Distant

“—! Hey!” A voice was calling out to Aion.

But wasn’t he just talking with Luna? Why is there another voice now?

“What?” Aion spoke despite not being the one to do it.

The voice sighed and said, “You’re zoning out again?”

“Sorry, sorry, I’ve just been tired lately.”

“Are you busy doing schoolwork or something?”

Aion realized he was dreaming. He was dreaming of a memory from high school.

“You know that would never happen.”

The voice laughed and said, “Yeah, yeah. It’s still worth checking. I mean, it would certainly explain your exhaustion.”

“I suppose it would.”

“So, what’s wrong?”

“...” Aion went quiet.

“Is it hard to share?”

“Yeah…”

The voice smiled sadly and said, “You know, if you ever want to open up, I’d really appreciate it if you did. I mean…” The voice trailed off.

“Hm?”

“Ah! It’s nothing! Don’t worry about it! Nope, don’t worry at all! Okay?”

“Sure.”

“Great! So let’s just move along, okay?”

Aion gave a vague agreement and stared at the source of the voice for a couple of seconds.

“Ah…um…” The voice was nervous. “You know…staring like that, it’s embarrassing, you know?”

“Huh? Why?”

“I don’t like people staring at me, you know that!”

“Right, I remember when **** did that and you got all worked up; it was kind of funny, you know?”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“I would never.”

“...Who are you, and what have you done—”

“Is it seriously that unbelievable?” Aion complained; he looked a little offended.

“Yes.”

“Seriously?”

The voice laughed and said, “Well, that habit of yours, it makes you really endearing.”

“Endearing? Are you making fun of me?”

“No! Not at all. It’s just nice that you’re so honest, is all. You act the same with whoever you want to, isn’t that endearing?”

“Isn’t that a normal thing to do?”

The source of the voice smiled and said, “It should be, but you know how kids here are.”

“You do have a point…”

“So, I like that honesty of yours~”

“If you say so.”

“I do say so!”

“Also, what the hell is this conversation?”

“Ah, yeah, this is a rather weird conversation, huh?”

“You’re the one who made it that way.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But it looks like you’re in a better mood.”

“Ah,” Aion let out a surprised noise and smiled. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

“So, were you just grinding away chess games late into the night?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

“Ha! I figured it out!”

“...”

“What?”

“Am I really that easy to see through?”

“Hm…I don’t know if I’d say that. I just figured that you were either watching something late into the night, which I have my doubts about, or you were playing chess late into the night.”

“What about reading?”

“Ah! Shoot, I didn’t even think of that!”

“So you just shot a lucky guess in the dark, huh?”

The voice laughed awkwardly and said, “I guess that’s just the truth, huh?”

“I knew something was up when you made such a dead-on guess.”

“Hey!”

Aion laughed and was about to say more before the morning announcements started playing, and he sighed. It seemed like that was that.

And then, Aion looked forward at the screen to watch the announcements, taking in the people that—

—Aion awoke from the dream, staring with an empty expression at the ceiling.

The memory from high school was unpleasant, and it made him feel worse than he already did. His body felt exhausted, and his mind felt like mush. Last night, he failed to help Luna again. But this time, he felt like an even bigger failure than the first loop.

“Fuck…” Aion mumbled as a sickened expression formed on his face.

He quickly got out of bed, stumbling in the process to head to the bathroom. At the sink he grabbed the two sides of the sink, clutching them with as strong of a grip as he could muster so early in the morning as he stared in the mirror to see an exhausted expression written all over his face. Bags were under his eyes, similar to how he usually was in his old body, and the blue eyes he had looked clouded, like he was thinking about something far away from the present situation.

Inhaling slowly and deeply, Aion shut his eyes for a moment, calming himself. Soon, he opened his eyes, and he looked slightly better; his eyes were now focused, and his expression wasn’t as pitiful. Seeing this, he exhaled and returned to his normal breathing.

Aion, after taking care of washing his face and his morning routine, descended the stairs, wondering what time it was. He went to the kitchen and found the oven with a digital clock that read 4:32.

“Seriously?” Aion mumbled.

I was seriously out that long? Aion thought. He tried remembering what time he’d gone to bed the night before and soon found that his memory, like he had been in the dream, was suddenly cut short in the middle of his confrontation with Luna. Did he pass out? Just like that?

It seemed ridiculous. Perhaps he’d been knocked out? Of course, he couldn’t exactly imagine Luna having those skills.

Aion shook his head when the headache he had got worse. It wasn’t worth thinking about.

Soon, a knock resounded on the door, and Aion groaned. He trudged over and opened the door to see Sam standing there.

“Ah, you answered!” Sam said with a smile.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I was asleep if you came by earlier…”

Sam looked surprised and said, “Wow, you slept quite late.”

“Yeah…I did…”

“Well, um, I came here since I wanted to invite you to the Winter Solstice party.”

“Hm? At the Magnatium Manor?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“Yeah, I’d be willing to join. I’m surprised you invited me, though.”

“We’re friends, so of course I would!”

“Right…friends…”

“Here! These are some clothes you can wear. I think we should just head over now since there’s not too much point in waiting around. I’m sure Alphonse would be thrilled to have us early!”

“Right…”

“Well, just come out when you’re ready!”

“Yeah…” Aion said as he grabbed the bag and shut the door.

He was invited again despite Sam and him not being as close as the last loop. He hadn’t even thought about it until right now; he supposed he was probably too wrapped up with Luna that he failed to consider anything else.

Aion stood perfectly still; his grasp on the bag weakened, and it slipped out of his hand, going completely unnoticed by him.

Going even further along with everything, he failed to get close with Aira. She kept him at a distance, calling him ‘sir’ and barely opening up. All because he was too focused on Luna.

Perhaps if he had shown something worthwhile with Luna, things wouldn’t have been so bad. But this—this was an absolute failure.

Aion brought a hand to his neck and grasped it lightly, his eyes trembling a bit.

“This is all just…a nightmare…” Aion whispered, his voice weak.

And even if it were real—that complete impossibility—he was real, and they were fiction.

In the end, it doesn’t matter.

In the end, it shouldn’t matter.

And yet, Aion could only grit his teeth as he fought back the tears.

* * *

“Ah, Aion! I was starting to think you just ditched me,” Sam said with a laugh.

“Sorry, I guess I took more time than I thought,” Aion said with a smile.

“No worries, I’m just glad I wasn’t ditched. That would’ve been really embarrassing, you know?”

“Yeah, it would be. So count yourself lucky~” Aion said, teasingly.

“Ah, but I know you would never do that.”

Aion's smile grew bigger, and he said, “Yeah, of course. You and I are friends, without a doubt.”

Sam looked happy, and the two soon made it to the Magnatium Manor. Like last time, Aion was checked in by Noah, and the two of them, instead of getting distracted, headed straight toward the venue.

Several people were already present, talking, smiling, and laughing. Aion recognized them all from the party of the last loop. It appeared nothing drastic enough changed to the point that it warranted a major shift in the people attending.

“So, Sam, who exactly is attending the party?”

“All, well…if I had to take a guess, I’d assume about 25 people will be attending, right?” Sam said so in the form of a question.

“25, huh?” Aion mumbled.

That number was rather unpleasant. He already struggled and failed enough with one case where 18 possible people were maybe present; how in the world would he manage 25?

Actually… Aion thought. Was it 18?

For some reason, the more he thought about that work of fiction, the more he struggled to grasp specific details. It was like he remembered general information only, ranging from genre to some of the techniques used in the murders. But beyond that? It was all in some haze.

Aion frowned, and Sam asked, “Is something the matter?”

“Huh? Oh, no. I just…have a headache from sleeping in too late.”

“Ah, I wouldn’t have invited you if I’d known that! We can always head back since I’m sure this will only make it worse.”

“No, it’s fine…”

“You really don’t look good, though…”

“I said I’m fine, so don’t worry about it, okay?” Aion said with a cheerful smile.

“If you say so. But please, if it gets to be too much, we can leave.”

“Sure, I’ll take you up on that offer.”

Sam looked a little more relieved after that, and he went on, “As for the actual people…from my understanding, excluding the two of us, of course, the other 23 should be nearly all present by now.”

Aion looked around the room briefly, counting the number of people, and came to 15.

“With the 15 people in here, one is in the kitchen, one of the servants is outside, and the three Magnatium members are probably upstairs with Sebastian and Dorothy, so that makes 22 in total,” Aion ran through the situation aloud under his breath, which Sam caught.

“You’re familiar with Mister Sebastian and Miss Dorothy?” Sam asked, a little surprised.

“Ah, well, Aira mentioned them sometime.”

“Oh, she did, huh?”

Aion looked around once more and came to the conclusion that the one religious person hadn’t shown up, and that would make 23; add Aion and Sam, and 25 are accounted for. Considering the fact that Aion had no memory of anyone else, it seemed like 25 people really was the total number of guests.

“Yeah, it looks like Bishop Raphael hasn’t shown up yet.”

“Raphael? I would’ve guessed Carter would be the one here.”

“Ah…I think you should refer to them with their titles, you know?”

“It’s fine. But why isn’t he here?”

“Ah, well, it’s a long-standing tradition for the person who is next in line for sainthood to attend the Winter Solstice party hosted by the Magnatium family. It’s to establish connections with the people they will be working with in the future. As for the actual Saint, he is in charge of the Winter Solstice festival in town.”

“Hm…I see…” Aion said, a bit interested in the system, but he shook it off quickly. “Hey, could you tell me everyone’s names?”

“Hm? I mean, sure,” Sam said, a little surprised by Aion’s request. Turning toward William, he began, “The gentleman in the black suit and grey slicked-back hair is William Cornelius, father of Juno. He’s in charge of basically everything money-wise in Magna; he was a huge talent for that type of stuff. The woman next to him is Odelia Cornelius, his wife. The older two that they are currently talking with are my parents. While the younger one is my brother, George.”

Aion looked at the two Astras and found that they looked quite similar to both Sam and his brother, especially the father.

“Moving along, the servants are—”

“Actually, I already know the servant names. Who is that?” Aion asked, gesturing at a man who looked a little older than Alexander but still younger than most of the adults present.

“Ah, that’s Agarus, Magna’s doctor.”

Agarus looked like quite the lady killer. Granted, Aion could argue all of the people present were quite attractive. Even someone like William has his own charm; he was, after all, quite good-looking for his age. He supposed that’s the advantage of being rich, having access to top-of-the-line self-care.

“How about those two?” Aion pointed out two older adults; they were busy flirting with each other.

Aion knew a couple of people who would be jealous of such a thing.

“That’s the Solon family. They charge two separate things. The woman, Sophia Solon, is in charge of consumerism, I believe, while her husband, Sophus Solon, is in charge of agriculture.”

“Hm…well, thank you for that.”

“No problem, I get you wanting to know everyone; it makes things easier, right?”

“Right…” Aion said rather vaguely. “Although, what are Alphonse’s parents’ names?”

“Ah, Maximilian and Anna Magnatium.”

“Got it, I understand.”

Then, the doors opened, and Noah, along with Raphael, stepped through. That meant the party was likely to get underway soon.

And as if on cue, a minute later the two personal servants of the Magnatium heads and the Magnatiums themselves stepped through the door, commencing the Winter Solstice party for the second time.