While Kazuma and Mio were on their way to the hostel, Kazuma asked "So, the rest of you... the girls. Are they okay?", Mio turned to him, her hands where held together behind her "Oh, you mean them? They're okay. We all where out cold for two weeks, but we're fine.". Kazuma asked "You all woke up today?", Mio nodded "Yeah, we did. Regina and I were the last one's to gain consciousness.". Kazuma replied, hands in his pockets "I see. Looks like you all are okay. I'm happy non of you died.", Mio then explained "Well, not all of us. Marallda's still in the hospital. Apparently, she got some brain damage, her brain shut down due to an attack. But it was only a small portion of it tho.". Kazuma thought to himself while feeling wierded out "She's talking as if any form of brain damage isn't a problem.", Kazuma took a sigh and said "That sounds bad. I hope she gets better. What of Regina, is she doing okay?". Mio explained "She's alright, but she's feeling let down and straight forward than usual.", Mio explained "That mission. The lady we fought, she was insane in terms of strength. She was stronger than everyone of us combined.". Kazuma raised a brow "Really? She was that strong?", he asked, Mio explained "She was toying with us at first, until she got serious. We couldn't fight for long, the only one's who where still conscious to continue fighting, was just Regjna and myself. And to be honest, it took a lot from me.". Mio also explained "For some odd reason, each time I try to remember that fight....", her mind distorted "I always have this wierd feeling in my head.". Kazuma looked at Mio for a while and then faced forward "Hm, you don't say. Well, I'm just happy that nothing bad's happened to us. We're lucky, you know. We've been into intense missions and situations, we've gone up against other enemy cities and villages. Everything we've been through, we all survived. Let's just take this as a blessing.", Mio just smiled "Yeah.", she replied. A few moments later, Mio and Kazuma where at the boarding house. Mio had opened the door to Kazuma's room, she looked at it for a moment "Wow, your room didn't seem to have changed at all.", she said. Kazuma walked in, sat on his bed and took of his sandals "Yeah, well, I don't change the setting of my room often. And plus, I like it this way.". Mio looked at the bunk above Kazuma's "Where's Yuji?", she asked, Kazuma explained "I don't know. He's probably at home. Yuji's most likely sleeping his ass off, after all, he did take massive injuries too.". Mio then sat beside Kazuma on the bed "I'm sure Regina's going to check up on him, he'd be fine once she's around.", Kazuma smirked nervously "I'm sure he will.". Kazuma layed flat on his bed "Ahhh! I'm so relaxed now. I was tense about an hour ago, but now I feel light.", he exclaimed. Mio looked at him "Looks like you could need some rest.", Kazuma replied "Offcourse I do, I literally just woke up a few hours ago.", Mio thought to herself "That's not what I meant.". She layed her back on the wall behind the bunk "Well, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that we are all still alive. I couldn't imagine losing anyone of us during this mission, that would have broken me.". Mio looked at Kazuma and noticed he didn't respond at all, he was just staring at the bed of the bunk above him. Mio waved her hand by his eyes and asked "Hellooo! Kazumaaaa! You still there?", Kazuma muttered by telling Mio "Ariyo died.", Mio was stunned for a moment. She asked "What....?", Kazuma explained "He died on the mission to the city of pillars. No one has been able to find him nor his partner, until we went for our mission. Turns out that his corpse was used as a doll. And after that, he was just tossed aside. Not just that, but I saw him being covered with white clothing in the hospital. He's definitely dead.". Mio was stunned for a moment before feeling bad "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you say that.", Kazuma explained "It's fine. I'm still sad about it, he did treat me with kindness after all. Not just that, but he was fun to be with and was very smart about things. He's one of the reasons I got better at combat.". Mio felt bad "Oh, well.... I'm sorry to hear that.", Kazuma sighed "It's fine.". He looked at Mio and asked "So, what do you wanna do? We could take turns in playing video games on my console, or we could just sleep off. Today's pretty vibrant, so just chilling in the room would be nice.". Without warning, Mio softly placed her head on Kazuma's chest, Kazuma was a bit caught off guard by this "Uh, Mio?", he asked. Mio said "I'm sorry you had to go through all that. I can tell that you went through a lot during that mission. You fought someone stronger than you, almost saw your friends die, pushed yourself hard, almost died yourself. You really..... work hard, Kazuma!". Mio said this while feeling Kazuma's pain, Kazuma didn't say anything in response, he just replied with one word "Yeah.". Before he knew it, he started to doze off "I really did go through a lot during our last mission. Not to mention that my left arm's busted.". Kazuma remembered how he yelled at Rexus "GET BACK HERE! YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHEEEEEERE!", while creating a giant ball of purple flames that destroyed his hand just by being prepared. Kazuma's eyes slowly started to close "I guess I can take a little break. I mean, I do deserve it.....", he fell asleep. Both Kazuma and Mio fell asleep, Mio's head resting on Kazuma's lap, and Kazuma just laying on the bed. They both where enjoying the peace that had appeared around them at the moment.
END OF CHAPTER