Leon woke up at 5 AM to the sound of his alarm, determined to start fresh. Today would be different. Today, he would be the most forgettable student in Astral Academy's history.
He'd spent half the night reviewing his mistakes. Helping Kai in the cafeteria—too visible. Talking with Seria—too social. Getting noticed by Angela—catastrophic. Each interaction had pushed him further from his goal of staying in the background.
No more, Leon thought, getting dressed in his standard academy uniform. Today, I'm a ghost.
His snake—still unnamed, he really needed to fix that—slithered out from under his pillow where it had been sleeping. It yawned, displaying tiny fangs, then coiled around his arm with familiar comfort.
"Listen," Leon said seriously to the snake. "Today, you need to help me stay unnoticed. No destroying training dummies. No weird behavior. Just be a normal F-rank snake. Can you do that?"
The snake tilted its head, ruby eyes blinking slowly. Then it nuzzled against his wrist in what Leon chose to interpret as agreement.
"Good. Let's do this."
The morning started perfectly. Leon arrived at Monster Theory early, chose a seat in the very back corner—even further back than yesterday—and kept his head down. When other students arrived, he avoided eye contact. When Professor Hendricks asked questions, he stayed silent even though he knew the answers.
Invisible. Forgettable. Perfect.
Seria entered and waved at him, but Leon pretended to be deeply engrossed in his textbook. She looked slightly hurt but sat with her usual friend group instead. Good. Distance established.
Kai arrived and glanced around, possibly looking for Leon, but Leon had positioned himself behind a taller student, creating a visual barrier. The protagonist shrugged and took his usual seat.
Then Angela entered, and Leon immediately looked down at his desk, studying the wood grain pattern with intense focus. He could feel her presence—that cold aura that made the room's temperature seem to drop—but he didn't look up. Not even when he heard her heels clicking past his row.
Ignore me, Leon thought desperately. I'm just furniture. A desk. A chair. Nothing interesting.
Professor Hendricks began her lecture on monster bonding psychology. Leon took notes diligently, keeping his snake hidden inside his jacket. The creature seemed to understand the assignment and stayed remarkably still.
Forty-five minutes passed. Then an hour. Class ended without incident.
Yes! Leon celebrated internally. One class down. Zero timeline deviations.
He waited until most students had left before packing his bag slowly. As he stood to leave, he carefully scanned the hallway—no Angela, no Seria, no Kai. Coast clear.
Leon slipped out and headed toward his next class, keeping to the sides of the corridor, using taller students as mobile cover. He was halfway there when—
"Leon! Wait up!"
No, no, no. Leon recognized that voice. He kept walking, pretending not to hear.
"Leon, I know you can hear me!" Footsteps hurried closer.
Seria appeared beside him, slightly out of breath, her miniaturized Lumina perched on her shoulder. "Hey, why did you ignore me this morning?"
"I didn't see you," Leon lied. "Sorry."
"You looked right at me, then looked away." Seria's grey eyes were confused and a little hurt. "Did I do something wrong?"
Yes. You exist in my vicinity. "No, of course not. I just... I'm trying to focus more on my studies. Less socializing."
"Oh." Seria seemed to accept this explanation, though she still looked uncertain. "Well, that's responsible, I guess. But you don't have to completely isolate yourself. Friends are important too."
"Right. Friends." Leon tried to smile. "I should get to class—"
"Actually, I wanted to ask you something." Seria pulled out her tablet, showing him a notice. "The team assignments for the dungeon raid were just posted. We're on the same team!"
Leon's blood ran cold. "What?"
"Look! Team 7: Seria Moonlight, Kai Ryusaki, Leon Ashford, and" she scrolled down, "Marcus Chen. Do you know Marcus? I heard he has a D-rank Earth Golem."
This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. In the original novel, the teams were completely different. Leon Ashford didn't exist in the story, so obviously he wasn't on any team. The fourth member of Kai and Seria's group had been a girl named Nina with a C-rank Wind Hawk.
But now...
[System Notice][Timeline Deviation: 12.3%][CRITICAL: Major Plot Structure Altered][Team Composition Changed - Cascade Effect Probable][Warning: Original Chapter 8 Events May Not Occur As Written]
"Leon? You okay? You look pale again." Seria touched his arm gently.
"I'm fine. Just surprised." Leon forced his brain to work. "When is the dungeon raid?"
"Three days from now. Friday afternoon. Professor Martinez said we should meet up before then to discuss strategy and get to know each other's fighting styles." Seria smiled warmly. "I'm excited! This will be my first real dungeon. I mean, I've trained with my father in controlled environments, but this is different."
"Yeah. Different." Leon's mind raced through possibilities. If he was on Kai's team, he'd be directly involved in crucial plot events. Every action he took would compound deviations. But if he tried to switch teams, that would draw even more attention...
He was trapped.
"We should grab lunch together later and talk strategy," Seria suggested. "You, me, and Kai. Marcus is in the advanced morning classes, so he might join us for dinner instead."
"Sure," Leon agreed hollowly, because what else could he say?
Seria beamed. "Great! See you at lunch then!" She hurried off to her next class, Lumina glowing softly on her shoulder.
Leon stood in the hallway, students flowing around him like water around a stone. His snake poked its head out of his jacket, looking at him with what seemed like sympathy.
"This is a disaster," Leon muttered.
The snake hissed softly. If Leon didn't know better, he'd swear it sounded like a sigh.
Combat Training was next, and Leon approached it with grim determination. At least here, he could control his performance. Just be mediocre. Hit the training dummy a few times, make it look like he was trying, but don't actually destroy it.
Simple.
Instructor Vance gathered the students in the training yard. "Today, we're doing partner exercises. You'll work with the person next to you to practice coordinated attacks. Tamers and monsters working in sync—that's the foundation of real combat."
Students paired off naturally. Leon deliberately positioned himself next to a quiet boy he didn't recognize, someone equally forgettable.
"Alright, partner up and—" Vance paused, looking at his tablet. "Actually, change of plans. Since next week's dungeon raid is coming up, pair with your assigned teammates. Start building that coordination now."
Of course. Leon wanted to scream.
Seria waved him over to where she stood with Kai. Kai's Divine Wolf—Fenrir, Leon remembered—sat alertly beside its master. Lumina hovered near Seria, radiating soft light.
"Hey Leon!" Seria greeted cheerfully. "And hi" she looked at his snake. "Does your snake have a name yet?"
"Not yet," Leon admitted. He'd been so focused on disaster management that he'd forgotten to name his monster.
"You should name it," Kai said. It was the first time they'd really talked since the cafeteria incident. Up close, Leon could see the determination in Kai's eyes—that protagonist quality that would carry him through countless challenges. "The bond strengthens with a name. At least, that's what my mentor told me."
"Your mentor?" Seria asked curiously.
"The old Tamer who ran the orphanage. He retired years ago, but he taught me the basics." Kai scratched Fenrir behind the ears. "He's the one who convinced me to try for the academy scholarship."
This was it—the backstory moment. In chapter 4 of the novel, Kai mentioned his mentor to Seria, establishing his humble origins and determination. Except Leon wasn't supposed to be here for this conversation.
[Timeline Deviation: 13.7%]
Leon ignored the notification. The deviations were accelerating no matter what he did.
"That's sweet," Seria said. "My father taught me too, though I probably had it much easier than you."
"Everyone's path is different," Kai replied diplomatically. He turned to Leon. "So, have you thought about what role you'll play in the dungeon? Your snake's pretty strong, even if it's F-rank."
"I'll just support, I guess. Stay back, help where needed."
"Don't sell yourself short." Kai smiled—that genuine protagonist smile. "You helped me yesterday when you didn't have to. That takes courage. I have a feeling you'll surprise us in the dungeon."
Please don't say that. Please don't have expectations. "Thanks, but really, I'm nothing special."
"Begin exercises!" Vance's voice boomed across the training yard.
The next hour was controlled chaos. Teams practiced coordinated attacks against reinforced training dummies. Seria's Lumina would weaken the dummy with light-based attacks, Kai's Fenrir would strike with precision bites, and Leon's snake...
Leon had instructed his snake to just do minimal damage. Tap the dummy. Maybe leave a small mark. Nothing impressive.
The snake coiled around the dummy's leg and squeezed gently. The leg cracked. Not catastrophically—just a small fracture.
"Good!" Seria encouraged. "Your snake's constriction is really effective!"
Leon breathed a small sigh of relief. Adequate performance. Not too strong, not too weak. Finally, something going right—
Then he noticed Angela across the training yard.
She was practicing with her usual group—Melissa with the Frost Fox and two others Leon didn't know. Her Crimson Phoenix was magnificent in action, flames dancing around training dummies and reducing them to ash within seconds.
But Angela wasn't watching her own training. She was watching Leon's team.
Their eyes met across the field. Angela's ice-blue gaze was calculating, analytical. She said something to Melissa, who glanced toward Leon with a sneer before responding.
Leon quickly looked away, focusing on his team. Don't engage. Don't acknowledge. Just ignore.
"Is it true?" Seria asked suddenly.
"Is what true?"
"That Angela Everhart talked to you yesterday after class. Some students said they saw you two having a conversation."
Kai looked interested. "Really? What did she want?"
How did rumors spread so fast? "Nothing important. She just asked about my snake."
"Why would she care about an F-rank monster?" Seria wondered. "Unless, does she think it's special somehow?"
"It's not special. It's just a snake." Leon's snake chose that moment to successfully break off the training dummy's arm with a perfectly executed constriction. "A normal, average, completely unremarkable snake."
Kai and Seria exchanged glances.
"Right," Kai said slowly. "Completely normal."
The training session ended twenty minutes later. Students dispersed to wash up before lunch. Leon tried to slip away quietly, but Seria caught his arm.
"Lunch together, remember? Let's go to the cafeteria together."
Resistance was futile. Leon nodded and fell into step with Seria and Kai, his snake coiled around his arm. As they walked, he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.
He glanced back once.
Angela stood at the training yard entrance, her Phoenix perched regally on her shoulder. She was definitely watching them. Watching him.
Then she turned and walked away, Melissa and her entourage following.
"She's really intense," Kai muttered. "I've heard stories about the Everhart family. They don't tolerate weakness."
"My father knows her father," Seria said quietly. "Business rivals, technically, though they maintain polite relations. He told me to be careful around Angela. Said she's complicated."
"Complicated how?" Leon asked despite himself.
"He wouldn't elaborate. Just said that people aren't always what they seem, and that the Everharts have had their share of tragedy." Seria shook her head. "But that doesn't excuse being cruel to others."
If you only knew, Leon thought. If you knew what she's been through, what she'll go through...
But he couldn't say that. Couldn't explain how he knew about Angela's dead mother, her emotionally distant father, the trauma that would eventually twist her into villainy. He could only watch and try—futilely, it seemed—to change things.
They entered the cafeteria. Leon braced himself for another incident, but lunch passed peacefully. They found a table in the middle section, and Marcus Chen—their fourth teammate—joined them briefly to introduce himself. He was a stocky boy with a serious demeanor and a D-rank Earth Golem that looked like a walking boulder.
"We should meet tomorrow after classes to plan," Marcus suggested. "Discuss formations, emergency protocols, that kind of thing."
"Good idea," Kai agreed. "Leon, Seria, that work for you?"
"Sure," they both said.
[Timeline Deviation: 15.2%]
The notification appeared and disappeared. Leon had stopped caring about the exact percentage. The timeline was already broken. All he could do now was try to minimize damage.
As lunch ended and students dispersed to afternoon classes, Leon's snake stirred against his arm. He looked down to find those ruby eyes staring at him intently.
"What?"
The snake's tongue flicked out, tasting the air. Then it looked toward where Angela had been sitting—her table was now empty, but the snake seemed focused on something.
Leon followed its gaze and spotted something on the floor near Angela's table. A small object, metallic, catching the light.
Acting on instinct, Leon walked over and picked it up. It was a silver pin, expensive-looking, with the Everhart family crest engraved on it.
She must have dropped it, Leon realized.
He should leave it. Should let someone else find it or turn it in to lost and found. Getting involved with Angela's belongings was the opposite of staying invisible.
But his hand closed around the pin.
"I'll just return it later," Leon muttered to his snake. "Quickly. Briefly. Minimal interaction."
The snake's ruby eyes seemed to gleam with something that looked suspiciously like satisfaction, as if everything was going according to some plan only it understood.
And Leon, staring at the Everhart crest in his palm, had the sinking feeling that staying invisible was never really an option.
Not in this story.
Not anymore.