"Shit."
Kimiko opened her eyes to glare at the one standing before her. The older boy quickly sat upright on his bike, but before he could do anything else, she used her telekinesis to keep him from moving.
"Damn it."
He tried to use his own power against her. Granted, he was putting up a pretty good fight. But so was she.
After about ten minutes of struggling and an extra two of glaring, he finally gave a defeated sigh. "Alright, fine. I'm sorry I didn't tell you your boyfriend has to get kidnapped for the world to be saved. There. Happy?"
"No."
"Well, not much else I could do about that."
"Zanark!"
"Geez, I'm right here. You don't need to yell. What?"
She pursed her lips before taking a deep breath to calm down, letting him go from her mind grip. "Can you give me any more details?"
He raised an eyebrow at that. "You said you wanted to figure it all out along the way."
"That was before Kyousuke got kidnapped to who-knows-where with some dead-alien-king-spirit of the planet that nearly declared war on the galaxy telling me to keep shut about it!"
"And you listened?"
"Well, I mean―! W-What else was I supposed to do?!" She took another deep breath. "He's a ghost! He could possess me or something if I didn't! Like what Potomuri did to Mizukawa-san! I don't want anyone controlling everything I do without my knowledge!"
"I knew you'd say that. If he wanted to possess you, wouldn't he have done it immediately than risk you being... you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"You do realize who and what we are, right?"
"Yeah, but he doesn't know that!"
"He said he's been watching you since you arrived on that planet, didn't he? That should be clue enough."
"Yeah, but―" She stopped herself and blinked. "Wait, how did you know that?"
It was his turn to shoot her a look. "Did you think, when I said I'm going to keep my eye on you for the entirety of your stay back there, I was joking?"
... Was it bad if she really did think that? "Wait, so you've been watching everything I do or...?"
"Not necessarily everything. Who the hell do you take me for?" He was starting to look exasperated. That's a new one, coming from him. "I have a good idea of the outline of the events that will― or at least, is supposed to― unfold. Teleporting grandpa gave me the data."
Professor Aruno.
"It's pretty vague data, but of course, nothing I couldn't figure out." He tapped on the monitor of his bike a few times and two holographic screens appeared. Both screens have similar contents, that is, the timeline of events since her return to the past. The only difference was that there was a pink line overlapping a section where it should be green on one of them. Most likely an indicator of the time she spent there. "I just speed through stuff and contact you at points of time that seem important."
Literally scrolling through the timeline, huh... "So that's how your calls are always so perfectly timed."
He simply smirked in reply.
She took another deep breath. "Then, judging by these charts..."
He nodded. "You haven't changed anything enough to make an interruption point. Just made some people happier."
"And one of those people just got kidnapped."
"Again, that has to happen if you want the universe to be saved, so don't beat yourself up about it."
A hand landed on her head and ruffled her hair. Since when was he off his bike?
"And anyways, you didn't come here just to complain, right?" He tossed a coin into the air and it expanded into a ball.
So it really was the sphere device that he was playing with. She kept that unimportant thought to herself as she took out the tablet she had been carrying.
Usually, when one has tools like the time bracelet, sphere device, and more, they are able to time travel (or teleport) to when and where they need to be, or to who they want to see. But that was where the limitation lies. Users couldn't go to places they don't know the coordinates to. That's why artifacts are important.
(Or a vast knowledge of history, like Zanark has. She found out the hard way that he had the wormhole coordinates for every disaster in history memorized.)
But time bracelets don't have the technology to analyze artifacts, which was why she came to him. Both his sphere device and bike could, so she needed the help.
"I'd want nothing more than to cruise on alien terrain with the rest of Zanark Domain, but I suppose that'll have to wait." He stepped on the red icon,
"Time Warp Mode."
And they were engulfed in the same colored light.
Upon opening her eyes, she felt herself falling, but before she could react, her waist was caught in a strong grip. Zanark was holding on to her as he used his other hand to hang from the edge of a building.
O-Of all the places to be teleported to...
"On three, I'm throwing you to the roof, so make sure you don't lose your boyfriend's tablet. Got it?"
"What?"
"And don't scream."
"Wait―"
"Three!"
The world was a blur for about a second before her back fell on the surface. She didn't scream, though that was more because of the shock paralyzing her than the willingness to obey. And with a single grunt, he managed to pull himself up without any help.
After regaining her bearings, she took a look around. The first thing she noticed was, of course, the huge black hole in the horizon. That meant that they were on the planet that started this whole ordeal, Faram Orbius. The second thing she noticed was that they weren't standing on just any building. It was a pure white castle, the tallest and largest structure as far as the eye could see. Easily larger than Kongming's Fortress and El Dorado's building combined.
And they were standing on the top. On a small ledge of the highest roof.
(Because of course she can't go anywhere with Super Zanark that doesn't involve mortal danger.)
She sent her friend's tablet into the pocket dimension inside the ball. How it didn't fall to the gardens of the castle while they were both hanging off the edge, she had no idea. Zanark probably used his power or something.
Just as her train of thought came to a stop, he spoke up. "We've warped to about ten hours ago. Meaning, we're right on schedule."
Following where he was pointing, she spotted a certain spiky blue haired boy walking into what looked like a giant gondola with about six other people. It then took off into the sky and headed for the city.
"Then?"
Her eyes glowed for about a second before they returned to normal. She nodded. "Yeah, that's the real Kyou. He's currently what-the-fuck-ing at everything he's seeing."
"Why? Everything here is just like everything you've already seen in our timeline."
"Yeah, but it's only normal for us, who actually live in that timeline and see those sights everyday..."
"Fair point." He took his sphere device back before tapping on the blue icon.
"Move Mode."
They soon found themselves on top of another, much lower and wider roof in the middle of the city. Below them was the square, the gondola from before parked right in the middle. She spotted one of the people that had entered the vehicle trying to calm down a crying child in the middle of the crowd.
So while that was going on...
"Do you think we should change into something less... Earth-like?"
"We're hundreds of feet in the air. Who the hell would notice us up here?"
"Z, we're on an alien planet with freely flying gondolas and spaceships in every corner. Who the hell wouldn't notice us up here?"
"... Hm. I thought you'd say that." He tapped on the green icon.
"Call Mode."
She muttered a small thanks to El Dorado for making their devices so convenient as it changes their outfits to match one of the locals. By the time it was done, the child had stopped crying. He had reunited with his mother.
She couldn't help smiling at the sight... until someone else from the gondola yelled at them for wasting the queen's time. Then, a purple clad girl interrupted her. By the way she was speaking, she must be the queen that the other woman was referring to.
"Do not utter such nonsense! I don't consider it a waste of my time at all. I love all of you. And I want those I love to stay smiling always. I'm glad you have reunited with each other safely. I am very happy about this. Let us continue living with each other on such friendly terms."
She still couldn't see into the minds of aliens, but her speech sounded genuine enough. And from that distance, she could just barely see her best friend smiling too. He must've thought the same.
As the gondola once again lifted into the sky, this time back in the direction of the castle, she stood up straight and nodded to herself. "Okay, I think I've seen enough. He's stuck here, but he's safe and the queen seems to be treating him well, so I've got nothing to worry about."
"You sure?" The second he asked that, he immediately looked like he regretted it. For a good reason too.
Because now she was questioning things. "What? Is it gonna go downhill from here?"
He hesitated to respond. But that was exactly what told her something was wrong. He's Zanark Avalonic. He doesn't hesitate in doing anything.
So before he could stop her, she peered into her best friend's mind once again. Through that link, she could make out the thoughts he had while he's conversing in the flying vehicle.
This planet really is impressive... Far more advanced than Earth... Oh, fine, I'll be your butler or whatever. Not like I know how to pilot a spaceship to get out of here anyway...
Everything sounded fine until―
She already has a job in mind for me? I guess it can't be that bad... What. What did she just... She wants me to be her HUSBAND?!
She choked out of surprise (Not sure if it was because he yelled or because of what he yelled). It was so bad that it cut off her focus and the link was severed.
She looked to her brother for answers. He shrugged. "I told you you'd hate it. You're the one who insisted on coming here."
"B-But they literally just met today?! I get that we're on an alien planet, but Kyou is only 13! He can't marry anyone at this age! What the fuck?!"
"I thought you'd say that. Even on Earth, engagements for royalty can happen from when both parties are toddlers, so..."
"B-B-But...!" She shook her head. "No. I... This is... No. Just, no. I do not accept this. Please tell me that they won't end up together in the future."
"I haven't looked that far ahead yet."
"Damn it."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "You know, for someone who keeps denying he's your boyfriend, you sure are acting like a jealous girlfriend."
"I'm not jealous! This is just illegal! He was kidnapped and then proposed to?! That... That can't be right! In any part of the galaxy!"
He sighed. "Whatever you say. Anyway, you should head back. Your friends should come knocking on your door any second now."
"What?" She took a second to process his words before her eyes widened. "Zanark, no, don't you dare―"
"Time Warp Mode."
"NO―"
She disappeared off the face of the alien planet.
"Sorry, kid. We're here to witness history. Not change it." The boy stopped to look at his hand before hitting the red icon once again.
"Time Warp Mode."
He ignored that it was fading.
~~~~~~~~~~
I don't really make ANs that often anymore because I prefer talking to readers through the comments, but I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed writing this chapter.
I'm pretty sure anyone can tell by now that Zanark and Ichikawa are some of my favorite characters, right along Kyousuke and Yuuichi. That's why I decided to put some focus on both of them for this arc, and show off their similarities and differences because They Are Their Own Characters (hear me, Level 5?). I also really love writing Kimiko's thought processes when dealing with each of them, so look forward to more of that in future chapters!
Anyway, this was a blast also because I get to flesh out more of Kimiko and Zanark's sibling relationship and how they banter in a non-antagonistic setting. So all in all, this chapter was a fun experiment, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! <3
That's all. See you next update! :D