Phoenix

Date

"First stop!"

The couple had stopped walking and stood in front of a small bakery located at the very edge of Crocus. Sting pulled her into the shop and walked her over to an empty table. When the waitress came over to ask what they wanted, Emi asked for a slice of apple pie. Sting ordered next.

"I'll take the Emiko."

"That's a very rare request. The food will be just a minute."

"The...Emiko?"

Sting smiled at the woman before leaning his chin on his hand.

"Yeah. You came in here so often and ordered this so much that they renamed it after you."

"Really? I ordered it that much?"

Sting chuckled before saying that she was basically the only person who ever ordered it. The waitress came back and placed a piece of apple pie in front of Emi and then turned to Sting and placed an ice cream dish in front of him. Emi eyes the dish with curiosity. Sting noticed and decided to joke with her.

"You're staring."

"Sorry!" Emi quickly replied before looking down at her own food.

Sting just laughed and gently tapped her shin with his foot. She looked back up at him with a small blush from the embarrassment of being caught. Emi was met with a playful look in Sting's eyes.

"You can have a bite if you want. But you have to give me some pie."

Emi looked down at her pie and then looked over to the ice cream. She turned her gaze back to the pie. She looked back and forth between the two desserts a few more times before looking back up to an amused looking Sting. She nodded her head and eagerly took a spoon from the table and scooped a small bit of ice cream out of Sting's dish. He watched her, smiling fondly. Emi put the spoon in her mouth and her eyes sparkled.

"Apple? Apple ice cream? I've never heard of that before! Why haven't I ever known that this existed?"

Sting laughed at her enthusiasm before taking a bit of her pie.

"You know," Sting said in between bites, "your look when you eat that never gets old."

"Huh?"

"Every single time you eat it, your eyes light up. It's almost like you've never tried it before. You did it every time we came here."

"Did we come here a lot?"

"We were here at least once a week, sometimes more. We eventually came here every time we came back from a job. I think all the workers working here back then could easily recognize us."

The two sat in silence as they ate. About halfway through, Sting noticed Emi's frequent stares towards his ice cream. He chuckled before switching the two desserts. Emi happily ate the ice cream while Sting worked on the pie. Emi looked at the table as she built up courage.

"Can you tell me about myself?"

"Hm?" Sting looked up from his pie. "What do you wanna know?"

"Anything."

"Let's see. Where should I start?"

"How did we meet?"

Sting looked out the window of the shop and watched a couple walk by before turning to Emi and propping his head up with his hands. He smiled as he thought back on the memory.

"We actually met here. I was sitting at this exact table."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You usually sat over there," Sting said as he pointed to a table in the corner that Sting was facing, causing Emi to turn around to follow his finger. "You would come in here every day and sit there with a cloak on. You would always order a slice of apple pie and a cup of hot chocolate. You sat there silently and never made eye contact with anyone. Lector and I watched you after seeing you here a few times. We were super curious about who was behind the hood. Actually," Sting continued as he began to laugh, "we thought you were a dude because we could never see your face."