a Lesson of Lumine

Chapter Seven: It's about Drive

"Well, what do you want to now? I'm sick of you assholes pressing me. It's the beginning of the school year, geez."
"If you want me to read account for all the times you've spent hours talking about her!"
"...Shut up."
"How about we talk about this later?"
"I'd rather not. If we get it done now, I don't have to worry about any of your wining."
"My my! You really are the sweet one! Now you can tell me more after you run," Venti shoved his friend towards the line to start. Xiao didn't have time to laugh as he took off towards the three lines. After that, he watched Venti run before being pressed for more questions. "What would you want to do for a first date? Ooh! The winter dance!"
"I'm about to punch you if you keep this up."
"Okay okay, just chill! How about we talk even later, like after school or something?"
"As long as I don't have to deal with any of your more 'iM tHe WiNgMaN' nonsense. Just shut up."

The game continued on for quite some time until Shinobu dragged Itto and his whistle down to her level and even nearly choked him as she blew the whistle. "Alright everyone, that will be it. Take a seat in your lines and allow us to count the beanbags." Everyone followed the request and sat down. Some of the more competitive kids (I'm looking at you Razor) were all hyped up and even cheering before anything could happen. "Quiet!" Shinobu yelled after counting the points. Finally, the winner was revealed.
"all cheer for...Team Two! You guys won, if you didn't understand," Itto announced. Everyone on Xiao's team began to cheer for themselves and had claps from the surrounding teams. Lumine was one of the loudest cheering, her claps louder than the rest. Xiao couldn't help but look over at her smiling face. Despite all that she's been through, Lumine still had a smile on her face. That's more than Xiao could say for himself.
As they walked out, she had to meet up with him. It was her belief that a congratulations should be in order - even for something as simple as this. Xiao eventually walked out. He was redoing his tiny ponytail (if you could call it that) and ended up giving up when Lumine walked over to him. "Congrats!" She smiled.
"Hmph. Thanks...you do know that it isn't the biggest deal, right?"
"Oh!...Yeah I do, but I thought that you might appreciate a little celebration!"
"It's not a big deal. It was literally just a gym game."
"...right. I hope I didn't bother you at all," Lumine's previous look of joy had went away as she to went away to her next class. Xiao stood there for a moment, not even sure what to make of himself. What did he say that was wrong? He was being honest. Maybe it was too much.

Instead of following Xiao or Lumine, let us follow our dear friend Aether. He was the older twin (not by much, only by 3 minutes) and took much pride in that. Given the choice, he would rather Lumine not be in any relationship unless she was positive that her heart would not be broken. Though there was something about her bond with Xiao. Whenever they were together, Lumine was as happy as a child on Christmas. Even if it was a quick brush in the hallway, that didn't matter. As for Xiao, it was hard to read his emotions even if you knew him for over a decade. But being friends helped. He would show his emotions in small ways that even he would not realize. Things as simple as a glance or even helping out with something were clear signs of appreciation. Xiao also had been speaking of Lumine for ages. Every time he went over to Aethers house, he would ask where Lumine was or how she was doing. Though it didn't help that some of the other students were falling for Xiao's cold and collected attitude - even though he almost got beaten up in geology. Aether wanted to protect his beloved sister Lumine at all costs, but she was growing up. She couldn't always be "Little Lumine" for the rest of her life.

The rest of the classes went by like a breeze - that was the case until the last class of the day. Normally, Mister Ayato would be teaching social studies if it weren't for him being caught up in family business. Lumine had selected that class as her elective which meant that it was just time to go to the library to study. Xiao, as you can guess, ran into the same issue. He had chosen Home Ec for his elective to which Mister Thoma was out - he did have a lot of jobs after all. Lunch worker, Janitor, and teaching. As you guessed it, Xiao went to the library as well.
Lumine had sat down in the back corner and was reading a book. Since it was only the beginning of the school year, there was no need to forcibly study...yet. One of her favorite books was "The Fox and the Dandelion Sea." A classic fairy tale to which she had grown up with. The story was haunting yet...peaceful. Maybe the balance is what attracted her to it, or maybe it was the thought of tens upon thousands of dandelions blowing softly in the field. As she was reading the story, Xiao had sat down at a table nearby. He had accidentally chosen the creaky chair that made a loud sound as he sat down. Lumine looked up and met eyes with him before gesturing for him to sit down at her table. Xiao silently agreed. He sat down and pulled out his notebook full of writings and drawings. He hardly noticed as Lumine began to whisper to him. "Psst," she hissed. Xiao looked up. "I'm sorry about earlier - I hope I didn't upset you."
"No need to apologize when you didn't do anything."
"Are you sure? You seemed quite pissed..."
"Did you hear what I just said?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then you know that there is no reason to apologize when you didn't do anything."
Lumine smiled before returning to her book. Her blonde hair rested on her shoulders as she carefully turned each page like it was a piece of silk. Xiao took note of this and began to sketch the books cover in his own design. Meaning by that, of course, he included Lumine in it.