Kalos Quest Vol 3: Trapped

83. From Axel to Luna

Axel had never felt so empty inside.

He flipped through the pages of the research file halfheartedly, before closing and stacking it atop the pile of books and papers beside him. He grabbed the next book titled 'Kalos throughout the Years'. He couldn't focus on a single word he was reading.

I have to get through this whole stack by tonight. The archive has a 24 hour borrowing time limit.

The words blurred in front of his eyes, twisting and jumbling. Axel resisted the urge to crumple the pages in his fists.

He had never felt so frustrated in his life.

"Dammit!" He shouted, throwing the book as hard as he could.

He expected to hear a low thump as the book hit the ground.

"I heard the harmonica," Zeraora said as it caught the book in its paws before it hit the grass, carefully placing it next to the stack of books. "Is there anything you need?"

The boy looked up, his eyes red and swollen as he held back his tears.

Electricity crackled around Zeraora as it let out a low growl, "who did this."

—

Luna did not want to be here.

Being on a date with some random person was the last thing she wanted— but here she was. The only reason why she agreed to this whole thing was to get Axel to make the first move and feel a tad bit jealous.

After all, what kind of guy would just let their friend go out with some random person?

Clearly, Luna had miscalculated. She was waiting for Axel to stop her or something, only that Axel did nothing but stand there and look at her. He made no effort to prevent this from happening— and Luna did not like that.

All she wanted was for Axel to show a tiny bit of affection towards her, like returning her feelings or something. Honestly, even Luna herself didn't know what she had expected out of him.

After all, our relationship with each other is no more than travelling companions. Just friends.

I got ahead of myself.

Luna was fully aware that she only had herself to blame for being so stubborn.

"So, uh, anywhere you wanna go?" The auburn haired boy asked awkwardly.

"It's up to you," Luna answered.

Luna didn't dislike Jacob or anything. She just didn't feel anything for him. In fact, she felt slightly bad for him because he was trying so hard to earn her liking. She wasn't deliberately trying to be rude or anything to Jacob— she simply found the conversation to be insanely awkward and hard for her to follow up.

Well, since we're here, I might as well as get to know him.

"Sweet or savoury?" She asked.

"Sweet."

"I see. How nice." Just like Axel.

"How about you?"

"It doesn't matter. Any interests?"

Jacob ran his fingers through his unruly curls nervously, "W—well I'm in this underground fight club if that counts,"

"Fight club?"

"It's a place where you battle other trainers, and the crowd bets on the winner," he said, motioning to the rainbow mightyena figure on his jet black hoodie, "man, it gets a bit rough sometimes but it's worth the trouble. I earn a proper living from that."