Kaze and Lunaria sat side by side on the bed with a one gap distance between them, neither one speaking since the last 10 minutes.
Darkness that engulfed the room since earlier prevented Kaze from making out what sort of facial expression Lunaria had on right now. Even so, he could feel her body radiating slightly more heat than usual. This was probably because Lunaria used the shower before coming over to meet him. Kaze was often told that Lunaria enjoyed long showers, which was why he made such a guess. It might had sounded perverted if he blurted it out when in actuality did not have any mean intention behind it.
Feeling his palms sweating immensely, Kaze's heart was about to jump out of his chest from the tensed atmosphere between them. First of all, he did not expect this to happen on the first day of him moving over. It was over midnight, most of his friends were already asleep, leaving the two of them awake together. This type of scenario was normally ideal for 'things' to happen between couples. Second of all, Lunaria staying next to him in such a revealing outfit just made the whole situation even more suggestive. He was sure that if this were to be told to Sera and the others, he would be assassinated in his sleep.
The only reason he was doing this was because Kaze wanted to know Lunaria's reason for staring so passionately at him during the evening. She had never looked at him that way before, no one had. However, he couldn't deny that he probably had the same stupefied look as well and it could be the reason Lunaria felt conscious of his gaze. Was that why she acted so differently? Perhaps she never expected him to be charmed by her after so long, whether intentional or not.
"… I'm sorry, I was preparing myself for what I am about to tell you," Lunaria finally broke the silence with her voice slightly quivering.
"No, it's alright," Kaze's worries dissipated as soon as he heard her. "Lunaria, are you okay?"
"Yes. I'm just… remembering something from the past," Lunaria quietly wiped away the minimal amount of tears that stained her eyelashes. "Kaze, whatever I'm about to tell you, I hope this doesn't affect our current relationship. Just… treat it as a story."
Kaze let out a stifled gasp when he felt her holding his hand tightly. He could feel it trembling, reminding him of just how small her hand was. Due her status as a princess and someone very capable, it was often easy to forget that ultimately, she was still a girl at heart who suffers from the same problems a normal person would.
In return, Kaze tightened his grip with his fingers crossing between her finger gaps, her hand on top of his. Lunaria widened her eyes at this and whipped her head over to look at him.
The clouds outside just so happened to move out of the way of the moon, allowing the moonlight to creep through his window. From Kaze's perspective, he was finally able to see Lunaria from the light of the moon alone. Her previously sexy look disappeared along with that idea, replaced with the image of a goddess in tears before him. Her fragile self was starting to show, proving that she trusted him enough to not hide her current self. If what she said was truly as important, Kaze intended to take her words with equal respect.
"It's alright, Lunaria. You can speak," Kaze gave her a reassuring smile. "I won't judge you for it."
"… Mm," Lunaria finally melted into a teary smile, the moon disappearing behind the clouds once more.
Once, there was a dragonkin girl as the princess of a nation.
From young, she was considered to be a prodigy as she showed signs of intelligence since young. As dragonkins had a long lifespan, they were free to learn whatever they want since they had many years ahead of them. Unlike other species with only about a hundred years to fulfil their life achievements, dragonkins had a slower concept of time with no rush to develop and lived in peace.
This girl was different. She was hungry for knowledge, curious about magic. Unlike other dragonkins her age, she quickly climbed the stairs of childhood to her adolescent years mentally. Because of the difference in her mental age, she quickly became without any friends who were the same age range as she was.
Dragonkins were a powerful race, but their sole weakness was their low birth rate. This was something that was unchangeable due to their nature, it was unlikely for there to be a single child for decades at a time. As such, the dragonkin princess already had little friends to get along with from the start. It was only when she realized how immature they were compared to her that the realization dawned on her that she was different.
She was only 20 at the time when she entered school for dragonkins over 50.
It was natural for there to be all sorts of prejudice against her. Most were merely jealous that someone younger was able to be on par with them. Especially in the magic field, this girl was way too talented for her age. She quickly grasped most concepts and moved on to schools suited for dragons over 80.
School was a weird place for dragonkins, especially in the country she lived. She often heard of stories of humans who would be on par with her level of education when they were 16, prompting her to work harder. It wasn't like the other dragonkins were lazy to study, but they just followed the social norm there. Unlike the human world, it wasn't necessary to complete the highest education of degree required to work. The long lifespan they had provided them with all the time needed to acquire extra skills on their own before even heading to school.
Lunaria was different. She was 25 when she reached one of the higher education centres in her country.
Needless to say, both of her parents were extremely proud and her sisters admired her. It was often the subject of concern within most of the teachers in the school that a mere fledging was already learning Advanced-level magic in school. However, none of them dared not teach the girl. After all, she was the Emperor's daughter, someone whom everyone respected within the nation.
While life sounded like a bed of roses for the dragonkin princess due to the numerous praises she received, no one knew deep down how she felt.
She didn't want to be labelled a 'genius' or a 'prodigy'. She simply loved studying and wanted to learn.
Why was it that something as worthless as the age gap became a huge subject in the nation?
Why was it that none of her classmates acted like she existed?
Why was it that her teachers were all so hesitant to teach her and ran away when she tried to ask them for guidance?
Because of this, there were many times where she was found sitting alone in the school library, seen with a mountain of books on different subjects.
Even though the nation was often praised as a land of zero conflict with a perfect system on top, the dark truth was that things were rather different within.
When the girl was 50, she had barely started to look the mature part when conflict began within the nation.
There was internal dispute with the Emperor's council, splitting to two factions due to some disagreement over the policy regarding the Human-Dragon race exchange.
See, at that time, humans were allowed to freely enter the nation. They were given the same privilege, allowed to study, could conduct trade, set up houses, received the same treatment as one would in other nations. This was due to the Emperor's effort and collaboration with its closest human neighbouring country. It allowed them to have cross-cultural understanding with one another and initiate what could be said to be the most ambitious cooperation between nations at the time.
As good as the times were, everything came crumbling down due to one simple reason: humans.
The invited guests had gotten ahead of themselves and tried to get in the way of everything. While the Emperor had been kind enough to allow some sort of political involvement, things went too far as soon as the dark side of humanity began to show itself.
The girl was a victim of such darkness.
Even though humans were not familiar with the dragon equivalent of 'mistreatment', it quickly became clear that the girl was an irregular in school by the humans.
This wasn't the dragonkins' fault, but it was simply due to the fact that the girl was always alone that the chance arose to take advantage of her. Some humans took this chance to show off to the girl as a 'superior species'.
Day after day, hell began for the girl.
From being called names to outright humiliation, the girl suffered under the hands of the so-called superior species. Even though they weren't as smart as her, even though they weren't older than her, even though they were weaker than her….
Finally, a coup d'état began.
One side of the council believed that they should reign power over the dragonkin nation while the other believed that there was no right to do so. It was easy to tell which race belonged to which side.
After a series of events, the opposition won.
What that was once peace had been broken by the superior species themselves. An idea that seemed spectacular quickly became one of the darkest pasts that the nation had experienced. If not for the Emperor's leadership then, the downfall of the nation would have been imminent.
Humans were all expelled from the nation, the treaty had lost effect immediately. Only a very small number of acceptable humans were allowed to stay within the nation itself.
As for the girl, she had gone through hell like no other because of the superior species.
She was mocked for her beauty, she was taunted for her brains, she was bullied because of her status.
It was unthinkable that such a superior species would be their own downfall.
It was ironic.
More things happened along the way that further deteriorated the girl to a breaking point. Even after the civil unrest and the expulsion of humans from the nation, more bad things that were both related and unrelated revolved around the girl.
Her parents regretted everything they had done instantly. Even though it wasn't their fault due to them being rulers of the country, they realized too late that their own daughter had already shut herself off to the rest of society.
Dark times continued in the nation for a few more years before everything went back to the way it was before the introduction of the humans to the nation. The girl began to change for the better, but at the same time, a part of her had died along with the idea that humans would be allowed to live openly within the nation.
The girl placed higher expectations on herself, honing her skills as much as she possibly could to try to escape the pain of the past that constantly haunted her. Her naturally brilliant smile was part of what that was lost during the time, although it was finally reattained after help from her sisters. However, she had already lost faith in the species called humans, who trampled all over her kind-heartedness and took advantage of it.
It wasn't until another few decades until the idea of interacting with humans was suggested again. Although controversial, the girl decided to become the subject at hand to test the waters once more.
She had become stronger than she was in the past. After so many long years of training and learning, she was ready to change her mindset once more. Her parents were reluctant, of course, but finally agreed to it after being convinced that this was the best thing they could do to help her. Their guilt never went away after 'that day', even after so many years had passed.
When Lunaria came to the end of her story, Kaze was left with a hole in his heart. Never had he heard something so gut-wrenching before that he wanted to kill. All of Lunaria's words left a deep impression inside of him, creating a separate personality of the Lunaria that he never knew. Based on the way she spoke, it was likely that Shoko and the others had been there right from the start since they were 'childhood friends', but they were younger than Lunaria. Exactly how long have they been with her for her to change to the way she was today?
Why did something so horrible have to happen to someone like Lunaria? Someone so undeserving of such pain and fear?
This was both reality and truth. It was something that one can't control no matter how hard they tried.
Some call it fate; some call it cause and effect.
Whatever the case, it was now clear why Lunaria had such a different way of approaching things. The way she treated him was as though it was a reminder of her past. Being the victim herself, Lunaria understood what it meant to be left out all because of something that was viewed as 'unnatural' or 'different'.
Kaze was the human equivalent of Lunaria a few decades ago.
"Well… that concludes my story," Lunaria sniffed, her cheeks stained by tear marks. "I'm sorry if it sounded so depressing."
"Is that… the entire story?" Kaze asked, his voice barely audible from the shock and anger inside him.
"… I want to agree, but unfortunately no…" Lunaria sighed and allowed more tears to trickle down her face. "I don't think you're ready to hear the full story yet. When the time comes, I will let you know."
"I see…" Kaze slowly nodded. "Lunaria, I…"
"What I did to you from the start wasn't out of pity, nor was it because you were a past reflection of myself," Lunaria stated in a soft tone. "It was because I saw potential in you. Kaze, I knew you are a good person. I can't allow someone like you to be another victim of the cruel system in place. Humans might have changed for the better, but who is to say that there won't be another story like this in the future?"
Her words left a lump in his throat. He wanted to say something to her, but didn't know what was the right choice of words that could be said at the moment.
"Kaze, the reason I told you the story of this girl is not because the girl asked for your pity, nor was it because the girl wanted you to hate humanity," Lunaria continued, regardless of what painful look Kaze had. "It's because I want to remind you that as much bad as humanity has, there is good in it too. I want you to focus on the good side."
"You and the rest of the people here right now are the perfect representation of 'good' while most of the students in school are 'neutral'. Being lustful and judgemental is only human, I can't expect everyone to be pure. We deserve to have our opinions and own view, regardless of whether it is right or wrong. Bryle… is the minority that properly represents the 'bad' part of humanity. If I were to draw a line that separates black from white, you and my friends are white."
"However, before we cross the region of white and black, there lies a 'grey' zone. What exactly is that zone made up of? It is not 'neutral', but 'nothing'. It has not begun to take one side yet, be it white or black. It comprises of both good and bad, much like humanity. Right now, humanity is in such a state even after hundreds of years whereas the dragonkin race is leaning on the white side. This is what is unique about humanity in its own, that it is able to balance perfectly between white and black that it constantly remains in the grey zone."
"Kaze, I don't expect you to fall into the white zone because that is just my interpretation of you if I have to give an example. I like all of you, everyone with us right now. You have just barely started to see humanity for what it is, and I will leave that up to you. Whether you agree with what I said in the past, right now, or in the future matters not. I don't care what your view is, but most importantly is… who you choose to be."
"I don't want you to go through the same suffering as the girl did because she too strongly believed in the white zone. I also don't want you to condescend the black zone because you will eventually fall into a black zone of your own. If you had to pick, focus on the non-existent line that separates both zones. I said before the grey zone represents humanity, but where exactly do we begin to draw a line between good and bad? How do we determine too much black is bad or too much white is good?"
Taking a shaky breath, Lunaria let go of his hand and got up slowly.
Kaze remained still, sitting there in silent. It only registered to him a few seconds later that Lunaria's warmth had left his side. At the same time, the moon revealed itself through the peeks of the cloud once again. A shadow casted itself over one side of Lunaria's face, revealing her current emotions to Kaze.
"Kaze, thank you for listening to me tonight," an appreciative smile arose on Lunaria's face. "I don't mind if you share this tale to the others, but please don't bring up the story of the girl to me. Until we have another one of our sharing sessions like tonight, only then will I permit it."
"… What is the reason for your reaction this evening then?" Kaze gulped, feeling tears starting to leak from his eyes. "Was it because you saw me stepping over the invisible line?"
"… No," Lunaria shook her head. "I was simply charmed by your presence, Kaze. While the story might not have any relation to the reason for my reaction, please don't let this bother you. I don't want you to be held up because of my words. I feel at peace whenever I am with you is what I am trying to say. So, please treat me like a close friend again starting tomorrow. Good night, Kaze. See you in the morning."
Lunaria closed the door behind her as she left his room, leaving Kaze alone in the darkness once more.