Prota desperately wanted to tell John what had happened, but the same problem persisted. He would do something reckless. Granted, he seemed to have cooled his head a bit since coming to this school, but he didn't care for others the way she did. Lilith and Ryan weren't [Characters] of importance to him, and so if they had to suffer, he wouldn't mind risking their well-being for Prota's.

She'd never thought she'd be caught this way. Having friends aside from those she'd met by necessity was a blessing, but at the same time, it was proving to be a curse. It almost wasn't worth the effort—

No. She shook her head. What was she thinking? The twins weren't liabilities. They were people, not things to be judged by how useful they were. She didn't stick around them because they were helpful, but because they were her friends. She had to remember that.

But what now? The sound of music still blasted down the halls, the laughter of children still filling her ears, but it felt cold now. Distant, eerie, almost mocking. Nothing aside from that one conversation had changed, but what a change it was. Like the difference between night and day. She didn't want to go back to the dance anymore.

"Oh, Prota!"

Lilith. Why was she here?

"I was looking for you. Did you get lost? Come on, let's go back."

She nodded, meekly following along. Surely things wouldn't change that much, right?

~~~

The Casting class was back to how it'd been before the exam.

At first, everyone had looked to Prota, expecting her to do something, but one glance from Draco was enough to let her know that any moves would not be tolerated. That was, to be honest, fine by her. She hadn't meant to be some kind of hero to the other students. She just wanted revenge. There were no plans to do anything against his actions.

It got worse, though. The weeks passed, and his demands were getting more and more ridiculous. Hit another student with a spell. Wear a sign saying "idiot" on your back.

The worst was his demand that she hand over her tokens. Logically, it didn't matter all that much. John had a ton of tokens he nearly never used, meaning they were all for her. The few things he wanted didn't cost much anyway, so she could freely spend without worrying about making John lose out.

But on the other hand, she'd earned those tokens. She'd worked for them and put in the effort to study and practice, unlike John, and so, for the first time, she felt pride in her work. It was a matter of principle, not practicality.

"Give. Them," Draco said through clenched teeth, his hand still extended.

Prota glared at him defiantly, her arms trembling.

"You know what happens if you don't, right?"

Prota clenched her teeth, but she slowly handed her tokens over.

"Good girl."

The noble sauntered off with a cocky smile, leaving Prota to fume in her own anger.

~~~

"Shit," John cursed, pouring over some books.

Typically, he would've noticed Prota's dilemma. She was trying to hide it, but she was a somewhat emotional girl, and her subtle changes wouldn't have gone unnoticed. Unfortunately, John was a little preoccupied.

The topic? Mystics.

Lupin's words had scared him a little. These [Characters] were getting too smart for his liking. Doctor was a man who was clearly intended to be "intelligent," but there had been no actions that had redeemed him as such in John's eyes. Lupin, however, had predicted John's actions and prepared his own countermeasures. Even if his research hadn't been all correct, it was enough that he now had to watch his step around the demi-god of this world.

Even worse, he had no way of predicting what was coming next. None at all.

In the Town of Beginnings, John had felt more like someone who got caught up in a river's current and washed ashore by some stroke of luck. You might not know where you were, but you could follow the stream back to the source and make your way from there.

The current situation was more like getting knocked out, kidnapped, and woken up in the middle of unknown territory. Not only did John not know where he was, but he also didn't know where he was supposed to go next.

Usually, he wouldn't care about this all that much. He just needed a sign to tell him where to start. Unfortunately, he no longer had the luxury of waiting as long as he needed to. There was a timer that had been set upon him. He needed to figure out where he was meant to go before the school years were over, and likely even before that.

So now he was at a library desk, poring over books about Mystics and their clans, trying to figure out just who Lupin was. Unfortunately, there wasn't much information about Mystics in general. It made sense. Why would there be extensive knowledge about a race of gods?

At this point, he was seriously just considering going to Kit, but he hadn't seen the fox since they'd come to school, and she probably wouldn't be able to answer his questions anyway.

"May I help you? Something you're looking for?" the librarian said, coming over.

John slumped back in his chair, his tired eyes scanning over the woman. She was cute in a mousey way; orange hair, round glasses that matched a round face. Freckles spotted all over her cheeks, a large beige sweater wrapped around her body, making her look like a head planted on an empty sack.

"No," he finally blurted out. "I'm fine, thanks."

"Well, we close in an hour. Please make sure you return any books to where you found them before you leave."

"Yeah, will do."

He went back to the books, but his mind felt like it was getting tumbled in a washing machine. Lupin had figured him out. John had failed to play his role properly. He didn't act like a child. He didn't act interested in the school. The professor had used those hints to deduce that he was here for an ulterior motive, but he had no such motive.

Unfortunately, there was no way to convince the wolf otherwise.

He groaned, planting his face on the table. Was there seriously no way out of this? He wished he had a physical issue he could solve. A demonic cult invaded the school? Great, point the way. A murderer roams the halls? Wonderful, that's right up his alley. A bully is trying to exercise their power over him? Hell, he's already dealt with that.

But here he was, playing games with a god, and he knew neither the rules nor the conditions for victory.

"I thought you liked this stuff," a familiar voice said, unheard by others.

"I do. I like reading about it, not actually solving it myself. Zero, I barely know the [Plot] of the main [Story], let alone whatever mess I'm in right now."

"Then let's warm up your brain a little, shall we?"

John sighed, cracking open yet one more book. There was once again nothing to be found.

"You'd better hurry it up, too. Or don't," Zero continued.

"...you're saying this, why?"

He could see Zero shrugging in his mind.

"No reason. None at all."

~~~

True to Zero's words, nothing happened. At least, nothing the siblings could see. John and Prota were both so occupied with their own problems that they failed to notice the problems of the other. Life went on as usual, but something was brewing in the back. Either the pot would explode, or someone would notice a strange burning smell in the kitchen.

Thankfully, Destiny was here to play the role of smoke detector.

"Hey. Is everything alright between you and Prota?"

John lifted his head from his desk, wiping his mouth. "Whu?"

"It's just… you two seem kinda distant. Did you have a fight or something?"

The late weeks of March were melting the snow away. The winter had been mostly uneventful, and now that the warm spring air was beginning to drift in, coats and hats were being exchanged for lighter clothes.

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"Not that I know of," John frowned. "But if you say so, then I'll check up on her."

"No. You too," Destiny said, shaking his head. "You look tired. Like, a lot more than usual. You sure you're ok? Is something going on?"

Destiny wasn't stupid. He knew John well enough that he understood that if John was sleeping worse than usual, something was keeping him up. And something keeping John up was a cause for concern. This was the guy who'd barely batted an eye at horrific experiments in a lab.

Then again, he could worry himself over seemingly nothing, so it was possible this was just one of those moments.

"Well, for me… yeah, I guess I've been kinda busy." He let loose a wide yawn, licking his lips and rubbing at his eyes. "But it's nothing that important, and I don't think you need to get involved, either."

"You sure? I can-"

"How much do you know about Mythics?"

Destiny froze, stunned at how incredibly quickly John had folded, but if he could help, then he'd try.

"Not that much. Kit doesn't talk about her kind all that much, and the parts she's talked about aren't really for me to say. What do you need to know?"

"I don't know," John sighed. "That's the issue. I need to know everything."

Destiny frowned. "What? What do you mean?"

"Put it this way. Let's say I told you I hid a ring somewhere in one of the rooms on the island. How would you go about finding it?"

"Well, I guess I'd need to know what the ring looks like, which parts of the island you visited, what rooms you have access to…"

"In short, everything, right? You need a large amount of info before you can start whittling it down and processing it," John explained.

Destiny raised an eyebrow. "Just what kind of info do you need on the Mystics?"

"I don't know. Their history. Their connections. Their customs, their goals… the problem is there's nothing on them at all."

Destiny frowned. "John, they're part god. They don't want their history to be revealed to everyone, especially not to use mortals. Are you crazy?"

"Yeah, I'm crazy," John sighed. "Crazy enough that I'm actually putting work into seeing if I find anything on them."

Destiny rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

"I can't ask Kit. I hope you know that."

John nodded. "I know. Otherwise, I would've just come to you from the start."

"I wish I could help, John. I really do."

John sighed, dusting himself off. He tugged awkwardly at his scarf, trying to distract himself from the incredibly annoying task he had at hand.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. If I need it to work out, I'm sure it will. It usually does."

"Don't just say that because-"

"No, I'm not kidding. It usually does work out for me one way or another. Really, don't worry about it."

"If you say so…"

John wasn't lying. Technically, the [Plot] would push on, regardless of whether he was ready for it or not. If that meant it would sweep him along like a hurricane, so be it. He didn't have the means or the power to stop it. If he had such a power, he wouldn't be here in the first place.

Just because he couldn't stop it didn't mean he didn't want to be prepared. He didn't want to be a helpless piece of wood drifting in the wind. He wanted to be the one boarded up in a bunker, ready to weather out the storm. Each piece of knowledge was a brick to be laid, a stone to be placed, and he wanted enough of it to build himself a shelter.

Right now, he was sitting with maybe half a broken brick and a snapped twig.

That wasn't enough. But then again, maybe he'd just brace himself and let himself be thrown around by the force of nature known as the [Author].

It wouldn't be the first time it'd happened, right?

~~~

March passed by in the blink of an eye. April rolled around, the wind grew warmer, the snow melted away, and everyone's situation was no different than it was before.

Destiny and Celeste were worried. Briar and Danjo were, too, but they weren't as insightful or empathetic enough to approach either sibling. Destiny, however, wanted to help. John looked more and more tired by the day, and Prota… well, it was hard to read her, as always, but she did look a little more upset than usual.

Everyone knew what was going on in the Casting class. Nobody knew about the little deal Draco had set up with the white-haired girl, but it wasn't hard to guess that her class wasn't having a great time.

Destiny had offered to step in and deal with it, but Prota had refused. It wasn't as if she didn't think he could do anything, but any action could be seen as rebellion, which would immediately result in punishment. She was starting to understand why students didn't go to the teachers. Draco didn't need justification for what he did. He could, at any point, go to his father and ruin a family's life. The only reason he didn't do so was that the threat of the action was more entertaining to him than the action itself.

At least it wasn't too unbearable. It was annoying, sure. It was incredibly irritating, actually, but it was manageable. It wasn't as if it were happening to her all day, and classes were only a small part of her life. Her afternoons with John and the others were Draco-free, and that was all that mattered.

Even classes weren't really that bad. She didn't care much for the academic lessons; the Casting lessons were still learnable, even with all the distractions. Lilith and Ryan still stuck around her, making life a little nicer.

Speaking of the Casting classes, she did wish they would learn a little more. All of the lessons were about mana efficiency and control, things she was incredibly proficient in. It was firepower and larger spells that she wanted to learn, but Ms. Dawn was all about mastering the basics first.

The only problem was, all she'd been taught was the basics. It was all she knew, and she wanted more.

It would only get worse from here.

"Lilith. Ryan. I'd like to speak to the two of you after class."

Their names were unexpectedly called out by the phoenix Mystic one day at the beginning of class. Prota looked at the twins. Had they somehow gotten in trouble?

"Did we do anything?" Lilith whispered.

"I didn't do anything. I can't say the same for you."

"Hey! I've been a good girl."

Ryan just looked away.

"What? What?!"

Still, they couldn't disobey orders, and so after everyone had cleared out, they remained in the training grounds, shaking as they wondered what was coming next.

"Ryan. Lilith. You two have performed excellently this year. Your growth has been tremendous."

To their credit, it had been. They'd been so focused on catching up with Prota that they hadn't realized just how much they'd improved. The things John had brought up during their first exchange, the three tips he'd given them, were skills the twins had practiced diligently.

They weren't at Prota's level yet, but given that they surpassed her in some aspects, it wouldn't be a lie to say they might just be getting close.

"T-thank you," Ryan said. "But then why did you call us?"

"Oh, no. You're not in any kind of trouble. Rather, I'd like to extend an offer to the two of you."

An offer? Of what kind? Ryan and Lilith looked at each other, confused.

"How would you two like to become my proteges? I could take you under my wing and teach you what I know."

Their jaws dropped. Private tutoring from a Mystic? What idiot would say no?

"But, um… Miss Dawn," Lilith said timidly.

"Yes, Miss Rose? What is it?"

"Isn't Prota more qualified than us?"

If nothing else, the girl was honest to a fault.

"Prota Char… that girl is interesting. I am glad you understand when one has more skill than you," Leora admitted. "She is indeed the better caster. For now."

"Then-"

"That is the problem. She is too good. I do not know if you have noticed, but all of her skills come from her excellent mana efficiency and control, which are the very skills I have been trying to teach you all year long. It is as if those are the only skills she has ever trained."

The twins thought back to their first spar with her. The speed of her chants and the accuracy with which she threw her spells were top class. Moreover, she almost never used any large spells, save for that one strange flower, and even then, the spell seemed to have been used sparingly.

Additionally, her strange movement and fighting style had nothing to do with "Casting" skill. They were simply superior combat senses, something that wasn't necessarily what one expected from a caster.

"I cannot help her with that. There would be no point in taking her under my wing because there would be very little to teach. It would be like trying to fill an already full cup. But you two… I sense tremendous potential. You have the ability to go far. Very far."

They looked at each other. How could they say no?

~~~

"...and that's what happened."

Prota was stunned. Not at the fact that the twins had been chosen for tutoring. John had already explained that such a thing wasn't out of the ordinary. He'd forced Lupin's hand in choosing Destiny as his protege, so it was only a matter of time before Leora chose one. He'd also explained that there was a good chance she wouldn't be chosen. That was fine. She'd been actively hoping she wouldn't be chosen. So, the twins being picked wasn't what was shocking.

No, it was the fact that Leora considered her mana control near perfect that rendered her silent, even more so than usual. Was it really that good? She hadn't thought so. There were still so many things she needed to change.

Maybe the Mystic meant perfect for a mortal. That might make sense. But she wasn't aiming for the limits of a mortal. She'd seen what Kit had done. She'd seen the kind of power John, Doctor and Diaboli could put out. She'd seen Destiny's [God Slaying Sword]. She couldn't limit herself to mortal standards.

"That might also mean we'll see you a little less after class," Lilith said gently. "I'm sorry, but we just can't pass this up."

Prota nodded. She didn't mind. In the first place, she wasn't one to take stuff like this personally, and she understood the honour behind being tutored by a Mystic.

Still, she found that something tugged at her heart just a little. She would miss them.

"That's not all we wanted to talk to you about, though," Ryan said quietly.

They were at a table, eating lunch, and a lot of eyes were on them. Thankfully, the room was loud enough that their conversation wouldn't be overheard, but there were still those who hoped Prota would rise up and do something about Draco. She had yet to hear it herself, but Destiny, Briar and Danjo had all brought up something about Prota being some kind of rebellion leader.

"Prota, are you ok? We've been getting lucky with the whole Draco situation, but you…"

Lilith was right to be worried. Other students might've broken down by now. But Prota was used to far worse. It would take a bit more than some general bullying to bring her down, because her idea of normal was digging food out of trash cans and running for her life.

"I'm ok," Prota said quietly.

"Are you sure?"

Prota nodded.

"Come to us if you need anything, ok?"

She nodded again, but she couldn't do that. It was the twins who were preventing her from doing anything at all. She didn't mind, but she had stopped herself from going to John and Destiny for help, and if she'd done that, then she definitely wouldn't be able to ask Ryan or Lilith.

"...ok."

~~~

"...finals? Oh, shit."

The second week of April arrived, and details on the final exams were rolling around. The exams for the academic classes were to be expected. Just paper tests to be filled out. The tests for the Casting and Fighting classes, on the other hand…

"Survive on the island… for a week? What kinda stupid ass exam is this?" John frowned, looking at the sheet of information.

The requirements were to make a party of four people. Any combination would do, and one could take students from either the Casting or Fighting class. However, one had to consider that resources were scattered around the island, and it was entirely allowed to fight for them.

"Are we using the exam world again?" he muttered, scanning the rest of the page.

Surprisingly, no. Not this time. Teachers would carefully monitor the students, and each would be given a sort of rune that would teleport them out of a situation deemed too dangerous upon entry. This would mean failure, of course, unless another student created said situation.

John was starting to see why they'd given students the details more than a month in advance. Not once had they learned to team up with students from the other classes. Fighters didn't know how to interact with Casters. Unless they'd somehow learned outside of Scholaris, these kids would have no idea how to synergize well.

John and Prota were exceptions to this. Their synergy was top-notch, if not the best of anybody in the entire school. Despite knowing this, John was also the most nervous for the exam to come.

"...so what's gonna go wrong this time?"

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