"If you were any minute late, I would have left your ass behind." Katsuki said to Yuuki after she asked him if he was worried about her. "I was not worried about you one bit!" 

"Eh?! You weren't?! Not even a little?!" 

"Hmph! I have more fun taking a nap than to wait for you!" 

"Aww..." 

Eijirou chuckled and he patted Yuuki's head, "He was worried about you, Yuuki. He doesn't admit it but he was worried." 

"He was?" 

"Yeah. Sometimes a man doesn't tell a woman everything." 

Yuuki stared at Eijirou and then she came up with something, "But Katsuki doesn't see me as a woman, shouldn't he tell me everything then?" 

"Huh? Uh...y-you do have a point." 

"Shut up and get walking, you losers!" 

They all finally came face to face with another huge gate. The next boss was just beyond the door. When the door opened, Tetsutetsu gasped because there was a person up ahead. That person was none other than Itsuka. 

"Itsuka...?" 

What was going on? Itsuka was supposed to be dead. She's supposed to be dead! Why was she standing before them right now? 

Neito fearfully fell on his butt because he's too overwhelmed by disbelief. Hitoshi tried not to show a single reaction but judging by his silence, he was probably surprised to see Itsuka in the flesh. Tetsutetsu didn't know what to say or do; he should be happy to see her in the flesh but something about her standing ahead of them was somewhat off putting.

"I came back as a demon." Itsuka started, "You've killed me, Tetsutetsu. Do you really think I can forgive that?" 

"I-I'm sorry-" 

"Oh, you think just a sorry will cut it? It's because all three of you are weak that I ended up like this. If it wasn't because of you three wanting to come in here, I wouldn't be here." 

It was true. Tetsutetsu boldly exclaimed he will be everyone's sword and shield. And what happened in the end? He ended up getting Itsuka killed because he wasn't a strong enough sword or a strong enough shield. 

"Tetsutetsu, don't! That there probably isn't Itsuka-" Eijirou didn't want Tetsutetsu to listen but the steel Magic User shook his head. "Tetsutetsu!" 

"It's true. It's true that I caused her to die. If I wasn't so weak, she wouldn't have ended up like this." 

"Tetsutetsu..." 

"Don't try to stop me. Please." 

Eijirou tried to stop his new friend but Katsuki grabbed him by the arm, "Katsuki!" 

"Let him. He said to not stop him. Can't you see it in his eyes that he wanted to do this himself?" 

Tetsutetsu began to walk over to Itsuka. He had sorrows in his eyes, guilt was inside of them. He had been bearing the guilt the whole time, he couldn't even get a good night's sleep because of what happened. If he could turn time back again, he would have protected her and die in her place. As each step took him towards her, he began to remember something...

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Itsuka? You hitting me again and again will make my steel more sturdy?" 

"Sure it will! Alright, think fast!" 

"Wait, I'm not-" He was thwacked to the side by Itsuka's big massive fist! "...ready." 

"Are you okay?! I didn't even hit you too hard!" 

'That is a lie!' He thought to himself. 

They didn't get much training done, but at least Tetsutetsu learnt that Itsuka's fists hurts like hell! 

"Next time, give me a warning if you're going to hit me..." 

"You do realize your enemies won't give you a warning, right? You want them to go 'We're going to attack you right on the head!' We're going to hit you from the side!' Or-" 

"Okay! Okay! I get it! You have a point..." 

"I always do~."

"Geez, the enemies were a lot stronger than I had anticipated..." Itsuka said as Tetsutetsu helped to bandage the cut on her hand. 

"Oi, Neito! You said that was an easy mission! Itsuka ended up hurt!" 

"Who told you we will never get hurt? These missions we take up as the Phantom Thief is always a life and death moment!" 

"You say that, but your feet is quivering." Hitoshi looked at Neito's legs. He thought the other might as well wobble at this point. 

"It's okay, Tetsutetsu, don't blame Neito. I mean- I should have been more careful too and thought ahead each time." 

"No, it's not okay. A man is supposed to protect a woman!" 

Seeing he will not move from his stance, Itsuka chuckled, "Then how about we both get stronger? I'll get stronger so I won't get hurt, and you get strong enough to be the group's sword and shield." 

"Sword and shield?!" 

"Sure. Why not? Steel is very hard and versatile in offense and defense." 

Tetsutetsu smiled at her words, "Alright! We'll do it! We'll get stronger together!" 

"I'm so sorry, Itsuka." 

"Huh? What for?" 

"The enemies were able to take you hostage because I was too slow." 

"Oh that? I'm okay so you don't need to beat yourself up over it. Just do better next time." 

"...why won't you ever blame me when it is clearly my fault?" 

She smiled, "You've realized where your mistake is. I don't need to put it to your face where you went wrong when you yourself already know where it went wrong and even came to own up to it. And it's because I want you to change. I want you to get the motivation to strive for change yourself. You can do it, can't you?" 

He grinned and he hit his fists together, "I can! No, I will!" 

'Her words gave me a path. She motivated me to become the person I want to become. It's thanks to her that I know how to become strong and why I want to become strong. When she sacrificed herself for me when I couldn't protect anyone...it hurts. It made me realize just how small and insignificant I am. I lost confidence in myself and in my Magic.' He thought when he finally stood in front of her. He then embraced her, "I'm so sorry." 

The demon was about to kill him. This was not Itsuka, it was never Itsuka. This demon just thought Itsuka was really pretty. The real Itsuka was killed by the demon and in turn the demon took Itsuka's body and memories. 

"Tetsutetsu!" Eijirou shouted for his friend! The demon will kill him! Spikes protruded from the ground behind Tetsutetsu! It's going to impale him to death! 

However, the spikes stopped against his back. 

"What...? Hya!" Itsuka felt the embrace become so strong, strong to the point she felt very constricted by Tetsutetsu's grip. She looked at him and she saw he was covered up entirely by steel. She couldn't get out of his grip even if she tried. "Let go! Let go!" 

"I won't let go! I know you're not Itsuka." 

"W-what are you talking about- Is it because of what I said?! I-I'm sorry!" 

He shook his head, "I knew you were not Itsuka the whole time. Itsuka is the type to never pin all of the blame to one person. You might have her body somehow, demon, but you do not know her as a human like I do! Take this!" He lift up the demon and he started to crush her within the very tight embrace. 

Her legs flailed in the air, she could feel her organs being crushed! She started to hit Tetsutetsu again and again with her fists but it was useless! Hitting Tetsutetsu was literally hitting a steel wall! She couldn't make him lessen the grip! "Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!" 

Tetsutetsu was remembering a lot of the good times that he and Itsuka spent together. Whenever he doesn't understand something, she's always there to simplify it for him. Whenever Neito says Tetsutetsu's brain had nothing but steel, Itsuka will always be there to sort Neito out and take her time to explain it to him. Itsuka's a good person and he always wished he could do something more for this good person. 

"Huh? You want to do something for me? That sounds romantic coming from you." 

"Geh! No! I-uwah-! I didn't mean it like that! U-um...I mean-! It's- it's a man thing!" 

"Ah, a man thing. Okay, what do you mean by that?" 

"You do something for me, I do something for you back to even the score! You always have my back, I have your back too!" 

"Oh, that's what you mean by a man thing, huh? Let's see..." She gave it some thoughts, "Wait, this still applies to me, a woman???" 

"Huh? Why wouldn't it? Just pretend you have a penis!" 

"Wait, how does that even work? Tetsutetsu, you should be lucky I have a very rational side. If it was any other girl, they would have slapped you into next week." 

"Huh? Why? Can you explain it to me?!" 

"Alright, sit down and I'll explain." 

"The bond between Itsuka and I...it's strong like my Magic! No one, not even a demon, is able to break it apart like that!" With a mighty roar, he was able to crush the demon's spine and her organs. 

The demon started to disintegrate as she fell to the ground. She couldn't believe her Magic was useless against Tetsutetsu. His Magic, Steel, was even stronger than an average steel! She underestimated humans and their bonds. She thought she would be able to kill Tetsutetsu with guilt. She wished she did not use Itsuka's appearance against this guy as she started to disintegrate.

"The real Itsuka would rather I kill her again than let a demon use her body to harm others she cared about!" 

The gate ahead of them opened up. 

"It's because of her that I am able to defeat you. Thank you for wearing her face. I've almost forgot about what's important." 

"Tetsutetsu! You had me worried there! I can't believe you saw through the demon when she's wearing your friend's face!" Eijirou fist bumped him, "Are you okay though?" 

"I killed Itsuka again...but if she is alive, she'd be screaming at me to crush the demon to death! I know Itsuka, she would never fill me with guilt!" 

"Tetsutetsu..." Neito felt bad because again this was a fight he couldn't do anything in. He hated it. He hated how Tetsutetsu could defeat the guilt and move forward with it but he himself couldn't do anything. When he saw the demon wearing Itsuka's appearance, he felt numb and he was reminded how they were so weak they needed her to sacrifice herself for everyone to escape. He wanted to do something too but he didn't know what to do or what he could do. At the end of the day, he's only a human who was understandably afraid of death.

"It's okay, Neito. I'm the group's sword and shield! My success is everyone's success!" Tetsutetsu was a very positive person; he believed by him taking the first step like that, it will help Neito and Hitoshi move on along with the guilt. He's not expecting them to pretend nothing happened, but he wanted them to have the courage to move forward too. 

Katsuki knew it was the right call to let Tetsutetsu take the lead on this floor. He started to make his way towards the gate. 

"Master, the bonds of a human is strong, huh?" Yuuki asked him as they start to head to the next floor.

"Hmph. These things are not limited to just human beings, you idiot." 

"Hm?" 

"Even if you are a demon, you are capable of making stupid things like that too." 

"Master..." 

"I know I am stronger than everyone here. But believing people having their own strengths is also a strength too." 

"Hehe, Master is becoming a lot nicer~!" 

And so they advance through the next gate. 

They were in a world that was similar to a jungle of some sort. They're on some island. This world was artificially made especially for the demon of this floor. They will need to find the gate themselves or defeat the demon on this floor...whoever it was.

"This place is huge! If no one told us this is the Tower of Wishes, I would have thought we're out in the wild!" Eijirou exclaimed. 

"Doesn't seem like anyone is here...shall we set up camp? We do need a little rest after all that walking." Hitoshi suggested, "Yuuki, Tetsutetsu, and Eijirou need some more of it than we do. We should probably rest." 

They decided to split in groups. So there's a Magic User who could still use Magic in each group. Each group will have a role. Group 1 will make a fire, Group 2 will set up camp, and Group 3 will find food and water. As for who will be in the group, they decided to decide by the long stick and short stick method.  

Group 1, the fire making group! It consist of Neito and Katsuki! 

Group 2, Tetsutetsu and Eijirou will help to set up camp! Leave it to the manly ones! 

Group 3, Yuuki and Hitoshi will find things to eat and drink! 

"Oi! What the fuck?! Why do I need to be with this fuckshit?!" Katuki didn't want to be with Neito. "I'd rather be with the stupid wolf!" 

"Yeah well I'd rather be with tinhead but you don't see me complaining?!" 

"...why are they like this?" Both Yuuki and Tetsutetsu sighed when they looked at their comrades; they're both unsure if they should be happy or not. 

It's time for the groups to do something. They needed to ensure their survival; this floor could be a test of some sort and they needed to be on their best game for it! 

"Hitoshi, what are you doing?" Yuuki asked Hitoshi as he made two fishing rod for fishing purposes. "Eh? Why bother with a fishing rod? I can just strip from my clothes, jump into the water, and catch fish! I am very good at it too!" 

"Because, Yuuki, humans use human methods to fish." 

"But I am a demon." 

Hitoshi stared at her for a good while before he pulled at her cheek. 

"Ehhh...!!!" 

"You look human to me on the outside so I will treat you as such." He let her go again and he patted her on the head before heading to the lake with her. 

Within the bushes, someone was there. Glaring red eyes locked onto the two of them. The figures inside of the bush snorted rather loudly. 

Hitoshi paused and he looked at Yuuki, "I know you don't like this method, but you really need to snort like that?" 

"Huh? Me? Snorting? I did no such thing!" 

"You did. It came from you?" 

"HUH???" Rushing out of the bushes, a gigantic warthog charged towards Yuuki and Hitoshi. The two of them jumped into the water before they could be hit by the charge. 

"Ahahahaha!" The little mischievous demon on top of the warthog laughed with glee! He looked like a monkey in appearance. "You did really well, Tonmaru! We'll stop them from advancing this floor!" 

Tonmaru snorted, "Are we allowed to eat them?" 

"Of course! They're just humans! Their lives doesn't matter!" 

Within the water, Hitoshi grabbed Yuuki and he guide her to hide behind some rocks that he had found. They could breathe for the time being. They needed to think fast though! 

'Yuuki is probably exhausted from her fight earlier. I need to protect her." He thought of an idea, "Yuuki, do you trust me?" 

"Of course~." 

"Then leave it to me." Stealthily, he swam his way back to shore. He used his capture weapon to fly into the trees.

"Saruhiko! They went into the water! Are we going to jump in too?!" Tonmaru tried to sniff Hitoshi and Yuuki, but he's not picking anything up. 

"I say we stay here and watch them drown!" 

"Ooh! That is a good idea, Saru-?!" Tonmaru stopped talking all of a sudden. 

Saruhiko was confused; he just heard his own voice out of nowhere and now Tonmaru stopped talking?! "Tonmaru?!" 

Wearing a mask that covered the lower half of his face, Hitoshi managed to use his Magic on Tonmaru! 

"Brainwash Magic: Persona Chords."