"Sorry." Saliza apologized to the furious Zeigel who was munching on his takeout while glaring at her.

Man, he's really mad this time. Oh, I know!

Saliza dashed into the bedroom and came out with a mask with a poorly drawn smile which she placed on Zeigel's face.

"All better!"

Zeigel ripped the mask off his face and threw it at Saliza who dodged it.

Not better.

"I leave for awhile and you burn down my fucking kitchen!" He snapped.

"Cooking was a lot harder than I thought..."

"Not burning down the kitchen shouldn't have been that hard you dipshit!"

"Sorry..." She apologized once again. "I'll pay for the repairs, I promise."

Hopefully Reizo wouldn't mind paying for the repairs.

"Ugh, now how am I supposed to practice cooking?" Zeigel groaned. "Unless..."

He peeked out of his room before walking to the room next door. He knocked on the door and waited for a response.

"Yup, no one's inside." He said as he stuck his finger into the key slot. He turned his finger and a click could be heard.

"It worked!" A mischievous smile crept onto his face as he opened the door. "The perks of being a vanguard is starting to shine!"

"Whoa, how'd you do that?" Saliza asked.

"If you know how locks work, you'll realize that it's pretty easy for a vanguard to pick them." He explained. He pulled away his finger and at the tip of it was a wooden key.

"I'll be borrowing the kitchen here until mine is fixed." Zeigel said as he proceeded to explore every part of the room other than the kitchen.

"Needless to say, you're not allowed inside this kitchen, understood?" He sternly warned her while inspecting the bedroom.

"Why are you snooping around other people's room? You're not doing anything perverted are you?" Saliza asked.

"I'm just having a look at the trainees who came before us." He grabbed a photo frame from a desk and wiggled it in his hands. "Don't you wanna see what they look like?"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to know." Saliza shrugged.

The picture was a group shot consisting of six trainees lined up with two trainers at the end of each side.

"Oh hey, those trainers are the same vanguards in Reizo's photo." Saliza pointed out.

"Yeah you're right. They look a lot happier than Reizo despite surviving the same thing he did though."

"Maybe Reizo's an attention seeker."

The two giggled at such an idea.

"Check out the other trainees. They look kinda fun." Saliza said.

Starting from the left was an average looking boy with dark blue hair in plain clothes holding back the person on his right who was a fairly muscular guy with short crimson hair in a grey sweater and black pants. He looked the oldest of the trainees and appeared to be angrily screaming something while swinging his fists at the guy on his right.

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The person he was yelling at was a somewhat skinny boy with gold flowing hair wearing a tacky red and yellow striped suit. He was making a suggestive and creepy look at the girl on his right who shoved his face away with a look of disgust. That girl had short crimson hair and wore a black hoodie and grey shorts.

The person next to them was a guy with black spiky hair and a muscular build. He wore a red jacket with a black shirt underneath and long black pants. His arms were folded as he looked at the other trainees with disdain in his eyes.

The last trainee was a girl with green hair tied in a neat ponytail and a tidy orange dress. Her hands were placed behind her back as she gave the camera a smile that looked a little forced.

"They look a little weird." Zeigel commented.

"Said the guy with funky eyes." She snickered and got an irritated glare in return.

"I can't wait to meet these guys. It'll be great having more friends to go on adventures with."

"More friends..." Zeigel mumbled to himself as he set the picture frame back down on the desk.

"On an unrelated note, would you be fine if I was gone?" He asked.

"For how long?"

"Forever."

"Huh? What do you mean forever?" Saliza exclaimed. "If this is about the kitchen then I'm-"

"It's not about the kitchen." Zeigel reassured her. "It's just that...how do I put this...something could happen to me and I might be gone forever. You'll be fine if that happens right?"

"No! Of course not! I'll never let anything happen to you, ever!"

Why're you asking these sort of questions anyways? I hate it! I don't wanna think about these things!

"But you could just replace me with one of those other trainees."

"Replace you?" Saliza exclaimed in disbelief. "Zeigel you're not an object, you're my friend! What kind of sicko views friends as something replaceable?"

"Y-Yeah, you're right." Zeigel sheepishly agreed. "But why does it matter so much to you if I'm gone? Is it because I'm your first friend?"

"It doesn't matter if you're my first or second or hundredth friend, I still don't want to lose someone I care about."

"Right, of course." Zeigel hung his head low with a face filled with worry.

"You know, If there's something on your mind, you could always talk to me about it." Saliza said as she took off her mask. "I won't laugh, I won't joke about it, and whatever you tell me will be kept between us."

Zeigel silently looked at her with the same look he had whenever he was contemplating something. After a few awkward seconds, he asked, "You won't tell anyone?"

"Not a single soul." She promised him with her right hand raised.

Once again, Zeigel remained silent with that contemplating face again.

He sure thinks a lot. Maybe he really needs this.

"Saliza, what I'm about to tell you is something very serious, and absolutely no one else can know about this."

"Then no one else will, I promise."

Saliza wasn't sure if he believed her as he still looked hesitant about telling her whatever this big secret is.

"It's fine if you don't wanna tell me about it. I won't force you to."

"No, this is something you have to know." He insisted.

"Saliza, I'm...I'm...."

Saliza waited in suspense as Zeigel struggled to get the words out of his throat. He still looked hesitant, but eventually he revealed his big secret.

"I'm not in love with you."

"....Huh?" Saliza gave him a look of surprise. "That's the secret?"

"Y-Yeah, that's the secret. You're just not my type." He shrugged.

"Pfft, hahaha! That's your secret? It's not like I have a crush on you Zeigel!" Saliza laughed.

I was worried for a second that it was something like him being an escaped convict from another country or him being from Earth. There's no way he could be either of those things.

"Have you been worrying that I'll be heartbroken by this 'shocking' revelation?"

"Y-Yeah, I wasn't sure how you'd handle it."

"If that's what's been worrying you then why'd you ask me if I was fine with losing you?"

"I, uh, it was...it was a test. A test of friendship." He nervously replied.

"A test eh? I passed it, didn't I?" She puffed her chest out with pride.

"Yup, with flying colours." He said as he hung his head low. "No need to worry about that sort of question ever again."

What a relief. Worrying is no fun.

"By the way, I fought a three star monster earlier. Apparently that's the method Reizo was talking about."

"What? No fair!" Saliza exclaimed. "Why do I have to wait until I'm level 10 to fight one?"

"Trust me Saliza, fighting one at level 7 was hell." Zeigel grimaced. "Pure.Hell."

"But what part about it is illegal?"

"Apparently we're not allowed to hunt monsters unless it's for a mission."

"I see, I see." Saliza nodded. "Wanna hunt a four star monster together? We'll keep it a secret."

"Please stop trying to get us both killed." He facepalmed. "I think we've been here long enough. Time to check out the kitchen."

Zeigel made his way to the kitchen. It was clean and tidy with a few more appliances he didn't have in his room such as the reheater and the mixer.

On the counter was the same cookbook Zeigel had before Saliza burnt it to a crisp.

"Well that's convenient." Zeigel said as he opened the book, finding a few notes inside on how to modify the various dishes to change its flavour or texture as well what to do and what not to do when making these dishes.

"Whoa, we've got a chef living here." He let out a low whistle. "Looks like I'll be able to do some cooking tomorrow."

"Great, I'll help out too." Saliza smiled.

"You stay away from the kitchen!"