"If anything happens to Jane, the city's homeless will find themselves with a new type of meat on the menu." Emily said in cold anger, not interested in listening to any of the nonsense that could come out of Suki's mouth.

Dusting off her sun dress as a way to both relax and release tension, Emily then headed towards her room, leaving the young Japanese heiress on the floor behind her.

Arriving in front of the door of her room, Emily knocked on it, and after a few seconds a little ball of light popped up on her face from the peephole on the door, indicating that Maya was observing who was the one knocking.

After making sure it was Emily, and that she was alone with no one else around, Maya opened the door, pulled Emily in, and quickly closed it again.

Once the door was locked up again, Emily leaned against it, while Maya went back to sit on Emily's bed.

The two of them looked at each other in silence for several seconds before the sound of a door closing in the distance made them both calm down with a sigh, since it meant that, at least for now, the crisis was over.

Letting herself slide down the door to the floor, Emily curled up and hugged her legs close to her.

"Where is Jane? Is she… fine…" she started to say, before stopping and looking down in shame.

"Of course not, what a stupid question..." she scolded herself, hugging herself even tighter.

Not understanding why Emily felt so dejected, Maya got up from the bed and opened the third drawer of the dresser, the one where Emily put her underwear.

There, peeking out from under the cup of one of her bras, was Jane, still covered in Suki's saliva.

Finally seeing Jane, who was fortunately safe and sound, although looking very distressed by the events that had just passed, broke Emily's last barrier, and she began to cry desperately "I'm... so, so sorry, Jane... it's all my fault, I'm so sorry..."

"Okay... may I know what you're apologizing for? Maybe I missed something, but it's all Suki and my sis- that other fault. Absolutely not yours!" Maya asked perplexed, correcting herself from calling Shana her sister, since she no longer thought of her that way, but Emily was too caught up in her sadness to notice.

"It's my fault, if only I hadn't brought Jane here she would-"

“I would be well on my way to being digested by that horrible monster like my friends instead of being here, alive!” Jane screamed in annoyance, stepping out from under Emily bra and looking at her gravely.

Both Maya and Emily looked at her in surprise at her outburst, but Emily quickly dropped her gaze "I promised to protect you, but I almost let...you get eaten..."

"Funny. From my perspective it seemed to me that you fought like a maniac to rescue me, managing to knock the one who wanted to eat me to the ground and save my life." Jane replied, her hands on her hips as she looked up at Emily earnestly. "On the contrary, you have gone above and beyond what I could have ever expected to fulfill your promise. I owe you my life twice tonight."

Emily blushed at her words "It was the least I could do..."

"The least you could do is do nothing. You could have ignored me at the park or decided that you had already done enough for me just a little while ago, but you did neither. You instead decided to save me even when you yourself were in danger! So stop feeling sorry for yourself! You are my hero!" Jane passionately proclaimed.

"Jane..." Emily whispered in disbelief, locking eyes with Jane, who was looking at her in admiration.

The two continued to stare at each other for quite a while before a cough reminded them of the third person in the room.

They simultaneously looked towards Maya, who was blushing in embarrassment "I... I guess I'm unnecessary here, right...? Maybe it's better if I leave you two alone..."

Emily and Jane looked at each other for a second before blushing heavily and looking at her again.

"It's... it's not what it looks like!" Jane stammered in embarrassment, but Maya continued undeterred.

"You don't need to explain anything to me! I understand! It's just like in the stories, when Prince Charming saves the Princess from the evil dragon! It's only natural, really!" Maya nodded with a smile, happy to have 'understood' the situation perfectly.

Emily rubbed her forehead in annoyance, while Jane, not knowing what Maya was talking about, tried to explain herself "It's just gratitude! Yeah! And of course I feel the same for you too! Thanks for bringing me to safety, Maya!"

Maya blushed fiercely and looked away "Y-You're welcome... but… I'm still too young for these things... and t-together with Emily too..." she added, looking briefly at Emily and somehow managing to blush even more "...maybe in a few years..."

'I think I made a big mistake in giving her my old storybooks as gifts...' Emily contemplated briefly before sighing and looking back at Jane's slimy body.

"Anyway, it'll be better to get all that saliva off you." Emily changed the subject, before looking down at the spit-soaked rags that passed off as Jane's clothes. "We should also give you some new clothes, but for now... take these off."

Jane slowly brought her arms up to cover herself while Maya looked away in embarrassment "Are you really sure you don't prefer me to go...?"

Emily closed her eyes and counted to ten in silence before opening them again "Can you lend me some of your dolls' clothes for her to wear? I'll buy you some more later."

Surprised by the sudden change of topic, Maya tilted her head and nodded "Um, sure... I'll go right away."

Locking the door behind Maya as she left, Emily turned back to Jane and gasped when she saw her lying on her stomach, completely naked, over a pair of her panties "These are pretty big! I could probably live in them comfortably!"

"W-What?" Emily said in shock, at which Jane began to laugh.

“Oh dear, your face was too funny!” Jane said intermittently amidst her laughter.

"I thought you were more shy... you were covering yourself just now..." Emily murmured in embarrassment after turning so she couldn't see Jane's naked body.

"Well, I certainly couldn't undress in front of a little girl!" Jane replied before smirking at Emily "And in the end, you're the one who told me to undress! I only did what you told me!"

"I reap what I sow..." Emily sighed before looking back at Jane, trying to avoid looking anywhere other than her face, but given her smallness, it was an arduous task.

"Like what you see?" Jane teased Emily, who snorted in amusement.

“You're pretty, I'll give you that.” Emily responded with a giggle, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall while still looking at Jane.

After a few seconds of silence, Emily asked, a little hesitantly, "How are you feeling, Jane?"

Jane sighed at the fact that the moment she had been dreading had arrived, the one where she had to come to terms with what had happened.

"I was certain I was going to die." she said bluntly.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't trust you, it's just that..." she hesitated for a moment, feeling bad  for her brusqueness, before continuing "I just… didn't expect the black titan to be here..."

"The Black Titan?" Emily asked curiously, even though deep down she already knew she was talking about Shana.

"Yes... the giant among giants, the one who brings the eternal darkness of death, the black titan." Jane listed off the series of nicknames with a shudder "Among my people, it is common knowledge of how, at the beginning of each day, as the darkness of the night begins to lift, the black titan rises from it as a final warning to never feel safe, crushing beneath it anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves in its path."

"So she was speaking from personal experience when she said that no one cares when your people get trampled or killed." Emily noted, gritting her teeth in disgust and anger.

"Apparently so..." Jane replied, rubbing her cheek on the pair of panties she was lying on "But from what I've heard, it seems more like she just doesn't care what's at her feet rather than active malice..."

"Does it matter? If anything, I find it worse! Her callousness regarding the lives of others is simply unforgivable!" Emily replied angrily.

Jane released a long sigh "Emily... I owe you everything, and I'm not at all ashamed to say that I idolize you, but... don't you realize that you're the weird one?"

Emily slowly blinked her eyes, not knowing how to respond to that.

"What do you mean?" she asked, unable to understand what Jane was saying.

"Most people don't care about us. That's a fact." Jane began, looking at her hand as she rubbed the fabric of the panties she lay on, unable to bring herself to look at Emily at the moment.

"Although there aren't many who actively want to harm us, it's only because most people couldn't care less about us. They see us as something whose importance is beneath their attention, which it is neither worth their time to help nor to hate..." she continued, her voice cold, emotionless.

Emily hated seeing her like this, but she remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

Jane spends a few moments listlessly playing with the panties under her before speaking again "Sometimes there are people who become aware of our existence, and not for bad reasons. But they are rare, and... I don't want to seem ungrateful, since they have helped us and continue to help us often, but..."

Jane paused, as if she were uncomfortable with continuing, but then shook her head "...but they also don't see us as equals. Sure, maybe they could talk about our rights and how we deserve to be treated better, but in the end they throw their scraps at us like they do with those animals floating in the lake. This is our reality. We are just pets, at best, to humans."

"You are no pet to me, Jane." Emily said softly, "You're a person. Like me."

"And that's why you're weird." Jane replied with a warm smile, tears falling from her eyes "But I'm happy that you are... and that we met..."

Without saying anything else, Emily walked over to Jane and gently picked her up, bringing her onto her chest in a semi-hug, which Jane reciprocated by spreading her arms wide to embrace as much of Emily as possible.

The two stayed like that for a while, enjoying each other's presence... at least until a voice interrupted them "This is so sweet! You two are so cute together!"

Looking in surprise towards where the voice was coming from, the two saw Maya, with her face pressed against the window, crying with a smile as she looked at them, with tears and snot spread all over the glass.

Jane burst into laughter at the scene, while Emily rolled her eyes, "What are you doing out there, you silly goose?"

"I knocked on the door but you ignored me! I knew that you were just looking for an excuse to be alone together!" Maya said, pouting at Emily.

"What? We weren't-" Emily tried to explain, but Maya waved her hands and cut her off.

"I don't want to know! This is adult stuff I don't want to know! Just let me in! I brought the doll clothes for her so she can stop being naked!" she exclaimed, tapping her hand against the window.

After Emily placed her, quickly but gently, back in the drawer, Jane watched with a smile as Emily went to open the window only for Maya to act spoiled and hold up her arms, demanding that Emily pick her up like a baby.

After dragging her in like a fish, seeing as Maya had no intention of cooperating, Emily placed her on the bed “You happy now?”

"Quite." Maya replied, kicking off her shoes and getting under the covers.

"What are you doing now?" Emily asked in exasperation, to which Maya smirked at her.

"We have to look after Jane together, don't we? So I decided to sleep here with you tonight!" she said happily, before adding, "Now go and prepare something for her to wash. She can't possibly get dressed while she's in this state!"

Not wanting to waste time arguing, knowing that Maya was as sweet as she was stubborn, Emily sighed and nodded "Okay okay, I'm going now."

Seconds after Emily walked out the door, Jane asked Maya "So...how long have you had a crush on Emily?"

Maya gasped and began to stutter "H-How do you know?"

"It's quite obvious." shrugged Jane "I mean, you certainly don't hide it."

Maya covered her blushing face with the covers "NOOO! This is so awkward! I hope Emily never finds out!"

'Then don't shout it!' Emily thought in exasperation from behind the door, her head in her hands.

Sighing heavily, she looked at the door and smiled 'Well, at least they're having fun... they deserve it after what they've been through tonight...'

Then she went to prepare a bowl of hot water for Jane to wash herself, but after a few steps she stopped and looked again at the door, from which screams and squeals could clearly be heard 'But I really need to tell them to calm down a bit and lock the door, before Shana gets really angry...'