He parked his bike carefully and waited a moment for Rebecca to slip off before doing the same. Zero glanced back before letting out a small snort of laughter at the sight of her disheveled hairstyle, barely held together in a ponytail. With practiced ease he slipped his own hair back out, letting it uncurl as it fell down his back. “Yup.”
His own order was simple – just a plain vanilla cone, and even getting that was solely so that Rebecca didn’t feel singled out eating ice cream by herself. After paying, Zero took a seat off to the side of the small store as he waited for Rebecca.
An odd sense of… strange, for lack of a better word, seeped over him as he watched her. Watching himself. Here he was, Class-S Hunter and demon to mavericks and hunters alike, sitting in an ice cream shop with a girl who viewed him as her father. It was surreal.
“… Thank you.”
“Maybe I should’ve put my hair up before the ride here.”
She huffed in response to his snort, sticking out her tongue before going to make her order.
A strawberry-vanilla soft serve cone, and several napkins to share, and she plopped down in another chair by his. She offered him a couple napkins before starting to eat her own ice cream.
“Here you go.”
Then, she blinked in surprise before her expression slowly formed into a bright grin.
She didn’t think she knew what he was thanking her for, but it made her feel warm and fuzzy inside anyway.
“You’re welcome, Papa.”
Back in the Game 