Monster Hunter: Stars of Hope

Chapter Forty-Five: Confessions

Several hours had passed since the debriefing after the Lao-Shan Lung mission, which allowed both Nia and Sariko time for their nerves to calm after that quest's awful conclusion. Now, they both had found themselves alone in the nearby mountains underneath the stars, sitting on a raised ledge near the path they had walked to get here; not far enough away from the Iron Bastion as to put themselves at risk if a monster were to attack them, but also not close enough for a certain wyverian's overly keen hearing to have much chance of troubling them. Of course, they made this trip with all of their hunting gear, just to be on the safe side.

"I've always found looking up at a clear night sky quite calming", Sariko mused idly, "There's just something so serene about all those little lights up there... all of them without a care in the world for all the troubles we've got down here". Of course, that starry sky, as beautiful as it was, was nowhere near as calming for Nia as the person who was talking about it right now, but she was far too concerned with the discussion that Sariko was either ironically delaying or trying to ease both of them into for such talk of those little lights to mean much. As much as she was dreading it, Nia knew the discussion that they were here for had been put off for far too long, and it would just be best for them to get it over with already, even if things between them became as strained as she was worrying they might; The only thing for it was to rip the metaphorical bandage off as soon as possible. "Sariko, before I tell you about the rough thing that's bugging me... I have to ask", Nia spoke up after the silence had started to turn tense, "There's something bugging you too, isn't there?". In response, her close friend simply sighed, nodding silently soon after; a relatively benign confirmation that nonetheless stung a little to receive. Yet, Nia knew that she likely had a greater responsibility to make her confession, her being the first of them to indicate having anything rough to share, leading her to begin her admittance after a deep, centering breath, "Okay, well... Here goes nothing. I... Sariko, I did something bad, let my anger get the best of me, but it was worse than earlier... way, way worse. Back when that Nergigante injured you, just after the others and I went to go hunt it to save you... but before I left, I... Gogdamn, is there even a good way to say thi-".

"Nia, I already know about that", Sariko suddenly spoke up.

"Wha- wa-wai- wha-what?", Nia immediately stuttered out in wide-eyed, confused surprise, to which Sariko took in a deep breath, explaining wearily on the exhale without turning from her upwards gaze, "Doctor Moratta told me right after you left... said you lost it, pinned her up against a wall, started to... threaten her for worry that something might happen to me while you were gone, but snapped out of it when you heard me cough in the other room, and then... just sort of panicked and tried to apologize". Nia was in no way whatsoever prepared to hear this. The very thing that she was terrified of her close friend being told about, and feared having to reveal herself; Sariko learned of it without her being the wiser, likely mere minutes after it happened. "I didn't believe her at first... Honestly, I was kind of offended that she'd suggest that you did something like that", Sariko continued, "But, the more I thought about it, the more it sounded like something y... It just made sense". Even though she was still quite stunned, Nia couldn't help but wince at what Sariko had just caught herself saying, mostly at how true it was; That, quite unfortunately, absolutely did sound like something she would do, enough so that Nia couldn't hold it against Sariko for her letting that slip. Yet, she was able to fight through enough of the discomfort and shock taking her now to realize that, quite simply, the way that Sariko had been treating her this whole time in spite of what she knew, and clearly wasn't all too enthusiastic about, didn't make any sense. Not knowing what else to ask or even how to ask it better, Nia inquired with fearful unease in her voice, "How... how angry are you with me, Sariko?", to which her close friend took in another deep breath and answered, "I was angry; really angry and... honestly really scared that you'd do something like that for my sake... I'm not angry about it anymore".