He did it yet again. Despite the odds, Tahiko was able to vanquish the demon and bring back safety to himself and all his friends. The boy breathed a sigh of relief as he fell backwards on the grass. For once, since he didn’t push his body to its fullest potential on this world, he didn’t have to pass out. Though he did take a fair bit of damage, so getting up was difficult regardless.

“Ahh… Good thing we got out of that one.” Fukuna also shared in the relief as she and Amasa emerged from the forest. On the other hand, Chisa was still so frightened that she had yet to move from the spot where he left her.

“The way you say it makes it sound like we just avoided getting homework on the weekend.” Amasa would’ve figured they’d put more weight into a life-and-death situation. This was only the second time something like this occurred, so surely they couldn’t have already gotten used to it. “I can’t believe you could do that with just a stick.”

“There are no weapons that need magical attributes for me to channel my energy through them.” He answered, tossing it back to her as if the girl wanted it. “We should definitely get going back to the school grounds. No doubt they’re worried and searching for us in this very moment.”

“You can say that again.” Fukuna agreed, more than ready to leave. However, they did have one other problem to deal with. “But what about her?” She pointed over to Chisa, shivering in fear all alone.

“Ahh!” He suddenly remembered the girl and apparently forgot about his injuries as Tahiko got up and rushed to her. “Are you all right? I hope you’re not hurt.” What was more important to him than anything else was her safety. Thankfully, he was successful his task as a knight in the fact that she was unscathed. “Thank…” Before he could say anything else, he felt faint and leaned onto her to prevent himself from falling.

“Uuwa!” She yelped out as the girl struggled in many ways to keep him from falling all over the top of her. It was mainly his weight that was the problem, but one would be dense to assume that having a boy she liked suddenly up on her had no effect.

“Sorry, he does that sometimes.” Fukuna said as she and Amasa rushed over to help him off her. “Look, how about the four of us get ourselves back to civilization?”

“I’m more than happy with that.” Amasa replied as she hooked his arm over the top of her neck. Having him so close to her yet again was nerve racking. She hated how her heart was beginning to race just over this small things. “And the sooner, the better.”

As they walked, there was an obvious elephant in the room between Chisa and Tahiko. A conversation that was hard to ignore, but also challenging to get started seeing as they weren’t alone.

“I’m sorry about keeping this from you.” He apologized again, feeling his strength returning to him as they walked carefully through the woods. “I never meant for it to get so close it could hurt you.”

“Yeah, I can’t blame you if you want to ditch him.” Fukuna would’ve loved nothing more than for that to be the reaction Chisa had. It would mean less competition, and if anything, no competition because she knew there was no way Amasa would shallow her pride and actually try. “It’s not easy being one of his friends, I can tell you that.”

“It’s not easy being one of your friends either.” Amasa retorted, knowing what game this girl was playing. Personally, she also would’ve liked if Chisa chose to back out now. Not because of any connection with the boy, surely, but rather for her safety. It was for the best that as few people as possible have their lives in danger because of him. “Yeah, I’m sure we’d all understand if you were put off by that.”

“Agreed.” While Tahiko was unhappy with how things turned out, he was glad to finally be able to open himself up to her. “I completely understand if you wish to no longer be my friend because of it.” It was because he cared about her, that he was willing to take that sacrifice.

“…” Chisa grew silent upon hearing all of their attempts to convince her to leave. They were all making good points, and in her head, she couldn’t argue against them at all. She knew that it was a bad idea to be spending so much time with him knowing the risks. Her parents certainly wouldn’t be happy about it.

But at the same time, despite everyone telling her not to, she didn’t want to just abandon one of the only friends she had ever made. Not only that, but her heart was also growing more attached than simple friendship when it came to him. “I… I want to stay with him.” Finally, she spoke up.

“What!?” The other three replied in unison. From what they had gotten to know about her with, everyone had assumed she would do the smart and rational thing. And if she wasn’t as smart as she seemed, then at least do the cowardly part of it as she was a shy girl.

“A-a-are you sure about that?” Fukuna asked again, a bit of her voice sounded like it pleaded for a difference answer. “I mean, it’s really not safe.”

“The truth is…” With their response, it made Chisa feel a bit shy about answering in the manner she did. However, this was what she wanted in the end. “I l… I want to be with Tahiko more. He’s a kind person, and it’s nice to spend time with him.”

“Really?” Tahiko’s eyes lit up upon hearing her say that. He couldn’t possibly be anymore happier with the news, and she even called him by first name. “You said my name, then does that mean…”

“Mmhmm.” She nodded her head. “You can call me Chisa, if that’s what you want.”

“I’d love nothing more than that.” His excitement peeved off the other two girls. They were not fans of him being so enthusiastic about getting closer to this girl. “It’s been weird having to call you by family name so much, so that’s nice.”

“Yeah, I see why you called me Chisa when we first met.” While it hadn’t been said yet, given that he was apparently from some other world. She understood that his habits came from that different upbringing. If people were so different just being from different nations, then she couldn’t even imagine someone from a different world that seemed to be based on fantasy. “And, I know it’s going to be scary, but I think I’ll be okay with you.”

“It certainly makes me glad to hear that.” He replied, full of energy once again. “And I promise that I’ll keep you all safe no matter what happens.”

“Joy.” Said Amasa with nowhere near his excitement. She was not looking forward to dealing with more of the otherworldly troubles this boy brought along. Though silently, she was happy that he put her as a part of her plans. As someone who generally got left out of things, some of which was entirely her fault, it was nice to have someone remember her.

“Hey, don’t forget we can take care of you too.” Said Fukuna. She was beginning to grow a bit of a big head over having saved them the first time, and being the one to come up with a plan to help out just earlier. “So you don’t have to worry about us getting hurt.”

“I see that I’ve been shirking in my duties as a knight in protecting you maidens.” There were still a fair bit of him with a mindset of his past duties. Though it was appreciated that he wasn’t going to be on his own.

Once they finally returned back to the rest of their classmates, Tahiko got an earful from the teachers for what they believed to be his reckless behavior. “Sorry about that, I kind of lost track of the markers.” He responded to them. It wasn’t a big deal on getting scolded by them. The boy had gotten used to that during the hot days of training.

Of course, they lied about what happened to keep the secret. Plus, who would believe them anyway? So he ended up taking punishment from the staff and they also took him to the nurses office to take care of his wounds. To them, they believed he was being very reckless running about in the dark forest to get hurt like them. Thankfully, they didn’t question how he would’ve ended managed those injuries on his own.

“You really can’t stay out of trouble, can you?” Said Amasa. The pair were now alone in the room, as being her adoptive sister, she was keeping an eye on him until they were picked up by her parents. “It’s a good thing mom and dad know the truth, or else you’d really be getting grilled.”

“I guess that you’ll be the one grilling me in the end though.” He laughed at how she always was the one hardest on him. She proved that by yanking on his ear once more for that joke.

“Seriously, I got so worried when you didn’t get out of the forest.” She told him. “You’re lucky I decided to grab Fukuna and run in for you.”

“Aww, so you do care.” That was what he took out of her statement, which according to her response was not the case.

“I totally didn’t do it because I care.” She replied, her face switched to being red like a light bulb. “It just would’ve been troublesome if you got killed. Plus, Chisa’s an innocent person.”

“Come on, just admit it.” He chuckled at her. “You totally do care about me.” Perhaps if he had not grown up in a different world, the boy might not have bothered to get her to admit her feelings. If he understood better the type of person she was, which wasn’t uncommon in her world, then he would’ve known she would never admit it, even if it were true.