NEO World of Advent Chapter 18
Cero opened his eyes groggily as a hand suddenly drooped down from the side of his bed, smacking him in the face. He felt irritable and unrested, as though he had slept on something hard. Cero felt the solid metal of his flooring with a groan of realization. He had spent the night on something hard. Clover had refused to get out of his bed in a bid of stubbornness. It wasn't as though his bed was made for two people or as if she didn't have her own, entirely unused bed in the opposite side of the room, decorated in whatever girly colors Clover liked.
Apparently decorating her bed was a purely artistic exercise, however, as she had displayed no real intent to ever actually make use of it. He remembered talking about how comfortable it looked to Clover's oblivious comments about how she was used to his instead. He had made a makeshift sleeping bag from what little covers she was willing to relinquish and a pillow, but his back still ached from hours spent on the inflexible hard ground. Doesn't she know we can't share a bed anymore, Cero thought irritably as he glared at Clover's peaceful face. Her face would forever look like that, he realized, stuck in between the stage of childhood and her would-be teenage years. It struck Cero that she might actually not realize why they had to use separate beds now after all.
Elves did not breed. They were either created accidentally through electromagnetic interference or purposefully, as Clover had been. Cero brought a fist to his forehead for once again failing to see things from her perspective. She was only about eight months old in real time and had likely never heard of humans' habit of sexual reproduction. His mother had probably neglected to clue Clover in on this facet of organic procreation, and he doubted his Dad would take it upon him to have the "Birds and the Bees" talk. Or, as his mother referred to it as, just The Talk.
Clover really did not relish the idea of having The Talk to Clover simply because she had at last taken on a form that was no longer socially acceptable for him, a fourteen-year-old, to sleep beside, but it needed to be done. It was fine when she only took up the end of the bed, but now she was too big to fit on merely the opposite side of the cot. She had also taken to getting under the covers, too Cero remembered. His face heated up with the memory of the first time she had snuggled up beside him. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. Even though he hadn't convinced her to move out of his bed yet, he couldn't in good conscience sleep in it with her.
Cero decided to make use of his being awake by taking a shower. Hopefully Clover would be awake by the time he was done, and he needed something to take his mind off of it. He turned the knobs in just the right way, relishing the stream of warm, but not unduly hot water in his hand as he tested it. Satisfied with the temperature, he stepped inside. Shower time was a surprisingly productive period for philosophical introspection, Cero had found in the past, and now was no exception.
It was amazing how quickly Clover had asserted herself as his most important person. He loved Ciel and Zero, of course, but they were his parents. They almost didn't count. That besides, there would always be a certain level of distance between them. He'd never had this sort of closeness with another being, not even Sorra or Grey. Sure, they were fun to hang around, but so much of the time they were off doing their own thing to spend time with him. And it wasn't as though the Resistance Base had that many kids to talk to. His age group was a rare commodity inside the Base; Cero was really the only young teenager in the building.
Clover had been his first real friend, he thought with some shame. He heard people talk about hanging out with friends before, but always wrote it off as time spent in the company of those who found each other's company mutually beneficial. He didn't expect the level of urgency he felt to make Clover think he was worthy of her friendship or that he wasn't too boring. Too often he had chased potential playmates away with subjects like Arcadian history or the off-putting level of interest he had in video gaming. Somehow, he had managed to not chase Clover away with his nerdy hobbies, and had even shared them with her by some happy twist of fate.
Well, one of them anyhow. Clover never really shared his interest for history books, but she was every bit the gamer he was; maybe even more so. He could talk to her about things he couldn't talk about or didn't want to with others. He felt less awkward around her, like he mattered when she were in his presence. When he told her that he had a hard time accepting that he was Zero's son, she told him that he was a hero in what way she could at the time. When he was Cero, he was a nobody. Or worse, the son of two legendary heroes whose legacy he could never hope to uphold. As Clover's best friend, he felt like he was actually worth something.
Others had only ever seen his blonde hair and intense blue eyes, too intimidated to look past his parents to see the awkward, stumbling nerd who hated violence but loved playing video games with it. Clover was different. But the same qualities that allowed her to not care about that resulted in her inability to understand basic social convention. For heaven's sake, Cero thought, she thought that if you hid under a cardboard box, that actually made you invisible after playing that game with all the incomprehensible storylines.
Clover was still learning about the world. It was unfair to expect her to know what he did with her relatively little worldliness. He had fourteen years worth of mistakes to learn from, while she only had eight short months inside one small corner of the world. He doubted as though Clover had ever even been outside the Resistance grounds or had ever even wanted to. She seemed content to rule over her small section of the planet with his parents, Hibou, Sorra and Grey, Aunt 'Lou, and the others who stepped in and out of their daily lives. She had no idea how big or scary the world really was just yet.
There was a sound of a video gaming being turned on in the other room and Cero realized that he had been in the shower for a very long time now. He dried off his wrinkly skin and brushed his teeth, spitting out a glob of minty freshness before putting a new set of clothes on. Thankfully he had the insight to take a fresh pair of garments with him before he stepped behind the shower curtain.
"Hey Cero," Clover greeted him as the door opened. Her back was to him as she engrossed herself in some sort of hack n' slash adventure. "Take that, minotaur," she crowed. "That's what you get."
"Hey Clover." Cero took in a deep breath. "Do you know why we can't share a bed anymore?"
"Um no," Clover paused the game. "Not really. If it's about space, I'm sure your parents can get us a bigger one. This one is kinda small, now that you mention it."
"That's not the problem," Cero said. "Two people sleeping in the same bed, especially if they're of the opposite gender… It's not something you're supposed to do."
"Why not?" Clover frowned. "I don't see a problem with it."
"It's not you," Cero said. "It's people. They would probably think we were doing something else in it."
"Who cares what people think? What's so wrong about us sleeping beside each other? It's warm and comfortable, even if you drool in my hair from time to time."
"Because it's what people in a relationship do," Cero explained.
Clover cocked her head sideways, confused. "Are we not in a relationship?" She seemed upset.
What.
Cero panicked but realized that she probably didn't know what they meant, either. "Not like a friendship relationship, a relationship relationship."
'I don't follow. Am I missing something? I thought we were in a relationship," Clover explained. "I was told that two people in a relationship love each other and spend time with each other a lot and sleep together. Am I wrong?"
"They were talking about people in love," Cero explained. "It's different. Like how Mom loves Dad or how Dad loves Mom. Not like how I love Aunt 'Lou for example."
Clover frowned again; he could tell he said the wrong thing again. "Oh. Well, whatever. Let's go see if we can get more people to join that tournament thing." Her normal exuberance around the subject was deflated, her shoulder sagging. "Maybe if we say there's a prize more people will join."
Cero eyed her disappointment with some concern. Hopefully whatever it was would go away soon, he thought. He knew she wasn't happy about having to use a different bed, but it wasn't up to either of them. She should be back to her normal self soon, Cero thought. If nothing else could revive her natural exuberance, it would be the thought of pummeling their friends in the name of fun, friendship, and brutal pownage.
Downstairs, Cero's father was rubbing his eyes as he held a cup of steaming oil in the other hand. "Hello Cero," he said with a yawn. "Why are you up so early? It's usually noon before we get to see either of your faces."
"Couldn't sleep," Cero said. "The er, bed was too hard or something."
Zero nodded knowingly. "I can relate to not being able to sleep," he said. "Do me a favor and tell your mother that she can work on whatever project she's found herself caught up in during the day, will you? It's impossible to get any sleep with her machines making noise."
"I'll let her know." Cero gave him a questioning look. "So why are you up if you didn't get any sleep?"
"Oh I got some sleep," Zero said. "It's your mother who's managed to spend the entire night not getting her rest. She's passed out on her work desk right now. I would move her, but the last time I put her back in bed, she accused me of messing up some of the equations." The subject was apparently a sore issue for him.
"Aunt 'Lou's the same way," Cero said. "She's too focused on whatever new treatment or cyber elf design is happening to properly take care of herself."
"Let's just say that Ciel passed on a few of her undesirable traits among her positive ones to her sister," Zero said. "I hope you don't follow their example."
"I'll try?" Cero made no promises; it wasn't as if he hadn't spent entirely too much time trying to crack a certain encryption or figure out his own unique brand of hacking. "But you can't blame me if I do. I come by it honestly."
"Don't I know it." Zero nursed a long sip of the steaming oil. "You know, this is supposed to help reploids stay awake. I'm told that the crystals used are freshly ground. I can believe it."
"Does it help?"
"No," Zero said as he threw the mug, liquid and all into the trash. "But it sure tastes like dirt." He walked away, grumbling irritably.
Cero stared at his father's retreating form, wondering if he had just made a dad joke. "Weird…"
"Your father sure acts differently when he's cranky," Clover remarked. "I thought he was immune to morning syndrome."
"Apparently not," Cero said. "I guess everybody has their limits."
"You think we should have asked him about the tournament," Clover wondered. "It might not have been the best time though, come to think about it."
"Yeah," Cero said. "Just let him work it out in the weapons room. He's always happier after he sets a new record for number of bulls-eyes hit in a short manner of time."
"That's a thing?" Clover laughed. "Who's in top place?"
"Dad, obviously." Cero recalled the scoreboard. "He's also second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh place too."
"Not a lot of room for competition, is there?"
"Nah." Cero smirked. "But there's a reason why he's hosting the tournament in the first place; nobody would ever join if it meant fighting him."
The two of them spent the day coming up with clever ways to trick people into participating in their tournament. Clover wanted to have their agreement in really fine print beside some sort of contract, but Cero said it was illegal. And highly immoral, he added, wondering not for the first time if his elf was an evil mastermind in the making.
By the time lunch was ready for them all, Zero had apparently found solace in knocking the eighth ranking tally from the scoreboard and was back to his gruff, stoic self. "Your mother will not be joining us," he told Cero. "She is busy making up for the sleep she denied us both last night."
"I'll try to get her to stop being such a night owl," Cero said, "But I don't think I'll have much luck."
"I doubt you will either," Zero said airily, "But maybe your input will be worth more than the countless times I've told her to get a proper rest. She has an annoying habit of discrediting sources that are inconvenient for her, such as a brain needing a good eight hours' break from advanced engineering."
"She does tend to do that," Cero said. They both knew how she would often find some inherent flaw in a study that got in the way of her abusing her body in the name of science. "Maybe if you frame it right, she'll listen. It's not like she's getting anything done now and your brain does work better with a good amount of sleep."
"Try that," Zero said grumpily. "Maybe then she will listen to reason." He sighed into another cup of whatever he had tossed out earlier. "This really does taste awful. By the way, Hibou said he was interested in that tournament of yours."
"Hibou?" Cero took in the information in bewilderment. "He's the last person I expected to be interested."
"I doubt he is really interested in the tournament so much as impressing a certain someone by being in it," Zero said in a rare expression of derision as he rolled his eyes.
"This is really getting out of hand," Cero said. "At this rate I'd be surprised if she doesn't know. He's done everything short of actually talking to her."
"Oh I'm pretty sure Allouette remains blissfully unaware," Zero said. "It would take something pretty drastic for her to put her nose in anything other than that clipboard of hers."
"Which is good for Hibou I suppose," Clover said sadly. "It's lonely loving someone without knowing if they love you back."
Zero took a careful sip of coffee-oil. "It might be for the best."
Clover shook her head defiantly. "No. He should fight for her affection."
"Maybe," Zero said. "Just so long as he is prepared in case she does not feel the same way about him." Clover huffed in an uncharacteristically sour mood.
"What was that about?" Cero looked at Clover in concern. "It's not that big of a deal; I'm sure he'll get around to it eventually."
"I'm sure he'd make for a good relationship," Clover said, "If Allouette would just give him the chance. Don't you agree?"
"Yes?" Cero looked to his father for support. "Am I missing something?"
"You'll figure it out," Zero told him. "For now, I suggest you go hit Colbor and Faucon up and see if they want to join the tourney. I saw them practicing in the target range earlier."
"Probably to knock someone else's record off the spreadsheet again," Cero said amusedly. "You know you're the reason why Mom has to keep resetting them, right?"
Zero said nothing, just hummed and tapped the table. "You should hurry," he said eventually. "They might be headed up to eat soon."
"Alright." Cero wished his father a good day as Clover tugged his arm toward the exit, unsatisfied with his normal walking pace. Soon, they were sprinting to the elevator shaft, where they took to the munitions firing range, or MFR for short.
"Hey there Cero!" Colbur waved them over as Faucon's eye remained fixated on his own targets. "Come to practice your aim?"
"Nah," Cero said. "I wanted to ask you guys a question. Would you be interested in joining a tournament of ours?"
"It has a million prize zenny," Clover added quickly.
"No, it doesn't," Cero said smoothly, shushing his duplicitous friend. "But it should be really fun. Kind of like the Grand Serena."
"Sounds fun," Colbur said. "I can't speak for Faucon here, but I'd be interested in joining." There was a clatter as Faucon let his rifle down.
"Sounds fun," he said. "I was trying to make it on the scoreboard this time before Zero filled it completely up. I guess I'll have to settle for ninth place. Oh well," he said as he admired his handiwork. "In a way that makes me second if all the other scores are your father's."
"Speaking of which," Cero said, "Wouldn't it be simpler to just update the first place instead of posting the top scores in succession?"
"Oh yeah," Colbur said. "Totally. But every time we bring it up, it gets rejected by the MFR Committee."
"Who's in the MFR Committee?" Cero had never heard of it before.
"Zero," Faucon said. "Just Zero."
"That explains a lot, actually." Cero eyed the first eight scores with a shake of his head. "I guess being a legendary maverick hunter isn't good enough for his self-esteem."
"Don't tell him we said this, but your Dad can be a bad sport sometimes," Colbur said. "I respect the guy - I mean, who doesn't? But it'd be nice if we could be at least second place at something for once."
"You could sneak down when Ciel changes the scores," Clover suggested. "That way you could be first for a bit."
"Zero decides when they get taken down and Ciel only makes him do it when they're all in his name." Colbur sighed. "He's a monster."
"Maybe we should try our luck in one of the Arcadian shooting ranges," Faucon said dejectedly. "At least Zero probably won't hog up the scores for himself there. Neo Arcadia has to be notified every time he sets foot in the city limits," he explained.
"Really?" Clover sounded surprised. "I thought we were on good terms with them."
"We are," Colbur said. "It's just that he kind of counts as a 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' and was on the Most Wanted list for a good number of years. Seeing him roam the streets might make people nervous."
"What's the city like?" Clover looked deep in thought. "I've never been."
"It's big," Colbur said. "It's not like the Resistance, where we all know each other from somewhere. A lot of the people there won't ever see each other after passing by. But there's some pretty neat stuff if you're willing to work around all that."
"I do like neat stuff." Clover tugged at Cero's sleeve. "Hey, can we go?"
"I'd have to ask Mom," Cero said. "She said to ask her if I wanted to visit the city."
"Then what are we waiting for!" Clover tugged harder. "Let's go!"
"See you later," Faucon told them. "I'll see if I can get the tenth spot in the meantime."
"On no you don't," Colbur said through the lens of his own rifle. "That one's mine." The two bantered good-naturedly as Cero and Clover made their exit, both signatures secured for the tournament.
Clover hovered by Cero's side as he clutched his mother's door handle hesitantly. "What are you waiting for? Let's go."
"Quiet," Cero hissed. "I don't want to catch her in a bad mood. If we wake her up, she might not let us go." He creaked open the door gently, allowing only a trickle of light to alert her of their appearance. "Mom?"
The room was already lit, its sole occupant scrambling to cover something up before realizing who was at the door. "Oh good," Ciel said, holding a pencil to a sheet of paper. "I thought you were your father for a moment there."
"What are you doing," Cero asked suspiciously. "Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?"
"What your father doesn't know won't hurt him," Ciel said. "It's just a few harmless equations. I'll go back to bed once I'm done."
"Right..." Cero said. "Well, I was wondering if you could let us have a transfer to the city. If you're too busy, I could always just ask Dad…"
"No!" Ciel cleared her throat. "No, that won't be necessary. You can go. Just er, be sure not to let it slip that I wasn't getting my forty winks, will you? Here, have some pocket money for your trip." Ciel passed him a wad of bills with a wink. "If he asked, I was asleep."
"How would you give us permission in your sleep?" Clover pointed out the obvious flaw in her plan.
Ciel frowned. "Tell him you woke me up. I wasn't happy, but you pressured me into letting you go. Have fun! Now if you'll excuse me, I have some solutions - er sleep, to get back to." She shut the door with a guilty wave of her hand.
Cero closed the door. "I feel dirty," he said. "I was supposed to get her to sleep, not get bribed."
"Who cares," Clover said brightly. "I don't mind being the dirty cop if it means going outside for once."
"You know," Cero said. "I think you'd make an excellent villain."
"You really think so?" Clover seemed to take it as a compliment. "I've tried looking for games where you play as the bad guy, but they're so hard to find."
Cero rolled his eyes. "I don't want to have to be the guy who has to save the world from you," he warned. "Don't go all villainy on me."
"I wouldn't try to take over the world," Clover told him. "That would be too much work. I'd be content with some kind of gang, like the mafia."
"Oh good," Cero said sarcastically. "So long as it's just the mafia, that's fine." The conversation turned into a debate over the morality of antiheroes as they made their way to the transerver. "Hey Rouge," he greeted the operator on duty. "Mom said we could go to Neo Arcadia."
"Did she now?" Rouge picked up a phone. "Let me just check with her real quick."
"She's erm, sleeping." Cero felt the lie slip out with an internal shudder. Maybe he wasn't that different from Clover after all. "Best not to wake her."
"Okay," Rouge said. "I trust you. Are you two ready for transfer?"
Cero turned to Clover. "Are you?"
"I think so?" Clover looked up at Rouge. "How do you get ready?"
"Just stand still," she advised them. "The motion sickness will wear off in a minute."
"Motion sickness?" Clover latched on to Cero tightly as blue waves appeared around them. "What motion sickness?"
Cero found himself beside a very woozy cyber elf a second later. Clover groaned into his shirt, as if smothering her face in his sweater could block out the feeling of nausea. "Are you okay," Cero asked. "It takes a bit of getting used to."
"I think I'll take the train next time," Clover said. "That was not my favorite way to travel."
'It's fast though." Cero looked around them, at the tall spires and endless waves of people passing them by. "Nothing beats teleportation."
"I think I still need to put a few skill points into my transmission abilities." Clover groaned but was steady enough to look around on her own. "Big place."
"It gets bigger." Cero jumped back as someone whizzed by them on a Slider. "Watch where you're going," he called out. "Maniac."
"We should hold hands," Clover suggested.
"Yeah," Cero said. "I wouldn't want you to get lost in this place."
"Yeah, that's it." Clover cleared her throat. "So, where are we going?"
"Anywhere we want to. There's an ice cream shop if you know what that is. It's kind of sweet and they sell E-Crystals of the same flavors."
"I know what ice cream is!" Clover explained that even though she can't digest human food, she liked to taste it from time to time. "Someone left a tub of it in the cooler," she said.
"Well you can actually swallow this stuff." Cero directed her to the Iron Maiden, a rather risque shop depicting a female reploid in a seductive pose. Clover raised an eyebrow at him.
"Mom doesn't have to know," Cero said. "It's just a decoration anyway. The food's really good."
"I suppose Ciel doesn't have to know if ice cream is involved," Clover said. "Lead the way!"
Inside, Cero found himself hoping that he went unrecognized, but was soon disappointed as a few Advents sitting at a nearby table pointed at him excitedly. "This is a popular hangout for Advents," he said. "It sells human and reploid food."
Cero and Clover waited their turn at the counter until the clerk took a good look at Cero and called his manager over. "Are you that Resistance Kid," the manager asked Cero. "You look just like him."
"Yeah," Cero said, rubbing his neck. He actually hated it when people called him 'Resistance Kid.' It reminded him that no one took the time to see him as Cero. "It's Cero, though. Call me that; it's simpler."
"Alright Cero," the manager said. "I'm Reggie. What can I do for you?"
"I was hoping I could get a banana split," Cero said. "What do you want, Clover?"
"I'm still deciding." Clover's eyes browsed their selection intently. "Hey, what's chocolate flavor?"
"Are you two on a date?" The shopkeeper watched Clover with some amusement. "I don't remember seeing her before."
"No, nothing like that," Cero told the man. "She's my elf. Are you done deciding?" he asked Clover.
"Not yet," Clover said. "What's in Moose Tracks? What's a moose?"
"Just get chocolate," Cero advised her. "It's a good flavor."
"I need to make sure I get the right one. Do you have samples?" Clover spent the next fifteen minutes sampling every flavor they sold. Cero's two scoops of vanilla were already melting by the time she made her selection, the chocolate flavor Cero had suggested from the start.
"Hey man," a table of Advents called them over. "My name's Tom. Are you the Resistance Kid?"
"He likes to be called Cero," Clover said through a mouth of chocolate flavored crystal. "This is good. Do humans have something like this?"
"Yeah," one of the people at the table said with a snicker. "It's called chocolate." One of his friends gave him a high five. "So Cero. What's it like having Zero as your old man? I bet you know all kinds of sick moves."
"I don't actually like fighting that much," Cero admitted. "This is Clover, by the way."
"He's my Advent," Clover informed them. She made a sound of ecstasy as she chomped on another mottled brown crystal.
"He's your Advent?" He turned his attention back to Cero. "Are you sure you don't know any badass sword swings?" He held out a hand for Cero to shake. "That's lame. But it was nice meeting you, kid. And uh, elf."
Cero shook it, ignoring the glare Clover gave him as he did so. They found an empty table, where she ignored his presence in favor of sweet, sweet cocoa. "I can't correct everyone I meet, Clover." Cero munched on a piece of candy in his banana split. "It's not like the whole world knows you don't like being called that."
"It's the way," Clover began but shook her head. "I guess it doesn't matter. But how is it okay if I'm your elf, but it's weird when you're my Advent?"
"People are weird. Look, I'm sorry. I don't feel that way, but I can't go arguing with everyone who does. Besides, that would make the Resistance look bad if I did."
"Alright," Clover conceded. "I guess that makes sense. You can buy my forgiveness with another one of these." She popped the last crystal in her mouth, eyes rolling back in pleasure.
"I'll get you vanilla next," Cero said. "Those are the classics."
"I shall defer to your expert opinion." Clover swung her feet back and forth in anticipation of more sweets. Soon, she was busy debating whether she liked the sweet but subtle flavor of vanilla or the rich creamy sensation that only chocolate could provide. "It's so hard to choose," she said. "Hey, what's that?" She pointed to a shop filled with icons like keychains with the main characters of Spellblade hanging off the edge or wallets depicting a certain kind of animated show.
"That's just a pop culture shop," Cero said. "They're a dime a dozen."
"It's beautiful." Clover was already immersed in the waves of cheaply made trinkets and accessories. Soon, Cero lost her in the sea of merchandise. On the other end of the shop, she called out his name. "Cero, over here! Look what they have!"
"Keep it down," Cero told her. "You have to be quiet inside of stores, even if it's like this one."
"But it's the Forest Spirit's cloak," Clover said excitedly, pointing him at a set of robes worn by a female mannequin. "No way. It's the whole thing!"
"Yeah," Cero said. "It's called a cosplay. People dress up as their favorite characters and go to conventions in these."
"You knew about this?" Clover pointed an accusing finger at him. "What else have you been holding out on me?"
"It's just a costume," Cero told her. "And there are a lot better ones than this one." He could see his words were lost on Clover as she got the shop clerk's attention.
"How much is that one," she asked. "The Forest Spirit cosplay."
"It's a little expensive," the clerk said. "Do you have three thousand zenny?"
"Cero," Clover said desperately, "How much did Ciel give you?"
"Not that much. Besides," he said, "I'd be in trouble if I spent it all at once. Let's leave; there are cooler places to visit."
"Wait," she asked the clerk. "Do you accept autographs for discounts? I know Zero. He's this guy's father."
The clerk rolled his eyes. "Sure you do, miss." He walked over to help another customer. "She knows Zero. Yeah, right."
Cero glared at her. "You know I hate it when people use my name like that. What gives?"
"Sorry Cero." Clover looked genuinely remorseful. "I got a little excited."
"It's okay," he said. "I just don't want people to actually ask for an autograph. It's like people expect me to carry his signature with me everywhere I go."
"I won't do it again," Clover promised. "But I do want to keep looking around. What's this?" She held up pen with the head of the six-headed samurai stuck on the end of it. She pressed its head and it lit up. "Ooh, shiny."
"You know you can do that with your entire body, right?" Cero reminded her that she could turn herself into a minor beacon at will by using one of her animal elf traits. "How does that excite you?"
"Don't ruin this for me," Clover said. "I want to revel in neo-capitalistic glory for a bit before I become cynical and boring. Like you," she added with a playful poke.
"Forgive me for losing my mind over a pen with a head on it," Cero said. Clover gave him a pouting look that let him know she wanted it.
"Please, Cero? I'll be your best friend."
"You said I already was." Cero folded his arms. "I'm not buying that."
"Please?" Clover cranked her puppy eyes up to maximum voltage. Cero sighed. Soon, the two of them left the shop as Clover clicked the pen nonstop. "I wonder if they sell more of these."
"Please don't." Cero groaned, but couldn't help but smile at Clover's giddy expression. She was a true force of nature, doing as she pleased with hardly any regard for what others thought about it. "Come on, take my hand. I don't want Mom to worry if we've been gone for too long."
Clover took his hand happily, humming a tune that the shop had played in the background. She swung the two of their arms back and forth as they waited for the return transfer.
