Chapter 6 - Invitation

After the nice and pretty cooling experience, they visited a few other places, with the most notable of them all being the plaza.

One of the few statues of the heroes of the Great War. Two knights stood proudly as their aura transcended time.

Underneath the statue stood words.

'Statue of the Platinum knight and the Rusted Knight of the Arc family'

"I wonder what kind of thing they've accomplished." Yang said in wonder.

"Come on, sis, we've been taught the history of the Great War like a million times at this point." Ruby said.

"You know how much I hate history…" she said and put her hands in the air.

"I'd rather smash a couple of Grimm than to have to sit through those hell lessons for a second more!"

"Look at who turned into a poet all of the sudden." Ruby said and giggled.

After those desserts, the girls let go of their shackles and Ruby returned to her old self.

Red looked at the statues and made a silent decision.

They continued to walk around. He found Yang to be quite intriguing. If he and Ruby understood each other on a spiritual level.

Yang belonged to another whole spectrum. Complete opposite, having all the traits he could never get.

She had her priorities set straight.

"Red, do you have your plans for the future? Like are you going to kick Grimm's ass? My sister needs teammates, thanks to her lack of friends."

"Yang! Don't listen to my sister. I have a lot of friends, you know!" she said and huffed.

Stuck in a hard place. Red thought about his options and the survival rate.

"You are my first friend Ruby, thank you." He said and turned to Yang.

"I'm planning to attend Beacon, but that may change in the future, depending on the circumstances." He said to her.

Quiet silence creeped in and Red took it as his victory.

If he screwed up, it would follow with some kind of drastic change in expression or exclamation. So, the current situation couldn't be that bad.

And clearly he was right.

They continued on talking as Ruby began talking about the architecture.

She even mentioned from which era they were. To his surprise, she knew a lot about history and little details that may escape the eyes of many.

"Don't worry about it. My sister is a nerd." Yang whispered in his ears.

"I heard you, you know!" Ruby said as she appeared beside Yang at some point.

"Smart nerd." She said and put up on a smirk.

Ruby groaned and started talking to Red. She told him about everything she could remember, purposefully ignoring Yang to the best of her abilities.

'Foolish sister.' Yang thought to herself and happily walked behind them.

She wondered what kind of expression their dad would have when he found out about Red and the chemistry between the two.

Although Red acted oblivious. She was sure that it was one of the strategies employed by horny teenage boys.

After all, she had the pleasure to play around with a couple of them.

Most of those turned out to be scums. But this one didn't stick to her more developed body. On the contrary, and to her pleasant surprise, Red somehow avoided looking at her uncovered areas.

'Maybe I can grab a bite if my sister is too slow~.' She thought and took a second peek.

'No way. Too young.' She thought about it some more. He might not even be mature enough to make them stand.

Otherwise, he'd at least take one peak. Right?

"Wait, where'd they go?"

Yang found herself lost as crowds of people took over her peripheral vision. Suddenly, she felt something approaching her hair.

"Boop."

"Rubes, you can't do that. I almost thought you were one of the creeps." Yang said as Ruby handed her something.

"Here, strawberry ice cream." She said with a grin.

"Isn't this… A bit too red?" She asked. The ice cream had a very deep red hue.

Red just stood there, contemplating his options.

The number of possible outcomes out of this couldn't be calculated and, to his knowledge, almost none would be positive.

A bit skeptic of her sister. Yang tried it and as her pink tongue touched the cold ice cream, her expression lit up.

"Rubes, you are a genius!" She said and gave her sister a hug.

"How can that taste good?!" Ruby asked in disbelief.

Red too couldn't understand how Yang had just took it without a problem.

The sign clearly said 1 000 000 SHU ice cream challenge. While he didn't have the slightest clue what the units meant. Dozens of people beside the stall prayed, and some even plunged into the water fountain after they've tasted it.

Yang licked it a bunch to Ruby's disbelief before taking the opportunity of her sister's open mouth.

Ruby's expression turned from one of confusion to that of absolute terror. She took her ice cream and basically plunged her tongue inside of it.

"Your turn~." Yang said and caught Red off guard.

At first, he felt a rush of sweetness that gradually got hotter and hotter until he felt like his tongue caught on fire.

"How's it feel to get an indirect kiss from two ladies?" She asked as her smirk went up.

"Spicy, very spicy." Red said and struggled to keep his expression the same. Even in his old world. The spicy things he tasted couldn't compare, even if they were clumped up together at once.

Yang clicked her tongue as her target remained unfazed. Thankfully, she located her primary target and walked over to her as she enjoyed the ice cream.

"Get that away from me!" Ruby yelled and turned into rose petals.

Her ice cream had long lost its potency, and she had to endure it all alone. Even the beatings of her uncle couldn't compare to the might of that monstrosity.

He watched the two while enjoying his ice cream. The taste went up a few notches as the spice fighting against it.

Perhaps in combination with those two, it wasn't that bad…

To Yang's absolute dismay. Ruby used her semblance to evade any attempt at what she called 'assassination'.

"Your loss Rubes." She said and gave up after a while.

After this encounter, they decided to head back slowly. The Sun already began to go down and they wouldn't be able to endure the wrath of their dad if they didn't come home on time.

Especially when a boy was involved in all of this.

"Red?" Ruby asked as he felt a tug on his shirt.

"Hm?"

"Are you free next Sunday? You see, I am having my birthday party…"

"Can I come?" He asked, and she started glowing.

"Yeah! I can pick you up at 2 in the afternoon." She said and connected her gaze with her sister for a second.

"Sure." He said and started to think.

While he didn't mind, the gift would prove to be a challenge.

They had a bit of time left and so he decided to take them to a nice spot. Before the ship arrived, the Sun would be already down for a few minutes.

This gave them enough time to catch a sunset.

Near the docks, Red climbed up some boulders and arrived at his destination. A small crevice between the boulders.

Just as they got down. They witnessed the Sun going down. It lined up right between the boulders and created something unique.

The boulders opening a path to the beach as the Sun went down. The last bits of sunlight fell upon them.

"You don't have a bad taste after all." Yang said underneath her breath.

They slowly watched the sun go down in silence.

"Oh no, we have to go!" Ruby said as she looked at the time.

"See ya!"

"Bye Red, I'll see you on Sunday!" she said, waved and then turned into petals, catching up to her sister.

He waved back until they vanished. The entire day rewound itself inside his head.

In reality, it didn't bring him much.

No information, strength, knowledge or news he had to watch out for. Just walking around doing basically nothing.

Normally, he'd feel uncomfortable and would at least try to gather some news.

Today though. He didn't mind spending all of that time for nothing. A feeling he didn't mind that much.

He sat there for half an hour before the cold breeze brought him from his stupor. It must have been all what having friends felt like.

Useless, but not boring, nor did it bring him any anxiety.

In fact, maybe it did bring him something. Maybe he got a step closer to understanding.

But why he never felt something like this with a person he spent years travelling with and exploring time lines, he didn't know at all.

Surely, he knew her more. She knew him more and cared for him more. Yet, he never felt something like this, not even remotely close.