Cue the heart palpitations. Release the white doves. Pinch to make sure this wasn't a dream.

"Alone at last," Kaeya faced me. "Though, I wouldn't be surprised if I was dreaming again. What say you pinch me so I can find out?"

I swallowed, hoping to maintain some semblance of composure. "I'm not going to pinch you, Kaeya."

He leaned against the closed door. "I don't know whether to be happy this is real life, or sad that I'm not dreaming. In all the other versions, you didn't hesitate to pinch me. You were quite eager to do so—amongst other things."

My face heated, and I sputtered out. "Speaking of things! I have this thing for you, here." Stepping backward, I thrust the letter out to him."Can you send this with the rest of the outbound mail? It's for Madame Ping. Sorry, it's just the letter. Is there an envelope and stamp I could buy from here?"

Kaeya didn't know it, but I was stalling.

He sighed dramatically, plucking the folded paper from my hand and using it to fan his face. "Don't worry about the cost. I've got you covered. Are you sure a letter is the only thing you have for me?"

My mind faltered, he was looking at me like he knew a secret, but the only secret I had wasn't really a secret at all. Could he see it on my face? Was it so obvious that I was about to confess? No, this was probably just Kaeya being himself again. He always liked to make me question myself, so this time wasn't any different. I watched him cross the room with my letter in hand, though he didn't take his eye off me.

"I only wrote one letter."

"That I can see," he nodded. "I was expecting you might have more to say. Something that I would find quite interesting."

My shoulders jolted. Maybe he wasn't bluffing. I hesitantly asked, "Interesting, how?"

He hummed in thought, though the knowing smirk he wore suggested he was only drawing out the suspense. Kaeya set my letter down on the desk and reached over to one of the drawers. As he searched around, Kaeya said, "Interesting like collaborating with the bounty hunters to wreak havoc during academy operating hours."

The tension within me released a fraction. So, Kaeya had heard about the Arataki Gang's slip up. "I wouldn't call that wreaking havoc. The slime ordeal lasted two minutes, tops."

Kaeya laughed and pulled out a single envelope along with a roll of stamps. He tossed the roll back into the drawer after swiftly tearing one away. "Not even a week after the Sakoku Order. Anything worse than slimes, and we might see ourselves back in confinement."

I shrugged. There wasn't much I could have done to stop the escape from happening. If anything, it was good that I was there with my Vision Studies group. As bad as it may seem to get random students involved in an employee mishap, the slimes might have gotten away and caused serious damage if it weren't for us. Besides, I think it made for a fun memory.

"You missed out on all the fun," I said. "I got to meet the Arataki Gang for the first time. Their leader, Itto, shows even more skin than you do. I didn't think that was possible."

Kaeya stuffed the letter into the envelope rather abruptly. "Is that so? Did you enjoy the view?"

"Did I enjoy the—no," I blushed. "I was too focused on his bizarre personality to pay it much attention. After spending so much time around you, I think I've become somewhat desensitized to all of…that."

"Really?" he abandoned the envelope on the desk and stalked toward me. Gesturing to himself, Kaeya pressed his lips together in an amused smile. "All of this has no effect at all?"

I mentally kicked myself for bringing up the subject. Kaeya's flirts would have inevitably made an appearance at some point, but I walked straight into this one. "I meant exposure in general," I rushed out. In a lower volume, I tacked on, "That doesn't include you."

As if he couldn't hold himself back, Kaeya broke into a cheeky grin. I only saw the flash of his teeth for a moment before he turned around to focus on my letter again. Thank the Seven. I lightly tapped my cheeks and blew out a breath. After he finished, I would move on to the confession. After Kaeya stamped the envelope, I would say what was long overdue. After Kaeya—

My heart stopped, dropped, and rolled as Kaeya angled his head to the side. He'd brought the open envelope to his mouth and parted his lips to lick the edge. I took it back. The Archons had not blessed me with a moment of reprieve. They had sentenced me to even more torment. I could just look away.

His eye was half-closed as he prepared the envelope, sliding over to watch me. I watched him watch me. We watched each other as his tongue flicked across the paper, and I worried I may set the room ablaze from my flaming cheeks. Apparently, my body had decided that looking away wasn't an option.

After what felt like eternity—blissful, agonizing eternity—Kaeya sealed the envelope, pressing the edge tightly. Then, he reached for the stamp.

I couldn't do this again. Turning on my heel, I forced myself to focus anywhere but his temptation. Luckily for me, I was in the mailroom for the very first time, and that came with plenty of new material to get lost in.

"Lots of shelves here," my voice cracked. "Are they for the whole school?"

Kaeya's voice was a lot huskier than before. "The wall you're looking at is for faculty and staff. The one across is for students. Each compartment corresponds to a room number in the student dorms, though I'd prefer implementation of alphabetical order."

"Very organized," I murmured and sneaked a peek at him. Good. The envelope was stamped.

Oh, my. The envelope was stamped. Come on, Lumine—it'll be like the rehearsal that never happened because I got too overwhelmed any time I tried to think of this exact moment.

"Speaking of organization—wait, that doesn't make any sense." I was already fumbling. "What I meant to say was, on a completely different topic—not that talking about mail is boring to me. I think the work you do here is very important. It's super convenient that I saw you now since I was planning on telling you something. Well, maybe not convenient for you since it looks like you still have a lot of sorting to do. Is this a bad time?"

Kaeya had leaned back onto the edge of the desk and crossed his arms. His amused smile reappeared as he listened to me ramble. Was this entertaining to him? I was almost annoyed that he got to stand there while I struggled to find the right words, but then I remembered he'd been patiently waiting for this moment after so long.

I watched his chest lift as though he were taking a deep breath, and his face tightened with regret. "I wish I was lying to Kazuha when I mentioned being short on time in addition to the extra load of work. I'll be tied up here till the end of the hour, and classes are next immediately after. How about we find a time later today to talk?"

I wrung my hands, somehow feeling dejected even though his reasoning was completely valid. My heart didn't know whether to hold back or go all in, and now I was met with this roadblock. A very minor roadblock.

"That's fine," I chirped. I wished I had a pillow on hand to faceplant into.

Kaeya looked concerned. "Are you sure? If it's serious, you can tell me anything straight away."

"It's not—I mean, it is serious, but it can also wait for later. Later today, not in a while later."

"Does it have something to do with the Abyss?" he asked in a hushed tone.

I shook my hands out in front of me. "No, nothing of the sort. Besides the cave we found earlier this week, there hasn't been anything potentially related to the Abyss since—" I gasped and clapped a hand over my mouth as realization hit me.

I'd forgotten to tell them about Venti revealing secrets of the Champion. The duel at the start of the week had occupied most of my thoughts up until the Seelie and hidden Domain completely washed away all that Venti revealed to me. With school also picking up in preparation for finals and the wildcard that was the Arataki Gang, it had slipped my mind.

As far as informants went, I was a terrible one.

"Lumine, what is it?" Kaeya pushed off the desk and stood in front of me. He scanned my face as though any sign of distress would give him answers. "Did something happen? No reported activity has reached my ears. Have the dreams come back? Is Enjou trying to coerce you into anything?"

I shook my head. "No, I haven't made any contact with the Abyss Order in my dreams, and they haven't done anything here, as far as I know. You're probably going to hate that I forgot, but Venti let some details slip about the Champion's identity. He tried to cover it up, but—hey. Are you listening?"

Kaeya had turned to the side and wiped a hand down his face. "I'm listening," he sighed. "When you froze up like that, I thought the worst. Suspense isn't always a good thing. So, what is it that our little instructor bard knows?"

I opened my mouth to reveal all, but then I noticed two large sacks of mail spilling out onto the floor by the desk. "I thought you had work to do."

Kaeya groaned and glared at the mess. "You're so kind to remind me."

I didn't know the extent to which Kaeya was expected to handle everything here, and it really looked like far too much for one person to be in charge of. He'd said he was assisting the staff, but there was no staff in sight. Would it be fine if I just left him to work alone?

"Do you need any help?" I blurted. "I mean, that's a lot of mail. It seems inefficient for only one person to work on it all."

Kaeya rubbed the back of his neck. "You're not wrong. When you knocked, I thought you were the staff member originally in charge of this task. With the amount of backlog due to the Sakoku Order putting all mail deliveries on pause, Jean thought it'd put the student council in a good position with the Academy if we offered to help out. By we, she meant me."

I did remember him saying something about a person coming back from their break. "So, you won't be on your own for long?"

"I don't know about that. The mail clerk is an apprentice with the problem of overworking herself. I was hoping she'd take a long enough break for me to clear away the bulk of this work."

I smiled at him. "Who's the real overworker? There's no way you can take care of it all by yourself. Let me help. Sorting mail doesn't seem too difficult."

"Because it isn't," Kaeya gestured to the desk. "Go ahead. If it means I get to both satisfy my task requirements and be in your company, I don't mind. We can even chat about all the news you have to deliver in the meantime. No need to wait for after classes."

My eyes widened. Part of me was happy that I could do some service here, and another part of me was struck with nerves. No need to wait for after classes. I could confess to him right now—as originally planned.

"The two bags sitting here are full of incoming mail to be distributed to students and staff," Kaeya explained. "I haven't gotten the chance to go through those yet. For now, I've been sorting all of the outbound mail on this desk by region. There's only enough space at the desk for one of us to work, so how about you handle what's been delivered? Just read the recipient's name and find their compartment in one of the shelving slots on the wall. If any of them are too high for you," he reached around the desk and pulled out a wooden stool. "You can use this."

"Seems simple enough."

Kaeya massaged his neck. "It is simple, just tedious. The only important rule is the most obvious—don't open anything that isn't addressed to you."

"Got it."

"Good. In that case," he turned the desk chair sideways so he could see both me and his work. "Venti knows something?"

Okay. Focusing on the investigation news first, not the Guess what? Your flirtations worked on me after all news. I pulled over one of the mail bags and heaved it onto the counter with a grunt. A few envelopes fell onto the floor, and I bent to pick them up.

"He was talking about the Grand Tournament and trying to get Amber and I to participate," I recalled.

The envelope in my hand was addressed to Barbara, and there was a flurry of hearts drawn on the front and back. The sender was someone named Albert, but I didn't think too much about the contents o the letter. My job was to organize the mail, not speculate over it. Turning to the faculty and staff wall of shelves, I searched for Barbara's name.

"We were just asking a few general questions. I didn't mean to pry any details of the Grand Tournament from him, but Venti got a bit carried away talking about the Champion. He said, and I quote 'he wasn't even an upperclassman.'"

I found Barbara's slot and moved on to the next parcel in the bag. This one was a small package for Dr. Edith from Dr. Livingstone. A faculty member, then.

"Really?" Kaeya pulled back from his task and looked at me with interest. "And did he say anything else?"

I shook my head and found Dr. Edith. The package barely fit. "Nope. I tried getting him to say more, but Venti caught the mistake pretty quickly. He tried to blame it on the alcohol."

"Was this not during class? What alcohol?"

I shrugged and grabbed a stack of envelopes that were secured together with expensive-looking twine. "You know how he is. Can I untie this?"

"Go for it," Kaeya nodded. "That's all, then? So now we know the Champion to be a male, and either a current second or third-year—if he wasn't missing, that is."

The twine loosened as I pulled, and four envelopes fell away. They were all made from the same velvety paper dyed a rich crimson. In a silver script, the addressees weren't people who I'd expected to receive something so lavish. They were for Cici, Cicin, Huffman, and someone named Vlad. The third name threw me in for a loop since Huffman shared virtually nothing in common with the Twin Mages. My curiosity was only heightened when I didn't see any of the sender's information where the return address normally would have been.

"Right," I acknowledged Kaeya's comment, thumbing the envelopes in my hand as I searched the student wall.

The four of them were easy enough to find since they were all in Visionless House and located on the bottom row. I neatly slipped each envelope into their respectable slots, lingering slightly as I let go of Huffman's. It had been easy enough to disregard Albert's letter to Barbara, but it was a different story with my peers involved.

Not my business.

I dug into the bag for more.

Another heart-decorated letter to Barbara from Albert.

"I did try pressing for more," I continued. "Out of all of the instructors I know, Venti is the most casual, so I thought I could get more information."

Kaeya shook his head. "That's risky, Lumine. He's still employed by the Academy, after all."

"I know, I know," I sighed, placing Albert's second letter next to the first one. "He did warn me to be careful."

"Really?" Kaeya's tone lilted upwards. "That sounds quite ominous, and we've encountered quite the ominous material before. Though, a warning like that isn't much to go off of."

The next envelope I pulled was extremely colorful. The paper was originally white, that much I could tell. A chaotic mess of drawings done in crayon was doodled all over, but this was no work of Albert. The recipient's name was difficult to make out in what looked like a child's script, but I recognized enough of the letters to figure out it was for a 'Mr. Albedo.' The sender's name was set boldly in red—Klee. This was for Professor Kreideprinz, then.

I'd seen his name come up once before when I was searching for Barbara's. Popping the colorful parcel into the wooden slot, I decided to speed things up a little.

"We can meet together in our group to discuss it more," I suggested. "I know finals are a concern for Diluc, but if we're putting off the cave, we should at least go over this."

A letter for Astrologist Mona Megistus.

"I agree. Good thing the weekend is almost here."

A package—one far too large for a shelving compartment to hold. It was a bit heavy, too. Flipping the box over, I found the mailing information, and my eyebrows jumped when I read the name.

"This one's for Diluc. It's from the Dawn Winery." I couldn't help myself and decided to give the box a light shake. "Sounds like there might be wine inside."

"Students generally aren't allowed to possess alcohol on campus, so it may have been a mixup meant for his tavern in town," Kaeya grinned. "What do you say we take a few swigs for quality control? I'm sure he wouldn't notice."

I held the box away from him. "Don't open anything not addressed to you, remember? I'll set it aside for now since it's too big to go in the slot. The mail clerk will probably know what to do."

"You're no fun." Kaeya stuck out his tongue.

I rolled my eyes at the childish gesture. "Anyways, now we know for sure that the faculty are in on whatever happened last year. All of our instructors know what happened, and they might have even contributed somehow."

"We can't say that for sure," he tutted. "There are some things bigger than the individual, no doubt this is one of them."

Another letter for Barbara. The hearts told me it was from Albert without me having to check.

I frowned as I took it to her slot. "You know Barbara, right? The healer apprentice?"

"She's also an idol."

"Yeah, I know," I murmured. "She's been getting a lot of fan mail from this guy, Albert. I guess it has been two months, so three letters might not be that much, but—"

"Did you say Albert?" Kaeya quickly spun around. "I forgot about one other rule. We have a ban list, and Albert is the only one on it."

"A ban list?"

"The content he sends Barbara is…concerning. She put in a special request for us to discard anything he might send her. She has a very loyal fan club back in Mondstadt, but Albert often takes things too far."

I snatched the previous letters from Barbara's slot. "So, he's like crazy head-over-heels for her? Are we talking creepy-stalker love?"

"We are," Kaeya grumbled and turned his back to me. "One of the worst kinds."

I raised an eyebrow. "One of? Are there other bad kinds of love?"

"But of course. There is overly possessive love, narcissistic love, self-sacrificing love, deceitful love—I wish the list didn't go on, but it does."

I sorted a few more parcels of mail, thinking of Kaeya's examples and how he might know of them. Kaeya knew about a lot of things, that much anyone could tell within five minutes of speaking with him. Judging by how easily he could flirt with me, I shouldn't be surprised that he was well-versed in these sorts of things, too. Did Kaeya personally have experience with love like that? Is that how he was able to charm me when we first met?

I was rereading the name on an envelope for the third time without actually processing it in my mind. Getting distracted was inevitable with Kaeya around.

"What about," I kept my voice casual. "Good types of love?"

His body remained turned away from me, his attention on the mail in front of him, but his words seemed to target me directly. "The good kind, hm? Why are you asking me? I'm sure you're familiar with the concept."

"Me?" I blushed, almost dropping a package. "I mean, I obviously know what love is."

I could hear his smirk. "Obviously."

"Familial love," I cleared my throat. "One of the most important, in my opinion."

"One of? I'm sure you can name a few others."

Of all topics for us to land on, it had to be the one I continued to fluster over. Deep breath. In. Out. Kaeya wanted me to prove my familiarity with love? Easy.

"Unconditional love," I punched a fist into the air at my expert response. Kaeya couldn't see it with his back turned, anyway. "Platonic love, too."

I had quickly found myself loving the time I spent with my friends here. I loved hearing Bennett's wild stories. I loved tasting Xiangling's masterful dishes. I loved competing with Amber when we had free time in Beginner's Gliding. I loved the moments we shared in the dining hall, bouncing our energy off of each other—sometimes even choking on our food with too much laughter.

"That's two," Kaeya said.

"It is. If you're looking for a third, there's the classic love. Romantic. You're no stranger to that."

"What makes you say that?" He turned slightly, and I averted my gaze.

Of course, he would ask more. I took another deep breath. So far, my body temperature was relatively regulated despite the circumstance. "You flirt all the time—really well."

"I could be a fast learner." He leaned an elbow on the desk, and it seemed like he would fully turn around at any moment. "Street smart, book smart, there's no limit to what I can achieve as long as I put my mind to it."

"I know, you're always scheming."

"Not always. It's not always a scheme, Lumine." He did turn to face me then, and all of my breathing techniques went out the window. My name sounded like a gentle song on his lips. Before I could fully appreciate the serious set of his jaw or his lips that formed a sincere smile, Kaeya defaulted to his smirk. "You think I flirt well?"

I thought about knocking a letter to the floor on purpose as an excuse to break eye contact, but my body refused to move. I was stuck in his pull, and not even cardiac arrest could take me from it.

"Yes, I do," I found myself saying. And then, "What if it worked?"

"What if what worked?"

"The flirting. You. On me."

His smirk fell to what almost looked like shock. Lips parted and jaw slackened, Kaeya looked at me with something other than amusement or snark. He looked at me with a glimmer of hope, and my heart leapt at the soft expression. Did what I said seem so unbelievable that he was this surprised? No. This was probably because it'd taken me so long to finally address it.

"You'll need to be more specific, Lumine. To avoid any misunderstandings."

What possible misunderstanding could there be? I wanted to believe he was teasing me yet again, but the smirk didn't return. This time, Kaeya was being fully serious.

"It did work. The flirting. On me," I stated and, as coherently as possible, made sure there was no room for misunderstanding. "Kaeya Alberich, I care for you. More than I ever meant to, and more than I know how to handle myself. All those attempts to win me over worked because, well, I'm here."

The shock didn't last as long this time, but neither did his joy. For a brief moment, I was basking in the sun. Kaeya, normally cool and collected, was openly beaming at me. He brought a hand up to cover the smile he simply couldn't contain—not that I would ever ask him to.

Except, his hand didn't cover his smile. Almost like magic—dark magic—Kaeya wiped the smile away. His expression blanked, and confusion bloomed in my chest.

He switched so fast. Did I imagine his initial reaction? There's no way. It was too raw, too real.

"I'm sorry, Lumine," he said. Kaeya's voice no longer carried the same melodic tone when he said my name. It held no tone at all. "If I had known that you would actually—after all this time, I thought there would be no harm in continuing this way."

Was he rejecting me?

"In what way?"

"I thought you were simply unaffected," he shrugged, averting his gaze. "It's just as you said, I'm a good flirt. Up until now, you hadn't given me any serious indication that actual feelings manifested, so I thought I was in the clear. I thought we could continue playing our little game."

"A game?" I gasped softly. "None of this was ever a game to me, Kaeya. Was it for you?"

"It doesn't matter what anything is to me, especially not when it comes to you."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This had to be some sort of twisted dream. "What are you talking about? Of course, it matters. Of course, you matter. In such a short amount of time, you've become an extremely important person in my life, and—"

"You're completely right. It has been a short amount of time," his jaw ticked. "Far too short for anything worthwhile to come about."

My throat dried up, and I struggled to make sense of what was going on. "Kaeya…"

"You don't need me."

My blood ran cold.

"Yes, I—"

"You don't," he insisted. "And I ask that you move on. You cannot deny that there are already three perfectly good men for you. You don't need someone like me to ruin everything."

Kaeya thought that our dynamic would be ruined? He must not know that Diluc, Thoma, and Childe don't see each other as competition. There's no such thing as competition when I care for them all equally. I was too stunned by his odd lack of confidence to say anything, but I wished I had. I wished he wasn't being so irrational.

"Childe and Thoma are more than enough." Kaeya looked to the floor. "They'll be good to you, and Diluc…I don't deserve to ruin his happiness. I've done enough damage, and the best form of punishment after all these years would be to respect him this much. You and I…we're partners. Treasure hunting partners, nothing more."

"How can you say that when you feel the same way as I do?" I took a bold step forward, my heart aching.

Kaeya remained silent.

"You do, don't you?"

"It doesn't matter."

I shook my head sharply. "It does!"

"Lumine, you know my past." He looked at me with pleading eyes. "I haven't always made the righteous decisions, and I continue to exploit my natural tendency to lie and scheme to get what I want. You deserve more than someone better than that—better than someone who can't move past the irreversible."

"That wasn't your fault," I whispered. "It's in the past, and I've seen for myself what you're capable of—who you're capable of becoming. I believe in the Kaeya of today, and you should forgive yourself."

"I singlehandedly stripped away the remaining happiness of my childhood—of Diluc's childhood. There's no getting that back, Lumine. I didn't want to believe his words then, but I can see it now. I taint every good thing that comes my way, and you're no exception. Crepus was the first. Our lives—he should have left me to the treasure hoarders."

"But then we wouldn't have met."

His eye dulled. "Perhaps that would be for the better."

I refused to believe that. I refused to listen to any of his reasonings—his excuses as to why he couldn't be allowed to express himself fully. Kaeya was the first person I'd learned to trust here, the first person I opened up to, and the first person to impress me with his action. As a student council member, as an investigator, and as a friend—he meant too much to me. I refused to go along.

"So, you want nothing to do with me?" my voice wobbled.

Painfully slow, he nodded.

I didn't bother hiding my hurt, and he'd noticed. Kaeya almost looked guilty.

"Do you want to know what the worst type of love I've ever experienced is?" I pressed my lips together, but they quivered anyway.

Kaeya sighed. "Lumine, please don't—"

The door suddenly burst open, cutting off Kaeya and drawing both of our attention to the newcomer. It was a woman I'd never seen before. She wasn't wearing a school uniform, so I assumed she must be the mail clerk Kaeya was helping out. The atmosphere shifted with her arrival, but the weight in my chest lingered.

The pain wouldn't go away.

"My apologies for taking so long!" She bolstered straight in. "I had gone looking for a meal in the dining commons, but the line was surprisingly long. Instead of wasting time there, I thought I might pick a nearby Sweet Flower, but then I remembered my diet. So, then, I decided to wait in the dining hall line after all, and—oh! Who do we have here?"

Eyes reflecting the beauty of a sunset blinked at me, but that wasn't the only unique feature of her appearance. She also had light blue hair that sharply contrasted with a pair of red and black horns. They were different from Itto's horns, though. I tried not to stare.

"Are you dropping something off?" she asked.

"I was," I answered monotonously. "Kaeya was helping me out."

She nodded enthusiastically. "He's been such a great help. Though, I feel guilty for not picking up the slack on my own. It is my job, after all. Is everything all sorted with you…your name is?"

"Lumine."

"I am Ganyu."

"She's done here," Kaeya interrupted. "Lumine should be heading out now. Isn't that right?"

I smiled tightly. "Right. Thanks for the help."

"Oh, it was nice to meet you." Ganyu smiled back at me, unaware of how Kaeya shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I hope you have a productive day!"

She kindly stepped out of the way as I exited, but my foot hesitated over the threshold. I didn't want to leave Kaeya like this. I didn't want to leave him at all. I turned my head to the side, catching the lingering gaze Kaeya kept on me.

With a lot more fierceness than I felt, I looked straight at him and said, "Unrequited."

:((((