Days passed, yet it felt like the entire world had frozen in place, as if time itself refused to move forward.
Even though only a few weeks remained before the end of the first semester and the long-awaited summer vacation, everything around me still carried the same weightless stillness. It was like being stuck in a loop where nothing changed, no matter how much I waited.
While I was drowning in that feeling of stagnation, Titania, Zeruel, Tris, and Yr suddenly invited me out on a date—together, all four of them at once.
Looking back, it must have been because of how preoccupied I'd been these past months. I had been spending nearly all of my energy working with Solaris, planning every step of how we'd eventually invade the Empire. Without realizing it, I had left my girls feeling lonely. That thought stung a little.
