Chapter 7: A potential friend

**** Steve P.O.V.

Things stayed the same for a few days, waking up early and then training for an hour or so before going to blueberries and working as a mascot until my shift was over.

Nothing major happened except for learning a few tips from the chefs at blueberries about the art of cooking. While it didn't make me an expert at cooking, I at least learned a few tips about how to prepare ingredients for the dish to how to decorate it wonderfully.

Christmas was now 5 days away and you could feel the festive spirit in the air already, people seem to be preparing presents for their loved ones and tera academy had also provided 7 days holidays for their students from today onwards.

As the political and economic hierarchy existed in some way in every part of the world, the tera academy was not unblemished from it too. These holidays were prime examples of it, while the academy gave holidays to all the students studying in it, only the wealthy and those whose homes were near the academy were able to use it to return to their homes. All the rest just visit the outer town during the holidays, though there was a way to get around this ordeal too. During Christmas, some high middle-class families of students visit the outer town as a holiday trip which helped in reuniting the whole family too during the festive season.

All the business persons loved this time of the month as during this period, no business experience loss.

Blueberries just opened their day an hour ago and already there was a long waiting line of customers waiting to check out this new restaurant. there was no shortage of academy students in the line too, It looked like whatever way of advertisement miss Sophie used had proved to be effective.

While I was trying to perform some tricks to entertain the line of customers, Emily came to me and whispered," We are short on hands currently, Phil had ordered Ethan to help inside so you have to hold the fort outside alone for today. "

I nodded as I reassured her, " you guys don't have to worry about here, I can manage it. Just make sure to not exhaust yourself too soon because I feel like today is going to prove to be a big day" I patted my chest to show confidence but it must have been looked funny because of my costume because Emily giggled as she said, " you too " before returning to her post.

This was an opportunity for me to increase my chances to get that extra reward of the quest. If I use these few days to prove my worth to others, I could easily get that reward.

*****

I returned home took a bath before eating dinner as usual. today was a tough day but I somehow survived it. I came into the park after dinner like every day but today I just sat on the bench and enjoyed the night sky rather than walk as I was hella tired.

I observed that there were a lot more people in the Park than usual which might also be because of the academy students that came outside of inner town.

I might have spent 10 minutes in the park when I observe a duo entering the park. Usually, I didn't care about people around me but this duo was special. there were some similarities in their faces so I assumed that they were brother and sister. She appeared to be unable to walk as she was sitting on a wheelchair that moved according to the joystick fixed on the left side of the wheelchair. the boy looked like he was the same age as me while the girl looked at least 4 years younger than us.

They talked among each other for minutes while standing while made me wonder if they were waiting for someone. They finally decided to sit on a bench as they started walking toward my bench because all the rest were already full.

As they came closer, I shifted from the middle to the right side so the boy had enough space to sit on. When the boy noticed me moving without asking, he gave me a grateful smile. The girl operated her wheelchair to move beside the left side of the bench as the boy sat on the left side.

" Hello, I'm Liam and this is my sister Ruby," he said while extending his hand that I received as I nodded.

" I'm Steve, nice to meet you. It appears that you guys are waiting for someone, " I said to continue the conversation.

"yes, we were waiting for our elder brother, he is just about to graduate from the Academy before the start of this term," Ruby told me with a proud look on her face while Liam smiled gently at her sister's behavior.

she had such a pure smile on her face that even I couldn't stop myself from feeling happy for her sake, it was a pity that nature gave such an innocent girl the inability to walk.

" Is that so? That's great," he asked her trying to appear extra surprised to match her emotional spectrum.

She leaned forward a little and said excitedly," I know, right? both of my brothers are capable of using magica. Liam would be joining the Academy this year too. " Liam smiled embarrassingly.

" that's great. who knows if fate had it, we could be classmates. " I nodded at her before turning to Liam as I said this.

" Ohh, I hope so too as well. you look like a potential friend to me. " Liam answered back before he looked at the entrance and exclaimed," look, James has arrived finally. "

Ruby followed his sight and smiled before leaving us to chat by ourselves as she moved to her eldest brother.

James nodded to his brother before he focused his attention on her sister.

" she has blocks in her mana vessels, isn't it?" Liam looked surprised as I guessed the root of her problem.

" I don't know how you figured it out as not many people have this disease but yeah, my sister has blocks in mana vessels that made her unable to use magica as well as paralyzed her legs. she is the most talented and gifted among our family of three but sadly that talent has become a curse rather than a boon for her. Thankfully, James would be with her while I would be staying at the academy otherwise I wouldn't have applied for it at all. " he said with a sad tone as he looked at his sister that was sharing tales with James while he was away.

I would have liked to talk a little bit more with him but I urgently need to confirm something with the system so I said to him, " It was nice meeting you guys, sadly I have to return to my apartment now as it is already late and I need to wake up early for my job. do you know the restaurant by blueberries? "

he nodded as he looked at me questionably," I do, there is only one restaurant by the name of blueberries in the whole town. "

" Well then, how about you three come to visit it. the treat is on me, I don't have anyone in the academy so having you as a friend would be great even if we might get to become classmates" I said to him sincerely.

" no, that is perfectly fine but we can't let you pay for us. how about we share the expenses, I heard it's a very popular place so it must be expensive," he suggested an alternative as he shook his head while getting up.

I stood up too as I shook his hand again as a goodbye for today, " You don't need to worry about that, I work at blueberries. you can treat me some other time, I would be happy to receive it. " I said to him before waving at him as I quickly walked away without giving him any chance to change his mind.

****