"So you just went up to her and asked her out?" I asked again in disbelief.

Mark just covered his face with his hands, "Yes, I did and I know. Maaan – what the fuck was I thinking?"

I would've laughed then and there but for this running partner of mine I held back. He had helped me a lot this past month so it was only right that I helped this new buddy of mine. Except the problem; I too sucked at this getting girls game.

Patting his back I spoke, "Look man, It's not that bad I am surprised she only told you to back off instead of saying something like gross, fuck off."

Mark raised his head to look at me, "What?"

"Uh, you know how it is with women." I answered.

I don't know how or why that conversation ended with Mark feeling sorry for me. He kept on telling me that's it was going to be alright, women are assholes and not to kill myself over something trival.

What the hell happened there damnit!

I said my goodbyes to Mark, getting a move on from the park. On the road back home all I could think about were the ways I should beat Randy black and blue. Being so lost in my daydreams I didn't bother to check my ringing phone.

I got home busy with my thoughts not noticing my mother sitting on the couch. Getting ignored wasn't my mother's favourite thing so like any decent parent she yelled at me, "Tristan!"

The sudden shout made me jump since I was deep into daydreams. I glared at her, "What the hell, Ma!"

She pointed at the chair in front of her, "Sit."

Frowning, I took the seat. Folding my arms I glared at her. I wasn't going to be the one opening the conversation.

Taking the hint, she continued with her lecture, "A month of absence in college. You joined a boxing class for some reason and yesterday you sent me a text saying that your phone got stolen."

Then she folded her arms to mimic me, "Look at me, Ma. I'm turning into a failure of an adult, no job, not concerned about education. I don't even care, Ma."

That was enough to set me off, "Really is that what you're worried about!?"

"What else should I be worried about," My mother questioned back with a raised brow.

"You know wh–" Mid sentence I was presented with the floating blue words.

In my anger I just tapped "yes" without reading what the message was about.

The result?

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

What was supposed to be the start of an intense argument between my mom and I — turned into a long pause. Not the usual kind, mind you, the kind where my mother just sat there her mouth half open, froze mid sentence. For some reason I turned towards the clock which had stopped moving. Then I watched the walls of my home fade in colour. The doors disappearing, the windows shrinking in itself turning into white walls. My mom who sat a few distance from me with her mouth hung open simply disintegrated into white sand.

All of a sudden I was the only one left in a mind numbingly white room. Although I wasn't alone, people appeared out of thin air every minute or so. Everyone looked around, probably confused about how they got here and our questions were answered soon enough by the arrival of the generous floating blue message or rather, a woman?

The blue words floated above the woman's head. Her black hair flowed down her shoulders like silk. Golden eyes set her apart from any girl I had ever seen. Draped in a red coat, her tight fitting black shirt and gray skirt did all the bit of justice to her hourglass figure. She held a book in her hand, the other was on her chin while she studied everyone in the room. Catching me staring she only reacted by shooting me a smile and a light wave. I waved back absent minded like an idiot.

Holy shit, she was smoking hot.

Taking a headcount her lips moved everytime she pointed at people present. She spoke right when the people stopped materializing out of nothing, "Okay 10 players have arrived. Now, you may have read the name floating above my head and yes, the GM stands for game master. Nice to meet you all."

One of the people present, a female dressed in a kimono raised her hand asking, "Anō –"

Laura cut her off, "I wasn't finished, nihongo wa wakarimasen, urusai. I only know hindi and english anyway."

The girl in kimono just shrank back, muttering something under her breath which sounded more like bitch than any japanese word I knew. Also I had to say it didn't sound like Laura didn't know japanese, what was she anyway. This whole system thing is getting crazier every day, first quests, now game masters.

Laura continued with her speech, "So you guys have signed up for the battle royale. Good choice if you're an experienced killer, bad one if you're a newbie which most of you look like." She eyed the kimono girl, chuckling she continued, "This will be fun to watch. You guys will be teleported into one of the 11 areas of a randomly generated landscape. I will save everybody's time and let the system explain the basics."

She finished her sentence with a finger snap.

The Battle Royale will last for about a week in game. Players will be teleported to random areas of a randomly generated landscape. Each area will hold a spawn point where the player can get a common grade weapon from the list available.

Players giving up the match by suicide or not taking the initiative to hunt other players will have their soul terminated. GM Laura will be on the surveillance and has the power to terminate any player at her sole discretion.

Killing a player will get you a token which can be exchanged for rewards in the hall of glory. The player with the most tokens by the end of the 7th round will win.

Rewards by ranking:

1st: 1000 points, B-R Ticket x 5, D Ticket x 3.

2nd: 500 points, B-R Ticket x 3, D Ticket x 1.

3rd: 100 points, B-R Ticket x 1.

4th: 50 points.

5th: 25 points.

"Yay, How exciting, you naughty little killers read the message. It's time to get out there and get killing. Also make sure you're done by the end of 7th round or I will have to terminate all of you, m'kay." Laura spoke, it felt like she was talking to a bunch of children as if we would return her enthusiasm with cheers of our own.

"I will start the countdown now." Without waiting she cheered, tapping something on the translucent blue interface in front of her.

Kill? How do you expect me to kill anyone? Oh, no, no, no, all this because I didn't bother to read a system message to continue arguing with my mother!?

My body followed my chaotic thoughts. My breaths got faster, I felt cold, every breath became harder to take. I backed away from everyone present in the room. I had backtracked so much that I hit one of the walls. The noise of which brought everyone's attention to me.

The kimono girl watched with a brow raised. A man whose body screamed gym bro sneered, one of the people, a younger kid looked concerned; how the hell did a kid get stuck in this game.

My back against the wall I closed my eyes. Yet the stares, I could still feel their stares digging into me. This stupid game had turned into a horror movie within a blink and I was panicking. I didn't want to kill these people! I didn't want to kill anyone! What battle royale?

Out of ideas, I punched myself in the gut to stop thinking. Which worked out but now I was on my knees hugging my aching gut.

Atleast, the pain kept me from thinking about the situation at hand as I chanted ow, ow, ow. A few minutes more and I will be okay I thought to myself.

Then the sound of someone snickering brought me back to reality. I raised my head from the white floor to watch the people present and I spotted someone familiar.

What the hell are you doing here?

Our eyes met and he started laughing loud. It looked like he was having the time of his life.

How the fuck did he get here?

My sight got assaulted with the system message I had been ignoring so far.

His laughter, the only thing left in the white room stopped when the countdown began. Yet the guy still watched me with a grin on his face. He watched me as I struggled to get up. Then he began walking towards me. Midwalk he spoke not letting out any sound.

Last 3 seconds left on the blue countdown in front of me. I repeated the way he moved his lips and it formed the words: I. am. gonna. kill. you.