IV — The Withered Void Of Moonlight

The meeting simply happened, and it didn’t feel like a mere coincidence.

And no, it couldn't even be much more of coincidence than that.

Or else, maybe it was just that exact lingering tension from Anna herself.

However, the issue was she didn’t even know how to face Reita. 

Not at all.

Especially dressed in those casual attires, bringing those heavy ingredients.

No, it would be quite a mess to see him that way, in this circumstance.

Meanwhile, Reita was completely at ease.

No one had ever seen him at a bookstore before—especially not the one that is near to his house.

So the chances of running into anyone here were very slim. 

Or at least, that’s what he told himself way before this had taken place.

The truth was, Riku Reita never really felt like being accompanied by his friends.

To him, they were just a way to having fun. Doing things that teenagers should do.

And that's it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Because in the end… he was all alone.

No one cared if he was eating his breakfast. 

No one ever asked about his family, or even how he was feeling. 

What mattered to them was simple:

Riku Reita was exactly what they thought he was.

Or that Riku Reita is Riku Reita. Nothing else matters.

And on the surface, his life perhaps seemed perfect.

Grades? Flawless—so much so that only Anna could beat him.

Looks? Beyond average, and even that alone already was an understatement.

Family? He had had a loving childhood, a comfortable home—practically his own mansion.

So what was missing in his life?

Absolutely nothing, really.

And yet, that very “nothingness” left him feeling empty.

It was as if his enthusiastic self was just a mask worn by him.

As if his cheerful demeanor existed only to make sure no one else ended up like him.

Or maybe… maybe, being prioritized was never something he wanted at all.

And yet somehow, life always handed him a bottle of ramune and a lemonade water.

And somehow, he had no choice but to mix them together.

Carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, citric acid, artificial flavor.

Combined into a lemon-flavored ramune soda.

And he genuinely enjoyed it, similar to a protagonist from a romcom light novel he read.

At least, that was mostly what ran through his mind as he flipped through each page of the manga.

Imagining… no, that alone didn’t feel right.

Instead, he found himself longing for something much more.

His refusal to be acknowledged as the “Ouji-sama” was, in a way, relatable. But at best, it mirrored how he lived his life—a life of subtle hypocrisy, clinging to labels he never liked.

Still, better to fill that empty void with something, even if he never truly enjoyed it.

Deep down, though, he wished for significant change.

What people usually imagined as a red, rose-colored high school life had been just perpetual mundane for him. Yet, perhaps, he was ready for a shift—even if only sparked by a funny, unexpected circumstance.

That change arrived the very first time he met Anna.

It was like cherry blossoms suddenly bursting into color, each petal melting into her presence. He had never imagined sitting across from her on that bench beneath the tree, seeing her there in that moment.

In his eyes, she was a princess. 

Uninterrupted, sitting upon her throne, ruling the world from a grimoire. 

And in an instant, the shoujo story he’d been reading transformed—from slice-of-life romance into historical fantasy. He had been lost in his own thoughts for far too long until—

Someone tapped his shoulder. 

Gentle. Barely any force, let alone weight at all.

“Are you… Reita-kun?”

He looked up. And there she was—the princess—standing right in front of him.

Her attire did nothing to hide the fact that she was a princess.

Or rather, a princess who could go undercover, though no one would ever mistake her if they truly observed her graceful demeanor. A princess in disguise. Cinderella before finding her prince.

But no. She had never been Cinderella to begin with.

His mind refused that thought. 

Instead, she probably was just a little girl who had lost in books and imaginary thoughts.

As a response, his mouth went agape.

“Reita-kun?”

Anna, utterly flustered, waved her hands helplessly.

From her point of view, he looked completely shocked. 

But… shouldn’t she be the one reacting like that?

To be honest… I should be the one getting surprised here. But why…?

In his mind, chaos erupted—cables sparking and tangling mercilessly across his mental circuits.

How is she even here? 

He thought. 

I didn’t even know she would also read stuff like this too!

Anna Kanzaki—out of nowhere—tapped his shoulder and called his name.

It felt fated, somehow. But to him, it was a disaster.

Not because he had met her—no, that wasn’t it.

The real problem? She now knew this quirky habit of his… and could call him out for being a freak, weird person. And no, he definitely wasn’t ready for that.

I don’t want her telling my friends about any of this!

And just before he could actually say something—

A slap landed on his face all of a sudden.

The weight was light, yet enough to drag up memories from yesterday.

However, the sound was heavy, echoing throughout the corner section's atmosphere.

“Ouch…”

“A-ah, sorry!”

Oh no! I… I hurt him again!

Panic washed all over Anna's face, her heart was hammering.

But instead of wincing as a reaction, he looked at her.

"Kanzaki-san."

And this time, his lips curved into that well-known signature of his.

A smile that could falter anyone’s heart—a smile from an assassin—and Anna was no exception.

The one that made Riku Reita truly Riku Reita.

“It’s alright!” he said, joyfully. 

As if nothing actually happened between them.

To Anna, it was a smile as bright as a sunrise.

The setting sun spilling warmth across a world she didn’t even know she’d been waiting for.