"Shinji" closed his eyes, cleared his mind, and lay back on the sofa with a hand over his chest.
A little later, Shinji and Zero slowly opened their eyes. Looking at the Riser space around them, they knew they had entered Z's Riser space.
"Master!" Z's voice arrived before he did.
"I already told you, I don't remember ever taking a half-baked rookie like you as my student..."
"Don't be so distant, Master~~~" With that, Z came over to snuggle up to Zero.
"Ugh~~~ You little..." Despite his tough talk, Zero didn't pull away from Z.
Just then, Haruki walked up to Shinji.
He held out his hand to Shinji. "We meet again, Shinji. How have things been on your end lately?"
Shinji shook Haruki's hand. Although he wanted to say things hadn't been going very well, he still answered with a smile.
"Pretty good. What about you, Mr. Haruki? Have you and Z been getting along?"
Haruki scratched his head and grinned.
"Really well! Z can be a little reckless sometimes, but he's a very dependable warrior!"
"We've dealt with lots of evil monsters and aliens together!"
"That's right, Master! Haruki and I are ultra-powerful together!"
"Being with Haruki has really helped me improve my abilities!" Z told Zero happily.
"Hey, you... haven't you had enough snuggling yet...?" Zero pushed Z away, trying to act aloof.
"Oh, right! A lot's happened since you left, Master!"
"Haruki, please show Master our new Ultra Medals!"
"Oh, sure!"
Haruki opened the medal case at his waist.
To Zero and Shinji's surprise, the once rather empty medal case was now almost full.
"What? Z, did you get back all the medals Hikari lost?"
"Hmm... I think so, Master. Oh! Geed gave me his own medal."
"He also said his Riser was fixed, so