Fenrir finally makes it back onto the deck of The Shoebill.

His ears twitch a few times.

Oleander and Cassiel know what is about to happen. Well, everybody except for Azalabulia, Rao, and Nyaiko know what is about to happen.

That is why those three end up being the ones that everybody hides behind – everybody but Serra.

Serra just doesn’t care.

“What’s going on?” Rao asks.

Fenrir shakes his body and hair! His hair and tail send water flying off of him in every direction, getting all over anybody not hiding from him.

Serra, after getting soaked from Fenrir, runs up to Cassiel and tightly wraps her arms around her!

“H-hey! What do you – what do you think you’re doing?” Cassiel asks Serra.

Rather than get an answer, Serra squeezes Cassiel’s sides which gets her signature squeak out of her and turns her cheeks red.

Fenrir looks over at Serra, wanting to tell her not to do that after recalling her earlier conversation with Cassiel, but Cassiel looks him in the eyes and shakes her head.

He always enjoyed poking her sides and listening to her squeak. Yet, when he actually pays attention to her face after she’s been poked, he sees just how truly embarrassed she looks.

It really makes him want to get Serra off of her. He knows that Serra doesn’t know any better. If she knew what he knows now, she wouldn’t be doing it. But, he understands why Cassiel wouldn’t want to bring it up right now. It would just be embarrassing and awkward to address it while in front of everybody.

Fenrir sighs and nods to Cassiel.

Cassiel gives him a look of appreciation while trying to pry Serra off of her.

“Nya smell like a wet dog-nya,” Nyaiko says, turning her nose up at Fenrir.

“I’m surprised you’re complaining,” Fenrir says. With how obsessive she’s been regarding him, just smelling wet doesn’t seem like something he would think would scare her away.

“Not to interrupt, my hero, but it would appear that we have a guest!” Nell says, looking at Azalabulia.

Azalabulia strikes a pose with one of her hands in front of her face and the other sticking out with dark flames in it. “I am the Dark Sorceress of Twisted Flames, the Breaker of Reality, and the One Who will Set the World Ablaze, the Wielder of the Cursed Flame of Bahamut, Azalabulia! I have come to lead you all to victory after the wolf begged me for guidance! Together, we shall blanket this world with cursed flames, I shall become the demon queen and rule over all, and you shall all be my faithful servants – my generals! Together, we shall—”

“Yeah, her name is Azalabulia. We helped her in this dungeon we found, then she begged to join, so I let her come aboard,” Fenrir says.

Azalabulia stares at him with blank eyes and twitching hands, the flame in her one palm sputtering out.

“Ah, and she is a roleplayer! How delightful! It will be lovely to have more friends with grand fantasies to talk about,” Nell says.

Azalabulia regains her composure and looks at Nell. “Heh, so you want to discuss plans to dominate this world with me,” she pauses to look Nell over, “serpent?”

“Ah, well, perhaps nothing that grand. My fantasies are more along the kind that involves being tied up and ravished without end.”

Azalabulia blinks a few times, blushes, and accepts the challenge. “H-heh, I – I can talk about anything! There is nothing that I cannot handle!”

“Hey, Nell, watch this,” Fenrir says, standing next to Azalabulia and sticking his hand out. “Paw.”

Azalabulia immediately places one of her hands on top of Fenrir’s while leaning her head ever so slightly forward and wagging her hips.

Then she realizes what she’s doing and jumps backward. “You – you have placed a spell on me! How dare you! Do you not understand who you are toying with, foolish mortal?!” she shouts.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“A puppy, apparently,” Fenrir answers.

“Cass Cass looks jealous,” Serra says.

“I’m… I’m not – not jealous,” Cassiel stutters out, earning Fenrir’s attention once more.

Now he feels acutely aware of every single time Cassiel is getting pushed.

Has it been like this the entire time they’ve known her? Have they always been teasing her about things she’s self-conscious about, taking it too far, without ever realizing it?

“You’ve got a crazy harem, bro,” Rao says, patting Fenrir on the shoulder.

“He really does,” Oleander adds on, patting Fenrir on his other shoulder.

“And I’m the nyewest member of it-nya!” Nyaiko declares.

Fenrir picks up on Cassiel’s discomfort once more.

“No, you’re not,” Fenrir says.

His honest, harsh-sounding words cause everybody to pay attention to the now-awkward air aboard The Shoebill.

“A-ah… nya-nyahaha…I was – I… was just joking, nya,” Nyaiko says, her stuttering voice and fidgeting around making the scene even more awkward.

“Sorry, Nyaiko. I appreciate your feelings, but you can’t just… come back into my life and expect me to want to marry you after a few days,” Fenrir says, looking her in her eyes.

He knows that this is awkward for everybody else involved and that it might not be the best time for this, but now that he knows that he hasn’t been doing a good enough job sticking up for Cassiel, he can’t help himself.

There’s also the fact that he just can’t return Nyaiko’s feelings. Maybe he could sometime in the future, but at this moment, Nyaiko loves him far more than he likes her.

His girlfriends come first. First, Nell has barely gotten to do anything that she really wanted to do with him since they’ve had no privacy despite her flying over to stay with him. Now, he knows just how uncomfortable Cassiel has been lately and still is.

All he ever hoped for with reuniting with Nyaiko was to learn how she’s been doing – to know that she’s been alright. She was his friend. Is his friend.

Nothing more.

“Nya… I… I’m—” Nyaiko’s eyes go blank for a few seconds before being filled with the life of the overseer.

“Wake me, Saya.”

Ryouta blinks his eyes open and sees his ceiling fan up above. Serra and Alice are lying on the bed next to him while Cassandra sits in his computer chair, all of them still immersed in-game with their virtual reality headbands on.

Only one person is missing: Aiko.

Though, it doesn’t take long for him to find her.

She’s got an open suitcase and she’s shoving her clothes into it, tears running from her eyes.

“Aiko,” Ryouta says.

Aiko looks up at him and chokes. “You’re different now, Ryouta,” she says. “You’re a lot cooler and more honest now.”

“I’m sorry for saying all of that in front of everybody. I should have waited until we had some alone time, but I just – I needed to say something.”

“It’s okay, Ryouta. I – I know what you mean. And… I know that I’ve been way too obsessive and it’s just… I think I need to go back.”

“Go back?”

Aiko sighs and tugs down her pants.

Her thighs are covered in scars. Some of the cuts look new as there is dried blood on her skin.

“Back to the umm… place I was at before I met Serra. My parents made me go, but I got out. I think – I think I need to stay there more,” Aiko explains.

“Wait, isn’t this really sudden?” Ryouta asks.

“You rejecting me in front of everybody wasn’t?”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have.”

Aiko shakes her head. “It’s okay. I knew you weren’t serious about me the way that I think I’m serious about you.”

“That you think you are?”

“Yeah… I – I don’t know if I really love you, or if I just think I love you because I want to use that to feel something. I’m just using you right now, and that’s not fair and it’s not something I think somebody would do if they really loved the person.”

Ryouta didn’t know that Aiko had this sort of serious side to her.

“And I don’t like what I’m doing. I hate myself for doing it,” Aiko says.

“Doing what?” Ryouta asks.

“Competing with your girlfriends for you. I know they’re the ones you’re dating, and I know I shouldn’t be jealous, but I really, really am no matter how hard I try not to be. You probably noticed how upset she looked, right?”

“Cass?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah. I noticed.”

“I… I’ve been aware, and I’ve been enjoying making her feel that way. Even Serra. I don’t even want to share you with Serra. So, I think… I think that even if I did actually date you with them, I wouldn’t be able to handle it before doing something bad.”

“And this is all because I rejected you in front of them?”

“No, Ryouta. I’ve… been feeling this way ever since I saw you again, but I guess you just made me realize nothing is going to happen. Even if it did, it shouldn’t. And… the more time I spent around you, the more I’ve learned you’re not the Ryouta I knew anymore. You’re different now. I like who you are, but, it’s just… I have to learn to love the new you instead of clinging to the old you.”

This all feels way too sudden and random for Ryouta, but he knows that he needs to hug Aiko right now. Her face, her tears, her quivering body – she needs a hug.

But she refuses to let him hug her when he tries getting close.

“Please, don’t. If you do then I might change my mind,” Aiko says. “I still want to be friends with you and everybody, but I need help first. I can’t stop being crazy and telling myself I don’t need it when I cut myself almost every single night and only know how to live for others. Seeing you and everybody else… even that annoying perverted guy, you all know how to live your own lives and how to be happy on your own. I don’t know how to do that.”

Ryouta sighs and sits back down on the foot of his bed. “It’s respectable that you’re doing this. It really is. You should be proud of yourself,” he says.

“I… I think I am proud of myself, for once.”

Aiko finishes packing her things. “I’ll be back sometime after I’m done with everything. You guys have got my number in case there’s ever any like super emergency or anything.”

“Right back at you. Be safe, alright?” Ryouta says, unsure of what else to possibly say in such an unexpected situation.

“Mhm. Bye bye, Ry-ou-ta.”