There I was, standing opposite myself.
It had been a while since I saw all my allies, but they all seemed well.
'I figured it'll be nice to surprise everyone about my existence—splitting myself into two and all—but it seems they already know...'
It felt a little underwhelming to end things like this, especially considering the climatic adventures I enjoyed with my little project.
"How are the Avarians and Gatorians, by the way?" Kuzon asked, though I could sense from his tone that it was dry and sarcastic.
The joke was on him, though.
"I quite enjoyed myself. I helped them form a stable and sustainable environment, and taught them the benefits of maintaining a proper ecosystem. You know, all the good stuff."
I had some hardcore Kingdombuilding adventures, and while there were certain nuisances that tried to interrupt my work, none of them really fazed me.
'Everyone should be fine there. They all didn't want me to go, but my work there was done...' Remembering my parting moments with the new society that formed almost brought a test to my eyes, but I brushed those emotions aside.
There were more important things at play here.
"I seem to be interrupting something important, but it seems you don't look too good... other me." I smiled at the Jared that stood not too far from me.
He was the reason I could track down this zone, and by resonating with him, I was able to teleport so far away from my previous position.
It took a considerable amount of energy, but considering the overwhelming amount I had, plus the power of Spellcraft, it was really no big deal at all.
"Yeah. Apparently we didn't do the fission correctly. Once we fuse back, you'll understand." My other half smiled tiredly, and I instantly understood.
I had already begun to notice some signs on my own, but chose to shelve them all until the work was done.
"Well, we might as well do it now."
Using [The Lovers], it wouldn't be very difficult at all.
"Well hurry. We haven't got all day." Kuzon murmured, rolling his eyes a little in exasperation.
Why was he so worked up lately, I couldn't help but wonder.
"Alright. Let's do this."
I walked closer to my double, and with both of us smiling at each other, and nodding almost at the same time, we activated the effects of our respective Arcana Spells.
"[The Lovers]"
... And that was all it took for things to return to normal.
*********
"Haaa..."
I opened my eyes, feeling an immense surge of energy course through me.
The missing parts of myself suddenly became whole, and I felt like a brand new individual.
"... I've missed this." A smiled formed on my face as I stared at everyone around me—both with my eyes, and also with my magical perception.
I could see beyond the base, beyond the Zone, even reaching to the immediate areas outside its jurisdiction.
My connection to this world had never been stronger!
"I'm back."
Looking at how everything seemed to be wrapping up well; Neron now completely subdued by Kuzon, Ciara moving towards the suspended Jerry, and Aloe on standby, there was only one thing left to do.
I walked closer to the dead rebel—Ciara's doppelganger—watching her keenly as I bent to take a closer look.
'Looks like she's smiling. She's at peace, huh?'
To be honest, this girl wasn't particularly my favorite person.
'She's caused the death of countless innocents, and even almost destroyed that Grand Federation Base we were on.'
I doubted it would be the first time she had done something like that, or closely similar.
'But... at this point, I don't think I care.'
I just wanted to save her from death, and help my friend who had become her friend.
"Ciara..." I turned to face the brunette was already placing her hand on Jerry's head.
"Hm? What is it? Don't tell me you can't—!"
"No, I can save her. I'm just curious about something."
All the pieces of our past, the things I had been confused about before, slowly began to make a lot more sense to me.
My curiosity, or rather, conclusion, had reached a point where I couldn't be quiet about it any longer.
"You... like Jerry, don't you?"
"W-what?!" Ciara suddenly burst out, her face instantly turning red as she glared at me.
It seemed like a mix of denial and murderous rage directed at me for even asking.
"You know, I didn't quite understand you, and your relationship with him, back when we were at Ainzlark..."
In fact, out of the entire squad, one could say that Ciara was the person I knew less. I had no idea about her motivations or her true nature.
It was all shrouded in this weird mystery that I never bothered to unpack.
But now, after seeing all that happened—especially with this world's Ciara—and how ours sympathized with her—I arrived at the conclusion.
"You really like Jerry, don't you?" I repeated, my smile widening.
"S-shut up!" She barked back, her face turning red even more.
Her eyes contained less of a murderous glean and more of a sort of vulnerable softness. It felt sort of fun seeing her like that.
"It's quite obvious, Ciara. We could all tell very easily." Aloe's voice echoed from where she stood, and looking at her, she was making a smug grin.
"Oh? So you knew, Aloe?" I asked with a slight chuckle, to which she shrugged.
"I'm more surprised that you're just catching on. Didn't you know about it too, Kuzon?"
All our gazes went to Kuzon, who was just standing and watching in an aloof, impatient manner.
However, after a few seconds of silence, he finally gave in to our probing gazes.
"Haaa... yes. Of course, I knew. I just didn't care."
"Ueeeeeeee!!! Y-you all knew?! All along?!" Ciara burst out in surprise almost melodramatically.
Her shrieks seemed to frighten even the Neron that Kuzon had captured, and it's overly loud sound caused even me to tremble slightly.
The room was full of chuckles and laughter as we all sort of poked fun of Ciara's sudden outburst.
This was actually the first time I had seen Ciara act in such a way.
"W-well, what about Jerry? Is it obvious that he likes me too?"
The moment she asked this though, the room instantly fell silent.
"Hm? No one's saying anything?" Her voice echoed in the vast lull we all jointly partook in.
The problem wasn't what to say, it was how to say it.
'Does Jerry really like her as anything more than a friend?' My thoughts echoed within me, but I quickly cautioned myself, just in case Ciara could probe within to find out what I just thought of.
Kuzon's nonchalant shrug seemed to corroborate what I had in my mind, but Aloe's onlh smile seemed to widen even more.
"Well, I won't speak for everyone, but over the past couple of months, I've been noticing the signs."
"R-really?!" Ciara's eyes widened with a bright glimmer, completely changing the atmosphere of the room.
"You really mean that?!"
'Yeah, Aloe! Did you really mean that?' My thoughts blazed as I stared right at the grinning lady.
It wouldn't be nice if she was just saying all these things to get the hopes of the girl up.
'As far as I can tell, they're just plain friends, right?'
... Right?!
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[A/N]
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