After putting on a new shirt, Zeigel sat on the side of his bed trying to process something in his mind. He sat in silence for about five minutes completely lost in his thoughts.

I really wonder what goes on in his head.

"So uh, should we talk about what happened earlier?" Saliza asked, sitting on the bed across him.

She didn't receive an answer as Zeigel was still busy contemplating something with a serious look on his face.

"Yo, Zeigel." Saliza pushed her finger into his cheek, finally gaining his attention.

"What? What do you want?" He asked in annoyance as he swatted her finger away from his face.

"You wanted to discuss about what happened earlier right?"

"Oh right. Saliza, there's something very important I have to tell you."

Is he gonna confess to me? I hope not, he's not my type at all and I don't want our relationship to be awkward.

Zeigel cleared his throat and shouted at the top of his lungs, "YOU'RE A FUCKING IDIOT!"

Phew, it wasn't a confession.

"Didn't Reizo tell you not to pick up cursed shards with your bare hands? What is wrong with you, you brain damaged inbred shit eating dumbass!"

I think he's mad. Well, a little more mad than usual.

"I told you I forgot..." She said in an apologetic tone.

"Oh of course you forgot! I apologize for assuming that the lump of shit you have for a brain can even remember things!"

"Sorry..." She apologized before continuing in a more cheery tone. "But hey, we're both still alive so none of it really matters, so why don't we just forget that any of this happened."

Her words only enraged him further as he began screaming unintelligible sounds at her in frustration.

I don't get why he's so angry. Even if what we went through was kinda messed up, we both still lived through it, so it doesn't really matter.

After about a minute of spewing hate filled noises at Saliza, Zeigel began to calm down. As his anger subsided, sadness began to seep in.

"Saliza you have no idea what you've costed me." Zeigel said, this time sounding more sad than angry. "I may be alive, but because of you I've lost something very valuable."

"You lost your man hood again?"

"NO!" Zeigel snapped. "I lost... Because of you I.... Ugh, forget it!"

"Well what did you lose? I can help you get it back."

"I said forget it!"

He took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"What's done is done. You've screwed me over and there's nothing we can do to undo it, so just forget about it." He sighed.

Geez, I really messed up. I've never seen him so upset before. Just what exactly did I make him lose?

"Now, I wanna know what happened to the shard. Do you remember what happened to it?"

"Not at all. It just sort of disappeared after you grabbed it."

"But how could it disa- wait..." Zeigel paused for a second. "You remember seeing me grab the shard?"

"Yeah, why?"

Zeigel froze up and looked at her with worry in his eyes.

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"How much do you remember after being affected by the shard?" He asked.

"Pretty much everything, but I did black out for a second when you grabbed the shard, and then I found you laying on the ground with your wounds fully healed." She replied nonchalantly.

It was pretty weird and scary, but everything's fine now and that's all that matters.

The worry in Zeigel's eyes turned into fear. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't get any words out of his mouth.

Oh what now? Why's he looking at me like that?

"D-Does that mean you remember what I did to you?" Zeigel asked in a trembling voice.

"Did what? Oh, are you talking about our fight? Yeah I remember all of it. It was pretty cool to be honest, despite how horrifying it was."

Zeigel was stunned hearing how causally Saliza talked about their fight to the death.

"So you're not mad about me stabbing you in the throat?" He cautiously asked. "I-In self-defence of course."

"Not really, no. I know you didn't want to do it since you looked sad after stabbing me. You had no other choice, right?"

Zeigel didn't answer and buried his shame filled face in his palms. A few seconds later, he spoke up.

"Saliza, please, just be honest about how you feel. It's understandable if you're mad."

"Seriously, I'm not mad. I nearly chopped you in half so you stabbing my throat makes us even."

"But you were influenced by the shard. I wasn't." He shamefully admitted.

"Meh." Saliza shrugged.

"Wha- I don't understand. How could you just brush off something like this? You seriously don't care about what I did?"

"Do you want me to care?"

"N-No I-"

"Fine then, I'm really mad that you stabbed me!" She growled in an exaggerated tone. She then threw herself off the bed and landed in front of him.

"Here's your punishment for what you did!" Saliza raised her fist into the air, causing Zeigel to flinch.

"No wait!" He begged as he quickly threw his arms up to block a punch that never came.

He slowly lowered his arms and opened his eyes to see Saliza's finger flicking him on the forehead.

"Your punishment has been served! I hope you've learned you lesson."

Zeigel looked at her in surprise. "You seriously don't care about what I did? You don't think that it was messed up?"

"Oh I do think it's messed up, but we're both still alive so who cares." She lifted her mask and gave him a warm smile. "I'm just glad my friend is still with me."

Once again, Zeigel buried his face into his palms.

"Saliza, am I a bad friend?" He asked. "Be honest, I know I haven't exactly been treating you well."

Ugh, there's no need for any of these dumb complicated feelings Zeigel. There's only one thing I care about.

"Are you gonna keep being my friend?"

Zeigel lifted his head and nodded.

"Then that's all that matters to me, now let's go get some lunch."

----------------------------------------

"Welcome to Vangourmet! What can I- oh dear, what happened to your mask?" Barill asked as the two entered the restaurant.

"Monster attack."

"Yup, monster attack."

"I see. But I thought Reizo would be there to protect you."

"Nah, that dickhead didn't bother helping us. He left us to fend for ourselves." Said Zeigel.

"That doesn't really sound like Reizo at all."

"But it's true. Don't tell him I said all that."

"Say Barill, do you know where I can get a new mask?" Saliza asked.

"I know a few shops that sell masks, but they don't perfectly conceal your face."

"Are there any shops that sell the same kind of mask I have?"

"Unfortunately there aren't any in Mezio. As far as I know, Sadonia is the only country that sells these kinds of masks since they have access to the materials used to create them."

"Aw man..."

Zeigel glanced at her with a face filled with guilt.

"Hey Barill, I'll take two of this to go." Zeigel said as he pointed to one of the more expensive meal sets.

"That'll be 14 dollars."

"Here you go."

"Whoa Zeigel, you don't have to pay for me."

"It's fine. I don't mind."

Once they've gotten their food they exited the restaurant and walked in opposite directions.

"Hey Zeigel, you're going the wrong way. The headquarters is this way."

"I know. I'm going to the blacksmith. I seriously doubt Reizo is in the mood to buy us weapons if we asked him to, so I'll just buy one for you with my own money."

Saliza ran up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You don't have to spend so much money on me Zeigel. I know you feel bad about what you did, but it's fine. I'm not mad or anything."

"Saliza I damaged your mask and tried to kill you. Even if you're not mad at me, I should at least try to make up for what I did."

"Well, you're going about it the wrong way."

"What do you mean?"

"Buying me stuff won't make up for what you did."

"Then what will?"

"Fighting monsters along side me and getting stronger will."

I want a friend who'll help me become a world famous vanguard. You and me Zeigel, we're gonna become legends!

Zeigel was surprised by her answer.

"Wouldn't you rather I buy you a new weapon?"

"Oh? Are you saying that you'd rather spend money on me because you're too lazy to improve?" Saliza teased.

"I'm not lazy, I just-"

"Lazy Zeigel."

"I'm not lazy!"

"Layzeigel. That's your new name."

"Don't call me that! It's ridiculous!"

"What're you gonna do about it Layzeigel?"

"Can you stop being so immature!"

"Layzeigel, Layzeigel, Layzeigel, Layzeigel."

"That's it, get over here you little shit!" Zeigel shouted as he began chasing her back to the headquarters.

It's fun having you around. To be honest, I don't think I've been such a good friend to you either, especially after what I did today. If you're gonna work towards being a better friend, then I will too. I promise, I'll be a good friend to you Ziegel.

"If you're lazy and grouchy, then that would make you Lay-zei-grouch."

"I'll end you!"

I'll be a really good friend.