Nozomis shoulders slumped in exhaustion as she lifted a satchel of her clothes onto her back. Breathing in she took a look at her room and made her way downstairs towards both men.

Alhaitham and Kaveh had already sat down, their faces avoiding her as she went to the front door. The scratches from Alhaithams mirrors on Kavehs face almost made her stop and run over to him.

Instead, she steeled herself and stood in front of them.

"I know I promised to explain myself properly but honestly, I need time to gather my thoughts and energy back after exams. I'll… be staying with Layla or at Lambads until the first two exams are over."

A heavy silence filled the room, Kaveh stood up holding his hand out as Nozomi closed her eyes and turned towards the door.

"Nozomi wait-"

"Whatever. See Ya." Alhaitham mocked.

Nozomi bowed her head, knowing Alhaitham had seen it as a temporary cop-out. She walked through the door, the quiet of the early morning streets and cold air rushed past as she walked briskly to the Akademiya.

*

Kaveh held his head as he walked past Alhaitham into the kitchen. He couldn't bare to look him in the face after their fight, especially with the scratches he had barely blocked that he flinched from along his body. Alhaithams bruised hands from when he hit them with Mehrak grabbing their coffee. The sound of Alhaithams door shut and a deafening silence was all that was left of their home.

He started to shake as he hugged himself. Droplets fell onto the kitchen counter as thoughts of Nozomi filled his mind then he clutched his heart. Memories of his mother leaving for Fontaine were the last image he had before slamming his fist into the fridge.

"Nozomi…" He sniffed. "Why did you have to go? Was it my fault? Why does everything good that ever happens to me, always leave?"

*

"Hey… wake up," Layla spoke softly. "We need to leave the room now, the first round of the exams is over."

Nozomi leaned back too far, almost swinging her chair and herself to the ground. She groaned as Madam Faruzan came over to take the exam papers.

"You youngsters and your time management I swear. Nozomi I presume?" When she nodded she added. "You better not doze off during the second round of exams, I know how stressful it was back in my day of studies before I became an Haravatat Scholar… come to think of it, during the exams, I barely passed too."

Faruzans's words barely registered to Nozomi as she almost fell back asleep at the desk in front of them. Layla and Faruzan looked at each other perplexed.

"Are you going to be alright Nozomi? I know you work for Yae Publishing as well as Alhaitham, are you not getting enough days off to yourself?" Faruzan held her hips. "You look as pale as a ghost right now."

Nozomi could barely hold her eyes open but nodded.

"I've had enough time off, just stress is all."

"Hm… Layla, please see that she's okay. I don't want you to fail your next two exams. You're this close to graduating."

Faruzan patted her back before walking off and Nozomi shook her head.

If she knew half of it, I'm not sure Madam Faruzan would be so supportive of me right now. I don't even know if I deserve to graduate at this rate.

Layla helped Nozomi walk outside the class for the day and they both stopped outside. She breathed in the fresh air of the afternoon and stretched while Layla took a seat.

"I'm worried about you… are you sure you're alright?"

"Well…not actually." Nozomi held her forehead, the tears that threatened to fall now flowed down her cheeks. "I screwed up big time."

Nozomi took a seat next to Layla and explained what happened between Alhaitham and Kaveh. She prepared herself for Layla to walk away or completely lose it but instead, she sat silent. Her chest felt lighter by the time she finished.

"I don't know what to say except it seems complicated. Are you staying anywhere for a while?"

"That's the thing, I was going to ask you but I don't-" She sniffed.

"You can stay over… at mine for a few nights. I've asked you before but you've always seemed busy." Layla held her hands behind her back. "You've always helped me with my assignments and even if you didn't, it's nice having another friend around."

Layla shifted closer and Nozomi found herself in a comforting embrace. Nozomi continued to let herself cry on Layla's shoulders until the tears eventually stopped. Her heart welled when Layla wiped a few tears of her own, seeing she had cried with her.

"I'm sorry, when you talked about what happened between you, Alhaitham, and Kaveh, I couldn't help but feel sorry for your situation. I've never experienced being in love before so I don't know what advice to give… maybe you'll find an answer when you come over." Layla smiled sadly. "We can cram in for the second exam tomorrow while you gather your thoughts."

Layla then grabbed Nozomis's hand and both wandered through the streets of Sumeru city together. Nozomi gazed at Layla's face, noticing that regardless of it having shadows underneath her eyes, she always wore a calm smile whenever they were together.

"Hey Layla, I don't say this enough. I know that you worry about your sense of placement here in Sumeru and the Akademiya, so I can only say this as a friend. I think that your simply being here is enough to comfort people. I have a feeling you'll pass this year."

Layla turned around surprised.

"You… really think so? Hm… that's so nice of you. I never thought about it like that. It's so hard to keep up with exams much less come up with another thesis again by the end of this year." Her eyes looked down. "At least with your studies you can graduate as a Scholar and into a successful job straight away with Alha-"

Nozomi bit her lip trying not to imagine Alhaitham and herself working the hours away in his office. She nodded for her to continue.

"I'm sorry, I almost forgot that you still work with Alhaitham. I was trying to say that maybe, you won't have to worry too much about the future. Oh… I'm not making much sense am I?"

"No no! Please, Layla, you're doing fine… I knew what you meant. Your words are still comforting. Though if I was being honest I was nervous you wouldn't talk to me after explaining what I did." Nozomi gripped her hand more. "Anyway, thank you for letting me stay with you."

They both stopped in front of Layla's house, which shared the same design as most homes in Sumeru with its leaf-shaped roof. Only the exterior was blue with gold stars and the door was inlaid with silver strips on top of a blue coat. Nozomi let out a whistle, holding her quill in place as it tried to escape the brooch.

Nozomi could barely keep her eyes open as she watched Layla doze off in her chair. Images of Kaveh and Alhaitham floated in her mind as she drifted to sleep. Time didn't seem to exist when she slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry as she saw Layla carry the stacks of paper and sort them neatly.

Have I been asleep for that long? She's way more energetic than she was before.

Nozomi groaned and then once again shut her eyes, her head nodding into her chest while hearing Layla move around her.

Sounds of pots and pans being moved, and crackling slowly brought Nozomi to her senses. Her vision was still blurry as she glanced over at Layla tossing a frying pan. The contents were rice and she watched mesmerized at Layla's concentration. She noticed Nozomi waking up and she put the pan aside.

Layla now wore a blue headpiece with a golden crown, and a star jewel with blue sapphires sat in the middle of her head. Blue sleeves with black gloves and golden adornments were around her shoulders. She also wore a black skirt with a blue scarf wrapped around her waist.

"Ah, you're finally awake! You really needed the rest from last night… anyhow, come on over, I'll serve us in a second." Layla spoke warmly. "I hope you don't mind stew over rice tonight."

Nozomi blinked at Layla, she was unusually chipper and fast in her speech. In fact, she seemed more awake than herself.

"Thank you. Did you get much sleep yourself?"

Layla looked over at her while scrapping the contents into two bowls. Nozomi could now smell the stew and her tongue watered. She slid the blankets off and dragged her chair to the table, a glass of water was put in front of her.

"Before I answer that question, I've noticed you haven't been keeping your fluids up today. You've really been through an emotional ringer… please drink up." Layla pushed her glass forward. "You're the type that when there's a confrontation, it'll replay over and over until you pass out from overthinking things."

Nozomi took the glass and held it, her eyes once again threatening to well over. She took a long gulp, emptying it. The fluid down her throat relieved any dryness in her voice that was there for hours. She picked up her spoon and both ate together quietly.

"Hey so… it's really tidy here, how long was I out for?"

"Oh I'd say five hours, I'm pretty fast at cleaning once I get going." Layla took another bite. "Though Layla herself would struggle for days with all the clutter… that girl really needs to stop worrying about trivial things."

Nozomi rubbed her eyes and looked up.

"Huh? But you're Layla?" She tilted her head. "I've referred to myself in the third person but this is unusual to hear it coming from you."

Layla's laugh echoed throughout the dining area, giving a sense of refreshment to her.

"You'd be right, and that's what I wanted to explain before we go any further about your circumstances." She put a hand on her chest. "I'm night time Layla. The daytime Layla you see is the one you study with. You could say it's because we both studied overtime that she created me."

Nozomi remembered their late-night study sessions. She had assumed Layla had continued napping alongside herself but often wondered why their notes had been neatly tidied away the next morning. Layla would always be surprised the next day to see her assignments or notes in perfect formatting.

"You helped us turn in the assignments, I remember a particularly difficult assignment with Professor Rajkumar. My god, he hounded us for weeks over literal terms of literature." She sighed. "I'm not sure how this works but, thank you for helping us. Do I just keep calling you Layla?"

"Well yes, because we're just a split personality of the same person." Layla took a sip of her tea. "Now then, while you were resting I went out to the message boards and we both passed the first exam. Well done."

She merely nodded, not quite feeling the excitement they'd normally have whenever they had passed for the semester. Her hands picked up her glass and gingerly brushed along the porcelain.

"I know it's not a solution to your problem at home, but at least one thing is going well." Layla tilted her head. "It's surprising that you picked two people to share feelings with… I never expected either of them to be the type of people to experience emotional connections with someone. Even Kaveh, because of how guilty he always feels about helping other people."

"To be honest, neither did I." Nozomi bowed her head. "You should have seen Kavehs' face… I don't know how I'm going to confront or even talk to them after the next exam tomorrow. I feel like it's too late to do anything… they probably both hate me right now."

Nozomi felt tears drop to the ground, her hands cupped her face. She heard Layla drag her chair over next to them and her arm wrapped around her shoulders. Minutes were spent in silence between the two.

"Hmm so while I've gathered that you've had a confrontation with them, can you explain exactly what happened?"

Nozomi spent the next few minutes, occasionally pausing through tears explaining what happened. Layla motioned for her to take another drink and poured another cup of tea.

"Oh gosh, that would have been so awkward… I've never had two people drop any sort of feelings toward me let alone one before. To be honest daytime Layla would have ran and hidden somewhere and I would have just dropped the idea of liking two people altogether. It's harder for you because you live with them." Layla held her chin. "Yet, they haven't outright kicked you out. I'd say they're just waiting for you to get home."

Nozomi started to relax the more Layla rubbed her back, a sense of warmth was returned through her hands.

"Yeah… that pretty much sums it up. Honestly, I tried to explain myself to Alhaitham but I just froze. That reminds me I-"

Nozomi winced as she held her head, a brief flash of grey and white came into her vision. Then when she looked up, Laylas' golden eyes stared back in concern.

"I-I'm fine I think… I saw a flash of light?"

Nozomi tried to think back but couldn't remember what she had said. Her head had now felt normal. Layla coughed and pointed to the ceiling.

"Oh? It must be the mosquitos here. Sometimes you'll see a few of them flicker here once in a while," The corners of Laylas' lips twitched. "I'll need to get them out before Layla wakes up."

"Urgh the summers here are the worst for it. Anyway, I'm grateful that you're listening to me without judgment. You've always been a good friend to me too."

"You say that like we haven't been closer than just friends. While Layla's daytime self can't speak right now, I'd like to say we both think of you closer than just an acquaintance or friend. Don't take yourself for granted like that." She smiled warmly "I've seen way worse than what you've done. Which brings me to the hard question, who do you love more?"

Love?

The question caught Nozomi off guard.

"I don't know… we've only really dated once. Isn't love something you build over time?"

"You'd suppose so wouldn't you? Though isn't friendship a form of love that's just been built over several years? Think about it… there are many forms of love but, the one you seem to feel is for two people. If you had to choose between one, who would you pick?"

Nozomi shook her head. "Kinda pointless to pick if I screwed up… neither of them at this stage would like me."

"That's the thing, I've seen how both of them interact with you. It's easy not to notice how they are around you because you always see them, but for others there are subtle hints. I haven't hung around Alhaitham or Kaveh except at a few events in Sumeru and even then, we just exchanged pleasantries." She held her chin. "So I'll ask again, who do you like?"

Nozomi lowered her head and folded her arms. The past three years flashed by in her mind with moments between her, Alhaitham, and Kaveh. The moments where Alhaitham during the first year would hand her books on literature to help with manuscripts or to be faster at checking applications during work.

The moments where she and Kaveh would spend some mornings cooking together, if not preparing breakfast for herself.

The moments where all three would share a meal or a drink together at Lambads. Alhaithams' smiles when they spoke, Kavehs' gentle laughs and hands holding hers whether their days were for better or for the worst.

"I can't do it… I can't choose between them. No matter how much I try, I can't see either of them without the other."

Layla frowned and shook her head.

"Even so, don't you think just leaving it as it is just leading them on?"

She leaned forward. "Agreed but even if I did choose, they probably want to kick me out… I literally ruined their friendship or what was left of it."

"Then that is something you're going to have to live with. I'm sorry to tell you so bluntly but I think you owe it to them to explain how you feel regardless of whatever outcome happens." Layla grabbed her hands. "It's less scary when you have a plan and at this rate, someone is going to be hurt regardless. You might regret not being a part of them if they decide you need to move out but don't let it be a regret of you telling them the truth."

Nozomi sighed knowing she was right. The thought of the both of them being at each other's throats scared her more than her not being around.

"We still have the next day until you need to make up your mind on what to say. In the meantime, we can just focus on studying for the next exam tomorrow… I'll need help reading your and Layla's notes. I'll… we'll both be here for you no matter what happens."

"I guess you're right." Nozomi lifted her head and wiped her tears. "We can only do our best with no regrets. Thank you for being here and giving me your wisdom."

Layla leaned back and smiled warmly. "This is the Nation of Wisdom after all. Let's do our best!"

After tidying up for themselves, they spend the rest of the evening cramming as much as they could for the second round of exams. She forced thoughts of Alhaitham and Kaveh at the back of her mind, now having a sense of determination to get through the next few days.

The next morning, although Layla had switched, both had a look in their eyes to help them focus through the second round of exams. They took their seats at their desks.

"Good Luck Layla! Let's do our best!" Nozomi chimed in.

"Thanks, you too." Layla nodded confused. "I think?"

*