NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42: Chapter 38
Ryo Akira felt his stomach drop as he stood surrounded by the girls on the training ground.
"Uh...hi, everyone," he said awkwardly, trying his best to smile.
He edged backward slightly, considering his options to escape, but before he could make a move, Ani silently stepped in behind him, cutting off his retreat.
"So…what's going on here?" Ryo asked, feigning innocence while glancing around at their serious expressions.
Mikasa crossed her arms, her piercing gaze cutting through him like a blade. Ymir stepped forward with a smirk on her face, clearly enjoying Ryo's discomfort.
"It's simple," Ymir said, her tone firm. "You have two choices: accept our challenge and fight us all at once or apologize in front of everyone here for what you did yesterday. Oh, and you'll also need to write a formal self-critique to hang in the common hall. Your choice."
Ryo's jaw nearly hit the floor. "What? Isn't this a little extreme? I didn't even—"
"Save it," Sasha interrupted, munching on a raw sweet potato she'd clearly stolen from the kitchen. "You're not getting out of this that easily. Besides, going one-on-one wouldn't be fair. You're too strong for that. So, we'll all fight you together!"
Ryo's eye twitched as he looked around at the dozen or so girls glaring at him. Individually, most of them wouldn't be much of a challenge, but together? Especially with Ani and Mikasa on their side? It was going to be a nightmare.
"This is ridiculous," Ryo muttered under his breath.
"Ridiculous or not, you're not leaving until you make a decision," Ymir said with a smug grin.
Before Ryo could respond, the system chimed in his mind:
**"Ding! New mission: Accept the girls' challenge and win the fight. Rewards: +5 favorability with Mikasa Ackerman and 20 experience points!"**
Ryo froze. "Favorability points?" he thought.
He quickly accessed the system menu and opened the new "Favorability" tab. Sure enough, it displayed everyone's feelings toward him in precise numerical detail. At the top of the list was Krista—her favorability was at a near-perfect 95 points.
"Almost maxed out," Ryo muttered with a faint smile. The system's cheeky comment next to her score read: **"She adores you and would follow you to the ends of the earth."**
But then he spotted Mikasa's score: a dismal 35 points. Worse, the favorability tracker noted a steep decline after "yesterday's lake incident."
**"Status: Hostility. Current thoughts: Feels angry and betrayed after being peeped on. Favorability dropped by 35 points."**
Ryo wanted to crawl into a hole.
"I swear, this system is trolling me at this point," he grumbled to himself.
Still, the mission was clear, and there was no way he was going to apologize publicly and write a self-critique. That would be social suicide.
"Fine," Ryo said, squaring his shoulders. "I'll take your challenge. All of you, at once."
Ymir's smirk widened. "Good. Let's see if you can back up your confidence, big shot."
The girls quickly spread out, forming a loose circle around Ryo. He scanned their faces, noting Mikasa and Ani's determined expressions. Even Sasha had stopped eating her sweet potato and was cracking her knuckles.
"This is going to hurt," Ryo muttered under his breath, shifting into a defensive stance.
**Ding! Mission started: Defeat the girls.**