(A/N: Wow, this chapter is really long. I hope you like reading about Raeger. Anyway, this is the end of the story so thanks for reading!)


"Another slice of cake":

Lillie was sitting at the counter in Raeger's restaurant, eating a slice of cake.

This was the last slice of cake, she told herself.

Mistel and Fritz were also in the restaurant, but they were just leaving.

Raeger was cleaning their empty plates while Lillie chomped down forkfuls of cake happily.

When Raeger was done, he watched Lillie finishing her plate as well.

"Do you want another slice?" Raeger asked, as he had already done when she'd finished her first slice.

"No, no, that's enough," Lillie said.

"Are you sure? It's really good," Raeger said.

"W- well, maybe. But I really shouldn't," Lillie said, trying to be firm.

Raeger put another slice of cake on Lillie's plate. She glared at him for a second but by then, she was already shoving another forkful of cake into her mouth.

As Lillie ate the cake, she watched Raeger, and after awhile, she said to him, "Are you okay, Raeger? You look upset."

"I look upset? Really?" Raeger asked, surprised.

"Yeah, you do. Also, I noticed you glaring at Mistel and Fritz earlier… I thought you'd be happy for your friend," Lillie said.

"...I don't know. But seeing them together bothers me," Raeger said.

"It bothers you?" Lillie asked curiously.

Raeger shrugged and continued, "Maybe it's just because Fritz will be too busy to hang out with me now."

"...Oh, you liked Fritz. That explains it," Lillie said.

"What? No," Raeger scoffed.

"I'm just kidding," Lillie giggled.

Her fork hit her plate with a clang. Lillie looked down and realised she'd finished another slice of cake. She looked up again and saw Raeger was about to try and convince her to eat another slice.

She jumped out of her seat and snapped, "No, Raeger! You won't trick me again!"

She slammed her money down on the counter and left the restaurant.


"The mother's always the last to know":

Raeger had dropped into the guild hall because he had something or other to do there, and he noticed Angela running to and from the clinic, busily.

Upon seeing Angela, Raeger looked to Veronica curiously, but she seemed her normal self.

Raeger walked over to Veronica after Angela had run back into the clinic another time, and he asked her, "How are you coping now that Angela's growing up?"

"What?" Veronica asked confusedly.

"Well, you know, now that she's dating Iris," Raeger said.

"...She's WHAT?! She's… wait a second… did you say Iris?!" Veronica hissed.

Raeger said nothing, realising now he had made a terrible mistake.

"I have to go speak to my daughter now," Veronica said and stormed into the clinic.

A few moments later, Angela came running out. She saw the guilty look in Raeger's eyes as she ran past, and so she yelled, "Why did you tell her?!"

Veronica was quick to follow and both of them had run out of guild hall in a few seconds.

Raeger decided he would sneak back to his restaurant now instead of interfering again. As he made his way out, he saw Veronica catching up with Angela and begin pulling her by the ear back home.

Once Veronica had gotten Angela back to the guild hall, she made her sit upstairs while she growled at her.

"I'm not even going to bring up the fact that you're in a relationship with another girl yet; I want to know this first. Why would you keep this a secret from me?" Veronica questioned.

"I kept it secret because it's a relationship with another girl," Angela answered.

"Listen Angela. That's not what I'm upset about. I can live with that… I'm not going to like it, but I can live with it…" Veronica muttered. "But I don't know if I can live with you keeping secrets from me."

"...I'm sorry… I won't do it again," Angela murmured.

"That's your only secret then, hmm?" Veronica asked.

"Of course it is. I'm not a suspicious person by nature," Angela replied.

After that day, Veronica never looked at Iris the same way. She always glared at her with distrusting eyes. But Angela and Iris settled for that much. It was the best they could get from her.


"How many times are you going to screw up?":

Nadi walked into Raeger's restaurant to make his order and then eat it outside like he usually did.

When he walked up to the counter, Raeger smiled as he did to all his customers and asked Nadi, "Would you like the usual?"

"My usual? You know my usual now?" Nadi replied.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good at remembering this kind of stuff," Raeger said.

"Uh, yeah. I'll wait outside," Nadi said and headed to his usual table.

My usual… I can't believe I've fallen into such a routine, Nadi thought to himself. Still, the food's good here. And it's nice to be remembered like that. It makes things easier.

Raeger arrived with Nadi's food and set it down in front of him with another of his broad smiles.

"Enjoy!" Raeger added pleasantly before going back inside.

Nadi was silent, staring at his plate.

This is… not my usual. Actually, I goddamn hate this, Nadi thought to himself. Should I… tell Raeger he made a mistake? But he seemed like he was in a good mood… This would totally ruin his day. So, should I just eat this anyway? I don't know…

Some time later, Raeger came rushing out of his restaurant and up to Nadi.

Raeger said in distress, "I'm sorry! I screwed up your order! This was actually someone else's order! Um..."

Nadi had just finished eating. He looked at his empty plate and then over to Raeger.

Then he said, "Well, I guess you'll have to give me a free meal then. Go on, make my actual usual."

"Ha ha, were you even aware of what you were eating?" Raeger wondered.

Nadi didn't say anything, pretending that he hadn't noticed Raeger's mistake in the first place.


"More cake adventures":

Corona looked at the cake she'd just pulled out of the oven. She stared at it, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. Her face scrunched up as she studied the cake. Something was wrong with it…

As she moved the cake onto a serving plate and began to cut into it, Raeger entered the carpentry shop. Hearing the door open, Corona left the cake with the knife still in it and rushed to see who the customer was.

"Oh, Raeger. What are you doing here?" Corona asked.

"I heard you were a struggling chef so I thought I might help you out," Raeger said.

"Oh! I just baked a cake, you know. Would you like to try it?" Corona offered.

"Sure!" Raeger replied pleasantly.

Corona led Raeger to the back room and cut him a slice of her cake.

He took a bite and as he chewed it, his eyes shot wide open.

"What do you think? What do I need to change?" Corona asked.

"I don't know where to begin," Raeger said, his eyes wide and unreadable.

Corona waited for Raeger to continue his statement, but all he did was pick the cake up and throw it in the bin. Corona was disheartened.

"Let's start over from scratch," Raeger decided and started looking for ingredients in the kitchen.

Corona helped him gather all the ingredients, then Raeger instructed her while she repeated the cooking process.

Once the cake mix was in the oven, Raeger and Corona chatted to one another to pass the time.

Then when the cake was ready, and it already looked much better than Corona's original one, Raeger took it upon himself to cut out a slice.

He got a forkful and held it up for Corona, saying, "Here, taste it."

Before Corona could do anything, however, Gunther walked into the room. There was a moment of silence as the three of them looked at one another.

Then Gunther said, "What are you doing with my wife?"

"Um, I was just… teaching her to make cake," Raeger mumbled nervously.

"It didn't look like that was all you were doing!" Gunther growled.

"Gunther, nothing was happening!" Corona snapped.

"Why don't you spend time with a woman your own age!" Gunther suggested.

"Calm down," Corona sighed.

Raeger laughed, trying to seem trustworthy, then bolted for the door. Gunther chased him angrily and Corona followed, hoping Raeger would get away.


"Falling for you":

Raeger was walking down a street when he saw Agate sitting on the ground, clutching one of her knees with a troubled expression on her face.

Raeger walked over to her and asked, "Are you all right?"

Agate swung her head to Raeger's direction, surprised she hadn't noticed him. "Oh, I'm fine! Just skinned my knee a bit!" Agate replied.

She grinned, got onto her feet and brushed the dirt off her knees.

"Hmm. Well, you seem okay, I guess," Raeger said.

"Oh, are you busy, Raeger? If you aren't, would you like to take a walk together?" Agate asked.

"I'm not busy. Let's walk," Raeger replied and they set off at a slow but steady pace.

They looked around at the town as they passed it by. The sun had almost completely set so, while looking at the pinkish hues in the sky, Agate said, "Nice night, huh?"

"Yes. It's very pleasant," Raeger replied.

"Does it feel good to get some fresh air after being cooped up all day?" Agate asked.

"Huh? Well, yeah," Raeger answered.

"Good. I hope you're feeling fine," Agate said.

"Why are you so worried about me?" Raeger asked.

"Well, it's… you see, people who work with customers all day have to smile all the time. So no one would really know if you were upset. You have to keep all that bottled up, anyway," Agate said.

"...You really thought of that?" Raeger asked.

Agate thought about it and replied, "I think it was something Lillie said to me. Yeah, it was probably Lillie."

I guess Lillie was talking about me, Raeger thought.

"So anyway. If you have any worries, just tell me! I'll listen," Agate said with a grin.

"No, I don't have any worries," Raeger replied, that I can tell you, he thought.

"You sure? Okay then. I'm going to head home now," Agate said.

"Bye," Raeger said and turned to head for his own home.

Thud!

Raeger turned around again and saw Agate had already tripped again.

"Are you kidding me?" Raeger muttered.


"Raeger's true feelings":

Fritz stopped by the restaurant on his own one day. This was a rare occurrence now, so Raeger paid a lot of attention to him.

After they'd been talking a long time and just as Fritz was getting ready to leave, Raeger sighed.

"You hardly ever come by here any more," he said.

"Huh? Do you miss me?" Fritz asked.

Raeger smiled slightly, about to say yes, then laughed and lied, "No!"

"Well, uh… I'm going to go… unless there's something else you wanted to say to me?" Fritz said.

Raeger said nothing. Fritz shrugged and got up to go.

When he saw Fritz leaving, Raeger suddenly felt the need to act. He reached over and grabbed the back of Fritz's shirt to stop him from moving.

Fritz was surprised by this, but he was even more surprised when he felt Raeger's arms wrap around him and pull him close.

Raeger tried to hold Fritz closer, nothing holding him back at this moment. And he said, quietly, "I don't want you to go..."

Fritz was shocked. He didn't say anything or do anything.

Suddenly, Raeger let go and pushed Fritz away from him, softly.

Fritz turned to face Raeger and said, "Did you… did you just?"

"Nothing! Ha ha, that was just… me saying goodbye! You can leave now! Ha ha, we're just friends!" Raeger laughed nervously.

Fritz stared at Raeger confusedly.

Of course, since Fritz had been gone for so long, Mistel had gone looking for him. He found him here and had seen everything that had happened.

Mistel, who was watching from outside a window of the restaurant, muttered under his breath, "You're dead, Raeger."


"I wonder what Mistel is writing?":

Mistel was holding open a book, writing little bits from time to time, deep in thought.

Iris was surprised to see him writing, so she walked up behind him and asked, "What are you writing?"

I'm plotting various ways to murder Raeger, was the answer, but Mistel wasn't going to admit that.

"Just, um, some private information," Mistel replied.

"Hmmm… okay," Iris murmured, disappointed she wouldn't get to read her brother's writing.

Fritz also saw Mistel writing that day. Later on, he turned up at the antique shop while Mistel was out. He walked over to the counter and found Mistel's book there.

Curiously, he began to read its contents.

When Mistel got back and saw Fritz reading his book, they both looked at each other suspiciously.

Then Fritz asked, "Why are you planning on killing Raeger?"

"...I have to eliminate my competition," Mistel answered.

Fritz tossed the book aside, ran over to Mistel and said, very seriously, "You can't kill him! You'll get in trouble for that!"

Mistel became shifty eyed. Then he replied, "You can't stop me."

"Yes I can. I can subdue you," Fritz said.

"How do you plan to do that?" Mistel questioned.

Fritz threw his arms around Mistel and squeezed him so tightly that Mistel couldn't even breathe properly. Fritz remained totally rigid while Mistel attempted to struggle, but that didn't last long.

"Now you can't move," Fritz stated.

Mistel didn't do anything for awhile. He allowed himself to be comforted by Fritz's warmth and then said, "...Okay. I guess I can accept this."