Elsword didn't pass that math test.

Well, he didn't pass with a satisfactory grade. The condition that his way-too-smart girlfriend set was that he would have to get above a "B-" in order to get her to wear Dimension Witch's outfit.

He got a "C+".

He wanted to tear his hair out. And then shred his test. And then punch his teacher. Why couldn't he just give him two more points?!

"Better luck next time, Elsword," Aisha huffs as if proud of the fact that her boyfriend failed. Internally though, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief. If Elsword had passed, then she would have to wear that embarrassing dress, and then he would have the perfect blackmail to use against her. She wouldn't be able to refuse anything anymore.

So she sabotaged the study sessions they were having last week. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

She was too busy celebrating her victory to notice that Elsword had stopped walking. She bumped into his backpack and let out a small grunt.

"Elsword…?"

He turned around and showed his math test to her, using it as a medium to his newfound determination. "If I pass the final with an 'A', you have to dress up as Dimension Witch."

His lips were spread in a thin line, almost drooping into a frown, and his eyes were narrowed.

He was serious. Too serious. Overwhelmingly serious.

Aisha's mind malfunctioned. "Y-You've got to be kidding me…? An 'A?!' You barely got a 'C+' on this test!"

"So you don't think I can do it?" he challenged. The purple-haired girl balked at his question.

"I-I-I would like to see you try! I don't intend on letting you see me in that, ever! W-Which is why I won't be helping you this time around!"

He curled his lips upwards, the perfect picture of a man who had already won. "Game on, Aisha."

It took Aisha a while to integrate herself back into Elsword's group. Three years of strained relations had made her extremely self-conscious. Because while he still hung out with their childhood friends, Eve and Rena, he also made some new ones.

It took her a week to gather the courage to meet them.

She met Raven first. The morning after Elsword told her of Dimension Witch's disappearance, she found the redhead talking to a taller man with pitch-black hair by the school gates. Elsword spotted her first and waved her over.

"Good morning, Aisha!" he greeted with a wide grin.

She found it hard to meet his gaze. "G-Good morning."

He didn't seem affected by her sulky response. "So, you know how Rena's dating someone? Well, this is the guy."

"Nice to meet you, Aisha. I'm Raven," the black-haired man introduced himself. "The others have told me a lot about you."

"They probably told him how much of a headache it was to be around me and Elsword…" Aisha's mood sank at the thought.

"N-Nice to meet you, too. I've heard a little bit about you as well, but how come I've never seen you around?"

"Oh, that's because Raven is actually attending a nearby college," Elsword answered, "He's three years older than me."

"Wait, Rena is dating a college student?"

"Yeah...and the things they do together are enough to-!"

Raven chopped Elsword on the head. "What we do together is our own business. If you have a problem with it, then leave us alone."

"I would if you guys pick better hiding places! Do you think I want to watch you make out with my childhood friend?" the redhead retorted.

As they continued to banter with each other, Aisha softly giggled to herself. Elsword really hadn't changed a bit. When the school bell rang in the distance, Elsword snapped his head to the entrance of the school.

"Oh shit! Class is about to start! Aisha, let's go!" He grabbed her wrist and started to run. Aisha begged him to slow down, but all he did was flash a not-so-apologetic smile.

"Hey, Elsword! Tell Rena I have work today, so I can't hang out with her," Raven called from behind them.

"Just buy her a phone already!" Elsword shot back. Aisha tilted her head.

"Rena still doesn't have a phone?"

"You know how her parents are. We're basically their messengers until she gets one."

"Sounds like a pain to deal with," she noted, nervously chuckling to herself.

He glanced back and stared at her with a miffed frown. "Oh, you have no idea."

When lunchtime finally came around, Elsword led her to the back of the school. When they arrived, she saw Rena sitting with two vaguely familiar people: a boy with tan hair, and a girl with black hair.

"If I remember correctly, that guy's name is Chung Seiker...I think he was in my chemistry class one year. And that girl is Ara Haan. I actually never had a class with her, but all of the girls are always envious of her looks."

She hesitated for a moment, but Elsword was holding her hand, so she couldn't back out.

The blonde-haired senior perked up when she spotted the two underclassmen. "Aisha?! Are you joining us for lunch?"

"A-Ahh, yeah. I hope I'm not intruding," she mumbled.

"Nonsense! I've been waiting for this day for so long. Here, come sit next to me!"

Elsword released his grip on her hand as he sat down next to the other boy in the group. Aisha made her way over to Rena's side and pulled out her lunch. When she revealed an organized array of fried chicken, rolled omelets, and seasoned rice, the black-haired girl leaned over and eyed her food with a gluttonous gaze.

"Oh my El! Those look sooo good! Can I have some of your chicken?! I'll give you some of my rice cakes!"

"U-Uhh...sure…"

Ara snatched the smallest piece of chicken she could find and engulfed it in one bite. She hummed contently as she quickly chewed on the meat.

"Mmmmm~ It's so tender, and the batter doesn't overpower the chicken! Did you cook this?!"

"Y-Yeah, I did. I've been teaching myself how to cook in my free time."

Ara picked up a cylindrical rice cake covered in spicy sauce from her lunchbox and placed it into Aisha's. When she bit into the spongy paste, she immediately reached for her water canteen and gulfed down several large swigs of water.

"W-Wow, that was spicy…"

Ara frowned. "I'm sorry! I forgot that my food is a bit spicier than the average person can handle."

Aisha shook her head, her face still scrunched up from the burn on her tongue. "It...It's fine. Though, I don't think I can finish it…"

"Let me have it, then," Elsword blurted out. The group, especially Aisha, dumbly gaped at him. The purple-haired girl quickly turned her head away as she coddled her lunchbox close to her chest.

"O-On second thought, I can finish it! Just watch me!"

Before anyone could move, Aisha finished the rest of the rice cake in another bite. She started to sniffle as her hand immediately went to cover her mouth. They could hear her panting, but she waved her other hand in a pathetic attempt to assure them that she was fine.

"S-See…? I-It's...actually not t-that...bad…"

Aisha surreptitiously peered at Elsword from the corner of her right eye, expecting him to snicker at her. Instead, he was directly facing her, staring at her as if he was the one in pain. She looked down and picked at her rice, while Elsword kept watching her. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he stayed silent and eventually continued eating his sandwich.

When lunch ended, Aisha didn't wait for Elsword. She quickly packed her lunchbox and sprinted into the school building to her next class.

She didn't see Elsword futilely stretching his hand out to her.

Aisha apologized for running off the next day, which Elsword immediately accepted. He was aware that it would take her a while to get used to hanging out with him again and so didn't give much thought to her dodgy behavior.

They spent the next few days studying for their incoming math test, the one that he had resolved to pass. During that time, they had claimed the back corner of the computer lab after class, and Aisha tutored him on...well everything.

He learned that he liked listening to Aisha's voice. When he finally answered one of the practice problems right, he was rewarded with one of her light grins. They took turns swapping notes and comparing answers.

And on the day before the exam, he felt confident he could get the grade that he wanted.

He didn't suspect a thing.

When Rena spotted Elsword the day after the exam, she noticed two things: Aisha wasn't with him, and he had an intense frown on his face.

"Good morning, Elsword."

"...Morning, Rena."

"Where's Aisha? Did something happen between you two again?"

He shook his head. "No, not really. One of the teachers needed to talk to her. Something about her career choices…"

"Do you know what she wants to do?"

"She's thinking of going into chemistry, but she doesn't know if she wants to do research or something else."

"Sounds like our Aisha," Rena nodded, "So what's up with you? Something troubling you?"

Elsword opened his locker and tossed his backpack inside. He unzipped the main pouch and pulled out his math exam. "Can you look over this? I don't understand how I got these questions wrong."

The senior grabbed his test and skimmed its contents. She furrowed her eyebrows at some of his work. "Elsword, how did you get these answers?"

"Huh? I just followed my notes."

He received a deadpan stare from Rena. "No, I mean...the way you got to these answers is more complicated than it needs to be," she clarified, "You only need two or three steps to solve each problem, but it's like I'm looking at a full-blown theorem."

"Oh! That might be because Aisha taught me her way of solving those problems. It made sense when she explained it to me, and she did say that I should show all of my work."

Rena glanced at the test again. If that was the case, why were there so many tiny errors? Aisha was too meticulous to let Elsword make these mistakes.

The redhead sighed heavily. "Ugh, I was so confident that I would pass! Even with her help, I couldn't get anything other than a 'C'. And I really wanted to see her dress up as Dimension Witch, too…"

"What?"

He turned away and covered his mouth. "Umm...we kind of had a small bet? I wouldn't even call it a bet. More like...an agreement? If I passed this math test with a 'B-' or higher, she would cosplay as Dimension Witch."

At that moment, Rena understood exactly what happened.

Elsword reached for his test, but she moved it out of his grasp. He was about to ask her to give it back to him, but he caught her tight grip on the sheet of paper. Her eyes revealed her intent to murder someone. She was gritting her teeth.

"I'll give this back to you after class," she said before dashing off.

Rena cornered Aisha during lunchtime. She found the purple-haired girl by her locker, pulling out her lunchbox from her backpack. Without warning, she snatched Aisha by the wrist and dragged her into an empty classroom.

"Rena, you're gripping me too tightly. It's starting to hurt," Aisha whined. Rena immediately released her and pulled out a folded sheet of paper from her pockets.

After she unfolded it, she asked, "Do you know what this is?"

Aisha narrowed her eyes. "Isn't this...Elsword's math test? Why do you have that?"

"I'm going to get straight to the point, Aisha. You sabotaged him, didn't you?"

Instead of denying it outright or incoherently stuttering her way out, Aisha lowered her head. "H-How did you…?"

"I pieced it together. Elsword normally doesn't care about his grades, but he's smart enough not to fail. So imagine my shock when he came up to me this morning and asked me to look over his math test."

"W-Why did he tell you? Couldn't he have asked a teacher to do that?"

"Can you really see Elsword asking a teacher for help?"

Aisha really couldn't. "N-No…"

Rena lowered her arm and heaved an exasperated sigh. "I just want to know why. Aren't you his girlfriend now? Did you expect that you guys were going to go back to how you were in middle school?"

She watched as Aisha slowly cradled herself. When the purple-haired student spoke again, her voice could barely be heard.

"T-That's...It's...just...I-I was afraid...he would use it against me."

"Use what?"

"...Me...dressing up as Dimension Witch."

Rena's expression softened. Aisha bit her lips and continued, "I just don't understand. Why else would he ask me for such a thing if not to make fun of me? He's insulted my looks for so long that it's hard to believe anything else. And whenever he's acting nice towards me, I keep thinking that he has an ulterior motive, and my mind just..."

"You defaulted back to scheming and lying to protect yourself," Rena concluded.

Aisha nodded, her body trembling. She tucked herself inwards and hung her head down. The senior could see Aisha's fingers digging into her sleeves.

Rena had seen this before. This was how Aisha reacted whenever Elsword had pulled a particular nasty prank. She walked to Aisha's side and gently pulled her into her arms. Aisha slowly returned the hug as Rena patted her head.

"I'm guessing that the idea of you finally dating Elsword isn't actually settling in as nicely as it should." Rena whispered. Aisha softly hummed in agreement, unable to refute her claim.

"He's been...too nice," she said.

Rena chuckled. "At least you're not the only one. But I think he's like that not only because he wants to mend things with you, but also because he wants to be closer to you. You've always been so afraid of change, so I understand why you're thinking that. But Elsword has decided to be honest with you, his pride be damned, because you're more important."

The senior released her underclassman from her arms to look straight into her eyes. "I know I can't ask you to open yourself up straight away, but I don't want you to do anything that will hurt Elsword or make a mockery of his feelings. Just...watch him. Slowly let him in. That's all I'm asking."

Aisha's answer was weak. "O-Okay…"

Elsword spent most, if not all, of his free time at the library. Since Aisha wasn't going to help him, he was going to have to learn all of this stuff by himself.

"I can't ask the others for help. I need to show her that I'm completely serious about this."

Still, even with that mindset, he hadn't been making much progress. The numbers and letters seemed to jumble into a blob of black ink. Even though he was reading his notes, he felt like he was reading a foreign language.

"Ugh, at this rate, I'm not going to pass, much less get an 'A'! Me and my big, fat mouth."

He flipped a page of his textbook, intending to spend yet another afternoon trying to figure out how to find a derivative using a graph when he found a note lounged in the inner hinge. When he took a closer look, he found that the note was typed. It contained instructions on how to solve every type of problem of the lesson as well as an example for each one.

"Did the last person who had this textbook forget about this? Well, might as well use it."

As Elsword got to work, he felt himself longing for Aisha's company. He wondered how she would react if he really did pass the final with that high of a grade? Would she be proud? Or would she call him a cheater?

"Knowing her, she probably would think that I cheated. But that's okay because I know Aisha would keep her word at the end."

He grinned to himself as he started yet another practice problem.

Aisha could feel the defeat coming off from Elsword. He had given her a cocky smirk earlier in the week, but all of that momentum was gone once Elsword found out what his grade on the final was.

He was so close, so insultingly close. That one line of red pen next to his letter grade was like an arrow that shot him out of the sky.

Elsword hadn't said a word since they left school. He had to be cursing himself for not trying harder, for making all of the dumb mistakes that he had made…

"Even with all of the notes I left in his textbook, he still didn't get it. Well, it's still an 'A' technically. I'm surprised he even did that well…"

He abruptly sighed, snapping Aisha from her musings. "Looks like you win, Aisha."

She stopped. "Elsword…"

"I tried my hardest, but it wasn't enough." He huffed again, "I won't ask anymore. I just really wanted to see you as Dimension Witch, but I should have seen how uncomfortable you were with the idea."

They reached Aisha's front door. Her eyes widened as he turned around and flashed an apologetic smile.

"Thanks for putting up with me. I'll text you over the summer if that's okay with you. I know that you're going to be really busy preparing for college admissions."

Aisha couldn't bear to look at Elsword's smile. The sight twisted her stomach, and the tortuous feeling almost made her confess out of guilt. She looked away and answered, "I-I'm fine with that. We can even go somewhere together if you want."

He perked up a little. "Yeah, of course! Just tell me where and when. Hopefully, I get my license by then."

"Don't hit the curb," she said.

"H-Hey, I don't do that anymore!" he retorted back. Aisha smiled, relieved that he felt a little better.

"Good job on your final, Elsword."

He was confused for a moment, but he eventually nodded. "Thanks, Aisha."

"Talk to you later?"

"Yeah, talk to you later."

Aisha waited until Elsword had turned the corner and disappeared from her line of sight before entering her house. She closed the door and leaned against it as her heartbeat slowly but surely became erratic. After taking several deep breaths, she whipped out her phone and punched a few buttons in.

"...Aisha?"

"Eve, can you come over to my house tomorrow morning? I need you guys' help with something."

"This is rather sudden, but you're lucky it's summer vacation. I'll contact Rena and let her know."

"Thanks! Oh, and bring Ophelia with you!"

"My maid? What do you need her for?"

"I'll explain tomorrow. Just tell her to bring all of her sewing equipment."

"...Very well. I'll see you then."

Eve hung up. Aisha scrolled through her messages and started a group chat with Chung and Ara, also inviting them to come over. After getting two positive answers from them, Aisha knew she couldn't back out anymore. She was really going through with this, but at the same time, she found that she wouldn't mind getting teased to death by the others. If she could surprise Elsword, that was all that mattered.

Rena nodded her head several times and hummed to herself after Aisha finished her explanation for gathering them in her house. Ara, to no one's surprise, was the first person on board.

"This is so cute! There's nothing more romantic than a person fulfilling their lover's fantasy!" she squealed. Aisha's embarrassment spiked dangerously, despite the fact that what Ara said was one-hundred percent correct.

"D-Did you have to phrase it like that?" Chung stuttered. Strangely, he seemed more uncomfortable than Aisha was.

"S-Sorry, Chung," Aisha apologized for Ara. "But I really do need your help. You're the only one other than Elsword who knows how Dimension Witch acts. I have to get it down perfectly; i-it's part of the surprise…"

The tan-haired boy pensively stared at the image of the former streamer on Aisha's laptop. "If you're willing to do this, then, of course, I'll help. It's just...wouldn't cosplaying as her be enough for what you're trying to do?"

"He has a point," Eve butted in, "You don't have to go this far. Didn't Elsword drop the whole thing because he realized how uncomfortable it was for you?"

"Y-Yeah, he did, but…"Aisha turned to Rena, who surreptitiously grinned as if to encourage her to be honest. It gave her just enough confidence to continue. "I want to do this. I don't want him to feel like all of his hard work was a waste of time."

Ara might as well have fainted on the spot, considering how she had stopped moving, her hands over her mouth. Eve and Chung shared a glance with each other before eventually nodding at Aisha, while Rena crossed her arms.

"In that case," the senior said, "what should we start with?"

"Maybe the costume?" Aisha suggested as she peered at Eve's maid. "We shouldn't keep Ophelia away from her duties."

"My current assignment is to act as Eve's personal escort," the maid stated, "On my mistress's orders, I will gladly assist you with whatever you need."

"Ophelia, take Aisha's measurements. Ara, pull up pictures of Dimension Witch from multiple angles," Eve ordered.

"And that is my cue to leave," Chung said as he rushed out of the room.

Ara sinisterly giggled, "Smart move. Don't think he wants to be on the receiving end of Elsword's or Rena's wrath."

As Ophelia wrapped measuring tape around Aisha's waist, the rest of the people in the room analyzed the images that Ara had found.

"This is a one-piece dress, right?" the purple-haired student questioned.

Rena stared at the pink and purple part of the dress. "It has to be two layers, at least. Unless the purple skirt is sewn together with the pink layer."

"It's a four-piece," Ara declared.

The others balked at the thought. The black-haired girl printed out a picture of Dimension Witch and began to sketch something on the side.

"So first, there's the purple mini pencil skirt, and then there's the magenta strapless mini dress. The white portion is actually two layers. The part covering her chest goes on top, and the stuff that flares out is a clip-on cape," she explained as she showed them a small diagram of how the outfit supposedly worked, "Now that I've drawn this out, this Dimension Witch is a lot more daring than I thought. Aisha, do you think you can pull this off?"

"Y-Y-Yeah, of course!" Aisha sputtered, "I-I can handle showing a little skin!"

Eve handed the sketch to her maid, "I understand now why you asked Ophelia to bring her sewing equipment. This kind of costume isn't something we can find online. At least, not one that you'll be comfortable wearing."

Rena softly hummed. "That won't matter much if Aisha is uncomfortable wearing it in the first place. It would help a lot, yes, but if she's not used to exposing herself, then we're not going to make much progress."

Aisha violently shivered when she spotted how Ara was staring at her. The black-haired girl's excitement was barely contained as she crept closer.

"W-W-Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because Aisha...this is the part where you strip!"

Chung flinched when he heard a desperate scream coming from Aisha's room. Aisha's mom giggled as she handed the terrified boy a cup of tea.

"KYAAA! Get your hands off me!"

"Ara, be careful with her! Don't just pin her to the ground!"

"Someone help me! No, not my bra!"

"Sorry, Aisha, but I'll get mauled before I can help you..." Chung thought to himself as he pulled out his phone and began rewatching one of Dimension Witch's streams.

...

"I'm heading out, Elsword," Elesis called to her half-asleep brother. "I'll be back in a few hours, so don't go anywhere!"

He grunted in response. "Yeah, yeah. I know."

Elsword heard the door slam shut. Already crashing on the couch, he didn't have the energy to reach over to grab the TV remote. It was already a week into summer break, and he was already bored.

"Ughh...I wanna go out! Why do I have to watch over the house?"

The redhead grabbed his phone out of his pockets. He groaned when he didn't get any messages from Aisha. His fingers were poised over the keyboard, ready to send her a good morning text, when the front door swung open.

Without turning around, Elsword grumbled, "Forget something, sis?"

"Nope, good guess though," a softer, flighty voice answered.

Elsword's head snapped back as he scrambled to his feet. He gasped when he came face-to-face with curled twin-tails, a bright and playful smile, and an infamously cute and eye-catching dress.

"D-Dimension Witch?!"

She winked. "In the flesh. Did you miss me, Elsword?"

"H-How did you get into my house?" he dumbly stammered. Giggling at how shaky his voice was, she pressed the tip of her staff to her lips.

"That's a secret. More importantly, you didn't answer my question."

Elsword found it hard to maintain eye contact with her. He kept flicking his gaze away as his mind malfunctioned. "U-Uhhh...Y-Yeah. I-I missed your streams."

"Hehe, as much as I'm overjoyed that you enjoy my streams, that wasn't the answer I was looking for."

Dimension Witch stepped forward. With a cat-like grin, she approached him, observing how his eyes had resigned to staring at the floor. One of his hands tugged on his hair as if to pull his head back up.

There were a million things that he wanted to ask. Where had she been all this time? Who exactly was she? Did she quit streaming? How in the world did she find his address?

But when he took another glance at her, her smile swept away his confusion. And replacing the storm of questions and bafflement was...

"I'm glad that I've got to see you again," he said, "There's something I've wanted to tell you."

Dimension Witch was stunned by how soft his voice was. Elsword clasped both of her hands as he stared into her eyes.

"Thank you. Because of you, I was able to fix things with Aisha. And I'm going to make sure that the same mistake doesn't happen again. I'm done not being honest to her."

He expected her to grin back at him with self-satisfaction etched onto her face. He didn't expect her to suddenly lower her head or for her ears to explode with color.

"What's wrong?"

"Elsword…" she mumbled, "I-I'm not Dimension Witch."

He took a step back. "What…?"

"I said that I'm not Dimension Witch. It's me, Aisha. I'm just cosplaying as her."

Aisha regretted exposing herself the moment she did so. If revealing the truth meant bringing about this unbearable tension, then she should've kept the charade up.

Because now, Elsword wouldn't even look in her direction. They had moved to the couch, sitting right next to each other.

A part of her thought that maybe he was mad at her. The deep frown on his face certainly contributed to that conclusion, but she recognized the dull glint in his fiery eyes. It was there when he apologized to her.

He was beating himself up.

She hated it. Elsword should never look the way he did now.

Aisha decided to tackle the heart of the tension. "I'm guessing you didn't want me to hear that."

He continued to look away. "A little bit."

"Why not?"

"Because...it's just pathetic. I used my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ask an online celebrity how to make up with a friend. Even saying that out loud is making me cringe."

"...I don't think it's pathetic."

She caught how he straightened his posture and continued, "I'm glad that you did."

"...Really?"

"Yes, really."

He nodded once but still didn't turn to her. Aisha leaned back into the sofa.

"You know, I wasn't expecting you to mistake me for Dimension Witch. I thought you were playing along." She said this in a joking manner, but it only made Elsword's frown deeper.

"You really do look like her. Hell, I could barely tell the difference between your voices," he stated. Aisha dropped her shaky smile when Elsword suddenly scooted closer and gently grabbed one of her curled twin-tails. He scrutinized her, but she could see that he was trying his best to sweep through her appearance, never staying on one part of her body for too long.

His gaze finally rested on her legs. "By the way, why are you dressed up like her? You made it really clear that you didn't want to."

Aisha pouted. Wasn't it obvious? "W-Well, it's because I wanted to surprise my boyfriend."

Elsword stared at her before letting out a hearty laugh. "Mission accomplished, Aisha."

Aisha joined in with her own giggle, and the tension dissipated, floating away with each passing second. They both leaned back onto the couch together.

"Hey, Aisha?"

"Yeah?"

She watched him shakily whip out his phone as if he couldn't contain his eagerness. "I want a picture." He caught how she recoiled at his request and frowned, "No good?"

Aisha quickly composed herself. "W-Why?"

He scoffed, "Uhh...because my girlfriend is cute as hell right now, and I'm never going to see this ever again. Also, I've been wanting a new wallpaper for a while."

"I'm done not being honest with her." Elsword's words from earlier now rang with the unmistakable chime of truth. Aisha could only nod her head slowly as her heart sped up uncontrollably.

"Are you sure?" Elsword asked.

"I-I won't be if you ask me that again," she huffed back. Her boyfriend rolled his eyes as he pulled her to her feet.

"I'm starting to think you like being difficult, Aisha."

"I do not! I just think that was a stupid question to ask. I have obviously dressed up for you, so obviously I would anticipate that you want a picture."

He shook his head, relishing in how she turned her head away to hide her pout. "Why is she so cute when she's annoyed?"

Aisha planted herself against the front door. "So, is there a specific pose you want?"

"Wait, I can pick?"

"Well yeah," she mumbled, "I can do any of her poses."

"Then, just do the one you're most comfortable with."

Aisha widened her eyes at Elsword's answer. She considered asking him to rethink his decision, but after catching the small smirk on his face, she shot the idea down. It could very well be a bait to get her into a position she didn't want to be in-!

"Stop it, Aisha," she thought to herself, "He wouldn't do that."

Cocking her hips out, Aisha raised her left hand and rested it on her head. She pressed her ring finger and her pinky to her palm as her other arm hung by her waist. Her staff was positioned so that the heart-shaped tip was next to her right leg.

Finishing her pose with a wink and an open-mouthed smile, she once again donned the persona of Dimension Witch. "I'm ready~"

"Shit, she's too cute." Elsword's face was hidden behind his phone, so Aisha couldn't see his stupidly wide grin or the way his thumb excessively tapped on the shutter button. She held her position until he finally gave her a thumbs up and flicked his phone away from his face.

"Thanks, Aisha. You're the best," he beamed. She found it hard to bask in his aura of glowing happiness without wanting to faint from embarrassment, and she once again turned to her side. Still, that didn't stop her from feeling a sense of pride not unlike what she experienced when they reconciled.

"So, what now?" Elsword asked as he put his phone on the dining table.

"Well, whatever you want. Elesis won't be back for another three hours," Aisha tried to answer in the most inconspicuous way possible.

"...Don't tell me she knew you were coming over?"

"Uh, yeah. How else was I able to enter your house? She left the door unlocked."

Elsword lowered his head. "So...she saw you before I did."

She raised an eyebrow at his low tone. "It's not just her. I asked everyone in our friend group to help me out."

"Help you?"

"Uhh yeah. There's no way I could go through with this on my own. They made the costume and the staff, and Chung even coached me on how to act like Dimen-!"

She was abruptly pulled into Elsword's arms. One of his hands gripped her left wrist, while his other arm trapped her against him. In this position, she was forced to stare deep into his narrowed eyes.

"E-Elsword?!"

"You know, I was serious when I said I didn't want anyone else to see you like this."

"Huh? They all know I'm doing this for you. There's no reason for you to be jealous."

"Of course I'm jealous! It sucks not being the first person to see this side of you, but not being the first guy just makes it a million times worse."

"T-Then, what do you want me to do about it? You've already taken a picture of me, which is something I didn't let them do."

Elsword seemed placated for a moment, and Aisha thought she was in the clear. That is until his left hand moved to cradle her head.

"Give me a kiss for each person that had seen you before I did," he demanded, "And not the small pecks. I want us tangled on the couch."

"H-Haah?!"

"Well, I'm waiting, Aisha."

She couldn't look away. Not when he had her anchored in place. Not when she wanted to erase his smirk. Not when she wanted the same thing he did.

Aisha dove onto his lips. Elsword took a step back and bumped into the table, not prepared for her to essentially jump on him. She dropped her staff and wrapped her right arm around his back, nullifying the space he instinctively made. Once he recovered from the initial shock, the redhead pushed back with even greater force, sliding his mouth against hers. As he led her to the couch, their kiss was interrupted when Aisha lost her balance, arched over the back of the sofa, and slid down until her head was pressed against the seat cushion. Elsword toppled with her, squishing her even further into the couch, and deepened their kiss until she lightly shoved at his shoulders.

"Shit, are you okay?"

"I-I'm alright. I-It felt nice. More importantly..." she dragged Elsword down, his legs suspended in the air, and whispered, "Don't you want the rest of your kisses? There's still Rena and Ara and-"

He swooped down to shut her up. Neither cared if she baited him in or that she was supposed to be the one who initiated. All they wanted was to close the gap between them for good.

A.N. Hey, everyone! I bet you weren't expecting a sequel to this one-off prompt submission. To be honest, several people have wanted me to expand it into a multi-chapter fanfic, but I felt I would betray the original ending if I did that. If I wanted Dimension Witch to resurrect Lord Knight, then I would have. That's why, when writing the sequel, I wanted to focus on what happened to Elsword and Aisha after Dimension Witch left their dimension.

It has come to my attention that someone has written a small sequel to this fic before I have, and I am flattered that that person liked my story enough to want to use it as a basis for theirs. While I do not entirely agree with their interpretation of Elsword and Aisha, I appreciate the sentiment, and I hope that they will continue to improve their writing and bring more stories into the Elsword community.

That's all from me. An update to Monochrome Precure will be out very soon, so look forward to it!