Doomed to Die in 3 Minutes

Bittersweet

“...I’m full. I’m going to uh, take a walk and soak in the night air. Just relax on a nice comfortable stroll. So do you think you could let me go?” She pulls back and finally releases me from her embrace and hops off and stands by my side. I take a deep breath, that was a lot of close-quarters excitement in a short time. I can just walk this off, too much excitement for me. I let out a little chuckle at that. 

Make me fight for my life against a giant terror, a massive army, or a rabid berserker primal, and I’ll leap in like an i***t and say I can handle it. Put a pretty girl on my lap and everyone loses their minds. I get up and start to walk deeper into the city… and feel a pair of arms wrap around my left arm and something land on my shoulder.

“Oh.” I want to say I’m surprised but I’m not, not really. I turn my head to see Alisa there smiling with her eyes closed. She wraps up even closer and I’m vaguely aware of her chest rubbing against my body as she clings closer to me. “I always thought it was silly that girls would do this with guys, it made them look so childish and attention-starved, but now that I’m doing it myself, it’s actually quite nice to feel the warm body of someone right next to you. To rest your head on their shoulders… like you’re safe in bed but out in the wonders of the world… with someone, you’re very interested in.” She looks like she’s having the time of her life just standing by my side. 

I thought I had quelled it but a storm of butterflies bursts inside of my stomach again. Never a dull moment in my life since I had the courage to fight. Is this what they mean by fortune favours the bold? Did the world just choose to make me the protagonist all of a sudden? Oh gods, please don’t make me one of those guys who has a million girls fawning over him. I really don’t want that. I know people can say something about pearls before swine. I know it’s like having riches and not wanting them when everyone else has nothing but… caring about another person like that is a lot of work. 

I’m just mindlessly walking through the torch-lit streets with the belle of the ball wrapped around me. Heads turn out of jealousy and admiration. This is not something I’m used to at all. “You’re very cute with that look on your face, you know that? Just walking beside you, seeing the way you carry yourself, the steps of your feet, the expressions that shift across your face… and the beat of your heart.” She moves her head to rest her right ear on the left side of my chest.

It speeds up like a jackhammer. She giggles as it’s just so amusing for her. “I can learn a lot from just the way you walk. I can feel how you feel. She returns to rest her head back on my shoulder again. She’s probably not wrong or just being cute either. A hero would have incredible perception and the ability to infer from the smallest details. Like an ace detective at the scene of a crime and I’m one sloppy thief. She has me cornered and can do anything she likes. Is this how I’ll always feel around her? 

“If you want to take control, I’m more than happy to let you hold my leash.” A smug and sly look from her as she reads me like an open book. I cough and turn away embarrassed. I can’t win against her. Complete annihilation. 

“Alisa! Come here girl! I’ve got your favourite ready!” Alisa gently tugs my arm and I’m forced to look in the direction of the voice that called out. I see a stall with an older woman behind it stirring something in a metal pot. I head towards it, resigning myself as the escort of this very attractive and pushy woman. A very faint and sweet fragrance hits me. Fresh milk and diced fruit. I look inside the pot and see something I haven’t had the joy of witnessing in quite a while. It’s ice cream. Making it in this world is rather difficult unless it’s snowing and even then it’s usually something closer to shaved ice. This old lady, for her to make it she’s probably pretty decent with ice magic. She takes out a scoop for us each and hands it to us.

“Free of charge for our heroes.” She winks at me before whispering. “I saw your fight up close, at least as much as I could. The way you sent him flying into the sky like that! I wish I could have given that bastard a good slug to the face! I’m sorry I couldn’t have done anything. All I can do is make this and hope people can smile a bit better each day from now on. Please, enjoy!” I shyly nod as I look at the cone with nostalgic memories. I find myself welling up a bit. It’s just ice cream. It’s frozen milk shaped into a ball topped with some fruit juice and pieces of strawberry held up by a wafer cone. That’s all it is but… I take a lick and I’m taken back. To Earth for a brief mere instant. Eating back at Albion’s place was a great reminder but this is… home. My childhood in a bite. 

I see a single tear roll down Alisa’s face. “A-are you okay!? Did something happen?” I’m panicking for some reason… did I do something wrong? Was I too quiet? Did a bug or something fly into her ice cream? She looks directly at me. “It’s just… silly. I always got this as a kid after playing a bit too much or after I would complete a mission and share it with everyone else at the orphanage… then for a long time, I couldn’t because of that bastard banning it. I finally get to taste it again, after I died once too… it’s just a bit… much? I don’t know. It feels like the first taste of normal I’ve had in a long time. It’s nothing complicated. It’s just…” She struggles to find the words to describe it but she quickly settles on just one.

“Sweet.” She takes another lick of the ice cream and another tear falls from her face. “It’s really silly, for me to feel this way about something like this, right? It’s so… I’m not a kid… ah, did you change it a bit? It’s a bit… bitter…” 

It’s a bit awkward because we’re both holding something in a hand each but… I wrap around to hug her. “It’s not stupid at all. I was just… feeling the same. So don’t cry, okay? The whole city will kick my ass if you do.” She chuckles again but I can hear the cracks in her voice… so I just hold her close for a bit. “Ah, that’s great… you’re so warm. Alright, I feel much better. Now let’s eat it up before it gets cold!” Like that, as chipper as a bird at dawn yet again.

Amazing.