It had been a weird evening to say the least. Haru had gotten carried away, looking at the Father distribute medicine to the poor; and without thinking for a second, he jumped at the opportunity to help. It wasn’t until Akira questioned the authenticity of the process that he thought about it. He couldn’t shake off the weird feeling that he might have given the medicine too flippantly in his eagerness. Sulking at his mistake, he dragged himself towards the closest hotel in the vicinity. Guess I’ll start afresh tomorrow.

He looked up to see if he was heading the right way and that’s when it caught his eye. Suddenly, all his sulking was out the window and he was back to being cheerful. “Of course! How could I forget? This is where Olly’s Cake Shop is,” he exclaimed, turning his head around to find Akira. “Look! This is where you find the most delicious pastries in the entire continent,” he said, while dragging her along into the shop.

Haru entered the shop, filled with excitement. He dashed from one counter to another, marvelling at the beautiful pastries lined up in front of him. He carefully calculated the total amount of Jewels he had, the amount that might be required for one night’s stay and what would be left to spend on the lovelies he was staring at. It was only after he had made all the choices, which took about ten minutes, did he notice that there was no one at the other side of the counter to take his order. “Umm… Excuse me?!” he called out, but got no response. He heard noises from inside the kitchen; so, he was sure there was someone there.

Nothing was going to stop the man from tasting the world-famous pastries that evening. He walked around the counter and knocked at the kitchen door before entering. As suspected, there was someone inside. “Oh! Hello~ Sorry about that. I have my hands full here and I had to send my assistant off to deliver some orders,” Olly said, seeing Haru enter the kitchen. “Tell you what? You look like you could do with some job. I have some pastries to deliver. You do that for me and I’ll give you some sweet reward.” Frankly, Haru was so lost looking at all the baking happening around him that all he heard was ‘deliver’ and ‘sweet reward’. He simply nodded in agreement and took the packets to be delivered and walked out. “We are delivering these to the given addresses and he promised some ‘sweet’ rewards,” Haru told Akira, stressing the word ‘sweet’.

438/1000

Her partner skulked the streets too, Akira tailed him warily. She'd have been more confident had this place not reminded her of her shortcomings. Her alleged failure to get into the guild of Fairy Tail, defined so many of the choices she made, it changed the way she viewed herself... Quietly, she shuffled along after Tsuru, who seemed to be a little bummed out after their excursion at the cathedral, so when he exclaimed suddenly, Akira almost drew her dagger. To think he was only talking about the cake shop. It was amusing to see the way he lit up, in a nauseating sort of way... Akira didn't think she was capable of such sharp spikes in her emotions.

She angled her head curiously reading the large sign, wondering if there was any truth to Tsuru's claims... She wasn't much of a sweet tooth, but she wouldn't deny the indulgence... The shoppe looked busy enough, patrons streaming in and walking out with large boxes and satisfied smiles. Tsuru waded straight in, and she waited outside, peering from the window, but when she spotted no one at the reception, she too steeled her heart and slipped into the shop.

She followed the healer into the kitchen and overheard the conversation that ensued. what a drag she thought, wondering why Tsuru was so pleased with himself. Within moments, a disheveled looking flour covered little guy, placed large bags filled with boxes, in her hands, they teetered ominously... 'Careful with those, he's going to be mighty unhappy if he has to re-bake anything...' the kid warned. 'Right.' Akira responded dryly, as Tsuru prattled on about their task.

'I know... I know...' she assured him. 'Fine, we'll do this for your sweet reward, but I'm picking the next mission.' she hissed through grit teeth, but there wasn't as much ferocity in her words. Swallowing her reluctance, she picked up the bags carefully and set out with the healer. 'I guess I'm headed that way...' she said jerking her chin towards the right. 'I'll meet you back here in under an hour.'

347/1000

Haru was glad Akira agreed to go through with the quest. “Of course! Next one is of your choice,” he reassured. As his partner picked up her share of the delivery and decided to go towards the right, Haru nodded at her and gave her a thumbs-up before heading to the houses in the opposite direction. He had five batches to deliver and he had no idea how to reach any of the addresses given to him. After all, it was his first day in Magnolia. But he wasn’t going to let that stop him, of course. He was determined to finish it fast and get back to the bakery before the one-hour mark.

The scarlet-haired teen kept out of busy streets, unless absolutely necessary. He was carrying five batches and did not want to mess up any of them. He asked for directions very often to ensure he did not get lost and luckily, the destinations were not too far from the shop or from each other. Four deliveries went smoothly; he dropped in, delivered the order, received the payment and got out. The fifth one, however, was a tricky one.

Haru’s last delivery was to a house on the fifth floor, in a building that had too narrow a staircase. To make things more complicated, a bunch of kids were chasing each other up and down these narrow staircase, blocking his way every other second. “Careful! You don’t want to trip and fall,” Haru warned, but it fell on no one’s ears. The gang of little men were too rowdy to care. It had already been more than forty minutes since he left the shop; he did not want to be late and make Akira wait for him. So, he began making his way up the stairs carefully, staying alert so that he doesn’t get knocked by one of the kids. He made it until the fourth floor without any incident, but his luck ran out after that.

One of the athletic kid among the bunch, decided it was a great idea to jump ten steps to escape his pursuer. Unfortunately, however, the boy tripped and was about to hit the wall. Instinctively, Haru leapt forward to catch the boy; however, while he kept him from slamming into the wall, he couldn’t help but fall onto the ground with him. To make things worse, the delivery pack he was carrying was going to be squashed under him if he didn’t do something soon. Seeing no other option, Haru threw the pack up into the air before falling down, and once he had regained his balance, he used Redirect to bring the pack straight to him before it fell to the ground. The two kids looked at him with their eyes wide and mouth ajar. “Cool!” one of them exclaimed. Haru grinned and gave the thumbs-up before heading up to deliver the last batch. Luckily, the pastries inside were not messed up.

931/1000

Akira had to walk slower than usual, instead of the risk of weaving through people, she just scurried into her beloved alleyways again. Sighing softly as the darkness of the shadows engulfed her, carefully she set the bags down beside her and leaned against one of the walls to take a few deep breaths, this had been the first time she'd had a good chunk of time by herself since that orientation in Baska. Akira wondered if something about their appearance gave up the fact that they were Rune Knights because everywhere they went, people seemed to be expecting them to willingly aid them... Maybe it was the odd pairing.

If people didn't ask for help, Tsuru willingly offered anyways. As her finger slipped into the holes in the plastic bags again, she wondered if she should try to get to know the guy... She craned her neck to read the slip of paper, her first delivery should be a few meters in, after taking the next right. When she reached the house and rang the bell, for several seconds almost nothing happened. Finally, the door creaked open and out came an old man, supporting himself with a cane...

He inched towards Akira slowly, before holding out a shaking hand, he pressed his finger to his lips. 'It is my wife's 87th birthday, she is still sleeping, I'm going to surprise her with this cake... Olly's cakes are the best you know...' For once Akira's heart was warmed... It was nice to see evidence of people growing old together. Gently, she shook his hand instead of giving him the cake. 'I'll leave it inside, I'll be quiet don't worry...' she reassured him, before tiptoeing her way into the house and unpacking the cake on a meticulously decorated table. It must have taken him hours to set that up... 'Oh! Splendid, thank you, young lady! Now I can wake her up since everything is ready! Despite her dark and twisty insides, she wished she could have seen this little celebration, but she knew not to intrude. 'Have a good day, sir...' she said softly, before picking up her other deliveries and making her way out.

711/1000

The walk back to Olly’s cake shop was not a confusing one. Haru had bounced around these streets enough, delivering to five different houses, to make his way back without asking for directions. He was looking forward to the ‘sweet’ rewards Olly talked about in return for making his deliveries. I wonder if I’ll get a special limited edition treat, Haru wondered, his mouth watering at the thought of it. When he entered the shop, he found someone behind the counter this time; it was Olly’s cashier. “Scarlet hair… X-shaped scar on face… You must be the delivery guy,” the cashier exclaimed, seeing Haru enter. “Yes! I am… I’m so hyped about that reward,” Haru responded with equal enthusiasm.

The cashier knelt and disappeared behind the counter, while Haru awaited with great anticipation. However, when he was handed a sack full of Jewels and thanked for the delivery, Haru’s wide grin froze for a second and then faded rapidly. “What is this?! He said I will get a ‘sweet’ reward. This is not ‘sweet’!” Haru cried. The cashier seemed surprised. “Are you telling me this much Jewels is not sufficient for what you did,” he asked, dangling the heavy bag in front of Haru. “Who cares about Jewels?! I wanted Olly’s special treat… Something out of this world,” he wailed like a baby. “Oh… Umm… Don’t cry. Listen… Olly is busy icing a cake. Besides, every treat you are seeing here is carefully baked by Olly himself. He puts his best into every one of them. So, please pick whatever you like here,” the cashier tried consoling Haru. “I guess it can’t be helped,” Haru said, ending with a sob.

He took the reward money from the cashier, split it into two halves, and kept one half for Akira. The other half, he immediately handed back to the cashier. “I’ll take your best assortment for whatever this is worth,” Haru said. “You got it!” When Haru finally got out of the shop, he had even more snacks than what he got when he left Baska. If he met Akira outside, he would give her the reward money and offer to share the delicacies he got with her. “Tomorrow, once we are done with work, we should go to the park and eat all of these lovelies,” he would say.

1320/1000
-Exit-

There were still four more to go, but maybe this ordeal wouldn't be as bad. Her next house was just around the corner, but this time she was greeted by a rather annoyed patron. 'I was told it'll be delivered within thirty minutes... It has been forty-two minutes! You tell that Olly that I want my money back!' Akira had to argue back and forth with the man and finally left the cake at the doorstep and said 'I'm not his delivery girl, I'm just helping out, you have a beef take it up with him, enjoy your cake.'

Her next three deliveries were relatively eventless, there was a couple waiting for the cake for their anniversary, a man in his mid-forties who wanted to tip Akira for her service, which the girl denied, unsure if she should be accepting money while in the stead of the actual delivery man. Then, there was a woman with a sweet tooth, who habitually ordered one thing or another from Olly every day, she didn't recognize Akira and said she knew all the people who work for Olly... Made her a bit wary, but she was too greedy for the delicacy to care for too long.

Finally, the girl reached the last house and heard a fair bit of commotion inside, the door sprung open and out came three little girls, all dressed up like... princesses. 'We are having a tea party! Finally, our cakes have arrived!!!' one of them twittered excitedly 'Come join us, you will be our special guest!' another one offered. Akira froze... and then er slowly shook her head, almost like she was struggling against paralysis. 'Come on, don't be shy...!' the last one said, gently grabbing onto Akira's wrist and tugging her inside. 'I- Er have other deliveries...' Akira tried, but they quickly spotted she wasn't carrying anything.

Soon she was with them inside, drinking some water and pretending it was tea, while they clipped on a paper tiara on her head. Eventually, the mother of one of the little girls showed up and aided Akira in excusing herself. With her final delivery done, she walked back to the shop and noticed Tsuru already waiting for her. 'All done.' she said with a huff. She took her part of the reward, unsurprised that he'd laden his bag with more sweet goodies. 'Right, sure.' she agreed half-heartedly... Before turning to leave.

1113/1000
~~Exit~~