Chapter 33: Chapter 26: Starting the day.

Echoes of Fire and Shadows

Chapter 26: Starting the day.

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 -----Luna's POV-----

"Liliana, wake up. It's already morning." I started tapping the arm of my older sister.

"Hehehe… Five more minutes…" She turned around and hugged her pillow.

Sigh… Not this again...

"If you don't wake up soon, I will use water magic like last time." I threatened her.

"Alright, alright…" She raised her upper body while keeping her eyes closed. My threat had worked. "Morning, Luna… Yawn..." She yawned while stretching.

She was wearing a loose-fitting black robe as pajamas. Her long brown hair was looking extremely messy. I was sure that it would take her a while to fix that mess.

"Good morning, Liliana. It was about time you woke up." I looked at her with a bit of annoyance.

Each day is a battle just to get her to wake up early, or to wake her up at all…

"What's the big deal? I don't think we have magic lessons with mom today…" She started rubbing her eyes. "I was having a nice and happy dream, you know? If only you hadn't woken me up..." Liliana complained.

"Weren't you the one who asked you to wake you up early because you wanted to spend time with Julius?" I asked her while walking towards our shared closet.

"Ugh… I forgot I asked you to do that…" She facepalmed. "Oh well, better get up then!" Liliana threw her blanket up to the air while getting up from the bed as quickly as she could.

"So? What was your dream about?" I asked her while taking out a set of clothes for myself and laying it down on my desk.

"Hehehe? Do you really want to know~?" She replied with a mischievous tone.

"Knowing you as well as I do, it was surely something about food or something about Julius. There's no in-between with you." I replied while looking at my own reflection in the mirror.

Contrary to Liliana, I was wearing gray pajama pants and a white long-sleeved shirt.

My hair was now way shorter than my older sister's. I decided to cut most of it last year. 

My hair barely reaches my shoulders now, but my bangs are still pretty long. It is a bit messy since I just woke up, but fortunately not as much as my sister's… Julius called this style a 'long bob cut'. I genuinely love how my hair looks right now!

"Rude! I also dream about other things!" Liliana started pouting.

"Like?" I didn't believe her. I simply started to comb my hair while looking at my reflection in the mirror.

"I dreamed about the Snowgiving party from a few months ago!" Liliana sounded extremely happy.

I took a quick look at her and noticed that she was looking with joy at a very beautiful bracelet wrapped around her wrist.

The bracelet is made out of wooden beads with a simple silver ornament with the shape of the Sun attached to it. There's a small yellow-colored jewel embedded in the middle of the ornament.

I couldn't help but look at my wrist and smile thanks to the sight of my own bracelet.

While at first sight, both bracelets are almost identical with the wooden beads and the silver ornaments, the shape of my ornament is different from Liliana's… Mine has the shape of a crescent moon with several tiny purple-colored jewels embedded all over the ornament.

Julius made these bracelets with his own hands as a gift to us for Snowgiving…

When he gave these accessories to the two of us, he said: "While you two might be identical on the outside, both of you are special in your own way. So I'm giving you these bracelets so they can serve you as a reminder of that."

My feelings for him have only grown stronger ever since I decided that I had to change, but this simple yet thoughtful gift made him win my heart all over again…

"Hehehe! I think I'm in the mood to tease him a lot today!" Liliana walked up to me and started to comb her hair in front of the mirror. She was looking extremely happy after gazing at her bracelet for a few moments.

"..." I couldn't help it, but I ended up silently staring at the mirror after looking at both of our reflections.

"Luna? What's the matter? Are you feeling unwell? Do you think it is that time of the month again...?" Liliana looked at me with worry.

"Thankfully, no… I was just thinking how much things have changed in the last three years…" I shook my head.

About a year ago when we were ten, both Liliana and I started going through something called puberty… Our voices got a bit deeper, we got almost twenty centimeters taller (meaning that we are 150 cm tall) and our bodies changed in some very particular ways in some odd places…

Sigh… It is an absolutely terrible thing to go through… The first time I got my period, I thought I was going to bleed to death…

It was a good thing that neither Dad nor Julius were in the house to hear my blood-chilling screams…

Luckily for me, I obviously didn't bleed to death for no reason and mom was there to help me calm down. 

Unfortunately for Liliana and me, we had to have the most awkward talk ever with mom about the Harpies and the Bees…

Since Mia is older than us, she had told us a bit about what puberty was like, however, I didn't expect that talk to be as embarrassing as it was… I couldn't even look at Julius for a week thanks to how embarrassed I felt…

"I don't know about you, but I definitely feel like I'm getting prettier by the day!" Liliana smiled confidently at me, unaware that I was reviving some really embarrassing memories.

"I'm obviously the one getting prettier, you're just copying me, sis." I showed her my best teasing smile as I finished combing my hair.

"That's the spirit! You've really gotten the hang of this!" Liliana started patting my back while looking at me with pride.

Aside from the changes in my body, I have been able to beat my shyness. Well, not entirely… There are still moments when I get so nervous that I can't even talk properly… At least I no longer stutter whenever I'm around Julius. Gods, that's so embarrassing to remember...

"Getting the hang of it? I would say that I'm the queen of teasing, but I don't wanna steal your schtick." I winked at her before walking towards the door. "I'll be taking the first turn for the bathroom." I said with a smile on my face before leaving the room.

"Ah! This cheeky little sister! I'm the only queen of teasing in this household!" I was able to hear my sister complaining as I made my way to the bathroom.

I'm feeling pretty good right now... I'm sure that this will be an amazing day today!

Liliana and I were going downstairs after the two of us had taken a bath and got ready for the day.

The two of us were wearing our favorite winter outfits.

Mine is a black blouse and a gray cardigan, simple trousers, leather boots and a coat made out of warm fur for when I needed to go outside.

Liliana's outfit consists of a white blouse underneath a bright red robe and simple trousers similar to mine. Her leather boots were really long as they almost reached her knees. 

She also had a similar fur coat, but the fur of hers was a different color than mine. Hers is light gray colored while mine is dark brown.

(Phew… Nothing beats a hot bath during the winter.) I was delighted since I was feeling fresh and very relaxed.

"So what's the plan for today? Do you want to go and look for our little brother or do you want to go wake up Mia?" Liliana asked while we were going down the stairs.

"You should already know the answer to that question, sis. We are obviously going to Mia's house to wake her up." I replied.

"Alrighty then!" Liliana happily accepted my answer.

The three of us usually have breakfast together since we are usually the ones who wake up last in both of our homes.

My dad, my mom, Auntie, Mrs. Natalie, and Julius all wake up around dawn. Sometimes even earlier than that... Both Klein and Mr. Harold wake up an hour or two after all of them.

So it is only natural that the three of us would hang out together to start the day.

Though… We always have to wake up Mia, otherwise, she would sleep in until the afternoon…

Sometimes we come back to our house after waking up Mia, some other times we simply stay at her house to hang out.

Anyway, Liliana and I quickly made our way through the living room. I could clearly hear our aunt shouting at someone in Julius' room.

"Oh? Then what about Miles!? Why didn't you tell me he was married!? You could have at least saved me the embarrassment of being rejected!" She was shouting very loudly... "No! I don't care I dodged several red flags, I care that you didn't warn me first! Yes, I get that you were busy and that it was my fault that I didn't notice the ring, but he was wearing full body armor! How was I supposed to see it!?…-!" She was genuinely pissed off.

Her wrathful shouts continued to echo in our living room...

"She's having a fight with the Goddess again." Liliana spoke with a slightly amused expression.

"Just as usual... They will probably be friends again in a few minutes." I simply shrugged since I was used to this kind of thing.

I always wondered what it must feel to talk with a deity… To be able to talk in your mind with the Goddess of Knowledge herself like Julius and Auntie do and ask her about the answers to all the mysteries of the world… I hope she'll talk to me one day.

"Of course." Liliana nodded with a slight smirk. "I'm getting really hungry now… Let's go and wake Mia up!" Liliana suddenly ran ahead of me towards the door and quickly went outside.

I simply stared at the door of Julius' room for a moment before following my sister, leaving the screams of my wrathful aunt behind as I left the house.

I was welcomed by the clear blue skies and a world covered by white snow. The stony roads had been cleared earlier in the morning.

Most of our neighbors were all spending time talking with each other at the plaza nearby. I could hear the laughter of several small children as they were throwing snowballs at each other, something which made me smile from ear to ear. I was reminded of our first winter with Julius.

After enjoying the view of the snow-covered houses from our small village, I walked towards the house that is on the right side of my own house.

The door was already opened which meant that Liliana had gone inside already.

"Sorry for the intrusion." I apologized as I went inside the house and closed the door behind me.

There was no one to receive my apologies... It seemed like everyone but Mia was out of the house. I could tell that our friend was still here because I could hear her snoring.

The layout of the house is basically the same as our house. On the first floor, there's an enormous living room/dining room, the kitchen, a bathroom, and a storage room, while all the bedrooms are upstairs on the second floor. The only detail is that the bathroom and the bedrooms are the only ones with doors. This is because Mrs. Natalie and Mr. Harold say that they prefer open spaces and they are quite bothersome since they have to crouch a bit to open them since they are so tall and their ears get in the way. 

The decoration of the living room is quite simple but it feels extremely homely and pleasant.

After I spent a few moments admiring the wooden furniture and the other decorations of the room, I quickly made my way upstairs, following the loud snoring of Mia, only to find my older sister standing right in front of Mia's room. The door was fully opened.

"Luna, come and take a look at this! Pffft!" She was holding her stomach with both of her hands, it almost seemed as if she was doing her best to not laugh.

"What? Is she sleeping while hanging from the bed upside down again?" I asked my older sister with a little bit of amusement.

Mia likes to sleep in very peculiar positions… Just the other day, we found her sleeping on top of her bed frame…

"Just come and see for yourself!" Liliana was trying to keep her voice down but was failing to do so.

My expectations were growing by the second as I slowly walked further into the room.

The curtains were closed so her room was pretty dark. It was a simple problem to solve for a magician like me. 

I simply used magic to create several small balls of light to illuminate the entire room.

That’s when I saw it… 

Mia was sleeping upside down once again. She was sleeping on the right corner of the bed with her back against the wall and the bed frame, her butt was pointed upwards towards the ceiling… She was barely covered by her blanket since I could see her tail and one of her legs sticking out from beneath the covers.

Despite the odd position she was in, she appeared to be sleeping very pleasantly. Her snores were also pretty adorable.

“Okay, this is definitely way better than last time~.” I couldn’t help myself but grin thanks to the sight in front of me.

"Right!? Hehehe!" Liliana was already giggling thanks to the sight. It would be only a matter of time before she started to laugh.

The two of us made sure to engrave the funny sight into our minds before we decided to wake her up.

Mia's entire room was decorated with sketches and paintings of the person the three of us love. There was a sheet with yet another drawing of Julius on top of her desk alongside a few bottles filled with powders of different colors and small pieces of chalk. That drawing appeared to be a work in progress.

"Sheesh… I wish I was a good artist like Mia… Her drawings are super cute!" My older sister seemed a bit dejected, yet happy while admiring one of the sketches of our friend.

Mia is a very talented artist. All of her drawings are extremely accurate and beautiful to look at, which is only proof of all the effort she puts into them. This is also the reason why she usually sleeps in until the afternoon if no one wakes her up… She usually goes to sleep around midnight because she ends up losing track of time while she's working on her drawings and paintings.

I know about that because I have heard Mrs. Natalie venting about it to my mom several times now. She has apparently tried to at least make her go to sleep at a reasonable time but she has not had much success there.

"Your drawings are pretty cool too." I said to my sister.

"Thank you, Luna!" Liliana smiled happily at me.

Compared to these two, I'm a pretty terrible artist… I think it is best if we don't dwell too much into that…

After receiving my sister's warm smile, I walked over to Mia's bed and leaned in closer to her.

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"Mia, wake up! It's time for breakfast… I'm going to eat everything if you don't wake up soon!" I said to my sleeping friend.

Unfortunately, my words were met with more loud snores…

"Mia, I'm serious! I have already eaten half of the food!" I immediately lied to her.

Again, my words were not able to wake up the sleeping rabbit girl in front of me…

"Sigh… You leave me no choice…" I spoke with a flat tone as I got on top of the bed and got closer to Mia.

I simply raised my finger and started focusing on it. I effortlessly gathered my mana on the tip of my finger so I could use the Grade 1 spell [Ice Touch].

Without any hesitation whatsoever, I pressed my icy cold finger against Mia's warm belly.

"Eeek! So cold!" Mia let out a strange shriek as she jumped in place from the shock I caused her.

Because of the method I had just used, Mia started to panic. She was moving like a headless chicken for a while until she fell on her back in front of me. Both her blanket and her pillows had been launched away because of Mia's panicked movements.

When our gazes met, she blinked repeatedly for a few seconds while having a blank expression on her face.

"Good morning, Mia." I smiled at her as I started patting her head and playing with her rabbit ears.

"Sheesh… You really scared me, Luna…" Mia seemed a little annoyed while she raised her body and sat with her legs crossed.

Mia is probably the one who has changed the most out of the three of us after she entered puberty. First of all, she’s grown at least 30 centimeters taller if you don’t take into account her rabbit ears. Secondly, her voice is not as high-pitched and cute as it used to be, I mean, it is still cute, but it has a mature feeling to it. Her voice is very similar to Ms. Natalie’s. Her red hair has grown quite a bit, and as usual, she always lets her hair loose. There are also a few distracting changes about her that I really can’t talk about without getting embarrassed… Never mind that… Anyway, despite all the physical changes, Mia is still the same romance-obsessed happy-go-lucky girl that we met all those years ago when we lived in Norvek.

She’s currently wearing some shorts and a simple sleeveless top, which are totally not suited for the winter, but that’s just how she and her family are.

"What else could I do? You didn't wake up even though I was yelling." I shrugged before I continued to play with her fluffy rabbit ears.

Seriously… It is getting increasingly difficult to wake these two up every morning...

"Hehehe… Sorry! It is just that I was having a dream about our last Snowgiving!" She smiled happily while she played around with the necklace around her neck.

That necklace was almost identical to both of our bracelets. It was made out of wooden beads and a small silver ornament. 

The difference between the necklace and our bracelets was that the ornament was shaped like a star. The ornament was decorated with a few small blue-colored jewels embedded in each tip of the star and a bigger one in the center.

It is needless to say that the necklace is probably one of her most prized possessions since it was given to her by Julius.

I completely understand that since my bracelet is one of my most beloved possessions as well.

"You too? This is proof that we are connected on a spiritual level!" Liliana said with a surprised expression on her face.

"Was there ever any doubt? We are besties!" Mia replied happily, completely forgetting about my previous actions. "So? What are we gonna do today? Mom bought from a merchant the new book of M. N. Grapes yesterday! Do you wanna give it a read?" She asked with an innocent smile on her face.

"Wait? You already got the new one!?" I couldn't help but gasp. "We definitely need to check it out now!" I was extremely excited to read the new book of my favorite author.

“Does it have to be now? I’m hungry and I want to see Julius!” Liliana complained.

“That’s true, we haven’t eaten anything yet… Let’s leave it for later then.” Mia nodded in agreement before getting out of bed to change from her pajamas. “You two can go ahead and wait for me downstairs! I think Mom said something about leaving some bread for us to eat!” Mia smiled at the two of us before opening the door of her closet, revealing a disaster zone.

I was a little peeved that I couldn’t read yet the new novel I had been waiting for over a year to read, but I obviously also wanted to eat and see the one I love.

“Fine… But we definitely need to read it soon! I can’t wait to find out what happened to the princess and the hero after they fought against the evil twin of the princess!” I still couldn’t contain my excitement despite feeling a bit disappointed that I couldn’t read that book now.

“Yeah, the suspense is killing me! I want to know more about the cousin of the hero! She had such a tragic backstory and yet he still ended up being a kind and strong person! I want to be as strong as she is!” Liliana, despite being the one that wanted to read the book later, immediately started talking about the prequel.

“Her romance between the gatekeeper of the castle and her, a woman of noble origin, was such a touching thing to read! I wanna have Julius say to me the same stuff the gatekeeper said!” Mia quickly joined in, with her usual black cropped top and shorts in hand as well as a coat similar to ours and some leather boots.

“Ohoho! Cheeky! I would like him to tell me the same things the hero said in the fifth volume of the novel!” Liliana blushed a little while smiling.

Before any of us realized it, we found ourselves talking about the prequel of the book while Mia was unsuccessfully trying to get changed. We didn’t stop talking about it, until an hour later when all of our bellies were rumbling…

“Gosh! This bread is so amazing!” Liliana looked like she was about to shed tears of joy.

“Hahaha! Mom will be happy to hear that you think that!” Mia smiled before taking another bite of her own food.

Ms. Natalie has been studying how to make bread since a few months ago. Ms. Lana, our neighbor, has been teaching her how to bake. Julius has also given her some ideas for some recipes.

“It is really sweet! It's delicious!” I said after licking my lips.

This time Ms. Natalie baked for our breakfast at least a dozen round pieces of bread with a little bit of sugar on top. There are also a few cream puffs! 

Hehehe! There’s really no better way to start the day than to eat some delicious bread and drink some warm tea while talking with my friends about our favorite book series! Things would be even better if Julius was here with us.

“You know, I’ve been wondering for a few days now…” Mia suddenly placed her half-eaten bread on top of her plate. Her left cheek was covered with cream. “Why haven’t you two told Julius how you feel?” Mia tilted her head.

“Oh…” I grimaced as soon as she asked that.

“I’m just waiting for Luna to eventually get some courage. That’s what a good older sister does!” Liliana winked at Mia before taking another cream puff into her mouth.

“Is that so? I mean, you are not shy like you used to be, Luna." Mia leaned in closer to me. "You said that you wanted to change so you could tell him, then isn’t it now a good time to do it now? You’re waaaaaay more extroverted than what you used to be.” She smiled while her ears moved in a cute manner.

“T-T-That is…” I couldn’t help but stutter thanks to her unexpected question…

“So you’re still nervous about it… I guess it can’t be helped.” Mia seemed to understand how I felt.

“Sorry…” I apologized. “It is just that I can’t seem to find the perfect moment to do so… I was close to telling him during the Snowgiving party but he gave us the bracelets before I could even speak… It really doesn’t help that little Sophie wanted to play with him after that and took away all of his attention for the rest of the party…” I hid my face with both of my hands thanks to my embarrassment.

“Ah! So that’s why I found you in a corner of the room all alone with a frown on your face.” Liliana suddenly pinched my arm with a slightly amused look on her face.

“Leave me alone... You haven’t tried to say anything either!” I replied with annoyance.

“That’s because I know I can do it whenever I want!” She said proudly while taking another bite of her bread. “Your problem is that you’re worrying too much about the smaller details! Don’t worry too much about it and everything will work out.” Liliana gave me the thumbs up.

“I don’t know about that…” I muttered.

I mean, if there’s anything I’ve learned about confessions after reading hundreds of romance novels, the things that matter the most for a confession to be successful are the place and the impact!

In the first volume of the novel of M. N. Grapes, the princess confessed to the hero, a low-ranking noble, out of nowhere in the middle of a party while everyone was watching them dance! The confession had so much impact that the hero was so shocked that he couldn’t even utter a response, in fact, he even fainted and everything!

So, in an ideal situation, I would like to confess my love for him in the most impactful way possible! 

Sigh… The only problem with that is that despite having done my best to overcome my shyness in the last few years, whenever I find the perfect moment to confess my feelings, I get extremely nervous and I can’t even utter a single word… It is almost like the shyness returns and hits me with full force...

“Luna, you just need to be a little more straightforward! It worked for me!” Mia smiled and patted my back.

“I really wish I was as brave as you, Mia… To suddenly hug him and be so convinced that he was the one even though you had barely met him…” I smiled bitterly.

“Well, to be fair, Mia has been like that since the moment we met her. Julius was not the first to get a hug and a sudden confession from Mia.” Liliana pointed that out before taking a sip of her tea.

“I was just a dreamy kid, okay!? I know what I was doing was weird, but thanks to that I was able to actually meet my soulmate!” Mia crossed her arms and pouted.

In the last few years, Mia has actually started to feel increasingly embarrassed about her past when she was desperately looking for her knight in shining armor. She runs away in shame whenever any of us calls her Romance Addicted Rabbit, something which her little brother loves to do just to mess up with her.

“The important thing is that in the end things worked out for me! I met the most kind, cute and intelligent boy ever because I trusted my gut!” Mia said to Liliana, still seemingly annoyed by what she had said before.

“Well, you can be wrong a thousand times, and eventually you will be right at least once, don’t you think so Romance Addicted Rabbit?” Liliana smirked as she replied with an old saying our mother likes.

“Don’t call me that!” Mia covered her face with her long ears to hide her embarrassment.

I couldn’t help but chuckle thanks to that exchange.

"Please forget about that nickname already!" Mia was even more ashamed than before.

"Jeez! To think that just a few years ago you were super proud of having that nickname and almost wore it like a medal." Liliana kept teasing our best friend with a smile on her face.

"That's true. I don't think you need to be embarrassed about it. It is a really cute nickname if you think about it~!" I couldn't resist joining in to tease her.

"We are here to talk about you two confessing to Julius once and for all! Please let's focus on that!" Mia was no longer covering her face with her ears, instead, she was pouting in a very adorable manner.

"Hahaha! Don't get mad, Mia. You know that we are just messing with you!" Liliana got up from her seat and got closer to Mia to give her a hug. 

"Fine… I'll forgive you just this once…" Mia kept pouting while looking at Liliana.

"Though, I think you're right about that. Lately, Julius has only had eyes for you and that's a bit annoying." Liliana hugged her tightly.

Hmmm… She’s not wrong… Julius has been acting really awkward around Mia lately. He’s always looking nervous whenever the two of them are together and he’s always looking at her whenever she’s distracted… He also becomes very clumsy if Mia is standing too close to him.

It is obvious that he likes Mia and I won’t say it doesn’t make me jealous because it really does… 

Sigh… I just want him to look at me the same way he looks at Mia, that’s all I really want…

“Luna, are you sure you wanna keep waiting around to confess? At this rate, Julius might only have eyes for Mia.” Liliana suddenly turned her head to look at me and grinned.

…!?

“Over my dead body!” I stood up and shouted as loudly as I could. “That’s not what we had talked about! We said that it was either all of us or none!” I kept shouting at them…

I don’t know what got into me, but as soon as I heard those words come from Liliana’s mouth, I acted without thinking…

“Ah…” A few moments later, I realized that I had walked right into a trap…

Both Liliana and Mia were looking at me, grinning from ear to ear… It was almost as if they had planned this entire conversation…

“Hehehe! That’s the spirit!” Mia gave me the thumbs up.

“I guess we can finally do things my way. It is time for the legendary Matchmaker Liliana to do her magic! Even the Goddess of Love is jealous of my skills, you know?” Liliana winked at me while smiling proudly.

You have never even gone on a date… It is what I wanted to say to my sister, but I managed to keep my mouth shut.

Liliana stopped hugging Mia and walked around the table until she reached me. She didn’t forget to pick another cream puff on her way here.

“Luna, you have been trying your best for a while now…” She took a bite of the cream puff before she continued. “But waiting for the perfect moment to confess will get you nowhere.” She licked the cream off of the corners of her lips.

Sigh… I guess that’s true… I’ve tried many times to tell him how I feel and it always ended the same way… With me unable to say anything, frozen in place trying and failing to say to him what I want to say…

I’m really tired of that… I am tired of this happening every single time…

“But you can trust your older sister on this! I will make sure that our confession will be the most shocking ever just as you want!” Liliana patted my shoulder while keeping an honest smile on her face.

I simply stared at her with a blank look on my face for a few moments. It didn’t take long for that blank look on my face to turn into a full-blown smile.

“Alright… I guess I have nothing to lose.” I simply shrugged. “But are you sure you know what you’re doing?” I asked sarcastically.

“You can rest assured! Your lovely and beautiful older sister knows exactly what we need to do!” Liliana puffed her chest with confidence.

“Ohoho! I guess this girl’s talk will be a little bit longer than usual… I’m gonna bring some of my special snacks!” Mia looked at the two of us with excitement. Her eyes were practically sparkling.

“Indeed! It is time to finally plan our fateful confession!” Liliana was equally excited as our friend.

I just looked at the two, with a similarly excited smile on my face.

And that is how it was decided that both Liliana and I would tell Julius how we felt about him as soon as we could. Unbeknownst to us, however, is that things would not go exactly as planned… The confession would be extremely shocking for him though, just like I wanted it to be.

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Chapter 26: Starting the day.

END

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