The sound of the water dripping from the tap echoed through the walls of the bathroom, breaking the silence that reigned supreme a mere second ago. Steam rose from the tub, partly clouding her vision as she briefly closed her eyes and reclined onto the wall of the tub with her arms laid on the brim of the tub. The water that filled the bath tub was crystal clear as she stared down at her own pale hands that were submerged underneath. Her hair damp, she sank her body deeper into the water, feeling the warmth of it on her skin. A week has passed, since she joined the guild, namely known as Blue Pegasus but she did not seem to make any progress at making new friends at all. Numerous thoughts ran through her mind and the next second, she found herself dozing off in the tub.

Dark, wet lashes fluttered open suddenly as silver hues frantically glance around the cream walls that surrounded her until she recalled that she was still in the bathroom. A relieved sigh escaped her parted lips and forced herself out of the tub, now that she was freed from tension and stress. Grabbing the towel hanging on the metal bar, she encased herself inside the thick piece of cotton. Her cheeks flushed from the heat that was locked inside the bathroom but cooled down immediately once she was greeted with the cold air that whisked into the room. Beige curtains blew in at one end and out the other like pale flags, casting a shadow on the couch as wind does on the sea.

The girl began dressing herself in her usual attire; a long sleeved white shirt, a blazer on top of it and a short skirt accented with dark blue. Sliding into her socks, Snow finished off her look with a pair of high heeled boots before meandering out of the room. Upon exiting the hotel, the young maiden was immediately greeted by the sunlight blaring into her eyes that she had to squint through the gaps between her fingers. It’s noon already, she whispered to herself as blue orbs glanced around the streets of Crocus. She was starting to feel hungry so she decided to find something that might attract her attention.

A huge shark logo on top of the shop was the first thing that caught her eye. Sushi? What’s that? Questioning herself, the girl would find herself drawing closer towards the restaurant and peeking through the windows as if to find some hint. The word was unfamiliar to her and she was eager to try it.

The breath that escaped her lips formed a small pool of steam against the glass door. The young maiden contemplated on whether she should enter the shop or consider for a different restaurant, although she was curious as to how the sushi would taste. It was a type of food she had never eaten before. An unfamiliar voice behind her caught her attention as silver pools glided towards the source of the sound. A young red-haired gentleman stood before her and began introducing himself as a member of Blue Pegasus. ”Erm…” Stunned by the sudden greeting of a guild member, the girl was lost for words as she continued to stare at the stranger who invited to join him for lunch. How did he know I’m from Blue Pegasus from the beginning? The thought crossed her head but she decided not to question any further.

The stranger did not even bother to wait for her answer as he grabbed ahold of her hand and began to drag her inside the shop. ”W-wait!” Even her words did not seem to fathom the red-haired stranger, who previously introduced himself as Chelvaric. She sat down beside him before her eyes shifted towards her hand, which was still in the grasp of Chelvaric. ”I don’t think you need to hold my hand anymore.” Her words might be a bit harsh, but that was just the nature of a cold-hearted girl who barely expresses any emotions. The girl ringed her wrist in big circles as she stared at the plates that were in motion on the belt.

”I’ve never had this before. How do you eat them?” A slight blush rose upon her cheeks, embarrassed by the question she had asked.

Silver hues stared at the plates that slowly moved around the belt and she would notice how some people grabbed the plates for themselves and began consuming their meal. Her attention shifted back to Chelvaric, who accepted her request but in return of her name. The blue haired maiden raised a curious brow and eventually nodded, approving of the deal. She watched him grab a plate from the belt, just like the other customers and retrieved a pair of chopsticks from his hands. Without even blinking, the girl would focus on his fingers on which he taught her how to use the chopsticks. ”…Like this?” Her brows creased into the middle of her forehead and pearly whites snagged at the bottom of her lips as she struggled to lay her fingers into position. After a few numbers of desperately trying to get it right and straining her hand, she found it easier to grab a hold of the food and slowly placed it inside her mouth.

The soft texture of the egg melted immediately inside her mouth and the savoury taste of the food lingered on her tongue. Surprised by the delicious taste of the new food she had just eaten, her eyes widened before muttering out a jumble of words, ”It’s really yummy.” Cheeks blossomed into a pinkish shade and a small smile crept up onto the curve of her lips. Not only did she feel satisfied by the scrumptious food, Snow was grateful that she finally met someone of the same guild and on top of that, Chelvaric was a nice lad. Snow propped up her face on her knuckles and glanced over towards her guildmate. ”Since you taught me something, I suppose I should stick to our promise.” she paused for a brief second and grabbed another plate from the belt. ”It’s Snowflake. But, you can call me Snow.”

The blue haired maiden devoured plates of sushi that were placed in front of her. Chelvaric recommended a few other plates and suggested she should try them, and of course, she did. Snow was not going to let her opportunity of trying out new food to slip away when there is such appetizing food right in front of her eyes. Thus, she decided that she was going to fill her stomach as much as she could, so that she would not regret not eating enough of these Japanese dishes. It appeared that she made the right decision to enter the restaurant, more like, being forced into the place as she recalled Chelvaric dragging her into the shop.

Silver pools glided towards her guild mate as he began to describe the feeling of walking through snow. Her eyes glistened, a hint of bliss crossed the features of her face followed by a slight nod. She definitely understood what he meant. Snow loved the winter so much that her parents named her after the snowflakes that fall from the sky; although the memories that she had kept buried had scarred her since long ago. Cerulean strands of hair brushed past her shoulders as she would instinctively tuck the locks behind her ear. ”I’m glad you love Snow.” For a brief moment, the girl remained silent until she realized what she had just said. ”Uh… I mean, snow as in, the snow in winter.” She felt like the most retarded person in the world at that precise moment and closed her eyes momentarily in embarrassment.

”Hmm,” – was her first choice of words to his question when he asked her why she had travelled to Crocus. She paused for a brief moment and sipped on the green tea that she had prepared for herself earlier, ”I just wandered and I seemed to have ended up here. Perhaps, you can address me as a lost child.” The girl chuckled at herself, which was extremely rare of her to show someone a relaxing side of herself. For all one knows, Snow probably trusted him since he was a guild member and she could tell he was genuine from the start. ”What about you?”

Snowflake had never enjoyed the taste of raw meat, let alone its’ smell so she would specifically picked the ones that did not contain any raw fish. A sigh left her lips once again; not out of exhaustion but of relief and satisfaction. Her tummy felt so full as if she had eaten a week’s worth of food and she could feel the buttons of her blazer tightening against her abdomen. The girl rubbed her sated stomach that was on the verge of exploding as she struggled to lean back against her chair. While the two Blue Pegasus members engage into conversation, she would take a moment let her stomach digest all the food she had taken. ”That was a feast.” she commented, realizing the fact that she had never had such a large intake of food in her life before, which was mostly why she grew up as a petite girl.

”Oh, I see.” The girl nodded at his explanation of how he ended up in the Capital of Crocus before following up with another question. ”Did you find the cat then?” Snow loved animals, mostly dogs and if it was possible, she would keep one in her room. The blue haired girl would find herself engaging into a small conversation with Chelvaric as if it was the most normal occurrence to happen to her, which was not actually true. Since she was young, she was unable to hold any discussions due to her extremely quiet nature and even obtained a nickname ‘dry ice’ in her classroom as a result of her lack of expressions.

She stacked up the plates she had eaten into a huge pile and shifted her attention back to Chelvaric. ”Is there really a Halloween market here?” Her eyes widened, she sounded much more excited than she actually intended to be. Perhaps, that was the reason why there were tons of people crowding in the streets before she entered the restaurant. ”That sounds interesting. I’ll join you, without any doubt.”

”Oh, no no no. I shouldn’t let you–“ The young maiden began, only to get interrupted by Chelvaric’s abrupt call for the bill. ”I’ll let this slide but next time, it’ll be my treat. Yes?” With one of her eyebrows arched and the corner of her lips twitched upwards into a small smirk, she indicated the question in a way so that he would keep his promise. She slid off her seat and gently landed on her feet before fixing her attire. The two Pegasus mages meandered out of the restaurant whilst talking more about random topics that they had discussed before.

The day had grown slightly darker which caused her to wonder how long they remained inside the restaurant. Oh, well. Perfect time to be spooky. She shrugged it off and let her eyes wander off to her surroundings. The vendors that lined up on both sides of the streets were already being decorated and the costumes and make that the passerby wore differentiated each of them unique among swirls and eddies of people.

”I just recently joined the guild as well.” She replied her response to Chelvaric’s question before adding, ”I went to the guild once to meet the guild master and retrieved the emblem on my hand. That’s just probably it.” Within the corner of her eyes, she noticed a glimpse of a young woman painting on people’s faces for the Halloween event. Interested, the girl approached closer before turning around towards Chelvaric once again, ”Would you like to try this?”

The woman that was responsible for the painting greeted them as they approached closer. There were tons of pictures of people, probably her customers, with their faces nicely painted with makeup being displayed behind her. The woman would grab a chair for two people as the two Pegasus members sat themselves next to each other. Chelvaric would look through the pictures that were listed on the lacrima television but for Snow, she already knew what she wanted. It was something she had always wanted to try but never had the opportunity to. But, since she is able to now, Snow decided to make the most out of it. ”Can I have myself painted as a skull, please? Just the lower part of my face.” Snow would portion her face separately with her hands and explained the details to the woman on how she wanted herself to look. Meanwhile, Chelvaric had already decided on what he wanted to be painted as, although Snow was not aware of how he would appear as afterwards.

While the woman was busy drawing on Chelvaric’s face, she would call for her assistance, who was much younger, probably around the same age as Snow and requested her to work on the fellow Pegasus’ mage. Nervously, she waited for the other girl to gather the colours, which was mostly black and white. Soon, both of them would be done, with their faces nicely painted and Snow silently wished it turned out as good as she expected it to be. The girl remained still, staring into the distance so as not to disturb the painter until the voice of her guildmate reached into her head.

For a brief moment, the girl recalled what Chelvaric had just mentioned since she seemed to have spaced out before and blinked furiously. ”Oh, yes.” She paused. ”So am I. I’m quite nervous honestly. This is the first time I’ve actually celebrated Halloween.” Snow added and forced out a quiet chuckle, hoping nothing would go wrong during her first Halloween.

After at least half an hour, both of them were done. The girl would turn around to see an orange face painted in the shape of a pumpkin. Snow could not put her feet on how exactly she felt about Chelvaric’s choice but it was really unique although it was quite funny, honestly. She retrieved the mirror from his hands and looked at her own reflection from the mirror. She looked really different. The makeup suited her silver eyes perfectly and the the shape of the skull being contoured around the lower part of her face looked better than she expected. Her lips appeared as the bones of her teeth and the rest of the part were drawn into details. ”I really like this.” She dropped the mirror on her lap and raised her attention towards the girl who had done her amazing job at painting her face.

Chelvaric assured her that the two of them were going to make this Halloween as an enjoyable event for her, which was really considerate of him. ”What’s apple biting?” she questioned although she reckoned that the event had something to do with eating apples. ”Thank you. You look good as well… a little bit funny, but it looks good.” The girl would let out a soft giggle before reaching into her pocket and fetched some jewels to pay the fees for the makeup. ”I’ll pay for both of us this time.”

The young maiden stared at her reflection on the mirror one last time with the ends of her lips curving upwards into a small smile, clearly satisfied with the art that had been drawn on her face. Apple biting was pretty much what she had expected, although retrieving apples from the tub was not included. When Chelvaric thanked her for paying the fees for the art, Snowflake nodded and expressed her gratitude, ”Just repaying my thanks for earlier.” Soon, they would arrive at the location where an old man await for his customers. Inside the tub, apples floated on top of the water that filled the entire container. The old man briefly mentioned the instructions of the game and that the winner would be the one who collected the largest number of apples in the shortest time. Her eyes glided downwards onto the ground and she noticed how the soil had grown slippery and muddy due to the spillage of the water from the tub. The smile she had on her lips before had bent into a frown. Being a hygenic person, Snow never liked being at dirty locations and she could not bear the thought of herself being soiled with filthy substances.

After Chelvaric was done collecting the apples, it was finally her turn. The fellow Blue Pegasus mage gently sat on her calves and bent over the tub to fetch the apples with her lips. As fast as she could, the girl collected all the floating apples as if she was a machine solely made for this game. Snow has always been a competitive person. By the end of the game, she found herself gasping for air and almost all the apples had been collected. The old man was staring at her as if she was a crazy person and unable to say anything, he reluctantly handed over the apples that she had collected to her. ”Thanks, I had fun.”

”So are you.” The blue-haired maiden replied in appreciation when Chelvaric complimented how fast she was during the apple-biting game. Agility was her expertise afterall. The two of them walked side by side, wandering through the streets of the town, brimming with little shops and crowds of people. The girl would slow down her pace slightly, her head lifted up towards the sky and embraced how beautiful the night sky was. The stars scintillated the dark sky overhead, lighting up the entire city. A gush of wind blew past her, gently caressed her face and swept away the translucent strands of sapphire hair. ”Mhm, it –“ Before she could finish her sentence, she was grabbed by her hand once again, only to be rewarded with a large toy as a prize from the previous game she had participated in. Silver pools widened in surprise, but gladly accepted the huge toy and nuzzled into the soft cushion.

They would run up the hill afterwards, which was more like Snow being dragged by Chelvaric. ”Can you … slow down a bit?” The girl mumbled the words while inhaling huffs and puffs of air as her heart pounded against her chest. She did not even know why they were running from the beginning but decided to follow Chelvaric’s lead so as to find out what he was planning to do. Soon, they reached the top of the hill where there was no one else apart from the two of them. The sky was even more beautiful than what she had seen a few moments ago and their view weren’t obstructed by any sort of trees, clouds or buildings. Awestruck, she stared above with her mouth slightly apart and her chest would heave up and down, nevertheless, she did not care how exhausted she was since she could definitely not miss this exquisite view.

Under the starry sky that shone so brightly with the thousands of heavenly stars and the crescent moon, Snow felt as if she was in a dream – it was a sight she had never seen before. Who knew the world was this beautiful?, she pondered, a smile curving onto the corner of her lips as her silver hues glinted with a light that she was more than satisfied. Snow had never been so emotional and when she found tears stinging her eyes, she was astonished. The sound of fireworks exploding within the sky startled her, but they lit up the night like no other. The fellow Blue Pegasus mage would seat herself beside Chelvaric and wrapped her arms around her knees whilst glancing up to the sky. ”Thank you.” She whispered. ”Thank you so much. I enjoyed every second of this day.” The young girl gave him her rarest of her smiles while the tears still remained within the corner of her eyes.

Engrossed with the events that occurred, Snow didn’t realise that her hands were still in the other mage’s grasp. Instinctively, she would pull her hand immediately and clasped it behind her back. Cheeks flushed, she averted her gaze towards the ground and absently kicked the grass underneath her. ”I... I appreciate everything you did today. If only I could repay your kindness.” A solemn look crossed the features on her face. ”Unfortunately, it’s getting late, so I have to leave now.” As much as she wished to enjoy the day a bit longer, she was unable to.