I snapped my eyes open and found myself sitting at a desk in the middle of a classroom.
Fluorescent lights hummed overhead, and the low murmur of a teacher's voice droned on about something in Japanese that I only half-understood.
This wasn't my apartment.
My pulse jumped. The chair felt too small, my thighs were spilling over the edges, and my shirt was sticking to my back with sweat. What the hell,
A sharp chime cut through my skull.
Ding! Apocalypse System is installing.
Ding! Installation complete.
Incompatibility with host detected. System functions will operate with one condition:
Host must collect at least 1 LP point per day or face permanent termination.
**LP can be earned through quests and exchanged in the System Shop.**
**Current LP: 0**
**Countdown: 23:59:59**
My brain short-circuited.
What? What the fuck is this? Permanent termination? As in… I die?
I grabbed my head with both hands, fingers digging into my scalp.
My breathing came in short, ugly gasps. Then, almost like someone else was feeding me the information, memories that weren't originally mine flooded in.
Mike Dalton. Seventeen. Transferred from the States to Japan last semester. Kuoh Academy.
The body I was in was overweight, out of shape, and apparently had a heart that fluttered like a trapped bird whenever I got stressed. Which was right now.
And the worst part? I knew exactly where I was.
This was that world. The one with devils, angels, fallen angels, sacred gears, rating games, and three factions treating humans like livestock being fattened up for slaughter.
Power was everything here. If you were weak, you were a toy, or worse, collateral damage.
I pressed a fist against my chest, feeling the rapid thud-thud-thud. Even this stupid heart was giving me trouble already.
How the hell was I supposed to get LP points? I had less than twenty-four hours before whatever this "termination" meant kicked in.
Another chime.
Quest Issued
First Quest: Get Raynare to accept going on a date with you.
Rewards: Super Soldier Serum (full version) + Captain America's Shield
+5 LP
My legs turned to jelly under the desk. I gripped the edge so hard my knuckles went white.
Raynare.
The fallen angel who pretended to be "Yuma Amano."
The one who seduced and murdered that kid with the Twilight Healing sacred gear.
She was thousands of years old, had slept with kings and supernatural pretty-boys who looked like they stepped out of magazines, and still found most of them boring.
And this system wanted me, a sweaty, fat, wheezing teenage loser, to ask her out?
She'd probably gut me just for breathing the same air as her.
Tears actually pricked my eyes. This was beyond fucked up. Whatever god or cosmic asshole dropped me here clearly hated my guts.
I slapped both my cheeks hard enough that the sting brought me back a little.
"Okay," I muttered under my breath. "Okay. At least I'm in the anime world now. I've got a shot. I can't screw this up on day one."
I raised a shaky hand.
"Sensei… can I go to the bathroom?"
The teacher barely glanced up, just nodded.
I stood, chair scraping loudly, and waddled out, legs still trembling. In the hallway I fumbled my phone out of my pocket.
My fingers felt thick and clumsy. I scrolled through the class list until I found her.
Yuma Amano – Class 3-C.
Alright. I'd wait for the next break and go there. Talk to her. Or die trying.
I ended up on the roof because I needed air and I didn't want anyone seeing me freak out.
I dropped onto the concrete, back against the chain-link fence, and spent the next hour cursing everything.
My old life, this body, the system, Raynare, Japan, high school, the entire supernatural food chain.
Eventually the bell rang.
Break time.
I hauled myself up, wiped my sweaty palms on my pants, and headed to 3-C.
She was there. Last row, window seat. Black hair, purple eyes, that innocent smile she wore like a mask.
My stomach flipped so hard I almost puked.
I took a breath, walked in, and sat two seats away from her, not right next to her like some desperate creep, but close enough she'd hear me.
My hand shook as I pulled a crumpled 100-dollar bill out of my wallet.
(Why the hell did this body even have American cash? Whatever.)
I stood, stepped closer, and held it out.
"Hey… Yuma, right? Would you… would you like to go on a date with me?"
She stared at the bill. Then at my face. Then she burst out laughing, loud enough that she had to clutch her stomach.
"Oh my god," she wheezed, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes. "I can't believe this!"
She reached out, plucked the bill from my fingers, and waved it like a flag.
"No."
My heart cratered into my shoes.
"If you're not gonna go out with me, at least give it back."
She stood up slowly, smile gone, eyes narrowing.
"Oh? And what are you gonna do about it, fatty?"
I swallowed. My mouth was dry as sandpaper.
"Fuck it," I said, voice cracking. "I'll tell Rias Gremory there's a fallen angel operating in her territory."
Everything stopped.
Yuma froze. Her playful expression vanished. Her eyes sharpened into something cold and murderous.
"How," she said very quietly, "do you know I'm a fallen angel?"
A spear of light snapped into existence in her hand. The glow hurt my eyes.
"Speak. Or I blow your guts across this classroom right now."
I forced myself to meet her stare even though every instinct screamed to run.
"I'll tell you how I knew… if you say yes to the date."
She studied me for what felt like forever. The spear didn't waver.
Then, slowly, she let it dissolve.
"Fine," she said. "I accept."
**Ding!**
**Quest Completed**
**+5 LP**
**Super Soldier Serum (full version) + Captain America's Shield added to inventory**
I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning like an idiot.
She was still watching me, calculating.
I needed a lie. A good one. Something that made me useful instead of disposable.
"I… I have a sacred gear," I said, keeping my voice low. "It lets me sense other sacred gears.
A while back I saw you kill that boy in the park. After that I started digging, googled everything I could about the supernatural world. Eventually I connected the dots."
She stared at me again, longer this time.
I could almost see the gears turning behind her eyes.
She was thinking: this fat idiot is probably obsessed with me, thinks he's in love or something.
Easy to string along. Useful if he really can sense gears.
Finally she spoke.
"If you breathe a single word about my real identity to anyone, I will kill you. Slowly. And then I'll go after your family."
She leaned in just a little.
"Our date is tomorrow. After class."
I nodded so fast I probably looked like one of those bobblehead toys.
"Y-yeah. Tomorrow. Got it."
She turned away like I was already dismissed.
I bolted.
Back up to the roof, heart slamming against my ribs, but this time it wasn't just terror. There was something else mixed in.
Excitement.
I'd done it.
I'd talked to Raynare, gotten her to say yes, and I was still breathing.
For now, at least, I was alive.