Kaizen ran.
He didn't look where he was going. He just needed distance. Distance from the Hero. Distance from the Villain. Distance from the Plot.
'I need to get to the dorms. I need to lock the door. I need to hide under the covers until graduation.'
He looked over his shoulder to make sure Leo wasn't following him with a "friendship bracelet" or some other cursed item.
'Clear. Nobody is following me. I'm saf—'
CRASH.
Kaizen didn't hit a person. He hit a reinforced concrete bunker disguised as a student.
He didn't just stumble; he bounced. He literally flew backward three feet and landed on his butt.
[ HP: -2 ]
"Ow..." Kaizen groaned, rubbing his tailbone. "Did I just run into a pillar?"
"Oi, oi."
A voice rumbled above him. It was deep, raspy, and feminine.
"Look where you are running into, weakling."
Kaizen froze. The temperature seemed to drop.
He looked up. And up. And up.
Standing over him was a girl. She was tall—easily six foot three. She had green-tinted skin, small tusks protruding from her bottom lip, and muscles that looked like they were carved out of granite.
Hilda Guard.
The Half-Orc Berserker.
The "Muscle" of the future Hero Party.
Kaizen's jaw unhinged. It hit the floor.
'No. No way. Statistically, this is impossible. There are 2,000 first year students here. Why am I running into ONLY the Main Characters?!'
Hilda looked down at him, her arms crossed. She was wearing the standard skirt, but on her, it looked like battle armor.
"Wh-why are you looking at me like that?" she snapped, narrowing her eyes. "You haven't seen an Orc before? You got a problem with my tusks?"
She extended a hand. It wasn't a friendly gesture. It was an aggressive, "I'm going to pull you up so hard your shoulder dislocates" gesture.
"Get up," she grunted.
Kaizen stared at the hand. It was the size of a frying pan.
If he took that hand, he triggered the 'Awkward First Meeting' event. If he took that hand, he was DOOMED.
Something snapped inside Kaizen's brain.
The stress. The fear. The sheer absurdity of the last hour.
It was too much.
'I just want to be a janitor! I just want to sweep floors! Why won't you people let me be boring?!'
"Stupid main characters!!" Kaizen howled.
Hilda blinked. "Hah?"
Kaizen didn't wait. He scrambled to his feet, ignoring her hand entirely. He didn't bow. He didn't apologize. He spun around and bolted.
He activated his [Panic Sprint]. Well, at least, in his mind, he did…
Zoom.
He was gone. Just a dust cloud and the fading sound of someone crying about "plot armor."
Hilda stood there, her hand still extended in the air.
She stared at the empty space. Then she looked at her hand. Then she looked at the direction the little human had fled.
Her eyebrow twitched. A vein popped on her forehead.
"What..." Hilda growled, clenching her fist. "What is with that diva?!"
She stomped her foot, cracking the pavement.
"Who does he think he is?! Screaming and running away like I'm some monster! Stupid ass! He should be glad I didn't get my hands on him! I would have folded him like a napkin!"
She huffed, crossing her massive arms again. "Humans. So dramatic. So weak."
She sighed, shaking her head. The anger faded, replaced by boredom.
She looked around the courtyard. Waves of students were mingling, laughing, forming cliques.
She scanned them.
'Weak. Weak. Weak. Coward. Weak.'
She sniffed the air. Even the other Orcs and beastkin looked soft. Domesticated. None of them had the smell of blood or iron.
"Boring," she muttered. "Is this really the Zenith Academy? Where are the warriors?"
Then—
Her eyes stopped.
In the middle of the crowd, surrounded by people, was a boy with bright red hair. He was laughing, looking around for someone.
He wasn't big. He didn't look scary.
But Hilda's instincts screamed.
She could see it. The way he stood. The way his mana flowed naturally around him. The calluses on his hands.
Leo Crimson.
Hilda's eyes widened. Her tusks glinted in the sunlight. A wide, terrifying grin spread across her face.
"Him!!"
Her heart started pounding. Not from love. From battle lust.
"He's strong!! I can feel it!"
She cracked her knuckles, the sound like gunshots.
"I want to fight him!!"