08:50
Aether could have sworn he'd left the dorm on time—when he'd checked his watch, it was exactly ten minutes to nine. So how the hell had he ended up late? Today might be one of the most important days of his life, and here he was, like a complete idiot, running late for his very first official meeting with the guys from "ANEMO." Talk about first impressions. The impression of a total moron who couldn't manage his own time. Perfect candidate for a band manager. He might as well add it to his résumé: "Hi everyone, I'm Aether, and I was late on my very first day as manager of a band! This job, by the way, has been my lifelong dream…"
While Aether sprinted toward the café, he was already coming up with a hundred excuses and responses in his head, trying to pick the most convincing one. So what had caused his delay? Forgot something at home and had to go back? Got distracted by a cute cat? Helped an old lady cross the street? No—he'd just frozen like a statue the moment he stepped out of the dorm. And the morning had started so promisingly: his bag and documents were packed in advance, his hair perfectly braided (without Lumine's help!), his clothes ironed, and his mood ready to move mountains. But the second the blond stepped out of his familiar room and onto the street, all that energy fizzled out. In its place came realization.
Today he would talk to Xiao for the first time.
Not just talk—introduce himself as who he really was. Not some faceless fan of their band, not someone who'd spent years watching one of "ANEMO"'s members from around corners, not the quiet shadow he'd pretended to be all this time. He would walk in, say hello, and shake everyone's hand—except Xiao's. Alatus didn't like handshakes or any kind of physical contact; Aether knew that for sure. But even the mere anticipation of their meeting was enough to paralyze him with nerves and leave him standing stock-still on the dorm porch.
"Hey, kid," a huge guy nearly knocked Aether over, bumping into his back. "Why'd you stop?"
"And you should open your eyes," the blond snapped, shooting an irritated glare at the towering man who inspired exactly zero trust. The light-haired brute scratched his head, putting on a guilty expression.
"Hey, Itto! Move your ass!" someone called from the gate.
"Coming!" the stranger deftly sidestepped Aether, clearing four steps in one leap and waving at the blond as he went. "Don't stand there like a statue, pretty boy!"
Aether watched the… well, guy in his leather jacket hop onto a motorcycle behind his friend, pull on a helmet over his long ash-colored hair, and roar off laughing somewhere away from the dorms.
"What an idiot…" Aether muttered, then remembered the time. Horror struck—he'd already wasted ten whole minutes and hadn't moved an inch closer to the café! The guy bolted and now raced straight toward the road.
It was a seven-minute walk from the dorms to the café, but Aether had promised to stop by Albedo's on the way. They'd agreed to go together because there was a high chance Aether might have a heart attack from excess emotion. Albedo had offered to keep him company, promising to sit farther away and just watch. Aether had been thrilled to go to this long-awaited meeting with his friend. In his head, there was a scene where he asked, "How do I look?" and Albedo confidently replied, "Xiao will definitely be yours," and they strolled leisurely to the venue, got hot, delicious coffee, and everything went so casually and calmly, with Aether the picture of charm… But fat chance—Aether wouldn't have time to ask anything, his perfectly styled braid would already be a mess from running, not to mention he wouldn't even make it to Albedo's… Thank the gods, though—Aether spotted his friend at the corner of the building! Future star of science had guessed the blond was late and come to meet him. What a champ!
Aether waved enthusiastically at Albedo while darting across the street. Albedo just shook his head disapprovingly, silently expressing his disbelief.
"You're seriously planning to be late?" That's how the young scientist greeted his breathless friend, whom he grabbed by the arm and dragged toward the café. Only a couple dozen meters left.
"No time—yell at me later!"
"Wait, hold on," Albedo suddenly stopped, yanking Aether back by inertia. "Look," Albedo nodded ahead. The blond turned and saw a familiar black-clad figure by the café's glass doors.
"You've got to be kidding…" the braided guy nearly groaned, realizing he'd completely screwed himself. Not only was he late, looking like he'd just run a marathon, but the first person he'd run into… was Xiao?! Why him? There were four members in "ANEMO"—anyone else! Hell, anyone in the whole university! Any professor, any random person, even Lumine, even Sara Kujou (okay, that might be overkill), but not Xiao!
"Albedooo," Aether practically collapsed into his friend's arms, on the verge of fainting. This day was irreparably ruined—this morning, this meeting—everything had gone straight to hell.
"Calm down," the scientist replied coolly, grabbing the blond by the shoulders. "Pull yourself together, put on your prettiest smile, and let's go."
"I can't," Aether covered his face with his hands, trying to retreat and get as far from the ill-fated café as possible. Preferably to the other side of the planet.
"Oh, gods…" Albedo sighed. "Listen, you've been waiting for this meeting for over three years. And you really want to walk away now?"
Aether dropped his hands and silently shook his head. He understood perfectly: he'd promised Venti he'd come. But why wouldn't his legs move toward the café? What should he do? How could he present himself in the best light to the person he'd dreamed of meeting for so long? What should he say? How could he be as comfortable as possible for Xiao, knowing the guy hated meeting new people and…
"Tch," Albedo suddenly turned and strode confidently toward the café doors. "I'll handle it myself."
Quiet horror shot through Aether. What was Albedo planning?! This was the last thing he needed! The braided guy bolted after his friend:
"Albedo, wait!"
He did stop—but not because of his friend's plea. The scientist's attention was caught by the figure ahead—specifically, the pained expression on his face. Aether caught up and nearly crashed into Albedo's back, braking sharply. Raising his eyes to Xiao, he instantly frowned:
"What's wrong with him?"
"I don't know."
Aether pushed aside all shyness and the worries that had plagued him moments ago. He saw Xiao squeezing his eyes shut and pressing his lips together, trying to hide it. But the closer Aether got to Alatus, the more terrifying and worrying it became. Xiao looked… awful. Like he was trying to endure an intense headache. Aether knew this guy had serious sleep issues and his lifestyle left much to be desired. But he'd never seen his idol like this. A sharp pang of anxiety gripped his chest, and Aether slowly approached, trying to appear as natural as possible.
"Xiao… hey? You okay?"
Aether mentally kicked himself a hundred times. How the hell did he know his name?!
But Xiao didn't seem to hear him. Was he really feeling that bad… Aether quickly tried to come up with a plan: he decided to wait a few seconds until the episode passed. After a moment, the brunet seemed to come around and silently flicked away his cigarette; the attack appeared to be subsiding.
Aether exhaled briefly, relieved that Alatus was a little better, and decided to step aside so as not to embarrass the guy with his presence. If he could, he'd hug Xiao right now, support him by the shoulders, help him to a bench—but he knew… he knew perfectly well that Xiao hated being touched and hated attention from strangers. Aether felt helpless and pathetic right now. He was supposed to be "ANEMO"'s manager, and here was his first problem—one he didn't know how to handle…
The blond turned, hearing footsteps behind him. It was Albedo, quietly observing.
Despite his medical knowledge, he had no idea how to help the suffering Alatus because he didn't know what was happening. Albedo nodded toward the doors, clearly suggesting they call Xiao's friends, and Aether was about to go—but something made him stop when he noticed the unimaginable, indescribable agony on his idol's face. As if he were enduring the most tearing, excruciating pain. It showed in his furrowed dark brows, his tightly shut eyelids, his trembling lips, and every crease on his pale, tormented face.
"Xiao…" Aether whispered in a trembling voice and, unable to hold back, took another step closer. A moment later he noticed the brunet's body sway slightly, his tense shoulders dropping sharply… Aether lunged forward in sync with Albedo, catching the collapsing body and managing to hold it before it hit the pavement.
"Xiao!"
09:19
After everything that happened, Aether sat at a table in the café, trying to distract himself with anything, wanting only one thing—to overcome his worry for the person he might have saved today… What if Aether hadn't been late? What if Albedo hadn't been there? What if he hadn't moved at the last second? Xiao would've fallen straight to the ground, hitting his head. And that could've led to so many consequences. Aether had already imagined a dozen different outcomes, up to…
"Okay, enough," Albedo's stern voice came from above, cutting off the endless spiral of grim possibilities that had been prevented today by sheer dumb luck. Albedo approached the table and saw his friend still sitting there—staring into space for the past ten minutes, cycling through those dark thoughts. The young scientist sat beside Aether and handed him a freshly bought mint tea. The blond nodded, silently thanking his friend for the care. Hot tea really wouldn't hurt right now.
Kazuha and Heizou had gone with Xiao to his place, Venti had disappeared somewhere but promised to return soon and asked Aether to wait a bit. Yeah, they definitely needed to talk. After all, it had been Venti's idea to gather all the band members today and introduce them to their new colleague.
Sitting at the table, Aether was completely drained. Not because of the upcoming conversation with "ANEMO"'s former vocalist, but obviously because of what was happening with another member…
What was going on with Xiao? Yes, his sleep schedule was wrecked, he ate poorly and slept little. Lately he'd been smoking a lot too. And why had Venti decided to leave the band right now—and drag Aether into it? It was all so strange. So many questions in his head and not a single answer.
"I told you," Albedo didn't lift his blue eyes to Aether, monotonously stirring sugar in his coffee with a long spoon. "Stop thinking."
"Easy for you to say," the blond couldn't shake the sticky anxiety, no matter how hard he tried.
"Listen," Albedo stopped stirring and looked intently at his best friend's face. "Everything turned out okay, right? He's alive and well. Probably sleeping sweetly in his bed right now. He'll rest, maybe finally see a doctor. Plus you can always ask Hu Tao how he's doing."
Aether listened carefully and realized Albedo was right. Why worry unnecessarily about something that didn't happen? Xiao was surely home by now, fast asleep. He was safe, and if anything, his sister would take care of him. That was the important thing.
Finally, the worry eased a little, and he took a sip of hot mint tea, closing his eyes. Noticing this, Albedo gave a brief smile: he'd done everything he could to help Aether.
Five minutes later Venti returned to the café hall and waved at Kuki—the barista who'd spent the whole morning watching scenes in her café more dramatic than Broadway, worthy of a screenplay and bestseller.
The former "ANEMO" vocalist approached Aether and Albedo and sat beside them.
"Sorry, I got held up," the brunet rubbed his neck. "Urgent stuff…" He paused. "Uh… Aether, you okay? You look terrible."
Aether flinched and shook his head briefly, meaning "it's nothing." It didn't matter right now. He wanted to go home, collapse into bed, bury his head in the pillow, and scream into it.
"Anyway, as you can guess, the meeting didn't go great," Venti sighed. "But don't worry about it. We'll definitely meet this week once Xiao recovers, I promise! I'm dropping our original idea, and also…"
Now Aether was starting to doubt… Did this band even need a manager? Maybe Venti should hire a therapist instead? Wherever you looked, problems everywhere. Though the blond partly guessed why the former vocalist had chosen him specifically.
It had happened a couple months ago, over the summer. Venti had found Aether online, messaged him, and asked to meet. Of course, they'd crossed paths at university before, but hadn't really talked much. Aether tried not to get too close to "ANEMO," though he still couldn't miss their rehearsals or gigs, showing up to every one and admiring one guitarist in particular. And that watching hadn't escaped Venti's attentive gaze. The vocalist always spotted Aether's light head in the crowd—during warm-ups, club shows, venues, or just rehearsals. That's when he decided to find out who this young man was. Aether turned out to be the admin of their band's fan account—the very first one that appeared right after their debut at last year's fall festival. Venti talked to him and was surprised: Aether had let slip that he'd been following Xiao's work for years. That meeting surprised both of them, but it's when Venti offered Aether to join "ANEMO" as an assistant—secretary. Was Aether happy? Hell yes! He agreed to help his favorite band for free (very important), and from the first days of the semester joined the student council to gain connections and opportunities for organizing.
"Damn it," Venti got distracted from talking to Aether by a phone notification. The guy quickly typed a reply, deftly moving his fingers across the screen. "Ugh, sorry, but I really have to run," the ex-vocalist stood up. "Aether, let's meet tomorrow or Monday, okay? I really have a lot going on…"
"Fine," the blond was actually glad to end the conversation—he was too exhausted from worrying and didn't want to think about anything.
"Then talk soon!"
"Bard!" the barista's bright voice rang from behind the counter. Kuki shot the guy an angry glare, like she was throwing lightning bolts. The girl nodded at the prepared coffee left on the counter, and Venti apologized again and rushed to the register to pay for his favorite caramel raf.
"What kind of errands could Venti have?" Albedo asked into the silence a few minutes later.
Sunday, 17:51
"Aether, wake up."
A soft touch of someone's palm slowly ran over the blond's thin shoulder as he slept right at the desk amid a pile of papers and books. He was snoring quietly, occasionally twitching and mumbling something barely audible. Albedo had been watching this scene for the past couple hours while working in his lab. That morning Aether had shown up and announced he hadn't slept all night and urgently needed to prepare a bunch of documents for tomorrow's student council meeting. Why come to Albedo's lab for that was an open question. Maybe he was afraid of sleeping the whole day and getting nothing done, so he came to his friend with a thermos of coffee (which ran out in the first hour) hoping the atmosphere would keep him productive. But Albedo would've been an idiot not to understand his best friend's real motives. The reason Aether had come here (and hadn't slept all night) was one person—whose sister was about to show up in the lab where she stayed late into Sunday nights working on projects. Hu Tao happened to be Albedo's colleague, giving Aether a perfect chance to find out directly how Xiao was doing.
Albedo stroked Aether's shoulder again, hoping to gently pull him from sleep's grip, but the blond didn't seem inclined to wake and kept snoring, pressing his plump cheek against the desk. That's what happens when you stay up all night worrying about someone your heart cares for… Albedo just smiled innocently, deciding to leave his friend alone until Hu Tao arrived: her loud voice could wake even the dead in the morgue on the basement floor directly below the lab.
The place was a separate building near the medical faculty, and Albedo and his colleagues often lingered in these white corridors and rooms stuffed with bookshelves, refrigerators, and racks of lab glassware. It was usually very quiet, and Aether often came to his best friend's "lab" just to study or relax, escaping his duties as group leader (more like his dumb classmates) and general bustle. No one usually looked for Aether here.
Albedo returned to his delicate scientific work in complete silence, not noticing an entire hour pass until his colleague's bright voice pulled him from his thoughts—and Aether from sweet dreams.
"Albedo!" Hu Tao flung the door open, bursting in like a hurricane. How did she manage not to smash everything in this glass kingdom of flasks and beakers?
"Good evening, Hu Tao," Albedo looked up from his work at the girl, then at Aether sleepily shaking his head and trying to blink awake.
"Oh, Aether, you're here too?" the brunette tossed off her jacket and hung it in the cabinet. "What are you working on? Prepping papers for tomorrow's meeting?"
"How'd you guess?" Aether rubbed his eyes with his fingers, trying to fully wake up.
"Tomorrow's the start of club certification," Hu Tao clapped her hands. "And prep for the fall festival begins! It's always so exciting!"
Aether clearly didn't share her enthusiasm for the upcoming student council meeting because right now his thoughts were far from certifications and festivals.
"Have you prepared for tomorrow?" the blond watched Hu Tao wash her hands before starting work.
"Yeah, Ayaka and I finished everything! You know, Sara's filling in for Ayato tomorrow—she's very strict about documents," the girl smiled happily. "How about you? Keeping up? You don't look great…"
"Yeah, I just…" Aether fell silent, unable to process the flood of information and questions from the overly energetic Tao.
He lowered his still-sleepy gaze somewhere aside: he didn't want to admit he hadn't slept all night and now couldn't think straight from lack of sleep. Albedo, who'd been watching his friend the whole time, suddenly jumped into the conversation to ask the question Aether cared about most:
"Hu Tao, how's your brother? Did you check on him?"
The girl switched her attention to her colleague and smiled:
"Albedo, you never cease to amaze me! Thanks for asking!" the brunette genuinely beamed at Albedo's unusual interest. "Our Xiao's fine," she waved her hands, chuckling. "He woke up and is now livelier than ever! Even has energy to be sarcastic, hehe!"
"Well, if that's the case," Albedo smirked. "Then he really is okay."
He said it a little quieter, meeting Aether's gaze. Something cleared in the blond's face, and a faint smile appeared on his dry lips. Probably a sign of gratitude.
"I'll go for a walk, don't let me disturb you," Aether stood from the desk, starting to pack his papers and books into his backpack.
"Really? You can stay as long as you want!" Hu Tao babbled.
"No-no, work. I don't want to distract you."