The Warmth of That Strawberry Cake

Sigelica supported Dania, staring at the crooked sick-leave slip with its red stamp on Dania's forehead. She felt as though her worldview was being crushed over and over again.

"Thirty days of paid sick leave?" She practically forced the words through her teeth. "Zhou Yu, do you think the Lahai-Roi Defense Line is your own company?"

"Even if a company's going bankrupt, it has to pay its employees first. That's the basic rule."

Zhou Yu peeled the leave slip off Dania's forehead, folded it carefully, and tucked it into her pocket.

"Your leave is officially in effect now. Anyone who tries to make you work overtime is being a jerk."

Dania touched her pocket in a daze. The paper felt real, giving her a strange sense of reassurance.

Sigelica: (ㅍ_ㅍ)

"All right, leave it is." She pointed at the bleak temporary camp around them. "So is the first activity of our leave standing here in the freezing wind?"

"Of course not." Zhou Yu waved his hand as if it were obvious. "Come on, I'll take you somewhere nice."

"I refuse to go anywhere that requires picking a lock," Sigelica immediately declared.

"Relax, this time we're spending money legally." Zhou Yu winked at her. "You brought money, right?"

Sigelica suddenly had a bad feeling.

They passed through several defense zones, and the smell of gunpowder in the air gradually faded. An entirely different atmosphere greeted them.

"There's a shopping street here?" Sigelica looked around.

"You thought the front line had nothing but ammunition crates and military rations?" Zhou Yu scoffed. "People have to spend money to live."

The street wasn't long, but it was lively. A cobbler sat on a little folding stool mending military boots, vendors loudly hawked canned goods, and a tin barrel on the corner held roasting sweet potatoes. Their rich sweetness mingled with the smoky scent of charcoal and drifted far on the wind.

Dania slowed her steps.

Her perpetually sleepy eyes were now fixed unblinkingly on the steaming tin barrel.

Dania: (๑• . •๑)?

"Want some?" Zhou Yu's voice sounded beside her ear.

Dania jumped. She shook her head, then couldn't help nodding. Finally, she lowered her head in embarrassment and stared at her toes.

"I... I'm not sure."

"Not sure if you want some?" Zhou Yu raised an eyebrow. "Your stomach just growled. It's more honest than your mouth."

"It didn't!" Dania covered her stomach, the tips of her ears turning red.

"Okay, noted." But Zhou Yu didn't stop at the sweet potato stall. He continued leading them onward.

"Noted what?" Sigelica pressed. "Don't tell me you're plotting something again..."

Zhou Yu didn't answer. He went straight to a dessert shop with a small, elegant storefront and pushed open the door. A copper wind chime on the door gave a series of clear, crisp jingles.

Warm yellow light spilled out, and the air was filled with the sweet scent of cream and baking.

Sigelica spotted the most conspicuous thing in the display case at once.

It was a six-inch strawberry cake. Fresh cream formed a snowy white mound, topped with over a dozen bright red, luscious strawberries. A line of small words was written in chocolate sauce on the side: [Happy birthday, 5.21].

"Could you box up that cake I ordered? Sorry for the trouble." Zhou Yu rapped on the counter with practiced ease.

The dessert shop owner was a kind middle-aged woman. Smiling, she carefully placed the cake in a pretty cardboard box.

"That comes to 320 credits."

Sigelica's pupils contracted at the number.

Sigelica: (╬☉д⊙)

"Three hundred and twenty?" She leaned close to Zhou Yu's ear and lowered her voice. "Are you robbing me? That's enough to buy me a month's worth of nutrient supplements!"

"You promised Dania this. I'm just carrying it out on your behalf." Zhou Yu spread his hands, looking innocent.

"When did I ever..."

"Third row of the Excel spreadsheet, remarks column: Sigelica pays the bill." Zhou Yu patted his pocket. "It's there in black and white. Want me to take it out and show you?"

"Is that lousy spreadsheet of yours legally binding?!"

"As far as I'm concerned, it is."

Sigelica glanced at Dania's bewildered yet curious face. In the end, she gritted her teeth, rummaged around in her pocket for a long time, and counted out a wad of crumpled credits for the owner.

"My military academy scholarship... gone just like that..." She drew sharp breaths at the loss.

"Think bigger." Zhou Yu took the hefty cake box from the owner. "It's called investing in the future. Got it?"

Zhou Yu: (￣ω￣)

He turned and solemnly held the cake box out to Dania.

"Take it."

Dania stared blankly at the box, both hands hovering in midair, unsure where to put them.

"This is... for me?"

"Who else?" Zhou Yu said. "It's your birthday cake, and the most important KPI of your leave. You have to keep it safe the whole time."

"KPI..." Dania chewed over the unfamiliar word, then cautiously reached out and gently accepted the box.

She lowered her head and looked at the delicate cake through the transparent plastic film.

"A birthday cake... like Xixi talked about..." Her voice was very, very soft. "Someone really does remember."

Dania's eyes grew slightly warm. She hugged the cake box tightly, all ten fingers digging into the edges of the cardboard, as if someone would snatch it away the moment she let go.

Dania: (´•̥ ᵔ •̥`)

The three of them left the dessert shop, Sigelica still wringing her hands and sighing over her departed scholarship.

"Now I don't know how I'm going to get a combat uniform for the second half of the year..."

"Out with the old, in with the new," Zhou Yu said offhandedly to comfort her. "Maybe they'll issue you a new one tomorrow."

"How can you even say that? It was my money!"

Just then, screams erupted from the other end of the street.

Several Fractsidus reconnaissance Tacet Discords shaped like metal spiders had slipped into the shopping street unnoticed. Waving their sharp, jointed limbs and emitting piercing metallic scraping noises, they were wandering toward the crowd.

"Enemy attack! It's the Fractsidus!"

"Run!"

The street instantly descended into chaos. The old man selling roasted sweet potatoes was too frightened to even care about his tin barrel and fled straight into the alley beside him.

The old man: (((( ;°Д°))))

Sigelica's expression changed, and her hand went to the weapon at her waist.

"Zhou Yu! Keep Dania safe. I'll deal with them!"

But Zhou Yu grabbed her shoulder and, instead of retreating, stepped forward to stand in front of the two girls.

Without so much as looking at the metal monsters drawing closer, he lowered his head and said one thing to Dania, who was clutching the cake box tightly behind him.

"Hold it steady."

His tone was casual, as though he were remarking on the nice weather.

"It won't taste good if the cream melts."