About 10 minutes later, the line cleared up and the both of us were able to get our lunches.

Lucia decided to get a grilled cheese sandwich while I got myself... something a little bit more special.

“I feel like I’m grasping some sort of enchanted artifact right now.”

I said while staring at the culinary masterpiece that I was currently holding in my hands.

“Otto, there’s nothing magical about the thing you’re holding right now. It’s literally 2 pieces of ham and bacon in between 2 slices of bread.”

“I dunno, this thing seems pretty magical to me.”

I replied before taking a bite out of my ham and bacon sandwich.

“As if you could tell whether or not an object is even enchanted in the first place, Otto.”

Lucia said while stretching her arms a little.

“So, have you seen any trace of Ameil yet, Otto?”

Lucia asked after casually surveying the area around us for a few seconds.

“Nope, that guy seems to always be elusive when you actually need him to be around.”

“You get used to it eventually, give it another 8 or 10 years.”

“…It took you that long to get used to being around Ameil?”

“Well, you can’t ever truly get used to him, but I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t constantly feel like punching him in the face anymore.”

Lucia said casually.

In response, I just winced.

“Oh, don’t give me that. He had it coming 9/10 times.” 

“If you say so.” 

I replied incredulously before finishing my sandwich and tossing the wrapper into a nearby bin.

“Anyhow, if Ameil doesn’t end up showing up in the next few minutes or so, I think we should just head over to the courtyard and call it a day… I mean, it’s not like I didn’t give him directions to exactly where we currently are right now.” 

“Maybe, he just got confused by your directions?”

“That guy is a walking compass, you could drop him in the middle of some forest and he’ll find his way back in like a day or two.” 

“So, if he doesn’t show up, it’s because he didn’t want to in the first place?”

“Either that or he got held back by someone that he just met. Seriously, that guy can become friends with just about anyone he meets. It’s honestly kinda infuriating.”

Lucia remarked with a smidge of indignation in her voice.

“Like come on, you don’t have to instantly become all buddy buddy with someone just because you accidentally bumped into them.”

“Fair enough, I think it took about a whole month before you started warming up to me.”

“Eh, I’d say that you won me over after about 3 weeks, give or take.”

Lucia said with a rye smile on her face before intertwining her fingers with my own.

“You should’ve said something earlier then.”

“Hey, you could’ve said something too, you know?”

“Yeah yeah. Anyway, you wanna take a short break? My legs feel like they’re about to fall apart.”

I replied playfully before gesturing for the both of us to sit down in the shade of a nearby sequoia tree.

In turn, Lucia just nodded.

Then the both of us just walked over to the imposing tree and sat down on its roots.

“Not the most comfortable thing in the world, but I guess it can’t be much worse than the boulder we have to use everyday.”

“It’s either that, or we start having lunch in your classroom more often.”

“Hard pass.”

Lucia replied before leaning back on my shoulder.

“Thought as much.” 

I said, mischievously.

“Anyway, what do you wanna do in the meantime while we wait for Ameil to just randomly show up?”

“Hmm… I don’t have any activity I can really think of from the top of my head that we could do right now.”

“Then… do you maybe wanna try and make up for lost time?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Based on what you said, there was a chance that we could’ve been together a week earlier, right?”

“I guess so, yeah.”

“What would you have had the both of us do during that time if we were together?”

“…Probably snuggle?”

“Then… how about we do that right now?”

“Aren’t we currently in public though?”

“To be fair, we’ve held hands and locked arms in public before, plus it’s not like anyone is really paying attention to us right now, they’re all caught up in their own personal worlds.”

“Hmm… eh, good enough of a reason for me.”

“Great.”

Lucia said ecstatically before wrapping her arms around my neck and causing the both of us to fall over and collapse on the soft grassy floor.

Then Lucia and I just stopped talking and simply enjoyed each other’s company under the cool shade of the sequoia tree.

Unfortunately this didn’t end up lasting that long, since our snuggling session was interrupted shortly after it started by an untimely visitor.

“Uh… did I come at a bad time?”

Ameil asked while holding up a large spherical parcel.

“Of course, you’d show up now of all times.”

Lucia remarked before begrudgingly releasing me from her grasp.

“So uh… you two are dating now?”

Oh right… we never told Ameil that we started dating, did we?

“What’s it look like? Yes, we’re dating, dumbass.”

Lucia replied while squinting her eyes a little.

“Ah...”

Ameil muttered after awkwardly setting down the package that he had in his arms.

“You know, I kinda saw this coming but I didn’t think that the two of you would get together this quickly.”

“Not everyone meanders around when it comes to this sorta stuff, you know?”

Lucia said before standing off and dusting some bits of grass off of her.

“So, are you gonna say that you disapprove or some shit again? Because if you do, I’m not just gonna stand around like last time.”

“Nope, I think I’m good. The only reason I didn’t approve of him last time was because I knew nothing about him.”

Ameil replied while raising his hands up.

“Still shouldn’t have intervened the way you did last time, but I guess that’s a start.”

Lucia remarked, before crossing her arms.

“…Alright, so now that you guys have somewhat made up… can we start on the puzzle that your parents sent? We're gonna run out of time if we dawdle for much longer.”

I said, trying to lighten up the mood.

“Uh, yeah sure, Otto.”

“If that’ll get us out of this awkward situation faster, I don’t have any objections.” 

Lucia said after gesturing for Ameil to open the package.

In response, Ameil quickly crouched down and then opened the box using his sword.