"Gerrrtrude!!!! Save meeee!!!!!"
A pink haired women with bright green eyes, pointy elf ears and a.... unusually large chest screamed at the top of her lungs for help. This was due to a giant hand about to crush her.
"Hahahaha!!! what will you do now Gertrude.... now that I've got your precious girlllfriennd!!" A humanoid figure made of molten lava would be the one summoning a giant hand over the girls body.
"Damn... how could I have fallen for another one of conjours evil tricks!!! don't worry Hinami I'll save you!!"
The so-called "Gertrude" who was wearing a ninja attire and wielding a katana launched at the giant hand, jumping at least 30 feet into the air off of the desert sand, and unsheathing his katana he'd cut the molten hand into multiple bits. He would then rescue Hinami and picked her up.
"Wha-whaaaaaat!! in one attack!?! how how howwww!!!!"
"Heh... well I was just pretending to not see one of your magma hands... conjour. now.... die!!!" Gertrude said as he princess carried Hinami, then swung his sword towards the villain.
"Gaaaaa you fool!! it's actually above ground so it's lavaaaaaa!!!" The Magma man would be blasted away into the stratosphere.
Hinami would look up at Gertrude, her eyes sparkled like a puppy dog.
"A-arigato.... Gertude-sama....."
"Heh.. no problem."
"Now then.... I guess it's time for your... reward Riley."
Huh... Riley? wait reward? here?
"Pay attention Riley"
'Gertrude' would begin to tighten up and fluster at the sentence, then he composed himself.
"Yes hinami."
"Pay attention Riley"
"Pay attention Riley...
"RILEY FARLEY PLEASE PAY ATTENTION!!!" An old almost bald man with a collar shirt and black dress pants would yell at him.
Riley would shoot up from his drooled on desk like a firework had set off right under his chair.
"Y-Yes Hinami!!!"
"Hina-who?"
...
Riley would then look around to see that he wasn't in some dreamt-up desert wasteland fighting a lava man and saving his 'girlfriend' but instead in the middle of his Algebra 1 classroom... With everyone in the class staring at him. His entire body started to sweat and itch, and his eyes started to water up. He could already hear the people trying not to giggle in the back, front, and both sides of the room.
"Listen Farley, I gave you 2 whole months to get your act together, It is the beginning of November and you're still sleeping in my class, it's safe to say you're going to fail for the 1st marking period. Please get you're act together, I don't want to have to call you out in front of the entire class again understood?"
"Y-yeah..."
Despite what his teacher told him Riley began to zone out again, not to his dreamland but just to muffle out the teacher so he could avoid the embarrassment.
-After Class-
"HAHA he called you out in the middle of class? dude I feel sorry for you!" a short black haired person would sit across from him whilst they ate lunch in the cafeteria. That person was Riley's friend Aiden, he was also your average scholar with his only defining feature being his icy-blue eyes.
"I know it's my fault but like the guy has to understand that I have other classes and other work to complete not just his! and he could've called me out after class...." Riley would take a bite out of his cafeteria-made curly fries, then shrink down into the cold table and plop his chin on it, feeling basically defeated.
Aiden would look around for a bit quietly before smiling and turning towards Riley, he'd attempt to cheer his best friend up, "Hey look man nobody in your class is gonna care anyways, I mean they might think about it for 1-2 days at best but that's it. They'll forget about it and probably forget about you afterwards like always."
"Was that supposed to cheer me up or beat me up even more...?" The negative nancy said playing with his food. Which to be fair looking at it would make anyone quite depressed.
"You're right my bad.. What we're you even dreaming about anyways?"
Riley would panic for a second, despite Aiden being his best friend would it be too embarrassing to tell him about his little daydream adventures with his make believe girlfriend and silly arch-nemesis? he would then come to the conclusion that 'oh it can't get any worse.'
"I have this thing where I think of scenarios in my head about how I go on adventures with this cute Japanese princess named Hinami and we travel around the world.... Then there's my nemesis conjour who is more like a Saturday morning cartoon villain than an actual nemesis.. Also at the end of every adventure Hinami gives me these 'rewards' in which she undr-"
"Alright man too much information! But don't those usually happen in like daydreams not actual dreams?"
"I dunno.... maybe I've been thinking about Hinami too much"
"I concur."
Riley's head would now be in his arms on the table, any normal person would think he was sleeping but he was rather contemplating how to get enough money to run away from his current life. On the other hand his friend who was quite tired of his gloomy attitude was thinking of a way to get him to focus on something else, since cheering him up failed badly. Aiden would finally decide on a change of topic, "Hey Riley have you heard of the new girl?"
"Hm..? who?"
"Well I wouldn't say new.. since she's been here for almost 3 weeks now, but she's really making a good name for herself. She's getting some of the highest grades, she runs for the sprinters and pole vaulters in the track team and I heard she's set the highest scores in our entire schools history! And she's a total hottie!"
"Yeah glaze her more and she might just notice you Aiden...."
"I'm serious! and don't forget she just transferred from South Korea I heard too! so her English being that good as well is wild!"
Riley finally picked his head up off the table, because he heard something that interested him... and Aiden knew this. Riley has always been an Anime geek, which led him to become a Japan Geek, which led him to become an Asia geek. He'd always wanted to go to the sites and experiences Asian culture had compared to.. and I quote "bland ol' America". So gaining his attention by mentioning one of these countries would surely get him to take his mind off things, even for a tad bit. Aiden set the trap and Riley fell for it hook, line, and sinker—although he wasn't lying she really did transfer from South Korea.
"Wait someone came from Korea came all the way here?? Why??"
"Who knows, her name keeps slipping but I think it's..-"
"Kiera!!!" A boy screamed. Pointing to a long violet haired girl, she also sported long bangs and deep brown eyes, her hair was also braided near the end, that was Kiera. She had a confident look on her face wherever she walked and almost seemed to have a cult following her.
"Yeah Kiera that's what it was. There she is by the way."
Riley would stare at Kiera for a bit—almost engrossed with her, then would turn back to his friend, "Hey... Aiden... do you think she-"
"Absolutely not no."
"I didn't even get to finish!"
"Listen if I saw any Interconnections with you two on any plane of existence I would say 'god god please get me out of limbo why am I here."
"Well okay screw you too man."
"Okay that was too harsh, what's up."
"Do you think if I were to somehow get close to her—and I don't me close close I mean close and a quarter close she could possibly maybe teach me Korean, then, once she teaches me Korean that's one more step to learning Japanese, then if I learn Japanese I can watch anime without subtitles and finally travel to Japan and buy millions of figures! foolproof plan correct?
"Absolutely not no."
"Come on man you know I've been obsessed with anime forever right! I always wanted to summon wind spheres or gather my ki to shoot beams man! I even tried to style my hair like your average Isekai protag, but this shitty brown hair is making it difficult to become a background character. And what kind of protag has amber eyes! curse these genes why can't I look like you!"
Aiden would hear one of these tangents about how much Riley loves his anime now and then but never like this, god forbid he'd find out about the dozen other Asian people in the school.
"Look I think your brown hair and amber eyes make you sort of unique, it's better to be unique than average."
The two of them would begin eating again, their taste buds already adapted towards the school cafeterias 'food'. It wasn't long before Riley would begin to glance at Kiera here and there. She was just talking to friends about stuff he couldn't overhear, but for some reason he became way more interested in her. But he'd have to ignore her and finish his lunch fast, because his next period was unluckily gym, right after lunch too.
-Gym Class-
Riley thought to himself while the gym teacher instructed them to do various stretches before the actual class started.
We really haven't done anything since the school year started in this class. All we've done is like basketball or soccer. Don't they have any unique ancient sports to play? I mean in middle schoo-
His thoughts were cut short as a multitude of people were making a commotion over at the women's side of the gym. It was Kiera, again.
"Wow girl you can really stretch that much!?"
"Did you do gymnastics that's insane!" People were gawking over Kiera's flexibility— even the male gym teacher took a quick glance, which everyone certainly noticed but didn't comment on.
Everyone's so infatuated with Kiera... Her charm is starting to feel realunrealistic.... Although this dismissive behavior was the most apparent feature of his current attitude, part of him also wanted to join in on the 'cult of Kiera'.
All throughout the gym period she would show off her athletic ability. From outpacing the fastest people on the basketball team to being able to reach even the worst of passes, and having an insane reaction time. The gym teachers usually didn't notice this amount of athleticism but with her it was undeniable.
Riley couldn't help but glance at her again time to time, since he really wasn't getting any play time anyways. He wasn't full board on the Kiera hype train but credit is given where credit is due, he was finally amazed by her. And his heart finally decided on what he was going to do.
I gotta get to know her. somehow.
-After School-
I really shouldn't be doing this.... but I feel like now is the best time! My dad always told me to trust your gut feelings so I'll trust this one god damnit! I have to at least try to be friends with her!!
Since the beginning of Riley's life he would be familiar with heartbreak. His very first crush rejected him and then the next day would go out with one of his friends, His kindergarten love would reject him in front of the entire class, then the girl he liked in middle-school would pretend to date him for a day before revealing that it was actually just a dare. But this time... this time to him it felt different.
Because of Kiera's popularity she would surely be a kind person, meaning if she—for some reason—were to reject his proposal of being friends then she would at least be kind about it. Riley thought that he would take his sweet time through his freshman and sophomore years fully befriending her then would strike by asking her if she could tutor him Korean, this was apart of his foolproof plan. Not only that however, He also thought that if they were both friends some of her perfection energy would leak off of her and onto him, making him more athletic, charming, and daring.
I'm a goddamn genius.... now where could she be? tiptoeing around isn't the best look for a student.
...
I'VE BEEN WALKING AROUND CAMPUS FOR 30 MINUTES!!!
He'd thought because of her fame around school she would be walking around with a decent mob surrounding her, to which she wasn't and he'd begin to start feeling a headache from wandering so much. Just when he was about to give up he saw a sparkle of a violet braid behind a corner near the back of the school. It was near the schools tennis court—where nobody went towards since it was run-down and uncleaned by janitorial. He could hear tiny whispers coming from back there.
T-that's her! Kiera! now time to just...
He would take a step on the concrete pavement, before a scenario flashed through his mind.
"Ew, you're telling me you looked all over school just to be my friend... creepy.... and you're drenched in sweat get away from me." Kiera would smack the hope out of his soul and he would fall to his knees.
Yeah... no way she'd.... wait.... no I can't give up... not after I've finally found her! that was just one of the many possible futures... I have to go through every single scenario and find the best option to start an conversation with her!!!
His mind would flash, instantly 1,562 conversations with Kiera would begin to process through his brain—which in reality was only 2. Riley would then begin his march towards the corner and would begin to brace himself.
Here is goes Riley Farley, you're first time interacting with a girl since late 6th grade!!! huuuraaaaaa!!
"Oh yeah so like they were totally fawning over me and shit when I said that lol, *chomp* and that's not even the best part, when I actually decided to lock in and dunk on the star player they started cheering!... cheering!! lmfao *chew*"
Well he certainly found her. Although for a second he would turn his head back and forth listening to her mumble on the phone whilst crunching down on 10 snack bags.
'xcuse? is this a skit?
Riley couldn't believe his eyes, little miss perfect was talking trash about not only her 'friends' but also the teachers, janitors, the school itself, and people she didn't even know! He would peek around the corner for at least a minute or two while she rambled on and on to the person she was speaking to on the phone. Instinctively like any person of his generation he pulled out his phone—and would attempt to record, however from the shock that the personality switch Kiera had his slippery hands lost grip of his phone.
Kiera's head would dart towards the phone then quickly him.
...
They kind of stared for a bit—with the person on the phone still speaking, although inaudible to Riley. Kiera's mouth was full of an array of various snacks making her face look akin to a chipmunks when they stuffed food into their mouth.
...
Kiera would begin to slowly drag her dusty and crumb-written thumb towards the end call button. Still having her eyes locked with Riley.
Likewise Riley would have his eyes still only on her alone, he would then begin to bend down to pick up his phone.
Immediately—almost impulsively Kiera would twist her hips to stomp of his phone with her shoes.
...
...
Riley would quickly shove her feet off his phone and dart towards the tennis courts running into the woods. Kiera would certainly attempt to pursuit but would pause and unpause looking back and forth at her snacks not wanting to leave them by themselves. Angrily she decided to go after the boy.
The area past the tennis courts was a short woods area, then an abandoned building. Riley did not in fact know this. So he just closed his eyes and ran goofily. Luckily not running into any trees. Eventually he would turn his head behind him praying she wasn't following... She was. But not in any normal chaser pursuit, she would be hopping from each side of the tree instead of on the leafy ground. Kiera would then try to say something however,
"Mmmmhpmm!" (don't you even dare try running from me damnit!)
"I can't-wait WHAT?"
One of them was going to die from choking on junk food and the other from crashing into a tree too fast. As the path began to go rotate downwards, Riley would trip on a log and fall down the hill for a bit before smacking the pavement on his back. He would groan for a bit before getting up and running into a building.
*Huff* Huff* He'd bend over and begin to try and recover his breath. That was the fastest he's ran, ever. It felt like he was going to croak any second. Whilst recovering he would look at his surroundings. Due to the adrenaline he'd kind of kept on running and barged into a random building. It was a very old and dusty warehouse there were wooden and metal materials scattered around the place. The windows were cracked in all sorts of patterns, with the afternoon light just beaming through the windows, despite that though it was still kind of dark.
*BANG*
The door he came through seconds earlier smashed open as the girl who was chasing him through the woods also barged into the abandoned rundown warehouse.
"Come out dude I know you're in here!" Kiera would shout, still having crumbs on her cheeks and lips. Riley would hide behind a pile of wooden slabs pleading to some god to not get an undiscovered unknown disease.
...
Suddenly, Riley felt an urge within his nose, a tickly one.
Oh god not now! The violet haired girl would still pace around the warehouse looking for him while he'd try to hold in his sneeze.
I have to I gotta! Riley was able to sneeze however he made little to no noise.
Phew close one... I almost thought I was a goner.
...
He would look up to see two brown eyes glaring down at him.
Once again the two would stare at one another for a moment...
...
Riley dashed towards the backdoor he entered from, however Kiera grabbed the back of his jackets hoodie before he could gain anymore distance. Her palms would then begin to glow a strange bluish-purple light, A white glowing saber would then appear in her hands. She would grip it and hold Riley hostage.
"Listen you, If you don't forget everything that happened here I'll kill you got it?"
"Huh-I-I-I-I how am I supposed to forget tha-"
"WRONG RESPONSE!"
"Wait who are you and where are we?"
"Too stupid!"
"What do you mean...? what happened?"
"There we go."
Kiera would let go of him, causing him to drop to the dirty floor. He would stare at the women wielding the glowing white saber.
Is.... What she just did... did she just do what I think shedid...? His mind raced as he fully began to realize the situation he was in.
"Damnit... Now that he knows of the existence of Magi what should I do... Should I turn him into the Delegation... no no no because then I'd also get in trouble!! wait no maybe I'll sell him to some mobster gang and they'll ship him off overseas! wait no no because he might just learn the language of the place he was sent to then become some high-ranking superstar and have a cool underdog speech about he got kidnapped by a weird Magi!! My REP!..... I guess I have to kill him."
Magi..? "Wait WHAT don't kill me p-please! I can't just yet! I'm a lonely insignificant loser why would you want to kill me!?"
"Well you said it not me!! but what the hell do I do with your bum ass!"
"Wait are you actually asking me that or is that a rhetorical question I genuinely can't tell, hey wait I called myself an 'insignificant loser' not a bum!!"
Kiera would be pacing back in forth, while Riley's heart would be pacing back and forth. His eyes watching her run circles around him until he, and she got dizzy.
Randomly a man crashed from one of the already broken windows. He wore a suit and tie, although in the state they were in you could barley tell. His skin also looked a lot more pale than the average man, and his pupils were almost non-existent. But the most important part of the mans character was the drool coming from his mouth.
"GAH!" Riley was frightened by the windows shattering sound and crawled backwards, While Kiera...
"Oh great now you wanna show up? well whatever needed to happen sooner or later Ghoul."
Huh... Ghoul?!? Ghoul!? Did I hear that right... just what the hell is happening!!!
Kiera would fully dash at the ghoul, not wasting a single breath. The so called 'ghoul' quickly noticed this and winded his arm back to scratch at her, however she jumped off the ground and backflipped over the ghoul, and slashed at his back with the glowing saber. The ghoul would then quickly turn his body around in an humanly Impossible manner, almost unphased by the attack.
Kiera would smirk "Not bad for a braindead goner!" She'd open the hand the saber was in as it began to vanish, she would then use both of her hands to summon a Spear, This one wasn't like the saber as it didn't have the same white glow, it was a normal spear with white and golden stripes going around the shaft. She then wasted no time in charging at the ghoul with a flurry of stabs. This proved way more effective than the short saber.
"Time to end this bastard! Before I kill you don't forget to tell you're 'King' that Kiera Minsoo Goldfaire is in town to destroy you! oh and like my insta if you could." She'd dodge the ghouls last swing by ducking and knocking the ghoul off his legs by sweeping them. Then she would jump an outstanding 15 feet in the air before flipping and piercing the ghouls chest. Shortly after it would begin to fade away into white dust particles, leaving behind only a orange orb—which was cracked due to the spear being thrusted into it.
Wha... huh... HUHH!?! Riley was still star struck at the site, as Kiera turned to face him and state...
"I guess I have no choice... Welcome to the Magic Society, plebian."