"Meow! So warm and soft!" Hana shouted while she was cuddling with me…
"Hana! He's a customer! Let him go now!" Falna reprimanded her sister.
"No! I want to feel that heavenly sensation again!" Hana refused.
"Pffft! It seems like girls will always try to get your attention no matter what eh? I do envy you a bit right now though." Suika looked amused.
Hana was extremely warm and her hug was very gentle. Her soft cheek was being rubbed against my own cheek.
I immediately lost the battle against the adorable catkin.
I started patting Hana's head once again.
"Yeeesh! That's what I wanted!" Hana spoke with an overjoyed expression. She started hugging me very tightly.
"I'm really glad that there's no one in the store right now…" Falna whispered.
"Falna, do you want me to pat your head? I don't mind waiting for my ice cream, so we have the time. In fact, you could even consider this your tip!" Suika said with a teasing tone.
"I would prefer money as a tip…" Falna smiled bitterly.
"Is that so? What a shame…" Suika sounded a bit disappointed.
I didn't hold back and continued to pat Hana's head with all my might.
A soft-looking petite pair of hands appeared near Hana's chin.
"How about this? Will you be able to endure our tag team?" Those hands belonged to Suika. She started scratching Hana's chin.
"Meeeow! Shooo goood… Sis… You need to try this… It is shoo goood…" Hana looked like she had achieved heaven.
Hana was ecstatic thanks to my tag team attack with Suika. It was super effective.
"..." Falna was silent… "Maybe, a bit wouldn't hurt…" Falna whispered.
She then walked towards us slowly and then crouched when she was near me. She leaned in to make it easier for my hand to reach her head.
This Goblin does not fear fighting two enemies at once! Prepare yourselves and witness my overwhelming power!
I used my remaining hand to pat Falna's head.
After a few moments of me patting her head, Falna was already looking like Hana.
"What ish this, meow!? Why does it feel shooo goood!? Falna shouted with amazement.
"Forgot about me!? I'll make you pay for rejecting me!" Suika said with a mischievous expression.
“Nooouuuh!” Falna shouted again.
(Hahaha! As I thought, these catkins are not strong enough to face our tag team combo!) I was very proud of my actions and having a lot of fun.
We kept playing with the two catkins until…-
“What the hell is this!?” A male catkin shouted from behind the counter.
“I thought that they would be sleeping, but I was not expecting something like this…” Another male catkin appeared behind the counter.
If I was a betting goblin, I would definitely bet that those two are Falna and Hana’s siblings, or in other words Lana’s sons.
The two of them really look like Falna and Hana. The difference is that they are way taller than them. One of them being 1.75 meters tall and the other 1.79 meters tall. The two male catkins have long black hair and heterochromia. They were wearing black pants, white shirts and aprons on top of their shirts.
Both Falna and Hana looked a bit uncomfortable… They were also sweating a bit. The two catkins immediately moved away from Suika and I and then stood up with awkward expressions.
“I guess this is where the fun ends… It feels a bit disappointing, doesn’t it?” Suika looked at me and smiled bitterly. She then offered me a hand to get up.
I took her hand and then stood up.
“Yeah… I was having a lot of fun…” I said while being a bit disappointed.
“Well, let’s have some ice cream then!” Suika smiled at me.
“Of course!” I smiled back at her.
“What’s up with their atmosphere…? Can’t they read the mood here?” The tallest of the two brothers whispered to his brother.
“They harass our sisters and employees and now they are flirting? These two have a lot of guts…” The other male catkin muttered very softly.
I just turned around and looked at them with a blank expression.
“You do know that we can hear you, right?” I said to the pair of male catkins.
Suika simply nodded in agreement.
“Umm… Yarou, Farou… You see…” Hana was playing with her hair. She looked very embarrassed.
She was struggling to come up with an explanation.
“We were totally not sleeping on the job!” Falna lied.
She tried to change the topic.
“Liar.” The tallest of the brothers looked extremely unconvinced.
Falna failed miserably.
“Yarou! How can you say that about your own sister!?” Falna started crying (fake crying).
“That trick has never worked on me.” Yarou looked a bit pissed off.
“I had to try…” Falna smiled bitterly.
“It is not even about the fact that the two of you were taking a nap on the job because we do that too. This is about the very inappropriate thing that you two were doing with two possible clients!” The other male catkin, who I assume is Farou, spoke with an indignated expression.
Getting their head patted is inappropriate? Well, I guess someone could have misinterpreted their loud meowing…
“I never expected that the two of you would allow strangers to touch you in that way!” Yarou looked genuinely outraged.
“I would never allow anyone other than my wife to touch me in such a way!” Farou said proudly.
I just exchanged a confused look with Suika. I don’t think either of us could believe that they were actually pretty serious about this…
“They are not strangers! This is Elise’s husband and that’s Nozomi’s mother!” Hana pointed at us.
“What!? It’s him!?” Farou pointed at me and gasped.
“Is it weird that I imagined him shorter?” Yarou asked his brother.
…
I will not comment on that…
“Sigh... I will never understand why getting head patted is so ‘inappropriate’ for you…” Falna said with a deadpan expression.
“Just leave them be! You know that there’s no point in arguing with them when it comes to these kinds of topics! It is annoying and boring!” Hana said to Falna while shrugging.
“Well, that’s true. I guess they will never experience that heavenly sensation.” Falna said with a red face while looking at Suika and I.
“That’s right! They will never get it! Now, let’s forget about the pair of prudes and have some ice cream! There’s some rumours that I want to confirm with Ru.” Hana looked at me and smiled warmly.
Yarou and Farou didn’t even say anything about Hana’s insult… They were still looking at me and whispering…
“So this is the one that actually got one of the Roses…” Yarou whispered.
“No, no… I heard that he got himself two of the Roses… Some people say that Laura has been openly flirting with him.” Farou was looking at me very intently while whispering to his brother.
Well, it is not untrue that Laura has been sending me some signals here and there…
“Wow…” Yarou looked amazed.
“Ru, forget about that pair of gossipy old ladies! We have a lot to talk about!” Hana started pushing me towards a table away from her brothers… She seemed very excited.
“Suika, please tell me more about your adorable daughter!” Falna started pushing Suika towards the same table...
“Ohoho! Prepare yourself! I have some stories that will melt your heart!” Suika said with glee. She seemed to be looking forward to talking about her daughter.
Yeah, she genuinely is a good mother.
“Hoh… So that’s how you and Elise met. That sounds so romantic and fairytale-like!” Hana’s maiden heart was moved.
“Oh gods! That sounds so cute! I want to see that someday!” Falna was very excited.
Falna, Hana, Suika and I have been seated talking and eating ice cream for the last half an hour.
Yarou and Farou stayed behind the counter whispering and talking about rumours related to me...
Suika told Falna a story about Nozomi when she was a toddler. I, on the other hand, told Hana how Elise and I met each other.
Suika’s story was very adorable! I can only think of hugging Nozomi after I heard that story.
“Ru, you have a bit of ice cream on your cheek. Let me clean it.” Suika said with a serious expression.
She grabbed a handkerchief from her pouch and cleaned the ice cream from my cheek.
“Ah, thank you very much.” I smiled at her.
She smiled back at me with a gentle expression. She really looked very cute…
“By the way, what does your ice cream taste like? Wanna trade?” Suika smiled at me.
“Sure.” I nodded.
“Then don’t mind if I do!” Suika took a big spoonful from my bowl of ice cream and took it into her mouth.
I immediately imitated her and took a big spoonful of her bowl. I instantly took the spoon into my mouth and then tasted heaven…
“It’s so good!” Suika and I said in unison.
Yeah, I can see why Leonard and Rose recommended this place… The decorations are cool and the ice cream is cooler.
Okay, enough puns…
The ice cream is amazing! I can’t use another word to describe it. This ice cream is very different from Earth’s. Well, not totally different because it still tastes the same…
The reason this ice cream is very special is because it apparently never melts. Falna and Hana explained that the ice cream was made with Ice Magic, so unless there’s Fire Magic involved, the ice cream will never ever melt.
So far, I have tasted four different flavours. Strawberry-Vanilla, Mint, a strange one called Yumugn, a lemon flavoured one.
All of them were simply perfect… No… The strange one called Yumugn is the superior one… I had never tasted such a good ice cream in both of my lives.
Suika agreed with me on this matter.
I definitely need to bring everyone to this place.
“You two really look very flirty with each other, you know that?” Hana asked with a teasing tone.
“Well, it should be natural. We are on a date after all. So tasty!” Suika nodded before shamelessly stealing some of my ice cream.
“Ehh? Really!?” Falna looked genuinely surprised.
“I don’t get why you look so surprised. They look like they have a good chemistry going on between them. They also look like a cute couple!” Hana nodded to herself while grinning.
I’m not going to deny that I feel very comfortable around Suika.
“We are not a couple yet though.” Suika said with a flat tone while she was still stealing my ice cream.
“Even though you arrived here with your arms linked and have been nothing but flirty all the time we have known you?” Hana asked with a mischievous smile.
“That’s why I said ‘yet’. He’s going in the right direction, that’s for sure.” Suika nodded to herself. “But, our date is far from over. My heart is not easily winnable, so you better do your best!” Suika smiled and winked at me.
I was left completely mesmerized thanks to that beautiful smile.
“That’s the plan. I don’t give up easily!” I smiled back at her.
“That’s good then!” Suika said happily while she finished my bowl of ice cream.
I then started taking spoonfuls of her ice cream as revenge.
“1,000 points.” Suika whispered to herself. She seemed very pleased for some reason.
Oh… I got a lot of points all of a sudden…
“Not gonna lie, I’m kinda envious of you two right now… Ru, how about the two of us have a date later? I can show you some very cool places around town!” Hana suddenly started hitting on me.
“Hana!?” Falna looked extremely dumbfounded.
“What? You know that mom likes to say that it is better to strike the iron while it is hot, right?” Hana smiled innocently.
I looked at Suika who was looking at me very intently… I have a bad feeling about this…
“We can talk about it later. For now, I would like to focus on this date.” I smiled bitterly at Hana.
Suika looked extremely pleased as soon as those words left my mouth.
“He didn’t hurt her nor did he start to flirt with another girl in front of me and went with a safe approach… 100 points.” Suika whispered very softly.
I think she forgets that I can actually still hear her… Though, I do wonder how many points I currently have…
“Hahaha! I was rejected!” Hana didn’t seem to be affected by that… In fact, she looked a bit pleased as well.
“Hana, what are you doing!? Asking him on a date while he’s already on one! At least wait for their date to end!” Falna scolded her sister.
“Hoho… So that was your plan all along, eh sis?” Hana showed her sister a teasing smile.
“Ehh?” Falna suddenly blushed.
It was actually kinda cute.
“She doesn’t have a lot of experience with men, so please treat her well on her first date, okay?” Hana winked at me.
“What are you even saying!?” Falna got extremely flustered.
“Of course, I also lack experience when it comes to dating so please treat me well!” Hana spoke with a happy-go-lucky attitude.
Well… It looks like I got two more dates… This is getting a bit out of hand…
Suika suddenly stood up from the table and started stretching. The contents of both her bowl and mine were long gone.
“Ru, let’s get moving. I’m afraid that at this rate, these two will start planning their wedding with you if we stay any longer.” Suika looked at the two catkin sisters with a deadpan expression.
I got up from my seat and smiled bitterly in response.
“Ehh? Are you going away so soon!? Just when I was about to ask for you to make me feel that heavenly sensation again!” Hana looked a bit annoyed.
“I also want to feel that again…” Falna spoke shyly.
I just exchanged a blank look with Suika.
Our mighty tag team combo might have corrupted these two...
“Ru, Ms. Suika, please don’t leave!” Farou yelled as he ran towards us.
“We are very sorry for our behaviour from before!” Yarou als yelled with an apologetic expression.
These two have been looking at me and whispering rumours for the whole thirty minutes I was sitting with their sisters.
“Apologies accepted? Although you didn’t really do anything harmful to us.” Suika looked as confused as I was.
I nodded in agreement.
“We were wondering if maybe you could tell us the story about how you met Elise.” Yarou asked with a smile.
“We are really curious about how you managed to conquer one of the Ten Unreachable Roses!” Farou’s eyes were sparkling.
Oh… That again...
For some reason, Falna and Hana looked really pissed off.
“Still going on with that stupid ranking eh…? Perhaps we should tell Jenna and Betty what you guys have been talking about this whole time.” Hana threatened them.
Both Yarou and Farou looked very nervous. The two of them were sweating bullets.
“Oh! Would you look at the time! I have a reunion with one of our suppliers!” Farou immediately escaped through the main entrance.
“I have to go and make more ice cream!” Yarou went to hide deep into the store.
Falna and Hana were looking at the place where they used to be with annoyance.
“Seriously, the men of this town are idiots…” Hana sighed heavily.
“Even though they are already married, they are still obsessed with that stupid ranking…” Falna shook her head.
“You don’t seem very fond of the Ten Unreachable Roses.” I said to the two of them.
“Well, it is just a pain to be a part of it... Yes, it is nice to be part of the most desired bachelorettes in town, but damn… it does get tiresome quickly.” Hana said with annoyance.
Falna nodded in agreement.
“Wait, so the two of you are part of the Roses?” Suika asked with a curious expression.
The two of them nodded.
“Yeah… We inherited the titles after the previous ones got married. I was happy at first, but then our brothers started obsessing with us and mom being in the ranking. They think that it brings prestige and good publicity to our store and family.” Falna admitted that with a tired expression.
Oh, so the whole argument of the headpats was because of the Ten Roses… I don’t really know if it makes the situation better or worse…
I think I should maybe talk with Lana about my encounter with their children…
Wait a second… Falna mentioned her mom… Lana is in the Ten Roses as well!?
“That sounds rough… I know it is not the same, but I used to be in a similar ranking when I was a teacher… I was one of the most popular teachers amongst male students…” Suika smiled bitterly.
Wow…
“So you know how it feels! I’m glad that we aren’t the only ones who know what it feels to be in this mess…” Falna sighed.
“Yep. By the way, who are the rest of the Ten Roses?” Suika asked.
“I only know of six. Elise, Rose, Lana, Laura and you two.” I said while looking at Falna and Hana.
“That’s right! Those are six official members of the Ten Roses!” Hana nodded.
“You should know the rest by now. Alma, Runa, Selk and Normki. Those are the names of the remaining Roses and members of Alpine Tempest.” Falna explained with a serious expression.
“Ehh? We already know all of them… To think that the Ten Roses would be so close to us.” Suika looked surprised.
I was genuinely flabbergasted thanks to the fact that I had already met all of the Ten Roses and that they were much closer to me than I thought…
Ok are you working on having Ru get all 10 of the roses?? I know he's getting Suika and maybe even Nozomi. other then that I would love to know how you think that Yumugn flavor would taste. I think it would be like a mix of chocolate and mint with a hint of rose, maybe lavender and lilac for scent, and if there's things in it, I see it as almonds and cashews with caramel swirled through out.
ohh yes, First and even better then the last part!!
In my headcanon, it was a mix of almonds, a product similar to chocolate but not actual chocolate and mint, with the scent of lavender. Although, your sounds much more appealing ngl...
@blackunicorn Congrats! Thank you!
@GodlyKamui I just love good food so I know what tastes good, to me at least. and yours sounds vary good too, though I will say mine is better for me and that's why I asked. I love to cook and learning peoples tastes helps with it.