3. Are They Lovers?

A lover.

Two people who've fallen for each other, who know it, and who become a couple—

Giddy and giggling, or shy and sweetly tangled up in each other.

*Is that what this is?*

I honestly don't know. I've only ever heard about romance secondhand.

Never actually done it myself.

Elline's unwavering eyes were still fixed on me, and I had no idea what would happen if the silence stretched any longer—so I forced myself to think clearly.

I confessed to her.

And she said, *"Understood."*

She waited here, on this night road.

For me.

"Hey."

I shoved every stray thought aside.

I held onto exactly one thing in my head, and I said it to her.

"Are we... dating?"

Her eyebrow moved again—just barely.

"…"

A faint shadow seemed to fall across her face as the lamplight dimmed her eyes.

*Terrifying.*

But I needed to get a clear read on the situation, so I couldn't back down.

"I confessed back then, but... you never gave me a straight answer, so I thought you were turning me down."

Elline listened, then let out a quiet sigh.

"Didn't I say 'understood'?"

She's right.

"Yeah."

"Isn't that an answer?"

Also right.

So... yeah. I'm in a relationship.

With Elline.

With *Elline.*

…

Why, though?

Elline watched my reaction for a moment, studying me, then—as if she'd decided she had no patience left for this—swept her hair back behind her ear.

"Tomorrow."

"Hm?"

"Come to the North Courtyard by nine in the morning."

"Okay."

*Okay,* I said.

There are times when a person can't open their mouth because they have nothing to say.

I learned tonight that the opposite is also true—that sometimes you say nothing precisely because you have too much to say.

She delivered her one-sided announcement, and then, as if her business here was done, she turned and walked away. I stared blankly at her retreating figure—that steady, unshaken back I'd always known—until it disappeared beyond the campus grounds.

Then a gust of night wind hit me, as if to say *go inside already*, and I let it push me back to my room.

I turned off the light, lay down quietly, and stared at the ceiling.

A pair of flies were tracing lazy arcs through the air, perfectly at ease with each other.

*North Courtyard. Nine o'clock tomorrow.*

Let me sort through this. Elline said it with her own mouth. *Lovers.* That means she accepted my confession.

So let's apply some basic, rational common sense here.

I closed my eyes and conjured an angel in my imagination to ask.

*Angel, I confessed to someone and she said yes—why do you think she said yes?*

"Are you two in love with each other?"

I don't know.

"Have you been close for a long time?"

No, we've barely spoken.

"Oh... um... are you from the same hometown, maybe?"

No?

"...Then why?"

I have no idea, I'm telling you.

The imaginary angel furrowed its brow, thought hard, then waved its hand and vanished.

Useless.

And then, just as I was giving up—

*Maybe you and Elline have had more points of connection than you realized?*

The angel flickered back into existence, posed the question with a flash of inspiration, then flapped its wings and flew off.

*Points of connection with Elline.*

"Points of connection, huh..."

I turned over the memories of the past two years.

Two moments that could count as real connection.

First year, when a practice troll escaped and went on a rampage—we'd ended up in the same evacuation shelter, not by choice. Even then, while the other students were crying and panicking, she alone had stayed perfectly composed.

And once more, near the end of first year, when we were paired together for a group presentation.

Right—that was probably when we talked the most. But I don't remember anything particularly meaningful coming out of it.

Second year was even worse.

Once Alpha Class and Beta Class were formally separated, she became something like a figure above the clouds. At most, I'd catch a glimpse of her face passing by, or spot her far down a hallway. Naturally, there was no reason for us to meet at all.

Hmm...

I genuinely had no idea.

Time passed without mercy, and a pale blue light began to creep over the mountains.

The weekend morning that should have been peaceful was thoroughly ruined long before it started.

I spent the whole night desperately wanting to know what she was thinking, why she'd called me here, why she'd said yes.