After the High-Grader ceremony concluded and everyone's classes were assigned, the students had the freedom to spend the rest of the day at the academy.
"We are going to the library now?" Luna asked while walking beside Arlott.
"Yep," Arlott affirmed with a nod. "I want to read a few books about recent decades' developments."
"Okie~" Luna replied with a cheery smile and just walked alongside him.
'Today is the day!' Luna felt butterflies in her stomach and anticipation in her heart as she thought about the day she was waiting for a year--to confess her feelings once they became High-graders!
…
After going to the library, Arlott started reading books while Luna sat beside him and pretended to read the books and occasionally asked a few normal questions while thinking about her.
Finally, she decided to ask an important question.
"Umm, Arlott…do you have anyone you like?"
"No," Arlott replied, turning to Luna with a weary expression. "Luna, please let me finish reading without any interruptions. We can talk later."
Luna pouted and turned away, "Fine."
'Should I say it or not?'
'I'll wait for a bit more. He'll soon finish reading.'
However an hour passed, but Arlott grabbed a few more books as Luna turned depressed.
But Luna still decided to wait, and then another hour passed with her getting antsy every second.
'I can't anymore!' Luna stood up with a light smack on the table with her palms.
A puzzled Arlott turned to her, asking, "What's wrong?"
"Ahem, can you come with me for a bit? I want to find a book in that alchemy section area," Luna asked with puppy eyes. " Please~? I won't take much time."
"Alright," Arlott nodded with a faint smile. She hadn't disturbed him for two hours, and he commended that patience.
…
"What are you…doing, Luna?"
Arlott's unhurried yet slightly perplexed voice rang as his breath hit Luna's nose, who had pushed Arlott towards the bookshelf at the wall in the corner.
Luna knitted up her confession while her nerves tightened and her heart raced.
"I..." Luna began, her cheeks flushed and heat permeating her body. "I-I like you, Arlott. It feels good whenever I talk to you and when I'm near you... and I-I always think about you."
Luna's heart pounded faster as she continued, "And... I look forward to seeing you every day. I-I want to spend more and more time with you, to touch you and hug you. I-I know it'll feel super good when I think about you hugging me tightly, and..."
With a daring move, Luna blushed intensely, her blue eyes welling up with tears as she quickly pecked her lips on Arlott's lips, giving him her inexperienced first kiss.
"You..." Arlott glanced around and saw that no one was approaching in this section of bookshelves. He sighed internally with relief and gently restrained Luna, holding her hands to prevent any further advances.
"What are you doing?" Arlott was at a loss for words as he looked at Luna's tearful, earnest eyes. He could sense her intense emotions, the nervousness, and the chaos within her soul. It made him feel strangely uneasy because he knew her words were sincere and genuine, impossible to fake. She was showing the pure and innocent love she had developed for him.
And Luna, in her nerve-wreaking mode, was not done yet.
"Arlott…I…"
"I lo-love you, Arlott," she said as her breathing turned heavy and her eyes spun, exhausted from this intense situation that was making her heart beat wildly.
Luna felt as if her heart would explode while her eyes became fully teary. "I really love you, Arlott…And i..."
Luna clenched her fist at her chest, feeling overwhelmed and painful as her emotions spun out of control. "It always hurt me in here recently whenever you try to keep me away from you…w-why?"
"T-That's…" Arlott stammered, confused and unnerved by Luna pouring out her heart and soul to him.
After an uncountable amount of solitude and torment he had experienced in his past life, where his every single nightmare felt like days long, Arlott felt his heart's strings pulled as his heart opened...yet…
' No…'
He didn't want to be influenced, but this...was a sweet and fulfilling experience that any human, creature, a living being with emotions, would want from their most profound and wildest instincts: To be loved and to love.
[Arlott, why don't you act like any ordinary boy would, just like how your body is doing? It's not like she can harm you, so open your heart and enjoy the care and love you deserve.]
"I…" Arlott flinched. His years of only fighting, putting himself in danger, and only working for the singular sake of revenge had made him unable to think of anything else with his life.
Laverna sighed, her voice laced with pain.
[You have to enjoy this life, honey. You never had fun and happiness like other youths or adults at any point in your past life. All you did was work, so please don't torment yourself again like that in this second life.]
[Please… don't remain broken, dear.]
"Arlott…," Luna couldn't even see anything properly due to watery eyes and feeling hot all over her body due to her current mental state and wildly beating heart.
She was unable to form other words or think anything as she was overloaded with an influx of various emotions. The main ones were anxiety and anticipation that only Arlott could dissipate.
But Arlott suddenly let go of her hands as he looked at her expression, causing Luna to fall to the ground as her legs were already weak.
Luna didn't look up anymore, and her head was down as tears started falling.
"Sniff…" Luna's head remained down, her heart started feeling pain. She was waiting for Arlott's answer, but the wait was pressuring as her hopes were dashing away.
[Arlott, listen to your heart and open up. You deserve it.]
Arlott looked at Luna, stretching his hand towards her head, but took it back immediately. The fear of letting someone get close to him and putting someone in his heart ran deep in him due to his past life. But he also understood Laverna's intention and his soul's deepest desire.
He could feel his heart longing for comfort that could only be gained from another soul-touching care and love for him.
'Damn it…' Arlott clenched his fist.
His eyes shook and fists trembling.
Laverna didn't say anything anymore and left the decision to Arlott.
"So I can't...?" Luna looked after a few seconds of no response from Arlott, her eyes dropping tears as her heart started breaking.
She had stayed with him every single day for the past years, always being happy and joyful in his presence.
'Hold me…please, Arlott.'
She didn't know when she developed feelings for him, but she wanted to let them out today, wanting to become Arlott's darling and him as her prince that she had been dreaming of for the past year, every-single-day, an every-moment, whenever she was in his presence.
Be it her first, inexperience, maiden love or whatever it was, but she had truly placed him in her heart.
"Sigh…."
Luna heard a deep sigh before she felt her arms getting gently grabbed as Arlott pulled her up and hugged her.
A wave of mystical warmth rushed into Arlott's heart as he hugged Luna, feeling her wildly beating heart and pure soul that only sought his presence.
'…This is unbearable. Now I will want to have this feeling forever,' Arlott thought as he felt a wave of peace and bliss from a simple hug.
[It's a beautiful and most blissful feeling, Arlott. People experience it willy-nilly and live happily, but…you deserve it more than anyone else, so don't be scared of losing it, and don't fear your past.]
'Thank you, Lave.'
'You will not end up like that again. Never. I will not allow that,' Laverna resolved, yet not telling Arlott of her intentions that were also borne out of her affection for him.
"Luna," Arlott separated from the hug and smiled at the tear-strained face of Luna, who was confused and happy both.
"W-what?" Luna asked, her nerves still trembling. However, when she saw Arlott's shining ruby eyes, slightly squinted in bliss, and a pure, genuine, happy smile on his face—something she had never witnessed before—her mind cleared like a sunny day after a storm.
Then, her dreams turned into reality as her prince charming drew closer, gently placing his hands on her waist and giving her a tender kiss on the lips for a fleeting moment before saying, "Luna, thank you for this wonderful experience."
'You too, Lave.'
Laverna's pearl-like soft laughter echoed in his head.
[I'll expect a long, romantic, and intense kiss as a token of gratitude when we meet physically in future~.]
"S-so you like me too?" Luna hiccupped, her eyes sparkling with joy.
Arlott laughed and pecked her lips.
"I love you too."
'And I'll enjoy my life to the fullest.'