Ink on Paper

Written by Whimsical Symphony

Hello all. Again, it's been a while but university has gotten in the way! But, I've written chapters in advance it's just they didn't sound right and I had to revise, revise, revise. Hopefully this seems as if it's come out better. But it may not have, and I may just be imagining it. I'm really liking how Elsa has turned out as an OC for me. It's always amazing to see a character you designed come to life. She really didn't start off with many details at all, but as soon as I started writing she kind of started doing her own thing. Let me know what you think – if you like it, hate it, whatever.

I remember a while ago, there was a chapter where Jiggy popped in right after the Cabernet finally died. And he didn't have his hat, so my reaction was, "Jiggy, your hair is really, really messy." I'm really hoping for the manga to update again sometime! The pacing of the story is so great, and storytelling itself and the art both make this work a masterpiece in my opinion. It's really underrated.

Chapter IV - Reminiscing About Hometown Blues

The night went on at the bar, with idle chatter between the two of them. The bartender returned with their orders, noticing the tense atmosphere, shuffling away quickly so he could get away. She asked for another refill of wine, reminding herself that she'd pay. Elsa herself wanted to run, but the more she drank her glass of red wine and her second, and third to relax, and fourth, the more she felt like talking. Or perhaps, bawling and begging Jiggy to forgive her for her insensitive comments. She didn't want to offend him, or perhaps she wouldn't care quite so much if she offended him for a less painful fact like family.

Elsa knew she was a colossal idiot, but not as much before as now.

"My apologies, Jiggy. I didn't mean to question a sore subject for many of us who used to live in Yodaka and even those in Yuusari. Yodaka's a place that is more a home for death than anything and I detest the fact I brought it up," Elsa said softly, after downing her liquid courage like a middle aged man. Her cheeks felt warm, flushed, and the truth rushed out so uncontrollably. "I'm a downright bitch, aren't I?"

"No," Jiggy replied bluntly, taking a bite into his shepherd's pie. "I chose to answer. Don't take responsibility for things you have no control over." He looked at her flushed cheeks, and how sorry she seemed, and added, "Curiosity isn't bad."

"It is when I trample over other people's feelings. And yet, much of the time I don't realize it." She couldn't count the number of people she pissed off. "There've been a lot of them." She had another sip of wine. "I crossed a real line today so take my sorry, please," she slurred slightly.

Narrowing his eyes, he asserted, "You should stop drinking," and she was taken aback at his seriousness for a moment, before he gave her his small enigmatic smile and added, "or you'll get drunk. You already sound like you're from Yodaka."

"I guess you're right. I just felt bad and sorry's come out better with a tiny bit of wine," Elsa replied. It embarrassed her to think she sounded normal, as if she hadn't painfully constructed her speech bit by bit. Alcohol was definitely a no-go for her, she thought, a little flushed. "If I'm going to be honest, I feel a bit drunk already."

"Eat, and don't bite your tongue," Jiggy advised, "and drink lots of water to clear your head." He pushed her plate towards her. Jiggy wondered how far she'd go just to apologize. It must've been bad, her ability to think that people were offended all the time. He could recognize an innocent question, no matter how far into his personal business she decided to delve unintentionally. Answering what he wanted, that was what he stood by. If he refused to answer her, she'd stop her line of questioning, he knew that. Did other people? "I don't have thin-skin, I told you. Ask what you want. If I don't want to answer, I won't."

"Thank you, Jiggy. It means a lot that you don't mind. And that you decided to treat me to a meal. Amberground's a lonely place," Elsa said easily, not at all recognizing how casual her speech became, no embellishments at all. She took a bite of her shrimp panini. It'd been so long since she had anything other than bread or cheap food. "You're from Yodaka like me, so you understand that just as well as me."

"Company's what Amberground's lacking. It was more about that than the meal," Jiggy explained to her, looking at how her eyes widened. "We wrote letters. But we don't need to when we're both in Yuusari."

"You're… caring. It's new to see that." She bit her lip. Thinking about that made her remember, not that many people in Amberground legitimately cared. Not about loneliness, or anything like that. Satisfaction came even when they wallowed alone, not thinking about sharing it with other people. "I'll pay for the wine. It's unfair for you to."

"Don't worry about it." A career as an Express Bee gave him far too much Rin to know what to do with anyway, besides taking care of Nelli. And when he thought about that, he missed his sister more.

The sound of the people in the bar grew louder, despite the silence between them. Neither of them really had to explain aloud, what Elsa meant. Jiggy thought, despite her drunkenness, she made a lot of sense. He wondered if he got lonely too.

"Thank you for escorting me back," Elsa told him. They walked on the streets then and the cool air again made Elsa shiver. The wine brought her a little bit of warmth, and the clash between it and the cold was terrible. She fully expected to stumble home, because by the way her thoughts didn't align quite right. She knew of her own tipsiness. He said he'd walk her back, without one word of complaint. "It's nice of you."

"I can't trust you to walk back in this state," he replied simply. He should have suspected when they walked down to the poorer side of town; she didn't earn much money, needed two jobs, she said it all before.

"And thanks for picking up the tab for me. I didn't want drinks, but it sort of happened." She clasped her hands awkwardly as they continued to walk. He gave her an acknowledging nod, which she deciphered to mean 'don't worry about it.' Curious, she asked, "Jiggy, whereabouts do you live?"

Jiggy turned around and pointed at some vague region of Yuusari Central behind her. "Around there. The opposite side, right off Nocturne Row."

Elsa blinked and looked at where he pointed with the buildings she always admired when she first came to Yuusari, until she realized that she admired them because of their beauty. White stone, marble, majestic pillars and arches, they all cost a lot of money especially in wealthy Crown Sonata Street where he pointed to.

"I forgot you Express Bees got massive paychecks," she sighed, willing herself to look away from the sight. "Do you know the history of the architecture there?"

"Can't say I do." He looked at her because he knew she did, and she wanted to speak as she usually did about everything she knew.

It didn't irritate him, because it did interest him, hearing what other people thought. He remembered the conversation he shared with Lag Seeing near the light house a while ago, and even though he scolded him, he learned something too.

Lag seemed exactly like Gauche did, except more of a crybaby, always wanting to help people.

"It comes from the name of the street, Crown," Elsa started, stopping walking for a minute, just to look at the buildings and collect her thoughts. In its own way, that street looked unapproachable, even if not in the same way as the capital she wanted a glimpse of so badly did. "It used to be the poorest part of the town, but if you look at it now, it's definitely not, right? They named it 'Crown Sonata' because of its position closest to Prayer Hill, and therefore, the artificial sun. It's blessed by the Empress, is closest to the sun, and therefore the crown of Yuusari. At first, it was to mock them, point out the irony in the fact that so many poor people lived so close to Prayer Hill."

Thinking about that made her wonder, would she know more if she got closer to the artificial sun? If she couldn't be blessed, how could she live in Akatsuki eventually, uncover all the secrets surrounding Amberground and finally know? Just being near the light hadn't been her goal at all.

"Eventually a lot of people from there started to learned how to innovate and take part in the booming business in Nocturne Row, started forming companies, building businesses from scratch. They wanted to prove they could actually be the crown of the town, that it wasn't a mistake. It's old money mostly, which is why people like the President of the cotton mill industry live there – Joey, I think his name is – live there," she continued, interested in vocalizing everything she studied. "When people got richer because of business, they wanted to actually make it into the crown of Yuusari Central. Many of the people who lived there were artists by trade, creative minds, who all worked together to make its buildings look different, majestic. They were supposed to look like relics, something ancient, almost like temples. They were supposed to be buildings the Empress could take notice in. Hence, the colour white, which symbolizes purity and the reason they faced all the buildings in white stone, and why they chose to use pillars and arches to make it look grand. And now, it's said to be blessed by the Empress, especially because they're not poverty-ridden anymore, but the richest in Central."

Glancing at Jiggy, she teased, continuing to walk then to her poor man's apartment, "You didn't know any of that when you bought it, right? I didn't figure you for the religious type."

He shook his head, lips quirked upward, amused. "No, I just needed a house that fit."

"Well if it didn't, I'd call you picky, since you live in the wealthiest region of town, Sir Jiggy Pepper." When she laughed, she didn't hold back at all. "Or should I call you Young Master? But… why the big house?"

"Don't call me that." Jiggy thought about that a moment, before he answered, "I tried to make it into a home different from Kyrie." Maybe not even for him, but if Nelli visited, he didn't want her haunted by images of Nello. He knew she hated Kyrie, Yodaka, all of it. Probably, she'd feel just as uncomfortable here but at least she wouldn't have to remember. With something different, Nello's death would feel more like a dream, he thought. And he wanted it to feel like a home, but nothing really felt like a home without those two. "I barely use it so it's not necessary."

They reached the front of her house before they knew it – her old, shoddy low-rise apartment with cracks in its exterior, much cruder, rougher, and more decrepit compared to any home on Jiggy's street.

After walking to the front door with peeling paint, she turned to Jiggy and asked him, "Do you know why I eat Sinner's bread all the time?" He shook his head and she said softly, "Forgetting's painful too. Where I lived, a tiny, tiny town called Cambriel Minute, we'd eat bread all the time, all of us children. It was cheap and easy to come by. When I left, I ate it to remind me of my life there. You have your expensive house for more reason than just to forget, don't you?" Elsa chuckled, when he didn't answer. "I know it's for your siblings. If you became a Bee for them, then everything's for them. I hope one day, you'll see… her or him…" she bit her tongue, hard and blithered on like an idiot, "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"I want to see Nelli again too," Jiggy agreed. "Words are words, but a letter's fleeting." Observing the flush on her cheeks, he deduced she was a lot less sober than she knew, especially talking so freely about her past. "You should go in and rest. Thanks for the company."

"Then I should say thanks for the meal, Jiggy Pepper." Elsa smiled. "You taught me to let go of Yodaka a little bit at least. It's the first meal I've had without munching on a plain piece of bread, instead going for a more fanciful meal in a shrimp panini." Her limbs felt warm and tingly from the alcohol, and without thinking about it, she wrapped her arms around his waist and leant her head on his chest. The subtle scent of something entirely Jiggy reached her nose – a sort of freshness, like pine, and mint, probably cologne. She could feel his muscles slightly through his clothes, much to her embarrassment, and his breathing now that she was close to him. And before she could laugh about how uncomfortable this all was and the apparent rejection, he surprised her and placed one arm around her shoulder. "What?"

"Do I look that unapproachable?" he asked curiously. "What's wrong? I'm returning it."

"Yes, you should be praising me for my bravery. It's no less frightening than facing a Gaichuu!" she joked a little flustered from the transfer of heat from his hand to her body, and how stupidly she acted.

He probably thought of her as a moron, or creepy, or an innumerable other number of thoughts which didn't seem at all pleasing. To embrace Jiggy Pepper seemed like the oddest thing someone could do. She cursed alcohol to the depths of Hell. But worst of all, she enjoyed it, it seemed comforting, undeniably warm.

"You smell nice." Elsa bit her tongue, flushed a deep shade of red and continued, "I mean… well it was a compliment, wasn't it."

"Yeah," he agreed. Elsa could feel his laughter, even if she couldn't hear it, by how his breathing pattern changed and how his chest rumbled for a short moment. "Your hair smells nice too. Like the flowers my brother, Nello, liked."

"Y-You're talking about him?" she stuttered, surprised. Nelli was his sister who he wanted to see, Nello must have been his sibling who passed away. Her face burned too; Jiggy said everything like it was nothing at all, almost as if he himself had a couple glasses of wine. "Nello is…"

"Without him, I wouldn't be a Bee." He felt nostalgic now, thinking about him. And he wondered how long it'd been since he held anyone else. He never was one for physical affection, but he wasn't against it. Something like that, affectionate and warm seemed difficult to be against. "Forgetting's more painful and memories are heart. Without that, we're not who we are."

Elsa didn't like how uncomfortable she got while hearing his voice, feeling it rather than deducing his feelings, from the timbre of his voice and the warmth of his hold on her. She started to back away and his hand lingered on her shoulder a bit before letting go completely.

Although she hated her impulsivity, she couldn't deny that she almost missed it.

"Nello and Nelli have an incredible brother, you know," Elsa complimented shamelessly. "So much that I might even be falling for him!" By brushing it off like that, she could keep her composure and go to bed because she felt exhausted. She enjoyed that far too much. Perhaps she was a closet pervert, noticing his cologne and his body. Opening the door then, she looked back at Jiggy again, "Thank you today for your company, for the meal, for paying for my wine, and for talking about painful subjects I didn't mean to pry into. It was enjoyable. I'll see you again, hopefully not too far in the future."

Shaking her head and opening the door to go inside, she wondered whether to actually Empress forbid, miss him until he next came around. That'd be strange. It caused her to wonder if their conversations meant anything to him, because she considered him a good acquaintance or friend, if she wanted to be daring. No one assumed their status as celebrity-of-the-Hive-Jiggy-Pepper's friend so carelessly.

"Elsa?" Elsa looked at him and saw him give her a small, almost sly smile. "Your bravery deserves my thanks. It was nice," he commented before walking down the street towards his own flat.

Jiggy Pepper actually enjoyed her hug? She felt like laughing from the sheer absurdity of it. Yet, his comment made her glad that she hadn't been the only one. It seemed like they got a little closer. While she didn't want to remember her stupidity the next day, she didn't particularly regret it. She hoped he actually found a friend in her too.

Elsa rested her head on the table in the library, wanting to just fall asleep. Her night hadn't been good, her sleep quality poor, with a constant case of dry mouth she couldn't get rid of. Her head hurt, and she didn't have the energy for dealing with people, even though she smiled like usual and tried her best to help them in this strange, groggy haze where she didn't know quite what was happening.

"Do you have any publications on the Kapelmeister? It's for a school project."

She looked up, pasting her customary smile on her face. A boy addressed her, one with neat clothes and hair, and a pair of smart glasses, though he looked decidedly uninterested in anything to do with the Kapelmeister. School, she hadn't heard that term in a long time. Education cost money she never had, living in poverty and all. The thought made her a tad envious.

"Works by Jack Selano and Arietta Fritz can be found in that corner over there. Both are experts in the field of Zoology and adore studying the Kapelmeister and its relationship with the spirit insects of ancient times. Their books hold a great deal of mythology within them as well," Elsa explained enthusiastically. While not particularly history, she did enjoy hearing about extinct creatures like the Kapelmeister which lived among the spirit insects. She got up and walked to the section of the library which contained all of the works on animal biology, both on living and exinct creatures. The boy followed hesitantly. "Here, you'll find some others. Our Dr. Thunderland has also made some publications on the subject since it turns out that the Kapelmeister is in fact not extinct!"

"B-But our paper's supposed to be on extinct creatures! And the Kapelmeister looks super weird!" he exclaimed, already backing away from her. Scared of learning, what a shame.

"No, no, you see, one of our Letter Bees, Lag Seeing happened to find a Kapelmeister and it travels with him and his dingo today, finding the weaknesses of Gaichuu. Dr. Thunderland was rather excited by the prospect of a creature that had seemingly been dead for so long, to just suddenly appear one day!" Kapelmeisters, she did think looked strange – a rat-like appearance with a huge mouth and a strange looking hair growth pattern that resembled a rich man's moustache. Even so, she couldn't deny their contribution to history. "Imagine, the Kapelmeister did not fall into ruin and somehow kept its heart all these years. Truly magnificent. And the symbiotic relationship between them and Gaichuu is incredible, and for the Kapelmeister to not meet a similar fate within spirit amber is curious because surely-"

"Ugh, you're talking too much, woman. I came here for my damned book, not for you to lecture me on stupid Kapelmeisters!" he said crassly, not at all caring about his rudeness.

"Well, fine. I hope you find your books then," Elsa replied, a false smile on her lips. She all but stormed off, fuming. For all the contributions the Kapelmeister provided, and all kids could do was to call it stupid without knowing its background? Somehow, that made her a bit sad.

"Who the hell cares about the stupid history of Kapelmeisters? I just want to get this crap done," she heard him mutter. "Ugly-ass Kapelmeisters."

Rude mouth, the brat had, insulting Kapelmeisters which did absolutely nothing. That one who travelled with Lag, the Kapelmeister prince, Steak, she thought his name was. Poor Steak, hated because of his looks. And from what she heard, he was far from useless even if he was cowardly.

She sat down at the desk she moved from and watched as he scurried around the shelf, looking for the works she pointed out with not much enthusiasm. She could tell he only wanted to leave. "History only means the world to me, does it?"

It probably did only mean the world to someone like her, so incredibly obsessed she could rant about the most random topic for hours. Most people reacted like that boy, not caring much one way or another and telling her to shut her mouth when she became too obsessive. Jiggy had been one of the few to humour her.

"I wonder… if I could write publications on my own…" Elsa murmured. The thought crossed her mind more than once before. Rather than to simply serve as an access point to knowledge where it made it hard to work when no one cared, she could cultivate it, truly indulge in the works of others. That thought cheered her up, when she looked at the book laying on her desk – one of mythology and hopes and dreams, and of the history of Blue Notes Blues. The Maka always did interest her. "I talked about Dr. Thunderland earlier..." she shook her head. "It'd be foolish to try to ask someone I barely know."

She waited until her shift ended before deciding to ask Mana for advice on what she did for her research. She always wanted to know how to proceed on. She'd been in Yuusari for a while now, it'd been high time she did something for herself. And who stopped her from writing except for snotty kids who cared little for Kapelmeisters?

Elsa opened the door to the Relaxation Lounge swiftly, almost barging in. She hadn't thought to look to see if anyone happened to be well, relaxing. She wanted to ask about Mana's story how she started with her research. And come to think of it, she never actually heard how Gauche ended up saving her job, only that he did, and he risked his health for it.

They never got around to discussing it. Somehow, she wanted to know the details of it since it seemed like a pivotal point in Mana's career. Gauche Suede seemed that way for many people, and one of the many questions that bothered her was Letter Bees, their nature, their history and what the significance of a letter was. Other than the fairly harmless topic of a Kapelmeister, much of the general public did not know about the risks Letter Bees took either, how they functioned. Those people at the bar represented a small portion of those in ignorance.

That child in the library made her think about what she was doing, sharing her knowledge to those in the library who didn't appreciate it. An unknown part-timer would never get invited to live amongst those in Akatsuki. She needed to make a name for herself in Yuusari.

"Mana, I'm here to ask you a few questions!" she called enthusiastically, only to see that Mana wasn't in the room at all. She stepped in and looked around, murmuring, "Well that was anticlimactic."

"She went to talk to Thunderland." Elsa looked to the couch, only to see Jiggy Pepper resting there, his Bee Hat on the table in front of him, exposing his messy hat hair to all. He gave her a nod of acknowledgement.

"You scared me, Jiggy!" Elsa commented, with a small laugh. When she approached him and gestured to his hair, she couldn't keep a straight face. "Jiggy, your hair's a complete and utter mess. Is this what you hide?"

Jiggy ran a hand through his hair, noting it did stick out quite a bit. "It's messy," he acknowledged nonchalantly. "I don't really care." He took a glance at her, and noted the bags underneath her eyes. "You look tired."

Elsa made herself at home beside him on the couch, with adequate distance of course. She did wonder if people realized what a ditz Jiggy Pepper appeared to be, and if they saw his hair as messy as it appeared often. It made him look a little bit younger, less mature than he usually seemed, like a regular teenager. From what Elsa heard said about him, people in the Hive, men and women alike, other Bees who wished to be like him, drooled over him. Only after she talked to Jiggy, did she realize all the gossip and gushing that inevitably followed with the mention of his name. She understood it, but didn't truly understand it.

"I am, dear Express Bee. I do have to thank you for paying for the wine again though, and hopelessly embarrassing myself in front of you," Elsa babbled, remembering her shameful behaviour in letting him take the tab. "I didn't intend for it to happen. I just got a tad flustered."

"I'll remember that you getting flustered leads to alcoholic tendencies," Jiggy (almost) joked. But he wanted to reassure her. "The talk was enjoyable. Stars are bright only because of their companions, so favours are fine and I don't mind."

"Your words really are strangely beautiful." Elsa wondered if he thought up his statements ahead of time to sound poetic. "Thank you."

It contented her that he didn't mind the fact that she splurged on wine, and decided to embrace him at the end of the night while tactlessly bringing up his dead brother. Most people would find her impossible to be around at that point. She had to pay him back sometime, somehow.

She inhaled, taking in the scent Mana prepared before her departure, lulling her into a sort of calmness she never got anywhere but here.

"Mana Jones will be back soon," Jiggy told her. "You can ask her what you need to then."

Elsa hummed in response to that, finding that indeed, she was in no hurry. Wating to talk though, to rid the room of the uncomfortable silence, she asked, "Jiggy, how old are you?" out of curiosity, because of the fact that she deduced he was younger when she first saw him.

Jiggy opened his mouth to answer her clearly odd question. "Nineteen."

So, he was quite young, Jiggy Pepper, the man who, with his enigmatic nature and skills as a Bee, seemed to be the talk of the Hive all the time. It made her laugh, thinking that he was younger than her with all his "sagely advice" and poetry.

"Oh, so I'm an entire two years older than you. Isn't that shocking?" She laughed. It amazed her someone even two years older than him couldn't even come up with the complex, abstract ideas that he did. The poets and writers of the world would be jealous of Jiggy Pepper, even if his social skills were lacking. "It wouldn't do you good to fall for an older woman."

"I'm not planning on it," Jiggy responded bluntly to her teasing statement. "And yeah, it's shocking."

"Do you have to be so cruel?" Elsa muttered. "Implying that I, a scholar, am immature? I can see you're a child, Jiggy, and I noticed it upon our first meeting!" He raised an eyebrow, as if mentioning, 'it's only two years,' Suddenly, it occurred to her. Jiggy had been a Bee for a while, and perhaps he'd met Gauche Suede during his time working. She wanted to know more about him, since his name popped up everywhere for even seemingly the most unrelated subjects. So she asked, "Did you know Gauche Suede, my dear Express Bee?" She caught his silent question, a 'why?' and continued, clutching the fabric of her pencil skirt a little, "His name pops up for a fair few people, for assisting them. He was integral to Mana's career too. I suppose I wish to know what the Head Bee was like, what causes Lag Seeing to become so inspired as well."

He pondered over her question for a moment, thinking of that man who influenced so many in the Hive. "I respect him," he stated firmly. He caught her look at him, somewhat surprised, and he wondered if he seemed the type to never give someone praise. Only a fool wouldn't give Gauche Suede praise for all his work. "Suede followed his own path. He cared for the hearts of others. For that, I respect him."

"What was he like?" Elsa questioned. To hear Jiggy speak a lot surprised her, and to garner his praise, Gauche Suede couldn't have been the average Bee. He must have been special in many ways. "Did you talk to him?"

"A few times," he responded. He may have regretted that, not speaking to him much. Few people seemed like he did, with an inconceivably kind heart. Remembering that, also reminded him that he befriended Dr. Thunderland and looked past his eccentricities where not many did. "Suede collapsed often from using too much heart for the sake of others." He remembered, he asked him once why he aimed for Head Bee. "He said he aimed for Head Bee to deliver heart. But also to fix his sister's legs." He didn't have to say it, that Gauche Suede was similar to himself in his purpose. "When I saw him collapsed, I gave him rides back occasionally on the way back to Yuusari."

"He seems far more selfless than many these days." She bit her lip. Though Bees, she wanted to add, were selfless in itself. Suede risked even more than a regular Bee, a surprising fact, almost sad. But he did it for his sister, almost like Jiggy did. They were two peas in a pod. "What did you talk about?"

"We didn't talk much. When I told him to stop overworking himself, he brushed it off and called me kind." Thinking about it both annoyed him, and also contented him. But his warning didn't mean anything, with what happened to him. "I don't think he ran away."

"He's still alive?" Elsa hadn't paid attention to the rumours surrounding the subject much. But she did see Lag Seeing often talking to Zazie and Connor about finding Gauche. "What makes you think that?"

"Suede was too determined to run. He spent everything in his bank account." Jiggy looked calm, despite the subject at hand. "He lost his heart. He's out there somewhere, his shell. Seeing tries hard for him."

"I see… that's a sad fate. And Lag has perhaps been a little down." Elsa remembered how Letter Bees used shards of their own heart for everyone else. Looking at Jiggy now, his assertive gaze, his composed, strong nature, she doubted anything like that could happen to him. But if it could happen to the top Bee of the Hive, then it could happen to anyone, even if only a deduction of Jiggy's. She knew his observations were nothing to take lightly. She sighed. "Jiggy," she started, and he looked at her, "Gauche Suede was correct. You're kind. So take your own advice and save enough heart for yourself, because that fate can befall anyone, even you, a skillful and magnificent Bee. Keep your savings in your bank account, correct?"

A small smile in reply. "Roger."

"Your house is truly an economical option, a prime example of saving," Elsa muttered dryly, bitter of her own poorness. "But please, do save."

"I don't plan on losing my heart. Heart and Rin aren't the same. Heart's always in decline." He looked deep in thought when she gazed at him. "I can't afford to forget."

"No you cannot, my dear Express Bee. You won't be the handsome Jiggy Pepper I've fallen for if you forget." Elsa chuckled when he sighed. "Come now, would you want to leave me broken-hearted?"

"Cut the crap," he responded coolly.

"But I really love you Jiggy, you're so cruel!" Elsa wailed loudly, just to make fun of him more than anything else. "You reject all the women this way? So harshly and unfeelingly?" Jiggy raised an eyebrow, as if to ask her, 'what women?' "I thought we had a spark when we kissed each other!"

"Elsa… I didn't know you felt that way for Jiggy… and he was so harsh when rejecting people…"

Elsa looked up and saw Mana, who just entered, hearing their entire conversation and clearly misunderstanding the entire conversation after hearing her 'confession'. Jiggy's rejection now made him sound like a man who had women flocking around him and thus had his pick and didn't care about any one of them, a rotten apple a mother would warn her daughter against, a devilishly attractive man who switched women like socks. An inaccurate description since she knew if she honestly confessed, he would let her down gently with some horribly abstract rendition of 'it's not you, it's me' or misunderstand her confession.

"Why do I find myself getting a headaches a lot more these days," Jiggy mumbled, and Elsa couldn't keep in a snort.

Elsa explained to Mana who laughed in reply. She did not hold any intimate feelings for Jiggy Pepper and what she heard was nothing more than a joke on her part to get a rise out of him. Regardless, when she looked at his face, heard his words, she cared enough to not want him to spend his savings. Romantic feelings though they may not have been, she cared about the fate of her acquaintance.

If Jiggy Pepper spent his savings, he'd be left in a far worse state than living off of bread every day. He'd forget Nello and Nelli, and no amount of Rin could bring those memories back.