1 Critical Hit

The sunray has fading, dyeing the sky with an orange color and dark gradient.

It was around 4:30 P.M., and some people were coming out of the school gate.

It was a cultural festival day at Sia National High School. The atmosphere this morning was lively, but since the day was coming to an end, people were leaving.

The students on the other hand had to remain in the school as they needed to clean their classroom and the area of the school ground.

Meanwhile, at the back of one of the school buildings, a boy in a cute tiger costume looked bewildered.

"Why am I here?"

Asking that to the air, I looked around but spotted no one other than myself.

I am Dante Kimetsu, 15 years old. A half-Japanese and half-Filipino second-year high school student.

I came here at the back of the school building because someone asked me to come here. But now that I'm here, I can't see anyone beside the line of trees a couple of steps on my right and a towering wall of the school building on my left.

Despite my name which sounded like a protagonist from a gore anime, I am actually a normal young man.

In front of me was an empty space. Well, not totally empty as I could see a shadow of a bipedal beast.

Am I under attack? I asked. But wait? That's me in my costume. Lol.

On the ground, stretching forward like a moniker copying my every move as if trying to mock me, is my shadow. If I have an opponent right now, I could just shadow fight in this situation. I laughed wryly.

Joke aside, the reason why I am here is not a laughing matter. An hour ago, I received a letter from a girl, saying I have to come here at this hour.

I'm totally shocked by it. In my 1 and a half years of high school, it's the first time I received such a thing.

Sending a letter might be old in this era where smartphones and the internet rule supreme, but there are circumstances where a letter is more handful, I suppose.

Obviously, when a girl asked you to come here, at the back of the school building, you could only think of a few reasons.

Since bullying is a less occurrence in this school, that is out of the reasons. And I don't remember having a quarrel with someone, so no bad guys would ambush me here to beat me up, I believed so.

If that's the case, then there's only one option left! Right?

…And that is…

A love confession!

With that in mind, I did my best to control my pounding heart. Maybe my time to become popular has come.

Oh, holy god, I'll be praying twice as much after this.

Looking back at my past, since my first day in high school, I'm yet to get a girlfriend. Well, I'm not really thirsty for that, honestly.

For some reason, right on the first day of class, I earned a joke reputation.

I said that in a lamenting voice by the way.

I became the 'school clown', though not in a totally bad way. Well, it was because I joined the wrong circle of friends, that's why. My three classmates who love spouting jokes infected me. Thus, earning me the 'clown title', or 'the joker'.

Although it wasn't bad, it wasn't good either. There was an aggravating con to having such a title. With that title attached to my name, no one had ever taken my words seriously, hah~.

I mean, because everyone thought of me as a joker, so every word that came out of my mouth was a joke to them.

It's the reason why I can't ask a girl to date me till now.

Guh~~ I wanted to cry, honestly.

But actually, even if by chance there's a girl who would come to like me, I think It's still difficult for us to end up together.

Why?

Well…

The reason behind that is because I am madly in love with someone. That's why I came here to give my honest rejection to that person who asked me to come here.

I can't help it. I think it's better to be honest about my feelings. And I don't want to fool anyone just because I wanted to experience dating.

I can't date anyone while being madly in love with someone else!

But it turns out my ambition was higher than Mount Everest. That's why, I saw the 'future me' becoming a sage. In short, the girl I wish to share my future with is of a higher league than me.

Looking that no one is here beside me, "Could it be just a prank?" It's only now that I realize that there's also that option!

I bit the cloth of my costume for overseeing that possibility.

While growing dubious because I saw no one after coming here, I suddenly heard footsteps from behind me. I glanced past my shoulder and was surprised by who I saw there.

Stopping on her feet, a few steps away from me, was a very familiar girl in her light blue school uniform.

What?

Lena?

It's Lena Wyte!

Our class goddess!

She is a one-fourth Korean, one-fourth American, one-fourth Japanese, and one-fourth Filipina beauty. She has many genes running into her body.

Don't tell me she's the one who's asking me to come here.

For real? Is this even possible?

Her figure was directly blocking the sun behind her, giving her an image of a holy being.

Is this the descent of the goddess? Am I going to die now? I cleared up my thoughts quickly and looked directly at her.

Despite the orange brilliance of the sun blinding my vision, her beautiful round eyes sparkled more than the brilliance of the sun itself. As though I was staring into a pair of starry night skies where millions of stars were dazzlingly twinkling all at once.

I'm extremely captivated by them.

Her pretty long lavender hair slightly swerved to the side by a slight breeze coming from the trees nearby.

I want to quickly open my phone camera and take a picture of this person in front of me. Beautiful is not enough to describe her.

…Ahh~, she's so blinding…

"Ca— Can…"

She opened her mouth. I listened carefully. By the way, it was the first time I heard her sound like that. Normally, she was calm and firm. But right now, she looked hesitant and flustered.

This is new to me. Maybe~ I am blessed to see this new side of her. I feel so grateful.

Nonetheless, doesn't this look like a scene straight out of a shoujo manga? Or perhaps it was only me who had thought of it.

"….."

I remained silent while holding my breath to not interrupt her. It was as though time had moved slowly at that moment, and all I could hear was my pounding heart.

Is she going to ask me to date her? Really? I mean… she is the girl I am madly in love with. I fell in love with her the first time I saw her, back on the first day of school.

But since she's a level 100 school goddess while I'm a level 1 school crook only, I reminded myself to be content just by watching her from afar. The difference in our level and reputation is heaven and earth apart. Although I like spouting jokes, I wasn't really popular with girls.

Looking at her right now, it looks like she's having trouble expressing herself. I feel weird. Despite being madly in love with her, I feel more guilt than happiness at this very moment.

Why is that? I asked myself.

Is this because of the gravity brought by our gaps? Or maybe the weight of responsibility if by chance we started dating. Can I even make her happy? I feel worried, but I will do my best of course. Wait, why am I thinking ahead? Do I think I am some hotty normie? Shame on me. If someone read what I was thinking right now, I would die in embarrassment, for real.

Urg.

Wait, is Lena really going to ask that? She already opened her mouth before I could say anything.

"P-please… go out with me!"

"O-okay!"

The reply came out of my mouth instinctively as I turned around to face her. Unexpectedly, at that moment, shock overwhelmed me more than joy.

She must be very embarrassed because her face was downcast as she said those words. I could also see her eyes shut close while clenching her fists so tightly, and with her arms straight down.

Since her body was quivering— meaning, she summoned all her might just to express that confession.

When she heard my sudden reply, she opened her eyes again and looked toward me. Our eyes met and time seemed to stop at that moment. But seconds later, I saw her eyes blinking a couple of times. Then an awkward silence descended on us.

"….."

Suddenly,

"W-who…?!"

A bewildered voice came out from her mouth and stunned me. It brought a different tone than earlier. It sounded in complete disbelief. The expression on her face alone told me that she didn't expect it was me who she expected to see here.

Now… Wait wait wait!

"Is something wrong here?" I asked, trying my best to remain positive despite growing nervous.

While covering her mouth with both hands, she replied, "I-I thought you were Kyzer."

At the mention of someone's name, it was as if something inside me had broken into millions of pieces.

K-Kyzer…?

A supernova explosion happened inside me.

My gaze dropped. I know it. Now I understand. This is all just a misunderstanding after all. Now that I think about it. The one who wore this Tiger costume before me was Kyzer, my most handsome classmate who's popular with both girls and boys.

Since I received the letter right after we exchanged costumes, that means… The letter is not for me but for him!

If I make a guess, the person who handed the letter earlier perhaps didn't notice that it was already me who was inside the costume and not Kyzer anymore. Or maybe the letter was handed to multiple hands before it reached my hand. Though the latter is unlikely to be the reason. Well, whichever of them, one thing was for sure. That the letter was not for me but for Kyzer.

Ah… so that's what happened… that makes sense now.

What an awful feeling I am feeling right now…

I sucked a mouthful of air into my throat. Let's calm down for a bit.

Since other people didn't take my words seriously, I made sure to focus on adding my attribute points to my mental stats through positive thinking. Thanks to that my state of mind is of a higher level than normal people, I believed so. However, right now, I can feel the pain in my chest causing havoc to my mental state.

I guess it's impossible for a goddess like her to like a lowly joker like me. Maybe I should start changing myself first?

If only some god granted me a wish right at this moment, I would ask for 'character development' for myself as quickly as possible. But I know that was impossible.

While avoiding eye contact with her, I asked a question. "Uhm… B-By any chance… is the letter intended for Kyzer?" I asked to confirm and clarify everything.

I sneaked a glance at her face.

The beauty in front of me breathed deeply while pressing her delicate hands on her chest. Perhaps trying to calm down herself as well.

She slowly nodded her head, confirming my guess.

Seeing that, more damage took my health points. I am barely alive now. I could even see my soul escaping from my mouth.

Alright. Time to go bois.

I let out a sigh as the throbbing pain in my chest grew stronger, then I forced a smile as I dragged my trembling legs in her direction.

"M-My bad. I-It seems a misunderstanding happened, ahaha," I left those stuttering words when I passed her.

"….."

Maybe being considerate of me, she remained silent.

"Let's just pretend this didn't happen…" I mumbled.

Although I said that calmly, I'm barely holding my tears.

Despite the fact that she was the one who was confessing, I'm the one who felt rejected for some reason. Urg, can't help it. I'm madly in love with her. Knowing she likes someone, that doubles the pain.

'Oh, pain! I'm fading away.'

It seems thin Cell had stabbed his tail into my chest to sap me dry. Honestly, I prefer that to happen as I want my existence to disappear completely at this very moment.

I continued walking away without waiting for her reply.

I don't know what to feel right now. I'm overjoyed when she confessed, only to feel rejected a second later. It feels like I got a girlfriend for a second only, ouch!

Tomorrow I'll be winning the fastest breakup in the Guinness Record, Lol.

Complicated emotions welled inside me at this very moment. Enough to make me want to volunteer to live on Mars for the rest of my life if ever the Space Agencies succeeded in terraforming it.

Even though I reminded myself multiple times that I'm just one among those many extras who think she was out of our reach, and that there was no possibility for us to date her in this life, it was still very hurtful once the person you fell in love with fell in love with someone else.

A 'critical hit' hit me, sapping all my remaining HP and leaving me with 1 point only. Well, I'm sure this feeling of utter bitterness will be gone in a couple of days. I just have to bear with it and stay in my room while recuperating.

"Man, this day is awful. I wish I'll die today and be reborn into a more handsome young man tomorrow."

Those words I mumbled disappeared in the air at the same time my silhouette disappeared from her sight.

"Wait!"

I heard a faint call, but perhaps it was only my hallucination, so I ignored it and continued leaving. I have no more stamina left to continue the fight. I am utterly defeated.

Urg. I feel like throwing up.

Oh lord, please give me the power to rewind time.

This is embarrassing for me, honestly.