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”What about Alpheratz?”
She shrugs and looks at the vast glass ceiling. The stars were out, clearly visible despite the warm lights illuminating the library. It’ll be a while before they fade into the morning.
”He got what was coming to him. It was his choice,” she says and continues to rock back and forth, waiting for him to finish. He furrows his brows at her carefree tone.
He used to hate her so much. Condemn her every action like she was a lat rab being observed by a scientist who was somehow forced to do the job - at least he didn’t consent to any of this. But he doesn’t have the right to judge her like that anymore. Never did in the first place. He figures he’ll talk about it in the same way in a couple of millennias.
Even so, Alpheratz was a principled man who followed his beliefs until the end. Before he loses the last of his humanity, he would like to visit his grave whenever possible.
He lets out a small huff through his nose and looks down at the pages. There are haphazardly written notes all around him, signaling their progress despite the ever-growing mountain of books on the table. They won’t be getting out of here anytime soon.
He doesn’t even want to look behind him. Hiri has been bringing over a terrifying amount of books, insisting on getting credit for helping even if most of her contributions amount to chatting away and being a nuisance.
But the books have all been helpful. He guesses she isn’t there just to annoy him after all.
Eventually, she collapses on the table with a frustrated groan, hands outstretched.
”How long are you gonna keep doing reading? Let’s just go get some snacks from the food stall and come back later~" she whines, pouting and giving him the cutest puppy eyes, fully utilizing her ”15-year-old, innocent little girl” appearance.
Too bad he’s not even looking at her to be affected by those innocent charms.
”It’s taking so long because I’m doing your part as well. I know you well enough that you’d miss a thousand clues even if they were spelled out as clear as day.”
”Really? I don’t think you know me well enough at all then,” she hums curiously.
”Yeah, sure.”
She gets up, circling behind him, and taps his shoulders.
”C’mon, we have all the time in the world! Let’s go!”
Be it because of his own exhaustion, or because she’s already half-pulling him out of the seat, he reluctantly folds the corner of the page and closes the book. Mr. Huang was kind enough to let them use his library, so they have access to come and go whenever they please.
Stepping outside, the cold breeze meets his skin. Luckily the seasons don’t change here. That’s one less thing to worry about.
He takes in a breath of fresh air and closes his eyes. When he opens them, he’s met with the familiar rim of the eclipse, surrounded by thousands of twinkling lights. One of them seems to shine especially bright tonight.
Hiri is excitedly leading the way, and he can’t help but smile.
They still have a long way to go.