It took a good while before the poison ivy made its way through my system, a little over two weeks.

It hurt a lot to speak for a while, but it didn't seem like I was going to sustain any permanent damage as far as my non-professional eye could tell.

That one girl still refused to tell me her name, even after I told her mine all the way back at our first lunch date... or I guess not a date? I certainly wasn't what I expected a date to be like...

Let's go with 'lunch meeting' instead.

I still don't understand why she's being so standoffish towards me... am I so disgusting looking that I'm just not worth considering?

Maybe it's more of a personal issue that I don't understand... I wouldn't be able to ask if that was the case.

I suppose I'll just have to let things happen naturally for now.

I refuse to be the clueless protagonist!

"Why are doing that?" The girl asked.

I apparently had struck a pose to pump myself up without noticing.

"I'm feeling particularly inspired to do something." I replied.

She looked at me suspiciously. "And what's that?"

"Oh, I... uh... it's a secret!"

She looked at me with frustration. "What kind of a secret oh champion?" She asked with poorly disguised venom.

"Firstly, a man must have some secrets," I counter flamboyantly, switching to a more generically playful tone for the next part of the sentence. "My name is Andrew. An-dr-ew."

She looked at me incredulously. "I don't care what secrets you think you're allowed to have, but out with it!" She winced as she realized she yelled at me, but didn't say anything further.

I steepled my hands. "Fine, but only if you promise to tell me a secret of yours~"

She gulped. "What secret is that?"

"Your name."

She gawked at me. "My... name?"

"Yep."

She took a surprised deep breath, seeming to ponder something for a moment. "Fine, deal."

I nodded. "Alright, I promised myself that I wouldn't be a clueless protagonist."

"What does that mean?"

I crossed my arms. "Nuh-uh, you answer first, then I'll explain."

"No. You haven't fulfilled your end of the bargain."

"I only said I would tell you what the secret was, not that I'd explain what it meant."

She looked furious. "Fine! My name is Sydui, happy?!" She winced again.

I gave a calculated response, knowing exactly what would happen next, but she clearly needed a win.

"So, what does your name mean?"

She smiled, and said exactly what I figured she would. "Oh no, that wasn't part of the bargain!"

I feigned frustration in the situation, placing my hand on my face. "Oh dear, you're so right!" I took my hand away and looked back at Sydui. "Well, you see a clueless protagonist is someone, usually male, who doesn't know that someone is interested in them."

She still didn't seem to understand, but seemed like she didn't really care anymore. "I see."

She turned to walk away.

"So Sydui, how about we play a little game?"

She stopped and looked at me in horror.

Stolen novel; please report.

I looked at her confusedly as I continued. "This is what I had in mind: I tell you a secret, and then you tell me a secret in return, you can choose to stop playing after each round, or not to play at all if you aren't comfortable."

She gulped. "What constitutes as a secret? And what about secrets I don't want to tell?"

"A secret is anything I don't know that you do, as to the latter question, that's the beauty of it, you just don't pick the secrets you don't want to share."

She tentatively nodded. "Okay, deal."

----------------------------------------

Sydui

My heart was pounding in my chest.

I wasn't sure what [Skills] the champion had... so I had to be careful, but this was a golden opportunity to learn more about him without it seeming like prying if the need arose to stop him for any reason.

"As per the rules, I'll start... though before I do, please have a seat and relax, you look stressed."

How could I not be stressed?!

I nodded and sat in a nearby chair.

"Let me think..." He began. "Oh, that's a good one... I like anime."

What? What does that mean?

I should say that out loud.

"What does that mean?"

"Oh right, you probably haven't heard of anime... okay so, what do you know about animation in general?"

"The Fifskae have a few different types of moving picture, such as animation." Oh crap! I just told him the name of our race!

Luckily, he didn't seem to notice. "Oh good, that makes things easier, basically it's animation form a particular country called 'Japan', it has a number of techniques and idiosyncrasies that define it."

I nodded, that made sense. "Like what?"

"Mostly art style, I'm not really any good at art or else I'd show you an example. Your turn."

I swallowed, my throat proving to be too dry for that to do anything meaningful.

What secret do I tell him? Something inane I suppose?

It's what he did...

"I like pastries a lot..." I couldn't look him in the eyes as I told him that.

Dear heavens it's been too long since I've had a pastry...

He didn't say anything for a while, so I looked back at him.

His face was contorted in a strange way... I couldn't quite place the expression's meaning.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

He wiped the expression off of his face. "Sorry, I'll take my turn then." He said, coughing into his hand. "I was born in a family of five, which was my two brothers, my parents, and I."

"Only five?"

He nodded. "Yeah, is that weird where you're from?"

"Well, usually families come in at least eights where I'm from."

"Oh interesting... would you like to tell me about your family?"

Why did he phrase it like that?

It has to be some sort of trick somehow. "No I'd rather not."

He looked disappointed. "Then I won't press it then... okay, next secret..."

I started to think and he looked at me surprised. "Oh, did you want to do another one?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you told me a fact, so I thought that was your secret for this round."

Oh, he's right!

I let my guard down, I need to be more careful. "Oh excuse me then, go on."

"Hmm..." He looked at me with a strange-looking smile. "I think your name sounds cute."

My heart had only just barely come down from the frenzy it was in at the beginning, but right then it suddenly started beating faster again.

What did he do to me?! I had to get out of there fast!

As soon as I stood, he called out to me.

"Hey, you still need to complete your part of the round!"

I stopped, horrified that he'd do something to me with his [Skill] if I left before completing the game.

I stammered as I struggled to think of something to say.

I could only think of one thing, so I said it.

"I'm terrified of you... there, the game's over, I'm leaving."

As I left, all I heard was a single word from him.

"Oh..."

After that, I saw a lot less of him, and when I did see him, he seemed to go the other direction regardless of which direction he was going in before that.

I should have felt better not having that massive threat near me at all times...

...So why did it make me feel so empty...?

----------------------------------------

Andrew

Well that explained a lot didn't it.

She didn't enjoy my company, she hated my very existence.

I still didn't understand why, but I couldn't bring myself to ask anyone.

I decided that I should probably go for a walk out of town to clear my head.

As I walked, I found two creatures fighting each other.

[Tildiar The Pious]

Danger Level: Probable Death

The first was a four-armed, four legged lizard man, not unlike a komodo dragon in aesthetic.

[Lijf The Gambler]

Danger Level: Probable Death

The second looked like a giant anthropomorphic grasshopper, except with bat-like wings and a spiked tail.

Both of them seemed to be rather tired already, a single strike from victory.

Lijf charged forward, tossing a card at Tildiar.

Wait! A card?! Where'd he get that from?!

Come to think of it, Tildiar had a fancy-looking sword too!

I was just so used to anime that I forgot the context of the situation!

Tildiar used that sword of his to cut the card in half.

The card exploded inches from Tildiar's face.

Lijf used this distraction to attack, thrusting a card towards Tildiar's chest.

Though, unfortunately for Lijf, his gamble didn't pan out.

Tildiar grabbed Lijf's hand, and plunged his sword into Lijf chest while he couldn't get away.

Lijf made one last gargle in defiance of his fate, but it was too late as he turned into dust.

Noticeably, so did his cards.

I pulled out my crossbow and aimed a shot.

I fired.

Tildiar suddenly noticed my bolt as it flew through the air, and attempted to block it.

The bolt missed its mark slightly, but couldn't be completely blocked, instead taking off Tildiar's left arms.

He pointed his sword at me and made a sound that sounded a lot like hissing.

That was until it suddenly made sense.

"Maledict Of Misfortune!"

Maledict of what?!

I finished pumping and let loose another shot, this time sinking directly into Tildiar's neck, killing him instantly.

I watched in disappointment as his sword disintegrated along with him.

I tried to shake of a new feeling of constantly being watched as hurriedly I made my way back to the village.