Faust watched her shift in her seat. Her blue hair was let down, spilling from her shoulders to her waist. Those crimson eyes were as unsettling as usual. Many avoided her gaze, but Faust met it freely.

"I’m a bit tired," Nirvana answered, "I miss my bed, my house, my dad. But you know how it is. What i can’t change is out of mind most times. I prefer to focus on what’s within my grasp."

Faust smiled a little. "And what do you have in your hands? You sound confident talking about it."

"Oh just getting stronger. I might not rocket up as quickly as you, but I take my time. I’m patient, you know? I can take my time claiming what’s mine."

She was right. Nirvana was a patient animal, used to wearing down her prey’s defenses before striking. Even now she was subtly seductive. The way she slurred her words. Those sensual lips. That fair, smooth face. Many guys had tried their luck with her, but she was never interested.

Faust thought Nirvana rejected them because of a lack of shared interests, but now that he had spent time knowing her, he knew it was something else.

"Did you guys actually believe in ghosts?" Faust asked casually.

Nirvana looked around the room comically. People were flying, juggling fireballs, making illusory clones of themselves. Her expression said it all: this place is what we believed.

"I know where we are," Faust chuckled. She leaned in closer like she was just listening, but it was a conscious effort to make him nervous. Her warm breath caressed his neck, laced with the scent of rum.

He just smiled back. "But we didn’t have all this evidence a week ago. What made you believe?"

Nirvana shrugged. "Thalia and Spider believed. And we were best friends. So.... But I also.... I hoped they were real. I don’t know. Seances and mysteries are fun. But i did want to talk to a ghost."

"Which one?" Faust hummed.

"You know which one."

He did. But he wouldn’t let Nirvana have that connection. He had a vague memory of her from when he was a kid. A hospital. They met in the reception and exchanged stories. Maybe that was where this obsession of hers started.

He feigned confusion, scrunching up his eyebrows. "What do you mean? How would I know which one?"

A tremor ran over Nirvana’s body. It was barely visible. She slightly bit her lip, but laughed it off.

"Did i say something wrong?" Faust asked innocently.

"Don’t worry about it. I’m just surprised." Nirvana waved it off and took a sip of wine. "We haven’t known each other so well."

"You’re in my homeroom." Faust pointed out.

"I’ve also sat behind you in A-levels math for a year," Nirvana said in a low voice. Then her voice grew to a whisper. "But she always sat besides you so you never look back."

"What?" Faust said like he hadn’t heard everything.

Nirvana played it off and they continued talking about the Origin Trials and how she managed controlling so many summoned skeletons at once. He was waiting for something. In the meantime he was perfect smiles. He was asking follow up questions. Relating with stories of her childhood.

But everyonce in a while she would reach out for some kind of deeper connection. Ask about his own childhood. Brush a hand over his lap. Stare into his eyes for just a bit too long. And he would brush her off casually.

Not enough to seem malicious. That wasn’t what he wanted. Just enough to feel superficial.

A few seats from them, Thalia sent him baleful looks. Did she know? No. She didn’t. She probably thought he wasn’t into Nirvana. She didn’t know he was priming that sorrowful ash in her heart to erupt into flames.

The time came when he heard Amelia’s laugh across the room. He perked up instantly and turned. Nirvana frowned at the sudden shift. Amelia was crossing the hall with some friends. Their hands were all faintly stained with soot; they were blacksmiths like her.

Her brown hair bounced as she laughed freely. She wasn’t as beautiful and exotic as Nirvana, but she had an energy to her. She would say something casually and people would laugh. She had a naturally magnetic personality.

The laughter died off as she noticed Gamebreaker’s separate table. Her eyes fell on something Faust followed.

There a man sat with a shaved head. He couldn’t be too old, but the goatee and bald head made him look older. He wore a leather jacket with metal spikes on the shoulders.

That might be the Two guy. The old leader of the burgeoning gang. I can’t believe Jason didn’t kill him.

Two glared at Amelia and she returned it with no fear. That one was a bit crazy. But she was just right for what he wanted to do.

He waved her over, ignoring the souring look on Nirvana’s face as she stared blankly at Amelia.

Amelia placed her hands on his shoulders almost too naturally. Nirvana watched those tanned fingers coldly.

"You tell me being a coward isn’t so bad, but the things you do make me glad to be one. Crazy bastard," she said laughing. "You and danger are like a fly and a cow’s ass."

Faust shook his head, lightly laughing. "Is that an insult or just a weird analogy?"

"It’s whatever," Amelia said, turning to Nirvana to stretch out a hand. "Hi! I’m Amelia."

Nirvana watched the hand for a moment, then raised her head, turning between Faust and Amelia. She blinked then quickly shook the hand muttering her name.

"How’s the spear?" Faust asked immediately.

"It’s coming along well," Amelia reassured. "I fused the almost forty pieces of equipment you left with me."

She squeezed his shoulders and complained about how long it took and how many failed. His laughter made Nirvana flinch like there was a gunshot.

"I started recomposing the materials and getting advice from my fellow blacksmiths. I’m compiling a book of instructions for using Low-grade equipment to make High-grades. I’m pretty sure I can make the Naginata Silver-grade. I can’t enchant it with abilities like other weapons, but it’ll have good additions to your Attributes."

Faust frowned. "Enchantment is that hard?"

"I can tell you all about it later," Amelia said. "But I need to get to my friends. Event’s ’bout to start. And standing here getting oogled by Two and his rats is digusting."

Faust glanced back, eye running from Two whispering something to James beside him. Amelia was facing away from them; their eyes were on her hips.

"I can’t really blame them," Faust joked. "No free chairs here, but you can sit on my lap so we can discuss it."

Often with things like this you just had to be confident enough and the girl would take it as a compliment. It didn’t hurt being handsome though.

Amelia blushed and slapped him softly. "Bad. Don’t joke like that."

She rose to leave but he held her hand and pulled her down to whisper something. Just loud enough that Nirvana’s sharp hearing would catch it.

"That thing I told you about like the hospital, can you not tell anyone. It’s a bit personal."

He didn’t care if she did, but this was part of his simple plan. Amelia looked into his eyes and realisation sparked in her eyes; the story Faust told her might not be a hypothetical.

"Of course," she whispered, squeezing his shoulders once more before leaving.

Nirvana watched her go the whole way to her table. She was strangely calm. Did she not care as much as he thought she would? If this didn’t work, she might not get angry and would just be depressed.

I should switch up my approach a bit.

But a smile tugged at her lips when he turned back to her. "She’s really nice."

"Oh. Yeah," Faust said, slightly confused. What was she thinking now?

Before he could inquire more, a voice rippled through the hall.

"Welcome, brave fighters," Diego boomed. His schema amplifying his voice to everyone he could see. "We’ve done something amazing today. Let us celebrate and make friends of strangers."