And so, our first month in this world came and went. Sadly, it seems the initial boom of coming to an entirely different world was very much short lived, because we didn't really have much left in the itinerary after the Mount Fuji trip. The only things left were going to a festival, and a ton of other smaller ticks like eating sushi and such. It really wasn't worth mentioning our day-to-day lives spent just waiting for a celebration to occur as we wandered the streets of Tokyo district, so I'll skip that part and move on to when stuff actually got interesting.

"For example, right now." I looked up, "What the hell is this?"

Right in front of me was a beast. No, a titanic machine which looked most similar to a dragon. In truth, I've seen these flying about up in the air before, but I always thought they were just shooting stars, leaving trails behind them as they grazed the skies. I've probably seen hundreds of them since I got here, but never once standing on the ground.

"This here..." Issei pointed to it from the inside of the glass, "Is our most effective mode of transport - The airplane!"

"Wait, we'll be going inside it!?" I jolted.

"I am surprised you did not ask any questions while we were entering the airport." Ouroboras noted, "Did the loud noises produced from their engines not incite any curiosity in you? Or unease, at least?"

"I guess I got used to all the loud sounds of the vehicles of this world." I figured, "Cause I completely tuned them out."

"Dude, there's no way you did." Issei chuckled, "Were you even aware of where we were headed today at all?"

"Nah, since I skipped that part of the story." I admitted, "The readers would've gotten bored otherwise."

"And who are these readers you seem to mention all too frequently?" Ouroboras inquired.

"Just think about it: Who says our very lives aren't just a story in a book? Certainly, we don't know who might be reading this very line..."

"But I do know, since I am one of the Five Gods." Ouroboras gave a deadpanned reply, "It is not."

Hm, you sure? I mean, sure, you're the most powerful quintuplet in all the Universe Cycles, but whose to say there isn't anyone or anything that exists outside that large string of ones and zeroes? I'm just saying, there's no proof that you guys exist and are actually reading all that's been happening in mine or anyone else's lives thus far, but if you do, then I'd at least like to make a good impression. It's impolite to ignore your admirers, after all.

"Anyways, where will this airplane be taking us?" I asked, "And how do we get on?"

"I bought the tickets, so don't worry about it. We just gotta wait until they call for us to board the plane." Issei reassured me, "We're going to Okinawa for a visit."

"Ah, finally a scene change!" I could barely hold in my excitement, "Who're we visiting?"

"My parents."

Issei's parents? That's right, he wanted to visit their house back when we just arrived here, but they apparently moved and so he had to postpone the visit for later! Now that I think about it, he had always made sure to call his mother on a payphone every day to keep her updated with where we were. What a surprisingly good son. But his parents, they live in Okinawa, huh? Lemme check the map...

"Ah, that's totally far away!" I gasped, "Traveling by train would... No, is it even possible to cross all the way there by land?"

"That's what the plane's for, dummy." Issei grinned, "Ah, let's go. Don't forget our luggage!"

"Issei, do you intend to pay the extra fees for all these items we have amassed?" Ouroboras squinted.

"You're a God, right?" He shrugged, "Just use your God powers to stash it away somewhere in secret. Or just pull out those wads of cash from your pockets like you always do."

"Hmph. You are abusing my powers as the Sun God a bit too much recently..." He groaned as the suitcases magically got sucked into a portal he had created.

"Whoa, having Ouri around sure it OP!" Issei flashed a thumbs up, "Now come on, hurry!"

Yeah, I can totally agree with that. Ouroboras has been showing more and more warmth to both of us ever since the Mount Fuji trip. He's even started calling us just by our first names after Issei chewed him out for it. He still doesn't let me call him Ouri though, which kind of annoys me.

"I call dibs on the window seat-!" Issei announced.

"No you do not." Ouroboras held him back, "Our seats were predetermined on our tickets. Lune will sit nearest to the window, you will take the aisle seat while I am in the center."

"Screw that! I wanna look outside, it's my favorite spot!" Issei then turned his attention to me, "Say, ol: buddy, ol' pal... You're gonna switch seats with me, right? Y'know, this isn't the same as trains - You could get sick way easier if you're not careful. I'm just looking out for ya'."

"Back off, I'm sitting here." I cheekily stuck my tongue out before pressing my face on the warm glass window panes, "But I still can't understand how this heavy hunk of metal will lift off the ground..."

"Tch, dammit..." Issei begrudgingly sat back in his aisle seat, "It just does, okay? Tons of science-related stuff happens that make it go whoosh."

"The modern aeroplane functions primarily thanks to a unique physical attribute known as lift." Ouroboras began giving the physics lecture, "Thanks to the specifically designed shape of the wings on both sides of the vessel, the air being pushed during movement by the jet engines will simultaneously..."

"Shut up, you're making my head hurt!" Issei threw a tantrum befitting a toddler's age.

"Whoa! Is it starting!?" I felt the entire thing start to move forward, "Whoaaaaa~! We're... We're lifting off the ground!"

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Indeed, this is the pinnacle of modern travel." Ouroboras nodded, "The fastest and safest one there is."

"You better enjoy the view, jackass." Issei smirked, "That seat had my name on it, so if I catch you falling asleep for even a second..."

Sleeping? I wouldn't dream of it! Jokes aside, this is something I don't think anyone from my world could have ever imagined to experience. Floating around like a bird in the sky, albeit in a vessel hundreds of times the scale of a regular bird... It's incredible.

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***

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"Ah, we landed." Issei nudged me, "Wake up."

"Fueh? I-I wasn't sleeping!" I shook myself wide awake, "Huh? Already!?"

"We soared the skies." Ouroboras got up to leave, "Skipping any and all traffic and going the speed necessary to achieve proper lift will do that."

That's amazing... They did say it was the fastest mode of transport yet, but I didn't expect it to take just over 2 hours! Looking back at the map, I had fully expected to take a 12 hour nap and still have quite a few hours of looking down at the clouds and islands below, but sadly it seems I had underestimated this world's technology. I wonder if I got spoiled by all this madness after growing accustomed to it since coming to this world. Will I be able to readapt when I get back home?

"Whoa, it's warmer here." I immediately took my coat off.

"Yeah, this is the tropical wonderland of Japan." Issei followed suit, "My parents are currently staying in our vacation home here, hence why they weren't in Chiba back then."

"Vacation home? Issei, your parents are rich?" I raised both Eyebrows in astonishments.

"Yeah, my mom runs a popular fashion brand, and my dad's a movie director." He revealed a rather shocking truth, "Though they wanted me to have a normal life growing up, so I was never showered with gifts as a kid. Just got led around the world a lot."

"Issei, your parents taking you to every country in the world by the age of 9 is far from a normal upbringing." Ouroboras looked irked, "Then again, I wonder if they knew you would get taken to Lune's world because of that."

"How could they have?" I asked, "Even we're not completely sure if that's the case or not. For all we know, our plan to visit every World Wonder could amount to nothing in the end."

"No, it will work." Ouroboras shook his head, "It is the law of every Universe Cycle. There exist only a few things that get to transcend between them, those being the Five Gods, the World Wonders, and a certain fat bastard."

"Who's the fatty?" Issei asked, "Your face looked real angry when you mentioned him."

"Sigh, a man who has apparently caused quite the stir in a future Universe Cycle, though I do not know which one for certain."

"A future Universe Cycle? How can you even tell?" I asked.

"Because he changed the rules." Ouroboras revealed, "He most probably fiddled around with the Books of Fortune and/or Misfortune, which led to him adding himself to that list of transcendental beings I mentioned previously. If he makes himself immortal throughout all future Universes, then the same is mirrored in the past ones as well, since they are all connected in series."

"So he has to wait for all the Universe Cycles to finish before he can finally die?" Issei pitied the fat bastard, "What a curse. I wonder if he used the same wish system we're gonna use to get back home to turn himself immortal."

"I do not know. But I do know one thing..." Ouroboras gritted his teeth just thinking about him, "That disgusting Olyahim makes my blood boil for whatever reason, even though I never met him yet."

"Scary..." We both shivered.

Wait, Olyahim? That's a name I can't help but recognize. Was there a statue of him somewhere in my world? I feel like I saw that name somewhere, but it's probably not the Olyahim Ouroboras is talking about. Right, he said it happens in a future Universe Cycle, but chances are it's not mine.

"So Issei, where did you say your parents lived?" I looked around the place.

"Definitely not here, we're still at the airport." He chuckled, "That'd just be plain annoying to deal with all the engine noises constantly. They'd either go deaf or insane, and I don't know which is worse."

"Then where?"

"Calm down, we'll have to take a taxi." He raised his hand as a smaller vehicle like the ones seen everywhere in the main Tokyo area rushed to us, "Yo! To Nakijin, please!"

"That will cost us a lot, Issei." Ouroboras already pulled out the precalculated money from his pockets.

He gave up fighting against it by now. How sad, all the light in his Eyes went out, so now he just looks like a defeated wet dog. Poor Ouroboras, having to take out money from his infinite supply just to enrich our experience... Well, when I put it like that, I can't really see an issue in it, after all.

"This feels kinda nostalgic." I muttered, "It reminds me of transport wagons."

"Yeah, except they don't make you sick with their stupid bumpy rides." Issei grumbled.

"You're bad with wagon rides too?"

"Any normal person would be. The people from your world just have an absurd tolerance to it."

"Aw yeah, your vehicles are so smooth and nice, I never once got sick from any of th-urp!" I gagged, "Dammit, the damned thing didn't even start yet..."

"It seems you are not good with any kind of cart." Ouroboras stifled a chuckle.

"Buckle up, we've got another 80 kilometers until we reach Nakijin." Issei openly laughed in comparison.

"Ugh... This ride's gonna be absolute hell..." I gagged once more as the driver sped off.