The office seemed to shrink around them. Mystic stood completely still, his shoulders stiffening as Harold's words settled over him. Across from him, Luna had stopped moving entirely, the fingers that had been nervously fidgeting moments ago rested against each other, and the cheerful smile that normally seemed impossible to wipe from her face remained frozen in place.
"Wait what." Luna muttered toward the principal.
Her voice was quieter than usual, almost strangely calm, while her eyes remained fixed on him. She blinked once, then again, as if waiting for someone to laugh and tell her that this was some horrible misunderstanding.
Harold's expression remained grim as he leaned forward slightly, his hands resting against the desk as he forced himself to deliver the rest of the news.
"A day ago, they were killed by the Yandere killer group. Mystic there isn't just one person now there is three people working together with the killer." His voice carried none of the hesitation Luna seemed to be waiting for.
Mystic's eyes narrowed since the news was horrifying, but Crime City had never exactly been known for mercy.
He slowly exhaled through his nose, his gaze dropping toward the floor as memories of the city's streets came rushing back, the vigilantes who stopped criminals only to become criminals themselves, the violence that seemed to breed more violence, and the name everyone had given the place for a reason.
"So, you're saying there is more of those bastards living in crime city. I am not surprised as the city is called something that makes crime possible for basic people to do." He muttered, his fingers curling into fists at his sides as Harold answered with nothing more than a slow nod.
Luna remained silent, her eyes had stopped focusing on anyone in the room, they drifted toward an empty patch of wall as her breathing gradually became uneven.
Her lips parted slightly, but no sound came out, then her fingers began twitching again, once, twice, faster each time, before she suddenly pressed them against her own arms as though trying to hold herself together.
The realization finally reached her, her father was gone, the man who had still shown her warmth when her own mother had barely given her any had been taken from her. Her lower lip trembled as she tried to smile, almost out of habit, but the expression collapsed before it could form.
A tear rolled down her cheek, followed by another, striking the floor beneath her.
"My dad's dead." The words barely escaped her mouth.
For several seconds, nobody moved. Luna stared downward with a vacant expression, tears continuing to fall while a tiny, broken smile slowly returned to her face.
She gave a quiet, breathless laugh that didn't match the tears running down her cheeks.
Mystic turned toward her but before he could say anything, Luna crossed the distance between them and wrapped both arms around his waist. She squeezed hard enough to make him stagger half a step, burying her face against him as though letting go would somehow make him disappear too.
"Luna let go, I know your sad but I can't be your anchor for everything." Mystic muttered, his hand hovering awkwardly above her head.
Luna only tightened her grip, her fingers dug into the fabric of his clothes, refusing to loosen even when Mystic tried shifting away.
She pressed her face deeper against his neck, her breathing came in uneven little bursts, and every time Mystic moved, her arms immediately tightened again. The cheerful girl who normally followed him around with endless energy was nowhere to be seen and what remained was someone frightened of being left alone with her thoughts.
"Harold you got to do something about this, they killed someone who belongs to me, even if he isn't around most of the time anymore." She muttered into Mystic's shoulder, her voice shook, but there was something unsettling beneath the grief, a desperate insistence that Harold fix something that could no longer be fixed.
Harold watched her for a moment before nodding.
"I am working on it and let's make things clear, she will die. For everyone's sake. But now there is a group so we have to be on our guard from now on." His eyes hardened as he spoke, and the room seemed to grow colder beneath the weight of his words.
Luna suddenly went quiet, her fingers stopped trembling for a few seconds, only to begin twitching again against Mystic's back.
She lifted her head slightly, revealing tear-streaked cheeks and a smile that looked painfully forced, her eyes darted toward Harold, then toward the door, then back to Mystic, as though her mind were desperately searching for a way to make sense of everything.
Mystic noticed the change immediately, Luna wasn't simply crying anymore, she was clinging to him as if he were the last solid thing left in the world.
Every time her eyes wandered toward the doorway, her arms tightened around him again, her breathing gradually became steadier, but her grip never weakened.
"Mystic this isn't just a small time thing to deal with anymore; you need to be careful because you could get killed. One of them possible is fixated on you but what's to say the others don't care and kill you too." Harold looked directly at him, the usual warmth absent from his expression.
There was only cold calculation now, the kind that came from understanding exactly how dangerous the situation had become.
Mystic met his gaze and for a moment, neither of them spoke, then Mystic glanced down at Luna, who had once again hidden her face against his neck. Her arms were still locked around him, and the slightest movement from him caused her to tense.
He finally gave Harold a slow nod as Luna reacted immediately, almost as though she had been waiting for permission to leave. She grabbed onto Mystic even tighter; her cheek pressed against his shoulder as they turned toward the office door.
They left the room together, Luna refusing to release him even after they entered the hallway. Her usual skipping steps were gone and instead, she stayed pressed against his side, occasionally looking behind them with wide, uneasy eyes before burying her face against him again.
Neither of them headed toward class, acting like school could wait. With the Yandere killers no longer acting alone, Mystic was now a target, Luna had lost the person she depended on most, and whatever fragile sense of normality they had left had shattered inside that office.
By the time they reached Mystic's house, Luna had barely loosened her grip on him.
The moment the front door shut behind them, the silence of the empty house seemed to settle over her as Mystic led her into the living room, knowing there was no way he could send her back home with a killer potentially watching her every move but for now, his house was the safest place he could give her.
"Okay so what's the plan, I want the person who killed my father dead. You were making tech earlier show me." Luna asked, her voice carrying a sharp edge beneath the grief.
Before Mystic could answer, he stepped forward and pulled her into a hug.
"Alright, alright. Calm down, I know your dad just died but I will protect you with my life." He muttered, holding her firmly.
Luna's tense shoulders gradually sank against him, her hands, which had been curled into fists moments earlier, slowly relaxed as she leaned into the warmth of his embrace, her eyes closing for a brief moment.
When Mystic finally released her, Luna remained still for a second, almost reluctant to move away as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small remote. With a press of a button, something beneath the floor hummed, a section of the living room shifted, mechanical parts sliding into place before a hidden table rose from beneath it.
Luna's eyes widened as she stepped closer, the table was covered with strange kinetic weapons, each one built with unfamiliar mechanisms and glowing components. It looked nothing like the living room she had walked into only moments earlier.
"Wow this is amazing tech, how did you make this and how long did it take you." She asked, leaning over the table as curiosity briefly pushed through her grief.
A faint blush appeared across her cheeks as she looked back at Mystic.
"A few days. After hearing about the Yandere killer having kinetic weapons, I will have to make my own to match her." He answered, walking toward the table, his eyes moved across each weapon, his expression becoming more focused as his fingers hovered over the machinery without touching it.
Luna's attention snapped toward the hallway when the sound of the front door unlocking echoed through the house. Her body immediately stiffened, the cheerful curiosity vanished from her face, replaced by suspicion.
She turned toward the entrance, watching the doorway as footsteps slowly approached. The door opened as a unknown woman stepped inside.
Luna stared at her, confusion quickly turning into caution as she had never seen this woman before, yet the stranger walked into Mystic's house with the confidence of someone who belonged there. Luna's hands slowly curled into fists as she positioned herself between the woman and Mystic.
"Who are you, and what are you doing in Mystic's house." She shouted, her voice cutting through the room as he immediately turned around before freezing.
The weapon he had been examining slipped slightly in his hand as his eyes locked onto the woman standing in the doorway as his breathing stopped for a moment.
The years between them seemed to collapse all at once, dragging memories he had buried deep back to the surface, his face lost every trace of composure as he stared at the person he had never expected to see standing inside his home again.
She didn't move instead she simply looked at him.
Mystic's eyes widened further, his lips parted, but nothing came out as the room suddenly felt impossibly small, the kinetic weapons on the table forgotten as he stood there staring at her.
Luna glanced between them, sensing the weight of the silence but having no idea what had caused it.
"Hello. Son."