Prologue(3): Only Sane Man

[Your Trope, "Badass Normal," has evolved to, "Empowered Badass Normal!"]

[You have gained +100 MP for evolving a Trope!]

[+15 MP for favorable consumer reception!]

I stare at the screens with my mouth wide open in shock. I barely manage to gather myself after my face scrunches up into an ugly expression which I think is suppose to be a smile. My head falls down and my shoulders slump.

"This is so fuuuudged..." I groan, it takes me a second to realize what I just said. My head snaps up and I look at myself in the mirror.

"Fudge. Fudge. Flipper! Sass! Witch!" Despite my best attempts, I can't cuss. The words just not coming out of my mouth. As if they are... being autocorrected.

"This... are you serious?" I ask the air, hoping for something, anything to answer me. Nothing does. I don't know what I was expecting to respond.

"Damn." My expression brightens for a moment after successfully saying one curse(?) word. Though it soon returns to the negative frown I had before.

During my blackout after Rai Akimitsu got two blessings, I regained my memories. Memories of that blank space. Of my past life, and death.

I rub my face, and hesistantly, say 'Databook' inside my head.

Emery Brewer

Role: Sympathetic Recurring Extra

First Appearance: Prologue, Intro-Only Point of View

Rank: 3rd-Tier Character

Stats:

Morality - 12

Sympathy - 18

Edge - 10

Power - 21

Charisma - 12

Grit - 19

Wit - 11

Mystique - 11

Tropes:

[Recurring Extra 4th-Tier] [The Woobie 3rd-Tier] [Unlucky Extra 4th-Tier] [Dark and Troubled Past 3rd-Tier] [Ineffectual Loner 3rd-Tier] [Stumbled Into The Plot 3rd-Tier] [Empowered Badass Normal 1st-Tier] [Weak, But Skilled 3rd-Tier] [Looks Like Cesare 3rd-Tier] [Misunderstood Loner With A Heart Of Gold 1st-Tier] [Only Sane Man 3rd-Tier]

"Empowered Badass Normal gives me more power?" I whisper to myself, seeing my improved power stat. Still have no idea what they did, but going up is good, right?

Rubbing my face, I finally focus on the most out of place thing. First Appearance.

"Intro-Only Point of View. Am I... in a novel or something? I mean, the Trope Dark and Troubled past came true?" I reluctantly assume. Another screen pops up after my realization.

[For realizing you are in a fictitious world, you have gained the, Media Status! Just say or think Media.]

"Media," I say with no hesitation.

Media: Gigantomachia

Type: Manga

Genre: Shounen, Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance

Current Chapter: Rai Akimitsu (2)

Volume Number: 1

Panel: Off

MP: 115

"So I'm... I'm in a manga? Also, what do I do with MP?" I don't get a response. Letting out a deep sigh, I shake my head.

""Are you stupid or something kid? Stop staring at a mirror!""

I jump, and swing my head every which way. Searching for the person who just spoke.

""You won't find anyone, it's me, Koalemos, dude!""

"Can all Gods talk to their blessed like this?" I inquire.

""Yeah. Most don't bother though. Too many blessed and all that. But, since you're the only person with my blessing, you get exclusive rights to me! Ain't that neat? Oh. I can't read your thoughts if that's what you're worried about.""

"Er, uh, yeah, very... neat." It's not what I would call that, but no need to offend a God again. I've been stupid enough for a lifetime.

'Right. I need to attend this... school.' I start to walk back to the infirmary to grab my things.

*****

I grab the doorknob of my classroom, and pull it open. I step into the room, I can see many heads and eyes that turn to me. I don't react, my eyes surveying the classroom, looking for an open seat.

There's one. In the front row of the class. 'Of course,' I utter inside my heart. I take my seat and the lesson continues after the small interruption.

*****

I thought the classes might be a bit exciting, since it's a shounen and all. But no. Since it's the first day, all of us were just getting settled in. We met our teachers, asked questions, all that normal stuff. It felt more like a regular school than a Military Academy. Then again, I suppose it would be immoral to instantly start training us to fight in a war. That's probably why there's an adult and adolescent section in GS Academy.

Though currently, I'm lying in my dorm room, staring at the ceiling. A sudden query enters my mind.

"Koalemos?" I mutter.

""Yes?"" I jolt despite expecting it. His voice doesn't seem like it's coming in from my ears, but instead out from my skull. Do you know how deeply unsettling it is to hear something coming from inside your head and not from out?

Very.

""Emery?""

"Ah! Right, uhm, what do you do? What abilities does your blessing give me?"

""Oh. Right... I guess it's expected for you to be curious. Anyways, I won't answer the first question. I'm a very obscure God, let's keep it at that. For the second... I don't know.""

"... What?"

""I don't know,"" he repeats.

"Y-You don't know? How can you not know?!"

""I just don't okay! I've never blessed anyone before you!"" he exclaims in a panic.

"Of course I get stuck with a useless Deity..." I mumble.

""Hey! I'm plenty useful. Or... well, actually... I'm probably not that useful, but I'm still a God! You would not be blessed without me, so be grateful.""

"Right... I am grateful, thanks. Anyways, what made me different? You going out of your way to select me, I mean?" I change topics after "thanking" him.

""That's easy. Most people I'm interested in die before I can bless them.""

That wasn't ominous at all. "Wait, why did they...?"

""Eh. It was there own fault, but you're not like them, are you?"" Koalemos explains to me.

"Gods I hope not," I say to myself uneasily.

*****

Sitting at my desk, waiting for the teacher to enter the classroom to begin my second day, I feel someone poke my side. Looking to my right, I see a girl with short black hair, colored by aquamarine highlights. She has bright green eyes. It takes a moment for me to recognize her. She's the girl blessed by Artemis.

"Cora, right?" I assume.

"I actually prefer going by Jacklyn," she answers with a bit of reluctance.

"Okay, Jacklyn then," I correct. She smiles at this.

"I thought you were just gonna ignore what I said."

I raise an eyebrow. "Why would I do that?"

"Because of that guy," she answers frankly, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. My eyes follows where her thumb is aiming, and I discern Rai. He waves at me with a stupid smile on his face. There doesn't seem to be a thought going on inside his brain.

"Rai?" I observe.

"Yup. He keeps calling me Cora and that, I quote, 'Shouldn't be afraid or ashamed of my name,'" Jacklyn states dryly, rolling her eyes.

"Are you?"

"No," she scoffs.

"Then that's that." I shrug. Don't really know why she came to talk to me about this. Though as that train of thought comes and goes, only now do I realize something, I forgot to introduce myself.

"Oh, right. I'm Emery," I belatedly introduce.

"I know, and... you're kinda cool, for a guy named Emery, at least," she tells me.

'Am I? What the hell is she going on about?' She's a bit weird.

"Wait, what's wrong with my name?" Her smile widens mysteriously.

""Emery, my man, you're totally being flirted with!"" Koalemos, out of nowhere, chips in.

'I am!? What sort of flirting is this? Is he seeing something I'm not?' I question myself in bewilderment. I guess all people are just weird in a shounen world.

Oh. Right. That trope. Great.