After the party, Shin instantly returned to his room, exhausted.
"That Alea girl, what's your connection to her Contractee?"
The fact that Alea revealed herself, already knowing what kind of Deity Shin had made a
contract with, left Shin with a lot of questions.
[...]
Silence.
Noctis didn't want to answer him for some reason.
"Hey, I know you can hear me, how did she instantly know who you were?"
[Can I somehow squeeze my way out of this?]
"No."
[T sk, fine. But I'll only give you a hint. As you know I'm the God of Night.]
"Right."
[And her Contractee is the God of Sun, Solis… can you make any connections?]
"I can, but I'm not following what you're trying to say. Sure, you two are polar opposites. But
what am I supposed to make out of that?"[Haa… damn it Shin! don't make me say it.]
Shin's eyes widened in surprise. This was the first time Noctis acted like this.
"Wait… don't tell me…"
[Have you finally made the connection?]
"I've got an idea, but I'm not sure unless you confirm it."
[Damn it, whatever, be glad we're long time friends, even though you don't remember me.]
"Just out with it you drama queen."
[Fine… the God of Sun, Solis… she's…]
There was a brief pause.
[My Ex-Girlfriend.]
Shin widened his eyes in disbelief.
Somehow, this fake Deity managed to get into a relationship and failed terribly at it.
[Hey! Who are you calling fake? And I didn't fail, it was… complicated okay?]
"Sure, sure… loverboy."
[Shut-up! Just you wait Shin, once you get one yourself, I'll pester you non-stop,]"Yeah, as if I'd fall in love with a girl my age, be for real now. They're all children in my eyes."
[Oh? You say that, yet it seemed like you were quite interested in little Alea there. Even giving
her your contact information and all.]
"Sure, keep making stuff up. I'm going to bed."
[Tsk, what a kill-joy.]
"Goodnight, Noct."
[Whatever.]
This Deity was too much of a drama queen.
Knock, knock.
As Shin was about to sleep, an unknown guest suddenly knocked on his door.
'Who could it be at this hour?'
It was 1:00 AM.
Shin got up and opened the door.
"Hey, Shin… can we talk?"
It was Satoshi.Shin narrowed his eyes, but quickly changed his expression for Satoshi to not notice.
"Okay, come in."
Shin already had an idea on what Satoshi wanted to talk about.
"Well, I've thought about it all day… I've spoken to my Mother and Sister as well."
After their fight, Satoshi didn't want to be consoled by his Father. It was his Mother and Sister
that was there for him.
It's not that he hated his Father, he just didn't want to talk to him.
After all, he was the reason for Satoshi's inferiority complex towards Shin.
"What I'm trying to say here is… well… I'm sorry, Shin."
"Sorry for what?"
When apologizing, it's not enough to just straight up say sorry, and Shin knew that.
"For everything… I shouldn't have let my frustrations out on you."
"Mhm."
"Yeah… instead of comparing myself to you, I should've used you as a reference instead."
T o catch up to Shin.This was a new side of Satoshi, one that Shin had never seen.
"I know what I did to you all these years were horrible, and you might not forgive me now. I just
wanted to apologize."
"I forgive you."
"I know how much you must hate– huh?"
Shin wasn't a hard person to talk to.
In the first place, he never held a grudge on Satoshi.
For Shin, Satoshi was more like an annoying fly.
And he was mentally 30-years-old. Holding a grudge against a 9-year-old boy would be
immature.
"I forgive you."
"Are you serious?"
"Does my face tell you I'm joking?"
Shin kept a blank expression the whole time.
"No… but… how can you just forgive me so easily? After everything I did?"
"Well, it wasn't so bad, you're still a child after all. That's how most children usually act around
that age.
"Besides the recent incident, Satoshi had never actually tried to physically harm Shin.
All he did was pester and mock Shin, and Shin never really cared, just peeved.
"But you're a child as well… in fact, you're younger than me."
"That's right, and what does that tell you?"
That a child one year younger is more mature than Satoshi.
"Hnggg… Fine, but today onwards, Shin, I'll become your rival."
"I thought you said you weren't gonna compare yourself to me anymore?"
"That's not it. What I mean is, one day I'll catch up to you. So you better not start slacking off."
"What a bold statement."
Despite Shin's cold responses, deep down he was happy.
Happy that the youth named Satoshi Nocturn, decided to change for the better.
"Haha, maybe. Anyway, I hope we can start out as friends."
"Friends huh? You're the second one today."
"Huh?"
"Nothing, anyway it's late. I'm kind of tired, we can continue this conversation in the morning."
Shin was tired.
It was a busy day for him, with the Selection Process and his sister's party, all happening on the
same day.
"Okay then, thanks for hearing me out… Brother."
Satoshi instantly left the room after uttering those words.
"What a weirdo."
[Can't believe you kept up a straight face the whole time.]
Shin went back to his bed, hands on his hand.
[It's not wrong to show emotions, you know?]
Noctis had a point.
But…
"It's not like I do it on purpose."
Back when he was Artorius, he had sealed off his heart.
It wasn't easy for Shin to open it up again to other people besides his family.
"But, at least I didn't have to wait for three years, this is perfect. Once I finish the sword lessons,
I can finally start entering the Abyss Gates.
"He didn't expect to patch things up with Satoshi so soon.
[And that's all you're thinking about, how cold.]
"Of course, I need to get stronger, I won't make the same mistakes again."
T o keep his loved ones safe.
Never again will he lose his family.