After breakfast, we cleaned up and then waited for the chick to hatch out completely. Masa was worried it might be dangerous if we travelled with such a young chick, so in the end, we delayed our departure by a few days. He was very apologetic about it, but he was also the one with a time limit, so we didn't really mind obliging him. Besides, we could just pop back and forth to buy supplies from Earth while waiting. My parents also informed the mansion staff that we would be away for a while and gave them instructions on what to do in our absence.

"It's finally free of the egg, but it's tinier than I expected," I noted with a frown as we all stared at the chick. "Its parent was huge, wasn't it?"

Masa frowned a little as he recalled the sight, but shook his head and said, "About twice the size of an ostrich, I would say. Its large wingspan made it look huge, but its body wasn't that much larger. Could have been about the size of the Haast's Eagle or a bit larger."

Seeing our puzzled expressions, he added, "That's an extinct eagle that preyed on moas, the extinct ratites in New Zealand."

I perked up. "I've heard of moas! They're like ostriches, but actually related to the kiwi, right?"

My dad interrupted before we started talking about birds again. "Anyway, have you decided on a name for it yet? If you haven't, I've got some suggestions—”

"Didn't he already say he had a couple of ideas when I asked, Dad?" I cut him off before we were forced to listen to his suggestions.

Masa turned to look at me. "Which of the two names do you prefer?"

"W-why are you asking me?" I blurted out in surprise.

"You were the one who received the egg and gave it to me, so…I thought you might want some say in naming it," he said with a shrug.

I tried to calm down and not think of it like he was asking me to help in naming our child or something. Oh dear… Judging by the grin on my mum's face and the frown on my dad's, my own face must be totally red by now. "Well… I kinda prefer 'Tsume'. It means 'claw', right? That sounds cool," I finally squeezed out my reply.

Masa nodded and gave me a smile. "I actually prefer that too," he admitted.

Help, I'm totally dying from his ikemen smile here. I forced myself to maintain my composure and smile back, albeit shakily. "Great, nice to meet you, Tsume-chan," I said to the tiny chick which was attempting to stand.

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It would probably look better once its feathers dried out, but currently it was a spindly thing with oversized legs and a head nearly as large as its body. I could also glimpse tiny claws at its wings. Unlike its parent, it had yellowish green down feathers, but I guessed it would moult into its adult colours once it matured. There was also the beginnings of a crest on its head.

The chick managed to stand, and looked up at Masa with a chirp. The boy gently caressed its neck with a finger and broke into a smile as the chick closed its eyes and leaned towards him. "Kinda ugly, but also cute, isn't it?" he muttered. "Your name is Tsume. Do you like it?"

It gave another chirp, but I doubted it really understood what we were saying. "Well, I can see Masa will be very busy these few days, so why don't we go buy some supplies to prepare for our trip?" suggested my mum. "We can also buy some stuff to sell over there if we ever need money."

Ooh, yes, the standard Isekai trope in which certain items that are cheap on Earth are ridiculously expensive in the other world. I was totally on board with that. "Stuff like pepper, sugar and salt, yes?" I asked my mum.

She stared at me like I had grown another head. "Why would those be saleable? I was thinking more on the lines of plastic bags and containers, since they can't make those there."

"Why would you even think about introducing plastic into another world?!" I protested, shocked at her idea.

She gave me a grin. "Because unlike on Earth, they have creatures that can dissolve plastic without any problems."

My jaw dropped, and even Masa looked up at her statement. "Don't tell me…slimes?" I asked.

"I suppose they are indeed slimy…” said Mum, looking unsure.

"Yes, they're basically the same as the slimes you see in popular media," added my dad with a wide grin. "But they're not as cute or round, so no one wants to keep them as pets. They're useful in getting rid of rubbish though. They naturally gravitate towards waste, so pile up enough in one place and they will appear of their own accord."

"I can imagine," I said with a grimace. "Sounds a bit like cockroaches though."

"Nah, they will feed on cockroaches too if given the chance, and they remove the smell of rubbish so that it doesn't attract more slimes to compete with them, so they are actually quite welcome in towns," explained Dad. "And they only feed on dead things, so they're quite harmless to people."

"Wow, they sound like an ideal rubbish disposal unit," I said with a chuckle. "Maybe we should get one for this mansion. I do gave some rubbish accumulating in my Void."

"Oh, there's already one sitting in the rubbish pit and another in the sewage," stated my mum nonchalantly. "Didn't you notice?"

I hadn't, so I asked her to show me, and proceeded to empty my own hoard of rubbish into the pit. The translucent, colourless blob of slime went to work immediately, taking in the pieces of plastic and styrofoam into its body with a slurping sound. Then it just sat there to digest, with its body almost twice its original size. I continued watching, fascinated, noting that there was no unpleasant smell whatsoever. This humble slime, or whatever it was called here, could be the solution to one of Earth's problems, but unfortunately it wouldn't be able to survive there. I was determined to at least do my part by throwing whatever rubbish I had here from now on.