Chapter 175: Troubled Friends

The sun was already high above the Imperial Star Academy when the morning classes began.

Light poured through the enormous windows of the classroom, spreading across the rows of desks and illuminating the holographic displays hovering above each student’s terminal.

Outside, the academy was already fully awake.

Students moved through the walkways between buildings, instructors hurried from one classroom to another, and the distant sounds of training weapons occasionally echoed from the fields.

Yet inside one particular classroom, three students were in no mood to pay attention.

Sabel rested her chin against her palm, staring at the empty seat beside her. That was Aisha’s seat. And strangely, it had been empty since the moment they entered the classroom.

She glanced toward the door again, almost expecting Aisha to appear at any second.

Aisha was not usually the type to arrive late without saying anything. Even when something occupied her attention, she would at least give them some warning. Besides, she was the top student in their academic class and had never missed a lesson.

Today, she wasn’t present.

Sabel slowly exhaled through her nose and looked away.

The unpleasant feeling that had followed them from Sector Nine last night had not disappeared after sleeping.

If anything, it had become worse.

Vesper sat beside her with his arms folded tightly across his chest, one leg bouncing impatiently beneath the desk.

His usual restless energy was nowhere to be seen.

Even when the instructor entered the classroom and began preparing the lesson, he barely reacted.

Kane was no better.

He had been staring at his terminal for several minutes, his thumb hovering over the screen without actually doing anything. His gaze flickered across it several times before he frowned.

Finally, Vesper couldn’t stand it anymore.

He dropped his head into one hand and let out an irritated groan. "This is driving me insane."

Sabel glanced at him.

She raised an eyebrow in his direction, though her own eyes still drifted toward Aisha’s empty seat. "You haven’t stopped complaining since we got here."

"Because I’m still annoyed." Vesper leaned back in his chair and dragged a hand through his hair, making the already messy strands stick out even more. "She just left us like that. We were trying to help her, and she basically told us to stay out of it!"

He still couldn’t get over the expression and words Aisha had uttered that night. Vesper rubbed his hair messily and exhaled sharply.

Sabel’s fingers lightly tapped against the surface of her desk. "You know why she did it."

"Knowing why doesn’t make me feel any better."

Vesper’s jaw tightened.

That was the problem.

He understood Aisha. At least, he thought he did. She had gone to Sector Nine because her brother had gone missing. If he had been in that situation, he would’ve turned the entire planet upside down to find his siblings.

But it wasn’t what frustrated him.

It was the irrefutable fact that they were students, like Aisha had said.

They didn’t have the resources, connections, or authority to help her retrieve someone from people dangerous enough to make her disappear into the middle of the night without telling them where she was going. And worse, they were young and inexperienced.

If Aisha had looked at them and decided they couldn’t help, she wasn’t exactly wrong.

But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

Sabel lowered her gaze, remembering the way Aisha had looked at them before leaving. "I don’t think she meant to hurt us."

"I know that."

Vesper’s fingers drummed against his folded arm, the rhythm becoming increasingly impatient.

Kane finally looked up from his terminal.

He had been quiet for most of the morning, but there was a faint crease between his brows that hadn’t disappeared since they left Sector Nine.

Kane locked his terminal and finally gave them his full attention. "We couldn’t have helped her anyway," he admitted. "Even if she had told us where she was going, what were we supposed to do? Follow her into an unknown place without preparation? We don’t even know what kind of people took her brother. And what if we just end up becoming a burden to her?"

Vesper’s fingers curled against his arm. His jaw ticked as he couldn’t deny that either.

He looked away toward the classroom window, his expression darkening.

"Then why are you still angry?"

"Because I don’t like how we left things last night," said Vesper, his voice quieter this time.

Sabel looked at him.

Vesper’s expression had lost its usual arrogance.

There was no teasing grin, no irritation directed at someone else, not even the restless excitement he usually carried whenever something interesting happened.

He looked genuinely troubled.

Vesper’s eyes remained fixed on the window. "I don’t like knowing she’s out there dealing with something like that alone," he continued. "And I don’t like that the last thing we did was argue with her. We didn’t even get to tell her that we’d help if she needed us."

Sabel’s fingers tightened around the edge of her desk.

She felt the same.

Last night had left an unpleasant weight in her chest. She had replayed the conversation more than once after returning to the academy, wondering whether she should have said something differently.

Whether they should have stayed longer. Or if they should have ignored Aisha’s refusal and followed her anyway.

But what would that have accomplished?

Aisha had never been someone who could be easily won over. She did whatever she thought was necessary.

That was one of the things Sabel had come to respect about her.

And it was also one of the things that made her worry.

Kane lowered his terminal and sighed.

"I messaged her."

He said it so quietly that Sabel almost didn’t hear him.

But the instant they heard it, Sabel and Vesper turned toward him.

"When?"

"Last night."

Kane’s eyes dropped briefly to the terminal in his hand.

"And?" They both eagerly looked at him.

Kane shook his head. "She didn’t reply."