I was a bit taken aback by the fact that this guy was pointing right at me- he did seem to know me, but I was pretty sure this was the first time I was meeting him.

He called over to his friend, and when the two of them approached, I realized who they were- those two nameless thugs that had been harassing Raphtalia all that time ago!

Raphtalia also seemed to have realized who these people were.

"Do you know these gentlemen, Mr. Naofumi?" Eclair asked.

"Oh, that's Nameless Thug #1," I said pointing to one of them. "And this is Nameless Thug #2, both of them were annoying Raphtalia at her job earlier. They're both losers."

"H-Hey! We have names you know! And who are you calling a loser, you predator?" Nameless Thug #1 said.

At that comment, my fist tightened and my eyes widened.

"Yeah," Nameless Thug #2 said with a malicious grin. "You might white knight for ladies in public, but we know who you really are. I thought that your face looked familiar somehow, and I remembered seeing you on a streamer compilation video. Hah- do your friends know that you assaulted your girlf-"

The guy didn't get any further words out of his mouth as I grabbed him by the collar.

Did this guy also know about Raphtalia? Come to think of it-

"Ah, I see," I told him. "So you're the one who's been staking out my apartment is it?"

"Oi! Get your grubby hands off me! And I don't know nothin' 'bout no apartment!"

The atmosphere had tensed up rather rapidly.

"And hey- look, he's got a bunch of lolis with him- this guy's a real devian-" Nameless Thug #1 pointed at Filo, shocked, but was shut up as Raphtalia grabbed a nearby broom before brandishing it.

"I don't know what your problem is- but the two of you leave us alone and get going on your way!" Raphtalia said, her voice brimming with anger.

Nameless Thug #2 snapped out of my grasp. "You know, if you're asking for a fight-" he withdrew his arm to punch me, but before he could Raphtalia was on him, the broom striking his chest and then knocking him back.

There was no need for us to do anything further, as the shop owner appeared behind them holding a large frying pan menacingly.

No further words were exchanged as the two Nameless Thugs ran out, with me calling out behind them, "And stop following us around!"

With that incident over, we went back to finishing our desserts- though the mood remained tense throughout. Well, everyone was tense except for Filo, who didn't seem to mind at all and was eating nonchalantly until I told her to hurry up.

"My, that was a handful," Eclair said. "Why was it that they were even after the two of you?" Raphtalia explained the incident at McWendy's, with Eclair shaking her head.

"People keep telling me that Japan is a peaceful country, but I guess there are people like that wherever you go," Eclair added. I was pretty sure that she was a foreigner, but this was the first time she had alluded to the fact.

"Ah, so where are you from originally?" I asked her.

"Oh, I mostly grew up in Japan," Eclair said. "I did do a portion of my training in America though." As if to add weight to her argument, she pushed away part of her coat to reveal the hilt of a pistol. "You have absolutely no idea how many forms I had to fill out before I was allowed to carry this thing in Japan. Good thing that fight didn't escalate, otherwise..."

I shuddered- yeah, I didn't want to be involved in a gun-related incident, hell, this was the first time I was seeing someone carry a gun outside the few times I had seen an officer with one.

"Yeah, I'm sorry that you were all dragged into this fight because of me," Raphtalia said, head bowed.

"Oh- there's no need to apologize, Miss Raphtalia!" Eclair said. "Scum like that should be taken care of, and if you or Mister Naofumi hadn't done so, I would've gladly stepped in... well, after ensuring Melty-sama's safety of course."

"Yeah! Those meanies got what was coming to them!" Filo said.

"Right, I just hope they don't take this any further," I said. "It would be troublesome if they kept stalking me or Raphtalia..."

Filo looked confused. "But he said that he wasn't following you around... and Filo thinks he was telling the truth!"

"Yeah, well, what do you know, you're a kid," I said, dismissing what she had said.

We were going to leave when the owner came over by the table and placed a stuffed bird on the table- no wait a moment, while that looked somewhat realistic it was not a bird. It was a pastry decorated as one. "Think of this on the house for the trouble."

"Ah, there's no need," Raphtalia said.

"Ah, I insist," the man said. "It's not too often one gets to see the Tsubame Gaeshi done in real life! Ho-ho!"

Tsubame Gaeshi- literally meaning 'Swallow Counter?' I took a look at the pasty and realized that it was made in the shape of a swallow, heck, from afar it might even be easily confused for one.

"Pardon me, but isn't that the name of a Judo counter?" Eclair asked.

"Indeed, I've seen it being done in a dojo multiple times during my youth- but if you know anything about the history of the sport it was always based off a nodachi technique- tell me lass, where did you get that kind of training?" he asked.

"Ah, my father is ah, the one who taught me," Raphtalia said, now blushing.

"Ah, well, he taught you well then. This cake here's my thanks- thanks for being able to see something like that with my own eyes! If only I had gotten that on camera!" he said and left.

"Um, is it really okay for us to accept this?" Raphtalia asked, eyeing the bird.

Of course, before any of us could say anything Filo, true to her character, had already dived in, taking out the bird's head with a single slice of her spoon. "Umm... it's strawberry!"

There was little arguing about whether or not we 'deserved' it after that kind of antic.