The gathering stretched on with all the weight of an endless performance, yet when it finally broke apart, it felt almost abrupt—like a curtain yanked down before the actors were ready. The tea cups had gone cold, the last words had faded, and the golden light of late afternoon had deepened into a dusky orange. Mika and Rei were the first to rise, each of them bowing lightly with that social grace they carried so naturally.
"Until next time, Yuxin. Rest well." Rei's voice was soft, leaving behind a warmth Yuxin did not acknowledge.
"Don't forget tomorrow's lessons, darling," Mika added with a wink, before sweeping out with her usual theatrical sway.
And then there was silence.
The door clicked shut behind them, leaving Yuxin sitting alone at the table. The air seemed heavier without their chatter—empty, but not peaceful. Her shoulders slumped, the exhaustion of the charade gnawing at her bones. She thought, maybe, she could finally slip away without anyone else prying.
But then she heard it—steps. Two sets. Purposeful, deliberate.
Yuki and Fuuka had not left. Instead, they approached, their presence pulling the quiet taut like a string about to snap. Yuki's hands were in her pockets, her grin thinner now, more serious, though still relaxed enough to feel mocking. Fuuka's eyes, calm and sharp, locked onto Yuxin with the weight of someone who already knew the answers.
Yuki tilted her head, breaking the silence first.
"That thing of yours… the Aether Blockage. And the distortions. You get them often, don't you?"
Yuxin stiffened, her lips pressing together. For a moment, she thought about lying—brushing it off with her usual sharp dismissal. But something in their eyes told her it wouldn't work. She exhaled slowly.
"…Sometimes. More than sometimes, actually. If I push too hard with my Astraga, it… gets bad."
The words felt bitter, pulled from her throat like splinters.
Fuuka stepped forward, closing the distance between them in a way that made Yuxin flinch. She hadn't realized how close she was until Fuuka's shadow spilled across her lap. Her face came down to Yuxin's level, close enough that their breaths seemed to tangle. Yuxin's heart jumped into her throat, her body tensing, her voice sharper now.
"What the hell are you doing—"
Fuuka's tone cut cleanly through her protest, low and deliberate, like a scalpel sliding across skin.
"I knew it. My guess was right."
Yuxin froze, caught in the intensity of her gaze. Her pulse hammered as she searched Fuuka's expression, finding no jest, no hesitation. Only certainty.
The silence that followed dragged long enough to gnaw at her nerves. Fuuka finally drew a small breath, her voice shifting into that strange mixture of healer and scholar, each word precise, clinical, yet threaded with the arcane.
"Your symptoms aren't random. Aether flowing through your channels collapses in unstable patterns. It resists you—your body rejects the resonance. It is the mark of a fractured conduit, something not born aligned with you. A possession that doesn't sit in harmony with its vessel. I've read about this… in grimoires, in forbidden manuscripts hidden away. A distortion of bond, where the soul fights the gift it carries."
Her words wrapped tightly around Yuxin, pressing her into a cage of theory and truth she didn't want to face. She tried to break her gaze, but Fuuka leaned just slightly closer, voice dropping lower.
"Yuxin… your Astraga isn't yours."
The words stabbed through the quiet, leaving the room heavy, suffocating. Yuxin's breath caught, her fingers twitching on her lap. She wanted to deny it, to snarl back, to push Fuuka away. But the certainty in her eyes pinned her down like chains.
The silence stretched again, crushing. Then Fuuka finished, her voice steadier, colder.
"You weren't born with it. You were given it. Someone placed that Astraga in you."
The air itself seemed to still. Yuki's grin had faded, her eyes narrowing slightly, studying her reaction like he was trying to measure how deep the blade had gone. Yuxin felt her throat tighten, her chest knotting painfully.
Fuuka straightened a little, but her words cut sharper than ever, the final blow delivered with clinical cruelty.
"You were born Null. A Null-born. Someone who cannot summon an Astraga at all."
The words echoed in Yuxin's ears, heavier than any insult, more damning than any curse. Her jaw trembled, though her eyes burned with the effort of not letting either of them see the fracture spreading through her.
The silence that followed was not just silence. It was revelation, a truth pressed like a blade against her throat, leaving her gasping for something to cling to—but finding nothing.