I AM EXTRA IN A SHONEN MANGA

The silence in the arena was heavier than the blow that ended it.

The dust hadn't even settled when gasps began to scatter like sparks through dry grass.

Thud.

Shigeo's body hit the floor, limp but breathing. The referee didn't even have to count.

It was over.

Shigeo Motome—the genius with the 200 IQ.

The boy who never bothered finishing fights that were "too complicated."

The one who forfeited more matches than he fought…

Had chosen to win.

And still lost.

From the viewing platform, Saya Kurenai felt her smirk fade.

Her fingers curled slightly at her sides.

She didn't even realize she'd stood up.

"…No way…"

Her voice barely escaped her lips.

She stared, eyes wide, mouth parting slightly not in mockery, not in sarcasm, but in something unfamiliar to her.

Shock.

"I didn't think… Shigeo would lose."

Her thoughts blurred for a moment.

(He used it. The Thousand Way. That weird finger-thing he does when he gets serious. He never pulls that out unless it's someone insane.)

Her lavender eyes shifted down to the one who stood victorious.

Khael Corzedar.

"...Who the hell is this guy?" she murmured.

Even her poison-laced voice couldn't mask the genuine disbelief underneath.

All around her, murmurs rippled.

"Did you see that technique?"

"Wind shouldn't move like that…"

"Was that even just wind?"

"Corzedar family has no record of that kind of power…"

On the lower benches, even Kaen Suro squinted, leaning forward, eyebrows furrowed.

Kaen thought:

(Wait… I didn't know he was this strong.)

Lira Valenne sat quietly near the edge of the bleachers, her hands folded over her lap, her eyes calmly fixed on the center of the arena.

But her heart wasn't still.

Khael Corzedar stood there, wind curling around his shoulders like a tamed spirit, breathing heavily yet steady composed.

Shigeo Motome, the boy who never lost unless he allowed it, sat at the other end of the ring, dazed.

Lira's lavender eyes flickered with quiet disbelief.

"(Khael… that boy…)"

Her gaze softened.

"(Now that I look at him clearly… he was the one who got pranked by Kaen)

She paused, recalling something more vivid another whisper among the first-year circles.

"(He's also the one who stepped in when Andromeda Ban tried to humiliate Kaen in the cafeteria...)

Her grip tightened slightly.

"(Back then I thought he was just another noble.)"

But now?

Now he stood above a collapsed genius.

Not because of overwhelming strength.

Not because of inherited prestige.

But something else.

"(He beat Shigeo… and not by luck.)

(Shigeo Motome. The boy with an IQ above 200. The one considered a possible Lunar Sage candidate… People don't talk about it openly, but I've heard it. Even the Eclipse Vanguards regard him highly.)"

She glanced briefly at the viewing platform. The Vanguards were murmuring. Even Master Isen's expression had shifted into something thoughtful.

Lira returned her eyes to Khael, a faint wind brushing his hair aside.

"(Shigeo is a genius. He's lazy, sure—but that's because things are too easy for him. He doesn't fight because nothing challenges him. But today... he wanted to win. He tried.)

(And he still lost.)"

Her lips parted slightly, a whisper leaving her as if carried on the same breeze that surrounded him.

"Who are you, Khael Corzedar?"

.

In the elite crescent seats above, the Eclipse Vanguards all remained silent.

Except for Raiden Kurogami, who chuckled once and said,

"He just broke the blueprint. That ain't easy. Especially not Shigeo's."

Beside him, Amane Hoshigaki smiled thinly.

"What a fun little twist in the blood flow."

And far above, Master Isen, the Keiryuu himself, hadn't moved.

But his eyes hadn't left Khael once.

And across from Khael…

Shigeo stirred.

He sat up slowly, rubbing his jaw with a grimace.

He looked at Saya in the distance then back to Khael.

And all he said was:

"What a complicated world."

Meanwhile Rael Eluron stood with arms loosely crossed, unmoving, like a statue carved from silver and will. His emerald-green eyes reflected the battle's aftermath—Shigeo collapsed, Khael steady in victory.

All around him, murmurs spread like embers across dry parchment.

But Rael did not speak.

His platinum hair shimmered under the filtered light of the Umbraen sky dome, a single ribbon tying it back in immaculate order. Not a strand out of place.

He hadn't blinked once since the match began.

By his side, the faint shimmer of Seraphis, his Echo Spirit, hovered. Wings folded behind its radiant back, its face impassive a mirror of his own.

It whispered something.

No one else heard it. Only him.

Rael's gaze narrowed.

He responded under his breath, without moving his lips.

"That power… You don't know what it is?"

Seraphis slowly shook its head.

No.

Not in the known records. Not in the Eluron bloodline.

Not even among the Bloom's hidden variations or the Lightning resonance subtypes.

Rael let silence hang between them.

A pause.

A thought.

"(To deceive Seraphis... even for a moment...)"

"(You are not ordinary, Khael Corzedar.)"

Khael Corzedar

I walked back toward the bleachers, wind still faintly brushing off my shoulders from the clash.

And every step?

Eyes.

Every damn eye in the arena was on me.

Their whispers weren't loud, but they didn't need to be.

"Is that him?"

"That's the guy who beat Shigeo."

"Didn't he also stop Ban during that cafeteria fight?"

"Corzedar family, right? I thought they weren't impressive..."

I kept my head level. Eyes forward. Neutral face.

But inside?

(Fuck. So many watchful gazes on me... shit, I shouldn't have beat Shigeo like that.)

(But...)

(It was necessary.)

I sat back down, feeling the weight of every stare—even the ones pretending not to look.

(In the manga... Shigeo didn't have purpose.)

(He always said, "What a complicated world.")

(He wasn't just lazy. He was lost.)

(No goals. No drive. No reason to push himself. And in the War Arc...)

My fists tightened slightly on my knees.

(He died.)

(Trying to protect Kaen Suro of all people. The same Kaen he used to ignore.)

(And his last words?)

"If only you and I knew each other better when we were freshmen..."

"...Maybe I would've followed you. Maybe I would've been your right-hand man."

(Yeah. That bastard regretted it. Regretted being a slothful genius with no motivation.)

I stared ahead, not really watching the next match.

(That's why I had to beat him now.)

(While we're still freshmen. While he's still figuring things out.)

(Maybe if I become the person who knocks him down now... he'll get curious. He'll look at me and wonder how the hell I beat the Thousand Way.)

I exhaled.

Long and quiet.

(And maybe... just maybe... when the real threats show up, I won't have to fight alone.)

(Maybe he won't die next time.)

To be continue