"Eeeh?! Why the prices from Jollibee in Abel City are higher than the Philippines?" Tyro was stupefied about the high prices.
"Well, the ingredients are imported as they bought them from the Philippines. Some groceries here didn't have banana ketchup, sininang mix, or other Filipino cuisines. So, some of them cook their styles with the ingredients that we have," I explained.
"I see. Guess making banana ketchup is easy to make. Plus, making Filipino cuisine with different ingredients is not bad as long as they still taste good," Tyro said.
"I agreed," I nodded. "At least, the fried chickens, burgers and ice creams are on cheap prices."
We finished having fun at the amusement park as we headed to the restaurants.
I was thinking that I will pay for the meals for her as a 'thank you' gift. She was the one who drove Abbey away twice. As well as she shut the reploid racist up.
I ordered two palabok(the rice noodles with shrimp and pork sauce and meat), fried chicken, french fries, and soft drinks for me and Tyro. It was the first time to eat a palabok and it tasted really good and savory. The fried chicken was juicy and crispy as Tyro described the true Jollibee's fried chicken and felt like she was in the Philippines. No wonder Tyro wanted to eat at Jollibee. They were all delicious. Maybe I should bring X and Zero and have some lunch or dinner together.
After dinner, Tyro treated me to three flavors of ice cream as our dessert. While we were eating ice cream, we headed to the park, sat on the bench, and watched the night sky.
"I have fun today, Axl. We can spend some free time again," Tyro smiled at me.
"Glad you're happy. Sorry that there was some trouble earlier. I thought we have a normal date," I apologized as I rubbed the back of my head.
"Pfft! I'm used to the bizarre days. I won't hesitate to kick that bitch's and that dickhead's asses if they try to mess with ya," Tyro smirked and folded her arms on her chest.
"Haha! Are ya always like that?" I chuckled.
"Not always. Only I saw my friends got trouble with those idiots who don't know how 'mind your business' works. My Papa Bear taught me how to stop them without notification of my actions. Just like I created and summoned cockroaches without their knowing," Tyro clarified.
"I see. That's awesome. You defend or protect someone you care about, just like X and Zero protected me after the Red Alert Syndicate incident. I only ignored them and tried to control my anger when they mentioned my family until I opened up to X and Zero," I mumbled.
"Shit! I didn't know that. I'm sorry. Glad you told X and Zero about the bullies. I'm guessing they punished the bullies by demoting their ranks or training double times," she guessed.
"They checked their memories before they made a decision. If someone bullied only me, they sent them to other departments. If they bullied everyone, X and Zero report to Commander Signas about their actions so that he can decide to fire them or put them on suspension. A few days later, my job as a hunter went smoothly," I smiled as I remembered X and Zero. They were like 'brothers' to me more than senior hunters.
"That's nice. Good thing X and Zero did the right thing..." Tyro nodded as she placed her hands on her lap.
"Anyway, why do you want to become a hunter? I'm curious that you're the first one who joined in," I asked without using the word 'honkai' because I was trying to protect her from other people who hate honkai.
"First? Oh! I guess you can't say 'that' because we're in public... At first, it was my childhood dream of saving people and use my powers for good. I always idolized my favorite people. But now, I got hit by the harsh reality," Tyro sighed sadly.
I realized that she was talking about yesterday... Shit! I shouldn't ask that too early. "Ah! I'm sorry, Tyro! I shouldn't ask that!" I was panicked.
"Oh! No-no! It's okay, Axl," Tyro shook her hands. "You were curious about why I'm becoming a hunter. Besides, everyone knows that being a hunter and a valkyrie have two sides in the same coin. They rescued people with their power to protect as heroes and destroyed enemies with the power to kill as executors. I already knew and accepted the reality. Moving on is hard but it takes time to accept it and realize something important. Plus, I'm not the only one who lost someone. Papa Bear, you and others have experienced it too."
I calmed down a bit. "I see... Um... About Dr. Angelo, do you know who's his special someone?"
"His boyfriend."
"Oh... Eh?!" I was shocked.
"What? What's wrong with my dad?" Tyro raised a brow.
"No-no! I have no problem with your dad. I'm surprised that he had a boyfriend. Is it okay to tell me what happened to him?"
"Sure. Papa Bear gave me smaller details. According to him, his boyfriend tried to save Papa Bear from the bad guys but he was killed and Papa Bear went into a deep coma by them. After Papa Bear became a reploid, his mother eliminated the mafia and she passed away from her old age. She gave her last advice in the video to him. She said that she wants him to live more and be with her partner forever," Tyro explained.
"Oh... Wait! Who's her partner?"
"Um... I can't tell you. Let's say that her partner is an AI," Tyro said nervously. Based on her reaction, she tried her best to protect the 'AI'. I have no choice but to respect her.
"Okay. I think the 'AI' is a special person," I smiled.
"Yeah... The point is... Even if we lost somebody, we will remember them forever in our hearts. If you're still in pain, you can do the things that your loved ones or anyone wanted for a long time... After the funeral, Senti, Lailah, and I tried the carolina pepper chips out our curiosity. I felt better and they're not THAT spicy but Lailah and Senti couldn't handle the spiciest level and we ended up going to buy some ice cream," she added.
"Oh wow! I kinda missed the taste test on the carolina pepper. Although, you felt better after you ate the spiciest chili pepper... I did the same thing for Red and my family members... You know, Tyro. I was thinking. Noir and Weiss are very proud of you that you're the first person to join the hunters. Same thing as Red. He told me that I shouldn't join the hunters a long time ago because of my previous job but he accepted it as my current job and was very proud of me. All we can do is try our best as hunters for them and ourselves," I reminded and smiled.
"Yeah... You're right. We're going to do our best. Thanks," Tyro agreed.
"You're welcome... Do you want to stay a little longer? We can listen to the music together if you want to," I suggested as I took out my phone.
"I love it too," she smiled.
She put her airpods on her ears while I connected my earpieces to my phone. We played and listened to 'I really want to stay at your house' by Rosa Walton & Hallie Coggins from 'Cyberpunk 2077'.
While we listened to the music, Tyro leaned her head on my shoulder and I leaned on her head. We felt comfortable and peaceful as we relaxed on the bench for a while on a starry night.