I was sitting in my desk at school staring blankly at Luna in front of me.

Surprisingly she had not done anything out of the ordinary yesterday night when we ate dinner together. It was a normal dinner although her face was blushing wildly with joy, and we talked casually about nothing in general. She almost even seemed normal. It was strange to think of Luna as normal after all that had happened.

I sighed and pulled my head down on the desk.

Nothing interesting was going on in class as usual and the teacher droned on in a toneless voice about nonsense while everyone in the class took notes.

Mayu glanced back at me and smiled. I couldn't tell if she was serious about her confession or if it was just a ploy to annoy Luna. What did I even do to make her feel that way?... I guess, I did help her out a few times when she was injured. I was also there when she cried after almost being killed by Luna... It sort of made sense.

But what about Luna? Were we even dating? I mean, sure, I had confessed to her, but she did so many crazy things during that period. Wasn't there some sort of dating rule that said if your girlfriend is a psychopathic serial killer, your confession becomes void? I sighed. Did I still like Luna?...

"Ryo!"

I snapped out of my trance and looked up at the figure calling my name. Luna was standing in front of my table with her bag in one hand. She looked down at me with a worried look on her face.

"Didn't you hear the bell? It’s lunch time." She told me.

"O-oh, really?" I stuttered under Luna's studying gaze. Her pale violet eyes seemed to pierce my thoughts. It felt like she was attempting to read my mind. I wouldn’t be surprised if she could. I got up from my desk, grabbing my bag.

"Let's go." I said trying to ignore her intense stare. I walked past her and she followed my lead. Akane and Eiji were eating in the classroom, having not noticed that we left.

We stopped at the roof of the school. Luna was still staring at me and I gave her a defeated look.

"What is it, Luna?" I asked at last.

"There's something bothering you." Luna replied. "Something’s on you mind Ryo."

“It’s nothing, Luna…” I replied. “I’m just tired, that’s all.”

"Is it Mayu? Is she bothering you?" Luna asked. "If she’s bothering you, I can kill her for you.”

“No!” I exclaimed. What kind of thought process was that? I was bewildered by her solutions to problems.

“Ryo!” A voice called out.

We turned to the door that led to the roof. Mayu stood there, holding the door open.

“Can I talk to you?” Mayu asked. “It’s something important.”

Luna had a grim look on her face.

Something important? What could it be? I wanted to find out what Mayu had to say.

“Sorry, Luna. I’ll be back really quick.” I told her. “I promise.”

Luna frowned. “Okay…”

I jogged over to Mayu and she gestured for me to go through the door. I did as she wanted and she closed the door behind us.

“We’re alone!” Mayu said excited. “Hooray!”

“Huh?” I said confused.

“Just joking.” Mayu laughed. “But really I need to talk to you.”

“About what?”

Mayu gave me a serious look. “We need to talk about Kaori.”

Kaori. The memory of her slaughtering the ten thugs flashed in my mind. I saw her pummelling the last thug in the face with her rod, bashing his skull in. Her face had been completely blank during the whole ordeal, not a single emotion.

“Y-yeah, I remember.” I said.

Mayu leaned her body against the wall. Her chest pressed together and I could see the top of her cleavage from her shirt. Her chest was slightly smaller than Luna’s. “So what happened after I was knocked out? How did you even escape from her?”

I looked away from her chest. We were talking about something serious here and I was looking at her chest? “She… uh. She let me go.” I responded.

“She… let you go?” Mayu repeated.

“Yeah. We were attacked by thugs and after she beat the last guy up. She said we could go.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I didn’t really think much about it.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Mayu raised a hand to her head. “She… she wouldn’t of let you go that easily, Ryo.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Mayu was quiet.

She lifted her head up from her hand. “She must had followed you.”

“W-what?!” I stuttered.

“There’s no way she would had just let us both go.” Mayu said. “That doesn’t make sense at all.”

“Right…” I said.

Mayu was thinking to herself.

I didn’t say anything else so that Mayu could think. I felt like I had screwed up big time. How could I be so stupid? It wasn’t like this was the first time it happened. I remembered that Mayu had done the same thing to me and I had lead her right to Luna.

I remembered a question I had been wanting to ask. “Mayu, why are Kaori’s eyes always glowing?”

Mayu paused. “She’s stuck on synthesis.”

“Stuck?” I repeated confused.

“Kaori’s lost control of herself.” Mayu said. “If you use synthesis too long, there’s always a risk of losing yourself. That’s why synthesis is stressful on the mind. When you’re on synthesis, you lose touch with what little emotions you have.”

“So what happens if you become stuck on synthesis?” I asked.

“Well… the first thing that happens is that you lose your emotions completely.” Mayu said. “Then your memories become muddled, you will feel like time is skipping. Eventually you just descend further into madness until you become an empty killing machine.”

“T-that’s…” I wanted to say horrifying. “Is that what happened to Kaori?”

“She still remembers me and she can talk normally so she shouldn’t be too far down the road.” Mayu pushed herself off the wall. “But she will probably end up there.”

“What about you and Luna?” I asked.

“If we stay on synthesis too long, then it’s bound to happen.” Mayu answered. “That’s why every Ashen knows their limits.”

I nodded silently and Mayu placed a hand on the handle of the door. “We should warn Luna about Kaori.” Mayu said.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Mayu pushed the door open. Luna was sitting down by the fence.

I hurried over to her and Mayu trailed behind me. “Sorry, Luna. That took a while.” I said.

“It’s okay Ryo.” Luna picked herself up from the ground.

“Luna, there’s something I need to–”

“There you guys are!” Eiji’s voice interrupted me. I turned my head to see Eiji and Akane at the door to the rooftops. “We were looking all over the place for you guys!”

“You left us behind…” Akane said dejectedly, then quietly. “I had to be alone with Eiji…”

Mayu frowned at me but there was nothing I could do. I had to wait for another time to tell Luna about Kaori and Daike.

“What’s going on up here?” Eiji walked up to us, grinning. “Some sort of secret love triangle?”

He laughed and Luna glared at him. “There’s no love triangle.” Luna said. “There’s just Ryo and me.”

Eiji stopped laughing seeing Luna’s serious face.

“Anyways, we’re going now.” Luna grabbed my hand and dragged me to the door.

“Where are you guys going?” Eiji asked confused.

“Alone.” Luna replied.

----------------------------------------

We ended up in an abandoned parking lot that was across the school. It was undergoing maintenance and repairs so the entire place was deserted. We were in one of the middle floors and dim lights surrounded us.

“Luna, there’s something I need to tell you…” I started.

“If it’s about Mayu, I don’t want to hear about it.” Luna replied. She was leading me by the hand. “I just want to be alone with you, Ryo.”

“It’s about Kaori.” I said.

Luna stopped walking and I stared at her back.

“That day I was with Mayu…” I said. “We met Kaori and Daike.”

She was silent.

“Kaori… she’s coming to find you…”

Luna turned her head around slowly, her violet eyes were glowing vividly in the dark.

“She’s here.”