Ace would consider himself as a swell guy. At 17, he's now one of the best young tennis players in the country, and in competitions, he managed to win at least a second place, locally and overseas. He was very confident, got decent grades to place him on the top ten in class, and he had a rock solid bod like Adonis that he stared at admiringly every morning while flexing his impeccable pecs. He was even disgustingly rich; his father owned a well-known real estate company and his mother was literally a supermodel, so they lived in a large mansion in the expensive part of the city. Ace should be popular and even swimming in girls.

"You have a large chest and I admire them. Come home with me and you'll have the privilege to be slapped with thousand dollar bills by me," Ace said, his voice low and seductive like a true man's. He leaned against his shiny new car while twirling around car keys carelessly.

In unison, the two girls backed away and ran away while whispering furiously.

It was on a stormy day that Ace was sitting in his room as usual, grooming his pet peacock, Tiffany, rather fondly while thinking that if roasted chicken tasted good, what would roasted peacock taste like?

"I bet you'd be more bitter than chicken, what with your lean body and weird colors, but I shouldn't insult a lady," Ace said with a gentle smile as he ruffled the peacock's feathers affectionately.

"That is a peacock. Tiffany is a guy," a butler said casually as he entered the room.

"Just because she has blue feathers doesn't mean that she's a dude! Stop having such outdated gender norms cloud your judgement!" Ace said in disgust, pulling Tiffany into his arms protectively.

Just then, Ace could hear a beeping sound, followed by whirring noise, and sat up in surprise and looked around. The butler was still standing there as normal, and his peacock was staring back at him curiously.

The next moment, a screen appeared at the corner of his eye, flashing a banner of words.

> “A role has been selected for you. Please wait as we download additional details."

When he saw that, Ace could feel his heartbeat speed up in excitement. His eyes widened as he burst into maniacal laughter.

'Roles' were given to people of this universe by the Gods, that greatly resemble roles in movies, dramas and video games in our world. By fulfilling criteria of these roles well in 'games', people can get points which can be exchanged for almost anything, material wealth, intelligence or even luck, and there was a rumor that completing as many 'games' as possible can help someone gain ultimate power.

For example, Ace's father apparently got the role as 'Main character' in a real estate business game, which goal was to get the company to take over as many properties as possible and earn the most money, and honestly Ace would say that his father mostly succeeded.

As he saw the loading screen go from 10% to 38%, he thought about what kind of role and game would he star in. He would definitely want something related to tennis, like being the protagonist who rises up in the sports scene from a mere student? Ace would not settle with something other than being the best, after all. He didn't want to play as a character who would lose early on, and even if he ended up being one of the main character's sports rivals, he would do whatever he could to beat them.

Or that was what he thought before the next screen emerged.

> “Congratulations! You are now the Love Rival of the school dating simulator 'Spring Love'!"

The announcer's voice sounded in Ace's head, and he flopped forwards to the ground, causing Tiffany to scatter away in fright.

"Love Rivaaaaaal? What. Why. HOW?" He screamed into the ground. He wasn't even a dang protagonist! Why did the system not choose him to star in something related to tennis, it was his greatest strength for heaven's sake!

"You're placed as a love rival, ah I can see why," his butler said after hearing Ace out (otherwise known as after deciphering Ace's near incoherent meltdown).

"Because I'm so highly attractive that I can seduce the MC's woman just with my appearance?"

"I'm talking about how you're jealous of others in romantic relationships and that you're very competitive," the butler said bluntly.

"Gah!" Ace let out a shout, throwing his body back onto his bed. He lay down on his back for a while in silence, staring at the ceiling.

"I made up my mind. I ain't going to butt into someone's relationship like that, rival or not," Ace said as he let his eyes wander unconsciously to a photograph by his bedside. It was a photo of that one time they went overseas to an amusement park, and the three of them, father, mom and Ace in the middle, were smiling and happy. A sharp crack on the glass on the photo had split it into two halves, with its ugly raggedly edges crawling all its way across the top to bottom of Ace's person. It ruined an otherwise good and peaceful photo.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

When he opened the game menu, it was a translucent sky blue with leaf designs near the corners. There, he could see the 'title screen' of the game, and it was supposed to show all the roles together, yet all the other people are shadowy figures other than the image of himself snickering at the corner. Not his best angle, that's for sure, and Ace kept it in mind to complain to the Gods after he died.

The synopsis of the game was simple, "Date the girl of your dreams during the first term of the new year! As the newly transferred student from the big city, you get to learn more about the cute girls in this school, and even fall in love?"

A transfer student, and he would quickly get to learn much about the female students around me, got it.

Another thing Ace decided to do would to open the 'Points shop' that was also located in the game's menu. By presumably trying to get in the way of the main character and the girl, he would earn points. It sounded way to easy, and Ace was not surprised to see that most of the items there were very very expensive. 1,000 points just to buy a cup of instant noodles? 500, 000 points to get a book on how to be extremely charismatic? 5 million points to find a true love? 1 quadrillion points to obtain immortality?!

With those types of descriptions such as finding true love, charisma, and straight up immortality, it was hard for Ace to not feel like he was being conned. But then again, if Ace was going to go against his role, didn't it make the whole points system useless to him?

There was a new transfer student being transferred into his class that day, and his name was Red. Weird name, but Ace took an interest immediately because he could be the protagonist of the game. Red introduced his name nervously, but all eyes fell on him because he had lean build and an attractive, youthful face. When the teacher asked if any student would want to help him around the school, Ace decided to stand up and volunteer himself, and the rest of the class broke into whispers.

Yeah, I know every girl in this school, not to sound like a creep.

Soon enough, they met several girls easily, much to Ace's amazement, three of them seemed to be attracted to Red immediately. That's the power of a protagonist, Ace thought, slightly jealous. There was a classmate with a tsundere personality (who happened to be Ace's neighbor), Red's cheerful childhood friend and even Ace's athletic senior in the tennis club. As cliche as this storyline was, Ace felt rather happy showing Red around the school, trying to guess which girl he would take an interest in, and even throwing in a couple tips such as where some girls like to frequent. Personally, Ace would go for a harem route as a main character, and he actually said that thought aloud while laughing shamelessly, causing Red to shake his head and sigh.

"It's nice to have you as my best friend, even if you're just here for your role and all," Red said suddenly as they were walking back, he stopped to smile at Ace with the sun setting in the background, "I was so against moving, but right now, maybe moving isn't so bad after all."

"Huh? Of course you're happy, three hot girls will be chasing you for your love," Ace said, blinking owlishly. He then cleared his throat and said, "But I will be your kind and absolutely reliable support! If you need help, ask me anything!" Internally, Ace was beating himself up for saying that. What was with that cheesy line? Why did I allow myself to be used by this stranger I just met? Despite this, he felt a foreign feeling of happiness swell up in his chest.

Ace took his time trying to get Red and the other girls to talk more, and when he checked the title screen, all the people involved could be seen, Ace, Red and all the love interests striking poses. From this cover, it is pretty easy to mistake Ace as possibly the best friend character, despite looking a bit sinister, it could be mistaken as being mischievous and playful.

From the next week onwards, Ace's daily routine changed completely. After going to class and tennis, he would follow the main character down the same corridor out of curiosity, and eavesdrop conversations between him and the other female student love interests. Unlike his usual aloof personality, he would meet up with Red often, whether it was passing by or going to the cafeteria after school. He pinned Red as a straightforward guy with his heart on his sleeve, an idiot and a total pushover...And he ended up to be just that. Yet it felt nice having someone asking about his day, eating at the table together without attaching a favor at the end of every conversation. At first, Ace was trying to figure out why Red was actively approaching him and inviting him out. Did he figure out that Ace was his love rival? Nah the game menu did not give away his identity. Did Red figure out that he was in the top ten richest households in the country? When he mentioned his family name to Red, he just looked very confused, before Ace decided to drop the subject. Even if Ace decided to go for a week without mentioning the girls, Red would still happily skip to him like a puppy following its owner.

The only reason Ace could come up with was that Red was a total idiot who believed in friendship. He lent his money to classmates freely, not even setting a deadline to pay back. He stayed back to keep the gym equipment when almost everyone ran off. When the girls in class made fun of him because he was a foreigner, he just laughed nervously with them. Dude, grow a backbone. Red was literally a pretty boy who lacked the confidence to be the sassy, attractive man who gets all the ladies. Over time, Ace craved the mindless interactions they had, and viewed Red as a little brother figure. But at that rate, all Red's love interests might friendzone him or treat him like a kid, and just thinking about that made his blood boil. It was not that he actually liked Red as a close friend, it was just that if a decent guy like Red couldn't even find romance, it would be unfair because he had a honest and kindhearted personality. So many girls go for the bad boys, it would topple the laws of this world if the good guys can't date girls. That's the reason.

That really rationalizes why he was stalking the love interests after school as well. Ace had to see the quality of them as wives, if they meet Red's standard, you know? Red can't marry a thot. He would be bullied in a toxic relationship. Ace knew the type too well- gold diggers, heart breakers, home wreckers, sadistic piles of sh!t, Red being in one would be like watching a hamster walking into a lion's den. No way was he letting that happen to his... close acquaintance.

The childhood love interest was Kiwi, a chirpy girl who blushes easily and worked in her parents' sweet shop, Red's childhood friend Melissa who was in the same class as both of them, who had a cold personality and belonged to a rich family. Lastly, there was Ace's senior who Ace looked up to in the tennis club named June, who was sporty and easygoing in nature.

When Ace got to know them, he went on to talk with all three of the girls to get to know their personalities better.