https://youtu.be/GaV8dk-3kuo

The bell rings as Kana open the door as she walks out of the clothes' store.

"Please come again!" The lady cheered, happily bidding her customer farewell, to which Kana modestly smiled and nodded.

As much as she hated to admit it. She has grown a few inches, and most of her clothes, whether worn out or have too many patches from training.

With little money lefts, she managed to buy a few new clothes and buy some souvenirs for the people back at the church. Kana sent more than half her pay to Sister Lily, but the young girl loves how happy those children would be if they were introduced to new sweets they never had back at Hage village.

After returning to the base alongside the other members after her release, Yuko-san engulfed her into a bear hug and wailed so loud that Kana swore that she lost her left hearing for two days.

As touching the reunion can be, the young lioness, later on, underwent an earful scolding from Yuko-san along with Randalf for acting recklessly. They thoroughly appreciated the red-haired intentions of helping their captain, but what if the worse scenarios happened? What if she was on the bed and not Fuegoleon? Worse, what if it cost her life?

Kana won't say it out loud at that moment. Instead, she somewhat wished that she was lying on the bed, not her captain.

After having a long lecture from other seniors that joined along, seeing that Kana wasn't on her feisty side, the poor girl only led to getting two hours of sleep despite having a week off.

The following day, Kana decided to visit her tiny animal kingdom, and as she expected or too much, they tackled her so hard that she could almost see her soul drift out of her body.

The wildlings bombard her with serials screeching, growling, bellowing and more. Muku merely watches from afar, not aching to get into the chaotic scene. Still, he could sense that the other creatures were worrying over the human's unexpected disappearance. They can feel that something has occurred to her since the raccoon always sneaking into the base reported that it can't find the human girl anywhere in the fortress.

Thus, Kana can't really understand what they were implying, but she can feel their distress, making her apologize to them and offer the wildling lunch boxes that she made specials for them.

The days after that didn't change much—just her visiting Fuegoleon alongside Leopold or others who wish to come, training, resting, etc.

Kana was actually displeased with her training nowadays as her captain was the one who would point out her wrong, and now, just the image and ghostly voice of him crawling her ears.

Today, she chose to spoil herself by shopping and to laze around the rebuilt city. Few people that recognize her will graciously thank her, and some even offer a warm smile. But as usual, not everyone was happy to see her walking freely while her captain was still in bad shape.

There are still lingering nasty looks from a few squad members who still don't believe her innocent, and the rumours of her being a member of Midnight Sun are still being whispered around.

'The price of freedom' She always remind herself.

Muku gleefully took a big bite of the kebab that Kana extended and screeched in delight. He was the happiest among all to see the flame user finally walk free as the young beast was the only creature that knew the truth. However, he can feel the sorrow when he watches the human girl drifting away while basking under the moonlight by the window.

A creature like him might not know what death indicates, but they can feel the same as any human being. Muku sometimes crawls around Fuegoleon's office. He remembers the older human with the same ashy smell as another male human and his companion always sitting and holding a feather(quill) in his hand.

Kana did bring Muku to visit their captain, and he will lay his head on the man stomach, whining and growling, wishing that it would wake the man up. Then, he will nudge Fuegoleon's hand so that he will gain some petting or scratching like he usually does, but as the day passes, there's no reaction at all.

The only pieces that soothed the beast as if he knew that Fuegoleon was still alive were his heartbeat and the warmness surrounding his body.

The sight was too much for Kana, but she didn't want the young beast to be stressed by their captain's missing presence, which was why she always brought Muku with her whenever she came to visit.

Her thought was interrupted by the intense blast of air that made Muku cover her with his wing while the other held on to her.

"What was that?" Kana asks out loud when the situation is finally quiet. She didn't notice that she had taken the wrong road from getting drowned by her thought.

Kana quickly ran towards the source only to sigh in relief that it wasn't another attack, just some idiots that she knows very well being what they are good at—being idiots.

"Huh? Was that too much?" Yuno, stunned by his own action, states while others gape in shock.

"What do you think you're doing, Yuno?!" Klaus yells loudly, frustrated by his junior's acts.

"Who are you calling 'Shrimpsta' Yuno, you jerk?!" Asta loud voices reaching Kana, who on the other side of him snicker as she been yearning the ash-blonde haired's loudness not that she will tell him about it. "Come down here and fight me right now! Don't shoot something like that just so you can—eh? Kana-chan?"

"Kana?" Yuno's head instantly followed the shorter boy's sight upon hearing the name. His eyes brightened up, and he immediately took off.

"Don't you dare ignore me, you jerk!" Asta hollers loudly in irritation, but the dark-haired didn't appear to listen to him anymore with his eyes fixed on the red-haired.

"It's been quite a long time since we last met, aren't we?" Kana state when the taller boy finally stops in front of her.

Yuno beamed passionately, but his eyes said how reassured he was to see her. "You didn't write back. I was so worried."

Kana smiled apologetically, scratching her chin. "I'm sorry about that, I was about to write back, but something came up." It was a lie. Her letters have been confiscated, and she can only receive them after being wholly checked in precautious.

"I understand." Yuno nods, feeling glad to see Kana walking freely. After learning the news of her being brought to questioning, he was livid and about to fly to the headquarter, but his captain forbade it.

William explained that those actions would only worsen the situations, which also grieved him for so many reasons that they can only help in a few parts, even for someone like him or Julius.

Mimosa was the one who told him about it, and Asta did send him a letter informing his concerns about Kana's whereabout. Naturally, he was displeased, but just like William, the captain of Black Bull also told his underling that those actions would be counterproductive and make everything worse for the girl.

The only thing both of them could do was to wait—

A week after the attack, they finally get the good news; Kana will be released as she has been found not guilty or involved in the attack.

"As long as you're fine, I'm happy with it." He affectionately states, causing the girl to blush.

"Y-you don't have to worry about me! I-I can take care of myself!" She huffs, cheeks still flushing.

"I know you do." Yuno gently pats her head, making the girl's cheek redden even more.

"Kana-chan!" Mimosa wailed as she tackled the other girl into a hug. "I'm so glad to see you."

"I'm sorry for making you worry." The flame user sweated nervously as she tried her best to soothe the crying girl.

"KANA-CHANNNNN!" Asta shouts, annoyed that Yuno has been robbing all Kana's attention to himself. "I MISS—"

Before he could finish his statements, Kana found herself deaf with the dark-haired boy concealing both her ears and looking smugly at the boy on the other side.

"Yuno, you jerk!"

Klaus sighed at his juniors' childishness while Mimosa giggled as it was a rare sight to see Yuno in such possessive mode.

'G.E.T L.O.S.T.' The air magic-user mouth before stirring the girl away.

Kana was taken back by everything, followed along but not before waving at the enraged Asta as he roars so many things to Yuno that she could hear none of them with her ears still covered.

Noelle, however, did wave back at her before knocking Asta for being too loud for her liking.

While many were happy to be reunited with the red-haired, two eyes gazed at her in disappointment.

'My Meal-Saving Prince/My Yuno—have fallen for someone else?!!'

A/N:

As usual, I apologize for disappearing so long. Unfortunately, I lost interest in writing after losing someone special earlier this month.

I felt empty after that and busied myself with works since my country started reopening schools and colleges.

I hate myself when I can't or don't write an update for any of my stories, so I decided to finish this chapter. I'm not fond of it very much, but this chapter needs to be my starting point from now on. I don't know when the next update will come up, nor will I promise anything. But I will keep pushing myself to write because that's what I love to do.

I am genuinely grateful and thanks all of you for your patience and understanding.

https://youtu.be/5gkZY5fpv7I