“Um, Aurora?”

“Yeah, Luna?”

“When you said that you wished to hang out this weekend, this isn’t what I had in mind…”

Aurora finished forcing open the large gate in front of us as we were about to commit trespassing.

“...How come?”

 

It was the middle of September. Around 2 months since the most exhausting week of my life. A lot certainly happened during that period, and I believe that was the most I’ve ever been shot at. It was a time of…growing pains, to put it one way. 

I don’t mean to make it sound entirely negative. I made two new friends for the first time in years and reunited with a childhood friend who is now my…girlfriend. Yeah, I believe I’m able to say that. 

A few days ago, I got a message from Aurora asking if she wanted to hang out this weekend. I hadn’t seen her in person since that week, so I accepted without much hesitation. 

I’m aware this would’ve been our first meeting each other since becoming a proper couple, but I pushed that to the back of my head. My desire to see her again had been slowly increasing as the weeks continued, so I’d accept whatever she had planned.

At least I thought I would. 

“Care to explain why we’re breaking into your old high school at 8pm on a Friday?”

“Don’t call it old! I’ll have you know it’s only been 4 months since I graduated.”

“The measurement of time does not change this fact…”

“There’s something I left behind in the art room that I thought we could grab together.”

“Can’t we do this during the day when it’d be more…legal?”

“I’m surprised you care about ‘legality’ after all the crimes we’ve committed.”

Yes, but those were…justified, in their own way, I thought.

“Besides, this is a great chance to have the high school all to ourselves. What do you think of it?”

Listening to Aurora, I took a proper look around. I’d seen this high school a number of times when I was younger and it always looked so big to me. Being inside it years later, now that sentiment could not be any more different from my current impression. 

Maybe it was because I’d been in Everfall for 7 years, but I didn’t get why Aurora wanted me to see century old buildings designed to educate teens. 

“Oh! I had Biology here!” Aurora pointed toward a room we were about to walk past. “Early in the year, he snapped at the entire class when we were getting too loud while he was trying to talk. That never happened again, and he was actually pretty nice, but that one moment always stood out. Like, now we knew what he was like he made him mad.”

“Wouldn’t you just have to remain quiet whenever he spoke?”

“Yeah but you know how hard it can be to get a bunch of students to quiet down.”

“My memories of elementary school are becoming a bit foggy, so that’s hard for me to say…”

Aurora let out a little chuckle, but her face looked as if she wanted to ask me a question before she turned around and continued walking.

“The art building’s down here.” 

“R-right.” Why did saying that suddenly make me feel uneasy?

“Hey, do you want to know a fun thing about holding onto your Curse?”

“What?”

“It made P.E. a breeze! Having more stamina and strength than the average person, it almost felt like cheating!”

“Technically it would be. So were you the fastest runner on the track?”

“Not quite! There were still people faster than me. They really looked like they were giving it their all. I probably could’ve been as fast if I pushed myself more.”

“I wonder if I could’ve been faster than all of them.” 

“Girl, did you forget all the bullets you’ve been able to dodge?”

“I try to on occasion.”

“If we were together, I would’ve probably put in the effort and we could’ve shown up every student. Imagine their confusion at seeing 2 random girls be so much faster and stronger than everyone else.”

I let the thought simmer in my head a bit. It probably would’ve been hilarious to challenge people to arm wrestling contests and inexplicably win all of them. The pranks we could’ve done using our Curses would’ve been diabolical too. I’m pretty sure we would’ve been utter menaces if we’d gone to High School together, but it sounded like such a fun time the more I thought about it. 

 If we’d gone to Highschool together, huh…

Once that thought crossed my head, everything around me suddenly became much more meaningful. This High School started to look like it would’ve been a lot more fun to attend.

“Say, Luna?” Aurora asked as she walked closer to me. “What exactly was your High School life like? Actually, I don’t think you’ve shared anything about what Middle School was like either.”

“I-Is that right? I feel like that’s something we’ve discussed…”

“I don’t remember a thing. I know for a fact I would’ve stored knowledge like that safely in my brain!”

“The human brain can make errors…” What the heck was I even saying??

Aurora started walking a bit ahead of me. “You and your love of secrecy.” 

She didn’t sound mad or anything, but it was as if she was saying “Classic Luna.” I got a bit irritated at the thought.

“Alright, I’ll be honest. I didn’t really have much of a Middle School or High School life. Most of my education ever since 7 years ago has been remote. I steered clear of interacting with people as much as possible because…I didn’t want to get close to anyone and accidentally give them a Curse. I was scared of…repeating what happened back then…”

I couldn’t see how Aurora reacted to this. Looking at her from the back suddenly became a lot more nerve-wracking. I had no clue what she was thinking until she finally spoke.

“I thought it was something like that…” 

I almost let out an audible sigh. Aurora’s never been one to look down on me, but I imagine it’d be hard not to after learning her partner really has been nothing but a hermit for the past 7 years.

“This is the building right here.”

“Um, did you have a plan for how to get in?”

“I had everything planned out before coming! Watch as I open this door with ease! Absolute Dream!”

Calling out the name she gave her Curse, Aurora’s hand became enveloped in a red aura. To quickly explain her ability, it was essentially telekinesis. 

Did she learn how to unlock doors with her Gift?

The doorknob began to rumble until the entire mechanism ripped itself straight off the door. A very noticeable wooden hole was left behind.

“Geez, Aurora! It looks as if the Hulk tried to open this door!”

“Ahaha, that didn’t quite work how I expected it to, but the end result remains the same! We can get in now.”

Letting it go for now, I followed her in. This room actually looked rather spacious. The moonlight pouring in from the windows provided enough light that we could see just fine. 

“Let’s see…” Aurora said. “If memory serves me right, I left my binder over here.”

“So it’s a binder you were looking for.”

“Yeah. Accidentally left it here during one of my last classes. Didn’t really matter since I was already gonna graduate, but there was something I kept in there I want to retrieve now that you’re back.”

“Now that I’m back…?”

Aurora didn’t seem to hear that question. I let her search for it while I looked around the room. 

Truth be told, I’d always had a passing interest in art. Not enough to become skilled at it, but I did try for a period. There really wasn’t an excuse for my lack of growth given all the time I had to myself, but I can’t exactly redo that time, nor would that be a reason I would. 

“Is that you in this picture?” I said as I pointed to a small photo that was pinned to the wall. It looked like it was a picture of some art museum I wasn’t familiar with.

“I guess the teacher still left that up. Yeah that was a field trip during the Fall. Wasn’t all that special.”

“But…you look pretty happy in it.” I could see it clearly. The smile she had was bright and full of joy next to classmates she seemed rather comfortable with.

“That’s just because I was with some friends.”

“Friends, huh…”

“D-don’t get the wrong idea! It was fun and all, but I like hanging out with you more!”

“No, no, I didn’t mean it in that way. I’m just…glad you were able to be close with others. In fact, I wish I could’ve…” I realized what I was about to say, then stopped myself. “Uh, did you find your binder already?”

“About a minute ago! I just wanted to keep talking.”

Out from one of the cupboards, Aurora pulled out a thin blue binder. It looked well organized as she laid it on a table and opened up the contents. 

“I’m gonna make sure what I’m looking for specifically is still in here.”

“Once you do that, we should probably leave.”

A part of me did admittedly want to look around a bit more. My interest reached a point where I wanted to learn more about Aurora’s life during High School, but breaking into this school and destroying property was starting to weigh on my mind. 

“If you want, we can still look around some-”

“Aurora, wait!” I whispered.

I heard footsteps outside. They were getting louder the closer they approached this door, and there was something they were sure to notice.

“What happened to this door?!” A voice outside said.

That’s about what I expected! “Quickly! Hide!”

Aurora hurried under a table while I jumped onto a counter then climbed to the top of a cabinet on the wall. There were…quite a few colored pencils that I assumed were tossed up here. 

Three adults entered who all looked like they were staff for this school. They turned on the lights and to my luck, the spot I was hiding in had a shadow casted by the light, keeping my presence hidden in the darkness. 

“I’ll call the police,” one of them said. 

“What’s this paper on the table?” another asked. “It looks like a child wrote it.”

I looked down from above and they found the paper on the table that Aurora looked through her binder on. She must’ve taken her binder with her under the table but let this paper slip out. As long as it wasn’t the paper she was looking for, perhaps it’d be fine if we left it behind. 

That is until I saw Aurora from under the table who was nodding with a disappointed look on her face, telling me exactly what I feared. 

If I wasn’t trying to hide, I would’ve audibly groaned. 

Alright, I should analyze this situation. There’s two adults looking around the room, and one went outside to call the police. We need to grab that paper and get out of here before the police arrive!

 If only these people were cops or members of the Void. I’d feel no remorse with knocking them out, but my morals are telling me not to do that here. 

I didn’t think my Curse would be that useful for grabbing the paper, but Aurora’s would be perfect. The only problem being that I don’t believe she can control objects anyone is holding. The adult holding the paper would have to put it down if she were to grab it. 

Luckily, supporting Aurora is something I happen to be fond of!

I grabbed a colored pencil next to my hand and looked for spots where I could throw it. Anywhere that would lead to the biggest mess would be most ideal, and there was a stack of papers a little too close to the edge of the table. 

Here goes…!

I threw the pencil with a strength similar to whenever I threw my knife. It went so fast that both adults didn’t even notice it until it hit the papers and sent them flying. 

“What was that!?” 

“I couldn’t even see what happened!”

Both adults went to pick up the papers, but the one holding Aurora’s paper set it aside on the table. As I expected, Aurora already understood what my plan was and raised her hand toward it. A red aura surrounded her hand as the paper quickly lifted itself up and went straight toward her under the table. 

She smiled as she gave me a thumbs up, but I was only halfway through my plan. 

I pointed towards the window. Specifically, a window that was slightly open. This time Aurora put two thumbs up in response. 

The window quickly slid open as the slam startled the two adults.

“Is there a ghost in here!?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

I felt a little bad scaring them, but this was all in service of not getting caught, so the guilt wasn’t exactly a hindrance.

No turning back after this, Endless Possibility!

Thinking of the name I gave my Curse, a blue aura formed around me as a clone phased out of my body. 

If I can do this, then so can you.

The clone jumped down from the cabinet and landed on a table before jumping once more, this time, out the window and escaping. 

My clone could’ve moved faster, but I need the full attention of these two adults. 

“Was that a kid!?”

“They went behind the building!”

Both of them ran out to pursue my clone who in actuality, disappeared into nothing but blue mist after she made it out the window. 

Best case scenario. They also told the third person outside to help pursue my clone. 

I dropped down from the cabinet and ran towards Aurora who was getting out from under the table. 

“Nice thinking, Lu- Ah!”

I grabbed Aurora’s hand and pulled her along with me as we ran out. “Save celebrations for after we’re in the clear!”

As I hoped, nobody was outside the door as we made it out the building. Aurora also used her Gift to put the doorknob back into place as it attached itself back to the door.

“Do you know of a way out of the school that isn’t the front gate?!”

“Yeah I do! To the right!”

 With Aurora’s guidance, we made it out of the school without anyone seeing us. Even after we made it out, I said we should keep going until we were in a public area that wouldn’t be suspicious. Aurora decided on a café in the downtown of the City. We had about 40 minutes until the last bus would arrive to take us both home.

I waited outside as Aurora ordered a drink. I didn’t personally drink much besides water, so I was fine with getting nothing.

As I waited outside, I thought more about our visit to Aurora’s school. Though I felt more confident in myself during our escape than anything else that we did there, being there created a lingering regret that wouldn’t leave me. I knew exactly why, and I knew what needed to be said.

“Got my drink!” Aurora said as she approached me. “Also got you a water bottle if you want it.”

“I didn’t ask for one, but I appreciate it regardless.” I made sure to drink so as to not put Aurora’s money to waste. After a few sips, I took a deep breath.

“Aurora, listen…” I ended up mumbling.

“Hm? What was that?”

“I’m sorry…for…running away…”

“There’s no need for that. I mean, I think you already apologized before unless I’m mistaken.”

“No but, even with that, I want to say… I’m sorry I was gone all these years. You went through all of Middle School and High School without me…”

“Oh, is that what’s wrong? You don’t gotta feel bad about that. I was able to manage fine on my own thanks to your influence-”

“But I wish I was there with you!”

I ended up raising my voice by accident. Aurora’s eyes widened as she looked at me with surprise. Likely due to how forward I became. 

“I…wish we could’ve been together all these years! I wish that I had a normal school life like everyone else! I wish I never threw all this time away! I wish I hadn’t been so…cowardly…!”

I could tell my voice was becoming shakier by the word. I think my eyes started to well up.

Stop, Luna…don’t tear up over something like this…!

 I wasn’t looking at Aurora anymore. I think I was just terrible at facing her whenever I got like this. If she wanted to look down on me for how pathetically I’ve handled my life, I wouldn’t blame her. 

“...Y’know, I never did tell you what I wanted to get from my school.”

“W-what…?”

“It was this little paper you amazingly helped me retrieve!”

Aurora handed me an old piece of paper. I looked at the contents, and it all looked like writing from an elementary school student. 

“What exactly is this?”

“You don’t remember? Oh dear, how my heart has broken!”

“Ah, apologies in that case.”

“I wasn’t serious! This was something we wrote together 7 years ago. It was a ‘letter to your future self’ kind of activity.”

“Oh, I think it’s coming back to me.”

“Some of it’s kinda embarrassing so you can just read the last part.”

Following her guidance, I read the last sentence a younger Aurora wrote. 

 

No matter what happens to you, I hope you’re still by Luna’s side! No matter what!

 

It suddenly came back to me. I remembered when we wrote our letters together. I was certainly…much more carefree when writing mine. I don’t even remember what happened to it.

“You’ve…kept this in your binder all this time?”

“You could say it was…a nice way to remember you whenever assignments started to annoy me. It may just be a piece of paper, but it means a lot to me.”

“And yet you left it in your old High School…”

“Hey! It was a busy semester!”

She’s cute whenever she bites back…

“Point is, it may not have been the future either of us expected, but we’re together now, and that alone is enough to make me happy. So maybe, things aren’t as bad as you think.”

Hearing this from Aurora caught me off guard. She looked much more serious when saying this. Not in a bad way though. She just looked…genuine when saying this. I could really tell this was the Aurora who grew from her nervous shell when we were younger. 

“...I’m glad I’m able to make you happy. If only I could’ve done that for longer than I have right now.”

Aurora came closer and leaned against me.

“You have a lot of time to make up for that. We’re both still pretty young, after all.”

“That is true…”

“Of course it is.”

“But…I’d still like to know more about your time away from me.”

“Heheh, perfect.”

“Perfect?”

“That’s what these were for!”

Pulling out her binder, she opened to a set of pages separated from everything else.

“What’s that?”

“I made sure to jot down the most interesting thing that happened to me during High School. I like to record things if that isn't obvious.”

I could’ve guessed. “T-That’s quite a few papers you've written.”

“Mhm, we’ve still got half an hour until the bus arrives. We should be able to get through…a quarter!”

“Only a quarter?!”

“Assuming I’m fast!”

Her enthusiasm took me back a bit, but seeing her eyes shine brightly couldn't help but cause me to smile myself.

“I think this will be a good way to pass the time. I'm all ears.”

“Alright! So first there was this funny thing that happened during lunch where…”

I'm pretty sure there was a time I liked to do all the talking, but I'd grown accustomed to being the listener, especially if it's for Aurora.

I know I haven't lived the same youthful life everyone else has had, and even after talking with Aurora, it still hasn't caused my regrets to leave. But hearing her talk her heart out and having her be so excited to share her experiences with me, it really did help me believe I'm a normal girl after all. Perhaps if I keep trying to head forward, I really will become someone I can smile at when I look in the mirror.

It's a shame these minutes were speeding by. This night could last forever for all I care. I even seemed to have become so entranced looking at Aurora that she noticed.

“Luna? Are you alright?”

“Yes. I feel pretty good right now.”