( Will we be okay? )
Looking at the group again, he regretted his decision to come to the aquarium together.
Misha was afraid of the crowd and didn’t really like this kind of place while the one who should be looking forward to this place was fighting with Eleonore.
And Zero, himself, was not very comfortable in places like the aquarium without his parents. Well, he was trying to be an adult, but he was still a kid at heart. Though he could handle those types of places better than Misha.
Anyway, after some time of bickering and fighting, they finally reached our destination. The Aquarium which is called the Water Beast Park was the largest aquarium in their city.
After reaching the aquarium, Lilith’s attitude completely changed. She switched from anger mode to excited mode immediately. Paying less attention to Eleonore, she began fully exploring the place while also dragging Zero along with her.
Elena, herself, did not seem to hate the place, as she seemed to be entranced by some of its creatures, such as Salos. Perhaps she thinks of it as food? Maybe?
Anyway, she seemed to be enjoying herself to the point that she at least refrained from fighting with Lilith. Misha was also less tense while she looked at the fish.
There were also some ferocious fish monsters which scared her a little. Those were generally below Rank-B and the glass was made out of material that could withstand Rank-A attacks, so there was no danger.
Occasionally, Eleonore will also escort Lilith. Lilith, who seemed oblivious to the type of fish she was seeing, would ask Eleonore, who would proudly tell her the answer. Because of the excitement, Lilith seemed to set aside her hatred and was talking in a friendly manner with Eleonore.
All in all, the trip to the aquarium turned out to be okay. This trip might have made us closer or so I thought.
“Let go of his arms!”
“No!”
“I said let go of his arm!”
“NOOO!”
“This girl!”
As soon as we were done visiting the aquarium and were on our way back home, the fight between Lilith and Eleonore resumed.
*SIGH!
Zero could not think of anything to make them closer. Anyway, they both were older than him and he was in no position to tell them. He just hoped that they would get closer as time passed.
He thought that becoming friends would be beneficial to both of them. He has known Eleonore since they were little and knows that she has very few friends. Because of her fierce personality, rarely anyone would consider befriending her. Therefore, he thought that Eleonore becoming friends with Lilith would be a good thing for her.
Similarly, as far as he has seen, Lilith didn’t have any other friends apart from him. For her also, becoming friends with Eleonore was a good thing.
Though they were fighting, Zero could see that many of their personalities were the same. They were both very energetic and loved hanging out outside. Becoming friends would be beneficial to both of them.
However, it didn’t seem like that would happen soon.
*****
“Zero, I am here!”
From then on, Lilith would come to visit my house where she would meet Eleonore and Misha. While her relationship was good with Misha, her relationship with Eleonore became worse and worse.
Although they would occasionally forget they were enemies while playing together, they would always get back to fighting later.
Zero didn’t understand why they were fighting so much. The things that started their fight didn’t seem very meaningful, and not even kids would quarrel over them. Like who would fight over something like the color of a shirt that is worn by other people?
Anyway, even with arguments, one thing was sure we were slowly getting to know each other more.
One surprising thing that I found out about Lilith was that although Lilith was oblivious to many things, she was able to cook, better than Eleonore at least. Though Eleonore refused to admit that and continued to insult her cooking while also eating her food.
She also was far stronger than I thought. While playing which required physical strength, Lilith seemed to be far stronger than Eleonore.
Well, that was some of the things which proved that she was older than me, otherwise, there was not much to show other than her age that she is older. She didn’t know more than me nor did she act more mature.
Well, I didn’t know her exact age but I assumed she would be around Eleonore’s age, which is 11. She would generally act naive and childish, so I tended to treat her as someone young.
Soon the time came for Eleonore and Misha to go back to their house. Misha thanked me while Eleonore, well she was never one to say that type of thing. I also talked with Uncle Diego who shared his experience in the dungeon.
While I was not a very adventurous person, those things captivated me. Surviving in a place where most humans would die. This type of thing seems to be something that a Hero would do.
Anyway, peace seemed to return to the Elea Family once again. It was not that Eleonore or Misha was a burden, quite the opposite, I loved spending time with them. It is just that sometimes, I also like to stay alone.
Well, my days with them were more hectic this time because of Lilith. She would always visit and even my parents knew about her. They told me to introduce her though I didn’t get that opportunity.
These days, most of my time is spent playing and there is hardly any time for training. Though I don’t particularly love to train, I still do that in order to become a Hero.
It didn’t help that we were on vacation, so I didn’t have to study either. There was still half a month left before school resumed. I decided to take this opportunity to play as much as possible. Anyway, I can train when school starts.
Just like before, I planned to go to the park this time and play with other friends. It had been one week since I last saw my friends.
-CREAK!
I opened my door and I walked out of the house excitedly. I had already informed them and we had planned to meet in the park.
“You are here!”
!!!
However, as soon as he got out, Lilith called him out.
“Lilith!”
Zero didn’t expect to see her in the morning. While he got used to seeing her for the past week, he thought it would be different from today.
“Where are you going?”
Lilith asked.
She seemed to expect that Zero was still going to stay there like before. She didn’t know that Eleonore and Misha had moved back to their own house. She had expected Zero to stay in the house like before.
Zero had similar thoughts and assumed that was the reason why Lilith still came to his house. Otherwise, he assumed that she would be in the park like before.
“I am going to the park to play.”
Zero answered.
“Okay. I will also be going with you.”
Lilith said.
Zero agreed as there was no problem with that.
Just like in the past, Zero along with his friends would play many kinds of games while also exploring different places. They would then visit the arena where some people would be fighting.
However, because the publicly available arena could only withstand Rank-E power, only those below Rank-E were there to fight. But from the perspective of little kids, those fights were too exciting and they loved to watch them.
Lucky for them, today, two Rank-E who seemed to be in high school were using the arena. Zero and his friends immediately sat down and watched the fight. They admired how powerful those older guys were.
However, unlike those kids, Lilith was not very excited to watch these types of fights. Though from the perspective of a small kid who had not trained well, the Rank-E battle seemed out of reach, Lilith knew that those Rank-E fighters would not last one second in front of her.
Anyway, she was following Zero and Zero seemed to enjoy watching the fight, so she didn’t make any fuss.
After that, they ate some snacks while walking on their way to their house. Lilith followed Zero until he reached his home before saying goodbye.
Zero was thankful, knowing that Lilith was trying to look out for him. He knew that Lilith only walked with him to his house because she was trying to protect him.
She was a friend that he had made recently but in terms of relationship, only Misha and Eleonore were more close to him than her.
More importantly, while most of the image that he had of a goddess had vanished due to her bricking with Eleonore, Zero still thought that Lilith was one of the most beautiful girls that he had seen.
Someone who resembled the Goddess.