"Morning, dear~!"
"Mn, morningh Cily... Hm, oi, wait a second!" I jumped out of the bed only to hit my head on the short ceiling above me, "Ow! Dammit Issei!"
"Hey now, quiet in the morning." He giggled, "Come on, you're supposed to leave this place first thing in the morning. Or so I was told..."
Even he doesn't know how these love hotels work, huh? Well, seeing as he was 15 back when he last saw them, I can understand why he wouldn't. That being the case, I wonder if people really use these places for fooling around. I mean, it's better than doing it outside on a park bench or whatever, but I'll be honest when I say that the two options are neck and neck when it comes to the comfortability factor.
"Alright, so where to now?" I asked as we left the building, "We gonna go visit your parents?"
"About that, I think we should focus on finding a way for you to get out and for Eleanor and Othelia to get in first." He figured, "If it's just going to all the World Wonders, then I can ask my parents to lend me a small fortune so we can go to all the places. That being said, I'll pay them back tenfold after you swap with the girls."
"I can't imagine that's gonna be cheap on their end." I worried, "And they'll just give you the money, no questions asked?"
"Well, they're definitely gonna be bugging me about all sorts of things." He chuckled, "But when we go to Europe, America and the rest of the world where they're still using wi-fi, I'll hopefully be able to just talk to them every day, so I'll have time to tell them all about my travels."
He's really something, that Issei. He's saying all these things with the same carefree smile as always, as if he didn't just finally return home to his world after nearly two decades. What's more, instead of just taking a few days to rest up and get himself situated, he decided to hit the ground running to visit all the World Wonders and send me back for my sake. Then again, he also has his reasons in the form of his girls, but the point still stands - Issei can be incredible at times, too.
"Alright, let's-" He began crossing the street as a speeding vehicle whizzed by.
"Watch out!" I pulled him back, "Geez, careful! Man, those things really are fast...!"
"Ah, it was a Red light." He looked up at the shining Red light across the street from us, "Heh, I guess I just got used to not seeing them from my years spent in the Vast World, ha-ha..."
"What are those things?"
"Cars." He explained after calming himself down, "They're like your world's transport wagons, only way stronger and way faster. Also, those lights I was just talking about are indicators for when we can cross. Red means stop, and Green means go."
"You mean Red means Revenge, and Green means Adventure?"
"No, Lune, not here it isn't." He then began crossing the street with everyone else as the light turned Green, "But phew, you just saved my butt. Thanks for that, I almost got isekai'd."
"Hm?"
"Hey, y'know, that might also work..." He (hopefully) joked, "In light novels, the protagonist always goes to another world when they get hit by a vehicle. Maybe if you..."
"Hell no."
"Well hey, not now, of course. I'm just talking hypotheticals here. Like, if visiting the World Wonders doesn't work, this just might. Though I don't know which alternate world it'd take you to..."
And if it doesn't work, huh? What then, I get flattened like a pancake? Hell, I'd do anything to go back home to my family, but a dead Lune can't do squat to make that happen now, can he?
"That does beg the question though..." I wondered, "Where would my soul go if I were to, Gods forbid, die in this world?"
"Eh? That's awfully morbid. I was just joking about that thing earlier, don't actually do it." He worriedly replied, "That being the case, why not just believe you'll go to Heaven like usual?"
"I don't know, what if the Gods here didn't make a Heaven?" I shrugged, "I dunno how cool that Jesus guy is, he might condemn me for treading on his world uninvited, like Aru did to you."
"From what I gathered, Jesus would probably hand you some homemade wine, cure your leprosy and just give you the go-ahead to Heaven." Issei looked up, "I don't think there's a single God in this world that's at all like Aru. Ah-"
"Unf!" The guy he just bumped into as he wasn't looking stammered, "Ah, are you alright?"
"Sorry, he wasn't looking." I stepped in between them to protect Issei just in case the guy was violent, "Though, thankfully it seems he pushed himself off of you more than he did you, haha. Right, Issei? ...Issei?"
"You're...?" He pointed to the tanned, White haired man before us with a stupified look, "Meil?"
Meil? Wait, there's no way. What the hell, it really is him! I didn't notice because of his longer hair tied in a braid, but without a doubt, this is Meil standing here in front of us! Why, or rather, how!?
"Beep!" The car waiting for us to cross honked, 「おい、交差点で喋るな!」
「すみません」Meil replied in fluent Japanese, "It appears we are holding up the intersection. If you two have anything to talk to me about, then could I suggest we first take a seat at that coffee shop over there?"
No way, am I still dreaming? Meil just spoke Issei's language as if it was his own...
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Lune." Issei nodded at me, "Whatever we had planned can wait. For now, solving this mystery is way more important, don't you think?"
"Mad ditto." I nodded as we both glanced at the oblivious guy naively staring back at us all confused.
----------------------------------------
***
----------------------------------------
"I see." He took a sip of the "boba tea" he ordered, "So you confused me for a friend. A shame, but the pair of you are mistaken in that assumption."
"Dude, even that weird way of talking is the same..." Issei whispered to me.
"Shh, don't be rude!" I then returned to the conversation, "A-ha-ha, so, Meil!"
"No, once again, I am not this Meil person you speak of." He shook his head.
"Then, how can I call you?"
"...I am without a name." He refused to answer, "A mere passerby on his way to a meet. I did not expect to get stopped by anyone, but I suppose I had time to hear your worries out, at least."
"Dude, shut up." Issei rolled his Eyes, "You really shouldn't be talking like that at our age, it's really weird."
"Apologies, I suppose your kind tends to require names for the strangers they meet in life." He thought for a second, "Then, you may call me Meil if it is easier for you. A lovely name indeed."
Hold on, our kind? Is this Meil racist? Directly mirroring the Meil we know, who constantly pulls the race card to get people who diss him to feel bad and stop? Oho, what a riot! Aa~nd also slightly scary!
"Then Meil, are we holding you up from your meet?" Issei checked the time on his phone, "When is it?"
"In 2 months, 1 week, 3 days, 16 hours and 2 minutes." He replied at that very moment, "...A rough estimate due to the neverending passage of time."
...Yeah, you ain't fooling anyone here, Meil. But seriously, his appearance is identical if you ignore the longer braided hair, his mannerisms, idiosyncrasies and overall weirdness are the same, so what gives? How come he's with us? And why doesn't he remember who we or even he is? I feel like this isn't something we can just pass up, besides...
"2 months!? Where are you going for it to be that far!?" Issei gasped.
"As one can expect, Mount Everest requires quite a lot of planning in advance. You cannot just go there on a whim without planning, at least any normal human cannot."
"Mount Ivrys?" I tilted my head.
"Everest." He rallied back.
"Evrys?"
"E-ve-rest." Issei chopped it up for me, "The tallest mountain in the world. It seems this Meil here's a real joker."
"I do not mind if you do not believe me. Rather, I think it would be better for you to forget this conversation in general." He got up to pay the bill, but muttered as he was turning away, "It would be a problem if mortals followed me ther-"
"Ah!" I slammed the table as I jumped out of my seat, turning everyone's attention over to me in the process as I pointed at him, "You're going to meet the Gods!"
Carefully examining his reaction revealed... nothing. He didn't raise nor lower his Eyebrows, he didn't move or even stay in place. It was an odd reaction, contradictory in every sense of the word. He just continued with paying for our drinks before waving at us and leaving as the angry waitress presumably scolded me for hitting their table. He walked out of the store hastily, but when I focused on him, it was as if he was moving in place, not even advancing a single step ultimately. His back was turned the entire time, but I could feel a Red hot, piercing glare burning a hole through my retinas. I get the feeling that if I don't move fast, I'll...
"Ah!" I ducked under the table after the pain became unbearable.
Moments later, the waitress screamed as my cup of coffee just spontaneously combusted on the table. That... could have been my head, had I not moved away when I did. This Meil, he almost killed me just now! Was that a warning for us not to investigate him? Did I hit a bullseye on him going to meet the Gods of this world on that Mount Everest? How did he do that, is it his Iro Ability? What color were his Eyes? I can't remember, but I feel like they weren't of any particularly interesting hue. What is going on...
"What the hell's going on!?" Issei somehow ducked lower than I did under the table, even though his life wasn't in mortal danger, "Did you do that?"
"Hell no, but we can't let this Meil escape!" I said as I got up to pursue him, "Follow me, come on!"
Rushing out of the shop, we glanced around before Issei found him waiting for the Red light at the intersection to turn Green so he could cross, as if he wasn't even trying to run away.
"So, you decided to follow m-" He went to turn around, but instead got pushed into the oncoming traffic when I lunged to catch him.
Spinning out of control with an ear shattering sound of rubber tires burning, the vehicle that was about to hit us simply couldn't break in time. We were gonna get hit, but...
"Lucky us." Meil's Eyes shone a bright White as he frowned at me, "We somehow managed to avoid getting hit by the car by a hair's breadth. That being said, please be careful in the future."
"Lucky?" I figured it out, "No, don't lie! You used your Iro to save us from getting hit!"
"Iro..." His Eyes glew brighter than ever before as his body became hot to the touch, "You are not from this world, are you?"