A week or so passed, allowing Kreig the requisite time to pick up his very first paycheck. Getting it hadn’t required a full month of work since Kreig had started about a week following the last payday, though it did mean his paycheck wasn’t quite full. Still, he accepted it happily.

Now to figure out what to do with it.

He had already planned to use a bit of it to buy a bike with Erica, but he didn’t actually know how much such a contraption would cost. According to his siblings, it would hardly require the entire paycheck. Which meant he would have plenty of money left over.

But when he wanted to give this money to his siblings for everything they’d done for him, they wouldn’t accept it. How odd. As a matter of fact, they tried their best to empathize that he used his newfound capital to buy himself something nice. The problem was that Kreig couldn’t think of anything better to use it for than to give to his siblings. It was a bit of a conundrum, but for now, he would stow it away until later.

After all, the time had come. Kreig’s heart beat a little faster at the thought, though he couldn’t quite figure out why.

The time was now 11:15, a quarter of an hour before they had decided to meet. Kreig sat perched on the side of the fountain situated in the middle of Space Circle. The little wallet in his pocket seemed to weigh heavily. This was almost a given since it contained nothing but hard cash. There wasn’t a single card to speak of in there. His siblings had considered getting him a bank card or credit card, but after a short while of discussion (that included Kreig), they had decided against it. Even having a bank account was almost too much for him to properly understand.

Kreig was also entirely on board with his siblings holding total control of his bank account. Maybe one day he would want to take control of it by himself, but for now, he felt much safer with that in their capable hands.

Cash, on the other hand, was the safest with him. Who would try to steal from a man well over two meters tall?

Kreig breathed a deep sigh. Still, he did feel a bit nervous carrying around all this money. Not that he actually had any concept on how much it was worth. Sure, Sam had told him what kinds of food could be bought with this and that amount of money, but it all just seemed to conflict with what he thought he knew. For one, sugar was extremely cheap here. Most vegetables were somewhat expensive. Even the most exotic foods could be bought relatively cheaply at the right store. He didn’t really get it.

Just as Kreig felt the need to sink into a little ball of confusion and uncertainty, he felt a hand fall on his shoulder. He perked up and instantly found himself face-to-face with a pretty girl. No, wait, it was just Erica.

“Just” and “just,” she really was worthy of being called pretty. Kreig wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but somehow, she seemed even more radiant than usual, her whole face bright and cheerful. Her curly hair seemed to bounce as she smiled at him, small dimples pressing little holes into her full cheeks. He let his eyes wander down. As usual, she was wearing a flowery dress, one that billowed slightly in the moderate wind. It was pink with yellow flowers printed on it. The fabric seemed to be made of linen or some other simple material.

Kreig had seen many dresses in his days, whether they were worn by aristocrats or peasant folk. The highest of noblewomen often wore dresses made of the finest materials, woven with fibres worth more than many human lives. Such dresses had always struck Kreig as tacky and noisy. Especially the ones with the gaudy colours and the sarcastic floral motifs.

But here, now that he saw Erica in such a dress - in a dress that such noblewomen would scoff at - he couldn’t help but feel that such a dress only worked to accentuate her beauty. “You’re… Really pretty.” The words dropped from his lips before he had time to reign in his awe.

Her cheeks grew red in a matter of seconds. “Th-, that’s-, I-,” she stammered wildly for a few seconds, her eyes darting to and fro before finally settling down on Kreig once more. She smiled bashfully. “Th-, thanks.”

And all of a sudden Kreig felt very inadequate. The only thing he’d done in preparation for this outing was to take a shower and wear clean clothes. That was it. In comparison to the way Erica seemed to have grown twice as beautiful, his appearance was almost insulting.

Red hot shame washed over him. If Erica was prettier than a noblewoman, then what did that make Kreig, who was tardier than a peasant? How could she possibly be in public with someone such as him?

“Y-, you also look pretty,” Erica said, shyly looking away. Kreig stared at her. ”Pretty handsome, I mean! Handsome. Not pretty. Well, maybe a little pretty.” Kreig’s jaw fell open. Somehow, Erica grew redder. Whatever illness that was afflicting her must have been infectious since Kreig soon felt his own face growing hot and red. How should he even respond to that? Now that he thought about it, had anyone ever called him that? Well, he was sure that someone had, before he came to the other world. But he couldn’t even remember that.

Mind flailing for something to say, some explanation of what he felt, he reached for the one thing he knew would work. After all, it had worked on him.

What had Erica said?

“Thanks.” He really hoped that could possibly express the gentle surge of joy energizing him from the inside out. She smiled back.

...Even if it didn’t express his emotions fully, just seeing Erica smile like that made it worthwhile.

All of a sudden, Erica shook her head wildly, making her fluffy curls shake back and forth before slapping her cheeks twice. “Okay! Bike. Bike to bike on. Yes.”

Kreig nodded carefully. “Yes?”

She grinned. “Poirot’ll stay open until like sixteen, so we’ve got plenty of time to just walk around and do stuff.” Kreig scratched his chin. Do stuff. He tried to rack his brain. No, he couldn’t think of a single thing to do in the city apart from what he already did. “B-, but first, since it’s lunchtime, how about we go eat? There’s a café nearby. They’ve got really tasty bowls of salad. Kinda expensive, but hey! We’re out doing stuff. That means we can afford being a little lavish, right?”

Kreig nodded without actually understanding what she meant. “Certainly.”

She smiled brightly. “Great! Okay! Let’s go, I’m really hungry!”

Kreig agreed. Standing up, he was again struck by how short Erica was. It was almost a little jarring, but at the same it, it made it feel like he was out walking with a little field mouse. Yes, she was like a cute little mouse. Kreig almost wished he had some cheese to give her.

They walked together for a bit with Kreig following Erica’s lead closely. Strangely enough, they didn’t just walk straight to the café in silence. Instead, at any time, Erica could stop to show Kreig something, or to explain some little part about a house or a place, or explain how she had once been in one of the many houses for whatever reason. At one point she even stopped him just to show him a fat little caterpillar on the ground. He didn’t really see any need to care too much for it, but at seeing how Erica gently lifted it off the sidewalk and into a nearby bush, he couldn’t help but feel a newfound appreciation for the little insect. It had let him see a more caring side of Erica, after all.

Eventually, they appeared at the café. Getting there had taken a bit more time than expected since Erica had stopped every minute or so, but Kreig saw nothing wrong with this. It had been far more pleasant than how just running there straight away would have been.

The café itself was called The Hole, and was, all things considered, a fair bit “out of the way.” The name was very fitting, but since Erica made a show of growing ever-hungrier just by the sign out front, Kreig found himself with surprisingly high expectations. He trusted Erica’s assessment.

They entered. A little bell above the door chimed pleasantly, making a few of the sparse patrons glance up. Then, upon seeing Kreig (who had to bow down a fair bit to get in through the door) they quickly returned their wide-eyed gazes to their food. A common reaction and not one Kreig found too strange anymore. Hell, to him, it’d almost be weird if people didn’t react like that.

Erica turned to him. He looked back at her. Not a trace of fear in her eyes. It felt nice. She smiled wryly.

Then, she stepped up to the front counter where a man soon turned to face her. He lit up at seeing her. “Erica! how pleasa-,” his mouth snapped shut upon seeing Kreig. He gulped audibly. “-ant. W-, well, uh, what would you like today?”

“I’d like a Ceasar salad, and-,” she turned around to face Kreig. Her lips were pulled tight, eyebrows pinched together oddly. “What would you like, Kreig?”

Kreig turned his eyes to the menu above where the clerk stood. There were many kinds of salads, alongside various pasta bowls and such. The sheer amount of different types of foods made Kreig quake where he stood. “I’ll have the same as you.” That was the simplest option. If she had decided that this Ceasar's salad was the tastiest, then so be it.

She smiled thinly. “Alright. Then, a Ceasar salad for him as well.”

The clerk nodded, his eyes carefully avoiding Kreig’s gaze.

Before Kreig could ask What happens now? Erica had pulled him away from the front desk and over to a small table by a window. They soon sat face-to-face. Kreig didn’t like to find that she had a conflicted expression. She almost seemed thoughtful. But the worst part was that she seemed to view Kreig with some amount of pity.

“...How can you stand it?” she asked, finally looking him right in the eye. “You’re not a bad guy, so… How can you stand everyone looking at you like you’re some evil monster or something?”

Kreig resisted the urge to say Because I am one. Instead, he said, “It’s not something I have control over.” It wasn’t as though he could force people to think differently.

“Well, yeah, but… Out on the street, even though you weren’t doing anything, people just-, they just parted before you. Like they were afraid you were gonna strangle them if they got too close. How can you stand that?”

It was just the way his life was. That’s how it had been for many, many years. And people had good reason to react that way. It was not an unfounded fear. In fact, Erica would be the strange one for not reacting like that. But, of course, Kreig couldn’t say any of that. If he did, she might begin to think there’s a reason to fear him. He couldn’t allow that. He couldn’t bear to lose her. “There is nothing I can do.”

She frowned slightly. “Why, if it was me, I’d wanna strangle ‘em raw! I’d just-,”

A bowl of salad was put down in front of her, making her whole expression do a complete 180 into pure delight. An identical bowl found its place in front of Kreig. The man who had put them down, the same man who had stood as clerk, seemed a bit unhappy with what Erica just said. She didn’t seem to notice it. “Thanks, Eustice!”

“You’re welcome, Erica.”

Erica attacked the bowl without continuing the rather grim conversation of before. Following suit, Kreig took a bite, trying to get a piece of every part in one bite.

Yup. Tasty. It was right to trust Erica.