I was about to read the stuff that was written in the magazine when suddenly, an elderly voice addressed me:

'And who will you be, young man?'

I raised my head and saw that the teacher was looking at me. I stood up. Immediately, I felt myself being engulfed by scrutinizing attention from everyone in the classroom.

I said:

'Kyle, my name is Kyle Reed, and... I have nothing more to say about myself.'

'Well, if there's nothing else…' the teacher nodded and for the great relief of mine didn't bother me anymore. And yet, someone else did. I heard a whisper from the right:

'Fu*king gaijin.'

I turned to the right and saw a guy with glossy black hair. He was sitting with two of his friends. The trio laughed at the insult.

The teacher didn't hear anything, and neither did anyone else pay attention to it.

I sat down. I didn't hurry to look into the magazine again. The next one to introduce herself was that girl that had been paying attention to me for some reason. The one that the magazine proclaimed to be the heroine. I looked at her back and felt surprised. Was it just my imagination? It looked like she had been slightly shaking.

The girl was silent. The teacher was about to call her out, but suddenly she stood up on her own and turned, and looked right into my eyes. And then she said in a voice so loud that it resonated through the entire classroom:

"Kotori! My name is Murakami Kotori!"

Then there was silence. Everyone, including me, was confused. The children were simply staring at us. I was afraid to imagine what exactly they were thinking about our relationship.

'Well, a good name for sure', said the teacher with a dry smile. 'But you don't have to shout it. Next...'

The girl stood for some time and only several seconds after did she sit down. Meanwhile, I looked at the reflection of her face in the window. She was blushing. A red tint appeared on the transparent white cheek.

I felt my heart shaking.

What is going on? Do I know her? Well, if I do, that why can't I remember anything about it?..

Whatever.

I sighed and once again turned my attention to the magazine.

There, I saw a profile:

[Score: 00001

Story: 1

Title: Locked. Opening cost – 1 point

Genre: RomCom

Genre score: 1/19. 16h 15m untill the end of "Oneshot Ark"

Annotation: Locked. Opening cost – 4 points.

Characters:

Main:

Main character – you

Main heroine: ———

Side:

???

???]

Now… That was some interesting stuff.

I had 1 point right now. Was that from that first mission I had accomplished? To sit down in the back row? Seems like it is.

But what exactly is Genre score? I remember the clown telling me something about each story being required to reach a particular score before the end of the time duration for it to be considered a success.

Or else… I'll be F*cked.

I lowered my head.

So, I could earn points by acting like the main character. Like I did by sitting at this desk.

But what if I will use my points to buy stuff? I think my score will diffidently go down if I do that, but will the same thing happen to the score of the genre?

Guess I should ask Yuji about it.

For now, I could buy only the title of the story. Not so bad of a deal, in my humble opinion. These days Japanese put half of the synopsis into the title. 'I was reborn in a strange world and now an insane IT parody trying to make me into a low-paid actor? Maji desu ka?'… But yeah, maybe I shouldn't waste my points untill I will see the shop.

The next page listed all my mission.

The first one, about the desk, was already marked as "accomplished". There was a green circle around it.

Then there was just a blank space.

What now?

Should I come up with some kind of behavior typical for the main characters? Missions, as far as I can remember, are nothing more than a showcase of what different actions will bring me.

So, what should I do?

No, rather than that, I should ask what the main character of romantic comedy is ought to do?

I guess...

He should get acquitted with the girl, at least. Became her friend… Peek at her while she'ls undressing, so THAT kind of readers will be happy… Once I thought about all these things, words started to appear on the page:

[Missions:

Get acquitted with a 'Heroine' type character – 5 points

Became friends with the heroine – 6 points

Look at the heroine in underwear – 16 pints/without – 8 points]

…

No comments.

I had a hard time suppressing the urge to immediately throw the magazine away.

Okay.

Breath in, breath out.

I stole a glance at the girl before me. At… Kotori. She seemingly calmed down. Meanwhile, the teacher was still speaking…

'Also, today at noon you will be able to join any club there is in the school. Your own club you will only be able to make on your second year of education, so…'

Nothing important.

Once again I started scrolling through the magazine.

They were white up until almost the very end. On page 44 there was a profile. Not of a story, but my own.

[Main Character:

Name: Kyle Reed

Age: 15

(Yeah, I really did became younger)

Str: E

End: E-

Int: B+

Special abilities: None]

I looked all over that page. Endurance: E-, Intellect – B+… Not gonna lie, I have never considered myself a sporty type, and yet isn't that is too low? What grades there are, anyway?

Once I thought about that question, some letters appeared on page 43:

F

E — You are here.

D

C

B

A

S

X

?

I nodded to myself and then, trying to be as sneaky as possible, I turned one more page. And at last the thing the clown had been bragging about appeared before me.

SHOP.