While Erika spent her morning at school on Saturday, Mina had an adventure of her own. A day before, Erika left a vague declaration:

“Sorry, Mini. I have student council work tomorrow. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to come over... if at all.”

These words annoyed Mina for some reason. The concept of “school on Saturday” was alien to her.

“Bah, that damn Titan must be lying about freakin’ school on Saturday... or is she?”

Mina pondered about the topic for many hours, but she couldn’t figure out anything. It made her restless and she turned from side to side on her bed. Even when she woke up on the following morning, she still had no idea what to expect.

“What an annoying Titan...”

Mina picked up her controller and booted up Soul Claymore, her favorite fighting game. Even with one paralyzed arm, Mina insisted to maintain her daily training regime; she couldn’t allow her skills to rust.

Her main character in the game was Reeyne, a tall amazon with a huge axe. Reeyne was a difficult fighter, requiring complex button inputs to execute combos. Reenye barely scratched the bottom of SoulClay’s top tier characters, but Mina was a technical goddess who transcended such facts... at least, when she could fully utilize both hands.

“Bah! Shit! You fucker!!”

Mina lost five matches in a row. All her online opponents were monsters of the highest rank, just like Mina herself. She normally maintained a decent win ratio against these pros, but she couldn’t do so when her crappy left hand didn’t move as she pleased.

Thanks to taking a break from God Vessel Online, Mina’s paralyzed arm showed great improvement. At first, she couldn’t move the arm at all. Now, there was only faint numbness remaining in her fingers. It was a meager handicap for normal players, but split-second slowdowns were fatal for players of Mina’s level.

“Bah, when’s that dumb Titan coming!?”

After each defeat, Mina peeked out of her room. She felt that Erika would magically appear if she stared at the door strong enough. Alas, time flew by and Erika didn't arrive. Mina jumped every time she heard footsteps outside, but the footsteps never belonged to the Titan she waited for.

“Is she really coming? She said maybe... bah! How annoying!”

The more Mina thought about it, the more irritated she became and the worse she fared in battle, which in turn irritated her even more. Thus, a neverending cycle of negativity was formed.

GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWL

Mina’s room shook as if hit by an earthquake. It was already afternoon, but only now she realized that she didn’t even have her breakfast yet.

Frustrated by her continuous defeats and by the fact Erika didn’t come over, Mina decided to order tons of pizza. It was a godly dish which could bring her out of every slump.

“Mmmmm!!! This shit is always the best! Nom nom nom!”

She tore the pizza to shreds with sharp bites. The divine flavor of pizza sank into her and cleansed her soul. Her level of irritation was greatly reduced and she now reasoned calmly.

“Well, it’s the weekend after all... it’s not like she gotta come especially for me...”

Mina mumbled while chewing on another pizza slice, which refused to fit into her stuffed tummy.

Erika had no obligation to come over on a weekend. The two girls vowed to cooperate until Mina’s arm was cured in GoVe, but there were no additional agreements like “playing on weekends”. Mina wished to resolve this problem quickly in order to keep playing GoVe, but Erika had no reason to share the same sentiments.

“It’s not like we’re friends anyway...”

Mina stared at her numb arm with mixed feelings. The only thing tying Erika and Mina together right now was the faint numbness in Mina’s hand. Erika was no more than a diligent class president who tried to restore a classmate’s condition. That was all to their relationship, they weren’t friends.

Erika had no reason to sacrifice her precious weekend for somebody like Mina. When their mission would be accomplished, the two girls would part ways and would probably never speak again.

The more she thought about it, the more it annoyed her. She decided to change the mood by watching some (illegally) downloaded Anime. A mainstream action series made her forget all about her negative thoughts.

She entertained herself by watching how an overpowered protagonist went against his sworn enemies. Such power fantasies were awesome and Mina gulped them like water. The only parts which annoyed her were the blatant fanservice moments.

“A-ah sorry!”

The protagonist accidentally groped the heroine’s boobs. The gigantic melons jiggled and stabbed Mina’s eyes.

“Bah... t-that’s so dumb and unrealistic...”

Mina growled and examined her own chest. It was the same as staring at a paved road, raising up her irritation meter again. She slapped both cheeks and shook her head to perish the thoughts.

She skipped ahead in the episode in order to enjoy the real meat of the show: the epic battle between the protagonist and his foes.

“Oh!”

Mina exclaimed when the protagonist was blasted away. The strong hero was on the losing side in this important battle and got beaten down hard. In this hopeless situation, the heroine called out to him.

“You can’t do it alone! You need the help of your friends!”

The protagonist’s friends joined hands to defeat the big bad.

“Bah! C’mon, don’t be a scrub! Ya can beat that fucker by yourself!”

Mina scolded the protagonist, but he didn’t listen. The hero accepted the help of his peers and they set off to beat the big bad together. The power of friendship was going to save the day.

“Bah, that’s dumb.”

Mina threw a tantrum, then glared at the entrance to her room. Nobody stood there, a fact which annoyed her for some reason. She had no friends, but the empty scenery still irritated her.

“Bah, I got it! Of course the weekend is more important! Of course she won’t come! Rather, who needs that Titan bitch anyway!?”

Without even thinking about her words, Mina leapt from her chair and dashed out of her room. The Anime show wasn’t enough to subside her irritation, hence she decided to exercise in the park.

“Grrrr! C’mon, open up!”

Mina fought with the door. It always opened so easily, but today it decided to give Mina trouble. It took her a while to realize that the door was, in fact, locked.

“Bah, that annoying Titan...”

Mina scowled as she looked at the key. It was due to Erika’s persistence that Mina was forced to lock the door. Erika didn’t even bother to show up, yet she made sure to place this dumb door in front of Mina.

“Damn Titan...”

Mina punched the door a few times, imagining her fists smacking Erika. She shortly lost her motivation and twisted her lips.

“Bah, whatever!”

Mina unlocked the door, ran outside and slammed the door shut. The park was merely two minutes away from her house, but she still dashed toward it. She hadn’t visited the park even once for the past week, ever since her arm was paralyzed. Her excitement was combined with the strong need to unwind.

Along with attractions for kids, the park also had fitness machines. They weren’t as fancy as those in a gym and they were clearly designed for a young audience, but for the small Mina these machines fit just right. She worked out on various machines, until she noticed two boys challenging the monkey bars.

“Not bad! You can do it!”

One boy cheered, while his friend advanced along the monkey bars. The challenger was only halfway through, but he was already sweating and panting heavily. Mina could tell, the boy wouldn’t make it to the end.

“Pwahaha! Lamer!”

As she expected, the worn out climber soon gave up and forfeited from the challenge.

“W-what’s so funny!?”

The boy didn’t appreciate when his great efforts were ridiculed.

“I’mma show ya how real pros do it, kiddo! Watch me do this shit with just one hand!”

Mina strode toward the monkey bars and grabbed the first metal bar with her right hand.

“Ha! No way you can do that!”

The boy crossed his arms and prepared to watch how Mina would fail. Since Mina was only a tiny bit taller than the boy, he didn’t realize she was actually a high schooler. And he couldn’t possibly know that she wasn’t just any high schooler either...

“Hah! Just ya watch!”

Mina swung her body back and forth, then jumped forward and grabbed the next bar with her right hand. Normally, one was supposed to advance through the bars by switching hands around. However, Mina didn’t have that luxury. She had to swing, jump and catch the next bar. Each and every time.

“Bah...”

It was way harder than Mina expected. Her arm was nearly torn off whenever she grabbed a new bar from a leap. Her arm began to tremble while she kept approaching her goal.

“Ugh! I can’t... gufu...”

She was going to fail. The realization struck her three bars away from the finale. Her muscles were snapping apart just from keeping herself lifted. She performed remarkably well, but she promised the boys that she’d go all the way through.

“Bah...”

The boys were going to laugh at her. She reluctantly turned her head around, to check the expressions on the boys’ faces...

“B-bah...?”

The boys were no longer there. Instead, a tall titan stood at the park’s entrance.

She... she actually came...

Mina’s mind went blank as she stared at Erika. The titan didn’t stroll into this park by mistake, Erika clearly came here to search for Mina. She came all the way out here. Even though it was Saturday, even though it was a weekend. Erika came here, for Mina.

“Hmph, what took you so long? You dumb Titan...”

Mina muttered, without noticing the smile that snuck up onto her lips.

“Bah...”

She couldn't go any further on this monkey bar. She hated losing more than anything and letting go of the bar meant accepting defeat. However, the boys with whom Mina made a bet were no longer there; there was nobody who could criticize Mina for giving up.

“You can’t do it alone! You need the help of your friends!”

Mina remembered a random line from the trash Anime she just watched. It was one of these cheap motivational lines which Mina never connected with.

“Heh! That’s just dumb!”

She jumped down from the metal bar and ran toward Erika. Her excited grin from that moment secretly persisted for the rest of the day.