Our Adventure Will Never End

Source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/92263982

Entry 4 Reflections Ten Thousand Meters Deep

“Hey you…What are you longingly staring into the sunset for? Waiting for the son of House Montague to whisk you away from this dream?”

“Oh Kronii! Well you know, just thinking about that last job. I’m not sure I should’ve done something that disruptive to the world.”

“You? Worried about something? Now I’ve seen everything.”

“I mean…I know Mumei and Fauna went to sort it out…but c’mon Kronii. It was a freaking dragon!”

“Yeah…yeah... it was a dragon.”

“And I SHOT IT! WITH A GUN! WITH BULLETS SPECIFICALLY PREPARED BY THAT CONCOCTION I INVENTED TO SPECIFICALLY TAKE OUT THE EVILEST OF DOERS!”

“You don’t need to raise your voice. Look, it was supposed to happen. This is what was laid out in the timeline. She was supposed to be shot by you and land specifically on that building”

“Yeah I know…” I keep my eyes trained on the horizon of the city from our townhouse.

“On the bright side, you finally got a chance to visit Tokyo. And now I’m gifting you a vacation here. Isn’t that a great reward for one simple job?”

I turn around and look at Kronii, leaning my arms back and placing my elbows on the deck fencing. I’d be a liar if I didn’t say she didn’t look beautiful in a kimono.

“What’s got you all dressed up today?” I ask her, trying to not sound too obvious about it.

“Oh this? Well you know…when in Japan, do as the Japanese.” She replies, shifting her eyes shyly away. The light of the sunset is shining on her juuuust right. She’s drop dead gorgeous. I feel like I should be bowing to her out of respect for her beauty!

“Oh ho! And what about you Amelia? If you weren’t standing by me you might look pretty fine yourself in your kimono.” She says in a teasing tone.

“What’s this? Flattery from the lord of time herself? I am honored that you sully your gaze with my lowly mortal body.” I reply to her in kind. I look at her hair, her eyes, her kimono, her everything. This girl is seriously cute!

“C'mon let's head inside. It’s getting cold out now that the sun has set.” She slides the deck door open and struts back into the cabin.

“Be right there!” I shout at her. I glance back at the city; it feels so surreal. Kronii is actually really sweet when she’s not obsessing over work. I’m not sure how she’d receive that compliment though, so I’ll keep it to myself.

I walk back inside and head over to the living room. On the table I spy a couple cups of ramen with chopsticks sitting on top of them. Heh…is this? Did she prepare these? I look around, it doesn’t seem Kronii is in the room. Where did she wander off to?

“Kronii! What’s this? Did you make these?” I shout out.

“Well Ame why don’t you use that brain of yours and think about it for a second huh?” She replies with a shout of her own. She didn’t NEED to make that snarky comment, I just wanted to try getting a conversation started…

“Just eat it blockhead.” Kronii wanders into the room, I detect a hint of annoyance in her voice. I stare at her as she makes her way to the table. Her top is opened up! Oh god I shouldn’t look… what the heck!

“What? Am I so beautiful you’ve found yourself at a loss of words?”

“Uh I just didn’t expect to uh… see you so relaxed.” I turn towards the side of the table and grab one of the cups. I didn’t ever think I’d see her with her guard down.

“It’s miso. That’s what the kanji on the cup says.” Kronii grabs her cup and takes a seat on the floor opposite of me.

“Oh wow...I uh...I didn’t know you knew Japanese.” I say what I can, hoping I didn’t make anything awkward.

“I mean…I’ve got a lot of free time. The labors of Fauna and Mumei are this world and the children that reside in it. It would be negligent of me to not learn about them.” She says pridefully, I guess she’s glad to see her friends accomplish all of this. Nature and civilization…

“Do you know any Ame? I know you’re busy solving various incidents but... maybe you study in your free time?”

“Uh…heh…no…” I look down, pouting a little bit. “I just work all the time…I never really think about relaxing. One case closes another shows up. Plus sometimes other Ame’s show up and throw things out of balance. Just a new issue every day, what can ya do?”

“Well, I guess that makes this vacation all the more special right? Ahem…so how’s the uh…how are…the ramen…is the ramen? Ugh…” She fumbles with her words…that’s a side of Kronii I haven’t seen yet!

“It’s good! I don’t usually get to eat this. It’s just not really on my mind very often. Where’d you get it?” I realize I’m saying it’s good before even having tried it. I awkwardly open my mouth while smiling and look away.

“Yeah uh…it was in one of the cabinets in the kitchen. I thought it’d be better to grab something that was prepared for us here. It might be best to not go outside while all the commotion is going on out there. “

“Y-yeah! Good call!” I look back at the ramen and pick up the chopsticks. I dig them into the noodles and pull them up best I can. I bite into them and let whatever isn’t in my mouth drop back into the cup.

“Ame? What the hell? You don’t eat ramen like that!”

“Huh? Uh I mean…who cares ahahaha.”

“Ame…You know…the Japanese don’t believe foreigners know the proper way to eat noodles. Let me teach you~” She…she’s rather enthusiastic about these noodles… Well I’ll follow her lead I guess.

Kronii tucks the hair on her left side behind her ear and moves down towards the ramen. With chopsticks in her left hand, she dips them into the cup and pulls some noodles up. Her lips protrude outwards as they meet the chopsticks. She starts slurping the noodles up and they slide into her mouth. I had never thought about doing it like that…She finishes slurping and turns towards me. “So you’re supposed to slurp them up. By doing this you accomplish a couple of things. One, you cool the noodles off. Two, it enhances the flavor, you take in the broth and the noodle together, it’s rather genius.”

“Ah…is…that it?”

“Look, that’s just the important stuff! Don’t give me any back talk missy!”

“Alright, alright." I put my hands up, hoping I didn't offender her or something. "I guess it’s just a little strange to care so much about proper noodle eating etiquette.”

“Ame, you must understand the culture of the place and time period you are in. To ignore them would be to ignore Fauna and Mumei’s work. Mankind coexists with nature and together they form a greater unit that dictates their lives. It’s all they know. They are born into the system and live their lives out following traditions that have gone on for thousands of years. And in the end, they die, experiencing it the same as one another. That is humanity.”

“This is a bit too existential for me Kronii. I think it’s easier to just…be in the here and now.”

Kronii raises an eyebrow at me, firing a particularly powerful gaze at me.“Well then how about learning to eat ramen here and now so I don’t look like I raised a lazy student.” She snaps at me.

“Hahaha…alright…fine…” We both eat our noodles, chatting about various things and then clean up afterwards.

RRRRING RRRINNNNG RRRRINNNNGG
“Kronii your phone is ringing. Want me to get it.” I shout into the hall, Kronii is missing again.

“No I’ll be there in a sec.” She yells back. I blink and freak out a bit! There she is, standing in front of me. AH…Why did that scare me…She’s the time lord… You know...she doesn’t need any sort of outside assistance to modify the flow. As expected of Kronii, complete and flawless control… Maybe one day I can learn how to...

She paces around the room as she speaks. “Hello? Ah yeah hi. So she can change forms? Ok. I’m sure the shot was not harmful, it’s a tranquilizer. Uh huh. It is unusual, but isn’t unusual your forte? I see. Ok. I’m glad to hear that. No yeah thank you for following up, I’ll pass it on. Until next time!” Kronii sets her phone down, smiling.

“Who was that just now?” I walk over to her.

“Oh. The uhh…group that hired us for that job earlier, Hololive.”

“Hololive? Uh…what’s that.”

“Heh…it’s like…an idol agency. A virtual one.”

“A virtual idol agency…like they’re all computers?”

“More along the lines of it being all online Ame. The internet.”

“And they wanted the dragon because???”

“Because Hololive is a front company for the real thing.”

“The real thing?”

“Yes, they specialize in securing and protecting otherwise lost, dangerous, paranormal, supernatural and other mysterious beings that find their way into our universe.”

“They do all of that? Regular ol’ people like you and me? Well…not like us... but you know what I mean.”

“They have a very special staff. And they also have some of those special staff members call in for help, as we were today. Sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s Sana or Bae, depends on the character that arrives.”

“So that dragon earlier…wasn’t supposed to be here?”

“Ame…it was a DRAGON. Do you THINK it was supposed to be here?”

“Ah…hehe right. So Hololive took her in and will do what exactly?”

“I don’t know the specifics, but they’ll probably have her fit into society somehow. They always do.”

“Ohhhhh…So why did they call you to do it? What were you gonna do to her?"

“Me?! Ahhh well I had you do it so…”

“Soooo… what were you gonna do if I wasn’t here?” I press Kronii on the situation, it’s a little fun teasing her.

“Ame I’d really rather not…”

“Awww c’mon Kronii, for your ol’ pal Ame.”

Kronii sighs heavily, staring into my eyes then turning around and walking away. “I was going to kill her Ame. Clip her wings and watch her fall to the Earth, letting Hololive clean up the mess.”

“Oh…oh…Sorry... Kronii.” I reply somberly.

“Don’t be. I said this is how the timeline was supposed to flow. You were supposed to do it. You saved her life. Ahem Well, I’m gonna shower, holler if you need anything.” Kronii vanishes into the darkness of the hall. I hear a door creek open and shut.

I stare down into the hall, Kronii’s words weigh heavy on my mind. I saved a life. For the first time in my life…I feel the burden of that word… In another timeline…Kronii kills that dragon... The value of life, the traditions, and customs of ordinary people through time, is this what Kronii was trying to tell me earlier? I go off on my own for the rest of the evening, waiting for Kronii to finish her shower so I can take one.

After cleaning myself up I return to the living room, searching for Kronii. She is surprisingly difficult to find. The hide and sneak master! Hmph, guess she went out. Ding!

OH! A text. It’s from Kronii! Let’s see here… “一期一会” Uhh…okayyy? You know I can’t read that…Shaking my head I copy the text and search it online. “Once in a lifetime occurrence” I guess today has been full of those, I’ve come to see a whole different Kronii today. Well…she must be around then right? Maybe she’s trying to teach me more Japanese customs.
“Kronii! Heeeeyyy. Where are you?” I think I’ve done far too much shouting today… “Kronii?”

I turn towards the window and check outside. Suddenly I start feeling light-headed. I shake my head and turn away from it. Light-headed? Then there must be a divergence here. Where does the timeline split? Hmm earlier Kronii said everything today was supposed to happen, so that must mean that whatever happens will follow continuity regardless. It must depend on my choice on how to get there…Kronii…did you want me to choose this too? I scratch my bottom and wander around the house, searching for the second spot of divergence. There might be more than two at that…Oh you are SO awful…making me do everything today. I pout and begin my search around various rooms of the house until I reach Kronii’s room. I sense the divergence here; the light headedness is hitting me again. So it’s somewhere outside…and in her room… Hmm which route should I take…they both reach the same end point but…

Once In A Lifetime: As Stars Cross: Seiso Route Spicy Route