Please help me out, Starlin!

That was the last thing Kasey said before we parted ways. Of course, as the only friend I had left, even if I didn’t feel our bond was as strong as I would expect a friend’s bond to be (at least not to the level of a friend I once had), I knew I had to do something to help him out. For now, I couldn’t figure out what I’d do, but I at least had an entire week to think about it, and apparently, there wasn’t even a set date for when they’d get married, so I probably had even longer than that.

This would all be so easy if Kasey just said that he didn’t want to get married, but I understood that wasn’t something he was willing to do. But with that being the case, what could he do?

Kasey had always been a pushover, to put it bluntly. I hadn’t seen him in school or anything, but from what I’d seen when we hung out, when he interacted with people, and when people asked things of him, he was just unwilling to say no.

Maybe convincing his parents might be the way to go, but that still inadvertently went against Kasey’s wishes, and that wasn’t something I wanted to do. Clearly, it wouldn’t be easy to change Mr. Silverheart’s mind, so that had to be left as a last resort.

I could just use more of my executive power if need be…

I quickly shook my head. I’d promised my father I’d never do such a thing unless absolutely necessary. And for as much as I cared for Kasey, this wasn’t that kind of situation.

I pondered the problem as I entered my home, bag filled with food in hand.

Closing the door behind me, I sighed.

It was quiet.

It had been this way for a while now. Ever since my mother passed away, I’d come back from school, for the little time I stayed in school after her death, to a silent home. I’d make some food and then wait until my father came back. Only then would some life get spurred back into this house.

So when he passed away…

I set down the bag on the kitchen table.

Even knowing that I was no longer alone in this house, the feeling itself still lingered in the air. To me, they were all strangers, and for as much as I vowed to treat them like friends, I couldn’t simply flip a switch in my mind to truly make myself feel some kind of familial or friendly affection for them.

With another long sigh, I turned my sights to the double doors on the rightmost wall. Although inconspicuous, it was a room that meant a lot to me. I hadn’t visited it much anymore, especially not since my mother passed away, but every so often I’d drop by to relive a little piece of what she left behind.

I made my way towards them and slowly pulled them back.

Revealed before me was a grand room. The walls were lined with book-filled shelves. High above, there was a clear view of the sky through a glass pane, a few crystals hanging as well for illumination at night. Across the room was a desk, a few chairs, and—

“Kishiko?” I asked mostly to myself.

 A red-haired girl sat at the aforementioned desk. She seemingly hadn’t noticed I was there, and she looked concentrated on something in her hands. I slowly walked towards her, and before long, what she was holding came into view.

It was, unsurprisingly, a book. I couldn’t see the cover from this angle, but Kishiko was rushing through the sentences, flipping the pages every few seconds. I wasn’t sure if she was actually reading or if she was just looking at the pages. To me, it looked more like the latter, but she was an ex-Celestia with the Gift of Eldorin coursing through her veins, so maybe that was just a part of the whole thing.

“Are you sure you’re understanding everything?” I suddenly asked.

Kishiko jumped, gasped, and closed the book. “Mr. Starlin!” She let out as she stood from the chair. “S-Sorry for coming in here without your permission—I had nothing to do and I was just curious and I only meant to take a look but then I—”

“Whoa, whoa, calm down,” I quickly stopped her rambling. Kishiko’s eyes were wide and filled with fear. It was an odd look compared to her usual angry demeanor. “There’s no need to apologize. You live here now, so you don’t need my permission for anything like that.” I reassured her.

She looked me straight in the eyes as if trying to read my mind. Eventually, she looked away and let out a slow breath. “Sorry about that.”

“I already told you, you don’t need to apologize.”

“That’s why I was apologizing.”

“Apologizing for apologizing, huh.” I laughed. “Well, don’t feel the need to apologize for every small thing. And also, you don’t have to be so formal when addressing me.” I shrugged. “Just call me Kaelor.”

She glanced at me once more then looked away. “Kaelor…”

“That’s more like it,” I smiled.

Slowly, the color came back to her face. She sat back down on the chair, sideways this time, before resting her hand on the book.

She didn’t speak for a few seconds, leaving us in an awkward silence for all that time. Eventually, she snorted. “You know, Kaelor, you’re an odd person.” She tapped her fingers on the book. “I don’t know what your goal is with us, but whatever it is, I’d prefer that you treat us the way you actually wish to do so. If your niceness is just that, what you want, then fine…but if all of this is a piece, an act, to accomplish your goal…then…” she trailed off.

Her eyes darted my way for a split second.

She spun herself towards the book once again. “I hope you don’t mind if I borrow a few books.” She quickly switched the subject. “I haven’t read anything in a few years.”

Even if I wanted to touch on what she had said previously, I realized that right now was not the time. At least not at this moment. Instead, I shook my head, which was pointless since she couldn’t see me, and I said, “Of course not. Read all you want. You can stay here all day if you so choose to.” I gently tapped her shoulder, an act which she flinched at, as I continued, “I’ll be reading nearby too, but I won’t bother you, alright?”

She nodded.

I looked at her one more time before turning away toward one of the shelves nearby.

***
***Author's Note***

As I had stated previously, chapters moving forward have a chance of being much shorter. This is one of those chapters. I haven't had much time to write before or after my job so I've been getting in a few sentences at a time when I can. This time around, I ended up not getting done fast enough to publish it earlier in the day (for me anyway), but I still got it up before the end of the day (again, for me), so I count that as a win.

Anyway, this whole part of the arc is really coming along slowly...can you tell it's the only arc I hadn't planned on writing when I started writing this story? Yeah, for those who didn't know, or had just forgotten, my plan was entirely different when I started writing this. Initially, I wanted to start delving into each of the characters as soon as I could and having an arc dedicated to each one. And although that will still happen, I had decided to spend more time solidifying his relationship with the four girls first (even if it's only a little). I of course have an idea how this first arc is supposed to go, and I'm slowly working towards achieving that goal, but do excuse the sometimes messiness of this first arc. I'll make sure that isn't the case in future arcs. But for now, I'll keep trailing forward with this arc, trying to hold off on revealing too much about the characters early...although even then I'm dropping a lot of hints all throughout.

I won't promise that the next chapter will be long or that there will be more than one chapter, but I can promise that there will be a chapter. I'm going to try to fit in more writing any way that I can...even though I get extremely exhausted from work every time.