Luna sat in the cafeteria with her friends. Unlike them, she wasn't eating, her eyes were fixed on Amon with a sharp, unblinking stare.

"How many?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Luna narrowed her eyes and leaned back, arms crossing in irritation.

"If you don't want me to feed you a flesh bomb, then spit it out. How many memories have you stolen?"

Amon pursed his lips and glanced at Medici for support… Traitor! With a sigh, he took another bite of his food before speaking.

"Not that many. Just a few. Some are dormant, useless memories, but… after three days of trying, I finally managed to get something good."

Luna blinked, then gave him a disdainful, unimpressed look.

"Uh-huh. And what about the destroyed classroom? Or the chalk dust shaped like a dick on Mr. Rock's chair… The guy walked around like that all day until Elena pointed it out. All the pens vanished from the third floor, too. Oh, and now there are complaints about some nightmare creature sneaking into the academy and stealing people's memories. One girl nearly died from shock, too. Apparently, she threw away her doll, but it came back. She tore it apart but next day, it was still in her room. Then she burned it, and the next day it was right there on her pillow when she woke up. She's talking to a therapist now."

Amon kept eating, his expression unreadable.

"Yeah? And what about them?" he asked calmly.

Luna sipped her juice, letting the silence stretch. For a while, she seemed unsure what to say, then exhaled softly.

"You need to control your flaw. You're not even resisting, because you like it."

Amom lifted his hands in mock surrender, a curious smile tugging at his lips.

"Well? Don't worry, I can manage."

Luna frowned, then snatched the chicken wing from his hand and took a bite.

"Don't think you can fool me. You were the same little shit back in school. You're just bored, and your only source of entertainment is messing with people."

They soon finished eating and got up, heading back. On the way, Amon's gaze fell on a girl sitting alone in the corner.

She was quiet, delicate, and undeniably pretty. Her clothes were neat and tidy, nothing expensive, but tasteful nonetheless. With pale blond hair, large blue eyes, and an exquisite face, she looked almost like a porcelain doll.

Then Amon glanced at Luna and gave a smug shrug. Heh, no one could compare to their demoness.

Beside the girl sat a frail-looking young man. His skin was pale, dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his frame was slender and short. There was a faint luster in his dark gaze.

The trio feigned ignorance as they strolled past two members of the main cast. Though, Amon's mouth curled in a faint smirk as he made an awkward attempt to sling an arm over Medici's shoulder, only to fail thanks to their height difference. Slightly irritated, he adjusted his pleasant smile and spoke just loudly enough for the blind girl and the young man to hear.

"Hey, guys… do you know what blind kids and orphans have in common?"

Medici, oblivious at first, gave a small gesture for him to go on. But as Amon's words left his mouth, Medici's eyes widened, mirroring Luna's, who stared at him in disbelief.

"Neither of them can see their parents, bahahahah." Amon said with a laugh.

The blind girl's eyes widened at Amon's words, tears welling as she lowered her head in quiet misery. Beside her, the young man opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again, his fist clenching as he glared at Amon with barely contained spite.

Amon laughed, clearly satisfied with their reactions until he noticed Luna's and Medici's blank, horrified stares, making his smile falter.

"Hahaha... Haha... Ha... What?"

Medici shook his head, awkwardly. "You're dark, man."

"I don't care," Amon muttered, irritation seeping into his voice as he turned and walked away from the miserable pair.

At that moment, Instructor Rock appeared. A tall man in a dark blue uniform, he was nearly a giant compared to everyone else on the stage.

Amon grimaced and started turning away as soon as he saw him, followed closely by Medici and Luna. They had heard the same speech before and nearly fallen asleep. After that, they decided to skip it altogether.

"So, rooftop?"

"Yeah, sure."

"I've got some juice, let's just play cards."

At that moment, Amon flicked his wrist once, and a faint blob of light slipped effortlessly into his body. As he walked on, a voice echoed clearly in his mind with same mechanical tone.

[You have received a Memory: Endless Spring.]

---

Amon and Medici sat on the rooftop, slurping coffee like it was the last thing worth giving a damn about.

"Amon, you know what kinda life I'm stuck with?"

"Huh?"

"Nah, it ain't life. More like some busted-ass carousel just spinning 'round and 'round."

Amon gave a slow nod, sipping his coffee with nothing but blankness in his eyes.

"Can't ride life's wave. I'm just drifting, no clue where."

Medici stared up at the sky, expression vacant.

"Thoughts? Yeah, I slapped 'Game Over' on those ages ago."

Amon sighed, bloodshot eyes settling on his cup and he slurped.

"Sxrshhxxrpp... Ahh..."

"Ehh..."

"Hmm?"

At the same time, Luna sat in a restaurant near the academy. Her pale white hair was tied in a ponytail, and her crystal-blue eyes sparkled with excitement, ready to eat something different from the cafeteria's usual fare.

A waitress approached her with a polite smile.

"Hello."

Luna smiled courteously, resting her chin on her palm.

"Hello. How much for vodka?"

The waitress frowned, tilting her head.

"We don't have that here. Anything else?"

Luna's expression darkened, displeasure creeping in.

"What about whisky then?"

The waitress nodded.

"That's ten thousand points."

Luna blinked, her pleasant smile still in place.

"Ten thousand points for one glass…?"

The waitress smiled softly.

"No, for one sip."

Luna looked down, deep in thought, lips pursed.

"What can you suggest then?"

The waitress nodded understandingly and walked away. After a minute or two, she returned and said politely,

"Menu."

Luna took it gratefully as the waitress nodded and left.

She picked up the menu and began eating it... piece by piece.

"Delicious..."

That night, the trio sat in Medici's room, their faces blank and spirits low.

Amon, noticing the heavy mood, forced a pleasant smile and stood up.

"Don't worry, guys. It's just that we're broke. Nothing new, right?"

Medici looked up, his expression unreadable, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Uh-huh. What reassuring words."

"For real, preach, man."

Amon sighed, shaking his head. What's wrong with these guys? We were eating Jerry-kun and ratatouille out in the outskirts. So when did they get so picky?

Trying to cheer them up, Amon decided to put on some movies. Wonder what they've got... This era's supposed to be better than ours, right?

They all got comfortable and the screen flashed to life:

"BRAVE AWAKENED WARRIORS! IT'S OUR DUTY TO PROTECT-"

Amon pursed his lips. Well, you're no Erwin, my guy. Go take a piss and get to bed.

Luna grimaced, leaning back with a look of contempt.

"What the fuck was that?"

"I don't know. Let's try the next one."

They glanced at the screen again, hopeful.

"Tragedy after tragedy... They didn't know what to do and-"

Medici's fingers twitched as he clenched his fist in annoyance.

"What the fuck is that bitch even talking about?"

Amon looked down, silent for a moment, then sighed.

"Okay, one last chance."

They nodded tiredly and looked up.

"And that's how love bloomed in the academy..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Amon stared at the screen in disbelief. At some point, the screen simply went dark. Luna stood up and flung her sandal at it with deadly accuracy.

So that's it? These bums are supposed to be better than us? Fucking propaganda, zero creativity. Amon was at a loss.

Not to mention, everything here sucked. No fun. No wild, unexpected shit popping up. People? Idiots. Fucking idiots.

That's it... We're screwed. What can we do without any entertainment? Go back to reading novels? Ha. Knowing those assholes and their bullshit, even that's trash.

"So, what're your thoughts about this era?"

"Trash."

"Frauds."

"... Reasonable development."

The next day, the trio sat in history class, still cranky from yesterday. Now the instructor was sprinkling salt on the wound like it was a cooking show.

"What we can say is that in the Dark Ages and before that, people were cruel and violent. They would find any excuse to start conflict and destroy everything for their own gain. One such tyrannical country was America... Oh, and Russia."

Medici's eyes went wide, somewhere between shocked and about to throw hands. Normally, he'd let it slide but his flaw flipped a switch.

"What did you just say? You could use some freedom, pal."

The instructor frowned, glancing at the three troublemakers in the back.

"Do you want to say something, Mr. Medici?"

Medici shrugged like it was no big deal, stood up, and announced in the most formal tone imaginable:

"Yes, I do. And I exercise my liberty to say: fuck you!"

Luna's head turned slowly, her gaze narrowing into one-eyed Soviet judgment.

"Want a taste of the Soviet Union? Sickle and hammer, comrade? Maybe a Stalin statue for your garden? Comes with free intimidation."

The instructor blinked, visibly shivering. These two looked like they'd declare war on him for mispronouncing borscht.

Meanwhile, Amon kept his head down, thinking, That's what happens when you poke patriots. Congratulations, professor, you've just triggered the Freedom vs. Communism DLC.

Amon thought, watching the show with an amused glint in his eyes… until he froze. His smile vanished as Luna and Medici's eyes had just locked, and it wasn't friendly.

Oh no. Ohhh no. How did I forget?! They were at each other's throats in the group chat too!

Luna shot up, glaring at Medici with the kind of hatred normally reserved for arch-nemeses.

"What did you say, you fucking capitalist?!"

Medici leaned forward, eye twitching, voice low and venomous.

"And what are you gonna do, huh? Starve me out with the Holodomor? Ship me off to the Great Terror? You fucking communist!"

Medici's fists ignited with little bursts of flame like he was about to launch Freedom directly into her face. Luna's arm twitched, flesh twisting like it was about to morph into a live bomb.

"You're one to talk! I wasn't the one who dropped nukes on Japan, you hypocrite!"

Amon sighed, turned toward the window, and stared up at the bright blue sky. Weather's good… shame about the Cold War re-enactment happening behind me.