System's Choice: Gathering A Harem To Postpone The Apocalypse

Jake found himself behind the desk where he spent most of his last three years. The classroom was also the same, but he had a hunch that something was off.It was a vague feeling, supported by the fact, that the sky beyond the windows was missing.Only his reflection stared back from the void with a severe case of bed hair and wearing his school uniform."This is the weirdest one so far." Despite his raspy voice, he wasn't surprised.He had similar visions before, like experiencing the weather a day early.Or seeing where his bullies waited in ambush. The best was when he got his hands on an upcoming test and memorized all the questions.These began a month ago, and he learned to trust them. This one was only a little different, thanks to the void. And yet, the classroom's interior was still well-lit, even without the neon lights.An orange cat lounged on a desk in the middle row, its fluffy ears twitching. It must have heard something Jake didn't, but his most immediate concern was if he should pet it.It was out of place, but all the more reason to go for it. He was on his feet already, but before reaching it, an enormous blast rocked the entire school."Huh?" This was finally enough to catch him off guard, but only to fan his curiosity further. The furball wasn't amused, lifting its orange head to glance at Jake, waiting for his next move.Another detonation shook the building, shattering a nearby window."Is a war about to break out?" Forgetting about the cat, he aimed for the sliding door at the front instead. The furball yawned, getting up for a long feline stretch.It hopped across desks to follow him then, landing on the floor, rubbed against Jake's leg."Hot!" He jumped, yelling at the tiny thing in disbelief, earning an offended meow.As fluffy as it looked, the cat was like a blazing inferno.It strolled past him and through the door's small gap.Jake yanked on the handle, but a fireball zooming past kept him inside the classroom.It slammed into a wall mere yards away, with enough force to rattle the concrete, and still didn't explode. The fire kept burning as if it were alive.The cat ran for the flames, and despite the earlier burn, Jake was about to jump in and stop it. Instead, he got slammed against the doorframe by a rush of cold."You brought an outsider here?" He heard a familiar voice from the far end of the corridor, sharp like ice. It triggered memories he couldn't place. "As expected from a vile terrorist like you.""Bullshit. It wasn't me," came a high-pitched denial, distorted by the fire's crackling. "And ya know as I do, that normies can't enter anyway." Jake couldn't believe what he saw."True." A tanned, half-Asian girl with straight dark hair nodded, pointing her staff at the flames. The temperature plummeted. "But you still created this space, Fire Witch.""If I didn't know ya better, I'd think ya want to butter me up, President." From the fire, a woman emerged, all four feet and nine inches tall. "I would've kicked ya ass ages ago if I knew how to make these things."Her copper mane floated like flames, and the furball purred, rubbing against her leg."Big words from someone pinned to a wall." The oriental beauty noted and shot sharp icicles from her steel-looking staff. A heat wave melted them all on impact, droplets sizzling on the floor.Both girls wore the school's uniform, but it took Jake a moment to recognize them.The redhead, who found the time to pet that cat even during this duel was his classmate.She looked adorable—most of the time—but they never talked before. He didn't remember ever hearing her speak either. Or her name for that matter. It was her desk where he found the cat too.They were a good match, considering she was on fire and the furball felt hot like an inferno."I held back, ya know, because of the normie." The ginger rolled her eyes, and Jake thought he misheard. Nobody ever called him a 'normie'. "Ya da Shieldmage, ya should protect him."Jake was a nerd through and through, and this scene was rather familiar from his favorite shows.Experiencing it live, even if in a prophetic dream was different though.He almost forgot to look the other way. It would have been a shame.The oriental beauty shooting icicles was the Ice Queen of the student council in person. Whatever her name was, she looked like an anime heroine. Well, the redhead didn't look like a villain either."Stay back,—ugh—Johnny?" She warned him, but Jake was too distracted to correct her."So you know him." The Shieldmage cast another spell, freezing the entire corridor."Of course, he's in my class." The ginger's response was immediate, flames engulfing everything.The resulting steam explosion shattered every window and rattled the school again. These girls weren't joking, but Jake got away, thanks to the early warning and his dream's plot armor.The air pressure still burst his eardrums, the only thing he heard was the ringing.The floor imploded, and the President was on the back foot now, throwing more ice at her opponent.They built this school out of reinforced concrete but the blocks fell like a house of cards.Jake scooted over the other end of the classroom but couldn't find safety there for long."This is by far the wildest one yet." He mumbled, his voice lost in the cacophony.For a split second, he even considered what would happen if he died in this dream, but he was more excited than scared.Once the outer wall came down there was nowhere left to go. The void continued in every direction into infinity. Still, he could only think about the two going full Magical Girls on each other.He wished he had superpowers like these crazy ones but couldn't hope to keep up with them now.He was only a regular guy—apart from the occasional peeks into the future.The girls were still at it, red and blue flashes broadcasting their intense duel. The tiny redhead tried her best to get close to the ice-mage, while she fell back, showering her in magic attacks.The cat wasn't amused. It stretched out on the concrete rubble like this was a boring everyday program and kept yawning. It wasn't for Jake, he watched on with sparkling eyes.As destructive and chaotic as the scene around him was, he felt like a kid in the candy store.But then his blood froze, a howl catching him off guard again.While the girls were strong enough to level the school, they were nothing next to that thing.Whatever it was, it came out of the blue—or rather, from the darkness of the void.Only a two-second flash separated the anime-style fight scene from the literal apocalypse.The girls, the building, the cat, and even the void disappeared as he woke up swimming in sweat.