Lady Misfortune: Daddy, I'll Be A Righteous Villainess!

It did not end with just a glimpse, and it certainly took long.

Lady is all fired up right now. Weiss, on the other hand, is worried.

"I'm so happy it's happening!" she half-squealed, half-mumbled to him, looking very ecstatic.

"Is that guy the one she's gonna end up with?" he asked despite his concerns, starting to get kind of curious. 

"Yes~? Maybe~?"

"You're not sure?"

"Well, at this point of time, she's not gonna date anyone yet."

"In the future, then?"

"Most probably. I mean, that's what the male leads are for. I'm not good at writing romance, so I didn't make her hook up with anyone and just left the story open-ended. Now, it's up to her who she's going to choose." 

"If you don't even know who she's going to pick, why are you so excited about this? Are you rooting for this one in particular?"

"I'm rooting for all of them! Fufu~"

She giggles at her own words, and despite the context, he can feel his heart fluttering at the sweet, sweet sound. Her eyes lit up with genuine happiness, her lips curved into a huge grin. Seeing that sight alone, he can tell how much she cares about what she is doing and who it is for.

"I'm just glad that something's going right for once. Quite relieved too, actually. Everything has been diverting from the story these previous days. So, I'm worried that I've messed something up. But seeing this happen reassures me. I really want them to have a happy ending, you know?" Lady suddenly added, mildly surprising Weiss.

Instead of saying anything in response, he looks back at what they have gone there for. He then realizes that she has been looking around for a good hiding spot to view the scene while she's telling him all those things. She eventually spotted a place where they could both peek through, and with that, she beckoned him over. He decided that he should probably pay attention as well. 

"Hey, Orion..." they both heard Sarah call, looking up at the night sky now.

"You're always fond of astronomy, right? What stars can you see from here?"

"Orion...?" Weiss whispered to Lady, looking unimpressed. 

"Did you just seriously name an astronomy lover after a constellation?"

She tittered and nodded. He smiled.

"Fallon's right. You suck."

"Shut up. Fallon's wrong." 

They turn to look at Sarah again and find the Orion guy looking up.

He's a boy around the age of fifteen. Slender build, light golden-brown complexion, dark auburn hair, hazel-brown eyes, and freckles across his nose and cheeks - he's quite good-looking. He's wearing a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his collar opened with the buttons mismatched while the rest was left largely unbuttoned and loose, except for the right side tuck into his blue pants.

"Hmmm... Not bad," Weiss commented, pertaining to Orion's physical features. 

"Only the best for the best~" Lady beamed, feeling proud. 

---

The stars are barely visible where they are – the city too bright, the lights too many.

There was just something about the way Sarah asked, though. Orion feels like she'll be upset if he doesn't do it.

He does not want that. He really should have known better.

"That's Polaris..." Orion began, pointing up at the brightest one among the stars above. 

"It's visible all year round. You'd know it as the North star. It's part of the Little Dipper constellation, but you can't really see it right now."

"Hmmm..." Sarah hummed thoughtfully.

"What does it look like?"

He tries to draw something in the air using his finger. But he lowers it back down when he realizes it's useless, reasoning that it's hard to explain. She holds out her palm to him and says, "Draw it on my hand?"

"I-I don't have a pen," he replied, slightly flustered. 

It's a stupid excuse that he really should've thought through. Then again, they are literally sitting on school grounds, and their backpacks are right next to them.

Luckily for him, Sarah didn't mention anything. Instead, she just smiles at Orion and extends her hand further.

"Trace it with your finger, then."

He fumbles for an excuse in his head, but his brain is empty. To make it worse, she's looking at him expectantly, holding her hand out for him to take. Left without a choice, he tries to fight off his shyness and forces himself to accept it. 

Her hand is soft just like how it looks, and it's small in his. He can't see her fingernails because she has it palm up. But he does notice a silver ring glinting in the dim lights on her pinky finger. He taps a spot on his hand. 

"That's Polaris, the alpha star. It's like six times the size of the sun..." Orion began, tracing a curved line downwards before stopping to add, "That's Yildun, the delta star. It's fourty-seven times brighter than the sun."

His finger slides further towards her wrist. He stops near the bottom of her palm. 

"That's Kochab, the beta star. It has a planet that's six times the size of Jupiter..." he continued before moving to the right. 

"That's Perkhad. It's the gamma star. It's a pulsating star almost five times bigger than the sun. Kochab and Perkhad." 

Orion emphasizes the names by tapping the spots on her palm where he has located them. Through it all, Sarah just simply watches and listens in silence. 

"These are called the guardians of the pole star – that's Polaris."

It's quiet for a moment as she stares at her open palm, held carefully in his. He can hear the crickets chirping, the sound ringing through his ears as he peers at her and wonders if the pink in her cheeks is just an effect of the lighting or if she's blushing. Her eyes appear to be gleaming too, he notes. 

Suddenly hyperaware of maybe his entire exisence, he feels heat rising up the back of his neck and all the way to his ears. He lets her hand go like it's on fire, pushing himself a tad bit so he's further away. But the damage has been done.

Orion can hear his pulse throbbing. He doesn't trust himself to say anything right now because he's sure he's going to stutter and fumble and sound like an idiot. Unlike him, Sarah looks as composed as ever. He envies how she can stay that calm while he's already close to combusting. 

"Ummm..." she blurted out, finally breaking the silence.

"That was really cool. Thanks for telling me."

He hums in acknowledgement. She grins. 

"You're really cool, Orion..." she said, and this time, she looked at him, but the contact only lasted for a brief moment. 

"I appreciate you taking me here, but I'm afraid I should go now."

"Let me take you home..." he offered, taking his turn to hold out his hand to her.

"Please. It's already late."

Sarah thought about it for a bit before nodding, much to Orion's delight. 

---

"And that, my friend, is how their secret rendezvous shall happily end~"

With a proud smirk, Lady puffs out her chest and crosses her arms. She just finished telling Weiss how the scene would go down, and so far, she could see that Orion and Sarah's interaction was following the story. 

"They snuck out of the party and would go home together without anyone knowing..." she cooed. 

"Ain't that romantic or what~?"

"Right..." he drawled out before squinting his eyes at the ongoing exchange. 

"It doesn't look like they're gonna go home anytime soon, though. They're taking a while."

"Well, they could just be enjoying each other's company so much that they lost track of time-"

"Are you sure they're still not a couple? They're certainly acting like one."

"Wait, what?"

Weiss gently held both of sides of Lady's face. He then made her look back to where Sarah and Orion were still undoubtedly flirting. 

They watched him laugh at something before taking her hand and pressing his lips against it. 

Weiss fidgets awkwardly at the sight while Lady gapes incredulously.

There was nothing but determination in the softness of Orion's features when he raised his head and looked up again. Right then, they took notice that Sarah appeared to be either challenged or overwhelmed.

"What's going on?" 

Their question was immediately answered when he pulled Sarah in an embrace. She stiffened at the gesture, but Orion must have been so warm and inviting that she immediately eased into it. 

Her small, dainty frame fitted him perfectly, especially when his arms secured her better. With a smile breaking out from her face, she buried herself in his chest and returned the gesture. She felt him go still with her touch, but just like her, he was quick to find comfort in it. 

"I have been meaning to do that for a while now. You have no idea how happy I am, Sarah..." he confessed, giving her a smile of his own. 

"Thank you for giving this a chance. As luck would have it, I had to take a second of rationalizing. Having you in my arms right now has been nothing but a dream so far."

Up until Orion began to lean down to Sarah for what seemed like a kiss, Lady and Weiss were frozen in their spots.