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AYA WAS OUTPICKING flowers for dōma, to which she was instructed to not stray too far away, for he could not protect her when the sun was out.
the child held a petite wheat basket, as she plucked some lavenders and daisies.
upon entering a shallow forest, she had noticed a class of children ranging from ages five to ten all gathered around a teacher.
"remember, stick with your group and meet back here after fifteen minutes", the instructor announced, as the older children led the younger ones away.
aya spied with curiosity, as she remembered the children from her village being exceptionally mean.
"hey! where's your group?", a ten year-old questioned, as two six year-olds stood behind her.
"umm..."
aya nervously glanced around, as she pondered if she should just make a dash for it.
"ah, no worries! you can just join our group instead. come on, let's go!", the oldest child urged, as aya hesitantly nodded.
the rest of aya's afternoon was spent with humans her age. surprisingly, they weren't as mean as she had thought. they even taught her how to make friends and make a flower crown with the flowers that she had picked.
"okay, bye aya!!", the children waved, as the seven year-old replicated the action with a small smile.
skipping back to the eternal paradise cult — specifically into dōma's room — aya was pleasantly greeted with a hug by the demon.
"aya-chan, you were gone for so long that I thought that something had happened to you", dōma pouted, as aya just giggled.
"flowers...for you...", aya mumbled, taking out the flower crown from behind her back, as she showed it off with great pride.
"for me?! oh you shouldn't have", dōma smiled, taking off his hat that he usually wore during work and replacing it with the flower crown instead.
"pretty...dōma pretty", aya complimented, as the demon patted aya's head.
"aya-chan's pretty talkative today. what's got you in such a good mood?", dōma asked, turning the child around, as he started brushing through her knotted hair.
