151: A Moon Pendant

As Nyssa woke up, the sterile ceiling of a hospital greeted her. Struggling to look around, the familiar interior of a hospital caused a rush of disappointment to well up. She flopped back onto the bed, ready to go back to sleep.

How do I always miss the ending of important missions? What even happened at the end of the mission?

As she laid there, she sorted through the new stream of memories. Immersed in the past, she didn’t notice as a couple of stray tears made their way down her cheeks. Too tired and too lazy to press the call button to inform anyone she had awoken, she curled up and, before she knew it, had returned to the land of dreams.

While she slept, the rest of the world chugged along. The leaders of every guild part of the mission submitted a report of their own contributions during the mission. Given the wide scale of the mission, interviews came streaming out, with practically every S-Class Hero and Hunter getting some sort of media coverage.

None, though, went as viral as Roxanne’s. Being the leader of the frontal assault team already meant she had a huge role—and, correspondingly, a huge goldmine of information for every media outlet—but as she walked into the interview, she debuted another bombshell: a wedding ring.

The moment she walked into the door, the same collective thought ran through every staff members’ mind.

No wonder Slade turned us down for the pair interview...

The talkshow host, who had been a little miffed about missing out on an exclusive ‘two S-Class Siblings’ interview, also broke out into a huge smile as Roxanne came on to stage with the ring still adorned on her hand. It was as if a sunbeam had pierced through the clouds of his gloom, adorning him with heaven’s blessing.

Netizens, meanwhile, once the interview aired, blew up the entire internet.

[SHE’S MARRIED? Noooooo... Roxanne... how could you... you’re too good to get married... weren’t you going to marry one of us wife fans T~T]

[She’s so lesbian coded... I'm glad she’s actually a lesbian...]

[ANOTHER ATTRACTIVE HUNTER OFF THE MARKET HOW WILL WE SURVIVE SOB]

[who’s her wife? Does anyone know?]

[I bet she’s not even married, and this is just a publicity stunt, how could anyone like her personality?]

[Upstairs commenter doesn’t even understand the primal urge to get absolutely pinned]

[I bet she could destroy a watermelon with her thighs... like... WHY COULDN’T IT BE MEEEE IT SHOULD’VE BEEN ME]

[Damn, desperation reeks off of you all. I found a pic of her wife [Angelica.jpg] you all aren’t beating this. She’s an A-level fighter too with perfect body control]

Slade, sitting in his own office, snickered as he stirred the pot online. Having asked for permission beforehand, he didn’t mind being the one to spread Angelica’s photo.

I didn’t realize she had such a jealous streak... HAHAHAH the perfect sister in law isn’t so perfect anymore.

His expression, though, fell as he kept reading other responses.

[wait her wife is so pretty barkbarkbark]

[i mean now i’m switching sides, how could her wife get married T~T  why couldn’t it be me.... It should’ve been me...]

[two beautiful women... women... drool.... My wlw heart is melting....]

[her wife is a heaven sent beauty... bro she could be one of those jade beauties...]

[man i’m not even jealous anymore... i’m just jealous of roxanne...]

Slade, with a dark expression, decided that the internet was for youngsters and was rotting his brain. Putting down his phone with a righteous gleam in his eyes, he called in his secretary and did his best impression of a domineering CEO. “Tell everyone they’re free to go home! Before you go though, please prepare all of tomorrow’s work, I’ll do it tonight!”

His secretary just scratched his head. “... Everyone else has already gone home, it's already six in the evening after all... and you don’t have any work tomorrow, you’re going to an interview all day, and then you set aside the rest of the day for your family...”

“...”

Slade, after a brief moment of silence, cleared his throat and waved the secretary off. “I knew that, of course. Have a nice one.”

The secretary, not willing to doubt his boss, just nodded and slipped out. Once the door closed with a click, Slade sank back into his chair with a sigh. He facepalmed and screamed into his hand, and a stream of embarrassed expletives left his mouth.

.... wow.... You just lost any and all respect you had...

That was sad.

“AGH, focus!” Slade slapped his own cheek. He pulled out his phone and checked his messages. After ignoring the cheeky “thank you! :)” from Angelica, he scrolled over to the family group chat and typed out a quick message. [Yo, is Nyssa awake yet?]

---

Kaiser, having come to check on Nyssa after his work ended, almost left, but paused once he realized Nyssa had curled up. With a certain pendant still in his pocket, he decided to sit in the ward and wait for Nyssa to wake up.

[She woke up at some point, but didn’t tell anyone and just fell back asleep. I'm sitting in her ward right now. I’ll talk to her once she wakes up then let you all know.] Kaiser typed out and hit send. Right after he did, he dropped his phone.

As it clattered on the ground, he rushed to pick it up, only to pause as he watched Nyssa stretch and let out a quiet “mmn...”

Nyssa rubbed her eyes, stiffening as she turned and saw Kaiser sitting beside her bed. “... How long have you been here...”

“About an hour,” Kaiser bent down and picked up his phone. “I noticed you had shifted positions, so I decided to just wait until you woke up. You shouldn’t sleep on that side though, you have some injuries there. Or transform into a cat, since you shouldn’t have the injuries then.”

Rolling back onto her back, Nyssa winced and nodded. “Got it...”

“Anyway, how are you feeling though?” Kaiser changed the subject with the bluntness of a brick. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the pendant. “This is for you by the way.”

Nyssa’s eyes widened.

“You... recognize this?” Kaiser paused, his hand freezing in the air.

“... Isn’t it my mom’s?” Nyssa murmured. “During the battle, I somehow remembered a bunch of things from before you picked me up.”

“... Huh,” Kaiser mustered after a second. “Regardless, have the pendant first. Slade took it for you. I saw the battle too, and she protected you at the end. So, we thought you might want it.”

“Thank you,” Nyssa nodded, taking it and holding it up to the light. She inspected it from every side before turning back to Kaiser. “Did you take it with permission from her? Can I go see her?”

“About that...” Kaiser sighed. He rubbed his knee. “She’s... no longer with us.”

Nyssa froze.

“... really?”

“Indeed,” Kaiser nodded with a heavy expression. “Given recent events, even more so by the fact you have more memories of your past, I feel like it's time that I talk about some important things regarding your background.”