"Are you sure about this?" Gou Manchu held the soccer ball in his hand, frowning. "I don't want to hurt her. And I don't like you skipping class just to help me."
"You said we still have 10 minutes before the teacher comes, right? This will be quick, I promise. And if you don't want to hurt her so badly, just lessen the force when throwing the ball." Mo Aini told him while munching on his egg sandwich.
"Why can't I just ask for her number nicely and offer to treat her to lunch?" Gou Manchu pouted.
"She wouldn't like that! Trust me! Nobody does that nowadays, they just manipulate the situation to get noticed by their crush! It's very effective too." Mo Aini gave him a thumbs up. "Just remember your lines."
"It sounds too rude." Gou Manchu said.
"The ruder the better! Girls love rude!"
Mo Aini finished eating then picked up one of the soccer player's energy drinks without their permission. "Remember, you have to sound angry when you say 'Watch where you're going, is your eyesight that bad!?'. And then if she apologizes, you should yell at her 'Yeah, you really should apologize for walking near the practice area mindlessly! What if you bump your head on a rock and get sent to the clinic!? You'll be a liability to the whole soccer team!' "
"Ok...." Gou Manchu fiddled with the ball, sweat trickling down his head. "I remember all the lines. I just hope this works."
"You got this, bro!" Mo Aini egged him on.
Gou Manchu practiced kicking the ball like he normally does even though he felt uneasy. Mo Aini watched him from behind the wall in the corner, peeking out with his stolen energy drink. The other players were too busy with their own training to notice what the two were up to.
Eventually, they spotted Mo Jiagei heading closer to the fields.
"Target locked!" Mo Aini whispered. "Go! Go! Go!"
Gou Manchu kicked the ball high up in the air, and with the other leg he hit it with high precision going straight to Mo Jiagei's head!
"Ow!" Mo Jiagei got bumped by the soccer ball at the temples, but it was not too hard to cause much real damage or make her fall to the ground. Still, the system made her character feel the pain more and she collapsed helplessly to the grassy fields, holding her head.
'That was too dramatic, Gou Manchu didn't even hit her that hard!' Mo Aini thought.
Gou Manchu panicked and ran to her. "Are you...."
Mo Aini immediately wave to get his attention and mouthed 'Don't act concerned! Be rude!'
"Watch where you're going! Is your eyesight that bad?" He repeated the lines he was taught.
It had the same quality of acting in a low-cost B- rated movie. He even kneeled to help Mo Jiagei up.
Mo Aini smacked his own forehead with his palm. He mouthed again, 'Don't help her! Let her stand on her own and be angry at her!"
Before he could fully touch her, Gou Manchu stood up again and cleared his throat like a nervous seventh grader about to make a speech. He crossed his arms to prevent himself from making any concerned actions.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking at where I'm going since I'm lost in thought." Mo Jiagei said in a cutesy princess voice that makes her brother want to puke.
"Y-Yeah... you really should apologize for walking near the practice area mindlessly!" Gou Manchu said in the most unconvincingly mad tone.
"Am I not allowed to walk here?" Mo Jiagei asked.
Gou Manchu force out a growl that doesn't really fit him. He delivered the next line with absolutely no skill. "Of course not! What if you bump your head on a rock and get sent to the clinic!?"
Even a Youtuber's apology video is more believable than this.
Mo Jiagei blinked, tilting her head to the side. "Mr. Soccer Captain, are you actually worried about me?"
"It's not that!" Gou Manchu denied, looking away. "I'm more worried that you'll be a liability to the soccer team! And that would be really bad for us...."
"This is a disaster!" Mo Aini exasperatedly gripped the ends of his hair. "He just sounds like a responsible soccer team captain, not a bad boy!"
"Ok. I won't do it again." Mo Jiagei bowed as an apology and picked up the soccer ball. She handed it to Gou Manchu and left, uninterested.
"Wait, I—" Gou Manchu called out, his puppy eyes teary. But his crush was gone. He ran to the wall where Mo Aini was hiding and whined. "It didn't work, Mo-gongzi!"
"It's because you didn't sound convincingly rude enough!" Mo Aini pinched the bridge of his nose. "You have to be a really bad boy! A total asshole the doesn't care about her at all!"
"But that's not who I am. It feels like I'm lying to her." Gou Manchu frowned.
"Just think of it as play-acting! Haven't you acted in a play before as a school project? Or just pretended to be martial arts masters and heroes as kids? Just think of it like that!"
"But Mo-gongzi, I don't remember pretending as anything in my childhood. And all my roles in school plays are secondary ones like the emperor's bodyguard or the one who holds out props." Gou Manchu scratched his head. "I'm very tall so I'm usually the tree too."
(No wonder he was so horrible, my dude was just the extra character who doesn't speak!)
Gou Manchu sat at the bench dejectedly and drank a bottle of water. "Do I really have to change myself for her to like me? Is my personality that bad?"
Mo Aini sighed. "It's not you who are the problem. You're just too.... good for her."
"Is that a bad thing?" Gou Manchu asked, tears threatening to fall.
"No." Mo Aini felt attacked by Gou Manchu's pitiful puppy eyes. He immediately patted him many times in the back. "Let's not worry about it anymore! You're just a really good guy! We'll get a chance next time."
The hologram screen suddenly appeared in front of him.
[Mo Jiagei's Impression of Gou Manchu: 41%
Possibility of Route Being Chosen: Highly Unlikely
The Prologue only permits one-time interaction between the MC and the Love Interest. Once they have met, the MC will move on to the next scene with another Love Interest. ]
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner!?" Mo Aini complained to the system. "Can't I just change the plot of the story since you've hired me as a Cupid?"
[Plot Manipulation, Mind Reading and Seeing the Future are only available in exchange for more than 100 Cupid Points.]
"The hell is Cupid Points!? You're just adding rules out of nowhere!"
[Cupid Points Earned: 0
Please work hard to gain these points.]
The hologram dissipated into pixels and disappeared, leaving Mo Aini heavily irritated by the system's unreasonableness.
"I don't think I have a chance anymore, Mo-gongzi. There's too many guys in this school that might catch her eye." Gou Manchu stood up with a heavy heart. "Thanks for the help anyway. Let's go to class now."
"Gou Manchu... You don't even blame me or get angry at anything." Mo Aini frowned. "That just shows that you're a really good guy who deserves the best. Don't worry about that girl, if she likes you, she'll like you. If not, just find someone else."
Gou Manchu didn't answer and just nodded weakly, his usual high energy going down to 0. Mo Aini felt so bad for the guy that he wanted to twist his sister's ear for not even giving such a sweet and precious boy a chance.
-------------------
During the classes, all Mo Aini could do was write down ideas and game plans on his paper. The teacher was just making the students introduce themselves anyway, and none of these people are important to the plot. He's still disappointed that he wasn't able to help Gou Manchu, that jock's personality really was too nice.
Mo Jiagei was not on the same class as him. He was in Class C while she was in Class A. Which was unfair since they were both Class D in the real world, they're just of equal intelligence!
As the people finished introducing themselves, someone went running towards the door that was about to be closed.
"Hi!" A guy with green hair and huge round glasses caught his breath, keeping the door in place. An arrow was pointing at him and showing his name, marking him as an important character.
Shu Chuanli (LI).
"You are late." The baldy teacher reprimanded him.
"Well.... Technically, it was the hall monitor's fault. They kept me up by cleaning all night because I broke the curfew and so I woke up late. And the school has too many hallways like a maze, who wouldn't get confused?" Shu Chuanli quickly came up with excuses.
The teacher considered this, and nodded. "Alright, just this once, since it's the first day of school. But the next time this happens I would have to give you a mark for tardiness."
"Yes, sir!" He made an awkward salute.
He went to the front of the blackboards and gave a meek bow. He put up his glasses, his fluffy green mullet cut hair swaying. He was wearing the Nushen High uniform along with a childish navy blue backpack, pulling at the straps with a forced smile when looking at everyone.
"Hi, everyone. My name is Shu Chuanli. Nice to meet you all.... I'll be going to my seat now."
Mo Aini observed him with great interest. From his appearance, he looked like the nerdy type. But he broke not one, but TWO school rules in his first time here at Nushen. It might take some work but....
Is there a chance for him to be turned into his sister's ideal bad boy?
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Read The Mafia Boys' Contract Marriage which is joining WPC right now XD
I know it's shameless of me to advertise like this but I'm desperate :)))) Plus it'll be a pretty fun book, I guarantee you.
If you're a fan of mafia, criminal investigations and detective stories, please check it out and support it.
PS: It will also be a whole lot more spicier than any of my books so far cough cough How much spice? You'll see.