NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 51: Lumine (End)
{To,
My friend Lumine.
Your presence in the classroom is missed. As a teacher, I cannot condone your actions, but as a friend, I say take as much time as you need.
I have been doing my best to take care of the flowers in the flowerbed at dawn. I have no experience in this line, so observing you has been all I have to go on. The flowers seem to be blooming for now, but I worry for the Azaleas, the shrubs don’t seem as vibrant as ever.
It must be the weather, but if there’s anything that I may be missing, I hope you can help me.
Best,
Ethan
}
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{To,
My friend.
I have not heard from you since yesterday. Since then, the leaves have started to fall and I have noticed the stems of the shrub seem brittle. You always stayed a moment longer on the Azaleas. Are they missing something?
I will be asking the gardener of the Academy today, but I worry that he might not be able to help much either. I do not think there are any other plantations in the academy with these Azaleas.
Best,
Ethan.}
.
{To,
The Respected Professor.
My words friends My! presence brings misfortune. My words are not meant for a friend's ears and my presence is not meant for people.
Please stop and leave
Please don’t talk.
I don’t deserve to be called a fri
I appreciate you trying to talk to me all the time, professor, but I avoid you for your own good. If you are close to me, then you will be faced with great misfortune.
Azaleas do not grow in this place, in that soil. I planted them personally and sustained their bloom with my blessings. These plants that I lingered a moment longer with became close to me, their death is not something that can be avoided. It is their eventuality, their fate. The fate of everything that comes around me.
Please do not contact me further. I say this for you.
Lumine.}
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{To,
My friend.
A fickle thing, words are. They exist to ease communication, yet are the greatest patrons of miscommunication. I am sure no one is a stranger to their nature. Words may serve to trick others, and sometimes even yourself, but the page is not tricked by words or its intentions. The page accepts it all and weighs the words without bias or judgment, without prejudice or preconceived notions. The page is the most fair arbitrator and the most patient listener.
If your words are not meant for your friends, then say them to the page. Your friends shall read.
If your presence is not meant for people, then do something meaningless. People shall adjust.
You say your presence sealed the fate of the azaleas, yet it is your absence that is killing them. Your words may be tricking others, but they trick you the most.
Help those flowers live.
Best,
Ethan.}
.
{
I was a child when I became friends with a priest’s daughter. Lily, her name was. We used to hold hands and stroll through the flower fields. Her favorite blossom were the Azaleas.
The clergy then, one day, said I was blessed by Goddess Luna. That my prayers can reach her ears and move her heart. That if I were so much as touched by someone else, I would lose my ability, that I would fall out of her favor.
A child is not foolish, professor. I knew that their words made little sense, so I tried to be with Lily, and one of the church's patrons found out.
They cut the arm of her father.
They sent her and her parents away to the frontier. Told her to never show her face here again.
But I did not stop yet, I sent her a letter, I tried to talk with her. ‘Your words bring misfortune,’ she said.
I have tried.
Do you think I have not?
I have reached out more than once. What do you believe that led to? More tragedies.
I am the priestess of the Lunar goddess. Like the sun and the moon do not meet, I cannot meet with the people of this world.}
.
{The flowers have died.}
.
.
.
Lumine ran out of her room as she saw the letter. The maids and knights posted outside the passageways did not stop her as she rushed out.
She ran down the stairs. Her heart raced.
The gray skies, the cold air, none of it entered her mind.
She had to see.
She had been too attached, she had to see. With her own eyes. Once, she had to see.
Lumine rushed out of the dorms and turned to the flowerbeds and—
“H-hey! Stop overwatering it, Lady Rosentea!”
“You do not know business, Prince. The more the better.”
“Bloom, dear flowers.”
“Wow, the saintess just doubled those azaleas…”
“Hey, nerd—Atlas, which flower is this one?”
“Flowers that bloom, even in this gloom—”
“Someone shut that lute bastard up!”
It was a sight she had never expected.
The flowers that should have been dying by now were all in full bloom.
Lumine couldn’t believe it. Everyone in the Black Rose classroom had gathered and were looking after the plants. Chaotic, but practiced. As if they had been at it for a few days.
A loud snap broke Lumine out of her thoughts. She turned to her side, and saw the professor with the camera in his hands.
Her eyes widened.
“Professor…”
“You finally stepped out,” he said.
“You tricked me…”
“Lumine, even the sun and the moon meet. Have you not seen an eclipse?”
Lumine couldn’t say a word. The professor had started quoting her own words.
“Is it too fleeting?” he asked, then raised the camera. “Leave that to the gods. The sun and the moon have been around since before hate and love, before the two sides of the world, before humans and demons. For them a fleeting moment repeats longer than a lifetime.”
The professor then raised the camera again.
“They won’t mind you getting along with others. You too, can make your eclipse last a lifetime. Just trap it in this camera.”
Lumine lowered her gaze.
“The azaleas did not die, because your other friends were still around. If you can’t fix things alone, rely on them.”
Lumine shook her head.
“I have been rude… I can’t.”
The professor smiled brightly.
“Then you absolutely can’t keep running from them, right?” The professor slowly reached his hand out, and placed it on her head. “Take one step, those small moments you build now will last you a lifetime.”
The professor pushed Lumine ahead and stepped back. He raised the camera again.
And captured the moment.
With all his students.
All of them.