She...A lot of the other boys in town really liked her, and they did a lot to try to impress her. I was always on the outside of her group of friends and I probably overdid it trying to get in.

[He smirks and rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment. For the time being he opts to not tell the tale about how she went off into the mountains after her mom's death and how he was the last person following her before the bridge broke. Or how he got blamed for the whole thing afterwards.]

But we talked right before I left town. She had me make a promise: that when I became a big Hero and she was in trouble I'd come rescue her.

In the end when I got to Midgar they told me I was just fit to be a military grunt. Not the First Class SOLDIER I wanted to be.