Continue chatting.

"Can I ask a question that might be sensitive?"

Niki taps the heels of her sneakers against the plummeting wall beneath her. It's cute. "Sure. Honestly, I think this little talk has helped me out a little. I feel more comfortable when I'm around you, Kyle."

"I'm glad." You chuckle. "It's about the Rite of the Sun. I dunno, it just seems really interesting."

"If you're gonna ask me how it's done, I have no idea the details. But it's something only given to some of our kind."

"My question was gonna be if you ever spoke to Lynx about this. She has two markings as well, so she's in kind of a similar position, right? You're not supposed to undergo the ritual twice. I just wasn't sure what you really thought about her."

"We spoke a tiny bit, but honestly, it's a bit of an awkward subject, and you know I'm not great with words. She seems cool though. It makes me feel a little less like a weirdo, I guess, though on the other hand... Well, it sounds silly, but I also feel a little less special?"

You wrap a hand around to her shoulder and hold her tight. "Your powers are nowhere similar, nor do you act the same. It's not even close. You're incredibly special, Niki."

She nods. "I guess you're right. Oh yeah! Remember our little chat about elite classes?"

"I do."

"Well, you can go a lot of directions as a warrior, you know. I feel like a lot of people are thinking I'll go some kind of berserker class, like a super aggressive, run-right-in-screaming, high strength thing."

You look at her staring back at you, as if she's expecting you to say something. "Uh... Well--"

"You think that too, don't you?"

"It's not that. You just do exactly that every time we fight."

"Rude!"

"How is that--"

This time, she grabs your shoulder instead and pulls you in almost too tight against her. "But I'm glad you think I'm really strong. Anyway, no. That's not what I want. I thought a lot about it, and I was going to go a route like that for a long time. The more I fought alongside you all, the more I realized I wanted to protect. My place in our party is to never allow a single person to fall as long as I'm standing, and this decision is something I'm very confident in making."

"So you'll be a tanky type elite class?"

"That's right!" She stands up rather dramatically, which troubles you given she's right on the edge. But she stands proudly and slams a fist into her palm. "When I reach 10th level, I'm going to become a Stormwall. It's all about being an unbreakable shield."

As crude as she can be, at this moment, she's never appeared more heroic. It's easy to see Nyllia as a divine paladin of justice or whatever, yet it's easy to gloss over a misfit tomboy like Niki. She has an entirely different type of beauty. The funny thing is that you've gotten to know both of them quite well, and when you truly get past their exteriors, they aren't all that different either. Nyllia may be far more confident and elegant, yet they're both loving girls with a wild side. One is a sword, and the other is a shield. Already you're thankful for the time you've spent with the three girls so far. It's almost made you forget about the Sports Festival. And somehow, deep down, you feel stronger. Perhaps the invisible strings that bind all who care for one another aren't so intangible after all.

Of course, the MC won't be dating every single person in all of Castle Phoenix all in a row right now, but which girls do you think deserve a date the most? Perhaps girls you want to know more about, or girls that haven't spent enough time with the MC. Or, just ones you like the most. Either way, I'll see what you all have to say. There isn't much time until this odd festival, and who knows what'll happen there? Let's spend a little more time relaxing before the chaos begins once again.