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Evening has arrived upon Parfaedia, a bustling magical city in which the streets are crowded with skilled wizards and students eager to improve their magic. Cream Puff Cookie has finished her last class of the day and is now heading to the institute gates to go out book hunting.
"Going to the bookstore again?" Her friend finally caught up to her as she reached the stairs. He has been her friend since they first get accepted to the Parfaedia Institute, the most prestigious magic academy in the city. Cream Puff herself has picked up the hobby of going to bookstores, because bookstores do look neat in this city.
Or atleast that's what her friend thought.
"Yes! I got enough Coins for the book I want today, wanna come with me?" She offered, she knows her friend isn't really that interested in collecting books, but she knows there's a street food vendor he likes near the store she's visiting. He agreed and they walked out the gates of the academy, into the crowded road, they hold hands to try to not get separated.
The other academy in town also finishes its class at around the same time, so the streets are always packed in the evening. They reached the bookstore safely and her friend waits outside to queue at the snack vendor he's looking forward to.
There's a certain reason why she picked this bookstore again despite having visited it 9 days in a row, she wanted to see someone.
After some time pretending to be busy and reading the unsealed books, the Cookie she's been waiting for finally arrived, but not alone like before.
"I told you, I saw the book you wanted in here yesterday!" Says the shorter one, he has a cream hair similar to hers, but not as soft as hers, and he has a creamy scarf wrapped around his neck and mouth. His friend is taller than both of them, he seems to be his senior, he got curly locs made from licorice. Unlike her academy uniform, they both wear tall wizard hats. "You better be right, I've been looking for this book all week!" His friend replied.
Cream Puff was a bit disappointed, she has been mustering up courage to talk with him alone that day, but he came around with a friend. She can't do much but to cancel her plans. Unbeknownst to her, the other two is heading to her spot while she's busy contemplating.
"Oh hey, you were here too yesterday! You're looking for the same book as us?"
"AAH! I-I'm not, I'm just looking around haha... Excuse me..." She hastily replied, then immediately made a mad dash to the fiction section in the store. The other Cookie just looked at her confused, she can't help it, now all she can do is watch them talk about the book she was previously reading, and quiet talks about her.
"You know her?"
"No, I just happen to see her here yesterday."
"I see, well, let's pay then get back to our room, my dough is so stiff from sitting all day, I wanna lay down."
There goes her chance of talking with him, he will then never visit this store again after finding the book he and his friend been looking for, and she will never find him again in that crowded streets of her city, she just know it!
"Hohohoho! Kid, I saw your whole ordeal there, are you okay? You don't look too good." The Bookseller Owl came to her after the other two Cookies paid for their books and left the store. She knows he meant well but knowing the bookseller saw her entire theatrics just made her embarassed, "I-I'm so sorry for causing such a commotion in your store." she bowed at the bookseller to apologize.
"It's okay kid! What's your name? I've seen you here for a few days."
"Cream Puff Cookie..."
"Well, Cream Puff Cookie, as thanks for liking my boo-ookstore so much, I'll let you take one of these fiction piece for free, how about that?"
Cream Puff was taken aback, she can't just take one home without paying! Not after that whole theatrics that happened in his store. "N-No! It's okay, thank you anyway mister bookseller..."
The owl blocked her from leaving with his wings and guided her back to the fiction bookshelves she was standing at, "O-ooh I insist, consider this as my thanks for visiting my store many times! My store is new and seeing someone liking my sto-ore so much to visit it every day has really made my day. Go on, pick one that you like! One of these should be guaranteed to fix your moo-ood!"
Cream Puff Cookie has no idea what happened, but now she comes out of the store with a free book in hand, she had chosen a romance novel that has an interesting cover, not really her kind of genre but something made her pick that certain novel. She should thank the bookseller owl for packing every purchase in his store in a paper bag, because atleast her friend won't see her buying that.
"Cream Puff Cookie! Ah, we got our stuff at the same time, that queue is so long, but I get why, his ice cream tastes really good!" Her friend ran to her with one hand holding the ice cream that seems impossible to make, it's quite tall. Her eyes wandered and spotted the boy she's been looking for in that same queue her friend lined up in, without his friend. Does she really want to queue in here for a chance?
"That does look good... Hey do you mind going back to the academy alone? I thought about it and I wanna try the ice cream too..." She politely asked, her friend just raised his eyecing brow at her, "Whaat?? You could've asked me to buy you one as well, do you really wanna go through that?" He replied, pointing at the general direction of the queue. She nodded so quickly and her friend just said his goodbyes and promised to wait for her in the academy park.
Now that she's alone again with this boy, she joined the incredibly long line that queues for that ice cream vendor. While waiting, she ripped open the paper bag to read the novel to pass time. "Endless Dreams with You." is etched on its hardcover, a story about a love life so unbelievably good in a dream that its protagonist refuse to wake up from. The cover itself is ethereal, but its contents is something else, a writing style so good she got so immersed into its world.
"Hey!"
"A-Ah! Who..?" Cream Puff yelped in surprise and instinctively returned the novel into the paper bag, now her caller's face is fully in her vision, "You saw me in that store some minutes ago."
It's the boy she was looking forward to speak to! He's out of the queue with 2 2-scoops ice creams in both hands, and he saw her reading a romance novel...
"Oh did you get the same book I bought?" He asked, atleast he didn't see the book she was frantically trying to hide, "Yes..."
"Hey, rather than having to suffer for longer in the queue, how about having one of mine instead?"
She can't believe this, "No, it's okay, you queued for so long to get those."
"I actually got two since I saw you queueing."
Cream Puff can't believe her luck, now she's sitting on a bench with him, eating ice cream together, ice cream that he bought. It all didn't go according to her initial plans, but this is nice too. As he tries to eat his ice cream, he pulled his scarf down to reveal his mouth. His face has a certain charm to it when his mouth is obscured with his scarf, but his full face is even cuter.
"I'm Popping Ice Cream Cookie! We're not from the same academy so I thought it would be cool to have a friend from the other magic school in town." He initiated the talk first, and now she even knows his name first... what is this luck, she wondered...
"Ah, I'm Cream Puff Cookie, nice to meet you. Ah! And thank you again for the ice cream, I'll pay y-"
"No no it's okay! My treat!" He gestured to stop her from taking out her wallet. Cream Puff really can't take this, she knows he's studying in the less desirable academy in town, she feels like she's taking money from a poor kid.
"Are you sure? We just met and I really feel like I should-"
"It's okay! Consider it as my... apology, for making you uncomfortable back there in the bookstore."
Cream Puff Cookie wants to scream. If only he knows it was because she's mad at herself, not him, but does she really want to admit that? What if he asks for more?
"You didn't make me uncomfortable..." She grumbled lowly, unsure what else she should say. While she's grumbling though, she sees him taking out a packet of what seems like candy, popping candies. He poured half of its contents onto his ice cream, before offering it to her, "This is the best way to eat ice cream! Wanna have a try?"
Cream Puff Cookie took up on his offer and poured the rest of it onto her ice cream. One bite of her ice cream now produces crackles in her mouth, it tingles. It's not unpleasant but it does take a while to get used to, it's a new feeling on her tongue, on every crackle she can taste more sweetness, "It takes a bit to get used to, but it's an interesting new feeling." she said.
It's the taste of spontaneity, just like whatever has happened today, and it's a taste of him. She gets to know more of him today. Popping Ice Cream Cookie, a boy full of surprises...
"I'm glad, I would share the joy with more Cookies but not everyone likes how it crackles in their mouth." Popping Ice Cream Cookie smiled back.
Surprises are not for everyone.
They started talking about their respective academies and magic, Cream Puff finally learned that he's a few grades higher than her, despite being the same age as her, and his friend is actually his senior, no wonder he look much older. While she hasn't reached his grade, she enjoys listening to him talking about what he learned in class. She thought of asking him to teach her to get better, but will that be asking too much from him? They've only got to have a proper introduction today, they're not in anyway close, all he did was buy her ice cream.
"Did you learn about anything interesting in class? I've probably learned what you're studying right now, but I just want to know." He asked her.
Ahh, his voice is beautiful but he can sound a bit arrogant. Cold like ice cream.
"It's nowhere as advanced as yours, still on the basics, but I'm already having difficulties with it." She answered nervously, it feels weird to be friends with someone the same age as her who has a much better skill at what she does.
"How about studying together? My classes can get boring sometimes, maybe it would be more fun studying with you." He said very nonchalantly. Why does he seem to be pushing for them to keep hanging out together?
Maybe there really is a chance for her.
"You're okay with that? Oh thank you thank you thank you!!" Cream Puff yelled excitedly and hugged her new friend, for someone who she thought to be as cold as ice cream, he sure does warm up quickly, literally and figuratively. For some time, it felt so nice, atleast until she realizes what she's doing, she immediately pulled back.
"Ah, I'm so sorry!!! Popping Ice Cream Cookie I'm so sorry!" She pulled her arms back, she noticed that he pulled his scarf back up, trying to cover his face, ah the hug probably caught him off guard too...
"It's fine, it's fine." He replied back, while still trying to hide half of his face. That day has gotten awkward though, they don't speak anymore, they try to look away from each other, both still blushing from what had just transpired.
Cream Puff must've spent too much time contemplating with herself that she didn't realize she has gone past curfew. All students of Parfaedia Institute are to stay in the academy grounds by 6 PM.
"Oh no! The curfew! I forgot! Oh no what do I do now??" She broke the silence, atleast Popping Ice Cream Cookie seems mortified too, it seems that they have both missed their curfews.
Or that's what she thought, his face seemed to lit up after thinking about it, "We can try testing the teleportation spell I learned a week ago, if you're up to it." He gave his idea, though he seems a bit hesitant.
That seems like a horrible idea, a spell he only just learned a week ago?? There's no doubt the chance of it failing is high, and what will happen if it fails?? Cream Puff seen her fair share of failed spells and this seems too high risk, what will happen to her if it fails mid-teleportation??
"What about you?"
"I can fly myself to my dorm window, I can't fly 2 Cookies at once though."
Against her better judgement, she agreed to his idea, not like she got much choice to begin with. They run back to her academy to gauge where her dorm room might be. After spotting her pet owl in her window, they found her room and immediately hide in bushes to perform the spell.
"Pray that this work... Licorice Cookie tested it with me and he came out fine in 2 out of 5 tests we did, try not to freak out okay?"
If that's his way to reassure her, then he's doing an abysmal job at it. Nonetheless, she try to stay still.
"Okay, I'm ready..." She stated, and a magic circle forms and glows bright beneath her shoes, she doesn't wanna know what happens next so she closes her eyes. Nothing has happened if she never saw it happen.
"Oh Cream Puff Cookie you've been here this whole time?"
She opens her eyes, instead of bushes, she is now standing behind her desk. One of her roommates been looking for her since her friend told the principal that she's not back in the academy yet. It seems that she got back to her dorm in time, "Oh, yes.. I've been reading a book I bought today. Do you need anything?" She tries to keep a straight face.
"Oh, no, it's just the principal asking me, well I'll report back to her then."
As her roommate left the room, she sighed. She seems to have survived Popping Ice Cream's teleportation spell unscathed, except her hat, it has gone missing from her head. She thought it's a problem for future her to solve, for now she changed to her pajamas and took her book out of its paper bag to read it in bed. She noticed a crumpled paper falling out of the bag, at first she thought the novel is falling apart, but it's a letter from him, probably stuffed in her paper bag in a hurry.
"Inform me of your schedules if you're still up to it. Your presence has made my day more colorful than usual, looking forward to study with you!"
She can't believe this happened, it seems too good to be true but it happened. Hard to believe that she saw him a week ago and is now friends with him, he even offered to teach her...
Ahh, if this is truly a dream, she hopes she would never wake up from it.