After walking for a few more minutes, Lucia and I made it to the bookstore that we were discussing earlier.

And while this place was definitely smaller than the shopping center, it was still quite massive for a bookstore.

“Groble and Darnes… huh? Why is it that all the places here have weird names?”

I muttered while staring at the bookstore’s bright red logo.

“It’s probably because a lot of these names were made by 2 year olds.”

“Seriously?”

“Mhmm, it’s a tradition for stores around here to get named by the youngest person in the family of the person who opened it.”

“If that’s the case, I’m surprised there aren’t more stores around here that just have unpronounceable names.”

“Well, the owners of the stores still have some say over what their store is named, so if the name that the baby comes up with is just that bad, they could just ask the kid to give them another one.”

“I see.”

“…Though that doesn’t happen often, take this place for example. The name is just a very messed up pronunciation of the names of the couple that opened it.”

“…What are the owner’s actual names?”

“Gertrude and Dane.” 

“That kid’s future seems bright.”

I said with a hint of sarcasm in my voice.

“To be fair, the kid did barely just learn their ABCs when he came up with that name, so it’s kinda a miracle that he was even able to come up with a name in the first place.”

Lucia remarked before intertwining her fingers with my own.

“Anyway, we should probably go inside now, unless you feel like getting cited for loitering around.”

“Yeah yeah.”

I said simply before following Lucia inside the building.

And the moment I set foot inside, I was hit with a strong aroma that was a cross between cherrywood and dried ink. 

Moreover, from a glance, it seemed as if the interior of the store was somehow bigger than the exterior.

…Is it just me, or is every place in this town somehow magical?

“You know. When you said that most of this world had a bit of magic in it, I thought you were lying, but now I’m not so sure anymore.”

I said while looking through a couple of the books situated towards the front of the store.

“See? Listening to me has its perks.”

“I’d listen to you even if there weren’t any perks involved.” 

I said with a bit of a smirk on my face.

“Yeah I know, just making sure that you don’t change your mind later.” 

Lucia remarked while gently rustling through my hair.

“Alright, what section do you want to check out first, Otto? I know you like more romance oriented stuff, so maybe that one?”

Lucia said after pointing towards the leftmost section of the store.

“Sure, I’m fine with that.” 

“Cool.” 

Lucia replied with a bit of excitement in her eyes and then led me towards the romance section of the store.

Which ended up being a bit more compact compared to the other parts of the store, but nevertheless, it still had a bunch of titles for us to choose from. 

Moreover, I was able to recognize a ton of them immediately since I had previously skimmed through a bunch of them in the school library.

Although, the books I read at the school library were definitely in worse condition.

After all, none of the books in the store were missing pages or had mushrooms growing in them.

“So that’s how the story ended.”

I said while quickly flicking through one of the novels I just picked up.

“Honestly, a bit of a letdown, was kinda hoping that we’d get a little more than just one kiss scene.”

Lucia said while peeking at the novel I was skimming through.

“Well, at least they actually figured out they had feelings for each other in the end, unlike other protagonists.” 

“Still, I wish we got the chance to see their relationship develop a bit more.”

“Can’t say that I disagree with you there.”

I remarked before shutting the book close and putting it back on the shelf that I took it from.

In turn, Lucia just grabbed a book at random from the shelf to her right.

“Let’s see if this one’s got a bit more to offer.” 

“Seeing as the book you just picked up has a ‘bestseller’ label on it, I’m pretty sure it’ll be at least somewhat palpable.”

“Just because something’s popular doesn’t mean that it’s good, Otto.”

“Welp. We won’t know for sure unless you feel like buying that. Since I’m pretty sure we’re not gonna be able to read through that whole thing before the store closes.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to buy this then, not gonna miss an opportunity to potentially be right about something.” 

“...I get the feeling that you’d literally move mountains just to prove me wrong.”

“Who knows, while I’m at it, I could drain the sea as well.”

“Coming from you, I feel like that’s less of an exaggeration and more of a promise.”

I said sarcastically. 

“That’s because it is.” 

Lucia replied confidently.

“Anyhow, do you want to keep browsing, or would you be happy if we just grab uh… Silver Mysteries and call it a day?”

Lucia asked while squinting at the title of the book that she just grabbed.

“I don’t mind heading out right now with just that, but are you sure that there isn’t anything else that you’d like to get before we go?”

“Nah, I’m fine. The books I really want aren’t going to be delivered to the store until next August.”

“Aight, I think that we should be good to go then.”

“Okay!”

Lucia said before coiling her arm around my own and walking me back to the front of the bookstore.

Then, she just handed the clerk sitting at the front counter the amount of Dros specified on the book’s tag and led me out of the store.

And the moment the two of us got out of the store, I heard Lucia say something under her breath.

“Finally, I check something else off the list.”

“List?”

I asked, slightly confused.

“Shit, you heard that?”

“Yeah, I’m literally standing right next to you.”

“...Could you maybe pretend that you didn’t hear me?”

Lucia said with a smidge of embarrassment in her voice.

“I could but I don’t want to.”

“Ugh, you can be so difficult sometimes.”

Lucia said before handing me a folded up list that she pulled out of her pocket.

“Is this what I think it is?”

I said after taking a peek at the snippet of paper that she handed me.

“Yeah… it’s a list of things that I wanted to do with you the moment we got into a relationship.”

“That’s very in character for you.” 

“Anyhow… now that you’ve seen it, you’re definitely gonna help me complete some of the stuff that’s on there.”

“Sure, I’m fine with that. Though, I do have one condition.”

“And that is?”

“You have to be the one that fills out the marriage forms.”

I answered with a smirk on my face.

“Fuck! Just how much of that did you read?”

Lucia said, extremely flustered before snatching the piece of paper back from me.