Now why would Masa suggest something like that?! As I sat there without saying anything, I mentally ran through the short list of food I could cook and came up with a possibility. "W-well, I might have some trouble finding the ingredients here, so I won't make any promises," I told them with a wry smile.

"Oh, it's fine," Mrs Tanaka said, waving her hand. "It doesn't have to be anything complicated. Even a dessert would do, but you don't have to do it if you don't want to."

I shot Masa a glare and he had the grace to look embarrassed about putting me on the spot. "I'll try my best with whatever I can find," I said at last. "I would like to thank you for letting me stay after all."

"I'll be showing you around at the shopping street, so maybe you can find some of the ingredients there," added Masa quickly. "Visiting my school shouldn't take that long so we could spend more time shopping."

"Sounds good to me," I agreed with a nod.

We soon finished our breakfast and left the house to take a bus to the school. The journey took only ten minutes and I was able to admire the Japanese houses and other buildings on the way. Masa was dressed casually in a t-shirt, vest and jeans while I wore my usual t-shirt and culottes combo with sandals. He had wanted to wear his uniform at first since he wasn't sure whether he would be allowed in with casual clothes, but there was obviously no uniform for me to wear, so we just decided to go with casual clothes instead.

The bus stopped not too far from the school gate and we walked the rest of the way there. Some students in uniform cast us curious looks, and one of them even recognised Masa and waved to him. Their summer uniform was a standard short-sleeved white shirt and black pants, with black pleated skirts for girls. Masa told me that their winter uniform was the typical gakuran, a black high-collared jacket, while the girls had a simple black blazer. Nothing too exciting compared to the high schools in large cities like Tokyo or Osaka. To tell the truth, their summer uniforms looked like they could be from a secondary school or junior college in Singapore, so I was disappointed. Maybe I could come back in winter or early spring next time.

While I was busy with my thoughts, the boy who waved to Masa had approached us. "Hey Masa! I heard from your mom that you went overseas when I called your house a couple of days ago," he said with a grin. "I see you came back with a girlfriend, eh?"

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I felt a blush starting at my ears as Masa denied his accusation, saying, "Don't be silly, Yasu. She's just a normal friend."

"Right. Just wait till I tell the girls. They're gonna be so excited to hear about this." With that parting shot, the cheeky boy ran off.

Masa sighed, then turned towards me. "I was sorta expecting this to happen, but still...Sorry about that. Um, you better brace yourself," he said with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Nah, it's fine. I won't be staying here that long anyway," I told him, waving my hands. "In fact, I should be the one apologising to you since I wanted to come here in the first place. Would they still be talking about this when school starts again?"

He winced then shook his head. "I'm used to it anyway. I just ignore them most of the time. If I had time to engage in mindless chatter, I would rather watch birds. Or level."

"I would much prefer levelling too," I said with a firm nod. "As much as I like Japan, levelling in Shyi'eld gives me a greater sense of achievement."

"Yeah, and getting rid of the monsters makes you feel like you're doing a good deed too," agreed Masa.

"It's funny how I was so looking forward to coming here when we were in Shyi'eld, but now I can't wait to go back," I said with a laugh. "If only we had a teleporter that could take us there directly whenever we wanted."

Masa stared at me. "Your portal is already inside your house. I have to take a long bus trip whenever I want to go there, you know."

"Ahaha, I forgot about that, sorry. But it would be nice if we could travel between the portals more easily."

We continued talking about Shyi'eld until we reached the gate. Masa talked to the security guard standing outside and showed him his student pass, which allowed me access as well. I bowed my head in thanks and the guard just waved us in. The road to the school building was lined by what I assumed to be cherry trees, but they were all green with leaves in this season. I glimpsed some small cherries under the leaves, which confirmed my guess. Now I really needed to come back here in spring.

Masa showed me around the various classrooms, but we didn't go all the way to the top floor. He was also avoiding his class since he didn't want to attract any more attention. We headed to the back of the school, where there was a baseball field and multipurpose hall. I had never seen a baseball field before, so my curiosity was piqued, and to my delight, there were actually people playing on the field. Masa told me that it was most likely the baseball club doing their practices.

"The field has a high fence surrounding it, but we still shouldn't go too close. There's always a chance of a stray ball flying out," he warned.

"I can't really see much from here though," I said, squinting. "Maybe if we just go a bit closer..."

Masa sighed, but went along with my request. We went close enough for me to see the details on their jerseys and more importantly, to check whether there were any good-looking guys there. I mean, who wouldn't, right?