............

...... Dino, you there?

Faith...... Hic!

!!

Aha. It's pretty novel, seeing you keep your mouth shut

Mmph! Mm, mmm—!

I'm not gonna leave you

Here you go. One miracle drug, courtesy of Dr. Nova

......!

Go on, take it. It'll get you back to normal

...... Thanks, Faith. I owe you one

Don't thank me. Go tell that to Dr. Nova and his research crew

Course I will. I'll give 'em a proper show of gratitude later

...... How're things back at the stadium? Is the LOM still on?

They're planning to push back the schedule and carry on with it today. Valentine's only comes once a year

Really...... Well, even if the schedule's all screwed up, I'm glad they got you all fixed up before we're set to go on

...... I ended up not even needing the pill

What, seriously?

Yeah...... Though if I'm being real, I was going to participate whether or not I got better on my own, or whether they were able to finish the drug on time

Huh......

You and the little guy were going really hard on the whole "team" thing, yeah?

Maybe it's just 'cause I was hearing it 24/7, but like...... I'm kinda starting to see where you guys are coming from

Like, even if I took the mask off, my issue was saying that I "like" and "love" everything so like......

With it being Valentine's Day and all, that'd be pretty easy to write off

I see...... Looks like we were able to find some common ground after all

You're a stand up guy, Faith

...... You holding up alright, Dino?

You said something before about it being rough when your thoughts and speech don't line up

...... Was this rough?

............

Yeah... yeah...... I couldn't stop myself from talking to y'all like that......

And all of us knew that you didn't mean any of that

I'm pretty sure you know that too, Dino...... Be less hard on yourself, maybe?

............

I get that the time you've been back at HELIOS with us seems like nothing compared to the time you spent with Eclipse......

But you're here with us now, and that's what matters

I know the scars of the past can hurt something awful.....

But right now, Dino Albani is part of HELIOS...... Don't forget that we're all here for you

Faith......

Aha, sounds like they're playing that commercial again

I can't recall what sort of feeling I put behind that line

I'm not like you. I don't put that kind of thought behind the things I say

So it was a breeze reading off that script......

It's easy for me to tell some groupie that I like them, or to say I think something's good when I couldn't care less about it...... Hollow words spill out of me like it's nothing

But it's not nothing and like, I want to actually mean more of what I say. Even just a little bit

I can't unsay what I've already said, no matter how much I may regret things......

But maybe we could turn over a new leaf, with that kind of intent?

......!

Don't get me wrong, I still don't want to bother with anything annoying

Speaking of...... The little guy's texting me

"How's Dino? Event's restarting soon" ...... end quote

So? Ready to head back?

Ah......

Yeah, I'm good. Let's roll!

Sweet. Lemme shoot off a reply......

...... I can't tell which of us is the mentor

Hm?

You'n'Junior are both such solid guys. It's exciting enough to be along for the ride, seeing you come into yourselves

Yep. Can't keep my tail between my legs!

I wanna be there watching you rookies grow up no matter what else may come. Can't do that if I'm not keeping my eyes forward and running alongside you guys!

Alrighty, let's start with hitting this LOM out of the park! Let's return the stadium to love and peace central......☆