Click. Click.
A tiny flame flared to life, licking at the edge of the cigarette before settling into a faint glow.
Ashen leaned back on the worn bench, the wood creaking softly under his weight.
Around him, the citadel's outer gardens breathed in lazy silence. Leaves swayed without purpose.
He drew in a slow breath, the ember flaring bright for a moment before dimming again.
The smoke rolled from his lips in a tired plume, curling upward until it dissolved into the gray evening light.
For a while, he didn't think.
He stared at the city's jagged horizon through half-lidded eyes.
The world outside kept moving, restless as ever, but here he sat—still, lazy, calm in that bitter kind of way, with a cigarette burning down between his fingers.
He didn't regret telling the truth about Seraphine. He liked to think he was man enough to own up to it. What he did with Alice's best friend was low, sure, but lying about it would've been worse.
So he never planned to hide it.
Still, even knowing her reaction, even expecting the fallout… it felt pretty damn shitty all the same.
The last embers of the cigarette finally died out, and with them, so did the bitter feelings.
Ashen didn't have the leeway to stay gloomy or entertain his mood swings more than he had to.
Not with so much at stake, and not when the fault lay with him.
It wasn't like he was going to give up on Alice or acknowledge the so-called "breakup" anyway.
For now, he decided to think about something else: his new step name, Idle Chronicler.
'Haah… To be honest, I have no idea how to approach this one.'
The first part of the name, Idle, was straightforward enough, but it also wasn't Ashen's style to stay plainly idle.
Though it was ironic how he had to deal with idleness just when he lost that clingy, strategically idle trait.
The second part, Chronicle, was when things got confusing.
'From what I know, a chronicler is a person who records events as they are, but with more focus on historical events. So am I supposed to become some kind of historian now? And when you put Idle before that, it becomes all the more confusing…'
'Well, a visit to the library is a must, anyhow.'
Next on the agenda was testing the new path skills he'd acquired.
'First, Vital Drift…' Ashen closed his eyes and focused inwardly.
But there wasn't much to figure out here, since the skill was actually passive.
Though Ashen could feel a constant, comfortable sensation spreading minutely to every part of his body.
This pleasant feeling was reminiscent of some of the healing spells that the medics in the army used on him, but much more subtle.
He knew the new skill was at work here, probably healing all the small, hidden wounds that riddled his body from all the abuse he'd endured.
'That's neat, but I have to figure out a way to increase the skill's mastery… the healing is somewhat underwhelming…'
Anyone else who heard him complain after acquiring such a good ability at such a low step would have liked to give him a good slap.
'Next, Somatic Autonomy. I've left you for last, please don't disappoint.' He eagerly triggered the skill.
{Activated Path Skill: Somatic Autonomy.}
Ssss—
The moment he heard the system's announcement, he abruptly felt his mana drain away, as if a black hole had appeared under his mana heart, sucking everything away and leaving nothing behind.
'Fuck. S-stop.' He hurriedly canceled the skill, but his mana was sapped.
Ashen breathed in relief with the skill's deactivation, wiping away the sweat that had unknowingly pooled on his forehead.
"Ah, damn it… Nothing is ever easy, is it?"
⛧⛧⛧
Alice's crystal heels clicked against marble as she materialized in the entrance hall of her residence.
The moment she appeared, the circuits in her coat dimmed, and silence pressed in around her.
She stood there for a long moment, not moving, not thinking; just… feeling.
The anger that had carried her through the teleportation was already beginning to fracture, giving way to something worse.
Betrayal.
Her fingers trembled as she removed her coat, letting it slide from her shoulders. One of her attendants caught it mid-fall, but Alice barely noticed.
She walked through the corridors on autopilot, her mind replaying the conversation over and over.
Seraphine.
Of all people, it had to be Seraphine.
Alice's jaw clenched. She'd known something like this would happen. She'd felt it in her gut every time she thought about introducing them, every time she imagined them in the same room.
And still, she'd hoped she was wrong.
But she wasn't.
She never was when it came to patterns, probabilities, and… outcomes.
Her best friend. The one person she'd trusted almost as much as Ashen himself.
The one person who knew what he meant to her.
Alice reached her private study and sealed the door behind her. The room was pristine, organized to perfection, every wire in place, every screen dark and waiting.
She sank into her chair, staring at the blank monitors.
For a while, she just sat there, breathing slowly, trying to process the hurt.
'Since we've already broken up, you can do as you like, Ashen. Who am I to stop you, right?'
Her own words echoed back at her, bitter and hollow.
When she saw him again. When he held her like nothing had changed. When she realized that no matter how much time passed, no matter how far apart they were—
She still loved him.
Unconditionally.
Stupidly.
Helplessly.
Alice closed her eyes, and for the first time in years, she let herself remember.
Not the breakup. Not the argument. Not the months of silence.
She let herself remember why it had always been him, why it would always be him.
Even when he broke her heart.
☽⟲✧⸸✧⟲☾
National Mathematics Competition - Age 12
Alice stood on the second-place podium, her expression blank as the crowd applauded.
Second place.
She'd never come second before.
Her eyes drifted to the boy standing one step higher. First place. Gold medal gleaming against his chest.
Ashen Hart.
She'd seen him before… briefly, in passing, but never paid attention. Why would she? Most people were predictable. Boring. Easy to understand once you identified their patterns.
But him…
He hadn't even looked like he was trying.
While she'd spent weeks preparing, drilling every formula into muscle memory, obsessing over every possible problem variation—
He'd shown up, solved everything faster than her, and smiled like it was nothing.
Alice hated that smile.
Not because it was smug, but because behind the well-crafted facade, should could see that it was uncaring.
Like winning didn't even matter to him.
Later, when they were called for photos, she found herself standing next to him.
"Good job," he said casually, glancing her way.
She didn't respond.
"You almost had me on problem seven. That was clever."
Alice's eyes narrowed slightly. "Almost doesn't count."
"True." He shrugged. "But it was still clever."
Then he walked away, leaving her standing there, fists clenched.
Clever.
She didn't want clever. She wanted first.
That night, Alice made a decision. She was going to understand him.
Decode him.
Figure out what made this anomaly tick.
And then… she'd beat him.
⛧
Two weeks later - Late at night
Alice sat in the darkness of her room, the glow of her laptop screen reflecting in her eyes.
She'd started small. Social media. Public records. School archives.
But it wasn't enough.
She needed more.
So she went deeper.
Breaking into his phone had been easier than expected. His security was laughably weak for someone so intelligent.
His computer took more effort, but she got in eventually.
And what she found… confused her.
Empty calendars. Minimal messages. No hobbies logged, no interests tracked.
He participated in everything. Sports, competitions, clubs… but there was no passion in any of it.
Just… participation.
Like he was going through the motions.
'Why?' Alice frowned at the screen. 'Why does someone this talented care so little?'
She scrolled through his files, looking for something, anything that would explain him.
And then—
A message popped up on her screen.
Unknown:Find anything interesting?
Alice froze.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, heart pounding.
Another message appeared.
Unknown:Don't worry. I'm not mad. Just curious what you were looking for.
Then a third.
Unknown:This is Ashen, by the way. In case that wasn't obvious.
Alice's breath caught.
He knew.
He'd known the whole time, and he wasn't even angry.
He was… curious.
⛧
School Rooftop - Next Day
"So," Ashen said, sitting down beside her without asking permission. "How long were you planning to watch before you actually talked to me?"
Alice didn't look at him. "I wasn't planning to talk to you."
She didn't ask how he knew which school she attended, or how he'd managed to reach the rooftop when he undoubtedly didn't belong there.
"Clearly." He leaned back, hands behind his head. "You're more of an observer, right?"
She said nothing.
"I get it," he continued. "Talking to people is exhausting. Especially when they're boring."
That made her glance at him. "You think everyone's boring?"
"Not everyone." His eyes met hers. "But most people, yeah."
Alice studied him carefully. "And me?"
"You?" Ashen smiled faintly. "You're the first person in a long time who's actually interesting."
"Because I hacked your phone?"
"Because you cared enough to hack my phone," he said, tilting his head. "Most people don't care that much… and even if they do, they're too lazy to act on it. But you're different. You need to understand things. It's like solving puzzles for you."
He wasn't wrong.
"And… I also find puzzles quite fascinating, you know." He added teasingly.
"And I'm a puzzle you can't solve," Alice said quietly.
"No." Ashen's smile widened slightly. "You're a puzzle I want to solve. There's a difference."
"..."
For the first time, Alice felt something other than cold analytical distance.
She felt seen.
"I watched you too," Ashen admitted. "After the competition. I noticed how you approached problems differently than everyone else. Like you saw everything as code and acted only with Pure logic."
"That's how the world works."
"For you, maybe." He shrugged. "For me, it's all just… noise. Nothing really matters enough to care about."
Alice turned to face him fully. "Then why do you keep winning?"
"Habit, I guess." His expression turned distant. "When you're good at everything, people expect you to keep being good. So you do. Even when it doesn't mean anything anymore."
The loneliness in his voice was familiar.
Different from hers, but still… familiar.
"You're lonely," Alice said. It wasn't a question.
"So are you."
They sat in silence for a while, neither needing to say more.
Two people who didn't fit anywhere else.
Two people who finally found someone who did.
They were witnesses to each other's loneliness, and somehow, that was enough to create a bond.