ra appeared at my other side. "Can you walk or do I need to carry you?"
"I can walk."
"You’re limping."
"Walking with style."
She snorted. Together, the three of us left the debriefing room. The hallway outside was packed. Students pressed against the walls, phones out, recording everything. The whispers started imdiately.
"Did you see that portal combo—"
"—knocked out Nolan Traore—"
"—three abilities at once—"
"—walking with both of them—"
I ignored it all. Let them talk. Let them film. The more attention I drew, the harder it would be for anyone to quietly disappear into an NEA testing facility.
We reached the nurse’s office. Mrs. Tanaka took one look at and pointed at the examination table.
"Shirt off. Now."
I complied. Noel and Usagi waited outside while ra stayed, her tail swishing as she watched Mrs. Tanaka work.
"Three broken ribs," the nurse muttered, running a scanner across my torso. "Fractured ankle. Second-degree burns on both forearms. Severe bruising across your entire back. Concussion. And you’re missing a tooth."
"That last one’s new."
"This is not funny, Mr. D’Angelo. You should be in a hospital."
"I heal fast."
"Not this fast." She frowned at the scanner. "Your cellular regeneration rate is... abnormal. The ribs are already showing bone calcification that should take forty-eight hours minimum. You’ve been out of the arena for thirty minutes."
"Good genes."
"This isn’t genes. This is—" She stopped. Looked at carefully. "Are you on enhancers?"
"No."
"Then what—"
"Trade secret." I smiled. "Part of the adaptive response."
She didn’t believe . But she also didn’t have proof of anything except that I healed freakishly well. She wrapped my ribs anyway, splinted the ankle, gave painkillers I’d flush later, and told to rest for three days minimum.
"Sure thing."
"You’re going to ignore completely."
"Probably."
She sighed. "At least try not to die before graduation. The paperwork is terrible."
Outside, Noel and Usagi waited. Usagi looked relieved. Noel’s expression remained carefully neutral.
"He’ll live," ra announced cheerfully.
"Unfortunately," Noel muttered.
I checked my phone. Seventeen missed calls. Forty-three unread ssages. Most from reporters. Several from Angelo Corp’s PR team. One from my father that I deleted without reading.
And one from Aurora: We need to talk. Please.
My chest did sothing complicated.
"I need to check sothing," I said. "Give a second."
I pulled up the system interface. The glowing screen materialized in my peripheral vision, invisible to everyone else but crystal clear to .
STATUS UPDATE
NA: Ro D’Angelo
TITLE: The Wrong Protagonist
HERO RATING: ★★☆☆☆
PROTAGONIST %: 4.7%
I blinked. Read it again.
Four point seven percent.
Up from one point eight just three days ago.
The number sat there, glowing faintly purple, mocking with how far I still had to go. Almost five percent. Out of a hundred. After beating the actual protagonist in front of half the academy.
MAIN ABILITIES
ESSENCE DRAIN [SS-RANK]
Kinetic Echo [A-RANK] (INHERITED - 12%)
Liminal Step [B ] (INHERITED - 67%)
Gravity Jail [B ]
Fuego [★★]
Rubber Body [★★★]
Fire Fist [★]
Kinetic Echo. Nolan’s ability. The knowledge of how to feel impacts, store them, release them in explosive bursts sat in my brain like muscle mory that wasn’t mine. But the integration was weak. Twelve percent. I’d need more contact to stabilize it. Deeper contact.
That would be a problem.
SUB ABILITIES
VIRGIN KILLER [A-RANK]
SPECIN [S-RANK]
HARD TO KILL [S-RANK]
HEALING... FLUIDS [★★★]
SYSTEM INTERFACE [B] (INHERITED - 48%)
System Interface. Cheon’s ability. Reading Essentia signatures, applying buffs and debuffs. It had stabilized significantly more than Nolan’s ability because I’d spent three nights cycling her Essentia through the drain while we—
"Ro?" ra’s voice cut through my thoughts. "You zoning out?"
I closed the screen. "Just checking sothing."
ACTIVE QUESTS
HAREM LORD
Progress: 2/7 Heroines Claid
Ti Remaining: 694 Days
Current Targets:
★ Slot 1: Marilyn Cross (CLAID - 87% Affection)
★ Slot 2: Cheon Hae-Won (CLAID - 74% Affection)
★ Slot 3: Aurora Fitzgerald (ACTIVE - 51% Affection)
★ Slot 4: Noel Stark (CONTESTED - 38% Affection)
★ Slot 5-7: LOCKED
Aurora at fifty-one percent. After one kiss and an afternoon playing video gas. After I’d held her hand for ten seconds and let the drain open just enough to taste what she was.
Noel at thirty-eight. After I’d kissed her in the prep room and let her feel exactly what chemistry ant when our Essentia mixed.
The system was tracking everything. Cataloging every interaction. Every touch. Every mont where soone’s guard dropped and let in.
NEW NOTIFICATION
Quest Complete: Orchestra of Animosity - Finals Stage
Rewards:
150 Reputation Points
S-Rank Gacha Ticket
Title Unlocked: [DARK HORSE]
Protagonist % Increase: 2.9%
So that’s where the jump ca from. Two point nine percent for beating Nolan. For showing everyone that the unranked transfer student could take down the golden boy when it mattered.
Still only four point seven percent total. Nolan had all of his locked in sowhere, built over years of being the earnest hero who saved everyone and made friends through pure determination.
I had two girlfriends, stolen abilities, and bite marks on my neck.
We were not the sa.
"Ro," Cheon said, her hand on my shoulder. "You’re doing it again."
"Doing what?"
"Your face. The calculation expression. Like you’re processing three conversations nobody else can hear."
I looked at her properly. She was standing maybe a foot away, which by Cheon’s standards ant practically on top of . Close enough that her shampoo reached first — sothing floral and expensive that mixed with the faint static charge her Essentia left in the air when she’d been using it recently. We’d showered together four hours ago. The scent mory was fresh enough to be distracting.
"Just running numbers," I said. "Standard post-fight review."
"You should be resting. Actual rest, Ro. Not whatever creative interpretation you’re about to suggest." Her eyes cut toward ra for half a second before returning to mine. "And I know what your creative interpretations tend to involve."
ra’s grin appeared like soone had just dealt her a winning hand. "My interpretations are extrely restorative. dically validated."
"By what dical board?"
"The one that matters."
"That’s not—"
"Your version of rest put him in the infirmary."
"He’s standing, isn’t he?"
"Barely."
I pulled up the S-Rank ticket reward, curious what the system considered worthy of a finals victory. The interface shifted, displaying the gacha wheel with new options glowing in platinum and gold. S-Rank ant top-tier abilities. The kind that changed fights before they started.
But I had thirty seconds before soone noticed staring at nothing.
"I need to spin this," I said.
"Spin what?" Usagi asked.
"Nothing. Just—give a minute."
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