While Olympia is a busy and competitive learning environment, they still don’t ignore the students’ need of rest, giving them Sunday to themselves. On this day, many students spend their time either holed up in their rooms or wandering the social district of the island, where many malls, parks, and other facilities are located.

Venus Marigold, the well-known star of this year’s batch, is usually among the students that remain within their dorm for this day - however, today she found herself at the heart of Ayapa Park, the smallest, most remote park within the social district, although the ‘remote’ part of it is not really a good descriptor, seeing as to how there’s still a sizeable number of students who gathered in the park. A good number of these seem to have gathered after hearing that Venus is within the park, though, which she found rather annoying.

Luckily for her, she doesn’t have to stay here for too long as the person she’s waiting for, Louis Monet, has arrived and is slowly approaching her.

“Good morning,” she greeted.

“G-good morning,” he replied. “I’m sorry for making you wait…”

Venus smiled as she approached, taking him by the hand and dragging him away from the park.

“Come with me,” she said. “This park is getting crowded.”

***

Soon after leaving the park, the two found themselves sitting in a cafe just outside of the Social District. The smell of coffee dominates the air, though Louis can tell that they’re also brewing tea here.

“Sorry for dragging you so suddenly,” Venus said.

“I-it’s not a problem at all.” Louis is visibly red, though he tries hard to hide it. Even though it’s been a few months since he first met Venus on that ship, he still never gets used to being alone with her - he never gets this flustered when Julia is with, which she is not. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Well…” Venus fiddled with her cup of coffee, acting unnaturally awkward after he asked the question. “Do you… do you ever think of the past?”

Louis found himself rather dumbstruck. It’s not that he’s surprised of the question, though, and could easily answer it if he so wants. What surprised him is the source of it. Venus Marigold never struck him as the sentimental type of person.

“Yeah,” is all he said in turn.

“I see…” Venus smiled and eased herself, her hands no longer fiddling. “I had an old friend from long ago. We were like siblings, people would say. He left years ago, however, and I’ve never seen him since. I was just wondering if he’s been thinking of me as well.”

Louis carefully listened to her short story, and was oddly touched by it. He can’t tell why, but he felt rather pleased by it. “I’m sure he’s also thinking of you, wherever he is.”

“Yes… You may be right…”

“Why are you telling me this, though?” Louis knew it would be a rather rude question to ask someone who’s trusted him enough to tell him their past, but curiosity got the best of him and he said it before thinking.

Luckily for him, Venus didn’t seem to mind it. “Well, I just feel comfortable talking to you about it.”

Louis turned a bit red at her comment, until he noticed that the girl in front of her, Venus Marigold, also blushed even if it’s just a bit.

“Oh! You two are here too!”

They both heard a familiar voice say, breaking the moment of silence they are currently sharing after the small talk.

They both turned around to see who the person is and, unsurprisingly, it’s Julia August. Although she does come with an unfamiliar girl that neither of them has seen before.

“Hello!” Julia said. “Were you two also on a date?”

She said it. She said it and the two people she asked both turned beet red.

“Kinda…” they both replied at the same time.

“We were just talking about something,” Louis said.

“Well, sorry for the intrusion then! We were just going to get coffee here when I saw you two and got a bit excited, so I called out to you without thinking!”

“I see…” Venus said. “By the way, who’s with you?”

“Ah, her? She’s Micah, my girlfriend of 5 years. She’s in Class B.”

“Hello!” the girl said in a cheerful tone not unlike that of Julia.

“Hello,” Venus responded. “I see.”

“Well, we’ll be off, then. Hope I didn’t interrupt too much!”

And just like that, Julia is gone without a trace, and the two of them enjoyed their silence in peace, only periodically breaking it with small talks about the academy and other general life experiences.

***

“I subdued this man,” said Gavin on his HLD as he threw someone down to the floor of his room. “He was spying on your date this morning, though it seems that I was a bit too late - he already sent his findings elsewhere.”

“I see,” Venus said. “Squeeze whatever information you can out of him, though feel free to end him as you see fit.”

Gavin smiled. “Of course, my Lady.”

***

The morning sun gleamed through the gaps of the heavy curtains that blocks the window of Charles’ room, blinding him and waking him up. There’s a girl currently sleeping in one of his arms. One of the new students of the academy, if he’s not wrong. He carefully removed her as to not wake her up, took a quick shower after a long night, then went straight to his computer.

The holographic screen flared up as he opened it, and he is quickly notified of a message that arrived  the day prior. It was from one of his eyes within the campus, it seems.

Within the message sent to him is a video of his sister, Athena, sitting in a coffee shop just outside of the island’s social district. Across her sits Louis Monet, who used to be Athena’s friend but left for a surgery in Europe and never came back. Of course, it’s unlikely that he knows that that girl is Athena - she’s been going by the name Venus Marigold since she came into the school, after all.

“So you are choosing him over me, huh?” he said to himself as he stared at the video. “I never liked that kid anyways.”

As he continued his observation, the woman who he slept with woke up and went up to him, getting in between him and the computer.

“Forget about her,” she said as she kissed his lips. “I’m way better than her anyways.”

While he did return her kiss, his eyes never left the holographic screen. No - his eyes never left the sight of Athena’s face. However, the current situation demands his attention, and so he turned off the computer to deal with her first. ‘I will miss this one,’ he thought to himself as they continued their deed in the chair.

The girl would later be found dead of overdose.