But Nothing Happened

At last, I’d finally made it into the academy. Listening to the principal’s dull speech, I found myself feeling oddly sentimental all over again.

When I thought about how much I’d had to twist myself into knots just to get a seat here, it was enough to make my skin crawl.

I really thought I was going to die back then. Somehow, I’d survived it after all.

But I only let myself linger in the past for a moment. Right now, I had a quest to focus on.

Glancing at my status window, I saw the quest screen sitting there in huge, blatant letters, as if it were daring me to ignore it.

It read: “At the entrance ceremony, draw the heroine’s attention. 0/6.”

The reward was relationship points with the heroine, plus stat points.

Draw her attention.

That didn’t mean I was supposed to go berserk and get called a lunatic, obviously. It meant I needed to make a strong impression by overcoming some obstacle in a spectacular way.

You might ask what obstacle there could possibly be, but monsters were supposed to appear during the ceremony.

Not real trouble, of course. Their specs were weakened to the point where they couldn’t actually hurt humans.

The disruptions that erupted during the entrance ceremony were basically just one of the academy’s annual rituals.

Of course, that information was tightly controlled.

Heros Corporation was practically a government in its own right, and it kept all academy-related information locked down tight.

They said it was a surprise test, and if everyone knew about it, it would lose its meaning.

Without my knowledge of the original story, I wouldn’t have known either. That was how thoroughly they hid it.

If I made a strong enough impression here, it could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even change which class I was assigned to.

You could call it the thousand-point question on a summer camp quiz show or whatever, but… that was the kind of event this was.

It was their way of sifting through the sand in case there happened to be some talent they’d missed.

Of course, the ones who got caught in the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sieve were mostly A Class students, whether they were from the Hunter track or the Hero track, so it was basically just a stage set for the main cast.

I had already started drawing up my power and was ready to spring out at any moment. In terms of speed, I was confident I wouldn’t lose to anyone.

The principal had just left the stage to applause, and now the monster was supposed to…

…show up.

That was odd. Right about now, a monster should have dropped from above the principal and torn his decoy to pieces.

But nothing happened.

In the original story, something had definitely gone wrong here. And yet, if there was any incident at all, it certainly hadn’t happened yet.

What the hell. Was it starting a little late? The girl sitting next to me wore the same puzzled expression I did.

She, too, had already been gathering her mana in advance, preparing for it.

Maybe she had somehow known trouble was coming before it happened.

The story had mentioned that some people sensed disasters in advance through instinct or prior investigation, so there was nothing strange about that.

She was probably one of those types.

Cat ears twitching on top of her silver bob, heterochromatic eyes filled with confusion, and a figure so absurdly well-proportioned that it practically begged the question of how she was supposed to be a new student at all.

For a moment, I wondered if she might be a heroine. Someone with that distinctive of a look couldn’t possibly not exist in the original story.

But there was no heroine like that.

There was one beast-kin heroine, sure, but she had horns, not cat ears.

Someone who looked like that should’ve shown up at least once in the original, so this was strange. Still, the thought didn’t last long.

Just because she hadn’t appeared in the original story didn’t mean she was some person who shouldn’t exist.

She ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was probably just someone who hadn’t been in the spotlight, someone who simply hadn’t been close to the protagonist.

That was how I was justifying it to myself when I started wondering why nothing was happening at all.

Then, all of a sudden, the quest window crackled as if it had suffered an error.

What now? The status window had never done this before, so even I couldn’t help but panic.

Even knowing it had no physical body, I poked at it a few times, half-expecting that maybe if I hit it, it would fix itself. Only then did it stop hissing and resume displaying normal text.

…What the hell was going on? I was completely thrown. Fate had been distorted? Set the plot back on course?

I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

And just when that wasn’t enough to make my head spin, the number of heroines had somehow jumped from six to seven.

On top of that, one of them had already had her attention drawn.

What in the world was happening? I couldn’t understand any of it.

And yet, even as I was reeling, my trembling hand was already pressing down on the list of heroines whose attention had been successfully drawn.

Blanca. It was a name I’d never seen before. And the photo in the profile window was—

the girl sitting right next to me.

— — — —

If things had gone according to the original plot, there should have been an incident at the entrance ceremony, and Minho should have solved it in spectacular fashion.

And through that performance, Minho should have been assigned to A Class. But for whatever reason had gone wrong, none of that happened.

Both Minho and I were wearing the same expression. We looked like we were trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

If his phone hadn’t rung, he might have kept sitting there in a daze.

Being shocked was one thing, but checking our class assignments was another. Of course it was A Class.

And next to me, Yeonhwa was squealing with delight that she’d made A Class too.

Jinhyun, meanwhile, was just making tired little remarks like, “Looks like we ended up in the same class somehow.”

But Minho wasn’t smiling at all.

If I were a worse person, I would’ve wanted to pry—but I held back. That felt a little too mean.

Then, all of a sudden, he stood up and headed not toward the exit, but toward the staff room inside the auditorium.

Was he going to dispute his score? That wasn’t going to work.

Still, I didn’t want to end up in a different class from Minho. That wouldn’t be good for either of us.

He’d have to be carried along a stream of events that no longer matched the one I knew, and I, for my part, wouldn’t be able to see my favorite character up close.

I hoped he could somehow negotiate things properly. Praying under my breath, I listened in on his conversation with the principal.

But the exchange was a lot different from what I’d expected.

First of all, Minho wasn’t there to dispute his score.

What he was questioning was why nothing had happened during the entrance ceremony.

For a moment, I thought, Was he always this bold? Then I quickly understood when I saw the principal’s reaction.

Minho was acting.

He was performing the role of the kind of person Heros Academy loved most: someone already outstanding, yet still striving to become better.

And the principal’s answer to that question was simple. Safety concerns.

More specifically, it was because of a certain student, the principal went on.

“You’re in A Class as well, so you’ll meet her soon enough. The ability she displayed during the entrance exam was… outside all standards. If that student had tried to deal with the incident, both the students and the faculty could have been caught up in it. I’m sure you understand.”

Someone with unprecedented abilities. Caught up in it. The entrance exam.

…He was talking about me.

Because of the performance I’d put on during the entrance exam, the academy had apparently decided there might actually be a real incident during the entrance ceremony.

And as a result, the event that was supposed to happen during the original entrance exam never took place.

I did it because I said I didn’t want to break the story, and it still turned out like this.

I had no choice but to press a hand to my forehead at how perfectly that snowball had rolled.

Still, since he’d landed in A Class, I supposed it was a blessing in disguise.

“A spirit of rivalry is admirable, but you’d do well to be more careful from now on. I welcome students like you, but there are teachers who dislike disrespect.”

“Ah… I’ll keep that in mind.”

Once the heat had gone out of him, Minho seemed to get his head back together, calming down at last. Right. That was the protagonist I knew.

In the end, it was a relief. Still, from now on, I might need to be more careful about how I acted.

My trivial little actions might distort the plot far more than I’d expected.

And if I ended up interfering with the protagonist’s growth somehow… ugh, awful.

I did have some fan loyalty, but if I ever ended up on his bad side, I didn’t think even I could breeze through that without trouble.

I’d have to prevent that before it happened.

Just as I was about to wander off in peace, a sudden idea struck me.

No—maybe it would be better to build some kind of relationship with him now.

After all, the plan was to get close to him anyway. And personally, I wanted to get to know him a little better too.

More than anything, this was the perfect chance, while the students hadn’t formed any groups yet.

Soon, he’d be dragging a storm around with him.

Once he started getting tangled up with every kind of incident and person, my chances of slipping into that circle would drop to near zero.

If I had to do it, now was the right time.

But… what was I supposed to say? How was I supposed to approach him without causing offense or suspicion?

I tried thinking of something to say to Minho. I had plenty to worry about, but nothing clean and polished came to mind.

Being the object of someone’s attention was exhausting, but showing attention to someone else was exhausting too.

Then I remembered that the semester had only just begun.

Right. It was still the start of term. There was no need to rush into anything major.

Exchanging names and phone numbers would be enough. If I tried to push it beyond that, it might just make me look suspicious.

Once I made up my mind, baseless courage surged up inside me.

Half-mad with fan enthusiasm, my brain decided it was a fantastic plan and slammed on the accelerator instead of the brakes.

All right. Here goes.

“H-hey! Um. Hi…?”

And the moment I saw his expression, I realized I’d been splashed with cold water and dragged back into reality.

I was doomed. He was looking at me like, What the hell is wrong with this girl?

He could have said that so much better, so why couldn’t he just say it…!

But I couldn’t back out now. If I gave up here, I’d end up with the worst possible outcome, caught between everything and nothing.

I layered on a face of iron and forced the words out anyway. It was embarrassing even to me, but there was nothing for it.

“…Were you going inside for something?”

Please. Answer me. I’d dragged out courage for something I’d never done in my life before, and my mouth was trembling with shame.

I want to run away.

I want to hide in a mouse hole.

I want to say never mind and leave like this was nothing.

But I’d already come too far for that.

“Just had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a question to ask. More importantly, do we know each other?”

Fortunately, instead of treating me like a crazy woman and walking off, Minho gave me a sour look but still answered me.

…Thank God. I don’t even believe in that sort of thing, but right then, I sincerely offered up my thanks.