Mereoleona is shown dragging a huge fish over her shoulder with a big smile, "hey! Y/n! I got a big one this time! Pretty sure I beat yours."

Mereoleona placed down the fish on the ground next to the tent, the fish making a dent in the ground due to the weight of the creature. The birds cheeped, but there was still no grunts or groans from inside the tent. Not even a sarcastic comment or excited laugh. Mereoleona, puzzled, started to walk over. "Wake up already!" No response, "you better not be-"

She opened the tent and saw Y/n laying on the ground, but he was oddly stiff. When she turned him over, he wasn't breathing in the silence. And the sounds of a ticking clock got louder and louder. Mereoleona suddenly leaps from her dream, finding herself naked, and wrapped around Y/n, "looks like he wasn't kidding about that after all."

Mereoleona lets him go before he hugged her again, missing the warmth. Mereoleona growled, "get off!"

"OWWWW!!!"
———-
Y/n is seen with an unamused frown as he  holds his head, Mereoleona walked in front of him. "So let me get this straight, you hit me for wrapping your arms around my body!?"

Mereoleona growled, "that's not what happened!" she grumbled a bit to herself, clearly off today.

Even the unaware Y/n could take notice. Carefully approaching her side, he could clearly see that her mind was else where, even though her body was moving in auto pilot, "hey, are you okay? You're kinda-"

"What?" Mereoleona firmly asked with a bit of grit in her voice.

"Out of it." Y/n stated. The two adults entered a small village just then, kids running around with smiles on their faces. One threw some sort of ice ball before a vine bat was swung, shattering the ball instead of flinging it in the air. The vine kid got worried before the other boy hugged him to calm him down.

"What was that dream- no, nightmare about.. why would I even dream about that? Why am I so..." Mereoleona growled to herself and gripped her hand into a fist, "...annoyed at the prospect."

"Huh?" Y/n wondered before trying to change the rough subject. "Can't believe we've already been partied up for six months."

"It honestly feels longer, your strength has rivaled my own in ways I could never imagine. I have to give credit to you for getting even stronger during this journey." Mereoleona gave a different kind of smile. It was way more...affectionate. It was clear the lioness was not aware of this, otherwise she would not have faced him.

"Wait, could it be...?" Y/n began to remember.

"He is handsome, but there's many more things with him."

Mereoleona sipped the rest of her drink, "you'll like that he's dependable, in the time we've been together, he's always has had my back. He's strong enough to stand on his own, but also will put up with your antics. He's very kind and understanding. But he can also be reckless and unpredictable."

"Could she really look at me like that...?" Y/n thought before smirking. He then looked at a tiny dog afar. "Wow, look at that dog. It's cute but not as cute as you."

Mereoleona froze and raised an eyebrow towards Y/n, "Are...Are you flirting with me?"

Y/n chuckled and put his hands behind his head, "Hm? Isn't it obvious?"

Mereoleona scoffed with a light smile, "Try a better one next time, even I can do better than that."

"Eh? Really, let's hear it then." Y/n taunted with a cocky smirk.

Mereoleona turns and puts her hand under his chin, lifting it up. The two were only inches apart and Y/n could feel Mereoleona's hot breath against his face. She smirks at him. "I can't wait for us to spar later~"

Y/n blushes and Mereoleona laughs, releasing Y/n. "I win."

Y/n covered his mouth with his hand, "we'll see about that..."
——-
Afterwards, Y/n and Mereoleona head to the training space, after forcing Mereoleona to pick a deserted area. Although the animals chose to watch Y/n's fights from afar. Very...very afar. Noting Y/n's more quiet than normal, Mereoleona folds her arms. "You okay over there?"

"Yep." Y/n simply said.

"Remember, act as if you're gonna kill me." Mereoleona pondered to herself, "hmm, he's not having fun like last time. In the forest, he was having fun. I know I said for him to act like he wanted to kill me, but I didn't expect him to act like this. Does that mean back at the Hot Spring, he really was gonna kill the 'Target'?"

"Are you ready?" Y/n asked as he started to let off a very thin layer of steam. If Mereoleona was bad at sensory, she would've never found it. The heat was getting risen, but although Mereoleona was confused, she attempted to not show it.

As if he teleported, Y/n was behind Mereoleona and manages to break the ground with his sheer running speed. As the debris came towards Mereoleona, she was grabbed by a steam Rhinoceros Horn. She quickly formed fire on her knuckles, slamming them into the horn of the monster. While focusing on that, she failed to block the actual hit from Y/n, a strong kick to the face, which sends Mereoleona through several trees. After skipping around, she slid her right foot into the ground to stop her from moving. She smiled, "oh, you really were holding back on me, you bastard."

Y/n didn't say anything, simply his silhouette came out from the steam before showing up. Y/n folded his arms, "you better use Mana Zone, because that's the only way you stand a chance now."

"Oh? Cocky, are we?" Mereoleona dashed forward to Y/n, before he quickly raised his arms up, "you seem to forget, you're fighting for your life too!!!"

She puts more power into the punch before sending a large wave of fire off of it as well, Y/n is quickly sent through the plains before Y/n surrounds himself in steam that's shaped like a rhinoceros and charges forward on all fours. Mereoleona smirks and charges as well, hoping to stop the Rhino, but when she realizes she cannot stop the impact, she goes to avoid it. Once such an event is done, Mereoleona goes to leap back, but Y/n sends out a wave of steam in all directions, sending back Mereoleona once again. That's when Y/n opened his mouth and fired a large beam of steam, which Mereoleona put her hand outwards. Smartly, Mereoleona uses the fire from her finger tips to diverge the attack to the side of her. Once again, as if Y/n teleported, he appeared at her side. Dodging a swift kick, Y/n gave a double axe fist to the back of the lioness, causing her to slam into the ground. Mereoleona, strong as ever, goes to stand up, but drops of blood fall from her forehead. It's a sight that she's getting used to seeing...so long as she's been traveling with Y/n. For a brief moment, Mereoleona almost appeared to be sad. That moment being immediately replaced with excitement, "that's what I'm talking about!!"

Mereoleona leaped into the trees, to which Y/n believed he figured out something, blasting the trees leaves with steam immediately with a single palm out. He figured out nothing, failing to look up, seeing that Mereoleona immediately leaped out the forest, predicting that Y/n would do such a thing. She slammed her fiery fist into Y/n's arm, "AGH!"

Causing the man to bounce off a few rocks and trees. Slamming his fist against a rock, Mereoleona dashed behind Y/n with quick speed, with Y/n predicting it with an uppercut. Barely reeling back Mereoleona's head, Y/n was punched in the side once again by Mereoleona's fist before kicked away in the sternum by her foot. Spitting a bit of blood out, Y/n swiped his face and then immediately he grabbed Mereoleona's face and slammed it into the ground. Her blood spread onto his hand as Y/n started to increase the temperature, steam flowing through it before the ground sunk into the earth. However the steam suddenly flowed into fire, Y/n raised an eyebrow. The fire grew brighter against Y/n's hand as Mereoleona started to laugh. "Calidus Brachium!!"

Mereoleona's fast attack knocked Y/n into the air and unconscious, Y/n spiraled into the floor and bleeding heavily. "Huh? Already? What's wrong?"

Y/n's stomach growled as Y/n groaned a bit. Mereoleona sighed, "you have to be kidding me..."
—-
Y/n is seen looking at Mereoleona across from him again, the two were once again at a tavern, "it's been a while since we sat in one of these!"

"Can't believe you collapsed due to hunger. I told you to eat yesterday!" Mereoleona growled before Y/n winced a bit.

"Geez, how come I got old nagging Mery today..." Y/n taunted, but Mereoleona didn't take the bait.

Through it was clear she was annoyed about being called old, with a deep sigh, she let it go. Mereoleona nodded, "We've been dismantling organizations of Kirito's gang, it's been a while indeed."

Y/n smirked, leaning in, "even though you said you didn't want to, you still went the extra mile."

"Don't push it, Rhino." Mereoleona looked at the menu.

"Hai Hai~" Y/n said as he looked at the menu.

"Here are your drinks." the man came over.

"Oh thank you." Y/n smiled.

The man smiled and placed a mug to Mereoleona's place...and then placed a dog dish on the ground with some water. "...."

"Is there something wrong?" the man asked.

Y/n raised an eyebrow, "Um....where's the glass?"

"I already delivered it." the man said before walking away.

"...." Y/n closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. "I'm calm, I'm calm."

"Are you?" Mereoleona asked.

Y/n's eye twitched, "course, this is probably just a prank. Anyway, I'll just get this."

"Then I'll get this then. My treat." Mereoleona stated as she pointed to something on the menu. The same man came back with some paper, he was blushing a little.

"Are you ready to order, darling~?" the man said towards Mereoleona, who didn't pick up on what was happening.

"Yes, I'll have the —-" Mereoleona started as Y/n smirked.

"Oh...oooooohhhhh." as soon as the man walked away, Y/n leaned in. "Hey, I think he likes you."

"What? Don't be absurd." Mereoleona shrugged it off.

"Oh come on, he gave you a mug and me a dog bowl. He gets red whenever you come around? Come on, that's a crush if I've ever seen it!" Y/n smiled but Mereoleona seemed conflicted with this knowledge, Y/n tilted his head, "I guess more people find you attractive like I do."

"Like you do, huh?" Mereoleona regained a smirk.

"Well, anyone that looks at you can tell that you're beautiful. Too bad your looks are less beautiful in comparison to everything else about you." Y/n smoothly said without a care in the world. Mereoleona held her head down with a smirk, giving a small huff. Seemingly amused with satisfaction as if all her worries had disappeared.

A bone was thrown at Y/n's head in the distance but Mereoleona's paw came and melted it down. The man came back with a passive aggressive anger towards Y/n. "Here you go, ma'am~. And...here..."

"Um, can I not have my meal in a dog bowl, please?" Y/n said to the man, starting to get aggravated.

"Litter box?"

"I DON'T WANT IT IN ANYTHING OTHER THAN A PLATE!!" Y/n shouted as Mereoleona still had her eyes closed. She was listening however, so she heard the guy when he whispered...

"Why is this babe around such a loser?"

Mereoleona's eyes opened and she got up. Y/n was confused, Mereoleona looked at the guy, who blushed. But...Mereoleona had an emotion Y/n wasn't used to seeing. Anger. "You think you can handle training?"

"Huh?" the guy asked.

"Do you think you can experience hell everyday to grow past your limits?" Mereoleona repeated. "Or how about living in the wilderness on end? No one around to go to?"

Mereoleona started to unleash a fiery aura, bright orange, but starting to become bloody red. Y/n backed up in his chair, even he was getting worried. Mereoleona walked closer to the man, "how about leaving everyone you ever loved to keep them save? To save people without a thanks, even if they may hate you. To keep watch late in the night to keep those you grow close to safe."

Her foot sprints started to melt the surface she stepped in, unknowingly causing the tavern some destruction. Many of the members of the tavern fled while others were shook and frozen. "Think you can handle me? Think you can take down a Noble?"

The man shook and stuttered, "I-uh-p-p-probably...not a n-noble-"

"Then you have no right to show any disrespect to this man right here." Mereoleona pointed to Y/n, "he is the bar of what's acceptable. You must beat that...though, it'd probably be impossible for someone who treats others like you do because of a small fascination."

Mereoleona turned around and gave Y/n a side eye, "c'mon, we're leaving."

"Oh...alright." Y/n slowly got up before leaving some money and a tip to the owner, "I'm...um...thanks for....yeah."

Y/n rushed out as the staff all threw off their badge, "I quit..."

Mereoleona and Y/n walked back to the camp in silence, there were no words. Y/n had his hands behind his back, "it seemed like Mery mellowed down. Never seen her like that before though."

"Are you sure that was the right call?" Y/n asked Mery, who kept walking. After a while of no response, Y/n continued. "You could've had a 'Y/n situation' and he would've grown into another fighter like me. You two could've had something. Maybe even mor-."

Mereoleona froze and turned around, a serious look, "give yourself more credit, damn it!"

Y/n had a comical Chibi face, "eh?"

"You just let him walk all over you and treat you like that." Mereoleona stated as she seemed annoyed.

Y/n held his hands up with a goofy smile, "well, I get that. But, I was way more powerful, and besides I wasn't gonna ruin your chances of-"

Mereoleona glared at Y/n, stepping up to his face, "get it through your head that I don't need you to be cautious of me! Or for me! I can handle myself! But don't use me as an excuse to not do anything!"

"Mery, calm down." Y/n started to get serious as well, "it's not like that. I just...I've had...these...feelings...never mind...let's drop it."

"What?" Mereoleona questioned. "You're mumbling, I couldn't hear you."

"Never mind, drop it. We haven't cleared all the areas the Knights listed. Let's keep moving." Y/n disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Wait!" Mereoleona got annoyed. "What was he gonna say? What feelings?"

Y/n is seen back at camp, holding his head, "damn it, should've just kept my mouth shut."

Y/n smiled, "Aunt R...I wonder what you'd do here, hehe."

"HEY!" Mereoleona suddenly appeared.

"Um...could I ask how you got here so fa-" Y/n shook his head with a smile, "well, never mind all that! Let's go find some dinner."

Mereoleona was a bit silent, her eyes wondered, searching for answers she didn't have. She wanted to ask more, to push forward, but it would be unwise to do so. Plus, if Y/n wanted, he could just disappear anytime. It's best for now to not do anything, she thought, clearing her head of any burning questions or desires dwelling deep inside. "Alright, but no more fish this week."

"Nature chooses, not me!" Y/n took off into the sky and surfed on the steam. Mereoleona looked at him take off in the distance, but he dropped something. Mereoleona picked up the device as it started to go off.

"A communication device...?" Mereoleona opened it, and it told her an interesting message...