Until the Stars Align
Chapter 3 — Bond in the Light
The alarm buzzed for the third time before Luka finally peeled his eyes open. His room was still half-dark, the curtains barely letting in the gray-blue of an early Tokyo morning. His controller lay at his side, the game screen on his monitor frozen in the aftermath of yet another late-night dungeon run.
He groaned, pressing his face into the pillow. "Why… why do I do this to myself?"
The pounding on his door was the only answer.
"Oi! Luka!" Kenji's voice carried far too much energy for this hour. "If you don't get up, I'm storming in, and you know I'll raid your snack stash again!"
Luka sat up with a scowl. "You already do that anyway."
By the time he shuffled downstairs, Kenji was waiting at the gate with his ridiculous grin, scarf half-wrapped around his neck like he'd wrestled it on the way there.
"You look like a zombie, man." Kenji clapped him on the back. "Stayed up gaming again, huh? Don't tell me you cried when your pixelated waifu died."
Luka gave him a deadpan stare. "Not everything is about waifus."
"Sure, sure," Kenji said, drawing out the words. "But the bags under your eyes don't lie."
Luka adjusted his glasses, trying to hide the smirk tugging at his lips. Somehow, Kenji always knew how to make his exhaustion feel… less heavy.
---
Seaview High — Morning
The campus buzzed with chatter as students streamed through the gates. Luka normally liked blending into the tide of uniforms, slipping quietly into class. But today, Kenji slung an arm over his shoulder and dragged him into the center of it all.
"Listen," Kenji said, "we're sitting with more people at lunch today. No more ditching me for your mystery library girl."
Luka froze mid-step. "What?"
Kenji smirked knowingly. "You think I don't notice you sneaking off every day? You disappear faster than my dad when the bill comes."
"I wasn't—" Luka started, but Kenji cut him off with a wagging finger.
"No excuses. Friend group bonding time. You'll thank me later."
Luka muttered something about regretting his life choices, but he didn't fight back. Not really.
---
Classes rolled by in their usual monotony, Luka's notes neat and precise despite his sleepiness. But the weight in his chest lingered—half-dread, half-anticipation. Would Aria be in the library again? Would she still smile at him like yesterday?
The lunch bell rang, and Kenji wasted no time corralling Luka toward the courtyard. Several students had already claimed a sunny spot beneath the sakura trees, laughter bubbling up around them.
"Yo!" Kenji announced, throwing himself down onto the grass. "I brought the zombie! Be nice to him."
"Wow, Luka Mori actually showed up?" a tall boy with bleached hair snickered. "I thought you were just a myth Kenji made up."
Luka resisted the urge to turn and flee.
"Sit," Kenji ordered, patting the ground beside him.
Reluctantly, Luka lowered himself, clutching his bento like a shield. There were three others already there: Rika, an energetic girl from the track team whose voice carried across the courtyard; Daichi, a quiet manga fanatic who barely lifted his eyes from the volume in his hands; and the bleach-haired joker whose name Luka vaguely remembered as Haruto.
Kenji, of course, introduced him with unnecessary flair. "This is Luka, my best bro, fellow sufferer of tragic anime endings, and—"
"Kenji," Luka warned.
"—and possibly hiding a secret girlfriend," Kenji finished with a wink.
Before Luka could snap back, a shadow fell across their group.
Aria.
She stood hesitantly at the edge of the circle, copper-streaked hair catching the sunlight. For a second, Luka forgot how to breathe.
"Uh," Aria said, her voice softer than the breeze. "Is it… okay if I sit here?"
"Of course!" Rika scooted over eagerly. "Come on! The more the merrier."
Kenji's grin widened as he elbowed Luka. "Well, well. What a coincidence."
Luka's ears burned. "Shut up."
---
At first, Aria sat stiffly, hands folded neatly in her lap, eyes scanning the group like she was waiting for a trap. But slowly, as the conversation shifted from teachers' quirks to the latest episode of an anime Rika had binged, she began to ease.
Haruto cracked some terrible joke about confessing to his crush with a Pokémon battle, and to Luka's shock—Aria laughed.
It wasn't polite or restrained. It was real, bright and unguarded, the kind of laugh that made Luka's chest ache.
Even Daichi looked up from his manga, blinking like he'd just witnessed a miracle.
"You're full of surprises, Aria," Kenji said, grinning.
She tilted her head. "Is that… bad?"
"No way. It's awesome."
Luka caught her eye then, and for a fleeting second, the world seemed to quiet. She smiled—not the guarded curve of her lips from yesterday, but something softer. Directed only at him.
And Luka realized something terrifying.
He liked it. Too much.
---
After lunch, the group split to head back to class. Luka hung back, walking alongside Aria.
"Sorry about Kenji," he muttered. "He doesn't know what a filter is."
"I don't mind," she said, her voice thoughtful. "It's… different. Being around people like that."
"Different how?" Luka asked.
She hesitated, her gaze drifting past him. "Like I don't have to… pretend so much."
Before Luka could respond, her expression shifted. For just a moment, she flinched, her body going tense.
Luka followed her gaze. Across the courtyard, a man in a dark suit strode past the gates, face shadowed by sunglasses. He didn't look at them—but Aria's reaction was sharp, instinctive.
When she noticed Luka watching, she forced a smile. "It's nothing."
But Luka wasn't convinced.
Later, walking home together along the quiet streets, Luka spotted it again: a black car idling too long across the road. The windows were tinted, impossible to see inside.
He felt a chill crawl up his spine.
Aria noticed too. Her pace quickened, though she tried to mask it.
Neither of them said a word.
---
By the time they reached the familiar turn where their paths split, the tension between them felt heavy. Luka wanted to say something—to ask, to demand answers—but the words tangled in his throat.
Aria beat him to it.
"Luka." She stopped, clutching her bag strap tightly. "I'm not used to this. Being close to people. Trusting them." Her eyes lifted to his, steady but vulnerable. "But with you… it feels different. I don't know why."
Luka's chest tightened. He adjusted his glasses, fighting the heat rising in his face. "I… get it. I'm the same. I don't really let people in. Not usually."
They stood there, the silence between them charged with something unspoken.
Then, inevitably, Kenji's voice rang out from the distance.
"Oi! Lovers' quarrel already?!"
Luka groaned as Aria's lips curved into the faintest smile.
Maybe Kenji ruined the moment. Or maybe… he saved it from being too much, too soon.
Either way, as Luka watched Aria walk away, her copper hair swaying in the fading light, he knew one thing for certain.
He didn't just want to protect her.
He was already falling.
---
TO BE CONTINUED…