Tea Party Preparation

After their thrilling endeavours at Amethyst Falls, the Champions had their hands full in conducting a strategy meeting for the past few days.

Reviewing the recent battle, calculating the enemies' next moves, presuming other plausible motives, figuring out the unprecedented – Hal and the others had been hectic. Being a Champion is certainly not for everyone. Along with this is the news that the flower field Eli found three days ago had suddenly become out of bounds with the Gardening Club's preparation underway. It turned out that an open house flower exhibition would take place tomorrow.

As a result, they had to move the party to a later date and find a different location.

"B-But why here?" Eli stammered out, flummoxed.

She's currently standing at the doorway of the Student Council's clubroom, looking as if she just entered a restricted territory. Hal and Allen were already preparing the snacks and tableware when they noticed her odd reaction.

"Oh, does this place not satisfy you? Is it too cramped? It's the only available space at the moment, though," Allen voiced out, slightly tilting his head in bafflement.

"Are you joking? This place is larger than our living room. It's just that… Knowing that this is the Student Council's… I felt like I'm intruding…"

Hal and Allen only blinked at her quizzically. Eli knew they didn't get it. Although it was her second time here, she still wasn't used at how spacious and sumptuous it was. A commoner like her would see it that way, at least. What's more, this is the venerated Student Council's workplace. To have it used like a party venue seemed to be inappropriate.

"I hope you'd also thought that way when it came to the library," Hal deadpanned as if he just read her mind.

"W-What…?" Eli stuttered.

"That's the face you make when you're shy or reluctant. You're really easy to read~"

She only groaned at this while he continued to make fun of her. That's until Allen chuckled out of nowhere. The two only stared at him questioningly, oblivious of what's amusing him. In reality, he just thought that they'd really gotten close to be bantering like that. Not to mention, Hal was now able to crack Eli's reactions so naturally.

After their moment of mirth, they finally proceeded to the preparation. The guys readied the table and silverware. Since Eli had no idea how to do it, she was tasked to brew the tea. While doing so, however, she'd also glance at their direction in curiosity.

"Wow… Both of you are really good at this…"

Eli was stunned as she watched them arrange the table so flawlessly. Then again, they came from a world of nobility. It's a given that they knew a thing or two about high society gatherings and were bound to learn a handful of proper table etiquettes.

They placed a set of antique pots and teacups on a table decorated with lace cloth. Along with these was a silver candelabra and a posy of flowers as the centre pieces. The setting was similar to those Victorian tea parties she'd often read in books.

"Angelica, is it alright for you to call the others again?" Allen asked, concern laced in his voice.

It took a few seconds before Eli realized why he sounded worried. Then, with a reassuring smile, she just nodded at him and gave a thumbs up. Allen was probably worried that she might end up getting tangled into some trouble again, but even then, he still considered her desire to invite the others herself. She honestly thought that it wasn't really worth fretting about, though.

"I'll just go with you," Hal suddenly chimed in.

Surprised, Allen and Eli swerved their heads to find him already walking to the door. While she only stared at him with a puzzled expression, the red head grinned knowingly. Hal then turned to Eli again and nudged his head towards the door to which she just silently complied despite her confusion.

"Well then, Hal, make sure to escort the lady properly," Allen quipped, earning him an unamused frown from him. Eli only looked at them back and forth. Then, without further ado, the librarian and his assistant made their way to the seventh grade's building.

Eli thought that Hal was acting strange lately.

For one, he started tagging along with her during break time. It wasn't really that frequent since he'd only follow her around when she's outside the classroom, though. He'd usually hang out with his guy friends, only engaging in idle chitchats with her from time to time. What's more, there's the time when he suddenly demoted her from being his errand girl into a library keeper – in other words, hygiene management overseer. Although cleaning was basically her duty in the first place, she's baffled as to why he had to emphasize that as if assigning her to an inferior position.

Then, there's now – he'd actually gone with her even though she'd be returning with company.

"You don't have to come, you know. You must be worried that I might cause trouble again, but I already promised to let Venus take over me the moment I felt it when I'm alone."

"What are you talking about?"

And there's his usual sarcasm again.

Eli knew that he's aware of what she meant by that, but he pretended to beat around the bush as a way to dodge the main point. In fact, Hal had that habit of acting clueless when he just really didn't want to answer. It irked her to an extent, but since she's now slowly getting used to his cunning fronts, she just let this behaviour slide, thinking that he'd probably tell it to her when he really wanted to.

"Maybe I could introduce them…" he mused out loud, resting his arms on the back of his head.

"Who?" she asked.

"Bodyguards."

Eli visibly stiffened at that, eyes bulging in surprise.