^^ A/N: main character before reincarnation

I collapse on my bed with exhaustion. As soon as I was done with school, I immediately went to work at the boba tea shop nearby the school where a lot of my classmates hang out.

Of course, it's just my luck that I had to serve the popular girls who's favorite past time was picking on me. However, I didn't want to lose my job so I just grit through their abuse. Even when Clare, the head of the posse, poured her drink all over me.

When I went back to the kitchen to get a new uniform, my asshole of a manager yelled at me for the whole ordeal, like it was my fault.

I sigh; it's still a pretty good job though. Good tips and I get free boba tea.

Just as I'm about to succumb to my drowsiness, I feel something poking my cheek. I open one of my eyes to see my younger sister, Rain, looming over me while sipping on some bubble tea I brought back home.

"Ughhhh, what do you want?" I groan.

"Yay! You're awake! I was soooo bored while you were out," she said. She adjusted her pink jacket and took a long sip of her boba tea.

"So what did you do?" I ask.

She giggled, "I found a new otome game! It's called Fantasy Romance Magic Academy!"

I almost gag at the cringiness of the name itself. I considered chastising her for not doing her homework instead of playing games, but when I saw her beaming face, I stopped myself. I'll let her be happy for now.

Greg, our Dad, would be back from whatever sleazy bar he was passed out in soon. I winced as I got up from the bed. My stomach still hurts from when he kicked it after coming back from his last drunken bender.

Still, it was better he hit me than my little sister. I try to shield her from his wrath as much as I can.

My sister was still babbling about the game she found. I tried to zone it out, but I got the general gist of the game, even though I felt like my IQ was dropping from just hearing a summary of this dumb game.

Basically, there was a commoner girl, Helen Hale, who was a maid in the imperial palace. Sure enough, she had various suitors chasing after her, or as my sister called them "capture targets". The goal of the game was to win over the capture targets, to reach some kind of happy, romantic ending. The villainess was Eve Callisto, a selfish, power hungry girl that wanted to be the Queen, and therefore bullied the main character because the crown prince was interested in her.

I almost roll my eyes though as I hear her describe the helpless damsel in distress the main character is in the game. I'd take the bitchy villainess the over that weak hothouse flower any day.

In the real world, weakness doesn't get you anywhere, it only invites more abuse. Still, I smile because at least I know my sister is still cute and innocent.

She taps me on the shoulder, noticing that I've sort of zoned out.

"I'm hungry! Can we get some ice cream?" she pleads.

"You already had boba tea, which is a lot of sugar, and we're tight on cash," I say. She pouts, and my heart melts. I have a big weak spot to cute things, and she knows it. I let out a big sigh, "Okay, fiiiine, but I'm not doing this for free", I say, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Come give your big sister a hug!" I exclaim. She rolls her eyes and I hug her, pinching her cheeks.

"Are you done now?" she complains. I let her go. She hates when I baby her ever since she turned 13, complaining that she's a "teen" now. Hmph, in my eyes she's still a little baby.

We have a pretty big age gap, I'm four years older than her, and with my parents being all but absent, I've practically had to raise her. I can't wait till I'm finally 18, then we can escape this hellhole.

She races ahead of me towards the ice cream store. Greg (I refuse to call him Dad) will probably get angry when he sees that I've spent my leftover money on ice cream for Rain instead of him being able to take it to buy more booze. It's fine, I'll just work an extra shift or something. Maybe he'll be too liquored up to notice a little money missing.

We stop at a pedestrian crossing, and wait to cross. I see my sister playing the stupid game on her phone. I take my eyes off her for a second, only to notice her crossing the street.

Suddenly, a huge truck comes barreling through, heading directly for my sister. My mind goes blank as I dash toward her.

Just as it is about to hit us, I shove my sister out of the way. I have just enough time to turn towards the truck, as it comes barreling towards me.

In that moment, I know that I'm going to die. The truck slams into me, and I'm crushed under the wheels. All I can feel is horrendous pain as every bone in my body is shattered. I imagine my life will end in just a few seconds, but it feels like eternity.

When I finally feel death overtaking me, I embrace it. My last thought being: It's worth it. It's all worth it if Rain can live.

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I wake up on the ground in a beautiful throne room made up of white marble. It has soaring ceilings and multiple tall windows that let natural light pour in. On both sides of the room were large marble columns leading up to a dais with a large white, marble throne.

Sitting on the throne was the most beautiful human- no angel, I have ever seen. He looked around my age and had tousled, white hair, and golden eyes. His skin was flawless, and he had a devilish smirk on his face.

"Hmm... you're not who I was expecting," he said. I get up from the ground and walk closer to the dais. I stop before it, unsure what to do. Should I kneel? What if this is god or something and I'm disrespecting him? Didn't I die so is this heaven?

"Are you an angel?" I ask him. He can't be human, he's too beautiful it's almost blinding.

He chuckles, "I'm the god of Andemion. The Great and all Powerful Hal." he says. Lol, did he just call himself great? He continued, "But none of that matters since you won't see me for long. Clearly there has been a mistake."

"What do you mean? A mistake?" I ask. "Does that mean I can go back?"

"Go back? No, I'm afraid that's not possible," he said as though deep in thought. "Maybe I should just kill you? How did this even happen though? I'm sure I sent that Earth vehicle - a truck or something - at that other girl." He talks as if I'm not even here. Then it dawns on me that he was the one who tried to KILL my sister. I feel anger rising in me, as he keeps muttering about ways to dispose of me.

"You... you sent the truck," I stutter out, my fists clenching.

"Yes, I thought that was obvious," he sighed, and continues talking to himself, "Probably should slit that girl's throat while she was sleeping. Much less messy."

"YOU SON OF A B*TCH!" I cry out and charge toward him. My hands close around his throat. His golden eyes look up at me, and he smirks like he opened the greatest birthday gift of all time. Suddenly, my hands close around the air. He just disappeared.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

I spin around to the laughter behind me, and see Hal laughing as if I just told the funniest joke in the world. I feel myself shaking with anger.

"Very good! I did not expect that!" he declared. His eye color suddenly turned red for a moment, but it happened so quickly that it could have been in my imagination. "You know most people wouldn't try to kill a god. I can't tell if you're brave or just stupid."

"I'm already dead. I'm not afraid to die again for Rain," I spit back.

"Are you sure about that?" he asks me, his eyes flashing red, before he disappears again.

I feel a cool blade against my throat. He holds me against him, and presses the blade deeper against my neck, and I feel my warm blood run down my neck.

"Still not scared?" he says.

Honestly, I'm terrified. I consider fighting back, but know it will be useless. However, I don't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me scared. I'm not going to plead and beg. I will hold onto the little dignity I have left. I lift my head and look him straight in his ruby eyes with as much strength as I can muster.

"Do it."

I feel the blade press harder on my neck, and more blood seeps out. Then the blade is gone, and I feel my knees buckle underneath me. I gasp, and touch the wound on my neck where blood is coming out of. I can feel my vision getting hazy as I look up at Hal. He's grinning and his eyes are golden again.

"If you want to take your sister's place then I'll gladly except," he says. My head swarms, and he lifts my chin, "Besides you're much more interesting. I'm looking forward to playing with you again."

Darkness fills my vision, as I go unconscious.

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