Trafalgar was at the celebration like anyone else.

There was music, noise, too many voices crossing over one another, and students from all three years filling the place with the kind of restless energy that only appeared after the end of final exams. Laughter came easily in a room like that. Relief did too. For most of them, tonight was exactly what it should have been.

And, to Trafalgar’s mild surprise, fewer people approached him than he had expected.

That suited him perfectly.

He had come because Xavier had insisted, because the others were going, because refusing would have made it stranger than simply showing up. But if he could spend the night without being surrounded every five minutes, he had no complaints.

Even so, if he was being honest with himself, he was not enjoying it as much as he thought he would.

Back on Earth, during his university days, something like this would have felt easy. The end of exams, going out with friends, noise that did not ask anything from him except to exist inside it for a few hours. Here, after everything he had lived through, it did not strike the same place inside him. He could stand in the middle of a celebration and understand why everyone else was having a good time, yet still feel slightly outside of it, as though part of him had forgotten how to sink into simple things without measuring the exits first.

Bartholomew was beside him, and at the moment that was its own kind of entertainment.

Three girls had somehow gathered around him, speaking one after the other with the bright enthusiasm of people who had only just discovered a name on the rankings and decided they should know more about the person behind it. Bartholomew looked as if he would rather face another monster than survive the next few minutes of conversation.

Cynthia and Zafira had drifted elsewhere and seemed relaxed enough on their own. Xavier was near the bar ordering something, probably with entirely too much confidence for someone who had only just arrived.

Trafalgar watched Barth endure another question and finally took pity on him.

"Do you want to step outside for a bit, Barth?" he asked. "Get some air."

Bartholomew raised his head immediately, like someone being offered rescue in a language he deeply respected.

"Y-yes," he said. "Let’s go."

Trafalgar did not even try to make it subtle. He gave the girls a short excuse, moved past them, and Bartholomew followed him out with such obvious relief that it almost made the whole thing cruel.

Outside, the air was colder and cleaner, though not empty.

Plenty of people had already spilled out of the place for the same reason. Some students were standing in groups, some leaning against walls, others talking under the lights with cups in hand, enjoying the night as much as the venue itself. The city around them was still alive, broad streets filled with movement and warm light, the whole district built for evenings like this.

Trafalgar glanced ahead, where the crowd thinned farther down the road.

"Do you want to walk a little?" he asked. "Somewhere with fewer people. We can come back after."

Bartholomew nodded quickly. "Yes. Let’s do that. And... thanks."

Trafalgar turned his head slightly. "For what?"

Bartholomew looked embarrassed immediately. "When those girls surrounded me, I didn’t know what to do. They started asking all sorts of things..."

Trafalgar almost smiled. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"Didn’t you say recently that you wanted to get to know a girl?" he asked. "That was your chance, Barth."

Bartholomew nearly choked on the idea.

"I-I don’t know," he muttered. "They only came over after they saw where I placed in the exam. They were surprised when they found my name there."

Trafalgar slipped his hands into his coat pockets as they walked.

"That just means you’re becoming popular."

Bartholomew went a little red at that and said nothing else.

They kept moving through the street together. There were a lot of people out tonight, not only Academy students but locals as well, and the whole city carried the atmosphere of a place used to gathering, celebrating, and stretching the night longer than it needed to be. Music drifted from somewhere farther down the avenue. Food stalls lined parts of the street, filling the air with heat, smoke, roasted meat, sweet dough, and spice.

One of them caught Trafalgar’s attention more than the others.

Something hot was being cooked there, and whatever it was smelled good enough to stop him on instinct.

He glanced at Bartholomew. "Do you want one?"

Barth hesitated so visibly that Trafalgar already understood the answer.

So he stepped forward without waiting for him to suffer through saying it.

The vendor was a lycan, broad-shouldered, with pale whitish hair and the sort of sharp features that hinted at the wolf even while he remained fully humanoid. His hands moved quickly, wrapping warm bread around seasoned meat before passing the food to the next customer.

"Two, please," Trafalgar said.

The lycan named the price. "Two bronze coins."

Trafalgar handed him a silver coin instead. "Keep the change."

The vendor blinked, clearly not expecting that, and for a brief moment he looked almost uncomfortable with accepting it. In the end, he quickly added two extra meat-filled buns to the paper wrapping and extended them with both hands.

"Please take these as well," he said. "It feels like too much otherwise."

Trafalgar accepted them without making it difficult for him.

As he stepped back, the lycan bowed his head slightly. "Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy them."

Trafalgar returned to Bartholomew holding four buns in total and handed two over.

Barth stared. "You didn’t have to do that, Trafalgar."

"Take them before they get cold," Trafalgar said. "I know you wanted one. You just didn’t want to say it."

Bartholomew looked caught.

Trafalgar continued eating as if it were obvious. "We’re friends, Barth. If I’m offering you something, you can be honest with me."

That made Bartholomew lower his head a little in embarrassment before finally accepting them properly.

"Then... I’ll take them. Thank you."

They resumed walking, both eating now, the street a little quieter where they had drifted.

After a while, Trafalgar spoke again, more lightly this time.

"So? Out of those three girls, was there really not even one you liked?"

Bartholomew almost dropped the bun.

"N-no..."

He did not get to continue.

A figure stepped into their path, close enough to stop them without seeming aggressive.

It was another lycan.

This one was dressed much more neatly than the vendor, posture straight, expression controlled, the sort of person who had come with purpose rather than happened to be passing through.

He looked directly at Trafalgar.

"Trafalgar du Morgain," he said. "I have an important message for you. Please take this."

He held out a sealed letter.

Trafalgar frowned slightly, more caught off guard than alarmed. Bartholomew had already taken a small step back, the sudden interruption and the seriousness of the man in front of them enough to put him on edge.

Before taking the letter, Trafalgar asked, "From whom?"

The lycan’s gaze flicked briefly toward Bartholomew. He understood immediately that the name was not something he should say aloud, not here, not with another student standing close enough to hear every word. So instead he stepped nearer and lowered his voice.

"It comes from Patriarch Darian du Thal’zar," he whispered. "Your messenger has already delivered the formal notice. There is also an important matter that must be addressed in that meeting."

That changed things.

Trafalgar accepted the letter at once.

The lycan bowed with visible respect and withdrew without adding anything else. He disappeared back into the street quickly, not lingering a second longer than necessary.

Bartholomew waited until the man was gone before speaking.

"He-he left?" he asked. "Are you alright, Trafalgar?"

Trafalgar slipped the letter into his coat.

"Yeah," he said. "Don’t worry. Everything’s fine."

Bartholomew nodded and, true to himself, did not pry further. Curiosity was there, obviously, but he respected Trafalgar’s privacy enough not to force it.

Trafalgar appreciated that.

Even so, the thought had already rooted itself in his mind.

’Something happened on Darian’s side if he’s calling it important.’

The timing alone made it obvious. This was not a casual reminder. Not a courtesy. Something had shifted.

’Good thing I already told Caelum to reserve a meeting for me with him. I wanted to see his progress anyway.’ Trafalgar’s gaze lifted briefly toward the flow of the city ahead. ’And now I’ll hear whatever he needs to say in person.’

Another conclusion followed almost immediately.

’I’ll have to postpone going out with Zafira to see Augusto. Darian comes first.’

The night had not even properly unfolded yet, and already it had begun to bend in another direction.

That, at least, felt far more familiar than the party.