THE REWARD OF BEING A LOSER

Reiji was sitting at the fountain where the whole mess had started, he was sweating and his hands were shaking just thinking about everything that had happened.

Trying to control his breathing, he slowly calmed down, and looking up, Reiji saw a cab pulling up in front of the fountain, and a beautiful girl was getting out of it.

"Y-Yuma..." Whispered that young man in fear.

"Did you wait long here, Reiji-kun?" asked Yuma, bowing her head slightly, using a cute and innocent voice.

"Uh, no... I-I just got here."

Yuma could hear Reiji's heartbeat, but she guessed it was the first time he was out on a date, so she simply took her boyfriend by the hand and together they left to tour as many stores as they could.

***

At the end of the date, both were back at the fountain.

Yuma walked slowly beside Reiji, but they both seemed to be thinking about something.

Yuma stepped forward and turned to face the boy.

"Hey, tell me the truth, don't you like me anymore?" asked Yuma, with a couple of teardrops forming around her eyes.

Reiji's eyes widened like saucers upon hearing that question.

"W-who said that." He ducks his head.

"Your actions... You avoided my gaze, whenever you could you let go of my hand, and you've been with your head down all this time. It's as if you were afraid of me."

Reiji could only swallow at all these statements.

"N-No! It's just, I've never done this before..." Her hands were starting to shake again.

"Are you serious?" The teardrops had disappeared, and now there was a questioning, pouting expression on Yuma's face.

"Yes." Reiji had found the courage to look into her eyes once again, but it was only for a few seconds because immediately, the memory of a smile made him fear for his life.

Reiji's body turned completely to the opposite side of Yuma to prevent her from seeing his frightened expression.

The young girl slowly approached Reiji's back, and tenderly put her mouth close to her boyfriend's ear.

'Get ready...' That was Reiji's only thought at that moment.

"RE-I-JI-KUN..."

*GLUP*

"You're so cute." Yuma kissed Reiji on the cheek and turned away from his back.

"Huh?" Reiji couldn't help but externalize his surprise and quickly turned to see Yuma's expression.

But at that moment, out of the corner of his eye, the young man caught sight of a strange bar of light heading towards him and used all his strength to dodge it.

*WOOSH*

A spear of light passed through Reiji's side.

*TIC*

*TIC*

*TIC*

Drops of blood began to fall to the ground.

Reiji winced. The spear had not pierced him, but he did not manage to dodge the attack completely.

The spear had torn Reiji's shoulder.

"D-Damn it." The boy covered his wound with his hand, as he gasped from shock and pain.

"Hoh? You were able to dodge that. You surprised me."

Reiji could only stare helplessly at Yuma, as he waited for the next attack.

"W-WHY ARE YOU DOING ALL THIS, YUMA!" He ask as tears began to fall.

A laugh came from the girl.

"Impressive, you didn't use honorifics" A laugh that Reiji remembered well formed on Yuma's face.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but my name is not Yuma."

The girl had begun to levitate, as all of her clothes broke into a million pieces and regrouped into the strange outfit Reiji had seen a few lifetimes ago.

"My name is Raynare. I am a fallen angel."

Yuma, now self-proclaimed as Raynare, extended her hand pointing at Reiji's body.

"And you're just the corpse of a loser."

*WOOSH*

Another spear of light shot out.

Reiji narrowed his eyes and jumped straight to the side, successfully dodging the spear.

*HUFF*

"Look at you, panting like a dog." Raynare was trying to destroy him beyond his physical body.

Reiji clenched his jaw and his face reddened with anger.

"Sh-Shut up." He said without being able to get much air out.

"Well, it was fun playing with you, doggie." Again, Raynare held out his hand.

*WOOSH*

Reiji seemed to be getting used to jumping up and down to save his life.

"I can do this all day..." Reiji said looking Raynare in the eyes and swallowing.

She smiled mockingly.

"You think so?"

*CRACK*

The sound of a torso's bones breaking echoed.

The spear that Reiji had previously managed to dodge changed its direction, and pierced him from behind.

"PUAJ!" Reiji spat out a stream of blood.

His body fell forward, and he awkwardly tried to support himself with his hands.

"Y-You-"

Reiji was interrupted by his head hitting the ground. Raynare had put her foot on Reiji's head.

"I'm what? Don't blame me. Blame the God who put that strange Sacred Gear in you."

"W-WHAT IS THAT THING YOU TALK SO MUCH ABOUT!"

Raynare's foot was exerting more pressure on Reiji's head.

"¡UGH!"

"I don't have to answer a dead man's questions. Say your last words, human."

Reiji was beginning to growl from the anger he was accumulating. Drops of sweat and tears from the tension, feelings and uncertain future were starting to come out.

"I-I DON'T GONNA GIV-!"

*CRACK*

Raynare had crushed Reiji's skull.

"Pathetic..." She whisper and began to fly.

[Do you want to try again?]

***

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHGG!" A young man's heartbreaking cry echoed through the room.

He held his head as if it was going to fall off while crying and shaking his whole body uncontrollably.

He shook his body so much that he ended up falling off the bed and hitting his head against the corner of a piece of furniture.

"F-FUCK!" I scream as I hit the ground.

With bated breath, he weakly got up from the floor, and when he looked up, he found a blue window that left him frozen.

[You have acquired a new skill!]

[Dodge has been added to the skill catalog!]

Wiping away tears, Reiji couldn't help but think.

'What the heck is this... S-Status.'

[STATUS]

[NAME: ARAYOSHI REIJI.

RACE: HUMAN.

VITALITY: 10

STRENGTH: 2

AGILITY: 2

MANA: 0

INTELLIGENCE: 29

DEATHS: 3

SKILLS: DODGE LV.1]

Reiji was thoughtful for a few moments, and then something came to his mind.

"... Its name is very obvious, but is there anything else to this ability?"

As if the system answered the question, a window suddenly opened.

[DODGE: The dodge skill increases your agility by 300% for 0.5 seconds.

Uses 2/2. Cooldown time: 3 hours].

"T-This ability is awesome, that's for sure, but how did I unlock this ability?"

Thinking back on all the events that had happened, he realized that it was most likely that he had obtained this ability at the moment when he dodged Raynare's attacks.

"If my theory is correct, then I can develop different skills if I do specific things."

Immediately, Reiji started throwing punches in the air.

"I-It doesn't seem to work like that... AH, BUT MAYBE!"

He abruptly stopped making meaningless attacks on the air and immediately headed for his parents' room.

"Where is that thing?" He repeated over and over as he rummaged through his parents' drawers.

...

It took a while, but in the end, the boy found what he was looking for in a hurry.

"Here you are..." He whispers while pulling a pocket knife out of a box.

With a quick movement, He removes the safety catch from the knife and draws it.

"Please, works!" He gave a quick horizontal slash into the air.

He remained in that same position for a few moments, feeling a great disappointment that the system did not classify that as a skill.

"Shi-"

His mouth stopped abruptly when a message appeared in front of him.

[Mission initiated!]

[Make 10,000 cuts with your razor.

CURRENT PROGRESS: 0/10.000

REWARD: KALI KNIFE ¹ LV.1]

"G-GOOD! I didn't think it worked!" Reiji started jumping up and down in excitement.

"But wait. What the heck is Kali Knife..." The young man realized he had to investigate before he spent the remaining time of life he had left.

"I'll look on dad's computer, I'm sure the internet has the answer." He whispered as He started up.