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A young woman exited the subway and walked up the stairs. As the shade of the metallic structure that covered the entrance to the underground covered her less and less, she slightly covered her face while her eyes adjusted to the brighter light.
When the light no longer bothered her, the first thing she saw was the wall of the building that divided the way. Under the green tiled roof there was a screen that showed an advertisement for a movie showing down the street on Cinema Esprit.
Not paying any mind to the promotional material doe a movie that Mishy stared at, she quickly opened a device she was carrying. A small rectangular box that fitted nicely on her hand, this was one of the many orbment devices, a technology that was applied in all sorts of areas.
The orbment quickly turned on, a number showing in the middle of the screen, “14:30”, with a sigh of relief the girl quickly closed the device and started to walk forward. She had enough time to do what she wanted.
Taking quick steps on the greyish tiles that paved the floor, the girl gave a quick glance to a small group of young people that were hanging out right next to the entrance of a building. She recognized the outfits of they wore, after all she went to the same school.
The young girl who quickly continued her walk is named Agnès Claudel, a student at the prestigious Aramis High School. Despite being only 16 years old besides going to class she took a part time job on the Arkride Solution Office.
Right now, she was making a quick stop to the bookstore “Stuart”, after her classes had ended. She only wanted to quickly buy a magazine that had just been released, and knowing its popularity, they would have probably run out if she tried to buy one later.
Increasing her pace, Agnès walked pass the McMillan Café as she observed her surroundings, managing to hear bits and pieces from the conversations that happened close to her. She was a bit surprised the many things she had picked up on while working on the Arkride Solutions Office. The though of becoming so good at eavesdropping would have never crossed her mind. But now she was able to do it, albeit without really intending to.
But as she was approaching the statue that adorned the corner of the street, her thoughts were interrupted by a woman as she politely called to Agnès, “Excuse me,” she said as she slightly raised her hand.
A bit surprised, Agnès turned around to see the woman. The first thing that caught her attention was the apron that the brunet was wearing. The woman, slightly taller than her, was using a large apron that reached just a little after her knees. On the apron the name “Lapine” was embroidered on its top, a small logo of a black rabbit next to the stylized letters.
Noticing that she had caught Agnès’s attention, the woman gently started to talk, “Good afternoon, I am a waitress at the Lapine Café, and right now we are having a special promotion that might interest you,” she said as extended her hand to offer Agnès a flyer. “Right now, we are offering this mouthwatering dessert.”
The waitress smiled as Agnès grabbed the flyer, the dessert was called “Doux Baiser.” Pictured on the flyer, was what seemed to be a normal honey toast, a large segment of a loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with strawberries, berries, and croutons. But on a closer inspection, some differences became more apparent. The loaf the used was about half bigger than a normal bread, next to that, they seemed to have added chocolate to it.
Even without being as devoted to sweets as a man she knew, she would be lying if she said that it didn’t seem it would taste wonderful, and that man that came to her mind would also like to taste it.
Noticing Agnès’s reaction, the waitress put her hands together, “There is just a small problem. We will only serve it to couples.”
The young blonde lady couldn’t help but to quietly say “Oh…”
“I am sure you can convince your boyfriend to give you a treat,” the waitress said as she winked an eye, “Hope to see you there.”
Agnès blushed a little as she continued to walk to the bookstore, the brunet smiling at her as she moved away from her. She wasn’t sure what to do with this new information. She did want to try it out, but she clearly lacked the requirement to get it.
Going inside “Stuart”, the young girl was pondering what to do as she grabbed the magazine that had made her go there in the first place.
---
Entering the 8th district, known as “Old Town”, if one went to the second floor of the building that hosted the Bistro Montmart. They would find a singular door with a metal plaque with the words “Arkride Solution Office” engraved on it. This was the home of a Spriggan.
The man who rented this space was named Van Arkride, a man who took request that laid on the grey area between legality and morality, having the freedom to choose which type of job he wanted to do.
Van laid on of one of the couches that he had on his office, trying to catch some sleep after a long night of patrolling which had gone far longer that he would have imagined.
Right now, all of his part-timers were off duty, doing their own things before it was time to get to work again. But he was expecting one of them to arrive shortly.
And with his internal clock proven accurate, there was a soft knock on the door.
Van shifted his position as he opened his eye, now sitting properly on the couch, he answered out loud, “Come in.”
A young blonde woman entered through the door, and seeing the older man sitting on the couch she gently smiled at him, “Good afternoon Van,” she said while closing the door behind her.
Van returned the smile as Agnès walked to the other couch, “Seems like it will be a really peaceful day.”, she mentioned as she took a seat.
“Yeah, I even feel like there won’t be any 4spg requests,” Van replied as he leaned forward.
“Well, there haven’t been any important events recently…,” she trailed off as she suddenly remembered something, “Oh, that is right, I have something that might interest you Van.”
The dark-haired man’s eyebrow raised slightly as he observed how she opened her bag and gave her a flyer.
“Doux Baiser?” he read out loud as he looked at the piece of paper, his eyes widening as he looked down to the image of the special honey toast.
“Wow that looks absolutely delicious,” he said as he laid the piece of paper, “Would be a nice sweet treat for the day.”
Agnès had a small chuckle as she saw Van closing his eyes and imagining how the chocolate they added to the honey toast could be a wonderful contrast with the slightly acid strawberries. “I am sorry Van, but there is one small problem,” she regretfully said interrupting his daydreaming, the sight of his smile being something Agnès always enjoyed.
A small sigh escaped Van’s lips as he opened his eyes. Agnès had leaned forward signaling a part of the flyer. “A sweet treat only for couples,” Van read out loud.
“The lady that gave me the flyer mentioned it, so I imagine they won’t let any of us get it unless we come with a partner,” she answered as she took her seat once again.
Van pinched his chin as he thought of the situation, when suddenly an idea came to his head.
“Please humor this for a second Agnès.”, he said as he got up from his seat and went for pen and paper.
The young girl was slightly confused as her boss was quickly writing something on the paper. And then he gave it to her.
A sweet meant for two.
My dear assistant has showed me a dessert that looks absolutely wonderful. The only problem is that they won’t sell it to you unless you come with a partner since its only for couples. Can you help me get my treat for the day?
Van
After reading this, Agnès remained quiet for a few seconds as what she just read settled in her head, before her eyes widened as she moved her eyes from the piece of paper to the man in front of her.
“Van!? What…?” she said out loud as the man in front of her leaned back to his seat, still smiling.
“I think this could be a nice change of pace and a good way of getting a different point of view when solving a 4spg,” he said as he observed Agnès’ reaction, “Of course it would be my treat, but what do you say Spriggan, you have the right to refuse the request.”
Agnès remained quiet for a second as she thought of what Van just said. She would be lying if she said the thought didn’t cross her mind after hearing the condition for buying the dessert, but she never imagined Van would make her act like a Spriggan.
But she didn’t let the surprise cloud her judgment, this could be a good chance to improve and become a better assistant to Van, with the small plus of being treated to a nice sweet. “Understood, I accept your case.” Agnès said as she smiled, “I will do my best!”
Van had a small chuckle as he got up from his seat, “Well then, lets go on my car. Despite being the Spriggan I can’t let you drive without a license.”
“Yeah…”, Agnès said with a nervous chuckle.
---
The couple arrived on the outer parts of the 3rd district, despite the fact that they were a considerable distance away from the Trion Tower Plaza, they were still considered in that district.
Van had parked his car the closest he could to the Lapine café, but it was still a small walk towards it. But as they approached Van stopped for a second and looked at Agnès, “any suggestion on what to do Spriggan?”
The question caught Agnès by surprise, but she didn’t really know why Van was even asking that question.
Seeing the confused expression on her face Van patted Agnès on the head, “Since we are pretending to be a couple, we should act like one. I doubt they would be too inquisitive on it, but its better to leave a good first impression.”
“Oh…!” Agnès exclaimed as it dawned on her. It would be a bit awkward if they just walked together as they entered the café and in front of the register, they just say that they are a couple.
“Uhm…”, she muttered as she tried to think something, but Van sighing simply grabbed her by the hand.
“This should be enough,” he said as he looked at Agnès whose face had turned slightly red, “Is it all right Miss Spriggan?”
Agnès moved her eyes quickly from Van’s face to their hands, until she started to calm down. Still with a faint blush in her face, nodded. But unknown to her, the blue-haired man also had a faint blush in his face as he turned to look away.
They walked in an awkward silence as Agnès was painfully aware of how Van’s hand felt. The larger hand was slightly hard, showing just how much hard work Van had done in his life, in complete contrast with her soft smaller hand.
But as she was lost in her thoughts, they stopped as they had arrived at the café’s door.
Van gave a quick glance at Agnès, seeing if everything was okay. In reply she simply smiled at him, confirmation enough that she was okay.
Pushing the wooden door, a small bell rang as the entered the café.
“Welcome!”, a woman cheerfully said as she turned to look at the people that just arrived, “Oh it’s you.”
Agnès was a bit surprised to see the brunet waitress that had given her the flyer at the 4th district.
“My my, I didn’t expect you to come today, seems that you have a really nice boyfriend” she said with a smile as the couple had gone to the register, “Handsome too. You are really lucky.”
Van was about to say something, but Agnès spoke before he could, “Yeah, I am really fortunate. Van has been really good to me,” she said with a smile as she grabbed his arm, locking it with hers.
While the waitress and Agnès were doing small talk, Van was a bit surprised by the decisiveness she had suddenly shown. It seemed that after his small advice, she had taken her role as Spriggan far more seriously.
The brunet smiled at the two, as Van gave her the 1500 mira to pay the dessert. Signaling them to please take a seat while it was being prepared.
The two took a seat next to the wall, and now they finally had the chance to absorb their surroundings. Lapine was a decently sized café, having 6 tables for approximately 20 clients at the same time, and looking at how how clean they were, they could assume that the place had a decent number of clients, although right now there were only a couple sitting on the table next to them, right beside the storefront under the Lapine logo.
Giving a quick glance to the couple, they had also bought the “Doux Baiser”, and were happily sharing it.
But now, with knowledge of her surroundings and the dessert already bought, Agnès sighed from relief as she leaned back to her chair.
“All good, Miss Spriggan?” Van asked as he placed his right elbow on the table.
“Yeah…, just a bit surprised. Even though I been working with you for a while now, taking the lead is still making me a bit nervous,” she said with an awkward chuckle as moved a lock of hair behind her ear.
“That is understandable, even this small request made you go out of your comfort zone. But I assure you, you been doing a good job.”
“Oh…”, Agnès said with a small chuckle and a faint blush on her cheeks, “Thanks a lot Van, it means a lot to me.”
Van opened his mouth to say something but hearing the door that led to the kitchen opening, they both glanced at it to see the waitress carrying the platter with the honey toast and two drinks.
“Sorry for the wait…” she said as she looked at the couple sitting on the table, and noticing Agnès’ faint blush she smirked, “Pardon me, I didn’t mean to interrupt your talk.”
“No! Nothing if the sorts…”, Agnès said with a nervous laughter as she tried to compose herself, “Thank you so much.”
“No problem, that is my job.”, the brunet said as she gently laid the plate down with its cutlery, and their two drinks, “Hope you two enjoy it love birds.”
Van coughed at his hand in surprise to the nickname she had so abruptly given them, before going back to behind the counter.
Now alone again, they looked at the sweet that they would share. Like Agnès had seen before, it was a more elaborate version of a honey toast, with a slightly larger loaf of bread and chocolate slightly covering the crust of the bread. But to both of their surprise the sweet was even more elaborate that the picture on the flyer lead to.
“Mmmm. They cut strawberries to resemble small hearts and used them to decorate the bottom of the loaf.”, Van commented as he observed the dessert, “The croutons have a wonderful golden tone, so it must have the perfect firmness, in combination with the accompanying berries and strawberries, and the two scoops of vanilla ice cream that they laid on top with just a bit of berry jam…”
Agnès lifted her head to see Van’s expression, that lovely smiled of his had appeared on his face once again as his eyes almost seemed to sparkle with excitement. She could imagine that his mouth was watering just by looking at the surprisingly intricate sweet, the sight couldn’t help but make her chuckle at Van’s glee.
He only grabbed his fork after Agnès had taken hers. Cutting just a small portion of the top of the toast, they took a bite at the same time.
Agnès eyes widened as the flavor of the honey toast filled her mouth. She had expected the dessert to be more on the sweet side, but to her surprise, there was a surprising balance on it.
Van had closed his eyes as he savored the sweet, only opening them once he swallowed. “They took a surprisingly simple thing as honey toast and made it an exquisite dessert. All the sweet things are in harmony, never becoming overbearing. Even the chocolate covering isn’t subtracting from the others. And what is more, the strawberries they chose are just slightly acidic, making each bite end with just a tiny hint that makes you want to take another bite.”
Without stopping, he took another small portion of the toast, this time with a tiny bit of the vanilla ice cream. “And the ice cream they added, just makes it better. They went for a slightly more refined taste, making it contrast perfectly with the rest of the dish,” he said before taking his bite, “It’s so good.”
Agnès just watched as Van was lost in the world of sweets. A sight she had gotten used to when he was eating a really good dessert.
But as Van was continuing his small speech, Agnès eyes wanderer a little and she saw the couple that was sitting on the storefront.
The were almost done with the dish, when the girl took a small portion of the toast. Her cheeks went a bit red as she leaned forward and offered her boyfriend that bite. The young man’s face reddened as he had gotten embarrassed at the idea of being fed by his girlfriend.
“Should I…?” Agnès wondered as she looked back at Van.
The mere idea of doing it almost made her embarrassed enough to want to cover her face in shame. “No, I can’t!” she screamed in her mind, scolding herself, “That is too embarrassing!”
Without noticing she bit her bottom lip, “I am not even his girlfriend, I shouldn’t think of doing something so bold!”
But then it hit her, “But I am pretending to be his girlfriend. That is what his request was,” she realized, “Even if it’s embarrassing, I have to do my best as a Spriggan, that is what Van always does!”
With her confidence once again ignited, Agnès took a small portion of the honey toast.
“Van…”, she muttered extending her fork to Van.
It was then when the dark-haired man noticed what his partner was doing and was caught completely off guard. He froze for a second as his mind ran, not even sure of how to answer, his cheeks reddening.
It was then, with a bit of luck that he noticed the couple right next to them and figured that Agnès was following in their steps.
His eyes returned to look back at the blonde woman in front of him. With surprisingly slow movements, he leaned forward, closing the distance between him and Agnès. He wanted to look away, to look at another thing, but he couldn’t, he imagined that Agnès was doing this for her duties as a Spriggan.
Van opened his mouth as Agnès moved her fork closer to him, finally getting inside.
His mouth slowly closed as the small portion of honey toast was inside of him. Agnès removing the fork while Van ate.
An awkward silence remained as Van chew what he had just been fed. Until he swallowed.
Agnès remained on the edge of her seat as she waited for Van’s reaction.
“Thanks…”, he said as the faint crimson in his cheeks became just barely redder.
Upon seeing his reaction, Agnès smiled.
“You’re welcome darling,” she said beaming.
A second passed when she finally realized what she just said. She quickly moved her hands to cover her face as it instantly turned red.
The two clients and the waitress remained in silence as the scene unfolded in front of them.
“Just get married already,” the brunette said as she looked at them with a deadpan expression. The couple sitting next to them knew what the waitress was thinking and agreed with her without sharing any words.
---
The door’s bell rang once again as Van and Agnès exited the café, an awkward silence as the two couldn’t look at each other on the eyes.
“That was a bit too much for me…” Van thought in his head as the memory of Agnès had burned itself into his memory.
His thoughts were interrupted as now out of the view from the people on the café, Agnès turned around and looked at him, letting out a sigh of relief.
“I am sorry about that Van,” she said with an apologetic expression on her face, “I wanted to do my best to be your girlfriend, but I might have overstepped with that bit…”
Van looked down at his assistant, his supposition had hit bullseye. With a small sigh, Van couldn’t help but chuckle a little, “You don’t have to apologize Agnès. You did a wonderful job.”
Agnès expression turned to surprise, “Besides that small recommendation I gave you at the start, I wouldn’t change anything of what you did. You did a wonderful job Miss Spriggan.”
With his words, a smile appeared on Agnès face, “Thank you so much Van. I will do my best to become even better,” she said while looking at him, “I am sure everyone is waiting at the office, but I know the confidentiality we have with our clients, so this will be a secret between us two.”
Van laughed at the small remark Agnès had given him, “Of course. Now let’s go Miss Spriggan.”
The awkward silence had completely gone away, as the two of them conversed on the way to Van’s car. “Yeah, that request was worth it,” Van thought to himself as he remembered Agnès smile from just a bit ago, a treasure that he was going to keep dear and near his heart.
---
Night had arrived at Edith; the streetlights illuminated the 5th district. The blonde girl was quickly running from the subway exit to her dorm, the curfew starting in just a few minutes.
Breathing heavily, she pushed the wooden double door, and got inside just in time.
“Oh, good evening Agnès. Just in time,” a purple-haired girl said as she lifted her eyes from the book she was reading to the front door.
“Renne…”, Agnès said while catching her breath, “Thank the goddess it isn’t the… supervisor.”
“Yeah, she is at her chamber right now, getting ready to go and give an earful to the residents that didn’t make it, unlike you,” Renne said as she had a small giggle, “Seems that you had an exiting day to arrive so late. What did you do today?”
Agnès who had finally regained her breath was about to tell her day to Renne, but the memory of her date with Van made her completely quiet, her face turning red as a tomato as no words managed to escape her mouth.
“Mmmm?” Renne said teasingly, “Seems that Mr. Spriggan and you had a close day.”
“Renne…!”
“Maybe me and Odette should keep you here until you give us all the details of what happened.”
“No, there is no need for that. Nothing happened!”, she lied unconvincingly as her face turned redder than before.