Post-Retreat Crash: A Shoujo Parallels Headcanon Short

Alpha Belt
Mortal Realm
Venura Residence
November 2014

Miles wasn’t quite sure how she had turned out to be that way.

Aria seemed happy (despite her exhaustion) when she came back on Thursday afternoon; his surprise for her had only made her happier. He could still remember the smile on her face and how she had turned redder upon seeing the flowers in her room – he had filled vases with yellow and pink roses. He hid his pricked hand in his pocket, only smiling and embracing her back when she hugged him tightly.

“I missed you, Aria.”

“Hm. I missed you too,” she had told him upon pulling away. Aria took off and took a yellow rose into her hands, staring down at it with a slight hint of a pleased smile. “Yellow and pink?”

“Red is too overrated,” he insisted. Aria proceeded to tell him all about what had happened during her retreat, all from the bus ride to the unlimited milo they had given out all day and night. The way she had excitedly told him about it made him chuckle a bit.

Finally, she told him that she would be going to school the next day – just for the afternoon – so that she could see her club as well as the others in IV-3. Miles seemed apprehensive at the idea at first, wondering why she wanted to see them so soon – but agreed nonetheless.

Friday had passed quickly – Miles stayed back and watched as Aria celebrated with her club mates and reunited with her other friends from the other sections. Diana Alrada had, surprisingly, ran out and hugged her tightly for a few seconds. Bea Mora, on the other hand, told her endlessly about giving the milk to Sir Marion.

Miles managed a small laugh upon catching sight of a wave of brown hair flicker around the area, soon seeing Aria run inside the classroom. Miles had peeked in, seeing Elle Rivers and Aria embracing each other tightly.

Eventually, Friday ended.

All the happiness that had seemed to radiate from her post-retreat suddenly seemed to vanish the next morning, a frown lighting his lips upon seeing her stare blankly at the ceiling.

“Aria?”

The girl rolled onto her side, covering her face with her pillow. “Aria…”

She got up blankly and rubbed her eyes, not noticing Miles eyeing her worriedly. I definitely don’t want to do this, he thought to himself, but closed his eyes and peered into her mind.

Still not any better.

“God,” he muttered, hearing the bathroom door close much after.

* * * * *

During the weekends, Aria would usually be hovering by her laptop, typing endlessly into the day and night. There would be notebooks strewn around, cups of milo piling and earphones plugged into her phone while she listened to her writing playlist.

But that Saturday morning, she had woken up late and resorted to staying in bed until the afternoon. Miles sat by the wooden chair next to her bed and knew that she knew that he was there. For some reason, she just refused to acknowledge his existence.

“You’re going to have to talk to me sometime, you know,” he finally said. Aria shrugged.

“What am I going to say?”

“You can explain why your mood just plummeted down all of a sudden. I don’t want to listen in to your thoughts when you can just tell me what’s going on.” He watched as she managed to sit up slowly, her hair mildly tussled.

“Post-Retreat Crash.”

Miles frowned.

“Post-Retreat Crash?”

 “Post-Retreat Crash,” Aria mumbled, “is that kind of downward slope you hit after having a really amazing week. Especially up in the mountains where you literally worry about nothing and have the chance to contemplate about life. It’s like an emotional sugar crash.” She buried her face into her pillow, sighing quietly into it. Miles watched her quietly, rising from the chair and sitting next to her.

“Hey. Come on, A. Don’t feel so bad about it.” He ruffled her hair gently, “It’ll just be like this for a few days and then you’ll get back up.”

Aria kept her gaze away from him, nodding stiffly.

* * * * *

The last time she had fallen into such a state was a day before the retreat.

The only difference was instead of being incredibly void of emotion, she was filled to the brim with them.

Long story made short, something had happened which had caused her to suddenly blow up and end up crying five hours before she had to leave for retreat. It took him a long time to calm her down and finally get her to sleep, but it didn’t stop the fact that what had happened definitely shook her to the core.

Days later, she was back at square one – except emotionally empty and painfully numb.

Miles honestly felt frustrated. He had never dealt with that side of Aria, mostly prepared for any of her emotional outbursts that would take place.

“Miles?”

“Yeah?” he saw her glare at her laptop in frustration, then turned to him with a tired expression on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you really sure that this’ll go away soon?”

If this doesn’t go away soon, I might just have to fake in front of everyone.

“Don’t do that. Look,” he pointed at her laptop, “All you have to do is to get into the groove of working and studying again. And think of it this way,” the Forest Original added. “If you don’t get into it, I’m going to ask Rivers to smack you.” Aria’s eyes widened.

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would. And I’m sure she’d do it just so she can see you feeling better,” he stated firmly. Miles’ forest green eyes softened upon seeing a few traces of guilt etch onto her face. “Hey. Don’t do this to your New Self, A. You went through a lot of tears and realizations just so you could gain the strength to bring your New Self to life. Don’t let it get you down.”

“I want it to go away,” she mumbled. Miles’ gaze softened.

“I’ll be with you all the way if I have to.”

With that, a small flicker of hope flashed in his Assignment’s eyes.