It took Kisuke half an hour to restore and cure everyone's injuries that they sustained fighting those Minotaurs. Once he got out of the clinic he built in their headquarters, Hestia is looking at him with a cold expression, almost grim, "Kisuke-kun... Mind explaining to me some things?"

Kisuke nodded and asked, "What would you like to know?"

"Are you the one who put them in this situation?" Hestia went straight to the point.

"Yes." Without hesitation, Kisuke confirmed her guess.

Hestia furrowed her brows and asked, "Why?"

This time, Kisuke didn't answer and just stared at Hestia.

For a few minutes, the two of them only stared at each other before Hestia sighed, "Haah... Let me change the question... Is it necessary?"

Kisuke smiled slightly and answered, "Yes."

"I see..." Hestia then turned around to go back to her fireplace, "I don't know if it's your madness or kindness... Or maybe both? But please don't do this again."

"...I'm sorry... I can't promise anything. This might happen again or it may not... I don't know what the future holds."

After Hestia left, Yoruichi came out from the corner of the room, also looking at the spot where Hestia disappeared, "She's naive and innocent... But when it comes to those in her 'family', she's very sharp."

"I guess that's what you could expect from someone who's Divinity is about home and family."

.

.

.

A whole day later, the first one to wake up is Aika. The moment she opened her eyes, the first thing she recalled are the Minotaurs that are about to kill them, "AHHH!!!" She immediately sitting up on her bed with cold sweat running on her back and forehead and tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

But soon after, she recalled how the three of them managed to kill those six Minotaurs and sighed in relief, "It seems that you have calmed down."

She looked towards the source of the familiar voice and saw Kisuke sitting beside her bed in his usual outfit but without his beloved hat. Seeing his face, all the memories from that time returned, including the giant scythe that went through the 'blockage' and mowed down the Goblins and Kobolds that appeared after the Minotaurs.

Aika took a deep breath and asked while looking down on her hands, "It's not right for me to get angry without confirming it, so I'll ask, are you the one who did it?... No... That's not the right question... Are you the one who planned it?"

"I did not plan everything. But that doesn't mean that I'm trying to shrink my responsibility. I just wanted to tell you the truth. The one who had this idea is me. It's also me who pushed through things despite the disagreement of others. So you could say that I'm solely accountable for what happened to you, Sona, and Koneko."

Aika gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. A few seconds later, she removed the blanket on top of her and went down of the bed, revealing her current appearance. Aika, the same with the rest, only has a white robe over their bear bodies. Different from her usual appearance, Aika's hair was let down that reaches below her shoulder and she doesn't have her glasses.

She stopped and stood up in front of Kisuke. Kisuke couldn't see her eyes because of her bangs, but he could see her gritting her teeth.

Aika then took a step back and went into a stance before using all of her strength to punch Kisuke's face. For Kisuke, the punch is slow... very slow, however, he did nothing to dodge it. If he could abate a bit of the hate she's feeling, then he could keep going all day.

Aika's punch landed on his face, but Kisuke didn't think that she would hold back and didn't feel much force from her punch that it didn't even move the position of his head. He then looked up to her face and felt something inside him stir. Aika's looking at him with glazed eyes and tears running through her cheeks.

Kisuke then told her what's on his mind, "I know that you hate me, and even if it's for your own good, it doesn't change that I need to apologize... I'm sorry."

Aika took back her fist, but instead of keeping, she straddled on him, sitting on his laps and wrapped her arms around her neck, hugging him and putting her chin on his shoulder, while sobbing, "You bastard... sniff sniff... You miserable idiot... sniff sniff... I'm very mad right now..."

Kisuke put his arms around her back in response, "I know... It's my fault..."

Aika stayed on her position until she stopped sobbing a few minutes later. She then whispered in his ear, "This is why I'm calling you a miserable idiot." Aika then straightened up her back, putting her face in front of Kisuke's face.

Kisuke noticed that the fear enveloping her already disappeared and despite her eyes red from crying, she's now giving him a smile, "?"

"I'm angry about what you did... Even though you did it's for our good... I couldn't help but be angry."

"That's normal."

"However, what makes me angry the most is the fact that you actually thought that I'd hate you... You miserable idiot."

Kisuke's eyes widened, "You don't?" If Kisuke is in their position, he would, for sure, hate the person who set him up. However, what he failed to consider are the feelings of the girls and their apparent understanding of his personality and antics. After all, he always categorizes 'emotions' as an uncalculable variable that could change anytime without rhyme or reason.

"Of course not... Even if you ask the other two, you would only get a slap each and a date, and you would get their forgiveness..."

Kisuke would be really happy if he could just get away with something like that, but he first chooses to focus on the girl straddling on him with her robe about to be undone and asked, "Aren't you afraid? Just now, you had a nightmare, and I know for sure that you would be suffering from that for a while."

"True... I'm afraid... But the fear that I'm feeling is from the possibility of not being able to play with Sona-kaichou and Koneko-chan anymore... The possibility of not being able to receive Yoruichi and Kuroka's teaching anymore... The possibility of not being able to eat Medusa-chan's cooking anymore... And finally... The possibility of not being able to stand beside you...

"Cheesy, right? But that's what I genuinely felt when I was able to disregard my fear of those Monsters. I never thought that I would be that desperate for your embrace while on the verge of death.

"I really sorry for being such a pervert~. However, I would also like to use this chance at least to remove some of that fear~." To the speechless Kisuke, Aika closed her eyes planted her lips on him and even used her tongue to explore his mouth. A few seconds later, Kisuke reacted and tightened his arms around her before responding in kind.