Lull

“Here is something you have to understand about stories: they point you in the right direction but they can’t take you all the way there. Stories are crescent moons; they glimmer in the night sky, but they are most exquisite in their incomplete state. Because people crave the beauty of not-knowing, the excitement of suggestion, and the sweet tragedy of mystery.” — Diana Abu-Jaber

…

Wait. What?

As though he was in a dream, Hiro found himself gawking at her like he was some sort of koi fish while Lunamor strode past him, their shoulders faintly brushing while his brain was taking a hard reset as he tried to process her words.

Because seriously what the fuck?

He… he couldn’t be really sure but…

As though realizing that Hiro still hadn’t resumed walking, Lunamor paused. His student was already a few steps ahead of him when she turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, eyebrows raising as she stares at him, waiting. And Hiro wasn’t sure if it was just his brain messing with him, but for some reason, it feels like... like everything seems to be moving in slow-motion.

The look on her pale face was something that Hiro could only describe as a silent question making him blink because correct him if he’s wrong but did his student just actually hit on him?!

No... no, it can’t be.

He’s probably just reading too much into this…

Hiro immediately shook his head, both at himself and at her as he resumed walking by her side. Like everything was fine and normal. Like he didn't just went through a mental gymnastic because of such damning words.

As they approached the cafeteria, Hiro turned to Lunamor and reluctantly found himself asking: “What now? Do you want to split up to get some food and then meet at a table? Or are you going to look for your little brother? Because I... I don’t see him anywhere.”

Wordlessly, Lunamor tilted her head somewhere to the left, her eyes narrowing, and Hiro automatically followed her more or less irritated gaze… only to see Cyan sitting at the head of a table with Dante sipping on a soda by his side, looking completely at ease amongst their found group. They both looked completely at home while Cyan was happily munching on a muffin and burger despite the fact that he was surrounded by older professors who were all talking and laughing over something Dante said, some of them even fussing fondly over the little boy.

Hiro nodded his head, “Let’s go join them?”

“…I’ll ruin the good mood.”

Instinctively, Hiro opened his mouth to rebuff what sounds like a self-degrading remark... but quickly stopped himself because yes, Lunamor isn’t actually a ray of sunshine like her charming little brother over there.

Looking back at Cyan’s table, Hiro quickly scanned the other professors the kid was talking with and realized that while he knows who they all are by name, he wasn’t really close to any of them because not only were they older than him, but also because they were from a different department... so yeah, he’s also technically going to be an outcast like her if they joined that table.

“Let’s just look for another table,” Lunamor suddenly decided, already turning away though he noticed that she kept glancing back at her brother’s direction with furrowed eyebrows as though she was mentally debating if she should leave Cyan with Dante or drag the kid with her.

Hiro sighed before he trailed after her, “Well, I’m sure if we found some of my friends, they wouldn’t mind if we join their table.”

“I didn’t know you had friends.”

“What?” Hiro gawked at her back, unsure if he should be offended or horrified at the implication of her words, “Excuse you, of course I have friends!”

“Uh-huh.”

What… why does she sounded like she doesn’t believe him?!

“Hey!” he nudged her shoulder, “It’s the truth!”

Lunamor inclined her head to the side, enough to meet his gaze over her shoulder, her eyes gleaming almost playfully amidst the lights like–

“…If you say so.” she smirks.

…like the crescent moon.

Hiro groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

…so much for eating lunch together.

Despite the general noise that was to be expected in a school's cafeteria Hiro found himself stuck immediately in one of those usual huge gaps of awkward silence in Lunamor’s presence while the two of them searched for a vacant table but even though his student didn’t seem to mind the lack of conversation, it… well, he minded.

He really did.

Hiro cleared his throat, “What about you?”

“…hm?”

“Don’t you have friends to hang out with?” Hiro tried asking, if only to get rid of the thick silence hanging over the two of them, “…I’m sure you have better things to do than being stuck with me.”

She gave him an odd stare.

He raised an eyebrow, “What?”

“You’re the one stuck with me.”

Hiro gave her a flat look at that, “You mean you don’t have friends.”

She quickly averted her gaze, “I’m... busy.”

His stare flattened even further.

...Yup.

She definitely didn’t have friends.

With an attitude like that, no surprise there.

He snorted at her poor excuse, before his tone took on an air of condescending wisdom, “Life isn’t all about working, kid. Enjoy it before time passes you by.”

A beat of silence.

And Hiro blinks, huh. Okay, you know what, that one actually sounds like a very good advice. Wow... sometimes I surprise even myself-

“Tell that to yourself, old man.”

“Wha... I’m not that old!” Hiro cried, aghast.

He didn’t even have gray hairs!

... yet.

Consciously, he brushed through his hair.

She rolled her eyes, “That’s what they all say.”

…had it been weeks ago, Hiro would have seriously served the student who said that with some sarcastic retort but instead, he easily brushed her comment off with an amused scoff, already used and mostly immune to Lunamor’s speech pattern by now as he glanced over at the food stands, feeling his stomach rumbling lightly, reminding him how just hungry he is since he had missed breakfast.

“I don’t know about you, but I think I’m craving something Italian, like lasagna or pizza…” Hiro said, eyeing some of the stands hungrily... before looking over to see her unimpressed stare. He frowned, a bit put off by the constant staring. “Well, what are you having, Lunamor?”

She gave the stands a once-over. The look in her eye was critical, more fitting on an art critic's than a college student picking what she wants to get for lunch.

“…I’m not hungry,” Lunamor decided.

Then why are you even here in the first freaking place? Hiro stopped himself from actually asking that out loud quickly by rolling his eyes... even though it was kind of amusing to see Lunamor standing around, looking so clearly unimpressed by all the different food stands around her.

“Well, if you are planning to ditch me again, I just want you to know it’s cool.” Hiro smiled to let her know that it wouldn't offend him.

...at all.

“No.” Lunamor snapped.

And while she didn't even bother to raise her voice like earlier, Hiro still nearly took a step back at the sudden intensity of her tone. “We still haven’t discussed about the topic I missed last Tuesday,” she clarified, probably noticing the shocked look on his face.

Hiro blinks. What...?

Oh.

Oh. Right…“Uh, sure,” Hiro managed to say, fixing his glasses as he stared at her, perplexed, “Well, I’m just gonna go… get some lunch.”

She nodded, “Be quick.”

“I’ll meet you at a table then.”

Lunamor nodded before turning away.

Hiro thought that was quite a bit… unexpected. He had almost forgotten that they didn’t get to discuss last night about the lesson she had missed.

Oh yeah, because she walked out on him.

Wait.

Maybe he should ask about that?

For all he knows, Lunamor might be having some… problems or something.

It… it worried him.