, first served'."

"N-no, you can't be so unreasonable."

"Sorry, the adult world is cruel."

He turned around, left a sentence, and prepared to leave.

"I got this book first, so sorry—"

His sleeve was grabbed.

"I-if you don't give it to me, I I I I'm going to cry. I'm going to lie on the ground and roll around holding your leg."

The rustic girl threatened in a small voice with tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Also, I really found the book first. I even pre-ordered it with the store and paid for it. You can't do this…"

"You pre-ordered it."

Hyakusuke had a headache.

If she really paid for a pre-order, then he would have to give the book back to her. However, he couldn't rule out that she was lying.

Suddenly, a loud bang came.

Before Hyakusuke realized what had happened, the bookshelves behind him crashed into each other, rows and rows of them collapsed, mountains of books collapsed, countless pieces of paper floated in the air, and Hyakusuke and the rustic girl were dumbfounded.

Not far from the two of them, a voice sounded.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch…"

This voice sounded a little familiar.

"Lord Yomei!?"

Hyakusuke looked at Tsukigara Yomei in shock, his face covered in dust, almost buried under a mountain of books, his face full of question marks.

"Why are you here…?"

'Yomei… could it be that Tsukigara Yomei…'

The rustic girl covered her mouth and was also quite shocked. She had heard this name a while ago, but she didn't expect to see a contemporary person here.

"But, Mahora didn't say—"

"She would be a woman, huh?"