The Saint's Trial: Can He Resist Their Charm!?

Facing his mother's wrath, Hiroto had no choice but to listen and just lower is head meekly. It is definitely his fault for forgetting what they talked about yesterday. After listening in his mother's scolding for 3 straight hours, he went to his room and slept immediately.

A few days passed like this and it is now the beginning of a new school year. Hiroto is excited to meet new people and make new friends, so he dressed up quickly and immediately took off after eating some breakfast. His mother just shook her head at her son's behavior.

"Be careful on your way okay?!" she said.

"Okay Mom! I will!" Hiroto shouted back. Running past some fields, he can see a lot of farmers taking care of their lands early in the morning. Everytime they look at Hiroto, the boy would wave and smile at them. Seeing such a polite child, they too, waved their hands at him.

After a few minutes of walking, Hiroto bumped into a girl at the intersection. Her wavy black hair is now tied into twin tails lying loosely on her shoulders, she is holding a book so she's probably reaching it on her way. Hiroto smiled when he saw who it was who bumped into him.

"Good Morning Toujou-san! I almost didn't recognize you because of your new hairstyle," Hiroto said, still smiling at Saeko.

"G-Good Morning too Ariyoshi-kun. I-Is that way the direction of your house?," Saeko replied with a blush visible on her face.

"Ah, yes it is this way. Hey Toujou-san, want to go to school together? I mean, we can be considered as friends now since we have gone to that date together," Hiroto was still smiling at the first part of his words, but it was soon replaced by a blush when he said the latter part.

"I-If we're considered as friends, then please don't call me Toujou-san. I-I'll call you Hiro-kun from now on, is that ok?," she said while fidgeting. Hiroto who saw this thought, "S-SO CUTE!!". But being a gentleman, he restrained himself from hugging the cute creature in front of him.

"O-Of course! It's totally fine if you call me that way *ehem*. Who wouldn't want to be called like that by a cute girl," Hiroto was too excited when he replied and he said his latter words in a whisper.

"Did you say something H-Hiro-kun?," Saeko asked.

"It's probably just your imagination Saeko-san," Hiroto said, feigning ignorance. After talking for a bit, they both went to school side by side. There was an awkward silence between them. Hiroto, who can't stand the silence, spoke up to dispel it.

"Hey Saeko-san, the weather is great right?" he said, while he is bleeding inside.

'Aaaahhh!! Of all the opening sentences there is in the whole wide world, I said this oh so common phrase!!' he thought while crying tears of blood mentally.

"Y-Yeah it is," Saeko replied awkwardly. Then it became silent again because there is no way you can lengthen such a conversation. A few seconds past, but for Hiroto, it was like years.

"Hey Hiro-kun, do you know that person over there?" Saeko suddenly said while pointing in ahead of them. Hiroto looked at where she was pointing and saw a boy around his age, with brown hair and brown eyes, looking at him with a murderous glare.

"Oh, that guy? He's my classmate when I was in primary school. He always looks at me like that, like I did something bad and wronged him," Hiroto said, with a wry smile on his face. He never really understood what Kazuma was thinking every time.

"Is that so? I wonder what he's thinking. He's looking at you like he wants to swallow you whole. It's kinda scary," Saeko said as she averted her eyes, not wanting to look at the savage man anymore.

"Well, all we could do is ignore him. I've gotten quite used to it after years of being exposed to that kind of look," he said while looking at Saeko with a tired smile.

Kazuma, who saw their interactions from a distance, became even angrier. He was so jealous of Hiroto. Ever since primary school, he's always been popular with the girls. Now, he saw him walking to school along with a super cute girl.

'This riajuu should just explode!,' he thought. He gave him one last menacing look, before huffing away with angry steps.

Hiroto and Saeko saw this, and they both let out a chuckle. Now that the two have a fun subject to talk about, they continued to talk merrily as they walk towards their new school. This continued until they became 2nd years in Middle School. Hiroto would even accompany Saeko when going home, which Saeko didn't oppose. They got close to each other after years of being together. There was even a time when Hiroto invited Saeko to visit his home, it was to meet his mother who kept on pestering him everyday. That time, his father who saw Saeko just gave him a grin and a big thumbs up. While his mother took Saeko away and talked with her privately. The contents of their conversation were unknown but, after that incident, Saeko started to call him Hiro without honorifics. It took some time before he got used to it, and he even started to call her just Saeko. Their classmates never said it out loud but, they view these two as a couple. Which made Kazuma more jealous. It was unknown why, but his attendance kept on getting little and little until he never came to school.

=====

It was early in the morning and Hiroto was on his way to pick up Saeko, this already became a habit for him. It only took some time before he spotted her, along with a guy with brown hair in a green and black tracksuit. She was crossing on the road and greeted the farmer who is riding on a tractor.

It was sudden but, the guy in a tracksuit suddenly pushed her away, then looked at the tractor and fell down. Saeko was still in a daze and didn't see the incoming car. Seeing this, Hiroto sprinted towards her and held her shoulders before dragging her body sideways. Because of his action, they made it in the roadside in the nick of time. Saeko, who saw all this happened was still shocked and she staggered. Hiroto, who was still hugging her got dragged by her momentum and they both fell down the slope. Rolling down towards the farm, it took a few seconds before Hiroto saw that they would be landing on a huge rock.

He did his best to twist his body and make himself a cushion for Saeko so she wouldn't get hurt, while he brace for the impact. After a few seconds, they hit the impact and Hiroto's body hit the rock squarely. Even though his whole body is aching, he still tried to look at Saeko who's in arms. Seeing that she is fine, except for some scratches, he felt relieved and he finally lost consciousness.

=====

When Hiroto came to, he saw that he is now sitting on a chair. Looking around, all he sees is a vast expanse of darkness. In front of him, there is a small desk with some drawers and a chair with exquisite carvings. In front of the chair, there is a girl around her teens who can be seen, standing. Her hair is blonde in color and she has green eyes. She wears a pink dress with a short skirt along with a few blue stripes. She also possesses two large white wings. In a calm and soothing voice, she said,

"Ariyoshi Hiroto... Welcome to the Great Beyond. I am sorry to say that you have died. It was unfortunate that you have died an untimely death. I would want you to please wait for a while because the Goddess will come here after a few minutes," the angel said apologetically.

"I really died huh. Um, Angel-san. I would like to ask you something," Hiroto said to the Angel.

"Yes? You may ask anything you like," she said with a calm smile.

"Is my Saeko okay? She was the girl who fell on the slope with me," although he knows the answer to this question, he still wants to clarify it.

"I am sorry to say this but, she also died after you. In fact, she is next in line after you," the angel replied.

"What?! How did she die?! I was sure she was okay before I lost consciousness!" he said in a panic.

"She died because of a blod clot on her brain. The nearby pedestrians called the ambulance and too her to the hospital. But she died after some time," the angel said, still having that calm smile on her face.

"It can't be... Saeko," Hiroto muttered. He felt saddened by the fact she too died. She was such a kind girl and it just isn't her time to die yet.

"Well, don't be sad Hiroto. I think you would be overjoyed if you hear the proposal of the Goddess. Speaking of the Goddess, looks like she's here," when she said this, magic circles shined and a pillar of light suddenly appeared.

"It seems like Uriel already told you that you have died, Ariyoshi Hiroto-kun," a voice said coming from within the beam of light. Looking at the origin of the voice, Hiroto looked in front of his and there he saw a girl wearing a hagoromo. She is a teenage girl with a light complexion and blue eyes. She has short, silver hair and a light purple ombre of a sort. Her hair is longer at the front of which she has two strands of hair framing her face with a piece of hair pointing out from her fringe.

"Y-Yes Goddess-sama," Hiroto said nervously. He can't explain how he feels right now. The girl was a level higher in beauty than Saeko.

"You don't have to call me Goddess-sama, just Eris is fine. If you don't call me that, I'm going to get mad!," she said while pouting childishly.

"O-Okay Godde... Eris," he said while smiling wryly. Eris, who heard that he called her using her name, was visibly happy. If her sheepish smile is any proof of that.

"So, Hiroto-kun. Uriel probably told you that I have a proposal for you right?," Eris asked Hiroto.

"Y-Yes, I am curious about this proposal," he replied.

"Well, it is like this Hiroto-kun. Would you like to live a new life in a Fantasy World?," Eris asked with a sweet smile.

(A/N: If someone wants to know why the System never activated all this time, then let me clarify it. It is because his memory was locked still. Although the system is connected to his soul. Rowan made it so that, it would activate when he gains awareness. It is some kind of mechanism to prevent his baby self to dabble onto the interface when he still doesn't have his old memories back. Keep in mind that Rowan sealed his memories before he activated it. And it won't activate in a world where it was basically normal, since there is no need for it.)

(Alternative Titles: 'Childish Goddesses are CUTE!', 'Hiroto Died Yet AGAIN', 'Prelude to a New Adventure!')