Hani, a 16-year-old bookworm, sits in class engrossed in her book, even during lunchtime. Ever since she was a kid, people used to make fun of her for being a 'nerd', always having her head in a book, be it a comic or a textbook.
"Stop it, Leo!" Stella giggles as she touches Leo's arm slightly, and he flexes his arms. "Wow, they feel so sturdy. Do you work out a lot? How strong are you really?"
Stella and Leo flirt with each other in the classroom. Hani peeks at them behind her book.
What the hell is he doing? It's a bit cringy. Hani thought to herself, looking at Leo show off his muscles.
Leo is a Rank A warrior. He loves to show off and has a crush on Stella, the school beauty, and Stella loves strong men. They are often seen flirting, but Stella still does not date anyone, as she dreams of going out with an S rank or higher person who is strong.
Hani scrunches her mouth in disgust and jealousy as she watches Leo grab Stella's hand.
That bastard — touching her again with his filthy paws. How could the hands of the School Queen be casually smothered in filth like his!!
Leo says something to make Stella laugh, and Hani's face softens.
Ahhhhhh, never mind, even the dirtiest thing cannot dirty the pure and beautiful angel like Stella. Hani thinks to herself, wandering her mind into her own fantasy.
----
Hani has had a crush on Stella ever since they started school together at 15. Stella is a very beautiful and outgoing girl. She has pink hair with wavy locks and bright, beautiful eyes. She came from a long line of scientist-class family, but she became the first in her family to be a healer and also in S rank! Not only did people desire Stella due to her angel-like beauty, but also her skills as a healer at a high rank. Hani being one of them.
Unlike Stella, Hani was an orphan who did not even know her parents' class or type. She was found in an alleyway in the middle of the night and was raised in an orphanage. Growing up alone, Hani always liked books as they helped her forget her situation. Either to gain more knowledge or sink away into a new world in a novel, she loved it all.
When Hani started high school, she first saw Stella. An incident happened where they first met, and that made her fall in love with Stella. It was only after she found out that Stella was into stronger guys who needed to be the same or higher rank as her.
But Hani was not strong and not even ranked S. In fact, Hani was looked down on, ignored, bullied, and ranked F.
----
[Ranking Centre: The day Hani got her power and evaluation]
> Name: Hani Jin <
> Rank: F<
"Whatttt!?!?" Hani stares at the screen given by the machine. "Why can't things just go my way for once?"
Hani makes a loud fuss in the centre, stomping her way out after getting her results. Face all scrunched up in anger.
What is this power even? [All Stats are Intelligence]. So what if all my other stats increase my intelligence? I can't do anything with this, can I?
Hani huffs as she gets dragged home by the orphanage staff.
Why could I not be a scientist or an engineer or someone useful?
Slowly accepting her fate, Hani stomps away.
It was after this situation that the orphanage staff stopped caring about her. Just like Hani, they thought she was going to be at least a decently ranked Scientist to be able to work in an intellectual field due to her obsession with books, but seeing her rank, they were disappointed.
From that day on, they would force her to look after herself and be bullied by staff to clean around the house.
"Failure"
A word that surrounded her every day.
----
[Classroom 1-C at Dashmorth High School]
As Hani sits there daydreaming about Stella, the teacher walks in.
"Everyone, get to your seats!"
The class starts, and the students all grumble as they sit in their seats. Mr Harrison, the basic magic teacher, starts the class by explaining the differences between multiple types of magical artefacts. It was more of a history lesson as these artefacts are not common and only a few known owners are around, who are all S-rank and higher heroes.
The lesson goes on and ends seamlessly as we all pack our bags, ready for the final agenda for today, which is homeroom to plan the school festival. While normally we would have one more class today, we have to plan what we are going to do as a class for the school festival.
Our homeroom teacher walks in as everyone is discussing with their friends what they want to do for the festival. Hani sits down quietly as she is not acquainted with anyone else in the class at all.
" Ok, kids, what are the plans for the festival? Anyone for a good idea on what they want to do?"
"Cafe!" Someone shouts out from the back
"No, we should do an Arm wrestling booth." Another one screams.
As someone says, Stella's ears perk up as she raises her hand, " Why don't we do a 1 VS 1 battle? Like a tournament?" she says with excitement.
"Oh, that's a good idea." Someone chimes in.
"Yeah, that would be fun, but what about the prize? It would have to be something big"
Leo smirks, seeing his chance " What if our school's beauty herself offers a date with her as a prize. Loads of strong men throughout the school, and potential students would love to get that chance. A date with the school beauty."
Hani's eyes dart towards Stella at this proposal.
What? A date with Stella??? No way!
"What do you say, Stella, you in?" Leo smirks, knowing she would agree since she loves strong men.
After a while of pondering, Stella nods her head.
"Yes, I agree to this! I shall offer a date with me as the prize"
Everyone is a bit shocked as Mr Harrison speaks up.
"Are you sure about this, Stella? We can just use the funds we have to buy a prize for the winner, you don't have to do that"
"No, Mr Harrison, please!" Stella puts her hands together as she pulls an innocent face, "Please let me do this! I want to do this for your class, it's the least I can do, and I get to make a new... strong friend."
Mr Harrison sighs, " Ok sure, just make sure that everything is safe and you are protected properly"
Then again, who would hurt the precious princess Stella Wang from the Wang family? Only if they had a death wish.
Stella's face glowed at this proposal, getting excited. Everyone starts to plan and design drafts for posters and how the tournament will work.
Everyone is getting assigned roles, and when they come to me, Leo just looks at my face.
"Tch, what the fuck can you even do, F-rank?"
Leo smirks, watching Hani for a reaction.
Hani scrunched at the sight of him and proceeded to ignore him.
Leo's temper rises.
"Oi F-ranker! Don't ignore me," He smashes his fist onto the table in front of me, leaving a crack.
Stella turns around to see the commotion, " Leo, stop making such a fuss", she huffs as she turns back around to discuss plans with her group.
Seeing Stella being so kind, Hani turns smitten as she melts with happiness into her chair. Leo scowls at the sight of this.
What the fuck is wrong with this woman?
"Just stick to fucking cleaning up or something. Useless F-ranker," Leo spits out as he walks away.
Hani, still engrossed in her own world, thinks to herself.
I am going to have to win that tournament! I want to have a date with Stella!!!