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After Lumine, Paimon, and Alhaitham went into the abandoned hospital only to find nothing in it, the three of them chose to wait it out until the evening in order to wait for the cries to be heard. Shani had said that she does only hear the crying at night, after all. And as Alhaitham said – they have time to burn.
And during that wait, unsurprisingly, Paimon had fallen asleep. Alhaitham’s nose was buried in his books, so talking with him seemed to be utterly useless. So, Lumine had chosen to take a short nap. And when she woke, she found that the man was still reading his book.
The sky was getting a bit dark now, and she stared at him. Lumine doesn’t understand how he managed to read in such dim lighting. Does it not hurt his eyes? Are the words even visible? she thinks. For some reason, she wants him to stop reading that book.
As she was thinking of that, she can’t help but comment. “You’re such a bore, Alhaitham,” she told him, her lips pouting and whatnot.
Though Alhaitham didn’t take his eyes off his book, at the very least, he responded to her remarks. “It’s not like I have anyone to interest,” he said.
Lumine lightly scoffed. “Well, I guess that’s true,” she said, shaking her head. “Still, won’t you be interested in the slightest in me?” she asked, following up on her previous words.
For the first time in this fair evening, Alhaitham turned his sight away from the book he was holding. He put a bookmark in and closed it, and then he looked at Lumine – eyes wide and expression blank.
Alhaitham blinked. “Is this—is this what you people call... flirting?” he asked.
She shrugged, and then she turned around. “Who knows?” she said. “Are you starting to take an interest in me now?” she asked. Before she knows it, she had become a bit embarrassed saying those words to him. Still, she won’t take it back. Not when she’s seen that expression of his on his face.
Although he contemplated for a few, his face eventually turned into an utter look of disbelief. The book that he had closed earlier was opened again. “Don’t play around, traveller,” he told her, his tone trying to be stern. “We have work to do,” he said, as he began to read his book again.
Lumine sighed, unsatisfied. “Fine,” she said.
Well... still, at the very least, she has made his interest falter from the book to look at her. In the end, she just pouted at him again. “Another time, then.”