Moonlight

After staring off into the sunset and watching the evening sky turn a little darker, they walked back through the path towards home.

"You should stay tonight," Jon told her as they held hand in hand, strolling, enjoying the evening breeze bringing the warm air of summer.

"I don't think I can; Jeanette is expecting me at home," Samantha says reluctantly.

Jon then gives her a playful smile before saying, "But Jeanette told me to keep you with me as long as I wish."

Samantha turned her head to look at him with surprise.

Inside she was bemoaning Jeanette for her betrayal of their friendship, although she does find it exciting to be able to share more time with Jon tonight.

When they got back, the sky was dark as Jon showed her the room he had prepared for her, decorated with a large window and many paintings around the wall.

He gave her some clothes which he had already prepared for her to change into, then they ate some quick snacks while sitting in the living room, enjoying the crickets that sounded in the wild field outside.

They watched the full moon hanging like a lamp ever-present in the air while feeling the warm current flowing and moving the branches of the trees in the yard.

In the depth of the night, the light from the full moon outside shines through the spacious room as Samantha lays covered in the bed while Jon sits by her bedside, holding onto her hand.

"You got to go to sleep now," Jon whispered to her, holding onto her hand affectionately, seeing how tired she seemed after a whole day of exploring with him.

Her eyes are almost half shut, but she still tries her best to remain awake, saying to him softly, "I'm afraid to wake up from this delicate dream."

Smiling at her warmly as he says so, "You won't. I'll be here."

She smiles and closes her eyes as she falls asleep at the moment; Jon could feel the grip on his hand loosen after she was sleeping.

He could smell the shampoo's fragrance in her hair at that close distance.

In the room's stillness, he could hear her sleeping quite soothingly; he smiled to himself, seeing that she was relaxed into the forgetfulness of her dreams.

He remembers to himself those times when he would wish to stay awake just a little longer to cherish the beauty that is experienced on that day.

[Musical Talent Fragment Detected]

When he was about to leave and release the touch on her hand, he saw a ball of yellow light appearing in front of him.

During this time that he was away from her, Jon was trying to find out by what method he could gain access to more fragment pieces.

He went to try out and experiment with ways he could gain access, but coming in contact with people of different professions also didn't lead him to conventions where he could uncover clues to how this process works.

He tried to ask Death about the secret to gain more fragments without any responses back, as though Death is trying to lead him to uncover the mystery himself.

During this time, he also tested to see how the fragment changed his body and the importance of the ability he gained.

Besides developing dexterity, durability, agility, and strength, he finds that he can also live through each day with less sleep than before.

'Absorb,' Jon commanded inside his head; instinctively, he felt a connection to this fragment like it was a part of him that he could control easily.

Slowly the yellow piece of glass fragment merged with his body, and he could feel a warm sensation rushing into him.

The feeling was like taking a warm bath as the light entered him.

In that union, he discovered dozens of years worth of musical knowledge about notation, classical composition, and the development of relative and perfect pitches for music.

Looking down at his hands was like putting his fingers on any instrument in the world; he would be able to play it perfectly like using any limb on his body.

At the same time, he discovered to his surprise, that he could remember ideally all the piano music that he heard throughout his life in detailed order; it was as though he could see pictures of pages after pages of compositions from famous composers throughout history.

'Death, how do these fragments work?' Jon asked in his head in communication with Death.

Suddenly a voice came from the background of this world, a voice which he knew only he could hear, "Don't you already have your guesses?"

After speaking those words, the voice of Death disappeared from the background entirely as though it was never said in the first place.

After these two instances, the first with the martial arts fragment and the second time with the musical talent fragment, Jon begins to suspect that it has something to do with the person he is supposed to help fulfill an inner wish.

Looking at the soft expression on her sleeping face, Jon realizes that these fragments were a gift from his destiny with her destiny.

When he got the first fragment, it was to help defeat the thugs that were a problem for her, and the second fragment, he suspects, was to help him fulfill her inner wish.

Moving his hand to brush away the strands of hair on her forehead back, he thinks to himself how all this time, he still doesn't know what her wish is actually.

When he was having the conversation with Jeanette this morning, Jon learned that Samantha's parents divorced when she was young, and she finds herself always a child in the background watching the grown-ups fight and yell at each other.

Besides that, Jeanette also told him to take care of her and made him promise that he would not hurt her like the parents in her life before.