Hey guys... it's been a while, eh...

Well, this chapter apparently took my time more than I expected. But, here we are. This chapter I introduce to you this story from different perspective. It comes from someone you'll never expect... maybe. Blu's decision, his reason... and someone who actually never hope he would say that...

After that... about Jewel... we shall see her condition in the next chapter...

Alright, I don't want to make you wait for a little longer... Happy reading.


Gracie's POV

Ten years ago... that summer...

"Listen, everybody...!" I said in front of five clumsy boys, like a captain - well, even though I was indeed a captain on this newborn baseball team - who educated hard to his men, "Our battle will begin in a few days! So get ready for hard training today!"

"What? No, I don't want to..."

"It's too hot. I wanna go home..."

'Tsk...!' as I thought, they're boys but they were mentally weak. Well, it can't be helped... tomorrow is our first match. Moreover, this team was formed because of compulsion rather than compliance.

"Shut up! Not the whining I want to hear right now!" fortunately, when I was a kid... I was known as a blue demon. I wasn't proud of it obviously, but at least I could use that nickname as their trigger button,"Now I wanna hear the answer... 'Yes, ma'am!'" I continued loudly, "You understand...?!"

"Yes, ma'am...!"

Finally all the boys knelt before me...

"Good..." I grinned at the victory, "Alright... as a warm-up... I want all of you to run around this lake." then, I gave my first order.

But still...

"What? That's impossible..."

"The lake is too big..."

They're still whinning...

"Shut your beak and start running!" my shout scared them, and finally it helped their lazy talons to move.

"Aarghh... hurry up and run...!"

"If you don't run away you will be hit by the blue demon curse!"

Between feeling upset and proud... that nickname turned out to be useful too...

Moments after the boys began to make a distance between them and me...

"I'm a writer."

Oh right... how can I forget him? Blu... he also came to this lake. He innocently stood in front of me, while finishing his ice cream bar...

"A writer doesn't need to practice running."

But still... he had come here. I wouldn't make an exception to him...

"You dummy, Blu!" I shouted to him, walked over to him and pushed him so he would go run too, "A writer also needs to train his talons... maybe..."

"Huh...?! You just said 'maybe'!" Complained Blu.

"Who cares... I also don't know about that!" I grumbled, trying to make Blu join in.

"Wh-?"

"Stop complaining and move your talons!"

When Blu ran a few steps ahead...

"Hmm...?" my eyes suddenly turned to his footprints on the ground, "Whaa... his footprints are so small..."

"It's not like that... your feet are just too big...!" Blu just pissesed me off.

"Wh- ?! You shouldn't say something like that to a woman, you know...!" my shout, once again, frightened him like I did to the boys few minutes ago.

His steps were getting faster, mine as well, "Wait! Where do you think wanna go?!"

Blu is my next-door neighbor...

Since we were kids, we always played together... swimming in the lake, playing extreme games on its edge, making giant snow balls to make them collapse onto his body...

Blu is my next-door neighbor...

We are so close, but also so far... because after that summer...

"Blu... let 's playing catch..." at that time, when I came to his house to invite him to play like I used to do, "My father just bought me a new rugby ball, you know... look!"

I smiled, but he didn't...

Blu... he just stood at the doorstep of his house, showing a face of regret and sadness in the atmosphere of his gloomy house. His wings were full of bruises which I knew where they came from,"Sorry Gres... I still have to finish my book..."

My smile faded away after being shocked by a sudden voice from inside his house...

"Blu...! Where are you?! Hurry up and come here! Finish your story!"

That was his mother' voice...

"You see... my mother's waiting for me." Blu continued, still with the same facial expression, "I'm sorry Gres. Maybe next time..." he simply smiled and slowly closed the door...

Then, at night... when I 'complained' about this to my mother...

"Huh...? Why Blu didn't want to play with you?"

I nodded, "Yes... he always spends his time writing. Doesn't he feel tired of living like that?"

My mother looked at me in silence for a moment, then smiled, "It's not that he didn't want to... but the game is dangerous to him. It could make his wings hurt and cannot take part in the writing contest next month."

"I won't hurt his wings though." I denied, "I'll play carefully."

"I know you will... but after the contest ends, okay..."

I just nodded, obeying my mother's words...

'After the contest ends, eh...? After the contest ends, the others will surely take him away from me...' I muttered to myself, sitting on my bed for a moment after the 'darkest' dinner I've ever had. I turned to my window, looked at Blu's house which was very close from mine, 'If you like the competition so much, why don't you just marry it, you dummy Blu...'

Blu is my next neighbor... we are so close, but also so far...

Even today...

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Present time...

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"Use this formula to find variable X between these logarithmic equations. You have to simplify the quadratic equation first and then use the results to look for the numbers- "

'Haah... '

In this class, the sigh of my breath blocked my teacher's lecture.

'Why am I stuck in a situation like this?'

I whispered to myself, who unfortunately got a seat in the first row. The VIP line that can clearly stare at the blackboard in front of it... for some people maybe getting it... is a good sign... right, 'for some people' for I've said 'unfortunately.'

In a few weeks the final semester exam arrives, at least before the first snow falls on this land. That's why it's not surprising that my classmates all seem very serious about receiving lessons lately. Like the selection of seats until finally agreed to use 'the lottery system.'

A tense atmosphere overwhelms my classroom and again... unfortunately, I got the first row...

'Blu...?'

But maybe... this isn't so bad in my opinion. Even though I was in the front row, but I was right next to the window. So that I could see him sitting alone in the attic room, writing something over dozens of his white sheets.

'He's indeed a hard-working writer.' I thought, staring at his serious face from afar, 'It never changes...'

Meanwhile ... in the quiet attic room ...

Blu's POV

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"It's not like you go home early..."

That was my words a moment ago to Roberto who had just entered this room and was about to say something to me...

"Well, you see..." replied Roberto, smiling at me, "Today's weather is too cold for afternoon training. My friends all complained about this to the coach so the practice this afternoon was skipped."

"I see..." I continued, nodding, "Winter's almost here anyway."

"Actually, skipped or not... I do really want to skip training today." Roberto said his confession.

I just paused, letting him finish his words...

"I wanna see Jewel before returning home." he continued, then said the real intention bothering to come here, "Do you wanna come too?"

I without thinking twice immediately rejected his invitation at that time...

"I think I'll pass for now. I have something that has to be done." I refused his invitation with a smile...

But at that moment... Roberto didn't return my smile at all...

"She needs you, you know. You're the one who helped her bring her name to the world." Roberto answered, with a tone of irritation, "You are the only figure she would ask for help."

"That's because I'm the only one who can write stories..." I simply interrupted him.

Roberto paused for a moment, then said one last sentence before walking out of this room, "Do not feel uncomfortable because there is me..."

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("You're the one who helped her bring her name to the world.")

'What the hell is that?' I said to myself. Staring at the orange sky through the highest window in this school, while remembering his words a moment ago, 'The only person who was helped... was me...'

("Thank you... Tyler Blu Gunderson.")

'And I'm the one who should thank her... '

Then...

Today as usual, I walked home while enjoying the view of the lake alone in the quiet evening... the place where we first met...

'Oh right.' I suddenly stopped next to a tall and big tree right on the edge of the lake after remembering something, 'At that time... what did she see?'

Gracie's POV

This is bad... the temperature is getting colder now...

All my feathers were shivering under the clothes that should warm them. From the weather news this morning, the current temperatures was almost 15 degrees Fahrenheit. No wonder such temperatures can pierce my feathers through tight cracks in my winter clothes, even though it's only November...

Is this because of the wind from the lake? I think so, because since my feet set on the edge of this lake the air is getting colder. Apparently this lake has brought winter wind faster than it should...

But... It's not that I hate it... I do like this atmosphere. Moosehead Lake under the shade of a clear sky. And without me realizing it, my steps stopped... my eyes turned towards the lake, letting my face be hit by the winter wind brought by it...

'It's so beautiful...' while amazed, I said to myself for I am currently walking home alone... without anyone beside me.

Blu once told me that the winter sky looks clearer...

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Four years ago, when I was visiting his home. He was alone because his mother was being hospitalized again. We, at that time, shared a seat together...

Blu was busy finishing his story, while I only accompanied him in silence while staring at the blue sky early in December...

"Are you cold, Gres?" Blu asked me who had been embracing my body using both of my wings.

"Well... I think so..." I replied, smiling at him.

It can't be helped... it's his habit though. When he was writing his book, he always opened the window, whether night or day... hot or cold... it was like a whole that can never be separated...

"As I thought, I should have closed this window..."

"N-no, please... I don't want to bother your writing time." I stutteredly refused his offer.

"But you'll get caught in the cold, you know." he apparently worried about me,"I'm used to this air, I'm not sure your body can handle it. Besides... I'm the one who asked you to stay here in the first place..."

"Don't underestimate me!" I shouted to him.

"Oh... okay..." Blu was surprised, responding haltingly.

"After all, I'm the one who decided to stay here." I continued, "Plus, I also don't hate winter...," I then smiled to him, "Because... when it's winter... the sky looks more beautiful..."

"Ah... you realize it!" Blu seemed to be getting excited after hearing my words just now.

"Realize what?" I asked, still not understanding.

"The winter sky does look more beautiful. Especially the stars ... they look more shining in the dark." he continued, smiling as he turned towards the sky, "By winter time, the sun is no longer overhead - due to the Earth's tilt. The Rayleigh scattering directs more blue light towards our eyes while the indirect sunlight decreases the incoming levels of red and green. So the sky appears a deep blue. Furthermore, there is less humidity in the winter due to cooler air temperatures. The vapour and droplets scatter light differently than the smaller oxygen and nitrogen molecules. Light is directed forward instead of more evenly across all directions. For the sky overhead, Mie scattering is directing more blue light back into space and away from our eyes. So when there is less humidity, less Mie scattering takes place. Less Mie scattering, more Rayleigh scattering, and the skies get bluer. Added to this, a lower sun position. Winter brings all these factors so that we can see beautiful deep blue skies."

'Rayleih? Miee?'

He just said using such a strange language that I don't understand.

"I see..." I chuckled, pretending to understand what he explained just now, "That's why you put your desk right in front of the window facing the lake, huh?"

Blu nodded, smiled broadly to me, "Yes...! The view of the lake in the shade of the clear sky that was so clear without anything blocking it. I love it very much...! Just like the snow. It's cold but beautiful."

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Blu who was writing at the time looked so bright as if he really enjoyed his quiet time in his quiet room...

"Huh? Gres?!"

Shortly after I returned from my flashback, I heard a voice that was very familiar in my ear.

"Blu...?" I looked around, finding out where his voice came from.

"Up here...!"

Continue his voice. Then I looked up, "Blu ?!" I was surprised... Blu, who's famous for not being good at sports, was able to climb trees as high as this. While sitting on the branch, staring down at me with his cheerful face as if he had seen something very beautiful...

Blu appears to be seeking a way to get down... a shortcut...

"Be careful...!" I told him, seeing him about to jump from a height.

"Don't worry... I can handle this."

A moment later, Blu had set his bare feet on the ground. Even though the distance from the ground to the tree branch is quite high, but he can land his bare feet with ease.

"What were you thinking? Climbing such a high tree?" I scolded him shortly after he stood before me.

Blu instead smiled and chuckled, "Hehe... I wanted to try to see the evening sky from a height."

I can't scold him anymore, not in front of his cheery face... a face that I haven't seen in years, "Haaah..." I sighed, throwing all my angry feelings into this cold air, "You really like winter skies, huh? Well, It is beautiful... that sky..."

"Yeah..." Blu simply nodded.

"Let's go home..." I said, a few moments after a quiet silence between us.

"Okay..." Blu responded, then took his shoes and carried them instead of wearing them. Then walk first in front of me...

When I was about to catch up, my attention was drawn to the land where he had just landed his bare feet.

It formed his footprints...

'His Footprints... bigger than mine...' I whispered, comparing my footprints with his. I just smiled at the reality now... seeing the fact that Blu had grown up, 'This is the footprints of a boy.'

Moments later, I caught up with him and walked beside him. How long have we not come home together... maybe a year... or two years? Well, who cares about that...

"The winter sky's beautiful, isn't it, Blu?" I was the one who started a small conversation with him when we walked casually on the edge of the lake.

"It's still autumn now, you know..." Blu replied with his pretentious attitude.

"What's the difference? It's already too cold for autumn... you know!" I, of course, didn't want to 'succumb' to him. Denies and denies...

"Well... you might be right about that." Blu didn't seem to have an argument to argue with me. He simply agreed with me, "But still... the winter sky is indeed very beautiful... do you know why?" In exchange for his defeat, he apparently attacked me with questions.

But it's unfortunate you can't defeat me right now...

"The angle of the sun and humidity have a major part to determine color in the sky," I replied directly, "Less humidity due to cooler air temperatures... then the sun is no longer overhead due to the Earth's tilt. The Rayleigh scattering directs more blue light towards your eyes while the indirect sunlight decreases the incoming levels of red and green. So the sky appears a deep blue."

"How do you know all that?" Blu asked with a surprised face.

"You told me." I simply answered.

"Oh right... that time, huh." Blu seemed to sigh with relief, "But you're great, remembering it until now."

"Of course I am." I bragged a little.

Once again, silence slipped between us... I just stared at Blu who was smiling fervently staring at the lake beside him... at that time, when the orange light shone on him, I... I felt something from him...

"You seem to have changed."

"Huh? Really?" Blu then turned to me.

"W-well yes... I can tell you right away." I nodded nervously,"Your eyes spark, now. Especially... when you're writing. It was pouring out of you... this gentleness, and a desire to convey something through your books. It's like you're shouting to the world... you are the kind of writer who can convey all that..."

Blu's POV

Suddenly... shortly after hearing her words... it... it stunned me... couldn't say anything... made me speechless...

("You are indeed a writer... Tyler Blu Gunderson...")

Gracie's POV

"Gres?" Blu then called my name.

"Yes?"

"I want to continue my education to a literature university after graduation."

For some reason, he suddenly told me his decision...

"Literature university? Is there something like that around here?"

"No... therefore, I'll leave from here..."

'Huh? this is... this is very weird... why do my tears suddenly flow through my cheeks?'

I can only be quiet...

"Sis Mi told me if there is a literature university outside the city." Blu continued his words, "Whether I can be accepted there or not, for I've stopped writing for three years, so I have to take their selection test."

My footsteps slowed, and finally stopped... leaving Blu to lead in front...

These tears... I have to get rid of them immediately... I don't want him to see me like this...

"What's wrong, Gres?" Blu stopped his footsteps when he realized that I wasn't at his side.

For now... I can only smile for him, "Nothing... I'm just worried whether you can pass the selection test or not because you rarely study lately."

"What's that? You understimate me, huh?" Blu chuckled, "Of course I will try... study and stuff like that."

"Of course you will..."

'It's okay... it's okay... Blu... he has decided this. You have to be able to support him and wish the best for him.' I spoke to myself, convincing myself to step back to his side after sweeping away these tears...

We're next-door neighbors... he's the boy who's smaller than me... who lost his mother at a young age... who I can't help doting on... And the one I wish would get back on his feet...


Chapter 30 : Footsteps


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