I find Aiwa sitting on a secluded bench overlooking the ocean, hugging her knees to her chest. She looks small and incredibly vulnerable. The confident, cool mask of LUNA is nowhere to be seen. This is just Aiwa, the shy transfer student, looking utterly defeated.
I hesitate for a moment, then sit down on the other end of the bench, leaving a respectful distance between us.
"Hey," I say softly. "Are you okay?"
She looks up, her eyes red-rimmed. She quickly wipes away a tear. "I am fine," she whispers, though her voice is shaky. "Your… friends are very intense."
"You have no idea," I sigh. "I am sorry about that. They can be a little… overprotective. And competitive."
"It is okay," she says, looking out at the waves. "It was my fault. I panicked."
"So," I say, trying to lighten the mood. "Aside from being interrogated by two cosplay goddesses, how is your family vacation going?" The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. It is a stupid, accidental slip.
Aiwa turns to look at me, her expression of sadness replaced by one of pure confusion. "Two?" she asks. "I know Ito-san is the famous Hime-Hime… but who is the other one?"
My brain goes into full-blown panic mode. I have two options: lie, or trust the crying girl on the bench. Looking at her genuine, confused face, I make a choice.
"The other one," I begin, my voice a low, hesitant mumble. "The girl with the black hair… that is my sister, Rina." I take a deep breath. "She is Ectiqa."
The name hangs in the air between us. Aiwa just stares at me, her mouth slightly agape. Her confusion slowly melts into a look of profound, earth-shattering shock. "Your sister… Hinamata-san… is Ectiqa?" she whispers.
I just give a miserable nod.
But the fallout is not what I expect. After a long moment of stunned silence, a small, wondrous smile touches her lips. "Wow," she breathes. "That is… incredible."
"Incredible?" I echo.
"Yes!" she says, her eyes sparkling for the first time. "Hinamata-san… she does not look anything like Ectiqa. Her secret is based on pure skill. Her makeup, her acting… she transforms herself completely. To maintain that perfect, dual identity… she is a true genius."
She is not threatened. She is genuinely, deeply impressed. I feel a profound sense of relief. I have found an unlikely confidante.
"You cannot tell anyone," I say. "It is the most important secret in her life."
"Of course not," Aiwa says immediately. "A secret identity is sacred." She looks at me, and a new, fragile bond of shared knowledge forms between us. "Thank you for trusting me, Hinamata-kun."
The mood has shifted. We are not just classmates anymore. We are co-conspirators.
"So," I say, feeling emboldened by our new alliance. "What about you? Is LUNA really your cousin?"
Aiwa goes very still. She looks down at her hands, her fingers twisting in her lap. She takes a deep, shuddering breath and looks up at me, her eyes full of a terrifying, vulnerable honesty.
"That was a lie," she says, her voice barely a whisper. "I panicked. I am sorry." She clenches her fists. "The truth is… there is no cousin."
She looks me straight in the eye. "I am LUNA."
The confession hangs in the air. I do not gasp. I do not act surprised. I just give a slow, quiet nod. "I know," I say.
Now it is her turn to be shocked. Her eyes go wide. "You… you know? How? I was so careful! The voice, the personality…"
"You are a brilliant actor," I admit, giving her a small smile. "Your LUNA persona is perfect. Cold, confident, completely different from how you are in class." I lean back, recounting the evidence. "But you have tells. You have this specific, little bow you do. You fiddle with your fingers the same way. You rolled your eyes at Rina and Haruka during the photoshoot. And you almost took a cheap mechanical pencil from me. LUNA would never do that. Aiwa Matsuki would."
She just stares at me, her wall of secrecy dismantled by a few unconscious habits. A deep blush spreads across her face, a mixture of embarrassment and a strange, grudging admiration. "You are very observant, Hinamata-kun," she says softly.
"I have to be," I sigh. "My life is a constant exercise in observing and managing chaotic people." My expression turns serious. "But… why? Why the different voice, the different personality? Why go to all this trouble to hide who you are?"
She looks away, out at the ocean, and the vulnerable sadness returns to her eyes. "Because… I do not like who I am," she whispers, the words full of a deep, chilling pain. "I have never fit in. My family moved back and forth between Korea and Japan for my father's work. In Korea, I was 'the Japanese girl.' In Japan, I was 'the Korean girl.' I was always the outsider."
She hugs her knees to her chest. "The other kids… they were cruel. They made fun of my accent, my looks, my quiet personality. They made fun of me for liking anime and manga. It was easier to just… be invisible. To be shy. To not draw any attention."
My own heart aches with a profound empathy. I cannot imagine Rina or Haruka ever wanting to be invisible.
"But in cosplay," she continues, a new light coming into her eyes, "I did not have to be Aiwa Matsuki. I could be someone else. Someone strong. Someone perfect." She looks at me. "LUNA is my armor. Her voice is deep so no one thinks she is a weak little girl. Her confidence is a shield so no one's cruel words can get through. When I am LUNA, I am not the shy, bullied transfer student. I am a queen. I am untouchable."
"But that is not all it is, is it?" I ask gently, thinking of her story about her first friend. "It is not just a shield."
She shakes her head, a small, sad smile on her face. She touches the 'Starlight Paladin' pendant at her neck. "Before I go on stage, every single time, when I am the most scared… I hold this. And I remember a story from when I was a little kid. About a brave boy who protected me when I was terrified. He was a hero."
She looks at me, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "I think… if a normal little boy could be a hero for five minutes, then maybe I can be a hero too. Even if it is just a performance. This pendant… it gives me courage."
I stare at her, at the incredible, painful, and beautiful story of her life. The mystery is gone, replaced by a deep, powerful urge to protect this girl and all her secrets.
"Your secret is safe with me," I promise, and this time, the words are a vow. "I am now the keeper of secrets for three of the world's top cosplayers. My life is a managerial nightmare."
She lets out a small, genuine giggle at my misery. The tension is broken. We are not just classmates or co-conspirators. We are friends, bound by a new, profound, and deeply complicated understanding.