Chapter 8: Chapter 6- a stroll in the magically advanced city
Chapter 6- a stroll in the modern city of magic
As they were waiting, a flash of light suddenly emerged from the middle of the room, blinding all of them for a single second.
Riyoko stood up in caution, "w… what?"
Arisa stood up with a slightly concerned look along with Reine who walked naturally straight to the door.
"It means we're here, that flash of light might have been a bit shocking but it's nothing unnatural," Reine said, opening the door.
"I… I see," Riyoko nodded along with Arisa.
As they all stepped out, they were greeted by three people in uniform.
"Good morning! We hope you had a good trip!"
All of them had the same uniform as the reception they encountered earlier. They greeted them in sync with a lively mood and an energetic smile as the woman in the middle held a floating transparent screen containing some text and five star-shaped slots above her chest.
"Please rate us…" Riyoko whispered, reading the text written on the transparent floating screen, "and damn that's big…"
Suddenly, Reine hardly smacked Riyoko's back with an odd smile on her face, "all right! Let's just leave our rating and go!" she said, leaving a rating of 4 stars on the screen.
As Riyoko groaned in pain in the back, the woman with the screen awkwardly smiled, "umm, may we know why you didn't rate us 5 stars?"
"Personal private opinion," Reine replied blatantly with dead eyes and an empty smile.
"U… understood," the receptionist nodded, feeling threatened.
"Come, let's go," Reine said with low toned emotionless voice, keeping the same expression.
"Why…" Riyoko asked in pain.
"Hm?" well duh, it's because we need to get going if we're going to show you around the city,"
"I meant why did you…"
"Now then! Let's not waste any more time! Let's go!" Reine said, dragging him forward, not letting him finish his sentence.
As they moved away from the area and walked further toward the elevator, the woman in uniform tilted her head in confusion and fear as the two men beside her held back their laughter.
Later, inside the elevator.
Riyoko stood still by the thick glass wall, looking outside as he was mesmerized by the view of the city, "Woah…"
Futuristic cars flying in the sky with a transparent magical road that seems to function as their guide, literal moving pictures within billboards attached to the buildings instead of screens, and varieties of holographic-like images emerging from the top of semi-tall buildings every few seconds.
Riyoko's eyes enlarged with exhilaration as he began thinking while admiring the view.
"I know… right now, there is so much I need to think about, so many questions that I want to be answered… however, this view right now definitely screams out to me that I'm in a different world, with no exaggerations."
He loosened his tight expression and let out a genuine smile, "for now… I should just do as she said and enjoy this sense of enthrallment in this new world. Since this world is different… this is new… this is nothing connected with my life in the other world where I'm nothing but a rotting person…"
Riyoko took a deep breath, "however… I shouldn't expect things. As long as there are people, there are bound to be mistakes and two entirely different sides of the same coin…. That's why I'm going to enjoy this experience without any expectations! There could highly be a chance for this world to have a dark side, but for now, I could compare myself to a kid who knows absolutely nothing and simply trying to find the fun in things... there shouldn't be any problem for me to just focus on the good things, right? At least for now…"
And so, as they set foot on the city grounds, they came across the lively street.
"The street is quite busy," Riyoko thought, observing the area, "there are a lot of vehicles in the area, and right now we are definitely in the middle of the city… and yet…" he took a deep breath.
"The air is so fresh," he said.
Reine and Arisa looked at him blatantly, as if they had something in mind.
"Crap! I accidentally said it out loud!" he thought, "oh no… was that weird…?
"That's thanks to most of the machines here being powered by magic, we don't have to use gas or anything that might harm the environment. What a really great discovery wasn't it?" Reine said.
"Yeah…" Arisa nodded, "was it not like that overseas?"
"Well… I," Riyoko said, stumbling on his words.
"A lot of those little countries outside ours aren't that developed in magic, and where he came from is one of those underdeveloped ones," Reine intervened.
"I see… It must have been rough,"
"well… I guess," he smiled and laughed awkwardly.
"What was with that?" he thought analyzing the situation, "it feels like that conversation just dropped the mood by a lot…"
Reine looked around the area as if she was searching for something.
"What is it Riene?" Arisa asked.
"There's somewhere I want to take Riyoko… hmm, I wonder where was it again,"
"What is it?"
"that place where it has it all, the one where it had all sort of attractions and things from all over our country, I thought that would be the best place to take Riyoko,"
"Huh!? but isn't that miles away from here? why did you take us here if you were…"
"Ah! I remember!" Reine interrupted, "for now, there's a thing I need to do for Riyoko at the city hall first. Come on, let's get ourselves a taxi,"
Arisa let out a sigh, "all right…"
"Ah, but first…"
Reine then dragged both of them all over the area, going through multiple places such as parks, clothing shops, and item shops.
"HAHA! I forgot that there were this many entertaining things in here!" Reine said joyfully.
"I get that you rarely have such a nice day off, and it's all good that you're having fun and all, but…" Arisa said, glancing at Riyoko, "Isn't today about him?"
Riyoko smiled awkwardly, looking stressed out as he was carrying all sorts of things Reine has bought.
"My body is ok, but my brain is processing too many things in such a short time!" he thought, "first, the way this city works, the items they sell, so there ARE mana potions in here but it's like vitamins, the kind of clothes people wear, and the currency of this country. What I'm most shocked about, is that when I finally learned how the currency works in this world in comparison to my world… Reine is filthy rich!!" he thought, quickly running through his mind.
Arisa looked at him in concern, "he looks like he's stressed out… you seem to be thinking about a lot of things, are you ok?" she asked.
"Eh? Umm, yeah, sorry for worrying you," he replied hastily.
"the way how fast you replied kind of concerns me…" Arisa turned to Reine, "hey Reine…"
Reine looked at him with focused eyes, as if she was observing him thoroughly.
"Reine?" Arisa asked in concern.
"Ah, sorry, force of habit,"
"What kind!?"
"Anyway, he's fine," Reine turned around and began walking forward, seeming as if she wasn't concerned.
"Huh? this looks fine to you?"
"If we're talking about any normal human then probably no," she said blatantly.
"Are you saying that your cousin isn't a normal human…?" Arisa tilted her head, feeling a little baffled.
"I didn't mean it like that, hehe," Reine giggled, "it's just that…"
"What?" Arisa approached her trying to see her expression.
"Well… compared to what he's normally like, he seems more alive right now so I think it's all good…"
As she said that, Arisa was shocked to see Reine with a relieved expression and a small smile that emits a strong genuine feeling.
"from how you said it and how you look… I guess it IS fine,"
Noticing her stare, Reine backed away by a few steps, "W… what is it!? Is something on my face?" she smiled awkwardly.
"the way she said it… it's like she's saying that she really knows me…" Riyoko thought, "but is that even possible when I have no memory of ever meeting her?"
"Anyway, let's stop here," Reine said, pointing at the city hall across the road.
"Oh, we were already here!" Arisa said in surprise.
"We didn't even need to ride a taxi…"
"after all that walking around since about one and a half hour ago, we definitely don't need to now,"
"ehe!" Reine winked and acted all cutesy as if asking for forgiveness as Riyoko and Arisa stared at her blankly.
"Anyway, I'm the only one that needs to go there, you two go and relax over at this café," Reine said, pointing at the establishment beside them.
"You won't need him for this?"
"I'll just need his credentials, you have it on you right?"
Riyoko nodded, handing her his ID and other credentials.
"ok! Just wait for me there and I'll be back in a moment,"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone