Last night came and went. A bit later after I gave Naomi some privacy to tidy up, I knocked out early in anticipation for an early day. Skip dinner, make room for breakfast. For the first time, I woke up to Naomi sleeping in her bed. I did my best not to wake her up, the ivory ninja girl looking super innocent when she was snoozing. You’d never know that she was a certified monster killing machine, slicing meat off like a skilled butcher.

Once I ran my morning routine, I took my things and headed to the river. During my short walk, I decided to make a call to my family. They told me time and time again that it didn’t matter what hour of the day it was when I called. They were happy to hear from me, especially So, who mentioned it every two minutes we spoke. I miss you dearly, she’d say as if we were in the 1700’s. It was easy to joke around about me not being there, but I could tell deep down that she was hurting from us being so far apart from each other.

We were inseparable, like twins. Despite our busy lives, we always made time to either eat a meal together, or play some games together. Her niche was fighting games, while mine was fps. Absolutely sucked at it. And Sophie was a sore loser, so whenever I’d mop the floor with her, the next few days turned into a prank pen. I’d never forget the day she sprayed whipped cream on my hand and tickled my nose when I was sleeping.

And they said that I needed to grow up.

I loved her and her silly little pranks regardless. “Now who am I gonna play Street Fighter with on the weekends?” Sophie said at the other end of our video call. “My Juri misses having your Luke as a punching bag.”

“I was getting tired of those feet kicking me around, anyway,” I teased.

She giggled. “Thanks for calling us every day. I appreciate that. Hurry up and make us some money so I can come over there and spoil you rotten with my cooking, okay? I’ve heard your horror stories….”

I laughed. “I would kill for your home cooking right now. You have no idea.”

She smiled wholesomely. “All jokes aside, I really do miss you, Nero….”

“I do too, Sophie. I’ll talk to you again soon, all right?” Just as I ended the call, I heard splashing. It was coming from the direction I was headed, and when I turned the corner between a pair of twin trees, I saw where the source was coming from. If I didn’t see it for myself, I wouldn’t have thought it were true. There Reina was, trying another daring feat—fishing.

Or at least that’s what I thought she was doing as she slapped her hand in the water like a cat teasing a goldfish. She knelt along the bank and had her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, too. I felt that she might have been a tad overdressed for the affair, wearing a plaid red and white skirt and a white blouse.

Well, at least she knew enough to have her hair up.

“Reina, what are you doing?” I called across to her, a smile pulling at the corners of my lips. I tried not to laugh when she perked up like a startled rabbit, almost falling into the water before catching herself at the last moment.

“You think it’s funny sneaking up on people like that?!” she hissed, her cheeks flush with exertion and embarrassment. “I am trying to fish, what does it look like?”

“It looks like you’re assaulting aquatic life,” I joked, walking over to stand beside her. The water was cool and clear, it was easy to see the small fish darting around beneath the surface. “We had the same idea, didn’t we? But you came unprepared.”

“My apologies for not prepacking a fish net!”

“I didn’t either, but I got some stuff in Hayashi’s storage house.”

“I’m surprised he allowed you to use his equipment.”

I chuckled. “I never said I asked. Don’t worry, I’ll be putting it right back.”

She turned her head back to the river and sighed. “Oh, good for you. I just couldn’t take another sickening day of starvation! Eating scrappy food and being expected to perform. It’s insanity at its finest! So I took this beautiful morning to go out here and find something to eat.

I looked up to the light filtered through the trees overhead, and enjoyed the breeze strolling through. “Yeah, it is nice, isn’t it?” I turned my eyes back down to suggest a technique, until I noticed fresh gauze and a dab of blood around Reina’s thigh. My body had a strange reaction to the sight, my heart racing for two seconds, and my senses elevated. The feeling came and went, and I shook it off just as fast to ask her, “You got hurt last night?”

“I did in our last mission. What concern is that of yours?”

“That wasn’t part of your report….”

“I didn’t want our devoted mentor docking points for it,” she said as she swatted her hand out of the water. “But seeing as he failed us anyway, it doesn’t really matter now, does it?”

“Katsuro didn’t kiss you, did he?”

She choked. “Absolutely not!”

“Okay, good. That poisonous kiss side effect sounded pretty fucking horrible.”

She smirked. “Interesting how you’re all of a sudden worried about my wellbeing?”

“I’ve always been worried about your wellbeing.”

“Have you, now?” she sang, taking to her feet and giving me a haughty mischievous look. “Admit it, Nero. You didn’t think I had what it took to kill that monster all by myself, did you?”

I snorted. “To be honest with you, no, I didn’t. And since I didn’t, I shouldn’t have left you out there alone to fend for yourself. And for that, I’m sorry.”

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“I’ll take your apology, if you admit that I’m not as weak as you say I am.”

I smirked. “Since when did you care about what I think?”

“You think I don’t see the way you and that devil woman look at me? Like I’m some type of helpless damsel in distress?” she huffed, her eyes set ablaze. “Well, I’m not. I can hold my own! And I proved it to you both! Two eye witnesses cannot deny me my glory!”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “Well, I didn’t see anything, and neither did Naomi. But, you’re right. You’re stronger than I give you credit for, and you proved it last night. But your strength doesn’t mean I shouldn’t worry about you.”

She looked away from me, her gaze dropping to the crystalline pool at our feet. “Why?” she asked quietly after a moment, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Why what?”

“Why do you worry about me? It’s not your problem, Nero.”

“What are you talking about? You’re my squad mate. Of course it’s my job.” She turned her head back to me timidly, before I knelt down on one knee and asked her, “Can I?”

She blushed, wincing as she leaned back. “Exactly what are you asking me permission for?!”

I laughed. “Relax, I’m better off marrying a seagull. I’m not asking you for your hand. I’m asking to see the wound on your thigh.”

She hesitated for a few seconds, probably questioning my authenticity. And then, she stuck her leg out a few inches, the moment I touched her giving her goosebumps. “I said you can check it, not caress it!” she retorted, the girl fighting off the red from her face.

I grinned. “I’m not down here to fulfill your fantasies, Reina,” I teased.

“You keep talking like that, and you’ll find my foot wedged in your big mouth!”

“Hey, have you redressed it since the fight?” I asked her, inspecting the dry blood on the gauze. “You need to remember to keep it clean. I’m guessing you disinfected it already. Here,” I said, taking off the gauze and rewrapping it around her with the dry blood facing away from the cut. “It’s only a few inches long, not too deep. This is a temporary fix until you get something fresh over it.”

“Thank you for your sympathy,” she said sarcastically.

I took a seat and prepared my fishing station, Reina staring at me the entire time. The look on her skeptical face twisted, Reina probably thinking that just like her, I didn’t know what I was doing. She took a seat next to me and asked, “So you really know how to fish?”

“Yeah, I do, actually!”

“But… you live in the city,” Reina said with a suspicious squint in her eyes. “Since when did you have the opportunity to learn how to fish?”

“My mom taught me how to.”

“Your mother? Fishing is a manly sport.”

“What? Since when?”

“Since forever.”

I rolled my eyes. “Reina, women can fish, too. And women can hunt… and shoot a rifle, and hike. Hell, they could even hot wire a car if they have to.”

“I hope you’re not referring to your mother doing all of those things?”

“Oh yeah, my mom’s a badass.”

“Well, how about your father?”

My smile flat lined. “I don’t really have one. Honestly, I just had my mom. And she was all I really needed, so it wasn’t like I was missing out or anything. She taught me fishing back when things were decent, I guess. I was maybe 5 or 6. Heh, fishing became my hobby. I’m telling you, I was hooked. No pun intended.”

She smiled.

“We’d go camping three, maybe four times a year to escape the city. It was dangerous, you know, with the walkers and their territories and all. But we managed, having only one incident. Thankfully with my mom’s quick thinking, we slipped them.”

“Wow, that mother of yours sounds like a brave and strong woman….”

“She is. She’s so strong that I don’t think she knows exactly how strong she is…. The sacrifices she’d made for me. I could never repay her. Honestly, she’s the reason why I’m here. Don’t get me wrong, I do love helping people. It’s in my blood to never turn down a cry for help. But more important than that is my mom.”

Reina softened her eyes on me. “I wish I felt that way about mine. A stronger bond with her was something I always felt was unachievable. She was more concerned with how I looked and conducted myself. I was the image of the Faust Empire, so she says. My brother and I felt that she was more of a nagging nanny than a true nurturing soul but… she’s always been that way. Maybe that was how she showed us that she cared… in her own special way.”

“Doesn’t sound much like a caring mother at all if she’s detached from her kids.”

“She means well. I understand that she’s going through a lot of pressure. It’s not easy being in my father’s shadow all the time.” She turned to smile at me. “But, your mom seems like a kind soul.”

“Don’t let her kindness fool you, though. She takes shit from no one.”

She closed her eyes and tilted her chin up smugly. “Well, that’s one thing you didn’t get from her.”

I snickered. “What do you mean?”

“You never talked back to that scoundrel Kenji for failing us! And I know deep down, Nero, you know we did good. Especially in our last mission!”

I snickered. “Reina, you’re still on that?”

“It is very important that we pass, is it not?”

“Right, but it’s not my job to talk back to my mentor.”

“It is your job to defend your team.”

“By going against his observations? Where exactly would that leave us? Other than being on his bad side? And since we are on the topic, you need to quit picking fights with him. You’ve been trained in respecting your elders, I’m sure.”

She gasped. “What?!”

“Don’t take my comment as an insult, Reina. I’m not trying to grill you here. I’m just giving you pointers on how you should behave around Hayashi. He’s our mentor, after all. Not some punk on the street.” I sighed. “You’re not helping your case when you—”

“Enough!” Reina glared at me, getting up on her feet. “How dare you! I don’t have to take that man’s nonsense! I’m perfectly capable of handling that old coot myself!”

“Reina,” I said, holding up my hand placatingly. “That’s not what I meant. I’m just trying to help you.”

“Evidently, I don’t need your help. Especially not from someone who doesn’t have the backbone to stand up for his own team,” she said coldly.

“You know, something tells me that you’re doing all of this for more than what you want the rest of us to believe,” I started. “Because the Reina I know wouldn’t push herself this far to prove to her father that she could handle a little roughness. When you saw that body in the trash, you were seriously considering backing out, but you decided not to. You said that… we wouldn’t understand why you stayed. Like I said, you’re not the type to care about what others think of you, Reina. And you care even less about proving you’re strong. You were always daddy’s little girl. Mr. Faust doesn’t seem like the type who’d—”

“Are you done… speculating? Hmm?” she said, turning her back toward me as if she were trying to hide something. “I’d really like it Nero… if you’d stop talking about him right now….”

I paused, then thought real hard about her words. “Yeah, sure,” I said, understandingly, sensing something was off. It seemed like her dad was a hot button topic, and even though I wanted to know why, I respected it. “But I want you to know, Reina, despite our differences and whatever, that I’m here for you. You can talk to me about anything.”

“I will keep that in mind.” She was still for a while, Reina clearly bothered by what I said. Along the corner of my eye, I noticed that the line to my fishing rod began to shift, my bait catching something. I turned back around and reeled it in, the rod bent under the weight of whatever hooked it. Judging by the heft, it was something big. So I got up on my feet, my heel gliding on some mud. Accidently, my fingers slipped, making me release the rod. But I wasn’t going to let my catch off like that!

“Oh no, you don’t!” I jumped right in after it, Reina calling after me as soon as I went for a dive. In the water, the huge fish was giving me the work, thrashing and buckling as I fought to get a tight grip on it. The more air I gave it above the surface, the more tired it got. Until all of that fight in him tapered away, and I managed to climb us both along the bank.

“You must be the craziest person I know!” Reina cried. “Have you no fear for your own life?!”

“Hey, Reina, want to learn how to prep this catch with me?” I asked her, Reina giggling at my childish smile.

“You’re a total goofball, you know that?”