Arika, please stay strong, even if I said goodbye.

I feel like every time I was waking up in this world, most of them ended up with me crying or at least feeling touched to the point of being teary-eyed as I woke up. Obviously, it has something to do with how dreams are significantly my only way of communicating with Grandma– the only figure I wanted to meet again from my previous world as I got pulled into this world as her ETO character, Angelica.

I would’ve thought more about the meaning of Grandma’s words as I tried opening my eyes, but then I could feel something wet hitting my skin, though. It’s not only my own tears nor Rui licking my face. It’s droplets of rain that came through the branches of the trees I was laying on— at least until it stopped dropping to my head as if someone put an umbrella to it.

“Dellney… Rana… you two are there, right?”

Not only it must’ve been Dellney who used her brand of Protection magic to cover us from rain, I felt like I eerily heard Rana’s voice even with my eyes closed, so I called out for her as I tried opening my eyes once again.

“Yes, I am! Lady Arika, you’re finally awake!” Rana pulled me on a hug once she saw me opening my eyes. “We all were worried! You slept even longer than the last time we used that stone and—”

“Where… are we?” I asked before Rana could finish her sentence, my voice felt a lot more groggy than usual. “And what about Rama? And Rui? And Kay—”

“Rama went on his own to find food, bringing both the Cheshires to explore around.” Dellney’s voice resounded throughout the sound of the rain drops. “This place is pretty relevant for him, anyway. Both of him and his twin sister actually, but they were also worried about you so at least one of them had to stay.”

“...Wait, how long did I fall asleep again?”

“...A whole day after we arrived here, Lady Arika. Almost two days actually, because I think it’s going to be nightfall soon.”

“That’s way too long! And you guys didn’t find any building or anyone to stay with?!”

I raised myself up as I said so, and Rana shook her head.

“That’s why Rama was looking around. Unlike Marconne, this forest…. _____, no, I meant the Forest of Wizen is nothing more than an empty forest by this time. It would take a whole week to get out of here to the nearest town on foot even by riding Cheshires, so we all decided to wait for you to wake up before we’re going anywhere.”

“...And it used to be the twins’ home fifty years ago, too, so I guess they’re feeling nostalgic.” Dellney carelessly commented that I could see how it caused Rana to twitch. “It changed a lot in such a short period of time, though.”

“Rana and Rama’s home fifty years ago…?” I bit my lips, turning my head to Rana who gazed down awkwardly– as I started to recall the little conversation I had with Rana earlier on our first meeting.

If I recall correctly, the twins lost their parents in a civil war, and had to be taken care of by Elder, who was their father’s work partner. It was brought up in a rather casual conversation, yet I was able to remember as it was one of the key factors why I noticed that the twins are of a different race than mine. They’re elves, with much longer life spans– something that doesn’t exist in my previous world.

“...More than that, Lady Arika.” Rana smiled awkwardly, pointing at me, as if she’s trying to avoid the subject. “What happened in your sleep— in your meeting with the real Lady Angelica that your hair turns like that?”

“Like what— oh.”

I gazed down at my own hair, supposed to be long and fully blonde. That was how Angelica was, anyway. But now, the ends of my blonde hair are turning black, as if it was burned. I wouldn’t notice it at all if Rana didn’t point it out, but it really feels like my original hair color before I went to this world.

“Yep, we’re all scared it could’ve been some kind of sickness or something.” Dellney commented, accompanied with a gasp. “What if you couldn’t just… pay me anymore?!“

“The fact that money is the thing you’re concerned about the most made it hard for Rama to trust you with Lady Arika alone, you know.” Rana stared at her with a judging stare. I couldn’t help but chuckle. At least, Dellney’s being a funny little comic relief at the moment, so I could forget a little about—

“Grandma would always be with you in some form or another.”

I shivered, but I knew it wasn’t because the rain drops felt cold— Dellney’s covering it up from all three of us, anyway. In fact, it was my body that felt cold that I felt like crying hopelessly. Does that nightmare mean that even if we found more pieces, Grandma wouldn’t be able to speak with me anymore, even when she promised me that a long time ago? Even when she’s the reason why I came to this world in the first place?

“I— I’m… It’s…. Grandma….”

A curious, concerned call out of “Lady Arika?” and “Miss Arika?”, both reached my ear at the exact same time as I pressed back my eyelids to close in the tiniest bit of hope that a dream may send me back to Grandma’s side once again. But I knew from my previous world as well as my current world that it’s not easy to fall asleep like that, so I just sighed.

“Are you really okay, Lady Arika? You were quite strange before we were sent here too…” Rana was visibly concerned, as she put her hand on my shoulder gently. I shook my head, but when Rana once again asked why, I didn't know what I should even say in the first place. At least, not without stuttering.

“I… In my dream… I met my Grandma… the real Angelica… and she was crying and…”

Rana patted my shoulders gently, as if saying that it’s okay and I shouldn’t rush things out. I realized that I shivered, gazed down and had begun to drop tears to my cheeks. At that moment, I could hear two gentle meows, and footsteps. I immediately looked up once I realized there’s only one person that could have that in this place right now.

“Arika didn’t look good… What happened, Rana— hey, Rui! Kay! Behave!”

Without any words but just sounds of purring, Rui snuggled close to me as he snuggled his head to my cheeks. It was as if he tried to calm me down, or it could’ve been that he’s letting me cry. Either way, I ended up crying out loud while hugging Rui’s head, panicking all three elves present in the situation.

~*~*~*~

“Your Grandma told you what?! How dare she! She’s the one who brought you to this world without saying anything to you, right?!”

Rama pouts in a childish manner as he crosses his arms, leaning on a tree as the rain has calmed down and we pull on lights shining through the dark forest night from our magic wand and staff we planted on the ground like some campfire. It seems as if he misunderstood something that I had to correct him.

“It’s more like… She probably invited me, and I went along with it, so I don’t think I can use that as a reason…” I sighed as I looked away from the three, munching the tree fruit that tasted like it was a huge peanut as my only dinner. “Besides, in some ways, I needed to thank her for bringing here in the first place…”

“Was there any problems in your previous world, Lady Arika?”

“I don’t even know where to begin with it, whether it’s my personal problems or ongoing world problems around me.”

I answered without even looking or having second thoughts at Rana’s question as I thought of the world I left behind and all its corruptive worldly problems, before I was back at eating the campfire-like dinner. Rana seemed to take that as a signal not to ask further, as she stopped asking the details.

“So? What are you planning to do now?” ask Dellney, who had finished eating some make-shift salad with herbs that Rama found. It does make me wonder if she’s this world’s equivalent of a vegetarian, as now I looked back to it, she never ate anything but green vegetables. “The short version is that your Grandma abandoned you, right?”

“Hey, don’t say that, Dellney.” Rana immediately spoke out after seeing how I twitched at Dellney’s choice of words— which I’m thankful for. Yet, I also knew that what Dellney told me was a sliver of the truth, that I couldn’t say anything as I just shut up and munch the fruit once again.

“But it’s true. People older than you always say sorry when they abandon their kids” Dellney huffed— her choice of words made me think if she have some kind of backstory that made her be like this, but I couldn’t think hard of it at the moment. “That’s why money is the only thing I can trust in this world. If you want me to shut up, go get some cash. Or don’t tell me your grandma took it all away?”

“___ off, Dellney! Read the situation!”

Rama is the one who is angry now. It makes my heart beat a little faster seeing him defending me, and it makes me feel like it’s fine if the misunderstanding with Grandma that he’s not my boyfriend isn’t resolved— which is inappropriate thoughts for the moment either, as I pinched my own cheeks in retaliation.

“It’s fine. I feel like I can still access my bank of money in my mana cycles.” I forced a little smile, trying to neutralize the situation. At least, if Dellney found out she’s getting paid, she won’t be bothering us much regarding my personal problems. Or so I thought.

“Yet you’re still not okay at all about the whole thing.” Dellney said out loud, as she pointed at me. “Your Grandma meant a lot to you, and you now have to be more independent without her almighty help as a cheat power or some kind of thing like that because you probably overused it. Does it change anything?”

“Hey, Dellney, that’s—”

“....No, Rana. It’s okay. She’s right.”

I might have twitched again at Dellney’s words once, but what she said was right as I stood up. For a while, there was silence in between all four of us, but then I slapped my own cheeks loudly to gain control of my feeling, as the sound resounded throughout the nightly, calm surface of the Forest of Wizen.

“What the ____ was that?!” Rama complained at first, but even throughout the darkness I could see his grin and chuckle as I regained a smile.

“Enough moping around! Sure, I lost my Grandma once in my previous world and I went to this world because I want to meet her again, but…” I bit my lips. The realization hits again and it hurts my heart, surely, yet I know now that I have to stay strong. “...We must do what we need to do!”

“And what we need to do is….?” Dellney raised her eyebrows curiously, listening with all her heart put on it. I immediately laid back on the grassy surface with Rui’s fluffy belly as my pillow.

“Let’s have a good sleep and once we have a fresher mind, we’ll think of the next step of our adventure by tomorrow morning!”

I thought all three elves present would comically fall to their feet or something, but instead I could hear Rana start laughing out loud in agreement and rolling on the grassy ground that the other two didn’t even have any time to react to anything else.