Ever since meeting Van, and ever since hearing the name "Kirin," her insomnia grew worse night after night. Even so, she felt a glimmer of hope that the weird things happening to her will soon have answers. Since then, Freyja would wake up early in the morning, read even more books and stalk this girl Van day in day out.

Unfortunately for Freyja, Van kept running away from her, every time she would ask her about it. But this time, Freyja had a good plan. For sure, she will capture her this time.

The teacher for the last morning subject just went out to get lunch. Taking this chance, Freyja skipped her afternoon cla.s.s and snuck at the faculty room, headed straight to the first year adviser table. As fast as she could, she skimmed through the piles and piles of doc.u.ments until finally, she saw Van"s records. With a smirk, she took her pen out and started writing as much information on her left palm. Satisfied, she left the room unnoticed.

"Hmmm… I believe her house is somewhere here…" Skipping the rest of the cla.s.ses for the day, Freyja headed straight to the address written in Van"s information sheet. Freyja carefully walked through every single un-labeled street in the small subdivision. The place was quite far from city center, she had to take two jeepney rides just to get there. And when she did, there were no plates or house numbers at the gates. Heck, it took her some time just to find the streets.

Freyja was lucky, still. She heard a loud noise coming from one small, concrete house. Out of impulse, she hid herself in the nearby bushes and observed from there.

"Get the h.e.l.l out of here!" A woman is chasing a girl out of the house. The girl seems used to it, she quietly walked out, as if it was a daily routine. "Wait a minute…" Looking closely, she recognized the girl. It was the loud, cheeky Van!

But she looked different. Freyja wanted to run to her and ambush her with questions as originally planned, but decided to keep herself hidden. She followed Van as quietly as she could, tiptoeing, hiding behind bushes after bushes, tree after tree unnoticed. Van kept walking towards the forest way back of the subdivision. Still, Freyja followed.

Van stopped walking and quietly sat on a boulder facing a gushing river, throwing small stones into the water. She looked like a completely different person, much to Freyja"s surprise. Seeing her quet and a bit down made her feel guilty spying on her. Then, Van pulled something out of her shirt, a crystal pendant. The pendant didn"t look ordinary at all. It looked brilliant, reflecting the sun"s rays. It had an air of mystery around it. Looking closely, Van gently rubbed it against her cheek as if drawing comfort out of it. But, what surprised Freyja the most was that little by little, she saw something come out of the crystal pendant. It was like a faint white gas. Squinting her eyes, she saw the gaseous substance shroud Van"s body. She yelped.

"Who"s there!?" Van stood up in a panic, feeling her presence.

"Wait! It"s me!" Freyja stepped out of hiding, her hands up. "I"m sorry. I"m desperate about Kirin so I…"

"So you saw it."

Freyja nodded. "Come on, it"s not like it"s something new to me. I was disowned by my parents here twice already. Outcast, weirdo and all… why would I make such a fuss over that?" She laughed it off. "Listen, I"m not trying to comfort you or anything! Just tell me who the h.e.l.l Kirin is!" Hiding her embarra.s.sment, she feigned anger.

Van took a deep breath and showed her the crystal pendant. "This is Kirin." Van said in all seriousness. Freyja fell silent. "When I was six, I would always wander around this area by myself when I needed a break from all that." She began.

One day, when she was six years old and walking around that area, she saw something shining on the ground. It was a small crystal. It captivated her instantly. It felt mysterious, beautiful, strangely comforting. It fits perfectly on the palm of a small child. She picked it up and kept it like it was a treasure.

Then, on the night after picking the crystal up, Van had her very first, awfully vivid dream about being transported to "another world." In her dream, she saw floating fortresses and people flying around. She saw fireb.a.l.l.s being conjured by people clad in white robes out of thin air. She saw things she never thought existed, and saw them in brutally vivid detail she couldn"t tell that she"s dreaming.

The dreams then got more and more frequent. While Van was more than thrilled, this caused her to grow distant with the people around her. Naturally, what"s real to her is never to them. The "disconnect" was the price she had to pay. Even the people closest to her, started treating her like a lunatic.

Though enjoying it, Van ended up getting more and more frustrated that in the end, everything always turns out "just a dream." Because of this, she was prepared to throw the mysterious crystal away to live a normal life again. But just when she was about to, she had the most vivid and most unforgettable dream of all.

All of a sudden, she saw in her dream, a young man with pale skin, silver hair and enchanting emerald eyes. "…and his name is Kirin Aethelmaer." Since then, Van couldn"t bear the thought of parting with the crystal pendant. Even if the world hated her, if she can see Kirin, she knows she"ll be fine. Before she knew it, Kirin has already made his way deep into her heart.

Hearing her story, made Freyja"s tears fall uncontrollably. Hearing her, she felt a strange, happy sensation overflow in her. At the same time, she felt envious. But above all, it was relief that made the tears flow.

She was so relieved. It was as if she found a fellow earthling on a strange planet. Freyja laughed. She laughed, still with tears on her eyes. "Freyja…" Van was quite surprised with her reaction.

"Hey, why are you crying?" Van sighed, and smiled.

Freyja wiped her tears at once and walked towards Van. Punching her arm, she said with her usual vigor: "How about this, I have an idea! How about we go and look for Kirin? So you with me?"

Her almost childlike suggestion surprised Van speechless. "You—" She can"t believe what Freyja just said. For a while, she was unsure if Freyja is an even bigger weirdo than her. But just the same, an overflowing sense of relief, made her totally forget why she went to that place in the first place.

"So? You with me?" Freyja had a childish grin on her face as she urged her.

Van grinned and playfully punched Freyja. "Of course! But you"re not taking him away from me!"

Freyja smirked. "Let"s see about that."

Freyja held her hand out for a shake. Van grabbed it, squeezed it tight. "You got a deal."

"Yup! It"s an adventure, then!"

~ o 0 o ~