I hope you guys are enjoying the story! Here's the next chapter!

October 23, X790

It was morning and Spiral was in his bed still asleep from the exhaustion brought out by the previous day's fight. He eventually started to open his eyes to see the morning sunlight shining through his window.

"Nnn…" Spiral moaned as he started to wake up. "How long was I out?"

Spiral then noticed something warm touching him. He could also feel something pressing against his back that was firm, yet soft. He looked around to see Hikari sleeping soundly in his bed with him, cuddling and wrapping her arms around him. She was also in her light blue undergarments again and her chest was pressing up against Spiral's back. Spiral began to furiously blush.

*What's Hikari doing in my bed?* He thought. *Did she take me home yesterday after the fighting? I should probably let her know that I'm awake.* Spiral once again noticed the sensation of Hikari's breasts pressed up against Spiral's back. *… On second thought, maybe I could sleep in a bit more. D'OW! WHAT AM I SAYING?! I DON'T WANT TO BE CONSIDERED A PERVERT! But it feels so nice! NO! NO! CONTROL YOURSELF!*

"Good morning, my hero." Hikari said as she woke up and hugged Spiral tighter. "You must have been really tired after yesterday." Hikari slid out of bed. "Just continue resting while I go make you breakfast."

Hikari put on an apron and walked to the kitchen. As she walked away, Spiral couldn't help but check out Hikari's curves like he did a month ago.

*Damn, she's got a great ass on her.* Spiral thought. *GAH! STOP THINKING LIKE THAT, YOU MORON!*

"After we have breakfast, we should go meet with the rest of the guild." Hikari called out from the kitchen. "We'll all be helping to fix the town from the Bladed Foxes' attack."

"Is the damage really that bad?" Spiral asked.

"There were no casualties, though that's only because they had no intention of killing the townsfolk. And all of our guild mates were able to fend them off. By the way, Azusa wanted to see you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she said she had something important to tell you."

"Something important?"

(Spiral's Flashback)

As Spiral was about to leave Yukimaru's chambers after a month of training, she had stopped him.

"Hold on." She said. "When you get back home, you should speak with your guild mate, Azusa Hirano."

"Hm?" Spiral asked. "Why?"

"Just talk with her and you'll see." Yukimaru simply smiled.

(End Flashback)

*Could it be what Mom was hinting at?* Spiral wondered.

"Breakfast will be ready in a moment! We'll need our strength for today!"

Spiral then looked around his home to see just how clean it was. "Hikari, did you clean my apartment while I was gone?"

"Why yes, I did!" Hikari said as she came in with waffles.

"Thanks."

"Eat up. I made this especially for you."

At Roseshade's local forge, Azusa walked in with her broken greatsword toward the blacksmith.

"Excuse me? Do you think you can help repair this sword?" She asked.

"Oh, you're one of those Phoenix Dawn wizards who helped save our town yesterday." The blacksmith said. "In that case, I'll help repair it free of charge. Wait, this sword doesn't have magical properties, does it?"

"No, it's a normal greatsword." Azusa answered.

"Hey, wait a minute…" The blacksmith examined the hilt of the sword. "This sword… this wouldn't happen to be the sword of Lance Arthur, would it?"

"Yes, he's my father."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but when he married he took my mother's surname. He thought it would bring less attention to him if he did so."

"Well, I promise to respect his desire for privacy. I'll be sure to fix this blade as soon as I can."

"Thanks." Azusa smiled as she turned around to leave.

Meanwhile, Jason was busy helping to repair some of the buildings in town and he had removed his shirt so he wouldn't get it sweaty. As he did that, Aqua came by holding a giant orb of water above her head.

"Jason, I brought along some water you can drink!" Aqua said.

"Thanks! I'll be down in a moment!" Jason said as he continued to work on the plank he was nailing down.

While Aqua waited, something caught her attention that caused a sweat drop to fall from behind her head. There were several women on the street watching Jason work without his shirt on.

"Uh, Jason, I think you have some lady fans." Aqua nervously chuckled.

"Impossible, I'm not a chick magnet." Jason said without turning around or losing focus.

"I think reality would like to say otherwise…" Aqua muttered to herself.

Jason climbed down the ladder and as he turned around, the women dispersed and went back to their usual routines.

"See, Aqua?" Jason asked. "I'm not a chick magnet."

*Does he REALLY not notice them?* Aqua thought before separating some water from the orb and placed it in a plastic cup.

Jason accepted the cup and guzzled the water down in one go. "Ah! Thanks! Just leave another cup in and I'll get to it in a little bit."

"Jason, do you mind if I ask you something?" Aqua asked. "How come you don't seem interested in anyone?"

"Interested how?"

"I mean that you never seem to have any sort of romantic interest in anyone."

"Ugh, not that again!"

"Excuse me? 'Again'?"

"My parents keep asking me that every time I see them. They seem really intent on me finding a girlfriend, getting married and having children."

"Well, I'm not forcing you into anything. I'm just curious."

Jason sighed. "If you want to know, it's because I met someone a long time ago and I'm… waiting for them to come back."

"How long has it been?"

"Come this December, it will have been 6 years."

"THAT long? Did you two make a promise or something?"

"Well, n-no, but I just haven't felt the same way about anybody else."

"This girl sounds pretty special."

"Yeah… she is… Sorry, but I got to get back to work."

Jason climbed back up the ladder to finish working on the house while Aqua went to the other Phoenix Dawn wizards who were helping to repair people's homes and shops and quench any thirst they might have.

After an incredibly long day of repairing the town, which still needs more time before the restoration would be complete, Spiral and Hikari had went back to the former's apartment to get some well-deserved rest.

"Man, I'm seriously beat!" Spiral said as he walked over to his bed and fell on top of it.

"Don't even think about going to bed before having dinner." Hikari said as she walked toward the kitchen. "I've been practicing my cooking for over a month just for you. And you know what they say: 'A way to a man's heart is through his stomach'."

There was then a knocking on the door and Spiral got up to answer it.

"I'll get it, Hikari!" Spiral said.

He opened the door to reveal that his visitor was Azusa.

"Azusa, just the person I wanted to see." Spiral said.

"Huh? You wanted to see me?" Azusa asked.

The two sat down at the living room table. For what seemed like an hour, the two were surrounded in an awkward silence.

"… I… heard about what happened to your sword." Spiral said, trying to start a conversation.

"I took it to the local blacksmith earlier." Azusa said. "He's repairing it as we speak, though I won't be getting it back at least a few days."

"That's good to hear."

"Yeah… it is. That sword belongs to Father."

"Your dad gave you that sword?"

"He gave it to me when I decided to leave home and join this guild."

"Come to think of it, you never told anybody why you joined the guild."

"… I joined… so I could meet my brother."

"Your brother's in the guild?! Who is he?" Spiral asked as he stood up.

"… Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes, as your guild mate AND your friend I want to help you!"

"… You."

"O_O… Huh?"

"You're… my half-brother."

"WHAT?!" Hikari shouted as she poked her head from the kitchen.

While Hikari was distracted by the conversation, she failed to notice the cloud of smoke that started to come out of the kitchen. The sudden revelation had left Spiral completely motionless.

"I… I'm…" Spiral tried to speak, but his voice kept trailing off.

"Yukimaru told me everything about it." Azusa said with a sullen look on her face. "It was a few weeks before I joined Phoenix Dawn. The day she came to my hometown, her powers brought forth a massive blizzard. As I rushed to get home, she walked up to me while I was all alone and she told me about her connection to my father. After my parents got married, they spent their honeymoon mountain climbing in the mountains of Northdell. Unfortunately, they got separated and my father was on the verge of freeing to death. That was when Yukimaru found him and took him to her chambers. When he woke up, Yukimaru wanted something in exchange for saving his life: A child."

"And he went along with it?!" Spiral asked, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. "Your dad sounds like a two-timing-"

"No, he would never do that!" Azusa shouted, standing up and slamming her hands against the table. "He didn't want to do it. He loved Mom too much and refused to cheat on her. But Yukimaru said that their affair wouldn't mean a thing and that if my father had any change of heart, she would freeze him on the spot… Well… he didn't. He felt guilty about his actions and he still regrets it, but in a strange way it only made him care about Mom even more. When she told me the story, I couldn't believe it, but after asking Dad about it… my fears were confirmed. I can understand your shock; I had the exact same reaction after I talked with Dad."

Spiral didn't know what words to say. He practically fell back into his seat and slumped down against it.

"When I first heard about you, I didn't know what to think about you." Azusa continued. "For all I knew from what I've heard, you might have been the most hotheaded, cocky, pompous jerk on the planet."

"That's encouraging…" Spiral said sarcastically.

"But when I met you…"

Spiral then noticed that a tear was starting to roll down the side of Azusa's face.

"It was like… you were the big brother I always wanted." Azusa said before getting up and giving Spiral a big bear hug.

Spiral could start to feel his eyes water and he hugged Azusa back.

"Dinner's almost ready!" Hikari called out from the kitchen.

"You want to stay for dinner?" Spiral asked Azusa.

"I would love that." Azusa answered.

Elsewhere on a wilderness path, the Rune Knights were marching with prison carriages carrying the various members of the Bladed Foxes they had arrested.

"We pretty much got all of the guild's wizards." One Rune Knight said.

"Didn't one of the Hexagon Swords get away?" Another Rune Knight asked.

"Yes, the member known as Veil must have escaped before we had arrived at Roseshade. God knows what she intends to do after today's incident."

Spiral, Azusa and Hikari had just finished eating dinner and Spiral patted his enlarged stomach.

"Man, I can't remember the last time I ate that much!" Spiral said.

"I'm glad you liked my cooking." Hikari said. "Maybe…"

Hikari then walked over to Spiral and placed one hand on his shoulder and another on his chest.

"You'd like some dessert, too?" Hikari asked in a seductive voice.

Spiral's face instantly became red and warm from Hikari's words.

"Uuuumm…" Azusa spoke. "I'm still here, you know? Is she your girlfriend, Spiral?"

"Uh, n-no." Spiral replied, his face still red.

"But I will be." Hikari said. "And I can tell he wants it, too."

"Huh?! Wh-what?!" Spiral panicked with his face somehow even redder. "I-I never said anything like that! Why would you think that?!"

"Because you blush every time I'm near you." Hikari said as she pulled Spiral into an affectionate hug. "Even if just a little."

"Really?" Azusa asked. "I've never noticed."

"I have." Hikari said before cuddling her face against Spiral. "Your body feels so warm right now… It feels so nice… zzzzz…"

Hikari had fallen asleep still holding onto Spiral's body.

"… I think you should head home now, Azusa." Spiral said.

"Good night, Spiral." Azusa said, standing up and politely bowing to Spiral. "Don't get her pregnant." She joked with a smile.

Spiral didn't say anything and just continued to furiously blush as Azusa left and Spiral walked himself and Hikari back into his room and lied onto his bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

A/N: For the next chapter or two, I'm going to have Sorcerer Weekly interview Phoenix Dawn to help shed some light on each of the guild's members. It's the perfect time to do so since they had just taken down an entire Dark Guild of powerful wizards. It also might be a while before I post another action packed chapter since the last few have been more focused on that. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for next time!