Kyle sat on the steps of the Pantheon temple, with his hands covering his face.

'What, exactly, just happened?' Went his thoughts.

About fifteen minutes ago, after his friend had taken off into the forest, spoken with some mysterious stranger, and yelled out that she was the Idol beloved by two entire dimensions, the stranger simply tut-tutted her and told her to practice dance moves.

"Yes, I know, you've told me plenty of times. Now come on and work on that routine!" Was what the stranger had said, specifically.

Kyle had left a few minutes later, leaving his friend in the middle of trying to do some kind of clap-step-clap-step-hip-shake. The image of Tear trying to perform those moves forced him to suppress a rather loud giggling-snort sound that was welling up inside him.

The smile on his lips quickly faded as he thought about it some more.

It couldn't really be true, could it? The Angelic Buster may be an idol, but she was also a ferocious fighter. Specters were squashed underneath her giant hammer, or blasted in the face with a Celestial Roar. The Angelic Buster was on par with the explorers and heroes of Maple World. The Angelic Buster was on par with Kyle himself.

Tear, as much as he cared for his friend, could barely snip the stem of a Grobbler. She couldn't even use magic. They couldn't possibly be the same person...could they?

"Maybe..." He mumbled.

"Maybe, what?"

Kyle jumped. He looked up into the eyes of the girl in question. Tear blinked.

"You look worried, is something bothering you?"

Kyle hesitated. If he just flat-out asked her, she would probably just deny it. He needed to figure out a way to expose it himself. Preferably in front of as few bystanders as possible, of course, but asking directly was a no-no.

"...I'm fine." Is what Kyle settled on.

Tear smiled cheerfully.

"Great!" She said. "I'm hear to listen to you if you ever need anything! You can tell me anything!"

'But are you telling me everything?' Is what Kyle thought. What came out of his mouth was "Yup!"

"Lord Kaiser!" A new voice shouted. Both Kyle and Tear turned to see a human, dressed in the garb of the Cygnus Knights, rushing over to the two. He stopped in front of them and gave a slight bow.

"The Empress sends her greetings." The knight announced. "She believes that after the incident involving Black Heaven, all of the heroes involved deserve a proper vacation, courtesy of her majesty."

The knight produced two envelopes stamped with the Empress's seal.

"Tickets to a hot spring, in Zipangu. As well as a teleport scroll to get there. Apparently this hot spring was tucked away on a corner of Mushroom Shrine. Her majesty heard of it from lord Takeda Shingen. He says it's a place to forget all your worries."

Kyle vaguely remembered the man with a mass of red hair carrying a fan, but thought little of it. The knight handed him one of the envelopes.

"This is for you."

Kyle nodded. "Thanks." He paused, then said, "You...you said that all the heroes were invited?"

"Yes sir, everyone who was on-board the Lumeire. Yourself, mister Evan, mister Brighton..." The knight continued prattling off a list.

"Will the Angelic Buster be there?"

The knight looked surprised. "As a matter of fact, yes. This is her envelope." He held up the one he hadn't given to Kyle. "Speaking of which, I'm not exactly sure where she is. Could you help me find her?"

Kyle had an idea. He took a quick glance at Tear. She appeared to have her back turned, kicking rocks aimlessly at a small tree. He pulled the knight close and spoke quietly.

"I'll take her ticket."

"Sir?" The knight asked.

"W-what I mean is, I'll take it, and give it to Edea. She knows where the Angelic Buster is. She is the lead strategist, after all."

"If you say so, sir." The knight handed Kyle the second envelope. "Head off whenever you feel like it, I still need to deliver a few more messages for her majesty." The knight gave another bow, a small salute, and rushed off in the direction he had come. Kyle kept his back turned to Tear.

Carefully so that she didn't notice, he began fiddling with the seal on the Angelic Buster's envelope. As he suspected, there was only one ticket inside. He shoved the empty envelope into his pocket and started opening his.

"H-hey, Kyle?"

Kyle froze and gripped the envelope. "Y-yeah?"

There was an awkward pause.

"...nothing, never mind."

Kyle let out a quiet sigh. She hadn't caught on yet. He wasn't as good at stealth as those Resistance people, so he was glad his plan was fooling Tear...as proud as he could be that he was basically lying through his teeth with every word he said, that is.

He swiftly opened his own envelope and pulled out the tickets. He glanced over his shoulder again and took a deep breath.

'Now or never.' He thought.

"Hey, Tear?"

Tear turned around to face him. "Y-yeah?"

"Would...would you like to come along with me? There's two tickets here."

Tear was silent for a moment. Then, her face lit up in surprise. Then, her face turned a bright shade of pink.

"W-w-with y-you? T-to a hop string? I mean hit sprong? I mean hot spring?"

"Well, there'll be other people there..."

"O-oh...right...people...but..."

"Would you like to go?" Kyle tried his hardest to make a "pretty-please" face.

"W-well...I suppose..." She mumbled something Kyle couldn't quite hear.

"Huh?"

"S-SURE! YES! YES! ALRIGHT!" Her face was flushed a deep crimson now.

Kyle smiled. "Let's go get ready, then."

"YES!"

Kyle watched as Tear half-skipped, half-jogged away before losing his smile. He felt awful for tricking his friend like that. But he needed to know. Was it all some kind of misunderstanding? Or if it wasn't, why had his friend hidden it from him? Did she not trust him?

He absolutely had to know. He absolutely had to find out.