Roses Can't Bloom In The Dark

by NakaruSoul

Roses are red, violets aren't blue, I'm somehow in RWBY, whatever shall I do? I also find this world that's being threatened to be engulfed by darkness to be very intriguing. What captivated me the most, is a beautiful rose that's fighting to grow in these dark times. And to see it mature, the darkness must be pushed back. It'll be almost impossible but it must be done. After all-

4. Returning the Mascot home

AN: I totally forgot this story existed. Whoopsie daisy.

Since that you're already here, I'd like to take the time to apologize for this mess of a chapter that you're about to read.

I tried to get this out within a week or two after my last upload but it ended up taking three whole months instead. I had a lot in my mind during the entire time I was writing so I kind just rushed this chapter out so I can get on with dealing with something else. I also haven't been getting proper sleep these past few months so my mind isn't working at full efficiency. There's also the fact that my motivation to write has been at all time low lately so expect quality to be bad.

Can I ask a favor though? Can you guys help point the mistakes and what doesn't make sense in this chapter? I'll try to fix them at a later date when I'm is feeling more pumped up and ready to write. Gods know I'm going to belch really bad when I read back to this mess of a chapter.

Anyway, with all that out of the way… Do enjoy and please, try not to be offended by the glaring flaws of logic, plot holes and untrue lore in this chapter. You'll enjoy it more if you do… I hope.

-0-

Chapter 4: Returning the Mascot home

-0-

"And that's what happened." I concluded my explanation with a nod, placing down the mug in my hand after taking a sip from it. I turn to look at the two sitting across me to gauge their reaction to my story of how I managed to acquire a minio- I mean helper.

Summer is having trouble believing me as I have predicted, looking at me with the usual look of disbelief whenever she heard that I have done something incredibly stupid or once thought to be impossible. I'm feeling slightly disappointed as she should've known better by now. Hmm, maybe I'm just not trying hard enough.

Miss Oliver however, just looked utterly unimpressed, already used to my antics after living with me for three months straight.

Panda girl had gotten bored at some point and was napping on the table, emitting small snores as she mumble incomprehensible words in her sleep. I suspect it has something to do with sweets due to the happy smile on her face and how she drools.

"You're paying her with your own pocket money." May finally said after a period of silence.

"What!?" I let out incredulously, loud enough to jerk Amber awake as she shot up with a dazed look on her face. She started looking around the place in confusion as her groggy mind hasn't register where she is yet. "There's no way I can do that, I'm broke already."

"Not exactly..." May told me cryptically, causing me to narrow my eyebrows in confusion. What does she mean by that? I'm pretty sure I've spent the last of my savings on my Scroll.

But I didn't have spend much time guessing just what my boss meant as she slowly took out a brown envelop from under the table and my eyes grew wide when I saw it.

Since I don't have a bank account for obvious reasons, I've been receiving my paycheck the old fashion way. My money is usually handed to me (after being deducted to pay for Summer's debt) in cold, hard cash. Cash that's usually stored inside an envelope that looks just like the one on May's hand.

"Is that..."

"Yep." The older woman answered with a smirk.

"But it's not even payday yet." My eyes were glued to the envelope like it's the only thing that matters in this world. Truth be told, it probably is.

"Well, I thought an advance pay couldn't hurt since you were working so hard… but now though..." She trailed off before handing the envelope over towards Amber who's sitting by her side. "Here you go kiddo, it's yours now."

"Ooooo, what's this?" The curious girl said as her arms reach out to take it.

"Nooooooooo!" I shouted as I sprung from my seat to grab what's suppose to get me through the month.

I slid across the table to reach my target with my arms stretch out in hopes to grab it before Amber can. But my effort was for naught as the little demon was too fast and snatched the envelope from Miss Oliver's hand in a blink of an eye. I have no doubt in my mind that she was utilizing the same kind of speed she would when she's snatching sweets from my hands.

Because of Amber's quick hands, all I managed to grab onto was the empty space where the envelope once was and my sliding came to an abrupt halt when I reached the end of the table. Needless to say, I fell off the table like anyone would and greeted my good old buddy with my face. You know, I used to kiss the floor a whole lot less when I was back home now that I think about it.

"My money!" I sobbed pitifully while on the ground, hand reaching out towards the envelope as Amber tore it open to see what's inside.

"Wow~" Amber let out in awe as the stack of lien was revealed. There's at least a few hundred lien in there. Think of all the things I could buy with that amount. I could've bought at least a fancy top hat with that, maybe even a classy monocle if I really wanted to. I don't know what I'm going to do with them but who cares! They're classy! "Can I really have it?" She asked hesitantly in a way any child would when they're unsure of whether or not they should take something.

"N-urgk!" I let out as I felt something stomped onto my back just as I was about to say something. I turn my head around to see Boss' foot has found it's way there to silence me.

"Oh course little girl. You sure worked hard today so this is your reward." May simply answered with a cheeky smile as she look at how the girl brightens at her response.

"Boss, you can't be seriously giving her all that money!? She's like, six or something. Can she even be entrusted with that amount? Besides, I need it more than her." I cried out in tears.

"Well, I know she can be more responsible than you in a lot of ways. But, just in case...hey kid." May called the child to get her attention. "When you get home, give the cash to your mum for safekeeping alright? You can spent it when you're older."

"Okay~" Amber agreed easily while nodding energetically.

"See, no problem there. You know, if you control your reckless spending a bit more, you wouldn't be so broke right now." She told me as she lifted her foot from my back.

"It's not reckless! Everything I bought was calculated beforehand according to the budget I have." I defended myself as I got up.

"Then why are you broke?" She asked curiously.

"I'm bad at math!" I replied seriously.

"...I see." Boss' reply was a perfect deadpan.

"That explained some things at least." Summer muttered from the side.

"Maybe I should leave Summer in charge of your allowance form here on out?" May suggested.

"She's going to spent my money on cookies instead!" I said as I point a finger at the aforementioned girl.

"No I'm not! I'm clearly more responsible than you since you're the one who bought the fake mustache for no reason." Summer replied, peeved that I thought so little of her self control as well as mentioning the 50 lien fake mustache that I bought last month.

"It's very fancy looking! Who knows when it might be useful one day. It could even be use as a disguise if need be." It's also going to fit with the top hat that I wanted to buy. "Besides, you're the one who stuck it on my face in the first place."

"Only because I thought you'd look ridiculous with it and you did. I never said you have to buy it."

"Alright, alright, can it you two. If you two keep this up we'll be here until midnight. This is punishment for doing something so stupid so suck it up and deal with it like a man. Anyway, how long has it been since you found her?" Boss clap her hands together to get our attention before asking me.

I look over towards the clock hanging on the wall before turning back to her. "Probably two hours, give or take a few minutes."

With a sigh, the older woman pushes herself up from the chair with a tired look on her face, probably because she have to deal with me on a daily basis, before she regarded me seriously. "I think it's best if you head out now rather than wasting time here. Who knows how worried her parents are right now, so the sooner you return her to them the better." May turn her gaze to the redhead in the group. "Summer, go with him so that he doesn't get mistaken as a pedophile while he's out with Amber."

"Hey!" I cried out indignantly as Summer snickers.

"And you, change into something more appropriate before you head out." May said as she pointed a finger at my direction.

I look down at the uniform that I'm wearing before looking back with a curiously raised eyebrow. "Why? What's wrong with what I'm wearing now?"

She just gave me a flat stare that seem to convey her annoyance in the topic very well. "Well, there's nothing wrong if you want to hand wash whatever stain you managed to get on it when you head out."

I conceded with a pout when I realise that she has a point. Stuff just doesn't wash off white easily and my uniform consist of 60% white. Then again, my only other set of clothes is a white shirt as well so regardless of which one I wear outside, one of them is going to get dirty and I'd have to wash them. "Aww man, today is just not my day." I complained dejectedly as I started walking away to get changed, eyeing the panda girl that's happily playing with my money by folding it into weird shapes instead of treating it like a precious resource. Then again, she's only a kid. What do they know about the value of money.

It's very painful to watch so I quickly look away and shamble towards my room with a gloomy air surrounding me.

"Now that I think about it, this is probably going to be my first time seeing him in something else other than his uniform." I heard Summer said as I made my way upstairs. They were talking loud enough that I had no trouble hearing them at all.

"Well, don't get your hopes up on seeing him well dressed. The boy's got the most horrid fashion sense in the history of Remnant. He basically just slap on anything he could find to wear. Now that I think about it, I don't think he owns any other clothes other than the uniform and that one set he showed up at my doorsteps with."

"Then what does he wear if both sets are being washed?" I heard the redhead ask curiously.

"I dunno. Probably prance around naked for all I know."

"It's called being free! Besides, I wouldn't have to do that if you didn't throw my other set of clothing into the washing machine! You know I don't have a lot to wear in the first place." I shouted down the stairs.

"It's called exhibitionism and you should be ashamed of yourself. I know I said made yourself at home when you first came in but aren't you making yourself too at home? Side's, you could've bought new clothes with your paycheck if you didn't buy that box of Dust instead. What are you even going to do with it in the first place? You don't even have thing to use with it." May shouted back.

"Well I thought it was a brand of drugs that goes by the name Dust! How was I suppose to know that it's actually some kind of weird magical all purpose battery. Side's, the box looks great on that empty shelf in my room. Also, don't knock it unless you've tried it."

"I've done it long before you were even born brat!"

"Then you should know how it feels!"

"Of course I do, but that doesn't mean I approve of it when someone else is doing it. Go get changed already, you're wasting daylight!"

"You're no fair!" I paused as a stray thought came to mind. I wondered whether or not Amber's clothes have dried yet so she can change back to them before we leave. Can't have the girl wandering around in the streets in a panda suit now can I?

….Or can I?

Hmmm. Well, I could but the ladies would surely reject that idea.

"And tell Summer to go check if Amber's clothes have dried yet." I gave one last shout before I retreat to my room in order to change. All the shouting I did with Boss was really fun. It kinda reminds me of home where all of my family members have to communicate via shouting because of all the noise going on in the house. Good times really, good times.

"Do you two really talk like this all the time?" I heard Summer's voice asked in curiosity and her voice is fainter than before as I'm rapidly approaching my room.

"What? The shouting? Only when there's a fair distance between us." I heard May said as I open the door to my room and entered.

"No, I meant-" I close the door behind me and their voices were completely snuffed out. Oh well, whatever it is that those ladies are talking about, I'm sure it's just boring girl stuff so I won't bother leaving the door ajar just so I can eavesdrop on them.

And so, I set forth to do what I came here to do.

-0-

"I can't believe this." I muttered as I trail after Summer and Amber sulkily as they march on ahead of me in a great mood. The girls are currently chatting about various topics that I have no interest in and we're currently in the middle of the bustling street of Vale, en route to the nearest police station. Amber had already changed out of her panda suit and was back to wearing her dress while I switched out my uniform into my casual wear which also serves as my pajamas.

Anyway, the reason why I'm sulky right now was because of a particular piece of news that I received when I went downstairs after changing. News regarding my allowance to be exact.

Boss decided that Summer should be the one in charge of my spendings from now on and thus, I'm only allowed to buy something if I asked Summer about it and if she deemed it useful. It's my money for god sake! I've earned it myself so I have full rights to use it however I please.

I gave a defeated sigh as I realize that my situation is quite my own fault and I have no way to argue with the ladies for many reasons. One of them is that they're doing it for my sake and the other is that they're very scary when they want to be.

I slowly look over to the girls to see what they were doing right now.

"And just when I was about to sleep, I saw a bright glowy ball floating in through my window. I was scared at first but it just looked so pretty that I forgot to scream. Then it just came closer and closer and I reach out my hand to touched it and it vanished! Then I get this weird tingly feeling all over my body and then-" Amber was telling Summer some kind of story or something as they walked. I don't really know what they were talking about since I wasn't paying much attention to them and was lamenting about my money problem. There's also the fact that she talks very fast and I'm having trouble catching up with what's being said.

"Woah woah woah Amber, slow down before you get brain aneurysm." I told her as I walk up to them instead of lingering behind.

"Brain annuereeeessmm?" Amber echoed in confusion. "What's that?"

"Hmmm. It's something that causes your head to explode." I lied and was rewarded with a horrified look from the child. Needless to say, I took great pleasure in that and it had nothing to do with the fact that she is now richer than me because she was given my allowance. Honest.

And of course, my enjoyment was cut short when someone slapped me at the back of my head that almost made me fall to my face if I didn't recover fast enough.

"Ow! Summer, what gives?" I complained as I rub the sore spot on my scalp, give the redhead a pouty look as she look at me with an unamused face.

"Gee I dunno, maybe I'm just trying to stop you from give a kid nightmares you jerk. She's still at a very impressionable age and she might take everything you say seriously. If you're not careful who knows what she'll end up believing." She deadpanned before turning to Amber. "Don't listen to him Amber, he's just kidding."

"You mean like how you were before you met me?" I quipped with a smirk and got a swat on my shoulder in response. "Ow! Shutting up now." I quickly raise my hands in the air in a gesture of surrender and Summer just gave me a smug smile before telling Amber what aneurysm really meant.

Methinks that Summer is learning how to properly deal with me already.

And just like that, we continue onward towards our destination, chatting or messing with each other along the way. I'd like to say that we've encountered no problems during the trip to the police station and the journey there was smooth sailing but we all know that it would be bullshit.

Our trip there is taking way long than it should be mainly because we encountered some kind of distraction. A lot of distractions actually. Distractions in the form of sidequests that one would usually get when traveling around in an open world RPG.

Anyway, when we reached the market area that we needed to pass through to reach the station, we met a bunch of ladies along our way who needed help with trivial tasks. Things like carrying things for them or helping them find what they're looking for. The usual delivery quests and the likes.

I suspect that reaching the police station will take quite some time as we're still doing those things right now even after a whole hour has passed.

"You don't have to stop and help every single one you met along the way you know." Summer said in an amused tone besides me as she held onto a cardboard box. Amber was carrying a smaller box that's perfect for someone her size. All three of us were in front of a general store that sells miscellaneous, everyday things.

"And you didn't have to help me while I'm helping them and you could've stop me from doing so in the first place but didn't. Besides, they asked for help first and you know I have trouble saying no to people who needed help. Is here fine?" The last part was directed at the old woman who had asked us to transport some supplies to her store so she could sell them. Her age has been catching up to her so she's having a hard time moving all of them like she used to.

"Yes. Thank you very much for you help as always deary. You have no idea how much of a godsend you all are for this old fossil." The old woman told us with a warm smile as she pat her back for emphasis and we set the things down in front of her shop. We've been here enough times to know that her shop assistant would come and collect the boxes for her and restock her shelves.

"And you worked hard as well little girl." The old woman told Amber she pat her on her head, causing the child to smile brightly at the praise she had just received. "Wait right here while I go get something for you okay?" The old lady said before she entered her shop.

"Hmm, maybe I just like helping people. I wouldn't mind lending a hand if they asked." Summer answered me.

"What a coincidence, me too." I replied.

"Me three~" Amber chimed in with a giggle.

"Yes, yes. You did a good job Amber. How very nice of you to help someone when they're in trouble. Remember that it's never a bad thing to help someone in need...unless they're the bad guys of course." I praised her as I copied what the old lady did by patting her on her head and she smiled happily. You can't go wrong with showing a child with praises after all. It really helps build up their self-esteem and confidence.

"I thought it was your dream to be the master of being lazy or something." Summer giggled.

"Of course it is. Sadly, I was raised better than be a useless bum who can't get anything done by himself. And besides, we're setting a good example for the kid." I gestured at Amber who was waiting eagerly for whatever reward the old lady had in mind, eyes never leaving the shop entrance.

"I still remember how it all first started out three months ago you know. There was an old lady in the middle of the road who seem to be in a pickle. I was very surprised when you suddenly when ahead and offer to help her just like that. Why though? For someone like you, I'd expect you'd ignore her completely like she doesn't exist."

"Well, they were blocking the way; I want to reach my destination faster and I can't very well just push them out of the way now can I?" I explained to her my reason for doing so.

"You could just walk around them you know." Summer helpfully pointed out.

"Eh, too lazy. It's easier for me this way." For my conscience that is.

"Yeah, suuureee." Summer said with a knowing smile while not pointing out the fact that by doing so, I'll only create more work for myself. Suddenly, her smile turn into a worried frown. "You're going to be taken advantage of one day you know?" Summer told me with a hint of concern in her voice. D'awwww, she's worried about me.

"I know, I know; but I can't do anything about my instinctive needs to help others when they're in trouble ya know. it's one of the many reasons why I don't like heading outside." I told her as I let out a sad and dramatic sigh. Damn you quarter Canadian blood. If only you didn't exist in my veins then my dream of being the master of laziness would come true a lot easier.

"I thought the only reason why you hated going outdoors was because you'll be forced to be our pack mule." Summer giggled. "Either way, we seem to be getting rather popular around this area, probably thanks to you always being a good samaritan. There seem to be an increase of people asking us for help nowadays as well... I also can't help but notice that most of them are women."

"What can I say, I'm popular with the ladies." I gave a haughty laugh as I cross my arms in front of my chest and puff them out proudly.

"Yeah, only the old ones." Summer snickers into her hand as she reminded me of a very crucial fact that I've overlooked or at least pretended not to notice.

Her words stabbed me through the heart like a sharp blade and my good mood instantly evaporated. I let my shoulders slouch and turn my gaze to the ground as I sobbed pitifully. "Yes, only the old ones." My words caused her to laugh in amusement at my misfortune. Like she had said, only the old ladies ever approach me for help and never the young and beautiful ones. Apparently, they all said I'm like the kind, honest grandchild that they have or never had that made me so approachable.

"Sorry for the wait." We heard the voice of the old lady we helped and I raise my head just in time to see her exiting her shop with something in her hands. Amber saw it and she started to jump excitedly on her spot with stars in her eyes.

As for what it is, you can probably guess judging by how Amber is acting.

"Yay~ sweets! Gimme gimme gimme." Amber extended her hands greedily as her eyes never left the small bag of sweets the size of a baseball in the old lady's hands. The old woman only offer an amused smile at the child's rude behavior while I on the other hand, only offered a light karate chop to the head. "Owie!" Amber cried out, her hands went to cover her head to protect it from further assault as she turn to pout at me.

"Amber, manners." I told her with a warning tone, making the young girl flinch before looking guilty at how she was behaving.

"Sorry." She muttered apologetically to the old woman with her head bowed down.

The old lady just showed a grandmotherly smile as reach out her hand and took Amber's, placing the bag of sweets in her palm before ruffling her hair playfully. "Now, now, she's just a child. There's no need to be so strict with her." She told me as Amber just hug the small bag happily.

"I'd rather she doesn't grow up into a rude delinquent who just takes things from others." I said before fixing my gaze on Amber. "What are you suppose to say when some one gives you something?" I asked her gently.

"Thank you." She told the old lady with her brightest smile that could quite possible melt an ice queen's heart.

After that we bid out goodbyes and left the general store. I had to stop Amber from plopping the sweet into her mouth once the old lady was out of sight but other than that, there's nothing interesting going on… at least for two whole meters anyway.

Due to my uncontrollable impulses, we ended up helping even more people along the way and what should be a half hour walk to the station took far longer than it should.

"Sorry for troubling you two with this." I apologized, feeling ashamed for myself for being unable to fight against my urges to help people and dragging others into my whims again.

"It's alright, it's kinda fun." Amber reassured me with that ever so lovable smile of hers. Amber's great mood might be because those old ladies kept giving her sweets for being such a kind and helpful child. Sweets that I no doubt she would eat the moment she gets home. They were all placed inside that fat looking plastic bag in her hands that we had to get her because she needed something bigger to store all her rewards. You can pretty much tell that there's a lot in there judging by the bulge from the bag.

"Plus, there's a lot of free stuffs too." Summer chimed in, both hands carrying bags filled with meat and vegetables and other goodies given to us from those we've helped prior. I look down to my hands to see bags of free groceries that I got as well and could only offer a wry laugh. Those people are really kind. You don't get this kind of generosity back on earth just because you help them out a few times….or it might be because we brought Amber along, whose cuteness just makes the old ladies want to shower her with stuffs to please her.

Hmm, that notion might be wrong as they have been giving me free stuffs long before I met Amber. Now that I think about it, this world has people that's a mixture of humans and animals right? Then what kind of meat have I been eating for the past three months? The meat that I've seen in the markets are all already processed or cut into pieces ready to be washed and cooked so I don't really know. They all tasted like chicken so I never really thought of it that much until now….

I think that it's best that I don't know, ignorance is bliss after all. Oh well, at least I know we have a lot of options for what to make for Dinner tonight.

"Well, we should be clear of the market area after this so the chances of encountering someone who needed help should drastically decrease." I told them. "I'm sure you can't wait to get back to your mother right Amber?" I asked the child and she nodded happily.

"Yes! There's so much I wanted to tell mama after what happened today. I made new friends, got to wear a cute panda costume, got a lot of sweets to eat-" And she just drones on and on about the things that happened to her today which I mostly stopped paying attention to by the time she reached her third sentence. Due to that, I managed to spot someone over at the distance who seem to be oddly familiar to me as we walked.

"Huh, just who's that over ther-" I muttered to myself but trailed off when I finally get a good look at who it was.

I instantly cursed my luck as it was someone who I'm incredibly familiar with.

I'm not familiar with that person because we met plenty of times before. In fact, I've only saw that person once. But that one time was enough to engrave her face into my memory like someone carving an image into a stone slab.

It's Miss Saggy Tits!

That old lady in front of us is none other than the one from that strip club that I've entered before.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit. What do I do? What do I do? What am I suppose to do when you met someone you never wanted to see ever again in your life!? Take another route? No, everywhere else seem to have someone there, conveniently blocking the road like this encounter is scripted by some nefarious god. The only possible way to continue on is through that open path that the old lady is in.

Greet her? Fuck no, that's a stupid idea and I still have nightmares from that time. I don't need anymore nightmare fuel and talking to her might just strengthen the image that I already have in my head. God damn it! I was so close to forgetting her too.

Okay, okay, calm down and think. Is there any possible chance that she could have seen my face when I entered the strip club? Impossible, there was simply too many people in there at that time so I shouldn't have to worry about her recognizing me. I'm probably just another random dude in the middle of the busy street.

Oh wait, there's a simple solution to everything, all I have to do is pretend I that didn't see her. Genius! Let's just calmly walk past her and pretend that nothing is wrong and avoid eye contact at all cost! Gotta act natural like I don't know that she actually works as a stripper in some shady club.

I immediately kept my head low and tried to keep a small profile so the old woman wouldn't pick me out from the crowd. Then I hasten my pace to follow behind the girls, using them as a shield to block me from the old woman's sight. The girls didn't seem to nice my sudden change in behavior while I kept my eyes on anything but those sagging tits of that old woman as we walk past her.

I saw the old woman's silhouette move past me from the corner of my eye and tensed slightly because my skin just crawled when I felt her presence so close to me. But I managed to keep on walking without doing anything attention grabbing.

Did-did it actually worked?

Does she not recognize me? Thank God! For a moment there, I was expecting the worst, especially since I got so close to her. Thank fucking god for small mira-

My thoughts came to an abrupt halt when I felt someone's hand slap me on my rear. I froze on the stop, my body tensed as a bowstring as a wave of panic and confusion shot through my heart. I slowly turn my head around to see what had just slapped my ass and my heart dropped to my stomach as I was face to face with the very person I was trying so hard to avoid.

She gave me a wink before giving my butt a tight squeeze before letting go, swaying those old and fat as fuck hips of hers as she left.

….

I think something in me just died.

She knows doesn't she?

God, why hast thou forsake me once more?

The only good thing is that Summer and Amber didn't saw what happened because they went on ahead.

Oh god, I can still feel her hands caressing my rear even though she's not there anymore. My entire body has on high alert for any more potential gropers while I'm starting to feel some kind of revolting fear and disgust surging from my stomach that strongly urges me to puke out my lunch. Worst part is, the memory of her groping me kept playing back in my mind like a nightmare on repeat.

Someone save me from it! I need a memory purge of that event and I need it now!

[Affirmative. Orders received, initiating memory purge. Targeted memory: Two minutes prior until present.]

Oh great, there that voice that I've been trying to ignore for quite some time now. Why am I even hearing it in the first place anyway? Am I being possessed by some kind of lingering spirit? Have I offended someone in my past life to deserve suc-

[Memory purged.]

-they all tasted like chicken so I never really thought of... Wait a fucking minute. Where am I? I was pretty sure that I was walking along with Summer and Amber along a crowd but where are- Oh, there they are. I can see Summer's signature white cloak fluttering in wind among the crowd in the distance. When did the get so far away from me? Hmm odd, I seem to have spaced out again for no reason.

Things like this keep happening a lot lately and it's starting to worry me a little, not to mention the strange emotion suppression thing that kept happening form time to time. There's also this faint trace of panic that's rapidly vanishing from my chest and I have no clue what could be the cause. It's almost like I forced myself to forget what caused it in the first place. It's not like I keep witnessing jarring events that caused me to drank an amnesia potion every time to forget them now did I? Did I? Anyway, with all these add together, I'm really not sure if my mental health is at it's best of state right now.

When I was busy standing there and contemplating the state of my mind, someone bumped into my shoulder rather rudely with enough force to make me stumble.

"Hey, watch it!" The person that bumped into me said as he walks away.

I turn around to see who it was and saw the retreating back of a teen with orange hair that's dressed in some fine clothing. For some reason, I can't help but imagine him wearing a bowler hat. Odd right?

Oh and by the way, I managed to barely feel his hand entering my pocket as he knocked into me due to my skin being oddly sensitive for no apparent reason. He would've succeeded in pickpocketing me without me noticing if it weren't for that. It's like my entire body is on red alert and I can't figure out what caused it to be this way.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the guy just now took my wallet but just in case I was wrong, I decided to check. I moved my hands down to pat my pockets to confirm whether or not my wallet's still there. Predictably, it's not and is most likely in that guy's possession. I just sigh and scratch the back of my head while I ponder whether if it's worth the effort to chase him down to get it back. I turn my gaze to where I last saw the male but he was already no where in sight.

Seeing that there's probably no chance of me finding him in this kind of crowd, I choose to forget it. There's no loss there since my wallet is empty and due to...circumstances.

Crap, no time to think about my empty wallet for now, I need to catch up with Summer and Amber before I lost sight of them as well and undoubtedly get lost while trying to find my way back again.

-0-

After I managed to catch up to Summer and Amber, I kept the fact that I lost my wallet to myself mainly because it's just not worth making a fuzz over the empty thing.

"Hey wait." Summer suddenly called out to me worriedly and I stopped walking immediately. The panic in her voice caught my interest so I quickly turn around to see what's up.

"What?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Summer looked around the place before she turn to me, face filled with alarm. "Where's Amber?" She asked with dread in her voice and my eyes widen in realization as I finally noticed that it has been oddly quite recently.

I quickly look down to see if the child was around but like Summer had implied, she's not. Panic erupted within me as I realized that we've just lost the very person we were suppose to be looking after. My entire body tensed up and I was about to do a mad scramble to search for her before Summer spoke up again that made me trip on my feet.

"Oh wait, there she is." Summer voiced out in relief as she pointed her finger towards the way that we came from. I looked over there and easily spotted the figure of the little brown haired girl. She was standing near a stall with her eyes glued at the man working behind it. To be more specific, she was looking at the cone of ice-cream he was giving out to his customers.

I let out a sigh of relief as the tension my body while Summer quickly made her way over towards the kid. Jesus Christ woman, don't play with my feelings like that.

"Amber, why did you wander off on your own like that?" I heard Summer asked worriedly as I started walking towards them at my own pace.

"Ah, big sis. Well- this- I-" The young girl stumbled with a look of guilt as she look between Summer and me.

I just smirked because I know what it is that caused her to wander off like that. It's not that hard since the answer is like, literally in front of us. The girl is as gluttonous as ever I tell you. "Let me guess, you want ice-creamed." I helpfully supplied and Amber just nodded as she look to the ground sheepishly.

"Really?" Summer said as she look at the store herself, letting out a thoughtful hum as her eyes gaze towards the sign that was put up in front of the stall. It showed how many flavors there were and the price. "Hmmmm, well, I suppose some ice-cream couldn't hurt before we reached the station." At Summer's words, Amber immediately brighten up at the prospect of more treats for her insatiable sweet tooth. I have no doubt that she's already imaging what kind of ice-cream she wants to eat to smother her sweet tooth to death with.

"Let me guess, I'm paying right?" I deadpanned.

"Of course you are. What kind of guy lets a girl pay for things herself?" Summer turn to me in feigned shock as she place her hands over her chest to make it seem as if she had been deeply surprised by what I said. It would've been convincing if the edges of her lips didn't kept tugging upwards and how hard she was trying not to giggle.

"The kind that had all his money handed to a child because he was deemed too irresponsible for it." I replied flatly.

Summer just blinked at how upfront I was before seemingly realizing that what I said was quite true. "Oh… right, that's quite true." She nodded in agreement before tilting her head to the side as she hums thoughtfully again while rubbing her chin. "I suppose there's no choice then. I'll pay the ice-cream for you this time but you'll owe me got it?"

"Are you talking to me or Amber?" I asked.

"You, duh." she stated a matter-of-factly.

"But I never said I wanted ice-cream." I protested, thinking that Summer's being very childish right now.

"Three cones of ice-creams please, one strawberry for me." Summer ignored me as she went to order, getting a nod from the man behind the stall before turning to me with an amused smile. "Oops, too late. So, what flavor do you two want?"

"Chocolate!" Amber cried out in cheer.

"Can I cancel mine?" I asked hopefully because I know that she'll probably demand something from me that requires a lot of work if I owe her.

"Nope." she answers cheerfully with a glint of mischief flashing through those silver eyes of her. I suspect that she probably had planned on getting me to owe her for a long time now, that little she-devil. She probably wanted me to make that butterscotch cookie that she really wanted to try again but I never got around to making them because I was too lazy. Oh well, considering all the suffering that I had put her through these past months, I suppose I do have to pay her back somehow. This is a good start I guess.

"Fine...I'll take vanilla." I told her with a defeated sigh. Summer simply gave a victorious smile upon hearing my choice before turning back to the stall owner who had already scooped up two cones of ice-cream for the girls. Amber had already reached out and grabbed hers while Summer tried to reach her wallet in her skirt pocket but the bags in her hand got in her way.

"Alex, help me hold my bags for a bit?" She asked me while holding the bags of groceries at my direction. I opened my mouth to speak but was immediately cut off by her before I could get a word in. "And no, holding onto my groceries doesn't count as paying me back just in case you're wondering." I shut my mouth and started sulking while wondering how is it that she knew what I was going to say before I said it.

I reach out my hand to take her bags while pouting at her, something that she ignored with ease because I don't have the natural cuteness that she or any cute creature possesses. With the bags passed onto me, I can easily feel the weight in my hands increased drastically. "Thanks a lot Jerkface." She thanked me playfully, earning a light giggle from the little girl with chocolate stained lips so I turn to pout at her instead, causing her to laugh at the funny face that I'm making.

Summer turn back to the stall owner and took out her wallet to pay him. As the stall owner took the cash while Summer took the goods, I got the distinctive feeling somewhere in my gut that's telling me that something bad was going to happen.

[Warning: Human shaped projectile currently en route to your position. Recommendation: Move.]

The voice in my head seem to agree as well. Weird.

Any further thoughts on that manner were interrupted when a blur slammed into me with the force of a speeding car. Pain immediately assaulted my sides and I was lifted off my feet with ease. I quickly found myself on the ground, something that's been happening very frequently lately as I've mentioned before and the bags of groceries that was in my hands were sprawl on the ground since I instinctively let go of them when I was hit. I can hear Amber letting out a frightened squeak as well as a surprised 'woah' coming from summer after I landed and I can see stars floating around me.

I groaned and shook my head in attempt to get rid of the dizziness that I got from the sudden impact and landing. I tried to get up to see what hit me but I soon realized that I can't move my hands at all. In fact, I can't seem to move my entire torso as well.

Looking back, I found that the person that ran into me had held my hands firmly behind my back by the wrist to keep it locked in place. I can't see that person's face from my position but their intent to keep me from going anywhere is very clear. Also, whoever is sitting on me is very heavy and I think my spine just creaked from the weight.

Okay, what's going on here!?

I don't remember doing anything to warrant being held down like a criminal like this!….okay, maybe there are a few things that I did here and there but I'm sure no one saw me.

Okay, think calmly. I suppose this means that whoever crashed into me did so on purpose and they're not just holding me down because it's their fetish of sorts. It guess this also explained why I could feel someone's hand grab onto my shirt while I was in midair and spun me around while I was falling so I would land on my stomach.

"Alright punk, you're under arrests." I heard a woman's voice telling me as I winch in pain because she tighten her grip on my wrist. It was then did my mind supplied me with the notion that it might just be an adult on my back and they might be a police officer.

Okay seriously, what did I do!? Just what on earth did past me do to get me in this mess! I don't wanna go to jail for crying out loud! I heard that your butt hole would get bigger there when you bend over to pick up the soap that you dropped. I bet they even have some weird occult rituals for joining their gangs that involve brushing your teeth and then downing a jar of orange juice.

Hell, they might even force you to wear a sock and a shoe and a sock and shoe in that order. What kind of sociopath would put on a sock, shoe, sock, shoe! Don't they know that the whole world puts on a sock and a sock and a shoe and a shoe?

And of course, three seconds into my frantic panic, my emotions was instantly clamped down so and I can think clearly again.

Wow, did I really thought of all that just before? Man, my brain really goes to weird places when I'm panicking. "What for?" I asked as politely as I could so I won't accidentally push any of the officer's buttons while silently praying for a miracle to get me out of this mess. Ugh, I can taste dirt in my mouth. I really want to spit it out but I'm afraid the woman on top of me might not take it that well. I also noticed that we seem to have gathered a crowd all of a sudden.

Not all that surprising since I'm being arrested in the middle of a street.

"Don't play dumb with me, I'm sure you know full well of the crime that you've committed." She told me in a rather annoyed tone.

Not really getting what kind of crime she was pointing at, I decided to try guessing instead. "Was it because I ripped off the tag of a mattress that one time?" I offered helpfully.

"What? No! I'm taking about the kid that you kidnapped."

"Kidnapped? Oh, you mean her?" I jerked my chin towards Amber's direction. I noticed that she was staring at me wide-eyed in shock at what's happening before turning around to tug at Summer's sleeve to get the redhead's attention. Summer on the other hand, looks like she's seriously debating whether or not she wants to pretend that she doesn't know me.

"Yes. I'm not sure if you're either really brave for walking around in broad daylight with her in tow or just plain stupid. But either way, whatever you have planned for her is not going to come into fruition because you're going to be spending a long time behind bars." The woman who was mounting me told me.

"The big lady is a Huntress right? Is big bro a bad person!? Is that why the Huntress is sending him to jail?" Amber ask Summer in worry.

"I'm very tempted to say yes but that would most likely make you sad so no, jerkface is not a bad person...-ish. He'll be fine once the Huntress realized that he didn't kidnap you. Anyway, I better help him out before he digs himself a deeper grave. You know how he likes to run that mouth of his." Summer replied with a tired sigh before stepping forward towards me and the woman, getting both our attention as she got nearer.

"Hey miss Robin." Summer cheerfully greeted the woman and we both stare at her in surprise, each for our own reasons. I'm surprise that Summer actually knew this woman while said person on the other hand was probably not expecting her name to be called at all.

"Oh hey! Summer! What a coincidence, what are you doing here." The woman greeted back and I'm left in a very awkward position as well as very confused at what's going on right now. At least I can deduct from this that they know each other pretty well to be able to talk with such familiarity.

"Well, I was getting ice-cream for my friends before you suddenly showed up out of the blue." Summer hold up the two cones of ice-cream in her hands for the woman to see.

"Ah, so you're here with friends. I hope you'll introduce them to me some time." The woman told her while I wondered if they actually forgot about me already before they're talking like I'm not even here.

"Well...it's kinda hard to do that when you're sitting on him right now." Summer told her and I can tell that the woman was surprised by Summer's statement. How, you asked? I can feel a surprised jerk coming from the woman on top of me.

"What!? Really!? This guy's your friend!?" The woman sounded extremely surprised by this revelation and I couldn't help but feel slightly offended.

"Yes. I'm using a very loose definition of friend here but yes. Anyway, I'm pretty sure you want to know how we have Amber in our hands but first, can you get off him? I don't think he's enjoying being sat on very much." Summer suggested with an amused smirk as she jerk her head at my direction.

"Oh..." The woman chuckled nervously before quickly letting go of my hand and getting off me. Well, at least now I can conclude that the woman, Robin, seem to trust Summer a lot to just let go of a supposed kidnapper just because she said he was her friend.

"Finally." I grumbled before I push myself up with a grunt and proceeded to dust myself off. Ugh, my shirt is dirty already even though I tried so hard not to get anything on it. I can feel my wrist stinging the entire time I was moving my hands so once I'm done dusting myself, I pull down my sleeve to check the condition of my wrist.

I was honestly not surprise to see the red hand print around it. Seesh, the women that I've met in this world are all ridiculously strong. Might have something to do with the fact that they're all trained for combat.

I noticed that while I was busy, Summer had pulled the lady away from the middle of the street so they could talk and the crowds are already dispersing. I have no doubt that stories of what happened here today will spread into countless variations due to many gossiping housewives.

Summer seem to be explaining to Robin how we came about to finding Amber and what we're doing now and I took the chance to examine Robin, getting a proper look at her for the first time since she appeared.

The woman had long light blue hair braid into a ponytail and cerulean colour eyes that reminds me of the sea. She wore a jacket the same colour as her hair with an open front that showed that she wore a gray shirt with white metallic breastplate over it. Her gray pants were loose fitting and she wore a pair of boots that matches her jacket.

The woman was undoubtedly taller than Summer which evident by how Summer hand to crank her neck upwards to meet her eyes. I can see that she has a well build body as well since her jacket hugs her frame in some area that showed some muscles and it made me feel very inadequate. Then again, I've never trained before in my life so there's no way I can fight against a Huntress in body fitness.

I don't know why but the woman would frequently look over at me while she was conversing with Summer. I want to ask why she's looking at me like that but I'm slightly deterred that big ass steampunk style sword strapped onto her back that looked like it's meant to be wield by someone twice her size. No wonder why she's so heavy when she's sitting onto my back. It also explained the muscular arms because swinging that thing around would most definitely give you some. I'm just amazed that my spine didn't snap when she sat on me.

I managed to hear some bits of what they're saying from where I'm at. I could only make out a few lines and words here and there but what really caught my attention the most was when Robin asked 'Does he know?' and Summer quickly replied with a frantic shake of her head and proceeds to say something with a desperate look on her face, earning a very thoughtful nod from Robin. Hmm, I wonder what they're talking about right now?

Curious, most curious indeed.

"Oh hey Amber, when did you get here?" I asked when I finally noticed the kid who seem to have moved to my side without me noticing. She was looking at me with a concerned look on her face while still licking at her ice-cream. It looks like sweets still takes precedence over the well being of her friend I guess.

"Is big bro okay?" She asked worriedly.

"Oh, don't worry. This much isn't enough to keep me down. I'm not that weak you know." I told her with a slight chuckle as I ruffled her hair. My wrist still stings but I managed to hide it well enough that Amber doesn't notice.

Amber seem to believe me and nodded with a smile. I smiled back before I noticed that Summer was beckoning us over towards them. Feeling curious as to why, I quickly made my way over to them and brought Amber along as well.

When we got there, Summer began a quick introduction to get us familiar with one another. "So, I think it's best if we all forget about the bad first impression that was made just before and start anew. Alex, this lady here is Robin Oliver." She gestured at the woman by her side that's waving at me with a sheepish smile. "She a Huntress that helps with the law enforcement around Vale whenever she can and is also someone that I've known for a long time. I've already told her what's going on so you don't have to worry about

"Oliver? So she's our Boss' daughter? I guess that explained how you know her but they look nothing alike." I commented as I try to compare the woman before me with the green haired boss that I have while studying her from head to toe. So far, I found nothing that could make me think of May when I look at Robin. They're just too different from one another.

"Her in law actually, She's married to her son." Summer explained and I nodded in understanding. That explained the last name. Wait, married!? She looks like she's only just graduated collage from my point of view and she's already married?

"Really? Then how come I never saw her before until now?" I asked Summer with a perplexed look, getting an uncomfortable fidget from Robin upon hearing my question.

Summer's eyes dart over towards Robin, lingering on her for a brief second before looking back to me. She surprised me by moving very close to me all of the sudden and tiptoed so that her lips would be a few centimeters away from my ear and whispers into them. "She tries to avoid going to places that would constantly reminds her of her husband. Aunt May understands how she felt as well so she doesn't blame her for not visiting often." Once she's done, she went back to her original position and try her best to look inconspicuous under Robin's grateful gaze for having explaining things for her. She's clearly not comfortable talking about it to a total stranger like me.

I just nodded in understanding.

The cafe is probably the last place she want to be at since May's son (whose name I still have no clue of) was born and raised there. "Sooooooo, you must think that our situation is weird right? It's not everyday that someone just hire a child off the street just because she had her face stuck on the window and drooling nonstop." I quickly asked Robin in hopes of changing the subject.

"Oh, It's not all that strange since I've already experienced it before. You know, your entire situation kind of reminds me of how I've met Summer for the first time. She had her face plastered onto the shop window as she drool over the cookies on the display just like Amber did." Robin told me with a faint giggle.

"Big sis Robin!" Summer cried out indignantly while her face redden to the point where her face resembles a tomato with an ahoge.

"Somehow I'm not surprise to hear that." I muttered, the mental image of Summer doing that easily came to mind.

"Hey, what's that suppose to mean?" Summer pouted cutely at me.

"Nothing, nothing at all. Say, how old are you anyway?" I blurted out the other question that had been on my mind to Robin.

"Alex, you don't just ask a lady her age, it's rude." Summer chided me playfully with a smile of amusement on her face.

"I know that but still, she look like she could be your older sister or something."

"Well, that's one of the many benefits of having your Aura unlocked. It keeps you in your prime so you can face any kind of threat without worrying about your age slowing you down. The only con to that is that you would always be the prime targets for Grimms because you're basically wearing your soul on your sleeves. But, it's also a good thing since they would focus on you while the civilians escapes." Robin explained to me enthusiastically, happy that we're changing the subject.

Huh, so that's why. I've been wondering why most of the Huntsmen and Huntress that I've seen so far look way too good for someone their age. My boss being the prime example as she's like, in her 40's or something and still looking like she's in her early 30's.

"Wow, that actually sounds pretty cool- wait, does this means that Summer is also older than she looks?" I pointed out as I slowly look towards the girl in question in slight nervousness. It would be very awkward if the girl that I've been buddy buddy with and treating like a child is actually already someone in her twenties.

"What!? NO!" Summer looked rather offended when she said that. "I'm only 15. Why would you even think that?"

"Hey, I'm only checking to be sure." I raised my arms in attempts to placate the peeved redhead that I've accidentally called old while Robin just giggled at how we're interacting with each other. "Anyway, what else does Aura do besides magically keep people young forever?" I asked the Huntress, deeply interested in the capabilities of Aura. So far, all I know is that they can act as invisible force fields for individuals, heals wounds and gives you a neat Semblance so the staying young part is a completely new info for me.

Robin's response was to look at me incredulously. "Really? You don't know? I thought they taught you the need to knows about Aura in school."

I shook my head and Summer took the chance to inform Robin something very critical when dealing with me. "I've learned that it's best to just treat him like he's been living under a rock his whole life. Makes things easier that way for everyone involved." Summer told her and I nodded along, earning a very questioning look from Robin.

After staring at us for a while to see whether or not we're joking around, she eventually shrugged and rolled with it. "Well for starters, you'll still age like anyone else so the staying young forever part is wrong. Your aging only starts to slow down a bit once you reach adulthood. Aside from that though, having my Aura unlocked also enables me to use my weapon without any repercussions." Robin reached her hand behind her and unsheathe her sword with a slick sounding 'shink'. My eyes widen when I saw that she's holding up the giant thing with just one arm. Then, with a click of a button somewhere on the handle, the entire thing transformed.

I watched in fascination as the blade folded itself in a mesmerizing fashion until it was covered by it's own hilt that expanded outward while it was folding. The entire thing started twisted and turn to the point where it's entire form doesn't resembles a sword in any way. Once it's done changing, it looked like a giant sci-fi/steampunk cannon that'll be more suitable on a futuristic tank instead of being wielded by a woman smaller than it.

Good lord, all the weapons in this world so crazy I love it.

"Any civilian who tried to use this baby here would most likely broke their arms or have them torn off when they fired it...if they can lift it up in the first place that is." She explained as she lift the heavy looking weapon up and down with ease.

"People with Aura unlocked will naturally have a bit of their strength and endurance enhanced so that they can to do things normal civvies can't. You can further strengthen yourself by training or using Aura to boost your muscles. The latter method is almost never mentioned by Huntsmen nowadays as it's very risky if you get it wrong, but it pays off if you get it right." Robin place the weapon by her side, it's barrel touching the ground while she uses the handle as something to lean her elbow on.

I just nodded as I absorb the information given to me while idly thinking that this explains how Ruby could swing that scythe of awesomeness around like it's made out of feathers. Also, there's one part that's a cause for concern that I just can't help but ask about it.

"Risky?" I asked in worry, my eyes snapping away from the gorgeous looking weapon to the person leaning on them. "I thought Aura was only suppose to keep you safe from all sorts of harm like some kind of force field or something. Heck, I never even knew it had so many functions other than that until now."

"Thats...one interesting way to put it but I suppose that's the best example we can use for now. At any rate, Aura does act like a force field but there's only so much it can protect you from so it's best not to grow too reliant on it. There are also many other ways to use Aura other than protecting yourself; you can use it in offensive manners as well. As I've mentioned before, you can use aura to further enhance your body or if you're good enough to manipulate it, you can use it to sent shock waves and many other cool tricks." Robin said as she raise a hand up and snapped her fingers together. I managed to see her hand briefly lit up like it was surrounded by a pale blue light before it instantly vanished.

"The thing I did just now is the basics for offensive Aura usage. It takes a long time of practice before one can properly manipulate their own Aura outside of their body. It takes a lot of patience and dedication to even master the basics for that, something the newer generations of Huntsmen are clearly lacking like a certain someone that I know who wanted to learn but got bored five days later and stopped showing up for practice." Robin said, eyeing Summer with narrowed eyes. The redhead actually had the decency to look sheepish and tried to avoid eye contact with the woman. "The body enhancement however, is a lot trickier and not to mention, very dangerous."

"Why?" I prompted, feeling ever so curious about why using aura to enhance yourself would be dangerous. It's like a simple power up right? What's so dangerous about that?

"Because, my young pupil, if they messed up while attempting that technique, they will tear their muscles or blow up their blood vessels in whatever part of their body that they're strengthening." She told me with an air of seriousness.

"This is avtually an ancient technique used by Huntsmen from the olden age, long before trans-shift weapons were a common sight and dust were better understood and utilized. By using aura to strengthen yourself, you're basically pumping your muscles full of aura to give yourself that burst of strength to overcome a foe greater than you. Sounds simple in paper yes, but for someone inexperienced to try it means disaster is just around the corner. You just don't know how much stress your body can handle before they break down or you pumped in too much Aura to the point where your limbs pop like a balloon." During the entire time Robin was talking, she had since push herself off her weapon and had adopted a lecturing posture that reminds me of a certain twin-tailed tsundere.

Her left hand was place underneath to support her right elbow while the right arm was raise into the air with only her index finger and thumb sticking out. She was so into it that she didn't seem to be paying any attention to us anymore as she continued to lecture us. "The few veteran Huntsmen who knew of that technique almost never use it because they knew that if they did it wrong even once, it'll leave them crippled in a middle of a battle. It's as it's a high-risk, high-reward type of technique after all." Robin explained while twirling her finger that was in the air in a circle.

"That makes sense." I said, as I thought about such a scenario.

"Nowadays however, that technique never gets a mentioned because of the advancement in technology. As not many people can get it right most of the times, the technique was never really passed on and is mostly forgotten by the newer generation who tends to favor the more 'stylish' way of fighting Grimms." Robin said, using one hand to make the finger quote while using the other to turn her weapon back into a giant sword and sheathing it.

"Wait, if it's such a rarely used technique nowadays then how come you know about it?" I asked.

Summer choose this moment to speak up, quite possibly because she felt felt out of the conversation that we're having. "That's because Robin here grew up admiring how those olden Huntsmen fought to defend the world when she read about them in a book as a kid. She started frantically searching every nook and cranny in many libraries for any more information she could find about them and learned some tricks that they used here and there. Though most of the time she got hurt while trying them instead of actually pulling it off." Summer informed me with a giggle.

"I'd appreciated it if you never told him about that." Robin commented wryly.

"Oops. Tee hee." Summer let out as she tilt her head sideways with her tongue slightly sticking out of her mouth in a cutesy manner. "My bad."

"This is payback for talking about how you were like Amber when you were younger isn't it?" Robin accused while pointing a finger at her.

"What, of course not. I'm not so petty that I'd want to get back at you for something so trivial." Summer denied Robin's accusation instantly. Needless to say, we didn't believe her. The way her eyes refuses to make eye contact with any of us is very telling. It's one of her quirks that you'll discover once you get to know her. Whenever she lies, she just can't make eye contact. I find it kinda cute actually.

"Anyway, all the things about Aura aside, that's an awesome weapon." I said, eyeing it even though it's already sheathed behind Robin's back. I silently thank the gods that she didn't go into an in depth explanation of it's mechanics and functions because I'm pretty sure I can't stop myself from popping a boner if she did. I never knew I had a thing for ridiculously designed weaponry until three months ago. "Can I touch it?" I asked the same question that I've asked many times whenever I see someone that brought their awesome weapons with them.

"Down boy." Summer told me with a roll of her eyes. "You can stop geeking out now."

"But Summer, how can you not see just how awesome it is! It turns into a cannon for crying out loud!" I exclaimed as I wave my arms around.

"I know it is, but you don't have to go gaga over it like every other weapon you came across. You literally do this every time you see a new weapon that you've never seen before. You even drooled over mine when I brought it over to show you." Summer let out a tired sigh as she recalled the past experiences she had with me whenever I saw a new piece of weaponry from this world. Hey, it's not my fault that they're all so awesome looking.

"Aww, don't be jealous Summer. Your weapons is cool as well but hers is bigger."

"I'm not Jealous! And size doesn't matter, it's how you use it!" Summer defends her own weapon as she thump her foot on the ground once while she turns to pout at me.

"Suuurreeee."

"Ahem." Robin suddenly coughed into her hand to get our attention, I saw that she has a tint of red on her cheeks as she regarded me in what I presumed to be embarrassment. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry for assuming that you're a kidnapper. Everyone on the police force had been on a frantic search for Amber after she was reported missing by her mother. I just kind of assumed the worst when there hasn't been any been any calls for any demands a while after Amber went missing. Needless to say, everyone's scared of what her mother will do if they don't find her daughter soon."

"You've always been easy to jump into conclusions." Summer said while nodding to herself, earning a small laugh from Robin before the redhead finally remembering that she was holding onto two cones of ice-cream in her hands. "Uh oh." She let out in panic when she noticed that they were already melting quite rapidly and was dripping down the cone. "Quick! Lick it before it gets to you hand. Here's yours." She told me as she hold out my ice-cream towards me while hastily eating hers from the bottom up so that her hand would remain clean from the sticky liquid

"Aww man, it's melting already." I complained as I took my treat from Summer's hands, ignoring the sticky feeling I got when I touched the cone. With my treat in hand, I turn my attention to Robin. "I'm pretty much fine aside from the stinging wrist but it'll go away eventually. So no harm no foul I guess. Side's, I get abused by Summer almost everyday so this much is no biggie." I told her with a non-caring shrug.

"Well you've deserved it." Summer defended herself immediately with a slight blush on her face before she let out a huff and look away.

"Oh woe, woe is me. My friend likes to bully me for no reason and I can't figure out the cause." I wiped away an imaginary tear as I let out a sniffle.

"You know full well the reason why, so don't go pretending that you're innocent." Summer said as she proceeded to prod me on the side, trying to get a reaction out of me. Too bad for her because I'm not ticklish and all she got for her trouble was a smirk. I do know that she's ticklish though. Summer wasn't happy that her poke didn't do anything so she chose to ignore me instead and focus on finishing her ice-cream.

"Thank you for forgiving me Alex." Robin said once we're done bickering and I saw that she had a relieved expression on her face. "I'll be sure to compensate you in someway for tackling and putting you on a joint lock earlier but until then, I have something I need to do. You live in May's cafe do you not? It should be easy to find you if that's the case."

"It's fine really. Holding grudges takes a lot of effort so I usually don't bother. Buuuutttttt, if you want to give me something for free I'm not going to stop you since that would be stupid." I told her with a cheeky smile.

"Don't go taking advantage of other people's kindness." Summer retorted.

"Like how you always take advantage of mine?" I responded with a knowing smile and Summer had no reply other than to cough into her hand with an embarrassed blush on her face. I just chuckled and brought my melting ice-cream my my mouth.

But before I dig in, a thought suddenly came to mind and I voiced it out. "Wait, what kind of mother does Amber have for the police to panic like that? And why would your first assumption be that she was kidnapped instead of her getting lost on her own?" I asked, sounding very concerned because I have said daughter in my care for a while now.

"Yeah, now that you mentioned it..." Summer trailed off with a thoughtful look on her face as the thought finally occurred to her at last.

"Oh… she's someone you don't want to mess with, trust me. She can and will ruin you life with a snap of her fingers and that's her being generous." Robin stated seriously. We both didn't miss the look of terror entering her eyes before they were forced down and replaced with the easy going look that she had while talking to us before. Before any of us could ask about it, Robin started speaking again. "But who knows, maybe you've just earned a lot of points in her books by finding her daughter and keeping her safe."

"I see…." I said, not knowing how to feel about this development. Being in a mysterious yet somehow powerful individual's good books? Well, I'd take that over being in some shady gang's shit list any day. I started to ponder just who could Amber's mum be and by doing so, my head slowly look towards the ground as I started to think deeply.

It was because of that did I finally notice something on the ground. "Oh crud." I muttered out when I saw the groceries that was strew all over the ground. There were also eggs in there that's without a doubt broken now. "Oh well, there goes dinner."

"Huh? what's wrong?" Summer asked as she finished up her ice-cream, tossing in the small remains of her cone into her mouth in a very unladylike manner.

"See for yourself." I told her as I gestured at the mess on the ground. The ladies gaze followed where I was pointing and they saw the bags laying all over the place. Robin seem to panic at that and quickly bow her head in apology.

"I'm sorry! I'll pay you back for everything I promise!"

"Really? Great. I can just wash the salvageable ones off before I use them but since there are some fragile things in there, they might be broken now. I really wasn't sure what to do about it since we bought the things according to the list and budget given to us." I lied to her, letting loose an evil smile that went unnoticed by Robin because her head was bowed down so she couldn't see.

"But didn't we get them for f-" Summer choose this moment to spoke up but I quickly place my hand over her mouth to silence her. I idly noticing that it's sticky from the ice-cream that she had consumed. Summer was surprised by my action and quickly swat my hand away uses the back of her hand to wipe her mouth in disgust.

She turn to glare at me and I just shrugged and quickly put a finger over my mouth in the universal sign for silence, earning a confused quirk of an eyebrow and a disapproving stare. Well, she isn't making any move to stop me now so I guess there's that.

"I see." Robin said, not even suspecting a thing as she lifted her head and proceeds to dig out her wallet from her pocket. She took out a hundred lien from it and handed it to me without even hesitating. "Here you go. I hope this is more than enough to pay you back for the things that were destroyed. You can keep the change so don't worry about it." She said a smile on her face, surprising me greatly as I wasn't expecting such a large amount for compensation. I stare at the offered money for a brief second before I took it without a single trace of guilt in my morally corrupted heart and smiled happily at the free money that I've earned.

What I'm doing is probably no different from what May would do with her Customers when they broke the things in the cafe so if there's anyone to blame for how I'm behaving, it's her. I learn from example after all.

Now to get away before she realized that she had been duped.

"Well then, I think we've wasted enough time talking here. We really should be bringing Amber back to her mother." I said with a bright smile.

Robin seem to realize that as well and check on her Scroll for the time. "Oh my, this much time had passed already?" She said in surprise before putting away her Scroll. "Well, I was looking for the girl in the first place so I can take her off your hands and bring her to her parents for you if you want."

Oooo, this is the best offer that I've gotten all day. This way I don't have to head into a police station and quite possible be asked a lot of questions that I'm not comfortable with answering. "That'll be great, thanks. Well, I suppose this is goodbye then Amber….Amber?" After not hearing any sort of response from the energetic child, I couldn't help but get this feeling of déjà vu. I quickly look towards my side where she was suppose to be at only to find empty space there.

And of course, the little bugger is gone while we were busy chatting.

-0-

After a short while of panicking and searching, we finally found the little bugger by another stall and had to physically dragged her away before she could ask for more food. After that, we explained to her that the new lady is going to be the one to bring her back home and by we, I actually meant Summer because I was told to clean up the mess on the street by a police officer that was passing by.

The ladies weren't even asked to clean the mess because they're both pretty ladies so methinks that the cop didn't have the balls to tell them that so he went for me instead. Then again, it might be because Robin is a Huntress and Summer is a Huntress-in-training and one of them has a freaking giant sword strapped onto her back.

And soon after that came the time for Amber to leave.

The little girl waved us goodbye with a sad face as Robin lead her away by her hand down the street where the station was at. It was just one full minute away just in case anyone wanted to know. To think that we were so close to our destination already but got distracted at the very last moment.

Summer and I waved goodbye to her as well and I continued to wave even when they were nothing more than fading silhouettes in the distance.

"You can stop waving now you know? Amber probably can't see you this far away." Summer informed me as she shifted one of the bags that I've picked up from the ground from one hand to the other.

"I know..." By now Amber and Robin were gone but I continued to wave on nonetheless.

"Are you actually crying?" Summer asked in disbelief when she turn around to look at me and noticed something trailing down my cheek.

"N-no..." I denied as my voice came out croaked. "I just have something in my eye." I finally stopped waving and use the hand that I had up to quickly wipe the falling tear away. I would've used my other hand to do it but it was holding on to bags of groceries.

I felt someone's hand on my shoulder in a comforting gesture and without looking, I can tell that it's Summer's because she's the only one here with me right now. "I know that you and Amber had bonded during the time you're together and I don't blame you for being sad that Amber's leaving already. I feel the same as well. But it's not like you'll never see her again. Who knows, maybe you'll meet out on the street one day or she'll come visit you in the cafe." I heard her said with a gentle voice in effort to comfort me.

'Huh? Is that what she thought I was feeling sad about?' I look at Summer in the eye and saw that she was looking at me with a sympathetic expression. Is she actually worried about me? It's quite a touching feeling actually, but I can't help but feel slightly guilty that her efforts were wasted because I'm actually sad about something else entirely. Best clear up this misunderstanding before she gets any weird ideas. "I'm actually waving goodbye to my money. An entire month of salary, gone just like that." I told her with a sob as the pain of losing something precious assail my heart once more.

Summer's face fell flat. "Oh….that makes more sense. Why am I not surprised?" She muttered as she shook her head in disappointment.

"Oh well, what's done is done. Now that Amber's out of our hands, let's go back before Boss scolds us for slacking off on the job. We've been out for more than two hours so I imagine she's not going to be very pleased with that." I said with a hearty laugh. I can already imagine the earful we're going to get the moment we step into the shop. Best not linger here anymore and give Boss more time to think of an even more creative punishments.

"What's with the sudden 180 change in mood? Are you a bipolar or something?" Summer asked with a sweatdrop.

"Still, our daughter sure grew up fast. She's already walking her own path and following her own dreams bravely. I remember how she would cling onto my leg and ask for sweets with that cute pout of hers like it was this morning." I said while ignoring Summer, sniffling while feeling nostalgic at memory of the cute little girl in a panda suit that just won't shut up about sweet things. Good times, those were.

"She's not our daughter and also, it is because you met her this morning." Summer poked me at the side again as she reminded me in an annoyed tone with an equally annoyed expression. But her annoyed expression soon turn into one of mischief that made me feel a sense of dread in my heart. "So, about that favor..."

Needless to say, I immediately turn heel and ran.

My poor attempts in escaping was instantly thwarted as Summer shot her hand out and grabbed the back of my shirt in a death grip. "Oh no you don't. You're not getting out of this that easily." I could hear her evil chuckles coming from behind me and my eyes quickly scan the area for anything that I can use to escape her grip aside from shedding my shirt.

Seeing nothing in the immediate vicinity, my mind concluded that it's better to just give in. That traitor. "Alright, fine." I said as I threw my hands up in the air in the universal sign of surrender. "What is it that you want?"

"I'll tell you when I think of something." Summer said as she let go of my shirt, her face sporting a satisfying smile. "I just wanted to make sure that you don't 'forget' about it when we get back." Summer made an air quote with her fingers as she gave me a cheeky smile.

"That was a very childish way to get people to owe you, you know?" I muttered.

"Well it worked didn't it?" Summer replied with a smirk.

"Only because I let it happen." I shot back before sighing. "Ugh, just thinking about it is already dampening my mood. Who knows what kind of eldritch torment you might think up as your favor."

"Hey! I'm not that bad." Summer protested.

"So you say." I told her as I rolled my eyes. "Oh man, I miss Amber already. Her adorableness would no doubt cheer me up in times like these."

"Oh cheer up Jerkface, it's not that bad. Besides, even if you lost your personal minion today, at least you managed to swindled a veteran Huntress to pay for your things that you got for free. That's gotta count as something right?"

Realizing that she was right, I took out the hundred lien that I got from my pocket and stare at it with a faint smile on my lips. "Yeah, guess you're right. At least I have some cash in my pockets now."

As as soon as those words left my mouth, money in my hand suddenly vanished from my hand. I blinked in confusion as the paper bill just blurred out of my sight, my hand opening and closing only to grasp thin air before I turn to look at where the blur went. Summer was holding onto the lien that I got while giving me a mischievous look.

"Hey, what gives!?"

"I'm in charge of your money now remember? Therefore, you're not allowed to hold onto your own cash until you learn to be responsible with it." She answers with a smug smile as she stuff the cash into her own pocket.

"You always take everything from me." I complained sulkily as I shove my hands into my pockets and look away with a pout. Just as I did that, my hand touched something metallic and I remembered that I actually have my very own Scroll now.

"Only when I know it'll annoy you to no end." Summer giggled as she gave me a good natured elbow jab to my side. Her elbowing did more than just prod me as it made my stumble in my step.

"Hey!" I cried out in panic because I was in the middle of taking my Scroll out. The damn thing slipped from my hand as I stumbled and it clattered onto the ground, drawing Summer's attention towards it. "Oh crud." I said as I quickly went to pick it up.

Summer look on in surprise as I retrieve my Scroll. "Hey, since when did you have a Scroll?" She asked, unable to hide the shock in her voice.

"This morning." I answered her as I opened it from it's compacted form and raised it near my eye to see if it's damaged in any way. The screen lit up instantly with a blip, showing me my empty homescreen. There's nothing wrong on it that I can see, not even a scratch. Maybe it's because it's in it's compacted form or something and thus, the screen was protected. It's not like I've been using it for long enough that I can pick out any damage on it with just a glance or two. Meh, I probably won't notice it even if it's damaged so it shouldn't matter much.

"Can I see it?" Summer asked with interest, moving closer towards me and leaning over to get a proper look at my Scroll.

Sensing her presence getting closer to me and the potential danger of having something stolen from me again, I instinctively moved in a way that was honed from spending a lot of time from younger siblings who always wants to take your things and break them. "You can't have it." I said stingily as I hid my Scroll from her sight with my body. I narrowed my eyes at her suspiciously, treating her like a criminal that would swipe my Scroll from my hand at any moment like my money.

Summer back off with both her hands raised in a placating manner. "Sheesh, chill out. I already have my own already so I'm not going to take yours. You don't have to look at me like I'm some sort of criminal ya know." Summer said with an annoyed huff and pouted in displeasure as she place her hands on her hips.

"Sure you aren't." I said in a very unconvinced tone. "Also, you made me drop it in the first place so if it's damaged in any way, you're paying for it."

"Oh don't be such a worry rat. Scrolls are build sturdy, they have to be considering the hazards Huntsmen have to go through on a daily basis so a little fall won't do anything to it at all." Summer reassured me. "How about this. As an apology, I'll give you my number so you'll actually have someone in your contact list instead of it being pitifully empty." she said with a cheeky smile.

"I don't think I want it." I muttered in discontent as I look to the side before starting to walk away.

"Hey!" Summer cried out indignantly as she stride forward to catch up. "Why not? I don't just give my number out randomly you know."

"I think it's because you don't have anyone to give it to until now."

"That's so not true!"

And so, we continued on our way back to the shop, bickering all the while about various topics. Still, I never expected that a trip like this would result in a crash course about aura so I managed to gain something out of this at the very least. I'm still poor as before yes, but my knowledge of this world increased somewhat. I'm not a very picky person so I'll take what I can get.

I got Summer's number in the end but that's mainly because she forced it onto me when she snatch my Scroll away and typed her number into it. And thus, just like that, I finally manged to get a girl's number for the first time since I was born. Mum back home would've been proud.

Needless to say, we both got scolded badly by Aunt May when we get back which each blaming the other as the reason why we took so long.

-0-

One week later

I open the cupboard to check it's contents, idly noting that the hinges aren't creaking or anything like last time so I don't have to oil it later. I looked inside, eyes darting left to right as I mentally took note of everything. I turn my gaze away from the cupboard and to the clipboard on my right hand and use the pen on my left to jot down what we have and what we don't.

It's early in the morning and I'm in the kitchen doing my usual routine of checking on our supplies before I have to go out and rearrange the tables and chairs.

Not much has happened since Amber left and my life continued on as always. Summer and I continue to work here like usual and when Monday came, I'm left all alone with my Boss to take care of the customers in this shop while the days rolled by idly.

The weekdays have been...quiet, as usual and part of me knew that it would be the same for the weekends as well once this month is over. Summer would have repaid her debt and is no longer obliged to work here to pay it off. She'll probably use her newfound free time to catch up with her friends or something, maybe even go training so she would be better prepared to take on the Grimm threat.

You know, I kept forgetting that Summer is actually a Huntress-in-training with how normal she is most of the time. Eventually she would grow up and become a full fledged Huntress, kicking ass and taking names. It just made me realized just how the worlds we live in are just too different from one another. She would become a protector of humanity while I would probably be considered lucky to even an achievement worth mentioning to others.

I'm pretty certain that I've wasted a lot of her time that she could use to get stronger had I not put her in Aunt May's debt when we first met. Ugh, just thinking about it is making me feel guilty again. I'm holding her back and I didn't even realized it until now. Thankfully she'll be free soon so there's that.

Side's we've already put up a sign that says we're hiring in preparation for that. We'll have to get the newcomer up to speed with what they need to do here and I'll have to help them with the things that they are unfamiliar with first and train them in the basics before we could fully rely on them though.

There had been a few applicants but Boss deemed most of them not good enough and I'm getting worried that I'll have to deal with the everything all on my own. But I won't lose hope so easily. I deeply believe that we'll hire someone eventually and I won't have to brave the hordes of caffeine zombies all on my own during the weekends.

Other than that, things went on as normally as they can get in a world filled with superpowered teenagers and monsters that came straight out of a children horror story. And when there's nothing interesting happening, I get bored easily.

And so, in order to counteract that, I try to distract myself as much as possible by chatting with my new friend inside my head that I've been treating as a sign of mental illness for months but is actually not.

'So… we checked everything right?' I thought inside my own head out loud so that it could be heard by the weird voice lady.

[Affirmative.] The voice chimed in reply inside my own head and I jolt in surprise. God damn it! Still not used to having someone talking inside my head. [Moreover, I'd like to point out that I am not weird.]

Crap, she heard that? 'Sorry Sheila. Still getting use to having you in my head after all.'

Some explanation is in order I suppose.

After Summer went back home after her shift ended last Sunday, I started to get bored again as one would expect from someone with short attention span. Desperate for something to do least I go mad from boredom, I finally chose to face the thing that had been with me from the very beginning but never did until now because I thought it was an evil spirit possessing me.

In short, my boredom lead me to attempting to communicate with the voice that I've been hearing at random intervals for the past three months.

Trying to talk to her had been very hard at first, mainly because I have no idea how. I tried many things from meditating to clear my mind to doing weird poses in hopes that it would get a reaction from Sheila but nothing seems to work. Then after two days of trying and experimenting, she finally responded because she was getting worried about my mental state since I've already started drawing satanic circles on the ground by that point.

Then she told me that all I needed to do to communicate with her was to think loudly inside my head. Sheesh, she could've told me that earlier before I bought a swiped a bucket of animal blood from the butcher's.

The voice in my head is called Sheila, her words, not mine. I'm rather surprised when I first heard her name because it's the same as my baby sister's. What a coincidence right?

[According to my calculations, I have been active for approximately 97 days; 16 hours; 44 minutes and 24 seconds.] Which according to her, is two hours before I woke up in the alley just in case anyone wanted to know. [You would have ample time to adjust to my presence had you not been stubbornly pretending that I don't exist.]

'Thank you Sheila, you can stop reminding me of that now.'

[Affirmative. Standing by for further orders.]

So anyway, once we get to know each other I started asking many questions and she answered me what she can. She explained to me that she is not some sort of evil spirit that I originally thought but is an actually virtual intelligence that was implanted in my cerebrum that I can use for multitasking when I need to.

By who you asked?

Apparently myself.

Just what the fuck kind of drug was I on to think that it was actually a good idea to have a VI drilled into my cerebrum?

Anyway, she's also a combat module VI that helps with...you know, combat stuff. So, whenever she detects that I'm in danger or there's a threat nearby, she'll activate her main subroutine and analyze everything around me before giving me the many ways that I can deal with said threat.

She also has a very loose definition of what a threat is.

One of the thing her subroutine does is forcefully suppressing my emotions so that I won't panic and make mistakes when fighting. The emotion suppression also activates to calm me down when she thinks I'm in emotional distress but the rest of the functions remained undeployed.

Another thing is she does is that she pumps up my adrenaline to makes things seem slower than it actually is so that I'll have more time to make plans and act on them.

She also calculates things during a fight like predicting trajectories of thrown objects and bullets, what an enemy's next move would most likely be and what I should do next for the best outcome.

Realizing that she's the source of what's causing my brain to act so wacky, I promptly asked her to stop. She reluctantly agreed to while stating that she is merely following her programming to increase my chances of survival in a hostile environment, otherwise she has no idea what else she should be doing. I felt guilty after basically telling someone to do something that they were basically made for so I told her that I'll turn it back on when I think my life is in danger.

I've been in Remnant for quite some time now and I've learned a lot during my stay here. I don't think I'll panic as easily as before so it's best to leave that emotion suppression thingy off for now so I can live normally.

With that out of the way, I now don't have to worry about having my emotions forcefully suppressed just because I slipped on a wet puddle and my mind filled with so much data that I can't think straight. She also have other functions that she has but I had enough info bombs already so I didn't ask what they were.

Once she was done explaining who she was and what she does, I asked her if she knew how I got here to which she simply replied with one simple word. Classified.

Then I asked her why I'm here and also got the same reply. I kept asking many things that's mostly related to my presence in Remnant and they all got me the same answer. Once I had enough of hearing the word 'classified', I asked why can't she tell me.

Her answer surprised me.

The information relating to my presence in Remnant had been locked away for safety purposes had been authorized by non other than...you've guessed it, me.

Apparently, there's a lot of things past me didn't want me to know yet; probably so he can make a dramatic reveal about it later for plot purposes.

Fucking prick. I can already imagine him laughing like some sort of villain at my predicament like the arsehole that he is.

Yeah, I gave up trying after that. Anyway, Sheila is mostly quiet unless I need her or when she thinks there's something that needs to be brought to my attention so she shouldn't disrupt my life too much. Things are just like before then I suppose. Only now I won't think that a ghost is stalking me when I hear voices in my head again.

I heard the doorbell out in the front rang and I stopped what I was doing while my head automatically swivel towards where the sound came from on instinct. Hearing that means that someone just entered through there. I look towards the clock hanging on the wall and noticed that It already six o'clock in the morning so that could only mean one thing.

I smiled as I wondered what kind of fun things would happen today as I left the clipboard on a nearby table. I made my way towards the front of the shop and swung open the doors to the front and was greeted with the sight of a familiar redhead making her way to the kitchen.

"Oh hey! Looks who's back already. Good afternoon Summer~" I greeted her cheerfully with a nod.

"It's morning you sleepyhead." She greeted back, smiling slightly as she nods back.

Yes, this is how we greet each other. I'll start by greeting her with the wrong period of time and she'll correct me with the right one. I'm not sure how it all started or why we stuck with it but it eventually became the way we greet each other and it almost never fails to make either of us amused.

"What's that you got in your hand?" I asked when I noticed she was holding onto a paper bag as she got nearer and it had a logo of some kind of shop on it.

"Oh this?" Summer lifted the bag up to show me with a bright smile on her face. Seeing her so cheerful in the morning that made me feel slightly curious before that feeling turn into suspicion. The lack of crumbs on her face indicates that she haven't eaten any cookies recently hence the reason why I'm so suspicious at her cheerful mood. Usually, she'll be coming here drowsily if she didn't eat any cookies to jump start her systems and would only be fully functional when I gave her a cup of coffee. Something's seriously off here and it's killing me that I don't know what.

"I got this for you." She said with a barely concealed giggle as she placed it on the counter. She took a step back before gesturing at it for me to come over.

"You bought something? For me?" I exclaimed in surprise, feeling very flabbergasted because something like this never happened before in my life. Sure I've received gifts during my birthdays before but I only got them from my family. This is the first time someone else other than them bought something for me and I'm not sure how to react to this situation.

"Sure did. Come on, open it up." She told me with badly concealed excitement. Oh great, now I'm feeling guilty that I never thought of buying something for her at all...wait a minute. This is Summer that we're talking about here so there's gotta be a catch somewhere. There's no way she would just buy something for me out of the blue like that.

I look at her with a quirk of my eyebrow before looking at the bag with my eyes narrowed in suspicion. It's not moving on it's own so I guess whatever's inside is not alive? Either that or it's just laying in wait for me to approach.

Now I'm started to feel scared of whatever's inside the bag and is very hesitant to approach it. I look back to Summer to study her behavior, trying to gauge something from her body language in hopes that I can pick out a clue or two. All I can tell is that Summer is looking at me expectantly and is starting to show signs of impatience.

There's something in there alright and whatever it is, Summer wants me to be the one to open it first. Grrr, this is getting nowhere at all. "What's in it?" I asked the girl as my mind thought of the many possibilities that could be contained in that little bag.

"A surprise obviously." Summer replied with a roll of her eyes. "Just open it and you'll see."

Having a distinctive feeling in my gut that's telling me that I can't avoid this, I decided to just risk it and see what it is. I approach the bag cautiously, remembering not to let Summer out of my sight just in case. Once I got close enough, I raise my hand towards it and let it linger just a few centimeters above it.

It should be safe to open it….right?

Taking a deep breath, I quickly spread the lid of the bag open and my expression that had the look of wariness turned into one of bewilderment. I gingerly took the contents on the bag out for both of us to see and letting it hang freely in my hands. One hand held a shirt while the other held a pair of jeans of matching colour. "So...you got me clothes..." I trailed off as I turn my gaze from the long sleeved shirt and cargo pants in my hand back to Summer and saw that she had a huge grin on her face.

"Yep." She answered cheerfully. "You don't have anything other than that shirt and pants right? So I thought I would help expand your wardrobe like any good friend ought to. Not sure if it's your size though but I'm sure you'll grow into it eventually." She nodded to herself and is most likely petting herself in the back.

"It's at least three times my size. I think this is suppose to fit an adult, a muscular adult." I pointed out.

"Yeah, I kinda told the clerk that I needed some clothes for my dad when I went shopping and since she knew who he is, she brought me the size that she thought would fit him. So, do you like it?" She asked, smiling ever so innocently at me with mischief dancing beneath those silver eyes of hers. So her dad is confirmed to be very muscular or just big in general. I'm suddenly very thankful that I never met him because from what I heard of him from Aunt May, he's very protective of his daughter and I've been teasing her a lot since we've met.

"It's pink!" I exclaimed as I shake the shirt and jean in my hands for her to see.

"I know." She replied, her smile turned into a grin.

"Pink is a girl's colour."

"I know." She repeated, her shit eating grin widening.

"This-this is not what I was expecting at all" I said as I place the clothes on the counter. I'm rather torn between being happy that she brought something for me and annoyed that she brought something girly on purpose. "Well, it could be wors- wait a minute, you used my money to buy it didn't you?" I snapped my head at her and stare at her pointedly.

"Of course I did." She answered without a hint of guilt and her grin widen to an epic proportion as she beamed brightly at me. She's totally enjoying this. "I'm actually helping you out you know. We both know you'll just buy useless things with you money but with me, I'll spent it on something you can actually use." She declared proudly.

"How is this not useless!? The shirt and pants are too big and it's in the colour that I wouldn't be caught dead wearing! I'm not even sure what I'm suppose to do with it." I retorted.

Summer let out a shocked gasp in response, taking a step back from the counter and staring me eyes wide in disbelief. "Are you telling me you're not going to wear it, even after I put in so much effort to pick something out for you so that you'll have something else other than those clothes to wear?" She exclaimed before she purse her quivering lips together, looking at me with teary eyes as she place her hand over her chest like I had just stabbed her in the heart.

I look at her with a perfect deadpan.

The way she looked made it seem like my dismissal of her gift hurt her, and I would've believed her had I didn't notice the twitching on her face and the visible shaking of her shoulders. She's obviously trying to maintain her facade of being sadden by me and not burst out laughing at the face that I'm making.

Ignoring her, I look back to the shirt on the counter with a contemplating expression plastered on my face. Hmmm, should I, or should I not? Maybe I should, just for a few laughs. Summer is leaving after all and we might not get a lot of chance to goof around as much after this month is over... Ugh, I can't believe that I'm even considering wearing this just so Summer could laugh at me. It's not like I won't see her anymore and she can come to the cafe whenever she wants so why am I feeling so sentimental already?

Seeing that here's nothing to lose other than my dignity, I decided to humor her and put the over-sized shirt on over my work uniform. My action seem to surprise her as she dropped her act completely to stare at me in astonishment.

I look down at myself to see what I look like right now. With the shirt draped on, I can easily see the hem reaching down to my thigh and the sleeves were too long so I can't see my hands anymore.

...it's also oddly comfortable.

My was inspection was interrupted when I heard the sound of muffled giggling coming from the front. I look towards the source and found that Summer had both her hands over her mouth and pure mirth shinning in her eyes as she looked at me. She did well restraining her laughter...for about 10 seconds. "Pfffff. Oh god, you look like you're wearing a short dress." She pointed out before she burst out laughing as her control over her laughter reached it's limit. She laughed so hard that she had to clutch her stomach and wipe away the tear in her eye.

"Oh hardy har har." I said with a roll of my eye and look back to the shirt and tug at it to see how far it can stretch. When I was busy tugging the shirt, I saw a flash at the corner of my eye and my head snapped towards it immediately. Summer was standing there grinning like a loon with her Scroll in her hands. My eyes widen in panic when I realized that the flash that I saw just now meant that she had just taken my picture.

I leap over the counter to snatch her Scroll from her hand but she dodged my clumsily executed tackle easily with relative ease as well as a giggle. "Summer! Delete that picture!" I shouted as soon as I landed on the ground with a tumble.

"No way~" She told me in a sing song voice as she quickly moves away from me. I quickly push myself up and quickly give chase, hell bend on getting rid of that embarrassing photo in her Scroll.

I ended up chasing her around the shop while wearing the over-sized shirt for about five minutes straight before I ran out of steam. Summer on the other hand, was laughing or giggling playfully all the while. I really wanted to berate myself for thinking that I could catch her in the first place but I was too tired to. As a Huntress-in-training, it's without a doubt that she has superior stamina and is more nimbler than me.

I ended the chase in the kitchen because I feel like my heart was about to burst out of my chest by then. I was panting with my hands on my knees as I try not to fall to the ground while Summer was a few feet away, looking at me with a quirk eyebrow.

"Wow, you're really out of shape." She commented as she got closer.

"*Pant* Shut *pant* up." I grunted out in between pants. "You're just *pant* too in shape."

"What's with all the racket going on down here?" We both heard the annoyed grumble of our employer as she came down the stairs while yawning. Her green hair looked messy and was standing up in some places like she had just gotten out of bed. The attire that she wore is a simple green shirt and a pair of gray yoga pants while her feet dons a pair of bunny slippers.

The more I look at her the more I'm convinced that she had just climbed out of bed. Isn't she the adult here? Shouldn't she be keeping up appearance? Oh wait, this is Aunt May that we're talking about here. She probably doesn't give a shit about how she looked.

"Oversleeping toady Aunt May? That's pretty rare of you." Summer told the older woman as I regained my breath.

"Unlike you brats, I actually have things I need to take care of at night so you should consider yourselves lucky to be able to sleep early." The woman replied while scratching her head and letting out another yawn.

"You mean like wasting the day's spending in the casino?" I said.

"Gah, how did you know about that." May recoiled from me in surprise, eyes wide and most likely shocked awake from the revelation that I made earlier. "And why are you wearing a dress?" She added when she notice the pink abomination that I'm wearing.

"It's not a dress!" I shouted out angrily as I quickly took the shirt off while Summer just chuckles to the side. "Anyway, I found the entrance pass to the casino on the counter this morning so it's not that hard to assume where you've been. You should be careful with gambling Boss, you'll never know if your luck would suddenly turn for the worst and lose all of your cash." I warned the older woman sternly as I fold the shirt, remembering all the painful times that I've used my hard earned money for the gachas in mobile games and never got what I wanted.

"Oh, quit worrying about it. I'll have you know that I always win more than I lose." May reassures me while waving me away.

"How?" I asked as I place the shirt on the nearby table, planning on dealing with the so called gift that I received from Summer later.

"I cheated." She answered with a proud smile on her face as she puff her chest out.

….

…..

"...teach me." I asked seriously.

"Heck no. Alright, It's late already so you two better get a move on." May gestured at the clock on the wall to draw our attention towards it and I noticed that it's almost time to open shop. I still have quite a few things that I haven't done as well so I panicked.

"Oh crud. Gotta go." I said as I grab the shirt on the table and ran out to the front while Summer quickly head upstairs to pick up and change into her maid uniform. Once out at the front, I stuffed the shirt in the bag along with the jean and place it to the side to deal with it later.

As I was doing so, I heard someone knocking on the glass.

Feeling confused, I look up from behind the counter to see who it was and was rather surprised when I found someone familiar standing outside.

Amber was there, and she had her face stuck onto the glass window like how we first met. She's wearing the same dress that she wore when we first met and was looking excitedly at me and waving frantically to get my attention.

I dart towards the door to open it and she moved from the window to greet me at the entrance. "Big bro! Hello~" She greeted me as soon as I opened the door with a beaming smile so bright that made me wish I had brought sunglasses with me. Oh god, she's so smol, so adorable. I wanna pick her up and cuddle her so badly.

No! Bad! Bad brain. You're not turning me into a criminal just to satisfy your perverted desires! It's only been a week and I've already lost my resistance to the adorable little creature.

"Amber, what are you doing here so early in the morning." I asked the brown haired child that looked utterly brimming with energy.

Amber just smiled and simply answered. "I wanted to see you and Big sis again."

Awwwwww. My heart, it's being stabbed by her cuteness. "Ah, I see. But why so early? Couldn't come visit at any time of the day?"

"Well, my mummy said that I got too much money for just one day of working so she asked if I wanted to keep coming back here to help out during the weekends. I said yes immediately because I thought it was a great idea because that way I can keep spending time with you guys." Amber responded excitedly, hands clenched into tiny fists as she pump them up and down during the entire time she explained the reason why she was here. "She also said you can be trusted since you took care of me and tried to bring me home. So she wanted me to ask you if you can keep on taking care of me during my stay here for her."

I stood silently, trying to process what she told me. So just because I feed her and tried to bring her back, she deemed me trustworthy enough to look after her daughter? "Seriously, what kind of mother do you have?" I simply asked.

"The best!" Amber answered pridefully.

Not wanting to say anything about her mother that would upset the young girl, I decided to change the topic. "So who's this big guy?" I finally addressed the elephant in the room, or in this case, the bear in the room as I jerk my thumb over to my right at the bear Faunus that had been standing there by our side since the beginning.

The man is easily over 7 feet tall, has a broad back and a heavily muscular physique that looked like it belonged to a body builder. He is wearing black business suit with a black tie and black dress shoe. His short and messy hair was brown and he's wearing a pair of sunglasses so I can't see what his eyes are like. He was a very large scar running from the top left of his forehead to his right cheek.

Even though he's just standing there with his arms cross and not doing anything else, I can feel some sort of very heavy pressure emitting from him that seem to be directed at me only.

He would've looked utterly terrifying...if he didn't have a pair of cute bear ears on his head. Those ears are a very good distraction from the terrifying aura he's emitting.

"He's mah new friend." Amber answered cheerfully. "Mum said he gets lonely easily so she asked me to bring him along when I come over. You don't mind right big bro?"

"Of course not..." I trailed off with a warily laugh because I'm pretty sure that the man is glaring at me when Amber asked me that. All the while, my brain goes to work to better understand the situation. Upon hearing what Amber had told me, my mind just automatically try to deduct what's actually happening instead of relying on Amber's words on their own. God knows that when a child says something, there are things that they will leave out because they either can't remember or thought it's not worth mentioning.

And so, I started to compile what I know so far.

First, Amber's mother is someone with a lot of power. Either literally or figuratively is still unknown but let's assume she's both just to be on the safe side. (Source: Robin)

Second, she got lost last week when wandering around in the market with her mother. (Source: Myself)

Third, Amber wanted to come over to play with us again and asked her mother. (Source: Amber)

Fourth, perhaps upon receiving such a request by her adorable daughter, she couldn't help but agree to it but on the condition that she doesn't go alone because of what happened last time. (Source: Wild speculation)

"Ah, so he's your bodyguard." I said in realization before an uneasy thought struck me and I turn to address the man. "So... you're here to watch over Amber and not here to keep watch over me and get rid of me just in case I do anything funny right?" I asked the burly man with slight anxiousness growing in my heart.

The man just grunted.

I suddenly don't feel very safe.

"Alex, who are you talking to?" I heard Summer's voice call out from inside and Amber took that as a cue to zip past me and enter the shop.

"Big sis!" I heard Amber call as she entered to greet the redhead.

"Amber!?" Summer cried out her name in surprise.

I didn't get a chance to look into the shop to see what the two were doing as the big guy suddenly stood in front of me in a very threatening manner. I finally got a good grasp of how large the man is when I had to crank my neck upwards fully just so I could met him in the eye. "Y-yes?" I managed to croaked out while I try to keep my body from shaking. It didn't work and I'm feeling very afraid for my life as sweat was pouring down my back.

He reached into his suit and my entire body tensed as I wondered if he's going to pull out a gun or something.

To my surprise and utter relief, he just pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to me in a very robotic manner. I reach out to take it with shaky hands and the man just cross his arms again once the note is in my hands.

I slowly turn my attention towards the piece of paper and opened it.

'WE ARE WATCHING.'

The words on the note was written in the classic horror message kind of scrawls in what I presume to be the blood of his enemies as the words are very red and seem to be have a wet trail flowing down them. Either that or it's just red ink, very wet red ink.

I blanched and mutely look back up to the giant man only to see him jerk his thumb behind him. My gaze followed to where he was pointing at and I saw that he was jerking towards a very tall building a few rows back.

I just stared at the building, not really sure what I'm suppose to be looking at at first but then, I saw something. A sudden flash on the building's rooftop caught my eye and I narrowed my eyes to see if I can get a better look.

Wait a sec...what's that red line that suddenly appeared in the sky...I think it's leading straight towards…

I slowly look down to my chest and found a red dot that wasn't there before right at where my heart should be. I gulped and stiffly look back up to the rooftop to see another flash there.

Red dots plus unusual flashes on high areas usually means one thing in movies and video games.

There's a sniper on the roof.

Okay, what do we have here so far. Shady bodyguards, mysterious mother with lots of power behind her back, casually threatening people in broad daylight, possibly no qualms in taking other people's lives or just ruining them for their own gains…. All those could only lead me to one simply conclusion.

Good lord, Amber is the kid of a mafia boss. She even sent her minions here personally to ensure the safety of her daughter.

"I...I think I got the message." I nervously told the man and he simply nodded in response and move past me to enter the shop. The giant man had to bend down to enter the doorway and even then, it's still a tight fit for him.

"Woah! Who's that?" I heard Summer cried out from inside as I look back to my chest. The red dot is gone for now but it's safer to assume that the sniper has me in his or her scope at all times. I sighed and put the note in my pocket, thinking that today is going to be a very tensed and stressful day.

Just what on earth have I got myself into by picking up a kid in the middle of the street?

-0-

End chapter