"Whoa…"
From the moment that Bae stepped into the Halifax Central Library with Irys, her head was craned upwards and her jaw hung open with awe. The high ceilings, concrete staircases, sunroofs and subtle wall paint of off-white and gray shouted 'ULTRA MODERN' in all-caps. Irys, meanwhile, just marched through the front sliding doors without a pause like it was just another Wednesday afternoon in the City of Halifax - which it was.
"How in the world did you find this place?" Bae asked.
"Find it?" Irys raised her brow, "The facade looks like a glass mecha from Spring Garden Road. Kinda hard to miss."
Bae pouted, "I know that - but I mean… how did you come across this place?"
"It's on my way home." Irys finally explained, running a hand through her long locks of maroon hair, "And like I told you, I arrived in Halifax way before you did. I had more time to settle in."
'Oh right. She did say that, didn't she? '
The Nephilim heaved a sigh.
"Anyways, we're not tourists here today." Irys put a hand on her hip, "We're gonna borrow some reference materials for the Licensing Exam. Then, we're gonna hunker down and study for that online course."
"Yes ma'am…" Bae hummed, her eyes still wandering throughout the library - tracing how high the staircases went.
"And if we have time…" Irys added, "Maybe I can help you with those assignments that Gura gave you." She turned to Bae, "Tako Eats and Citadel High School's meeting notes, right?"
Bae finally turned her eyes towards Irys again. Her blue eyes shone brightly.
"You'd do that?" Bae asked.
"Hmph." Irys folded her arms, "I'm not gonna do it for you, though. I'll just guide you through the reporting format that Kaela taught me - the one that Gura likes to read." She snorted, "And I gotta make sure you don't slack off. Too much ."
"Fine, fine." Bae faced Irys and smirked, "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
"Whatsoever are you talking about?" Irys smirked back, playing coy, "It's totally not because a certain someone tutored me all the time back in university and now needs my help or anything."
"Oh totally not." Bae shook her head, "Not at all~"
Irys and Bae then broke into laughter and started searching for their reference materials on the library kiosk computers, listing down the Dewey Decimal numbers of their books and then going on their journey: three reference books that Gura suggested for Bae to thumb through.
They climbed those staircases and browsed through the bookshelves thoroughly, searching high and low for the books they desired. Irys found one of the books and Bae found the other.
But of course, halfway through her search, Bae got distracted.
First, from the library's third floor balcony, she saw Gura and Ina entering the library with arms interlocked with practically no distance between them and Gura's head on the cafeteria owner's shoulder. Next, she overheard a curiously dressed blonde girl with round glasses and a deerstalker hat talking with a blonde librarian with a cute bow hairband and a dark clown pin on her lapel about time travel, Known Worlds and how the staircases of the library should be spiral. Then, she saw Gavis Bettel, one of Axel Syrios' colleagues at North Elysium, clutching a noir mafioso novel while mumbling to himself about him being stalked by a dark clown and a TV man ' in this place where destiny is made' and how reality was being Altered somehow.
' Seems like this place draws all sorts of wackos. ' Bae thought. Then, she moved on.
A little too quickly, though.
While Bae was eavesdropping on the colorful characters in the library, she bumped into one of the bookshelves!
"Oof~!"
Bae righted herself, but she heard the creaking bookshelf before her. The bookshelf, along with the myriad of self-help books it carried tilted towards Bae and cast its long, ominous shadow over her.
"Oh shit…!" Bae panicked.
Bae shut her eyes, tensed up and nearly curled into a ball right there and there, but the creaking stopped and the impact never came. Only loud slaps of hands on wood.
DON!
' Wait. Slaps? '
Bae dared to open her eyes and raise her head. She saw Irys propping up the tilted bookshelf, trapping Bae in a two-handed kabedon . The Nephilim's face was inches away from Bae's. The rat-girl gulped. Her blue eyes shimmered and met with Irys'.
"You alright?" Irys asked.
"I…" Bae stammered.
Suddenly, Irys' cheeks flushed red. She balanced out the bookshelf and distanced herself from Bae a little bit, turning away. Bae scratched the back of her head and apologized.
"Sorry about that." Bae embraced the book in her arms, "And… thanks for saving my hide just now."
"You're welcome." Irys answered, with her back still turned to Bae. Then, she glanced over her shoulder and snickered, "That's payback for that time you kabedon'd me in Australia."
"O-oh, that." Bae shrank even more, "Aha-ahahaha~"
Irys cleared her throat and showed Bae the third book on their list cradled now in her arms.
"We've got everything we need." Irys reminded, "Let's hit the books."
"Right." Bae nodded. She glanced around the third floor, "Let's grab some of the seats here and-!"
"Let's go upstairs." Irys interjected, cutting Bae off with a smile, "There's a rooftop cafe with a nice view of town."
At the mention of the cafe, Bae's furry red rat-ears perked up.
"Coffee sounds pretty good right now." Bae agreed, stifling a small yawn. She raised her head more and insisted, "It'll be my treat."
Irys tucked a lock of her maroon hair behind her long ears and smiled even more brightly, "I won't say no to that."
With that, the two ladies took their things and their reference books upstairs to the rooftop cafe of the Halifax Central Library.
…
KACHING!
From a windowside table at the rooftop cafe, Irys heard the chime of the cash register. She watched Bae paying for their coffees with a twenty Canadian dollar bill. Then, the barista/cashier got to work on the coffee machine.
WHIRRRR~
Bae waddled from the counter over to Irys' table and sat down across from her, grinning.
"I got ya a cafe latte." Bae reported, "The barista'll bring it to us when it's done."
"With a little bit of cinnamon spice?" Irys asked.
"With a bit of cinnamon spice. Nondairy milk too and a bit of nutmeg. In that order. And no coffee art heart." Bae nodded, "How could I forget?"
Irys smirked. Behind her confident front, however, her heart was leaping for joy.
' She remembered… even after all this time. ' Irys thought, ' You little dutiful dork, you. '
She rested her cheek in her hand and teased, "Well, your memory's not shot. I wonder why you've been lagging behind in the prepwork for the exam?"
"Urk…" Bae shuddered.
Irys chuckled at her expense. She does notice, though, that the flustered Bae seemed to hold her own hands quite often. The Nephilim's two-colored eyes sharpened, but she didn't pry. After all, the barista came by with their cafe lattes and served them.
Instead, Irys thanked the barista, she reached for the three gathered reference books and brought out a notebook of her own.
"Alright, Bae." Irys patted the books, "Let's get started."
And so, over cups of Irys-style cafe lattes, the two junior sales executives studied for their Licensing Exam. Irys took the lead and guided Bae through some of the exercises and scenarios. They did small tests, watched instruction videos from the QR codes on the books and did some Insurance Sales roleplaying. All the while, Irys observed the rat-girl, searching for where Bae was struggling.
"Hmm, that's strange…" Irys thought while Bae answered a written quiz on a loose leaf paper, "She's doing alright. Rough around the edges, but she hasn't missed too many beats." She rubbed her chin and checked Bae's answers, "When she's focused, she does pretty well. Just like her so-called 'university golden age'. Why - then - has she been struggling?"
While Irys was lost in thought, Bae passed her loose leaf to the Nephilim.
"Is this correct?" Bae asked.
Irys took the loose leaf and went through Bae's answers.
"Eight out of ten." Irys smiled, "Well above passing."
"Eight!?" Bae gasped, "What'd I get wrong?"
Irys encircled Bae's wrong answers and pointed them out with her pen.
"Home insurance doesn't cover home-based businesses. You need to get separate business insurance to get that covered. Different kind of insurance." Irys explained, "And FDAS stands for ' Fire Detection and Alarm System ', not ' Fire Detection And Suppression '. Close, but not quite."
"Ah damn." Bae clicked her tongue.
"But everything else, you hit right on the head." Irys smiled.
Bae sank into her chair and downed what remained of her cafe latte.
"Count the small victories, I guess." Bae urged herself.
"Mhm. So, chin up. You're on the right track." Irys nodded, "Put in this much effort and focus on the Licensing Exam and you'll be licensed in no time!" Her eyes sharpened again, "Which makes me wonder… Why exactly have you been out of sorts lately?"
"Ah, well…" Bae shriveled up again, holding her own hands almost as if on cue, "It's a long story, and…" While she was speaking, she suddenly yawned, "Haaaugh, and - well, I probably just need more sleep."
"Hmm…" Irys hummed. She looked outside, "It is getting late already, I guess. But before we go…" Irys set aside the reference books and brought out her briefcase, "As promised, I'll help you with the format for your assignments."
Bae peeled herself off from her chair and staved off her drowsiness. She joined her hands together and bowed reverently.
"Oh, yes please! Thank you!"
Irys nodded and rolled up the sleeves of her dress shirt.
"Alright, Bae. Bring out your laptop and let's get to work."
…
Come Monday next week, Irys and Bae were in the conference room-turned-lecture hall with their respective laptop computers. The two junior sales executives were answering a 'capstone' exam of the online course - their prerequisite for taking the full Licensing Exam in a month. Gawr Gura paced around the room, watching her two students glued to their laptop screens. Meanwhile, at the bottom right of their displays, the exam proctor from the W. Ardenne Licensing Institute watched the test-takers.
"Time's up." The W. Ardenne proctor declared with a smooth but commanding voice.
The screens of Irys and Bae went gray. Then, the two-test takers learned back into their seats, but held their breaths. Gura, too, joined her hands - just as anxious as her students. The next five minutes seemed to last for five eternities.
Then, the W. Ardenne proctor spoke.
"Candidates Irys and Baelz… congratulations. You have passed the capstone. Please note that the full licensing exam will-"
Before the proctor could even finish, the room erupted with cheer.
"YEAHHHH!" Irys, Bae and even Gura cried out at the top of their lungs.
Irys and Bae hugged each other, leaping up and down all the while, drowning out the proctor's declaration. Gura, on the other hand, fell down on her knees and wept.
"I'm a good teacher…" Gura sniffed, wiping her tears, "I'm actually a good teacher."
The two students then went over to Gura's side and hugged her too. Irys and Bae turned to each other and then spoke at the same time.
"We're buying you lunch today, Gura."
Gura's tears started to flow again once more, "You guys… are fucking angels!"
Irys and Bae smiled warmly at their instructor and helped her back up to her feet.
On that fine Monday morning, just as the noontime cannon of Citadel Hill fired, Irys and Bae were one step closer to becoming full Sales Executives - and permanent members of the Bread Dog Insurance Limited family.
…
Nowhere With You
Focus, Focus!
…
To Be Continued