The Time I Got Reincarnated As An Extra

256  Akane Blackheart [2]

***

Amon's gasps didn't stop until the moment Akane had finished her speech.

Every moment, every second he stared at her.

Every split moment her eyes locked with his…

A current passed through his body, sparking the replaying of the memory that just happened minutes ago.

His heart beat so hard that it seemed as if it would burst out from his chest at any second.

Nevertheless, he was still able to keep himself composed enough to not show it to the people sitting around him, despite making them suspicious at least once.

Especially Amelia, who looked at him more than once but he quickly masked his discomfort.

The girl had already enough on her plate that she was going through.

The last thing he wanted to do was impose his burdens on her.

Fortunately, as her speech ended and the conductor got back on stage to announce the award winners, Amon was finally able to get a breath.

Akane had stepped back and was now focusing on the stairs from which the winners would enter so he was safe for now.

Wiping the sweat off his face in a discreet manner, Amon took a final deep breath to settle himself back in his chair.

'It's good. It's all good.'

Trying to clear his brain, he focused more on the conductor that was giving awards to the top 10 rankers of this year now.

"And now, I'll be announcing the top 10 rankers of this year to be handed rewards by the esteemed principal Miss Akane herself!"

He retrieved a list of names from his pocket.

"The rest of the new ranks will be displayed after this ceremony on the notice board. Please take note of that."

Focusing on the names, his voice roared.

"And now, I'll start with the 10th ranked student of this year based on the midterms!"

The audience tensed, especially the ones who were hoping for their name to be in it.

"And their name is…."

"Mortex Williams!" He roared.

Immediately, a wave of cheers passed through the audience, especially the ones on the back.

Focusing on the back, Amon saw that it was someone from another class.

And since it was from the back seats, it was probably someone from the commoner class.

And just as he thought, it was true.

The plain dressing and his way of walking showed enough to Amon.

Especially the proud smirk he had on his face, as if he had just shoved a brick in the noble's face.

Walking up to the stage, Amon saw him head towards Akane trying to look the best he could.

It was obvious to everyone that the man was smitten by her, just like almost every man out there.

"I'm very proud to be granted this award Miss Akane by your own noble presence." He tried to compliment her.

But as he extended his hand for a handshake with a bright smile on his face, expecting a warm greeting from her as well…

He was taken by shock when his extended handshake had a simple trophy put into his hand.

Mortex's smile froze and his eyes flickered upwards to see Akane's expression.

But what he expected warmth from her was only returned by a cold and monotonous expression.

"Congratulations for placing 10th in the midterms." She kept it short and even then, it had no emotion behind it.

Mortex could utter no word.

Even if he wanted to, everyone could see that he was utterly devastated by Akane.

Waiting for a few seconds to keep the award in his hands with him, Akane finally let it go.

"Next please." She then moved her attention from Mortex, while everyone including him was left speechless.

This wasn't an award ceremony they realized…

It was as if she was just giving bones to the dogs beneath her.

Feeding them and then moving on…

But no one could say anything. It was still being done in every perfect way possible.

Showing emotions on her face and saying words to the recipients were up to Akane.

She could choose to do what she wanted. She said only what was needed from her.

A simple congratulations and that was it.

Mortex, who kept standing there speechless, looked as if he wanted to say something.

But as Akane's hollow black eyes moved to her, he couldn't say anything else.

And with a disappointed expression, he just moved down the stage.

The audience was left speechless and an awkward silence descended in the area.

A frown appeared on Amon's face. Even the conductor appeared to not be able to say anything, as if he was waiting for an applaud from the audience.

But it was obvious that the audience were too stunned to say anything.

All except..

Amon.

He had a frustrated expression on his face.

The more he looked at Akane, the more he felt that there was a depth to her that he could never decipher.

She wasn't like anyone he had seen in this world.

Something in his body kept attracting him to her.

But unlike the case with Arthur or Amelia or anyone, it frustrated him.

She was like a puzzle that Amon wanted to solve and see through but it was impossible.

Too many strange incidents were happening these days.

A new storm was brewing and it would fall soon, he knew it.

He had to meet her and really quick.

Despite the earlier moment, it only made him more curious. Akane, he knew from the novel wasn't a bad person.

At least this was one thing he was sure of as even until the end of the novel, there was nothing bad about Akane.

So he could trust her, for now at least.

Growing frustrated by the silence, Amon chose to just be the one to end it.

He raised his hands and then…

Clap.

He started clapping without any word.

For a moment, the group around him turned his eyes to him but then, the storm of claps that followed made them turn back and also follow the clapping.

Fortunately, it was the only time that this happened as the audience turned accustomed to her attitude now.

After that, the rankings went like this.

9th, Klein Sinclaire.

8th, Nadia Alneith.

7th, Ren Silvermoon.

6th, Adam Ravenfield.

Yeah, it was a little surprising to see Ren, a main cast member losing to Adam, a side-character but it made sense to Amon.

For Ren, this event wasn't his best event. There were quite some conflicts that he got into that hindered his progress.

This didn't happen in the novel but because of Amon's interference, it was natural.

The same went for Klein and Adam, whom Amon had pushed hard enough to make them enter the top 10. Something that didn't happen in the novel.

After that, the rankings followed.

5th, Liliana Evangeline.

The audience was clearly surprised.

For a person as proud as Liliana to have fallen a rank, it must have been a hit but…

Rather, she even had a determined expression on her face, that shocked everyone.

A smile spread on Amon's lips. Another influence of his interference.

A positive one.

In any case, it had finally moved to the top 5 now.

4th, Charlotte Von Sullivan.

3rd, Alya Von Lancaster.

This was the same as the first day.

Although Charlotte would have overtaken Alya normally because of Amon's influence being higher on her side, it was a special case in the mid-terms.

The team battles with Alya and also fixing her pride earlier in that trip, also caused her to spike by much.

So just by a little margin, she had been able to overtake Alya.

Amon noticed a little change in Akane's behavior in the top 5 side though.

She was now a little more interactive as she nodded and handed the rewards with more respect than before.

Though no one could blame her, these ones at the top were also high nobles.

Heirs to high ranked noble families standing at the peak of society.

Finally the second rank of the midterms.

Amon was a little confused at this part.

Clearly, there were 3 people here but only 2 ranks.

Amon, Michael and Elizabeth.

It meant that one of them failed to place in the top ten.

Amon's brows furrowed into a deep frown.

Was it Michael cause of him missing the team battles?

But it was obvious that Michael had overtaken everyone in the single battles except Amon.

Then…

Amon's eyes widened momentarily.

At the same time, Akane's eyes moved subtly to the corner for a split second, staring into Amon's.

And the corner of her lips lifted up into a small smile.

'No, wait…'

However, his worries were for nothing as he was taken by surprise in the next second.

"AND ON THE SECOND RANK WE HAVE TWO PEOPLE…"

The audience was taken by shock.

Never in the past decade, had two people ended up on the same rank.

Nevertheless, their surprise faded quickly.

It made sense to them. Especially because they knew the two people who had those ranks.

"MICHAEL VON LANCASTER AND ELIZABETH SNOWCREST."

A wave of cheers erupted in the crowd as both of them stood up, bearing their surprise and headed towards the stage.

It was a big, large jump for Michael in ranks, just like Ren.

However, everyone accepted it. They had to.

Not just after his performance in the midterms, but also in that invasion and how he battled those people.

Everyone saw how he saved everyone. In their eyes, he was the only cadet that fought back against that organization.

Their hero.

And their gratitude was shown by their claps, as they still didn't recede while they received the awards.

For the first time, Akane gave them a slight, just a simple smile and congratulated them with some heartfelt emotion.

The audience couldn't complain though.

These were the top two ranks of the academy now.

However…

As the two came back to their seats, the hall descended into silence again.

It was finally time for the ranked one of their year. The only person who had overtaken not just the former first ranked in a couple of months…

But also the person to have performed the largest improvement in the history of Eldergrove, jumping from the last rank to the first rank. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Everyone knew who it was on that top rank.

Amelia turned to him with a smile on her face as the group to his right finished congratulating him.

"Congratulations on placing 1st." She said with a heartfelt gentle smile.

Amon returned with a smile of his own.

"Thanks Amelia."

But just as he was about to stand up, he felt a hand grab his hand.

Turning back to her, Amon saw a proud smile on her face, one different from the previous one.

It was one filled with pride and gratitude, one that was directed not towards his achievements in the midterms…

But one that was directed toward what he did in the invasion. One that nobody knew about except her.

"I know you have worked hard and I know what you did there. I just want you to know, that while everyone may not know what you did, I know. And for that, I'm very grateful and proud of you."

As she said that, she finally let go of her hand, allowing him to go.

Amon was left speechless, his eyes trembling as he stared into her golden ones.

Finally, when he couldn't take it anymore, he averted his eyes, turning to move back to the stage.

He felt something hot trickle down the side of his face but he quickly wiped it, not wanting anyone to see.

What Amelia said hadn't been much compared to what others had said to him while announcing his rank but…

It had touched him the deepest.

Her words showed that…

While everyone saw and thought of Michael as the hero of everything that happened, in her eyes, it was someone else.

And just having one person, especially Amelia, think of him made his chest hot.

Heading down the stairs to the stage, Amon let out a deep sigh, trying to calm the emotional turmoil inside him.

He released a deep sigh.

After that incident at the slavehouse, he thought he had changed himself.

Amon had promised that he didn't want to be a person like that anymore.

But being a 'hero' in someone's eyes for once…

It made him a little warm…

It didn't feel bad.

"Maybe some things are more important than others after all."

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