The next day, Eclipse, Lydia, and Xavier, were arriving at school together, when they saw Catherine sleeping on the bench near the school entrance. She was also really pale.

– Catherine? What are you doing here? – Eclipse asked, worried.

– She’s pale! Did you sleep here? – Xavier noticed she was weird.

– Oh… I’m fine. And yes, I slept here. – She seemed aloof.

– Why did you sleep here when it’s freezing at night? Why didn’t you go home? – Lydia said, covering Cath’s hands that were freezing.

She looked at Xavier. He was with a mad expression on his face. 

– I saw the murderer last night. – She confessed. – I remember talking to her and then I don’t know what happened, I just woke up out of nowhere.

– Wait! “Her”? – Eclipse asked, confused.

– Yes… He had the body of a woman. I couldn’t see his face though, but I suspect she’s a familiar person.

– Damn that must’ve been traumatising. Did she do something to you? – Lydia asked, worried about her.

– No, don’t worry… but she saved a woman who was being followed by a creep. She murdered him.

Eclipse gulped.

– What?! – They were shocked.

– She also said she wasn’t the one who tried to murder you… – She looked at Lydia.

– Oh–

– I’m fine and she saved a woman, so that’s what matters… I won’t tell anyone about the murder though.

– Either way, it’s still shocking and you should be more careful. I’m glad she didn’t harm you. – Eclipse warned.

Catherine nodded.

Xavier wasn’t getting one thing right… “Why did she end up sleeping here anyway? Isn’t she living with that Vincent guy?”

– By the way… What about your personal bodyguard? Isn’t he supposed to take care of you? – Xavier was annoyed. He didn’t like that guy.

– What? You mean… Vincent? – Lydia asked, concerned.

Eclipse was getting his point of view. If he’s a policeman how could he not care about her?

– Yes. Him. Where was he when that happened? You said he was the one picking you up. 

– Why are you talking like that…? Yes. He was supposed to pick me up but ended up doing a night shift. So what? – Catherine wasn’t getting why Xavier was so mad at him. 

– Hey, calm down both of you! – Lydia shouted.

They glared at each other.

– Hmph. He can’t even protect you properly. – Xavier muttered.

– Hey, seriously, calm down. – Eclipse whispered to him. – It’s not that big of a deal.

~~~

They entered the studio to start with the festival project, and divided themselves in pairs.

– Why don’t you stay with Xavier? So you both can have some time together… Who knows. – Eclipse whispered to Lydia. She was very aware of her crush on him.

– What are you talking about?! – She blushed. – I want to stay with you… You’re my best friend. 

– Are you sure you want to stay with me and not him?

– Yeah… I’d always choose you. – Lydia was sure of her decision. 

Despite having romantic feelings towards him, she would still choose Eclipse over him in any project. Their friendship and fondness for each other was deeper than whatever she felt about him.

Eclipse gazed at her in awe. “ I wonder if you’d still choose me if you knew the truth about me…”

– So, are we going to be the same pairs as usual? – Catherine asked.

– Yeah, I’ll stay with Eclipse. – Lydia grinned.

– Alright so, I’ll stay with Xavier and then we divide Dracarus and Han, in case they accept. Is it fine with you, Xavier? – She asked, glaring at him.

– Yeah, whatever. – He crossed his arms, looking away embarrassed. He was still mad but… He couldn’t resist her.

“Huh? He’s blushing…”

Half an hour passed and the tall, powerful men appeared. Apparently they weren’t busy that day.

– Look, they’re here. – Xavier told the girls as he saw them get up the stairs.

– Hello! Sorry about yesterday, we were busy at the castle. – Han explained.

– Ah, don’t worry about that… – Catherine had an idea. – Well, if you don’t mind, we could add you both on our group chat. That way we could talk or whatever, anything. – She suggested.

They looked at each other and agreed. After all, they were friends.

“Oh… So they are really part of our friend group now…” Someone didn’t like the idea that much.

Xavier and Catherine were the only ones chatting with them. Lydia and Eclipse were busy doing some decorations for the festival.

– Oh by the way… I need to tell you something. – Catherine was with a serious expression now.

– Hm?

– Well… Come with me downstairs, it’s too crowded here to say this. – Catherine said to the nation's princes.

They wondered what it could be. Why would she need to talk with them outside? Was it that serious?

– Well… I saw The Shadow yesterday. – She went straight to the point.

They looked aghast.

~~~

Lydia turned around to look for Cath’s help on the decoration, but she wasn’t in the studio.

– Hm? Where did Cath go? – She asked herself.

Eclipse looked around as well but didn’t see her either.

– Are you both looking for Catherine? – Xavier.

– Yeah… Do you know where she went? – Lydia asked, looking into his pretty dark eyes.

– She went outside to talk with them both. – He responded.

Eclipse wasn’t paying much attention… until he said that.

– Probably about yesterday. – He explained.

– Oh, alright… I’ll wait then. – Lydia gave him a shy smile.

“I wonder why she’s been smiling at me so much lately…??”

~~~

– Yeah… It was on the left road of the intersection, if we take the path from school. – Catherine was explaining everything.

Dracarus was sensing someone observing them.

– Oh? We took that road today and we saw nothing… Maybe she hid the body somewhere? – Han pointed out. That was probably the most obvious thing that might’ve happened.

Dracarus looked up and saw Eclipse on the studio’s balcony… Her bright hair was moving with the wind as she looked straight at them, leaning with her hands on the fence.

“Eclipse…!” He was once again captivated by her beauty…

She locked eyes with him and immediately left the balcony. “Fuck… He saw me.”

“Why did she leave so abruptly… Was she trying to hear the conversation?” He looked across the window and saw her working with Lydia. 

She noticed he was still observing her and stared back. “Why does he keep on looking at me like that…”

He looked away after a few seconds, kinda shy.

“Her eyes… they’re so pretty…”

~~~

When they ended up talking, they went back upstairs.

– We should tell Khaos about this, later. – Han whispered to Dracarus, who nodded.

Han went to Xavier’s side while Dracarus headed to Lydia and Eclipse to greet them.

– Good morning! – He said, standing next to their table.

Lydia glanced and greeted him as well.

– It’s good so see you both again. – She gently smiled away.

– Yeah… Same.

He was enjoying his days spent with them. They were nice and peaceful to hang out with. As he was an art lover, he liked even more to be around them, in the studio.

He shifted his gaze to Eclipse… she seemed to be somewhere else.

– Eclipse…? – He tilted his head to face her properly. She seemed to be hooked on the table and didn’t even answer… She was probably focused on thinking about something.

– Eclipse; – He tucked her side hair behind her ear, trying to make her come back. – Are you okay?

She finally snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him, nervously.

– Uh– Yeah. Hi… Sorry, I was thinking about something. – She glanced away.

Something seemed wrong with her, but he didn’t want to be annoying in asking her about it. 

– Oh, it’s fine. – His eyes wandered off to what they were doing on the table.

“Hm?” He looked around the studio, and no one was working on the sculptures anymore. 

– Excuse me but… why aren’t you working on the pieces today? – He inquired, curious.

– Oh, about that…! – Lydia finally remembered they had something to ask them. – During this month we always do an autumn festival, we took this week off the project to prepare for it… However, this year’s requisites are a bit different. They asked us to have three persons per stand.

“But they’re four… Are they going to exclude someone?”

– And, since you both have been hanging out with us a lot, we would like to invite you to the festival and to help us on the stands. – Lydia continued explaining.

– Hm, I wouldn’t mind helping, nor would Han, I guess. – He looked at Han. He was entertained helping Xavier and Catherine.

– Well then… would you mind joining our group? – Lydia proposed, looking at him along with Eclipse.

– I’ll join you both. – He gently grinned. – I bet Han has already joined their group as well.

Lydia glanced over them.

– Oh, it seems like, haha. Thank you for joining us! 

At the end of that school day, they took the decorations they had made to the storage room of the festival’s place.

Eclipse was carrying a box with some other things inside that they needed for the stands while Lydia took the decorations’ one. Since her box wasn’t as heavy as Eclipse’s, she was walking quite faster than her, not even noticing she had been left behind.

“Ah, that girl…” Eclipse let down the box for a bit and sighed. She was getting exhausted from carrying that heavy box all across the university.

Dracarus was walking with Xavier to the same room… He noticed the girls had left the studio way earlier than them, but for some reason Eclipse was still at half way through. 

– What? Eclipse’s still there… – Xavier pointed towards her with his eyes. – Is she troubled with that box?

Dracarus thought the same as him. He walked over to her.

– Do you need help carrying that? – He asked.

“ …?!” Eclipse was startled. She didn’t even feel him coming.

– Well, yes, please. It’s a little too heavy to carry all this way. – She laughed off, nervous.

Dracarus bent over to pick up the box.

– Wait, I’ll help you pick it up! – Eclipse didn’t want to burden him much, so she still tried to help him.

– You don’t need to–

As she was laying her hand on the box, he saw it all bandaged and got worried.

– What happened to your hand?

She looked at him, anxious. She was trying to hide her hand all day, but it didn’t work.

“Why did he have to see it…?!”

– Hum… – She hid her hand again, underneath the long sleeves. – It was my cat. – She lied… He couldn’t know the truth. – You know how cats are, haha…

“Hm? She has cats?”

Suddenly Xavier caught up with them.

– Why are you both still here, crouching? What happened? – He asked, stopping by.

– Uhh–

Dracarus tried to say something but Eclipse covered his mouth with her left hand right away.

– Please don’t tell him about my hand. – She whispered to him.

“He can’t know about this! What if he tells Catherine…!? It’ll be over for me!” She was scared they would find out something they shouldn’t…

Xavier was quite… surprised. “Oh– Am I interrupting something–”

– Whatever, uhh… I’ll keep walking. – He left.

When he left, Eclipse freed Dracarus, sighing in relief.

“But… I wasn’t even gonna tell him–” He was confused. Why was she so worried about him knowing?

– Hum, I’m sorry… – Eclipse flustered in embarrassment. She did that impulsively.

– It’s fine. – He smirked, blushing a bit. – But… Can I see your cats some day?

He liked cats… and Eclipse, so he wanted to see her cats.

“What? He just found out my secret and is asking about my cats?” She exchanged looks with him awkwardly.

– Sure, haha! – She giggled.

Despite not wanting to get close to him due to her confidences, she actually enjoyed being around him. It was undeniable.

He thought the same about her… Despite being a quiet, reserved person, he wouldn’t mind trusting her and getting closer. For some reason, he felt interested not only in her art, but her as a person.

~~~