Help! I'm just an extra yet the Heroines and Villainesses want me!-Chapter 54

The next afternoon William found himself heading to the dining hall earlier than usual. The Inter-Academy training session had ended sooner than expected after Instructor Reylan received an urgent summons from the Headmistress, leaving the team members with some unexpected free time.

William grabbed his tray and loaded it with roasted vegetables, seasoned rice, and some kind of fish that actually smelled decent for once. The dining hall was moderately crowded with students taking advantage of the time between afternoon classes and evening cultivation practice.

He spotted Marcus, Sara, and Elena already seated at their usual table near the windows and made his way over.

"You’re early," Sara observed as William sat down. "Reylan let you out?"

"He had an emergency faculty meeting or something," William said while starting on his food. "We got dismissed halfway through."

"You’re lucky," Marcus said stuffing his mouth with bread. "I had to sit through two hours of Professor Ashcroft explaining essence theory so complicated I’m pretty sure he made half of it up."

"He didn’t make it up," Elena protested. "You just weren’t paying attention."

"I was paying attention. My brain just rejected the information as unnecessarily complex."

They settled into an easy conversation while eating, discussing the upcoming midterms and complaining about various assignments. The food was better than usual today, the fish was actually well-cooked and the vegetables had decent seasoning instead of the bland preparation that usually characterized dining hall meals.

William was halfway through his plate when a commotion from across the dining hall caught everyone’s attention. Raised voices, then the unmistakable sound of a chair scraping back loudly against the floor.

"Oh no," Sara said, her eyes going wide. "Is that—"

"Aaron Winters," Marcus confirmed, craning his neck to see better. "And he’s got flowers. This is going to be painful to watch."

William looked over and saw a third-year student standing next to a table where a second-year girl sat with her friends. The boy who the group called Aaron, was holding a bouquet of flowers and looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. His face was red and his hands were shaking slightly.

"Please," Aaron said loudly enough that half the dining hall could hear. "Just give me a chance. I know I messed up before, but I’ve changed. I’m different now."

The girl, a blonde with a distinctly unimpressed expression, crossed her arms. "Aaron, I told you three weeks ago that I wasn’t interested. I told you two weeks ago to stop following me to classes. I told you last week that if you didn’t leave me alone I would report you to faculty. What part of ’no’ is unclear?"

"But I got you flowers," Aaron said desperately, like that somehow changed the situation.

"I don’t want your flowers. I want you to leave me alone."

The entire dining hall had gone quiet now, everyone watching the scene unfold with varying degrees of fascination and secondhand embarrassment. William could see students at nearby tables leaning closer to hear better, while others were deliberately looking away like they couldn’t bear to witness this.

"This is so awkward," Elena whispered. "Someone should stop him."

"It’s too late for that," Marcus said. "He is already committed, no backing out from this situation."

Aaron seemed to realize he had an audience and it only made things worse. His face went from red to nearly purple, but he pressed on with the desperate energy of someone who’d already decided this was his only chance.

"I know you think I’m just some guy who won’t take no for an answer," Aaron said, his voice cracking slightly. "But I genuinely care about you. I think about you all the time. I’ve written you seventeen letters—"

"Which I never read because you leaving them in my room without permission is creepy," the girl interrupted.

"—and I just want one date. One chance to show you that I’m worth your time."

"Aaron." The girl stood up, and her tone shifted from annoyed to genuinely angry. "I don’t owe you a chance. I don’t owe you my time. I don’t owe you anything. The fact that you ’care about me’ doesn’t mean I have to care about you back. And honestly? This entire display is exactly why I’m not interested. You don’t actually care about what I want. You just care about getting what you want."

She grabbed her tray and walked away, her friends quickly following. Aaron stood there holding his flowers, looking like someone had punched him in the stomach.

The dining hall stayed silent for approximately three seconds before whispered conversations exploded across every table. Students were immediately discussing what they had just witnessed, some sympathetic to Aaron and others firmly on the girl’s side.

"Oof," Sara said quietly. "That was painful."

"He deserved it," Elena said firmly. "She told him no multiple times but he kept pushing the matter. You can’t harass someone into liking you."

"I mean, yeah, but still," Marcus said. "Public rejection like that has to hurt."

"Maybe it’ll finally get through to him that she’s serious about not being interested," Sara pointed out.

William watched Aaron gather his flowers and leave the dining hall with his shoulders hunched, clearly devastated. The conversations around them continued, everyone having opinions about what had just happened.

"Okay but seriously," Marcus said, turning his attention back to their table. "What makes someone think a public confession is a good idea? Like, what’s the success rate on those? Five percent?"

"Probably lower," Sara said. "Most people don’t want that kind of pressure in front of an audience."

"Some people think it’s romantic," Elena offered. "The grand gesture thing. Proving you’re willing to put yourself out there publicly."

"It’s only romantic if the person actually likes you back," Sara countered. "Otherwise it’s just uncomfortable for everyone involved."

"True." Marcus stabbed at his vegetables thoughtfully. "I could never do something like that. That’s way too much risk of public humiliation."

"You couldn’t do it because you’re terrified of talking to girls you actually like," Sara said with a grin.

Marcus pointed his fork at her accusingly. "That’s different. I’m strategically waiting for the right moment."

"You’ve been strategically waiting for six months."

"Rome wasn’t built in a day."

"Rome also didn’t collapse because someone was too scared to ask a girl if she wanted to study together."

William listened to them bicker while finishing his food, finding the whole exchange entertaining in a way that didn’t involve him directly for once. It was nice being on the observer side of romantic complications instead of being in the middle of them.

"What about you, William?" Sara asked suddenly. "What do you think about public confessions?"

"I think they’re a terrible idea," William said honestly. "It puts too much pressure on both people involved."

"See?" Elena said to Marcus. "Even William agrees."

"William also went on a date with Claire like two days ago," Marcus pointed out. "So clearly he’s got some idea how to approach this stuff without making it weird."

"That’s different," William said. "That wasn’t a public confession. That was just... asking if someone wanted to hang out."

"And then it turned into a date," Sara added helpfully.

"Can we please talk about literally anything else?" William asked.

"No," all three of them said in unison.

William sighed.

"But seriously though," Marcus continued, clearly not done with this topic. "How do you even know when someone likes you? Like, what are the signs?"

"They talk to you," Sara said like it was obvious. "They make excuses to spend time with you. They laugh at your terrible jokes even when they’re not funny."

"Those could all just mean they’re being nice."

"Or they actually tell you," Elena suggested. "Revolutionary concept, I know."

"Nobody actually does that though," Marcus protested. "Everyone just hints and expects you to figure it out and then gets mad when you don’t notice."

"That’s because direct confession is terrifying," Sara said. "What if they say no? Then everything gets awkward and you can’t take it back."

"So instead you just suffer in silence and hope they magically figure out you like them?"

"Basically, yes."

William could relate to that more than he wanted to admit. Though in his case, the girls were apparently confessing and he was the one being completely oblivious to their feelings until they spelled it out explicitly.

"This is why I don’t date," Marcus declared. "It’s tio complicated and creates too much room for misunderstanding."

"You don’t date because you’re scared," Sara corrected.

"You mean strategically cautious."

"Cowardly."

"Prudent."

Elena laughed and turned to William. "You’re lucky you don’t have to deal with this kind of confusion. Claire was pretty direct about her interest from what I saw."

William thought about Seraphina’s drunken confession, Claire’s nervous question about being free, and the general chaos that had characterized most of his romantic interactions since arriving at the academy.

"Yeah," he said dryly. "Super straightforward. No confusion at all."

Another commotion from across the dining hall interrupted their conversation. This time it was two students having what looked like a very intense whispered argument near the food service area. A girl was gesturing emphatically while a boy stood there looking defensive.

"Is that Kira Stone?" Marcus asked, squinting at the pair.

"Different Kira," Sara said. "That’s Kira Winters. Third-year from Arcturus."

"Why are there so many people named Kira at this academy?"

"Why are there three different Marcus’s in our combat training class?" Elena shot back.

They watched as the argument escalated slightly, the girl’s whispers getting progressively louder until she was practically hissing at the boy. He said something back that made her throw her hands up in exasperation before storming off, leaving him standing there looking confused and frustrated.

"Relationship drama everywhere today," Sara observed. "Must be something in the water."

"Or people are stressed about midterms and taking it out on their romantic situations," Elena suggested.

"That’s... actually probably accurate," Marcus admitted.

The dining hall slowly returned to its normal noise level as various dramas resolved themselves and people went back to eating. William finished his meal while his tablemates continued discussing the various relationship catastrophes they’d witnessed.

"The worst one I ever saw," Sara said, "was last year when this fourth-year tried to confess to someone during the tournament finals. Like, in the middle of the arena with everyone watching. The girl was so shocked she just stood there for like thirty seconds before saying no and walking away."

"That’s terrible," Elena said, wincing.

"It gets worse. He tried to follow her out of the arena to explain himself and tripped over his own feet in front of the entire crowd."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes. It was the most secondhand embarrassment I’ve ever experienced in my life."

They continued trading stories about terrible confessions and awkward relationship moments they’d witnessed around campus. William contributed occasionally when asked directly but mostly just listened, finding the whole conversation strangely relaxing despite the topic.

"You’re being quiet," Marcus observed after a while. "Usually you at least pretend to participate in conversations."

"I’m just listening," William said. "This is actually kind of entertaining."

"Our romantic suffering entertains you?" Sara asked with mock offense.

"Your commentary on other people’s romantic suffering entertains me," William corrected.

"Fair distinction."

They finished eating and cleared their trays, then lingered near the dining hall entrance for a while longer just talking. The sun was starting to set outside, casting orange light through the windows and creating long shadows across the floor.

More students filtered in for dinner, and William’s group eventually dispersed—Marcus heading to the library for studying, Sara to combat practice, and Elena to meet with her study group. William found himself alone near the courtyard fountain, enjoying the quiet evening air.

"William?"

He turned and found Cole approaching with his practice sword slung over his shoulder.

"Hey," William greeted. "Heading to practice?"

"I just finished," Cole said. "I wanted to thank you again for helping with fire techniques yesterday. I’ve been practicing what you showed me and it’s already making a difference."

"Good. Just keep working on the flow instead of forcing it. That’s the key."

"Will do." Cole hesitated, then added, "Can I ask you something? It’s kind of... personal."

"Sure."

"How do you know if someone is interested in you? Like, romantically?"

’What’s going on today?’

William stared at him. "Why are you asking me?"

"Because you seem like you have your life figured out," Cole said earnestly. "You’re on the Inter-Academy team, you’re dating Claire apparently, people respect you. I figured you’d know."

’Who’s spreading these lies?’

"I absolutely do not have my life figured out," William said flatly. "And I’m the worst person to ask about recognizing romantic interest."

"Really? But you and Claire—"

"Claire literally had to ask me on a date before I realized she might be interested," William admitted. "I’m completely oblivious to these things."

Cole looked relieved rather than disappointed. "Oh thank god. I thought I was the only one who couldn’t read signals."

"Definitely not."

They stood there for a moment in shared confusion about romance before Cole laughed.

"This makes me feel better about my own situation," Cole said. "There’s this girl who keeps showing up at my practice sessions and I have no idea if she’s just being friendly or if there’s more to it."

"Have you tried asking her?"

"That seems terrifying."

"It is terrifying," William confirmed. "But apparently it’s less terrifying than spending months being confused and stressed about it."

"That’s... actually good advice." Cole adjusted his sword strap. "Maybe I’ll try that. Thanks."

He headed off toward the dormitories, leaving William standing alone by the fountain again. The irony of giving relationship advice when his own situation was a complicated mess wasn’t lost on him, but at least Cole seemed to find it helpful.

The evening air was getting cooler now, and William decided to head back to his room before it got completely dark. He walked the familiar path through campus, passing groups of students heading various directions for evening activities.

When he reached his dormitory, he found Kai already there, reading at his desk as usual.

"How was your day?" Kai asked without looking up.

"Surprisingly normal," William said while dropping onto his bed.

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