Book 6: Chapter 17:

Fenrir was planning on showing off his new, mastered ability to transform Rod as soon as he got back to his girlfriends… but they seemed to have something else in mind for him. It was clear that something was off as soon as he saw them waiting for him with less than smiling faces.

Serra left the others to intercept him.

“Is something wrong?” Fenrir immediately asked as soon as Serra was close enough.

“No, but it’s about Aiko,” Serra answered.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Is she alright?”

Serra nodded. “She’s fine.”

“Then what’s up?”

“She wants to talk to you. Alone.”

“She actually wants to talk to me? I was starting to think that she’d never talk to me again.”

“You’ll understand when you talk to her.”

“Got it. So… when’s she want to have this talk with me?”

“Tomorrow.”

“That soon?”

“Yeah.”

“I haven’t heard from her in what feels like forever… and now she wants to have a private talk with me tomorrow. What do the others think?”

“They’re okay with it as long as it’s in-game. Nell can tell how you feel so we can tell if anything goes wrong.”

“That’s a good idea. What do you think about this since you’re the only one of us she’s been talking to?”

“I trust her. She’s different now.”

“If you believe it, I’ll try my best to believe that as well. I—”

“Oi!” Tabitha shouted, running up to Fenrir and Serra. “Wolf boy, how would ya feel about us buildin’ a mecha?”

“Wait, what? Is that even possible?”

“Maybe.”

“I mean… if you can build one, I want to see it.”

Rather than say anything else to Fenrir, Tabitha turned around to shout at Rao, “Oi! Red! We’ve got permission!” And then she ran off back to him.

“I… I feel like I’m missing something,” Fenrir said to Serra. “First Aiko is coming back, now Tabs and Rao are getting along and want to build a mecha?”

Serra shrugged.

“Anyways, Aiko really is coming back? I know I keep asking, but – I don’t know. That makes me nervous. She was just so different from how I remembered her. I never would have expected her to become a stalker or to be the type to cause drama, but… I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what I’m supposed to think or how I’m supposed to react to this. I want her to be better, but I’m worried about how she might act around us.”

“It’s okay. She expects that,” Serra explained.

“She does?”

“Yeah. She admits she was crazy. That’s why she got lots of help.”

“I wish I could have helped her. Maybe if I noticed something was wrong sooner, then—”

“Bad.”

“Bad?”

“Bad dog.”

“How am I being bad?”

“It’s not about you, it’s about her. You didn’t do anything wrong and there was nothing you could do. She had to do it herself, and she has.”

“I… know. But even if you say it like that, I still feel bad. I feel like there should have been something I could have done for her no matter what. That’s what friends do for each other.”

“Not always. Sometimes it’s impossible.”

“That goes against what I believe. I believe that everybody has the potential to help others if they try hard enough.”

At this point, Cassiel had walked up to them and joined in on the discussion. “I like that belief, and I want to believe it, but it’s not true. It’s nice in fiction, but nobody can change others. People can only change if they want to change. No matter how much you might help somebody, if they don’t realize what’s wrong with them and want to change on their own, they’re not going to change. Did you forget what I was like before?”

“Full of tsundere fanservice?”

“Seriously.”

“Sorry. Yeah, I remember.”

“You were always so nice to me, but it didn’t change me. It made me want to change, and you helped keep me on track when I opened up to you about it, but I stayed the same until I decided to change.”

“Speaking of which, I’m proud of you, Cass Cass. You really stuck with it. I loved you before, but I think you’ve made all of us love you even more now.”

“Sh-shush, I’m not trying to make this about me… but thanks. My point is that it’s time for you to be there for Aiko. If what Serra told us about her is true, then she reached the point that I did except her case is way more serious. She doesn’t need you to save her or change her. All she needs is you to support her. You know, it’s the whole ‘don’t try to fix it, just listen’ thing.”

“I hate that thing. I want to fix problems, not just listen to them.”

“Yeah, I know. I hate it but it’s true. Sometimes people just need somebody to listen to them while they figure things out on their own.”

Fenrir took a deep breath. “Alright. I’ll try my best.”

“Next topic,” Serra declared.

“Next topic?”

“We’re all stressed now because of this, so we’re going out for sundaes. Then, Nell found a place with drinks and live music that she wants to try out, so we’re going there after,” Cassiel explained.

“That sounds like a nice time. I’m down for it.”

Serra turned to look back at Nell, giving her a thumbs-up.

“What about Aza?” Fenrir asked.

“She’s going to make a homemade sundae and then open a bottle of wine to drink while camming us over the phone when we get to the place Nell wants to try,” Cassiel said.

“Sounds good. I think a sundae, drinks, and live entertainment will do all of us some good tonight. I just have some people to check up with first and then we can get going. Have to make sure that there aren’t any problems popping up,” he explained, looking at the surrounding area where numerous players have gotten to work on constructing defenses for their upcoming battle.

But before that battle can happen, he has to reunite with his childhood friend for the second time.