So before Alex could try to unleash his anger on me, I grabbed Sh.e.l.ly's hand and started to run into a lingerie shop that caught my eye.

This was a place where Luke and Alex couldn't enter as easily. So when I entered the store, I picked up some mature looking nightgowns with Sh.e.l.ly and pretended I wanted to try them on. However, Alex unexpectedly entered the store with his intense blus.h.i.+ng face and grabbed my wrist to drag me out of the store. Meanwhile, Sh.e.l.ly payed for the mature looking nightgown I was holding onto and ran out of the store to catch up to Alex and I.

Before Alex opened his mouth, I declared, "If you don't let me explore the second district with Sh.e.l.ly, then I'll change into this nightgown and go back to school with you."

This nightgown seemed to be made out of the finest ivory silk with transparent lace right above the chest. So even though it seemed mature, it wouldn't look provocative on a young child with no curves.

Alex tried to s.n.a.t.c.h the nightgown away from me, as I started to take off my cardigan in the middle of the streets. When he saw that I was 'serious', his pale face turned pink as he yelled, "Fine! I give up!"

I grinned, while I was planning where to next and ignored Luke's eerie smile that strangely popped out when I started to take off my cardigan.

"Where should we go next?" I asked Sh.e.l.ly cheerfully.

"Maybe the nearby ferris wheel," Sh.e.l.ly said hesitantly.

"Then let's go!" I said while grabbing Sh.e.l.ly's hand to run toward the ferris wheel together.

Since lunchtime was over and there wasn't a special holiday today, there weren't any people in line to ride the ferris wheel. We quickly got inside the gla.s.s container as we soon sat down while enjoying the view.

"Ben was sooo dreamy today. I never get to be around decent guys so it was a nice change of pace." I said to initiate the conversation.

"Yea~ . Hubert was nice too with his silky aqua hair and lively emerald eyes." Sh.e.l.ly swooned.

"Maybe when you get the chance to closer to him later on, you can date him if you like him that much." I teased Sh.e.l.ly.

"There's no way. I'm engaged to Alex, remember? As long I'm partnered up with him, there's no way I can 'date' someone else. It's the same for you Rika." Sh.e.l.ly said while pouting.

"I thought everyone was partnered up with another person for academic purposes?" I asked in confusion.

"Well that's not it. Only people with mana are matched with another person as a future marriage partner." Sh.e.l.ly replied sadly.

I thought Luke was exaggerating the fiancé part in kindergarten. His naggings suddenly started to make a lot more sense now with his strict demeanor of trying to have me act like a 'lady of the Roselia house'. "That means I have to marry Luke in the future?" I asked trying to deny reality.

Sh.e.l.ly looked back at me with a expression that read 'isn't that obvious?'. "That doesn't mean we can't date other people right? Because we're not actually married, we're only FUTURE marriage partners right?" I asked again.

"Well not many people actually try to date other people when they're engaged to other people themselves because it'll only make it harder for them. That's why I feel that Hubert will be a great friend to me, but I don't see him as anything other than that" Sh.e.l.ly smiled back awkwardly.

I guessed Sh.e.l.ly put a lot of thinking into this even though she was just eleven years old. Just when this conversation was coming to an end, the ride was coming to an end as well.

When I got off the ride with Sh.e.l.ly, I saw Luke and Alex waiting for us in silence. "Why don't we grab some ice cream?" I said to Sh.e.l.ly to get rid of this depressing atmosphere.

"Rika, I think this is enough. You should stop troubling Mich.e.l.le and start heading back with Alex to school." Luke said with a frown and his arms crossed.

"You guys said that we had more than six hours left!" I argued back.

"Well that's only because-" (Alex)

I quickly ran off into the distance as I felt I would be always be held captive in the cage called, 'school'.

Few minutes later, when Alex, Luke and Sh.e.l.ly were no longer to be seen, I stopped running to catch my breath. This was when I found Ben separating from his friend Hubert as he walked towards the opposite direction.

"Hey!" I called out to Ben.

Ben looked back in surprise by my familiar voice and responded in confusion, "What a coincidence?"