A Friendship Between Heroes Daughters & Birthday Presents

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"Uwaahhh…" she cried in pain.

I quickly dropped my blade and ran towards her.

"Ugh, was I too harsh?! Aquarina, let me heal you, it shouldn't be lethal!" I exclaimed.

"Sniff… No… I'm not crying because it hurts… I'm crying because I lost!" she cried.

"A-Aquarina…"

Her little aquamarine eyes began to pour out tears of sorrow and frustration as she looked at me.

"You don't know how much you mean to me…! I want to protect you… if I can't win against you… how can I hope to one day protect you…?" she lamented.

"Aquarina, you don't really need to protect me…" I replied with a sigh.

"But…! I don't want you to… to go through…" she murmured.

"That was my choice, Aquarina. I can protect myself. Your strength, however, is more than enough to protect yourself… instead of obsessively wanting to protect me, how about we work together so we can cover each other's backs?" I asked with a bright smile as I extended my hand towards her. After that, I began to slowly heal her.