Forgiveness
Chapter 12
'Uwah, I barely slept a wink last night,'. Yua moaned to her empty apartment as she shuffled into the kitchen. First mission of the day; find some coffee! She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes trying to get them to wake up enough to scour the cupboards for the liquid energy.
After her encounter with Hisoka yesterday, she had been too excited to sleep, still buzzing from their brief time together. She laid in bed anticipating any second there would be a knock on her door or, better yet, she would open her eyes to find him already in her room. Every possible scenario had run through her mind, keeping it too active to have a restful night's sleep. Every scenario that is, other than the actual scenario that happened. He didn't show. Yua had been certain after the registration deadline for Gon-Kun and Killua-Kun, Hisoka would've seeked her out to finish what they had started earlier but she hadn't felt a single whisper of his aura the entire night.
'Probably forgot I existed again after the boys returned,' Yua grumbled and rolled her eyes. Though she tried really hard to be annoyed at Hisoka, she was still on too much of a high thinking about knocking him on his arse the day before. Yua hoped Gon-Kun and Killua-Kun had managed to get past him too. She chuckled to herself, 'I have no doubt that they did! I should really go and find them today to congratulate them on getting to the 200s!'.
By now, Yua had searched the kitchen top to bottom with no luck in her mission to find some coffee. She was in too good of a mood to let it stop her though.
'If there's no coffee here, I'll treat myself to a trip to the café!'. Whilst waiting for her pre-200s matches, she had spent a lot of time exploring the city surrounding the Heaven's arena and had found a small, tucked away café right next to a large park. It had quickly become her favourite place to visit but hadn't been for a few days. Yua quickly got ready, grabbed her coat and was out of the door in a flash.
As she lazily strolled through the cobbled paths of the city, a chilly wind, playing in the air, floated the heavy scent of roasting coffee to Yua. She smiled and drew in a deep breath, enjoying the promise of warmth soon to touch her lips. She followed her nose through the city streets, weaving through busy crowds all the way to the front of the café. Luckily, on a colder day like this all the customers were huddled inside so her usual table outside the front of the café was free. She quickly slid into her seat and looked out over Heaven's Green in front of her. It was a beautiful park with a small, crystal blue lake in the middle. Many shrubs of different coloured flowers lined the walking path with the most vibrant yellows and pinks; which almost felt out of place with the surprising autumn wind rustling in the trees above. It was a bit early in the year for the summer heat to be fading but this first whisper of autumn filled Yua's bones with joy. Her favourite season was autumn and she hoped she would still be here to enjoy this park when the autumnal reds and oranges painted the leaves.
Yua was so lost in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed the waitress standing next to her until she politely coughed to grab Yua's attention.
'I'm so sorry Ayumi-Chan! I go lost in my own thoughts!'. Yua blushed and grinned. Ayumi giggled in response and placed a large mug of coffee and a chocolate croissant in front of Yua.
'It's ok Yua-Chan, I am used to it by now. I'm glad to see someone is still enjoying the park though the weather isn't the best today!' She looked over at the empty park with a fondness which matched Yua's. 'Here's your usual and please take this gift, I don't want out favourite customer to catch a cold whilst enjoying the scenery!' She handed Yua a deep blue scarf which had an intricate silvery pattern laced within the material.
'Uwah, it's beautiful. Thank you very much Ayumi-Chan.'. Yua wrapped it around her neck and pulled it close to her face, immediately feeling the harsh chill subside. Not only was it a lovely, warm scarf but it also held onto the roasted coffee smell of the café. Yua was delighted, she really had made some lovely friends in this city.
'I'm really glad you like it Yua-Chan. It looks really pretty on you.' Ayumi blushed and looked away, ready to head back to work. 'Is there anything else I could get you?'.
'I would like to take some cakes away with me today. Please could I buy one of your lovely boxes of deluxe treats?'.
'Of course!'.
Yua turned again to park, enjoying every second of watching the wilderness play out before her but her thoughts soon drifted to seeing Gon-Kun and Killua-Kun. She couldn't wait to get back to celebrate their match victories and surprise them with some delicious cake. Yua imagined those boys could eat their body weight in food and still be hungry, yet these cakes were definitely something to be savoured. Yua hastily ate her warm croissant and washed it down with some strong coffee. She had just finished when Ayumi came out again carrying a big, bright pink box.
'Perfect timing! Thank you again Ayumi-Chan for the scarf, I really do love it. Please take a cake as I bought them for all of my new friends!' Yua pushed the box towards her. Ayumi blushed again at Yua's kindness and sheepishly took a luscious looking strawberry cheesecake before retreating back into the shop again with a quick wave over her shoulder.
Yua waved goodbye and headed off back to the Heaven's arena.
'Good afternoon Yua-san. How are you today?' The receptionist gave Yua a genuine smile as she arrived onto floor 200. Yua looked over her face, she had big bags of exhaustion under her eyes and the sound of deflation was apparent in her voice.
'I am good today, thank you. You look so tired; did you not get a lot of sleep last night?'.
'I worked last night. I work most night actually!' She gave Yua a tired grin. Yua suddenly remembered seeing her in the hallway last night, caught in the midst of Hisoka's terrifying aura. It's a wonder she could sleep at all if, she has to put up with the likes of him every day. Yua returned the smile and hoped her gift would have the desired effect.
'I bought you a present!' Yua placed the large pink box on the desk and slowly opened the lid to reveal the baked goodies inside. The receptionist's eyes widened as she ogled each of the pastries with greedy eyes, wanting to try them all. She looked up at Yua, no-one had ever been so nice to her.
'Yua-San, I don't know what to say.' Yua noticed her bottom lip trembled slightly with her words and waved the gesture off before she began to cry.
'Ah, it's just something small! Please pick whichever one you would like!' Yua grinned and gave the box a little shake whilst wriggling her eyebrows. The receptionist blinked away the tears of happiness in her tired eyes and tentatively chose a modest looking fruit tart. Yua rolled her eyes slightly at the choice but then a groan of pleasure escaped the receptionist's lips after just one bite and Yua mentally added the tart as something to try next time she visited the café!
'Thank you so much Yua-San, it is so tasty!' She could barely get her words out amongst mouthfuls of the tart but Yua was glad to see her small gift had made her so happy. 'I'm surprised to see you have been out today. After last night, I thought you were friends with the two young boys who made it onto the floor.'
Yua narrowed her eyes slightly, she had been hiding whilst the receptionist was in the hallway last night and when she had been spotted by Hisoka, they had been alone. 'I didn't realise you saw me, but yes, we are friends. We met on the floors below a few weeks ago.'.
The receptionist didn't address Yua's obvious suspicious question about seeing her but cocked her head to the side, confused. 'Why aren't you at the fight?'.
'What fight?'
'Gon-San and Gido-San are in an official 200s match right now.'
'What?!' Yua exclaimed, suddenly getting flustered.
'Last night Gido-San challenged Gon-San to a match and the young boy agreed. The signed up together and were automatically organised to fight today. I do hope Gon-San is stronger than he looks, he shouldn't be fooled by Gido-San's prosthetic and red sheet. He can be very malicious.'.
Yua went silent, an angry vein popped on her forehead. Prosthetic…. Red Sheet… It was one of those creeps from yesterday that she had scared away. Clearly, she didn't do a good enough job. She clenched her fists and growled to herself, trying to keep a hold of her temper.
'Yua-San, are you ok?'
She didn't answer for a few moments, unable to trust herself to remain calm and not take her anger out on her friend. She took a calming breath before responding woodenly. 'Yes. Thank you for telling me. I really must go. I need to watch the fight.'.
Yua grabbed the box of cakes, hoping there would still be a Gon-Kun alive to eat them with her. Without another word to the receptionist, she spun on the spot and began to sprint towards the elevator. At least she tried to. As soon as she turned the corner of the hallway, she collided with another woman and they both collapsed into a heap on the floor.
'Aaahhh, what are you doing?' The woman entwined with Yua shouted, trying to get up off the floor but she slipped on jam and fell on to her bum.
Yua was still dazed from coming to a sudden stop but shook her head clear. She quickly fumbled to her feet and held out a hand to the lady.
'I am so, so incredibly sorry. I was in a rush and wasn't looking where I was going. Here, please let me help you.'
The woman on the floor narrowed her sharp green eyes at Yua and scowled. She was wearing a dark purple tank top and light purple baggy trousers. At least, they used to be purple but were now covered in a layer of icing sugar and jam which were also now entangled in her deep pink hair. Yua looked at the gorgeous woman, flopped on the floor in a mess of squished cake, and went a colour similar to that of the strawberry jam. The lady grabbed Yua's hand and was hoisted back to her feet.
'Again, I am so sorry. Please send me a bill for your pretty clothes. They shouldn't have been ruined like this.' Yua couldn't stop apologising as she began to pat and wipe at the woman to clean off the mess. She got a bit carried away and before she knew what was happening or where she was touching, she was rubbing the woman's breasts. Yua frozen with embarrassment, unable to move her hands away. She managed to crane her head backwards to look up at the woman whose lips were pursed, and eyebrows were raised in judgement.
Yua was about to start apologising again when a shout was heard from the corridor behind them.
'Yua-San wait! It's too late, they won't let you in after the match has started!' The receptionist yelled out, racing towards the corner. Before either of them could do more than change their expression to a look of horror, her body slammed into them and they became a three-woman doggy pile in the middle of the room.
Yua was at the bottom, squished by the two women on top of her and unable to see clearly through the cloud of icing sugar which had exploded into the air on impact. All she could hear was the sound of the receptionist apologising as profusely, as she had been moments earlier. Yua managed to focus and realised she was face-to-face with this new woman. Stunned she could only think of one thing to awkwardly say.
'Hello. I'm Yua. It's nice to meet you.'
The woman's face cracked up into a wide smile at her awkwardness and she huffed, blowing a stray pink strand of her out of her eyes. 'I'm Baise.'. She grinned at Yua and let out a musical laughter which cut through the tension hovering in the air. Almost simultaneous, Yua and the receptionist joined in, laughing at the ridiculous situation they had landed themselves in.
'Welcome to the 200s!' Yua giggled as they muddled their way to their feet.