"Rean?" A voice echoes out into the empty hanger. A head of brown hair pokes through the doorway, glancing side to side. Its owner stepped through the door, holding a lunchbox in her hands.

She waited a few seconds, but only silence greeted her. "Weird. I thought he'd..." She mutters, her eyes scanning the hanger once again. Yet, nothing could be found. Not even the professor or Tita could be found.

"Huh." She said into the empty building. Rean had agreed to meet her here after work, then take his orbal bike outside Leeves for a picnic.

Wait, the room is not TOTALLY empty...*

Setting her food down on a nearby table, she set off down the hanger towards where the Panzer Soldats were hangared. There, gleaming in the evening light, stood Valimar.

It's been a while since I last spoke to Valimar...* Truthfully, she couldn't remember ever speaking one-on-one with the knight. Whenever he was nearby, Rean ALSO was nearby (and was usually also the main target of her conversation.) But despite being his partner in battle for longer then she's even been dating him, she still mostly knows about him second-hand.

Well, there's a first time for everything.

Stopping in front of the robot, she gazed up at the towering figure. "Hey, Valimar?" She asked.

His green eyes began to glow, and a deep voice boomed through the hanger. "Hello, Towa." Valimar's robotic voice greeted. "I hope you have been well."

"I have, thanks." She answered. She thought about asking that back... But would it really fit a robot? "Has your maintenance gone well?" She settled on.

"Yes. Artificers Tita and Mint have both been highly adept at their craft. I am thankful to be in good hands." He responds. It's a little unsettling how he remains fully still while answering. Humans usually at least drift or sway when talking, with some (like Millium and Angie) being even more expressive. But Valimar... Just stood straight as the metal he was made of.

"I'm glad." She finished. She couldn't help but be proud of her student. She really was under a lot of pressure, with the Professor practically conscripting her right in the middle of class to help with whatever experiment had popped into his mind that day. Yet she still maintained her grades, and was always helpful to her classmates AND Class VII.

(Honestly, at times she's a bit afraid that Rean will poach her to Class VII too sometime. She's already lost Musse to him, so she can't help but wonder if all her star pupils will migrate over to his tutelage.)

Wait, right! Rean!* "A-anyway!" She continued, trying to get back on track. "Have you seen Rean here recently? We had agreed to meet up here for... a picnic." She admitted. While they still tried (futility it felt like) to hide their relationship on-campus, Valimar had long since known of their "unique connection." There were only so many times the Divine Knight could ask about his elevated heart rate of why the temperate on his suddenly cheeks rose before they just tore the bandage off.

As the knight regained his personality, he was accommodating towards the couple. According to Rean, he was surprisingly good at coming up with date ideas (he claimed he got it from *Emperor Dreichels*). And he was always willing to help the two get some privacy (even if that privacy often involved being smooshed *way too close* inside his cockpit.)

But usually, he simply kept vigil during dates, the faintest of laughs sometimes heard over the wind.

"Ah, I understand." Was that... a *grin* she could hear in his voice? "Unfortunately, Rean just left a few minutes ago. He said something about his students having an 'incident' but did not elaborate."

"Oh..." Towa couldn't help but grin and shake her head. Figured, knowing who his kids were. "That's Rean for you. Always rushes to help people." She said, her voice growing a little wistful. Just another thing she loved about him.

"That he is." Valimar responded, his head tilting down towards Towa. "If I may say, you and Rean remind me of my prior Awakener and his lover."

"Huh? You mean... Emperor Dreichels?" That came out of left field. Rean had told her the knight was previously piloted by the Great Unifier (which she still could hardly believe. But she had seen MORE than enough to prove that, frankly.) She tilted her head to the side. "How do you mean?"

"Both he and his lover helped out anyone who came to them." He continued. "While my previous Awakener did not quite seek out issues like Rean does, there are many parallels."

"Well, it does make sense the people who awakened you would share some traits. Especially something as important as that." Hearing that her boyfriend was similar to one of Erebonia's greatest emperors elicited many emotions she couldn't quite put to words.

(Though the schoolgirl in her was clear: *Duh, I already knew he was that amazing.* Her cheeks reddened a little.)

"Also..." The Divine Knight spoke up, interrupting her mental rambling, "he was always happier with her. My bond with my Awakener lets me feel their heart like it was my own. I can feel when they are related, when the weight of the world feels lifted around someone."

His green eyes almost seemed brighter. "And I can tell you have the same effect on Rean."

"Huh?!" She yelped, a full-force blush marking her face.

"When we were on missions, he often reminisced about you. It never failed to bring a smile on him, or light the darkness over his heart. And when he is with you in person, I can almost see him brighten."

His head shifts ever so slightly. "Towa Herschel. I ask this not as a secondary contractor, but as the one my Awakener cherishes most. Please, watch over Rean. I can't be with him most of the time, but you are. I can protect him in battles, but you protect his heart. So please, protect and cherish him."

Despite the robot's face remaining as stone-cold as ever, she could feel the raw emotion from Valimar. Her face steeled, and she placed a fist over her heart.

"Yes. Of course. I promise." She nodded her head, green eyes gleaming. "I'd like nothing more then to be there for him."

Barely a few seconds after, the doors to the hanger burst open once again. Towa jumped, turning in place towards the newcomer. Rean stumbled through the doors. He leaned against the wall, panting a little.

"Towa!" He shouted, waving over to her. "Sorry that I'm late!"

"It's okay!" She yelled back. She turned back to Valimar one last time, giving him a smile before jogging over to the swordsmen.

Valimar's eyes brightened in response, then dimmed.

Towa glanced up and down at her boyfriend, raising an eyebrow at the leaves stuck in his hair. She reached up and brushed a few off, standing on her toes. "You dealt with whatever 'incident' your students got themselves into?"

"Haha, I managed yeah " he responded, smiling and placing his hand on hers. He gripped it lightly. "Anyway, shall we get going? We're already late, so no sense wasting time."

"Okay." She simply said. The two walked out towards where Rean parked his bike. The shorter woman had a slight spring in her step. Rean noticed her pace, but opted to simply savor the sight.