"I will have 3 cheesy potatoes. Oh...and an extra side of beans as well please. "

Ais collected her purchased items from the cart. Her hands were struggling to hold all of the food she had just purchased. Before she could drop anything, she quickly made her way across the busy street to where all of her friends were waiting for her.

Today was Ais's day off. Tiona, Tione, and Leyfia had invited her along for shopping, and she had decided to accept. On the way back from their evening, Ais had asked everyone if they could swing by the street vendors for some potato snacks, and her friends were more than happy to oblige.

"So Ais, what's wrong with you? You have been acting kinda weird this last month. Is everything ok?" Tione asked, chowing down on her own potato.

"Don't be ridiculous Tione, nothing is wrong with her! She clearly has just been busy and hasn't had time for herself. That's why we are all hanging out today after all." Leyfia stated in between having bites of her snack.

Ais remained silent, her head tilted down as she lost herself in thought. She didn't really know how to respond. Nothing was wrong per say, just something had just been feeling...off, for a little while. She couldn't really put her finger on why though.

"It's pretty obvious you guys. She's been stressing over Mr. Argonaut. Duh!." Tiona jumped in with her theory as to why Ais was in such a state.

At the mention of Bell, Ais's head immediately shot up and began scanning the area for any signs of him. All of her friends were looking at her with shocked expressions. Tiona could hardly keep herself from bursting out laughing and Leyfia looked like she wanted The Goliath to stomp on her. Ais soon realized what she had been doing in front of her familia members, and quickly went to hide her face, not wanting them to see the blush that was forming because of such an incredibly embarrassing display.

"Nailed it! Suck it ladies, i'm the best!" Tiona smuggly shouted. A big, wide, smirk spreading onto her face.

"Shut up!" Leyfia and Tione both said in unison to the younger amazon.

Ais wasn't paying them any attention. Instead she started eating on one of her snacks while thinking about the boy that her friends were now currently arguing over.

It had been a little over a month since the Xenos incident, and she had barely interacted with Bell since then. They had promised each other that they would train together, but Bell hadn't exactly had the time, or been in the condition to train with her since then. She had heard that the Hestia familia failed their expedition, and that Bell had been hurt pretty bad. Other than that, no information had gotten back to her on the specifics of the expedition. It was like the whole city refused to talk about what happened to him down there.

"Oh speak of the rabbit and he shall appear. Isn't that him right over there?" Tione asked, pointing towards the adventurer in question.

Sure enough, emerging from the busy crowd of people hustling and bustling down the street, was Bell Cranel.

Ais quickly inhaled her first cheesy potato snack and then ran over to where Bell was. She wanted to see him, and this was the first chance she'd had since their time up on the wall. As soon as Bell saw her, his face lit up into a cheery smile.

"Good evening Ms. Ais! How are you today?"

"I'm good." Ais nodded, her usual stoic expression clearly apparent on her face.

"I heard you were injured on an expedition recently. Are you….okay?" Ais asked, concerned for the well being of her….student? Yes, that was it she told herself. She was worried about her student.

"Oh y-yes! Yes I am. I'm actually on my way back from going into the dungeon. It was my first time since the expedition. Thank you for asking Ms. Ais." Bell smiled brightly at her, happy that his mentor had wanted to check in with him.

Ais paused, she was pleased to see the boy in his usual cheery mood. She wanted to ask him a question, but she didn't know how to word it. After a few moments she decided to just bluntly ask him...

"Bell, would you like to train with me now?"

Bell was shocked by such a sudden request. Where was this coming from? Why did she want to train with him now?

"Wh-What?! Here?! Now?! I don't think that's a good idea."

Bell wanted to say yes. Her training was invaluable, and he needed to get stronger. But today he just couldn't. He had other plans for this evening and needed to get to them right away.

"No. At our usual spot please. Come on, let's go." Ais started walking towards the Loki Famillia home. She needed to grab her gear for training.

Bell was panicking, he quickly realized that he hadn't given Ais an answer, and that she was starting to get away. He dashed ahead to cut off Ais. Bowing his head, he began to apologize.

"I'm sorry Ms. Ais. I can't today." Bell exclaimed.

"I wish I could, I really do! However I need to be somewhere right now and I really dont have the time to train with you today." Bell finished, explaining the reason as to why he couldn't go with her.

"Oh...I see." Ais understood, but that didn't mean she was happy about it.

"Thank you so much Ms. Ais! I promise we will train together again soon!" Bell thanked Ais profusely for her understanding.

"I am sorry, but I really do need to get going now. Goodbye!" Bell began running down the streets towards his destination, leaving Ais all alone with her friends again..

"Wow." Tiona, Tione and Leyfia all said in unison with each other.

They couldn't believe what they had just seen. Ais was so forward with him, they had never seen her take initiative with a guy like that before. It was so adorable. And particularly soul crushing for a certain elf who was observing the whole thing.

Ais on the other hand was just standing there, a small frown on her face, trying her very best not to show that she was annoyed at the Rabbits Foot's unavailability.

"Don't worry about him, come on over and spend some more time with us." Leyfia did her best to console the pouting sword princess.

Ais didn't really pay attention to the comments of her friend though as she slowly began walking away. She unwrapped her additional snack and began eating. Hoping that her yummy, cheesy potato would help her forget about that incredibly mortifying experience.

Bell was on his way to the Hostess of Fertility in order to meet up with Ryuu. He wanted to tell his familia about him and her being together, and he wanted to do it together. Bell didn't know exactly what Hestia was going to do, but he was sure that whatever happened, everything would turn out okay, so long as he had Ryuu by his side.

He made his way into the pub and immediately knew something was wrong.

"That's weird. The bar should be open by now, but there isn't a single adventurer in here." Bell thought to himself, wondering why no one was around right now.

"Hey get lost! Were closed for the nig- oh, Bell, its you nya." Anya waved to the boy who had just walked in.

"Anya, why are you guys closed? What's wrong? Did something happen?" Bell began firing off way too many questions for Anya to handle at once.

"Syr and Ryuu got into a big fight, and now Ryuu is locked in her room, refusing to come out. On top of that nya, none of us can find Syr. Those big dummies have really screwed us over nya. Mama Mia is out right now and told us not to open until she gets back." Anya countined.

"The look in her eyes nya...I have never been so scared in all nine of my lives." A chill ran down Anya's spine as she thought about the expression on her bosses face when she left.

"So wait, Ms. Ryuu is upstairs right? Would it be okay if I went and talked with her?" Bell asked the still shivering cat lady.

"Sure, knock yourself out nya. Like I said she's in her ro-" Anya stopped mid way through her sentence and began staring out the window. Her eyes narrowed and her entire body posture changed. Within a second, Anya had completely transformed into a different person.

"Anya? Are you alright? You just got this really intense look in your eyes." Bell looked outside, expecting to see something super dangerous and threatening, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just a few random civilians walking by. Nothing which set his instincts off, and certainly nothing that would warrant such an extreme reaction from the waitress he was currently with.

"It's nothing. She's in her room like I said. Hope you have more luck in getting her out than we did." Anya pulled her eyes away from the window and began cleaning the store once again.

Bell started climbing up the stairs to where he knew Ryuus room was.

"That was odd, I hope she's okay." Bell thought to himself, hoping that whatever had spooked Anya wasn't too serious.

No time to get distracted though, Bell had more urgent matters to attend to. Ryuu was obviously hurting and Bell needed to be there for her. Telling his familia could wait for a bit, she was his number one priority right now.

Bell made it to her door and knocked two times. Then, he began to speak...

"Ryuu? Are you in there? It's me Bell. Listen, I heard from Anya that something happened with Syr. I don't know what's wrong, but I'm here if you need to talk to someo-" Bell was cut off as the door to Ryuu's room opened wide.

Ryuu stood there, tear stains on her cheeks. She had obviously been crying, a lot. She held a calm posture though and looked into Bell's eyes. It hurt him just knowing that she has been suffering all this time, and he wasn't there for her.

"Mr. Cranel, please come in." Ryuu calmly invited Bell into her room.

Bell quickly entered and Ryuu shut the door. Before Bell could say anything, Ryuu jumped into his arms and held onto him tightly before bursting into tears.

"Bell….oh Bell, it's all my fault! Syr found out about us and is furious at me. I can't lose her, I just can't. She is my best friend! What am I supposed to do?" Ryuu pleaded for Bell to give her a solution, but unfortunately, he had none. They both knew this day would come sooner or later, but that knowledge didn't exactly make it any easier. Especially for Ryuu.

"Don't worry, i'm here now, everything is gonna be ok." Bell assured Ryuu as he held her close.

"How did Syr find out? Did you tell her?" Bell asked, wondering if Ryuu had finally approached Syr and told her about them.

"Not exactly." Ryuu responded to Bell's initial question vaguely.

"What happened then?"

Ryuu hesitated for a moment, than continued,

"I don't want to do this here Bell, I can't be in this room anymore today. Can we go to our spot? I would feel much better talking about it there." Ryuu asked, desperate to get out of the restaurant.

"Of course Ryuu. Let's go."

Bell and Ryuu exited the pub, and began heading towards the place they would meet in secret nowadays in order to spend alone time together.

Unknown to them however, they had a watcher. A hooded adventurer who was observing their every move...

Allen Fromel was following them.

"Why did he have to go in there?"

Allen was stuck on reconnaissance. He had been ordered to follow him around again.

Bell Cranel

Freya had told Allen to observe him and the elf waitress to see if they did anything that she may need to know about. Unfortunately he had to put a hold on his mission for right now. See, Bell had gone inside what was currently perhaps the only place in Orario in which Allen couldn't observe him, The Hostess of Fertility. He didn't dare go into the restaurant. He knew Anya would be able to pick him out like a sore tail the second he walked in...whether he had his disguise on or not.

Freya's obsession with this kid was really starting to piss him off. Freya famillia had really been going downhill ever since Bell showed up in Orario. They were the strongest in the entire city, yet they were now constantly arguing and bickering amongst themselves everyday now over him. This kid was dividing everyone in his familia apart because of Freya's love for him.

"I should just swoop down there and skewer the guy. Everyone in the familia would thank me." Allen casually thought to himself about just how easy it would be.

He contemplated it for a second, until he remembered that Freya would have him cut down by Ottar personally if Allen murdered Bell. Even just roughing him up a bit could lead to some severe punishments.

Yes, Bell Cranel was untouchable...

But maybe his other target was slightly less untouchable.

He knows he has orders not to hurt either of them. But he was pretty sure that was just so the Rabbits Foot wouldn't get hurt trying to protect the girl. Besides, it's only a death sentence for him if he kills Bell. Even if his goddess would be slightly mad at him for straying from orders, she would quickly forgive him.

I mean, this is the person who was stealing Bell away from her, right? He was sure that she would want to beat the shit out of this elf as well. Hell, Allen may even be rewarded by Freya herself.

"If I toss her around a bit, maybe the kid will think twice about cheating on Freya? " He started contemplating his plan more and more.

Allen saw both of his targets leave the tavern together and head off into the city. He quickly began his pursuit of them.

"I mean, as a plus I get to blow off some steam. After shit assignments like this all the time, I deserve it. Besides, I won't hurt her too bad. Just enough to pull the brats attention towards Freya." Allen resolved his new plan, as he continued following them, dropping down into an empty alley, to pursue the two on street level.

Blending into the crowd, he began observing the two lovers once more, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Authors Note:

Hello everyone. Sorry for the wait on Chapter 3. I was recently diagnosed with COIVD so that kinda delayed me by about a day. This one in particular was difficult to write because there was so much I could do. I know this is a Bell X Ryuu fanfic, but dang do I love writing about Freya and her familia. She and her crew are kinda the unexpected third wheel in Bell and Ryuu's relationship…..

Speaking of unexpected third wheels let's talk about a certain Sword Princess.

First off, I'm skipping SO 12, rather than try to find a way to squeeze the events in, I have opted to just pretend it never happened much like the author does in the main series. Just makes my story and life a little bit more simpler. With that out of the way, now onto the one everyone is asking about...

I have received a few comments over the last little bit, (All of them positive and respectful by the way, thank you) regarding making this an Ais X Bell X Ryuu fanfiction. Here is where I stand on it.

The reason I started this fanfiction is because there are essentially no "What If" Ryuu and Bell fanfictions yet. So I wanted to get to really explore that in this story. So flipping this into a Ais X Bell X Ryuu story while theoretically possible, is counterproductive to what I originally set out to do and ultimately, I feel it will compromise the story as I have envisioned it. So for this particular story, i'm afraid I have to say that I won't be adding Ais into the mix romantically.

For those who wanted it, I am sorry and hope you continue reading my story, because I promise I will do her character justice here, though she isn't going to be a main character. I did really enjoy writing her though, more than I expected too.

That being said… After this story is 100% done, I will begin working on a Bell X Ais fanfic, should that still be something you all wish to see from me. But you all have the main series author writing for Bell and Ais to eventually be endgame, so I don't feel too bad about doing Bell and Ryuu first.

This author's note has gone on incredibly long, but I felt it was necessary in order to inform you all exactly what kind of a story this is, and what direction I am headed with it.

On that note (haha, authors note), please let me know your thoughts on this chapter. Don't hesitate to tell me what you think should happen next. Who knows? It just might.

P.S A lemon is still planned to come. Though where exactly I am not sure. I'm slowly working my way up to it. I'm embarrassed to say but the main reason I didn't write the sex scene between Ryuu and Bell on Floor 37 was because I couldnt figure out the logistics with the broken leg and Goliath scarf, and wanted to be able to use ALL of their limbs in the first sex scene I wrote. So for now the T rating stays, until such a moment when Bell and Ryuu get some alone time together. I can tell you this though, if you have played the Danmemo mobile game recently, there is a pretty big hint as to where I am planning on the sex scene taking place. That's all the information you will get on it for now though. Oh speaking of which, the next few chapters are planned to be heavy Ryuu X Bell regardless. So hope you all enjoy it.

All right, and with that, goodbye everyone. I hope to see you all for Chapter 4, ETA 2-4 days.