The bell had rung a few minutes ago, signaling us to head to the celestial auditorium. I walked through the hallways alongside a crowd of students, my eyes fixed on a single point in my vision. The blue window was blinking right over the new... skill? I'd just unlocked.

  "Reader Comments?" I whispered, making sure no one saw me talking to myself.

  Needless to say, that didn't work.

  "Nicole, are people actually reading this back in my world?"

  New Message: Nicole °■°

  Nicole °■°: Obviously, dummy. The "serialization" you saw in the bathroom wasn't a joke. You're the bonus content for the collector's edition. An extra story ( °?^).

  "So I'm part of a webtoon? Wasn't it supposed to come out finished?"

  Nicole °■°: I know, I know. I just thought it'd be more fun to release your version chapter by chapter.

  "Convenient. You didn't forget to actually write it, did you?"

  Nicole °■°: ...Maybe. But relax — your story won't go live until the very end. And don't go thinking popularity will come easy. Especially if you keep talking to me like that. GOODBYE.

  Tocino, currently licking his paw with complete indifference from his spot on my shoulder, let out a purr that sounded suspiciously like laughing at me.

  I sighed and tapped the [Comments] tab. A cascade of messages appeared, scrolling at dizzying speed:

  User_921: Who's that background guy with the cat? Was he in the original web novel? I don't remember him at all.

  SimPaticon: James took WAY too long!! I nearly had a heart attack when Fior grabbed Amanda. Not a fan of where this collector's edition is going.

  Ji-Eusen124 (AUTHOR): Keep reading~ this collection has an entertainment contract signed in blood. (????)?

  They could've done better with this...

  I stopped dead.

  A student walked into my back and muttered an apology before moving on. I didn't move.

  Leso007: does anyone else feel like there's something about the background guy with the cat? idk how to explain it. just something about the way he moves through the edges of the panel?

  I read it three times.

  I knew that kind of comment. I'd written dozens of them myself in the Arcane Hearts forums. That way of reading between the lines, searching for something the author left behind without meaning to. That need to find meaning in the details no one else noticed.

  Four years of Wednesday nights at eight o'clock doing exactly that.

  And now someone on the other side was doing the same thing with me.

  I stared at the window a moment longer.

  Then I closed the comments. Opened them again. Closed them.

  The window shut on its own, displaying a message.

  [Reader Comments]

  Next update: 47:57

  …

  The popularity contest.

  In the original novel, readers voted every week for their favorite characters. Ji-Eusen124 used the results to decide who lived and who died. It was the most criticized part of Arcane Hearts — that system that handed lives over to public opinion. I'd participated myself. Voted every single week for four years. Run campaigns in the forums to save characters I loved.

  I had voted.

  The thought came slowly, like water seeping through a crack.

  If the comments were real... if there were readers in my world watching this right now...

  Then the popularity contest was real too. Not a fixed stat inside some game system. Not a number that would climb on its own as long as I played my cards right.

  They were people. Real people reading, forming opinions, deciding.

  People like me.

  My hands started shaking.

  I had voted for four years without ever thinking about what it meant for the character on the other side. To me it was a game. A way to be part of something I loved. I never considered that something real might depend on those votes.

  What if nobody voted for me?

  What am I, in this world?

  It wasn't an abstract question. It was concrete and cold as the marble under my feet.

  I was a background character. No known backstory, no published history, no chapters of my own yet. A sketch at the edge of a panel that only the most dedicated readers even noticed.

  Leso007 had noticed. But Leso007 was one person out of how many.

  How long could I survive being the shadow of the protagonists?

  Something caught in my throat.

  The memory of an old friend washed over me...

  A small hand touched my cheek.

  "You okay?" Tocino crouched to look at my face.

  I didn't answer right away.

  "You've been standing still for a while," he added.

  "Yeah," I said finally. The word came out on its own.

  Tocino didn't push. No sarcastic comment. None of the dramatic gestures I'd already learned to expect from him.

  He just jumped out of my arms, climbed up to my shoulder with an agility that made no sense for something so fluffy, and settled on top of my head. He weighed almost nothing. His front paws dangled over my forehead like he was draping himself over the back of an armchair.

  "You're crushing me," I said.

  "Meow," he replied, not moving.

  I picked him up carefully and held him like a newborn, arms extended, belly up.

  I don't want to die.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Tocino looked up at me from that position with an expression of complete dignity that was absolutely unjustified for someone lying on their back.

  "Meow," I said.

  His ears moved.

  "Meow!" he replied.

  "Meow." I said.

  "Meow, meow!"

  We were having a completely serious conversation in the hallway of a magic academy while hundreds of noble students swerved around us with expressions ranging from confusion to horror. I was probably destroying my reputation in real time. Leso007 was probably writing a comment about this right now.

  I didn't care.

  For just a moment, nothing mattered. I was alive. Alive in the middle of all these people rushing past.

  Then a voice ended everything.

  "What are you two still doing out here?"

  It came from behind — thin and deep at the same time, with the specific tone of someone who never has to raise their voice to be obeyed.

  I spun around. Tocino leapt out of my arms and hovered at my eye level, his fur bristling in a reflex he couldn't quite hide.

  It was him.

  Ito Varl. Student Council President of Hirus Academy. Second year.

  In person, he was considerably more intimidating than any description I'd ever read.

  Tall. Dark brown hair cut with surgical precision. Impeccable uniform with the council's silver insignia at the collar. A clipboard tucked under his left arm. And an expression that wasn't exactly hostile, but didn't leave room for optimistic interpretations either.

  His grey eyes swept over Tocino and me with the efficiency of someone taking inventory.

  "The ceremony is about to start," he said. Not a question. Not quite a reprimand. Just a fact he placed between us like a stone. "Name?"

  "Ren," I answered. "Ren Amel."

  Tocino, at my side, puffed up his chest.

  "Tocino," he added, with absolute seriousness.

  Ito looked back at me after Tocino spoke, one eyebrow raised by the smallest possible degree.

  "I don't recall a first-year with summoning abilities like that." He turned away without waiting for a response. "Follow me."

  I exchanged a look with Tocino. He shrugged with his tiny paws.

  We followed.

  ??◇?

  The entrance to the celestial auditorium was ordinary. Ordinary by magic-world standards, which meant the door was enormous, with a little mold at the upper edges that the white decorations mostly hid. As we got closer I realized the ceremony had already started — voices drifted through the door, discussing something academic.

  Ito tapped the door lightly. It swung open with a thunderous groan.

  Every pair of eyes in the room turned toward us. First years to teachers, the whole auditorium.

  Not exactly the entrance I was hoping for.

  The teachers kept talking after my dramatic arrival. Ito pointed out my seat and gave me directions to find it.

  I walked between rows of whispering, murmuring students with my cheeks so red I kept my eyes on the floor. Out of the corner of my eye I could see everyone. Amanda was seated with James and Eliz near the front of the first-year section. Fior's group occupied the right side. And then those three.

  Andrew Leys, center-left.

  Marc Houts-Amour, far right.

  Derbi Trus, rightmost of all.

  I made it to the back of the first-year section. The last bench was empty, back-left corner. A girl had the seat next to it — uniform slightly off, the whole thing looking about two sizes too big for her.

  I sat down, trying not to disturb anything.

  "Bold entrance," she said once I'd settled. "Takes guts to show up late on the first day."

  "Uh—" I made a confused noise. "Thanks?"

  She smiled, brown eyes lifting to meet mine. "You're welcome. I'm Alice." She extended her hand.

  Alice. The name didn't ring any bells. I ran through every name I'd catalogued over four years of reading — main characters, supporting cast, one-scene extras. Everyone who'd ever gotten a name in Arcane Hearts had a place in my memory.

  She wasn't in any of those places.

  Which meant one thing: she was a background character so minor that Ji-Eusen had never bothered to name her.

  "Nice to meet you. Ren Amel." I shook her hand.

  She turned back toward the front, until—

  "Aren't you going to ask my name too?" Tocino climbed onto my lap and spoke.

  Alice's head snapped around.

  She looked at me. We looked at each other. She looked at Tocino. She looked back at me.

  "...What," she said finally.

  "My name is Tocino. Tocino—" He paused for a moment. "Tocino Amel."

  The cat extended his paw for a handshake.

  I sighed.

  Alice took it, introducing herself, her expression slightly lit up at the fact that my familiar could talk.

  We both straightened up after that. (Well, partially — she straightened and fixed her eyes on the teachers.) The ceremony ran its course. The headmaster gave his opening remarks — for me, the first time hearing them — covering punctuality, responsibility, and above all, resilience.

  When he finished, he passed the floor to the student council.

  ??◇?

  Ito stepped onto the stage.

  He didn't walk up to it. He simply appeared there, with the kind of presence that makes the rest of the world adjust to his pace rather than the other way around. The general murmur of the auditorium died on its own, without him saying a word.

  When he finally spoke, his voice reached every corner without effort.

  "Welcome to Hirus."

  Two words. Nothing more for a moment.

  "You were selected because you're the best of your generation. That doesn't make you special here. Here, it makes you a starting point."

  Alice rested her chin in her palm with the expression of someone listening to something they already know but don't mind hearing again. Tocino, on my lap, yawned — with a discretion that was clearly not discreet at all.

  I couldn't stop watching Ito.

  In the novel, his role was administrative during the first year. He showed up, resolved problems, disappeared. Ji-Eusen used him as background authority, the guy who restored order when the plot needed it. The forums never spent much time analyzing him. He was functional, not a fan favorite.

  But in person there was something the text hadn't captured. It wasn't just the height or the posture. It was that he seemed completely indifferent to the impression he made — and that indifference was, paradoxically, the most imposing thing about him.

  "The vice president of the council, Hannah Alast."

  A girl stepped onto the stage from the right side.

  I went still.

  Blue hair.

  Not a flashy blue, not dyed-looking. It was the quiet blue of deep water, falling straight to her shoulders. Her uniform was impeccable. Her expression was open, almost warm — the kind of warmth that doesn't need to prove anything.

  She smiled at the auditorium before speaking.

  "I hope this year is the first of many good memories for all of you."

  Scattered applause. Genuine, not polite.

  I didn't clap.

  I was too busy mentally running through every named character in Arcane Hearts. Council presidents. Vice presidents. Teachers. Background characters with two lines of dialogue.

  I closed my fist slowly over my knee.

  "Hey," I whispered to Tocino without looking at him, eyes fixed on the stage.

  "What," he answered, one eye open.

  "Did Nicole explain anything about this world before she sent you?"

  A pause.

  "She told me to look after the idiot." A shorter pause. "That's it."

  "Super helpful."

  "You're welcome."

  Ito stepped off the stage without ceremony. Hannah followed. The headmaster took over again to explain the class system, schedules, campus rules.

  I listened to half of it.

  The other half was running calculations.

  This was probably still chapter one of the novel. I had 119 chapters left. Four years of academy. And somewhere at the end of all that, a way back home.

  Alice tapped my shoulder lightly.

  "You dropped this," she said, holding out a pen that was clearly not mine — which I accepted anyway, because I didn't have the energy to explain.

  "Thanks," I said.

  She nodded and looked back at the front.

  ??◇?

  The assembly wrapped up with the introduction of each homeroom teacher.

  Something pulled me out of my thoughts entirely.

  "Thank you all for your attention, students." The headmaster adjusted his beard. "Please now make your way to your respective homeroom teachers."

  A general murmur rose through the room. Students began shifting in their seats, scanning for the teachers holding numbered signs.

  I stood up and followed the current, Tocino sliding from my lap up to my shoulders with the ease of someone who'd been doing that move his whole life.

  "Which one is ours?" he murmured in my ear.

  I didn't know the answer exactly — there were three first-year classes. But only one of them had the people that mattered. Class 1-A.

  Nicole's face flashed through my mind.

  "1-A," I answered quietly, an old taste of resentment settling in my throat.

  I scanned the reorganizing crowd for the right sign. Found it toward the back-right of the auditorium. A man in dark glasses held up a clipboard with the number in large print. Tall, straight-backed, expression that communicated exactly zero tolerance for chaos.

  I recognized him before I reached him.

  Professor Aldric. Teacher of Arcane Theory and homeroom teacher for Class 1-A during the first year. In the novel he had exactly three named scenes and seven unnamed ones. Readers barely remembered him. Ji-Eusen used him to explain the magic system whenever the plot needed it, then sent him back to the background.

  I started walking slowly, like I was slightly lost, letting others reach him first. I didn't want to draw attention.

  That plan lasted approximately four seconds.

  "You." Professor Aldric pointed directly at me before I'd even reached the group. "Late to the ceremony, and now last to present yourself. Any particular reason?"

  Several students turned to look.

  Amanda was one of them.

  James was also there. He had a face of few friends when he saw me, rather, when he saw Tocino on my shoulders.

  "I had some trouble with my entrance," I answered, keeping my tone as neutral as I could.

  Aldric glanced down at Tocino on my shoulder. Tocino looked back at him with his tongue half out.

  "Hm." The professor noted something on his clipboard without further comment.

  Class 1-A was sixteen students total. I counted while Aldric swept the group with the look of someone running an inventory check. Amanda and Eliz were together near the center. James was a little apart, but clearly within the same gravitational orbit. Marc was at the far edge of the group, with that relaxed posture of his — and though he wasn't looking directly at Amanda, something about the angle of his head suggested he knew exactly where she was.

  The gears of the romance were already turning.

  Alice stood next to me, arms crossed, with the expression of someone who had decided two-sizes-too-big was a valid aesthetic choice.

  Aldric finished his sweep.

  "Right," he said, tucking the clipboard under his arm. "Follow me. I'll show you the classroom and we'll go over the basic rules before the day is out."

  We moved as a group through the auditorium corridors toward the exit.

  "Hey," Alice murmured at my side, eyes forward. "Why didn't you tell me you were in this class too?"

  I glanced at her sideways.

  "Didn't think it was necessary," I said.

  She looked at me like I was a strange species of bug.

  "Right..." she said, and left it at that.

  But something about that three-word exchange with Alice made me feel okay.

  ??◇?

  Class 1-A was on the second floor of the east wing, at the end of a hallway that smelled like old wood and something vaguely floral I couldn't identify. The door was dark oak with the room number engraved on a small copper plate. Aldric opened it without ceremony and stepped inside first.

  We followed.

  It was a normal classroom. By Hirus standards, which meant high ceilings with stone beams, arched windows letting in clean direct light, wooden desks arranged in neat rows, and at the front, an iron-framed blackboard next to the teacher's desk.

  Normal for a world where magic exists. Extraordinary for someone who grew up in an apartment where the bed and the kitchen were half a meter apart.

  I took a seat in the third row from the back, window side. Not too close to the front where I'd draw attention. Not too far back to look like I was hiding.

  Basic survival strategy.

  Should i write a Extra's Survival Guide?

  Nah.

  Alice took the seat to my left without asking.

  Aldric positioned himself in front of the blackboard, crossed his arms, and held a long silence that was probably designed to establish exactly who was in charge here.

  It worked.

  "This year you will learn the fundamentals of the arcane system," he began. "Theory, controlled practice, and the history of the Veil. What you will not learn is how to waste my time." His eyes moved across the room. "Questions?"

  Nobody spoke.

  "Good."

  Tocino, on my lap, yawned audibly.

  …

  Sixteen heads turned toward me.

  "Sorry," I said.

  Aldric studied me over his glasses.

  "Name?"

  "Ren Amel."

  How much times did i say my name today?

  He noted something down.

  "Mr. Amel." He set the clipboard on the desk with a dry sound. "Since your familiar apparently has opinions about my class, perhaps you could explain the basic principles of the Arcane Veil for us. So we don't get bored."

  The silence in the room shifted texture.

  Amanda looked at me. So did Marc, from his seat in the front row. Even Eliz lifted her eyes.

  Tocino smiled in my direction.

  I breathed.

  Four years reading Arcane Hearts. Every detail of the magic system Ji-Eusen had built, explained and referenced across one hundred and twenty chapters. The analysis threads where the most obsessive readers — myself included — had reconstructed the complete logic of the Veil from fragments scattered throughout the text.

  There were a lot of things I didn't know about this world.

  But this I knew.

  "The Arcane Veil," I said, voice clear enough to carry to the front, "is the interface between the physical plane and the dimension of pure energy the ancient theorists called the Substrate. Arcanists don't generate magic — they channel it. The Veil filters and translates that energy according to the user's affinity, which gives rise to the two major branches: Elementalism, which works with the physical expressions of the Substrate, and Summoning, which works with its conscious expressions."

  The silence that followed was different from the one before.

  Aldric didn't write anything this time. He was looking at me with an expression that wasn't quite approval, but wasn't the opposite either.

  "Correct," he said finally. "Sit down."

  I sat.

  Alice, to my left, said nothing. She just let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and something she was trying to keep contained, and wrote something in her notebook.

  I couldn't see what it was.

  Aldric continued his explanation, and the first day of class at Hirus Academy started to look, for the first time, like something I might actually survive.

  The blue window appeared in the corner of my vision, blinking softly.

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