Despite all the hustle and bustle of everything, John still had time to prepare himself for Prota's birthday. He'd put it into his calendar, and he wasn't going to let Zero be the one to remind him of it this year. Still, that didn't mean things had gotten busy.

In fact, things were so busy that she'd completely forgotten of the event herself. What with Draco's annoying attitude and the exams coming up, she hadn't even remembered that her birthday was something that existed. So when she entered her room, exhausted and worn down from the day, she wasn't expecting banners and balloons to be hanging in her dorm room.

"Hey," John said sheepishly.

It was only their third birthday together, but it felt different than the other years. The first year had been a celebration, a party to prove that life was worth enjoying. The second year had been a peaceful event, a sort of moment of rest where they could sit down and recoup after everything that had happened to them.

But this year, it just felt… like an ordinary birthday. There was no real hidden meaning behind it, no sense of celebration or calm. Reaching double digits in age should've been some kind of accomplishment, but compared to everything else they'd been through, it didn't have any meaning.

"It's not much, but… happy birthday, Prota."

On her bed was a small box with sloppy wrapping. She couldn't figure out what it was. It wasn't going to be her staff and cloak. That'd been her gift for the past two years.

So what was this?

"I think you'll like this," Zero said, popping out. "But John's not very good at wrapping gifts."

"Pot calling the kettle black," John shot back.

"Every time I insult you, it's the pot calling the kettle black. You're me. I'm you. We have the same flaws."

"I'm not an insufferable asshole."

"Yes, you are."

Prota ignored their banter and slowly approached her gift. She felt tired. So tired. She was sick of Draco's antics, of having to hold it in, of trying to bear the burden of all this on her own. Of holding a secret that, if leaked, could ruin the lives of her friends. But she had to bear it. She had to keep pushing through. It was better that she suffered, and they stayed oblivious to the dangers that lurked just beyond their reach.

So this gift was a sort of breather. As if the passing storm had gone so far that she was in the center now, in a momentary place of peace and quiet. She carefully undid the wrapping to find a small box inside.

"Open it," Zero said cheerfully as he continued to dodge John's blows. "I'll teach you how to use it once you've seen it."

Prota carefully undid the box to find… what in the world was this? It was some kind of metallic, black object with a kind of glass panel, and strange buttons adorned the top, but she couldn't figure out what they were for. Was it some kind of new weapon? An artifact?

"It's called a camera," John said, panting. He'd given up on getting Zero. "You take pictures."

"...pictures?"

"Here, I'll show you."

John picked up the device and held it to his face. Closing one eye, the other peered through some kind of scope as he aimed the glass panel at Zero, who smiled and gave a thumbs up. There was a small click followed by a faint whirring noise as John pressed the button, and a piece of paper slowly emerged.

"And… done," John grinned, shaking the paper.

It was shiny and black, but as he shook it, something was fading in. Prota squinted, trying to determine what it was, but she was amazed when she eventually figured it out.

It was Zero, smiling and giving a thumbs up. Was this a device that could capture the past?

"You can take pictures. You know, a picture?"

Prota stared wide-eyed as John handed her the device.

"Just put your eye to the thing and look through. Then, when you see what you want to take a picture of, just click the button." He sighed, hopping onto his bed. "This [Story] is probably being written in text. Unless it's being drawn or animated, but- nah, no way. Still, it'd be nice to look back on some memories now and then, right?"

He went over to the box and shook it, causing whatever was still inside to rattle around. After a bit, a small ring came out. It was simple, with a tiny sapphire on top, but it was well-made.

"I don't know if this looks good or not, but at least it's something from this world. I was afraid that the camera would be pushing it too far. Here, this is a dimension ring. You can put the camera in it. That's… the camera's the only thing that can fit inside, along with whatever photos you take, but it'll keep it safe, at least."

Prota's eyes shone as John slipped the ring onto her index finger, and she fed some mana into the artifact, the camera in her hands vanishing inside.

"Happy birthday, Prota. I just… I just hope we're still around to do this next year."

Prota didn't pay attention to any of that. She just threw herself at him, wrapping him in a tight hug. She needed this. She'd needed this break. Replenished, she felt alive again. She'd keep fighting against Draco, for the sake of her friends. Because even if John didn't know the specifics of what was going on, he'd still be there to have her back.

"Thank you, John. Thank you."

John frowned, confused. "Uh, yeah. No problem."

He didn't fully understand what she meant, but as long as she was happy, he was satisfied.

Just like that, their third birthday together passed.

~~~

With Prota's birthday complete, all attention went back to the exam. Well, for Prota, at least. John was still busy trying to wrap his head around his conversation with Lupin. It'd been over two months since their interaction, and while the Mystic hadn't changed any of his habits, John kept looking for hints where there weren't any.

"You're still looking into Mystics? Come on, how about the exam? Shouldn't you be worried about that?"

Destiny continued to spar with John during their Fighter classes, but he was so distracted that his sword would just get knocked out of his hand every time.

"Why would I be worried about the exam?" John frowned. "That'll be easy."

"I don't know if I needed to remind you, but you don't have any mana. Are you going to be able to survive? I mean, let's pretend you don't need to find food or anything. Can you, you know? Make it out alive?"

John stopped, giving Destiny his best "really?" expression.

"I've been in conditions way worse than a little island, ok? I'll be fine," he grumbled.

"But there are mana-"

"Don't wanna hear it."

"John, this is serious. It's not so much that I'm worried about you passing or failing. To be honest, I can tell you don't care about it either, and I'm beyond the point of trying to tell you what to do."

That was enough to make John stiffen. This wasn't about his schooling? What was Destiny worried about, then?

"The mechanism that keeps us safe… I think it needs a mana signature to activate it. No one will be able to tell it's not active, but if something happens to you-"

"Hey, I didn't know you cared so much."

Destiny was about to retort, but then he paused as he saw the smile on John's face. He wasn't being sarcastic. He truly appreciated Destiny's concern.

"I'll be fine. You've seen me deal with worse, right? If it comes to it, I'll do what I need to, but until then, I'll be fine. Besides, I've got Prota, and you know how strong she is."

"I… I guess." He didn't seem to like it, but he was slowly accepting the argument. "Just make sure you don't die out there, ok?"

John laughed. "Die out there? This is school, dude. It's just not that deep. We've been through worse."

He turned around, hiding the smile that had turned stiff on his face.

~~~

"Fuck!"

John smashed his head into the wall, cursing himself for being such an idiot.

"Chekov's gun! I just loaded it again, didn't I? That was definitely a death flag!"

"You acknowledging it might mean you already fired it, no?"

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"If you're saying that, that means it probably wasn't fired," John grumbled.

Why had he said that? He'd been so concerned about something going wrong, so concerned about a plot twist flying out of nowhere and hitting him smack center in the face. He was supposed to be the most conscious of everyone about this kind of stuff. He wasn't in the position to be telling others that nothing serious would happen.

And yet here he was, bragging about how Destiny shouldn't be concerned at all.

He was still in his old mindset. The mindset that mistakes could easily be erased, that consequences were of no matter to him.

In short, he was still acting as if [Resets] were a tool still available to him.

He'd merely been lucky that nothing of serious note had happened. Granted, this was a school. While some stories took place entirely within a school, others used it as an early arc, and the events that happened within were usually of little consequence. He hadn't been entirely careless; there was still some logic behind his laziness.

Still, it was time for him to stop goofing off. Consequence was a word long forgotten. It was time he remembered that feeling.

The feeling that he could no longer go back on his choices.

"...John?"

Prota walked into the room to see her brother smashing his head into the wall. Although she'd been oblivious to John's concerns due to her own problems, it was a little hard to miss something like this.

"Oh, hey. What's up?" he said as if he were acting completely normally.

At this point, such an action wasn't anything odd to her, but she also wouldn't just forget what she'd seen. She wasn't worried, but she was curious.

"Is something wrong?" she said quietly.

"No, it's fine. Nothing you need to worry about."

"...liar."

John sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Ok, look, it's nothing you can really help with. To be honest, if you could help with this, I'd be more concerned."

"Something about [Story]?"

"Yeah, basically. It's not that big of a concern. I just did something stupid. Don't worry about it."

Prota's eyes went wide at that. John was admitting he'd done something stupid? She couldn't hear that and then not worry about it. If he actively admitted his mistakes without anybody bothering him, that meant something was seriously wrong.

"Hey, I can tell what you're thinking. No, it's really not that big of a concern. It's just… ah, it's fine. I just ruined my chances at figuring something out, but we won't have to worry about it for a while. Let's worry about the exam for now, ok?"

Prota nodded. This excuse felt more reasonable.

"Speaking of, was there anyone you wanted to partner up with?"

She pointed at John. That much should've been obvious, right?

"No, I meant- seriously, man," John laughed. "I meant other people. I'm totally down to go, just you and me, but was there anyone else you wanted to invite?"

Prota was taken aback. She hadn't even thought about that. So far, everybody they'd worked with had been out of necessity. It'd been John's plan to get close to the [Protagonist] ever since they'd arrived in the Town of Beginnings, and everything they'd done revolved around that. Granted, they'd done that successfully. Destiny was close enough that they considered him a genuine companion, not just an asset to their end goal.

However, now that they were at Scholaris, Prota hadn't considered what they were doing here. She knew she was here to get stronger; that'd been part of their plan from day one. But what else was there? Surely there was something more to it than this. She had never questioned it since John was always the one in charge of planning, but now that this issue had come up, she was left wondering.

She didn't ask, though. It simply didn't matter that much. She was much more independent than before, but she still trusted John enough to blindly go along with whatever he said.

With that decided, her mind turned back to the question at hand. Was there anyone she wanted to tag along with for the exam? Destiny and Danjo were good choices, but Danjo wasn't someone taking this test, and if John hadn't suggested Destiny, he hadn't planned to work with him anyway.

Well, now that she thought about it, if she and John were already part of a team, then that left two slots open, right? And there were two friends she trusted.

"Um… Lilith and Ryan," she said hesitantly as if the question had been a test, and she was expecting her answer to be wrong.

"Those two? Hm… three casters and a fighter, and I'm a fake fighter- well, no. I can use [Infinity] now, can't I? There's nothing monitoring us-"

John cut himself off. There it was again. He was getting reckless. He was under the assumption that he could use [Infinity] when, in reality, they were still being monitored. This was somewhat of a major event, not just some small skirmish among bullies. Sure, there was a chance nobody would notice this unique skill, but if someone did, then wouldn't the consequences be much worse than the benefits?

He'd been worried about Lupin keeping an eye on him this whole time, and here he was, acting reckless all over again.

"Well, it should be fine. I'll direct us, and the twins have pretty good firepower. We'll be fine."

He paused, rubbing his chin. If John had learned from his lessons, he wouldn't be in the position he was now. So it was no surprise that the next words to come out of his mouth would be stupid ones.

"Yeah. Hopefully nothing goes wrong."

~~~

Days passed. Nothing of note happened. Weeks flew by. A month, and suddenly, exam season was here.

Surprisingly, the weather on the island was much warmer. Despite it being the early weeks of May, the warm weather was such that shorts and t-shirts were comfortable clothes to wear. John, of course, continued to wear his usual outfit, including the scarf, but Prota had switched to a lighter summer dress. Her cloak continued to make use of its weather control runes, keeping her cool throughout the coming days.

While the warm temperature was welcome to many, it also meant that the exam would take place in this hot climate. This meant water would be a much more valuable resource as the island they would be using was surrounded by ocean water, meaning salt water and not fresh water. Examinees would have to travel farther inland to survive even the first couple of days.

Prota had approached the twins about forming a team. Both quickly accepted. They would have agreed regardless of Prota's strength, but it was an added bonus that she was quite the powerhouse. Additionally, while they never really crossed paths, both Ryan and Lilith were well aware of John's combat capabilities. In fact, it was possible they were still overestimating them. It didn't matter. His real purpose lay not in combat but in something else.

In the meantime, Destiny had found his team. That team consisted of one member: Destiny.

"Are you serious?" John frowned. "You know what you'd say to me if I tried something like this, right?"

"Yeah, but I think I can do it," Destiny said, shaking his head. "John, I have to be able to do something like this, or I can't make it that far at all. I can't keep relying on people like you forever."

"What do you-"

"Think, John. Think back to all the battles. Back in the Town of Beginnings, we never got a decisive victory."

"What?"

Destiny sighed. "We beat the golem because you found the weak point. We beat the haunted armour because of Prota's… abilities. The crystal crab was something we beat because you forced my abilities out. We beat the chimera, barely, as a joint effort, and that was a weak one. We beat the mercenaries because they got cocky, and-"

Destiny frowned. How had they beaten the mercenaries? Now that he thought about it, he'd barely beat Ten, and then… he shook his head. If John were questioned, there would likely be no satisfactory replies.

"The other mercenaries, again, got cocky. Even Kit doesn't know how we beat Doctor. We got lucky, John. Very lucky."

John resisted the urge to laugh. Destiny had no idea how ironic his statement was. Sure, he'd dealt with some of the issues with his own skills, but a lot of it could be chalked up to Destiny's role as the [Protagonist]. It was his destiny to win.

He choked on that last thought. Was that the reason for his name? Destiny? No, probably not. But—he shook his head. No more of these kinds of thoughts.

"I'm not saying I don't need companions. But I also can't keep relying on this kind of stuff forever. I've been receiving tutoring from Mr. Wolfhound for more than half a year now. My training in the camp let me learn how to survive on my own, even without supplies. This is about my own growth, John."

John nodded slowly. "Yeah. I get it."

"You- you do?"

"I mean…" John looked around, but everyone else was too busy to pay attention to their conversation. "You're the hero, Destiny. You've got a kind of responsibility others don't. I mean, no pressure or anything, but hey, you're the one that's been worried, right?"

Destiny lowered his sword, eyes wide.

"So- you knew?"

"About what?"

"Our fights. The outcome. Everything."

"If you're talking about us getting 'lucky,' yeah, I guess," John shrugged.

"And you haven't been doing anything about it?!"

John sighed. "You need to get the idea that I'm some kind of god out of your head. I know things, that doesn't mean I can change them. What did you want me to do about it? Let us die? Destiny, those were matters of life-and-death, not some kind of training."

"I- I guess."

"This is school. This is the time you want to get strong, ok? And it's because of that that I'm not going to question you going solo. Just be ready."

"Wait, so were you warning-"

"Ah! Don't say anything. Just be ready, ok?" John repeated.

"Is something going to-"

"I don't know. I- I don't know, just… It's better not to say anything. But it's also better to be prepared."

Destiny nodded, walking away. John stretched, satisfied with what he'd just accomplished. Surely nothing else would go wrong, right? He cursed. Now that he'd just thought of that, something else definitely would go wrong.

"You seem like you're having a little trouble. Want a little help?"

"Zero? Don't scare me like that," John said, clutching his chest.

He hadn't expected his soul to speak at this moment. Zero just laughed before speaking once more.

"Yeah, yeah. Go check your system. I left a little surprise."

~~~

Exams came. Exams went. There was nothing really special about them. What came next, though, had even John a little nervous.

Danjo, Celestia and Briar all came to say good luck. They'd all have their own respective practical exams, and none of them would be coming to the island.

"I kinda wish we had Danjo," Destiny said sadly as he got ready to board the boat.

As per the instructions, nothing but personal weapons were allowed. Even that had been restricted to only a few weapons, probably to stop John from doing something ridiculous again. It seemed that wherever he went, rules needed to be implemented in order to restrain him, whether they were implemented by the [Author] or by some other force.

"Yeah, me too. This kinda reminds me of our days in the dungeons."

"Is that what you think is gonna happen? Some kind of monster is gonna appear?"

John hesitated, running his hand through his hair. "Maybe. It's possible."

"I don't like the fact that you're saying that."

"Deal with it," John shrugged. "I'm not saying it's likely, just possible. If you want some good news, it's that I don't think anything else is gonna happen. Very small chance some kind of demon cult organization shows up, but the odds of that are pretty damn low."

Destiny breathed a sigh of relief. If it were just a monster, they could deal with it.

"Hey, but, good luck out there. You're crazier than I am for going solo," John nodded.

"I don't want to, but… well, we had this talk already."

John let a small smile slip through. "Yeah. We did."

They shook hands and went their separate ways as they boarded the boat. The safety devices, in the form of bracelets to be worn around the upper arm, were being handed out as students walked up to the ramps, and after some minor issues, everyone was safely aboard.

The boat took off, the sails unfurling as the captain began to use powerful wind magic to steer the boat in the right direction.

"Students!" Leora Dawn yelled, standing at the stern of the boat. "You will have to survive on your own for a week. I hope you have all prepared well enough! The supplies on the island will be more than enough to provide somewhat comfortable living conditions. All you need is to secure them."

She unfurled a poster revealing the types of things they could find. It was a lot better than John had expected. Tents, easy-to-make campfires, pre-packaged food, water canisters, filters, so on and so forth. All tools that would make survival somewhat trivial.

"The main concern will be the beasts on the island." Lupin's voice was quieter, but it still carried itself such that all the students could easily hear him. "None of them should be something you cannot handle, but approach with caution."

The students all stiffened. This was a grim reminder that this was real. This wasn't the imaginary field they'd used for their winter exams. They would really have to survive for a whole week.

"We can do this, right, Prota?" John said, putting his arm around her shoulder.

She looked up at the poster, then out to the sea, where no land could be seen.

She should've been nervous. About the exam, about Draco, about things in general, but right now, with the salty spray of the ocean and the wind blowing in her face, her snow-white hair fluttering in the air, she felt so, so alive. Her heart pounded away in excitement. There wouldn't be anything that would stop her.

"Nn." Prota nodded confidently.

Surely nothing would go wrong.

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