“Ed!!!” Ana’s small body jumped on the very muscular person in front of her.

His tan skin and hulking body made him appear to be way older than his age, but he was only fifteen years old.

“It’s been a while, Ana.”

Edward, even with his hardened look, gave a soft smile as he returned the embrace of his dear friend.

Though, since her body was so small in his grasp, and she seemed so fragile that he could snap her like a twig, Edward maintained caution.

“I’ve missed you! You missed out on a lot of action!”

It was currently twelve days since the end of the war, and a lot had happened since then. It was crazy how Edward wasn’t present in any of them.

“I had a little errand to run for Jared. Is he around?”

Both of them were currently within Ainzlark Academy’s grounds.

While Ana was wearing her usual lab coat, shirt, and skirt, Edward donned a simple traveler’s cloak.

He had nice trousers, and his boots looked sturdy too.

However, he was bare-chested, causing his skin to glimmer in the morning sun.

“Yeah. We’ve been expecting you. Everyone is waiting.” Ana smiled.

Edward smiled and nodded.

His eyes scoured the massive compound, and he couldn’t help but feel a wave of nostalgia. It had been a while, after all.

“Let’s go!”

Ana did the most amusing thing–climbing on Edward’s broad shoulders while holding his head and pointing far into the horizon.

‘Eh?’ It had been a while, so Edward had almost forgotten about this habit of hers.

Even as a kid, he did it often. It was probably why he was able to develop such a strong back.

“Yeah, yeah.” Now feeling a bit self-conscious thanks to the stares of students and staff around him, Edward kept his head low and began moving.

“Faster,” Ana yelled, causing him to quicken his pace.

This continued until he was practically running.

****************

“Edward, my man!” Jerry Keller hugged the buff guy.

He too seemed small in his embrace, but it didn’t matter at this point. Despite their respective height or size, they were still friends.

“Still hugging people at your age? Hmph!” A dissatisfied voice rang beside him.

It belonged to the brunette called Ciara, and she was certainly not pleased by Edward’s closeness to Jerry.

She acted like she didn’t care, but if anyone looked at Ciara closely, they would see that the girl was observing the two’s closeness and gnashing her teeth.

Jealousy was such a mysterious thing.

“Hey, Maria… how have you been?” Ciara finally found a way to distract herself as she went to the young lady.

“Edward, look how much you’ve grown.” Ivan guffawed as well, feeling quite intimidated as he approached.

The young man had been working out to increase his muscle mass, but he was nowhere close to the beast in front of him.

“Are you sure you’re fifteen?” He spoke his thoughts aloud.

Edward could only laugh awkwardly.

Perhaps he overdid it a bit, but all he did was adhere to his training regiment whole eating a lot of monster meat.

He hadn’t noticed just how big he had gotten until he met fellow humans.

“Haha…”

The room everyone was currently in was a lounge reserved for honored guests at Ainzlark.

Currently, it was something like an alumni meeting–but only for the small circle that Jared invited.

“Where’s he, though?” Edward looked around him.

Currently, the people present were; Ana, Ciara, Jerry, Edward, Ivan, and Maria.

They weren’t expecting anyone else except the host of the meeting. And, as always… he was fashionably late.

>VWOOOOOMMMMM<

The wide door, serving as both entrance and exit, was flung open.

The man of the hour appeared, accompanied by a good number of familiar faces.

And, among them was a beauty unlike any other.

Edward found his heart fluttering as his gaze was cast on her.

He lost himself in the sight… and for a moment, the only thing that occupied his mind was the girl beside Jared.

‘W-who is that…?’

****************

“Sorry I’m late, everyone.” I walked into the very room where my friends were waiting for me.

I didn’t come alone, of course. Neron, Serah, Maro, Aloe Vida, and Lemi were accompanying me.

Knowing how my daughter was, I made sure she was sticking close to me. That way, she wouldn’t cause too much trouble.

“This isn’t exactly a reunion call, but… it’s nice to see everyone after so long.” I smiled.

One way or the other, I had made independent contact with them.

I even assigned Edward a task in secret, and for everyone else, I had given them something to do–one way or the other.

“Whoah, Edward… seeing you in person really hits it home.” I smiled, looking at my buff friend.

He was even taller than Neron, at this point.

His gaze was on someone else, though. The moment I saw his distracted eyes and charmed expression, I looked beside me and noticed that Lemi was also staring at him–or rather, his body.

My brain went into overdrive and put two and two together, faster than the speed of light.

‘Edward and Lemi? What the heck! How?!’

It didn’t help that my daughter had my wife’s expression, so seeing her gawk over Edward’s body made me feel weird.

“Ahem, as I said, it’s nice to meet everyone. However, I’m here concerning a serious matter, so… let’s all have our seats.”

Fortunately, Edward finally took his eyes off Lemi and gave me a guilty look after I glared at him for some time.

Maybe I sent the wrong message to him–and it looked like I was hoarding the girl to myself–but that wasn’t the case at all.

I wasn’t interested in Lemi that way, but… imagining someone else with her–especially my very good friend, Edward–was tough.

I wasn’t the only one glaring, though.

‘Shit… I haven’t told Ana yet!’ My mind rang, noticing her dissatisfied expression.

Feeling uncomfortable, I slightly glanced in Maria’s direction, but I was met with a nonchalant demeanor.

No–she didn’t even seem to pay me any heed. She was busy discussing with Ciara.

‘Well, that’s good… I guess.’