(POV: Sophia)
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"…Do you guys always get this excited over minor things?"
For a full five seconds, nobody said a word.
Then—
"MINOR?!"
Ava's voice hit a pitch only dogs could hear. Ethan nearly fell out of his chair. I clutched my notebook so hard it almost crumpled.
"Leo." I took a deep breath. "This is not a minor thing."
Leo just blinked, completely unaffected. "Why?"
Ethan gestured wildly. "YOU—YOU WERE MENTIONED IN A CELEBRITY INTERVIEW. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?"
Leo tilted his head. "…That they remembered me?"
"YES—NO—ARGH, THAT'S NOT THE POINT."
Ava snatched her phone off the table, already furiously typing into the search bar. "We are finding this interview."
Leo, as usual, didn't seem to care. "I don't remember the exact one."
Ava paused. "…How many interviews were there?"
Leo thought for a second. "…Three, I think?"
"THREE?!"
Ethan physically grabbed Leo's shoulders. "HOW ARE YOU JUST CASUALLY SAYING THAT?!"
Leo blinked. "I wasn't named."
Ava started shaking him. "LEO. YOU. WERE. QUOTED."
Leo didn't resist, but also didn't look remotely concerned.
Ava was already scrolling aggressively through interview transcripts. "Give me keywords, Leo. What did they say?"
Leo took another sip of his coffee, completely unfazed. "Something about how my insight helped their perspective."
"OH, GREAT, SO WE'RE LOOKING FOR SOME MYSTERIOUS SAGE-LIKE FIGURE IN A-LIST ACTOR INTERVIEWS." Ethan ran a hand down his face. "THAT NARROWS IT DOWN."
Leo nodded. "That's what they called me."
We all froze.
Ava's phone slipped from her hands. "WHAT."
Leo blinked. "Yeah. I think they called me something like 'a sage with an enigmatic aura.'"
Ethan physically slammed his head against the table.
I grabbed my pen and immediately wrote that down.
- Labeled as a "sage with an enigmatic aura" in a celebrity interview.
- Still thinks this is minor.
Ava let out a choked noise. "I—I found it."
We all huddled around her phone screen.
The interview was from a high-profile entertainment magazine. The actors—now clearly recognizable—were talking about their upcoming movie, and then, midway through the discussion—
> Interviewer: "We heard you both had an interesting experience while working on this film."
Actor 1: "Oh, definitely. There was this moment when we were debating a scene, and we ended up discussing it with this incredibly insightful guy at a café."
Actor 2: "Yeah! He barely spoke, but his silent input, it was profound. He just nodded, and we instantly understood."
Interviewer: "Sounds like an industry veteran."
Actor 1: laughs "That's the thing—he didn't even introduce himself. We have no idea who he was. But he had this… aura."
Actor 2: "Exactly. A sage-like presence. Enigmatic. If you're out there, man, thanks for the wisdom."
Silence.
Ava slowly turned to Leo.
"…Leo."
Leo took another sip of his coffee. "Yeah?"
"THEY JUST SHOUTED YOU OUT ON A PUBLIC PLATFORM."
Leo tilted his head. "Oh."
Ethan buried his face in his hands. "OH? THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?!"
Leo shrugged. "It's not like they used my name."
Ava closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I… I am going to scream."
Ethan suddenly grabbed Leo's wrist. "Dude. You need to use this."
Leo blinked. "Use what?"
"THIS POWER." Ethan gestured dramatically at the phone screen. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE WOULD PAY TO BE CONSIDERED A MYSTICAL FILM INDUSTRY GURU?"
Leo just stared. "…That's stupid."
"NO, IT'S MARKETING."
Ava nodded furiously. "You could literally walk into any film set and they'd let you stay just because of this."
Leo thought about it for a moment.
"…I'd rather not."
"WHY?!"
"Too much effort."
Ethan looked like he was about to pass out. "Leo. You—you could be getting paid for this."
Leo blinked again. "They just talked to me while I was eating."
Ava grabbed him again. "YES. AND IT CHANGED THEIR MOVIE."
Leo looked at the article again, tilting his head. "…Huh."
Ava let go of him, defeated. "You really don't care at all, do you?"
Leo shrugged. "Not really."
Ethan groaned, resting his forehead against the table. "I give up."
I, on the other hand, continued writing.
- Still doesn't care.
- Has no idea how much influence he actually has.
- Will definitely be on a documentary one day, and he won't even realize it.
Leo stood up. "I'm getting more coffee. You guys want anything?"
We just stared.
Ava eventually sighed. "…No, we're good. Go, oh great enigmatic sage."
Leo walked away like nothing happened.
Ethan and Ava just sat there, processing reality.
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End of Chapter 7.