How could this have happened? Didn't the Exchange Machine only accept fair trades? Garbage for garbage? A person for a person? But they had just inserted nothing, and a person had come out!

Perhaps it could've been the hug's doing, or the friendly note, but surely none of these were worth as much as a human being? It didn't make sense at all, even with Herakles mumbling that friendship was the key.

"Gilbert?" Matthew whispered in disbelief.

"Hey," said Gilbert in a raspy voice, "I thought I told you to refer to me as the Awesome Me!"

He was still lying on the floor, shaking, holding the rooster. Vash frowned again at how sickly he looked, how dirty his clothes were, how awful he smelled, but at least that big grin didn't seem to disappear from his face. Vash offered him a hand and with some difficulty, Gilbert stood up, leaning on his friends for support.

"Bruder..." Ludwig whispered in shock.

"Hey, West! You're here too!" Gilbert only just noticed his brother's presence.

"Careful, Gilbert," said Vash, but he'd already let go of their support and flung himself into Ludwig's arms. Ludwig clenched his brother tightly against him.

"I missed you..."

Gilbert winced at how tightly his brother was holding him, but when Ludwig loosened his grip, he let out a cackle of laughter, and with mischief in his eyes, he ruffled up his brother's slicked back hair, much to Ludwig's horror.

"I can't believe it," he spoke. "You've only been back for one minute and you're already annoying the living crap out of me!"

They all shook their heads and laughed at Gilbert's ridiculousness. At that moment, they heard shouting as Arthur Kirkland, the English teacher, walked briskly in their direction.

"It worked! My magic spell worked!"

"You mean our magic spell," said Vladimir. "It wouldn't have worked if it hadn't been for me and Lukas." He followed him to the Exchange Machine, along with Mr. Bondevik, Milen, and Elisaveta, who suddenly stopped and stared.

"It... what?" Her eyes grew wider. With a loud crash, her frying pan fell to the floor, and she raced towards Gilbert Beilschmidt.

"Gilbert! You... you're alive! I did it... I... brought you back from the dead!"

With a confused laugh, Gilbert shook his head. "You're a crazy woman! These two companions brought me back, not you! And I wasn't dead just yet: don't you underestimate the Awesome Me!"

"You did it?" Elisaveta looked at Vash in surprise.

"I... I think so," said Vash.

"Well, in that case: thank you so much... And all this time, I thought you were on that thing's side..."

I am on that thing's side, Vash thought to himself. But I'm also supportive of Gilbert. There was no reason why the two would contradict one another.

"He needs to be washed, though," Elisaveta added, "before Roderich sees him so disgusting and passes out in shock."

So Vash and Matthew brought him to the P.E. changing rooms, while Ludwig left to get him a change of clothes. Vash was worried they would have to help him in the shower, since he still had some trouble walking, but he was convinced that he could do it himself. They waited nearby, keeping their ears open in case their help was needed after all, and they smiled at each other when they heard him squeal in delight, probably at the fresh feeling of the water on his skin. While he sang off-key to himself with the pouring shower as his only audible background instrument, Vash and Matthew waited with a towel, and Ludwig soon appeared with some clean clothes.

Getting those clothes onto Gilbert turned out to be a challenge. When he was finally finished with his shower and had dried himself off, he suddenly sprinted out the door and stormed down the school hallways, yelling: "Behold! I am free! Free! The Awesome Me has returned!"

"You idiot!" yelled Elisaveta. "Put on some clothes!" And she reached for her frying pan: only now did she realize it was missing, so she ran back to where she had dropped it. Meanwhile, Ludwig helped them catch Gilbert and they finally got him dressed.

"What is his problem?" asked Vash. "Does he think he can disobey the dress code and run around in his birthday suit?"

"Clearly, he's enjoying his newly found freedom," laughed Matthew. "At least it means he can walk okay now. He must be recovering quickly."

This recovery continued for the rest of the evening. They gave him a nice warm meal, listened to his long speeches about how awesome he was, and watched him reunite with some of his old friends and enemies. Several teachers were thrilled to see that their missing student had returned (though others, less thrilled about his return, shared their memories of him misbehaving in class, and still others had no recollection of a Gilbert Beilschmidt ever existing), and when it was time to go to sleep, the gym teacher announced that he could sleep in Vash's dorm, because after all, Vash had found him, and he was the only one without a dorm partner. Matthew glared at him after this suggestion, but in the end, he was happy letting Gilbert sleep in his bed. Vash offered to sleep on the carpet so Matthew could have a bed, but Matthew claimed sleeping on the carpet was a good way to meditate, and Vash promised that the next night, they would switch places.

On Saturday, they took Gilbert outside. He was so happy that he couldn't stop laughing. He rolled in the flowerbeds, chased the ponies, made fake mustaches out of the grass, and all the time, he was cackling with laughter. He had a funny sort of hissing laugh that never seemed to end. While his rooster frolicked around in the meadow eating other students' picnics, Gilbert talked to the sun. Perhaps he should have found a shadier spot to sit and talk: by the time they went inside, Gilbert was sunburnt.

Most of Sunday, however, was devoted to his Viking art project with Emma. Vash figured they might as well get it over with as soon as possible, so that he wouldn't be bothered by her company for much longer. The funny thing was that her company no longer bothered him much now that she wasn't so keen on becoming his friend. They worked together pretty well. B divided the tasks fairly between the four of them, and they worked fully concentrated in peace and quiet. Wally, of course, broke the silence a couple times, seeing as she was unable to sit still and hold her tongue for that long, but B would put her finger to her lips and Wally would stop.

"Don't worry that you hurt our feelings," Wally told him at one point. "We're not insulted that easily. We make fun of each other all the time, and even of ourselves..."

"Hush, sister," said B.

"I'm trying to find someone good to ship Flanny with," she said a while later, "so that she won't crush on you anymore." Flanny shook her head at the absurdity of this, and Wally continued: "As for me, I'm going for Lovino."

"I don't think he likes girls, though," Flanny whispered.

"Maybe he's bi!" said Wally.

"Will you be quiet?" said B.

And they were silent again for quite a while, working together in harmony, until Wally said softly:

"Ludwig stole the cats, by the way... I thought you ought to know. You worked so hard on that case: it would be a shame if you never found the answer."

"Thank you," said Vash, "but I had already figured that out by myself." Not entirely by himself, since Ludwig had basically confessed it to him, but she didn't need to know that.

In the end, they were fairly happy with their result. They'd made a nice woodcarving representing a Viking ship, and Emma's company hadn't been nearly as unpleasant as Vash had imagined it.

"So what did you two do while I was gone?" he asked Matthew and Gilbert when he came back to his dorm.

"I worked on my art project," said Matthew.

"Did you..." Vash was going to ask whether Matthew had to do it all by himself since he wasn't assigned a partner, but then he saw Matthew and Gilbert grinning at each other.

"Found myself a partner," Matthew laughed, "and guess what we made?"

He stepped to the side to reveal a large piece of wood into which a basic shape was roughly cut. When Vash took a closer look, he could see that it was the Exchange Machine wearing a Viking helmet. A fainter, finer carving showed the details in texture of the helmet and the Machine, and the gentle, organic figures of flowers growing out of the Machine's drawers, contrasting with its harsh and simple body. They were forget-me-nots.

"It's awesome, no?" said Gilbert proudly. "You can't deny it. And all because of me! And both of us, of course, but also me! We three are a great team, huh? You and Mattie and of course the Awesome Me! We fit together just fine!"

Was that true? They did fit together, in a certain way. But after the course of a week, something seemed not to fit quite as well as they had imagined, as if the balance in the Wallflower Pact had been disrupted. The three of them still got along great, however, so Vash had assumed this 'disruption' would only be temporary and they'd get used to each other in no time, but this proved harder than it seemed. For how were Vash and Matthew supposed to continue having the philosophical conversations they used to have? Whenever they talked to each other, Gilbert would interrupt them, and he would go on and on speaking nonsense, and they would grow quiet. And yet they enjoyed his company and wanted him to stay; this much they knew. Their bonds of friendship were not broken, not even cracked. But how to bring back the harmony they used to have? Vash was almost tempted to stuff an onion into Gilbert's mouth so he would talk less, or even put him back in the Machine, but surely that wouldn't be a real solution. Gilbert and Matthew had fun together, and so did Gilbert and Vash, despite his annoying habits. The real problem was when Vash and Matthew tried to talk to each other, without Gilbert's interruptions... They needed some distraction for him. Perhaps three was not a crowd in their case; perhaps they were in fact lacking of something. An extra member could do the trick of bringing back the harmony. But then again, there was nobody close enough to them to join, and he didn't feel like making more new friends.

"Should we ask Alfred to hang out with us during break?" Vash regretted this the moment he said it. Alfred was one of the most annoying people he knew, and he'd only mentioned it because he thought it would make Matthew happy.

But Matthew laughed and shook his head. "No way, dude. He would drive me crazy. And besides, do you think Gilbert would wanna be stuck with the guy who confined him? And how awkward would that be for Alfred?"

Vash sighed in relief and nodded.

"A part-time member, perhaps," he said. "Someone could hang out with us part-time. That way, they won't bother us too much, but they will provide the necessary distraction for Gilbert, and for us too, when we become the third wheel at times. Four is easier to divide than three, you know."

Matthew shook his head, as if Vash had said something wrong, but then he mumbled: "I'd ask Flanny if you didn't hate her..."

"I don't hate Flanny or Wally or even B anymore, I just..." Vash paused for a moment, "don't like their company too frequently... don't like when they force themselves on me..." But now that they had stopped doing just that, their company had already become a lot less unpleasant... And the point of part-time was that they wouldn't be in their company too frequently... Maybe it was worth a try.


"Emma, remember last week when you wanted to join the Wallflower Pact? We all know it wouldn't work out if the three of you hung out with us all the time, but I've thought about it and I wonder whether it might work out if you come join us in recess every now and then. I'm still not sure whether you could make friends with me, but I think Matthew and Gilbert would enjoy your company, if you're still in for it."

"Definitely not," said Emma. Vash was comfortable with this rejection and completely understood, and he started to walk away, when he realized only B had answered him.

"Sure," said Wally and Flanny at the same time.

B shook her head and laughed in annoyance. "I hate you guys."