"Mnnnn...."
"Uncle."
"Yeahhhh?"
"You're looking kind of tired."
"I am?" Freddy glanced back at the three of them, "Isn't that just how I look normally?"
"Well for starters, you didn't have any bags under your Eyes and you always looked goofy." Sandy lightly scolded him, "Also, you never moaned while driving."
At this, Freddy jolted, causing the airbike he was driving to follow suit and shake the others up as well.
"I wasn't moaning! That was groaning! GROANING."
"So you were aware of it." Juavez chuckled, "Amigo, when was the last time you took a break?"
"You've been our designated driver this entire trip since we left Japan." I added from down below on my hoverbike, "Either have someone else take over for the time being or rest up when we get to India."
Looking back, it's true that we really never had any solid breaks ever since we started this journey across the world. The reason no one else is feeling the fatigue but Freddy is exactly because he was the one doing most of the work in driving the airbike and thus showing me where to go as well. That's a lot of micromanagement that constantly wears a person out, and apart from the short naps he takes while we sit down at a restaurant or the pretty uncomfortable nights where we camp out next to the airbike, he's been living off of energy drinks and coffee.
"Only Issei knows how to read the map on the interface." Freddy sighed, "And he isn't exactly the most comfortable with even sitting on the airbike as a passenger, let alone driving it himself."
"Isn't that your fault for setting the language settings of your airbike to Japanese?" Sandy tossed him a deadpanned sigh, "Weeaboos, I tell ya'. Never mind where they spent most of their life, it's just in their blood."
"Since I'm originally from Japan though, I'm an otaku." He corrected her, "Well, but I mostly like American comics and media, so I guess 'geek' would fit me more."
"Amigo, your Eyelids are slowly starting to droop." Juavez sighed before masterfully leapfrogging over him.
"H-Hey, that's dangerous!" Freddy yelled, "Let go of the handles!"
"You sit back and rest a bit while I take the wheel. I've noticed from watching you that an airbike controls the same as a motorcycle." He assured him, "I ride motorcycles in my spare time, so leave the driving to me. Nephew here will point me in the right direction with his map reading skills, so it's all good."
"And I'll make sure you don't fall, so you can lean back as much as you want!" Sandy smiled, her chest pressing firmly on his back.
"That's...! Sigh, I'm even too tired to react anymore." Freddy gave in ultimately, "Nephew, don't pull a Christopher Columbus on us."
"Unlike that guy, I know where the real India is." Issei smirked.
"More like it's BECAUSE of him that you do." Juavez corrected him, "Respect the mistakes our ancestors made and learn from them."
"Didn't your ancestors commit a great deal of colonizing the very land you grew up in, though?" Issei frowned, "Keep your mouth shut."
Again, I had no part in the plan at all, or even the conversation for that matter. It makes me feel bad, because I literally can't do anything for Freddy even if I wanted to. One could make the argument that Materializing our fuel infinitely and thus securing both our continued travel and extra spending money is already more than enough, but on an individual level I've kinda just been sitting on my ass like an ignorant buffoon. I'm not from this world anyways, so all of these places, names and historical facts fly over my head completely. I just hope I'm not considered deadweight by anyone on the team.
"Deadweight." Issei unapologetically said while looking at me.
"Eh?! I jinxed it!"
"Hm? What're you talking about?" Issei tilted his head before repeating the question, "I just asked you if it's tough carrying around all that deadweight."
As he said that, he pointed to the rather large backpack I was carrying behind me. Thank goodness, I thought my worst nightmare came true. But the backpack, I'll be honest and say I completely forgot I had it on me. Really, I've been carrying baggage with me on my travels my entire life, be it a worn down backpack, the pockets on my clothes, tons of straps and belts or just a suitcase even. At this point, carrying heavy loads has become second nature to me, to the point where I would sometimes reach to fix my backpack strap on my shoulder only to realize I didn't even bring my backpack with me. In short, I'll be fine.
"Nah, light as a feather." I replied with a thumbs up, "The added weight actually helps me balance better."
"What's even in there?" Sandy asked.
"Souvenirs for my family, extra clothes, snacks... The essentials."
That's a lie though, or at least partially. Of course I did buy my family some souvenirs, but thanks to my Blue Iro Ability, I don't actually have to bring any change of clothes or snacks with me, since I can always just Materialize them. Still, Juavez and Sandy don't know that, so I thought of this nifty little cover up instead. In actuality though, the backpack is filled with as many foreign books with their respective dictionaries to boot. There are some leisurely reads, but most are scientific books that'll help me understand this world's technology better. I'm definitely gonna make my own airbike when I get back home and then some, cause this world is just way too sick!
"...Oi, Sandy." Issei noticed Freddy slipping to the left a bit, "S-Sandy?"
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"Ack, stupid!" She hit herself a few times after accidentally letting him fall, "I thought I could hold him, but he's surprisingly heavy!"
"Amigo, watch out down there!"
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***
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"What the hell is going on!? Baaaah!" Freddy woke up about halfway down.
"Don't worry, I gotcha!" I shouted as I sped up to go under him.
Crap, dammit Sandy! That woman's negligence just led to Freddy falling off and put both of us in a super bad position. Of course, chances are I can make it in time to catch him and stop him from falling into the water, especially since I can just Go Solipsistic as well. But the main issue is the weight distribution. How will the hoverboard react to carrying double its allowed weight limit all of a sudden? It's already risky as is to fly directly over the ocean, given the bad relationship water and electrical components have with one another, but it'd also get all the stuff in my backpack wet, and that includes my books!"
"Freddy! Answer quickly, how much do you weigh!" I shouted.
"Why the hell does that matter!?" He replied.
"If I know your weight, then I can calculate the amount of upwards thrust the hoverboard needs in order to..."
"Just set the lift to maximum you idiot!"
Ah, that works too, I guess. See, this is the difference between book smarts and street smarts, or in this case, intelligence and wisdom. Just as I was told, I slowed the board down while I was right under the falling fool. Turning the lift dial on the board to the max with my back foot, I had begun elevating towards him. This elevation was quickly cancelled out due to the opposing vectors at play, not to mention the extra weight. Still, I managed to catch him perfectly, so that's step one out the way. Now is where the big gamble comes into play - Either the lift is enough for the hoverboard to keep us above the water, or something really really bad happens!
"Damn, we're still not stopping...!" I said as we plummeted ever closer down to the ocean's surface.
"Use that magic of yours then!" Freddy instructed with his Eyes closed tightly shut, "Make something that'll keep us safe!"
Yeah, but I'm holding you in a princess carry, dude! In other words, my Materializing hand is occupied! But what to do then? I guess I could let go of him and Materialize something, but then I'd just be sacrificing him getting wet and putting myself first. I don't want that. I need to think of a plan to get both of us to not... Ah, that's it!
"Hot air balloon!" I smiled, slowing down time as much as I could to enact my master plan.
Good, now I can work with something! Gravity is pretty sluggish while I'm Going Solipsistic, so I don't have to worry about Freddy falling while I Materialize us a huge parachute. Now, why a parachute, you ask? It's because we'll be using good old air friction to our advantage! There we go, strap us in and...! Yeah, that's perfect! But even then, we'll just be falling to our doom slower, so this is where my next idea comes in.
"Spark!" I announced to no one in particular, "With this flame, I can essentially emulate the lifting principles of a hot air balloon! And now, with everything done, it's time to resume time!"
"-aaaahhhh, huh?" Freddy noticed we stopped falling, "You... You did it!"
"Was there ever any doubt?" I chuckled, "With this slight correction to the design, our little hoverboard should be able to carry both of us without issue."
"Cool!"
"...So." I cleared my throat, "That means you can stand on your own. The board can handle you, but my arms can't."
"Oh! Sorry." He got off before stepping behind me, "But damn, is this the view you see every time we travel from place to place? It's stunning."
"Yeah, enjoy it while you can though, cause once we find land to make a pitstop on, you're returning to your own ride." I smirked.
"Damn, that's right! That bitch pushed me off." He looked up, at the airbike's silhouette, though the parachute's material was obscuring them, "She better not try anything on Issei...!"
"Wait, she pushed you?" I raised an Eyebrow, "As in, on purpose?"
"I'm not crazy, I felt her shove me."
"...You're just imagining things." I turned back to focus on the path ahead of me, "Sandy's an idiot for letting you fall, but she has absolutely no reason to push you. You probably felt her trying to grab you and pull you back, and assumed the opposite because you were still half-asleep back then."
"You're justifying skills are way too good." He groaned, "Look, that may be the case, but we should definitely be on edge about her."
"You're never gonna get a girlfriend like that." I chuckled, "Hey, make sure to blacklist 'yandere' from the list of tags you want your Wished girlfriend to be."
"Look at you, knowing what yandere means!" He laughed, "Issei taught you that one?"
"Yeah, but I also heard it a ton in some of the animes he showed me back at his parents' house."
"What's he been showing you?"
Luckily, crisis averted. We managed to not die, my books and clothes are still dry, and we didn't waste too much time on this senseless issue. But it's not all good, sadly. Truth is, I've got another headache brewing when we get to India, cause when Juavez and Sandy asked me about all the things I was carrying in my backpack, among the many items I haven't listed, "parachute cloth" definitely scored high. In other words, those two now know I have some magic powers, and I feel like this time they won't let me keep them in the dark anymore. India, please be good to me...!