The sun had barely risen in St. Lyashko Academy, yet Vallerie was determined to prove herself to the club that she is capable and worthy to be a member.

"Rise and shine, how we feeling today?" Sanne greets Vallerie, "Do we really have to be this early?" She yawns.

"Yeah, it's usually around the time when there are the least amount of people, and we sometimes cause a lot of accidents."

....

"Accidents?" That wakes up Vallerie a bit.

"Don't worry about it, darling Vallerie. Here, take a bow and arrow and show us what you've got." Sanne laughs off the very valid worries Vallerie had.

Vallerie shakes it off and takes the offered bow and arrows provided for her. Vallerie concentrates, reaching deep into her heart to transform her equipment to suit her tastes.

"Flashy." Sanne comments.

"Alright, Vallerie. Loukas over here harvested fragment dummies from the school's scrap." Sanne points to Loukas, who was nodding in and out of sleep, being forced to get new targets for Vallerie's calibration trial.

"Let's do a simple one first. Shoot an arrow that makes the person have a fleeting crush for a short period before it disappears." Sanne prompts.

"Is... that it?" Vallerie asks, her bow and arrows shifting to match her desired preferences.

"Confident?"

"I'll do my best." It's not a promise to pass; she just hopes she doesn't fail. Vallerie had been practising for this moment for a very long time now.

Before he could reply, she shot her arrow, dead centre, her movements effortless, never hesitant, and quick. If she were out in the field, matchmaking right now, her arrows would pierce through even the coldest of hearts. But the effect she shot made her target a devoted lover instead of having fleeting feelings.

"Your precision is top-notch, better than all three of us, but... that's not what we asked for."

"Having a good aim is half of the skill, but the real test is how you can affect these people."

"A-ah, I'm sorry. Can I try again?" She asks, her confidence still there, but it lacks certainty now.

"Yes, of course. This time, try to give Philia so that it doesn't spill over to Eros. Or in simple terms, a strong friendship that doesn't turn romantic."

Vallerie nods, fidgeting with her bow before drawing her arrow. Her shot was still perfect, but she completely missed her intention again; this time, she made her target lose affection.

Her breath hitches in her throat. She can't keep messing up; her confidence is down a notch once again. She tries to shake it off, but even her stance now is more tense than grounded.

She huffs in frustration; she so desperately wants to scream that nothing is going her way. Failure on failure, what has she done wrong when she was practising for this moment? Has she not understood anything at all? All this for no outcome.

Another hit to her pride, she thought she was ready for the calibration trial. But she couldn't even pass a single one of the prompts.

"What am I doing wrong?" She bites her fingernail in frustration, "I'm sure you already know that your aim isn't the problem, your intention is." Sanne points.

She knows that more than anyone. For someone like her to get as far as she is right now? No one believed she could do it, that this was all in vain. For her to fight tooth and nail to have a sliver of a chance like this.

"What else can I do to prove that I'm not entirely awful?"

"Tell you what. What if you showed us your best arrow? A free shoot with your best and most reliable feature." Sanne suggests.

"... I think it can do that." Vallerie nods, a little bit meek but more confident in this prompt compared to all the others.

"Show us." Sanne nods.

Vallerie takes another deep breath, gathering all of the confidence she had left that wasn't shattered. She took an arrow from her quiver before drawing it all the way back.

She gathers all of her intent, she focuses on one thing she knows she's confident in doing. Her surroundings change around her, a disturbance in the grass, a change in atmosphere, and a clear power surge coming from Vallerie's arrow.

Sanne and Loukas stared in bewilderment; they had never seen anything like this before. They didn't even know intentions could be gathered that intensely.

His finger twitched at the intensity and the way his eyes were magnetically drawn to Vallerie's form, his heart rate gradually picking up the more Vallerie gathered her intention. He was frozen but restless.... drawn in but afraid.

As soon as she shot the arrow, it whistled as a result of the power and speed it exerted.

When it hit the target, even Sanne and Loukas felt it; they felt it hit them. As if they were struck by an arrow of love straight to their heart.

It was suffocating.

Loukas had never felt like this before; his hands were trembling, and his heart was pounding out of his chest. He had never felt so exhilarated before.

"What is she doing?" Was all Loukas could ask, more to himself than getting an answer from Sanne, who was completely in his own world too.

But for Sanne? He knew exactly what this was. Unlike Loukas, who felt his heart had its first high.

He never thought he'd ever get to experience this again— a welcomed enemy... he forgot how peaceful it could be too. Sanne was still, reminiscent of a breeze fleeting to a flower field; it was almost like he was there himself. Like, he was there with her again.

He closes his eyes to savour the feeling, he opens them again expecting to see her, but it was Vallerie occupying that spot instead.

"Anne.... Sanne...? Sanne!" Loukas snapped him out of his trance.

"Hmm?"

"How did I do?" Vallerie asks.

Sanne paused, the target range now quiet, waiting for his verdict. Vallerie holds her breath, the birds are chirping against the morning light, and even a few students can be heard chatting as the school slowly comes to life.

But all he could hear was the hammering of his heart.

"...Sanne." Loukas' voice comes out shaky, unable to control his voice.

"You pass Vallerie. Congratulations." Sanne smiles.

Vallerie let out a relieved cheer, a quiet victory to herself.

"You have no idea how relieved I am. I never imagined that I could ever get over that hurdle."

Vallerie continues to rant about what was going through her mind while doing the Calibration Trial, but Sanne had tuned it out. Focusing more on Vallerie, her muffled talking segues into silence.

The silence was deafening; his ears started to ring. But at that moment.

It was her all over again.

It should be Vallerie that he sees, but the only thing that flooded his vision was golden hair and emerald eyes.