I was planning on waiting on a bench in the plaza but Claire had beat me to it. I saw her wearing a light blue summer dress. I walked up and sat down next to her. 

-Aren't you early? 

-Well.. I didn't want to make you wait. 

-Thanks, shall we? 

I got up and offered my hand to help her up. We then walked in the general direction of the café, as we walked we chatted about things though mostly about scientific stuff and about the prototype. As we discussed i sensed a few gazes more inquisitive than the others, perhaps the other directors want some payback? Fine then, let's see if they can handle Epsilon. 

[Epsilon, you there?] 

[Yes sir?] 

[There's a few pests hanging around here, deal with them.] 

[Yes sir.] 

[Thank you.] 

After disconnecting from Epsilon's neural network i look over to see Claire happily smiling as we walk. Adorable aren't you? Soon we arrive at the café and the waitress guides us to our seats, turns out this place has a reservation system and Claire booked us the best seats in the house. I start looking through the menu and notice that all the meal choices are fancifully named with things like "Sweet summer surprise" or "Strawberry delight", is that the charm? Soon the waitress returns asking if we're ready to order, i order a "Parisian meal" while Claire orders a "Chocolate wonderland", the waitress leaves and we put down the menus. 

-Thank you. 

-Hmm? 

-I mean thank you, the whole week has been a roller-coaster of emotions for me. I had the chance to work on a groundbreaking invention then you went ahead and get a seat on the board of directors of the largest company in the world. You even managed to make mother smile again. 

-That was just me being petty with the board, and well, you did help me realise the project. 

-But you guided me at every step right? You had the whole thing planned out already. 

-Perhaps, but i wanted to see how far you could go. Besides, it wouldn't have been as fun doing it solo. My main interest was and still is you. 

-You.. I... Thank you. 

-No problem, I'll keep watching and helping you reach higher goals. 

A silence that could be interpreted as either awkward or pleasant ensued, it was broken by the waitress bringing our meal. My "Parisian meal" was a croissant and a cup of black coffee while Claire's "Chocolate wonderland" is a large bowl of chocolate ice-cream with all the toppings one could have, everything from rainbow sprinkles to chocolate chip. Claire looks embarrassed over the fact that her order is a bit more childish than mine. 

-Don't worry, my tastes have always been a bit more mature than my age. 

I sipped my coffee while Claire enjoyed her ice-cream. Then she looks at me and offers a spoonful of her ice-cream. 

-.... Here... Have some... 

I accept her offer and lean forward to eat it, after leaning back i take a bite out my croissant. Claire blushes while i look around to find that the inquisitive gazes have disappeared, it seems Epsilon did her job. We continue enjoying our food, when we finished i asked for the bill. 

-Let me pay. 

-No, I'm the one who invited you. 

-No. Let me, i have some pride you know. Besides, I'm the one with a large disposable income. 

-Fine... Thank you... 

After paying for the food we started walking back to the academy dorms, but i had other ideas. 

-Claire, how about a detour? 

-Uhm okay. Where are we going? 

-You'll see. 

I lead her to a secluded park that has a view of the ocean. Since it was sunset we had an amazing view. I came across this spot while getting a feel for the cityscape. 

-Quite the view isn't it? 

-Yeah... Its beautiful. 

-Not as beautiful as you though. 

-Huh!? 

-Haha, even a surprised Claire is adorable. 

-Uhh... 

- Here, i got something to show you. 

I walked up to a old withered tree and place my hand on it. A magic circle appeared and covered the tree leaf to root, the tree then started to revitalise. A golden apple grew on one of the branches, i plucked it off and handed it to Claire. 

-Here, take a bite.

-Wha? A golden apple? How? Where? 

-I know you have a lot of questions but just take a bite of the apple, you'd be surprised how much an apple can do for your health. 

-Uhm.. Okay. 

She takes a bite of the apple and a faint glow begins to appear around her, the mana from the apple is flowing into her and boosting her abilities. The apple also has the added side effect of helping to heal any issues with the users body and boosting their immune system, this should help with slightly unstable DNA Claire has, it should also stabilise her her brainwaves. Now she should be able to hold conversations without issue, though now its on her getting comfortable to have proper conversations with anyone other than me, maybe Vanessa can help. 

The most important thing though, is that she's now a full fledged elf rather than some proto-Newman. Some fantasy worlds would call her an ancient elf, while her appearance hasn't changed her body has become more in tune with nature and she has better senses than the average person. Overall its a improvement on her health. 

-How do you feel? 

-I feel strange... Like my body has become supercharged. 

-You'll get used to it, the apple healed some issues your body had, like the unstable DNA. There's a few other things but you'll find out on your own. 

-Where did that apple come from? And what about the tree? 

-The apple was made from the absurd amount of photons i poured into the tree, as for the tree itself now it's just another tree in the park. 

-Okay... But what exactly did it do to me? 

-You'll learn, don't worry about it I'll guide you through it. 

-Like with the project? 

-Just like the project only this time your the project. 

I hold her hand and we walk back to the dorms, its now night so i scared off any would-be thugs with a glare. After returning Claire to her dorm i went to mine and sat down to go over what Epsilon got from our stalkers.