“I defeated that villain and protected the city and this is the thanks I get!? Are you saying I brought this on myself!? Is it supposed to be my just desserts!? But someone had to stop her. She really was a step away from completing Angelica. We were the only ones who could have stopped that villain!! So why does it have to lock away my future? You work and you work, but this world doesn’t reward you for iiiiiiiiit!!”
The girl burying her face in Frenda’s chest was shaking intermittently.
She was sobbing.
And sniffling.
This was no more than a girl who had hit a significant roadblock in her life.
“…”
Frenda understood the pain of having your path as an esper blocked off. As a Level 0, she had been faced with that one right at the starting line, so she knew just how merciless and unforgiving that precipice was. If anything, she may have been lucky she had faced it and gotten over it when she was still little.
What did it matter if it was ugly?
If they couldn’t open up to each other like this, they weren’t true teammates. Item trusted their lives with each other, so Frenda had to view this display of vulnerability as growth.
Ainame Caroline had said Mugino would never grow past this point, but Frenda refused to accept that.
Go to hell.
Go to hell, cruel world. Then what do you call this miracle happening before my eyes? This wasn’t an issue for Mugino alone.
If all of Item worked together as a whole, they had endless potential for growth. So it was up to Frenda to help support Mugino here.
She had to repay Mugino for the trust shown by letting her see these tears.
So…
“It’ll be alright, Mugino. We can all get stronger together.”
Frenda Seivelun gently hugged the lonely girl who was working so hard to silence her sobs but continually failing.
She leaned toward Mugino’s ear.
And she said something she never should have.
She spoke the fateful words that could become “one of many factors” down the line.
“
In the end, I swear I will never betray you.”