I'm Sorry Too

After that, Aria finally got escorted to where her friends were. And then she finally realized why she couldn't find them yesterday. It was actually far down in the basement!

"Leyna! Mika!" Aria exclaimed as if she had not seen their figures for a long time.

"Aria?! How come you can…?"

"Oh my god, your hands!" And just as Rei had warned them, the two of them did look hurt. "L-Let me heal your hands first." Aria interrupted with a trembling voice.

Because even though it was only their hands that were seriously injured, the shape of the bones and the color of the skin were already very, very worrying. Especially the wrist to their fingertips. If left any longer, their hands might still be crippled even if they were healed.

But instead Leyna stomped her feet angrily. "Are you stupid or what? Why did you infiltrate here as well?" She scolded. "Look at what happened! Now they got you too!"

"I'm sorry. Although… I'm not here because I got caught. At least technically, I think."

"...Wait, you're not?" Ask Mika too.

"He said if I work for him, he'll let you go."

"And you just trust him?"

"...For now that's all I can do." Reply Aria who finally started to focus on healing their hands. And fortunately she also brought some wound medicine which she always carries everywhere.

But because the guard who was watching from the door looked like they were suspecting her, Aria needed to explain first. "I-It's just a medicine." She said.

Only after the guard seemed to relax again did Leyna bring her head closer to whisper. "Arran… Mina and the others, is everyone okay?" She asked and fortunately Aria gave a small nod.

"Arran is still a bit sick, but he's okay." Answered Aria and her two friends could finally breathe a sigh of relief for a moment.

"But what kind of work did they ask you to do?" Mika asked and this time Aria just kept silent. "Don't tell me they're gonna ask you to be a mercenary?"

"...I asked that, but he said the job isn't something like that."

"Whatever it is, you have to be careful." Leyna said. "Looking at it, they seem like people who have a lot of enemies. If you get too involved, you'll get hurt later."

"I'll be careful." She replied.

Even though it was strange that after being reciprocated like that, for some reason Leyna and Mika's feelings became even more painful.

"...I'm so sorry, Aria." Leyna said in a choked voice. "Because we do work like this, even you have to go through this…"

But Aria immediately shook her head violently. "You also work like this because I had no idea how difficult your situation was. I'm sorry too." She replied in the same suffocated tone. "You guys always protect me, so this time I should be the one helping you."