The examination day arrived.
The atmosphere was so tense that it could heat up and melt the white snow. The fate of the cadets depended on how well they performed here. For Luciel, who had Violet as a private tutor, he couldn't let her down on the written test that she had worked so hard for. Noticing his hands trembling slightly, he tried to calm down, playing with his newly-bought pen.
Swirling and twisting the pen from one hand to another, he looked over the gigantic classroom to scan the faces of the cadets. Some crestfallen, others determined. He turned to Violet, her expression the same as usual, blank and colorless. Luciel believed that other than him, Violet had the biggest chance to make it into Class Seven. There was also Horus. He had a convincing win against Luciel in swordsmanship, so Luciel had been playing that duel on his mind all week to motivate himself.
'I need to surpass him, no matter what.' He wanted to attain an invincible swordsmanship. The feeling of holding one, swinging one, and the urge to overcome life and death itself. He didn't know why this feeling appeared out of nowhere years ago, but it had never disappeared. He also had another goal.
He wanted to do commissions and tread the hardship of a Resonator together with Violet. After cozying up in Elina and Luna's love and care, he didn't want to be left alone again, lest he created trouble. He wanted to put his crazy past behind and become a normal teenager—using youthfulness as an excuse for everything, enduring the so-called love that they see as the end of the world, swaying with the world as they collapse and rise up again and again, just to make the same mistakes.
How foolish is the youth! Luciel wanted that foolishness because it was a luxury the world of adults could not afford. It was something the back alleys didn't tolerate as one wrong move led to endless cycle of suffering worse than death.
Sometimes the bitter memories just found its way back, so Luciel could only sigh. He looked at the pen while waiting for the exam to start. Violet had given him all the encouragement she could, and now it was up to him to take the baton and run as fast as possible to the finish line.
"Cadets, listen up!" Instructor Kyus stood menacingly before the students, watching everyone's minute move. Under his probing gaze, no one dared to even look away from the test paper. "You'll have an hour and a half to do the exam. When the bell rings, you are to immediately put down your pen and sit in silence until I call your name up to submit the paper, understood?"
"Yes, sir!" The students inhaled deeply and held their breath, waiting for the signal.
"The time starts... Now!" Kyus shouted, scaring some students so bad they jolted as if they were electrocuted.
Luciel brought the pen down and started writing flowery letters, his brain completely took over and his hand moved by itself. The gibberish words he found during the mock test completely decrypted themselves and became easy to understand. This was the result of his hard work!
The once-foreign concepts were resounded in his head over and over. He could almost hear Violet's voice nagging him to remember details after details and stuffing him with words and phrases. He wanted to sneakily see how Violet was doing, but his pen were gliding across the paper like a music conductor, unable to look elsewhere.
As time trickled by, Luciel found himself in a sort of trance, unbothered by his surroundings. He wielded his pen like a sword, slashing and striking the paper in fluid motion. An out-of-body experience, one where he could detach his soul from his body and look at himself smiling ear to ear.
Suddenly, the bell broke the silence as it rang, bringing Luciel back from the trance. He blinked slowly, disoriented for a moment, before realizing that an hour and a half had passed. Kyus had started calling the names up, so Luciel quickly looked down and did a last minute scan to ensure that he didn't make any silly mistakes.
He held his pen in great pressure, almost breaking it to shards. This exam was imperative for his future. If he failed, he had to wait for one month to retake the Class Reevaluation.
'No, no. I got this in the bag. I see no mistakes.' Luciel scrutinized each letter, his eyes darting from left to right. His hand flipped the paper one by one until his name was called.
"Luciel Gulova," Kyus called. "Bring your paper up."
Luciel exhaled heavily and stood up. His walk weighed a thousand tons as he approached Kyus with the test papers in his hands.
Kyus grabbed the papers and put them in the pile of other students' papers. "Sign here and you're good to go."
"Yes, sir," Luciel replied, taking his pen out of his pocket and wrote his signature.
He then trod out of the classroom with a smile on his face. He had completed the hardest task of today! Luciel had never felt this much pressure even when fighting. He released a ragged breath while thinking about future written tests. He hoped that there would never be another one. but that was probably false hope.
Violet, however, had nothing to worry about. She excelled in both theory and combat, making her one of the most talented Resonators the academy had ever seen. Maybe even the whole world of Arkheim.
Luciel was pondering about Violet's unparalleled excellence when she quietly appeared before him. "Did you do well?" Violet asked as she nudged Luciel's shoulder.
Luciel raised his thumb and pointed at himself proudly. "Oh, I'm going to make you proud, alright? Just wait and see."
"You said the same thing with all the mock tests." Violet called him out unapologetically. She then revealed a small smile as she guided Luciel out of the building. "But I saw that your pen was confident and straightforward, so I have high expectations."
"Don't cry if I have a better score than you." Luciel patted her shoulder as he displayed a confident smirk.
"That's what I hope for, though. I was getting tired of you failing over and over again. You were that pathetic." Violet sighed exaggeratedly.
"Yeah... I'm taking away the movie account from you. You're on your own with the subscription." Luciel then walked faster, leaving Violet behind.
Violet chased him with hasty steps and grabbed his shoulder. "Don't be a baby." She spun him around and pinched his cheek. "Besides, wasn't that pretty mild for a threat? We basically watch movies together all the time."
"I'm banning that as well. Thanks for the reminder," Luciel replied and huffed. He raised his hand and copied her pinch move. "You know how much I spend daily on popcorn and drinks? It's like I'm raising a baby. Do your fill, will you?"
Luciel had indeed spent a lot in this past week. Going out on restaurants, app subscriptions, grocery shopping, not to mention the cabinet of snacks he had filled up just for movies and shows. He had lost more than half of his total credits in just the first week.
"That's what I love about you," she said. "Don't worry. I'll pay you back. How about I give you fifty percent of my commissions' earnings for a month?"
"Forget it. It'll be your hard-earned money." Luciel sighed. He didn't want Violet to feel obligated to pay him because that didn't sit right with him. And for the record, Luciel loved splurging on her for some reason, even though he used to be very stingy with his money. "Spend it on me only if you want to. I'm not a loan shark."
"Of course." Violet chuckled and nudged at Luciel's chest. "When I have all the money in the world, I'll spend it on us because I want to."
"You're casually saying a big commitment like that, huh?"
Violet then flashed a smile of winter flowers blooming before the only light of sun. "You make me happy, so why not?"
Luciel's heart fluttered and his stomach churned. Violet had been increasingly more talkative and bold with her words as days went by. She sometimes said the most embarrassing thing with a straight face like it was normal. He didn't understand her at all. Maybe she just didn't know what embarrassment meant?
"H-happy?" Luciel stuttered. "Happy how, exactly?"
"Just happy," Violet replied, her voice velvety. She walked ahead of him leisurely while looking at the bright sky. "I don't know either. When I first saw you, I felt a connection so deep that it drew me in subconsciously. We gradually got to know each other, and that feeling engraved in my heart even deeper. You feel it too, right?"
The wind blew gently as strands of their hair danced to its rhythm. Luciel contemplated on how they met and the fact that they got close way too fast. "Yeah. It's a surreal feeling. I thought I was the only one who felt it."
Violet nodded as though she had already knew everything about him. "I once had a strange dream," she said. "A dream full of emotions I had never felt before at the time. Bitter, nostalgic, warm, love. I couldn't recall it, but the feelings stay even to this day. It was so memorable," she paused, her eyes closed off.
Luciel widened his eyes, sensing familiarity in her story. A dream that had alien emotions. A dream that could not be remembered and only the fleeting feelings remained. "What about it?" Luciel's voice became shaky.
"I felt those emotions whenever I'm with you." Her words flowed softly into Luciel's ears. She tucked her hair behind her ears before continuing, "I haven't shared my past to you, have I? I don't want to, to be honest. But at the same time, I feel that I can entrust every secret of mine to you, and you alone. You're the box that contains the feelings that I never had, so when I say 'happy,' I mean 'happy' in every sense."
Had the sky been pink all this time, or was it her smile that painted the world into her color? Their relationship felt unnatural yet natural at the same time. An inexplicable connection that both accepted and refrained from questioning. Luciel could only walk forward without utter a word. Could both of them accept the missing puzzle piece that came from a different box so suddenly?