“Luna!”

  My loud shout drew more than a few eyes in the dining hall.

  I saw the two kids facing me pause halfway through a sentence as they blinked up at me.

  My little sister’s shoulders raised themselves as her spine curled and her body shrivelled, hiding the faint tone of red creeping up her skin.

  I threw my arms around her and embraced her from behind, eliciting an embarrassed yelp from her.

  “Sister! Please, stop! Get off of me!”

  “Aw, come on, don’t call me Sister~ You used to like calling me Estelle so much. You couldn’t stop saying it! Why are you being so distant now, come on, say my name again!”

  “S-Sister!” She blushed furiously, fruitlessly wriggling and writhing as she tried pulling my arms away from her, “I-I was five years old! I-I’m thirteen now! I-I’m not going to be excited to just say your name!”

  “I know, and I’m so proud of you!” I giggled, crushing her even further in my grip.

  “H-help!” She looked towards her friends and teammates, who all just shyly looked away.

  “I heard you skipped ahead one year in all of your magic classes to the third year’s curriculum, you’re amazing, Luna!”

  “Grfklsjdf!” she groaned incoherently as she thrashed around in my embrace, elbowing me as hard as she could.

  Which, if I was being honest, wasn’t very hard.

  “Aw, come on, Luna… you need to exercise a bit more than that if you want to hit harder! You need to do a lot of running in practicals at Nindo starting in your second year! You should join your big sister on her hikes with Setsuna!”

  “Hasjhqpih!” She furiously tugged at my unmoving arms.

  I pouted at her attempts at juvenile resistance.

  I was a bit sad she was being so rebellious.

  Was this what Auntie Chang’e felt like?

  Was this what she was complaining about the first time we met?

  Maybe she was rubbing off of on me…

  Still, even if she was a little bit bigger now and slowly getting more independent, that didn’t matter to me.

  I giggled, ruffling her hair as she continued to struggle.

  “Aww, look at you, you’re cute when you get flustered. Don’t worry, no matter how big you grow, you’ll never be too old to receive your sister’s love. I’ll always love you no matter what.”

  I felt her body pressed against me noticeably heat up in embarrassment, leading her to thrash even harder as she desperately pulled at my singular arm wrapped around her, still no closer to prying me off of her.

  “S-Sis, you-”

  “Come on, 'Estelle', say it like you used to!”

  “-’re embarrassing me! And you’re disturbing lunch for everyone!”

  She flailed her legs beneath the table, twisting and turning to escape me.

  All she managed to do was wobble the table.

  “Hm?” I smiled cluelessly (?), lifting my gaze from her ever-messy hair and blinking innocently at the second-years sat around her.

  “Sorry, am I disturbing all of you from eating?”

  The two boys just stammered and flushed, looking away shyly as they mumbled.

  “E-erm… n-no, L-Lady Symphonia… y-you’re not disturbing us.”

  “Lady!?” Luna hissed, “don’t call her that! Why do you never treat me with that kind of respect!?”

  She did her best to turn to the side.

  “Mika! Please!”

  The girl with spiky fiery orange hair sitting next to her just glared at us with envy.

  “Wish my sister offered to help me with my classes sometimes,” she mumbled before turning away and distracting herself with her plate of curry.

  “Oh, don’t be like that, Mikaela,” I giggled, moving my hand to ruffle her hair instead, “Gabrielle loves you too, even if she doesn’t show it. If you ever need help, feel free to come to me! Any partner of Luna is as good as my own~”

  “What are you even going to help her with!? Your grades as a witch are terrible!” Luna tried to interrupt.

  I just laughed.

  The young girl that was Luna’s friend just blushed lightly and looked away.

  “E-erm, thanks for the offer, Miss Symphonia. I-I’ll consider it.”

  “Why are all of you like this!? You’re my teammates! Aren’t you supposed to be on my side!? Is it the stupid knobs of fat on her chest!? I’ll grow big and strong too! Just you wait!”

  “Oh, I’m sure you will, Luna,” I nuzzled her a little deeper, pulling on her flushing cheeks, “but you need to eat a bit more and get a bit more exercise! You can’t keep running that slow forever, I watched your finals last year, you know?”

  “Mnjlkghb!” She pushed even more wildly against me as her face grew even hotter.

  “A-Alright, Estelle, that’s enough!”

  I blinked, finding myself suddenly pulled from Luna.

  I sighed in disappointment, finding my arms to be empty all of a sudden.

  A familiar head of bright red hair stood between me and my sister.

  “Hey, Estelle, I know you like Luna a lot, but maybe you should give her a little bit of space for her to grow,” Hayate chuckled sheepishly.

  Luna panted and trembled as she got back on her shaky knees.

  “Hey, sorry about that, Luna. I did my best to rein her in, but she heard the news and got really excited-”

  “I know, isn’t my little sister just the best!?” I couldn’t help but perk up in glee, “it won’t be long until she joins us in the fifth-year curriculum! Maybe we’ll even be going to the same classes for Magical Theory next year!”

  Kagura sighed, trailing behind her cousin as she munched on the last of the chicken skewers bundled under her arm.

  “Yeah, considering your current grades in that class, I wouldn’t be surprised if you got held back this year.”

  “So, uhh, yeah,” Hayate scratched the back of his head awkwardly, “Again, sorry, Luna. Here, let me help you up.”

  He offered his hand towards the downed girl.

  Luna stared at his open palm with wide eyes, enraptured by something.

  “U-umm…” she bit her lip nervously, red tinting her cheeks as her hand crept closer to his, “t-thanks, H-Hayate-senpai…”

  I cooed at her flushed expression.

  “Oh, look at that, Wadatsumi Hayate~ helping up damsels like a true prince, you really do live up to the image of Duke Wadatsumi’s heir.”

  Luna froze for a moment, before hurriedly taking the offered hand and standing back up, holding tightly onto the big, strong hand.

  Her crush on Hayate was rather cute.

  “What a strapping young lad, how handsome~”

  “H-huh!?” Hayate blushed, jerking in place as his hand suddenly retracted, much to the visible disappointment of my sister.

  “Y-you mean that, Estelle?”

  He fidgeted awkwardly with his hand, growing red as I teased him and my sister together.

  “Yup,” I giggled.

  “A-alright!”

  For some reason, Hayate pumped his fist and nodded resolutely.

  Kagura rolled her eyes and groaned, speaking with her mouth full.

  “I don’t know what’s worse, how hopeless Hayate is or how hopeless you are.”

  “Hm?” I smiled politely, blinking at her in confusion.

  She just gave me a weird look before returning to eating.

  Luna gnashed her teeth, glaring at me in frustration at some perceived slight.

  I chuckled.

  “Oh, don’t worry, Luna,” I shook my head playfully, “I’m not going to steal your boyfriend, Hayate and I will always just be good friends.”

  “Urgk!”

  The boy collapsed into the floor from a mysterious onset of pain.

  “I’m sure Duke Wadatsumi would be happy to have you as his daughter-in-law, who wouldn’t want someone capable of leaping years at Nindo as a daughter?”

  “E-Estelle!” Hayate jumped up, snapping back to reality, “I-I would never look at Luna that way!”

  “H-Hayate-senpai?” Luna froze, looking aghast.

  “D-Don’t worry, Luna!” Hayate spun around with a bright, clueless, cheesy smile on his face, “You’ll always be like a little sister to me!”

  Something in Luna broke.

  “O-oh…” she wilted, “o-okay…”

  I giggled.

  Stay strong, Luna. I’m sure you’ll get through to him one day.

  Your big sister will always support you in your endeavours.

  Though, Hayate was a bit thick…

  Good luck.

  “Alright, everyone,” Kagura clapped her hands together, tossing the small paper bag containing empty wooden skewers into a far away bin with perfect accuracy, “enough of the circus show, let’s not disturb the second-years any longer, leave them to their lunch, okay?”

  “U-umm,” Luna smiled nervously, fidgeting with her fingers as she slowly crept her arm towards Hayate’s sleeve, “H-Hayate-senpai, I-I wouldn’t mind if you dist-”

  “R-right, yup!” Hayate laughed, “C’mon, Estelle, let’s not bother your little sister any longer!”

  He ran towards Kagura and I, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me away.

  Luna froze, her fingers pinching empty air.

  It was my turn to thrash as Hayate forcefully dragged me back towards our usual table, leaving me helpless as I watched Luna’s figure slowly disappear.

  “Noooo!” I whined, flailing my arms everywhere as I futilely resisted.

  “I don’t wanna!” I pouted childishly, clawing at Hayate’s iron grip around my collar.

  He just winced, pulling me along even faster.

  “Seriously, you gotta calm down at least a little bit, Estelle. I can understand that it’s nice to see your sister again and you’re proud of her, but it’s already been a year since she came to Nindo! I get it, you know, I still get excited every time I see my cousins after every semester, but that’s like for an hour at maximum.”

  “Hmph!” I turned away and huffed childishly as he pushed me back into my seat next to Setsuna, who, as usual, was not paying any attention to the outside world as she continued to mindlessly chow down on a tower of slop that piled all the way up to the ceiling.

  “You gotta respect her space a bit more,” Hayate sighed helplessly, “you can’t treat her like she’s a child forever, you know? She’ll grow into an adult of her own one day and be independent. Are you gonna continue babying her forever?”

  “So what if I do?” I idly played with my hair, frowning dismissively.

  He winced.

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  “I really don’t get you at times. You have to understand it’s embarrassing, no?”

  I let my playful, childish facade drop for a moment.

  I smiled wistfully, remembering the many, many years that had passed.

  “Of course I know, Hayate. Obviously it’s incredibly embarrassing to act like that as a seventeen-year-old over a thirteen-year-old. I’m not stupid.”

  I chuckled wryly.

  I wasn’t just doing it for fun.

  Well, that wasn’t to say it wasn’t enjoyable seeing her get flustered, but there were other reasons I was acting like that too.

  “Then why do you keep acting like that if you know she doesn’t like it?” Hayate sighed.

  “Hmm…” I hummed with a small bit of playfulness, a slight hint of melancholy creeping into my hum against my will.

  I thought about the person who came before me.

  I thought about those two, that aging man and woman doing their best to raise their child, grateful to just be alive and to share everything they had with their son.

  Once, they were similarly embarrassing.

  And once, like my sister, I was similarly embarrassed.

  But no matter how old I grew, they were always outwardly affectionate, even if it wasn’t demonstrated in as embarrassing of a manner compared to when I was just a child, or what I was currently doing to Luna.

  Through my complaints, through my childish and adolescent rebellion, through my feigned independence and eventually my actual independence, they never stopped doing everything they could at every moment to let me know they loved me, no matter how distant I grew from them.

  Eventually, the embarrassment faded.

  And all that was left behind for me was guilt. There was only an uncomfortable pain that lingered in my chest, suffocating me with its cruel whispers as it told me I was being a coward for not being able to outwardly reciprocate their love.

  It taunted me as the demon of cowardice held my tongue shut, refusing to let me say those simple, frivolous words to them.

  There was nothing I regretted more than that guilt.

  Before I died, there was nothing I wanted more in the world than to erase that choking burden from my shoulders.

  I missed those days of being embarrassed by their love dearly. I missed the ignorance of not knowing about the terrible hardships they had endured and the endless torment that came with just living. I wished I didn’t have to face them with pain and guilt.

  I missed when the most I had to worry about was my parents hugging me too much or pulling my cheek too much, rather than looking at them sorrowfully, knowing how much they had gone through just to birth me into the world and care for me, having gone and seen the world and all of the terrible weight of history that they bore on their shoulders. I missed not having to deal with the anxiety of being unable to reciprocate it all.

  I would’ve done anything back then to get those days back.

  That was why I kept being overbearing towards Luna, even as she grew into her teenage years.

  I hoped she would stay just as flustered as she currently was forever.

  Maybe those two, my previous mother and father, had felt the same way, and that was why they kept being so bright and affectionate towards me.

  Embarrassment was the ideal outcome.

  As long as that embarrassment never turned to regret or sorrow, it meant that the person you loved took your care for granted.

  It meant they didn’t even need to think of a world where you didn’t care for them, or what it meant for you to keep loving them and why you pushed to always do so.

  It meant they knew nothing of pain, nothing of suffering.

  It meant they didn’t know the true, haunting depths of loneliness, what it felt like to be trapped with nothing as they filled their desperate hearts with yearning, longing for love they could no longer grasp onto.

  As long as she was embarrassed, then she would never become like that young man.

  Lost, eternally distant from those who loved him, filled with nothing but guilt and regret as he continued to run away, unable to make amends, despite how simple such a task could have been.

  I hoped the day would never come for Luna, as it did for me, when she would look back upon her childhood years and have nothing but sorrow in her heart, regretting the embarrassment she had, wishing she could have reciprocated that love before she grew too distant to reconcile.

  My parents had once embarrassed me, and that embarrassment then turned to longing and guilt.

  And now it was my turn to repay the favour and embarrass my sister in kind, but I wouldn’t let those emotions plague her.

  I had dealt with the longing and guilt for two lifetimes, more than enough for the both of us.

  It was all just a part of my oath, in the end.

  She would hope and dream.

  She would grow up strong and wise.

  She would want for nothing.

  I would give her anything and everything.

  She would live and be happy, no matter what.

  At any cost.

  If I could deal with that burden forever, if all it took to fight away those demons and keep her innocent was being embarrassing, then that was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

  ‘If kindness was madness, then the mad riptide I would be.’

  I giggled, winking at Hayate and bringing a dainty finger to my lips.

  “That’s a maiden’s secret, locked deep inside her heart~ You should respect her sworn oaths of secrecy, you know?”

  I hoped Luna never had to come to the realisation that she was being spoiled rotten by Mother and I.

  I hoped she would have nothing but full stomachs, and never have to feel ‘starvation’ or think about what it meant to have food.

  I hoped she continued hoping that I would be just a little less embarrassing and just a little less loving and a little more distant, if only because it meant she did not have to hope for me to be less distant and more loving.

  If all of that would forever remain ‘normal’ for her…

  That would be enough for me for the rest of my life.

  “C’mon, Wadatsumi! I got five thousand Cor on you!”

  “Gabrielle, kick his ass! Show him he isn’t shit without Setsuna backing him!”

  Setsuna looked down at the sparring students with a bored look on her face.

  “What’s wrong, Setsuna?” I raised an eyebrow.

  She frowned.

  “I heard thy sister started taking some of the classes of the year ahead of her.”

  “Yup!” I giggled, “She’s a real genius, isn’t she~”

  The swordswoman just clicked her tongue.

  “At times like this, I sometimes consider doing the same. Surely the sixth and seventh years would be more challenging than our cohort.”

  “You’re only considering it?” I smiled, “I’m flattered you think so much of us and enjoy spending time with us together.”

  “Hmph,” she simply nodded, refusing to comment further.

  Despite her abysmal grades in any class that involved picking up a pen and paper, she was so overwhelmingly qualified when it came to combat that she had more than earned the right to skip ahead in all non-team based classes.

  But unlike my sister, she didn’t immediately take the opportunity, despite her single-minded devotion to her blade.

  In the end, despite everything, she had still lived as a vagrant for the majority of her life, and was a rather sentimental person.

  Underneath that stoic, detached demeanour of hers, she was a lonely person who valued her attachments in life, and wished to spend time alongside us, her few friends.

  I sighed, thinking of Luna.

  I was still immensely proud of her intelligence, but I couldn’t help but be a little worried about her. She was sometimes a bit too caught up in becoming a proper witch at times, and I hoped it wasn’t coming at the detriment of her social life.

  Having close friends in your classes was a very important thing. I don’t know that I would have gotten through all of my classes if I didn’t have either Kagura or Setsuna by my side.

  Well, Hayate too, but unlike Setsuna, I didn’t consider him a ‘partner’ or my ‘best friend’, and unlike Kagura, I didn’t share the majority of my classes with him, given that I was a spellcaster.

  I hoped Luna was still close with her team despite not having that many classes with them anymore. Mikaela was a nice girl, and her older siblings were some of my closer acquaintances.

  “Were it not for our promise to travel together after graduation, I would have left these fools behind a long time ago,” Setsuna grunted.

  “Aww, I love you too, Setsy.”

  She scowled and shot a glare at me.

  “Do not start addressing me by that terrible nickname. I have enough of it from Wadatsumi, I shall not hear it from thy mouth too, Estelle. Thou art far above it.”

  Setsuna sighed, a small blush coming to her cheeks as she coughed.

  “But, yes, I suppose. Thy companionship is much appreciated, as well as thy…” she grit her teeth, “tutoring for the accursed exams.”

  “Don’t forget you’re coming over to my place today to stay over for the weekends so we can study,” I reminded her, earning a pained flinch.

  I rolled my eyes at her dramatic behaviour, smiling playfully.

  “Who knows, maybe Luna will be with us too? I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already surpassed you, maybe you two should be swapping classes?”

  Setsuna’s face turned red.

  I laughed at her misery.

  Setsuna frowned, presumably thinking about some of the times she had stayed over at our place on the weekends, studying alongside Luna and I.

  “That girl-”

  “Luna,” I chided.

  “Her taste in tea continues to be horrific to me. How can she be so unappreciative of thy recipe?”

  She scrunched her face in disgust.

  “Rather, she is appealed to by those disgusting, plain blends that those of nobility spoil themselves with. For a genius, one would think her taste buds more refined, more appreciative of the herbal tea thou so graciously serves.”

  I smiled wryly.

  “Well, I think some of the more sheltered witches coming from nobility in Nindo are rubbing off on her. I think she finds it a bit embarrassing to be a ‘hick from the woods’, as she sees herself. I think she thinks the tea Mother and I serve isn’t ‘refined’ or ‘elegant’ enough.”

  I giggled, amused by the irony.

  Selenia, a woman who considered herself the pinnacle of elegance and nobility, and one of the most stereotypical Citadel witches I had ever met, was nothing but astounded at the tea our family served.

  I wondered if Luna knew that those she sought to emulate would have thought of my tea, which she so carelessly frowned upon, as anything but ‘backwards’ and ‘unrefined’.

  “Still, though… I’m fine with it. I’d rather her be picky about it,” I chimed.

  Setsuna raised an eyebrow at that.

  “Is that so?”

  She sent me an odd gaze.

  “Mhm,” I nodded, “it’s not like she doesn’t drink it. She’s just shy about liking it. It’s better than her asking me how to make it.”

  “And, pray tell, why is that?”

  “Because that would mean she thinks I won’t be around to make it for her whenever she wants anymore!” I laughed.

  Setsuna smiled wryly.

  “Thou art strange, as ever.”

  “Oh, and you’re better?” I rolled my eyes.

  An amused chuckle rung out from the stoic swordswoman’s lips.

  “A fair point, I suppose. I shall concede this one to thee. I look forward to drinking thy tea this weekend.”

  “Winner, Wadatsumi!”

  The teacher’s announcement broke our small chat.

  “Hell yeah! Thanks for the money, chief!”

  “That’s Young Lord to you!”

  “That’s Duke, I think you mean!”

  “Oh, wow, look at all of you and your fancy titles, guess what, I’m close enough to him to just call him Hayate!”

  The lively chatter of our classmates echoed from further down the bleaches, filled with a mixture of groans of disappointment over lost bets, cheers of victory over those same bets, the infatuation of more than a few teenage girls, and banter amongst comrades and friends.

  Look at him, as popular as ever.

  Luna sure had a tough road ahead of her.

  I saw Hayate jump back over to the spectator’s area, accepting the cheers of his friends and acquaintances, before running over to Kagura who stood close to the edge of the arena, whispering to her about something.

  She scowled and smacked him on the back of the head, chastising him over something I couldn’t hear from here.

  He nodded nervously, blushing, before closing his eyes and inhaling and exhaling calmly to steady himself.

  His cousin forced her hands around his cheeks and lifted his jaw up, making the boy stare her in her eyes as she glared into him and gave him some kind of advice that made him burn with confidence.

  I raised my eyebrow, wondering what that was all about.

  The bell rang not a second later, signalling the end of the school day, and the week overall.

  “Ah, welp,” I groaned, getting up from the bleachers and stretching, “Come on, Setsuna, let’s get over to the gryphon riders.”

  Instead of responding, Setsuna’s eyes just flicked over to the side.

  I blinked in confusion, swinging around to see who or what she was looking at.

  Kagura just grimaced at the other girl on our team, nodding and gesturing silently towards the exit.

  “Apologies, Estelle,” Setsuna clicked her tongue and frowned, “it appears fate has other plans in store for me. I wish thee the best of luck.”

  “Huh?” I tilted my head, “What for?”

  She just gave me a small look of pity before wordlessly jumping away, walking off with Kagura to do… something.

  Hayate approached me, scratching the back of his head as he approached.

  “U-umm, hey, Estelle, I hope I’m not bothering you, am I?”

  Well, I was a bit confused by what was going on, but I could always make time for a friend.

  “Not at all,” I smiled politely, “what’s wrong? Do you need something?”

  His blush intensified.

  He looked around nervously, swinging his gaze left and right to make sure no one was around.

  He bent in a little closer and whispered to me.

  “D-do you mind coming to the school rooftop with me? I-I have something to tell you.”

  I frowned.

  “Why not do it here?”

  “I-it’s really important. Please.”

  “...”

  I sighed.

  “Alright, sure, show the way.”

  I gestured for him to take us there.

  As we passed through the emptying halls, our male classmates gave us a mysterious gaze, before looking at Hayate with stern, serious eyes, nodding in affirmation.

  “Good luck, Wadatsumi.”

  “Hope everything goes well for you.”

  “C’mon, king, I believe in you.”

  “Gotta say… I’ll be jealous… but… I’m not gonna be praying for your downfall.”

  I…

  Why was I not having a good feeling about whatever this was?

  I fidgeted a little bit as we climbed the stairs of the school building.

  “Alright, here we are,” Hayate pushed open the doors to the rooftop.

  We stepped through, greeted by a familiar cherry blossom tree that hung over the courtyard and extended over the main building, letting its petals fall down gently over us as they were scattered by the late spring breeze.

  This scenery was starting to make me feel uncomfortable.

  “Alright, Hayate,” the boy in front of me mumbled to himself, “C’mon, be confident… you’ve been waiting for this for over four years… don’t blow it now…”

  He spun around on his heel and faced me, fighting off the embarrassment on his cheeks.

  This…

  This wasn’t what I thought it was, was it?

  Something started to click in place about his behaviour over the four-and-a-bit years we had been together as a team, as friends.

  No, don’t tell me…

  The reason he always acted like that…

  “E-Estelle Symphonia,” Hayate coughed, straightening himself out, looking at me with burning azure eyes, “I-I don’t really know how to say this, but…”

  He inhaled deeply.

  “Y-you’ve always been the kindest, most gentle, most selfless person I’ve ever known. I-I’ve always been honoured to be a teammate of yours, and I’m glad to have been considered your friend for all of our years at Nindo. I-I-...”

  He closed his eyes and bowed deeply, shouting his next words.

  “I-I’ve always had feelings for you! Please, would you consider going out with me!? N-not as the son of Duke Wadatsumi, but just as Hayate, your friend and classmate!”

  I wilted.

  I could only stare at him and blink in confusion, utterly lost on how to respond.

  “E-eh?”