Recuperation

Luka went downstairs, and took a bath, had breakfast, then got ready to leave his house for the academy.

After leaving his home, Luka checked the time once again. "I am half-hour early, nice!"

Luka rejoined as he opened the gate of Ana's house.

'Ana must be waking up now. I will go to her room and wait for her. Maybe I will get to see her in underwear if I insist.'

Luka stood in before the front door and rang the doorbell.

"It's still broken?" Luka sighed and knocked on the door.

After waiting before knocking again, Irene opened the door.

"Hey, aunt,"

"It's mom," Irene corrected.

"Uhh… is Ana awake yet?"

"She went to school already,"

Luka's eye twitched as he tried to smile. "Did she now? Alright, thanks."

"Did something happened between you and Ana?"

"Nope,"

"You went on a date together yesterday, and Ana came alone, so I thought maybe you two had a fight or something,"

Luka waved his hand as he spoke, "It's nothing like that." Luka turned around, "I will go now, bye."

'I thought I would tell her about Tero and apologize for yesterday, but I guess I should get ready to get yelled at,"

When Luka reached school, he found Ana and Liz talking with each other in his classroom.

'Nice opportunity! I can tell them both at once,"

He tried to call them, but Ana left the room as soon as Luka entered, and Liz ignored Luka for the rest of the school hours— even though Luka caught Liz looking at him many times.

'This feels awfully familiar.'

The school ended, and as usual, Luka, Ana, and Liz were on their mission.

Luka cleared his throat and called, "Hey Ana, Liz."

"Ara," Liz turned to Luka and said, "Look, Ana, he finally felt like talking to us,"

'She is in 'Ara' mode?!'

'Not good, not good."

"I will tell you guys everything, so listen to me."

Luka told them about Tero's story and also told them that he wouldn't be coming to school again.

"I see," Ana grabbed Luka's hand and said, "So you were helping him out."

"Yes"

Liz also grabbed Luka's other hand. "We understand, but why didn't you tell us sooner? We would have helped too"

"I wanted to, but Tero told me not to tell you, so I was waiting for it to end before telling you guys."

They both stared at Luka for a while and then sighed.

SIGH~

"Let's go and finish our mission, then we can talk more about it later," Ana suggested.

"Yeah,"

After patrolling and exorcising small impurities around the area, it was already night.

"What's the time?" Ana asked.

Luka took out his phone and checked the time, "It's 22: 22, so let's go home now. We can report this tomorrow at school."

'I want to check up on Lily too.'

Ana squinted her eyes and frowned her face, "Why are you saying my lines?"

"Aren't we both the same,"

"As much as I like you being all too romantic suddenly, I would appreciate it if you look at your left."

Luka looked left to see Liz pouting and glaring at him.

"Yeah, we all three are the same," Luka added.

They were on their way home before Ana suddenly interrupted them, "Wait."

"What now?" Luka asked. He wanted to go home as soon as possible to check up on Lily.

"The cemetery is near here, right?" Ana asked,

"Yeah, so what?"

"Let's drop by Tero's house."

"Not possible," Luka instantly rejected.

"Why?"

"We are not going."

"Are you feeling jealous again?" Ana commented.

"I am not!" Luka scoffed. "Why do you even want to go there?"

"To tell him a proper goodbye?"

"Oh, come on. It's too late—!"

"Hey?!" Someone called out to them.

They all looked back to see Tero and his girlfriend holding shopping bags in their hands.

"Tero? What are you doing here?" Luka questioned as his face twitched.

Luka did say, 'I am sure we will meet again very soon.', but he never expected to meet him this sooner.

"We are out to buy some food," Tero replied. "Are you guys on a mission?"

'Shopping at this time?!'

"Yes, we are. Okay then, bye. Let's go, Ana, Liz" Luka did too many things in one sentence.

"Your girlfriend is so beautiful!" Ana ignored Luka and rushed to Rina to admire her beauty.

Rina was shy with strangers, so she hid behind Tero. "Umm, Captain Ana—!"

"No need to call me 'Captain' now"

"Okay then, Ana--"

"Don't you dare" Luka smiled as he placed his hand on Tero's shoulder.

Tero chuckled then said, "Luka, do you guys want to drop by my place?"

Luka raised his eyebrows and asked, "Why?"

"Well, Rina and I have decided to move from this city, so I don't know when we would meet next time."

"So like… farewell party or something?" Luka questioned.

"Yeah, something like that. I was going to call and ask you about that tonight anyway,"

'What should I do? If he is really moving out, then I don't think we will ever meet unless something big happens. But I have to check up on Lily too…' Luka glanced at Ana, then looked at Liz, and they were so in the mood to go there.

Luka sighed and agreed, "Fine."