After Erstho went away, Selv found himself lost. In the meantime, he went away from the park. His feet didn’t set to any location as it aimlessly roamed around the street. Before he knew it, he had found himself at the commercial district, close to Annatshya’s place. He hadn’t had enough. He wanted to think about Erstho’s question a bit more alone. So, he turned his feet to the other direction, ready to roam again somewhere. When he did, however, someone was standing there.

“You’re back sooner than expected. I haven’t even finished shopping today’s ingredients.” Annatashya stood there, holding two bags of groceries. She looked around, searching for someone.

“Where’s Nely? She’s not with you?”

Her words made him finally realized that he had forgotten about her. His mind was occupied with himself that she slipped out of his mind.

“I-I think she’s still at the Church, playing with other children,” he replied, hiding the fact that he had forgotten about Nely with a turn of his face. He argued to himself that it was not a lie and he didn’t say anything wrong because, most likely, she was still there doing just that.

“Hmm, is that so.”

Annatashya examined his face, picking up something from the way he avoided her gaze, she stopped. Then, she thrust her groceries at him.

“It’s just convenient then. You’re free now, right? Let’s go on a shopping date!” She said, pushing the bags to him after.

“No, I actually have something-“

“Something what?”

Her words shut him. Her face told him that she won’t accept no as an answer. This troubled him. It was not like he could trouble her with his worry. Even if he did, he doubted she could help because it was personal trouble. He was the only one who could solve it. So, he said nothing and took the bags like a gentleman.

“Nothing,” he said. “Let me have the honor to carry your bag, my lady.”

“My, what a gentleman you are. I would love for you to escort me if not for the bags occupying your hand,” she said with a snicker.

Bold of her to say that despite being the cause of his occupied hands. So bold Selv could only respond with a dry laugh. He then watched her moved next to him and took his arm in a hold.

“Although escort is not possible, this’s also not bad, right?” She asked, a wide smile on her face.

Receiving that full-blunt, Selv could only slump his shoulder. He had magnificently fallen to her trap. Not that both of his hands were unusable, he had no way to push her. He could try nicely asking her, but he doubted she would ever let this kind of chance escape. He was forced to let her do as she pleases.

“Don’t you think it’s better if we go back first to drop the groceries?” He tried to talk sense to her, fully aware of what she would say next.

“What are you talking about? Why should we bother doing that when we’re going to shop around here?” She replied, stating the most obvious thing.

“Figured.”

Although she had said it like that, the distance between their location and Annatashya’s place was not far. Thinking about the labor someone had to endure while shopping, it seemed more logical to go back first even if it means walking a bit farther. Unfortunately, Annatashya seemed to think otherwise as it had nothing to do with her.

At least, he tried.

Inside his mind, Selv placed a hand to his shoulder, consoling himself.

“What are you doing, standing there like a scarecrow? Let’s go!” She urged, pulling him by the arm.

“Okay, I get it! So, stop pulling else I might fall.”

To avoid the unlikeable situation where he fell like an idiot, he moved his feet, involuntary making him obeyed her like that of a dog on a walk.

His master took him to the busiest around, the shopping area. Merchants exchanged shouts, competing on whose better at attracting customers, and showed their best products. There was pretty much everything concerning daily consumption, from meat to spices.

The shopping area was a place within the commercial district. It divided goods depend on its type into several alleys like foods, daily necessities, toys, and so on. Obviously, the place they were right now was the food alleys, which incidentally the noisiest.

It was the kind of place Selv preferred to avoid if possible. Although he did patrol the place on a daily basis, he did it while taking into account of when people were fewer. It seemed like he didn’t take his duty seriously. But, without doing it he might abandon the whole thing altogether. He was that bad.

While being pressured by loud voices from both sides, he entered the area by being pulled.

“Why are you, a man strong enough to fight Death, getting cold feet from something like this?” Annatashya asked from his side.

“I can’t help it. I’m never good with noisy places. When I’m near one, I can’t help but feel they’re trying to do something to me. I believe you already knew about that.”

“Of course,” she said, as a matter of fact. “I know if it’s about you. I haven’t been looking at you for nothing.”

She glued their distance even further, looking straight into his eyes, full with sincerity and feeling not so hidden to anyone.

Selv was captured by it. He was unable to look away from her straightforward eyes that reflected only him inside, together with emotion so passionate it might burn him. He took a moment, hesitating, before he tried to open his mouth, only to be cut by her teasing smile.

“I also know that your feeling for noisy places is not a phobia, but a preference,” she said, snapping Selv back into reality.

Unable to bear her gaze any longer, he finally broke eye contact and replied.

“You got that right. I can’t seem to like it no matter how much time has passed. There’s no helping it.”

Hearing that, Annatashya let out a giggle.

“That sound childish you know. Like a child being upset upon asked to do something he doesn’t like.”

“What else can I do about that? If that’s what you think, then I’m fine being a child.”

“My, now you’re sulking?”

“I’m not.”

“Not only you were charmed not long ago. Now for you to sulk… How cute.”

The situation was too disadvantage for Selv. No matter what he did at this point, it will be dismissed as cute by her. So, he said nothing and dropped his shoulder.

As if hadn’t had enough with the teasing, she whispered to him.

“If you’re saying that much, then, let’s pick a quieter place for our next date,” she said, suggesting something.

“Please, spare me,” he pleaded.

“No,” she replied immediately, sweetly laughing and tightening her embrace as if it wasn’t tight enough already. He could feel the warm and soft sensation well enough on his arm. He tried to dismiss it by focusing his attention to another thing, but he received another stimulant. This time it was from her hair because of how close they were. He could smell her fragrance. It was a sweet and gentle smell. Not strong enough to stab his nose, but it was enough to make its presence clear. Did she put on perfume, or was it the smell of her shampoo?

Selv couldn’t help but wonder. He used the same bath and shampoo, but he believed his smell was not this good. It was a wonder.

“Oh, fancy meeting you both?”

When he was busy thinking about such a thing, someone called out to her. It was a man who appeared to be a servant from his butler clothes. It was someone they knew.

“That goes the same Haust. What’re you doing here?”

“Just on a little errand to make an easy to eat meal for someone who will stay up the night, again.”

It was clear that he referred to Vincent, the lord responsible to manage the town. He had cleaned his hands off that task, but it seemed it was still as hard as he remembered.

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“Tell him not to push himself too far,” Selv said, speaking from experience.

“Yes, I will. Thank you for the goodwill,” he said, bowing with one hand on his chest.

“Spare me the bow in the middle of the street. I don’t want unwanted attention.”

“Unwanted attention, you say?”

He looked at Selv who was carrying bags beside her and grinned to his ears.

“I see, I see. I will stop it. But, unfortunately, it seems you’ve already gathered unwanted attention because of your date. Please, don’t mind me and continue your date.”

“It’s-“

“Your eyes are sharp, Haust. That’s right. We’re on a date right now,” she said, interrupting Selv who was about to deny, acting bashful with one hand on the cheek.

It was so ridiculous that he was left with no choice, but to turned his gaze upward and enjoying the clear sky.

What a nice sky, he thought.

His thoughts went somewhere else because he found that it was meaningless to try and resist her. Even if he someway or another managed to win against her, no one would be happy, no?

So, he stopped what he was doing and affirmed it himself.

“That’s right. We’re in the middle of date right now. So, if you have nothing else, please excuse us.”

Once he finished his words, he took off. He predicted that this would cause Annatashya to tease him even more, but it was fine compared to be attacked from both sides. So, he said that and quickly made his escape.

However, she did not tease him. She opened her eyes wide with a blank expression and walked while being led by him. It was strange. So strange that he felt embarrassed instead.

Speaking of strange, he found the surprised face of not only Haust but also the people around to be the same. When he walked away from there, he noticed how the people around stood in place, following him with their doubting eyes and an agape mouth.

He had no idea what caused them to be like that.

After distancing themselves from the previous place, he finally voiced out his thoughts.

“What, is there something wrong?”

“W- Well, you know…”

She tried to explain, only to stumble with her words. Her eyes swam around without any sign of calming down.

He looked at her, she turned her face with a red face. Seeing her flushed state, he finally realized what was going on, to his surprise.

“Could it be, you’re embarrassed?”

“N- No, not really.”

She tried to play it cool, but her unsettle behavior betrayed her. It was plain in the eyes that she was squirming out of embarrassment.

He had found himself in a rare situation. It was not an everyday thing that he would find her like this. If he were to retaliate, it had to be now or never.

In the end, he missed his chance as she took offense of his stare.

“What? Never seen someone embarrassed?”

“Well, not never but rarely. I don’t think I’ve seen you doing one since I came back.”

“I can’t help it. I’ve never thought that the passive you would suddenly say something like that!”

“The thing about we’re on a date?”

“That’s right! I mean you never, not even once, admitted that it was a date even after I invited you out several times!”

Did he? He vaguely remembered pestering him saying it was a date in the past. Now that he thought of it, he might have said it was an outing every time. Obviously, he never thought of it as a date. How could he? His partner was someone equal to his great-great-great granddaughter. The gap between their age was too great to even consider romance. Annatashya might already be an adult by normal human’s standard. But, to him, she was still a child.

It might be a different case for the demon race who had different value because of their natural long lifespan, but he was a human.

The value he learned was that he shouldn’t look at children as targets of romance. It was unnatural to do so. He was unable to shake off that value because he thought it would be unethical to do so. And, it remained within him even now.

He felt bad to her, but that was the end of the story. As long she didn’t remove it, he won’t look at her the way she wanted him to.

He, however, didn’t want to spoil it for her. So, he decided to say nothing about it.

“Sorry. That wasn’t my intention.”

“Despite denying it that many times?”

“That’s why I said I’m sorry.”

“Then, is this a fate?”

“Yes, it’s a date.”

She then went quiet. He was unable to check on her face since she was looking down. Thinking he had somehow upset her, he tried to call out to her, worried. But, to his surprise, what came back was stifled laughter. She lifted her face.

He knew at that moment that she was far from being upset. After all, the happy expression on her face was one of pure happiness.

“You said it! You definitely said it! It’s not a mishear because I heard it clearly with my ears! You admitted that it’s a date!”

“I- I did.”

Without minding the perplexed Selv, she trusted her clenched fist to the air, cheered for her great achievement.

Selv just stood there, dumbfound, as they gathered attention. He was unable to understand what caused her to break into a cheer despite being causing it.

Annatashya, on the other hand, smiled with great satisfaction and regained her vigor as she pulled him.

“Then, let’s go! We can’t waste any second!”

“Go to where?”

“It’s s shopping date. So, that’s obvious.”

In case you’ve forgotten, we’re already in the shopping area.”

“Then, let’s go and buy what’s missing.”

She went on. It was as if her brake had gone.

“I’ve been wondering about it, but don’t you have bought enough? There’re fish, vegetables, eggs, and other stuff like herbs. What else do you need?”

“I’m thinking of making chicken and egg rice bowl. So, I still need the chicken.”

Chicken and egg rice bowl was nice, he thought. Despite easy to make, it was delicious and had this warm feel about it. It might be just him because he knew it had a parent and child theme behind it. Incidentally, it was his favorite.

“That’s nice. But, it’s rare for you to make such a mistake. After all, chicken is one of the core ingredients. How could you forget about it?”

Annatashya let out a slightly troubled dry laugh.

“Well, this kind of things happens sometimes. No one is perfect.”

“I’m not complaining since it’s my favorite. But, looking at the groceries isn’t it better to make something with the things available?”

“No. It has to be it. I’m in the kind of mood to eat it.”

Hmm, Selv felt something amiss. There was something going on. That was what his guts told him.

“If you’re worried about wasting food, don’t worry. I bought these for stock. Or are you searching for a reason to end our date?”

Regaining her cool. she reproached him with a smile.

“Of course not,” he lied through his teeth as if breathing.

Still, he felt the guilt pricking on his heart. It was uncomfortable, but he couldn’t deny it after going this far. He had to bear with it until the very end.

So, they went on their ‘date’.

Taking advantage of Selv’s clueless about the meat shop location, Annatashya led him to a different alley where it was filled with fashion-related things. It was there they did the date.

They entered a shop, checked on the clothes there, picked each other’s clothes, complimented each other. It troubled him when she asked him which of the two clothes in her hands were better. He pondered hard, thinking which of the two was the right answer when in the end she was content in which whatever he chose for her.

They spent another hour looking at accessories on the stall. He realized she was hinting him something as she kept giving him a side look. He tried to act oblivious, but in the end, bent down and bought her an accessory. An earing to be exact. She had tried to make him buy a ring, but as it was too obvious what she was planning he stride passed it. Either Way, she was happy from receiving it.

And it was also enjoyable for him. So enjoyable he had forgotten about his trouble.

After a long detour, they finally bought the chicken, ending their pleasant date with both enjoying it. The sun had half-closed itself, warming the sky with orange. Both were finally heading home. Obviously, there were more bags on Selv because of the shopping. His arms started whining from carrying heavy loads for a long period of time. But, alas. It was the fate of male on such a date.

After a hard journey, they finally reached home and he was awarded a warm tea. A measle reward for the burden, but once he took a sip and felt his soreness went away, he thought it was worth it.

Nothing beats a good drink after working hard.

He let himself fell flat to the table as Annatashya was preparing for dinner.

Now that his head was clear, he found himself thinking he was being stupid for thinking he had a problem when they weren’t any.

What was wrong with him at that time? He couldn’t believe he let Erstho said all that. Humans and demons can’t get along? That was but his opinion. And, his opinion was nothing but false in front of this reality. He needed to look at reality.

He who came from the land of demon might never think about it, but people can get along just fine. There was no need for conflict because they can talk and understand each other. The world was not how it was when they could only kill each other. The enemies they needed to fight now was not each other, but Deaths.

The harmony was not a mistake. It was something inevitable because what was what they want. After all, they asked him to grant it.

He finally reached the answer. There was no need to hesitate for he was right.

“It looks like you’ve cleared your mind.”

Just as he finished with his problem, Annatashya also finished with her cooking. She brought his favorite dishes to him.

“You realized? No. It’s stupid to ask.”

She giggled and said as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Of course. After all, I’m always watching you.”

Only after getting this far he realized the amiss feeling he felt earlier. He knew Annatashya was not someone clumsy enough to make such a mistake. She would plan things and earn the best result with the most effective way. It was her way of doing. For her to forget the main ingredient was as unlikely as chicken to fly.

The choice was also strange. She didn’t particularly hate it, but she preferred lighter things such as sou or pasta. She was in the kind of mood to eat his favorite thing when he was troubled over something? Sounds too good to be a confidence.

Lastly, when they met, he was about to distance himself from her place. Meaning, she was on her way back until she saw him.

He didn’t know how, but she knew of his situation. Well, someone must have seen him when he was roaming without destination and reported it to her. He knew several busybodies that might do it.

Either way, he had but one thing to say.

“Thank you for looking out to me.”

In response, she smiled a blossom.

“You’re welcome.”

With good timing, Nely returned after having her fill playing with her friends from the church. She watched her hands and took a seat as Annatashya took her portion from the kitchen.

They surrounded the table and had a warm dinner together.