Destiny frowned as he finished reading the piece of paper Prota had given him.

"You want me to tell you about the Wynton family?"

Prota nodded.

"Why?"

Prota gestured for him to flip to the next page. Destiny frowned but did as he was instructed to.

"...you want to know how he can get away with what he does?"

Prota nodded and gestured for him to turn the page once more.

Despite all of their time together, Prota still wasn't comfortable holding a long, verbal discussion with Destiny. Hell, she barely talked with John, and the arrangement worked out since he always seemed to know what she wanted. However, she was comfortable enough with him to ask him a few things.

And she knew he could keep a secret.

"Well… I mean… why don't you just ask John?"

Prota's pointed stare was obvious enough that even Destiny understood what she was trying to convey. After all, he was well aware of the answer himself.

"Ah… fair enough." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking a little sheepish. "Unfortunately, I don't know much about the Wynton family either."

Prota's eyes widened. Wasn't Destiny kind of like nobility himself? Surely he knew something.

"It's not that simple, Prota. I'm from Lunaria. The Wyntons are under the king in Solaria. I've heard of the Wyntons, but it's not like I know that much about them."

Prota's head drooped. If Destiny didn't know anything about them, then it was over.

"Is he bothering you that much?" Destiny frowned.

Prota froze. She hadn't prepared a pre-written message for this. More than that, how had he known? She hadn't spoken up about the issues that were going on in the Casting class. If Destiny knew, did that mean—

Destiny sighed. "Well, I'm sure you'll deal with it. If you need help…"

Prota nodded. Destiny was a good friend. It was a shame she was still too timid to open up to him, but that would just take time. It was somewhat refreshing to have someone who wouldn't explode over the smallest things or risk their life just because it seemed interesting. John would always be her closest friend and family, but having only one person in your life wasn't the healthiest of lifestyles.

"Well, we could also ask my sister for help," Destiny continued.

Prota froze. Everything she'd just thought about Destiny being calm and rational went out the window. Hart? Destiny's sister? That crazy woman with the giant hammer? Granted, Prota really liked Hart, but she also knew how scary the girl could be. Destiny wanted to go to her?

Before Destiny could continue, she violently shook her head. This was more than enough.

"...I see. Well, you're a smart girl. Just remember, we're always here if you need us."

Destiny's bright grin put her a little more at ease.

~~~

Draco seemed to have caught wind of the incident in the classroom, because students started getting more daring with their "pranks." They'd linger around the crime scene, likely not by choice, and Prota was beginning to see more of them. On top of that, it wasn't just Draco firing at her during class. An icicle or rock would slam into her side, or a bubble of water would drench her head, forcing her to wring out her hair like a mop. All these other elements were things the noble wasn't capable of doing himself.

Still, she couldn't do anything about it. She just didn't know what to do. She wasn't John. She didn't have his brazenness or his experience in dealing with such situations. It wasn't just her noticing this, though.

"It's getting pretty bad, huh?"

Lilith and Prota were playing Magecraft, but neither of them was really focused on the game. The club's first-year members had slowly been disappearing, no longer able to enjoy themselves with everything else going on.

"Are you sure you're ok? It's impossible to tell with that face of yours," Lilith continued.

She was still as cheerful as always, but she seemed a lot more tired these days, as if she were making a conscious effort to maintain her current attitude. Something about the whole situation didn't make sense.

Weren't the teachers supposed to be doing something about this? Despite the fact that the abuse of power couldn't be entirely curbed, it was surprising that so many students were being affected by this, and the situation was still being ignored. Were the teachers perhaps getting bribed? Surely not, right?

"Why don't you just do what your brother did?" Lilith mused.

Prota's head tilted to the side.

"I mean, everyone's heard about him by now. The fighting class doesn't have a single problem with class difference because of it. They think John's some kind of hero of justice, and they're too scared of dealing with him."

A grin almost made its way onto Prota's face. John, a hero of justice? He'd probably die inside if anyone were to ever tell him that. That fight had been an entirely selfish decision, a decision made to make his life easier.

"But… you're strong too, right? Can't you just do the same thing?" Lilith said longingly.

All at once, time seemed to stop. The question echoed in Prota's head, bouncing off the walls of her skull until it seemed deafening.

"I mean, we saw you fight. You're probably even stronger than your brother, right? You could go, like, bam, wam, pow! and beat them up!"

Could she do it? Did she have the skill to brazenly challenge Draco to a duel and overwhelm him with sheer power and skill? She didn't know. Surely he'd just cower in fear, right? Just like when he'd tried to sacrifice her to escape.

But even if she beat him, would it stop anything?

"Lilith. You know she can't do that."

Ryan walked up, apparently done with his own game.

"What?"

"Even if Prota beats him, the only thing that does is take the pressure off her. Which is fine, I guess. But that's not going to stop the situation with the other students."

"But that's not fai-"

"Lilith!" Ryan snapped. Prota didn't get why he seemed so stiff about stuff like this. "We should just be thankful that we haven't been targeted yet. You know we can't get involved."

"But father-"

Ryan cast a glare so sharp that even Prota shrank back a little. It seemed the discussion was over.

"Well, that's enough for today. I'll see you later, Prota!" Lilith said as she packed up her cards and waved.

Even though the club room was slowly emptying, Prota remained sitting on her chair, eyes glazing over as she lost herself in thought. Was it even possible to stop Draco? What could she do? Although she had the power to fight him, she didn't have the character or the authority John commanded to send a message. No matter what she did, she was far too timid to be a threat.

But it wasn't about her. Seeing students in a position she'd once been in was far worse. Stepped on. Abused. Attacked. Powerless to fight back or defend themselves, just waiting for the torture to end.

The same state she'd once been in.

Obviously, it wasn't the same thing, but it was a reminder of a traumatic past, and combined with everything else, was slowly eating away at her. Initially, she'd been able to simply ignore everything going on, but her barriers were slowly being torn down

It just wasn't right.

~~~

"Man, your class has it pretty bad, huh?"

Prota froze. She'd just entered the room when John had spoken up. He was lying on his bed this time, which was way better than building whatever he'd been building last time. Still, his words caused her to freeze up. Did he know?

"I'm surprised the teachers aren't doing anything about it. I've been trying to ask the old wolf if he knows anything, but he's always busy." A look of disgust formed on John's face as he sat up. "If anything, it's probably the [Author's] fault. I'm sure that bitch doesn't want me getting rid of Draco too early."

"Getting rid of… Draco?"

John sighed as he swung his legs off the bed.

"I've explained this already. Prota, Draco isn't really a major villain. He's like a bump in the road. He's just annoying. Just a pain in the ass to deal with."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"But-"

"Well, yeah, this is a bit more than that, but this is pretty standard. I'm sure Destiny will do something at some point," John shrugged. He seemed incredibly casual about the whole situation. He didn't even seem that mad. "He's a tool, Prota."

"...?"

"A tool for the [Author]. It's an easy way to bait emotions out of [Readers]. 'Oh, Draco is an arrogant son of a bitch! Grr, he's such an asshole! Wouldn't it be great if he would just drop dead?' That kind of reaction. Well, if you're getting baited by Draco, you should probably ■■■■ ■■■■■■■■- oh, can't say that."

Prota was utterly lost at this point. She thought she'd been learning about the whole [Story] thing, but when John started going, he really got going, and she couldn't possibly keep up. No matter how hard she tried, seeing the world as nothing but a [Story] was just too much for her.

"So, in the end, he's not someone I can just get rid of. As much as I hate it, it is what it is."

John let out a deep sigh as if he'd been waiting to unload his frustrations. It made sense, though. Draco was just not a pleasant person to hear about, even if it didn't directly involve you.

"Well, I'm not going to go out of my way to create a major mess. He's not bothering you, right?"

Prota had just managed to relax, but she stiffened up again after hearing the question. John didn't seem suspicious of her or anything. His legs swung back and forth as he stretched, his arms reaching up as his back curved into an arc. He was probably stiff after lying down all day.

"No," Prota said quietly.

"Well, then, it's fine."

Prota almost let out a sigh of relief. Now that she thought about it, there was no real reason to be that nervous about the whole thing. She'd never lied to him before, after all. There was no reason for him not to believe her.

"Besides, I don't think I'd be able to win against him."

Prota stared in shock. "John would lose?"

John shrugged, seemingly comfortable with that statement.

"Yeah. If I'm not supposed to win, then I'm not supposed to win. Even with the role of [Anomaly], that guy still knows magic, while I don't. Well, actually… hm. That's something interesting to think about."

He seemed to realize something as he was talking.

"Still, it's not like we can't do anything."

"...?"

"The exam. It's in a month. I mean, killing him then would be a pretty good way to get some stress off your back, right?"

John hopped off the bed and threw his hoodie on, his symbol fading onto his back as he walked toward the door.

"Think about it."

~~~

"Have you figured anything out?"

Destiny and John were once again clashing swords. Ever since the [Protagonist] had started receiving private mentoring from Lupin himself, nobody wanted to challenge him to a fight. John, of course, didn't really care, and if Destiny went easy enough, John could parry most of the attacks. Most of the time, though, they spent talking.

"Figured what out?"

"What you're going to do for the exam."

John sighed. "I'm not really sure. I've got a couple of ideas, none of which are gonna make the old man happy, but I really don't have any options."

Destiny raised an eye. "Does he know-"

"Yeah. He knows."

John's sword was knocked out of his hands as Destiny delivered a powerful blow.

"He's not giving you any room at all, huh?"

"I mean… he doesn't know everything up my sleeve. For example, I was going to build a nuke, but Prota stopped me. Unfortunately."

"A nu- John, are you insane?" Destiny hissed. "I wouldn't be surprised if he expelled you on the spot for that!"

"But it would be funny."

"It would not!"

"If you don't see the sheer comedy in dropping a miniature sun on all the test takers, you just aren't a funny guy."

"I- what- no! If anyone, you're the weird one here!"

John just laughed as he went to pick up his sword. "Do you want to team up?"

He'd thrown the question out as an afterthought, but was surprised to find Destiny actually considering the offer.

"I mean… if we were to win, it'd be just you and me, right?" Destiny said slowly.

"Well, yeah. I guess." John grimaced as his sword was once again knocked out of his hand.

"You'd lose."

"Yeah, thanks for letting me know. As if it wasn't obvious."

He bent down and picked up his weapon with a grunt.

"I'm just saying," Destiny shrugged. "What do you even do in these classes, anyway? You have no mana to train."

"You can train these nuts," John shot back.

His retort didn't make any sense in the slightest, but it was an automatic reply. His brain was occupied with other things.

The exam was only a couple of weeks away. As he stood at the moment, he'd do incredibly poorly. He didn't care about that, but he couldn't get himself expelled. And even if he teamed up with Destiny, his skills wouldn't be displayed in the slightest. He had to be "creative" again, but without guns, or any modern technology for that matter, he didn't have much.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. There was a variety of weapons he likely wasn't allowed to use in his pocket dimension, but therein lay the problem: he wasn't allowed to use them. It wasn't a restriction set by the school. It was a restriction set by the [Author], who likely wasn't fond of using weapons from other [Stories]. It was a shame. Some of the weapons would've given John a huge advantage.

That being said, he did need to come up with something. The restriction for a "ranged weapon" had been defined as a tool that lets you fire a projectile. That was why bows and crossbows had been explicitly allowed. This also meant that things like throwing knives, rocks, or anything of the sort were still allowed.

Thoughts were swirling around in his head. He didn't have the firepower to pierce through the students' mana reinforcement, and with the training they'd been getting, they weren't the bumbling fools they'd been at the entrance exam. These were, after all, talented students. They learned quickly. The advantage John had from experience would soon be closed by mana and magic.

Firepower and range. He needed those two things, but how? Something like a nuke—no, he wasn't going to do that.

"John? Hello?" Destiny said, waving his hand in front of John's face. "Class is over. Come on, let's go."

John nodded slowly, but his mind was busy. Draco. He, too, would continue to get better, right? Even if it wasn't much, the idiot would still be better than he was before. At this point, John would have very little to use against him.

For how much longer could he stay relevant?

"John, what are you doing? Come on, we gotta go."

With a start, John remembered that he still had other classes to attend. He nodded slowly, putting his sword to the side as he tried to shake the thoughts away.

~~~

Exam season was approaching. The students were frantically cramming, poring over notes, reading page after page in their textbooks in an effort to get just one less mistake, one mark closer to perfection.

It was likely that the only student who wasn't worried was John. Interestingly enough, now that everyone else was stuck in their rooms or the library, he was out a lot more often, taking strolls around the island. The air had a bit of a chilly nip to it now, and they'd occasionally get snow, the kind that melted as soon as it hit the ground. The days were short, and the nights were long. John personally preferred it this way. There was something romantic about the old magic lanterns lining the cobble paths, creating a warm atmosphere in the cold, black evenings.

"What now?" Zero said one day.

Zero didn't talk much these days. There wasn't really a reason for him to do so. It was a little strange for the soul to be coming out now.

"I mean… I don't know," John sighed. "Is this really something I'm meant to handle?"

They weren't talking about exams. Zero had never criticized John for his lack of effort when it came to studying. Something like that must've been a trait from their time as a real person.

"Is it something you'd like to handle?" Zero asked kindly.

"Not particularly."

"Then… well, I guess it's fine."

John sighed as he fell onto a bench, staring up into the sky. The stars shone brilliantly overhead, and while he was fond of nature's wonders, he was too tired to appreciate them properly.

"Why does he exist, Zero? Come on. Was the [Author] really that desperate for some kind of emotional response? He's just annoying, man. That's all he is. He's arrogant and overbearing for no good reason. What's the point?"

"Well… I mean, don't people like this exist in real life, too?"

John shrugged, kicking at the ground. It was strange. Since when did something so trivial, so simple, get him this annoyed?

"Like what?" John muttered.

"Untouchable monsters. Those who can do what they please and get away with it, with no consequences at all."

"I mean…"

"They're everywhere, John. They always will be. But you could do something about it here."

"Is that what you're suggesting I do?" John said, raising an eye.

"For once, no."

Zero popped out, hands clasped behind his back as he took slow, intentional steps around the path. His footsteps made no noise, but you could see the heel touch the floor as the sole came down slowly, legs stiff and straight as they swung forward in a marching rhythm.

"You've changed, John," the soul said with a smile.

"Wow. Thanks."

"No. I really mean it. Just look at yourself."

John grimaced, slumping in his seat. "I'm not in the mood for some kind of psychoanalysis of myself as a [Character]. Can we get on with it already?"

"Think of the way you were back at the bar. To put it bluntly, you were a moody, emo kid with middle school syndrome."

John started to sit up, clearly about to argue. "I-"

"Am I wrong?"

John looked away, but he didn't say anything to refute his soul's statement. It was hard to win an argument about yourself when you were quite literally arguing with yourself.

"Granted, it was a fair state to be in. Well, maybe some of the things you said… But look at you now. You're- well, I guess I can't really say you're happy. But you're experiencing things. Giving things another chance."

"Yeah? And why does that matter? I still don't have much. I don't have what I want, Zero."

"And what would that be?"

Zero turned around to face John, a curious smile on his face. It was neither happy nor sad, but it wasn't expressionless, either. It was as if John's monochrome clone was intrigued by the situation, as if he were observing a baby taking its first steps.

That expression pissed John off.

"You know what it is," he snorted with disgust. "Isn't that right, Mr. [Reader]?"

"Maybe I do. But it would be good for you to say it yourself."

"Yeah? Good for who? The [Readers] sitting on their ass, bored out of their mind because I suck as a [Character]?" John's hands began to clench into fists, his eyebrows curving down into a frown.

"No. It'd be good for you."

"Me?" John scoffed. "What is this, a counselling session?"

"You're a coward, John."

The words were spoken with a calm intensity. Zero never raised his voice, never changed his tone, but somehow, the message felt more pointed, more direct, as if he were trying to pierce John's core with words alone.

"You keep running. You keep telling yourself that you'll deal with it when you need to, but all of those responsibilities stack up. They're going to catch up at some point."

"Then they catch up. And then they'll hit me like a truck, maybe I die, but isn't it just super convenient that I just happen to have an ability that deals with that consequence?"

John got up, his good mood ruined. He began to leave, but Zero didn't bother to disappear. He kept standing under the lamp, a shadow untouched by the light.

"That's probably what Draco thinks, John."

"Don't you dare-" John started, swirling around in anger, but was cut off immediately.

"Do you really think he's just pure evil? No. Very few people are, John. It's far more likely that he genuinely believes what he's doing is fine. He might truly believe he is just above everyone else."

"Yeah, and that's-"

"Exactly how you think."

"But I can-"

"Fix it? Yeah? And Draco probably thinks that his actions don't matter. Sure, he's probably in the wrong. And I get that you don't really care about being right."

"Then we're done-"

"But you have to understand, John."

Zero looked at him, that small smile gone. All that was left was a sad, pitying expression. As if Zero was truly sorry about what was happening to John, as if he truly pitied what John was going through.

"Both of you believe yourselves to be immune to consequences. And maybe you are immune. But then again, maybe you aren't."

"How could I not be? Isn't-"

"You curse your life. You hate it. You literally hate your own existence. In a way, isn't that a consequence in itself? Think about it, John. Are you sure your powers haven't gotten to your head?"

"Yeah. I'm sure of it. After all, weren't they stripped from me as soon as I landed in this world?"

Zero just sighed. There really wasn't any other appropriate response.

"You're afraid, John. For all your bravado, for all your recklessness, you're afraid of losing, aren't you? That's why you play the supporting role."

"I play the supporting role because that's what the [Author]-"

"That's not true, John. We both know it. [Anomaly]. I explained this already. You don't have a preset role. You are neither favoured to win nor favoured to lose. You're just using the [Author] as an excuse to avoid fights you'll lose. Take away your tricks, your toys, and what are you?"

A few flakes of snow began to slowly float to the ground, little specks of white drifting back and forth, helplessly carried by the wind. A brief existence, wiped out as soon as they made contact with the ground.

"Someday, I hope you stop running away. Because if you don't stop running, the choices you'll have to make will catch up with you eventually. And you won't like it if you're forced into them."

With that, Zero left.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.