That evening, Mark was sitting in the parlor with the television playing the news in front of him when Luna came out of her room quietly. The lights were off, but the television provided enough light to illuminate the parlor for her to move around.
She was wearing a pair of joggers and a large t-shirt that once belonged to the owners of this house, and she held the blanket around her body tightly as she limped her way into the parlor.
When Mark left the room, Luna was plagued with a lot of questions. She knew that she had done something wrong, but she had doubts about why Mark rejected her. Luna was beautiful, she knew that and everyone always said it to her, so there was no doubt in her mind. Did Mark not think that she was beautiful enough? Did he hate her because she kissed him first? Did she act too impulsively?
But after she finally calmed down, Luna almost facepalmed as she remembered something major that she seemed to have completely forgotten. Arit. Mark had a girlfriend named Arit. How could she have forgotten about that?
Luna knew that she had to apologize.
Mark was the first person that Luna felt close to in more than four years. He was the only man that she felt like she could really talk to, someone who wouldn't judge her even though their opinions differed. After everything that they had been through together, she saw him as the closest thing that she could ever call a friend. She couldn't ruin all that just because of a momentary impulse.
Luna won't deny that she liked Mark and wanted to take their relationship further, but it was not enough reason for her to do what she did.
"Hey."
Luna spoke up from behind Mark and Mark turned around to regard her with a raised brow. He looked down at her leg and then at her shoulder before he turned back to the television.
"You should be in bed. You'll ruin my stitches and make me do it all over again."
Luna smiled sheepishly at the veiled warning, and she limped around to sit down beside him on the couch while talking.
"Sorry, I couldn't sleep. I just wanted to talk. Do you mind?"
Mark shrugged, and Luna put her hands between her legs while staring at her knees.
"Uhm... about earlier. I... I don't really know what to say about it."
"Y-Yeah, that's fine – That's fine. So... uhm, are we okay?"
"Yes, Luna, we're okay. Now go rest before you pop a blood vessel."
Luna smiled and stood to limp back to her room so that she could finally get some rest. She knew that things would be weird between her and Mark for some time, but now that she had spoken to him, she hoped that they would be fine.
...
"The string of recent disappearances in and around Shibuya has raised concerns among residents. The city governor released a statement issuing a curfew on the citizens in order to try and reduce the number of casualties being recorded. As of now, a record 500 people have been reported missing, their whereabouts and state fully unknown."
Mark narrowed his eyes from the kitchen as he watched the beautiful newscaster on television talking about the recent disappearances in Shibuya that started a few days ago. It had been three days since Luna got injured during the fight against the Knight's master, and even though she was not yet fully healed, she could already move around with minimal effort.
The government was still trying to salvage the Arakawa incident that happened a while back. The fight that the servants had there destroyed more than half of the residential area and killed almost as many people as the fight between Merlin and Mark.
Piiiiiii~!
The sound of the kettle going off alerted Mark to what he had been doing, and he took the kettle off and finished making his coffee. He poured a second cup for Luna, put stirring spoons in the cups, and took both cups to the dining table.
"Do you think the king is responsible for the killings?"
Luna spoke up as she thanked Mark for the coffee. She took a sip and grimaced a little as she felt the strong flavor of Mark's coffee, but after some time, her expression leveled out as she took another sip calmly. She had gotten used to Mark's strong coffee after drinking it for three days straight.
There was no sugar in the house and she was not going to make Mark go out there just so that she could get some sugar, so she had to get used to the coffee whether she liked it or not.
And besides, Mark made it for her, so she didn't care how bitter it was. She was going to drink all of it.
Mark nodded his head at her question while taking a seat beside her.
"Yes, it's definitely the king. I don't know what she is trying to do though. Why would she kill five hundred people? Is there some sort of condition she is trying to fulfill for the game?"