Cermin’s fingers shook a little as he drank from a wineglass amidst the crowd of people in the Amphitheater celebrating the Astral Ball.
It reaches all the way outside, the hundreds of students dancing and celebrating under the stars. Within 30 minutes, the meteor shower will begin…..
And it was promised that all the stars will fall tonight, looking like it was raining upon them.
They say it marks the end of an era and a beginning of a new one. Then….
What does this night marks for him?
He really shouldn’t be in this sulky mood with all the people having fun. He looks like a loner idiot just brooding at the side with his wineglass. And he never really saw himself as that type.
His gege was more like that, not him.
“Ah, when will Ronin come here already? Maybe I should have went to his room and picked him up after all.”
But he was afraid of bothering Ronin too much by doing that… Not to mention…..
He had been avoiding knocking on his dorm room in case something like before was happening again the moment he decided to visit.
It’s not that it made him uncomfortable…..
He’s more worried that it would make Ronin uncomfortable and damage their friendship.
And who knows? Maybe Ronin was being picked up or picking up some lucky guy while he’s bound to spend his Astral Ball all alone—
“I’ve been looking all over this place for you, Your Highness. What are you doing hiding in this corner in the dark?”
He almost choked on his wine when he heard that voice just in time with his thoughts. This seemed to be one of those times where English speakers would say:
Speak of the devil.
And….. His friend does look devilishly charming tonight, just the aura of a Luciferian heartthrob fitting him.
Besides his fantastic purple suit giving him the sense of someone with high authority, the way Ronin handled himself with his head held high and chin up also adds to the domineering aspect of his charm. He looked intimidating as always, yes….
But now that he’s dressed up, it became an attractive aspect of him.
The way he scanned the area with those furrowed eyebrows and thin, pressed lips, always looking mildly annoyed by something…..
The way his hair was slicked back and gave a scholarly air to him, and the way his dark skin glowed a little from the light reflecting on the surface….
“Gege…..” Cermin said, looking like he has seen a ghost.
Ronin raised an eyebrow. “Who is this gege, Your Highness?”
Cermin cleared his throat and smack himself on the cheek a bit. Why did he say that out loud to someone who has no idea what that even means???
This was Ronin, from the game Stone Mage. An NPC, a character. Nothing more.
And his gege…..
His gege was long dead.
Yet he resembled him so much in this moment that his heart constricted and ached so much, like something was squeezing it.
“Right! Right! It’s nothing, haha!” He shook off the uncanny feeling away. “You clean up good, Ronin! What a dashing boy, I bet you’ll make all the other gay guys in this dance to swoon over you—“
Ronin clamped his mouth. “Your Highness, you shouldn’t drink too much wine or you’ll get drunk and start saying nonsense.”
“Sorry, sorry. Yeah….. Maybe I am a little bit tipsy. I’ll lay off the alcohol until tje meteor shower.” He chuckled, even when he was still reeling and his head ache.
Ronin frowned, and took the wine glass from him. “You still haven’t answered my question. Why are you hiding here like a scared lion on his cave?”
Cermin scratched his head. “Ah, nothing. I don’t feel like dancing and it’s too crowded. Makes me feel nauseous. Especially the….. View.”
‘View?’
Ronin looked around. The whole place was decorated by yellow and red roses, sparkling lights that were shaped like teardrops, and of course, star motifs.
But his eyes also caught something even more prettier than these things.
Four girls danced in the center of it all, wearing beautiful gowns. As they twirl, they look like petals of a four-petalled flower, oscillating, and moving into dizzying patterns when seen from above.
Their happiness was hypnotic to look at, but this must be the same reason why Cermin feel so nauseous.
Donna was able to be dressed as she’d like for the night since there were too many people to notice this ‘new girl who’s not a student’. She was laughing as she swing Edelweiss’ hand, and so was Edelweiss, and continued as she shift to Marigold.
When she moved to Calla, there was still a confused and blushing smile as Calla said something that made her flustered.
When it was Edelweiss’ turn to dance with her best friend, she was not fazed at all by whatever Calla was saying to get to her, but the moment she opened her mouth, Calla shut upped and was the one who got flustered.
And then…
When it was Marigold and Calla’s turn to be a pair…..
There was a brief moment of awkwardness, both of them looking down with their fingers interlaced with each others. But there were also a small look of understanding between them.
“They look so happy, huh?” Cermin said softly.
Ronin nodded. “You envy them. Want to tear them apart so you won’t feel bad seeing them.”
“No.” Cermin shook his head. “I don’t feel bad because of their happiness like that. I want them to keep being happy, but…..”
“What about me?”
Ronin narrowed thought for a while, before saying:
“You can be happy even when you’re alone. You don’t need anyone.”
Cermin looked up at him and thought a little fondly.
(You even think like him. Gege told me the exact same words with my first break up in middle school. But…..)
“That’s not true.” He just replied.
(They’re both wrong. You can’t be happy all by yourself, even if you are like being around people or not. Even the most reclusive people need someone.)
Ronin frowned. “There’s more to life than relying on other people for your happiness.”
“That may be true in a way that you need to be happy with yourself as a person…. But have you ever met a person who’s alone but not miserable?”
“Of course. I am—“
Ronin stopped himself before he could say “I am not miserable.”
Ou was miserable. So miserable was he when he had no one that it ended him.
He shook his head.
“Why don’t we go outside, Your Highness? So you won’t feel nauseated, have a breath of fresh air.”
Cermin shrugged gloomily. “Ok…. Yeah, maybe we should. Then let’s watch the meteor shower and go home.”
Ronin was very annoyed whenever this prince was in this blue mood again, nothing irks him more than seeing him wear a frown.
As they went past the students…
He heard a thought that rang louder than the rest.
(The new era of darkness shall begin. He will rise as a new king….. But is he ready?)
He looked back and saw a cloaked figure that made his usually apathetic face contort into expressive shock.
This certainly wasn’t who he was expecting to see in this Ball.
“Ronin?” Cermin turned as well, and saw that his friend was staring at a man wearing a cloak.
Ronin would not mistake that voice and that build for anyone else. It was him.
Mephisto Espinella was here.
He had returned, but there was something different about him. Ronin could just tell, like when you had that prickly feeling of being bitten by an ant, or someone pulling out a strand of your hair.
It was very subtle, but it’s there.
He rushed towards him, following him as he walked past the crowd of students and headed to somewhere.
“Ronin!” Cermin ran after him too.
They reached all the way to the library, at the Centerpiece. Ronin rushed on the flight of stairs, but Espinella stayed ahead of him no matter what.
Espinella got what he wanted from the library, and went for the rooftop where his Griffon waited to take him away again…..
“Professor!” He exclaimed, reaching for his cloak just before he can board his Griffon and leave.
And when he managed to take it off…
Espinella’s head was gone.
His cranium was replaced by this black gooey muck that moves around like several a slimy creature. Ronin knew somehow…..
That muck was his brain. His skull bone on the back of his head had dissolved and yet he was still alive even with his brain out in the open, not to mention…..
That his brain had been turned to Obsidian.
He flashed Ronin a smile first as he jumped on this Griffon’s back, one of its wings the same color as his brain.
“It ends tonight, Dark Lord.”
The Griffon screeched as it took off just like that, leaving Ronin bewildered.
“Ronin!” Cermin only managed to catch up to him in the rooftop now, and wasn’t able to see Espinella or even the large bird just now. “Who was that… Hah…”
Ronin shook his head, wearing a grim expression. “No one.”
And just in time….
They were able to view the stars that have fallen from this rooftop, raining down like streaks of tears over the dark face of the night.
Everyone cheered and celebrated for this new era…..
But Ronin knew they were celebrating for nothing. The new era would not be something that should be celebrated…..
But rather something to mourn for.
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