As the night thrives, the city falls hush. Lights shut, movement stops, and the people all fall asleep. Despite this, Saiba lies, eyes pried open and sweating a lake. He thinks,
"What am I doing!? I'm supposed to be a legendary hero or whatever, but I'm here instead, sleeping and taking it easy with a woman..." How did I get myself into this situation!?"
Suddenly, Isabelle whispers,
"Mr. Hero... Are you still awake..?"
Surprised, Saiba replies,
"Yes ma'am! I mean, yeah... I am..."
Isabelle mumbles,
"You can't sleep either, can you?.."
Saiba awkwardly laughs while muttering,
"Uh... Yeah... I can't sleep either..."
Isabelle suggests,
"Let's talk for a while then..."
She asks,
"So... Why did you become a Hero, Mr. Hero?..."
Saiba replies,
"Why? Like a reason? Hm..."
He thinks,
"Huh? Why did I become a hero? I guess I never really had a reason... At first, it was probably for the reward, but I kinda forgot about that..."
Saiba answers,
"I guess if I had to say... For fun..?"
Isabelle replies,
"What!? That's your reason for putting yourself into danger over and over again!? You have to have a better reason right, Mr. Hero!?"
Saiba laughs awkwardly. Calming down, Isabelle continues,
"Are you sure that's your reason? You're not doing it for a family member or for a friend? Or perhaps... A lover..?"
Embarrassed, Saiba answers,
"N-No! I don't! I don't think that's my reason..."
Isabelle says,
"Well... You need to have a reason for doing what you do, right?"
Coming up with an idea, Isabelle suggests,
"You're always talking about being a Legendary Hero, but being legendary doesn't always mean you're always good, right?"
Saiba replies,
"So you're saying I should make my reason 'becoming a good hero'?"
Isabelle nods optimistically. Saiba says,
"Well... I don't really feel like settling for just 'good', so I think I'll try for even higher... Yup... That sounds good to me..."
He sits up and puts his fist high in the air while announcing,
"I've decided... I'm gonna conquer the Underworld and save this kingdom to become... A Great Hero!"
Isabelle sits up as well and claps while saying,
"Very nice! That's a great reason!"
Getting embarrassed, Saiba scratches the back of his head and laughs awkwardly. Isabelle suggests,
"Well, we should really get some sleep now... We have a busy day ahead of us."
Saiba nods as they lie back down, backs against each other. Saiba stares at the blank wall and thinks,
"A Great Hero, huh?.. That sounds pretty good to me!"
His eyelids droop down as he falls asleep.
The next day, Saiba is woken by Isabelle shouting,
"Mr. Hero! Wake up! We're going to be late!"
Saiba leaps out of bed and shouts,
"What!?"
Isabelle grabs him by the hand and pulls him along as they dash to school. While running, Isabelle says,
"We should've gone to bed earlier! Mr. Hero might be fine, but as a teacher, I can't be late!"
Saiba comes up with an idea and suggests,
"Ms. Isabelle, hold on for a bit. I have an idea."
He picks her up off of the ground and begins to dash while carrying her in his arms. Embarrassed, Isabelle exclaims,
"Wh-Wh-Wh-What are you doing, Mr. Hero!?"
Saiba answers,
"I'm carrying you to the school. I probably run faster than you, so this would better, right?"
Isabelle replies,
"I suppose... Just make sure to let go of me before we reach the school! We can't let the students see this!"
Saiba nods. They approach the Academy as they can see the building walls in the distance. Saiba stops and lets Isabelle off, carefully. She pats her clothes down as she says,
"Thank you, Mr. Hero."
Saiba responds,
"No problem!"
While walking, he suddenly realizes,
"Wait. Did I really just do that!? This must be a dream right? I was rushing with adrenaline and wasn't thinking straight! That must've been really embarrassing for her! Am I stupid!?"
Saiba arrives in class as he takes a seat while Isabelle begins talking. Like usual, no-one listens. Saiba thinks,
"I've only been here for a day, but I can already tell... These kids aren't rebellious. They're just dumb!"
He continues,
"The teacher's trying to tell them something, but they don't even pay attention! If they were rebellious, they would've made her stop talking, but they just sit around like a bunch of monkeys, doing nothing!"
He scratches his head and wonders,
"How I'm I gonna whip a bunch of monkeys into shape..."
Saiba hears something interesting as Isabelle continues announcing,
"I'm sure as all of you know, we're having the Annual field trip tomorrow! I hope you've all been preparing well for that!"
Saiba asks the person beside him,
"Hey, what's the field trip about?"
He answers,
"Field trip? We're having one? Oh! The one they do every year, right? I don't know! I haven't been listening!"
He turns back to a playing with a piece of string he found. Saiba raises his hand and asks,
"Ms. Isabelle! What do we do on the field trip?"
Happy someone is participating, Isabelle answers,
"Good question! Every class is going to be camping out for a week outside in the wilderness!"
Saiba thinks,
"Camping, huh? Wait a second. With these guys!? How am I gonna camp with them!? They're gonna mess everything up!"
Isabelle keeps explaining,
"There's going to be challenges throughout the week where you can earn points! And at the end, the class with the most points gets a prize! Let's all work together to get the prize!"
A student shouts,
"Yeah, yeah. We'll win this, no problem!"
Another student says,
"We can do this on our own! We don't need your help!"
Saiba mumbles,
"I think you definitely need her help. You know, for a class of monkeys, they're pretty confident in their own skills... I wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing..."
He leans back in his chair and thinks,
"A field trip with these monkeys..? Time to brace myself for my worst week here yet..."