‎"Hmm," Nox placed a hand on his chin as he stared intensely. He was completely caught at an impasse as he stared.

‎

‎He thought there was nothing harder than training with Astra, but he had been proven wrong just a day after.

‎

‎"Why don't you just go ahead and choose them both?" The person by his side muttered, there was a nervous sweat on her forehead.

‎

‎She had never seen someone be this indecisive about pastries... It was just about sweets, not a life-altering decision.

‎

‎She was starting to regret the creation of these delicious delicacies. She wanted to strangle the head chef for coming up with these recipes.

‎

‎This customer had calmly walked in with his friends and she had made the mistake of recommending pastries to them.

‎

‎The other two didn't seem that much surprised much affected by them, with the blonde handsome one being the calmest.

‎

‎Probably because he had tasted them before, but the black haired one, on the other hand seemed to have the complete opposite reaction.

‎

‎He had refused to leave without taking one of the pastries with him, but now, he couldn't seem to make a decision.

‎

‎"I can't choose both," Nox muttered, still staring at the trays of pastries, "that would be irresponsible."

‎

‎ "How?" She asked, confused at his logic, she looked at his two friends, who still remained seated, and asked for a bit of help.

They were looking at what seemed like a newspaper, which reported about the fifteen Solar knights that disappeared years ago,

So they had no intention to help her out, they enjoyed watching Nox think this hard just because of a couple of pastries.

‎

‎Devon, especially, seemed to enjoy both Nox's and the waitress's mystery.

‎

‎"Because then I'll have two desserts."

‎

‎"…Yes," a voice from behind said, "that is how choosing two works."

‎

‎The two turned toward the door and found Astra approaching.

‎

‎"A-Ascended Dawn?" the waitress let out a stutter the moment she recognized who was walking in.

‎

‎"He'll take both," Astra said as she got close enough, tapping on her watch a few times before raising her head to look at the waiter.

‎

‎"I-I'll pack them up right away!" the woman said quickly as she immediately scurried off to grab the sweets and bag them up.

‎

‎"What about stomach ache?" Nox muttered, turning to Astra.

‎

‎"You regrew an arm," she said, completely deadpan. "I'm sure you can cleanse your insides with your SE. If not, then you'll just have to suffer for a few hours on the toilet."

‎

‎"Right," he muttered before looking at the duo behind her, they had refused to help with his pastry decision, so he had no intention of sharing.

‎

‎"What? The kid's capable of getting a perfectly flawless skin after being burnt to crisp, he should be able to handle a little stomach ache," she had started talking to herself again and this time, Nox didn't even look confused or try to question.

‎

‎He had already gotten used to that particular antic of hers, so he just stood and waited for the pastries to arrive.

‎

‎Cass and Devon then approached, though neither of them looked the least bit apologetic for refusing to help earlier.

‎

‎Nox narrowed his eyes at the two of them. "I'm not sharing."

‎

‎Devon gasped dramatically, "bro, after all we've been through?"

‎

‎Astra ignored all three of them completely as she walked toward the counter, still having a conversation with the voices in her head under her breath.

‎

‎The waitress soon returned with a bag in hand as he confirmed Astra's payment, only because she needed to give Ascended Dawn a receipt.

‎

‎"H-here you go," she said, bowing her head slightly to Astra… then to Nox, who was still the cause of her mental exhaustion.

‎

‎"Thank you," Nox replied as he took the bags.

‎

‎"Let's go," Astra ordered before any of them could say another word. She tapped her watch again, "you three still have to pick up supplies."

‎

‎"Right," Cass and the other two muttered as they walked behind her, and out the cafe, letting the waitress finally let out a sigh of relief.

‎

‎It would be a long while before she ever recommended their pastries to any other customer, they were too delicious for their own good.

‎

‎***

‎

‎Nox, Devon, Astra and Cass walked out of the cafe with Nox holding the bag of pastries tightly.

‎

‎"Um, Ascended Dawn?" Cass suddenly hesitantly called out, causing her to turn to him, "w-what type of rift will we be facing in six days?"

‎

‎Astra seemed to think about it for a while before replying, "you all will be split into groups, and each group will be sent into a different rift."

‎

‎"The type of rift will be completely random," She added, "but it would be nothing above tier two."

‎

‎"Well, except something goes wrong again, just as it had in you entrance test," she paused, looking at their reaction before waving her hand, "which I'm sure won't happen."

‎

‎"I see," Cass nodded, he very much preferred to completely skip this activity and hole himself up in the academy either reading, sleeping or creating solar tech, nothing in-between.

‎

‎But he had no choice, after all, this activity was not optional. Besides, if he refused to participate, Cass was sure his brother would somehow find out and in turn so would his family.

‎

‎"So uh… can I get paired up with these two, or we not doin' that?" Devon asked, a bit hopeful that he'd be paired up with people he knew.

‎

‎"No," Astra simply shook her head, "the pairings will be completely random, and you'll be a group of four with each from a different division."

‎

‎This was basically an activity that helped them get used to working together even at this stage since they'll be doing that a whole lot.

‎

‎"What about instructors?" Nox asked as they continued walking forward.

‎

‎"Hmm?" Astra looked at him with a bit of confusion....until the voices in her head suddenly explained what the kid meant, "ah right."

‎

‎"You will enter the rifts alone," she answered, "your watches will inform us if you're in danger."

‎

‎"And you can get there in time?" Nox asked again.

‎

‎"...." Astra looked at him before turning to the building before them, "We're here."

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