Just as he crossed the doorway of the front entrance on their way to school, Kuya slapped his forehead. He made a 180° as he called out to his little sister.
"Oh shoot, my phone! It's still on my bed! Wait here, I'll be right back."
Ignoring her sigh of frustration, the protagonist rushed back upstairs to his room and quickly snatched his phone laying on his bedsheets. Just as he layed his hands on the device, a vibration indicating a notification interrupted him mid-turn. Habitually, he looked at the screen to see what'd popped up. A series of crystal blue pop-ups were lined up in a list, with the most recent one catching his attention first.
[The System would like to remind you: All good stories require bad luck.]
'The System? That's usually what controls the powers in those novels... do I have one? I mean, there's no harm in trying real quick, right?'
Kuya excitedly positioned himself into a what he thought was a fitting stance in the middle of his bedroom. He took a deep breath, then let it out as he steely focused ahead and slowly raised his hand. He trepidly muttered the words he's read so many times.
"System, menu."
The only response in the room was his phone vibrating yet again. The protagonist stared blankly ahead at the nothing that had appeared in his room. Clearing his throat, he tried again with some variation.
"System, could you open the menu... please?"
Yet nothing else but the same as before. The only thing that'd changed was the sad feeling that had developed in Kuya and the sight of his sister leaving the driveway out the window. Not wanting to be left behind, the older brother came to his senses, shoved his phone into his pocket, and scrambled to catch up. In the process of dashing back and forth, ensuring the house was secure and safe for being empty throughout the day, the protagonist didn't notice his phone buzzing yet again.
[Full Screen Immersive Menu has automatically begun downloading... (1% completed)]
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Once the two family members reunited, they continued their journey to school. The two walked, waited, and rode the school bus in silence - as they've always done for the past couple months. With his sister's headphones glued to her ears and blaring with music, Kuya resorted to his own way of passing the time: reading novels. Unfortunately, a progress bar indicating that something was downloading blocked any attempt of using his phone normally. Out of ideas, the protagonist resorted to watching the perfectly ordinary environment whizz by in the window.
As the school began appearing in view, Kuya's sister did something she's never done for the first time: initiate a conversation. Tapping his shoulder, the young girl brought up some information to talk about.
"Hey, did you hear? A couple new transfer students just arrived to school today."
"Oh really? That's kinda weird, it's the middle of the school year. Wait a minute, why're you telling me this?"
"Well for one, they're in your grade, so you might meet them. And second of all, one of them's kinda cute... I mean, one of my friends said that, so I need you to verify for me. Tell me if he is later after school."
The doors hissed as they slowly separating swinging, signaling to students that it's time to exit. As they filed out towards school grounds, the protagonist bid goodbye to his sibling before they went their separate ways for the day.
"Bye Daisy, have fun and don't die or something."
Daisy, with her headphones already re-equipped with music blaring at full blast, said nothing in return. Kuya shook his head with mild sadness that he was used to while making his way to his class. Checking his phone out of boredom during his trek, a recent notification that had appeared only a couple minutes ago struck him as odd.
[Character
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Kuya arrived to the relatively empty class early, with only the teacher there to greet him. The balding man soullessly glancing at the student that had just entered, before turning back to his computer and taking a sip of his coffee. Ignoring the exchange, the protagonist sat into his seat and prepared to take a closer look at his phone.
'Finally, some peace and quiet. Now I can figure out what's been going on this morning by reading all the noti-'
"KUYAAAA, good morning!"
"Wuh?"
Snapping towards the source of the sound, Kuya's attention was drawn to the large, tubby student that had virtually busted through the classroom door to wave at him. Feeling threatened, the protagonist waved back at the large fellow quickly approaching him. The wide kid wrapped his arms around the main character, causing him to gasp for air, which was ignored by his heartfelt questions.
"How was your weekend?! Did you do anything fun? How's Daisy doing?"
"...gurck... air...."
"Hey, you two better not make a fuss like last week again. Fatty Li, let go of him already."
Begrudgingly forced to comply with the teacher, Kuya was freed. After some deep breathes, the protagonist began asking the questions instead.
"I'm sorry, but who are you?"
"Oh, you forgot my name didn't you? That's fine, everyone has too. You can just use the nickname everybody calls me: "Fatty". It's alright, I don't mind."
Kuya's face contorted into confusion after hearing Fatty's explanation, and quickly tried to clarify.
"Huh?? No, no. I meant our relationship. Like, do I know you?"
With both parties now wearing an expression of bewilderment, it was Fatty's turn to clarify.
"Yeah, we're childhood friends, remember? We've been neighbors since we were little and've been through thick-n-thin together, forever!", he said with his signature smile and a thumbs up packaged alongside.
Even after a momentary pause, Kuya was still trying to digest the information. Deciding to deal with it later, the protagonist tried brushing it aside.
"Uh, well, if you're really my friend, then you'd understand it if I ask for some space for a bit, right? I'm not... feeling myself right now. How about you talk to me after school, alright? You can sit down in that chair over there for now, does that sound good?"
Fatty turned to the chair in the back of the room that his friend was pointing at, then turned back to him. He slowly nodded with an over-the-top sad look and slowly trudged to the seat. The teacher called out to the two of them with a backhanded compliment.
"You two sitting apart? Now that's the only thing from you that I commend, your grades aren't doing good but I digress. Now go, before I make that your permanent seating arrangements."
After the whole debacle settled down, Kuya was finally able to sit down and process everything that had gone on. After reading the backlog of notifications that had been shooting through his phone, he began piecing the puzzle together throughout the class period.
'A stereotypically fat friend that I've supposedly been friends with since childhood, a System, innate skills, quests... maybe I really am in something like a webnovel? Then what about this challenge...? "Defeat the Basic Cultivation Bully"? How'll I ever complete this quest?! I don't even know who the bully is!'
The sound of ringing school bells reverberated through the concrete halls of the building. A steady trickle of student had been filling the classroom, interrupted by a boisterous bunch of students burst through the door. Leading the group was a kid with orange blazed hair leading the group, whom immediately took to the back of the classroom - giving a condescending side-eye to anyone he passed. He and his group squandered in the back by sitting down on the desks and making a ruckus, much to the dismay of the teacher. Through this interaction alone, Kuya put two and two together in his mind.
'Oh, now I know.'