Gen froze in place as Ichika Matsumoto's presence loomed behind him. Before he could react, he felt a firm grip on his shoulder. He barely registered the pressure—it was so weak compared to his newfound strength. She was trying to turn him around, but he didn't budge.
Ichika's grip tightened. "Hey, fatass, I didn't give you permission to get so hot."
He slowly turned to face her, his expression blank. Ichika's usual smug smirk wavered as her lips parted slightly, her eyes scanning his face with an unfamiliar softness. Instead of the usual scrunched, disgusted expression, her face held something entirely different—submissiveness.
She bit her lip.
Gen took a step back, his face heating up. What... the hell was that?
He quickly shrugged her hand off his shoulder. "I gotta go." Without waiting for a response, he turned and bolted down the hallway, leaving Ichika staring after him, perplexed.
Panting, he found himself behind the school, crouching behind a dumpster. He clutched his face, his thoughts spiraling.
What the fuck was that? Why did she look at me like that?
His heartbeat pounded against his chest. God, have I really changed that much for her to hop on my dick like that?
Wait.
Hop on... hop on my...
Gen's breathing slowed. His lips curled into a smirk. A mysterious idea bubbled up in his mind.
He snickered. "I'm gonna take real good advantage of this new life."
On his way back to class, he took a sharp turn around a corner—
Almost crashing into someone.
"Oops, sorry," he said casually, glancing down at the girl he had nearly knocked over.
She was a petite second-year student, arms full of papers that now scattered across the floor. Perfect.
Gen crouched down to help pick them up, intentionally brushing his fingers against hers as they both reached for the same paper.
The girl's breath hitched. She quickly looked away, her cheeks tinged pink.
Gen held back a grin. It's actually working...
He handed her the papers and straightened up. "Here, be careful next time."
The girl mumbled a thank you and turned to walk away—but just as she did, she tripped over her own feet.
In an instant, Gen reacted, catching her in his arms.
She let out a small gasp, her face burning red. "I-I'm so sorry!"
He smirked. "No worries."
She quickly pulled away, bowing before scurrying off. Back then, I would've been called a clumsy pig and scolded for not watching where I was going. But now—
Ding!
A glowing menu screen appeared before his eyes.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NAME: GEN NANAMI RANK: 100/100
Charisma: 1/100
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gen yelped. "WHAT THE FUCK?!"
The screen flickered and disappeared as quickly as it had come.
His breath caught in his throat. What just happened?
His mind raced. Did that just... reward me? Why is there a ranking system?
He stared at the empty space in front of him. "How do I get it back? Open! Open! OPEN!"
Nothing happened.
Gen's fingers twitched. He took a step forward, hesitating, then turned his head slightly as if expecting the menu to reappear. Nothing.
He clenched his fist. Alright. If this is some kind of system, then there has to be rules to it. It responded when I did something socially effective.
He exhaled sharply. "Alright... let's test this out."
His mind went to the possibilities. If there's Charisma, could there be Strength? Speed? Intelligence?
His stomach churned with anticipation.