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Good morning.

Today was the day of our date.

It looked like Mika had woken up a little earlier and was cooking breakfast for us. She made rice, miso soup, grilled fish, and baked seaweed. She then turned her head in my direction. Apparently, she had noticed, that I’d woken up.

“Morning, Alim! I made us breakfast!”
“Good morning. I’ll be staying as Ayumu all day today.”
“I see. Then… It’s our date, right? Where will we be going today?”

She’s so adorable when she acts a little bashful. The two of us have set out together for dozens of times, but when I think of it as a date, again… It makes me feel kinda awkward.

“That’s right… Should we go watch a play?”
“Hmm… still, I feel more like taking a walk~…”
“Then, how about we search for a place with lots of flowers on the Tozumaho and walk there?”
“Yeah! Let’s do that. Oh, should we pack lunchboxes?”
“Right. What about onigiri, omelets… fried chicken…”¹　

We ate breakfast, while we talked about that.

If only this joyful time could go on forever. Well, we’re quite strong in this world, so it’ll take a lot to separate us, right?

I wore clothes with a masculine appearance, that I’d made with Dark Matter, while Mika chose her favorites among the ones I had crafted for her.

“You look lovely, Mika.”
“Idi-… Even if you say something like that, it won’t get you anything, you know,” she replied bashfully.

How adorable.

Today, I’ll spend the whole day as a boy. I need to play the part of Mika’s escort, so she can enjoy herself, don’t I? We have the appearance of 12-year-olds, so it will probably only look like children playing around to other people, but since we’re 17 on the inside, I need to do this properly.

We made lunchboxes together. I finished preparing them in roughly 0.6 seconds and also put lots of fruits in.

“Then, Mika, should we be off? Where will we go?”
“Is there a flower field within walking distance of here?”
“There’s one in the west of the royal capital that takes 6 days to reach by carriage.”
“And for us?”
“Probably not even 10 minutes, even if we take it lightly.”
“Let’s walk, then. So we get there an about 30 minutes.”²　

We turned invisible, so we wouldn’t be seen by anyone, walked to the west gate, and then followed the Tozumaho’s directions. Though even if the people around us could see us, we’d move too fast for their eyes to follow.

Mika was next to me, holding my hand. I had also held her hand hundreds of times, when I was just her childhood friend, but now that we’d become boyfriend and girlfriend, it felt special. Especially, since I stopped holding her hand that often, after reaching middle school.

30 minutes later, we arrived at the flower field. It was certainly amazing. A nice place without any other people. If only there were no magic beasts.

“Say, Mika, could you use the ‘Howling Bow Emperor of Sun and Moon’ on the whole area around us?” I asked her.
“Just leave it to me!” she declared, enveloping our surroundings in a magic circle.

The next moment, it caused a tremendous explosion. When the explosion cleared up, both us and the flowers remained unblemished, while all the insect and plant magic beasts had disappeared.

“Incredible!” I praised her. “Is this your power, Mika…?”
“You synthesized it for me, didn’t you, Ayumu?”
“Oh, that’s true.”

We spent a joyful time until noon. I made a swing on a nearby tree we had a lot of fun with it, talked a lot and did other embarrassing stuff… well, at any rate, we did various things. Yup.

After doing this and that, it was time for lunch. We spread out a sheet on the ground, lined up the lunch boxes, and ate them together.

“Oh… Ayumu… Say ‘ah~’.”
“Ah~… Yup, it delicious! You too, Mika, say ‘ah~’.”
“Oh, ah~… Yummy.”

And, well, that’s how it went. We played around here until evening. When it was around 5 o’ clock in the afternoon, I hadn’t yet decided, what to make for dinner.

“Shall we splurge a bit and go to a top-class restaurant?” I asked Mika.
“Huh… wouldn’t that be a waste, Ayumu?” she questioned my idea. “If we made it ourselves, wouldn’t it be both tastier and cheaper?”
“I don’t think it’d be a waste, you know,” I replied. “That’s because… Mika… for me… you are the most important one. I thought it might be nice, to go to a place with a different atmosphere for once…”

Mika started crying a little. She was both smiling and crying.

“Are you hurt somewhere?”
“No… that’s not it… I’m just so happy… that’s why!

Her lips met mine.

____
__
_

“Eh-heh-heh-heh. Yesterday it came from you, Ayumu… and today from me… right? …Erm, though you were ‘Alim’ yesterday…”³　
“Y-yep.”

I wonder, I won’t die tomorrow, will I?

We stayed gazing at each other after that for awhile, though it would get dark soon, so we held hands and went back to the royal capital in around 10 minutes.⁴　

Then we knocked at the door of a super-high-class restaurant. From inside, a lone man, being dressed similar to waiters on earth, appeared. At first, he said “This isn’t a place for children to…”, but once he took a closer look at my face, his attitude suddenly changed.

“M-my deepest apologies… Lady Alim Nariwei. For how many people?”
“Two people… Erm, we’d like the seats with the best view,” I told him.
“Certainly!”

Mika and I were seated next to a large pane made of the highest quality glass you could find in this world.

Well, even though I call it “highest quality”, it’s inferior to glass on earth, isn’t it?

Mika seemed to be awfully delighted. I was happy, too. I’d never have thought that I’d come to this world and find such happiness. A short time later, the food we had ordered was brought to us. Though it was also delicious, its taste fell behind food made by me.

“Thank you for today, Ayumu. I had a lot of fun…” Mika told me, as her lovely eyes shone.
“Me too. Mika”
“Say, do you remember? The dream I told you about, on the day we met again?”
“Oh, I think I remember. About you becoming my wife, right…?
“Yeah. In this world, you cannot get married at 16, you need to be 18 years old. Since you’re an adult, then. Once we’re both that age… can we…”
“Yep, that’s right. At that time, let me propose to you.”
“Understood, make it the best proposal ever, will you?”

After we finished eating, we paid the bill and left the restaurant.

It was expensive, you know. 4500 bells per person. Though I earned a lot more than that.

When we got back to the inn, we each took a bath separately. Then I made chocolate parfait with Dark Matter, and finally, after eating it, we went to sleep together.

I stayed as Ayumu for the whole day today.

TL notes:
Cuteness overload. The overarching theme of this volume is clearly Alim and Mika’s budding relationship (though level grinding is also a big part) and this chapter is pretty much where it all leads to.

Also, for whatever reason, there was half a page missing at the part where they go to the restaurant in the previous translation. I wonder what happened there…

1. In the original, it’s 卵焼き (Tamagoyaki) and 唐揚げ (Karaage). While both “omelet” and “fried chicken” are technically correct translations, they don’t convey what makes these dishes different from their western counterparts.
2. Assuming a carriage manages 50-60 kilometers per day, that would be 300-360 kilometers. So, that “walk” would be at around 600-700 km/h.
3. She’s talking about him kissing her the day before, and then her kissing him now. I honestly can’t fault the previous translation for messing this sentence up. Without context, it makes absolutely zero sense in the original.
4. Ah, yes. A leisurely jog at 2000 km/h.