Maou's group agreed that it was time for a lunch break. Urushihara, who completely forgot the embarrassment from that morning at the mere mention of food, walked faster than the rest to the lunch vendors. Emi had brought Alas=Ramus food, thinking that anything they served at the zoo would be too difficult for Alas=Ramus to consume. Chiho and Suzuno, both of whom ate a filling breakfast, walked to the snack station to get something to munch on. Maou, who was depressed to discover that MgRonald's was not an option, allowed Ashiya to steer him and Urushihara to the vendor with the cheapest choices.
"Can I get pizza?" Urushihara was practically jumping up and down with excitement over the prospect of eating something he didn't order without Ashiya's permission.
Ashiya allowed Urushihara his pizza, Maou got the curry rice and Ashiya ordered a cheap salad. The boys joined the girls and sat at the table next to them.
Urushihara scarfed down his pizza at an alarming speed, prompting Ashiya to yell at him.
"Your going to get sick if you eat you food like an animal!" he hissed.
It was too late, as Urushihara has taken the last bite from his lunch, he moved on to slurping his soft drink.
"I have to say." Maou spoke up, "The service here is amazing."
"Figures." Emi countered, feeding a spoonful of food to Alas=Ramus. "Come to the zoo to have fun. Maou wants to critique the workers."
"It's not unusual." Chiho preferred to take Maou's side in most arguments (not like she has a crush on him or anything). "I have to agree with Maou-san that the park looks really clean and the animals well treated."
This quelled the incoming storm for now. Urushihara had grabbed his stomach, his face twisted in pain.
"That's what you get!" Ashiya noticed this, "The bathrooms are over there." He pointed to the directional sign. Urushihara jump out of his seat and ran to the restrooms. Ashiya signed and got up.
"I'd better go with him."
"I will go as well." Suzuno had returned from putting her trash in the bin. Emi sat up as well.
"Yeah I think I'll go too." She lifted up Alas=Ramus, checking the child's dipper to see if it was damp. It was still clean, so Emi placed her back on the child's stool.
"Chiho, could you watch Alas=Ramus for me please?"
"Hey!" Maou complained. A little hurt that Emi would refuse to acknowledge him as a capable father for Alas=Ramus.
"I'd be happy to!" Chiho said, a little sad that Emi still tried to make Maou feel inferior.
Emi followed Ashiya and Suzuno to the restrooms, Alas=Ramus had finished eating her lunch and demanded her papa's attention.
"Papa! Papa! Hold me!" she called out. Maou picked her out of her seat and in the process, the tupperware that held the food was knocked off the table. The remaining contents spilled over the table and on Chiho's clothes and the plastic casing met the ground with a clang.
Alas=Ramus, afraid of loud noises and surprised by the mess, began to cry. Maou tried his best to comfort her, but she thrashed her arms, ruining any attempt to reason with her.
"Hey now. It's okay look." A new voice said calmly. Chiho and Maou looked over at the newcomer. A girl in the maintenance uniform bent over to pick up the fallen container, placing it on the surface of the table.
"See everything is okay now!" The girl smiled at Alas=Ramus, who stopped crying to stare at the new comer in awe.
Maou took notice of her long brown hair tied in a braid, the tips of her hair a dark blue color. She was very pretty by human standards Maou would admit, her most noticeable feature being the unusual freckle pattern that started below her ears and continued down her neck and hid under her green uniform shirt.
The girl crouched down to match her blue eyes to Alas=Ramus' luminous purple orbs. "Are you having fun today?" she asked.
Alas=Ramus was sniffling now. "Yeah." She replied.
"Did you see the Pandas?"
This brought happiness back to Alas=Ramus' face. "Yeah!" she said excitedly. "They were cute and they made my Mama smile!"
"Did they now? That's great to hear!" The girl turned to Chiho and pulled something out of her back pocket.
"Here are some wipes. They should help take out the stains."
"Oh. Thank you!" Chiho said.
"That's very kind of you, ma'am!" Maou flashed an appreciative smile at the girl. He looked at her nametag, it read 'Mari Hitodama.'
"Ms. Hitodama?" he tried to ask.
"Just Mari is fine, I'm not a hostess."
"Mari? This is a great place you have here. I just wanted to say that the service here is amazing! Is it fun to work here?"
Mari blinked in a confused manner. 'This guy sure is curious about the service here.' She thought to herself. 'Best to put on a show!'
Mari grinned as she posed semi-dramatically before happily replying, "My motto is: 'If you love the work, then you do it well!"
The guy who asked the question nodded, content with Mari's answer. The younger girl glowed pink with embarrassment. Or was that anger? She handed Mari back the wipes, hands trembling. Mari took hold of the wipes, but the girls grip was too strong. They stood there for some time smiling awkwardly at each other until the girl finally let go of the wipes, allowing Mari to place the wipes back in her pocket.
The child in the man's arms clapped her hand together in an enthusiastic manner.
"Happy to help!" Mari said simply, walking away from them to go and find a broom to clean up the mess.
'One hour and you shift ends!' Mari was glad that soon she would go home, bother Chikaze a little, take a shower and finish that skyline.
The group that went to the bathroom returned as soon as Mari left. Urushihara still looked a little sick, but not enough to worry about leaving the park early.
"Mama!" Alas=Ramus leaped out of Maou's arms to get to Emi.
"Why is your face all wet?" Emi asked the child, wiping off the tear stains.
"The lunch box was knocked off the table and the noise spooked her." Maou answered the question.
Emi looked at the mess on the table.
"I'm gone for ten minutes and you already made this place a disaster zone!"
"Calm down. One of the workers went to find something to help clean up. We should get out of her way."
"I wanna see ice birds!" Alas=Ramus squealed.
"She means penguins." Chiho added, seeing the confused looks on the other's faces.
"Penguins it is!" Maou called out, pointing a proud finger toward the area of the park they had yet to visit.