Chapter 20
"Maria, do you know this strange boy?" Micheal bent over to whisper in his little sister's ear, feeling uncertain of this strange boy who suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"You can relax, Micheal, he's a friend of Richard-sama," Maria rea.s.sured her brother, though once the red-haired Scarlet heir's name was mentioned, an irritable scowl appeared on his face.
'Something about that Scarlet heir just doesn't sit right with me,' thought the overprotective older brother, whose frown deepened when the Scarlet heir suddenly appeared beside his strange mysterious friend.
"Richard-sama, you're here as well?!" Maria smiled towards the young Scarlet heir, who smiled charmingly at the cute brunette.
"Akihito was the one who wanted to come here, and without my permission, dragged me along." Behind that charming smile, Maria could sense a slight amount of irritation that was aimed towards Akihito, though the other was oblivious to it.
"And isn't it a good thing that I did as we got to see Marichan and her friends... and also two other people that I don't know..." Akihito pointed his gaze to the two older siblings that came along to watch over their respective younger sibling.
"h.e.l.lo there, I'm Isis, Mai's older sister." Isis gracefully introduced herself, only to be blocked by Micheal, who appeared before her, glaring at the two boys.
"I'm Maira's older brother, and if you ever think of harming her or making her cry, I will end you," threatened Micheal, feeling an urge of distrust towards these two boys, a feeling which he would only understand sometime in the far future. Where he would later blame himself for not disposing of the sister-stealing pest when he had the chance.
"Please ignore the siscon. How about we enjoy some rides first, before getting any food into our stomachs? That way we eliminate the chances of anyone getting sick," kindly suggested Isis, pus.h.i.+ng Micheal out of the way as the children agreed to her suggestion.
Seeing his best friend not taking his side, Micheal couldn't help but mope. "Isis, you're supposed to be on my side."
"As if, siscon," she sa.s.sily retorted, leading the children to a cute and fun tecup ride. Maria found herself sitting in a pink heart-themed teacup, sitting right across from Richard. Mai, Julian, and Akihito were seated together in a white and red cup, while her brother and Isis were paired together in another, Micheal shooting a glare over at Richard.
Maria felt a little nervous sitting across from Richard when she heard him begin to speak. "It's really good to see you again, after everything that happened. I had wanted to see you right after it happened, but certain things kept me away. So please allow me to say sorry; never once did I believe those rumors. I
"Thank you for believing in me, Richard-sama. You truly are a good friend~!"
Richard didn't know why, but seeing that smile that lit up her face, and how she was able to hear how he never doubted her, brought forth a warm fuzzy feeling that enveloped his heart. A sudden spark of desire was suddenly ignited from within and that was to always have Maria trust him and to always see her smiling.
After taking a break from rides, the group went over to a stand that was selling these Valentine-themed waffle ice-cream cones. When Maria caught sight of this, she immediately felt her sweet tooth acting up and asked her brother to buy her one. Once in her hands, Maria's big emerald eyes ogled the tasty, eye-catching treat in her hand.
The cone was dipped in chocolate and pink sprinkles. Maria picked vanilla swirl ice cream as her flavor, topping it off with pink and chocolate fudge, pink edible pearls, a bark of peppermint chocolate, and a huge pink icing sugar cookie shaped like a heart.
"It's beautiful~!" Maria was in a state of awe, drool shamelessly running down the side of her mouth. When she reached out and took the first taste, Maria swore she saw heaven and nearly pa.s.sed out from how delicious it tasted. She was so busy on cloud nine that she missed when Akihito slid over and took both a bite of her cookie and a lick of her ice-cream.
"Mmm, it does taste delicious~!" Only when he made this announcement did Maria take notice of the bite mark in her cookie and Akihito's presence next to her; putting the pieces together, she understood what happened.
"You stole a bite of my dessert from me again, didn't you?"
"Yep~! But don't worry, I'll repay you!" He sent the fuming and glaring Maria a wink, upon hearing of him repaying her, Maria dropped the anger and turned happy.
"You promise~?" She held out her pinky, and he shook it with his own, ignoring the heated glares that both an older brother and a certain best-friend were sending him. After browsing around for a while, Akihito walked off with Maria to a nearby dessert cafe. Not wanting to be left behind, Mai grabbed Julian's wrist and ran off to catch up with the two.
"Wait for us!"
The place they entered showed a bunch of happy couples sitting inside. The maids were wearing these cute cupid-maid costumes; one of them led Maria's group to a booth that was by a window. "Maria, how about we get the Couple's Sweetheart Parfait?" suggested Akihito, once again not paying attention to the icy-glares of death that were aimed his way.
It took Maria one look at the picture to agree, which was unfortunate for the two males who were hoping that she didn't. Mai was a bit unhappy when she didn't see any meat related items on the menu but perked up when the maid pointed to takoyaki and ordered that. Julian ordered a bubble tea and dangos; Isis ordered the same. Micheal and Richard settled for a slice of cake.
It didn't take long for their order to arrive, though it was the parfait that Akihito and Maria ordered that caught everyone's attention. It was the perfect size for a pair; inside the gla.s.s was layers of pastel-colored cream, topped with strawberry pocky, vanilla and strawberry ice-cream, whipped-cream, macaroons, and a ton of other sweets.
After delivering their order, the maid said to them, "All couples who order our Couple's Sweetheart Parfait get a 15% discount and must take a pose for a photo that we post on our Couple's Wall!" She held a camera, pointing to the decorated wall across from them that was filled with a bunch of pictures of couples posing together.
"Over my dead," seethingly vowed Micheal, scaring the poor maid, who was only doing her job. Thankfully a hard slap to the back of the head from Isis knocked the frown right off his face.
"I don't mind. How about you, Marichan?" asked Akihito, only to see Maria scooping up a spoon full of the parfait and putting it in her mouth. Seeing those emerald eyes light up, Akihito knew that it must've tasted good; a light bulb appeared over his head. Bending his head down, Akihito planted his lips on Maria's cheek, which was caught on camera which just flashed for a picture.
"Ah, how adorable~!" squealed the maid, holding the picture that she had taken and ran over to pin it up on the wall. Maria, on the other hand, was in a state of shock, unable to believe what just happened; Mai and Julian looked just as surprised.
"I must agree. You two make quite the pairing," smiled Isis, sending Maria's face ablaze, feeling an arm drape over her shoulders.
"Marichan is quite the cutie. No wonder Ri-chan talks about her so much!" babbled Akihito, ignoring the transformed demon older brother who was calmly being restrained by Isis. Richard, despite his smile, sent a chill down Akihito's spine, turning towards his best friend just in time to catch him silently mouthing a death threat at him.
'c.r.a.p, I think I went too far,' frightfully thought Akihito.