“Muu~”

And so, the hands of time ticked on. The ever blue skies stayed ever present. The fluffy white clouds slowly drifted along with the slow and quiet wind.

The soft howls of the wind were accompanied by the occasional sounds of splashing water. The floating islands hovered there, staying unmoving. The three giant sky rivers flowed along with the swift and dangerous current.

Stretching her hands into the air, Marie let out a cute purr as she felt a warm feeling coursing through her body. She displayed a blissful smile as she continued to stretch her woken body.

This was a routine she always did upon waking up.

It felt quite comfortable.

But then, in the middle of the warm feeling, she recalled the last time she did this, and the embarrassment that soon followed. In a hurry, she snapped herself out of her trance and looked around.

“C-Could he be watching me again…?”

That was what she thought at that time.

And that couldn’t be more wrong.

“H-Huh?”

To her surprise, her surrounding was silent, eerily so. The boy she had acquainted with, the one who fell asleep before her, was nowhere to be seen. And that crab that would always go into his backpack, wasn’t here either.

She was, all alone.

Just to make sure, she took another look to her surrounding, and to the pool he made with explosions, and just like before, there was nothing around her.

The soft howls of the wind echoed in her ears.

“Where could they be?”

She silently asked so as she took a small walk around the area.

From the quick session she took to walk around, the items Alex had left, his backpack, and that pouch with the remains of those apples, all of them were missing from sight.

Where could those two have gone two?

She began to worry slightly, but knowing those two, and how powerful they could be when they’re actually fighting, the worry never really stayed. Not the same could be said for the crab though.

Although she hadn’t noticed this, but something felt, how to say it, off.

Something didn’t feel just quite…right.

Something…was-

Once again, where are those two?

“Ah, you’re awake.”

“Huh?”

But then, from behind her, she heard a voice, a familiar voice she had come to know in these past few days. That calm, soft, yet also slightly tinged with worry tone he would always use to talk.

“A-Alex?”

“Hmm? What is it?”

Turning around, she came face to face with the person she was trying to find, and there, along with the little crab companion he would always be with, stood there. Alex titled his head in confusion upon seeing her slightly worried expression.

“Is something wrong?”

“H-Huh? N-No…”

“Something is definitely wrong…I see.”

“Uuu…”

Somehow, that quick and collected response made her disappointed. Somewhere deep in her heart, she wished he would react more, but it doesn’t seem like he’ll be granting that anytime soon.

“…You’re blushing.”

“E-Eh?”

What did he just say? She was so caught up in her thoughts, that she failed to notice him calling out to her. And just to approve his point, he even conjured a small circle mirror and pointed it to her, and just like he said, her cheeks were deep crimson.

“A-Ah…”

“…Is something on your mind?”

“N-Not really…”

“Really?”

“R-Really…”

Wah…Why did his voice just sound so…warm?

Uwah…Something is definitely wrong with her.

She slapped her cheeks to, hopefully, try to snap her out of this trance. It seems that only made it worse, and Alex continued to question whether she really was okay.

“Ara…She’s going to fall…I can feel it…”

“A-Ah…I-I was just…”

Her thoughts began to jumble up, so much so that she failed to notice that she had begun to step backwards. And then,

“Ah?!”

“Woah there.”

Just like he expected, Marie seems to have something on her mind, and failed to notice that she was about to fall into the pool he made for the little crab. Luckily, he had a hunch that this would happen, and quickly caught her as she was about to fall.

“A-Ah…T-Thank you.”

“No problem.”

Once again, he answered with a quick and straightforward answer. She felt a slight disappointment rouse up in her heart. Not that she noticed it at all.

Pulling her away from the pool of water, he brought her away from the water’s edge and conjured her a nice green sofa. She displayed a genuine surprised expression, but she quickly became bashful and her cheeks turned red. Why was that?

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Was he missing something?

For some reason, he could feel a bad feeling in his gut. He quickly threw away such feelings.

“Here.”

“W-What is this for…?”

“Ha? It’s for you. To, sit.”

“A-Ah…”

With an awkward smile on her face, she silently moved to the small sofa and sat down. Somehow, the size of the sofa was just right to fit her.

How did he manage to get such precise measurements?

It was boggling for her to see such perfect and refined skill to utilise his unique magic.

Actually, now that she had seen it several times, she could confirm that his ‘Creation Magic’ was much more in depth than he made it out to be.

Every time he would ‘Create’ something out of thin air, he would quickly stretch out his index finger, and start to draw something in the air. By the end of it, a bright light would shine, and the object he wanted would simply, appear.

It was…bizarre, to say the least.

But putting into perspective her own magic, which allowed her to control asteroids and make them orbit around her as if she was some sort of star, it didn’t really surprise her as much.

But still, a ‘Creation’ type magic would grant the user an enormous amount of tactics to use.

And that just so happens to seemingly fit his collected and tactical style of battle. Unlike Jake, or Zed even, Alex’s battles didn’t rely on pure strength or speed. Or that’s what she thought anyways.

She had seen him lift a giant metal anchor without any help while standing on a moving boat. It really made her question whether he really was just a student and not someone with some background of martial arts.

Actually, that might explain it.

Hmm…

I guess she’ll find out soon enough.

“Phew…”

While she was still deep in thought, Alex took his time and conjured another sofa, this time with the colour red instead of green. Hey, he can’t control the colours yet, alright?

Not that he wanted to do so, it would be such a waste.

But looking to Marie, who was oddly silent and deep in thought, he decided to stay silent and enjoy this oddly tranquil moment.

Previously, while she was asleep, he had taken his time to walk around this island. From his time taken to survey the surrounding, this island was, just like he saw from the boat, was quite barren. The number of trees on this island was even fewer than the previous island.

As for why the crab was with him, it was simply because of his clumsiness. While he was trying to tip toe away from the sleeping beauties, the crab somehow managed to hear him walking away, and cheerfully followed him around.

Luckily, this guy was considerate enough to not wake Marie up.

This guy was somehow able to read the mood for once!

Putting that aside, this island was also oddly empty. From the several hours he spent aimlessly walking around, he didn’t even find himself encountering another inhabitant of this island. Those moles that had put up quite a fight on the previous island, was nowhere to be seen on this one.

It sure struck him as odd, but he gladly accepted the proposal of an empty island.

If the only enemy encounters he had would be with those annoying birds, then he could probably spend most of his time training to use this annoying skill called [[Sea Surfing]].

Getting that skill to Rank 1 would mean that he wouldn’t need a wooden boat to carry him across those rapid rivers somehow floating in mid-air.

Yeah, he’s not going to question the logic behind this world anymore.

Anymore thinking and his brain would probably explode.

Although, the scene of a floating river seemed quite pale to a gigantic octopus with bladed tentacles fighting against a giant whale who’s somehow able to shoot out water beams from its mouth without having a pair of eyes.

Yeah…This world is weird…

Has that been made clear to you yet?

Putting his hand over his eyes for a moment, he silently waited for Marie, who was somehow still deep in her own thoughts.

Just what could this girl be thinking about?

Not that he wanted to know by force, but it’s not every day he would get to see such a serious expression on her face.

Oh well, at least he gets to experience something new with every passing day he spends in this new world.

It’s not like Earth wasn’t interesting, but this world brought him many new things to think about, and many new things he hoped dearly to capture with his paint and brush.

He’s still a painter, remember?

But that aside, it really made him wonder just what could the situation be like back on Earth. After the incident of his school being sent into the sky and suddenly just disappearing, he wondered just how the media would react to such a ludicrous story.

Oddly, despite the many life and death situations he has been faced with until now, he felt glad that he was sent into this new world. The home back on Earth, didn’t feel like home to him.

He couldn’t feel like home back there. Not after-

“…No good.”

Quickly noticing that his thoughts were spiralling down into dangerous territories, he quickly snapped himself out and pushed the thought away, before dumping it into the trash bin and emptying said bin.

Wait, he isn’t a computer.

After he dumped out all those thoughts he had earlier into the bin, he sighed softly and rested his back against the sofa. Luckily, it seems his eyes are as good as ever. The sofa he conjured was the prefect size for his body. And it seems the same applies for the sofa he conjured for her.

Ah, that’s nice.

His cheeks loosened up slightly as he shrugged his shoulders. This sofa was just the perfect thing to sit on right after such a long and somewhat boring journey around this surreal island.

Although, Marie had just woken up…

Ah, whatever. All that matters was that this sofa was comfortable.

Isn’t this skill nice?

He doubted any other skills would have such a nice utility purpose, unless said skill was somehow able to control wool and materialise into a sofa.

Actually, that somehow seems possible.

Hmm…I wonder what a sheep with the unique skill to control wool would look like.

Uwah…That prospect somehow seems scary.

Trashing those thoughts once again, he emptied the thought bin and turned his eyes to Marie, who was showing a blissful and loosened smile. Her previous serious expression seemed to have crumbled away.

She also seems to be blushing slightly.

Arara…She seems to be asleep. Wonder what she’s dreaming about?

He’ll never know.

“Fwuu~”

“……”

Did she also just purr?

…Could this be because she just woke up?

A possible explanation, but didn’t she wake up before he arrived? She doesn’t seem to be too groggy either…

This girl sure is mysterious…and cute, if he had to admit.

He wondered what she would react like if she realised that he was watching her like this.

Would she be start blushing again?

Ah, she’s already blushing though.

Hmm…

I wonder what would Jake say if he saw this?

Oddly, his thoughts began to spiral down into odd territories once again. Realising this, he quickly shook his head and filed all those thoughts away for some other rainy day.

Not that he’ll get any rain here but…

That’s an expression damnit.

“Muu~”

“…She seems to be enjoying herself.”

He smiled softly as he watched Marie purr once more.

Was she even aware that she was letting out such cute soft purrs?

Meh, who knows?

She might be a cat for all I know.

“Hmm…”

Somehow, that got him to picture her with cat ears, and it suited her quite well, especially if her cat ears were yellow, matching the colour of her hair.

“Ah.”

Quickly, he realised that his thoughts were beginning to derail once again. Blushing slightly, he filed away the thought of a cat girl Marie into another file and kept it for later.

For some reason, he was unable to throw that picture into the bin.

Was something wrong with him?

“Kuh.”

Seeing as his thoughts were starting to derail even further, he placed his hands over his eyes and calmed himself down for a moment. All he needed to do, was take a step back, and relax.

Just let that soft and comfortable feeling seep in.

“Munyu~”

“Kuh.”

I-Impossible. Trying to calm down while hearing such cute noises was impossible!

Was this another challenge he had to overcome?

“W-What?!”

Without his notice, his hand was suddenly pulled and hugged by Marie, who displayed a peaceful smile as she tightened her grip on his hand.

Somehow, he was still able to restrain himself from screaming like a girl, but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to keep this straight man act for any longer.

“Muu~”

“…”

A chill crept up his spine as a bad feeling washed over him. Never in his life would he ever imagine his hand being pulled and hugged like some sort of teddy bear, even if it was because of someone like a little sister.

Was this how it felt to have a little sister?

If so, it didn’t feel too bad…

“What am I even thinking?”

His mind continued to derail further and further, starting from his thoughts about this oddly empty island, somehow ending up to his thoughts about having a little sister.

Just how did this even happen?

“Must…keep calm.”

He continued to repeat those words to himself, hoping to the heavens that she wouldn’t wake up now and just see his cheeks blushing bright red like this. Heck, he even activated [[Concentration]] for this!

“What is she even dreaming about?”

-Inside Marie’s dream-

“So many little kitties!”

“Meow!”

Seems to be quite the innocent dream she’s having there.