It’s just like any ordinary day for Riel. Writing web novels, talking to his editor, browsing mangas on Amazen, reading web novels from other authors, reading physical books. But just as he thought that his day would remain stagnant, a text message arrived on his phone.

“Oh? Me, receiving a text message? Rare things do happen huh?”

He was in a fairly good mood especially since he had already taken a bath and he also had already eaten, but the text message came from an unknown number which somewhat alarmed him.

“Go and get us at school.”

Was what the message said. Riel replied with,

“Huh? Who the hell are you? Why should I come get you there? Did you mistake me for your butler/driver/bodyguard/whatever?”

Not even a minute had passed and Riel already got an answer.

“IT’S ME, RUNA! HOW CAN YOU NOT FIGURE IT OUT? AS IF JUST ANYONE WOULD ASK YOU TO COME GET THEM. YUCK!”

The way the message was written in all caps had already irritated Riel to no end, but the veins on his temple began to bulge upon seeing the *yuck* part of the message.

“That barbariaaaaann!!”

Having been angered by Runa, his reply ended up being,

“I’m sure a savage like you doesn’t need an escort. Kiss my ass!”

A few minutes had passed and another message arrived.

“Hmm? A different number from earlier? Who is it this time?”

He then proceeded to read the message.

“Hello, this is Luna. I’ll be waiting for you. Will you come for us, please?”

Riel’s mood immediately healed after reading Luna’s message.

“Now this is how you ask someone. I guess I’ll come…. Just for Luna.”

He texted back as he was preparing to go out in order to let Luna know that he’ll be coming in about thirty minutes. Yes, Riel already had an estimate of his travel time because based on the twins’ uniform, the school that they are enrolled in is a very familiar one. After steeling himself to head out into the outside world and after letting his sister know, he went ahead and opened the front door. But not even one step outside,

“Ugh. It’s too bright.”

The vigorous sun greeted him with its golden light. For Riel who had been in front of his computer for about four hours, the sun is an opponent that will surely make his eyes suffer. Still, the thought of Luna waiting for him filled his heart with the desire to dive in head first into the sea of troubles known as the Outside World.

He did steel himself for this, but social anxiety and the fear of people cannot be easily controlled. He quickly, but awkwardly walked as he looked left and right like a criminal trying to avoid the authorities.

“Oy, Riel! It’s rare to see you out and about. Did something good happen?”

One of his neighbors saw and greeted him.

“Ahh.. A ha ha… I was asked to do a small errand…”

Riel replied, but it didn’t seem like his misery ended there.

“By the way, who are those cute twins that kept visiting at your home?”

“Huh? A-are you sure you aren’t dreaming?”

Riel couldn’t look his neighbor in the eyes and he was also kind of fidgety. Since Riel was acting so fishy, he got figured out right away. Or maybe not,

“Ohhoohh, is one of them your girlfriend?”

Riel had no say.

“Hmm?? Maybe BOTH of them?! Talk about being manly! I didn’t know you had it in you!”

Riel had no say.

“But from the looks of it, they are still high school students. You better be careful. Ehehe.”

The neighbor who wore a mischievous smile along with a naughty laugh jokingly warned Riel, that was when Riel snapped

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“Th-that’s n-not..! None of them is my girlfriend! They are just…!”

Riel’s words were difficult to understand because he kept stuttering and he was getting so nervous he was obviously trembling. The neighbor guy felt sorry for him and decided to let him go for the moment.

“Right, right. I’m just messing with you. Sorry ahaha. Do what you ought to do now. I’ll come visit you one of these days. You better look forward to it.”

“Uhh, I really will appreciate it if you wouldn’t invade my sanctuary.”

Riel went on his way after leaving that final message to his neighbor who seemed to be somewhat close to him.

After walking for about five minutes, Riel got out of the subdivision. This was not a place unfamiliar to him because he would often walk here if he needed to buy something from the convenience store. However, he couldn’t get used to the noise of all the cars and jeepney, and all the people that passed by would often tick Riel’s anxiety radar.

[It’s alright. This isn’t hell, yet. I’m used to buying stuff at the store here. I’m still okay.]

He kept telling that to himself even when his hands are already getting so sweaty from the nervousness. He went and walked to his left where there’s a small cafeteria where the jeepneys would stop for a while to gather commuters.

[Uhh, Jeepneys suddenly look really intimidating these days. I used to take them all the time back in the day.]

Yes. Despite his social anxiety, he was quite used to commuting when he was still a student. After a little more than three years of being caged at home, he seemed to have gotten rusty at everything relating to the outside world.

[I should be fine. There are still a few people in the Jeep. If I take this chance and take the seat where no one would ask me to deliver their fee to the driver, I’ll minimize the chances of making mistakes.]

Was what he thought at the time, but a crowd suddenly boarded the Jeepney that Riel was eyeing and it got seemingly full. Riel decided to see for himself if there’s still any space left for him. Since he’s slender, he would fit even in a small space. But…

[Damn this Jeepney driver. He kept telling there’s still space to the left. Space my ass! There’s literally nothing. Damn it.]

He cursed the greedy Jeepney driver who kept telling him there’s still space, but Riel really couldn’t bother the passengers anymore.

“Get going! I’ll just hang at the back.”

Riel shouted to the driver. He told the twins that he’d be coming in thirty minutes. Giving up on the Jeep to find another is going to be a waste of time, which is why he decided that it’d be a better idea to just push his luck and go YOLO. Hanging yourself at the entrance and exit of a Jeep is technically illegal, but mysteriously enough, very few are getting caught by the authorities.

[ugh… What a blunder. This is hell. I’d like to go back home. Sigh.]

Riel kept exhaling huge amounts of carbon dioxide as he relived his experience not too long ago. His heart kept pumping out blood at such a fast pace due to nervousness, and because of Riel’s light skin color, it can be really easy to see him getting red.

“Manong, I’ll be dropping here!”

Riel’s expression brightened up as he saw one of the commuters signal the driver. He went down the Jeep to allow the passenger to move and briskly entered the Jeep again to fill the available seat.

[Sigh, I managed to survive.]

But his hell hadn’t ended there. He still hasn’t given his fee to the driver, and in order to do so, he needed the help of the people who were closer to the driver. He was too shy to ask people to hand his payment to the driver, but he needed to do it nonetheless.

“U-umm… M-may you hand my fee… Please?”

He extended his arm to those who were next to him. His voice was quiet and difficult to understand, but the commuters knew what he wanted.

“T-thank you.”

Many people wouldn’t tell another that they are grateful for handing their payment to the driver. After all, it was only natural. But for Riel, being vocal with apologies and gratitude can be really important at times.

Only ten minutes had passed and Riel had reached his destination, but that still wasn’t the place where he needed to go. He had to board another Jeep so he could drop himself exactly at the school. Everything went fine on his second Jeep except that when he dropped…

[Right… I need to cross this road to get to that damn school..]

Riel forgot that he needed to cross the road which was always teeming with vehicles. He steeled himself and decided to move forward anyway. After all, he can’t stay being in the middle of the road for too long. He looked left and right in order to avoid cars, but he still managed to miss one.

“H-hey, sis… Isn’t that Riel?”

The twins nodded at each other upon seeing him, but…

“HEY RIEL! EVADE!”

A car that was running at a slightly faster speed than ideal was about to hit the Riel who was confused at the time. Everything went slow at that moment as if time had stopped. Riel couldn’t react to the car no matter what because of panicking. To begin with, he had already been nervous for too long, and then a car was going to hit him? Nothing made sense to him. The only thing that he knew at the time was,

[I’m going to die.]

Just then, he saw a glimpse of someone running towards him. A girl of short stature wearing an exceptionally familiar face. It was the face that forced him in this situation in the first place, but he knew that it was his fault for not being careful.

[Ahh. I can’t allow them to get hurt.]

That was when adrenaline rush finally kicked in. Riel’s heart began pumping blood like mad. He was shaking, and yet, filled with strength and power. He gained a tunnel vision. He didn’t care about anything else. The only thing that mattered was

[I can’t have them suffer for my own mistake.]

There was only about three seconds before impact. He shouted at the twin who was running towards him probably in an attempt to push him out of danger.

“HEY, DON’T COME CLOSER! LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Was what he said. He then ran with all his might hoping that he’d get away in just two seconds. The car didn’t seem like it was going to stop at any moment. Riel’s ability to escape his own tragedy was the only thing he could rely on. Fortunately, Riel escaped the impending tragedy by a strand of hair.

Riel’s time went back to normal. The incoming tragedy had already passed without claiming anything or anyone. Riel was already at the perimeter of the school. A refreshing sense of safety surged throughout Riel’s body, and soon, the twins would come to follow him up.

“Sob, sob. I.. I thought that… Riel was going to.. Sob, sob”

It was Luna who cried upon the thought of Riel dying. Unlike Runa who came rushing to aid Riel, Luna remained glued to the ground with eyes opened wide in shock as the earlier events played before her.

“Sorry… Sob, sob.. Because of me.. Sob”

Luna couldn’t finish her sentence because her crying had been interfering with her words, but Riel understood that she was being apologetic for convincing him to come to their school despite knowing that the outside world was Riel’s mortal enemy.

“It’s alright. You don’t have to apologize. Just stop crying and we’re all good.”

Riel said those consoling words as he pat Luna on the head. What Riel didn’t expect was that Luna would hug him so tight.

“Wah?! L-luna?!”

Runa then interrupted the confused Riel.

“Just let Luna be. We honestly thought you were going to be sent to heaven.”

An air of silence descended upon the trio for a moment, and then

“Sorry… It was my fault for forcing you. I was the one who told Luna to text you because I knew I cannot convince you. Despite knowing that you ar-”

Runa was saying her honest apology with her eyes staring down as if acknowledging a grave mistake that she had done when Riel interrupted.

“I said there’s no need to apologize. It was my fault for being too dumb. We should all just calm down.”

After a few moments, Luna had finally detached herself from Riel. She had already calmed down, and that signaled Riel to ask the question that he’s been meaning to ask.

“So, what did you make me come here for? I’m sure it’s not just to pamper the two of you.”

The twins didn’t answer Riel’s query. Instead, Runa presented him a letter.

“What’s this?”

Asked Riel. Runa didn’t want to answer while Luna was just there clinging to the hem of Riel’s clothes.

“Read it and you’ll know.”

“Fine, fine.”

Without further ado, Riel opened the letter and began reading it. It turned out to be an invitation sent by the school director to recruit him as a tutor for the literature club, but that made zero sense to him.

“I don’t understand the language that is written in here. Care to explain?”

He asked Runa, but

“Come with us to the director’s office.”