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Oh well, we were supposed to go to the armor shop tomorrow anyway. Also, there was something that I had noticed recently, which is that Daniela was usually hungry whenever she appeared restless. It was especially obvious when she became anxious and her eyes constantly shifted. Which seemed to happen a lot. What an unfortunate beauty.

And so we parted ways with Rex and headed for the hospital that Danny was staying at.

 

At first, Danny had been taken to the central guardhouse infirmary, as it was an emergency. He had been given emergency treatment there before being transferred to the biggest hospital in Spiris. Apparently, the high-pressure breath that had destroyed his armor left a nasty wound. Danny showed us the wound that had required the attention of a group of the finest physicians to heal. There was a giant burn-like scar that covered most of his stomach. It was incredible that he had survived this…

 

“It is thanks to you and the others that I am alive. That I am here right now. I cannot thank you enough.”

“You’ve already thanked me enough. You better cover yourself before you catch a cold.”

 

That didn’t stop him from thanking me repeatedly after that, but I was happy to have been able to see what kind of person he was. It would have made me a little sad if the man I had helped was a jerk. We said goodbye to him and left the hospital.

As we were walking towards the bar where Rex and the others were waiting, Daniela began to talk.

 

“Asagi, you must try to be less reckless.”

“I know that I should have considered you more… I’ll be careful in the future.”

“We are a party. I will be alone once again if you die. Listening to Bordow and seeing Danny’s wound today has made me think. What would I do if you were no longer here?”

 

She stared at the ground as she talked. It was true, one misstep could have meant my death. There had been a part of me that had hesitated about jumping into that danger. But hearing Rex’s voice had changed all of that. It wasn’t worth a life. But it was my skill that I had been weighing on the balance. I hadn’t considered that my own life was there as well. Perhaps there was an arrogance in me at the moment, telling me that ‘I could beat.’ That was what Daniela was talking about. The proof was that I had tried to hide the skill from Bordow.

 

“If you insist on throwing your own life away to help others, I might have to break those legs to stop you. Understand this. You are important.”

“Daniela…”

 

It almost felt like a confession of sorts, but Daniela’s expression was the peak of seriousness. Likely, her ears were only reddening because she had imagined something horrible.

 

“I understand. I’ll think more before acting from now on. After all, apparently this body isn’t really mine alone anymore?”

“I, I did not mean it like that!”

 

Daniela became a little frantic as she pulled out her trusty mask from a pocket. That was too bad. The tips of her ears had become so red.

 

We were walking side by side. This was a path that we had once walked alone on. But we were walking together now. Having a trustworthy friend by your side was something that could not be compared to that night when I was alone. I thought of what I could do to this dependable and dear friend who supported me as we walked to the bar.

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