"Mm, thish is sho good!" Hummed Ariella with her mouth full, a blissful look on her face.
I have to agree, these are some really high quality desserts. The cookie fries are warm and perfectly baked, they're soft and gooey on the inside, the chocolate chips are slightly runny and practically melt in your mouth, and the edges have a slight crunch to them, making for a nice contrast in texture.
And the white chocolate dip complements and elevates it nicely, the sauce is delightfully rich.
The brownie roll is great too, the surface is a bit crunchy and crumbly, embedded with small sugar crystals to enhance the crunch, but its nice and soft on the inside, with a slightly sticky and chewy texture. The mousse filling is light and mellow, balancing the strong chocolaty taste of the brownie perfectly.
The glazed donut was incredibly soft, and the sugar glaze crumbled with every bite, partially melted by the warmth of the donut. I tried it with the white chocolate dip, but that combo was a bit too sweet.
The lava cake pops were great too, bite-sized balls of perfectly soft, moist cake with a pool of rich, creamy melted chocolate in the middle. I popped one into my mouth and chomped down, which resulted in a heavenly burst of chocolate.
And finally, the milkshake. Easily the best milkshake I've ever had, not the least bit watery and not too thick either, and just the right amount of sweetness.
"Thanks again for letting me join you, Kaivel, I really appreciate it. Oh, also, congrats on your perfect score in the Practical Training exam," Remarked Ariella with a smile.
"Thanks, same to you, you got a perfect score too, after all. Also, I'd prefer it if you call me Kai instead, or even my last name," I replied sheepishly.
"Hm? Don't you like your full first name? I think it's pretty cool," She responded in surprise.
Pretty sure that was my mother's reasoning for giving me that name too, but I just can't help feel kinda uncomfortable when people call me Kaivel.
"It's a bit much for my liking," I sighed, as I finished off my first round of sweets and browsed the options to select the items for round two.
"I guess I get that, and I can kinda relate. I hated my name when I was younger. But that was only because I had some classmates in school that made fun of it, they'd call me Areola," She muttered with an annoyed look on her face.
I did my best to keep a straight face and not laugh...if I'm being honest, that was the first thought that crossed my mind the first time I heard her name.
I should definitely keep that to myself, though. I can relate to having classmates make dumb puns out of my name, but she definitely had it worse than I did.
"Yeah, kids can be pretty brutal. By the way, you've got a chocolate mustache," I informed her wryly.
"Huh? I do? Did I get it?" She responded, as she licked her upper lip.
"Most of it, but you missed a couple of spots."
"How embarrassing...so, were you bullied for your name too? Is that why you don't like it? Oh, sorry if that's too personal, you don't have to answer if you'd rather not," She smiled apologetically.
"Nah, it's fine, I don't mind. And no, I wasn't bullied for it. I mean, I did get a few snide comments about it here and there, but nothing beyond that," I replied with a shake of my head.
No one's made fun of my name in my second life, so that's at least half-true.
"Huh, I wonder if I'd have been bullied less if I'd gone with a nickname too? I really wanted to change my name when I was younger, but I didn't want to hurt my parents. I just wish they'd given me a name that people would've have been able to make stupid puns out of," She sighed wistfully.
"I mean, for what it's worth, I think it's a pretty name."
That's true, I've always thought that names that end with -ella have a nice ring to them.
"Oh, um...thanks, I appreciate that," She replied, giving me a warm smile.
What? No! Why would you ask me that out of nowhere?!
Yeah, but I am.
Okay, first off, please don't use the term mating in this context, it sounds kinda gross.
Second, what you said may be true, but I already decided to wait till I turn eighteen, and I've come this far so I might as well stick to it.
And third, I'm not getting the vibe that she's interested in me in that way, it seems like she's just being friendly.
Which makes sense, considering that we've hardly ever interacted at all before today.
"Uh...hello? You good?" Inquired Ariella, poking my arm in bemusement.
"Huh? Uh, sorry, I got lost in thought and zoned out, my bad. Did you say something?" I responded sheepishly.
"Yeah, I was just suggesting that, if you're open to it, maybe we could spar sometime? From what I've seen in our Practical Training sessions, you're the most skilled in our entire class, so I'd like to spar against you, if that's okay," She requested with a smile.
Hm...this could be a good opportunity to see how I measure up against someone with Ace Potential.
"Sure, I'm cool with that. But, considering the gap in our Power Levels, I doubt I can put up much of a challenge, no matter how skilled I might be," I pointed out.
"That's fine. You're skilled enough to take down a Dungeon Boss, so at the very least, you should be capable of giving me more of a challenge than any of our other classmates could," She replied with a gleam in her eyes...