''Gotcha!' Sig proudly held the beetle he had just caught into the air, before gently petting the insect with his normal hand.
''There, there...hmm..'' Curious about where exactly his chase for the little vermin brought him, Sig took a look at his surroundings, finding himself in front of a couple bushes in a forest area relatively near Primp Town's Magic School.
While silently gazing at the gorgeous late afternoon sky, the boy suddenly felt like he heard someone rushing towards his direction, turning around he quickly spotted a young man with blond hair, clad in a green jacket, white pants and a red cape coming up to him. It was Prince Salde's loyal butler Otomo.
''Mr Sig! I finally found you!'' The bug lover watched as Otomo stopped to catch his breath, he seemed to be as stressed as ever. ''You were looking for me?'' ''Why yes, the young prince ordered me to do so, since you vanished from the tournament all of the sudden.''
''The tournament...'' Sig recalled that he was a participant of Primp Town's Puyo Puyo tournament earlier that day, although while doing well, he was eventually bested by a seemingly perverted dark wizard who called himself 'Schezo Wegey'. Soon after his defeat the boy found himself distracted by the beetle he just caught, not realizing that the pursuit of the gnat would take an extended amount of time, away from everyone else.
Trying to explain himself, the boy merely answered in his usual deadpan fashion. ''Sorry, I kept myself busy...'' ''I can see that.'' Retaining the anxious look in his eyes and not changing his tone one bit, Otomo continued on. ''Anyways, the Primp Magic School is holding a party for all the players and it would make the prince happy if you came, after all.'' Sig nodded his head, not having to think much for an answer. ''Understood, I'll be there as soon as I can.'' ''Oh, thank you! I have to hurry and inform him of this!'' With those words Otomo wasted no time, immediately dashing towards his destination. ''...Guess, I better get going.'' After watching the timid butler leave, Sig went on to make his way to the party himself.
As he was walking through the woods, nighttime slowly approached, darkening the area quite a bit. Not that this bothered him in any way, as it gave him the opportunity to keep an eye out for night active bugs, which would turn out to be a bad idea, once Sig noticed that the beetle he caught earlier has been trying to get away, hiding in a nearby set of bushes. ''Hey, wait!'' Sig searched through the shrubbery, but to no avail, instead he caught the attention of someone completely different.
''Huh? Is somebody there?'' It was a feminine voice, one that was very familiar to him and indeed the person he saw approaching him from the darkness was a girl with orange hair, a white shirt with some light armor on it and a blue skirt, it was his friend Arle Nadja, accompanied as always, by her small yellow mammal like companion Carbuncle.
''...! Sig! Where have you been the whole time?!'' Sig wasn't sure how to answer, the look on her face and tone of her voice seemed distressed, was she worried about him? ''I got distracted by a bug. Catching it took longer then I thought...'' Arle merely let out a big sigh and placed a few fingers on her forehead, on hand this answer didn't shock her, she knew him well enough at that point, but at the same time it still frustrated her. ''Sig, really, you have to think more! We were all worried you wouldn't come anymore. I won the tournament and got the medal so I can return to my world now... '' While saying all of this her tone went from frustrated to somber, as the expression on her face shifted into a frown. ''I was afraid that I wouldn't get a chance to say goodbye to you...''
This revelation hit Sig as if he got whacked with a sledgehammer. While he for reasons unknown to him, had a hard time feeling strong emotions, he did love his friends dearly and the idea that Arle would be this upset because of him was a thought he couldn't bare. ''You'r-...You-...'' Failing to vocally express himself, Sig walked over to Arle and wrapped his arms around her, pulling the girl into a gentle embrace, resting his head on her shoulder. ''You're right...I'm sorry...''
Arle was quite surprised by this gesture and even moreso by the feeling of Sig's hands on her back trembling, she wasn't used to the usually stoic boy being like that. ''This really seemed to have gotten him...'' Arle thought to herself, calming herself down and wrapping her arms around him as well, figuring that Sig needed comforting himself. ''It's alright. I know you're not doing it on purpose.'' Holding the other in their arms made both friends feel a lot easier about the entire situation, as they both silently enjoyed the presence and comfort of the other.
The two remained this way for a while, with Carbuncle merely watching them, until he eventually raised his voice. ''Guu Gu Gu~'' As the two let go from each other Arle turned her attention to her rabbit like companion and nodded. ''Yeah, you're right Carby.'' Sig scratched his head in confusion, having no clue what the two were talking about.
'' 'If only you could come and go freely'. That's what you said to me earlier today.'' ''I did, yeah.'' He did recall that particular conversation, Arle told him that she had grown to love Primp, despite her homesickness and brought this up in response. ''Well.. that was my wish for winning the gold metal, you gave me that idea.'' ''Wow...that's neat.'' Letting out a smile Sig rubbed his left arm in a shy fashion. ''Th-That means you'll be back...right?'' Arle returned the smile, putting a hand on his right shoulder. ''I will, but there was no way I'd leave without seeing you one more time...''
Sig could sense a small blush on his face, knowing that Arle valued their friendship this much meant a lot to him. ''..I guess tha-...!'' Trying to continue the conversation Sig was swiftly silenced by Arle, who planted a quick kiss on his cheek, turning away from him afterwords, as both of their faces were now several shades of red.
Soon Arle regained the composure necessary to face her friend on more time, still stammering her words a bit. ''It-It's goodbye for now, but we'll see each other again soon. I promise.'' '''Y-Yeah...see yah...and take care.'' Sig watched as Arle went to pick up Carbuncle and poof-ed up the Gold Medal out of thin air, channeling it's power to vanish in a pale ray of light.
Sig eyed the spot where Arle used to stand, while lightly touching his cheek. ''...Yeah, we will see each other again.'' With those words and a sunny disposition written all over him, he took course towards Primp's Magic School, trying to still make it to the party in time.
The End