Concept Stories - Friendzone - Chapter 1

“You’re a really good listener.” She smiled, pursing her rich, red lips together seductively. “You’re a true friend.”

“Ah…” I smiled back awkwardly. “Thanks?”

She giggled, reaching out and touching my hand before taking a sip from her pop can. “It’s just, do you have any advice?”

You should dump him. He’s an asshole. Not only did this bastard cheat on you with another girl, but he also claimed he’s been banging you, ruining your reputation. You deserve a guy who appreciates you. You deserve a guy like me.

That’s what I wanted to say, but there was just no way that I would ever say it. After all, she wasn’t looking for real advice. She was looking for validation. If I told her what I thought, my true friend status would be revoked in an instant. That was the thing about it. I was always really good at reading women and knowing what they liked. Yet, every time, I ended up in the friend zone.

Oh, that touch on my hand? Sure, it caused my heart to beat quickly, but she didn’t mean anything by it. She hadn’t seen me as a viable love interest in the two years since school started. I wasn’t that affected though. I’ve grown used to it. I’ve been given so many teases in the past, and they’re all just innocuous and meaningless. If I were to push on them, the girl would get upset with me, and then quickly stop talking to me. That’s what happened to my childhood friend.

There was a pretty girl, daughter of our village’s Magi, whom I used to hang out with when I was younger. It was even one of those situations where she held me down one day and made me promise to marry her. After that, we were inseparable. We spent all of our academic years together. From ten until sixteen, I always saw her as my girlfriend. Then, at the coming-of-age festival in my sixteenth year, when I was officially going to be recognized as an adult, as was she… I thought we were going to go all the way.

“What are you doing? I’m not going to do that with you! I’m becoming a Magi!” She freaked out when I tried to kiss her.

“A Magi… is it?” I asked in confusion.

“Magic must be celibate until they reach rank B,” She explained like she was speaking to a child. “Or it could inhibit their magical growth!”

“I see… it’s fine, we can wait… how long does that take?”

“Magic Academy is four years. You only come out of there with a rank C if you’re top of the class. B has to be reached through independent study, and that could take another four years.”

“Eight years…” I mumbled. “That’s okay, I can do eight years. We’d be twenty-four.”

“Max…” I never forgot her pitying look. “I’m going to Griffin’s Magic Academy. I’m going to become a Magi like my mother. We’re just… in two different worlds.”

“I… I could go to magic academy.” I responded defensively.

“Griffin’s is the top school…”

“Okay, that’s fine… I’ll go to the sec-um… third school. I can become a knight. Then we can marry…”

“Max… you’re real sweet.” She responded, the words that were forever branded into my soul came next. “I just see you as a friend.”

You all know the zone. Maybe you’re a fellow member. It’s when you speak with you form an emotional relationship with a girl, hoping to become lovers, only for her to see you as a friend. Strangely, whenever they do that, the friendship is entirely one way. It’s never an instance where she is emotionally supporting you, offering to give you a ride, or buying you a gift for a holiday.

Oh no, that’s the part they like to leave out of the ‘nice guys’ that the world has decided to villainize these days. No matter what these women expect from you for their so-called friendship, none of it they feel they need to return. At least, there was a time when a nice guy got a little sympathy and understanding, but those days died. I mean, let that sink in for a bit. Trying to win a girl’s affection by treating her well and being supportive is now frowned upon.

Well, not exactly. As long as you’re willing to dump countless hours into trying to court someone without expecting them to even give you a clear indication they’re not interested, that’s still acceptable. The way I see it, you have two choices. Allow women to walk all over you and hope someone, somewhere, eventually sees you for your worth, or become one of those assholes who just uses women and tosses them away.

I don’t have the heart for the latter, and I can no longer stomach the former. This has caused me to become increasingly bitter, and I can only just manage to keep that bitterness out of my voice when talking to the girl I like.

I worked hard, and I did manage to get into the third-ranked magic school, Azazel’s School of Magic. That’s where I met Denise, a beautiful and competent girl who was going to become a knight, like me. I have had a big crush on her since the first day of school. She’s a beautiful girl with a large chest, blue eyes, blond hair, and a wonderful smile. She had just a bit of elf in her, making her ears just slightly pointed and her skin nearly flawless. She was very lively and is often considered one of the top beauties of the school.

It took me nearly a year to get in her good graces, but then those dreadful words came. “You’re like my best friend!”

I had become her friend. It was still a position many guys at my school envied. I was constantly met with the jealousy of many guys for being by her side. Despite knowing about the plight of a friend, I was in a good position to help influence her. I could guide her decisions, and hopefully one day get her to cherish me. That all fell apart when the boys started noticing her last year.

Male Magi were different than female Magi. Female Magi couldn’t have sex until they were B rank, but males could have sex at D rank. Most obtained a D-rank during their sophomore year. Female knights didn’t have the same restrictions as female Magi, so as soon as male Magi reached D-rank, they started chasing after female knights. Female knights had a subtle reputation for being easy, and considering more men chose to be knights than women, that meant the pool of available knight girls was even smaller.

Denise had ended up becoming the number one available girl in school. The magi had bets on what guy was going to deflower her. She was also open to dating. I had to do everything possible to protect her virginity. I’d slander the guys she was dating, even if they were decent. As a result, she was on her third boyfriend in two years, but thankfully her virginity was still intact. Unfortunately, her current boyfriend was a top-performing magi named Craig. He was a complete dick, but Denise seemed to be fascinated with him.

Denise called me at least once a week, crying on the phone because of something that Craig did. Denise had been raised with the belief she shouldn’t have sex until marriage, which was the only reason she still had it where many of the other female knights had been run through already. Her last boyfriend left her exactly because she wouldn’t budge on that. He even dared to threaten me, claiming that I was part of the reason she wouldn’t spread her legs for him.

He was right, but it was still a douche thing to assume. How could I not encourage her to remain loyal to her values? Why would I encourage her to sleep with some asshole who had already slept with three other women? He ended up kicking my ass. I called in with a cold, and a week later returned to school with no one the wiser. As for that douchebag, they broke up over that week when he got too handsy with her. The way Denise described it, he sexually assaulted her, although he denied it completely.

Well, the important thing was that she was still a virgin, and even though she was having current problems with Craig, she was sticking to her convictions. I’m sure he’d end up leaving her eventually. Guys like him always ended up leaving eventually. I still had a chance to leave the friend zone. I just needed Denise to stop seeing me as a friend and start seeing me as a man. That’s what I wanted.

“I think… I’m ready…” She suddenly said breathlessly.

“Huh?”

“I have a date with Craig tomorrow night. I think… I’m going to go all the way.”

“Wh-what?”

Her eyes flashed, and she looked at me worriedly. “Ah… I told you because I trust you! You can’t tell anyone else!”

“B-but… there are rumors he’s cheating on you!’

“Craig promises they’re just rumors!” She said stubbornly and then gave a shy look, “Besides… if I don’t… he might cheat.”

“If he did that, then he is a bastard!”

“I don’t know…” She looked down, unconvinced. “It’s just. Maybe my stubbornness has been the problem all along. Sophie says I should just loosen up and have fun like her.”

“Sophie is a slut!”

“Max! How can you say that!” She shot me an angry look. “Sophie is my best friend.”

Your best friend hates your guts!

If Sophie could be described simply, it’d be that she was our polar opposite. Where Denise was kind and honest, Sophie was a petty, jealous liar, a vicious little fox. Where I advised Denise to remain pure, Sophie was constantly telling her to bang guys. She’s even the one that set her up with Craig on purpose. She was a manipulator and schemer, and Denise should not have become her friend. I was certain she only hung out with Denise to trick her into self-destructing.

“Denise… I don’t have a right, but…”

“You’re right!” She responded with a snap. “Sophie says I shouldn’t listen to you. She says you’re obsessed with me and tell people we’re dating.”

“What?” I almost stood up. “That’s not true! Sophie is the one who lies!”

She looked away from my angry stare. “I don’t know what to believe. I just wonder if you care more about my self-interests or your own!”

“I-I-I-“ I stuttered incoherently, not even sure how to respond.

I felt lost that she was going to run off and finally do it. I felt angry that Sophie had lied and caused all of this to happen. I was confused, frustrated, and sad. However, nice guys didn’t get to have complex emotions. Nice guys were nice, and if they didn’t act nice, the girls would turn on them in an instant.

“I’m going to go.” She responded stiffly, standing up. “Maybe we… should sit apart at lunch for a while.”

I lowered my head as she walked away. I could see a few eyes on me and some muffled laughs. A lot of people knew I fancied her. The thing they knew more than that is that I’d never get her. Even Craig knew it. He had threatened me much like the guy before, but being a Magi, he wasn’t so much a jock. He was more of a player. His weapon was similar to Sophie’s, spreading rumors and destroying someone’s credibility.

Once she had left and I reflected on the conversation, I realized where I had gone wrong. She was trying to talk herself up to having sex with Craig. That was the support she had wanted from me. Sophie had convinced her it was the right course of action, and so she was looking for reinforcement. By opposing her desires, I had broken the nice guy edict. I treated her like a concerned friend, not a “guy friend”, and the result was her immediate anger.

No longer feeling like eating, I picked up the leftovers from my lunch and tossed them into the trash. The rest of the school day went by in a blur.

“Why are you acting so depressed for?” I suddenly felt a form jump onto my lap.

If it was any other girl, I might have grown excited by this sudden violation, but Gwen was someone who wasn’t being flirtatious. Gwen was a small girl, only four feet by two. Some people joked that she was part dwarf, which was something that offended her greatly. She was pretty, and had big boobs, and on top of that was a Senior, a year older than me. She was a Magi, but that didn’t stop guys from joking about how she could give a blowjob without kneeling. Of course, magi could give head without affecting their magic, but no one dared ask Gwen.

An elbow slammed into my gut, causing me to nearly throw up. “You better not be thinking any naughty thoughts. Don’t forget the last time you got an erection with that tiny dick of yours.”

Her words elicited chuckles from various people nearby who overheard.

Given how small your body is, I bet my dick would rip you in half!

I had these thoughts, but I’d never voice them out loud. If I did so, she wouldn’t hesitate to attack me. She was extremely violent, and because of her small size and sweet appearance, most teachers ignored her attacks. She usually only targeted male knights, who were supposed to have the physiques that could take abuse. After all, their eventual job was to protect magi on the battlefield. However, my physique was probably the lowest in my class, and for some reason, she had started to target me exclusively this year.

“I remember,” I growled.

“Don’t get smart with me. After school, I’m going to need you to carry some stuff for me.”

“Why would I do that?”

“You should help your friends out.”

“Who is your friend?”

“You’re a knight!” She shot back. “You should be thankful a beautiful upper classmate is giving you a job to do. Maybe, if you did your job, I’d even take you as my knight.”

“I refu…”

I looked at her eyes, and she had her cheeks puffed out. Then I felt pain.

“Ow… OW… OWWWW!”

The bell rang, and I walked out of the classroom with welts all over my arms. She was good at pinching, and eventually, I ended up agreeing to help Gwen anyway despite the pain. She had volunteered to help a teacher move textbooks from one classroom to another. That volunteer was me. She only watched and chastised me when I carried only four books at a time instead of ten. By the time I was done with her work, even the clubs were letting out. She didn’t even give a thank you before running off and taking credit for what I did. Being her knight would be awful.

Tired and sore, I headed for my locker. For some idiotic reason, my locker was on the other side of the school and in the basement, so the path was a long one. Thus, the hallways were empty by the time I was back on the first floor heading to the entrance. It was at this point that I was suddenly grabbed and pulled into the bathroom.

It was the girl’s bathroom, so my immediate disposition was to struggle, but they moved fast, and I ended up slipping on the way, hitting a sink with my wrist and causing some pain to spiral up my arm. As I shot a look up angrily at my would-be bully, I saw the person I least wanted to see.

“What’s the idea?” I demanded.

A cute girl with curly hair chuckled, her fox ears twitching with a nasty expression on her face. “Oh, don’t give me such a mean look. I heard what happened between you and Denise earlier. I’m sorry. I tried to put in a good word for you.”

“You bi… you liar.” I changed what I was going to say when she raised an eyebrow. “You’re the one telling her I’m telling people we’re in a relationship?”

“Eh? She must have misheard me. I said you want to be in a relationship. I was trying to help. She just got it wrong is all.”

“I don’t believe that for an instant! What is it you want with me?”

“First thing, what do you think of these?” She dropped a folder filled with pictures right in front of me where I sat on my knees.

Without getting up, I picked up the folder and flipped through it. At first, it just looked like a few blurry pictures. Then, I realized that they were erotic. They were through a window or a crack in the door or something, and they involved a girl in her underwear. When I reached a picture that showed her face, I gasped and dropped the images.

“Wh-what Is this?” I said in disbelief.

“Ah? Those are peepshots of Denise, silly. I thought you’d like to have some naughty pictures of her to jack off to! You should thank me!”

“What kind of pervert do you think I am? How would I want that crap?”

“That hurts, Max. After all that effort, I went to get those images for you. Sleepovers, restless nights waiting outside her window, just because I wanted Max to be happy!”

“You’re crazy!”

“Hmph… well, if you don’t appreciate these pictures, then go take better ones yourself.”

“Like hell I would!”

“Oh? But, you really should…” Her expression darkened, and I started getting a bad feeling.

“Wh-what is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing much!” She giggled, “It’s just… it’d be a shame if these photos ended up in Denise’s hands.”

“Wh-what? You took them! You want to incriminate yourself?” I tried to turn it back on her.

“What? I didn’t take them!” She said defensively. “I just found them in Max’s backpack. He’s a real bad apple, that one. Maybe even a stalker. Why… his fingerprints are all over them!”

“Y-you…” She had already picked up the envelope I had tossed down, and I realized she was wearing gloves too.

“I don’t think your reputation could survive such a blow. Never mind your relationship with Denise, you’ll be hated by every girl in the school!”

I bit my lip, panting as I tried to think of some way, but failed.

“What is it you want?”

“I already said, idiot!” She shot me a glare. “I want better images. In particular, I have a place you can get good ones tomorrow night. I convinced Denise to go to make out point to do the deed. I bet you can get some great photos of her losing it.”

“Why? Why are you doing this?” I demanded, feeling my heart clench badly.

“Why? Of course, for her to remember it all! Since it’s her first time, she should record such fond memories. If you want to make a copy and jack off over it, I don’t mind. My copy just better not be sticky, you pervert.”

I shook my head. “I won’t do it.”

She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me. Do it… don’t do it. I expose a little pervert like you. I don’t. Either way, I get to experience something interesting. Good luck, Max. Although you might want to get me those photos quickly, as my mouth is a bit big.”

She turned around and started walking away without another word. I wanted to attack her. I wanted to hit her. Was I going to do what she asked? No! Of course not! I wouldn’t respond to her blackmail. I had seen too many stories like that. It always escalated and grew worse and worse. Sophie had already bullied me a few times into silence over things. For example, I found out she had slept with Denise’s last boyfriend. At the time, it was blackmail to keep silent, and it only would have ended up hurting Denise to tell her the truth, so it was easier to accept. This time, it was way too far.

Yet, there was nothing I could do to defend myself from her lies. People believed women over me. I was trapped. Tomorrow, my life would be over, and I was letting the woman who ruined it just walk away. I’d give anything to stop this from happening. I just wanted it to stop!

Sophie reached the doorknob and then stopped with her hand on the handle. I looked up, expecting her to say one last cutting remark, but she just stood there without moving, staring at the door. After nearly thirty seconds passed without her moving, I was starting to feel uncomfortable. I slowly made my way to my feet.

“You made your point. I’ll do it.”

That was a lie, but if I said I’d do it, maybe it could give me enough time to run to Denise and tell her what happened. She might believe me, she might not believe me, but at least I’d have the truth on my side.

“Do you mean it?”

“I do…what?”

The words weren’t Sophie’s. They came from somewhere else in the room, but I couldn’t pinpoint where.

“Good… it is what I wanted to hear. Since you have agreed to give anything, then naturally, I will abide by the contracts.” The voice echoed in the room.

Sophie didn’t respond to the voice. She was still unmoving in that position.

“Who are you?” I demanded, looking around.

One of the stalls suddenly glowed with a dark red light. A second later, a person shoved open the door. I swore it was empty just a moment before. It was a girl. No…, she had horns on her head and a black spade devil tail. She was dressed in a sexy red dress. Her hair was black, and her eyes were red.

“My name is Andromeda. I’m your personal demon, at your service.” She gave a very deep curtsy, exposing a great deal of her bosom in the process.

“D-demon?” I said in a fluster, “What is a demon doing here in the mortal realm? Wh-what, do you want?”

“I do what all demons do. I make deals.” She said, smirking mischievously.

“What deal?”

She grinned, “The deal of a lifetime. The power to change everything. Is there a girl you like?”

“Y-yeah?”

Her grin deepened. “Do you want the power to have her?”

I blushed, looking away from her dark, dangerous stare. “M-maybe.”

“Then… make a deal with me. With my power, you can have any woman you want.”