Difference

“What are you doing here!?” Juno’s voice cut through the noise and caught Aion’s attention.

Apparently, much like the last loop, she was upset with Sam’s presence.

“What? I’ve been here every year for a while now,” Sam said.

Juno gave an annoyed look and said, “I don’t care! Leave at once!”

“Ah…well…I’m not leaving until Aion leaves…”

“Hah!? Aion!? The outsider, excuse me!?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Look, this place had no need for someone like you.”

“Hm…” Sam didn’t seem all that affected as he grabbed a glass of some sort of reddish-purplish drink.

It looked like wine.

“Seriously!?”

“Ah, look, convince Aion to leave, and I’ll happily leave.”

“That’s completely—eek!” Juno jumped and let out a surprised noise when Sam closed the distance and whispered something into her ear.

Her surprise, however, quickly vanished, and her eyes sharpened. She whispered something back, and Sam smiled and nodded.

“Aion!” Juno came stomping over to him.

Sam sighed, exasperated, while Aion thought of how to respond.

“So, here’s the thing: I have a favor,” Juno said with a nervous expression. She twined and untwined her fingers with a bit of a blush.

Who the hell is this!? Aion thought with a flabbergasted expression.

“You see…um…if you wouldn’t mind…I would really like for you to leave the party…would you be willing to?” Juno’s eyes batted up toward Aion’s face, who only looked even more stupefied.

“And why should I do that?” Aion asked.

“Ah…well…you see…um…it’s for the best…?”

“Why did you ask that like a question?”

“Uh…”

“Are you okay?”

Juno was now playing with her blonde hair by grabbing clumps and bringing them closer to her face.

“Hn…” Then she let out a noise and crouched down, making even more strange noises.

“Uh? Sam, what the fuck is this?”

Sam looked a little confused and said, “Ah, um…I’m not sure myself…”

“Uh…Juno…?” Aion crouched down to look at her face.

Juno looked up at him with some tears in her eyes and said, “Won’t you, please?”

“...I have business I must accomplish here, so I apologize, but I won’t be leaving.”

Then, Juno’s face twisted into annoyance, and she clicked her tongue. “I thought that would work…”

“...Bitch…” Aion mumbled.

He couldn’t believe he fell for such an obvious ruse. This was Juno, the character who was supposed to be a stuck-up princess archetype. So her suddenly transforming like that, without any progression that leads to development, should’ve been completely out of the question. The only thing Aion should consider is why. Why did she want them to leave so much?

First Esme, and then Sam.

Aion brought his hand over his mouth; something inside of him clicked. It wasn’t anything grounded and certain; Aion knew that. But looking at the details, Juno has no reason for Sam to not be present. With Esme, he could create an excuse. After all, Esme was getting close to her fiancé, so a justification for the attempt to bar Esme from the party could be followed logically. But then, there is Sam. The most that can connect with the situation is Sam being friends with Esme.

But would Esme push so much for something like that? It was incredibly petty and pointless. If anything, she should go harass Esme instead of Sam, and then when Esme is gone, she can go on the attack toward Sam.

So then why would she make an attempt against Sam first? Someone who doesn’t have to do with Esme’s attendance.

With those premises in mind, Aion found that her behavior couldn’t quite be simplified down to simply not wanting both of them present.

Thus, going under the assumption that the conclusion is false, new possibilities open up. Two times Juno targeted Sam at the party without bothering with Esme. One possible conclusion is the fact that she just went with in-the-moment reactions. Another possibility goes into her strange desperation along with the facts of the case: Sam and Esme die.

Furthermore, post-Esme’s disappearance, Juno showed genuine concern.

So, going by those premises, does that not imply Juno knows something? As if she knew what was coming, she tried to warn two of the people she knew.

But there are several problems with the hypothesis.

The first and most obvious problem is the fact that she doesn’t seem all that close with Esme and Sam. Especially Esme, with the fact that she stole Alphonse away in a sense. While, yes, she showed concern for Esme’s disappearance, at the end of the day, that could just be basic empathy.

But it goes even further. Why would she let her father die like that? Perhaps that could be resolved with their relationship not being close.

But then another problem arises: why doesn’t she say anything at all to anyone?

Is she jailed from saying anything at all?

“Hey, Juno, can we talk privately?” Aion asked.

“Huh?” Juno looked almost offended. “Why should I?”

“It has to do with the possibility of me leaving.”

A reaction occurred briefly in her eyes; what that meant, Aion wasn’t sure. All he could reason with was that what he said was relevant in some way.

“You just went completely silent for a while, and now you want to talk? What a pain…”

“Just shut it. Let’s go.”

Juno seemed to agree since she began following Aion.

“Hey, Aion, I can—” Sam started, but then he stopped when he saw Aion’s face.

He’d never seen Aion look so serious in his life that he was taken aback for a moment.

“Sam, you can stay here,” Aion said.

Sam nodded vacantly, still preoccupied by what had just happened. And Aion glanced at the clock before leaving; it was only 6:08, so he had about 40 minutes before he should start preparing for the worst.

Aion left the venue and stopped a distance away from the ballroom to turn toward Juno.

Juno was a little surprised and said, “I thought we’d go to a room.”

“I’d prefer not to be cornered by someone I don’t know if I can trust.”

Juno’s eyes sharpened, and she said, “You don’t know if you can trust me, huh?”

“Of course, so I have a question for you.”

“What?”

“Why don’t you want Sam and Esme here?”

“They shouldn’t be here!”

“Why?”

“That’s…”

Aion got in close and whispered into Juno’s ear, “Only respond with two blinks for no and three blinks for yes. Is someone threatening you to silence?”

Juno blinked twice.

“Do you know of an incident that is happening tonight?”

Juno blinked twice.

“Final question, why are you lying?”

“Eh?” Juno turned toward Aion’s face, a surprised expression on her face, but then she backed away quickly, seeing Aion’s eyes.

“What?”

“Ah…” Juno stared into his eyes; for some reason all the tension she felt was gone. That jump suddenly felt dumb.

Why did she do that? There was nothing wrong with his eyes, nothing at all.

“Will you answer my question?”

“Ah, I’m not lying! I swear!”

“Swear by Lunalis.”

“Huh? Why should I do that?”

“Why indeed.”

“What…are you…?”

“I am Aion Belial.”

“No, I didn’t ask for who you are. I asked what you are.”

“I’m human, then?”

“...”

“What?”

“Nothing. But fine, if it satisfies you, I, Juno Celestia, swear by Lunalis that nothing but the truth has been said in this conversation.”

“...”

Aion stared at her for several long seconds before sighing. It was a jump in reasoning anyway, and only a possibility. He has rushed through the reasoning to try and secure information. After all, even just a little more may help with such a nightmare of a case.

Aion still couldn’t explain her motives behind why she’s pushing for Sam and Esme to leave, but he was still satisfied eliminating her from the situation.

“You can go now,” Aion said.

“Seriously?” Juno looked upset but left regardless.

I guess…I just let myself get paranoid after last time…

* * *

Aion returned to the ballroom later in the night. The clock read 6:46, meaning the time of reckoning was soon upon them.

Looking around, he saw several people having a grand time, chatting and laughing happily. He saw the familiar faces mingling and separating so they could spend time with one another. It was like an unspoken agreement between them all.

The only person completely off by themselves was Aira, so Aion decided to talk with her, feeling a little lonely himself.

“Ah, sir, is there something you need?” Aira asked politely.

“No need for the honorific title. There are plenty of people much higher ranking than me here.”

“Perhaps, but still, I am serving under you until you leave.”

“You’re serving under me, huh?” Aion said, his voice a little melancholic.

“Of course, but, sir, is something wrong? If the party isn’t up to your liking, I can try and remedy that.”

“No, it’s great,” Aion said with a smile.

“I see. I understand. Then do you need something else?”

“Ah, well, I was just looking for someone to talk to.”

“I see. You chose me, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“...”

“So, you’ll still be around after this party, huh?”

“Ah, yes. It’ll be right until you leave.”

“I see.”

“You can ask me almost anything, and I’ll accept it.”

“...”

“Is something the matter?”

“Ah…well…there’s actually…ah, whatever. I’ll ask later,” Aion said, glancing at the clock nervously.

“Are you waiting for something?”

“Yes, actually.”

“What? There’s not any special event at each hour or anything like that.”

“No, it’s not a special event or anything like that.”

“...”

“So how have you been doing? I haven’t seen you in over a day, after all.”

“I’ve been well. I apologize for not being able to tend to your needs yesterday or today.”

“It’s fine. I…was kind of asleep almost the whole time.”

“That’s a lot of time.”

“Yeah…you see, I kind of had this fight with Luna.”

“You had a fight with…Luna…?” Aira said it slowly, confusion written all over her face.

“Yeah, and well, in the middle of it I suddenly lost consciousness.”

“Uh…”

“Yeah, weird, right?”

“Yeah, Luna isn’t capable of knocking anyone out, so maybe someone else?”

“Perhaps. I was, well, preoccupied by the argument, so I might’ve missed someone approaching.”

“What was the fight about?”

“Ah, I probably shouldn’t share that. It’s…rather personal, to say the least. I guess if Luna agreed to it, then I would. But that’s not exactly something that’ll happen tonight.”

“I understand. I guess I’ll try tomorrow.”

“Yeah…” Aion’s voice was a little downtrodden, completely failing to conceal his emotions on the matter.

“It must’ve been serious.”

“It was. It’s probably one of the biggest fights I’ve ever had in my life.”

“That’s surprising.”

“It is?”

“I mean, you just got to know her and all.”

“Yeah. I suppose looking at it that way would make it rather surprising. But I believe the length of time for a friendship isn’t important. No matter what, people can have deep relationships that can warrant fights even with only a little time.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Luna, she’s someone I quite appreciate as a friend.”

“You do, huh?”

“Yeah, I do…”

Aira smiled and said, “It sounds like finding yourself here isn’t a complete waste then. Although, I guess keeping in contact would be difficult…”

“Perhaps. But I agree with it not being a waste. In the end, this will certainly be a time I remember for a long time; that much I am certain about.”

“You’re quite the optimist, huh?”

Aion smiled and said, “Yeah, I suppose I am. It’s one of the beliefs I adhere to the most.”

“It’s a nice mindset.”

“Yeah, it definitely is,” Aion said as he glanced at the clock once more.

6:59.

Soon, the lights would shut off and everything would begin all over again. This time—this time will be different. Aion was resolved to make it that way.

It wasn’t out of some grand desire. Rather, it was only because he didn’t want to see Aira and Sam die again. So, he would most certainly not allow that to happen again.

Even if he isn’t as close with them in this loop, that doesn’t matter. To ignore that emotional resonance he felt with them would be betraying himself. So he would stop this. He would stop this to move on from this nightmare. And then, he will most certainly be awake again, returning to his own life.

That was what’s best.

Yes…I am real…and they are fiction…

And then, the clock struck 7:00, and the lights stayed on.