Capítulo 39: Grace Appears
Cassius had a very fond view of the beautiful girl idolized by all in their school. And though they had never previously interacted with each other, he was sure that she would treat him just the same if given the chance.
As the seconds turned into minutes, then hours, Bella ultimately descended from the top floor, appearing more like a graceful fairy than a human being.
As a C-Ranked Awakener, it was only natural for her movements to appear otherworldly. In fact, it was because of the way she moved—and a little bit of digging around—that scouts from major Hoshito guilds like the Black Sparrow Guild became incredibly interested in her prospects. Many times, she had been offered a direct high-ranking position in C-Rank guilds, yet she firmly denied all of them, adamantly refusing to become embroiled with Hunters and Gates at this point in time.
Cassius had been a little curious as to why Bella seemed to steer away from all things Hunter-related, especially given her talents, but he decided not to pry. She appreciated this, which was likely one of the leading reasons she remained so friendly with him. And now, even after seeing that his appearance had changed so much, she treated him no differently than before, not caring one bit about superficial things like looks.
From what Cassius had heard before summer break began, Bella was also this way around other students. This sometimes annoyed the generally attractive people who approached her in hopes of using their appearances to get closer to her.
Even excluding Bella's immense beauty, she was still a C-Rank Awakener and the daughter of the chairman of a large Hoshito conglomerate. Her family's and business's influence extended far beyond the small town of Hoshito, yet she still deigned to work part-time at a humble bookstore.
"She is truly something special," Cassius murmured fondly, his eyes respectfully tracing the immaculate curves of the black-haired fairy.
Bella's small ears twitched cutely as she eyed the devilishly handsome man holding a wooden sword. She was going to ask if he had said something just now but quickly changed her mind when she noticed the sword in his hand.
"What are you doing with a sword at work? Do you believe yourself to be a samurai or something?"
Watching such a short, pretty girl berate him made Cassius overlay her image with that of an angry squirrel. "She is surprisingly cute," he accidentally blurted out. And for the first time since they'd known each other, he was able to see a charming blush grace her small features.
"Y-You're getting ahead of yourself as of late, humph!" Bella coldly sniffed before turning her head to the side.
No longer wishing to see that stupid face of his, she turned on her heel and walked off.
"There are an excessive amount of customers in here because of you, so you'd better do your job properly!" she shouted softly, yet added, "B-But don't push yourself too much…" before briskly taking her mock steps of fury back to the wide second floor.
A spark of confusion passed through Cassius's striking blue eyes as he wondered what had gotten into her all of a sudden, utterly unaware of what he had let slip out of his loose-lipped mouth.
'Maybe Bella doesn't like so many customers in the shop?' he thought keenly. 'But she already has quite the fan base in this town because of her slightly cold yet caring personality, which only further increases the appeal garnered from her riveting appearance.'
'I highly doubt that the… girls coming in here for bodyguard consultations outweigh the sheer quantity of people that swarm here on a daily basis to catch a glimpse of Bella…'
Cassius's eyes were suddenly pulled away from the sight of dozens of fawning men surrounding the focused beauty, instead falling on the dozen or so women huddled around the book aisle he was working on. They whispered and giggled among themselves, making sure to savor their quaint bookstore eye candy for the rest of the day.
"I had no clue such a cute boy was working here! We should definitely come back again!"
"Hehe~! If you think just looking at him is enough, wait until you hear that he gave me his phone number when he passionately locked eyes with me two blocks away!"
"You did what!? He actually gave you his number!? I'm so jealous!"
Envious stares.
"H-Hey, come on now! Don't look at me like that! I really won't give it to you!"
"Don't be like that! Just hand it over, Vicky!"
As several women quietly tangled with each other in a game of grab and flee, Cassius finished up his aisle. Yet, when he went to work on organizing the next aisle, a dainty painted hand suddenly met his. He jerked back instinctively, with the same thing happening to the hand that touched his.
Yet, when he saw the owner of that delicate hand, his brows raised slightly. "Grace? What are you doing here?"
Upon seeing a face that had only become more handsome since she last saw it, Grace's eyes lit up in effulgent joy.
She snatched his hand back to hers and beamed. "I never would have thought I'd be fortunate enough to meet you again so soon! And just as I was fidgeting while wondering if I should take out my phone and call you!"
However, when she realized how forward she was being, she reluctantly let go of his hand and recoiled a few steps. "I-I didn't mean to do that… I-It's just that I was excited to see you… I even came to this bookstore because you said you were an avid book reader…"
She murmured the last part, but Cassius could clearly hear it with his Perception stat.
He held his hand to his face and chortled a little, then laid a warm hand just between the imaginary bunny ears sticking up from her head. "I have been thinking about you as well, but I just wasn't sure that you wanted to talk to me so soon after we last met up—"
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Astral_Pandemonium
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