He floated up into the air, and after doing so, he slowly began to move. With how mana provided intended results so casually, it did not take long for him to ease into doing all at the same time: (1) bringing the mana to his control; (2) maintaining his distance from the ground; and, (3) moving.

After travelling a short distance, he slowed down. What Aurora had to do was to have both bodies move at the same time. Her feet parted from the ground, and so the two were up.

When it came to balance, it felt not so much a challenge. Mana was just so quick in reacting. What Aurora had to consciously mind was mainly in managing altitude and velocity, and maintaining the mana they had.

As they moved, hovering above the ground, she looked at him who was at the front. Having two sets of eyes was something Aurora now had. It should be disorienting, yet it was not. It felt natural.

Seeing the other body move when casting aside shared perception was quite a sight to behold.

And in this situation, their synchrony did not falter any bit whenever Aurora concentrated on perceiving through one over the other.

Putting back the focus on moving, Aurora sped both of them up. Since they moved to be above the river’s surface, there was the worry of falling into it. But at least if they did, it would be easier to recover from than crashing into dirt. Also, as there were no trees that grew from within the water, it was easy to just follow it, to avoid crashing into them.

They soon enough reached the speed at which they could normally run at. Aurora felt a sense of thrill shared by both. With twice the brain, and eyes, the attention could be divided, so she focused on where they were going, while through him, Aurora could focus on the scenery.

For as far as she could see, the river did not curve so much, so there was not a whole lot to worry about in doing agile maneuvers.

Looking at the scenery around them, Aurora could not help but feel in awe. The feeling of moving through the wind, and feeling it so freely added in that sense of wonder.

Looking down, the clarity of the water was surreal. Aurora admired this for a while, in serenity. Thoughts were there, but the time spent in getting them done, it was in a leisurely way.

Weaving through the trees. Imagining that scene happening was tempting, but Aurora did not go with it.

When it came to things that flew, Aurora thought of planes. It was a staple image for humanity’s development in soaring through the skies.

Depending on how their body was shaped, it could be the determining factor in their efficiency in flight. Aurora gave it some thought. When it came to motion, a jet could power down its engines, but still remain afloat.

“(Lift...)” He recalled what made it possible for planes to stay up.

It was not necessary to have to mind horizontal velocity at all times. So, acceleration began to be done periodically, while the spending of mana would mostly be on keeping their bodies up. With such adjustments, Aurora felt it become easier to do. Slowly but surely, their speed became comparable to how fast a car could travel.

After a while, the number of trees in their view immediately lessened. They entered into a more open space. With not much to look at, rather than sticking so closely to the ground, going higher and into the sky may be better.

Thinking so, Aurora thought of how difficult it may be to land. “(That’s for later. I’ll do this.)” Though, Aurora became resolute to approach the clouds.

They tipped upward. The usage of mana increased as they were accelerating to rise, so they had to focus more on keeping some mana be available for use by gathering as they went.

The clouds were still far beyond their reach, but it was good enough, they stopped climbing. Their eyes moved over to where the ground was. A not-so-confident smile formed on both their faces. As they flew, they could only look at where they would very quickly go if they just ran out of mana.

Aurora had to think of how they would land. Since they were able to do so much already with accelerating and hovering, it should be possible to slow down as they fell, but Aurora had to feel worry while it was yet to be done.

From way high up, they could see a city of modern architecture a way away, but in the middle of it, Aurora found it questionable.

There was a castle that did not let itself lose in comparison to the modern buildings around it in terms of grandiosity. The castle had a few rings of walls, and behind each of those walls were structures of an ancient but familiar look. Just from the view of it, there was a hierarchical divide in the style between each wall.

Aurora could not muster much of an opinion on it, other than to just take in the sight. In one aspect from observation, the castle or medieval settlement was relatively small when comparing it to how much ground the sprawling modern city covered.

Upon having directly below them a good number of buildings, where they were well within the city, Aurora began deciding. Finding a landing spot was the foremost concern. Other than moving around between his school, and the place of his part-time job, he did not go outside much. He did recognize the area where some tall buildings were, though. It appeared to be the same city he had lived in.

As for her, she lived in what was essentially a mansion with mostly agricultural land around it, so the castle was, while interesting, not a place to immediately be in.

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Tracing from where his school was, he found where he would go. But, Aurora had to think of what people would think of when they saw their descent.

Since mana was being used to sustain their flight, any other type of magic seemed difficult to add. So, it was decided they would just drop down, minding the issues only for afterwards.

As they fell, mana was used to keep their momentum manageable, and they were able to have their feet touch concrete quite safely. And, they took an attentive look around them. “(Doesn’t seem like anyone saw me... us.)” Aurora did not see any curious face peering at them.

Being the time of day it was, most adults would most probably be at work, while most of those still young or had no jobs tend to stay more so indoors, keeping themselves occupied as per the growing presence of electronic devices.

“(There was no other choice.)” Aurora started thinking for some words, having become conscious of there being two bodies, especially with them being of opposite genders.

“(I mean, I could rent another apartment. But, that would probably be impossible right now. So, it’ll feel a bit awkward. But...)” There would need to be an explanation for people. When it came to others, there was no guarantee they would easily dismiss it. Would they have to be spotted together all the time? “(Us being relatives should work, I guess.)”

When they arrived at the door of his apartment, he asked himself a question: “(Where’s the keys?)” He needed to unlock the door. It was possible to just cut a hole through it, but being reasonable, that idea was brushed away.

“(At school?)” He found it the most plausible. “(My bag should be at school.)”

If it was back at the forest, which he doubted but could not rule out, he would have to go back there, which was not the most pleasant choice to make.

His keys, and more importantly his wallet were not on him. He grimaced at his situation. But firstly, he just had to go to his school to confirm.

He could fly over there, but it was quite risky to show off the magic. “(I guess I’ll just walk there.)” He did not know if others knew of it, or if it was possible for them. Was it bad to share the knowledge? Aurora thought about it.

It would not be a problem if Aurora knew for sure that the government would not make a test subject out of either or both of them, or some bad outcome as depicted in some stories about those with superpowers.

“Sigh.” He prepared himself to take a walk. Having just undergone the experience of flying, it felt a bit dull to do so, but on the positive, walking had its sense of comfort in safety over flight.

His eyes turned toward her. Her dress had a style that felt a bit out of place. The folds and layers of cloth were extravagant. So, new clothes were necessary.

The part of the dress below her waist was the one most attracting in being out of the ordinary.

The bell shape it had was already misshapen, with its back side made straight from her having lied down in the forest, the frame that kept it up wasn’t so strongly fixed in shape. With the aid of magic, the rest of the frame was bent, so the cover could finally fall.

Although it didn’t exactly solve so much, at least its form felt standard.

As for where she would be at, he could not have her go with him as that would need some explaining that very likely would not work past the guard. There was a park nearby, which had some benches for sitting on, so that’s where she would wait.

Before they were to walk back down the stairway connecting floor to floor the apartments, Aurora thought of using magic to transform her clothes.

Since he of course had no clothes for a girlish look, it felt like a good way to do it. However, it seemed a bit too complicated, requiring more precision than Aurora knew of if wanting to avoid ruining it.

So, no changes were made before, at the park, the two separated, and she sat down on one of the many benches, and in the meantime focused her sights onto the modern city.

In the world she was in, she was taught that if she were ever to be in a town, she had to be ready at all times. If ever she was out of mana, she had to get some. It was too much a risk being powerless in front of those who can so simply use magic.

In this modern environment, they had no need to have to worry so much about suddenly being killed by someone else. Well, murders still took place, but the chance was low enough that most could just so calmly go outside unarmed where other people were.

But, there was the familiar look of a castle. There was no need for her to go there now, but she recognized that it meant that in this world was a whole town of people who knew of magic.

She had the obligation to occasionally visit large towns because of her having the blood of a noble, and from that, the appearance of the castle was more familiar for her than for him.

Changing what she was thinking of was the appearance of something like a deformed dog. It did not have any fur as it instead had what appeared to be a tough hide.

Even in this place, the mana had been present all throughout. They had been able to stay in flight inside the city because of that. But also because of it, a being could bring itself into existence inside the city.

If they had not moved so fast in getting out of the forest, they would have very likely encountered more of what he would have called real-life video-game monsters there, but it seemed that even here, there was at least one.

It had sharp teeth, and a wide mouth, and it could be thought that it was designed to at least amputate in one bite. Its bulky hind legs propelled it toward her.

In response, she sent a torrent of mana. With the intention of slicing through, the wind could be faintly seen being affected by the mana as well.

Her attack and the dog-like creature met, and so the energy in her attack was consumed as it moved into the target’s head.

Despite having a significant enough cut in the middle of its head, it was very much unfazed as per the nature of its creation. The cut revealed that with not having blood, it showed no semblance of a biological internal organ in there.

On its four legs, it was less than half as tall as her, so if it were to bite, it was going to bite onto a leg. She wanted to keep the mana core whole this time, so there was that complication. As it approached, something had to be done.

Expressing what she wanted to have happen was her hand held outward, with the fingers then closing into a fist. With the mana used in pressing it down disappearing at quite a rate, the strength of the dog-like creature was conveyed to her. But it was enough to keep it from moving for long enough.

With the imagery akin to that of a guillotine, a sheet of mana was dropped like a blade as it struggled to get out of her magical grasp.

As she moved over to where she could put new mana under her control, the creature eventually turned headless, and soon after, its legs also got cut off.

With it being immobile and carrying no risk of harm, she approached it.

When it came to the sensing of mana, it was without natural obstruction. So, she knew where what she wanted was, and placed her hand accordingly. In a circular shape, mana was moved and forced into tearing through it.

A cylindrical shape became all of what remained of the creature, and afterwards, its mana core was without cover.