Serah stared at him and gasped slowly, seeming unable to process what he said. Then her armor appeared again, completely hiding her face.

“Oh, come on!” John exclaimed, tempted to call her a coward. He could feel himself smiling from relief, glad to finally have his feelings heard.

“John, you can’t just…” She pointed at him firmly, but with a shaking hand. “You! That’s not what I meant!”

“What’s the difference?”

“The symbolism! The line we’ve never crossed before! You just…”

“Okay. I take it back,” he replied smugly, crossing his arms, knowing that wasn’t how it worked.

She didn’t laugh, but he imagined her smiling under the helmet. “Hah, no… I guess it’s time to see what’s on the other side of it.”

“Nice! So it’s your turn.”

“Mmm… Didn’t you say it was the same thing?”

“You said it wasn’t. And speaking of symbolism, you’ve got to say it back.” His grin widened, finding great enjoyment in using her words against her.

Serah let out a deep sigh, her breath audibly filtering through the helmet’s mask. “...I lo–”

“Without the armor.”

She breathed deeply through her nose as if trying to find some patience. Then her armor disappeared again, showing her deeply reddened face. She had trouble looking into his eyes, but not for lack of trying.

Then their eyes locked, and she straightened her back. “I love you, John. Utterly and completely.”

Almost before she ended her sentence, the armor was back on. But she didn’t turn away this time.

John couldn’t describe the feelings in his chest, but they made him want to dance—a first for him because he had never danced before. The heavy knot of worry he had carried for so long unraveled in his chest, and only his concern for Rain kept him from complete bliss.

Giving up on making her leave the armor off, he tried a different approach. “Does that visor open up at all? I only need the lower part of your face.”

“Why would… No!” She leaned away from him and looked in a different direction. “I am not ready for that! Not yet.”

John laughed, feeling such relief and joy. He was fine with taking it slow. At least now, they had crossed that elusive line, finally speaking openly about their emotions. And it let him trust that whatever she was hiding was for their common goal, or at least for his sake.

“Take your time, Serah. I’ll try to be ready when you are.”

He recalled Carver’s earlier words about being patient, but he already knew. For all her bravado, Serah had a tender heart. It might have been different if he hadn’t caught her occasional glances at his tightly fitted armor, though.

‘Maybe I should change it to be a bit thicker and looser in the future. It’s not meant to show off, but it is essentially a skinsuit with metal parts…’

Feeling like the moment had calmed, he asked, “You want to head back to the others? We talked about some stuff while you weren’t there.”

Serah seemed hesitant, still only glancing at him. “... I’d rather stay here. Anything important I should know?”

John smiled, not minding at all. “Uhh, we spoke about us two knowing each other, where everyone came from, how to find the portal back home, and how I defeated a horror and pissed off the monkeys.”

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“What?!” She stared at him in disbelief. Probably. The helmet was making it hard to judge. “You defeated a horror? Alone?”

“Yeah, but could you remove the helmet now? I want to see your face.”

She covered her face further with her hands, exasperated. “Not if you talk like that! Casual talk, okay?”

He couldn’t help but laugh, understanding why she enjoyed teasing him so much in the past. It was exhilarating. “Fine, I’ll keep it casual.”

After taking another moment to calm herself, she removed the helmet with her hands and put it on the ground. “Now can you tell me?”

“Sure! It was an incredible fight, but it was also over in less than a minute. We all found a city filled with the monkeys you guys call Kokos. And because we had been using one of them as transport, they chased us. I had to remain behind to let the others escape.”

“... You did that for them? No wonder…” She looked thoughtful, staring ahead. “But you couldn’t have been confident, right?”

John shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, no. I had a vague plan, but most of my attacks did nearly nothing.” He paused, glancing at the ground. “I had to gamble it on one attack if I was going to win. I flew up on Larang, as you saw earlier, and sent my aspect down to surround it.”

“Ah! You have to show me your aspect! I’ve been so curious about it!” she exclaimed, turning to him with a burning curiosity in her eyes.

“Oh, sure!” John grinned, feeling a little prideful, and stretched his hands out in front of him. Ten black spheres appeared in a perfect circle around them, hovering in the air like silent sentinels. “I call it Aspect of Onyx. For now.”

She looked around at them with a strange, amused smile. “You’re telling me your aspect is… black spheres?”

“... Yeah?”

Serah's entire body seemed to tremble before she suddenly bent over, clutching her stomach as laughter burst from her. “Ahahah, I really appreciate the smo–hoho–othness and roundness!” Her voice was breathless, broken up by the intensity of her giggles.

John stared at her, thoroughly confused. “What’s so funny?”

She could hardly catch her breath as she pointed at one of them. “Look at them, perfectly round!” Then she continued to laugh while John remained clueless.

Only when she summoned her magical focus, a small black sphere, into her hand did it dawn on him. “Oh… right.” His voice dropped, recalling the moment when he had mockingly said, ‘It’s just a sphere’ after seeing her focus for the first time.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “It’s not that funny.”

Serah wiped a tear from her eye as she straightened, still chuckling under her breath. “Ahh, you crack me up, John… So, how does it work?”

The urge to say something less casual to get back at her burned in his chest, but he managed to keep it under control. “... If I push or attack them, they can store that power and fly forward to release the attack later. These are weaker versions, but if I fill them with gaseous essence, they can–”

“Gaseous essence?” Serah asked, furrowing her brows. “What’s that?”

“Ah, right… Right! I met an alien!”

Her entire face scrunched up a bit, like she was looking at an insane person. “Right. This is gonna take a while, I assume. You want to see my aspect before you tell me about your adventures?”

“Heh, it is going to take a while, yes. And I would love to! It’s not Larang, is it?”

Since he had mocked her sphere and she had mocked Larang’s name, it would be a perfect twist of fate if they both swapped like that.

And to John’s surprise, Serah started smiling nervously. “Uhh, it’s funny you should ask, actually…”

She held her hand up, and a large sword, seemingly made out of pure light, started manifesting in the sky. John’s jaw dropped as he recognized the unmistakable form of Larang’s original shape.

“… What? Really?”

She chuckled. “No, I can make it any shape I want. But I have been making this shape often because it’s useful.” She waved her hand, and the sword shimmered before dissolving back into pure light.

“Ah, okay. Yeah! It’s the perfect shape!”

“I’m not calling it Larang, though,” she added, smiling.

“Of course not! Only Larang is worthy of the title!” he declared, summoning the greatsword in his raised hand. The guard-less version had grown on him after the fight with the horror. “So what, you create shapes?”

Serah nodded, glancing up at the sky where the sword had been. “It’s more like converting light into solid shapes. Once they’re created, I can do whatever I want with them, like sending them hurtling through the air. But they break if there isn’t enough light stored.”

“That sounds awesome! How many can you control?”

“About forty if I focus. But it’s closer to a hundred if I don’t have to control them individually.”

John stared at her in shock and envy, feeling his jaw drop. “You can control forty individual greatswords and send them flying through the air? That’s… the coolest thing I’ve ever imagined! Can you show me?!”

Serah laughed softly, shaking her head. “Eh, it takes up a lot of essence, though. But the two of us could head out to hunt later once everyone has settled?”

“Yes! Please!” John responded with childlike enthusiasm. He could feel his heart pounding with excitement at the thought of seeing her full power in action.