"Waah!" A little girl's cry reached their ears. Vanitas and Melfina both looked toward the source of the sound.
In the same shop that they had bought their donuts from, there was a little girl crying out loudly while clinging tightly to her mother's legs.
"Huu…I want to eat those donuts…" She said in between her cry.
Viera was looking at the little girl apologetically. "I am really sorry. We just now ran out of donuts. I could have made another one immediately but even the flour has run out. I am sorry, but, tomorrow I promise I will keep some donuts ready for you, all the tasty ones!" She said the last line in a cheerful tone so as to get her to stop crying but she soon found out that it went down the drain.
"Noooo! I want to eat them. Right now!" She wasn't letting up and now started crying louder which drew the attention of people around them.
The mother crouched down and patted her daughter's head gently to calm her down.
"You shouldn't be so persistent, Rita. That's a sign of being a bad girl." Her gentle admonishment caused the little girl to stop wailing loudly but the tears were still streaming down and she still looked grumpy.
The mother realized it as well and with a smile on her face, she hugged her child. "We will buy them tomorrow. Lots of them. You are alright with that, right?" She asked but Rita didn't respond and just leveled her eyes at the ground.
There were still two pieces of donuts remaining in Vanitas's hands. It was probably because they had bought so many that the store had run out of donuts to give to the little girl. He felt responsible for the little girl's sadness and decided to give the remaining pieces he had to her. He didn't fancy the extremely sweet taste that much either. Thinking that he was about to get up when he saw two people approach the little girl and her mother. And they were someone Vanitas was well acquainted with.
"Um…" The girl with the blue hair, Eleanor, vocalized to get the duo's attention.
The mother looked at her.
"Yes?"
Eleanor had a white bag in her hand which she stretched towards the mother. She was visibly confused.
"What is this?'
"Donuts. Your daughter seems to really want them so I thought of handing her mine."
After realizing Eleanor's aim, the mother panicked a bit, "No, no, there is no need for that." But the little girl had already turned around and was looking at Eleanor and the bag in her hands.
Eleanor smiled at the girl, "You want these, don't you?"
"Y-Yeah."
"I will give them to you. But under one condition."
"What is it?" The girl gulped as she asked back.
"You will not throw a tantrum like this ever again and trouble your mother again. Can you promise me that?"
The girl looked lost in thought for a while and her face looked conflicted. Eventually, her desire to eat the donuts won and she agreed to Eleanor's conditions.
"Okay, I promise I will not do this anymore."
"A pinky promise." Eleanor held out the pinky finger of her right hand and the little girl did the same. They intertwined their pinky fingers together and shook it a few times which apparently sealed the promise.
Eleanor then handed the bag full of donuts to the girl and the happiness on the little girl's face was evident for everyone to see.
"Mama, I got them!" She took out a piece from the bag and showed it to the mother.
"Really? How lucky~" The mother entertained her daughter.
She stood up and spoke to Eleanor, "You really didn't have to go out of your way to do this."
"It's alright. I wouldn't want to see a cute kid like her crying after all."
The mother bowed her head to Eleanor and thanked her once again while the little girl, Rita, excitedly waved her hands at Eleanor until they were out of sight.
Now that the duo had left, Dominique, who had been silent this whole while finally opened her mouth.
"You sure you were alright giving it to them?"
"Of course. Why would I have a problem with helping a little child? In the first place, the reason Viera ran out of donuts was because we bought too many. So I was just correcting my mistake in a way."
"But you had been looking forward to eating them."
"So what? It doesn't matter. I can make a sacrifice as small as that for the sake of a little girl." Eleanor said. Dominique didn't quip back and instead just looked at her with eyes that made Eleanor a tad uncomfortable. She was about to ask what the matter was when they were interrupted by Vanitas.
"Hey."
The two looked at him.
"Oh, Vanitas? Fancy seeing you here! Were you out on a stroll?"
"Yeah, kind of."
"All alone?" Eleanor asked.
"Ah, no. Melfina is with me." Vanitas pointed to where Melfina was and they waved their hands at each other.
"I see."
"Um, here you go." Vanitas stretched his hands toward Eleanor which held a bag similar to what Eleanor had previously handed to the little girl.
"I am sorry but I overheard your conversation a little just now. You really wanted to eat them, no? You can have these."
"Huh? No, it's alright. You guys don't have to treat me like a kid, you know." She directed those words at both Vanitas and Dominique.
"I am not. I am just giving you these because I don't want them. I tried some and they were too sweet for me. It would be a shame to throw them so I am just handing them to someone who might want to eat them. That is all."
Without giving Eleanor any chance to retort, Vanitas pushed the bag to her hand.
"Don't think too much about it. Just take it already."
Eleanor looked a bit hesitant for a while before gratefully accepting them. "T-Thank you for this."
"You are welcome," Vanitas said and then he looked at Eleanor. He thought back to what he had seen happen this whole time and felt as if he had had a tiny glimpse at Eleanor's true nature.
As for Eleanor, his eyes held the same emotions that Dominique's eyes held a moment ago. They made her feel uncomfortable and weak and exposed.
"Hey, if you didn't want to eat them, you could have just given them to me." Right at that moment, Melfina butted in, having finished all f the donuts she had bought for herself.
"You ate that many just now and you still have room for more?" Vanitas asked, a bit shocked to learn of Melfina's monstrous appetite.
"Yeah, I think I could eat a hundred more still."
"You will end up being a fat woman," Vanitas said that on impulse which earned him a stern gaze from Melfina.
"You shouldn't comment on a woman's weight, Vanitas, lest you incur their ire."
"I-Is that so? I will be careful not to repeat the same mistake." Vanitas said earnestly thinking that Melfina was serious about it by looking at her face. But he was wrong and Melfina soon cracked a mischievous smile.
"Come on, no need to get so uptight. I was just joking." She laughed and Vanitas could hear Eleanor laugh as well.
Melfina turned to Eleanor. "Are you two done with strolling around?"'
"Ah, yes. We were thinking of heading home after buying these."
"I see. Why don't we head back together then?" Melfina proposed.
Thus, the four of them went back to the headquarters while talking about inane things as they thought about the approaching war in the back of their heads.