The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

ASTRID looked outside the window. He was greeted by the large expanse of darkness with a splatter of shining stars and other heavenly bodies. He had been seeing this scene for almost a week now from this public aircraft transportation he and Reas were travelling in. If everything went well, they would probably arrive at the capital some time tomorrow.

It would probably be an understatement if he said that he was excited. His excitement was probably on the highest level right now. It would probably even increase more tomorrow when they arrived at the capital.

He and Reas hadn't been near the Artemian Galaxy – the galaxy where the capital was located, all their lives. Their parents had only taken them to some of Palioxis Galaxy's specialized tourist planets for vacation. After their mother told them about their past, he finally knew why they avoided the capital like a plague.

One of the things he forgot to ask their parents that night was about the person that their father helped when he was thrown at that mining planet. Although he only wanted to have a confirmation because he had already guessed on who it might be. Who else could it be but Uncle Leigh? The other probably even helped his parents to change their surname to 'Townsend' which was the surname the whole family was using now.

Really, despite being extremely eccentric and black-bellied, Uncle Leigh was the type who wouldn't hesitate to help the people he considered as friends. 

"Aster, let's eat dinner," he heard Reas saying.

He turned to his tall brother who just jumped down from the upper bunk of the bunk beds in the cabin they were in. Aircrafts for public transportation like this that had to travel long distance, as in from one galaxy to another, have cabins in them instead of normal seats. It could be a single cabin, a double cabin like the one they were in, or a family cabin.

He stood up. "Okay, let's go."

He was about to walk towards the door when his brother stopped him. 

"Don't forget your hat," Reas said, putting an inconspicuous black hat on top of his head.

"Thank you," he said.

He had been wearing a hat ever since they got into this aircraft. He only removed it whenever he and Reas were in their cabin. He usually didn't like covering his hair, but he didn't want to be the center of attention during their travel. So, it's better to just be low-key. But he's not willing to wear colored lenses glasses just to hide his eyes. It would just look super weird. Instead of being low-key, people might just look at him even more. 

He could wear contact lenses but he's even more unwilling to do so. He tried wearing one during his last life and it didn't really go that well. His eyes became super irritated that he had to go to a hospital for it to be treated. It kind of left a psychological shadow on him. So, even though he knew that this new body of his might not have the same reaction, he still refused to do it.

Besides, as long as he lowered his cap, people would barely be able to notice his eye color. Unless, of course, they stared at his face. But who would stare at him when Reas was standing beside him? Without the advantage of his hair and eye color, his face was simply ordinary compared to his brother's.

They went out of their cabin and walked towards the dining area. They walked very stably. This was what he liked about this era's public arial transportation. There's hardly any turbulence. No, there wasn't any turbulence, to be exact. It felt like they were just walking on the ground and not somewhere in the middle of space. 

They sat on one of the empty tables and selected their order on the screen on the side of the table. Reas ordered a steak meal while Astrid simply ordered a pasta meal.

Soon, a robot delivered their meals. 

"The dishes Aster makes are still better than the food here," Reas said as he ate a bite of steak. "I will miss your food once we get to the capital."

That was not an over reaction from his side. Once they were in the capital, they would have to part ways because the location of their school was literally the opposite of one another. And because military students were required to live at the school dormitory, the two of them couldn't live together.

Astrid ate a forkful of pasta and just like what his brother said, he could cook a better pasta than this. But he already knew that the first day they were here.

"We're going to meet every weekend at my apartment. I'll make sure to stuff you with a lot of food," he said. 

Unlike Reas, he decided not to live on campus. Since his school was a performing arts school, the rules weren't that strict. As early as when he received the acceptance letter from Redwood Academy, he immediately searched online for available apartments near the campus. Which was exactly not that hard. 

After paying the deposit, he would have to meet the landlord of the apartment complex tomorrow to pay the rest and then also sign a contract. He and Reas would go straight there after arriving at the capital.

"Well, I guess that's better than nothing," Reas said, almost half-way done with his steak. 

Astrid almost chuckled. This kid. He didn't like the food and yet he had already devoured half of that big steak in less than three minutes.

"There's still a lot of time before school starts. Should we familiarize ourselves with the capital first?" he asked.

Reas nodded. "If your apartment lacks anything, we can buy those first. And also, groceries. We should definitely not forget that."

Astrid finally couldn't stop himself from laughing hearing that. "Yes, we definitely should not forget the groceries."

And the next day, around noon, their aircraft finally landed on the space port of the capital.