The King's Mandate: Anomalous System

"The class is over"

I can't forget what my mom told me last night.

Rias died eight years ago?

How is that possible? She plays LWO! How is she there if she is dead?

Maybe mom got the wrong person? Perhaps they just have the same name? Perhaps I mistook that song?

"Das?"

Rias's voice is so sweet, just like the person mom mentioned. Is she really dead?

She is strange but...how is that possible?

"Das!"

Can a dead person alive in...game...

'Dead can also be alive' she did say something like that.

"Das?"

'Like someone dead in the real world is alive in a game', so that's what she meant.

"Das?!"

"Elena. What's wrong?"

"I have been calling you for a while."

"My bad. What is it?"

"It's a lunch break!"

"Oh! I am sorry I didn't realise."

"It's okay. Das,.."

Elena pointed her finger at the door. I glanced at the entrance to see someone peeking inside from the gap.

"I will be right back, Elena."

Just a little glance was enough for me to recognise that person. It was Rachel.

I chased her. She kept running while I kept yelling her name.

Everyone in the hallway is staring at us!

She ran down the stairs and jumped out of the window at the end of the hallway.

It was the ground floor but still...

"Great! Now I am chasing her in the garden!"

How is she so fast?!

"Hey, wait up!"

"I don't want to!"

"Just hear me out!"

"Stay away from me, cheater!"

Everyone is staring at me with a disgusted look on their faces.

Well, I am used to it, but it still hurts!

"Just listen to me!"

"Please stop chasing me!"

She has books in her hand and still, she is so fast!

"Wait up!"

"No!"

"Wait up!"

"No!"

"Richy!"

"Don't call me that!"

She stopped running, and I caught her or I wanted to but...I couldn't stop and ended up falling on top of her.

If this was a normal novel, the main character's hands were either on the girl's breasts or his face on her breast but...I am not that lucky.

She used her books to stop me, and my face ended up hitting it. As for my hands...well, they are on her breasts.

I can't see anything because she is still pushing the book on my face but this soft sensation...it has to be breasts!

I tried to take my hands off, but I lost balance and now...my face is between her breasts. The book is still on my face but...

"Would you please get off me now?!"

I looked at her face, it was red to the ears, and there were tears in the corner of her eyes.

This wasn't on purpose, but if Elena saw this, she would kill me.

"I am sorry. I didn't do it on purpose!"

"I know it was my fault."

"....."

I chased her without thinking but...what should I do now?

"I am sorry!" she said.

"Wait, why are you apologising?"

"I slapped you yesterday."

"It's okay"

"Huh?"

"What?"

"I slapped you, and you said you don't mind it. Could it be that you like--"

"No!"

"You have changed Das."

"Umm hey, are you Richy?"

"Don't call me that!"

"So you are Richy."

"I said, don't call me that!"

"I thought you were a boy."

"Why did you think that?"

"You had short hair, you talked like a boy and used to beat others."

"I didn't! It was that one time and I used to wear a girl's uniform. How can you mistake me as a boy?!"

"I thought you liked wearing a girl's uniform."

"I don't--wait, I am a girl!"

"Why did you always protect me?"

"They bullied you every day even though you didn't do anything wrong."

"Was that a pity?"

"No! I protected you because I wanted to."

"I was pathetic, wasn't I?"

"You weren't! You never raised a hand against them. I liked that about you."

"You even got this scar because of me."

She tried to hide her scar when I said that.

"I don't regret it."

"You would have died"

"I don't regret it. I will do it again if I have to!"

"I am sorry."

"Why are you apologising."

"You saved me many times, but I never thanked you. You got hurt because of me, and I never cared about you. I even forgot about you...I just remembered you yesterday."

"It's okay. I don't mind it."

"Can I touch your scar?"

"Wha...why?"

"I know it's late, but I want to pay you back. I want to feel it."

"Just a little, okay?"

"Okay"

The scar is on her lower neck at her shoulder side. When I touched it, I could feel how deep it was. If this scar were a little deeper...she would have...I did it again, didn't I? Yet again...I...If that time I protected myself, I knew martial arts at that time too but...I didn't want to use it on my friends, on my classmates. If I had protected myself, she wouldn't have gotten hit...yet again...I...I hate myself.

"Are you done? It feels weird."

"Ah...yeah, sorry. Did it hurt?"

"No. Not at all."

"I am sorry."

"I am glad I got to meet you again. When I got discharged from the hospital and went back to school, you weren't there."

"I left school soon after that."

"Yeah. I heard about it. All the boys who bullied you including all the teachers were expelled"

"I see."

So that's what they said to her.

"Das"

"Yes"

"Will you go out with me?"

"I have a girlfriend...hey, everyone in the school knows that Elena is my girlfriend, so why are you so clueless?"

"You promised me that you would go out with me if I beat you, so I was trying hard."

I don't remember promising anything like that but...according to her, I promised her two years ago. She was trying to beat me for two years?! She was so busy that she never paid attention to her surroundings...just like the old me. I destroyed someone's life...I am really a scum.

"I am sorry."

"I get it. So, stop apologising."

"I will do anything for your forgiveness."

"It's okay--you will do anything?"

"Aside from going out with you, yes."

"Then...how do I look?"

How does she look? She looks like a high school girl. A pretty face, a nice figure, long...hair.

"Your hair is long"

"You just realised?!"

"You used to have short hair."

"You like big hair, so I let them grow."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Who said I like long hair?"

"Sometimes, when I followed you after school, you used to go to the orphanage to meet that pretty lady, right?"

That pretty lady is my mother! And what did she just say? Follow me? Like a stalker?!

"...."

"So I also grew my hair. I had no idea if I would meet you again or not, but still, I hoped that one day I would meet you and I met you! You were still the same Das I knew. You didn't recognise me because of my long hair, but I recognised you, then I challenged you, and you accepted it"

"..."

I don't even remember that. I am a--

"And you say you got a girlfriend!"

"I am sorry."

"I don't need your apology."

Can't I do something for her? I want to pay her back. All her favours, I want to make her happy. I want to see her smile.

"Will you be my friend?"

"You rejected me first, and now you are friend, zone me!?"

"No. That's not what I meant. I just want---"

"Pfuahaha"

"....."'

"I am sorry, but you are acting so cute."

Don't call me cute!

"I am serious here."

"I will be your friend."

"Thanks"

"Maybe, I will have a chance later?"

"...."

I have a bad feeling about this!

"What about friends with benefits!"

"....."

So...I have one more girl waiting in the queue now?

"Oho! I was worried because you didn't come back, so I was looking for you, and you got a friend?"

Elena!

"She didn't mean it!"

"Huh? What? She is not your friend?"

Wait? Didn't she hear everything?

"No, she is. She is my friend."

"So you guys made up?"

"Yeah. Totally!"

I am safe.

"By the way, what does a friend with benefits mean?"

She heard it?!!!!!

Is this a trick question? Or does she not know?

"It means...friends who can benefit each other" Rachel quipped.

"Benefits like?"

"When one is in the mood they call other and satisfy--"

"When someone wants help with studying, and they help each other"

This girl is very lewd!

"I see."

"Yes, so we can help each other"

"Then, Rachel! Become a friend with benefits with me too!"

"That's not possi--"

"Of course she will, right Richy?"

"Don't call me that!"