Three days.
It had been exactly three days since the start of the Academy year.
Three days since the entrance ceremony I thankfully slept through.
And honestly? Best decision of my second life.
I heard there were fireworks. Magical beasts. A projection of the Academy founder delivering a speech from beyond the grave using voice-enchanted bones.
Meanwhile, I was in bed, drooling on a rune diagram and dreaming about falling into an endless void of social isolation.
Heaven.
Now, life had settled into something resembling a routine.
Wake up.
Regret it.
Practice magic. Fail. Sketch out the failure in artistic agony.
Self-reflect. Self-hate. Pretend it's character development.
Rinse and repeat.
Today, I stood in the center courtyard, sketchbook in hand, watching the early sun stretch shadows across the pale stone like ink stains on parchment.
Students bustled around me like particles in a mana storm. Bright-eyed, hopeful, loud.
I hated mornings. And optimism.
Somewhere in the east wing, I could hear shouting. Duel practice, maybe. Or someone realizing the school cafeteria serves food that moves.
My eyes flicked up.
On a high balcony, two familiar figures stood together.
Aris Valen.
And…
Reed Alvaron.
The real protagonist.
Tall. Charming. Blessed by the system with a cheat-level affinity for sword magic and an even more cheat-level plot armor. The kind of guy who smiled once and caused three background characters to develop crush arcs.
He was doing that thing where he leaned on the railing like it was a heroic pose, probably mid-speech about protecting the weak or something equally marketable.
Aris looked like she was trying to decide if she wanted to roll her eyes or join him.
A week ago, I would've been down there. Or up there. Or somewhere, orbiting her like a desperate moon.
Now?
I flipped to a clean page in my sketchbook and started drawing a crab. Don't ask why. It just felt like a crab day.
"Caleb?"
I flinched.
It was Professor Vael.
Because of course it was.
She wore the same no-nonsense coat, with the same no-nonsense eyes that saw through things—lies, egos, walls.
She looked at my sketch.
Paused.
"…That's a surprisingly detailed crab."
"Thanks. It's how I cope."
"Coping won't be enough soon. You're weeks ahead in your enchantment assignments. I'm moving you to private study."
"Can I say no?"
"No."
Fair.
She handed me a slip of parchment. "You're expected at Lab Twelve tomorrow. Don't be late. The door explodes after the third knock."
"Very welcoming."
She left without another word.
I stared at the parchment like it was cursed.
Then tore it in half and shoved it in my pocket.
"Lab Twelve," I muttered. "Sounds like a villain origin location."
Behind me, a couple of students walked by, laughing.
"…Did you see Aris and Reed at the sparring arena yesterday? She melted the practice golem in like five seconds."
"Yeah, and then she smiled at him."
"Oh my god, is that a ship?!"
I tuned it out.
That was the thing.
The story was moving.
The characters were settling into their arcs.
The plot was winding up, ever so slowly.
And I was just… here.
A glitch. A remnant. An accidental NPC that had tripped and landed in someone else's chosen-one tale.
But that was fine.
That was good, even.
Because while the hero was getting stronger, the villain was being rewritten.
The villain with a cringeworthy past and a shaky present.
One who still looked in the mirror and hated what stared back.
Not because of the face—but because of the memory it carried.
The real Caleb was gone.
But his shadow lingered.
And it was my job to shape it into something else.
Not a hero.
Not a villain.
Just… something better.
Something different.