Chapter 69: Broken Distance
Cassandra Ikemba had always lived above the noise—above obsession, admiration, envy. She was used to being watched. Studied. Envied. Hated.
But now?
Now it felt like the air moved differently around her.
Ever since Mira Hawthorne's uninvited kiss and failed attempt at seduction, the weight hadn't left. Eyes lingered longer. Conversations around her stopped when she entered rooms. And Mira?
She had become a shadow with intent.
She wasn't just watching.
She was always there.
—
"She's at it again," Marie muttered under her breath, barely glancing across the sparring field. "Five meters, east-facing tower. Same place as yesterday."
Karen sighed, flicking sweat from her brow. "This is starting to get unhealthy."
"It already is unhealthy," Jim added. "It's not obsession anymore. It's delusion."
Leslie, arms crossed, narrowed her eyes. "Why doesn't Cassandra just report her?"
"She's an Ikemba," Marie said quietly. "And Mira's a Hawthorne."
That was all that needed to be said.
Two bloodlines. Two political behemoths. The wrong step could turn a student matter into a clan war.
—
Cassandra herself didn't speak of it.
She trained, meditated, battled in the rankings—now Rank 22—her rise steady, disciplined, brutal. She fought with unshakable precision, and the terrifying suppression of Null Field kept even the boldest soulbornes at bay.
But still, Mira watched.
Sometimes she was quiet. Still. Just present in the background like a painting too vivid to ignore.
Other times… she whispered.
"You looked beautiful in that match."
"You're always alone… just like me."
"You could understand me if you'd only let yourself."
Cassandra never replied.
Until one night.
—
A light knock. Not on Cassandra's door—but on the reinforced window of her balcony.
Cassandra stepped out, slow, back straight, expression unreadable.
Mira stood outside the energy ward, arms behind her back. Dressed not in academy black, but in a long silver robe bearing the sigil of the Hawthorne family—a serpent swallowing a sun.
"You know this can't go on," Cassandra said plainly.
"I don't want to hurt you," Mira replied softly. "But if this is what it takes to stay close to you, then so be it."
Cassandra blinked slowly. "You're losing grip on the difference between battle… and desperation."
Mira's eyes glimmered, but not with tears. With resolve.
"You don't understand," she whispered. "I'm not trying to love you anymore. I just want to matter to you."
The wind stirred. Cassandra's aura shifted, her Null Field faintly flickering like a shadow behind moonlight.
"I don't need more people clawing into my life. And I don't need you trying to crawl inside my mind."
Mira stepped back slightly. For the first time, there was a flicker of hesitation.
"…So this is how it ends?" she asked.
"No," Cassandra replied. "This is how I end it. Don't come again."
And with that, her soul energy surged in a flash of white-gray intensity. The balcony's ward flared, repelling the presence beyond it.
Mira stood for another minute.
Then vanished into the night.
But even as the wind settled and the lights dimmed again, Cassandra knew…
This wasn't the last she'd see of her.
The obsession hadn't faded.
It had only retreated deeper. And deeper obsessions… were far more dangerous.