The last week has been putting a huge strain on your shoulders, while the thing you've tried the most to do is balance your routine enough so that you don't end up breaking down and succumbing to fatigue. As if life was trying to play a cruel trick on you, your destiny was not exactly the kindest to you, and when you realized it, you had lost the most important people in your life. Now that it really was the last straw, you finally broke down in tears, isolating yourself in your dark room for two days straight and hardly taking care of yourself, neglecting all the responsibilities that were once your priorities at the Clock Tower.

Currently facing the memories inside your room with an empty feeling in your chest, you reflected a lot on the feeling of longing that was consuming you. You don't know exactly how or when it happened, but you could hear some soft knocks from someone against your door, which made you lift your face a little towards the door, confused. There was no one home, besides you... That was when the door slowly opened, revealing the authoritative-looking man with the ruthless bearing... with a soft gauze in your direction?

You've already had formal conversations with Kirschtaria, in some forcedly noble meetings that your family and his were at events that you wouldn't like to think about at the moment. You wouldn't say you could be called his friend, that despite having had intelligent conversations with a younger version of him, as he grew older, you felt he had begun to grow more distant from you... but maybe it was from the whole world.

However, you were more important to Kirschtaria than you thought. Mages usually didn’t have the habit of forming attachments with each other, hell, it was actually easier for them to secretly hate each other and just force themselves into fake meetings planned by their respective families. But, Kirschtaria genuinely cared about you. After all, after all, you were the only person he could ever call a true friend. The person he could once share how he felt about his troubled relationship with his father, who was filled with jealousy towards him. But maybe because you were so blinded by grief at the moment, you didn't remember how profound those moments with him were for you two.

You didn't want to, but for a moment, you tried to force yourself to try to say or ask him something. But before you could even do that, Kirschtaria approached you with an empathetic look, and in a sympathetic way with your state, he knelt in front of you, leaning on the bed where you were sitting until that moment, feeling so bitter before.

"I know this may not be much to you, but... I will always be here to offer you comfort if you need it, my friend. I express my condolences to you, and..."

He kind of didn't know what to say at the moment, nor what he should do. As if he was a little embarrassed, Kirschtaria slightly raised his arms, offering a hug.