Magic of Arteria Volume 1. Reunion Arc

Chapter Ten.

---

The two of us reached the mall after about thirty minutes, inside the underground parking lot where hundreds of cars were parked in symmetrical order, the parking lot was gigantic, about the same width as the entire building.

 

Twisting the key on the dashboard, I turned off the engines, looking at Hikari who was asleep. She had surrendered to her drowsiness mid-trip, ten minutes after her last game. “Hikari, wake up.”

 

I shook her several times, until she stretched her arms up to the ceiling of the car, rubbing her eyes for a few seconds as she looked around with confusion before staring directly at me, asking. “Where are we?”

 

The most noticeable change I had seen from her after some time with Leah was her heart easing itself; she would reply, ask, and talk more with me than before. A short encounter with someone allowed her to open her heart, one could say: children are weird creatures.

 

I opened the door and walked out, grabbing her out of the car before replying to her. “We are in the underground park in the mall, right now.”

 

After placing her on my arms, I walked towards one of the several entrances of the mall; in total, there were about eighteen entrances, seven of which are located inside the underground parks while the rest were located on the upper grounds.

 

The entrances and exits of the mall were all monitored by a single magic device that utilizes the prowess of artificial intelligence, small simple cubes that are embedded on the floor. The chances of noticing them were little as these cubes are made to match the tiles on the floor.

 

“Dark,” she said while looking around the underground park as I patted her hair as we entered inside the mall, after a few steps inside; a stream of mana flew towards us, almost like a short electric pulse. It was the security device functioning, to be exact, the identifier module.

 

“You felt it, right?” I smiled at Hikari who was stunned for a second, in normal cases, you wouldn’t be able to feel the pulse at all. But that is only in normal cases, people with unique, or rare physiques are sensitive to mana, and therefore, can feel it.

 

After some time of walking inside the mall, I looked at Hikari and inquired, “Where do you want to head first?”, she looked around the mall with curiosity.

 

The mall was enormous, it is twenty-story tall while being eighty soccer fields wide, there was no lack of vendors, retail stores, groceries, and all kinds of stores inside. From exclusive prototypes to the rarest kinds of dresses, all of them were located here.

 

I stared at Hikari for some time as she looked at a famous retail store located on the distance, it was one of the retail stores of the Angelina Group, containing most of its high-tier clothes, and also selling one of the most luxurious and rarest kinds of dresses. The security inside the store is top tier, being able to withstand a Quatre spell which is the limit of 99.99% of all talented people.

 

“Do you want to go there?” I asked before she shook her head, it seemed like she didn’t want to trouble me by heading there. A selfless child, who cares more about others than herself. “It doesn’t hurt to visit there occasionally, you know. Let’s have a short visit there.”

 

The retail store was packed with people, some were customers while some were only looking around, after all, there is no one who doesn’t want to see some rare clothes every once in a blue moon, right?

 

The two of us arrived inside the retail store after a minute of walking, and not a second after arriving inside, our eyes were blessed with the sight of luxury. The walls inside were all white with chandeliers of sapphire mana-filled glass, there were dozens of minimalistic dresses, handbags of rare lather, and accessories made with the finest gems.

 

“Is there anything you like?” I placed her down on the ground and inquired as she held my hand using her adorable, pinchable hands. The two of us walked around the store for some time as her eyes swarmed everywhere, her curiosity was visible.

 

At one glance, you can already tell she was interested in most items inside the store, her eyes would gaze at one item for a few seconds, almost like taking screenshots of it, and reverse-image searching it for details.

 

After some time of strolling around the store, all of a sudden, she stopped before an unusual dress. The dress was white, with no design, only a frilly white dress. It stood out the most among the other items inside the store for its simple look.

 

“That is the Calm Heaven Dress, are you interested?” I smiled.

 

It was a dress created by several masters, the dress looked simple on the outside but inside, it is made of fibers of the rarest crystals, sewed together in a way that it looks like an ordinary dress. It is also the reason why we named it “Calm Heaven”, ordinary on the outside, beautiful in the inside.

 

It was our perspective of what would be heaven, our perspective of beauty. It was all about what was inside, not what was on the outside.

 

Taking the dress from its hanger, I placed it in front of Hikari, looking at her for a few seconds as she tilted her head. I was shocked, stunned over how well the dress suits her, the contrast of her black hair and the white of the dress, her blue eyes that looked like the skies.

 

“It fits you very well! Do you want it?” I asked enthusiastically as she frowned her eyebrows; it was her troubled face whenever I attempt to give her something expensive. As I was waiting for her answer, a haughty, and unpleasant voice came from behind as the dress on my hand was stolen.

 

“Dear! I like this dress a lot! Can we buy it?!”

 

“Another person has already taken it, you can’t take something away from another person who is interested,” a manly voice replied to the unpleasant voice. “What do you mean interested?! Can’t you see from their clothes, they look shabby! Can they even afford the dress, aren’t they just dirtying it?!”

 

“Staff! Why are you letting these two beggars dirty the store?! Aren’t you afraid they might steal or break something here?!” she shouted.

 

My heart was burning in anger, being called beggar was not something I would take seriously. But insulting Hikari, as well, was not something I would let go… I will never tolerate people insulting the people I care about…

 

After a few seconds, a man came rushing towards our direction. It was a man I know of, the manager of this retail store. Upon arriving on the scene, he asked in a loud voice, “Where are the beggars…?! PRESIDENT…?!”

 

The man stopped in place, he was frozen in place, trembling as he looked at me with fear.

 

“There! Those two are the beggars who came here to dirty the store! Get them out of here!” the unpleasant voice once more entered my ears as I grabbed Hikari and stood up while looking at the man who was hiding by the hanger rack.

 

“Michael, what great timing… Have you heard some pigs oinking lately? Or am I just hallucinating after not being able to rest for a few days?” I asked while smiling at the man, he shuddered even more as the unpleasant voice once more came back.

 

“Get out here, you beggar!” the woman behind me shouted before I felt a hand closing in towards me, I stood there confident, splicing a part of my mana and using the spliced part as a shield for both Hikari and me.

 

Instantly, a cold sensation blew past both Hikari and me as a loud clang echoed from behind, screams of agony from the woman reverberated around the place as I turned around, glared at her with anger.

 

The woman was fat, very, and had wrinkles all over her face. She was crying on the floor with her right hand frozen like an ice cube, her eyes were glaring directly at me as I looked at her with anger.

 

Her man was a slightly short man, dressed in a cheap business suit. He had no hair on his head, not even muscular. He looked like a fraud; it was no wonder why his voice was like a squirrel. The true businessmen I met were all of elegance, prideful.

 

“You scum! Do you know who I am!” the man shouted before running towards me with his fist.

 

I was not worried about his punch, not a single bit. He was too frail, almost like he would break trying to punch me instead. Instead of defending, I covered Hikari’s eyes with my hand as the mana shield around me maintained itself. In an instant, a loud clang echoed within the store.

 

The sound was loud enough to create a shockwave around the store, the shockwave carried cold air. I looked at the man with a smile, his arm was now a popsicle similar to his partner’s hand, his feet were frozen.

 

“Wha—what have you done?!” the man cried.

 

“Now, now… having dirty people like him would do terrible stuff to our store's reputation, am I right. Michael?” I said with a wink.

 

Finishing my words, the man shuddered for a second as he crawled out of the clothes rack, trembling violently as the crowd around us looked in shock. I can only imagine what the crowd is thinking: A man who manages one of the most luxurious fashion stores in the world is afraid of an unknown girl.

 

“Ye–yes, President! It wo–would be bad for the company's reputation!” the man replied, stuttering.

 

“Now, what shall do you think we should do to these dirty people who don’t know any respect to others?” I questioned, stomping the frozen arm of the man as cracks formed on the ice.

 

“AAAAAH!” the man cried loudly as he attempted to grab my foot with his left arm, but contrary to his expectations, his left arm froze.

 

“You handle these two trashes for me, Michael. I’ll go finish my business with my daughter,” I said while walking away from the crowd who looked in awe. The majority of the people inside the store were not rich, most of them only wore clothes worth a few hundred Talis.

 

After some time outside of the store, I looked at Hikari who showed complicated emotions on her eyes, shocked, surprised, but also happiness, before kissing her forehead as I asked, “Do you want some ice cream, my adorable little darling?”

 

In response to my question, she spoke in a happy tone with the voice of an angel: “Ice cream! I want ice cream! Strawberry-flavor!” before realizing what she had done and closing her mouth as she buried her face on my chest. She was adorable, like a rabbit.

 

Pinching her cheeks twice, I smiled at her. “No need to be shy, you are my only daughter, after all. I will bring you to my favorite ice cream shop in this mall, you will like it a lot!”, walking towards the escalator as the two of us ascended up to the second floor.

 

After arriving at the second floor, the two of us walked towards an ice cream shop located on the distance, it had a modern black and white theme around it with graffiti of ice creams painted all over the walls, and a large television displaying advertisements of their ice cream.

 

There was also a glass display on one of the walls, showing the different flavors of ice cream they had available… approaching near the glass display, the cones of the ice cream became clearer. They looked crispier than normal cones, dressed in dark and gold colors.

 

The ice cream was better, coated with both gold and chocolate, it looked like a masterpiece, one that people would love to eat again, and again. Having tasted the ice cream before, I can guarantee myself the taste is divine.

 

I glanced at Hikari who was looking at the ice cream with saliva dripping on her mouth, and asked: “Strawberry was what you wanted, right?” while taking out a white, strawberry-design face towel from my pocket and wiping the saliva on her face as she nodded.

 

After receiving her confirmation, the two of us walked inside the store where we were greeted by a magnificent interior with black and gold walls and a large glass window that showed the city from the second floor.

 

“Welcome to Aimi’s Fantasy Ice Creams! What would you like to order?” a young-looking girl greeted us from the counter as we entered the shop.

 

Walking towards the counter, I looked at the holographic menu behind her. There were plenty of flavors to pick from dragonfruit to mango, with the ability to design your own cone for a few hundred Talis.

 

A single scoop of the ice cream costs about five hundred Talis, with a 2 percent discount for every successive scoop. You can even choose to go for a cup, plate, or a bowl, you could also pick whether you want gelato, mochi ice cream, popsicle, ice cream bar, and ice cream sandwich.

 

“I would like eight scoops of strawberry ice cream, in a plate and another eight scoops of cookies and cream ice cream,” I replied before the cashier nodded, typing in the details before repeating the order.

 

“Eight scoops of strawberry ice cream, eight scoops of cookies and cream ice cream all in two different plates, is that correct?” the cashier asked as I nodded.

 

“That would be a total of 8,201 Talis, would you like to pay with cash or card?” the cashier questioned, pushing a device like the traditional payment terminal forward.

 

Taking out my usual pink card, I swiped the card on the payment terminal as the phone on my handbag vibrated for a second with the machine displaying PAID in bold text.

 

“Your order will arrive in a minute or two, are you two dining in or taking out?” the cashier inquired.

 

“We’ll be dining in,” I replied before she handed me a tiny card containing our queue number which was number one.

 

Taking the queue card, I walked towards an empty table near the window, placed Hikari down on the seat beside mine, and sat there, staring at the window which showed the city landscape, cars were passing, traffic lights were jade with the sun slowly descending. It was a busy time, the time when most people are heading home after work.

 

“Do you want to play with my phone again?” I asked before Hikari turned towards me, nodding.

 

I was spoiling her a lot, normally, parents would not expose their children to these many games. It was bad influence from what they said, but I did not want to think of it as that way. I want her to be happy, let her enjoy the happiness she missed out from early on.

 

Taking my phone out from my handbag, I closed down some notifications about the transactions before handing it to her as she navigated through the home screen, looking for an application, clicking on the same game she played with Leah after a short while of searching.

 

Instead of playing, she first checked her friend list which had one friend request. The friend request came from a username “Lea.H9362”, seeing the friend request. A smile blossomed on Hikari’s face; it was a smile full of happiness, one close to the smile she showed last night.

 

Her hand did not take a second to click the checkmark beside the name, accepting the friend request as she messaged the user happily. She adapted to mobile devices fast, her typing speed was fast. A true prodigy.

 

“Excuse me, here are your orders,” the cashier from a few seconds ago said, placing the tray on the table and arranging the plates before handing the receipt to me.

 

“Thank you,” I said while taking out some cash I have on my wallet, handing it to her as her eyes widen in surprise. I was handing her about seven thousand Talis which is about eighty percent of the price we paid.

 

It was normal for us to tip the servers, most would only tip about twenty percent to forty percent of what they ordered but I usually tip around eighty to a hundred percent depending on my mood.

 

“Thank you very much!” the girl said, bowing down as she took the cash with a positive smile before hopping back to the counter like a bunny.

 

Seven thousand talis is not a lot to me but for others of average families, they are worth a lot. I also used to think seven thousand Talis was a dream when I was a child but changed my way of thinking after the Angelina Group together with Avantgarden.

 

All of a sudden, from my side, Hikari asked in a curious tone: “Why did you hand her money?”, tilting her head in confusion.

 

I was slightly taken aback, I wasn’t expecting her to ask but despite being stunned, I replied back to her, pinching her cheeks: “That’s because it is a way of thanking the servers, they work hard while earning a tiny salary. It will help their family and themselves a lot, that is why I hand tips to the servers,”

 

Shaking off my hand, she replied: “Is that so, then I should tip them as well… but I don’t have money,”

 

I wanted to laugh; this girl had a kind heart but also a curious mind. The way she responded was too much for me, but I could not laugh. It would be bad manners for me, instead, I patted her head and smiled at her.

 

“You don’t have to, for now, you can wait until you have a stable job, or until you succeed my business,” I replied, kissing her forehead as she nodded.

 

“Now, now. Let’s eat our ice cream, shall we? What do you want, cookies and cream or strawberry?” I questioned, looking at the scoops of ice cream on our plate. They were not melting, ice hard.

 

“Strawberry!” she replied, taking the plate with the strawberry ice cream before taking the spoon and looking at it for a while, looking to me after, asking: “How do I eat this?”

 

“You eat it like this,” I replied, taking the spoon on my plate, slicing a part of the ice cream, and eating it with a spoon like normal dishes.

 

As soon as the ice cream entered my mouth, a sweet creamy taste with small chocolate chips overwhelmed my taste buds, the coldness of the ice cream was mixing. It was pure happiness; the taste was extremely good.

 

I turned to look at Hikari who was also now eating the ice cream on her plate, after staring at me for a few seconds. The instant the ice cream entered her mouth, her face was covered with delight as she took another, eating it with joy.

 

Looking at her smile, brought true pleasure to my heart. Every time she smiles, an aura of pureness would cover her. It was worth taking her on a trip, every money spent on her was worth it. I smiled, looking at her eat the ice cream, before all of a sudden, a familiar gentle voice spoke from behind.

 

“Oh, dear me. I didn’t expect to see my adorable Angelica here,” the voice said.

 

I turned around and saw a peach-haired girl standing behind our seat with a smile. My heart stopped, everything around me froze as my breathing became rough, my hand was trembling from shock. The only girl who once took my heart and broke it into pieces was standing there, smiling. Kayla.