Astral Odyssey: Dying Ember

(Edited) Ch. 7: Sacrifice

The days passed by uneventfully.

Since Victor no longer tried to hunt Luna down in school, she could return to peacefully studying in the library once more. Although Luna could come up with several possible reasons for Victor's behaviour, she believed that it was no mere coincidence that he would suddenly be so obedient now.

The same private investigator from before was hired to follow Erica again. The reports she received this time were very normal. Unlike before, nothing stood out to Luna. Erica went to classes in the morning, then went for her extra curricular activities or hung out with her friends after class. Like Desmond, Erica was doing a good job at establishing the contacts they may need in the future.

Luna glanced at her laptop and books in front of her. Compared to her siblings, she already had her hands full with just her studies. As such, the only times she could attempt at networking was during class and group works. However, it was never successful. She could not seem to improve her social presence or skills no matter how many relevant books or videos she read or watched. People always ended up gravitating towards someone else and never once invited her anywhere or initiated a conversation with her.

Hm? The window in her classroom broke and she volunteered to manage the issue?

Although volunteering to take charge of events and matters was a common occurrence in this school, not to mention for Erica, things like classroom maintenance was still considered a menial task that not many would bother about.

The window ended up taking longer than Luna thought Erica would have it settled.

Erica ended up becoming friendly with the person in charge of the school's maintenance and worked together to come up with a new design for the windows that would increase the durability but reduce the costs of making it. As thanks, the first product created was used to replace the spot where the broken window was, before they would mass produce it and replace all the windows in the school.

This became yet another one of Erica's achievements and her reputation among her peers soared. Her family was, of course, equally proud of her as well, including Luna.

The problem was that Luna could not shake off the feeling that things were more than meets the eye.

Luna stared at her laptop screen with a faraway look in her eyes. The classroom's just above... It wouldn't hurt to just check it out, right?

She packed her belongings and left the library that took up two floors of the recreation building to head to the fourth floor.

After checking that the classroom was empty, she went in. Her eyes scanned the large room that has canvases, mannequins, and other models placed around the room. Since the report even specified the exact window that was replaced, Luna had no trouble locating it.

Admiring Erica's work, she gently slid her fingers down the glass and across the metal edges, feeling the coolness of the material underneath her fingers. It looked as if she was caressing the window. She gripped the bottom then slowly pushed it upwards. It moved smoothly and easily. A cooling breeze blew in and chilled her face. Upon closer inspection, there was really nothing wrong or out of place with the new window.

It really is a nice design... Did I think too much this time...?

Somehow, Luna found that hard to believe.

Is this really the end? Did I really manage to cut the string of fate between them? Did I really manage to derail the plot? Is this really possible?

While her mind was filled with thoughts like these, she silently gazed at the view outside the window. It was facing in the same direction as the window that Luna always sat beside in the library. A row of plum blossom trees lined the building and there was a footpath leading into the well-maintained beautiful garden.