School was just over and Luna was on her way to the library as usual when she finally got the message that Rina was on her way to the recreation building.
Luna immediately changed direction and hastily headed towards the business faculty to find Erica. The business faculty was not too far away from the science faculty, however she still whipped out her phone to call Erica in case she missed her along the way. She did not forget to text to ask Desmond to meet her at the art room before making the call.
The call connected almost immediately and Luna coincidentally ran into Erica at the same time.
Erica put down her phone and spoke directly to Luna, “Jie? Is something wrong?”
“I just need some help with a business proposal I have to come up with for my elective.” Luna smiled wryly. “But could it be that you’re busy now? You looked like you were headed off somewhere.”
“Mm mm!” Erica shook her head. “I’m free now, let’s head to the study area there?”
Unbeknownst to Luna, Erica had been on her way to find her as well and was about to call Luna, which was why the call connected almost immediately.
Her perfect plan was already kicked into action. Everything was planned and timed delicately.
The classmate from her art class was on her way to meet Rina at the art room for a modelling session. This entire meeting was easily manipulated by Erica who made careful suggestions for models who might suit the theme of “innocence”.
Erica then created a delicate mechanism linking the door of the art room to the window hinges. Everything would literally fall into place as soon as Rina reaches the recreation building and the classmate opens the door to the art room.
Erica’s only goal right now was to ensure that Luna stayed away from the library.
Luna soon found it odd that Erica looked and sounded especially calm. Wasn’t she going for Rina earlier? She doesn’t seem to be in any sort of a rush…
As such, she made up her mind to test Erica. “Alright, I got an idea now. I know what to do. Thank you, Erica.”
“You’re going back to the library now?”
“Of course. What about you?”
“My friends are busy today. There’s nothing for me to do at school. How about we go home early today?”
This isn’t normal. I must have missed something. I should go. “You can return home first, I have materials in the library that I can use. See you.” Luna hastened her packing and walked off but was held back by her arm.
“Jie, at least have lunch wi-”
“Erica, you did something again, didn’t you?” A hint of sadness entered Luna’s eyes.
Erica was stunned but instantly replied when Luna tried to pull her arm out of Erica’s grasp. “Jie! Please stop interfering, it’ll all go well! It’ll just look like a freak accident. Everyone will blame it on the old faulty windows and change all the windows to my new design! It’s all fi-”
“It’s not all fine! Whether it be due to Lucas’s smarts or Victor’s wrath, it’ll somehow get traced back to you! I don’t care if Rina dies, I don’t want you to die or suffer meaninglessly!” Luna flung her arm out of Erica’s grasp and ran off as fast as her legs could carry her.
Luna reached the entrance to the recreation building to see the window pane begin its descent accompanied by a piercing scream. The scream attracted the attention of everyone present there who only looked up and stood there frozen in shock, including Rina.
As Luna watched everything happen, her speed did not drop. Instead, she was able to pick up her speed thanks to the adrenaline rush.
Just in time!
Just as she took her last step to push Rina out of the way, another figure burst out from the other side of the corner of the recreation building and covered Rina’s tiny frame. Her eyes rounded in shock as her body slammed into not one, but two, bodies.
Lucas had found it odd when he noticed that Luna was late. Did something happen today?
Since his guard was already up and he was feeling antsy, he was able to react immediately when he heard the piercing scream. He jumped up and dashed out of the library to see Rina looking up with a pale expression.
Like Luna, his speed only increased upon being met with this scene. He could already guess what was happening.
He jumped out and was ready to tackle Rina down and out of the way of whatever was falling towards her.
In the midst of his jump, he found himself being tackled down with Rina in his arms by someone or something, causing him to fall in a different direction. Thanks to this, what would have slashed his entire back ended up grazing the side of his forehead and shoulder.
His head hit the ground hard upon landing.
There was a loud and crisp sound of glass breaking accompanied by two sharp screams.
He struggled to find out what happened but everything in his vision was moving super slow and a blur. He tried hard to move but he felt so out of it that he was not sure if he was even moving.
The only reason why he knew that he must have moved was because he could now make out the entrance to the recreation building.
He could hear Rina still crying by his side and asking if he was okay but there was only one thing on his mind. Who?
With his vision still blurred, he could only make out a figure hunched over what seemed to be a bloody mess. He could not focus his vision no matter how hard he tried and squinted his eyes. Nonetheless, he made a guess. Luna Lee…
Unable to hold onto his consciousness any longer, he passed out.
Erica witnessed everything.
She had recovered from her stupor to find Luna gone, so she ran after her, only to be greeted with the sight of Luna and Lucas running into each other. They had come around the same corner from opposite directions at the same time.
“Jie Jie!!!” Erica shrieked while the window crashed directly onto Luna in the next split second after Luna pushed the other two out of the way.
Erica continued in her run towards the bloody limp body on the ground.
Ignoring the glass shards on the ground, she knelt down by Luna's side. Her face was already covered in tears, her voice was no more than a whimpering squeak, and her hands were trembling and hovering above Luna as if afraid that touching her would cause her body to shatter.
Luna found it incredibly tiring and difficult to keep breathing. She felt increasingly cold and weak. There was a strong temptation to just go to sleep. However, she stubbornly willed herself to move her sluggish mouth so that she could tell Erica something. "Ignore... Victor... Rina... Lucas... Our family's... Downfall... Please..." She managed to squeeze out before passing out.
“LUNA!!” Desmond’s voice reverberated throughout the entire area just as passed out.
He had been about to climb the staircase to head to the art room when he noticed a small crowd at the entrance to the building.
Through the crowd, he caught glimpses of a pair of awfully familiar looking girls. He did not like that it was familiar because one of them was covered in blood.
Just to be sure, he ran towards the crowd.
As soon as he was close enough to recognise them as his beloved sisters, his heart broke. Having been trained for such situations, Desmond retained enough of his senses to call for an ambulance immediately.
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