A comedy/romance/friendship fanfiction based around the characters of Athalia Academy, where everybody is mortal and has no special powers of any kind.

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There were several things that drove a neighborhood. The first thing that determined nearly everything was relationships. Relationships held much of a neighborhood together. Whether it be the friendly, familial, or romantic kind, such relationships ensured that the people in the neighborhood would be aware that they can rely on each other. A good flow of relationships guaranteed a loose, yet formulative chain of improving friendships.

The second thing that determined a good neighborhood was environment. A good environment that brought people closer naturally set up the grounds for relationships to blossom. And the last, small, yet important thing that rounded up the neighborhood was activity. That much was self-explanatory, really. The more people stuck with each other, the better the chances they get to know each other. Of course, there would be a problem if they got to know each other more through their fists, so getting to know people with friendly talk and good intentions was much better for a healthy long-term friendship.

Sycamore Heights, dubbed "Syca-Heights" by its younguns, was one of such neighborhoods that had a great balance of relationships.

Established long after the continent of Lavanya had been founded, Sycamore Heights was both small and packed. Plenty of houses sat in rows within the residential district, scattered here and there; many of them were quite close to each other, so it was not a hard chore to walk from one side of a row of houses to the end of the other. There were also several apartments not too far off from the pack of houses, and the town itself was reasonably sized for what it was.

Not many cars were driven strictly within Syca-Heights, most of them being used only when people needed to outright leave the town to get to another place. Much of its residents preferred to walk, not because driving in the town was uncomfortable, but because... well, it was already small enough to make walking a bit less tedious than using a hunk of metal to move.

And most of the residents liked the fresh air of Syca-Heights. It was a good contrast from the heavy air found in many cities.

A visitor to the small neighborhood entered a flower shop, the jingling of bells softly announcing his visit. Turning to the customer, a beautiful, lily-haired woman turned with a bright smile.

"Hello," she said gently as she greeted the visitor. Just as she always did.

It was hard to not like visitors in Syca-Heights, after all.

---

A dark-haired girl woke up, remaining frozen under her blanket.

Most of her dreams were usually related with either strange nightmares or peaceful moments she had with her friends. The nightmares would not scare her, but they would bother her to some extent. The peaceful dreams would let her relax and feel a bit more confident for the day.

She was not quite the confident type in the first place, and Aurelia Triniel knew that all too well. The girl felt her eyes become heavy before pinching her cheeks to wake herself up. With her cheeks tinted with small lines of pink, Aurelia got up.

She remained still in her bed for a few seconds, staring at the wall, before she turned into a bright tomato. The girl instantly threw her blanket up in the air before shrinking into a ball, letting the soft blanket lightly cover her entire body.

For some reason, she had a wonderful and romantic dream.

It was a strange dream, really. The girl had been on... a date of some sort with a man taller than her. Much taller, to be exact, though that was almost a given considering her small height. She held his arm, and he pressed his arm against himself to bring her as close as possible to him. On their date, he treated her not like a princess, but like a lover. He made his own mistakes and showed somewhat of a childish side, but he also wanted to show her his serious side... even if it was a bit off. But she felt most enamoured about his personality; it was as if his presence was meant to make her happy.

But his face, she had not seen well enough.

This... Ah, this is so embarrassing... Aurelia curled up even further as she shrunk under her blanket. Why would I dream of something like that...?

Now that she thought about it, she had never shown interest in a man (or woman, just to clarify!) to a pretty serious extent. She had a crush on Alex, one of her best friends, but...

It couldn't have been him.

Alex isn't... that tall...

...

...

...! NO, WHAT AM I-

Aurelia squeaked as she pulled at her blanket as she shrunk herself as much as possible. But alas, the human body was not a marshmellow. It had its own limits in... shrinking itself.

As she mumbled pathetically in her ball of safety, someone opened her door. An old lady blinked as she asked,

"Aurelia? My, that's... pretty interesting of you."

The blanket ball twitched as Aurelia loosened it ever-so-slightly, her head peeking out of the thing. "A-Ah! Um, sorry..."

"Your friends are waiting, Aurelia!" The lady said with a warm smile. "I made some muffins for you all."

Scrambling out of her bed, the girl quickly got up and scampered off. She hugged the old lady with a quick "Thank you" as she ran as quickly as she could down a hallway.

The girl reached the kitchen and-

"TRINNIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" A small blonde girl cried as she leapt and hugged the dark-haired woman who just woke up from a weird dream. "Trin, where were youuuu..."

"'Ey, Aurelia!" Alex said as he raised a muffin humorously. "We're getting hungry! Let's eat, already."

"Loud as ever, I see," the loudest man in the group said with a smirk as he drank from his coffee. "You cannot compare to me."

"...If both of you start up a ruckus again," a short-blue-haired woman snarled with a muffin in hand, "I will make sure you won't be able to dream of getting kids."

"Yes, ma'am."

As Aurelia was lightly dragged to the table by the small girl, the old lady walked into the kitchen, happy to see that everyone was back together. "I'll be knitting a toy for the cat that visits here often," she said warmly, "so if you need anything, you can always come by my room."

"Sounds good!" Alex said with a bright grin. "Thanks for the meal!"

Aurelia lived in a house with her childhood friends. With all of their parents overseas doing important business that warranted little to no time for rest, the parents practically begged the old lady to take in their children in return for their own support to her. She was more than willing to help her young friends, but to appease them, she accepted their offer. Through some confusing processes that required the children to get used to their new surroundings without their parents, they grew to rely on each other quite a lot.

Elena was the most mature of the bunch, though she also had the tendency of being a bit rough with Alex and the self-proclaimed loudest man of the group, Ren. Esther, the girl who enjoyed latching herself to Aurelia, was the most hyper of the bunch, and Alex... well, he served as the person who initiated many things in the group. And while at a first glance, Ren would appear to be a useless bum, he was actually quite the hard worker whenever he focused on an activity. He worked even harder if the activity involved competition of some sort, and Alex made everything a competition for that very reason.

Aurelia herself was just a small addition to the group. She considered herself to be a person who threw out small remarks during conversations between her friends, and nothing bigger than that. That much was more than she could ask for.

As the five ate at the table, Ren boasted that he finally managed to get a job that wasn't related to convenience stores and flipping burgers. Alex nearly screamed at the news, though he was unable to do so when Elena stuffed the entirety of the muffin she had been eating in his mouth before taking another. Aurelia nodded, nodded, and nodded at practically every sentence.

Her mind was still clouded with a certain dream, however. As she thought over what she had dreamed of, the girl spaced out as she ate her muffin in a slow-motion fashion.

She hated to admit it, but the man in her dream let her feel... happy. His presence soothed her fragile and cautious heart, and the way he made her feel so important...

Her face went red as dizziness jabbed at her mind. Alex was quick to notice this, for he always paid attention to everyone in the group.

"Hm? Aurelia," he said, but as soon as he spoke, she flinched and dropped the muffin on the table. Ren screamed incoherently as he snatched the muffin off the table and ate it, a wide grin spread across his bread-covered mouth.

"...Uh," Alex continued, turning away from Ren as he set his gaze on the blushing Aurelia, "you alright? You seemed like you were thinking about something."

"..."

Shaking her head, Aurelia suppressed herself from telling him about her dream. He raised an eyebrow at her hesitation in talking with him.

"Look, if it's about the noodle incident yesterday," he said, raising his hands to show that he was not guilty of what had happened the other day, "then it's not me who threw the noodles at your empty bowl. It was-"

"It's... not that."

Alex grinned.

"Oh, so you were thinking about something?"

As soon as she stiffened, everyone knew that Aurelia was definitely not thinking about random flighty thoughts. To make her blush and look so embarrassed...

Elena's eyes widened as she thought, Perhaps it's...?

Esther's eyes widened as she thought, Maybe... Could it be...?!

Ren's eyes widened as he reached for Elena's muffin, THIS IS MY CHANCE- OWOWOWOWOWOWOW, LET GO, DAMMIT!

As Aurelia twiddled her fingers, she nervously glanced at her friends as she shivered for a split second. She remained silent for a few more seconds before she finally let a defeated sigh escape her lips.

"I... had a dream."

Elena raised an eyebrow, and for some reason, she could not help but smirk at Aurelia's expression. "About...?"

"..."

...

...

...

"I... Ah..."

Pressing her hands against her face, she squeaked, "I dreamt about... dating someone."

Ren's eyes widened as he gaped at Aurelia's direction, taking Alex's muffin before getting smacked in the forehead.

"EHHHHH?! WHAT?!"

At everyone's unified shout, Aurelia shrunk and dug her face deeper into her hands (if that was even possible). "What did he look like?!" Elena shouted, showing a rare moment of genuine giddiness at Aurelia's reluctance.

"I... I didn't see-"

"Was it a guy?!" Esther cried, her eyes sparkling at the news of love.

"Y-Yes-"

"Was he sexy as hell?!"

"I...-"

"How did he treat you?!"

"Ah-"

"Did you meet him in reality before?!"

"Do you feel like you can date him if you really met him?!"

"Can I have your muffin?!"

Elena punched Ren as she turned back to Aurelia with bright eyes, a wide grin spread across her face.

"In that dream," she said as her grin grew by every second, "did you have... y'know. Some kids? Of your own? Heh?"

Aurelia squeaked.

"Alright, girls," Alex said as he broke apart Elena and Esther from the frightened dreamer. "It's nice to be curious, but it's another thing to go really far with the curiosity. Let's all eat for now! Maybe she'll tell us when she's feeling more comfortable."

Turning to Aurelia, he asked with a bright grin.

"Right?"

Nodding, Aurelia looked down with a beet red face as Elena and Esther sighed. "Just when we were getting to the really good part," Elena grumbled. Esther nodded with a pout.

Ren screamed, "AURELIA, CAN I HAVE-"

"REN, IT'S EIGHT A.M. IN THE MORNING! NOW'S NOT THE TIME!"

As Alex and Ren started rambling on about how loud they were, Aurelia slowly reached out for her muffin and nibbled the top.

Love, she thought, feeling flighty due to the ruckus that had occurred right before her, huh...

---

She eventually dressed up and went out of the house with her belongings.

Cell phone? Check. Money?... I don't have that much money, actually...

The girl sighed as she walked down the small road between rows of houses. She felt nervous.

Not only because of the dream, but because it was a day that she would finally work at not a part-time job, but a full-time job. She had been allowed to get a position as a cook at Alegria, a family restaurant around the center of Syca-Heights. Though she thought that her nervousness would have gotten the better of her, she had managed to successfully apply for a job on her own.

She felt both happy and worried. Happy, because she felt accomplished. Worried, because she did something that made her feel accomplished in the first place.

I'll be fine... right? She worried as she walked alone.

An hour-long walk let her enter the small, yet packed town of Sycamore Heights. She navigated around groups of people as she looked for Alegria, only to find it near the core of the town. It stood with a clean exterior and visible interior, and it was neither too fancy nor shabby. Well, perhaps it did look a bit fancy, but it was one of the most visited restaurants in Syca-Heights.

As she walked to the restaurant, she saw a short-brown-haired in a chef uniform wave at her. It was the Sous Chef!

Scurrying into the restaurant, the girl bowed endlessly as she barely managed to let out a quiet, "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Ito."

"It's mutual," the Sous Chef said with a kind smile. "We have been waiting for you! The restaurant's about to open, after all."

Walking over to the wide kitchen, Yutaka Ito, the Sous Chef of Alegria, kindly led the way as he explained, "This restaurant does not actually have many cooks, but our skills more than make up for our low quantity with great quality. Of course, we're still not exactly the best of the best among cooks, but it should be more than adequate to get the food our customers want.

"And since we're small in numbers, we know each other well. So don't be afraid to ask someone about things you need help in."

Aurelia nodded, looking around the kitchen she had visited not too long ago.

"You may also ask someone if they want to go on a date with you."

The girl almost tripped at Yutaka's words as he laughed heartily. "Ha ha! Well, really, I'm only half-kidding there. All of us know each others' phone numbers- except for that cheeky Xander. He's a bit of the shy type; which is a bit of a surprise, considering that there's someone who looks meaner-looking than him who socializes better!"

As the two walked over to a door located in the corner of the kitchen, Yutaka reached out for the knob, only to have the door roughly opened by a purple-haired man with the grumpiest frown ever.

"Oh, there he is."

His eye twitching, the mean-looking man seethed, "Who are you calling meaner-looking, huh?! Actually, that's the only visual detail you ever applied to me ever since I got a job here!"

Ignoring the furious, yet humorous ranting behind him, Yutaka turned to Aurelia as he introduced the angry man to her. "Aurelia, this is Reggie. He's been with us for about a year now. He manages much of the cooking because we can't afford to chase out our customers with his looks."

Reggie gave Yutaka the evil eye, making the Sous Chef laugh again as he added in, "His unique looks, so to speak."

"...That did not do a single bit in making me feel better."

Sighing, Reggie raised a hand as he mumbled, "Reggie. I guess we'll be seeing each other more often."

Aurelia instinctively shrunk before letting out a hand. He almost tore off her arm at the first shake, but he quickly noticed her frailness and toned down the shaking. As he let go, he muttered "I'm gonna check and see if that... uh, 'darn' oven is working." With that, the mean-looking cook walked over and checked the oven.

Yutaka smiled and turned to Aurelia, who glanced at him with wide eyes.

"He's such a beautiful little thing, isn't he?"

"I HEARD THAT, YOU FREAKING TROLL!"

As the Sous Chef laughed again, he led Aurelia through the door, which had a wooden label on it. "Faculty Only!" it stated, as if no one knew which rooms should not have been accessed by customers. Right next to the Faculty Room lay a room filled with tools and the likes, though Aurelia already knew what it looked like.

The faculty room had uniforms and the like in it, along with lazily placed chairs scattered around the fairly empty place. A small uniform lay folded neatly on a mat, sitting on top of one of the chairs.

"This is your uniform!" Yutaka said with a proud smile. "I made it myself."

Reaching out for the uniform, Aurelia glanced at the brown-haired Sous Chef, who gave her an approving nod, before she softly picked it up. It had a bit of weight to it, but that much was a given considering that things could happen in a busy kitchen. What surprised her the most was how smooth the uniform felt in general.

"It's..." Aurelia said with a small voice, "great..."

"Oh, how flattering!" Yutaka said, though this time he seemed to sneak in plentiful of genuine joy behind his tone. "Well, it'd be rude for me to not let you try it out, so I'll take my leave for the moment. I'll see you in a minute."

Humming, the brown-haired man left the room as Reggie greeted him with a barrage of swear words. Yutaka laughed and annoyed the purple-haired cook even further without even doing much.

As Aurelia put the uniform on, she stood in front of a mirror. A clean white uniform greeted her.

It feels... strange, she thought, her cheeks reddening at the unfamiliar sight of her in a chef uniform.

Suddenly, the back door of the room opened. It seemed that one of the faculty members entered from the back side of the building. Turning to the door, her eyes widened as she stiffened.

A red-haired woman entered the room with a tall blond man. As soon as the red-haired woman saw the dark-haired newbie, her eyes shined as a smile of curiosity and amazement replaced her once idle expression.

"Y-You're the new person, right?" The redhead whispered before zipping up to the frightened Aurelia as she exclaimed, "I'm Cortez! I'm a pretty legit part-timer here! Wow, it's so interesting to see a new person in this room!"

The blond man crossed his arms as he stood at the open back door.

"So your name is Aurelia, right?" Cortez continued. "My pa would love to have nice visitors, but I think you look nice. He he. That was a compliment... by the way... he..."

As Cortez rambled on about how she found Aurelia to be a peculiar little thing, Yutaka re-entered the room. At the sight of Cortez and the blond person standing at the entrance, Yutaka brightened up (even though he was already bright enough).

"Ah, hi Cortez!" Yutaka exclaimed.

"Eyo, eyo, eyo!" Cortez exclaimed back.

"Eyo, eyo, eyo!"

"Eyo!"

"Ha ha!"

Aurelia wondered what just transpired before her.

"Cortez is a very nice and sensible person," Yutaka said with a wide smile as Cortez let out a little huff. "Though some people call her a 'pirate' for going around and earning money from a lot of places, she does everything she needs to do- and even more than that, too!

"And that guy crossing his own arms is Xander. By the way, Xander, you better close the door before that spider you hated comes back."

The blond man expertly spun against the wall, letting the door close on its own. He remained still with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. Aurelia wondered if he had a problem.

"In case you're wondering why he's doing that, it's because he's pretty shy in front of new faces," Yutaka explained, setting his gaze upon the almost-frozen Xander. "But I understand him! It's not often we get a beautiful person to work with us aside from Cortez."

Cortez pressed her hands against her cheeks as she let out a series of words complimenting how sensible Yutaka was. Aurelia's confusion at the situation only grew.

"Xander, break out of your ice and come greet Ms. Triniel!" Yutaka said.

For a split moment, Aurelia thought that the blond man would just freeze and become a part of the wall. It only took the man a second to get off the wall, however, and stop crossing his arms. Walking over to the small Triniel, Xander kept a distance between them as he finally opened his cyan-blue eyes.

"Xander," he greeted himself.

"Oh..."

Aurelia fumbled over her words and ended up bowing politely to him without saying anything. Xander snorted as he asked the Sous Chef, "What's she in charge of?"

"Hm. Well, she's going to be help us make desserts and move around plates-"

"What size are said plates?"

Yutaka put up a thoughtful look.

"They vary in size and weight, I guess."

Xander raised an eyebrow at the Sous Chef's vague words. Raising his hands in mock guilt, Yutaka added in, "Well, none of what she's carrying is going to be heavy, if that's what you were trying to ask!"

The blond man blinked. And with that, he fell silent again.

"See?" Yutaka told Aurelia. "He's not a bad guy. Speaking of which, Xander, don't you think she's very pretty? Do you think we should-"

"Not interested."

"Ah, ha ha ha! There he goes again."

And off Xander went to put on his uniform. Aurelia gulped as she glanced between the excited Cortez and the expressionless Xander. They were polar opposites, yet somehow she felt that the cooks would all get along.

They were all nice in their own ways...

The unfamiliar feeling of meeting her co-workers in a full-time job was one that both confused and excited her.

---

Edric Karst was a boy who believed that youth was to be lived to its fullest.

So when Azamor threatened the length of his lifespan by using a leafblower to look under a bunch of women's skirts, Edric knew that he had to stop his stupid fool of a friend as soon as possible.

"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!" Edric screamed as he yanked the leafblower out of his friend's hands before chucking it to some dark corner near his house. "What the heck are you doing right in front of our house, Az?"

The dark-haired Azamor laughed at his sandy-haired friend. "I'm trying to make my morning more colorful, don't you see?"

"Detention isn't colorful, Azamor."

"Well it doesn't always need to not be colorful-"

"Az."

"Ed."

"We might be late for class if we keep this up."

---

They were late for class.

The two bolted to Athalia Academy, running through empty hallways and stairways. As soon as they reached their classroom, Azamor slammed the door open and screamed,

"WE'RE LATE!!!"

"WHY THE HECK ARE YOU TELLING THEM THAT?!"

A dark-haired man wearing sunglasses looked up to their direction from his math book. Edric and Azamor's math teacher, Ryuu Yamauchi, stared at them blankly.

"Oh," Ryuu said blankly, "okay."

"...Ye?"

"Ye."

"Oh."

Azamor scratched the back of his head, somewhat bummed out at the teacher's lack of response to his late arrival. Edric raised an eyebrow as he slipped into the classroom as well, giving his classmates an apologetic look. They all didn't mind his late arrival, however.

Edric was at his second year in Athalia Academy, a famed school within Lavanya. Not only did it provide a competitive field in education, but it also had competition in sports and a lot of other things that many people considered to be useless to society. It was also known for its rivalry with Sharros Academy due to its long history with it.

To be fair, Edric wanted to live a normal, yet fun life. Athalia seemed perfect for that.

Sometimes.

Because while it certainly was fun most of the time, it didn't seem to capture the... normal part that much.

"Hey, Andro," Edric said as he sat at his seat, which lay next to Andromeda's. The green-haired bookworm flinched and simply nodded. At this point, Edric had grown used to the entire process. Every time he entered the classroom, he would greet her, she would react in some way, and they would go back to doing their own businesses. She did seem to warm up to him, considering that she lean away from him like she usually did.

"Edric," a handsome boy said next to Edric as the boy showed him a plastic bottle with the name "ARA" written on it, "how does this look?"

"...Whoa, it looks good."

The boy with the bottle smiled. "I made it myself. And my stupid sister copied what I did, so if she tells you that she made a bottle before I did, make sure to shoot her words down."

"Huh," Edric said half-heartedly at Aramis' request. Aramis was a pretty popular guy who seemed to not like his sister, Amara, all that much despite the fact that they were quite the big hit on Youtube. Edric actually enjoyed watching him share funny insults with his sister just because of the entire "sibling rivalry" thing to be an amusing thing to observe.

So he said "Okay" without any intentions in actually shooting Amara's words down.

"TEACHER!" A boy wearing a red-and-white mask and helmet screamed as he thrusted a hand into the air. "CAN WE WATCH FORREST GUMP?!"

Ryuu screamed back, "For the last FREAKING TIME, WE'RE NOT WATCHING THAT MOVIE AGAIN!!!"

"BUT... BUT... THAT MOVIE IS SO GOOD-"

As soon as Ryuu flipped his podium and assigned the entire class an extended version of the homework he originally assigned to them, Edric knew that things were already looking not-so-normal.

---

Xander tossed a flattened egg up in the air.

Reggie turned to Xander and tossed his own flattened egg higher in the air.

Xander raised an eyebrow as he caught a hold of his pan with two hands, throwing the egg even higher in the air.

Reggie frowned as he threw his own egg so high up, it... hit the ceiling.

"Ah."

The two stared at the yellow bulk of yellow stuck on the ceiling. Xander and Reggie remained still for several seconds.

"...Don't take up a challenge if you're not up to it."

"The hell are you saying after I threw that thing up there?"

A day had passed since a new cook had joined them. With Aurelia, things got a bit better for everyone's workload. Cortez now had a buddy to talk with while making desserts, Reggie had even less of a reason to leave the kitchen, and Xander... well, nothing really changed his routine aside from the occasional advice he gave to the girl. Yutaka had done a good enough job to stabilize Aurelia's role among the chefs quickly. "I need to do well while our head chef is traveling!" The Sous Chef said brightly, though he made no mention of when the head chef was going to return to the kitchen.

Carrying several plates, Aurelia scampered over to Cortez as she placed them next to the redhead's desserts. A minute later, the desserts were ready to be served!

"I-I'll take them..." Aurelia said as she gently put the foods on a tray. As she left the kitchen, Xander finished the omelette he had been making, neatly placing it over fried rice.

The order wanted the restaurant to include ketchup, so Xander took the ketchup bottle and swiftly wrote the word "Alegria" on the omelette in a neat fashion. As soon as Reggie finished his omelette, the purple-haired cook turned to Xander and eyed the omelette rice.

Xander turned to Reggie with a blank expression.

"..."

"..."

"This requires some ski-"

"I'M NOT UNSKILLED, YOU BUFFOON!"

Rolling his eyes, Reggie picked up the ketchup bottle. As soon as he did, however, ketchup sprayed out of the bottle.

S-Shit! Reggie realized as he saw the ketchup soar in the air. I held it too hard!

The ketchup flew...

...and landed on Cortez's uniform.

Now, Reggie had once made an oath to himself. He firmly commanded himself not to go around and look at women in a lecherous way. Yes, he was a delinquent and all of that, but he still had standards.

So when his eyes trailed over to her hips, he nearly screamed like a girl. The purple-haired cook was unable to prevent himself from dropping everything he had before running to some corner at the kitchen. Meanwhile, Xander simply stared at the ketchup, then at Reggie, and then at the ketchup again.

The blond man continued to stare blankly.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...Well, shit.

His blue eyes reflecting the light that came from the fire underneath Cortez's pan, Xander prevented himself from losing his composure. Truth be told, he was not actually the badass who refused to show signs of weakness; he just wanted to be one. Like any other sane man, he could not deny the "absolutely stunning" features of Cortez, though one of such features were stunning in a completely different way.

This isn't good, he thought. And indeed, it was not a good situation. At the moment, he continued to stare at the ketchup on Cortez's... uniform, fearing that if he tore his gaze at the wrong moment, someone would walk in on him and think that he had been staring without even informing her of the ketchup.

If I just ignore her, Reggie's probably going to think of something weird to say, the blond thought as he prevented himself from glancing at the purple-haired cook's direction. If I walk up and tell her that she has ketchup on her behind, then she might ask if I had been staring, which... I am.

Dammit.

Then there's only one way to solve this.

Walking over to another side of the kitchen, he tore off a bunch of kitchen towels before walking up to Cortez.

Without a word, he instantly wiped off the ketchup from her uniform. In fact, he wiped it so quickly, he was unable to feel anything he would normally want to feel at one point in his life. The redhead stiffened as she turned to him.

Xander closed his eyes as he straightened himself, showing her the kitchen towels as he told her, "You had ketchup on your butt."

Reggie felt one of his eyes twitch as Cortez's face brightened up. "Oh, thanks, Xander!" She chirped. "It wouldn't be good if I had that stuff on my butt."

"Yup. You might want to clean it up a bit later, though. It's kind of messy."

"Yeah, that stuff doesn't get off very well, doesn't it-"

"ALRIGHT GUYS," Reggie exclaimed from a distance as he went to gather some tools (that he was not going to use anyway), "I THINK THAT'S ENOUGH INNUENDO FOR TODAY!"

Everyone ignored Reggie.

Aurelia eventually returned with an empty tray, a nervous smile on her blushing face. The smile slowly faded as she sighed. "I... delivered it," she stated the obvious as she put the tray down.

Turning to the dark-haired girl, Xander watched the new cook lean against a wall. He wondered how the restaurant decided to bring in a person who looked so fragile.

Well, at least she knows where to lean against, he thought as he washed some rice. She's not leaning against the hot-as-all-burning-hell microwave we didn't fix like that purple eggplant did.

As soon as Aurelia yelped, he sighed in pity.

---

"Good work, everyone!" Yutaka said cheerfully as the restaurant closed. "Pat yourselves on the back; not everyone in this town works until 10!"

Aurelia bowed politely as she walked out of Alegria. Night had arrived and cast its dim light over Sycamore Heights. Several cars trudged down the streets every now and then, and the street lights turned on one by one. She felt that she had outdone herself; she delivered not one, but multiple foods to different customers. Perhaps it was a development of her confidence...

If I keep this up, I won't be a bother to anyone, she thought hopefully, and I'll still be able to help my friends in some way. Maybe I could... buy a present later?

A few good seconds was not enough for her to think of a proper present to her friends. She blushed as she fell deeper into her thoughts.

A present...

...!

Her face went beet red as she remembered the dream she had the other day.

Ah- why do I keep thinking of... that...?

Despite the efforts she put into avoiding the dream, she always ended up thinking about it. And in fact, she had experienced yet another dream about the same man before she woke up for work. His smile warmed her heart; he was someone she trusted... at least, in the dream, that was. They lived in a house together, and... thankfully, there were no children to give Aurelia a heart attack. She did seem to have a pet dog, however, which confused her to no end since she had no interest in raising pets.

Perhaps the man liked animals a lot more than she did. That was a decent conclusion to make.

"..."

As she walked, the sound of a motorcycle grew louder and louder before coming to an abrupt halt next to her. She jumped and turned to the sound's source.

A man on a motorbike had stopped right next to the block she had been walking on. Raising the visor of the helmet he wore, the man revealed himself to be Xander.

"H-Hello," Aurelia greeted to him for the first time that day.

"..."

Turning to the streets, Xander stared down the road before turning to her again.

"The Sous Chef told me you live pretty far from here," he said with a flat tone.

"It... only takes an hour."

Xander stared at her incredulously, though he refused to show his surprise. The blond shook his head as he slammed the visor down. "Hop on," he muttered simply.

"...?"

"...I said hop on."

"..."

"...Do you understand my language?"

Her cheeks warming up in embarrassment, the dark-haired girl whispered, "I... can go alone, though-"

"It's going to snow in about ten minutes," Xander muttered. "I don't think our restaurant wants a snowman to work in our kitchen."

"I-It's August, though..."

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"...Just get on."

The blond's persistence eventually prevailed. Strangely enough, Xander told her not to hold onto him even though there was nothing else to hold. "Hold the seat tightly enough and you won't fall off," he stated.

So Aurelia softly held onto the collar of his jacket. He did not say anything about it.

The two went down the road at a balanced pace. The night deepened as the street lights grew brighter along with the light of the moon. It certainly was strange that a day in August would be colder than usual, though it was nowhere near the level of bringing snow to Syca-Heights.

A neatly lined set of lights shone upon the small road. Each time the two passed by a chain of lights, they would flicker before blending into the night atmosphere once more. There was no silence- only quiet, and nothing more or less.

Soon, she would see her friends' faces again, and they would greet her with open arms and an uncomparable warmth. The feeling of being greeted warmly by people she had not grown up with was one that she did not understand, but slowly grew to enjoy. A bit of time could potentially let her fit right in with the other people in Alegria.

She wondered if it was selfish to enjoy attention once in a while. The feeling of self-importance was impossible to achieve on her own, and that was perhaps both a fortune and a misfortune on its own.

As the blond continued to drive the bike, she nudged him softly before informing him of directions to her place. Xander wordlessly drove on, and so did time.

The night sky remained still with a soft glow.

---

Twenty minutes after he dropped Aurelia off, Xander crashed into a limousine.

"AGHH! SOMEONE JUST HIT THE LIMO!"

As he flew across the air, he wondered what the hell just happened. He was eventually taken to the hospital despite the fact that he constantly stated "It's nothing much."

With a bleeding forehead. And a broken bike. Yup, nothing wrong there.

He also seemed to lose his cellphone while he was at it.

This is why we can't have nice things, he thought blankly as he found himself being carried into an ambulance truck.

"Like I said earlier, I'm fi-"

"NO YOU'RE NOT! YOU'RE BLEEDING! STOP ARGUING WITH US!"

"...K."

The night sky remained still with a soft glow.

---

...

---

The next morning, Aurelia woke up peacefully.

Dreaming seemed to help her understand what she naturally liked and disliked. The dream she fell into felt shorter than the ones she had experienced the other nights. And unlike her earlier dreams, she was alone for the most part. She dreamt of walking down a path of water in a clear forest, fireflies lighting up the world around her. The night Xander drove for her had influenced her thoughts with a calmness she could grow to get used to.

She did not remember the end of her dream, for no one usually recalled such things in a crystal-clear fashion.

That was a nice dream...

She hoped to have more of those certain dreams. Her dreams of... love? Would she call it love? She would rather consider such dreams to be... mature. Yes, they were mature. Such dreams had bothered her for quite some time, so she hoped that she would not dream of love for the time being.

She dearly hoped so.

As she got up, her cell phone vibrated near her lamp. The dark-haired girl gently picked it up and found a text message sent by a number she did not recognize.

Hi, Aurelia! It read. It's me, Yutaka! (By the way, I only know of your number because it was a requirement for the application sheet... So I'm not really creeping around like Reggie! Ha ha ^^

Anyway, Xander crashed into a limo last night. So we're all going to briefly visit him before the restaurant opens. Meet us as soon as possible at Alegria!

Sincerely, your Sous Chef!

P.S. I heard he was found by a redhead at the Pavella Health Center, which is where Xandy's at right now. We're all going to play "Where's Waldo" and try finding him!

Aurelia nearly fainted.

---

"Eh?" Ren muttered as he and his four friends ate at the table. "Ca-Crash? Is that some sort of chocolate bar?"

If anyone out of Aurelia's best friends knew the most about bringing havoc- unintentionally or not- in the strangest of ways, Ren was easily the person who would probably know about it. But alas, he was only good at destroying his surroundings; he did not even know what the word "car crash" meant.

"It's a thing," Alex explained as he used his hands to mimic a car crashing into another solid obstacle, "where you crash a car against something else."

"Oh, you mean that huge rectangle-like thingy that's bigger than my mom-"

"You're talking about a truck."

"Oh. Then..."

Ren held up his hands vertically and held them close to each other, signifying the tinyness of cars compared to trucks. "You mean this thing?"

Alex nodded.

Ren nodded as well.

Everyone continued to eat their rice and vegetables.

"Wait, sorry," Elena muttered as she turned to Aurelia with a look of disbelief, "you just said a friend of yours directly crashed into a limo?"

Blinking at her friend's confusion, Aurelia nodded slowly. One of Elena's eye twitched as the oldest of the three women also asked, "And he crashed while traveling at 130 miles per hour?"

Aurelia nodded again.

Elena threw her hands up in the air as she demanded, "How the hell does that even work?! He should be in the morgue, not the stupid hospital!"

"Dude, that sounds awesome," Ren said, his eyes wide with excitement. "If I can move that quickly, I can take all the muffins at the bakery and no one would be able to stop me! Aurelia, what did he drive?!"

Alex muttered for the fifth time, "A motorcycle. I just said it like... six times. Or five. Or six..."

As Elena continued to rant about the rotational motion of a motorcycle crashing into a limousine and the two men started playing a counting game, Esther pouted and looked up at Aurelia with a sad frown. The dark-haired girl noticed the blonde's concerned look as she turned to her.

"So you're coming back late tonight...?" Esther managed to ask with the saddest pouty face one could imagine. "The PHC isn't that far from here, right? You better come back safely..."

A small smile formed and replaced Aurelia's idle expression as she gently pet the smaller girl's head. "I think I'll be fine," she said.

"Tell me you will be fine, not that you think you'll be fine!"

Though she had confidence that Alex, Ren, and Elena could manage on their own, she had always worried over Aurelia whenever the dark-haired girl was left on her own. The years they spent together let all of them know that Aurelia had a strange kind of bad luck and a faint heart. If anything, all four of Aurelia's friends worried more about Aurelia rather than the most petite girl among them.

"Yeah, promise us you'll come back!" Ren exclaimed with a grin. "I think you'll do just fine."

"Says the person who doesn't know what a car crash is."

Ren's face slowly contorted into a look of annoyance as he shouted, "Hey, you're not one to talk, Elena! I saw you fall into a basket of laundry filled with Aurelia's stuff in it. Unless you're into that stuff-"

"SHUT THE $%#%$#%#$%#@$%#$%@%#$-"

As Elena bolted up and leapt at Ren, who ran out of his seat at the table, Aurelia blinked and watched the two enter a game of cat-and-mouse, unaware of Alex's expressionless gaze to her direction.

"Hey," he said with a calm tone, which definitely would have been covered up by the screaming in the background if his voice was not naturally strong. "If you feel like something's gonna happen, call me and I'll go and pick you up."

The dark-haired newbie to Alegria attempted to give Alex a confident smile; ironically enough, her lack of confidence in making one winded her up with a mixed expression.

"Alright."

---

The Pavella Health Center lay not too far from Syca-Heights, though it did require a bit of driving to get there quickly. As soon as Aurelia arrived at Alegria, she found a red car sitting in front of the entrance. Yutaka waved from the backseat mirror at her, with Reggie and Cortez sitting at the front seats. The purple-haired cook sat with a grumpy frown, staring at the dark-haired girl with a raised eyebrow.

As the back seat window opened, Yutaka waved fervently as he called out, "Aureliaaaaaa! We're over hereeeeeeeeeeeee! In case you haven't noticed usssssssssssssssss!!!"

The timid girl raised a hand, unsure of how to respond as she went over and hopped into the car.

During their trip to the hospital, Yutaka laughed out loud as he commented, "Gee, it's a good thing we open our restaurant a bit later in the weekends! Makes things a whole lot more convenient for me!"

"Easy for you to say," Reggie growled as he drove the dinky red car. "I was supposed to get together with my friends this morning, but your sudden message destroyed my plans."

"Oh? Ohhh! They're your delinquent bros, ri-"

"STOP CALLING THEM THAT! And before you ask, no, we're not trying to do bad things, I just wanted to get together and check my homework."

Yutaka gave him a cheeky smile.

"Stop smiling like that before I destroy your face."

"Destroy me? That's quite bold of you, Reggie. I didn't know you were into that-"

The purple-haired cooke slammed the edge of the wheel multiple times as he screamed in frustration, getting a good laugh out of the mischievous Sous Chef. Cortez had no idea what was going on but she laughed the most out of the group. Aurelia glanced between her coworkers, interested in how they treated each other like good friends.

The four eventually arrived at the PHC. The Health Center was a large building filled with doctors that served for many different purposes. It had veterinarians, dentists, and even chiropractors; it was quite the variety, even by large hospital standards. Thus, it was not surprising to see people going to the PHC if they were able to drive.

Aurelia felt like a tiny speck of dust compared to the huge place.

"That was fast!" Cortez echoed Aurelia's thoughts with a more excited demeanor than hers as she scuttled out of the car. "Wow, I forgot this place existed. Poor Sander is probably-"

"His name is Xander."

"-Oh! Thanks, Rechee."

"..."

"Poor Xander's probably just laying still in one of those hospital beds," Cortez said sadly before her expression quickly went from super sad to super excited in a second. "Well, that's why friends like us could walk up and make him man up! Right guys?"

"Yup!" Yutaka answered, Aurelia and Reggie not answering because the former felt too nervous to answer properly and the latter just wanted to stop caring about the world at that instant.

The only people that talked fervently as they walked into the Health Center were Cortez and Yutaka. Aurelia found out that they actually knew each other for quite a long time, with Cortez looking up to the man as both a good friend and almost an uncle-like figure. Yutaka saw her as a nice woman.

...He wasn't wrong, really.

As they entered the PHC, Aurelia stuck close to Reggie, her nervousness almost getting the better of her. The purple-haired man told her, "You look like you've never been here before."

The dark-haired addition to the Alegria crew nodded silently. Reggie gave her a good look for a few good seconds before following Yutaka and Cortez.

---

Xander lay on a hospital bed with a cast on his head.

"Oh," he muttered as he averted his gaze from the group of four standing at his door. What made him avert his gaze in the first place was the excited duo that had suspiciously wide smiles on their faces.

"Thank God only your head is hurt!" Yutaka exclaimed in joy and relief. "If your hands were hurt, you wouldn't be able to cook. And you don't need a brain to co-"

"Huh?"

"Xander doesn't need a brain to cook!" Cortez chirped innocently. "All he needs are his brawns and-"

"...That sounds mildly insulting," the blond muttered as he looked away from the hyperactive bunch.

"Oh, I don't mean that, Xand," the Sous Chef quickly corrected himself with a smaller smile than before. "I'm just glad that you weren't hurt any more than this, which is already bad enough."

"It's nothing much," Xander answered simply without a tone filled with emotions, though the way he responded instantly showed that he did care about Yutaka's words.

Cortez's smile softened as she added in, "At least you're still energetic. You might not show it that much, but you're one of our most energetic crew mateys! I like you for that reason."

The blond opened his mouth to say something before falling silent, looking away from the redhead.

Meanwhile, Reggie just asked Yutaka, "When are we eating lunch?"

"We'll actually be eating a bit earlier than usual today, Reggie," the Sous Chef answered as he turned to the mean-looking(?) person before turning back to Xander. "To keep ourselves in line with the weekend schedule, we'll have to hurry our pace a bit after this."

"...Ye."

"Don't worry about me," Xander grumbled as he stared at his blankets, trying so hard not to show the gratitude he felt to his fellow crew mateys. "I'm fine."

"U-Um," Aurelia started quietly before everyone turned to her. She fell silent.

"...If you're gonna talk, just do it," Reggie said flatly.

Walking up to Xander, Aurelia took out what appeared to be a cookie in a paper wrap from her pocket. She softly held it to Xander's direction as she told him, "I hope you get better soon..."

When she blinked, the cookie was gone. The girl jumped in surprise and let her eyes fall upon the blond, who stared at her emotionlessly with a bulging cheek.

"..."

"..."

Looking away from the girl, he mumbled, "It's not like I was hungry, okay?"

Yutaka giggled like a school girl before he dodged a jab sent by Reggie. As he maneuvered his way out in the most annoying fashion for the purple-haired cook, Aurelia managed to make a small smile.

---

As the group continued to loiter around Xander's hospital room, Aurelia walked out and went to the restroom. She washed her face, bar of makeup and the likes as she gave her reflection a good look. Thankfully, she did not look like she clumsily did her hair- with the help of Elena and Esther, she did not look like she came straight out of a bed.

Although she initially feared that she was the cause of Xander's injury, his firm stance on the incident not being related to anyone but himself slowly made her believe him. It was disheartening to see or hear that someone got hurt, especially if she knew of such people. She could only be thankful for the fact that his injury was not too bad compared to the scale of his accident.

I should do more things for him, she thought as she left the restroom. I think... he's a pretty nice person...

As she walked out of the restroom, the girl with dark hair turned a corner. Before she was able to do anything else, however, she heard a man's scream approach her from the side. Aurelia turned her head as her eyes widened.

A tall, red-haired man crashed straight into her, dropping stacks of paper. As the man tumbled forward, Aurelia fell and landed backwards, her eyes shut.

"Ack! Sorry, I'm terribly sorry!" The redhead said as he got up to check if she was hurt. "Darn it, that was totally my fault..."

"N-No, I'm... sorry," Aurelia whispered as he quickly approached her. "I... am alright."

As the two's gazes fell upon each other, they froze deathly still as they peered into each other.

"...?"

"...?"

"..."

"..."

"...!!!"

"...!!!"

Their eyes widened as Crash managed to let out, "Wait... Haven't we met before?"

"Y-Yes!" Aurelia softly answered. "We... did meet before."

"You're... You're the lady/man at the convenience store!" They both respectively exclaimed, equally surprised at each others' presence.

Aurelia remembered meeting Caleb Waterfront before. Alex had befriended him and introduced him to her during her "job-hunting" days. He was a very, very warm-hearted man who had the tendency to put the consideration of others before his. This did lead to some awkward "consideration battles" between him and her, but they generally found each other to be good people.

And Aurelia did not consider him to look bad. Not only was he nice, but he looked the part too. Elena had commented on that several times.

The dark-haired girl blushed as she shook her head, reaching out for some of Caleb "Crash" Waterfront's papers as she attempted to pick his stuff up. Noticing her actions, Crash quickly picked up as many papers as he could to minimize the amount of things Aurelia retrieved for him. "I... didn't expect to meet you here!" Crash admitted as he let out a laugh, some of his nervousness fading at the presence of someone he met before. "Wait, if you're in a hospital, then... are you not feeling well?"

Before he went into a panic attack, Aurelia quickly pointed out, "I... was visiting a friend."

"Oh, whew! I thought I just crashed into a sick person. That would definitely be something I wouldn't forgive myself for."

The redhead helped the girl get back up with his papers in hand. "Maybe we could talk a bit after I get these papers delivered?"

Aurelia nodded with heat in her cheeks as he smiled brightly.

---

Aurelia was unsure of why she felt tense around Crash.

He treated her nicely, so she should not feel pressured by any form of harm he could give her. He did not look scary, so she had no reason to be scared of his looks. And apparently, he was a veterinarian; that was not a scary job.

For some reason, however, she could not help but feel nervous around him.

"It's been a while," he said as he walked over and sat at a bench in a hallway. "Actually, it's probably more than just 'a while.' How were you?"

"F-... Fine," she spoke softly as he made himself comfortable. "I think I'm doing fine..."

"Well, that's good to hear! A lot of my friends seem to be having the time of their lives these days," Crash said with a smirk. "Fashion outlets, anime stores, flower shops... Business has been booming for them and, well, I can't say the same for me. But I finally managed to pay off a bit of that one debt I told you about!"

Aurelia nodded. "Do you mean... the motorbike acc-"

As soon as Crash froze deathly still, the girl zipped her mouth shut and blushed in embarrassment. She swore that she would not forget that the particular debt Crash had stemmed from one of his very own "noodle incidents."

"O-On another note," the dark-haired girl attempted to change the subject as her brain plucked out the right words, "I managed to get... a job."

The redhead's eyes widened as his idle expression turned into that of a mix of pleasant surprise and curiosity. "Seriously?! Wow, isn't that a really good thing? So you have been doing more than just fine!"

The beet red girl nodded.

"I'm... w-working at a restaurant now," Aurelia managed to muster up her courage to share details on her new job to the veterinarian. "It's a family restaurant... Alegria. I-I'm still trying to learn the ropes."

Sighing with a small grin, Crash crossed his arms as he told her, "I think I've actually been there before. Maybe there's a chance we could see each other there?"

"..."

"..."

...

...

...

"T-Then again, maybe that's kinda awkward."

Aurelia nodded, her redness somehow exceeding the absolute limit of "red."

If there was one person she had wanted to meet again aside from her friends and family, Crash would easily count as a nominee simply because he had a lighthearted and comforting tone on most of the things he talked about. Some people took her final choice out of her job hunts as something done out of dire conditions. That was far from the case; she just wanted to help her family by doing something that would not hurt the people around her that much. In a work environment involving business and the likes, she would inevitably fall behind not necessarily due to her intelligence, but simply because of stress.

She did not have a sturdy mental fortitude to keep up with both the physical and emotional strains most jobs pop up with. So she picked out the easiest route, as pathetic as that sounded to herself.

Crash made it sound like a perfectly reasonable thing to her, and that made her feel less doubtful about making the wrong choice.

She felt a bit worried about his presence as much as she calmed down around him, for sometimes she felt that he made her feel too important. That could have been her embarrassment getting the better of her, of course.

The thoughts clouded with kind Crashes and stupid job issues made her feel lightheaded. Staring off at a wall beside Crash, Aurelia zoned out for a few seconds as she said absentmindedly,

"It... would be great if we exchanged numbers..."

"...?"

The veterinarian blinked, noticing the girl's blank stare into nothingness as he nudged her softly. "Uh... Did you say something?"

"...?"

Crash stared at her with slightly widened eyes, wondering if she was not feeling well.

"You said something about a great thing... I didn't hear the last bit, though."

Aurelia blinked, wondering what he was talking about.

"Oh wait, nevermind, I think I understood what you said!" Crash exclaimed as he took out a phone with a smile. "We should exchange phone numbers to keep in touch with each other more often!"

"..."

...

...

...

Beep beep beep. Beep.

Crash stared at his phone with an intense look, unaware of the fact that steam emitted from the person next to him. "Darn, I think I forgot my own phone number," Crash muttered, bewildered that he could go as far as to forget about what his own number even was. "Okay, I got it! Aurelia, let's-

"...Aurelia?"

Heat building up in her head, the girl trembled with a half-terrified, half-shocked look as she covered her face with her hands. She mumbled something in a sad tone, though it came out completely muffled.

This is why I can't have nice things, she thought as Crash began to ask if she ate something weird.

---

Crash's phone number sat in Aurelia's contact list.

I... ended up getting his number, the timid woman thought as she headed over to Xander's hospital room. He told her that he would either call her or send her a message on the things he had not talked about during their brief conversation. The redhead said that he liked talking to his friends.

A friend...

Am I... his friend? She thought, her heart warming at the thought.

Unbeknownst to her, a very small smile crept into her blushing face as she opened Xander's door.

As soon as she opened it, she found Yutaka playing a banjo with Cortez slamming her hands against a bongo right next to a blond man who looked like he was on the verge of dying out of aggravation. Reggie lay still on a couch, unconscious due to the sheer annoyingness of the two's little performance.

"Oh, hi, Aurelia!" Yutaka shouted even though his banjo wasn't that loud. "Come on and join us!"

Aurelia politely refused by running away.

---

"Welcome!" Cortez exclaimed. The brink of the afternoon had arrived, and that meant Alegria was back in business. "We just opened~!"

Walking into the family restaurant with a grey shoulder bag filled with camera lenses, a red-haired woman nodded with a smile. "I think I've been arriving very early these days," she commented, getting a giggle from the short-haired, adventurous cook.

As the photographer walked over to a table, Cortez squealed, "So Kathy, Kathy, Kathy, Kathy, Kathy! What pictures did you take? Do you have pictures? Are they fantastic like usual?!"

Katherine Argall sighed and shook her head. "I managed to get some good shots, but I think I need to put more time into them. There's something left to be desired in them..."

"But you always say that~. He he! Do you want the usual? I'll try cutting the price a bit more. Mr. Ito would probably understand if it's you!"

Though the photographer opened her mouth to say something, Cortez sped off to the kitchen excitedly. She remained still for a brief moment before smiling at the sight of the excited cook chattering to her co-workers. Kathy turned to the wide window next to her and took a deep breath.

Maybe I should visit him soon, she thought as she relaxed.