Forced Companions

"I'll join you."

Silence fell over the cafeteria as every eye turned to me. Which made me feel a bit embarrassed, but I kept a polite smile, raising my hand slightly.

Boreas stepped forward, his scowl sharp and menacing. "Who are you?"

"Kaleb. A pleasure."

He reached toward me, his intent unclear, but I remained seated—calm and steady. Before he could close the distance, Lehrina appeared between us, her voice firm.

"We have five members now. Our faction is officially formed. And by the rules, you can only challenge another faction in a faction battle."

Boreas looked ready to snap at Professor Lehrin, but before he could, his gaze flicked toward Milo. A simple shake of the head was all it took to stop him. His jaw tightened in frustration, but he held back as Milo shifted his attention to Lehrin.

"You'll regret this, professor," he said coldly. Then, his sharp eyes moved to Mikhail and the others. "All of you."

Lin rolled his eyes. Mikhail remained serious, standing firm beside Emily, while Chloe pulled a face and stuck out her tongue.

Milo's smirk barely faltered. "We'll settle this in the faction battle. Don't even think about running."

With that, he turned and left the cafeteria. The tension faded, and the room returned to normal. I glanced back at my table, where my dish had finally arrived. Ignoring everything else, I was about to pick my fork and start eating.

Professor Lehrin remained standing in front of my table, her expression softer than before.

"Thank you for that, Kaleb," she said, bowing her head slightly.

"It was nothing. You don't have to thank me."

Especially since, with Anastasia missing, I fully intend to use this situation—and all of you—to my advantage.

She studied me with a careful gaze before speaking again. "I have to thank you anyway. What you did was dangerous. The Blues faction is well known for its… coldness."

I scoffed. "That's a polite way to put it."

Lehrin let out a small sigh. "I need to go. There's paperwork to handle before the faction is officially formed. I'll contact you later."

I gave a simple nod as she turned and walked away. Just as she left, Chloe, followed by Mikhail and Emily, made their way over and sat at my table.

"Hello, I'm Chloe. I just wanted to thank you for what you did."

"It was nothing," I replied shortly.

"You saved us back there," Mikhail added with a grin. "I'm Mikhail, by the way. Pleasure to meet you."

"Kaleb," I said, barely looking up from my food.

Then I caught the distrust in Emily's eyes as she crossed her arms. "Why did you help us?"

"Emily, that's not cool. He saved us," Chloe protested.

"He had no reason to," Emily shot back. "I just want to understand why he decided to make so many enemies for us when he could have joined any other faction."

Chloe hesitated, unable to argue, because she was just as curious. Mikhail, on the other hand, seemed entirely unbothered.

With a sigh, I leaned back. "It's not like I had much of a choice. I'm the worst student in the academy—no faction would want me. I saw an opportunity and took it. That's all."

Emily narrowed her eyes. "So you made enemies of the Blues just because of that? What if we lose the faction battle? We won't be able to protect you."

I shrugged, smiling. "Then I'll be praying for your success."

Emily clearly didn't like my answer, but Mikhail just laughed. "I see. Well, then we're friends from now on."

…How did he reach that conclusion?

"Yeah, friends!" Chloe said cheerfully.

"I'd call it 'forced companions,'" Emily muttered.

For once, I agreed with her.

Mikhail glanced around. "Speaking of which, where's the other guy? What's his name? Lini?"

"It's Lin," Emily corrected. "And he's in a bad mood. Let him be."

"He should be here. We need to plan our next moves—we're friends now," Mikhail insisted.

"We're a faction," Emily corrected, then sighed. "But you're right. We'll need to discuss things later—with Lin and Professor Lehrina."

Then, all at once, they turned to look at me.

"…What?" I asked.

"So… what can you do?" Chloe asked, carefully choosing her words. "I mean, the four of us are the top-ranked first-years, but we don't know anything about you."

I coughed. "As I said, I'm the weakest student. I'm no help at all. The best I can do is watch… and hide."

Silence.

Then Emily sighed. "We're doomed."

Not waiting for their next words, I finished my food and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Emily asked.

"Leaving," I said simply. "As you've already realized, I'm useless. I helped form your faction, but beyond that, it's up to you."

Without looking back, I walked out of the cafeteria.

…

Okay. I've entered the main story much sooner than I expected.

Not ideal, but necessary.

At least I've established some kind of connection with key players. That'll help in the long run. But for now, my priority is the faction battle in three months.

A tournament where factions challenge each other, and the loser has to obey the winner's demands.

If Anastasia doesn't return before then, we're in serious trouble. She's a major player in this event—one of the main pillars of their group. Without her, Mikhail and the others will almost certainly lose.

And I really need them to win.

If she doesn't come back in time, I have two options:

Take her place myself and become one of the team's core fighters. Or, find someone strong enough to fill that role instead.

A few names come to mind, but I won't act just yet. Let's see how things unfold.

For now, there's only one thing I need to do.

Train.

If I want any chance of surviving, I need to increase my physical stats.

And the best way to do that?

Hit the gym.