Slightly panicked, I went to open the door for Xiao. My hand barely turned the knob, and he came barreling in. I jumped back as he surveyed the room, jade spear in hand. His keen eyes scanned the entire area, honing in on the broken wall and settling on me.

"What happened?"

"I-I don't know."

His eyes flicked around for any potential threats, on edge. "You called for me. I thought there was another attack."

I frowned. "I didn't call for—oh. Sorry, I must have been sleeptalking."

"Sleep…talking?" Xiao's rigid posture lessened a fraction. "You mean to tell me that there is no danger here?"

"Not at the present moment."

He looked unconvinced, and I could understand why. A few loose rocks toppled from the top of the wall, falling onto the pile of rubble. Timaeus had finally come to, and he coughed on the lingering dust.

Xiao pointed to the mess. "How did this come to be, then? Was it you?" He pointed his spear at Timaeus, who stumbled back in shock.

"M-Me?" Timaeus quivered. "I have no idea what you're talking about. All day, I was in my room working on these potions for Alchemy." He gestured to his desk, where rows and rows of bottles sat. "I'd only just gotten to falling asleep before a loud boom woke me up. Next thing I knew, the wall was falling apart."

"Who are you? And why have I not seen you before? You mean to tell me that you're an actual student here?"

"I am!" Timaeus affirmed. "I just don't take any of the Physical Combat classes. I'm here to learn the craft of alchemy. Exploring the natural elements of the earth is fascinating to me. Why, my current research pertains to—"

Xiao cut him off. "Then it was your potions that caused the explosion."

"My potions?" Timaeus gasped. "The odds for a spontaneous combustion of this scale is close to zero!"

"You did it on purpose?" Xiao took a threatening step toward Timaeus. "What vendetta do you hold against Lumine to resort to such measures?"

Timaeus retreated even further until the back of his knees hit his bedframe. "I never said that! The chances of me ever setting off something so dangerous intentionally is even less likely than it happening by accident. I swear it."

"Xiao," I held out a hand. "He's telling the truth. Timaeus and I don't talk much, but I know he's a good guy."

"Then how would you explain this?" He crossed his arms.

That was a question I was only beginning to tackle myself. The likely cause was found on my side of the room, but it had disappeared just as quickly as it arrived. One thing was for certain—it was made from Geo energy. I needed more time to think, to figure out what was going on, before I was to give a proper response. For now, I quickly thought of the next best thing.

"It could have been damage done during the monster attack that went unnoticed. The possibility for a minor fracture to develop into something disastrous isn't unlikely."

Xiao grunted and examined the damage.

My door had been left wide open when Xiao entered, and I heard shouts coming from down the hall. Not a moment later, task force guards were spilling into my room. With so many bodies entering such a small space with no notice, I tensed. They were in full gear, shouting orders and pointing to the damage. As for me, I was still in my pajamas.

"Everybody out!" Xiao ordered. "Give her some space."

The guards were hesitant, and one of them spoke up. "I'm sorry, but we must follow the commander in chief's orders. The Raiden Shogun has instructed us to—"

"I don't care." Xiao leveled the deadly end of his spear at the guard's face. "Get out."

They didn't need to be told a third time. In a matter of seconds, all of the guards had cleared out from my room, and I was able to relax. Well, as much as I could considering the situation. Xiao firmly closed the door and once again turned to me.

"You said you were sleeptalking. Why would that involve me?"

"Well," I thought of the dream. "I think it was a gut reaction to me having a…a nightmare."

"Nightmare?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I was dreaming about the lawachurl from before. I guess what you said really made an impression on my subconscious. You know, if death comes knocking at my door and all that. Sorry for disrupting you from, well, whatever it was you were doing before coming here. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

"No." He shook his head. "Even if a false alarm, I would rather you still call for me if the situation demands it. I was on my own patrol. It's not part of the job description, but I don't trust the CATF to do their job properly. Their tardiness just now only proves their incompetence."

"Uh," Timaeus stood on his side of the broken wall. "What should we do about this? I don't think going back to sleep here is an option."

"Find somewhere else to sleep," Xiao said. "Don't ask me where. It is none of my concern. All I wish to confirm is safety."

"O-Okay," Timaeus awkwardly began to shuffle through his belongings. "Visionless House has the least amount of students, so there are some spare rooms available. Lumine, I'm sure you and I can find something."

"That sounds like a good idea. I guess I should also get packing."

Xiao stepped in front of me. "Not so fast. How are you feeling?"

"About the wall?"

"Not that. You said you had a nightmare."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I know it wasn't real, so there's no reason to bring it up now. I was caught off guard. It just spooked me a little." I attempted to laugh.

He narrowed his eyes. "I've had my fair experience with dreams. Fond dreams are light and silky. The tainted ones are rather unpleasant, even for me. Do you have these nightmares often?"

I shook my head.

"It must be due to the residual energy those demons left behind," he grunted. "I've been eradicating it all day, but the shadows persist. No matter. If you continue to find yourself plagued by these nightmares, I have a suggestion. Almond Tofu. It feels like a sweet dream, one that is sure to keep the evil at bay."

A dish recommendation was the last thing I expected from Xiao, let alone one that apparently soothed dreams. I can't imagine what sort of nightmares he must have had to discover this. Either that, or he was a secret foodie.

"Thank you," I managed to reply. "I'll keep that in mind."

He nodded and surveyed the room once more. "The essence of evil in this place is present but too faint to have been the reason for such damage. Perhaps your theory about infrastructure failure is correct. There is also a faint trace of Geo in the area, but its source eludes me. In that case, this needs to be reported and repaired immediately."

"Who should I go to?" I highly doubted Catherine was in the office at this hour.

"Do not worry." Xiao opened the door and stepped into the hallway. "I will take care of it. In the meantime, sleep."

And with that, he closed the door behind him. The sound of Timaeus gathering all of his potions together reminded me to arrange my own things. Dazedly, I found my bag and piled the necessities inside.

It was hard to focus on the task when my mind revisited the Geo structure that was in my room. As foreign as it was, the energy radiating from it felt familiar somehow. Where had it come from? The question replayed over and over in my mind as I zipped up my bag. Could it be…? No. I shook the thought away. There was no way I had an affinity for both Anemo and Geo. That would be ridiculous.

Satisfied with what I had packed, I stepped into my shoes and walked out the door only to find that the CATF guards never left. They were waiting for me, polishing their spears and making small talk. The guards weren't the only ones milling about either—a growing number of pajama-clad students were whispering to each other, curiosity on their faces.

At my appearance, all small talk and activity stopped, and they stared at me. Timaeus also walked out of his room, and they split their focus to him.

"If you don't mind," one of the guards walked up to me. "We'll be inspecting your room now."

I nodded and stepped aside so they could go ahead. One by one, the guards marched inside, shutting the door behind them. I could hear murmurs coming from behind the door, but it was unintelligible. Now, it was just students staring at us.

"What happened?" Ellin gasped. "It felt like the whole building shook. Then, guards were shouting everywhere!"

"I thought there was another attack," Huffman worried. "Thank the Archons it wasn't."

"Lumine!" I spotted the bunny ears of Amber's sleepwear headband peeking out from the crowd. "Are you okay?"

I shouldered my bag and began to push through the students until we were face-to-face. "Yeah, just a little shocked."

"It took forever to get down those stairs to see what was going on! I'm lucky my door is closest to the end of the hall, otherwise, I would still be stuck there. I don't even think the other Houses got past their own crowded floors. So, what happened?"

Everyone was listening.

I took a deep breath. "One of the walls in my room got busted somehow. The damage was so bad, there was basically nothing separating my room from Timaeus' room. We both have to find another room on this floor to sleep in for now."

"I saw Instructor Xiao come out of there," Amber whispered conspiratorially. "What did he have to do with it?"

"He just sensed the danger," I shrugged.

"Wow," she breathed. "He's got really good sense. That's to be expected from him, I guess. What about—"

"Lumine!" someone came barreling through the group of students. They all quickly parted to make way for the upperclassman gripping a daunting claymore. Diluc's chest heaved once he got to Amber and me. "What's the situation?"

"Where did you get that weapon?" Amber's eyes bugged out of her head. "It's so…so red and scratched up. Is the tip missing? How are you carrying that right now?"

He grunted and leaned the weapon against a wall. "I like to keep it under my pillow while I sleep. In the event that a threat suddenly arises, I refuse to be unarmed."

"Claymore and pajamas." I tried not to laugh. "Very intimidating."

He was wearing a pajama set. While other students had some mismatched combination of a comfy top and bottom, Diluc wore a maroon button-front silk shirt with an embroidered chest pocket and a pair of matching bottoms. The hems were woven with silver thread that offset the roughness of his stature. He was even wearing fuzzy, burgundy slippers that really tied the look together. The pajama set and intimidating claymore clashed so terribly, it was cute.

Diluc pinched the bridge of his nose. "I may have overreacted by bringing my Wolf's Gravestone. What's going on?"

"Her wall went kaput." Amber blew a raspberry. "Basically, Celestia Academy has its first double dorm room. Nobody knows how it happened though, right Lumine?"

"Right," I sighed. "And now I have to find a spare room to sleep in for the night."

"Are you sure it wasn't an attack?" he frowned.

"I'm unharmed. You can see for yourself."

"I'll take your word for it." He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Do you need help finding a room?"

Amber snickered. "Are you offering?"

"Am I—" he cleared his throat, rubbing his jaw. "Of course not."

"I think the ones at the end of the hall are open," I smiled. "I should be fine."

It was then that the CATF guards exited the site of concern. By the perplexed looks on their faces, I could only assume that they also couldn't come up with a reason as to what happened.

"Nothing to see here!" one of them announced. "Go back to your rooms! Curfew is still in place."

"We're still allowed to roam the building!" someone protested. "You can't boss us around here."

A few more students spoke out, and the guards shifted uncomfortably.

Diluc stepped to the front with his weapon. "If there is nothing for you to do here, I suggest that you leave. We students need to get all the rest we can in order to perform well in school. Your presence is hindering."

"Yeah," Amber whisper-shouted beside me. "You tell 'em. By the way, Lumine, would you mind telling me why the Diluc Ragnvindr is so concerned about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on." She tilted her head in his direction. "Everyone knows Diluc likes to keep to himself and that he generally doesn't get along with anyone. Some students have even said it's because he's high-class and snobbish, but I haven't gotten that impression at all. Lumine, Diluc didn't come down here to check out what happened like the rest of us. He came here specifically looking for you. Is there something going on between the two of you that I don't know about?"

"We just play chess."

"Only chess?" she pressed further. "Are you sure?"

"I guess we went into town once."

Her jaw dropped. "You went into town. With Diluc. Alone."

"Um, yeah?"

"Answer me honestly." She gripped my arm. "Was it a date?"

"No! Archons, what is it with people assuming I'm going on dates all the time? He had to take care of some tavern business, and I wanted to see what that was all about."

"Hm," she stared at me intently. "It's no use. I can see it in your eyes."

"What's in my eyes?"

She smirked. "Denial."

"About what?"

Amber simply sighed and placed her hands on either side of my face, directing me to where Diluc continued to berate the guards for imposing on our residential dorms. She whispered in my ear. "Repeat after me: Diluc."

I followed. "Diluc."

"Likes."

"Likes."

"Me."

"Me."

Amber nodded. "Say it all together."

"Say it all together."

"Goodness, Lumine," she groaned and finally released my face. "Say the words altogether."

"Diluc," I paused. "Likes me? As a—"

"If you say 'as a friend' I will sic Barron Bunny on you," she hissed. "And I know you understand what I'm talking about. Otherwise, you wouldn't be blushing so hard right now."

I sputtered. "I-I'm not, well, only because you...how are you even so sure that…"

Diluc turned around with satisfaction lingering on his face once the guards finally began to leave. A few students cheered him on while others were beginning to yawn and turn back to their rooms. His scarlet eyes met mine, softened by a smile. A smile that I've been seeing more and more frequently from him. My heart skipped as he approached, and it thudded louder with each beat as realization dawned on me.

"That's taken care of." He looked from me to Amber. "Did I miss something? The atmosphere has changed."

"Oh, you know," Amber whistled. "Just girl talk."

He chuckled. "Alright, then. I'm going to head back up if I'm no longer needed. The sun will be up before we know it. Lumine, stay well."

I couldn't get a word out before he turned away and walked toward the stairway.

"Well?" Amber grinned at me.

"You…" I held a hand to my chest in an attempt to slow the palpitations. "Might be onto something."

"I'm not onto something, I'm already there," she winked. "It's good that you're coming around, but there's just one more thing."

"What else could there possibly be?"

"You like him, too."

Amber made the statement with such confidence, there was no rationale or alternative my brain could muster up to counter her. My brain wasn't working at all. I couldn't speak. The only functioning organ in my body was the heart that swelled in my chest so much that it could burst.