Chapter 44-Trust (3)

Chapter 44: 44-Trust (3)

"I’ll give the best effort that I have to give," she promised but she still couldn’t meet Lumi’s eyes.

Lumi noticed it too, the way she avoided her gaze. Maisa’s answer had come too quickly, it sounded too carefully thought out and almost as though she had rehearsed it before.

For the briefest moment, suspicion stirred inside her chest. It wasn’t enough to accuse Maisa of lying, but it lingered like the final page of a mystery novel that had been torn out before the ending.

She quietly watched the redblood across from her. Maisa wasn’t looking at her anymore, and that was a clear sign that the girl was keeping something from her.

Instead, Maisa’s fingers remained tightly intertwined in her lap, her knuckles pale from how hard she was squeezing them. Her shoulders had stiffened, and her breathing was just a little too controlled.

Lumi had spent years studying people as much as she studied books. Most vampires lied with their mouths, humans lied with their eyes and Maisa, she looked like someone trying desperately not to fall apart.

Lumi chose not to press further. It was not because she believed every word. But because forcing answers from frightened people rarely revealed the truth. Instead, it only taught them to become better liars.

"If there’s something you’re not ready to tell me," Lumi finally said, her voice gentle enough to smooth the tension between them, "I hope that one day you’ll trust me enough to."

Maisa’s eyelashes trembled. "...Maybe," she said, the answer was painfully quiet. It wasn’t a matter of trust that kept her from revealing her secrets but a matter of survival.

Lumi nodded, she accepted it the simple answer, for now. She stood and walked toward one of the towering shelves that covered the wall. Her fingertips skimmed over dozens of leather spines until they stopped on a thick navy-blue journal.

She returned and offered it to Maisa.

Maisa accepted it carefully. "What’s this?"

"My lecture notes for the time that you were under house arrest. You can catch up on your free tune during the trip."

Maisa blinked in surprise. "They’re... yours?"

Lumi nodded. "Every lesson since the beginning of the week. Take care of them and return them when you’re done," she offered.

Maisa carefully opened the first page. Beautiful handwriting greeted her and every sentence was perfectly aligned.

Important information had been organized into neat sections. Small sketches illustrated difficult concepts and there wasn’t a single correction or crossed-out word anywhere. It looked less like notes and more like a published textbook.

"You wrote all this?"

"I like organized information," she said as she continued to pack her suitcase with more stuff.

Maisa stared in amazement. "There are hundreds of pages..."

"I know. Hardly enough, I wish they’d teach more but the professors refuse my appeal every time," she complained.

"..." Maisa swallowed, it was the first time she met a student who requested for more lessons. "How long did this take?"

Lumi tilted her head thoughtfully. "I’ve never calculated but it didn’t take long. Learning never does."

Maisa slowly looked up. "But... these are your notes..."

"They are," Lumi cut in, she packed a separate suitcase full of books alone.

"You’re giving them to me?" Maisa was confused. She felt the books were too precious and her careless hands didn’t deserve it.

"They’re copies. I would never entrust my main books to anyone, unless it was the princess asking but her notes... whoo" she sighed. "Her notes are more organized and more put together than mine," Lumi smiled faintly. "I made duplicates for my revisions and for helping out friends."

Maisa couldn’t believe it. "You made duplicate copies... just in case?"

Lumi looked genuinely confused. "Of course. You don’t?"

Maisa laughed. A soft, helpless laugh escaped her mouth. "You really do think differently than most people, humans and vampires."

"I’ve been told that," she said, taking no offense to Maisa’s comment.

For a while they simply sat together, Lumi was busy flipping through the pages of books she debated to take with her or leave behind.

The atmosphere gradually became lighter again. Until Lumi suddenly spoke. "Old Scaris," she whispered.

Maisa looked up. "The trip?"

"You’ve never been there, have you?"

Maisa shook her head. "I’ve never even heard of it up until today."

Lumi’s eyes brightened just a little. "It predates the vampire nation itself and it’s truly breathtaking. Some buildings are older than recorded history and they’ve preserved the architecture exactly as it was thousands of years ago," she said happily.

Maisa listened with genuine interest. She had never seen building that are over a thousand years old, even a hundred years. This trip was looking up more and more.

"There are underground catacombs beneath the town, ancient shrines, there is the first vampire court, the blood wells..." She paused. "And... the garden of origins where Vonvaki and Zissa, the first whiteblood vampires came to existance."

Maisa smiled. "It sounds beautiful."

"It is," Lumi’s expression softened with nostalgia. "My father took me there when I was little. He carried me on his shoulders because I kept getting tired," she laughed quietly. "I insisted I was old enough to walk and wanted to see every inch of Scaris."

Maisa smiled despite the ache in her chest. Every time Lumi mentioned her father, Maisa couldn’t shake the reminder that they weren’t together anymore because of her family.

"I wasn’t old enough," she said and then her laughter faded. "But he let me pretend."

Silence settled again. Every story Lumi shared seemed to circle back to the same person, her father. Each memory was filled with warmth which only made the emptiness left behind even more heartbreaking.

Maisa quietly lowered her head. "I’m sorry."

Lumi blinked. "For what?"

"...For your father."

Lumi studied her face carefully. After a long pause, she smiled. "Thank you," she appreciated the kindness. "It still hurts. I don’t think it ever stops hurting."

She looked toward the moon beyond the window. "You simply learn to live around the wound."

Maisa unconsciously touched the flower-shaped mark hidden beneath her uniform. The bond pulsed warmly and almost comfortingly.

Lumi noticed the small movement. Without thinking, her own hand drifted to the matching mark beneath her collarbone and the flower answered immediately. A soft warmth spread through both of them.

Maisa’s eyes widened. "You felt that?"

Lumi nodded slowly. "Yes."

"It grows stronger every day."

Neither of them knew what to say after that. The bond had become almost frightening. Every emotion echoed, and every heartbeat seemed to reach the other and silence no longer belonged entirely to one person.

Lumi broke eye contact first. "...We’re going to have to learn how to live with this."

Maisa whispered, "I don’t even know where to begin."

"I don’t either."

They both laughed quietly. The had bonded and Maisa knew more of the blue-haired vampire nerd than she previously. It was nice to find a hear behind that constant need for knowledge.

"We should head out or we will miss departure time. Professor Primrose will not spare us an earful if we do that," Lumi said, locking her bags and pushing them toward the door.

"Let’s go," Maisa added, feeling comfortable around her.