Crazy In Love! [Twisted Wonderland]

Mystery Book

Ace entered Sam's Shop and looked at all the goods on display. The shop was quiet, except for some quiet music that filled the void of the shop owner, Sam, and his usual chatter. There were all sorts of knick knacks sitting on shelves, but nothing of the sort that Ace was looking for. Ace walked towards the counter before letting out a sigh and starting a series of taps on the table.

As he waited, Ace resumed his previous thoughts on the cherry pie, planning to ask Trey to make one for the Valentine's Day party as an excuse to have a pie made.

"Alright, that seems like a pretty well thought out plan," He thought out loud. "But how can I distract everyone to have it all to myself..."

But before Ace could think further ahead, he heard shuffling sounds behind him. He turned around and was met with a familiar friendly face. It was Sam, who at the moment was holding boxes with both hands.

"Hey, kiddo! Waiting for me?" Sam walked past Ace and placed the boxes on the counter. He rubbed his head before putting both arms on his hips. "What can I do for ya?"

"Hey Sam, " Ace started. "I'm looking for party streamers if you don't mind. Pink and red specifically." Ace asked as he saw the shop owner walk around the store, restocking items. "You have any?"

"Who do you think I am not having party streamers? Ask for an even more obscure item, and I'd have that, too." Sam laughed as he paused his restocking. "They're in the back. I'll go get them for you right now. How many do you want?"

"Hm, Yuu didn't really give me a number, huh." Ace thought. "Ramshackle's pretty big. Give me twenty."

"Twenty? Big party going on at Ramshackle? Haha, I'll be right back." And as he said those words, Sam disappeared, and the quietness that enveloped the store before resumed.

Ace leaned against the counter and continued tapping on the table. Eventually, he got bored of the tapping and looked over at the boxes Sam left sitting on the counter.

"..."

Ace didn't actually see what exactly Sam was restocking, and he was pretty bored at the moment. He didn't see any issue with looking into the box as Sam was already putting these things on the shelves, so he decided to take a look.

When he opened the box, he was greeted with many different items. Junk food, rings, game controllers, etc. Ace took a mental note of things he'd probably buy later from this assortment of items and was about to close the box before a certain item got his attention. It was a book, and it sat at the very bottom of the box. Ace would have ignored it. However, it was glowing. Glowing pink at that.

"What is this?" Ace said as he pulled out the book and dusted the cover. There was nothing on the cover, and it looked like an ordinary book. He flipped over to the back, and it was the same plain cover as the front. Confused as to where the glowing was coming from, he opened the book and flipped through all the pages, and to his disappointment, he found that all its pages were blank. Annoyed, Ace was about to close the book before realizing one page wasn't empty. Surprised, he flipped back. The title of the page read "Love Potion."

"Love potion?" Ace wondered. He continued to read the rest of the page.

"Love Potion

Level 1 Love Potion - Makes the recipient like you. Very little love comes with this potion. The recipient will be satisfied with just holding hands.

[Level 1 Love Potion Recipe]

Level 2 Love Potion - Makes the recipient love you. A healthy type of love comes with this potion.

[Level 2 Love Potion Recipe]

Level 3 Love Potion - Makes the recipient obsessed with you. The recipient will be extremely clingy with you and will want to be with you 24/7.

[Level 3 Love Potion Recipe]

Level 4 Love Potion - Makes the recipient crazy in love with you. The recipient will have similar traits to the level 3 love potion. However, it will be to the extreme. The recipient WILL resort to violence to get with you. If you have a death wish, try this one.

[Level 4 Love Potion Recipe]

**The recipient will fall in love with the first thing or person they see after taking the potion. Note that all the following love potions can be reversed with a simple breakup. However, the last potion can not be reversed with the same method. There is no way to reverse the level 4 potion, hence, why we are not recommending it unless you have a death wish. Why is it on here, then? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh**"

The rest of the page was filled with a bunch of "hhh's," so Ace closed the book, confused as to what he just read. Just as his confusion set in even deeper, Sam peeked out from the back, holding two small boxes that contained ten party streamers in each.

"Red and pink, just like you asked. That'll be 15 madol." Sam pushed the items towards Ace but noticed he was holding a book. "What're you holding there, Ace? Want me to add that too?"

"No, actually. I was going to ask you what this book was," Ace started, "I found it in your box. It was glowing and there's only one page with stuff on it. Something about a love potion." Ace passed the book over to Sam who looked over it carefully. Ace continued. "Why'd you order something like this? Like, what's its purpose?"

Sam scanned the contents of the book and stumbled upon the "love potion" page Ace mentioned. Hoping he would get answers, Ace waited patiently, but as soon as he saw the expression on the other's face, he doubted he would get any.

"...You found this in that box?" Sam asked. "I never ordered this. My guess is that it accidentally got sent with my order." He shrugged. "Well, it's mine now I suppose. Why? You want it?"

Ace thought about it for a moment, "Who on earth would be so desperate to buy a love potion book in the first place?" But after some more thinking, he decided. "You know what? Sure. I could probably get some value out of something like this. How much you want for it?"

Sam tapped his fingers on the counter. "Hm.. you know what? Just take it. It's probably just a random book without any truth to it." Sam then proceeded to put the book down alongside the boxes of party streamers. Ace pulled out 15 madol from his pocket and gave it to Sam. Sam passed over the purchase Ace made before smiling, saying, "Thanks for your purchase! Have fun at that party you're having at the Ramshackle Dorm!" Both parties exchanged byes, and Ace headed out.

On the way back to Heartslabyul, Ace looked over the book once more. "Love Potion, huh?" He wondered, "Well, let's see if there's any truth to that." And with those words, Ace redirected his destination to the alchemy lab instead.