“Theater Kid Dusk|Gamer Girlie Dawn” (64.3) (Lillia)

Lyla grabbed Lilith and got her out of the zone where she could jump on my ribs.

"Unhand me!" Lilith said. Lyla set her down on the top bunk. Zeta got very shy in the sudden presence of my entire family. She attempted to give Lilith an introductory handshake, but Lilith promptly called her weird, so she hid behind Oka.

"I take it you're not quite ready to go yet while you're still on ground time," Lyla said.

"No, no, we're ready," I said, dragging myself to my feet.

"You know why Lillia's so sad?" Lilith asked.

"Why's that?" Oka said.

"She's sad because she got dumped!" Lilith said.

"Young love is a pain," Lyla said.

Knowing how things tended to go between myself and my younger sister, I half-expected her to tell me she had been betrothed so some royalty somehow. Whenever I was on a losing streak, she seemed to be on the opposite route.

At least the rest of my family was in a more overtly sympathetic mood. My parents and Lyla had graciously gathered a collection of literature about dealing with breakups that they left on my desk. While I didn't want to read those right away, I appreciated the gesture. My parents informed me that my room's cleanliness was to their satisfaction. Not wanting any of them in my room too long, I promptly hurried them out the door, asking for a brief moment alone with Zeta and Oka.

Zeta played with her newly braided hair. "Well, have fun today! I think I'm gonna be kinda lonely here…"

I had known her long enough to know what she meant just by her tone and body language.

"If you come with last minute, you won't get to sit with us, my family already bought the tickets," I said.

"And didn't you say you've seen this play like seven times already?" Oka said.

"Yeah, Stella was in it, and she couldn't get a babysitter, so I saw this one a bunch…" Zeta said. She pouted.

"Aw, it'll be alright," Oka said, giving her girlfriend a hug.

"If you need something to do while we're away, would you mind doing me a favor?" I asked.

"Sure, what is it?" Zeta asked.

"Kalei has practice today, could you go watch and see if you can gleam anything about her situation?"

"I have to watch another sport thing?" Zeta whined.

"You don't have to pay attention, just hang out with Kalei and try to figure out what's going on," I said.

Something strange happened with Kalei, that much I was certain. Not only that, but the school's shifts suggested something sinister brewing even underneath the surface of powerful Cani arriving and beating up our former principal. Zeta's mother was on campus scheming something, her father as well, the River and Lyric trio trying to investigate the past to figure out exactly what was happening, but little progress had been made as of late.

It felt like every mystery on campus had hit a standstill, even with a great detective like Tik Moonheart, none of us had been able to break through it all.

"Maybe afterwards say something about our video project?" Oka suggested. "You could film something and try to get intel while you work on it?"

"I forgot about that—well! I mean mostly forgot!" Zeta said.

Lilith pounded on the door. "Lillia, hurry up already!"

"We'd best be off then," I said.

Zeta saluted. "I'll do my best and let you know right away if I find anything!"

"Thank you," I said.

I wasn't exactly thrilled to be doing anything that day, but I suppose going out with family and a dear friend to a musical was better than lying on the ground feeling sorry for myself.

After a drive to one of the older theaters in Litus Empirica, thankfully carried by Oka's conversations with my family, I wondered if I made the right choice. Maybe wallowing in self-pity would have been better that the sight that greeted us.

"Good thing Zeta didn't come with," Oka said.

A bus from school had arrived before us. Normally, a field trip happening at the same time wouldn't mean much to me, but this particular group did give me pause. Octa Kathron appeared to be chaperoning a group of the devils.