Luna moved away from the door and I carried Eiji in. I saw Akane sitting at the living room watching television by herself. I laid Eiji onto the couch carefully.

"Ryo."

I heard Luna's voice call from behind and I turned around to be tackled by a tight hug. Her hair went in my face because of her height. She smelled really nice as usual.

"Luna?" I said trying to pull her off but I couldn't.

She didn't reply. "You okay?" I asked looking down at her.

"I'm sorry." She said. "About everything."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I'm sorry for all the things I've done that you didn't like." Luna said, her face was buried into my chest. "I just wanted to protect you..."

I pushed her off me. She was caught by surprise and yelped at the strength I used.

"Look, I know you don't have emotions." I said. "Mayu told me all about it. How Ashens work."

Luna looked at me with a quivering lower lip. "M-Mayu? She doesn't know everything..."

I refused to back down. "Just stop it, Luna. You were trained to imitate emotions so that you can interact normally. I know all about it."

"That's not true, Ryo..." Luna said with a hurt look on her face. "My feelings for you are real."

"You're lying." I said. "You don't have emotions."

Luna winced at my words and anger took over her face as she looked away. "That whore... I'll kill her."

I grabbed her shoulder. "Look, Luna. Mayu's got nothing to do with it."

Luna went silent for a while. "Do you like her?" Luna asked.

"W-what? No." I stuttered surprised by her question.

Luna pulled my arm towards her and pulled me into a hug again. "Don't ever leave me for another girl, Ryo. I really love you so much, you mean everything to me."

"I-I didn't say I was leaving..."

I felt her body relax against mine. "I can't live without you." Luna breathed out. "I can't imagine a world without you in it..."

"Stop pretending to like me, Luna..." I muttered. Luna pulled away.

"I'm not!" She cried and I could see tears in her eyes. She walked away from me tugging at the top of her head. "Can't you see that I love you? Why would I pretend that I love you?!"

I was at a loss for words. Luna seemed genuinely frustrated. I realised that she had nothing to gain by pretending to love me. But nothing made any sense. Mayu had told me that Ashens weren't capable of emotions.

"You're hurting me, Ryo..." Luna said.

"So what Mayu said..." I hesitated. "About Ashens. Is it true?

"Yes..." Luna replied.

"Then it is true that you don't have any emotions?"

"No!" Luna said immediately. I looked at her for an answer but she didn't elaborate.

"Explain."

Luna looked stiff, she avoided my gaze. "It's true that Ashens draw their power from their lack of emotions. Their heightened senses are a result of that and synthesis is only possible by the disconnection of emotions."

"But most Ashens still have slight fragments of emotions." Luna continued. "Mayu must have told you already-"

"The stronger an Ashen is." I interrupted. "The less connection to human emotions they have."

"Yes." Luna said.

"Are you a weak Ashen?" I asked realising this was the question to end it all.

Luna looked at me and for a moment I saw a blank look on her face. Then she smiled and her face lit up. "Yes! Exactly!"

It felt like a huge weight had been lift off me and suddenly I was happy. "So that's why you have emotions?"

"Yes!" Luna urged on cheerfully. I stopped to think about it for a moment while Luna disappeared into the kitchen. If Luna was a weak Ashen then it could explain why she had feelings for me.

Luna came back to the living room with dishes of home cooked food and smiled at me. "Come sit with me and Akane at the table. We were just about to eat."

I nodded at her and joined Akane at the table while Luna went back to the kitchen to finish up. Akane had a bitter look on her face. "Luna went through a lot of trouble to prepare dinner for you."

"That's nice of her." I laughed half-heartedly.

"You better not hurt her..." Akane mumbled. "I don't even know why she likes you in the first place."

I was about to say something when Luna announced her return.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Dinner is ready!" She exclaimed cheerfully as she placed down the plates of food. It was extremely well made and seemed to be the quality you'd expect at a restaurant. Akane ate in silence while Luna brightly chatted with me the whole time. There was extra food for Eiji but he was unconscious during the time we were eating.

It was only until after we had finished eating that Eiji finally woke up.

"Ryo?" He called from the couch and groaned. I went to see how he was doing and saw him clutching onto his upper stomach with his hand over his eyes. "W-what happened?"

"Uh..." I looked at Luna but she merely winked at me, guess I had to tell him what happened. "Luna-"

"You tripped over the doorstep and hit your hit on the ground." Luna interrupted.

"Did I...?" Eiji said in a confused voice. "I don't remember that..."

"Yes, silly." Luna continued. "You're lucky we were here to help you. It would have been unfortunate if there was no one around."

Eiji shuffled on the couch uncomfortably and tried to get up but fell back down. "My stomach hurts."

"Don't worry, you can rest here for the night." Luna said. "Akane's parents are overseas and she doesn't mind."

Akane frowned. "I thought we were only having Ryo over..."

Luna turned her eyes towards Akane. "Do you mind if Eiji stays over?"

"N-no... he can stay... if Luna wants..." Akane's voice trailed off.

"That's settled then." Luna smiled then turned to me. "Ryo, you should stay over for the night since Eiji is here too. It's also quite dark outside. I wouldn't recommend walking home alone at this time."

"I guess." I said unwillingly. It wasn't my plan to stay overnight but since Eiji wouldn't be able to go home in his condition, I would have to stay. I needed to find out more about Luna. I still didn't know enough about the Ashens.

"Akane will be sleeping in her own room. Eiji, you stay on the couch." Luna said as her voice got more excited. "Ryo and me will sleep in the guest room."

"What?" Akane and I said at the same time. I thought I would be sleeping with Eiji in the living room. Akane had a look of jealousy on her face and her face got red.

"Y-you can't sleep with, Ryo. He's a guy!" Akane said clenching her skirt.

"Yeah." I agreed. "Maybe it's not such a good idea."

"You don't want to sleep with me?" Luna asked pouting. I could tell she wasn't going to take no for an answer. I shook my head reluctantly.

Akane opened her mouth to say something but Luna waved her off.

After we had all showered and dressed, Akane mumbled good night and closed the door of her bedroom leaving me and Luna alone in the guest room. The bed was bigger than I expected and I felt relieved knowing that I wouldn't have to squish in with her as we did at my apartment. Akane's family was pretty rich it seemed.

I looked at Luna. She was wearing a semi-transparent negligee that was made of white fabric while I borrowed some spare guest pyjamas off Akane. I felt my heart skip a beat. Luna jumped on the bed first and made herself comfortable under the blankets. "Come here, Ryo." Luna said, hiding half her face under the blankets.

I obliged hesitantly and set myself at the edge of the bed as far away from Luna as I could. I had my back turned towards her but she didn't seem to mind. I peeked behind me and saw her staring up at the ceiling with her face red. She seemed content just to sleep in the same bed as me.

"Ryo." Luna called, still staring up at the ceiling. I turned around slightly and saw her blush. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

I didn't know what to reply to that so I didn't say anything.

"I wish we can sleep together like this every night." Luna said.

I turned around to face her completely. "You... have emotions right? You're not faking or anything..."

Luna turned to face me and I could see she was hurt by what I said. "I told you this already." She said in a painful voice.

I felt guilty seeing her hurt and I backed off the subject by apologising. I had no choice but to accept her words as the truth. She turned back to face the ceiling pouting while I turned my back on her once more as I recollected my thoughts. It didn't take long before I fell asleep.