"Great, everyone's here," Master Sunflare said cheerfully, turning around and gesturing at something.

Master Takahashi stood silently beside him, arms crossed, gazing at the snow-covered valley. He seemed to have fully recovered, showing no signs of any abnormality. I wondered what the bighorn sheep was thinking--I wasn't familiar with the field of vision that horizontal pupils provided. But even if he had some thoughts, he didn't seem inclined to share them with us. So after struggling for a few seconds over whether I should apologize to him, I gave up and shifted my attention away.

I can work on my social skills later--probably.

"Hey," Piqsirpoq nudged my side gently with his elbow. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I said, wiping the wetness from my cheek, puzzled by why I could never seem to control my tears. "What about you? Are you nervous?"

"A little," he admitted honestly. "But I think... I'm too excited to be nervous." He rubbed his hands together, his tail wagging slightly back and forth.

"We'll make them all eat shit, right?" I joked lightly, earning a toothy grin from him. "Oh, is that... your choice?" I asked, noticing the Karabela tied to his waist, feeling a bit of mixed emotions.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Yeah, Qana let me choose." He placed his hand on the hilt. "I feel like we've been through a lot together," he said with a tone of satisfaction, clearly thinking I should appreciate his sense of humor.

I scratched my ear and gave a goofy smile in response, deciding to ignore those mixed feelings for now.

Suddenly, without any warning, a... rift appeared before us.

What... is this?

I found myself able to peer into the... other side of the rift--it resembled some kind of metallic wall...

"Hurry up, exotic matter is quite precious," Master Sunflare said, pointing at the rift. "Get in."

Exotic matter... a rift... I quickly pieced the information together and came to a conclusion--by Rationalism above, this is a wormhole!

I had thought we'd be taking an airship, a high-speed capsule train, or even a starship, but a wormhole... this was on a whole other level of extravagance--literally!

Piqsirpoq hadn't fully grasped it yet, looking at the wormhole with utter confusion and uncertainty.

Noticing that Master Sunflare was beginning to look impatient, I resolved to be the first to step in, not to waste any more time. After all, it was about time to plunge headfirst into the unknown once again--I believed this would become my new way of doing things.

A place where no one knows me, where I can become anyone.

Saying goodbye to my old identity, starting a new life.

A brand-new beginning, a fresh opportunity.

A chance to uncover the truth of how the world works.

A chance to gain the power to protect everyone.

"It's a wormhole," I explained to Piqsirpoq. He tilted his head and folded one ear down, still not getting it. "Come on!" I laughed, deciding a demonstration would be more effective than words.

So I turned and ran toward the wormhole, leaping into the opening without a moment's hesitation, diving into endless possibilities, and into the future that awaited me.

I was falling, yet soaring.