"Now you’re lying," Ren smiled, the mushrooms in his hair pulsing with enthusiasm. "I think I’m understanding the trick." "Impossible," Luna stepped back, her composure slipping for the first time. "You couldn’t see..." "My spore can detect mana patterns too," Ren advanced, for the first time feeling he had the advantage in their verbal sparring. Luna stared at him while confirming that what Ren said was true. "Show it to me," said Ren, his smile widening at seeing Luna lose composure and backing away as he approached, turning the tables on her intimidation tactics. "Show me how it really works." "Don’t get cocky," Luna recovered some of her usual hardness. "You’re still just a foolish fungus who says nonsense about illogical evolutions and ’believes’ they’re true." She raised her hands to push him back, grabbing his wrists. "Why do you insist on saying things that go against all logic?" She tried to push him backward, expecting to easily dominate him with her superior strength enhancement percentage. Her eyes widened with surprise at finding strong resistance. "Surprised?" Ren maintained his position, Lin’s training finally showing results. "Enhancements don’t matter if they’re multiplying miserable values." Luna narrowed her eyes, her pride wounded. Her wolf began manifesting more fully, preparing to merge and increase her strength. The door burst open. "Ren! You won’t believe what..." Min froze mid-sentence, his eyes opening like saucers. Liu and Taro crashed into his back, curious to see what had stopped him. Their jaws dropped almost in unison. The scene before them was... difficult to explain. Ren, shirtless and covered in sweat, his mushrooms glowing intensely. Luna, the untouchable Luna, with her hands gripping Ren’s wrists, her perfect blue hair unusually disheveled. The room smelled strange, sheets hung creating mysterious shadows, and there was a tension in the air that could almost be cut with a knife. Both frozen in what appeared to be a power struggle. "Oh..." Min stepped back, colliding with Taro. "My..." continued Taro, stumbling into Liu. "Dragon..." completed Liu, his bat manifesting briefly from nervousness. "I... we..." Taro stammered, his beetle’s markings flickering with embarrassment. "We should come back later." "No!" Luna released Ren as if he burned, her usual grace completely forgotten. "It’s not what..." "We’ll sleep in the hallway!" Min announced suddenly, his voice two octaves higher than normal, his water snake coiling nervously around his neck. "Yes! The hallway!" Taro nodded frantically. "It’s a beautiful night to sleep on the floor!" "Very hygienic!" added Liu, backing away. "Dust is good for the lungs!" "Wait! It’s not what it looks like!" Ren tried to explain, but his friends were practically climbing over each other to escape. "Take your time!" Min shouted from the hallway, his voice cracking. "Yes, don’t worry about us!" Taro’s voice sounded strangled. Luna turned toward him, her cheeks red with fury and embarrassment. "This is your fault!" "My fault? You started it!" "Ugh," Luna headed toward the door, her manifested wolf ears drooping with embarrassment. "This isn’t over, fungus. And next time..." she stopped, trying to recover her dignity. "Next time will be in a more appropriate place. But if anyone," she hissed, "hears a single word about this..." She didn’t finish the threat. The room’s shadows seemed to come alive, wrapping around her like a dark cloak. In a blink, Luna and her wolf merged with them, disappearing as if they had never been there. Ren stood in the middle of the room, shirtless, sweaty, and suddenly very aware of how ridiculous the entire situation was. The mushrooms in his hair pulsed once, as if laughing. "Guys!" he called toward the hallway. "You can come back! It’s not what you think!" "We’re not thinking anything!" Min’s voice came from far away. "Absolutely nothing!" "Our minds are completely empty!" added Taro. "Like my future memory of tonight!" completed Liu. Ren sighed. At least he had discovered Luna’s secret about detecting lies... And she had discovered that maybe, just maybe, she had underestimated the "foolish fungus." ♢♢♢♢ There was a long silence from the hallway. "Is she gone?" Min’s voice sounded cautious. "Yes, she’s gone." "Through the door?" asked Liu. "Not exactly..." "Used the shadows again?" Taro sounded impressed. The three peeked their heads around the door, one above the other like an improvised tower, their beasts manifesting briefly in curiosity. "Is it safe to enter?" Min sniffed the air. "And... what’s that smell?" "It’s a long story," Ren began gathering his bath things lazily, exhausted after everything that had happened. "Oh, we have all night," Liu entered first, his bat manifesting to inspect the room. "Especially after... that." "It’s not what it looked like," Ren defended while Taro and Min also entered, closing the door behind them. "You weren’t having a romantic moment with Luna?" Min arched an eyebrow, his water snake coiling playfully. "Romantic?" Ren nearly choked. "She was interrogating me!" "Without a shirt?" Taro grinned, his beetle’s markings shifting in amusement. "I was going to take a bath when she appeared!" "Uh-huh," Liu nodded solemnly. "And I suppose she tripped and you fell on her." "No! She was..." Ren stopped, remembering he couldn’t explain the real reason. "We were just talking." "Very closely?" Min wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "And in the dark," added Taro. Find exclusive stories on empire "With mysteriously hanging sheets," completed Liu. Ren groaned, collapsing onto his bed. "You’re impossible." "And you’re a heartbreaker," Min sat beside him. "Who would have thought?" "First Lin, now Luna..." Taro pretended to wipe away a tear. "Our little fungus is growing up." "Lin just trains me!" Ren protested. "And Luna hates me!" "Hate and love are very close," Liu philosophized, his bat nodding sagely. "Can we change the subject?" Ren pleaded. "Weren’t you going to tell me something when you came in?" The three exchanged looks. "Oh, right, about the mines," Min smiled. "But this," he gestured at the room and hanging sheets, "is much more interesting." "Though it stinks," added Taro. "What were you really doing?" Ren sighed. This was going to be a very long night. "I’m going to take a bath," he announced, standing. "And when I come back, we’ll talk about anything else but Luna, understood?" "Whatever you say," Liu winked. "Romeo." His friends’ laughter followed him into the hallway. The mushrooms in his hair pulsed with resignation, they would never let him forget this. At least Luna was equally embarrassed. That was a small consolation.