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n“Oh, Orion, what are you doing here?” Lance asked with a bagful of canned goods.

nA boy with black hair and a skinny body that wasn’t much shorter than me appeared before me, and he didn’t seem all that stressed.

n“I was just walking around, trying to find a good place to sleep tonight,” I said, and Lance glanced at me with a frown.

n“Want to stay over at my place then? My parents are already packing their things so we can leave this place quickly. I have my apartment to myself,”

n“Oh, then don’t mind if I do,” I responded before taking another quick glance at the bag of canned goods.

n“Don’t worry. My parents are feeding me, but only feeding me instead of themselves as they lost their jobs,” He replied with a bit of a weary smile but was still filled with determination.

nWhat a nice guy…

nAs soon as we arrived at his apartment, I could see people already packing up their suitcases and getting the ** out of the city as fast as possible.

nBut, there was one specific person that caught both of our eyes.

n“Treyni?” Lance muttered upon laying his eyes on the girl with dark green hair and light brown skin.

nHer emerald eyes shone, but there was a bit of matte feeling to them as we passed by her… she also didn’t even notice us.

n“Wait! Treyni!” Lance shouted as he chased after her.

nOh, is he going to ask her out right here? That would be pretty entertaining…

n“O-Oh, Lance, how are you doing?” Treyni spoke up, and my jaw practically dropped to the floor as she rarely even spoke.

n“I-I was just going back to get some sleep. I was planning on heading out tomorrow morning… would you maybe… want to go with me?” He asked while looking down at his feet and blushing profusely.

n“S-Sure… I-I wouldn’t mind,” Treyni responded while looking down at her feet and blushing profusely.

n“Oh my. Young love, how jealous I am of you both,” I muttered as I spun around Lance and tilted his chin upwards so he could look at Treyni directly in the eyes.

nI wouldn’t mind helping this relationship speed up… But, let’s make sure they take their time.

n“So, when did you guys get so familiarity with each other?” I asked, but all of a sudden, a large wave of families with suitcases washed out of the apartment complex, so we decided to continue our conversation in Lance’s bedroom.

nTreyni felt a bit uncomfortable in his room, so Lance gave her a cup of tea that should help her warm-up.

n“S-So, basically, we met after returning from the field trip. You and Cy gave me enough confidence to start talking to her, and so, I asked her out… but she said she needed some time to think about it,” Lance chuckled a bit while scratching the back of his head.

n“I-It’s not that I don’t want to date him, but I felt like we needed more time to get to know each other,”

n“And so, we began to talk about what we like, and eventually we came across video games. We both love video games so much. Also, movies, tv shows, and sometimes books, but Treyni likes them more than me,” Lance chuckled a bit.

nThe tense air in the room slowly began to crack as they both revealed more and more of their personality.

nThey looked so happy to be with each other, and Treyni, who I rarely see converse with people, was talking so much that she almost looked like an extrovert.

nAs they talked about movies they had recently watched in the past few weeks, I just stared at Treyni, who was clearly suppressing something.

nSo, after they had their fair share of fun, Lance went to get another cup of tea, leaving just me and Treyni in the room.

n“What’s wrong?” I asked.

n“W-What do you mean?” She replied, a few nerves beginning to settle in.

n“Did something happen? Why do you look like you’re about to cry?” I elaborated on my question, and all of a sudden, Treyni’s eyes leaked tears.

nShe probably didn’t even realize she was crying until Lance came back into the room, seeing his crush just blankly staring at me with tears running down her face.

n“Orion! What did you say to her!?” Lance began to interrogate me, but I just let Treyni explain… as it would be a good improvement for herself.

n“H-He didn’t do anything… It’s just… My mother and father died. They died during the bloody funeral and not as targets, but as witnesses for seeing the death of big family members,”

nThe room went silent, and almost on reflex, Lance hugged her, causing Treyni to break down into tears as she slowly hugged him back.

nOh wow… the government was that powerful… I’ve only heard that they maintain the balance between large families, but I didn’t expect them to be able to suppress them.

nAfter seeing the two slowly open up to each other even more, I just walked to the next room over, where I tucked into the couch and got some sleep.

n…

nIn the morning, I was woken up early.

n“Hey, we’re leaving right now. Would you like to leave with us?” Lance asked, and when I opened my eyes, I saw both kids with two adults standing beside them.

n“Nah. I’m not leaving yet,” I muttered but did follow them downstairs in order to say goodbye.

nI already had Lance’s phone number so we could stay in touch, but our separation was a bit sad as Lance begged for me to come with him.

n“I’ve never had such a close friend before! Please come with me! Wahhhhh,”

nHe cried into my shirt, and Treyni had to drag him away, so after about ten minutes, he finally let go, completely exhausted.

n“I’ll make sure to keep in touch!” Lance shouted.

n“I mean, we weren’t even that close, but okay,” I muttered with a smile, and as I finally waved them goodbye, I made my way to a nearby cafe.

nToday, I had a meeting… but that was quickly interrupted by a large explosion in the distance.

nAnd when I mean large, I mean so large and loud that you could hear it halfway across the city.

n“Wait, don’t tell me those families are-“

nI quickly rushed out of the empty cafe and down the street.

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