Aria didn't sleep. Not really.
Her eyes had closed, yes — but dreams clawed at her like silk threads pulled too tight.
She woke before the sunrise, heart still pounding from a dream she couldn't remember… except for the feeling.
Heat.
Weight.
Lips against her ear, whispering her name like a secret she wasn't allowed to keep.
She touched her neck where the phantom breath had lingered.
Still warm.
Her hands trembled.
Downstairs, the halls of Lunaire stirred to life.
Chatter began — soft and sweet, like candy melting under the tongue. Girls in robes wandered between rooms. Perfume. Lipstick. Laughter hiding knives.
At the center of it all, walking like a phantom through marble halls, was Nox.
Now fully dry, her long black hair was tied in a low ribbon, her uniform almost worn correctly — blazer off her shoulder, skirt slightly too short, the top button undone. Her violet eyes tracked everything and everyone without ever looking lost.
She was no longer wet, but she was still dangerous.
In the common lounge, Reina bit into a strawberry and didn't chew immediately.
"She's not like the others," she said to no one in particular.
Cassia, stretched across a velvet couch, turned a page of her book without looking up. "She's a mirror."
Reina raised an eyebrow. "That's poetic."
"It's accurate."
Cassia smirked. "Girls like you either fall in love with her... or try to destroy her."
"And you?"
"I write about her."
Aria's classes felt like static that day.
Nothing touched her. No words, no chalk screeching on the board, no compliments from instructors, no polite competition from other girls.
Because every time she blinked, she saw her again.
The black-haired girl.
Violet eyes.
Wet dress.
That moment. That look.
It wasn't a gaze.
It was a claim.
Lunchtime arrived. The grand dining hall glowed with polished silver and white marble. Girls sat in clusters — by clique, by class, by unspoken rule.
Nox sat alone.
By the window. On purpose. As if daring someone to approach her.
And so, of course, Aria did.
She didn't mean to.
But her feet carried her there like gravity.
"May I?" Aria asked, voice calm.
Nox didn't look up. "You already have."
Aria sat.
Silence stretched between them, velvet and tense. She could feel other eyes on her — whispering, judging. But her attention was locked.
"You're not... like the other girls," Aria said.
Nox smiled without humor. "You say that like it's a compliment."
"It's not."
That made Nox look up. Directly. Eyes locking again.
"Good."
They sat like that. For minutes. Not speaking. Not eating. Just existing in the same electric space.
Finally, Aria said quietly, "What do you want from this place?"
Nox leaned forward, chin resting in her hand.
Her voice, soft and deliberate:
"To know what makes beautiful girls fall apart."
Aria's breath caught.
Her spoon fell against her plate with a soft clink.
That night, Lunaire fell into its nocturnal rhythm.
Rain again. Always rain.
Girls whispered under covers.
Someone cried softly in Room 212.
The chapel lights flickered and went out.
In the music room, Aria returned. Alone.
The grand piano waited like an old secret. She sat down, hands hovering above the keys — but didn't play.
Because the air behind her shifted.
"You're tense," Nox said.
Aria didn't turn. "You're following me."
"No. I was already here."
She was lying. Aria knew it. But the lie came out like honey, not acid.
"You can play, can't you?" Nox asked, stepping closer.
"I can."
"Then show me."
Aria's hands lowered, fingers brushing the keys.
She played a soft, haunting melody — minor notes, cold and slow. Like raindrops against glass.
Her eyes remained forward, but she felt Nox move behind her.
Closer.
Closer.
Until the warmth of her breath brushed Aria's neck.
"You play like someone hiding pain," Nox whispered.
"And wanting someone to find it."
Aria's hands slipped.
A note cracked under her fingers.
She stood abruptly. "I have to go."
But Nox stepped into her path.
Too close.
Not touching. But almost.
"Aria," she said, her voice lower now. "Do you want me to stop?"
Aria's chest rose and fell. Her fists clenched. "I don't know what I want."
Nox tilted her head. "That's what makes you interesting."
And then she walked away.
Leaving behind her scent. Her silence.
Her shadow.
Later that night, Aria stood under the dorm's communal shower, water pouring over her skin like confession.
She pressed her forehead to the wall, hands shaking.
She remembered Nox's eyes. Her voice.
The way her body leaned in like she'd already been inside her thoughts.
And the worst part?
Aria didn't feel violated.
She felt seen.
Wanted.
Weak.
And it made her knees shake.
In Room 309, Nox opened her journal.
Page 5: Aria - Control slipping. Emotional barrier cracking.
She dreams of me. I can feel it.
Music is the path in.
She is not the first.
But she might be the one who breaks me back.
She stared at the words for a long time.
And then closed the book without smiling.
Somewhere deep in the campus, under the chapel…
A candle lit by unseen hands.
And a whisper in a foreign tongue.
"The tenth has entered the circle."