"H-huh?!" Noel was so startled by Buster's question that she missed his palm by a good few inches. She overcorrected her punch and almost lost balance.

"Are you all right, Noel?" Buster asked, his hands prepared to catch her. But Noel managed to stay on her feet. "I didn't say anything weird, did I?"

"Of course not!" she said, though her tone was a little too harsh. He just stared at her. "I mean… You don't know what a kiss is?"

He shook his head, "That's why I asked, isn't it? Hana mentioned it earlier. She said Khary should have given me one."

Damn brat! She had to be no more than seven. How could someone so young know something like that? Noel hadn't even thought about it until she was at least eleven! And now she was stuck coming up with an answer as Buster watched her expectantly. Uh…Let's see…a kiss is…" Her hands found each other as she fidgeted her thumbs together. "When someone presses their…" Damnit! Why was this so hard? When someone presses their lips against something. There! That was it. Nothing weird about it. Nevertheless, Noel felt her cheeks warm even more. Maybe she did get embarrassed way too easily.

Buster furrowed his eyebrows, "'When someone presses…?' Does it have to do with the mouth? That's what Hana said."

Noel nodded in relief, "Yes! But only kiss someone you like!"

"Ok, got it! Well, I like you. And I hope you like me. Maybe you can show me what—"

"Stop! That's far enough!" said Noel raising a finger at him. She didn't know if her face could get any redder. Noel wanted out of this conversation. Now. "Ask me something else? Anything else!"

"Gotcha." Buster was looking at her curiously. No doubt he was thinking that she was weird. She was fine with that as long as he kept his thoughts to himself. Buster cast his eyes about the park. "What is…money? My boss says I'm gonna need a lot of it to pay for the damages."

Noel sighed in relief. That was a question she could answer, no problem. As she began to tell him about the concept of using paper for trading, she resumed punching Buster's palm. When she finished her explanation, Buster asked her about skyscrapers, then, after that, about cars.

She was glad to have distractions to keep her mind occupied. Even still, it couldn't help but drift back to what Buster had said. Every time his words popped into her head, she retaliated with an extra hard punch.

"Woah, there!" said Buster the fourth time this happened, "I like your determination, but you don't have to be that serious."

"Sorry." Noel readied herself, once more ignoring Buster's use of the word like, only to find that he had finally lowered his hand. 

"It's all good. I think I've seen enough." His expression was contemplative.

"Is it really that bad?" She asked as she tried to wipe the sweat from her brow.

"It's odd. You've obviously punched someone before."

Noel blinked in amazement. He could tell that just by feeling her hits?

Buster screwed his eyes shut as he opened and closed the hand she had been punching. "Your form's not bad, either. And yet, you have almost no sense of rhythm. Your attacks are erratic and vary in strength and speed dependin' on your emotions."

He folded his arms and seemed to deflate. "It's my fault, isn't it? You were doin' fine before I asked you that kissin' question. But even before that, there was somethin' off about your punches." He paused for a few moments as he pondered. "There's a lot of rage in your fists…"

Noel wasn't sure if she should admit that the only times she'd ever punched a person was when she was in the midst of a temper tantrum. Heck, she couldn't even remember ever throwing a punch. She'd only ever seen the end result, such as Armie George's bloody nose.

"You're such a freak!" Armie had screamed as she was escorted away, covering her streaming nose with her shirt. "No wonder you have no friends! Your parents must have died just to get away from you!" Noel had no more fight left. All her rage had been spent kicking the trash can into a dented mess. All she did was stand there, fists trembling and her broken toe throbbing. Nobody called Armie out for such horrible words. No one denied them. They were all giving Noel a wide berth. 

She was alone, like always.

At the memory, Noel's mood suddenly darkened, and she stared at Buster in slight dejection. She had thought she was doing better. She had thought she could forget the pain of others' scorning eyes. But Noel couldn't.

She was still not strong enough.

Then a hand fell on her shoulder, "Hey, it's all right, Noel," said Buster with a reassuring smile.

"Huh?" Noel gave a start as she stared at his round, boyish face.

"I'll be there to help you the whole way. You'll see."

"With what?"

His braid dangled as he tilted his head in confusion, "With your rhythm. What else?"

"Oh," she said. "Thanks." She let her hands fall to her sides and tried to pull herself from Buster's grip, but his fingers tightened. Her eyes returned to his, which were filled with concern. "Somethin's botherin' you that's got nothin' to do with your punches. I can tell just by looking at you."

"I'm fine," she said as a pit of emptiness rose in her core. She broke free of his hold and turned away.

"No, you're not," said Buster, his face appearing to her left, "I know you're not. You can tell me."

But Noel kept silent.

Buster also maintained the silence. Though, his eyes remained on her.

After a bit, Noel met his gaze. "What does it mean to be strong?"

"Why do you want to know that?" he said, scratching his head.

"You said the strong protect the weak. How do you know which is which?"

Buster thought for a moment, then shrugged, "Dunno, I can just tell by lookin'."

"You mean when people need help?"

He shook his head, "Even the strong need help sometimes. It's not very Ahngreel to admit that, but it's the truth. Oriander taught me that."

"Oriander did?"

"Yeah, he told me, ‘The strong elevate those around him. He brings them to new heights through challenge.'" His exaggerated imitation of Oriander's gruff voice made Noel smile. Buster's face brightened at the sight. He took on a stiff stance reminiscent of the mustached Ahngreel. His expression was overly stoic as he continued his impression, "'And another thing, Buster. If a true gentleman cannot grow a spruce mustache like mine, he should be wont in throwing himself in the lake for the rest of eternity!'" He made a show of stroking his bare upper lip.

Noel couldn't help but giggle, "Did he really say that?"

Buster dropped his act and beamed, "Nah, but I know he thinks it."

Noel laughed again.

"That's better! I like it more when you laugh than when you're sad or angry."

Noel knew she should be embarrassed by the sudden compliment, but she found herself smiling, "Yeah? Well, I like it more when you're not being a dope."

"I can't help that. It's just who I am. Dopey Buster Brinn; here to bring smiles to those who need him!" He posed. Then his smile faded, "I know what it's like to doubt myself, too. To be angry at everyone around me."

Noel found her mood lightening even more. There was something about Buster's energy that was infectious. "You? Angry? No way! Not Buster Brinn!"

He nodded, "It's true! Ahngreel don't take me seriously. Everyone knew me as Buster the Meddler, even those I tried to help. Do you know what Khary did after I rescued her? She spat in my face and called me un-Ahngreel."

"Really? That's awful!"

"Yeah." Buster scowled. "But I don't regret it. I used to think that it's just me, but there somethin' about the way Ahngreel treat others that I just can't stand! Whenever I see somethin' like that, my feet just move on their own, and before I know it, I'm in the middle of the fray."

"Is that what happened at the department store?" Everything about this guy was starting to make sense to Noel. She was right. He was not a bad person.

He nodded again, "Mm-hmm. When I saw that pig guy about to defeat the heroes, I had to do something; course, I didn't know it was all fake. But I'd rather have tried and failed to do the right thing than turn my back on evil. That's the Ahngreel way!"

"But if the majority of Ahngreel treat others as you said, wouldn't that make it the Ahngreel way."

Buster scratched at his chin, "I used to think the exact same thing, that I was doin' somethin' wrong. I even considered givin' up and becomin' just like the others. Then Oriander found me and he said that I reminded him of the Ahngreel before Darris.

"He told me that before Darris, the Ahngreel were different. And it was thanks to the previous Hidaar. What was his name again…?" He paused, "…Oni-something. I can't remember, but he was called the ‘Starvin' Ogre,' whatever that means. Anyway, he was fiercer than any Ahngreel despite bein' just a human and held them to strict standards.

"Oriander was there. He saw that the Ogre guy knew how to draw out their potential and how they began to thrive. And when he found me, Oriander saw that same potential. That was the first time in my life someone ever saw me for more than I was. He said that if I stuck to what I believed in that I would have the same influence as the Starvin' Ogre."

"As a human?"

"I told you, you don't have to be Ahngreel to be Ahnrgreel."

"That's stupid! What does that mean?" said Noel in exasperation, "What does it even mean to be Ahngreel?"

Buster gave her an odd look, "Well, what does it mean to be human?"

"Just that. You're either human or you're not."

"Really? Can humans act lower than human?"

Once again, Noel found his question surprisingly hard to answer. "I…don't know. I guess there are bad people out there." Some she would consider evil.

"Then humans can act lower than human. And somethin' that's not human can act like a human sometimes, right? That means that there's more to bein' human than just bein' born as one. It's the same with Ahngreel." Buster gave a proud nod as if he's solved some complicated math problem.

His logic was short-wiring Noel's brain. She must have been going crazy because he was making a weird sort of sense to her, even if she knew it was nonsense. "How very…human of you, Buster."

"Thank you!" Then he gave a start, "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

Noel flashed him a mischievous grin, "I dunno, you tell me?" Buster seemed to take her question seriously for a moment; then, he realized that she meant it as a playful jab. He grinned back.

"You're somethin' else, Noel. You know that?"

"I could say the same to you, Buster Brinn." She paused, "Thanks."

Buster looked surprised, "For what?"

She shrugged, "For being you, I guess…Can we get back to training already?" She added that last part for fear of things becoming awkward again.

"Thought you'd never ask!" said Buster as he raised his hand. "Now, show me what you've got!"

As Noel began to punch Buster's palm again, a realization occurred to her. She had not once put on an act in front of Buster. For Yui and the others, she felt she had to hide the parts of herself she was ashamed of. For Buster, though she tried to hide her feelings, he had found a way to coax out her true self over and over. It was the same with Azrath, but this somehow felt different.

Azrath felt like a mix of a parent and a pet, but Buster—Ahngreel though he was—was her age. He felt like an equal that she could be herself around—someone who could relate to her struggles. And someone, she had to admit, whose company she found herself enjoying.

"Buster?"

"Yeah?" He was concentrating on her punches but managed to spare her a glance.

"Do you know what a friend is?"

"You know I don't. Is it another thing I don't have?"

A smile played along Noel's lips as she considered her answer, "No, I'd say you have one. It's just a bit hard to find sometimes."

Buster gave her another one of his looks, "And I'm guessing that's a good thing?"

"Yeah," she said, "That makes them even more valuable."