Several days had passed since Kaze came down with his cold and, while he was doing better, he never did make any comment regarding the necklace that was now in my possession. Internally, I was hoping that that meant he didn't regret it at all and meant every word. On the other hand, it wasn't in Kaze's character to take something back after he gave it away, so there was no real way to know what he was thinking.

Ever since Divine discontinued our lessons, I hadn't seen him around. It concerned me but I tried to make the best of my time by tagging along with Kaze and Ida. Today was Kaze's D-Wheel training day and so instead of meeting them in the dueling room as usual I was to meet Ida outside, since Kaze had to go ahead to prepare his D-Wheel and Ida could guide me there in the meantime. It'd be the second time that I observed Kaze riding his D-Wheel, and, truth be told, I was excited. Last time I had been distracted by my situation, but now I could pay attention to what exactly was happening so I could try and understand D-Wheels and Kaze's interests better.

"Aki," a familiar voice called out to me just as I went to open the front doors. I released the handles and turned around to face Divine.

"D-Divine! I'm… I'm really sorry for the other day. It wasn't like I want to hurt your feelings, but…" I trailed off.

"No, no, think nothing of it. I should be the one apologizing. That's why I came over here, actually," Divine said as he tugged at his glove a bit. "Kokoro was sick, wasn't he? I shouldn't have called you in while he was in that condition. I was just worried for you, worried that you'd never be able to control your powers," Divine muttered. Even after I denied his lessons twice, he still cared about me and my power…? Divine truly was amazing.

"Thank you. I'm getting better and better as I go, thanks to Kaze's coaching," I smiled. Divine's lips twitched a bit before going back up into his normal smile.

"Ah, that's great. You'll have to duel me again sometime. I'd like to see how your training is going," he said. "And Aki… even if I'm not instructing you anymore… Arcadia is still your home. I realized that I may have been harsh to you and Kokoro and I just wanted to clarify that," the man continued.

"Oh, no, it's fine. I'm sure Kaze understands," I insisted, trying to ease any worries he may still have.

"Speaking of Kokoro… You were on your way to observe his D-Wheel lessons, right?" Divine pondered, nearly causing me to jump as I realized that I had forgotten.

"A-ah! That's right! Sorry, I have to go, they're waiting for me," I quickly explained.

"Of course. Don't let me hold you," Divine smiled, waving goodbye before turning around and departing. I spun around and reached for the door handles. That's when I collided with someone, not hard enough to knock me to the ground, but hard enough that it jolted me a bit.

"Ow, ow, ow," a familiar voice hissed. I shook my head, trying to gather my thoughts, before looking forward and seeing my supposed guide rubbing her forehead.

"Ida, are you alright?" I asked.

"Eh? Aki? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Guess I should have looked before I ran inside," Ida laughed nervously. "Anyway, I was getting worried because you weren't showing up. Kaze asked me to take care of you for the time being, so as your personal hero, I couldn't let anything happen to you," Ida grinned. While I found the sentiment reassuring, it didn't quite feel right. After all… I'd rather have Kaze be my personal hero…

"Well, should we get going? Kaze will be waiting," I pointed out.

"Ah! You're right! Let's go! I don't want to miss Kaze's start!" Ida said eagerly before taking off. Well, so much for my personal hero. I suppressed a sigh as I ran off after her. Thankfully the track wasn't too far from the Arcadia Movement so I didn't lose track of Ida during our trek. As soon as we arrived, Ida ran over to the railings, jumping up onto the bottom rung for a better view as she scanned the track quickly. I joined her but chose to remain flat on my feet simply because I didn't want to look like a giddy child if Kaze saw me.

"There! There! He's at the start line now!" Ida shouted as she pointed her finger far off to the right, where a familiar blue D-Wheel was being drove up to a black and white line. A man in an Arcadia Movement uniform stood on the sidelines with a clipboard and stopwatch in hand. So, he was going to time Kaze's run… If he's anything like Ida said, it should be no problem, right? "Hey! Kaze! Kaze, over here!" Ida called out as she flailed her arms in the air, causing my face to start heating up in embarrassment. Of course only Ida could do such things that would draw way more attention to us than needed…! Driving a D-Wheel took lots of concentration, right? What if she was throwing him off?

Kaze looked up in our direction, but given the large red helmet he was wearing, I couldn't see his reaction very well. Not knowing what else to do, I gave him a small wave as Ida continued to wave her hand excitedly through the air. While the visor covered his eyes, I was able to see it when Kaze began smiling widely. He gave us a quick wave back before hunkering down and revving his D-Wheel a few times. The instructor said a few things, but at our distance, I couldn't make it out. After a few seconds, Kaze's D-Wheel sudden shot forward.

Ida hummed softly to herself as she rested her head on her hands, apparently a bit calmer now that Kaze wouldn't be hearing us. I was taken by surprise, though. Riding on a D-Wheel was one thing, but watching someone ride it was something else entirely. What Ida said earlier was true; it was almost as if Kaze and the D-Wheel had become one with the wind. Kaze began the turns early enough that they were smooth and not jerky and he never once slowed down, giving him a fairly impressive speed. It was almost breathtaking.

"Hey, Aki," Ida's voice drew me out of my thoughts. "You went riding on a D-Wheel with Kaze, right? What's it like?" Ida pondered. I felt myself blush as I remembered the event. 'Oh, it was nothing, I was just focusing on how nice it was being so close to Kaze that I didn't even really pay attention to the actual ride.' It's not like I could say that, but it was true…!

"A-ah, well… It was… really nice. It felt surreal," I decided to beat around the bush. That much was true at least. Ida hummed a little once more, nodding her head, apparently liking my answer.

"I wonder if Kaze would let me go with him one of these times. I wouldn't want to hurt him, though," Ida muttered.

"Hurt him…? There's plenty of space on a D-Wheel, though," I said. The D-Wheel was long enough that you could probably fit three people, though that wouldn't be legal, I assumed. Regardless, there was still plenty of space between the bar and Kaze when we had rode the D-Wheel earlier.

"Huh…? Oh, yeah, that's right," Ida laughed as she scratched the back of her neck. It struck me as a little odd, but I eventually decided that it was just Ida being Ida. After that comment, we went back to watching Kaze for a bit, watching him dodge patches of gravel and other obstacles while making his turns. "Aki?" the duelist beside me spoke quietly, slightly concerning me as I turned to face her. She was staring out watching Kaze fly by in his D-Wheel with a forlorn look in her eyes. "I… was wondering… What do you think about Kaze?"

My heart skipped a beat. What had gotten into Ida all of a sudden…? This kind of question was… "What do you mean by that? He's our friend, isn't he?" I tried to play oblivious but Ida saw right through me, though she never once glanced my way.

"You like him, don't you?" she asked.

"L-like I said, he's our friend," I continued with my feigned innocence.

"Aki, you know I wouldn't tell him what you say, right? I just want to know. Do you like Kaze, as more than a friend?" Ida interrogated me as she finally looked at me out of the corners of her eyes. I had to swallow my anxiety as I searched for a proper answer. I had no idea what Ida's intentions were so I had no idea how to respond. If I said yes, would she ignore what she said earlier and tell Kaze? If I said no, would she do something instead? All of a sudden, the hero-obsessed teen became unreadable.

"And what if I say yes?" I decided to try and play my cards carefully. If I danced around the subject, technically she wouldn't get a definite answer. Ida lifted her head from her hands before jumping down from the railing, allowing us to face each other at eye level.

"I'd do the same thing I'd do if you said no," Ida said. So, that didn't really help… If anything, it seemed to make things worse… With Kaze, I always had some inkling of what to say, but with Ida… "Anyway, it was just a question," Ida waved her hand dismissively as she began to walk away. "But in all seriousness… if you're going to act oblivious, you should try not to wear that," Ida said, pausing for a moment to face me once more.

"That…?" I asked. Could she see that I was lying from my facial expression? I didn't think I was that readable, but… Ida just rolled her eyes before tugging at her collar, causing me to slowly look down and see the necklace. My face quickly heated up, realizing that I had been caught red-handed right from the start. The gray haired duelist laughed while lightly shaking her head before continuing on her way.

I apprehensively watched her leave before turning back to the track, finding that Kaze had pulled up to the finish line and was dismounting. So, she was going to see Kaze… What if… she was going to go tell him what we had just talked about? My face started to heat up at the very thought, so I quickly made to follow her.

"Kaze! Kaze! That was awesome! That was, like, the fastest I've ever seen!" Ida cried out as she waved her arms about excitedly. Kaze gave her a light smile as he took his helmet off, shaking his hair a bit as he did.

"It wasn't just 'like'," who I took to be the instructor said as he walked forward, handing Kaze his hat. The brunette spoke his thanks before fixing it onto his head. "That was his fastest time. In fact… that's actually the fastest time I've ever seen! That's a new Arcadia Movement record!" the man exclaimed, taking us by surprise. A new record? That was…

"Kaze, you did it! You did it!" Ida cheered, cutting my thoughts off as she darted forward and tackled Kaze with a hug, nearly sending him off balance. Once again he seemed to wince a bit, but this was Ida we were talking about, so she probably just tackled him too hard.

"I didn't do anything differently. Maybe it's just because you guys were here supporting me this time?" Kaze offered as the gray-haired teen pulled away from him.

"Even so… a new record… You're almost like a professional already!" his instructor continued to praise him.

"I don't know about that," Kaze muttered as he shyly scratched the back of his neck.

"We usually have the same track for a while so others can learn at their own pace, so how about you take the rest of the month off, until we fix up a new track?" the blond man proposed.

"R-really? Is that okay?" Kaze asked apprehensively, but the man just nodded, a smile on his face.

"That's awesome! You know what this means? This calls for a party! The Justice Brigade is going to be free for a while, so we can go back to fighting crime!" Ida shouted. The man beside us just gave us a concerned look so Kaze and I gave him weary smiles, asking him to just go along with it. He returned the smile and nodded, giving Kaze a pat on the back for his recent achievement before departing.

"Well, alright, Queen, what are we going to do today?" Kaze asked. If only for a second, I could have sworn I saw Ida blush a bit.

"W-well, I'm glad you asked, my fair red companion! Today we shall investigate… the ice cream parlor!" Ida shouted as she threw a fist in the air.

"The ice cream parlor," I echoed flatly.

"Of course! Who knows, maybe a villain will suddenly get a sweet tooth and stop by?" Ida suggested. "That aside, Kaze said that he wanted to try out the ice cream there, so why not?" Ida shrugged slighty. I turned to Kaze, unable to help myself from smiling a bit.

"You and your ice cream. You do know there are other desserts, right?" I mused, causing the teen to blush.

"W-well, I…! I…" Kaze trailed off as he fumbled for an excuse. "If you don't want to, that's fine. They're supposedly having some special Duel Monster-themed ice cream where they give away cards, so I thought it'd be neat to check it out," Kaze tried to explain himself, still looking a bit embarrassed.

"It's fine. It's not like I don't like it. I just find it amusing that that's always your default treat," I pointed out. Upon realizing that I approved of the trip, both of my companions' eyes lit up.

"Awesome! They've just gotta have Brionac since he's an ice dragon! I'm so getting a Brionac one!" Ida cheered.

"I don't know about that. He may be ice-themed, but he's still pretty rare. They'll probably do more iconic creatures like Kuriboh," Kaze pointed out.

"Mm, you have a point… I suppose it-" Ida started when her PDA started ringing. She quickly fished in her pocket for the device, pulling it up to her ear. "Hello? A-ah! That was today…?" the gray haired teen laughed nervously as she scratched at her neck. "B-but… I…"

"Ida, what's wrong?" Kaze asked, noticing her inner turmoil from her furrowed brows.

"Oh, uh… Just someone from the movement reminded me that I had my scheduled duel practice today. I kind of forgot about it until now," Ida admitted sheepishly as she lowered the phone a bit.

"Really? Well, you watched me, so I'm sure that Aki wouldn't mind if we went and watched you," Kaze offered, looking towards me for approval. Before I could even think of formulating a response, Ida quickly shook her head.

"Oh, no, no, no, you wanted to check out the ice cream! I'm not going to stop you! You guys just go on ahead! Make sure to bring me something so I can have a victory treat," Ida grinned.

"If you're sure," Kaze muttered. "What would you like us to get you?"

"Hm… How about… Whatever you're getting is fine," Ida said before raising the phone back to her ear. "So, I'm headed back now. I'll be there shortly," she informed the person that called her as she began darting away, waving goodbye to us with her free hand. We sat there for a few seconds after she left in silence.

"So, why don't we go check the ice cream out?" I offered. Kaze gave a hum of approval as he nodded, so we headed out. Thankfully, since Kaze and Ida had been out enough, the brunette knew where he was going. It was a quaint little shop painted with pastel colors and decorated with ice cream-themed goods. As Kaze pointed out, they were indeed having a Duel Monster special; they had a few iconic characters in the form of an ice cream bar in a package that supposedly contained a few cards.

"Pick out whatever you'd like Aki, it's my treat today," Kaze smiled at me briefly before beginning to scan over their goods on display. Last time we had gotten ice cream, I had just gotten my usual green tea-flavored ice cream, but it seemed like a waste to not get one of the specials… At the same time… "Ah! There's a Brionac!" Kaze let out excitedly before picking up one of the packages. I glanced over and saw that it was a light blue package with Brionac's image emblazoned on the front. It was apparently Blue Moon flavored, which probably wouldn't be too bad, but… The thought of getting ice cream styled like Kaze's ace monster just seemed embarrassing for some reason. Some part of me nagged that if I got it, he might think that I only got it because it was his monster.

That's when I saw it. A light green package with the image of a familiar monster on a leaf on it. I found myself reaching out and grabbing it without thinking. "Ah, Kattapillar!" Kaze noted from beside me, causing me to blush a little. "And look, it's your favorite flavor too!" Kaze continued as he motioned to the label which, indeed, was green tea.

"I… I just… when I saw it, I thought about when we saved Kattapillar and I…" I trailed off pathetically. Kaze just smiled at me before excusing himself to go pay for our ice cream. He returned a few seconds later, having picked up an extra Brionac for Ida, so we went outside and crossed the street to the park, where we found an empty seat.

We opened up the packages and pulled out the cards, which had been in another package. Mine appeared to be low level Earth monsters, which wasn't so bad considering my deck, while Kaze's were Ice Barrier themed cards. "I guess this worked out in the end, huh? We both got cards for our deck," Kaze pointed out. Not knowing what to say, I simply nodded.

So we sat there in silence for a while, nibbling at the frozen treat slowly enough that we'd avoid a brain freeze. Every time I saw the form of Kattapillar, though, it made me pause a bit. Rescuing Kattapillar was one of the first memories I had with Kaze. It was right after he gave me the Golden Eggwich, around when we had actually became friends. That was the first time that he really made me see that my powers weren't so bad after all…

I guess… I really do love him, huh…?

"Here, I'll take the garbage," Kaze offered as he held out his hand.

"Thanks," I handed him the wrapping with the stick tucked neatly inside as I spoke.

"I'll be back in a minute," the brunette announced before departing. I sat there with my thoughts once more, but this time I found myself thinking about Ida. Something was off about her lately. I hadn't thought much about it, but what with the recent events, the differences were almost glaring. Back then, I had thought Ida was just some hero-obsessed teen who looked at the world through her narrow lens, but now… Ida was a lot more complex than I had given her credit for…

It was almost… frightening. It wasn't as if I was afraid of Ida herself, since I could easily beat her in a duel, or in an actual confrontation if that were the case, but her expression from earlier… It was almost… a little too ominous. She instantly recovered when she met up with Kaze, though… Could there be something going on behind the scenes that I wasn't aware of? I mean, she wasn't always that way, was she?

I began to tap my foot against the ground as I pondered this. Kaze spent the most time with her, so maybe he knew something? If it was something private, though, would he even tell me? Though, speaking of the brunette, where was he…?

I did a quick scan of the area to locate the trash cans that he could be at which was when I spotted his familiar figure. He wasn't alone though. It almost… It almost seemed like he was being attacked…! There was a girl a little shorter than him, apparently speaking about something quite passionately as she moved her arms about with her words. Looking more closely at her, that girl… It almost felt like I'd seen her before.

Deciding that sitting and observing wasn't doing either of us any good, I pushed myself off the bench and made my way towards the duo. As I got closer, I could slowly pick up the sounds of yelling until it suddenly went quiet. The purple haired girl then suddenly rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Kaze's, almost as if making an effort to drag him away. Before I could voice my disapproval, Kaze's head spun my way.

"A-Aki!" he sounded surprised as he said this. The girl latched on to him froze before slowly turning my direction. That's when I made the connection. Her brown eyes, her face, it was the girl from the picture. This was Rei Saotome…! But what was she doing here…!? I thought she had broken her ties with Kaze…! If she was here… and if she was with Kaze… then did that mean that they were…?

The bile was quickly rising to my throat at the very thought, so I shut the idea down, trying to keep my focus on the Osiris staring me down. Slowly, her eyes began to narrow at me before they suddenly snapped open in shock. She bit her lip, trembling a bit as tears began brimming in her eyes. "So… So that's it, huh…?" she murmured forlornly.

"R-Rei, I-" Kaze started softly but Rei suddenly pushed his arm away, causing him to pause.

"Y-you… You stupid jerk! Big stupid idiot!" Rei shouted as she clenched her hands into fists at her side. "You… You abandoned me for this girl!? You chose her over our partnership!? Did you ever think about my feelings!? Did you!?" Rei cried out as she placed a hand to her chest.

"Of course I did, Rei…! I care about all of our friends! I-" Kaze tried to comfort her once more.

"But that's not in the way that I want!" Rei snapped. Kaze reeled back a bit, eyes wide, and upon realizing what she had said, Rei's did as well. That meant… She… She really did love him… And now that she was here…

I was waiting for something from the movies to happen, for Kaze to hug her and say something endearing and then they'd head off back to Duel Academy like I never existed. That was the kind of ending I deserved, after all, for trying to get in the way of their friendship. Much to my surprise though, Rei let out an anguished cry before spinning around on her heels and darting away. Kaze just stood there, looking as if he was frozen, unable to comprehend what had happened.

"R-Rei! Rei, wait!" Kaze called out for her as he began running after her. For some reason I found myself unable to just stay out of their business and I quickly ran after him. What exactly had just happened? Partnership? Were those two really dating? Did she get upset because she saw me and thought Kaze was cheating on her? Was this all my fault…?

We chased her for quite some time, with Kaze calling out for her as he weaved between people. Eventually we lost sight of the purple-haired duelist, though, and Kaze slowed to a stop. That's when I saw the utterly heartbroken look upon his face. He looked so torn up, so depressed. I tried to force my thoughts down. Now wasn't about me and my jealousy, I had to help Kaze. He was hurt right now, and as his friend, I had to help him.

"Kaze, it's alright. It'll all be okay in the end, remember? She's your friend… so I'm sure she'll come around," I forced a smile, even though Kaze wouldn't see it as he stared at the ground. Maybe if I just kept smiling, I'd actually be able to mean it…

"Thanks," Kaze muttered as he reached up and tugged at the brim of his hat, pulling it down further.

"Are you really okay with just letting her go, though? You have to call her! You have to explain things! She just misunderstood what we were and so she was upset. I mean… I always thought you guys were dating, so you must have been close! She cares about you a lot!" I tried to swallow the bile that kept rising in my throat as I said this. This was never about me, though. Kaze had already done so much for me. If being with Rei would make him happy… Then who was I to deny him that?

"I… It wasn't like that," Kaze said as he turned to face me. It was then that I noticed that half of his face was covered by the shadow of his hat again. As Kaze got closer to us, he had slowly been lifting it so we could see his face, but now… Now he was… "As much as I like Rei, her heart was always in a different place, so we never got together," Kaze continued as he began tugging at the collar of his shirt instead. The nausea spread from my throat to my stomach, making it feel like there was a brick inside of it. 'So we never got together'. So it was an option… it was… Kaze…

"She must love you," I choked out, still loathing how utterly bitter the words felt, like a knife that just came back to hurt me further. "She came all this way for you… So you guys can be together now."

"No, it's always been like this," Kaze sighed. "You see, Rei's what she likes to call a 'Maiden in Love'. She says that it means she's dedicated to her one true love… But I feel like that means she's constantly changing her love interest. She's done it four times alone this year… I… guess I just can't take her feelings seriously with that in mind," Kaze muttered, putting us at a bit of a stalemate. He didn't want to admit it… but even so…

"Would you rather be with her and your friends?" I found myself asking again as I clasped the necklace dangling from my neck. He had already swore to stay by my side, but that was before this revelation, wasn't it…? That aside, he was sick then, so he probably didn't even know what he was doing…

"Of course I miss my friends sometimes, but it's nicer here where I don't have to hide everything about myself," Kaze said before giving me a weary smile. "Plus, no classes is also nice." I found myself letting out a light laugh. Classes actually didn't seem that bad compared to all the drama we were facing now, though… "Aki… are you worried that I'll leave you since Rei came here?" the brunette asked. I opened my mouth to respond only to find that the words weren't coming out. That was the truth, but… if I said that… what would he think of me…? Would he think me selfish…? Knowing Kaze, though, he probably already knew the answer… I slowly nodded my affirmation to his question.

Kaze took a step towards me, gently taking hold of one of my hands with both of his, causing me to blush. "Aki… I'll always be here for you, with you. Like I said, that necklace is proof of my vow," Kaze said as he looked down at me. I tried to meet his gaze, but it was no use, since it just made me blush even more, so I looked to the side instead.

"How… far do those feelings truly go?" I let out shakily before I could stop myself. Kaze tilted his head to the side, clearly confused at what I meant. I internally cursed myself for even asking such a stupid question. Of course, it had been plaguing my mind for a while now, but… I never should have said it. After what just happened with Rei, this was the last thing he needed. My heart worked faster than my mind, though. There was no going back… I… I just…

Kaze continued staring at me, concerned, which didn't help my nerves. "I… I just… I mean… You… You say that and… I just… You are… To me, you…" I fumbled with my words under my breath. Suddenly forming a sentence seemed like the hardest thing in existence. Kaze just kept staring at me, not understanding my question. It was now or never. Just be frank. "Kaze… I like you," I made a last ditch effort to try and explain myself. Slowly, his eyes began to widen as red dashed across his cheeks.

"W-well, that… Ah…" Kaze trailed off as he slowly let go of my hands. That… wasn't a good sign at all… Did I just ruin our friendship by running my mouth…?! Kaze took in a deep breath before exhaling. "I don't give my necklace out to just anyone, you know?" Kaze said as he tugged at the collar of his shirt. Wait… Was that… Did he really just…

"Is that a yes or a no?" I found myself unable to keep the question inside.

"I'd happily be your boyfriend if you'd have me," Kaze gave me an endearing smile before leaning down and planting a kiss on my forehead. Suddenly my legs feel weak and I found it harder to breathe. My cheeks began to feel numb as I felt myself begin to smile. That meant… He… He really liked me…! He… "Why don't we get back to the Movement? We wouldn't want Ida's ice cream to melt," Kaze suggested suddenly. I found myself nodding without even really comprehending what he had said. Everything just felt so light and free. It was like I was on Cloud Nine. Everything just felt so… right.

As we began our walk back, I found myself reaching out for Kaze's hand. He blushed a bit at the contact, but eventually smiled and tightened his hand around mine. It was warm… like Kaze… and it felt like it just fit with mine. Even though we had held hands before, back during the night we rescued Ida, now it was just…

I slowly thought back to the arena and how both Keisuke and that woman from DA had mistaken us for a couple. I guess they weren't so off base after all…

Notes:

- Happy Valentine's Day to you all, hopefully you all enjoyed it! I was considering posting this a little earlier but then I decided that it might make things a little sweeter if it was posted on Valentine's Day.

- For those of you who are curious as to what happened between Rei and Kaze, that will be featured as the next chapter in the form of an extra, so I'm afraid you're going to have to wait a little longer for that.

Reviews:

- Anonymous: For me, as a person, I totally agree with you on that. It was just a trope that I had seen a few times in shows and I figured why not. As for your question on Divine, that's clarified in here. I realized the kind of double sided meaning once you pointed that out, but no, Divine is not going to kick them out. He's just a little irked at them.

- Jak357: How coincidental that you mentioned this right when Rei was about to show up. Anyway, this might not satisfy you in terms of her short appearance, but when the next chapter comes, it might be a little more interesting, since it'll be from Kaze's PoV and include the whole confrontation/his thoughts.

Lion Heart Leon/MegaDragon520: I'm glad you guys enjoyed the chapter, and hopefully this meets your expectations.

Tyler Nator: I'm going to play on the 'Aki has a healthier diet/immune system than Kaze or somehow secret Signer powers to explain her lack of sickness from all of this. Unfortunately for Divine, he wouldn't be able to execute the plan you suggested at this time, though, since Aki is pretty much glued to his hip (and though it wasn't mentioned, Ida probably figured things out and rolled around). I'm glad you've been enjoying the story so much, though!