"Nobody understands how Moon thinks." Selene said, picking at her food. "Even I thought he was a little crazy at first. Standing there at the starting site while everyone else ran to get arrival points. Refusing to explain. Just waiting."

She glanced at Moon across the table.

"Had I not trusted him with my own life already, I wouldn’t have agreed to wait. I would have gone running with the others."

Her smile softened.

"In the end, it turned out to be more than worth it. Thanks again, Moon."

Moon met her gaze.

"You’re welcome."

Yara watched the two of them for a moment, then very pointedly reached for another helping of rice without saying a word, her smile suspiciously knowing.

After dinner, Yara stood up and stretched, gathering the empty containers and plates.

"You two go rest. I’ve got the cleanup role today."

"You sure?" Selene asked.

"There’s barely anything to clean. Just stacking the boxes and rinsing the plates. Go. You both have a big day awaiting tomorrow."

Moon and Selene thanked her and left the dining table.

Moon walked toward his bedroom, intending to collapse into bed and let his body finally surrender to the mental exhaustion he had been pushing through since the tournament ended.

He heard soft, careful footsteps behind him.

Moon kept walking, pretending not to notice.

When he reached his door, he stopped, sighed, and turned around to face the suspect.

"Why are you following me like a cat?"

Selene froze mid-step.

"Oh." She clasped her hands behind her back, her cheeks coloring slightly as she fidgeted in place. "You caught me."

"You weren’t exactly being sneaky." Moon shook his head with a wry smile.

He looked at her properly before asking, "You want to talk to me about something?"

Selene nodded.

"More like you need to tell me about something."

Moon sighed.

’She’s not going to let it go. Well, I don’t have anything to hide. I moved past that point in my life a long time ago. There’s no reason to keep it from her.’

"Alright. Come in."

He opened the door and stepped aside, gesturing for her to enter first.

Selene walked in with a huge smile on her face, clearly excited to bond with him over something more personal than what they usually shared. Moon closed the door behind them and pulled the chair from the desk, turning it to face the bed.

"You can sit on the bed."

Selene shook her head and patted the mattress beside her.

"Sit next to me."

She tapped the spot, leaving an inch of space between where she sat and where she wanted him to be.

Moon paused for half a second. Then he set the chair back to its original position and walked over.

"Alright."

He sat beside her. They were close enough to feel each other’s warmth.

"You want to talk about those two. Right?" Moon asked, confirming his suspicion. Just in the off chance he was wrong.

Selene nodded her head. "Yes, please."

Moon nodded his head, narrating everything from the beginning.

From back when he had been a student attending the same school as Sarah and Marcus, before any of them had been Awakened. He told her about Sarah. About the time they had spent together, the small moments, the early conversations, the kind of relationship two teenagers thought was meaningful before they understood what meaningful actually meant.

Or better put, what he thought was meaningful.

It hadn’t been much, in hindsight. They had been young. They hadn’t really known each other. But Moon had thought, at the time, that it was real.

He told her about the day of the awakening. The label that had been pinned to him in front of everyone after he failed to awaken any class. A Null, the boy with no future.

He told her about Sarah leaving and joining Marcus.

He told her about the time that followed. Halfway through, Selene’s breathing had changed.

Moon didn’t notice at first. He kept talking, working through the timeline, getting to the part where he had managed to awaken when he was transported to the First Sanctuary.

When he finally finished and looked up at her, he stopped.

Tears were sliding silently down Selene’s cheeks.

Moon’s words caught in his throat.

"Wait." He blinked. "Why are you crying?"

Moon had never had anyone cry for his sake before. The feeling was new, strange and unfamiliar, and his usual ability to read situations and respond appropriately had completely abandoned him.

He could only ask.

Selene wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, but more tears just kept coming.

"Because you’ve been through so much. With that ugly witch. You fool." Her voice was restrained because of the lump she could feel in the back of her throat. "I feel sad for you. But at the same time..."

She sniffled and managed a small, watery smile.

"I’m happy that she left you."

Moon stared at her.

Selene laughed quietly through the tears, the contradiction making her cheeks burn even brighter.

"Because if she hadn’t, you wouldn’t be here. With me." She looked at him, her blue eyes shining like stars in a gloomy night. "And I can’t imagine my life without you in it now. So as much as I hate her for what she did to you, I’m grateful too. Is that terrible?"

Moon didn’t answer immediately.

He looked at her. At the tears still tracking down her face. At the smile that didn’t quite know whether it should be there or not. At the way her hands were folded in her lap, fingers laced together as if she was trying to physically hold herself in place.

He wasn’t sure what to say.

So he didn’t say anything.

Instead, he raised his hand slowly, and wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb.

Selene’s breath stopped.

She didn’t pull away.

At that moment, the world around Selene completely dissolved, and her heart...felt like it was flying in the air.