There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 83 - 81. Bittersweet and Spicy (2)

Chapter 83: Chapter 81. Bittersweet and Spicy (2)

"Pretty Mister!"

It was a familiar voice of a familiar little girl, the one who sat beside Zein during the bus raid to the Guide Center. He looked at the bright-eyed little girl and smiled unconsciously. "Hello, candy fairy," he still had two of the candy she gave him left.

"Yaay, you remember me!" the girl jumped in place joyfully, swaying their connected hand together.

"Didn’t know you had a kid, Zein," Bassena popped his head behind the guide suddenly, circling his arm around the older’s shoulder, looking at the little girl with a smile.

Zein smacked the esper’s mouth lightly, at the same time with a voice calling out to the little girl. "Hey, you can’t go around grabbing strangers like that!"

It was an older boy, twelve or thirteen perhaps, grabbing the little girl’s other hand and trying to pull her away from the two adult strangers. But the little girl rebelled and scooted closer to Zein, frowning. "But he’s not a stranger! He’s that pretty mister I told you about, the one that sits beside me on the bus!"

"But you still can’t just go and grabbed his hand like that, it’s rude!"

The little girl gasped, and then looked up at Zein, which hand she still held. "Am...am I being rude to you Mister? I’m sorry..."

"It’s alright," Zein said, using his softest tone that got Bassena a bit stunned. "But it’s true that you shouldn’t just grab someone you just met. I might not be a good guy."

"But I know you’re a kind man!" the little girl was adamant, responding while clenching her fist.

"But it also might not be me," Zein replied steadily, with a friendly but firm tone that he used for scolding the twins in the past. "What if you got the wrong guy?"

It was then that the little girl looked taken aback. "...oh, you’re right," she looked down and fumbled with her dress a little, before looking up again and nodding. "Okay, I understand."

"Mm, good girl," Zein patted the little girl’s head briefly, which had her giggling.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" another voice came then, looking at the little girl and the boy. This time, it was a teenage girl.

The girl perked up again, and explained energetically. "Sister, this is that pretty mister--you know, when I told him brother wants to be stronger than the Serpent Lord, he said ’good luck’! That person!"

"Hey, you can’t just say that!" the boy protested.

"Hoo..." Bassena chuckled behind Zein’s ear, leaning his weight to the guide while whispering. "That’s a nice goal..."

Zein rolled his eyes while the older sister sighed and looked at Zein, seemingly wanting to apologize for her boisterous little sister. "Uhh, I’m sorry, Sir, she just..." her eyes then fell to the taller man leaning to the guide, and she froze, jaw slacked and eyes wide. "Oh, my G--!"

She quickly covered her mouth as Bassena put a finger on his lips, asking her to keep quiet. The boy looked at the esper too then, and instantly reddened, remembering what the little girl babbling about earlier, and scooted to hide behind his older sister.

The little girl, meanwhile, looked at the guide and the esper, back and forth, and tugged at Zein’s hand. "So you know the Serpent Lord, Mister? Is that why you kept looking at him on the big screen?"

"Oh?" Bassena raised his brow, glancing at the guide with a smirk.

"Are you here with your parents?" Zein ignored the happy puppy hanging on his back and looked at the three siblings.

The only one who still functioned normally was the little girl though, who thankfully provided him with an answer. "No! Mommy let me buy some candies today because it’s my birthday! Iris and Bud are here to accompany me!"

"Is that so?" Bassena took his arm from the guide’s shoulder and lowered his tall body. "What’s your name, young lady?"

"I’m Daisy,"

"Alright, miss Daisy, come with me," Bassena reached out his hand and gave the little girl the dashing smile he had in those advertisements. "Let’s get your birthday candy upstrair."

"Huh? Really?" squealing excitedly in delight, the little girl took the charming esper’s hand, skipping as they climbed the stairs.

"Uhh...hu-huh?" the older sister finally came from his shock, staring confusedly at her little sister and her favorite esper hand in hand.

Zein had no idea whether he wanted to sigh or smile at this abrupt event, but he clapped his hand lightly toward the two siblings. "You guys too, go on and follow her."

"Oh...oh--" stuttering and stumbling in a mix of confusion and nervousness, the two teenagers fumbled up the steps, while Zein followed them from behind, nodding at the store staff who gave them a friendly smile and bowed politely near the stairs.

The second floor, where the more expensive stuff was, had a different vibe. It was quieter, and the jars and packaging looked more exquisite. Most of it was behind a glass display, with dedicated staff ready to give a sample for the customer to try. There was also more variety of flavors here, even using ingredients imported from other territories.

The siblings had never stepped foot inside the second floor, and the place almost felt like a candy theme park.

"There, pick whatever you want," the handsome esper set the kid loose to the dreamland. The little girl squealed again and almost run toward the beautiful displays.

The older sister looked at the little girl, and then at the two adults, conflicted. "Is...is this really alright?"

"Of course, it’s a birthday after all," the esper laughed softly. "You too, pick something for yourself."

The siblings looked at each other, but rather than chasing after their little sister, they fidgeted and bit their lips, looking at the esper nervously. "Umm..." the little sister mustered the courage to speak. "Rather than that...could we ask for an autograph, Sir? And m-maybe...a ph-photo?"

Zein raised his brow from a shelf some distance away, watching the siblings fidgeting nervously, stealing a glance at the esper’s face that was hidden beneath the cap. He remembered the little brother said he didn’t like the Serpent Lord, but the boy definitely looked at Bassena with sparkling eyes.

"Sure, I’ll give you that, along with the sweets," the esper generously said, ruffling the beaming boy’s hair. "Now go with your sister and make sure she’s not taking anything dangerous."

"Y-yes, Sir! Thank you, Sir!"

The siblings hurried after the sister then, after bowing profusely to the esper. Chuckling at the energetic siblings, Bassena came to check on Zein, who was busy reading the store catalog. It listed everything that they had on the first and second floors, complete with the picture of some of their best sellers.

"I’m putting an order for the next season’s limited edition box for Shin and you," he informed Zein, peeking at the catalog from behind the guide’s shoulder. "Anything you’d like from there?"

Brazenly, he put a hand on the guide’s waist, half-hugging the man from behind. Well, it was a date anyway, right? At least for today, he had requested for a lover’s date. Perhaps because of that too, Zein had let Bassena act more physically that day, without shrugging him off.

"This one," Zein said, thumb tapping on a very common, classic candy in wrappers with various flavors. It was something cheap enough for even the little girl to be able to buy with her allowance.

But looking at the blue eyes that stared intently at the picture, Bassena had a feeling that it was something that held more personal value for the guide.

Bassena leaned into Zein and rest his chin on the older man’s shoulder. "Like a whole jar of it?"

Surprisingly, Zein chuckled at the idea, the edge of the phoenix eyes softened. Bassena bit the inside of his cheek to hold himself from giving that softened edge a kiss. It was a good thing that Zein wore his mask, or Bassena might just go ahead and gave the fair cheek a kiss.

"So...you got caught looking at me in billboards?" the esper whispered playfully, half in an effort to distract him from touching the guide further.

"You were everywhere," Zein replied nonchalantly. "I just looked outside and your face was already there."

"And yet you had no idea who I was..."

"I had no idea who everyone was--ah, this looks good," Zein looked at the picture of pralines that reminded him of those limited edition chocolates.

Bassena narrowed his eyes dubiously at the guide that seemed to avoid the topic, but what could he do when Zein started to earnestly look at the catalog and showed genuine interest in them, especially the ones with weird flavors. They ended up having an argument against each other tastes and moved toward the real display and had tasting parties along with the siblings.

The siblings chose their candies and Bassena paid for them. The little girl also received her birthday balloon from the cute bee mascot, and her older siblings received the Serpent Lord’s picture and signature. After saying goodbye to the siblings, they went to the membership-only floor, which was even more empty.

Rather than displays, it was more like a comfortable sitting room where the chocolatier personally brought them samples of their next limited edition box. It was the first time Zein found out that the ’limited’ in the limited edition meant the magical process of making it.

Magical as in the product had mana powder and lesser ambrosia mixed inside. In other words, it was made with dungeon materials.

No wonder it tasted different and heavenly, only produced in limited quantity, needed membership, and cost as much as people annual salary. The order also could only be made by directly coming to the store, no matter if you’re a celebrity, or a saint-class esper.

Thanks to Bassena, Zein could sampled some of the product in advance, somehow tasted even better than the one he tried beside the lake. Bassena even managed to get the guide a membership there, so he could buy one himself even without Bassena or Han Shin.

The tasting session left Zein in daze afterwards, as he sat on one of the couch in the rooftop, staring blankly at the view of the plaza in front of the building. During that food coma state, Zein realized that the place was probably called Ambrosia due to their limited edition ingredient.

"Like I said, if you space out when you’re with me, I might kiss you,"