「Aggghhh! I'm falling! I’m falling!!」
「B-b-b-big brother?!」
Meanwhile, Yugo was screaming at the top of his lungs as he plummeted toward the earth.
If anyone asked why he had fallen into such a state, the answer lay entirely in his right arm.
Attached to the arm of his Blaster was a specialized piece of equipment—the Rocket Arm. It had been forged using the Flame Attribute Magic Crystal he’d received from Skull, and right now, he was in the middle of a flight experiment using it.
The crystal’s high purity and impressive size provided enough propulsion to lift a grown man with ease, which was a great start, but the handling proved far more difficult than he’d anticipated.
Now that I think about it, that one hero who had this same equipment was also jerked around by these rockets the first time he used them, he recalled. He quickly told himself that now wasn't the time for nostalgia just as he slammed into the ground and bounced hard.
「Gwah-hurk! Ow... Damn, this is harder than it looks.」
He’d practically forced Anhel to install the feature, and now he finally understood why she’d been so reluctant to do so.
As Yugo lay on his back groaning, having personally experienced the temperamental nature of the Rocket Arm—a powerful tool that clearly required immense practice to master—a familiar voice reached his ears.
「Yugo, do you have a moment?」
「Huh? Whoa! M-M-Melt?! What are you doing here?!」
The very next second, a pair of pink underwear filled his vision.
Standing right over him as he lay on his back, Melt looked down with a pout, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was flaunting the contents of her skirt from his perspective. She stared at the startled Yugo and asked a question.
「Yugo, do you have any idea why I’m upset?」
「U-Um... Even if you ask that, I...」
Yugo’s speech inadvertently slipped into formal politeness as he scrambled to figure out the cause of her frustration.
Her pouting face wasn't scary in the slightest; if anything, it was adorable. It was clear she held some kind of grievance against him, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was.
Did I screw up somewhere? While Yugo thought desperately, Melt let out a long, heavy sigh and voiced her answer with a lonely lilt.
「...I know you've been working hard to upgrade the Blaster, Yugo. I understand that you have to spend a lot of time talking to Ann for that. But... don't you think you've been treating me a bit dismissively lately?」
「Ugh...」
He hadn't done it on purpose, but she was probably right.
Lately, his mind had been consumed by packing his ideal functions into the Blaster, and it was true that he’d been spending nearly all his time with Anhel to make it happen.
He hadn't intended to neglect Melt, but if he only focused on his newest friend, it was only natural for her to feel like she was being brushed aside.
As Yugo felt a wave of guilt for making her lonely, Melt—likely feeling a bit guilty herself for speaking up—continued.
「...I know you don't mean anything by it, and I know saying this just makes things difficult for you. But it's still lonely. I mean, we did kiss... and I'm the one who showed you her naked body...」
「Guh...!」
He hadn't forgotten, but they were memories he would have preferred to treat as "accidents" and leave in the past. Having them brought up so directly by Melt made Yugo let out a strangled groan.
As she said, they had kissed, and he had—however accidentally—seen her naked. Re-realizing the weight of those events, Yugo’s mind raced as he searched for the right thing to do.
(This is bad, this is bad, this is very bad...! As a man, is there any other way out of this besides taking responsibility?!)
To do all that and then just leave things hanging... as a man, let alone someone aiming to be a hero, it felt like a moral disaster.
The "Yugo" who had occupied this body before him had been called a piece of trash who was loose with women. If he ignored Melt now, he’d be no better than the original scum.
Besides... he truly was grateful to her.
Along with Fee, she had supported him from the moment he’d been reincarnated into this world, knowing nothing of its ways. She was his very first friend here.
Simply put, he didn't want to see her sad. Yugo steeled his resolve, grabbed her by the shoulders, and looked her straight in the eyes.
「M-Melt!」
「Huh?! Oh, yes!」
Startled by his sudden outburst and the sheer volume of his voice, Melt stared back at him. She looked surprised to be held so firmly and to see such a serious expression on his face.
Without even realizing that Fee had finally caught up to the crash site, Yugo spoke to Melt in a determined, if somewhat shaky, voice.
「Let’s... go on a date this weekend!」