Chapter 40: Nobody Wants to Be in the Spotlight Part 1

The banging started at sunrise.

Sunlight sliced through the dusty blinds of my dorm room, illuminating floating specks of dust. It was supposed to be a chill morning, my first in weeks without some kind of emergency. The frantic pounding on my door violently disagreed.

I groaned and rolled over, pulling a pillow over my head.

The door swung open anyway, slamming against the interior wall with a crack.

Siegfried stood in the doorway, looking like he’d wrestled a grimoire and lost. His blond hair was a mess, his uniform was rumpled, and his eyes were wide with a special kind of panic I was becoming way too familiar with. He was breathing hard, leaning against the doorframe for support.

“You have to do it.”

I sat up, the pillow sliding into my lap.

“Morning to you, too.”

He stumbled into the room, tripping over a stack of textbooks I’d been meaning to put away. He didn’t seem to notice. He just scrambled back to his feet and started pacing the limited floor space between my bed and my desk.

“This is not a joke, Eksu. This is life or death. The fate of everything.”

He ran a hand through his already wrecked hair, making it stand up in weird tufts.

“Okay, drama king. What’s ‘it’?”

“The event! The super important, mega-critical, world-altering event!”

He stopped pacing to grab my shoulders, his grip surprisingly tight. I didn’t flinch, thanks to my passive defense, but the intensity was a lot to handle before my first cup of coffee. He was practically vibrating.

“You have to participate. For me. For the world. Please.”

I gently removed his hands from my shoulders.

“Dude, chill. I can’t agree to anything if I don’t know what it is.”

“But I can’t tell you!”

He threw his hands up in the air and resumed his frantic pacing. This was going nowhere. It felt like we’d been having this exact same circular conversation for hours, not minutes.

“Just say yes. That’s all I need. A simple yes.”

“Why is it so hard to just tell me?”

“Because! It’s… a secret! A really, really big one!”

The door creaked again.

Elizabeth stood there, looking immaculate in her academy uniform, not a single ribbon out of place. Her arms were crossed over her chest. Lilith peeked out from behind her, her silver hair catching the morning light. She waved at me with a cheerful, curious smile.

Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed, scanning the scene. She took in Siegfried’s panicked state, his proximity to my bed, and my general state of undress. Her expression went from suspicious to glacial in about half a second. The vibe in the room dropped twenty degrees.

“What’s going on here?”

Siegfried froze mid-pace.

“Elizabeth! Perfect timing! Help me convince him.”

“Convince him of what?”

She took a slow, deliberate step into the room. Lilith followed, her eyes wide with fascination as she studied Siegfried’s frantic energy.

“To participate in the event this week!”

Elizabeth’s gaze flicked to me. A slow smile spread across her face, the kind that promised trouble. The kind that made me want to hide under the covers.

“An event? With Eksu?”

I shook my head, trying to signal a tactical retreat. It was no use.

“Yeah! The big one! He has to do it!”

“I see.”

She walked over to my side of the bed, completely ignoring Siegfried. She sat down on the edge of the mattress as if she owned the place.

“Of course, we’ll participate.”

I stared at her.

“We?”

“Naturally. As my future husband, you can’t possibly enter a major event without me by your side. It would be improper.”

Siegfried’s jaw dropped. He looked back and forth between us, his panic momentarily replaced by sheer disbelief.

“Future… husband?”

Lilith tilted her head, her expression one of pure academic curiosity.

“Oh, is this a human courtship ritual? How exciting. My books described it as far more complicated. This seems very efficient.”

She pulled a small, leather-bound notebook and a fountain pen from her bag, ready to document the proceedings.

I buried my face in my hands.

“Elizabeth, we are not getting married.”

“Don’t be silly, darling. It’s a mere formality.”

She patted my knee. The gesture was probably meant to be comforting, but it felt like a trap being set.

Siegfried snapped out of his shock and refocused his panic on me.

“Forget all that! Just say you’ll do it! Alone, with her, with a pet rock, I don’t care! Just get in the event!”

I looked from Siegfried’s desperate face to Elizabeth’s possessive smile to Lilith, who was now sketching my horrified expression in her notes. My quiet morning was officially deceased.

“No one is doing anything until someone tells me what this stupid event is.”

Elizabeth turned her icy glare on Siegfried.

“Yes. Do tell. What event is so important you felt the need to burst into my Eksu’s private chambers at dawn?”

The emphasis on my Eksu was unmistakable. Siegfried actually took a step back. For a guy who seemed pretty tough, he was legit terrified of her. I couldn’t blame him.

“I… it’s… I can’t say! It’s against the rules!”

Elizabeth scoffed.

“What rules? Did you sign an NDA to talk about a school festival?”

“Not those kinds of rules! It’s… a personal thing! A code! If I break it, something awful will happen!”

His voice cracked. He sounded completely unhinged.

Okay, he’d officially lost his mind. This was next-level paranoia. But he also looked genuinely terrified, like he was about to have a complete breakdown right here on my floor.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was already planning our coordinated outfits. I could see the gears turning in her head. And Lilith was offering Siegfried a weird, fizzing purple cookie. My life was a circus.

There was no escape. Resisting would just make Siegfried more frantic and Elizabeth more determined. The path of least resistance was the only path back to some semblance of peace. Probably. Hopefully.

My shoulders slumped in defeat.

“Fine.”

Three sets of eyes locked onto me.

“I’ll do it.”

Siegfried’s entire body went limp with relief, and he sagged against the wall.

“Oh, thank everything. You have no idea what you just did, Eksu. You saved us all.”

Elizabeth beamed, wrapping her arm around mine.

“Wonderful! We should start training immediately. I have some ideas for our battle couple theme.”

Lilith clapped her hands together softly.

“Splendid! I will observe and collect data on your performance. This is a fantastic research opportunity.”

A cold feeling washed over me. I had a feeling I knew why Siegfried was so afraid to join himself. He was pushing me into the one thing I never wanted to be in.

The spotlight.