'Just kill me!!!'
A young man by the name of Bram thought to himself as he slaved away studying for a midterm that was rapidly approaching. Normally, things like this meant nothing to him—he never cared much about grades—but this time was different.
Just days earlier, Bram had been waiting on top of the school's roof. He fidgeted with his fingers and tapped his shoe as his nerves finally caught up to him. The rooftop door swung open.
Bram's senior—and longtime high school crush—Ellie Teyane stepped out. Her lovely blonde hair trailed behind her, and her jade-green eyes locked onto Bram with clear disgust. It caught him off guard, but even so, his long-buried bravery finally broke free.
"E-Ellie! Will you go out with me?" Bram shouted, emptying his lungs in the process.
Silence followed—so long that Bram swore he could hear his cat all the way back home.
"Are you serious?" Ellie asked.
"Yes! I've never been more serious in my life. I really like you, and I want to be your boyfriend!"
Bram's face burned red.
What am I saying? This is so cringey. I want the ground to swallow me whole, he thought.
"I'm sorry, but I don't even know you."
His heart sank. Slowly, Bram looked up at her unmoving expression.
"Don't get me wrong," Ellie continued, "you seem like an alright guy. But we've never even talked before."
The awkward tension lingered as Ellie gave him one last look before walking away.
Bram could feel the tears coming, but held them back since it would be so fucking uncool to cry after getting rejected. He leaned himself onto the guardrail and let the wind flow through his short brown hair, praying to god someone saw him and thought he was cool. After a bunch of crying and moping around his room for the past three days, he finally thought of an ingenious idea. Ellie was considered the smartest person on campus, so she'd have to notice her rank being taken by someone. To make it even worse, it would be taken by the guy she had rejected. This plan was clearly a mixture of revenge and a way to make Ellie notice him. Days went by, and Bram had come to a devastating conclusion. He sucked at studying.
He laid down onto his bed in defeat, before looking at his phone and noticing he was getting a call.
"Yo."
"Dont fucking "yo" me asshole! Where fuck were you dude!"
Bram recognized the voice. It was his childhood best friend Hiro, and he sounded pissed.
"Thanks to you ditching me, I couldn't talk to the cashier!" Hiro yelled with pain in his voice.
Hiro had a severe case of Fell-At-First-Sight syndrome, and was currently obsessed with a cashier who worked at a burger joint.
"How was that my fault? Maybe if you would just talk to her, you would get somewhere!" Bram yelled.
"Do you know how weird it is to go up to a cashier and be like "hey, i think your super bangin! Can i get your number?""
"Then just don't say it like that!"
"Its not that simple!"
The two yelled at each other for what felt like an eternity, until Bram realized they had already changed topics subconsciously.
"So how's the studying going on?" Hiro asked.
"Fucking awefull. I suck at it."
"I get you man. Every time I pick up the study material, I feel like I'm having a brain aneurysm." Hiro admitted.
Bram's floor banged repeatedly, signalling his mother wanted him. Hanging up on Hiro, he wandered his way downstairs. Reaching the kitchen, Bram was met with his mother and her friends sitting down at the kitchen table.
"Well look who finally came out of their room." His mother said.
Completely embarrassed, Bram looked at his mother, asking what she needed. A small paper was handed to him, listing off ingredients for a meal most likely. Bram nodded and slipped on some shoes before heading out. The cold night breeze hit him hard since he was only in a t-shirt and shorts. After what felt like a cold eternity, he finally made it to the grocery store, and began to pick out the items he needed.
Thud!
A girl suddenly rammed right into Bram's shoulder, sending both the groceries and himself down along with the girl. Picking herself up she quickly turned her head towards the end of the isle, where two large men in suites were closing in.
Without a doubt in her mind, she gripped Bram's hand tightly and ran out through the back entrance with him. Bram's brain froze as he was forcefully being dragged away by a girl who was being chased by some scary looking dudes. He honestly wondered if he had woken up this morning, but cleared that thought as he rammed his knee into a trashcan in an ally way.
"Wait! What's going on!" Bram yelled, finally locking in.
The girl looked back towards Bram, as a smirk grew on her face and bursted out laughing.
"Come on! We're almost out of the woods!" she yelled as they took a few more turns into some alley ways. After a bit of waiting, the girl peeped her head around the corner and took a look towards Bram.
She wore her Long black hair into pigtails, and dressed in large clothes that clearly didn't fit her. Her ears and lip were riddled with piercing, along with her tongue as a silver glimmer broke through her lips as she spoke.
"Sorry about that. I don't know what came over me." The girl said apologetically.
Taking a deep breath, he forgave her, asking why those guys were chasing her.
"What, those big dummies? Nah, don't even worry about them. Anyways since I did bring you along by accident, why don't you say I treat you to something as an apology?" The girl said, wearing a seductive smile which critically hit Bram as she scooted closer to him
'Woah! Woah! Woah! This has got to be a set up! She's an inside agent! How the hell could she "accidentally" drag me away from a grocery store and now want to treat me to something! Plus shes super fucking cute so thats another reason I shouldnt go! I'M ONLY FOR ELLIE!' Bram thought to himself..
Bram tried his best to use the microscopic sense he obtained at birth, thinking how his mom would be super pissed if he wasn't home soon. The girl drove two fingers up his chest, which sent chills down his spine.
"So where did you have in mind?" Bram asked, completely crumbling and forgetting about Ellie.
'She's pretty small and cute as hell! What could possibly go wrong!' Bram thought as he was suddenly placed inside of a fight ring, with metal doors surrounding it.
He had been led to an underground arena, under a small massage parlor. Surrounding the small caged area he was shoved into was a large audience who were currently betting money and shouting either at him or at each other. A large amount of smoke emitted from the higher floors and were crawling with scampy women serving the patrons left and right.
A sharp jab landed onto his side as the girl gave him a disappointed look.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome back to out fan fucking tastic show! Today's match up will be a rookie, versus…. Face Muncher!" An announcer said on the intercomms that spread out throughout the floors.
"Wait what the hell is happening! I never said I was going to do whatever this is!" Bram yelled at the girl, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her in a panic. She laughed at the situation as her head bobbed back and forth.
"Calm down! It's just a small match. It wont hurt i promise."
"Liar! This is clearly an underground fighting ring! I want no part of this!" Bram yelled as he dropped the knife and looked for a way out.
"Hey! I don't want to do this, let me out!" Bram yelled at the crowd, which drowned his voice out.
The girl yanked Bram by the collar and brought him down towards her level.
"If you lose, you'll get three thousand dollars." The girl said.
The two stared at each other for a minute.
"Alright fucker! Let's get this show on the road!" Bram yelled, holding up his fists.
The girl quickly escaped the ring, and the door which he had entered slammed down. One of the doors began to shake, and slowly rose as a snarl escaped from under it. Forcing mandibles like toes from underneath the large metal door, a man who had his arms caged behind his back. He was bald and wore a muzzle over his mouth. Brolic in size and mass, Bram feared for his life as he took a few steps back. Rushing towards Bram head first, he quickly rolled out of the way as Face Eater rammed his head into the wall.
"Rip his face off!"
"Kill him!"
"Come on rookie! Get to it!"
The audience exclaimed as Bram ran around like a headless chicken dodging the destructive charges of Face Eater.
Finally backed into a corner, Bram raised his arms and pleaded with the deluded Face Eater, who was snarling and foaming out the mouth.
'It's no use! I'm gonna die!' Bram thought to himself as he looked up towards the once cute girl now turned demon who stared at him with a smile on her face. Reaching down for something, she tossed down a clown wig and nose, which landed behind Face Eater. A bright blue screen shone in front of Bram.
'Tutorial quest; Equip the clown wig/nose and defeat [Face Eater]'
Bram was puzzled by such a thing, and noticed time around him had frozen. This was real, he wasn't crazy, and he had gotten a system like those you would see in video games.
'Accept? Y/N Time remaining: 3 seconds.'
Noticing the count down, Bram gritted his teeth and accepted the quest. Time swiftly unfroze and Face Eater charged head first again at Bram. Ducking as low as he could, Bram crawled underneath Face Eater and rushed to the Clown wig and nose and put them on.
[Temporary skill unlocked: 1000 punches]
[Temporary stats applied: +20,000 hp, +500 Stamina, -100 Dodging, +100,000 Strenght.]
Face Eater finally rammed his head into Bram's back who was distracted. Smiling to himself, Face Eater backed up only to notice that Bram did not fall.
[Skill activated: 1000 punches]
A barrage of devastating punches connected with Face Eater as he went flying onto the metal wall, leaving an indent into it. He was out cold, and the audience which was once wishing for Bram's demise was now silent.
"T-The winner… THE ROOKIE!"
'I wanna go home.' Bram thought to himself.