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Many things happened, or too many things happened. At the previous moment they woke up in a cave, jittery about the puzzle she had completely no idea on. The next moment, they were out and the sky was free of fog. Beautiful brisk blue and flying dragons, it seemed everything was just a weird dream again.

It was still a mystery how they got back to Halloween Town, just as how many things were unexplained in the world. Anyway, they were home finally. Since it was late, the ghoul who slept earlier was covering her mouth as she yawned and blushed. She asked if he was free and rarely insisted they would meet the day after. Catching her meowstache's hand and made it waved gently as a goodbye, Arynek vanished into the darkness, leaving a small shy smile.

Back to her home, her Uchitels were waiting for her already. Arynek explained to them she was dragged into a mini adventure and excitedly showed them the pictures she took from the balloon. They hugged her tightly, said she made them worried. While one hugging her, another one went into kitchen to get the dinner ready. They didn't have their dinners yet, she was surprised but also touched when they told her they were waiting for her. During the late dinner, she asked the two what boils like to eat. One of them had a shocked face and had his utensil dropped, he rushed to hold her on shoulders, eye widened to pry out more from the ghoul.

"I'm gonna to thank someone who helped me to find my cat and another friend." said Arynek. "What friend? Boils as friends?! We've told you those boils would eat you ALIVE." The one wore an apron had his crimson eyes glowing in alarm. "They're nice guys, won't eat me. I'm meeting one of them tomorrow." She smiled innocently. "Oh gosh....." One put his hand on his forehead and sighed. "Is there any problem?" she blinked. "No sweetheart, time for you to go to bed." She was asked to head upstairs and they both landed a goodnight kiss on her forehead before they closed the door of her bedroom.

Downstair, the two begun to argue - in low volume.

"....Is that a date?"
"Not likely, just friends gathering....I guess."
"Guess GUESS! I told you, I told you she's still too young to go out by herself! You encouraged me to let her go out." said one of them.
"It's supposed to be a short trip of 30 minutes, who knows accident happen."
"Be realistic, you can't lock her up."
"But boils, man, who knows what those boils are gonna doing to our baby ghoul?!" asked the one in apron. "Remember those vulgar horny beasts in the school?"
Another snorted, "I recalled you were one of them."
"Anyway, I'm going to sleep." He yawned and put an end to the conversation. "If you wanna follow our ghoul tomorrow, make sure you finish all your job before you do."
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It was morning, in her cloak, Arynek went to the fountain in the town to meet up with Brenley. She was still holding her cat but in a new gothic lolita outfit and a matching lace parasol. It seemed she was poor in dealing with sunlight.

"Meow~" It was the meowstache who greeted the reaper first, its expression of whether it liked the matching black mini hat on it was questionable since its eyes were bean-like small. Arynek turned around and when she saw Brenley, she gave him a small relaxed smile. "Good morning, Bren. I had a good sleep, how about you?" Albeit small and soft, her voice was much cheerful than she was at the village.

The ghoul seemed to be bothered by the sun and embarrassed to ask if they can find somewhere indoor to sit down, her face flushed in pink. "Would you mind if we get something to eat?" The request seemed appropriate as it was almost noon, when the sun was the strongest. She looked like she was about to black out, her face was pale white but it was hard to tell when her original skin tone was that pale.

The shadow looked at the reaper docilely, waiting for his input.

Bren suddenly lowered his voice, like how she spoke and it was natural for the ghoul to lean closer while he was musing and zoned out. As a well-mannered ghoul, she'd like to hear what he said before she could reply. Right before the reaper flashed a smile at her, she realized how close their distances was, her cheeks tinged with rosy pink as she gently moved away.

Still in her own embarrassment, she shook at the question and shortly figured it didn't work. "I-I don't have anywhere in my mind, wherever you want to go." The cat in her bosom however seemed to have some idea, but the meows - both of them couldn't understand. Her head lowered, "I seldom eat outside......" Besides special occasions, she usually ate with her Uchitels, they were over-protective as custodians.

At the suggestion of a cafe, the ghoul shyly nodded, still attempted to recover from her embarrassment. Carrying her parasol, Arynek closely followed Brenley to the said cafe. She smiled naturally at the cute banner which was, like its name, a smiling skull. Its smile was infectious enough to make her smile as well.

The cafe was classic, with red, black stripes and white decorations and furniture. She widened her blood red eyes slightly at the lovely place and mused, ".......You come here before with someone?" There, her fantasy mind for romance went wild and she blushed uncontrollably.

If she was going through the menu on the wall for something in small amount, when she heard of his words, her head slapped back, "NO!" Maybe she notice her voice was slightly louder than necessary, she adjusted her volume. "I mean, please let me treat you." Feeling uneasy, the eyes that were on Brenley cast away. "I'd like to have a slice of blackberry pie with a pumpkin soup set."

Arynek was shy and always mildly neurotic, Brenley was the first male she stayed for such a long time, saving her Uchitels. She knew she needed to step out of her comfort zone and an easy move to begin with was to make a boil friend. In her time with the reaper, she liked his deportment and felt it's rather comfortable to talk to him. Yet, it was his decision whether to make friend with her. If he was ghouls like Reese or Tink, she would easily acquainted with. She wished she had a handbook on how to make friend with a boil 101, but she didn't.

By looking at his face, she surely startled him but that was something more captivating her attention instead of being embarrassed. He has someone he wants to bring. Her inner activity was covering her mouth and gulped at the news, which she didn't do but put the seeds in the hand of the skeleton (glad skeleton's gender wasn't as distinct as others).

She quickly returned, with the waiter walking behind her. He put their foods on their table, gestured they might enjoy their foods and walked away. Arynek's eyes looked at him once, and not waiting until he left to ask, "Who-Who's she? Your schoolmate?" The shiny blackberries sprinkled with sugar looked less attractive than the topic, her red eyes beamed with implicit-or-not "tell me more", Chin on hands and all ears.

The good thing was she brushed off her nervousness temporarily, the bad thing was Brenley was getting himself into a trouble by slipping out.

Arynek had a habit of tilting her head slightly when she was bemused. When she asked Bren who that someone was, she was baffled by his returned question. Unsure whether she wasn't explicit enough or he didn't understand her question, she paused for a while. "The girl that you have feeling for. I-Is she your schoolmate?" Even her voice was as soft as usually, she showed that she won't give up until he gave a proper answer.

Red eyes blinking innocently, the ghoul seemed to be oblivious of how embarrassing asking such questions. She put the spoon into the soup and stirred it gently to mix the ingredients well while waiting for Bren. She had many many questions to ask him, school romance, how sweet it was. The homes-schooled ghoul envied Bren who can study at Amityville but wanted to know more of his school life at the same time.