"That girl! How dare she!"

Draco had gone straight to his room, fuming away. He was so upset that one could almost see the steam pouring out of his ears as his face turned a flaming red. In a toddler-like tantrum, he began flipping items in his room, smashing them and generally creating a large mess. Had his servants been here, they would've restrained him, but there were no such people.

"She killed me?! ME?! Unacceptable!"

The boy's argument made no sense at all. What was Prota supposed to do? Let him live and kill her? It was this aspect of Draco that John hated so much. It didn't matter. What John thought couldn't matter less to the spoiled brat.

"I'll find your weakness… eventually… and then you won't be able to do anything against me. I swear on the Wynton name."

~~~

Thankfully, John and Prota were oblivious to the noble's pointless threats. Prota had lost. Barely. With her smaller-than-average core, she used too much mana out of habit and had run out. Still, she'd put on quite an impressive show, more than enough for full marks.

She sat up, pushing her hair out of her face, looking around. Most of the students were gone, and she saw her group of friends walking up, chatting excitedly about her victory.

"Prota! Great job!" Briar grinned, waving her arms. "Real good, putting that idiot in his place!"

"It was impressive, Prota," Destiny nodded, a satisfied smile on his face.

Danjo gave her a thumbs up, but most of it didn't mean all that much to her. Sure, it felt good to be praised, but there was still one person who hadn't said anything.

"Hey. Good shit!" John grinned, patting her head. "You showed that motherfucker who's boss, didn't you? You should do that again. Goddamn! That was good."

A warm feeling spread through her chest. Yeah. It had felt good. She hadn't realized how satisfying it could be to take your frustrations out on someone the way she had. Her mind wandered, but it eventually reached a conclusion she hadn't even realized was possible.

John. [Resets]. He could always bring people back. He could kill them and [Reset]. Had he… had he done something like this before? Yes, he'd suggested killing Draco in a simulation of sorts, but now that she thought about it, life itself was one big simulation to her brother. Then, that idea of his had come from… she shuddered.

No need to finish the thought.

But still, John had been impressed. Prota's time with him had taught her that he wasn't the best at giving praise or compliments. This roundabout way of congratulating her meant he really was impressed. The words didn't mean much, but that grin, that light dancing in his eyes, they were all indicators of how he felt.

John needed to watch out. Prota was getting better at reading him.

"I'm surprised more students aren't coming to congratulate you," Briar said, looking around. She whistled. "Nilch. Nada. Nothing."

"They likely can't be associated with her," Destiny sighed. "I'm sure they're all happy about it. But to be friendly with her means they agree with her actions."

John groaned. "Seriously, enough talk about the shitter. Let's get something to eat, ok? I'm sick of all this."

They walked out of the stadium to be met with a light snowfall, crystal-white snowflakes gently floating down, vanishing as they hit the cobblestone walkway. The sky was a perfectly clear blue, the sun shining brightly overhead.

"All done! No more exams!" John grinned, stretching. "We're free!"

"Well, there are the finals in the summer," Celestia reminded him.

"Who?"

"What? What do you mean?" Celestia frowned.

"I mean, who asked. Let's not worry about that now! Total freedom! Come on, don't tell me you've never wanted to just fuck around and have some fun? I thought you were one of those princesses who got locked up in the castle all the time. Let's go do something!"

Celestia flinched, but the message slowly got through. She was free to do whatever she wanted. A smile slowly began to form on her face.

"Hey, Cel, you can't- Cel, hey!" Destiny shouted, but she wasn't listening to him. "John, look at what you've done!"

"What? Let's go do something that's not boring schoolwork! Come on, Destiny, lighten up a little!" Briar said, punching him on the shoulder. "I didn't take you for a stiff!"

"No, it's not that. It's just-" he sighed.

There was no winning this argument. They didn't know Celestia the way he did, but it didn't matter. It was the voice of the few against the voice of the many. The princess suddenly sprinted off, and her bodyguard gave John a glare before chasing after her.

"I don't know, guys," Danjo said nervously. "I mean, Briar and I still have exams-"

"You'll pass, dwarf-boy!" Briar exclaimed. "Let's par-tay!"

She grabbed his arm and chased after the others, leaving John and Prota behind. The little girl was sticking her tongue out, trying to catch the snowflakes. She wasn't having much success, but it was fun nonetheless.

"Yeah. I'd be ok with this," John sighed contentedly. He watched as a puff of steam came out of his mouth every time he exhaled. "This isn't so bad."

The back of his mind knew something was coming. The [Author] wasn't just going to leave them alone for this long. Especially not after the mess they'd been through at the Town of Beginnings. This was just the calm before the storm. He wasn't sure if it would happen at the school or as soon as they graduated, but they had to be prepared.

Still, he couldn't help but want to procrastinate. He wanted to savour this moment of peace for just a moment longer.

"John is smiling," Prota said, her words slightly distorted as she continued to try to catch snowflakes. "Happy."

He flinched, focusing his attention on his lips to find that they were, in fact, stretched wide. It wasn't a big smile, just a sort of grin of satisfaction, but it was there.

[Determination increases! New limit: x2000]

It wasn't a lot. Just a small bit. But there was something nice about all this. A little break never hurt anybody.

"Come on, Prota. Let's catch up."

~~~

The rest of the winter break passed uneventfully, much to John's pleasure. There were a few weeks of break before school started back up again. Destiny and Celeste went back to the palace, and Danjo went with them. Briar also had somewhere to go, but she didn't go into the details, and nobody asked.

John and Prota had nowhere to go. Celeste had assured them that the palace had guest rooms, but he wasn't a fan. Besides, there were way more interesting things to do here, at the school. Of course, he'd asked Prota what she wanted first, but as she had no opinion on the matter, the decision was made.

The snow began to build up over the days. Christmas was a holiday in this world, but when John questioned its origins, everyone just shrugged and said that it simply existed.

"Fucking [Plot Holes] and shit…"

Still, John tried giving Prota a gift. It was small, just a new dress since he hadn't really realized this was something he would do, but it didn't matter. She loved it.

Much of their time was spent with John telling stories, stories of other worlds. His mind was a library, and he was pulling out every book he could. Zombie wastelands. Apocalyptic Earths. Stories of towers rising, systems falling, of weaklings turned gods, of men so strong no one could contest. Civilizations spanning galaxies, theories of multiverses, massive wars, and small acts of revenge.

Prota's eyes would shine. They were all "fiction." But to John, they were also "real." Worlds made of words that had come to life.

Through all this, she was learning how to predict what would come next. It was weak, but obvious plot twists were things she was beginning to see through. She was a quick learner, easily picking up a lot of more complicated books, but then again, she'd always managed to absorb content meant for those far older than her.

Consequently, she was beginning to understand how John was able to predict things. It took him explaining his thought process for her to get it, but she was no longer nearly as lost as she was before.

Take the first dungeon they'd entered in the town of beginnings. It seemed that dungeons were common occurrences where significant events would take place. If this world were a [Story] the way John claimed it was, then it made sense that he'd been wary of something happening back then.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The limiting factor was simply that her subconscious was in a story. She couldn't naturally believe that everyone around her was nothing but [Characters] in a fictional world. It wasn't anything to stress over, thankfully. As John always said, he would take care of it. She didn't need to worry.

Aside from all that, the winter break was filled with fun. The snowfall was heavy on the island, but that only meant there were new things to explore. The past few winters had been spent doing work, so John was happy to show her some of the simple things in life, like hot chocolate on a cold winter night, or rolling giant snowballs, building them up as they picked up more and more snow as they rolled.

"Huff… huff… I can't, Prota," John panted as he leaned against a snowball almost half his height.

The small girl just stared at him, then used her magic to continue pushing the snowball around the training grounds. The thing was almost taller than her.

"...I've got an idea," John said slowly, watching his sister push the snowball around.

Soon, a second ball of similar size was rolled, and then a third, and then a fourth. John grunted as he put two side by side, then began to roll the third up between the two. Prota tilted her head to the side. What was he trying to make?

"Ngh… a little help here?" he said, his feet scraping against the ground as he tried to use his back to push the thing up.

She slowly lifted the snowball up, making a triangle of snowballs. It was pretty, in a way. Was that what he was trying to make? No. He was now shoving the other snowball, trying to push that one up, too. After a while, he gave up and slumped down, looking at Prota pathetically.

She just shook her head and lifted it, stacking it on top of the other one.

John grinned, scrambling to his feet, gathering the heavy snow and stuffing it between the cracks. Prota watched curiously as he slowly filled it in, then climbed up and began to smooth the sculpture out, creating a sort of upside-down Y.

Prota tilted her head. What was it supposed to be?

"A masterpiece, isn't it?"

Prota couldn't tell what it was. John was grinning wildly until he heard another set of footsteps.

"Oh, shit!" he yelled, bursting out laughing. "Come on, run!"

He grabbed Prota by the arm and began wading through the snow, dragging her back to their room. She didn't get what was going on, but she found herself having fun, too. They came back another day to make a real snowman, and Prota wrapped one of John's spare scarves around it and called it One.

She thought it was funny.

Just like that, the weeks flew by, and before they knew it, school was back in session.

~~~

"Welcome back, students!"

Unlike their arrival in the fall, the students were bundled up in coats as Sofya Orhein gave her speech. The crowd was a smatter of everything: rich, velvety coats adorned with gold and emblems, thick woollen coats made from animal products, or thin rags worn by those who could not afford anything more expensive.

It showed one the diversity of the school. It wasn't just a place for rich people. It was truly a place where anybody with enough talent and skill could join.

It was unfortunate that one individual was ruining the experience for everyone.

"I hope you had a good rest. We expect much of you, and I know you will meet those expectations. Best of luck!"

That was the entire speech. The students roared, and the giant crowd dispersed as students went their various ways.

"What a speech, huh?" John muttered as Destiny kicked at the hard, frozen ground. "Four sentences. That's all. 'Oh, good luck, kids! Have fun!' That's all you have to say?"

"Come on, John. Would you rather have a long-winded speech?"

John remained silent. Destiny was learning how to win arguments against this guy. Sometimes, it wasn't possible, but occasionally, a good, solid point would shut him up.

"So, how'd everybody's break go?" Celeste said cheerfully. "Was it good?"

Danjo nodded with a smile. He looked a lot happier. He'd probably gone home to see his sister, which was always good. John felt a twinge of guilt as that thought crossed his mind. He'd almost been the cause of a catastrophic alternative, a world where Danjo would never return home to a family at all.

His power had gone to a good cause. He just hoped he wouldn't regret it later.

Briar was as energetic as ever, but her energy was slightly dulled as she was wrapped in multiple layers of coats. She was almost round, like a stuffed doll.

"...how are you even moving?" Destiny frowned as the human waddled around.

"Sheer willpower," she grinned. "Come on, this isn't that bad, right?"

"You look like an overgrown sheep," John said, rolling his eyes. "You're not hot or anything?"

"Hot?! This weather is way too cold!" she yelled. "I wanna go back to the heat of the forge! This ice and snow is making my hands go stiff. Forget me, how are you fine?"

Everyone looked at John, who, as usual, was wearing nothing but a hoodie and a scarf for warmth. The truth was that his outfit kept him comfortable no matter the climate, but the downside was that he had no idea as to why that was true. He could only chalk it up to some kind of bad writing. Or maybe it was simply an innate power of his? Regardless, it was convenient that he never had to change his wardrobe.

"I'm used to it," John shrugged.

"You don't have any runes or anything on your clothes?"

"Nah. Prota does, though. On her cloak."

Indeed, the small girl was quite cozy, even though her outfit might've looked a little uncomfortable. The inside had become lined with a soft wool, a result of the upgraded runes, and while it wasn't actually meant to do anything related to warmth, it definitely made the cloak a lot more cozy.

"I wish I had one of those," Briar said jealously. "Maybe I'll find one of them Magic Circle kids and get them to carve the rune in for me."

"How would you get the cloak?" John said, raising an eye.

"Danjo can make one, right? Mr. Engineer?"

"Hey, I- I only make tools, you know that!"

Prota watched the group laugh and bicker as they headed to the mess hall. The two weeks with John had been great. She'd recently been getting overwhelmed with everything that'd been going on, and the peace and quiet were perfect for her.

But, watching this scene unfold before her, she realized that a group of friends wasn't as bad as she might once have imagined. Like John, she found herself wishing that this kind of peace could last forever.

~~~

"Sir. H-here's the information you requested."

"Good," Draco said, shooing the messenger away.

In his hands was a simple, unmarked envelope. He knew what it was, though. He'd asked his father to do him a favour, and after explaining the circumstances for which he'd needed them, the head of the Wynton household had readily agreed.

"You have weaknesses. You bugs stick together, do you not?" Draco mumbled to himself. "You care for each other. Pathetic."

He carefully took out the piece of paper folded inside and scanned the contents. His eyes began to light up as he absorbed the information, and by the end of it, he was positively glowing.

"I see. This will work quite nicely." He rubbed his hands together, cackling to himself in the solitude of his room. "But not yet. I'll let you think you've won for a little. But you'll understand what it means to be a commoner yet! I'll show you the true power of a noble!"

~~~

John sneezed, sniffling as he rubbed his nose.

"You sure you're not cold?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"You've got a little-"

"I'm fine!"

Classes were proceeding as usual. It didn't feel like anything new was happening. The professors still taught the same things. The only difference that could be felt was that the Casting class was a lot less stressful than before. The kids were still wary of the noble in their class, but no longer was everyone walking on broken glass around him.

John's class was also going along swimmingly. Everyone was a little scared to fight him, especially after the performances he'd put on. That one girl with the mace would occasionally ask, but he'd refuse with the excuse that he was a little afraid of getting hurt. Everyone else, though, didn't feel like challenging him.

It was like dealing with a feral rat. Sure, it'd be easy to get rid of, but you ran the risk of getting all sorts of nasty injuries and diseases. And who wanted that?

Danjo, Briar, and Celestia were coming along nicely, too. Everything was calm. Everything was going well.

Which made John even more nervous.

He'd learned from his past experiences that the more prepared he was, the more the [Author] would play around to ensure the situations were up to par. It was a rough sort of butterfly effect. John wished this were an actual butterfly effect. If he knew the future, he'd have no qualms about changing it. He'd know what would change, anyway, to some extent.

But John didn't know the future. He didn't know what was supposed to happen, meaning he didn't know what would be changed. And that worried him. There were no hints to go off of. No clouds over the horizon, no predictions of rain, just clear skies and sunny days.

"You should bundle up more."

"Why?!"

"You're just wearing that sweater of yours. Don't you need something more, well, warm?"

"I'm telling you, I'm fine!"

He worried he was growing far too lax, but it was too comfortable. It was akin to waking up in a soft, fluffy bed with a nice thick blanket over you on a cold winter day, knowing you'd have to get out to do chores. John was the sort of guy to hit snooze and go back to bed.

It wouldn't come to bite him in the ass. Right?

~~~

John stared at the announcement, bored, with a look of pure disappointment and disgust.

"The Valentine's dance. Really? Why do you guys even have this holiday?"

"What, worried you won't get a partner?" Destiny teased, grinning.

"No. You guys are kids. You shouldn't be worrying about relationships and all that shit. Also, there's something morally wrong about me romancing children."

"Aren't you kind of like a kid?" Destiny tried, frowning.

"...I don't want to talk about this anymore."

For once, John was on the receiving end of being teased. It wasn't that he hated romance; it was just that he didn't care for it. People falling in love was a good thing. He was all for others finding their ideal partner. But when every potential mate is a figment of somebody's imagination, it gets a little hard to take a relationship seriously. He had no intentions of dating a fiction being.

Some people did stuff like that. He was not one of those people.

"Come on, John, it'll be fun," Celestia said, her cheeks flushed.

John just sighed. He had an idea of why she was blushing. Said reason had gold eyes and silver hair. It wasn't all that hard to guess where this was going.

"Dance?" Prota said, looking quizzically at the announcement.

She didn't know what a Valentine's Day was.

"See? At least go for your sister," Celestia said.

"Dances suck! They suck ass! Are we for real? What the hell is there to do at a dance?"

"There's free food," Briar said smugly.

John turned around, looking at the blacksmith. She had a devious grin on her face, and John knew then that she was one of his kind.

"Free is the best flavour, right?" she said.

"Right. My bad."

The two shook hands, confusing everybody else present.

"...what are you guys talking about?" Danjo said, finally breaking the silence.

"Oh, my dear dwarf. You have much to learn. If something is free, you take it. Do you understand?"

"But what if I don't want-"

"Doesn't matter. It's free."

The two began to walk off, probably to do some homework or assignments together. Destiny turned to John.

"So, what do you have planned?" he asked.

John shrugged. "Nothing much."

That was a lie. John had a lot to plan. Sure, he'd been disappointed that there was a romance-themed [Event], but more important was that an [Event] was happening. Parties were often invitations for disasters.

Look at any school-themed novel, and a couple of things would go down: conspiracies, drama, or confrontations. But given this world's setting, the most likely thing to occur would be party crashers. Some kind of terrorist event would ruin everything, and in the original [Story], Destiny would deal with it and then… well, whatever came next would come next.

But Destiny had been training, and he'd been training hard. Lupin's mentorship had likely caused the [Protagonist] to become far more powerful than he should've been at this point in the [Story]. Hell, John's influence from the Town of Beginnings had already made Destiny stronger than he was meant to be.

So what could possibly happen here? What sort of circus were they in for?

"Well, I'll see you around," Destiny nodded.

He led Celestia out, and soon, it was just John and Prota.

[Have you considered? What if this is bait? Or something else entirely?]

John didn't even argue Zero's message. He'd already been considering that option. Maybe this was just a normal school event, and nothing would

Who was he kidding? He needed to get ready. The time of peace was coming to a close. He sighed and turned around, bumping into a familiar face.

"You. Fancy seeing you again, hm?"

Draco Wynton stood in front of them, a smug smirk plastered on his face.

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