Chapter Text
To sixteen year-old Lumine, this is a monumental day for her.
Firstly, this time tomorrow, she's on the road with her family to their new home.
The total travel time from Morepesok to Watatsumi Island is roughly a day—four hours by car from the seaside village to the Northland Airport, followed by an eight-hour plane ride to Narukami Island. As well as a 4-hour boat ride from Inazuma's capital to Watatsumi. Lumine is to leave school after lunch to finish the last batch of packing at home.
Secondly, for the first time in her high school life, she is to speak in front of the class.
Today is her assigned schedule to present her major project in their writing class. All of them are required to share their works, and even those who often take absences from class to represent the school in competitions are not exempted.
So Lumine, who normally sits in the back of the class, has practiced during every available time for the past two months, in order to muster up the courage to do a decent presentation.
Lastly, and possibly the most important of them all: she's taking this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get back at her mortal enemy:
Ajax Alekseev.
Her plan is simple, really: confess to him, so he'll be tormented by her classmates the same way he forcefully subjected her to when they were in middle school.
She has written the sappiest speech ever for the occasion, the kind that made her gag and cringe because it's so fluffy. Thank the archons she can finally apply the knowledge she gained from reading fantasy and historical romance novels.
(It was actually Aether who's a big fan of it though; she was just an unwilling receiver of the information and book recommendations that he fed her with.)
The writing class is right before lunch. A perfect timing for Lumine to drop her ultimate bomb and leave without a trace. At 11 o'clock sharp their teacher Yae Miko enters the classroom. The noisy chatter of her classmates coming to an abrupt stop the moment the pink-haired lady steps in—she gives an aura that make people within the vicinity instantly fall in line and stay on their toes.
Lumine is to be the third and last presenter of the day. Everything is falling into place. Her golden eyes search, and immediately falls on the bright, annoying orange hair of her nemesis.
She hates how his hair is all over the place, how the top three buttons of his polo uniform are left unused, and how his loudness is one that she cannot ever ignore.
Yes, he truly deserves what's coming for him.
Finally, it's her turn to go to the front. Lumine does her best to tune out the jitters from having a lot people's eyes on her. It will all pay off in the end, anyway.
She tries her best to hide the smirk threatening to creep up on her face.
Payback time.
Lumine clears her throat. Unlike the two other presenters, she does not need any cue cards to help her with her speech. She has memorized what she made right down to the right intonation to use.
A quick look at Ajax a few rows away from the front tells her that he is listening intently. His dull blue eyes fixated on her alone.
Good.
The same is also the case with other people in her class and Teacher Yae standing at the back row. After all, the silent bird at the farthest corner of the room has finally revealed its voice for the first time.
She opens her speech with a smile.
"I'll be dedicating this speech to Ajax Alekseev, whom I have been in the same school with for my entire life." A measured pause.
"With all the turmoil that is spilling over and raging from within, there is this tiny bit of space that I call home.
"Neither a physical space nor an edifice, this sanctuary I can only find with you. Where your constant strength blanketed my weary and doubtful soul. Where your steady and resolute spirit is a place of refuge.
"You are an anchor that grounds me and takes me to what is present."
Lumine takes a deep breath before continuing.
"Thank you for reminding me of the joy in the small things. Thank you for helping me see the mundane as something that can be wondrous in itself."
Then she stares directly at Ajax, to deliver the ultimate punchline—
"You're like the stars in the night sky, comrade. You never cease to surprise me."
His face has become as brightly colored as the shade of his hair.
Mission accomplished!
Amid the sound of thundering applause and loud whoops, Lumine silently files to her seat and watches the chaos unfold from her safe corner.
"My, my, what an eventful series of presentations," Teacher Yae remarks, with accompanying small claps on her way back to the front. "I am amazed that this class has revealed insights about people that we have never seen before." She casts a meaningful glance at Lumine. The golden-haired teen returning the teacher's gaze with a shy smile.
"But alas, we have to cut this time short as it is almost lunch time." According to the wall clock above the chalkboard, it's five minutes before noon. "I'll see you all next week. Thank you everyone!"
Lumine is instantly out of the door, not sparing a look behind her.
She gets home in record time. The 10-minute bike ride home has been her fastest, having pedaled at maximum speed while skillfully avoiding obstacles.
Finally, her life can truly begin. Free of her number one nemesis, eager to explore the wider world ahead of her.
However, the sight of her neat home catches her off-guard.
Where there had been piles of boxes when she and Aether left this morning, the house has been magically restored to its original state within the span of a few hours. Everything is clean and polished, as though the massive moving out endeavor is now but a thing of a past.
No way.
Lumine loses her grip on her school backpack and the echoes of the subsequent fall permeates the entire room. Catches the attention of the living room occupants—namely her grandmother and her parents.
"Mom...?"
Please. PLEASE let this be a bad dream.
"Oh hi sweetie," her mother greets her. She gestures to the box of chocolates in the coffee table. "Would you like some bonbon chocolates?"
"Mom, why is our stuff still unpacked?" An answer has already started to form in Lumine's mind, but she refuses to acknowledge it.
No way.
It can't be.
Impossible.
Her mother approaches her and gently hold her shoulders. She always feels as though she's staring at the mirror whenever she and her mother are face-to-face with each other.
Lumine founds herself praying to the Archons they were taught in school.
I swear to all the archons and Gods in Celestia, Barbatos, stop playing tricks on me right now—
She promises to be a changed person after this. She'll offer flowers again under the Statue of the Seven like she and A—she!—used to do before.
Just please, Barbatos, I beg you to deliver me from this nightmare.
"Lumi, your dad just got promoted to vice president of his company," her mom gently explains.
"And your father needs to stay. I've also wanted to stay here, so we're not moving to Inazuma anymore."
There it is.
The final nail in the coffin that carried Lumine's daydreams of a new life, now six feet under.
Then, flashes of what just transpired not long ago at school flit through her mind.
That blasted speech.
NOOOO!