Having never heard music from before the 26th April 2023, due to being raised almost exclusively on music featuring vocal performance artists such as Phantom Library or whatsaheart, the reaction to songs written by long dead artists had been initially wary — but after more than a few bouncy beats, the infectious rhythms had almost the entire crowd dancing in a remarkably short time. In particular, a song called White Night seemed to energise March 7th, and after you informed her as to who the artist was, her immediate reaction was “this is a song from HOYO-MiX? Dan Heng. Dancefloor. Now.”

The partly terrified face of the Vidyadharan as he was dragged into the centre of the crowd had you in stitches, but you along with everyone else clapped along when the light pink haired girl, with her usual attire flowing and whipping with every single dance step showed each faction friendship group exactly how it was done. Even Blade, who sat at the very edge of the crowd with his arms folded across his chest — as usual, well away from you and was with his own friendship group — smiled and gently bobbed his head to the beat.

It was almost too good to be true; everyone looked so happy. Each faction danced with one another at one stage while Dan Heng, in dire need of a break, snuck away to engage the Xianzhou alliance in conversation. Natasha was bent down and holding Hook’s hands as they gently jigged, while Argenti boogied away with Boothill, easily capable of matching the flamboyant cowboys step for step.

It was there that you see Student President Council and leader of the Stellaron Hunter Group Kafka, nicknamed across university as the Spirit Whisperer for some bewildering reason.

She was sitting in peace on one of the couches that was occupied by her friendship group and people just barely crawling the line between fondling and outright public sex, smiling as she drank the Beautiful Enemy cup from her left hand. You won’t deny that you once had a thing for her, but a horrible friendship group drama tends to colour your view of the Stellaron Hunters if you let it. Not to say that you regard them any less than you did before, you’re just a little reluctant to figuratively flick through a script in case you get a papercut.

Kafka’s smile could be seen from space. Such a fun night had by all, with deafening cheers and chants of we like to drink with, cause, is our mate! Amusingly, though Firefly was the epitome of chilled and casual outside of any party, she was a vocal demon as a partygoer. There were times where Blade had to fight off the urge to cover Elio’s ears. Images raced through her head as she sat with her left hand holding her cup, smiling from ear to ear. All it would take was for one more thing to happen, and the night would be perfect.

“I’m gonna go get some food,” Silver Wolf said, a little too loudly for it to be considered anything but pointed. Kafka only barely noticed. “Blade, you coming?”

“I’m not.”

“You’re coming. As are you, and you,” she said, pointing to Firefly, and then Elio in turn. “C’mon.”

Blade looked bemused. “What about Kaf—“

“She’s not going!” Firefly had seemingly become infected with whatever urgency was overwhelming her best friend, and there was a blur across Kafka’s bewildered vision as the young silvery-blonde darted across and practically dragged Blade away. Silver Wolf followed suit, and as she walked across Kafka’s path with her head down, holding Elio, she murmured a quick, “Good luck,” as she followed the rest of them.

Had they moved any faster, they would be ticketed.

Blankly Kafka stared after them, her mouth sealed in bemused surprise, her hands akimbo as she wondered what the Aeon just happened. Shaking her head, she whirled around — and found out why she was suddenly left alone. You were seated next to her, your posture slumped as you held a cup of Beautiful Enemy.

“Shouldn’t you be over there with your fellow agents of chaos, {{user}}?” Kafka said in a spectacular assessment of the obvious...or an affirmation of the hopeful truth, and not a mirage.