124 Reunion

{RIKU POV}

The moment Riku saw Shizu casually sitting in front of a mountain of scarab corpses was the moment that he felt truly impressed by his companion's growth. Her accuracy was evident at how there were no stray cards littered across the cave walls, and her power was even more apparent with how most of the scarabs and the occasional ent only had a single card sticking out of their heads. On top of that, she didn't even look winded as she waited for him. She was calm and collected, her hands still holding onto a few cards in case something else decided to try their luck with her.

"Huh, we finally found Shizu," Nyx excitedly mumbled to her, the sound of wood being turned to pulp in her mouth obscuring her words. "Looks like she can take care of herself now."

"Of course, she can. I taught her, after all," Riku smugly chuckled. "Also, are you seriously going to keep raw ent like that?"

"You did say that I can just eat it if you won't prepare it for me," Nyx mischievously replied just before taking another loud bite off the wooden stick in her hand. "Besides, it's actually not half bad. A little too earthy and hard, but it makes for a decent snack."

The chef in him almost winced as he heard his goddess's loud chews echo from her mouth. It almost sounded like she was chewing on rocks, but who was he to stop her from doing what she wanted?

Although, it did make him a bit more curious about the ingredient itself.

"Besides, we have a ton of scarabs to eat now with Shizu having made a pile of them," Nyx eagerly hummed. "Maybe they'll taste better."

"We'll see," he shrugged. "For now, let's get Shizu back into our party."

Shaking his head, Riku navigated a few more obvious roots and mounds before eventually finding himself face to face with Shizu once more after what felt like a day or so of navigation. Understandably, he felt a bit relieved seeing his companion safe and sound, and Shizu seemed to be of the same mind the moment she looked up to greet them.

"Riku! You're finally here!"

Before he could even blink, Shizu stood up and hugged him tightly, her grasp almost feeling too tight as she clung onto him for dear life. For a few minutes, he allowed her to do what she wanted before she then broke off to hug Nyx right after. The goddess hugged her back, her half-eaten wooden stick still in her hands despite the rather touching moment.

"I've been waiting for you two," Shizu eagerly smiled, her tone shaky from all of her emotions. "I've... It feels like it's been so long..."

"It's good to see you too, Shizu," he greeted back. "I'm glad you're safe."

His companion gave him a beaming smile, and he couldn't help but notice something different about her from before. Unlike from how he saw her from a distance, the former assassin saw the clear look of stress and fatigue coming from the fortune teller. Her eyes alone almost looked like she just came from a warzone, which was baffling since he didn't see anything too concerning that would suggest that a great battle happened. Or perhaps it happened in a different area, and Shizu simply came here to rest and hide.

And the look of determination in her eyes... It was both amazing and unnerving. Either way, he would have his answers.

"What happened to you, by the way?" Nyx asked the question for him without his prompting. "You look like you just went into battle recently."

"I did, as you can see from all of the corpses," the fortune teller weakly chuckled. "I held my own though."

"We can see that," Riku chuckled. "I'm proud of what you've achieved here."

Shizu blushed at his words, and again, before he even knew what was happening, she gave him a tight and shaky hug, her shoulders bobbing up and down as she sobbed into his chest.

"T-Thank you... Thank you for believing in me..."

Riku blinked at the sudden reaction. Unknowingly, he looked at Nyx, his goddess simply giving him a blank stare telling him that she was not going to give her an answer. Still, this wasn't the first time he had a woman crying in his arms, though that only usually happened after he had given them untold pleasure they had never experienced before in their lives. Still, the former assassin knew exactly what to do in this sort of situation.

"It's alright. You did your best, right?" he told her as he hugged her back. "You're just that good."

The fortune teller broke away from him, her expression turning into an embarrassed pout before she shook her head. "Y-yeah... I should really believe in myself more," she firmly nodded with a mad blush still on her face. "A-Anyway, we should try and find the exit, right? Are we still ahead?"

"Actually, not anymore," Nyx helpfully replied in between snacking on her wooden stick. "Two Champions got ahead of you two just now. They're not far ahead, but they're still first and second respectively."

"That's not actually too bad," Riku replied with a raised brow. "We can catch up to them easily if we can-"

"Enemies around us."

Nyx's warning immediately put him and Shizu into high alert. Without him even prompting, the fortune teller already buffed his speed and attack, his knife burning with the power of Fate as a group of scarabs and ents began surrounding them from all sides. It almost looked like they were coming out of every empty pathway deeper from the cave, blocking any sort of escape from them as they bared their fangs and claws at them.

"Well then. I guess we'll have to fight our way through this," Riku absently replied.

"I really didn't want to do this again," Shizu grumbled in annoyance even as she drew more cards to use. "I'll see if I can draw something that can get rid of all of them at once."