When Theresa had finished speaking, the room went quiet for a while as no one spoke or even gave a reaction until finally someone spoke.

"W-Wait what? Really?" Asked Alex in shock.

"Yeah. While you and Himeko were on your way back here with Kiana, I received my last few payments and all of them added up were enough to pay off the remaining half of our initial debt." Said Theresa, standing up and walking over to Alex.

She reached into a pocket and fished out a couple stacks of cash as she handed it over to him.

Alex counted the money and sure enough she was right.

It was exactly the remaining half he needed.

"Oh. Well um, t-thanks I guess." Said Alex, feeling a bit awkward.

The fact that Theresa picked now of all times to tell him this was just extremely nerveracking especially when Alex had just saw two people he had grown close with be kidnapped.

He placed the money away as Himeko stood up and rubbed the back of her head.

"So kid, what're you gonna do next?" Asked Himeko.

Alex was about to answer until Kiana had interrupted him.

"What do you mean, 'What's he gonna do next', Himeko? He's obviously gonna help us get Mei and Bronya back! Right Alex!?" Asked Kiana looking at him.

Alex looked at her and for some reason struggled to give her a straight answer.

Right now in his head, he was conflicted on what to do.

While yes, he definitely did care for the safety of Bronya and Mei, at the same time he's no longer working under them anymore.

With his debt paid off, he was now free to leave and get back on track with his other daily activities as a merc.

Not only that, but the biggest worry he had was that should he assist in the invasion of an Anti-Entropy base, that would surely affect his mercenary work in a negative way seeing that he has helped AE with a few jobs in the past.

Obviously he couldn't ask them to pay for his services again since he had just gotten paid, so there was only two decisions for Alex to make.

Either work with them free of charge this one last time then part ways, or pack his bags now, take off already, and avoid making a permanent enemy out of Anti-Entropy.

"Come on what's taking so long!? Isn't it obvious that your gonna help!? Don't tell me your seriously considering leaving!" Shouted Kiana

"Calm down Kiana! There's no need to get angry right now!" Said Theresa.

Alex didn't appreciate Kiana shouting and rushing him, especially since he never forgot why he was in this entire situation in the first place.

"H-Hey what gives you the right to yell at me? The only reason I've been here so long in the first place was because you ended up crashing a drone causing my initial payment to be short." Said Alex back at her.

"You're still hung over about that!? It happened a month ago already!" Said Kiana.

"Exactly! If it weren't for you then I would've left weeks ago and not have to deal with this school's problems!" Shouted Alex.

"Huh!? Don't act like you're not a part of this cause you are!"

"I ain't saying that I'm not you just aren't looking at the big picture! As a mercenary, I need to avoid making enemies and stay on both Schicksal and AE's good sides so that my line of work isn't compromised. If I go through with this and word gets out that I attacked a base of one of my main employers, then chances are very likely that Schicksal wouldn't wanna hire my services anymore to risk the same thing happening to them."

"So you're being selfish just so you can maintain your perfect image!?"

"I'm not being selfish! I'm just making sure that my lifeline, my line of work, the only way I make income, isn't compromised!"

"Y-You selfish, greedy bastard!" Shouted Kiana as she immediately attempted to lunge at and attack Alex only for Himeko and Theresa to hold her back.

The white haired girl continued to thrash and struggle against their iron grip on her to no avail.

Eventually she gave up on an attack but still continued to verbally berate him.

"After all these weeks spent together, to think you were just a greedy and selfish scumbug who only focused on the money, your image, and nothing else." Said Kiana.

"Oh really? So apparently now it's a bad thing to look out for myself!?" Shouted Alex.

"Ugh I don't care anymore about what you have to say! Hurry up and leave already!" Shouted Kiana as she pointed at the door.

Alex knew that their conversation was over as he just sighed.

"Fine, I'll go. I got better things to do than waste my time arguing with a girl who's just blinded by her own head." Said Alex before he turned around and left the hospital room.

Later that night, Alex had finished packing all his stuff into his bags. He took one last, long look around the dormitory he had stayed in for the past couple of weeks before smiling somberly to himself.

'Too late to go back now. I've already made my decision.' Thought the boy.

He looked at his phone and saw how it was gonna be quite the long walk from here to the nearest bus stop but he didn't really have any other options for travel.

That was until he heard a car stop in front and honk at him.

Alex looked up to see a red open roof car being driven by Himeko.

"Hey kid. Need a ride to the bus stop? I can take you there." She said.

"Thanks. I appreciate it." Said Alex as he put his bags in the back seat before he got in and buckled up in the passenger seat.

With that Himeko began to drive off as she left the dorm area of St. Freya and onto the road that would lead them to the stop.

On the way there, Alex just looked off to the side of the road and sky above, not really wanting to engage in a conversation as he was still fuming a bit from the fight with Kiana that afternoon.

That was until Himeko broke the ice amd and began to speak first.

"I apologize for how Kiana was acting up today." She said.

"No it's fine. To be honest, I understand how she felt. It was just a heat of the moment thing back there." Said Alex.

"Yeah I know. I just want you to understand that you aren't obligated to help us out this time. You've already done more than enough during your time here. Helping us capture that airship, and then helping the girls fight off the Ganesha error. You've definitely been a great help." Said Himeko.

"Yeah I know. Besides it's not like we aren't gonna keep in touch anymore." Said Alex.

"I understand but still. Your job requires you to be out and about. Now that you've been paid off, it's about time you get back to it. Don't worry. I assure you that we'll get Mei and Bronya back." Said Himeko.

"Yeah I hope so. Don't forget to keep me updated on that." Said Alex.

"I won't forget." She replied.

Eventually Himeko arrived at a small bus stop that had just two benches and a light illuminating over it.

Alex got out and then grabbed his bags as he walked over to the sidewalk where the stop was.

He looked at Himeko one last time before the two turned to see the bus approaching from behind.

"Stay safe Alex. Godspeed to ya." Said Himeko giving him a salute before driving away and back to St. Freya.

Shortly afterwards the bus arrived at the stop as the doors opened.

Alex boarded the bus and after paying the toll, he walked to the back and sat down at his seat.

The bus then drove off as Alex looked outside, pondering to himself.

'Did I, really make the right decision?'

--------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 16: Complete