"Glacia…"

"Welcome back to the academy. I heard from Dowii you got quite an adventure in Haban." Glacia's voice was a notch lighter and higher than when she was talking to Loter.

"That is one way to put it."

"I'm glad you're safe."

Hiroku opened his mouth and then closed it after finding nothing to say. He wanted to get to the tough topic immediately, yet he also had an urge not to.

Hearing no response, Glacia continued, "Where are you now? In the dorm or in the garden?"

"Garden," Hiroku said, "I have something to tell you." His voice was as serious and dispiriting as he used to be.

"Alright, I'm coming," Glacia replied in a serious tone, without her earlier pleasance. It was already clear to Hiroku that he was off to a bad start.

When Glacia arrived at the pavilion, Hiroku initially thought she would sit beside him. Instead, she took her seat across the round marble table, facing Hiroku from the opposite end. This made Hiroku much more comfortable than he had expected.

He stared at the marble table and occasionally glanced outside the pavilion, not brave enough to look Glacia in the eyes. He sighed and inhaled. Just as he opened his mouth, Glacia asked, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, yes. Everything's alright."

"Then, what's wrong?"

"I just." Hiroku paused for a moment to reconstruct his sentence. "I want to say sorry, and I want to break a thing to you."

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry. I don't think I like you." Hiroku stole a glimpse of Glacia and averted his eyes back to the table. The Glacia he saw was calm and unbothered, so he raised his head to check again. This time, he saw it clearly: Glacia's eyes were dampened, and her hands clenched together on the table.

"Then, all the snuggle and everything… Why?" she asked with a quivering voice.

"I'm sorry. I just felt lonely, and your company was enjoyable."

"What?" Glacia, confused, squeezed her question out of her throat.

Hiroku clamped his teeth, turned away, and faced back at Glacia as if he had made a difficult decision. "I've been feeling lonely ever since I entered the mountain campus. I lost all my friends, and this place was such a strange place. I was desperate, and you were there. I knew you liked me from the beginning, but I just can't say no to you because I'm a selfish fuck, and I don't want to lose you." Hiroku closed his eyes and pressed his left palm against his forehead. "I'm sorry I've been using you. It felt really good when you were around me. I should've rejected you at the very beginning. I'm so sorry for all the time you wasted on me." Hiroku's spirit fell to the ground, yet there was a weak sense of relief among the dejection. Although he probably lost himself a friend, he finally faced his wrongdoing.

For what felt like an hour, Glacia did not respond. The air kept flowing, and the sun kept setting. Hiroku's desperation slowly diminished as his impulse faded. He raised his head to look at Glacia again. The girl also appeared more dignified, with her tears already wiped.

"Hiroku, what do you want to accomplish with what you told me?" Glacia asked in her casual voice, almost as if her emotions were not impacted by what she heard.

"I, I." Hiroku took an extra second to think and answer, "I want you to know that I can't love you back."

"But do you want me to leave you alone and treat you like a complete stranger? Avoid talking to you?"

"No, I." Hiroku hesitated for a moment and lowered his head before he disclosed his selfish wish. "I don't want you to leave me. I want things to stay the way they are."

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"Then, who are you to say that is not love?"

"Hm?"

"No, your whole argument is based on your imagination," Glacia hastily answered and continued frantically and hurriedly, "You are not as selfish as a person you think you are. You shooed me away every single time I tried to get close to you. You've been rejecting me since the very beginning. It's me who never took any of it seriously." Glacia paused and gazed into Hiroku's eyes, searching for the impact of her words. Finding only a blank slate of a face, she continued, "You said you can't love me back, but you do want me. You still want to hug me. You still want to spend time with me. Do you even know what love is? You love me."

"I…" Hiroku tried to argue back instinctively, yet nothing processed through his brain. Not a cohesive opinion could be formed. In frustration, Hiroku pushed a hand against his forehead and forcefully closed his eyes. "I…"

"Hiroku…" Glacia called his name softly. What lay in her voice was not cheap pity for strangers but genuine concern for a person who she cared deeply about.

"I need some time." Hiroku squeezed the sentence out of his throat as he struggled to even think of anything else than what Glacia just said. Her voice echoed in his head, leaving no space for anything of value.

"Yes." Glacia stood up from the seat and exited the pavilion. As she went down the stoop, she took one last glance before speeding up and leaving the garden.

Hiroku stayed in the pavilion for a few more minutes before going back to the dorm. The overwhelming shock and emotion had already mellowed to a trace of bitterness on his tongue and an impulse in his chest. Not a thing else than where he was heading popped up in his head. Hiroku tried to think about Loter and Key, but the thoughts just dropped off the cliff the moment they formed. Key's exact location did not interest him a bit, and he was not in the right mood for Loter's love story.

It was an exhaustion that occupied his head. This tiredness bolstered his aimless urge and dejection, putting extra weight on his every shaky step and causing his upper ponytail to bounce slightly to his pace. When Hiroku finally stepped into his dorm, he slammed the door closed and threw himself onto the couch. Pulling his two hair ties off his head, Hiroku turned around to stare at the empty ceiling, the same ceiling he had been living under for what felt like an eternity.

Finally, Hiroku circled back to what Glacia told him in the garden.

Do I like Glacia? He asked himself. I just enjoy her presence. I don't know what her hobby is. I don't know how her power works. I don't know her life before joining this jail of a school. How can that count as love?

As his mind wandered to a dead end, the phone in his pocket suddenly buzzed out of nowhere. Hiroku pulled it out and saw Loter's message: "Hey, Hiro. Are you awake? If you are, please come to the garden. Tori said she wanted to play poker. Surprising, right? I thought people in Cho-san would play some old Habanese card games."

What? Where did she learn how to play poker? I thought—

Hm?

Tori does not know a thing about Loter, and Loter barely knows anything about Tori. How did they fall in love? It doesn't make sense. Or am I the one who's not making sense?

Throwing all these thoughts out of the window, Hiroku sent a generic "sure" sticker to Loter. He got up from the couch, did not tie his hair, sighed, and took a deep breath before leaving the dorm. His head remained empty until the elevator stopped by the second floor.

As the doors slid open to the two sides, Hiroku and Glacia's eyes met in midair. Both of them averted away immediately. Still, Glacia stepped into the elevator. She stood beside Hiroku with her hands held behind her back. The doors closed as they both purposefully ignored each other.

Before they opened again, Glacia turned toward Hiroku and abruptly asked, "What do you think?"

"Hm?" Hiroku, startled by the question, took an extra second before looking at Glacia. The elevator opened, and he finally answered, "To be honest, I don't know. I'm confused. I don't even know what 'love' is anymore." His eyes lowered to the floor.

Without a sign, Glacia took a step closer and hugged him sideways. Her arms wrapped around him, and her head lay on his shoulder. The sense of maiden softness went through Glacia's thin, white tube top, dazing Hiroku and freezing him into a statue. The doors before them slid shut.

Hiroku could feel Glacia's breath blow against his right cheek. He was convinced that their noses and lips would touch if he dared to turn his head rightward.

A soft voice came into his ear. "Do you like this?"

Do I like this?

The moment Hiroku asked himself this question, his calmness came back to him. "I, I," Hiroku halted, letting go of the impact of teenage hormones and sighing as he felt his heart bumping in his chest. "I am happy when you are with me."

"What?"

"I don't know if this qualifies as love, but I do enjoy your presence, and seeing you makes me happy."

Glacia pulled away and took a step back as Hiroku turned toward her. Their eyes met in the air. Both pairs were in anticipation, yet waiting for different things.

Hiroku continued, "I don't want things to change. Can we just rewind everything and get back to normal?"

"Of course," Glacia said and once again embraced Hiroku. This time, his arms also wrapped around her naked waist. With her face buried in Hiroku's shoulder, Glacia added, "Do you know you just sounded a bit like Loter?"

"That's definitely untrue." Hiroku could not control but let out a chort.

"No, you actually did. Who else would've asked others to rewind time with him," Glacia said and giggled, for both her humor and her relationship.

"Do you want to go play poker with Loter and Tori?" Hiroku conspicuously changed the topic.

"Yup, but let's just stay here for a bit longer."