Alone I stood in a meadow with my gaze stuck upward. The core of the milky way divided the night sky and countless stars filled each remaining half. At the center of the galaxy, one especially bright star stood out. After briefly flickering, the star rapidly grew and within a second my vision went white.

The light of the room shone directly into my face. 

“What do you want, Julia?” Hoping my crankiness wasn’t audible, I adjusted my head down and met her gaze, catching her hand moving away from the light switch in the periphery. Donning a white lab coat overlapped with her flowing dark hair, Julia looks… annoyed?  

“Professor, you should return home if you need to sleep.” No, I was projecting. Concerned maybe? Regardless, I repositioned my head down into my arms to block out the light and shut my eyes again. 

Julia’s boots clicked with each step as she approached my desk. A thud sound, too loud for any reasonable amount of paper, rang beside my head. The vibration from the action made my head lift back up and once again our gazes met.

“Thank you again for reassuring me you will really help revise my papers this time, “ Julia said excessively sweetly with a wide smile that lasted, waiting for a reply. No, definitely annoyed. 

“Of course.” My face twitched and my eyes darted before I regained my bearings and, after a pause, continued, “You want to know what I realized recently?”

“Why ask if you’re going to tell me anyways?” I could hear her eyes roll from her voice alone but chose to ignore it.

“I never realized the starry skies shown in anime actually exist.” She stared at me blankly in response, so I rested my hands atop the stack of papers and carried on saying, “I’ve only seen maybe ten stars at a time while growing up, but I think I still remember the one night I was able to see twenty stars while hanging with my neighbor. I just never realized how many could be seen in other parts of the world.”

“You didn’t know about light pollution?”

 “I did. I just never connected the dots.” I smiled and slowly tried to move the stack of papers to the side with one hand, while the other moved to my partly gray and brown beard as a distraction.

“Nice try. Edit the papers please.” Her gaze bit into me, and her hand pushed down the top of the papers, preventing me from pushing them any further.

“Fine, fine.” I moved the papers back in front of me, clicked my silver pen that had a couple chips in the side, and said, “When I said I realized recently-”

“No diverting.” She cut me off.

I let out a sigh that fell on deaf ears. I stared blankly at the top page and clutched my pen while collecting myself. Seconds passed by. My eyebrows furrowed, and my free hand started pinching my lower lip. My pupils widened slightly, and I clutched my pen even tighter. Feeling Julia’s expression start to shift, I let out a long sigh and started.

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 My pen quickly yet smoothly moved across each page, only spending around 30 seconds on each. My eyes rapidly scanned, while my left hand moved the pages to an adjacent pile placing them upside down. But despite my efforts, it still took half an hour to finish. Julia sat across from me throughout my editing as if to make sure I stayed on task.

I clicked the pen closed and gently set it down. My pupils widened again as I stared at the empty back of the papers. But before I let myself ruminate, I picked up the stack of pages and straightened them on the desk before orienting and handing them to Julia.

“Here you are.”

“Thank you.” Julia’s expression turned warmer. Ah, a genuine smile. Instead of leaving though, she lingered and continued, “What were you about to add on earlier?”

Ah, you do care! That’s why you’re my favorite.

“Although I said I realized recently, it’s actually been a few years since I have.”

She paused before asking, “But you still haven’t seen them? It sounded like you wanted to.”

“I do,” I said, yet shook my head, “but I’m busy working.”

“You could easily buy an observatory, let alone travel somewhere dark.”

“Maybe soon when I can find the time.” I faintly smiled, however, the slight smile that came across her face appeared much more genuine.

“Is there any place that you want to see?” Her pace ever so slightly quickened, and to preemptively hide my oncoming facial reaction I turned to the window.

“Maybe somewhere I can see the milky way…” I trailed off, looking out the window to the dark, empty skies. Even facing away from her, I could still tell…

Please don’t look at me that way.

“Professor, you know, in the place I grew up in, you could clearly see the milky way in the summer.” Her voice came slightly closer, but my desk remained as a barricade.

“That sounds nice,” I spoke flatly. Um. New topic, new topic. But before I had the chance-

“Would you like to see it together with me?” My eyes dilated more than they were already. I wanted to keep myself turned away, but this is the type of thing I have to face someone for.

“I’m sorry, I’ll have to decline.”

Julia froze for a moment but continued on, “You know, being a part of this lab and working with you these years has been some of the happiest moments of my life. I really like you, Xander. Will you go out with me?“ By the time she finished her question, her eyes began to water. Unfortunately, everything she said was genuine.

“I’m sorry, I still have to decline.“ By this point, my expression had stabilized itself. 

Julia cried. She cried genuine tears. Her body faintly shook like a leaf from a gentle breeze, but even so, she managed to move around my desk and stood beside where I was sitting. Although hesitant, I stood up and wrapped my arms around her slowly. Her reciprocated embrace was tight and shaky. 

After an unknown amount of time, her body calmed down, and my shoulder began to start drying. Her heart rate began to calm down, and her arms began to loosen. Soon after her heart rate began to quicken again, but her arms remained loose. Without being noticed, I reached my arm that was further out to grab the pen on the desk beside me. My arm moved slowly as if hoping that time would move slower with it and that the moment wouldn’t end yet. 

Then, Julia stabbed her poison laced knife directly at my back.