You Only Live Twice

VI

Olivia stood in front of the white building, compared to all the other stores this one looked new.

The walls were clean and intact, the plants in front of the store looked intentionally planted and weren't overgrown, the windows were clear and the front of the store was swept and tidy.

Walking up the stone pathway, Olivia entered the double french doors under the pale gold and white awning.

A little jingle rang when she opened the doors. A strong herbal smell immediately hit Olivia when she walked in, it was calming and helped down the pounding of her head.

Looking around, the interior wasn't much different from the outside of the store. The walls a pale beige, low to the floor wooden tables with matching chairs and white pillows as the cushions.

Plants were placed everywhere, in the corners, on the tables, some even hanging from the ceiling. Most of the tea house was open space, large windows letting in natural light, there were waterfalls on a few of the walls too.

Olivia didn't see anyone at the reception desk and since the cafe was basically empty, being there's only one or two other people in the place besides her, she seated herself by a window shaded by a large oak tree outside and a patch of flowers.

While Olivia enjoyed the peace and quiet looking out the window, a worker walked over to her.

The woman smiled at her, her light green hair was in a bun held in place by two wooden sticks, "Hello young lady, do you need some help? Are you lost?"

Though the woman sounded like she genuinely wanted to help, Olivia looked up at her like she was crazy with a bit of bewilderment, seemingly forgetting she was in a child's body. "Uh, no I'm here to order."

The woman looked surprised by Olivia's reaction but either way she kept her professionalism and took the little brunette's order.

While waiting on her drink Olivia started to go over her plan once again.

Amos, the antagonist, was currently being held in a tower somewhere in the forest surrounding the imperial palace. Where exactly Olivia wasn't sure, but she hoped it wasn't too far. She didn't enjoy long physical activity very much at all. Though Estelle was always trying to get her to exercise so that "her body stays healthy" or whatever.

Anyways, Olivia's plan was to sneak out of imperial palace anytime she was there or at the event, whenever she could. She would then travel into the forest, find the young neglected mage, befriend him and live happily ever after peacefully, the end. Or so she hoped.

The thing was she only had about 3 days to do it, since the get together would only last around 3 days. How she was going to get the little brat to worship her in 3 days? She had no idea, but she'd figure it out along the way.

Olivia took a deep breathe trying not to get worked up over it, thinking about it so much was already increasing her headache.

The green haired woman from earlier came back to her table and set the hot beverage Olivia had order in front of her with a brief smile before walking away.

Olivia didn't have much of an appetite so she had just ordered herself a white peony white tea. Olivia inhaled the sweet floral scent wafting out of the pastel green tea cup before blowing on the peachy colored water.

She took a small sip, savoring the clean, crisp taste. Olivia sat in the tea house for a while, prolonging the finish of her drink and silently enjoyed the artificial sound of nature in the cafe.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

It'd been about 45 minutes since Olivia had separated from Estelle and Ophelia and wondered into Ange Baiser Café. Which she promised herself to definitely escape into again.

The sun was starting to set now, the sky turning different shades of red, orange and yellow. Estelle would come to take her back soon, so Olivia left the store and started on her way back to the old, rundown bookstore in front of the narrow space she originally came from.

She didn't get far before being stopped by a loud crashing, sounding from the alley to the left of her.

A bunch of metal garbage cans had been knocked over, the trash spilling onto the street. Olivia walked towards the alley, the closer she got the louder and more clear the yelling voices became.

Upon further inspection she found out the garbage cans were more pushed to the side by the scrawny little boy who was thrown into them.

Olivia kept a safe distance while watching the scene unfold in front of her. Three other dirty, older, looking boys surrounded the one on the ground.

"This isn't nearly as much as we told you to get you little twerp!" Extra 1 yelled. Ah, the boy on the right furthest from her. He was covered from head to toe in dirt, his clothes were obviously too small for him, they were ripped and patched in places. He looked to be around 13 to 14, he was lanky, with sharp features and looked weak, when he aggressively shook a bag in front of the boy on the grounds face, his shirt lifted up a bit and you could see how his ribs were almost poking out through his skin.

"Yeah, what the heck's that about huh?! You think you can mess around with us?" Extra 2, the boy on the right closet to her chimed along. He sounded to be younger, maybe 11-12. His dark blue hair was messy and long, coming down his neck and stopping at the base. He wasn't in a much better condition then the first boy, though he looked a little less skinny and wasn't as tall. Olivia grimaced when she saw a bug fall out of his hair and into his shoulder before he swiped it away and scratched his scalp.

"I don't who you think you are, but you can't just give us half of what we asked of you and just think you can get away with it, you little freak!" Extra 3, the boy in the middle of the two others, he looked to be the leader of this little gang by the way he talked with a low voice, and looked down upon the boy on the ground with a hint of superiority in his eyes and a scowl. He was the biggest, about a medium height but a big build. He was a little chubby with wide shoulders, and big ears or so Olivia noticed.

She had to seriously try to contain her laugh, not being able to take the teenager seriously with how much he looked like that elephant from the Disney movie her sister loved.

Olivia finally turned her attention to the boy who was thrown into the garbage cans and currently, is sitting in the dirt with his head hung down. He wasn't in much better shape then any of the other boys either, he was the smallest there and looked Olivia's age or maybe even younger?

Even though his shaggy hair was covering most of his face, Olivia didn't miss the blood red color of his irises showing in between the gaps of his hair strands. Olivia was captivated by the color for a few seconds before snapping back into reality. His eyes were beautiful but now wasn't the time to admire, she was being nosey right now.

The red eyed boy muttered something to the three older boys surrounding him, but it was too quiet for Olivia to hear from the spot she was in.

Whatever it was, it made the trio mad. Dumbo's face turned red with anger, when he kicked the kid on the ground in the face, screaming, "Don't mess with me brat!"

The red eyed, bruised boy, flew over onto his side skidding his face and arm he landed on, on the ground.

Olivia wasn't planning on stepping in but, the way those older boys were picking on and beating the red eyed boy while he just sat there and apologized made her angry. Why wasn't he sticking up for himself? Or at least running away? Why were those jerks picking on him anyway? Couldn't they just get their own stuff?

Without thinking, Olivia picked up one of the garbage can lids that had fallen off when they fell over, and chucked it as hard as she could at Dumbo, who was currently yelling at the red eyed boy.

The garbage lid hit the side of his head, making him stumble over a little bit while covering the spot that was hit with his hand.

All the boys gasped and gawked at the larger boy who stood there dumbfounded, trying to comprehend what had just happened to him.

"What a bunch of low lives." Olivia muttered in a low, cold voice, just loud enough for them to hear.

All the heads quickly turned her way.