The way down to the basement was surprisingly long. The lights were on, yet he felt like the descending staircases went on forever. It had reminded Arcturus of the time he went down a long flight of stairs back in Castle Lavender. Back then it was cold and dim, this place was warm and bright.

He then took a good look at Marlo who was descending down the stairs in front of him. He admired his back profile. Marlo wasn’t too muscular, but had a good amount of muscle that made him look fit and buff. He wondered what sort of training regime he had done to gain such a body–he’d love to learn.

“Do you work out often?” Arcturus asked.

Marlo stopped, causing Arcturus to do the same. He turned to him with a quizzical expression. “Yes.”

Arcturus realized that Marlo might be thinking he’s creepy or weird, so he tried his best to defend himself. “I was just wondering what sort of training you do. I really like your body! The muscle mass seems perfectly balanced!”

I think that came out wrong.

Marlo’s expression changed as he grinned. “You want to train? I can give you all the pointers you need!”

“Thank you…” Arcturus felt relieved Marlo was accepting.

I should change the subject… He eyed the tray of food in Marlo’s hands. “Have you been coming down to the basement to give Sara her meals?”

“Well, I am in charge of it since I have nothing else better to do.”

“You made it seem as if you got forced into it.”

“On the contrary, I actually like doing this. It’s nice to see Sara thanking me for handing me her meals and…well, her smile gets me through the day.”

Under the lights, Arcturus noticed Marlo’s eyes averting his gaze, his eyebrows furrowing and his lips pursing. He knew what that expression was. It was an expression that Daffodil often had around him back when they were dating. He knew she was in love with him, but he did not feel the same. He couldn’t feel the same for her. Was it because of obliviousness? Even if he was oblivious, he could tell Marlo was in love with Sara.

Learning this fact could only leave an unpleasant taste in Arcturus’s mouth as he recalled how Sara treated Marlo when he first met DUO. She had treated him poorly and made fun of his colorblindness. He knew he shouldn’t judge people’s preferences, but, other than Sara’s good looks, there wasn’t much appeal about her.

Still, I shouldn’t be so judgmental.

The two resumed descending down the stairs. However, Arcturus’s mind was elsewhere. He started thinking about love. He hadn’t experienced falling in love before, so he wouldn’t understand what the feelings felt like or what triggers the reaction.

However, if he were to fall in love, he hoped it would be with Nova. He never had an exact ideal type before, but if he were to describe his preferences, Nova would fit the entire criteria. However, a sense of worry came to him. Nova was immortal and he was not. Nova only looked young, but he happened to be much older than him. Would he be seen as too young in Nova’s eyes? Was he a child to him? A walking amalgamation of atoms? A combined fusion of cells? He tried reaching for his bag when he realized he had negative thoughts, but he realized that both his bag and Nova were out of his reach. 

He could only sigh in response.

“Is something the matter?” Marlo asked.

“I’m just overthinking about a lot of things. No need to worry.”

“Overthinking about what?”

“This and that?”

“About love?”

Arcturus fidgeted at the word as he started stammering. “What do you mean about love? I never fell in love before!”

“Really? Don’t you like Nova?”

“I admire him.”

Marlo raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

“W-what about you? You like Sara, right? It’s obvious from how you talked about her.”

This time, Marlo fidgeted as he resumed going down the stairs. “Yeah, I like her.”

Arcturus was surprised with his honesty, but also envied it slightly. He wanted to have an honest understanding of his own feelings and thoughts.

“Have you…confessed?”

“Many times, but I get rejected all the time.”

“Why?”

“Well, Sara’s not interested in relationships right now as she wants to focus on what’s in front of her.”

“I see…”

It was because they had been talking and descending the stairs simultaneously that Arcturus just found out that they already reached the basement. He took a step forward and the sounds of the ocean’s waves caught his attention. It had reminded him that the house really was floating on the Emerald Ocean. He wondered how deep the basement was submerged inside the waters. It was easy to breathe inside, surprisingly.

He took a good look at the basement. It was furnished with metal walls. There was only one large room that had countless monitors. Some of the screens showed what was happening on the upper floors. From where he was standing, he could see Nova was elongating his hair in order to take out the stuff Souhait had stored in the apartment. Another monitor showed the immobile body of Constance’s brother. Right in the middle, Sara was staring at a monitor right in front of her. It was showing her the area outside of the house. Another monitor was helping her navigate to their destination. Arcturus fully understood why she could not leave the basement as piloting this house was an enormous responsibility.

“Sara, here’s your meal.” Marlo placed the tray on a table next to her.

“Thanks.” She did not look at him as her attention was fixated on the screen.

Marlo just stood there and stared at her. He became nervous as he started asking her a question, “So, how long will it take for us to reach Winterfully?”

“Judging from the speed we’re going at, I’d say around two more days.”

“Okay. I’ll let Hilbert know that…”

When Marlo turned around, Sara took the chance to turn her head to look at his back profile as she thanked him for the meal once more. The tone she used was the same, but it did make Marlo look satisfied as he decided to head back up. Arcturus was about to follow, but was stopped by Sara.

“Hold on, Arcturus. There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”

“And that would be…?”

Sara turned to look at the monitor, pressed a button labeled “Autopilot” and then grabbed an extra chair for him to sit on. “Have a seat. It’s going to be a long conversation.”