"I'm sorry."

Michael was seated in a chair, Angela and Randy were keeping their gazes on him. Shelly was looking everywhere except at Michael.

"I'm sorry for hiding this from you, from all of you. I just thought that, if I hid it, I could be able to keep a steady friendship with all of you." He bitterly chuckled. "I guess that dream's over, huh?" Michael quickly wiped the wetness that was forming on his eyes.

Angela cut in. "No, you got it all wrong Mikey, we're not gonna think differently of you just because you were in a war, and you're still a good person and…"

Michael interrupted. "No, you don't understand, no matter what, all of you finding this out has caused a big difference in how you all see me. None of you will think of me the same way, you're all going to change the way you behave around me because I saved Inkopolis, you'll all see me as some kind of big hero that deserves to be worshipped. You won't be friends anymore at that point, you'll just be followers. And I don't want any of you to live like that!" Michael didn't care that his face was getting redder and redder, or that his eyes overflowed with tears, he just couldn't find the strength to care about those things at this moment.

Angela couldn't respond, Randy just sat, taking his gaze off of Michael and putting it to the floor, he was trying to come up with something to say, to counter Michael's argument.

Michael then looked to Shelly, in that moment, he felt like he wanted to hate her, he wanted to resent her for telling Randy and Angela.

But he couldn't. She didn't deserve that.

Because in that moment where Michael wanted to think she was the most evil person in the world, he saw possibly the most genuine guilt he's ever seen in someone's eyes, even if they were clouded up, as he wasn't the only one who was crying.

A silence hung between the four for what seemed like an eternity. Until Shelly spoke up.

"I can understand Michael's point of view. None of us have any idea what it was like to be in a war. I think... I think that Michael's right. We are going to see him differently after this. Anybody would." Everyone set their eyes on her as she spoke. "But… that doesn't mean we can't stay friends. Michael, we may see you as a different person after this, but that doesn't mean we're going to see you as a worse person. We'll see you as a better one." Shelly stood up and walked towards Michael. She crouched down to be at eye level with him. "And just because you're a great hero, doesn't mean we won't see you as one of us, we won't worship you or mindlessly follow you around. We're going to stay by your side, as you would ours. And we're going to help you live a happy life." She smiled "It's the least I can do for spilling out your secret."

Michael looked to Angela and Randy, who both nodded slightly to show they would follow suit.

Looking back to Shelly, he still saw her smiling at him.

And he smiled back.

"Thank you."

Shelly stood up straight, followed by Angela and Randy. Shelly reached out a hand to help Michael up, who took the offer gladly.

A moment of silence spread over the four friends.

"It'll be tough, but we'll work it out." Angela said.

"Yeah, who cares if you're a hero or not? You're still my best mate." Randy continued.

Shelly simply smiled.

Michael, having been driven into the ground with sadness just a moment ago, was helped back up by his friends.

And by the great Kraken in the sky, he'd stay that way.

"Now, what do you guys say we go out to eat, my treat." Randy offered.

The other three agreed, getting dressed as quickly as they could and heading out, chatting the time away.

"Okay, no, you're just completely wrong there, Marie is clearly better than Callie." Randy said.

"What're you talkin' about? Callie's so full of energy all the time, I love her!" Angela responded.

"Yeah but Marie's so much more hot! And to top it off, she's got a great sense of humor."

"If you actually thought with your head up here and not the other one, you'd know that you were wrong."

"Hey, c'mon, gimme a break." The two chuckled at each other, all in good fun.

The day was clear, not a single cloud in the sky. The group was sitting outside of Inkopolis' café that rested in the plaza. Shelly was busy with her drink, Angela and Randy were so preoccupied with arguing that Michael wondered if their drinks would even be a quarter of the way done by the end of the day. As for Michael, he simply took in the sights, loving to be able to relax in the plaza with his friends. After how emotionally taxing the day had been, it was, to say the least, nice to be like this.

Looking to the streets he noticed something off. A manhole cover was popped off, slid a slight bit to the side. He decided to take his mind off of it, thinking it to be of no importance.

When the group left, it was nearing nighttime, the plaza wasn't as populated as it was when they arrived, everyone was going back home as they were. Michael suddenly remembered the manhole cover, he looked back to it, still slid off to the side.

And then, for the briefest of moments, Michael could have sworn he saw a dark purplish color come from it. He blinked twice to clear out his eyes, the light was gone.

'Must've just been my eyes.' Michael thought.

The group returned home and retired for the night. The day had been an unusual one, and one that tired them out. Everyone went to sleep quickly.