With the team now separated into two groups, each one having set themselves the goal of reaching the summit before the other, Cecily's group marches onward from the bottom and through the main, trap-filled pathway.

"So, shall we get going, then?" Cecily immediately went to booking it.

"Hold it." Eleanor grabbed her hand and stopped her from running off on her own, "It's true we have the Gods' favor on our side, but that doesn't mean we should rush through all gung-ho."

"I think so too." Issei nodded, seating himself on a nearby rock, "Just enjoy the peaceful atmosphere while we still have it. I mean, we got time."

"Says who?" Cecily still looked anxious, "No matter how you look at it, they've got this race in the bag. They're ahead of us by a couple of minutes since we fell to the bottom, they're on the easier path, they're..."

"They've got two kids they need to take care of." Issei interrupted her, "Besides, I'm pretty sure Ed just agreed to your little race because he was heated in the moment. I'm sure the only goal they're thinking of right now is how to safely reach the top and reunite with us."

"My thoughts exactly." Eleanor sat down too, "My brother's a real pain most of the time, but he's a bona fide adult when it comes down to it. For now, let's just take a snack break and enjoy the sunny atmosphere."

"Right, about that..." Cecily sighed as she begrudgingly sat down beside them, "How come there was an avalanche if this mountain is supposedly protected from the snow by Aru's barrier?"

"Huh, now that you mention it, I have no idea." Issei shrugged as he looked up the mountainside, "I can't see all that well from this angle, but I don't remember seeing any snow all the way from the bottom to where it passes through the clouds."

"You think it came from above the clouds, then?" Cecily inquired.

"Snow falls from clouds, just like rain does." Issei shook his head, "So there's no way it came from above the clouds."

"Hmph, good point..." Cecily struck a thinking pose.

As they ate the sandwiches Anna had prepared each of them before the trip, they all thought about how that snow could've fallen, as it was the best way to pass the time. Thinking up one theory after another, they couldn't help but notice the theories growing more and more wild as time went on. Going from Eleanor's theory of it being leftover snow from last year to Issei's idea of it coming from the Gods pissing at the top, and having that piss freeze into snow, they couldn't help but start to crack up by the end.

"Ew, gross! You're gonna ruin my appetite!" Cecily laughed.

"What? I'm just saying, it's plausible!" Issei joked as he smacked his lips, "Back when I was a kid, me and a few cousins used to write our names in the snow like that, so I imagine the immortal Gods have at least thought about it as well."

"Ugh, boys and their disgusting games..." Eleanor gagged a bit as she reluctantly finished eating her sandwich, "I sure hope you're not like this around Othelia."

"Oh don't worry, I only stick to the occassional dirty joke or two." Issei chuckled, "And when I say dirty, I only mean sex jokes."

"That's only slightly better!" Eleanor gasped, "And she likes that? Geez, what the hell is up with her..."

"Well, it's not like she likes it." He figured, "But it's not in my interest for her to like it either, so I guess it works out."

Noticing his sudden change in tune, the two girls looked at each other before glancing back over to Issei. It didn't take a seasoned psychologist to figure out that Issei stopped joking and was 100% serious, so they decided to stay quiet and hoped to slowly figure out what was bugging him. With an "Ahem", Eleanor spoke first.

"Say, Issei..." She cleared her throat before asking, "You and Othelia, are you two really not a couple?"

"Eleanor!" Cecily reprimanded her.

"What? I'm curious!"

"Well so am I, but you gotta be more tactful than that!"

"No, it's fine." Issei laughed with sullen Eyes, "A guy and a girl traveling the world together, living off of quests and commissions until they finish their journey - I get it, it really sounds like a fantasy novel. Oh, I guess in your guys' case it's just a normal novel."

"So...?" The two girls listened to the melancholic guy intently.

"We're not a couple, and I can't let us be." He sighed, "I'm sure you've noticed by now, but she cares for me deeply, and I care for her as well. But still, I have to keep refusing her advances, otherwise... I won't be able to go back."

"Go back?" Cecily tilted her head.

"To my home." Issei explained, "We're on a journey to visit every World Wonder of this world. Once we do, I'll be able to go back home to my own world. We've visited practically all of them, and the only ones left are the Tria Prisma in Abyssus Solis and this here mountain."

"Eh~, you've traveled to four already?" Eleanor sat there, both dumbfounded and impressed, "But wait, how do you know that doing so will let you go back to your home?"

"An old man told me." Issei shrugged, "Looking back, I think he was a wizard or something. He was bald, though, but his wizard hat and giant beard made up for it."

"An old... man?" The two girls looked dissappointed as hell before Eleanor cleared her throar and continued, "I-In any case, so you've already visited four of the six World Wonders, huh? Even the Cognisphere all the way at the top of the map?"

"You make it sound like that one's difficult or something. It was actually one of the easier ones, surprisingly." Issei elaborated, "Back then, I thought all I needed was an artifact from it or something, so I commissioned some bandits to go there in my stead and get it."

"Huh, that's actually super smart." Cecily seemed impressed, "I would've never thought of that and would have just went everywhere myself."

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"Yeah, well, I got chewed out by the wizard and told it won't work like that." Issei bashfully scratched his cheek, "He said I needed to be there personally, to all the World Wonders, so the whole thing was just a waste of time and money, really."

"Oh." The girls slumped forward, "And then what did you do?"

"Well, what else?" He laughed, "I started going around the world! It took over a decade, especially with all the troubles we've gotten ourselves into, but now we're finally closing in on the home stretch. Soon I'll get to see my family again, and this whole nightmare will be over."

"Is that so..." Cecily sulked, "But won't Othelia be lonely then?"

Hearing this, Issei got a bit mad and promptly stood up to continue hiking up the trail. The girls saw this and rushed to pack up and catch up to him. They knew Cecily had hit a nerve, but they still didn't know why or how. After all, Othelia and Issei aren't a thing, he said so himse-

"Ah, I get it now." Cecily ran over to him, "You don't want to accept her feelings despite you both loving each other, because you don't want your goodbye to hurt as much, is that it?"

"I-Issei?" Eleanor caught up as well after Issei stopped walking, only to see the tears trickle down his Eyes, "Ohhh boy..."

"E-Eh?" I felt his face up after noticing the tears as well, "Heh, looks like you solved the mystery. Well, not like I had ever intended on carrying it to my grave or anything."

"Issei..." Cecily approached him timidly.

"She's a wonderful girl. I dare say she's perfect, even." Issei sniffled as he spoke, "Some other guy will surely see her shining strong points and fall for her, just like I have, and when that happens, she'll probably accept him and heal. Sigh, I-I really don't want it to end like that, but I don't have another choice..."

"But, you do..." Eleanor quietly rustled through her backpack and handed him a handkerchief to blow his nose on, "You do have a choice, Issei! Just take her with you!"

"Huh... Pff! Haha!" He loudly started to mock her naive solution, "You're only a few years younger than the rest of us, but you're really naive, huh?"

"A-And why is that?" Eleanor got a bit peeved now that she was getting mocked purely for suggesting an idea.

"Don't you get it? How could I know if there's even such an option?" He asked her, "I don't know how that whole process works, dammit. I heard it from a bald wizard!"

"B-But...!" Cecily tried to intervene, but was immediately rejected.

"A girl from a parallel world suddenly showing up in Japan, she'll be overwhelmed!" He explained, "My world is so much more advanced than this one, so much more dangerous for the people of this world, that she'll probably end up getting lost and raped somewhere in an alleyway! Besides, I'm talking about the world I know, the world from 12 years ago. Just imagine how much more advanced it's gotten since then, I imagine I'll be having a difficult time getting used to it myself even!"

"Alright, shut it!" Cecily finally snapped, "You keep talking about your world this and our world that... Who cares about the rest of the world when you've got each other!?"

"Huh...?" Issei couldn't retort in the moment as Cecily kept relentlessly attacking him.

"You've got a wonderful girl who likes you so much, to the point where she was willing to travel the entire world with you, and you're gonna leave her all alone!?" She shouted, "If you love a person, you don't push them away! You cherish them, tell them they're loved, and you do everything in your power to be with them for as long as possible! Because...!"

Falling on her knees as a sobbing mess, Cecily began to fight for her word through the tears. Issei felt unsure of what was going on, but he still knew it was best to comfort her, "C-Cecily...?"

"B-Because... if you don't..." She sniffed, "You'll forever regret it when they're gone for good!"

Finally letting the floodgates go, Cecily began to wail at full strength. Eleanor and Issei immediately went to her aid to hug her, knowing full well what was the cause of this behavior. Indeed, she wasn't just dishing out random advice for the hell of it. No, she was talking from a much more personal space. She was talking from her own experience of losing Lune.

"A-Alright, Cecily, I get it." Issei sighed as they helped her get up and calm down, "I still don't want to be unrealisticallt optimistic, but I'll try and let her back into my heart a bit if she wants that."

"No! Not just a bit, let her in completely!" Cecily daintily punched him in the chest, where his heart is, "You moron, all those years of keeping your distance could've been spent loving one another. What an idiot, I say."

"Heh, I guess..." Issei looked up at the mountain, "I got a lot of catching up to do then, huh?"

"Yeah." Eleanor looked up as well before realizing, "W-Wait, when you say catching up, y-you don't mean s-se..."

"Se?" Issei tilted his head.

"Gahh, y-you know? S-Se...x..." She blushed even more once she said the full word.

"God, Eleanor, how old are you again?" Cecily chuckled, "But yeah, I agree. You two really oughta do it, you know? Girls can get horny too, you know, and they absolutely hate being left to wait. I would know, since Lune up and married another girl all while I waited for him for years on end."

"Yikes." Issei made a funny face, "Hm? But wait, we've had sex before?"

"Ehhh?" The girls both gasped in unison, "So then...?! Huh!?"

"Yeah, but that's a story for another time." Issei pressed onwards, "Come on, now! We gotta pass those suckers and reach the top before them!"

"Hey, stop dammit!" Cecily raced behind him, "You can't just drop that bombshell and expect us to not ask follow up questions! Hold it!"