"Stop!"

A voice belonging to that of a girl, hollered out as the two of them were about to start their ferocious clash.

Kaiji shifted his eyes towards the direction of where the voice came from and saw a girl, looking about more or less 16 year old, as she hurriedly ran between him and his opponent.

"Welfer! What are you trying to do again this time?!"

The girl faced Welfer as she loudly rebuked.

"S-saki..."

Welfer's expression turned pale as he opened his lips and tried to say something in return, but in the end closed it shut. He didn't know what to say in front of Saki.

His mind grew blank whenever he thought of something to say while directly looking at those two deep blue eyes of her.

"..."

Welfer... eventually gritted his teeth and shot the two young men behind Saki the sharpest glare he could ever muster in his life and turned around in a swift manner, quickly walking out of the scene.

" "B-boss..." "

His underlings all hurriedly went up to him as everyone of them lowered their heads in guilt.

They hobbled their way because of the not-that-serious injuries inflicted to them by their only two opponents,until they disappeared into the distance.
   
   
   
"...Saki." Simonne smiled when he saw her and stepped forth. "Thank you."

Saki turned her face to his direction and made an expression of delight when she saw her friend as she ran towards him. "Simonne!"

"It's great that you're finally back!" Saki happily exclaimed. "You don't know just how much you made me and brother Cale worry back then. You didn't even told us you're leaving until the last moment. Hmph!"

"Haha..." Simonne laughed in an awkward way as he said. "I'm sorry. Everything happened all too quickly, I didn't even had the chance to tell to the two of you."

"But that's the exact same thing you've said before you left three months ago!" Saki made a pout but after that smiled again. "Come on, let's hurry! I'm sure Master Morth will be surprised when he sees you."

"Alright." Simonne nodded.

"By the way, can you intro..." Saki's voice lowered as it gradually became like a whisper.

However, Simonne still caught her words due to his keen hearing, and looked towards his companion with a chuckle.

"Right. I forgot to introduce you to him." Simonne scratched the back of his head as he gestured towards Kaiji. "His name's Kaiji. He's someone I've met by chance at the Congregation's territory."

"Uhm.. hello." Kaiji awkwardly introduced himself.

"..."

"Saki?"

"...!"

Saki blushed and turned her eyes away.

"W-what's your n-name again?" Lowering her head, Saki asked in a weak, languid voice.

"Kaiji."

"K-Kaiji..." Saki repeated his name in a mutter. "T-that's a nice name!"

"I think we should get going." Simonne suggested as he felt the situation becoming rather stiff. "So that Kaiji could finally take a rest after our long journey and relax."

"L-let's go then!" Saki agreed almost immediately and turned around to lead the two of them inside the wide gates of the Institute.