- Celeste -

A young girl was staring hesitantly at a steaming bowl of rice porridge placed in front of her. She didn't like rice. She didn't like it, but right now she was hungry.

After she had laid down on the couch and closed her eyes to cope with the awkward situation she was in earlier, a tall old man with a beard and receding hairline had come barging into the room with a bowl of rice porridge.

He started talking to her and asking her multiple questions. She felt a bit taken aback by his overwhelming show of concern, fortunately, the two young men from earlier returned and brought her to eat in another room. She remembered the words of the unruly looking young man with a scar on his face,

“Be careful of the old man with a receding hairline.”

“Why should I be careful?” She thought.

Continuing to stare at the bowl, she placed her hands on her stomach as it had begun to let out a rumbling sound, indicating that it needed food. She held on for a few more minutes before the smell from the meal had incited her hunger enough for her to give in.

Grabbing the spoon beside the bowl, she began to place a spoonful of porridge into her mouth.

“Ah!” She uttered a small cry.

It was hot. She dropped the spoon back into the bowl and stuck out her tongue as she pursed her lips and started to blow out air in short intervals to soothe the burn.

Around the room where the window was shut, and there were no gaps for a draft to enter, a brush of cold air fell onto her tongue and soothed her burn. It came from a small wisp of blue light on the corner which disappeared briefly after it came.

Celeste, the young girl, didn't notice it. She took another spoonful and blew on it before placing it in her mouth. Delicious! She thought and proceeded to consume more mouthfuls.

Only after emptying the bowl by half did she remember that the first spoonful had scalded her. “Why was the rest of the bowl colder?” She wondered.

She didn't dwell on the thought and continued to eat. After finishing her meal, her attention was directed towards the sunlight coming from the window on the side of the room.

“Why is their moon so bright?” Celeste muttered, and made her way to the window.

Barely able to reach the windowsill, she dragged a chair she had taken from the side of the room below the window, and used it as elevation so that she could peek outside.

“Fluffy...white... What are those things.” What she had seen left her in awe.

A few clouds were wandering across the clear blue sky, a view that had piqued Celeste's interest as it was the first time she'd seen anything like it.

“Ah—!” She winced.

Her gaze had followed the movement of the clouds and she had met with the blinding glare of the sun. She decided she'd had enough, got down off the chair, and returned to her initial seat away from the window.

She sat back down and began rubbing her eyes, trying to soothe them as the light of what she thought was a large yellow moon was painful to look directly into.

“Little Reeed—! How you doin' in there!”

Hearing a shout coming from the other side of the door, Celeste grimaced. She was starting to find the voice of the young man, who had just sounded out, a little bit irritating.

“Shut your trap! Suddenly shouting like that, you'll startle the child!”

She heard the voice of the old man with a receding hairline, speaking up to scold the irritating young man.

The handle of the door moved a quarter of a circle down before allowing the door to swing open, revealing the people behind it.

“Gramps! What's the deal, let me in!”

“Out of the way stinky brat! Haven't you heard of letting the elderly go first?”

Watching the old man and the unruly-looking young man with a scar on his face, fighting to get inside of the room first, Celeste groaned at the thought of having to put up with their antics.