Soon, right after Finn and Iris finished eating, the subway they booked a ticket for arrived. They boarded it without any issues and found their seats, right next to one another near the very front of the metro.

“Hm… these seats are quite comfortable,” Iris remarked, shifting her body a little in them.

“Are they?”

“Yes. Do you not feel it?”

“Not particularly.”

“Hm… well, I guess you’ve never been one to care about such things anyway,” Iris said with a smile. “How long will this trip be, approximately?”

“… 2 hours,” Finn replied. “At least.”

“Huh… even with an ultra-high-speed underwater metro, it still takes 2 hours…” Iris murmured. “Well then. What do you want to talk about? We have a long journey ahead.”

“…”

“… Finn…?”

“…”

Iris, confused, glanced over at Finn, who had his head pointing down. His eyes were always closed, but… was he sleeping, perhaps?

Just to make sure, Iris reached over and patted Finn on the shoulder lightly. He made no movement of responding. Seeing this, a soft smile formed on her lips.

“Hmph… falling asleep all of a sudden like that… you’re a real special one, y’know?”

Playfully, she slowly took hold of Finn’s shoulders, then gently set him down onto her soft thighs. She wore a skirt and high white knee-socks, so her thighs were *bare*. The tingly feeling of Finn’s hair on them made her a little ticklish, but it felt warm at the same time.

Looking at him like this, Iris couldn’t help but feel Finn was almost… child-like. Despite how stoic and calm he was, when sleeping like this, he was like an infant. Iris found that cute, and gently stroked his hair with a loving smile on her face.

‘Come to think of it… he never did wake me up last night for my shift. Does that mean… he stayed up the whole night?’

Blinking a few times in surprise as she realized this, her expression softened once more.

‘Heh… you can be nice sometimes too, huh?’

Then, staring at Finn’s defenseless, relaxed face, Iris couldn’t help but feel heat rising to her cheeks.

‘W-What if I…’

Biting her quivering bottom lip, she slowly leaned down, getting closer and closer to Finn’s face until their mouths were mere centimeters apart. By this point, Iris was about to explode with embarrassment, and undoubtedly, if Finn woke up now, she really would. But since Finn would never take the first step in this relationship… she had to…!

Closing her eyes, she made her decision.

Softly, gently, Iris planted her lips against Finn’s, savoring his taste. A course of static electricity coursed through Iris’s body as their mouths connected, but that only made her indulge more in the kiss. He tasted like someone she could trust. Like someone she would rely on.

Like home.

Before she knew it, a tear streaked down her cheek, and she hurriedly backed away. Finn still was not awake, somehow… or at least, he didn’t seem like it to Iris.

[Fufu~ well, isn’t that cute?] Zelestria giggled inside Finn’s mind. [You didn’t make any move to push away. Did you like her kiss, darling? More so than mine?]

‘… It’s not that,’ Finn replied in his head, having woken up from his sleep. ‘Just now… when our lips connected… I felt something strange running through my body. A tingling feeling… a rush of adrenaline… a surge of power. Something I have never felt by kissing you.’

[Oh? How interesting… could it be because both of you are part-Ghost?]

‘… Perhaps. I definitely feel stronger after kissing her. But if just a kiss is able to do this… what can sex do…’

[Fufu~ my, my. I didn’t know my darling was such a pervert~]

Finn ignored her comment, and instead, chose to just return back to sleep. They should be safe on this underwater subway, with loads of public citizens around. Even if the Ghost Hunters wanted to hunt him down, they would not do so here.

They should be safe.

They were not safe.

CRASH!

“…!” Finn was jolted awake with a loud crashing noise—the sound of the windows of the subway caving in. Water gushed into the train from the hole, and passengers screamed in fear.

“What is going on…?!” Finn furrowed his brows, trying to use his ears to find out what was happening. But there were too many screams to make out anything.

“Finn!” Iris suddenly called out, hovering in the air with her wings. “The train is flooding with water—we have to get out of here!”

“Tch…” Finn thought about his options. Raiju was still injured and could not be used, which left really only one choice.

He slammed the ground, a white glow enveloping his body, then calmly said the following words:

“Cardmaster: The Tower.”

Immediately, a massive stone tower shot out of the oceanbed far far down below, and struck the subway’s undercarriage. Finn ducked below a table and pulled Iris in along with him as the subway hit the tunnel ceiling and tore through it thanks to the momentum of the still-rising tower. Then, higher and higher it went, until at last… it broke the surface.

“Now, Iris!” Finn rolled out from underneath the table and flew out of the subway through the open window, Iris following him. However, the crisis was not yet over. As soon as they emerged, they found themselves surrounded by six flying paladins, wings on their backs and glowing with a reddish-orange hue.

“The Celestial Angelica…” Iris muttered, and placed her back against Finn’s. She drew her weapons, preparing for battle, while Finn was alerted of their presence and did the same.

“Bravo, bravo,” one of the paladins said, clapping his hands without changing his expression in the least. “I applaud you for escaping that. However, we were told you were a tricky target, so we had stationed ourselves up here. And what do you know… here you are, monster.”

“… Calling us monsters?” Finn scoffed. “You guys just killed an entire metro’s worth of people to capture me. Who is the monster now?”

“Thousands more will be killed if we let you go free, creature,” the paladin replied in a repulsive snarl. “Now… face the judgment of the 7th Regiment of the Holy Paladins of the Theocracy of Light! Repent and regret your actions, sinner!”

Finn activated his weapons. “So… all the other guilds were alerted as well, huh? Hmph. So be it.”