The next day started with Hiroku smacking Loter's door to wake him up. Loter swiftly donned his clothes and rushed out of his room.

"You aren't late, Loter," Hiroku said unenthusiastically.

"I'm not?" Loter deftly changed the direction he was running and fell onto the couch with a hop. "That's smooth."

"No." Hiroku slowly exited their unit.

"Wait, then why did you knock on my door?" Loter asked and quickly caught up. He stuck his head forward to look at Hiroku's face. He only received a glance from a flank, yet it was enough for him to sense the somber gloom.

"You were late yesterday," Hiroku answered and shambled toward the elevator as usual.

"And?"

"I decided to call you so you won't be late this time."

"Oh! That's awesome. Thanks, Hiroku!"

The receiver of the gratitude responded with a dispirited silence.

Before the silence became awkward, Loter heard Kiznaq calling him from behind, "Loder!"

"Kiznaq!" Loter faced back and waved as Kiznaq hastened to him. "Key said he destroyed you yesterday!" Loter walked backward and kept following Hiroku toward the elevator.

"Ah, d'ad sneaky basdard! I only blundered ad d'e very end. He was lucky his drick worked. He'd nod ged me nexd dime."

"I want to fight you next time."

"Okay, d'en. We'll fi'd nexd dime."

Loter turned around and saw Hiroku already entering the elevator, so he rushed forward, dashing into the elevator before it fully closed.

As Loter opened his mouth to say something, his eyes met with Hiroku's. The pure dejection in those Habanese eyes stunned Loter for a moment. He just shut his mouth, mute.

The elevator door soon opened. Glacia, coming in, was wearing her casual outfit with the only change being the denim shorts that replaced her jeans.

"Hi," she said zestfully, sweeter than usual. Immediately, she hooked her arms around Hiroku's. Her eyes squeezed in her gleeful smile.

Loter casually waved his hand and greeted her. Meanwhile, Hiroku did not even glance at the girl's direction.

The extreme contrast between the cuddling pair was non-neglectable. Loter felt eerie despite staring in the other direction.

This freaky atmosphere continued to breakfast and did not improve in the total silence.

Both Key and Ramiron, very conveniently, did not show up to the breakfast. Of the three presented people, only Glacia was happy. The other two were either too scared to say anything or too depressed.

Halfway into the morning period, Dowii had to pull Loter out of the classroom and ask him what was wrong.

"Key told me they are dating," Loter answered without really answering.

"I know that already, but they are acting… weirdly today. Also, where is Key?

Loter shrugged. "I don't know."

After a worried huff, Dowii said, "Get back to your course. I have to speak with Kashner now. Things are not right." He left at a quick pace.

Dowii came back after ten minutes, and Key finally arrived after another half an hour. The bad news was that Hiroku and Glacia's strange behaviors remained a mystery. The good news was that Key was only late due to last night's excessive gaming session.

Glacia gave him a friendly jab, and Loter quietly apologized, which Key waved off without hesitation.

Five minutes into the classroom, Key noticed Glacia's right arm passionately hooking onto Hiroku's unpassionate left arm. He stared at Loter and blinked thrice. Loter shrugged.

Eventless, the morning period flew by. Hiroku left with Glacia following. Key and Loter headed back to the dorm for gaming. Fully unaware of the strange morning, Ramiron hung her drawing of a night sky onto the wall of the dim art room. It was her tenth drawing on the wall. Before this one, she had done one sketch about a shade-less sphere, three portraits for each member of the initial squad, two oil paintings of Coral Cobble at night, and three water paintings of abstract geometrical shapes.

Ramiron stared at her work for a while, zoning out in her own peace. This truce was nowhere near pleasant but a mere pause of her internal conflict.

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It is lunchtime.

Ramiron thought as her roaming mind returned. She took off her apron and then opened the window, teleporting out.

I do not want to start a new project today, and I have decided I will never meditate again now that I have unlocked my final ability. So, what should I do now?

Ramiron looked toward the direction of the basketball court.

Nope, those teenage kids are probably going to make me 1v5 or something. They are awful.

Ramiron wandered her sight around, going a full circle, and halted in the direction of the dorm.

Yeah, I should check out what Hiroku is doing. He is one of my few tolerable peers, alongside Key and Loter. Besides, I actually can not imagine what he does in the noontime. It is a great opportunity to find out about it.

Ramiron teleported her way toward the dorm, putting a cheeky grin on her visage. Just thinking about Hiroku lifted her heart a bit. True friends were always the best.

Ramiron went into Loter and Hiroku's unit through the ajar door. The living room was empty, and the only noise came from Loter's room.

Faint yelling came through the locked room door. Ramiron could vaguely tell it was about something at the D-site. She knocked lightly on the door and soon decided to do it again with force. Receiving zero response, she increased the force and knocked again.

"Wait!" Loter yelled.

This is getting ridiculous.

Ramiron's slight happiness had turned into annoyance. She decided that there was no way Hiroku was in the dorm and left. She would be fine to hang out with Loter, too, if he had not been sucked into his laptop.

What Loter said last night was easily forgiven. Ramiron sort of gave him a pass since she suspected him of neurodivergence. Although the actuality was never discussed, she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides, she understood the rudeness of discussing others' potential mental variation, even though Loter probably would not mind.

Where can Hiroku be?

Ramiron teleported to the roof of the dormitory.

Glacia is the expert on this one.

Ramiron inspected the campus from atop and eventually spotted Glacia running out of the white pavilion in the garden.

Glacia is never the kind to appreciate nature. If she is in the garden, it must be because of Hiroku.

She jumped off the building, teleporting before hitting the ground to cancel the momentum.

"Gonna see what they are doing," Ramiron whispered to herself. It did not take more than half a minute for her to get close enough to the garden to see what was happening on the pavilion:

Glacia was laying her head on Hiroku's lap while Hiroku was stroking her hair.

From her current angle, Ramiron could not see the two's faces, yet their action had told enough of a story to send Ramiron away.

Who am I to interrupt the lovebirds?

There was a bitter reluctance and a ripple of irritation in the thought. Ramiron knew it was better not to get in Glacia's way, yet she was unsatisfied with her decision.

Come on, Ram. Don't be so gloomy. You aren't Hiroku. Think about happy things. You've just unlocked Lumarion's ultimate power. You should be proud of yourself.

Just as Ramiron told this to herself, she suddenly recalled that Hiroku seemed to be unsurprised when she showed him her power. He was just hovering there. He did not even comment on the power.

Ramiron dropped her descending thoughts and walked slowly toward the dorm, not holding a plan. Abruptly, she heard her phone ringing.

"Aye?"

"Ram, where are you?" A childish male voice came out from the phone.

"Loter? Why?"

"Don't you want to tell me something?" Loter asked with an innocence in his words. It seemed he was unconscious about his earlier bad attitude. Ramiron was not mad about it, anyway. She was simply aware of it.

"Never mind, it doesn't matter anymore."

"You sound sad. What's wrong?"

"I'm sad?" She forced a smile on her face and raised her voice. "I can't be sad. I'm Ramiron Veilora. I'm never sad."

"You can be sad. Everyone can be sad. It's an universal emotion. Some chemicals in your brain have some reaction with other chemicals in your brain. And boom. You're sad," Loter didactically explained, like he was a physics teacher.

"Sure." Ramiron was struck speechless by the out-of-place response. She giggled instead. Then, she burst into laughter.

"Ram? Why are you laughing?"

"No, just, you are humorous."

"Am I?" Loter asked with a light excitement.

"You are." Ramiron stopped laughing and asked, "So the game ended?"

"Yeah, and Key said he was going to play the next match by himself."

"That sounds like him. He is never the type that fears solitude." Ramiron began teleporting her way back to the dorm.

"Oh, I've never noticed it."

"Of course you didn't. It's your, what, second or third day here."

"It feels like a long time."

"Perhaps." Ramiron chuckled again and went into the elevator.

"I really like it here."

"That's rare to hear. Don't you miss hanging out with your old friends in the city?"

"Not really. I just don't have that much attachment toward the surroundings in general."

"Aye. What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. What do you want to do? I can follow you."

"I don't know either. Let's just meet up and find out." She exited the elevator and teleported before Loter's door, pressing the bell.

"Wait a second—" Loter opened the door and said, "Oh, you're here!"

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