The Captain and the Berserker: A Moment for Secrets

Mika and Sora were in a very complicated situation.

Both were pressed tightly inside that locker, so close that if anyone saw them, it would cause a huge scandal at the institute.

"Stop moving so much, damn it!" Mika whispered, feeling Sora so close. She could feel her hands touching his shoulders.

"I-I'm sorry, it's just that…" Sora couldn't finish the sentence. Something was bothering him too much, and that discomfort was because he could feel Mika's chest against his. "I-it's just that…" Sora couldn't help but blush and get nervous.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you so nerv—" Mika interrupted herself as she felt her chest pressed against Sora's and couldn't help but blush too.

"Soooora Yamamotoo!" Mika exclaimed in a furious tone. "I'm going to kill you!" Her words were pure chaos, and without caring if they got discovered, purely by instinct, she slapped him on the left cheek, sending Sora flying out of the locker, tumbling a couple of times before landing seated on the floor.

Behind him came Mika, not with the best expression. She looked furious but at the same time blushing; it was hard to tell if it was from embarrassment or anger. However, all that anger disappeared when she realized what she had done.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Mika screamed internally, thinking her school life had been ruined by her own carelessness, but to her great surprise, she noticed there was no one there. "There's no one…?"

Sora stood up slowly while rubbing his cheek where Mika had slapped him. "That… hurt as if you'd hit me with an axe, you know…"

Mika glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, clenching her fist without saying a word. The silence on the rooftop became awkward. She knew she had gone too far, but her pride wouldn't let her apologize.

"I-it's your fault for getting so close to me!" Mika exclaimed, looking away. "It was self-defense. What did you expect me to do?"

Sora let out a heavy sigh and started walking toward the exit.

"I was just trying to keep us from getting discovered. I know how much you care about your reputation, and I wouldn't want it to be stained if they saw you next to someone like me…"

Mika fell silent, struck by Sora's words. She wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. What she could do was catch up to Sora on the stairs and, without looking at him, rummage through her bag. She took out a small adhesive bandage with a strawberry design and handed it to him with a trembling hand.

"H-here. It's not like I care about you, but if you go into class with your face like that, people will think you got into a fight with some delinquent, and I'll get in trouble for being the last one who saw you," she said, trying to maintain her rough, tough tone. "And… about earlier, I guess I went a little too far. Though I was sure you wouldn't die from something so trivial, Captain."

Sora took the bandage in surprise. "Thanks, Mika. I suppose this counts as an emergency recovery item, right?" Sora replied with a small but warm smile.

After that, they were both silent. As they walked down the stairs toward the main hallway, the tension began to fade. Mika felt strangely lighter; after months of carrying the secret of being a Cow mascot and a retired Berserker, talking to someone who knew her true self was comforting.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Sora stopped for a moment to put on the bandage Mika had given him.

"This looks kind of ridiculous. What if I take it off?" Sora thought to himself as he looked at his reflection on his phone screen. But thanks to that same reflection, he noticed Mika was watching him intently without saying a word. "I suppose just this once I could keep it on," he said quietly while putting his phone away.

"You know…" Sora said as he turned toward Mika, "you're still the same impulsive player. I'm glad you haven't changed that much, Valkyria."

Mika didn't say a single word, but thanks to those words, she let her guard down for a moment.

There was no anger or laughter, only a soft, almost imperceptible smile that lit up Mika's face. Her eyes narrowed with a tenderness she never showed in public.

"And you're still the same idiot Guardian who needs to be taken care of, Sora."

Sora didn't respond, but he felt the weight that had been pressing on his chest since he saw Ren in the kitchen lighten a little.

It seemed like a warm, almost romantic moment, one where Mika was sincere with another person, showing what she was really like on the inside.

However, to Sora's head, everything seemed strange. Mika was supposed to be the untouchable girl of the institute, the girl everyone avoided so as not to be destroyed by her indifference, yet there she was, talking to the boy who once said he wanted the life of an NPC.

But what neither of them noticed was that, hidden away, three figures had been watching them since they came down the stairs.

"Well, well… It seems the Guardian wasn't as alone as we thought. This is going to complicate the guild's synchronization for the tournament a lot."

The three shadows retreated slowly, melting into the darkness of the hallway before Sora and Mika could notice, leaving behind a harbinger that the real battle hadn't even begun.

"Is something wrong?" Mika asked, noticing Sora was looking behind her.

Sora hadn't seen anything, but he could feel two murderous auras watching them from the other side of the hallway. When he turned his gaze in that direction, there was nothing.

"No, nothing," Sora murmured, though his eyes kept scanning the area.

"You're sometimes weird…" Mika replied, regaining her composure. "Go back to your class, Captain. You have a guild to lead and a cheek to take care of. Don't let my bandage go to waste on a loser's face."

Mika turned around without waiting for an answer, her hair swaying with that natural elegance that characterized her. Sora watched her walk away. No one would have believed that same girl had just smiled tenderly at an NPC like Sora.