After a while, Luna raised her head and looked at Emrys. "What about you? What brought you here?"
Emrys sighed, his gaze drifting toward the horizon. "Mine is not as interesting as yours. I'm from the west, New Grimholt. My parents brought me here because it's free. They came up with countless excuses to justify their decision. But they were just excuses. No excuse can justify that. I saw through them all. I don't pity myself. That's why I'll live here with my head high and have lots of fun."
As he spoke, Emrys stood up slowly, stretching his right hand toward the sea and clenching his fist. Luna watched him quietly.
"We're in similar shoes," she said, looking at the sea as the waves clashed with each other.
"I don't think so," Emrys replied, sitting back down and picking up fine sand. "My family was poor, yours was rich. From an outside perspective, my family's actions might be understandable. But your situation seems mysterious."
Luna looked down, worry etched on her face. "No! It's all the same."
Emrys, initially confused by her insistence, soon understood. "Yeah, you're right," he conceded, recognizing her need for shared comfort.
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, realizing she was scared of being the only one with a tough circumstance. Having found someone in a similar situation, she didn't want to lose that solace.
She lay on her back, spreading her arms wide on the flawless sand and gazing at the night sky. "Something is happening in this boarding world, and it's spreading. I can feel it."
"Hmph, it's just some petty student gang bullshit on the western side," Emrys said, sitting back down. "It's not even worth paying attention to. If it spreads to our side, we'll drive them back."
"Ohh? When you can barely wield a sword?" Luna asked with a teasing smile.
"Shut it!" Emrys yelled comically.
"Aye, aye, but..." Luna grabbed the katana lying between them and stood up, facing Emrys.
"Shit, she got me!" Emrys got up immediately, wondering how she was going to challenge him.
"So, you're gonna ditch your friends?" She put her straw hat on her head. "If you can carry them and reach the hostel within 30 minutes after I get there, I won't tell your friends that a mere sword made you fall. You must carry them, even if they are awake, or you lose. Good luck."
With this, she headed toward their hostel.
Sweat rolled down Emrys' face as he looked at his sleeping friends. "She's got to be kidding me. How the heck am I supposed to carry them and still get there 30 minutes after her? Is she taking revenge on me for stressing her out? Tch, I thought I apologized already."
"Very well then, I accept the challenge," he declared. Emrys accepted not to prove his strength but to push himself and see if he could actually do it.
With determination, he hoisted his friends onto his shoulders and back, walking toward their hostel. Gritting his teeth, he felt a surge of resolve.
…
At the 28th minute, he stumbled into the living room of their hostel and collapsed on the floor, his friends still asleep. Using the last of his energy, Emrys looked up at the clock and saw that it was two minutes to the time limit. He laughed, "You better have taken note of this."
He relaxed his muscles and fell asleep on the spot.
Luna opened her room door slightly, checking the time. She smiled at the sight of Emrys and went back to her room.
The next day, Luna woke Emrys and his friends up in the living room. Emrys, recalling the events before he fell asleep, claimed he had won the challenge and beat her.
Luna scratched her head, apologizing. "I fell asleep before you came back and didn't check the time."
Hearing this, Emrys' mouth was left agape.
"It was just a petty game. Why take it so seriously?" Luna said as she stepped outside the door and walked to school.
Emrys was stunned. All his effort seemed wasted. As she walked away, he ran out the door. "Wait! Tell me you're joking and that you actually saw it!"
Without looking back, Luna chuckled, covering her mouth. Emrys gritted his teeth.
"Tch, I'd remember this! You won't forget it either!"
Blushing, Luna kept chuckling while covering her mouth.
…
Their days were filled with laughter and joy. Luna told Aeron, Hector, and Corsair the tale from the east. While she was telling them, Emrys practiced with the swords Luna made on the weed and bamboo sticks.
Emrys and his friends became interested in her native language and begged her to teach them.
Their blissful time would only be for a while as the darkness in the boarding world had spread rapidly, reaching their side.
It was during those times that Vion Klause, with the alias Sleavetry, would conduct a massive raid on the western region of the boarding school.
…
That same year, one fateful night, the clock hands had struck 1:00 AM. Emrys opened his eyes sharply from hearing the sound of glass breaking and strange voices coming from the first floor.
His eyes quickly became clear from the rush of adrenaline in his blood. He jumped from his bed and went to the stair rail. Looking down from his floor, he saw that rooms were being burgled. Those who resisted in any way were being beaten, and resources were being packed into sacks.
Realizing what was going on, he ran to wake the rest up. They responded sharply by packing some of their clothes and food into their backpacks.
Vaulting over a chair in the living room, he headed toward Luna's room. On getting there, he saw that her door was locked.
"BAM!" He kicked it open.
Shaking her, "Luna, Luna, get up quick! We're being raided! We've got to leave now!"
She slowly woke up while touching her head. "What about the porters?" her voice was as frail as her body at that point.
"I don't know either. Get up quick, they could get here any moment now." Emrys opened her wardrobe and started packing her clothes into her backpack, putting her food into a big polyester bag.
Hearing the grunting and groaning sounds coming from two floors below them, they realized that the raid had gotten very close. Luna dipped her hand under her bed and brought out a katana and a rectangular box.
"Take this, it'll be useful, but please try not to unsheathe it." She handed it over to Emrys, who nodded and tied the long rectangular box onto his back.
Emrys' phone rang—it was a call from Aeron. He picked up.
"Where are you guys? We on the last floor are out. We took the backyard window on the second floor. They hadn't gotten there at that time."
Emrys slid the window curtain aside and saw Aeron and the others outside. "Alright, head toward the woods. Take the garden to conceal yourselves. Luna and I will be behind you guys soon."
"Okay, be safe." Aeron hung up and led the others through the garden.
Emrys closed the curtain. "Aeron and the others are out. They took the backyard window on the second floor, but we can't take it—the raid has reached there."
"W-Where do we take then?" Her voice was filled with fear.
"Our last safe place to take is the storeroom window on the third floor. I doubt they've gotten that far." Emrys looked under Luna's bed and packed all the swords into the big polyester bag.
"How do we take it? It's too high! We would break our legs, or even worse—our spine! We won't be able to move after that." Luna's voice shivered even more as she pinched her black gown.
"There's a short building below the window. It's where we'll land to reduce the fall damage… for me." Emrys searched every corner of Luna's room, making sure he didn't leave anything important behind.
"For you? What do you mean for you?" Luna's voice rose a bit.
Emrys walked toward her rapidly, touching her shoulders and looking into her eyes. "Listen, you need to jump, and you need to trust me to catch you. There are no safer options than this anymore."
Luna gasped as she widened her eyes and opened her mouth in fright.