“Huh? Where am I?” My father suddenly jolted himself awake, “Whoa, listen to this honey! I just had the craziest dream! Ed came back safe and sound, and with a girl no less-!”

“Dear,” My mother gave him a cup of tea, “That wasn’t a dream.”

My dad, now thoroughly confused, turned around towards me and Anna, who sat next to each other, then nearly fainted again. Calm yourself, man! Are you really that weak of heart?!

“Oh Heavens! Son, you’re back!!!”

“Yeah yeah, I just came back here to say hi though. Don’t get too excited too quickly.”

My parents didn’t seem to listen to my words at all as they gave me hug after hug, but thankfully it seems Eleanor was all ears.

“You’re not staying here?”

“Oh, I’ll still be in the area, since I was planning on getting situated in Springwood to help out Anna and her family.”

“Ah,” My mother finally noticed, “So your name is Anna? What a sweet name for such a pretty little lady like you!”

“Eheh, oh shucks, Mrs. Saint.” Anna blushed.

“Oh no, I’m serious! But still, for my son to be dating such a cutie, you really should be careful around him!”

Ehh, mother…! To think she had it in herself to tease us, and also, that’s rude to Anna! I get it’s funny and all, but I’m sure Anna doesn’t enjoy this relentless teasing about us being together-

“Thank you, Mother, I’ll take that advice to heart.”

Anna glared at me from the side, looks like she’s still a bit mad about the other night… Eh?! Wait, Anna’s… agreeing?! Hold on, when did we start dating again!? And didn’t we JUST tell Eleanor that we’re not like that?! Hey, even she’s giving us the side-eye! Oh, I get it, you’re just lying to my mom because it’s easier than having to explain our actual situation, right?

“What are you looking at me like that, Ed?” Anna noticed me giving her a nervous grin, “I mean, we’re not dating now, but if you’re up for it, then I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t start dating sometime in the future.”

Everyone sat around the table was at a loss for words, including me! D-Did… Did Anna just confess her feelings to me? In front of my entire family!? Geez, way to put me on the spot…

“A-Ah, then, sure…”

“Well, I’m not asking you to give me an answer immediately-”

“SON!” My father suddenly jumped up from his seat, “What are you getting embarrassed for! Answer her feelings loud and clear like a man!”

“D-Dad! Ugh, thank you Anna for telling me your feelings! I will treasure you and your love for me, I love you too and I would be honored to spend the rest of my life with you!”

“E-Eh?! U-Uhm, th-thank you Ed for accepting my feelings! I too will treasure our relationship above all else on this world, and am honored to know that I have someone as kind and dependable as you to be with for the rest of my life!”

The aura around us was now all fuzzy because of this, but my family was barely keeping it together. G-Geez, what is it with parents and teasing their kids? First it was Grim’s parents, now mine too? Ugh, if Arthur wasn’t gonna annihilate me the moment he finds out about Anna and I, then I’m sure he’d pick on us too.

“…”

“Well, I didn’t mean for you two to recite wedding vows, but that’s alright too, I guess. (pfft!)”

“That’s it! We’re leaving for Springwood! Remember, I’m a busy guy with things to do, and right now we need to deliver some medicine to Anna’s sick grandfather!”

“Oh come on,” My mother and sister spoke with a sarcastic tone, “Don’t be like that, we were just messing with you! (heh!)”

This is why I left home, assholes…

***

“W-Well, your family sure is a fun bunch…” Anna tried to break the awkward silence that was filling our transport wagon to Springwood.

“What the hell was that?!”

“E-Ehh?”

“I mean! What was that confession!? Are you crazy? There’s a time and place for teasing, but right then certainly wasn’t it!”

“I wasn’t joking though! I meant what I said, dumbass!”

“Huh?”

“Is it so wrong to l-love you? I mean, you’re certainly kind and dependable, add to that the fact that I gave you my first time-!”

WHOA THERE! These walls ain’t soundproof, the driver can hear us! Please be more mindful of that!

“Hey hey! Shhh! Don’t talk about that in public!” I yelled, “Haa, alright then, if you’re really not joking, then I’d be thrilled. Honestly, I’ve liked you for a while now, so I see this as an absolute win.”

“Really? Since when? I mean, you were the one who first went in for the smooch the other night, so I kind of guessed as much.”

This girl…! But dang, I kind of said too much in the heat of the moment. Well, no use hiding it now.

“Well, I don’t know the exact moment I said ‘I love Anna and wanna hug her and kiss her and smooch her’…”

“H-HEYY!!! You don’t have to go into graphic detail!”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Hehe, just kidding. But to answer your question, I think it was back when I was in Great Hiana.”

Anna was still processing my earlier statement, so her reaction was a bit delayed. She even did a bit of a double take and made sure to remove the hair that was covering her ears just in case she didn’t hear right.

“Whoa, that early? I was sure it was back when we reunited.”

“Why’d you think that? I mean, you were fun to be around even back when we traveled Trivis Numerica together, but it was only back then, when I haven’t seen you in so long, that I really started to miss you. Before I realized it, you were all I was thinking about, and then it suddenly clicked that I was actually kind of interested in you in a romantic sense.”

“Eh? Guess you aren’t as shallow as I initially thought. I assumed you fell for me the moment you saw how much I’ve grown in the chest department since we last saw each other.”

“Wuh- Oh come on, I’m not some horndog who’d pick his girls based on the size of their chest! I have basic principles!”

“Hmm, I dunno… Cause from what I remember, you were really going down on them back when we were having se-”

“WE’RE OUT IN PUBLIC!”

After I shouted my reminder to her, we both noticed that the wagon driver has been glancing back at us for a while now. Seems he’s quite invested in the idea of listening into our story. Damn nosy idiot, I get we were being a nuisance, but mind your own business!

“Oh, looks like this is our stop. Here, gimme the luggage.”

“Well aren’t you suddenly a gentleman? Back when we were just starting this trip I never would’ve expected you to suggest this.”

Ugh, and just when I was starting to think she finally mellowed out after we started dating… I guess she plans on still keeping that pain in the ass attitude until further notice, eh?

“Well, I guess I’ve changed after this trip.”

“See what sex does to a man?”

Stop saying that worddd!!! God, how is she not embarrassed by saying that word? Much less in public!

“Huh? What was that? Having sex, now, were you?” A girl’s voice came up behind me.

Anna and I suddenly felt a deathly aura form behind us. This is just like that feeling I got when those Stray Wolves attacked, just much worse! We were all too terrified to turn around, and the only thing keeping us from screaming out in fear and running away was the fact that we knew whose voice it was.

“A-AHA! C-C-C-C-CECILY!? W-WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE IN SPRINGWOOD?!”

“…” She just quietly looked at me before chuckling, “Dude! You’re terrible at lying! What brings me to Springwood, you say? Phah, I take care of the Old Man for you and you tell me that?! You’re a riot, through and through!”

Both Anna and I now felt like complete idiots, shouting about our nighttime wrestling match in the middle of town, especially now that Cecily heard us. Ugh, can’t wait for her to pester us until the end of time about it…

“Anyways, did you get the plant needed to cure Arthur’s illness?”

“?” I stopped in my tracks for a second, “You’re not gonna ask us about what we just shouted out?”

“You gonna keep bragging about doing it to a maiden whose man is on the other side of the world? Is that it?”

A-Ah! I see what’s going on! That feeling of absolute terror she was exuding towards us wasn’t because we were shouting something indecent out in the middle of town, it’s because she was jealous! Goddammit Grim, why’d you have to be such a late bloomer, her eyes alone could wilt flowers!

“NO! We weren’t bragging! We got the plant, that’s all that’s important!”

“Heh. That’s more like it.”

Grim… Please come back soon, otherwise your wifey here is gonna throw this world into one thousand years of absolute darkness…

***

“We’re back!”

Entering the familiar shop we were all too accustomed to, we saw two people sitting together around the table, peacefully enjoying their cup of tea whilst eating chips (huh? What a weird combination…). Well, that wasn’t the important part, the important part is that those two people were Arthur and Aaron, and they were actually getting along?!

“Oh, thank goodness you’re back safe and sound!” Aaron got up from his seat to hug both of us, “Did you have fun?”

“Boy, did they…”

“Cecily! Please don’t say a word more!”

Arthur ignored Anna and Cecily’s bickering and simply asked the most important question about this trip.

“Hmm? Well, in any case, where’s the plant?”

“BAM!” I plopped it on the table, accidentally waking Nelly up from her nap, “Oh, whoops. But check it! A bona fide Andolia Baonei!”

Arthur inspected it a bit closer, but worried that it was too small to be properly made into a remedy. It should be fine, though, since from what Miss Harper told me, this plant is mixed with a variety of other plants, and she told me this much would be more than enough, but on second thought, shouldn’t we have gotten more? Sol even paid for them, I guess I felt bad for taking too much of his money…

“Eh, since when did you become a medical professional, Old Man?”

“Cecily, how many times have I told you just how similar you are to Lune this past week?”

“More than enough times, Old Man.”

Looks like those two got on good terms as well, maybe she’s the reason Arthur and Aaron somehow managed to get on good terms?

“Well then, I’ll call Harper over and have her make the cure.”

“Ed, I can’t thank you enough for going out of your way to help me like this.”

“Don’t thank me yet, Gramps. Do that AFTER we know for sure that you’re cured…”

I was about to head out of the room, but then the unthinkable happened. Cecily decided to ruin this beautiful moment by getting back at Anna and me, and in the worst way possible no less.

“So you and Ed started dating?”

“Pff-WHAT?!?”

Arthur was suddenly caught off guard by her question (that was aimed at Anna) and nearly choked on his tea. I immediately ran back into the room to help Anna out with the explanation.

“THE FEELINGS WERE MUTUAL, GRAMPS! I’M SORRY FOR DISOBEYING YOUR TRUST!”

“Ed… I told you to look after my granddaughter, but nothing more than that, no?”

Just while I was in the middle of my dogeza, a saving grace came by my way. Aaron decided to get me out of this one, since he was still her uncle.

“Well, that’s great, isn’t it, pops? Ed’s a kind soul, certainly better than the alternative of having her be with some random guy, no?”

“W-Well, that’s true… Wait! That’s not the point! You’re telling me you two just suddenly happened to get together while on a trip all by yourselves? I don’t trust that! Something must’ve happened to sway your emotions!”

Oh God, it’s happening. The time for judgement is upon me. Arthur’s way too attentive at times… Fuck, now I have to tell this kind old man that I slept with his dear granddaughter… Oh God, oh fuck…

“What’s that supposed to mean, Old Man?” Cecily decided to rectify the issue in her own way, “Lune and I got together without any of that stuff. Plus, just look at Ed over here, y’think he’d have the balls to try anything on our dear Anna?”

“Well, certainly…” Arthur took one more good look at me.

Hey, not nice, Gramps. I’ll have you know I lasted quite a while! Wait, that’s not the point… (Thanks Cecily!)

“Even still, Ed, I won’t hand Anna over to you just like that. I need some reassurance that you two are serious about this.”

“What else can I say apart from what’s already been said? Since I’m moving to Springwood, we’ll be seeing each other every day starting now. Plus, I’m gonna have a lot of free time, so I’ll just help out around the restaurant quite frequently.”

“See?” Aaron said, “That’s our General of Logistics, right there! You’re lucky for having him as a grandson-in-law, pops!”

“U-Uncle! We’re not married! They’re not in-laws yet!”

Yet?

“Yet?”

“Oh shut up, Cecily!”

Dang, thank goodness I kept my words to myself…

“Phahahahah!” Arthur suddenly burst out in a fit of laughter, “God, now that you mention it, this reminds me of the time we first met, Edward!”

“Is it an interesting story?” Anna asked.

Ah, how nostalgic…

“Sure is! Remember how when Ed first came into the restaurant, he had a fractured bone in his leg?”

“Yeah…?”

“Well, since we needed to convince Harper he was okay with staying with us instead of at her clinic, we had to lie our way out of it. But get this, Ed took it way too far! What was it that he said, ‘Anna’s my…‘ ”

“OKAY GRAMPS LET’S GET YOU TO BED!” I quickly shut him up.

“Hey, Ed! Let him finish the story at least!”

“NOPE! C’MON ANNA, LET’S GO GET HARPER!”

And so, my pride and dignity was safely protected, everyone was now happy and chipper, and Anna and I headed out to go get Harper before her shift ended for the day.