A Nurse's Job is To Heals Injured Soldiers

Over the next few days ensuing the attempted attack on the shelter, Ilyia has been making attempts to get friendlier with Almeric but to no avail. She then begun to shadow him around unbeknown to him. She took an interest to him after the events that occurred on their first official meeting, making Ilyia extremely curious about just what kind of person Almeric Soldaterin is.

"A person'll show his true colors when there's no one watching him.."

On the basis of this logic, Ilyia has successfully justified her stalker-like behavior(at least in her own mind to herself) and tailed Almeric around.

The daily activities that Almeric goes about..

He wakes up at 10am everyday, an unusual sight in the shelter as there's no schedule or structure whatsoever. He heads to the kitchen to freshen himself up and cooks himself a hearty breakfast, something that surprised Ilyia greatly.

"This person can actually cook this well..!?"

Almeric then does his dishes and heads out towards the main building, walking around the shelter and fixing things that are in need of repair, such as flickering light bulbs and creaky floorboards. He fixes everything efficiently with expertise, using only the bare minimum with whatever old tools he can find in the storeroom. Ilyia was not as surprised this time as it was expected that a soldier would be a decent handyman, but she was still impressed nonetheless.

He then heads over to the recreational area of the shelter where children can play at the playground or do sports. He looks for inconsistencies in the recreational equipment of the playground such as a missing screw or two, and fixes them immediately. Almeric then meticulously applies grease to things with moving parts and puts up safety barriers around areas where the edges of land are exposed to the sea. At this point, Ilyia was watching him with a gaping expression on her face, her mouth wide open in surprise.

"This person's surprisingly kind and looks out for the safety of the kids!!!"

She was also taken aback by how fast and agile he is despite having a makeshift hook for a left arm, something that also impressed her previously during his fight with the men threatening to hurt her with how well he could fight despite missing an arm.

"Is there anything that this person can't do well other than social interaction!?"

Almeric then heads back into the main building, and awkwardly responds to greetings from children who pass him by.

"He'd usually ignore me, so why is he so nice to these kids!?"

He would then continue to patrol around the shelter looking for problems to fix, and he would once again remove himself from spending time with the others, preferring to head into the kitchen again an hour before where everyone usually have their dinner together. He whips up a meal so mouth-watering that it reminded Ilyia that she hadn't eaten anything at all for the day, instead choosing to spend all her time carefully shadowing Almeric.

"What in the world am I exactly doing... I abandoned my post at the nurse's office today as well!! Who'll take care of the injured if there's any!?" Ilyia realizes her forgetfulness and the consequences of her actions, running her hands through her hair, disheveling it, causing her cowlick to bounce about violently.

"Hey, come out! I know you've been following me around the whole day!" Almeric calls out for Ilyia, sending her into shock.

She fumbles as she clumsily shows herself from behind a pillar, almost falling over.

"Look, I'm sorry, I can ex--"

"Save me the excuses. You're just interested in what I'm doing and want to meddle again, huh?" Almeric interrupts her.

"I mean, is it wrong to be interested in someone living together in the same place!? I just want to understand you more and get closer!" Ilyia retorts, her headstrong attitude pushing through the barrier Almeric has erected around himself once again. He has shown vulnerability back then when she cried, so Ilyia knows that he is capable of showing more of his real self.

"I-I mean, that isn't wrong. But following someone around like this for the whole day is! And didn't I already make it clear that I would prefer to be left alone?" Almeric sighs and puts his palm on his temple.

"Food is the way to a man's heart.." Or something along these lines, that Ilyia read in a book a long time ago.

"Wait here and don't go anywhere!" She commands Almeric to stay where he is.

"What do you mean by that, I haven't finished my meal anyway-"

"JUST STAY THERE!!" Ilyia cried out and stormed past him with swift footsteps that reminded him of an angry housewife.

"Sigh.. What exactly does this girl want?" He sighs again and plants his face in his good hand. He thought that after the incident that happened between them after he fought off the rogue men, things would become awkward and she would avoid him, meaning that everything would work out in his favor in the end. His war-torn heart and his scar-bearing body just isn't ready to accept any new relationships yet. However, with how headstrong and unrelenting Ilyia is, Almeric knows that he can't lose his cool and has to be more careful with his words this time round to avoid a repeat of what happened with her bursting out in tears and whatnot, but smiling and forgiving him in almost an instant. She wouldn't relent that easily in her mission to get him to open up.

"Good grief, I don't understand this person at all.."

Meanwhile, Ilyia is in the kitchen with an apron on, both her hands on her hips. She looks over the ingredients that are available to her.

"Ah, just what I needed!"

There were just the right amounts of ingredients that she needed to prepare a dessert that can be made and served in just over 20 minutes.

*Hmm, Hmmm, Hmmmm~*

And so Ilyia Cthulhurin started to prepare the dessert she has on her mind.

Meanwhile, Almeric had started to get fidgety. It has been 10 minutes since, and she's still not done yet, effectively holding him up and disrupting his routine. He has already since finished his meal after Ilyia entered the kitchen and was already ready to leave if not for the peppy girl demanding that he stay put. He gets up from his seat and marches to the kitchen to demand an explanation from Ilyia, only to be shooed out by the cooking girl, being told that "It's a surprise, so just be a good boy and wait!"

"Good boy, huh.. Calling me that.." He was a little irked by what she called him, but he shrugged it off and remained seated, waiting patiently. He noticed how much she was sweating, and how both her hands were sticky, covered in food substance. Her white apron was dyed in the color of food as well. His shirt got stained by her sticky hands when she was pushing him out of the kitchen, leaving two blotches of purple-colored hand prints in the shape of Ilyia's palms. She was doing this out of goodwill, and even someone as aloof as Almeric would realize the right course of action would be to stay.

"Sheesh, what am I going to do about this stain.."

Almeric then figured that a stain doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, as he's fortunate to even have clothes to put on in this ruined world. His face grew a little hot, turning red. He have to admit that it was slightly charming to see a girl as cute as Ilyia working that hard to cook for him, as evidenced by her sweat, food-coated hands and apron.

"Why did she get so much of the food substance all over herself though..? Is she that much of a klutz?" Almeric didn't know whether if he should find this quality of Ilyia endearing or worrying.

"Hmph, me, charmed by this naive young girl? That's so unlike me."

He rid his mind of all impure thoughts and returned to a neutral state of mind, waiting patiently for Ilyia to be done.

"How should I react when she brings the food out? Sigh, since when was I such a worrywart.."

"I'm done!!" Ilyia exclaimed in a hearty voice all of a sudden while Almeric was in deep thought, jolting him from his daze resulting in him almost falling over, something very uncharacteristic of him.

"...Thank you." Almeric chose to respond in the most basic manner possible.

"No, no, thank you for keeping our shelter safe! Here you go!" Ilyia plops down a bowl containing two pieces of amply sized buns topped off with blueberry cream and berries. Almeric eyed the bowl intensely, enthralled by how appetizing it looks.

"I made this for you as thanks for saving us the other day, and also as an apology for making you feel uncomfortable by following you around!" Ilyia sits herself across Almeric, and prompts him to eat her food.

Almeric scooped a small piece from one of the chunks and stuffed the spoon in his mouth. It's good. The best food he's tasted in months.

"This... This is good."

"Of course it is! I used to always make this back in the day for the doctors whenever we had free time!" Ilyia beams at him, visibly happy that he liked what she made. For every spoonful Almeric takes, the guilt in his heart grew more and more. Sure, he went through unspeakable experiences in the war and was flung aside by the government. He was at an all-time low point in his life, with nothing else to lose. His closest comrades, his family, his life prior to the war, his faith in the government..

He had lost everything.

But who was he to shoot down and criticize Ilyia Cthulhurin? The girl's in an even much dire situation than him, with the possibility of dying any day a reality for her. And yet she's still able to act like this, like a normal girl, making desserts and trying to make friends with everyone..

"She's strong. Much more stronger than me. I'm just a weak person who finds excuses for myself, to not face my demons head on.." Almeric had a moment of self-reflection. The main reason why he's avoiding other people is due to the fear of losing someone dear to him again, and he realizes that his avoidance of others is an act of cowardice. A real life example of someone who faces her problems head on is right before him.

Even though she might falter some days, like how she broke down and cried, it is only normal. She's only human after all. By acting like this, Almeric's only hurting the people around him. Fully realizing how he acted was wrong, he decided to open his mouth and speak to Ilyia for the first time with him taking the initiative.

"Hey, look.. I'm really sorry for what I said to you the other day. It was immature of me. And thank you for the food. You're a real special case, aren't you? Going to such lengths, following me around and even making food for me despite knowing that I'll probably just brush you off.. I think I have a thing or two to learn from you."

Ilyia looks confused.

"Eh? All I did was stalk you and make food for you! Is that anything special?"

Almeric would get too embarrassed if he were to tell her now how he feels invigorated by her attitude towards life, so he instead decided to avoid it all together. And yes, it is something very special. Who else in this doomed world would be this interested in him and doing such things for him? This was the first act of kindness he received in a long while, in a world he believed to be hopeless.

"Nothing. Your cooking's just really delicious, so it put me in a good mood. Thank you." Ilyia snickered slightly, trying to contain her laughter while looking at Almeric say that with a serious look on his face.

"Hm? What's so funny about that?"

"Hehehe, you're a real special case too, you know that? Almeric." She lets her laughter out, leaning back on the chair.

"See? You can be honest too!" She continued to laugh.

Almeric wanted to retort to what she said, but instead, he broke out in laughter too. This is the first time in nearly a year since he had such a genuine laughter, a simple moment of joy.

"You're capable of laughter too!!" Ilyia points at him and started to laugh even harder, ridding any hints of awkwardness in the atmosphere between the two completely. She have completely opened Almeric's heart, something that he had locked away to shield himself from his pain and problems.

"Thank you, Ilyia. You're the first person who've shown kindness to me in a long while."

She extended a hand to him, replacing her laughter with a confident smile on her face.

"Let's make this shelter a pleasant place to live in together, alright? We'll protect the kids and allow them to live happily together, right?" Ilyia confidently announces.

Almeric grips her hand firmly, nodding.

"I'll try my best to become a friendlier person.. No promises, of course. I might go back to the way I was before again, but I believe that you'll snap me out of that daze again. You're this persistent after all, bugging me all this time despite my attempts to get you off my case." Almeric laughs awkwardly. scratching his head.

"Of course! You'll have to show me more of those cool fight moves too! Alright, enough talk! Eat up!" Ilyia pushes the bowl closer to Almeric despite it already being close to him, a gesture of sincerely wanting him to enjoy the food.

And thus it was the first time Almeric Soldaterin established a friendly relationship with someone since the war started, and the first time he had a proper conversation over delicious food with a friend since he last had a meal with his squad mates before the war.

The two then shared plans on how they could further increase the security of the shelter, and Almeric left shortly after to patrol the surroundings again. Ilyia shook her fists victoriously, letting out a soft "Hurrah!" by herself.

"I knew it, food is really the way to a man's heart!" She exclaimed.

She then hummed happily while washing the dishes slowly in a relaxed manner, until she realized she has to return to the nurse's office. She scurried along the shelter to make her way back to the office, having close calls with crashing into various things and people, something very ironic considering the fact that she's rushing back to the office to be on standby to treat injuries.