Second lead syndrome

</3 Kidnapped by sensei </3 (14)

Boss, the system bullied me a lot when he was here. He made me do ... and ... I suffered so much and he kept deducting my tokens and now n... I spoke in a pitiful tone, hoping that the boss would console me with that deep, husky voice of his.

For the most part he was silent, and it was quiet enough that I could hear myself think. I didn't want to hear myself think, I wanted to hear boss.

Hah. The boss chuckled quietly and I paused in my step for a minute. I crouched down pretending to tie my shoelaces while muffling my scream against my knee.

That's too aggressive, how could he laugh like that?! It felt like he was laughing beside my ear. Urgh!

"Are you okay?" I flinched slightly at the sudden sound and looked up to see that blue-eyes guy from a few chapters ago.

"... Yes." I mumbled quietly, slightly embarrassed that he probably saw me acting like a complete nutcase.

That's your target. The boss informed suddenly.

Noooo! I yelled internally, no how am I supposed to chase after guys in front of Boss. This isn't right, his impression of me will drop ㅠ_ㅠ.

"..." The boy stared down at me for a little longer, his gaze growing colder by the second.

"W-what?" I asked as I stood up abruptly, preparing myself for a fight.

"I'm... Hal." He responded hesitantly.

???

"I'm... Charlie." I responded with a confused look, I didn't even ask for your name dude.

"Hmph." Hal narrowed his eyes at me, the blue seemed to turn a shade darker as he did so. "You don't remember me?"

This dumba**. I jumped slightly at the boss' sudden exclamation.

Huh? Me, what did I do? I didn't even do anything.

No, not you that idiot system... Give me a second.

A shock ran through me as memory after memory bombarded me.

"Hal!" I blinked in surprise and then grinned widely. "Is it really you? Can I hug you?" I asked while hopping from toe to toe.

"..." He stood frozen for a second, an expression of disbelief painted his face. "... Hm." He nodded slowly, lowering his head to hide his reddened cheeks. But then his expression changed and he shook his head, looking slightly scared. "... Don't."

I nodded hesitantly, respecting his wishes before bombarding him with questions.

"How have you been? Where have you been? What were you doing? Did you make any friends? What college are you going to? What do you wanna do when you're older? Gasp! Did the orphanage treat you right? If they didn't I'll go beat them all up." I rambled excitedly, wanting to be caught up on everything Hal had down. His face showed no expression until I mentioned the orphanage, after which his eyebrows twitched and he frowned slightly.

"... I missed you." He sighed wearily, totally avoiding my question.

"No, no. Don't avoid my questions, did something happen at the orphanage?" He flinched in response and my heart dropped.

Boss, why do bad things keep happening to him? I asked while biting my cheek in an attempt to stop myself from crying.

It's part of the story, the tragic backstory of the SML plays a large part in why he's the SML. He thinks he underserving of love after everything he's been through so he'll selflessly give the heroine everything and ask for nothing in return. The boss spoke quietly, his tone filled with sympathy for Hal.

"... Hal. You know I really like you." I couldn't think of the right things to say, how I should console him or how to make him feel better. I'm not even sure if my words held any weight but I really just wanted him to know that he isn't alone.

"I like you too." His head whipped up abruptly, and his eyes seemed to waver after he spoke. "Do you really like me?" He asked in a quieter tone.

"I do, you're super cute! Even more than when you were a kid, ehehe." That stinky brat used to bully me but the Hal now was a lot softer and cuter and had a fluffy feeling.

His eyes once again narrowed, flashing dangerously this time.

"... Cute." He mumbled coldly, making a face like he ate something bad.

"Super cute." I showed him two thumbs up to highlight that his cuteness level was quite high.

A/N: Beaches I'm back as you can tell I'm stressed so I'm back and I think we got two more chapters of this arc and THEN MY CUTE TEDDY WILL BE HERE I drew the boss to get inspiration for this chapter but I ain't gonna show you losers