Summer hadn't arrived yet, and the sky darkened faster than Reina had imagined.
She had thought the twilight wouldn't truly set in until after six-thirty.
But when the numbers in the upper right corner of her phone screen jumped to 5:47, the light outside the window had already grown thin, as if someone had quietly drained away the intensity of the colors.
The clubroom was very quiet.
Rin remained in the same posture, sitting cross-legged on a folding chair with her phone resting on her lap, the screen's light reflecting off her expressionless face.
She hadn't swiped the screen for a long time; the phone had likely entered standby mode, with only the occasional notification lighting up that small patch of radiance.
Reina didn't speak either.
She didn't know what she should say.
So she just sat there, her gaze shifting between the window and the white-haired figure before her.
Outside, the sky transitioned from pale orange to dark purple, gradually becoming saturated with a deeper blue.
Streetlights across the campus flickered on one by one, casting small pools of warm yellow light onto the paths between the teaching buildings. The faint honking of cars from the evening commute drifted in from afar, only to be quickly carried away by the night breeze.
Reina's gaze wandered aimlessly.
"Reina."
The time had come.
Reina heard Rin speak, her voice sounding somewhat abrupt in the quiet clubroom.
The white head in front of her turned slightly to the side.
"Look," she said, raising her hand and pointing out the window. "The stars are out."
Reina looked in the direction she was pointing.
Her gaze lingered on that point of light for a few seconds, and then out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the corners of that usually expressionless face seemed to curve upward just a tiny bit.
"The first one."
She heard her say, her voice very soft.
After speaking, Rin stood up, walked over to the astronomical telescope, leaned down, and began adjusting the angle of the lens tube.
"Come here."
She gently tugged on Reina's arm, signaling her to come closer; the guiding motion was very soft.
Reina stood up as requested and walked to her side.
"Here."
Rin took half a step back, vacating the spot in front of the eyepiece. One hand rested lightly on the lens tube while the other gently pressed Reina's shoulder, signaling her to lean down.
"Do you see it?"
Her field of vision was filled with a deep blue night sky, the edges faintly shimmering with the lens's flare.
And right in the center—
A star.
Very bright, very lonely.
There were no other points of light around it; it hung there alone in the darkness, like a fragment of a diamond accidentally left behind on the night curtain by someone.
"It's Alpha Hydrae, also known as Alphard," Rin's voice came from her side, very close. "There are no other bright stars around it, which is why the Arabs simply called it 'The Solitary One.'"
Reina remained bent over, not responding immediately; she just continued to gaze at the star.
"When I first started learning about the stars," Rin paused, "I always felt it was a lot like me."
"Because no matter how I searched, it seemed like it was the only star in its vicinity."
Reina's eyelashes fluttered slightly.
"But later, I found out that's not the case."
In her still-flat voice, she stated an astronomical fact.
"It's actually located at the center of hydra, the largest constellation in the sky."
"It does have other stars accompanying it. Although they're hard to find, they do exist."
Reina straightened up from the eyepiece and turned to look at her.
Rin was looking at her too.
Those azure eyes appeared exceptionally clear in the dim clubroom, like two bottomless wells.
"But I have always been all alone."
She paused for a moment.
"It's so nice that you are loved by everyone."
"No... I've always been all alone too..."
Reina answered subconsciously, but after the words left her mouth, she realized that Rin might not have been talking about herself at all.
Her cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment.
But Rin didn't seem to care.
No, that wasn't entirely true; the smile at the corners of her lips seemed to become a bit more pronounced.
"People are like constellations too."
She turned her face away, her gaze falling back onto the window.
"They look connected, inseparable, yet they are independent of each other."