Long before I had met Ria Goodgarden, there was another girl.
I was walking home, Dad couldn't pick me up because he had to pick up an extra shift at the plant. There was a storm in the city, and the rain was picking up; I had nothing on but the clothes on my back as I trekked the city back to our apartment.
From what little that I remember, it happened when I was about to cross the street. Because of the rain, I could hardly see beyond a few feet. As I began to cross the street, I failed to see the truck barreling down the road; it was about to hit me.
"Hey!" A girl's voice screamed as I felt a sudden tug on the collar of my shirt, pulling me back just in time before the truck could hit me; I can still feel the gravity of its weight narrowly missing me to this day.
As I was tugged back onto the sidewalk, I looked behind me to find a girl standing under a black umbrella with an entourage of two serious black-suited men beside her. It was one of them who had dragged me by the collar.
"Are you an idiot!? You almost just died!" She yelled at me from under her umbrella, I couldn't see her face but from how lavish of a coat she wore; I could tell she was rich.
"Uhm... U-Uhmm..." I mumbled under my breath, I didn't know what to say to her then.
"Tch! I just saved your life, make sure not to lose it, or it'd be a waste of my goodwill from this day," She said haughtily.
"Miss, we mustn't keep your father waiting," One of the suited men said as he motioned the girl to go further down the sidewalk.
"Hmph, I know. I'm just telling this commoner here to be more careful, that's all,"
"T-Thank... you," I finally told her as I bowed my head to them.
"You will thank me by being more careful from now on, goodbye." She said as she gave a polite curtsy.
But as I saw them begin to walk away, I felt my heart tighten; this was a new feeling that I hadn't ever felt before.
Someone had bothered to save my life, someone cared.
I had fallen in love.
"M-My name is Lee! Lee Lozer!" I shouted out into the rain, loud enough for her to hear from the distance that she had already made.
The last thing I remember from this memory, is her briefly turning around and lifting her umbrella to reveal her smiling face to me.
Hair golden like the sun, and eyes blue as the sky.
She mouthed something, but as the rain picked up; it drowned out what was probably her responding with her name.
We would never meet again.
---
"H-Huh?" Eric took a step back, taken aback by my sudden confession to him his eyes widened in confused shock.
"You're a fucking weirdo, first you ruin the fun, and now you're asking me out?" He said as he took back his bearings.
"Man, I don't have time for this. I'm gonna go," Eric groaned as he stuck his hands into his pockets and began to walk away.
I stood silently, languishing in the double embarrassment of giving up my first confession to my bully and a boy. I felt my manhood slip into a murky darkness.
I saw Ria only give a silent stare to Eric as she watched him walk off to school, but she stood where she was; was she waiting for me?
"Uhm, h-hello?" My attention was refocused back to who I was here for in the first place, Lee. He was standing at an awkward distance away from me as he got my attention; did I always distance myself from girls like this?
"Yes? Are you okay, did he hurt you?" I asked him as I took a step closer to check on him, but he took a step back in turn.
"Y-Yeah! I'm okay, thank you f-for... helping me." He managed to eke out the 'helping me' in a near whisper as he bowed his head to me.
"No problem, anyone would've--" I stopped myself short before I would've said such a blatant lie.
Even if that entire crowd hadn't been hypnotized by Eric's System, no one would've helped him either way.
I know that truth all too well.
"You're welcome, Lee," I told him.
Lee managed to give a small smile in return, but he suddenly scrunched his brow; it was a telltale sign that he had just realized something odd.
"Wait, h-how do you know my name? No one, not even Eric, had said it," He asked.
Shit! Damn our high attention to detail!
"Uhh, about that--"
"Hello you two, I'm glad that you're both okay," Ria said as she appeared from behind us, startling us both; how did she sneak up on the both of us, wasn't she was like twenty feet away!?
"H-Hi, good to see you again," I greeted her, trying my best to pretend Lee's question didn't happen.
Lee fell quiet as he saw Ria, his face turning a flush red as he took a step back; I think I'm in the clear, for now.
"I was just about to step in you see, with Eric and his bullying," Ria began to explain.
"I'm glad that you have the same drive to help others, much like I do, Lia," She said with a smile.
"Oh it's nothing, haha, this is all just a happy accident--"
"Was the confession a happy accident as well?" Ria said with a coy look in her eye.
"N-No! Wait, I mean Yes! W-Wait--"
"Haha, I'm sorry, I'm just teasing you," Ria said with a giggle.
"Here, let me escort you two to your class, the hall monitors will understand,"
But as we turned back around to Lee, he had already gone ahead far off into the distance leading into school.
"Hmm, he likely wants to be left alone right now." Ria deduced as she suddenly hooked her arm into mine.
"Come on, let's go, Lia, tell me more about why you like Eric Graves as we walk to class~"
"Oh, hahaha, suuureee..." I feigned a smile as I dreaded the fake love story that I needed to come up with now.
I felt a wave of relief wash over me though, knowing now that I've managed to prevent Lee from becoming a laughingstock and keeping Eric from using his System on Ria. But that sense of relief soon ended as I realized something--
W-W-Wait, she's really close to me right n-now.
"Hmm, what's the matter?" Ria asked as I felt her hot breath tickle my cheek.
"N-Nothing!" I said as I felt my heart break the sound barrier.
It's one thing to face Eric, but it's another thing being this close to my crush!
"Enjoy it while it lasts, ex-pig, as I've got some bad news for you soon," The System spoke up.
"W-What're you talking about?" I whispered to the side, keeping it out of earshot of Ria.
"Don't make it too obvious, but little Miss Goodgarden here isn't who you think she is; look for yourself,"
"What? Ah--"
Due to all of the chaos, I had failed to notice something about Ria as I finally looked up at the top of her head with a passing glance.
She didn't have a profile.
"Something wrong?" Ria asked innocently.
"Hahaha, nope! Just, just so happy to be with you right now, hahah!" I managed to nervously spit out; careful to not look back up at her head as she looked at me.
"Mm, is that so? Well, I should say I'm happy to be with you too!" Ria said with a big smile.
"Let this be the start of a long, and fun friendship, Lia." Ria said as a String of Desire appeared from her chest, and it shot right into mine.
But it wasn't just hers, no, as I focused my eyes, I felt dread creep down my back as I now noticed the two others connected to me like slacked lines running through the grass.
Both of them were coming from inside the school.
And I had a good idea of who they were from.