3RD PERSON

Leo Sebastian is your typical lazy student. There is nothing special about this dude. He never participated in clubs at his school, never a sociable person. In fact, he barely even had friends in his grade. He only focuses on reading, reading, reading, and other reading. He likes to read novels that will take him weeks to finish. He likes to sleep to pass the time. He likes playing games, specially adventure-type games to see what places he can explore.

One fine Saturday afternoon, before Leo's birthday. He decided to treat himself and brought a new book to read. He loves buying novel books and perhaps you can call him a collector of those. He has many variety of books in his room. He has fantasy-romance, comedy, science-fiction, and many more. But there is one book that he adores the most, it is the very first book that he brought and pulled him into the world of novels.

It is entitled 'The Heroine, The Fortunate, The Unfortunate, and The Villainess'. He knows that the title is quite 'cliche', but the plot is amazing. The setting is the Empire of Alistaire, where the Island Academy is located.

Where the story of the heroine who lost his father because of the war and lost her mother because of a betrayal starts. She became stronger and independent, trusting no one besides herself. She enters the Academy, where of course the romance takes place. She met the male lead, who is the prince of the neighboring kingdom, and the 2nd lead who is a son of a duke. And of course, the obstacle in her way, the villainess, the princess of the empire. She overcomes everything in her way and of course, achieves her happy ending with the male lead and everything you would expect.

Yes, it's quite the cliche type of novel some of you read, but for Leo, it's like a treasure in his memory that will never fade.

He arrived at the street where he frequently goes to buy books. He arrived at Masani Bookstore, where he usually browses and buys books. Unfortunately for him, they are closed because of their work holiday. He walked around the street and saw many bookstores that are closed, then he stumbles upon a store he has never seen before. With all his years walking and buying on this street, he never saw this bookstore. Tensei Bookstore.

He decided to go inside and see what books they have there. He saw the counter and there is a cashier who looks like in his mid-20s looking after it. Leo just looked at the cashier and went straight to the bookshelves and browse the books displayed.

He never really care about the cover or who the writer is, what's more important for him is the plot. As he was browsing through the shelves, he saw a black-covered book in the corner of his eye. He picks it up and reads the title. 'The Heroine, The Fortunate, and The Villainess Special Edition'.

Leo thought that there is something wrong with the title since it was similar to his favorite book. But when he went and read the back of the book, he saw the names of similar characters. This sparks Leo's curiosity about the book and he decided to buy it. He went to the counter and place the book in front. He looks at the cashier and the cashier look back at him and smiled.

"Afternoon!", the cashier greeted.

"afternoon", Leo replied, not wanting to have a conversation with the cashier.

"Let me see what you got here", the cashier continued and lift the book up.

"It's a nice book, right?" he asked as he flips the book.

"Yeah", Leo answered.

"Where did you get this?" he asked Leo as he continues to flip the book back and forth.

"At the back row", Leo replied as he follows the direction in which the cashier is flipping and was confused.

"I don't see a barcode, did you really get it here?" the cashier asked once more.

"Yeah", Leo answered.

"Wait here for a sec, let me check our catalogs", the cashier smiled and left.

Leo just stood there and starts looking around the store. He thought that the store was really old despite being new in the area. The interior has that vibe of the old medieval period in it but some parts of the store really need maintenance. Some corners have spider webs and worn-out paint. There are doodles on the shelves and it seems that the cashier doesn't have a companion to help him around the place. As he was looking around, the cashier got back.

"Umm... Sad to say that the book is not in our catalog", he said looking at Leo. But Leo is determined to buy the book and read it at home.

"Will you still let me buy it?" Leo asked. The cashier just looked at him and smiled.

"I can't charge you for this since it is not in the catalog, so to resolve this, I will just give it to you", he said getting out off the counter and giving the book to Leo. Leo was surprised and shocked, but deep inside him, he was excited to get a book that is free. But reality hits him and he asked the cashier.

"Why are you just giving it to me?", The cashier just look at Leo and smiled once more, while walking Leo to the door.

"Just think of it as an advance birthday gift Leo", the cashier said.

Leo just agreed to the cashier's reply. Too late to realize that he neither gave his name to the cashier nor his birthday. Before Leo could ask how he knew those things, he saw himself out of the store and back in front of the Masani Bookstore.

After what happened at the store, Leo doesn't remember how he got home. He felt like he just experiences something out of this world.

When he arrived at their house it was already supper. He went inside passing his mother who is asking why is he late. He didn't pay any attention to the question and went straight to his room, still carrying the book. In his room is where he kept and treasures his books like no other, he feels like he just brought a cursed item with him.

He placed the book down on his study table. He looked at it and took a deep breath before tearing the plastic from it. He took another breath before opening the book. Leo at that time decided to read the book for the whole night. He never slept nor blink and wink until the morning after, which is his birthday.

When the morning came, Leo finished reading the book. The book is a special edition of the original, but he felt that the book was so different from the original. The book focuses more on the childhood of the 2nd lead. The book mentioned how the 2nd lead lost everything after he met her. The book also focuses on how the 2nd lead feels about her, which is a good diversion from the original. And Leo enjoyed the thrill he felt while reading it.

"Leo, wake up and come downstairs", Leo heard from the other side of his room. His mother probably baked a cake for him.

He washed his face in the bathroom and went downstairs. Waiting at the dining table is his family. His mother, father, and sister.

"Happy Birthday Leo", They all cheered, which is so forceful in Leo's eyes.

His family is not the family you really wanna live with. His father only cares for his work and money and is frequently seen at home. His mother has favoritism over his sister who is good at everything. And his sister always makes fun of him for being lazy, irresponsible, and everything else she could say to insult or piss him off.

"thanks", Leo replied and sit at the table across from his sister.

Their table is full of food, there are rice, meat, soup, and at the center is the cake. They ate their breakfast and didn't utter a single word to each other.

"Leo, just get yourself something again this year. I will leave the money at the kitchen counter", his father said, breaking the silence as he rose from his seat.

"I already got myself something yesterday", he replied to him.

"Well then, go outside, have fun for today", his mother said.

"Yeah, go out for a while", his sister said agreeing with their mother.

He wants to say something but they're already up and mind him no business.

After their terribly fantastic breakfast, Leo just followed their wishes for him to go out. He got the money from the countertop of their kitchen. He decided to go to the store where he got the book and ask the cashier about it yesterday. After a while of walking, he arrived at the busy street and start hovering over the crowd of people to search for the store. Hours passed and he never found the store where it was yesterday. Leo then just gave up and was planning on returning home when he felt someone behind him.

"Leo", someone called from behind. He looked back and saw the cashier at the store.

"Nice meeting you again!" he said to Leo when he fully turned in his direction.

"I was trying to find you and the store the whole day", Leo said.

"I know. I was watching you", the cashier replied making Leo more confused and somewhat irritated.

"I know what you feel right now and I can only tell you that everything will change from now on", the cashier reassured him.

"I don't understand what you mean, but how did you know my name, and did you purposely give me the book?" Leo asked.

"I can't answer you but everything will be clear soon", the cashier said to him and turned his back to walk.

Leo grabbed his hand but he felt dizzy and unable to reach out to the cashier. After the cashier got out of his sight Leo felt better than before.

It was already sunset when Leo started to walk back to their house. He stopped at the crossing when he saw a truck rushing towards him. He didn't know what to do at that time, but he froze on the spot, and everything after that becomes blurry and dark.

Leo felt that he was floating in an empty space. The place is dark, empty, and it's just him floating there. He felt warm and somewhat comforted by that dark place. He wanted to speak but he can't. He wanted to see, but his eyes are closed, and this is preventing him from seeing. He felt like a prisoner but also a free man at the same time, something he can only feel when reading.

After some time, he felt that it is getting harder and harder to breathe like something strange is happening. He tried to move and resist but his breath is cutting short. That feeling continued for a while but then he saw a light. He felt his body slowly coming to the light and then everything is covered in white.

"Congratulations Your Grace, it's a boy!", he heard a lady yell. Leo was only able to hear that out of all the noises that he was hearing. Everyone started to cheer making him somewhat uncomfortable, and then he felt tears run down his face.

"Everyone stop it. You're scaring the child", someone said.

"But it's also a good sign that he's alive", another voice replied.

"Give him to me Ghilki", a soft voice said to the one who is holding him.

He felt another hand touch him and he saw a glimpse of a woman, sweating and panting softly. The woman smiled at him and looked at him affectionately.

"Hi, I'm your mother. Welcome to this world Acillion", the woman said and after that, all he could remember is falling asleep in the woman's arms.