The Academy's Terminally Ill Side Character

"I didn't know teasing her would be this fun."

I muttered it under my breath, a smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth.

Honestly, it hadn't started that way. I wasn't planning to tease Kiera—not seriously. But when Leona and Ryen got the ball rolling at me, I figured, why not join in and tease Kiera?

It was fun. Way more than I expected.

Still, I couldn't shake the feeling of surprise.

Kiera had changed. A lot.

Back when I first met her, all I cared about was keeping her alive. That was it. I figured she'd either stay glued to Ryen like always or keep orbiting around Leona. I didn't imagine we'd end up… whatever this was.

But now?

She was storming off with flushed cheeks because of me. Not Ryen. Not Leo. Me.

"…This must be the fate of a transmigrator protagonist, huh?"

I sighed to myself, the weight of genre-awareness settling over me like a blanket I didn't ask for.

In web novels, it always happened like this—one minute you're trying to stick to the main story, and the next, you're emotionally tangled with characters you never meant to be close to. All because you made one different choice. Said one extra word.

Butterfly effect, or something.

"If she came out and said she liked me, maybe I could make sense of it. But it's not like she has, right?"

Still, right before she turned to leave, I noticed something.

Just a flicker. She glanced over at Leo.

Only for a second, maybe two. Barely enough to catch if I hadn't been watching.

So… does she still have feelings for him?

Or am I just reading too much into it?

I mean, it's not like people's feelings are organized into neat little boxes. Emotions are messy. Confusing. Half the time, even we don't know what we want.

Maybe that's the real problem.

I scratched the back of my neck and exhaled. This wasn't what I planned.

But here I was.

Somewhere between dodging flags, teasing girls—while figuring out how I even felt about any of this myself.

Still smirking faintly, I shook my head.

"…Yeah. Definitely a transmigrator thing."

Still, it was scary.

Because deep down, I knew—if Kiera ever actually did confess to me…

She'd only get one answer.

And it'd be no.

I didn't want to hurt her, but that was the truth. I wasn't interested in her like that. Not now. Maybe not ever. I just didn't see her that way.

Sure, teasing her was fun. Watching her get flustered, that red creeping into her ears, the way her scowls never quite reached her eyes—it was entertaining. Kind of adorable, even.

But adorable didn't mean I wanted something more.

Maybe we could be friends. Real friends. Not just people thrown together by circumstance and survival. I think I'd like that. But beyond that?

I don't know. I didn't come here to fall in love. I came here to survive.

What about romance? That was optional. Something for the side characters. The fluff chapters.

Not for me.

But feelings didn't care about rules or plans or genre conventions. They snuck in through cracks you didn't know were there. They built up when you weren't looking, slow and quiet and dangerous.

And if Kiera was feeling something now…

Then this was going to get messy. Fast.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, trying to get my thoughts straight.

"Okay. Focus," I muttered.

Lunch. I still had lunch plans.

Not with Kiera. Not with Leona or Ryen.

No, this one was different.

It was with Professor Lena.

"…Sorry. I'm late, aren't I?"

And as if summoned by the thought, she appeared right in front of me, calm as ever.

"It's fine, Professor Lena. I just got here too," I said with a polite smile.

Now, I know what you're thinking—why was I having lunch with a professor?

Well, you can thank that bastard Leo for that.

Yeah. Him. Again.

That genius thought it'd be a brilliant idea to send a full report about our unauthorized dungeon dive not just to my older sister Rachel—who, by the way, is terrifying—but also to our homeroom teacher.

Seriously, how could he betray me like that?

And the worst part? He did it with that dumb, smug face like he was doing me a favor.

I swear, one day I'm going to get back at him for all this.

"Well," Lena said, gently folding her hands on the table, "shall we finish our discussion while we wait for the food?"

Right. Food.

Crap. I should've ordered ahead. Rookie mistake.

"I'm not going to scold you, Rin, so don't worry," she added, her tone warm but firm. "I just have a simple question."

I relaxed a bit at that. Since Leo had promised to keep the source of the dungeon info confidential, I figured there wasn't much for me to worry about. At worst, she'd be mildly disappointed.

"I read the data Leo submitted," she continued, her eyes narrowing slightly with curiosity. "And I was concerned about the part where you apparently fought a villain."

Ah.

That's it?

I'd braced myself for something worse. Like, 'Rin, are you secretly hiding a divine artifact?' kind of worse. But this?

Just curiosity.

She was wondering how I'd managed to take down a villain.

Lucky for me, I had a bunch of well-rehearsed excuses locked and loaded.

"Weren't you scared?" she asked suddenly.

I opened my mouth to answer, but paused.

"Huh?"

"It was only the second time you've faced a villain directly, right? Weren't you scared?"

The question caught me off guard.

Was I scared?

I tried to remember. The villain. The fight. The moment everything got quiet, when I charged forward without thinking twice.

Was there fear?

…Maybe?

I wasn't sure.

It could've been the nonstop training wearing down my nerves, or maybe I'd gone a little numb after dealing with Ethan. Or maybe I was just too focused on keeping everyone alive to feel anything at all.

I didn't feel scared. That's all I knew.

But apparently, that wasn't a good thing.

"Actually," Lena said, her voice quieter, "as a hero and a professor, I probably shouldn't say this to a student…"

She looked at me—serious, honest.

"…But I hope you can hold onto that fear for as long as possible."

That made me pause.

She wasn't scolding me. She wasn't even warning me.

It was something else.

Concern.

The real kind. The kind that didn't come from authority or obligation—but from someone who'd been there. Someone who'd seen what losing that fear could do to a person.

And maybe that was the scariest part of all.

That I might already be heading in that direction.

I glanced down at the table, then back at her.

"…Yeah," I muttered. "I'll try."

She nodded once, then smiled gently.

And just like that, our food arrived.

It was going to be an interesting lunch.

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Thank you for reading the chapter. I hope you continue to do read more in future.

It's my first novel so if there's any kind of mistakes you find in the novel related to grammar please tell me and I'll edit it as soon as possible.