As the movie progressed, Rhys found himself bored out of his mind. The movie was the same as many novel plots he'd read before, and was a third rate horror movie at best.
"I bet you the murder is-" Rhys said in his head to Kane who only barked at him to shut up and let him watch. Xavier's reaction was much more scary than the movie .
Since he was small and childlike, Rhys figured Xavier would of just clung to him while being scared out of his mind, giving him free affection points. And damn was he wrong.
Xavier laughed each time someone got murdered, or each time something "horrifying" happened, while shoving popcorn in his mouth, while the last two were shivering and breaking sweat.
It was understandable that Seth seemed scared, but despite all of Erin's big talk, he couldn't even watch for five minutes without screaming.
By the end of it, Rhys left to make dinner while Xavier had to calm the two boys who would not stop shaking.
Even within the half hour, the three boys hadn't cleaned up and it seemed like Seth and Erin were in an even worse state than before.
"Just what did you say to them?" Rhys questioned as he helped Seth to the dining room table. Although the taller man was mostly composed despite being how shy he was, right now he looked pitiful.
"All I did was tell them that if a murderer were to break in, Seth would be closest and-" Erin cut him off by yelling shut up in a shaky voice.
"I never you were such a crybaby." Xavier pouted as the four took their seats. It was a little past six and Rhys wondered if there was anything else he could do to gain some affection points before they all went to their rooms.
"You think I could manage to squeeze in some affection points? How long is this world even supposed to take anyways? I'm gaining affection points much slower." Rhys questioned.
Floating over next to Rhys, Kane pondered before answering. "It could take anywhere from a day to a year, I mean, you still have the option to stab and kill the female lead."
Rhys nearly choked hearing that. Not only was Kane insinuating Rhys should commit murder, but it could also take a year?
"No thanks, do you have any ideas to end this quickly without murder?" Rhys rephrased his question, smiling and dismissing Seth who asked what was wrong.
"Just finish the system missions quickly and separate them from the female lead? As long as they hate her or avoid her you'll probably get a few missions." Kane told.
"Seeing as to how Xavier and Erin seem to dislike her from this afternoon, I only have to turn Seth's opinion on her, right? And since Xavier values him, he'd probably dislike her even more." Rhys thought, before finally zoning back into his surroundings.
It was a few minutes of idle chitchat before dinner finally ended, and everyone went their separate ways. Although Seth seemed to go back to normal, Erin was still a little on edge.
"Do you want me to sleep with you, Rin?" Xavier jokingly asked as he helped carry the plates to the sink.
Growling, Erin yelled back a no and aggressively stormed off to his bedroom, his stomps so loud they could probably be heard across the city.
Flicking Xavier on the head, the two boys left to put the blankets and pillows back away, as Rhys did the dishes. "Do I actually have to do the assignments?" Rhys asked Kane since they were alone.
It was now Rhys' turn to get hit on the head, as Kane began to lecture him. "Even if you're an adult you should still strive your very best! Do you think the targets would like an idiot!"
"Xavier might." Rhys interrupted only to get another hit on the head by Kane, causing him to let out a small ow.
"I get it, seriously. When am I supposed to be able to focus on levelling my skills, then?" Rhys said, finishing up and making his way upstairs to his room.
It took two hours, but Rhys finally completed the easy syllabus signature and two quick introduction assignments, which shouldn't of taken so long.
"I swear that the abcs skill is the worst thing I have ever received from this system." Rhys huffed as he dried his eyes for the umpteenth time that night.
As he stood up, he felt dizzy and made his way to his bathroom to freshen up. "My ears are dying from that master listener skill, I never want to watch another video again."
As he sat in the shower and let the water trickle down his body, he read the screens telling him about his skills.
Due to all his crying, crocodile tears was at level (2), and almost at level (3), with 25 more to go.
His master listener skill had barely gone up any, and he was still pretty far away from evolving it, causing Rhys to sigh. He could use it in his day to day life sure, at school, but he really didn't want to listen to the whispers of students in his class.
Finally, the abcs had reached level (4), giving Rhys at least one sign of a successful night. His hand had cramped so many times writing the assignments, due to the weird way the skill had to be used.
"This system is just too cruel! You're making me write out essays to level this skill up!" Rhys cried as he gently massaged his dominant hand before exiting the shower.
"It's not unfair at all, the system's skills are always amazing, host!" Kane replied as he helped Rhys dry off his hair.
Changing into his pyjamas, Rhys turned off the light and flopped onto his bed, exhausted from everything he'd been through that day. As he was about to sleep, a sudden mission quest appeared, causing him to nearly scream out.
"OPTIONAL SYSTEM MISSION"
"Find the friend group of the corrupted female lead and single her out. You will be rewarded upon completion. No punishment will be received if the mission is not completed."
"The system is asking me to turn her friends against her?" Rhys questioned, sitting up to reread it again clearly.
"Seems so, it doesn't have a set time limit, so you could probably do it whenever." Kane commented, before going to sleep.
"Ah well whatever, I'll deal with it tomorrow." Rhys yawned as he laid back down, shutting his eyes.
When the morning came, Rhys groggily got out of bed and readied himself, afterwards making his way downstairs for breakfast.
"Have you thought of any way to single her out yet, Rhys?" Kane asked as he helped pop the bread in the toaster.
Rhys shook his head as he put the bacon in the frying pan. "Nothing yet, I don't even remember what her friends look like."
Kane deadpanned. "You sure do have selective memory." He muttered as he got the butter out of the fridge.
As Seth made his way downstairs, Rhys finished up the plates and greeted him with a smile. "Good morning Seth!"
Greeting him back with a smile of his own, Seth took the plates and apologetically asked Rhys to wake Xavier up again.
Rhys internally panicked as he remembered yesterday's morning, and only nodded as he made his way up.
"What if I used a pillow as blockade?" Rhys asked Kane as they entered Xavier's room, the battle beginning.
"That could work." Kane replied helping Rhys get a pillow with a cheeky grin on his face. As Rhys gently shook Xavier, confident he would be spared, Kane body slammed the pillow out of the way and let Xavier kiss Rhys.
"What the hell!" Rhys internally screeched as a crimson blush erupted onto his face, freaking out again.
As Xavier fluttered his eyes open, he stared at Rhys was his head slightly tilted, letting out a yawn. "Good morning, Reece's!" He said, wrapping his arms and legs around Rhys like a koala.
While Rhys was stammering out a what, Xavier yawned again. "Carry me, I'm tired." He whined like a small child.
"Ah...okay." Rhys mumbled out as he placed his hands on Xavier's waist, his blush getting worse.
Although he tried to play it off as Xavier being half asleep, he still couldn't help the nervousness he felt. It was only because of the system, it was slowly messing with his mind! He insisted.
Kane rolled his eyes as he snickered at Rhys. If Rhys wasn't going to make the first move then Kane was going to help him the best he could, even if it meant body slamming a pillow into a wall.
As the two boys left the room, they saw Erin come out of his. At this point, Xavier was wide awake but pretended to still be half asleep for the fun of it.
Taking this opportunity to tease Rhys, Xavier hurried his neck deeper into Rhys and muttered, "You're pretty soft." Causing Rhys to let out a little yelp in surprise.
Trying to hold in his laughter, Xavier continued to tease Rhys by twirling Rhys' hair with his fingers, and sticking his tongue out at Erin.
As Rhys looked at Erin, he greeted a good morning at the male, who look at him with disgust. "Stop flirting the damn morning you bastards." He hissed as he made his way downstairs, a bit moodier than usual.
"I'm not the only one feeling this way! We're two straight men being forced together by a system!" Rhys cried out in his head as he made his way down with Xavier.
"Well no one said the capture target was straight, just because there's currently a female lead." Kane responded as affection points seemed to fluctuate.
Erin's affection point had gone down by one, making it a four while Xavier's went up by two, making it twelve. "Well what else could it be!" Rhys snapped back.
"It's probably the fact he has mysophobia and Xavier touching you intimately was weird to him?" Kane said as if it were the only logical answer.
Rhys quieted down due to a mixture of annoyance and the slightest bit of embarrassment, as they made their way to the table.
Setting Xavier down, the boy ran up to his seat and greeted everyone, causing Rhys ears to turn a dark red. "He was definitely awake the whole time!" He said in his head.
As he made his way to his seat, his blush slowly subsided as they began to discuss different things during breakfast.
When it finally ended and they made their way to school, picking up their coffees first, Rhys still hadn't figured out a way to single out Serenity.
"I really want to make Seth hate her, so if even her friends leave her or spread gossip about her I could make sure my hands were clean too." Rhys thought as he made his way to his first class.
"Can't you just use victim card?" Kane asked which caused Rhys eyes to light up. Of course, why didn't he think of that! He forgot that useless skill could actually do something.
If he could get her friends around while she was there harassing the guys, and used victim card, he could probably isolate her.
With his mind clear and no longer open to suggestions or other plans, Rhys smiled at all his classmates along the way, leveling up his smile skill, about 200 before the next level.
"This is simultaneous the easiest yet hardest skill." Rhys muttered to himself as he entered the classroom, soon surrounded by classmates.
As soon as he spoke, more classmates began to pay notice to him, thanks to his upgraded charisma. "To think it made such a difference, now even people who didn't look yesterday are taking a peek." Rhys thought to himself.
"Well of course, this is a system upgrade! Even if you're ugly you just need charisma." Kane responded.
"Since you're my system, you can do me a favour, right?" Rhys asked causing Kane to panic slightly, he did not like the way Rhys said it.
"Go search around the school for her friends, when she's in her other classes she's bound to have a friend or two, figure them out and report back to me later." Rhys said as he nudged Kane away while still entertaining his classmates.
Crying to himself, Kane made his way through the large campus to find the female lead, and then her whole friends list. "You're so cruel forcing your work onto me!" Kane sniffled.
The first and second period went along smoothly, until Rhys saw Kane again in his third period following around a girl.
She had long jet black hair and light grey eyes. She was only an inch shorter than Rhys and was a little pretty.
"Who's she?" Rhys asked to Kane in his head as he made his way around the class talking to people.
"You're here, host! She's Ariana, the girl you told off at the market and the main leader of the female lead's clique." Kane explained, a sigh of relief escaping him as he hoped he was done for the day.
"I've got this, then." Rhys responded as he took his seat next to her, flashing her a smile using his skill and giving her a greeting.
The woman seemed flustered at first before looking a little annoyed. "You're the guy from the market that day."
"Ah, I came to say sorry about that. My friend is a germaphobe and I didn't want to excessively stress him, especially since his initial response is to get aggressive. Sorry for rejecting you." Rhys apologised, giving his best sad look.
"I swear you should of been an actor instead of a musician." Kane said reading Rhys thoughts, which were only full of hurry up and accept it, and this is annoying.
It seemed to work, as both the classmates and the girl began to smile at Rhys and understood where he was coming from.
"People really kiss ass here, huh?" Rhys said to Kane as he proceeded to try and converse with the woman.
As the teacher soon came, Rhys wrote a note over to Ariana asking her if she wanted Rhys to pick anything up for her before fourth period as an apology.
She happily accepted with a small blush on her face and wrote down what she wanted from the convenience store, and he wrote back to meet her by the car ten minutes minutes before fourth period started, and wrote down the place he parked his car.
At the bottom, he wrote feel free to bring your friends I rejected too that day, I'll get them all something too as an apology.
She looked over at him and made the number 5 with her fingers, to show how many of them there were as he gave a smile, writing one last note using the abcs skill before handing it off to Kane.
"Go and find the female lead and give this note to her. Make sure her friends cannot find her, she needs to read the note first." Rhys tasked Kane.
With a questioning look, Kane floated off with the note in hand to find the female lead and leave it on her desk. Rhys on the other hand sat down in class comfortable, awaiting for what will happen.