Chapter 005

When Himmel opened his eyes he found the space next to him empty, Syr was gone and he was left alone. Weirdly it felt like something was wrong, that something was missing from him as Himmel sat up and rolled his shoulders to get his arms ready for the range of motions they would soon be performing. He found his clothes folded neatly at the end of the bed in a small pile, he turned himself around and planted his feet on the floor. He winced slightly at the stinging pain in his feet and went to dress himself as quickly as he could, once he had finished dressing himself he looked around for his normal pair of boots and found them missing. In their place was a pair of black boots with small metal plates over the toes of the boots for added protection, Himmel picked up the boots with his right hand as he gathered up the rest of his items and quickly made the bed back so that it was the same as when he had arrived to make it look like he was never even there.

Before walking down the stairs he did a double check counting the Valis that he had left in his pouch and backpack. As well as patting down his jacket and feeling his old man's journal right where it belonged inside the inner pocket of his brown coat. With all of his possessions together he started to walk down the stairs, the hardwood against his bandaged feet strung slightly but it was nothing that was going to kill him so he just ignored the painful sensation. At that moment he remembered what his grandfather had always said to him whenever he scraped his knee or cut himself with whatever he could get his hands on, 'It's far from the heart boy, it ain't gonna kill yah… most likely...' Himmel smiled slightly at the fond memory right as he reached the bottom of the staircase and stepped onto the ground floor, all of the chairs that had been stacked on the tables had been pulled down and set up around the tables and bar. Several women in green uniforms like Syr had been wearing the night before when she picked him up in the back alley walked around the room doing separate chores.

"Nyah, are you that boy that silly boy Syr dragged here nyah?" a young woman with short brown hair suddenly asked him as she stood to his right. Himmel had jumped slightly as she seemed to appear out of seemingly nowhere and after taking a second to compose himself he noticed the twitching brown cat ears atop her head and the skinny cat tail swaying gently from side to side behind her of the same colour.

"W-whoa… you surprised me a little there…" Himmel said as calmly as possible as he scratched the back of his head with his free hand and took a step back from the woman as she leaned closer towards him with a curious expression on her face. "Y-yeah… I am the person that Syr brought here last night… my name's Himmel… it's nice to meet you, you must be one of her coworkers here, right?" he asked as he extended his right hand to shake her hand.

"Yes I am nyah! My name is Nyahnya Fromel!" she said happily in an overjoyed tone as she shook his hand with her own two paws.

"Are… those real….?" Himmel curiously reached his free hand up and grasped her right ear that twitched around for a few seconds as she let out a soft purr and nuzzled her head against his palm. In the corner of his eye he could see another catgirl with black ears and a tail instead of Fromel's brown glaring at him and it was the first sign that he was doing something wrong.

The second sign was the voice that called out to him "Please refrain from touching the girls." a stern third voice said as another female approached him at a quickened pace with a serious expression plastered across her face.

"S-sorry! I shouldn't have done that...I-I just had never seen a cat person before… and I got ahead of myself…" Himmel apologized as he quickly freed her ear and retraced his hand and dropped his arm to his side and changed his gaze towards the floorboards in shame.

"It is fine, if she really did not like you petting her she would have dislocated one of your fingers…" the new woman said in a slightly softer tone as she stood only a few feet away from him. "Her name is Anya Fromel… forgive her poor speech and manners… she is a curious cat…" the woman added which made the catgirl squirm and pout slightly as she made a tactical retreat away back into the kitchen where she had jumped out from.

"No forgive me...I—" Himmel lost his train of thought as he looked up to view the person that he was apologizing towards and was left stunned for a moment as he saw a woman that looked just similar to what the fairytale books his grandfather had read him would have described a fairy. "You are an Elf…." he said softly under his breath to no one in particular. Her pointy ears poked out from her short blonde hair as she narrowed her baby blue eyes slightly to glare at him.

"Is there something wrong with that?" she asked him with the same stern tone that she had spoken to him in moments ago.

"N-no! Gods no, I just… have not seen an Elf before and your looks stunned me for a second… sorry.." Himmel said quickly in his own defensive tone, he did not want to make it appear as though he discriminated against Elves in his first meeting with one of their race.

"O-oh… I-I see…. you have not seen many races before have you?" the woman questioned him as she crossed her arms in front of her modest chest.

"No, not really… I am not from Orario… I just arrived yesterday actually…" Himmel said as he cracked a small nervous smile to try and ease the tension in the air that could be cut with a knife.

"I could have guessed that with how you have been acting and what Syr told me… well, allow me to be the first Elf to welcome you to Orario, then… Mr. Aureole, right?"

"That's exactly right, thank you… um… sorry what was your name… I don't believe that I caught it..." Himmel said with a small nervous chuckle.

"Ryuu Lion, I am friends with Syr…"

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Ryuu… umm… is Syr here anywhere by any chance?" Himmel asked as he leaned to the right slightly and looked around the pub, not spotting the grey haired woman anywhere within sight. He hoped that she was in the kitchen and hadn't left already.

"Yes she is, let me go get her for you… excuse me for one moment." Ryuu said calmly as she did a slight bow before returning to the kitchen where the catgirl had also returned too, a few moments later she came back out with Syr right behind her.

"Here you go Mr. Aureole… it was a pleasure to meet you but I should be getting back to my tasks for now, have a pleasant day." the Elf said as she again did a small bow before walking off to return to her daily chores.

"H-hello Syr…"

"H-hi Himmel…"

"Th-thanks for doing my cl-clothes for me…" Himmel said as he stuck his arms out slightly, if she had not hung them up like she did they would have still been soaking wet from the heavy rain.

"N-no pr-problem Himmel! I-I was h-happy to help y-you!" Syr said happily as she smiled widely and leaned forward slightly with her arms behind her back as she giggled softly.

"I was wondering though...did you put my boots somewhere? I found these ones but I did not see mine anywhere..?" Himmel asked as he held up the pair of black boots that he had found in place of his own worn brown footwear.

"Oh, th-those brown boots of yours were so worn down… s-so I thought that maybe you needed a new pair… I-I guess they aren't really new… they used to belong to another server here as their spares but they don't need them anymore… " Syr said softly as she averted her eyes with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"I-I can't possibly accept these, I have been too much of a hindrance already!" Himmel said as he tried to hand her the boots and she pushed them back towards him and refused to accept them.

"Pl-please H-Himmel… j-just try them on first… like I said they don't need them anymore… so they may as well not g-go to waste, right?"

Himmel buckled for a moment and caved to the girl, he sat down on the staircase and slipped the boots onto his feet one at a time staring with the right and then the left. Syr extended her hand and helped to pull him back up onto his feet as he pushed himself off of the stairs, he clicked his heels together and danced around on his feet for a moment.

"Whoa…. these are… actually really comfortable…" Himmel said in a slightly surprised tone, his previous boots were not a perfect fit, they dug into his heel and scrunched up his toes. But the new boots that he wore on his feet were perfect, that added weight of the protective metal plates over the toes and the back of the achilles heel made them feel a little awkward at first but he could get used to the feeling over time.

"Then there is no problem! They are all yours now H-Himmel!" Syr said happily as she clasped her hands together, smiling brightly and tilting her head to the side slightly in a cute manner.

"I….I guess it's alright… I would have had to purchase myself some new boots anyway, so at least I don't have to waste any money on a new pair now. T-thanks S-syr… I appreciate it… honest… thank you for everything—" Himmel was interrupted as she suddenly lurched forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and locked him in a hug and whispered softly into his left ear.

"P-please stop….you're making it sound like you won't come back and see me… you will… won't you?" she softly whimpered, to the young white haired boy it sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

He forced himself to relax into her hug and returned her embrace and lightly patted her upper back as he spoke into her right ear with a gentle tone "Don't wo-worry… Syr… I will come and visit every now and then… once I find myself a Familia… and get some more Valis… maybe I will come and have a supper here one night… you will be my server, right?".

"Of course! I-I mean...I-I would be happy t-to H-Himmel… if y-you want me too…." Syr said softly as a slight rosy blush creeped its way onto her cheeks.

"I would love that Syr… I will be back before you even relaize that I was gone… promise…"

Syr hugged him a tad tighter as she buried her face into the crook of his neck and hummed to herself softly, she had wanted the moment to last for an eternity. Her peaceful moment however was broken as she started to feel him pulling away from her, giving her a few more pats on her upper back as he spoke to her as calmly as he could "Syr… could you let me go now… the other waitresses are staring…"

Syr pulled back and with a quick glance around the room she could see that several people were staring at the two, Ryuu was keeping a very close eye on her but Syr reasoned that she was only watching over her to make sure that she was safe and nothing more. Lunoire was watching from the far adjacent side of the pub where she was unlocking the doors and was getting ready to set out the sign that would list the specials the pub would be serving for the night. Three curious catgirls were also watching, Chloe was glancing towards the two out of the corner of her emerald eyes. Anya was poking her head over the counter of the bar as she was busy trying to stealthy clean several ale mugs that she had 'forgotten' to clean the previous night. Even May, the Head Chef who very rarely left the backroom was poking her head out from the kitchen.

"R-right!" Syr said in a raised voice which snapped all the other waitresses out of their stupors and made them return to their work. "S-sorry about th-that…" she cooed softly as she giggled slightly. She released the young boy from her grasp and reached out and gave him a gentle poke on his nose with her right hand index finger. "You come back to me... I-I won't forgive you if you forget about m-me…"

"I-I wouldn't forget the only person that has been nice to me since I came to Orario!" Himmel quickly said in his own defence as she lowered her finger and placed it over his lips, silencing him.

She leaned forward with a slight giggled she whispered into his ear "I know Himmel… I was just teasing silly! Now… you get out there and find yourself a Familia!" She grabbed onto his wrist with her free hand and pulled her towards her, she stepped to the side as he passed right by her and she gave him a push on the back. He stumbled slightly but he quickly regained his footing as he grew more accustomed to the new boots and ran out of the Hostess of Fertility. Turning around at the door and giving the grey haired waitress a wave goodbye before taking off out the door and down the street towards the nearest Familia.

Syr watched him from the windows located at the front of the pub until he disappeared out of sight, Syr missed the young boy's touch despite him being gone for only a couple of minutes. She wanted to run out of the Hostess and chase after him to have just one more hug, but she had already been plenty greedy for the day and there were going to be many more chances for her to have her fill of the young boy in the near future.