The Second Survivor (An Ara x Reader Story)

Chapter 7

When you forget what you were going to say...
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        He stood behind the counter rather boredly but grateful that there hadn't been any customers so far that day. It was well into the afternoon, so his job would be ending soon. (Y/n) was doing pretty well in Sander. He'd successfully gone a week and a half without any incidents and only Vapor and Vegar had seen Zhu. The fox had become a part of him now and they were pretty good friends if he were to consider Zhu, a symbiotic protector of his family's bloodline, to be a suitable friend.

        "Don't you think we can just ditch the place for a bit. I'm sure Vapor won't mind. It's so boring here," Zhu complained.

        "Vapor would kill us if we left the shop unattended. You know that. I'm trying to stay out of as much trouble as possible so I'm going to wait until she says I can leave," (y/n) said. He leaned against the counter but immediately straitened up when Vapor suddenly walked in.

        "Well you managed to keep the place in decent order," she muttered as she walked by. (Y/n) said nothing and only waited for Vapor to release him from his temporary job. Before that could happen, someone else walked into Vapor's shop and completely ignored his existence.

        "Oh please Vapor, I'm begging you! What is it? There has to be something that you put into your potion of youth. I swear I won't tell anyone!" the woman begged.

        "I already told you, there's no youth potion, and I have no secret. This appearance of mine is merely a side effect. Now I'd appreciate it if you left my shop if you have no intention to buy anything," Vapor said without even turning to look at the woman.

        (Y/n) had seen her around Sander a few times while running some errands for Vapor or simply exploring but he'd never gotten a name to go with the face. It wasn't like he cared. She was an obvious nuisance to Vapor which made her a nuisance to him as well. As luck would have it, the woman finally noticed (y/n) casually standing behind the counter and he just happened to meet her gaze on accident. "Oh great. She noticed us," (y/n) thought to which Zhu laughed.

        "You...surely you know. You're her apprentice aren't you. Or maybe you're just someone who works here. Either way, she's told you her secret or you found the potion yourself! You seem youthful to me. I bet you've taken that potion right?" the woman said. Even if (y/n) had been given time to answer, what could he have possibly said? It was true that Vapor had told him the secret to her eternal youth, but it had only been because she knew about his own secret.

        "Rosean, you should go," Vapor sighed before (y/n) could make any sort of statement.

        "Please, I need to know. It's a scientifical um...whatever you call those things. If I have it, my shop will flourish not only because of my valuable merchandize but also because of my looks. I could offer it to others at a fair enough price!" Rosean continued making sure to ignore Vapor as she spoke to (y/n).

        "She's rather annoying. Can't we leave already?" Zhu huffed.

        "I know she is but Vapor hasn't said anything about shop closing hours, so we're stuck in this mess until she does," (y/n) thought while doing his best to keep his eye from twitching in annoyance.

        "Ignore her. She'll leave," Vapor muttered before returning to her lab upstairs. (Y/n) did just that and ignored Rosean's useless pleading until the purple haired woman simply glared at him.

        "You are a detestable heinous wrongdoer! Don't worry. I'll make sure I find out what that secret is," Rosean finally spat before storming out of the shop. (Y/n) just blinked a couple of times before going back to boredly leaning against the counter.