Chapter 05

Mizuko gasped, shoving away Kenshi's hand. Did the dude just really put his pinky around hers? She stares at him intensely with a disgusted look on her face.

"You are not to touch me without my permission!" she yells.

"My apologies, lady." His hands were raised. "I've no harm intended, I just want to be sure you'll commit."

"Commit to what? It's not like there is somewhere I can run to here. I'd end up getting lost!"

It's true. Just look at the trees up ahead of them! They are so tall, so thick and it sure is dark inside that forest, Mizuko knows.

"Quite accurate." He raised a side of his mouth. "But remember not to run away from me or else you'll be doomed before you know it in this land. From your clothing, I can tell you are not from around here."

Oh yes, she's in somewhere she isn't familiar with. Why is she acting so calm? Well, Mizuko reads about aliens and different dimensions. She believes in anything impossible but she never actually thought that she'd be in one.

It feels like a dream-- a nice, terrifying and at the same time unrealistic dream.

"What year is it? What world and which timeline?" she asked.

"Year 2025 of the Dawn Era. You must be from the alternative universe--the parallel world called Chikyuo, aren't you? That boring world full of--"

"Excuse me! It ain't boring. It's just the perspective of people who do not know how to live!" Mizuko sassed. "And why am I even arguing with you like we're friends? We are not friends!"

"Fuwa! Fuwa!"

They both shifted their gazes from each other to the black cotton fluff named Zed. He adorably started raising and lowering his cute arms and legs, locking all excited.

"You think so? Kenshi asked, bringing his finger to his chin. "If that's the case then she's in danger."

"Who? Me? Is he talking about me?"

Kenshi looks at her with a grin plastered on his pretty face. It made her frown, her eyes pierced at him.

"Yes, we were talking about you and the dangers you will be in if you try to run away and when you deliver the message. The ruler of Hikari is pretty nasty and..." Kenshi moved closer to sniff her. "You don't smell all light at all."

"What does that mean?"

"That means you will get killed if you act rashly."

They turned to the other side and while Kenshi facepalmed, Mizuko's drawn closer together. Now, who the hell is this feminine-faced guy? She didn't notice him earlier.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I could've eaten you that time you fell into the cr--"

"Keisuke--he is the monster you speak of."

"Monster?!"

"The sabertooth?"

They both asked in chorus. While glaring at each other, Kenshi chortles stepping in between them. Fighting is something he does not promote in a group he will be traveling with.

"Easy you two!" Kenshi tells them. And then he faced Mizuki. "You'll do everything I will say and you will not fight with Keisuke while we travel together."

"I was not trying to fight with him!" she scoffs, rolling her eyes at Keisuke.

"You see that? The human is trying to pick a fight!" Keisuke yells pointing at Mizuko. "That is why I do not like humans at all!"

"Oh cause you're not one?"

"Am I?"

Mizuko paused, recalling that yes, this pretty-faced man is the big sabertooth from earlier! He is not a human! And so she faced the handsome man, Kenshi, with her brow raised at him.

"What about you? Are you some kind of monster too? A Greek god perhaps?"

This made Kenshi laugh together with the Sabertooth. The Kebanos are suddenly gone for a reason she doesn't know.

"What the hell is so funny? You could be anything here!"

"Well I am a prince," Kenshi replied.

"That is way too unreal!" The expression on her face turned blank, shaking her head side to side. "I don't like that kind of bull."

Kenshi blinked a couple of times before facing Keisuke who was stopping his giggles. He twitched his upper lip. So that's how it is?

"Don't I really look like a prince?" he asked Keisuke, his golden eyes staring at those pale green ones of his loyal friend.

"No."

"Aish!" Kenshi sneered. He inhaled deeply and swivel to face Mizuko. "Well then, I am who you think I am."

"I think you are a perv," she tells him without thinking.

Kenshi let out a sharp breath, tossing his head to the side and back at her with an annoyed look on his face. He actually thought this lady was pleasant. It turns out she has the attitude of a demon. Quite exciting still.

"If I was a slime, I would have done something already but instead I am helping you out, lady. And you dare call mighty Kenshi a slime? Incomprehensible!"

Their unending introduction didn't just end there. Even when they are walking towards the woods, Kenshi never stops mumbling that he isn't a damn pervert.

Even though it isn't supposed to be a long way out of the borderland, it has to be a long way for the sake of the human girl. He could also say he is a demon but the girl probably has her mind set on him being a pervert. Saying he is a demon, she'd probably just laugh or say it's ridiculous. Well, wait until they come across a demon-- a cute one maybe.

"How much longer are we going to walk?" Mizuko asked, her voice sounding so tired.

Kenshi heard it but he is not talking to her until she apologizes to him. And he can talk to his Kebano who at the moment is sleeping but he can always wake his up. If you are wondering about Keisuke, well he loves taking a nap during the day. He'll come when he senses him in danger.

"Have you become deaf?" the girl asked him again.

"I shouldn't have promised anything to you," he mutters, continuing to walk ahead. "I had been blinded by the thought of having a friend from the light now I'm stuck with an alien. I even promised!"

Kenshi hears the lady scoff. "I wasn't going to seal your promise. You were the one who tangled your pinky with mine!"

"I do not hear you!"

"And yet you're shouting!"

"Stop talking to me and just walk your short legs! It will take days to get to Hikari."

This whole situation hardly crossed Kenshi's mind. How is he supposed to help this girl deliver a message to the King if he has to escort her? And they are not even well dressed nor are they from some empire that can set a conversation with the King. And Yushiro, that little pest will sure smell him even when they are miles away from each other.

Kenshi softly chuckles from his thoughts. Come to think of it, if only Yushiro was nicer, they'd be friends forever. They could be an example that Demons and Humans can certainly live together and trust each other.

As they continue to walk, Mizuko's stomach is grumbling, making her massage her belly. She looks around and there seems to be no sign of a tavern. When her eyes darted at the man she is with, her brows were drawn together, crinkling her nose, making a distasteful stare at Kenshi's back.

This slime doesn't appear to be hungry or tired of walking for hours. They don't even have water for goodness sake! How do they even know what time it is? Mizuko fusses in her mind.

"I'm so thirsty!" She whines, her shoulders slouching and her breathing heavy. "Shouldn't we look for a stream or something? I get it that you are used to traveling far but I am not!"

Kenshi stopped walking and face her, his eyes drooping. This made her give him a distasteful look.

"Oh right! You are from Chikyuo so I need to adjust, isn't it so, lady?" he asked, being sarcastic with his tone. "I'm a pervert. I don't do anything but peek on gals."

"Okay, I apologize for calling you a pervert. In our world people like you--"

"Like me?"

"Yes! Like you who peers at me with lustrous eyes!"

"Lustrous eyes you say!" He pointed at his almost golden eyes. "There's nothing that I lust about in you! Someone as highly as me, attracted to you? Let us be real in here, lady. I only wanted to help you. In fact, I only wanted a friend who is not from--"

For some reason, Kenshi stopped and look away which made her frown, her eyes staring at him suspiciously. 

"Who is not from what? I smell something horrible from you!"

"Not from around here. I was just lost for words!"

"Then why can't you look me in the eyes now, huh?"

"W-well... " He nervously let out a laugh, turning his back on her. "You wanted water, right? There should be a clean stream somewhere near here."

Mizuko scoffed at how smooth he could change their conversation. And being one who is thirsty right now, she would not dare waste another second on this pointless argument.

As the creepy guy told her, there was really a little stream. Near the water, she sat down bringing her hands together and brought them down to get some water, drinking from it. It surprised her how the water tasted sweet. 

Just after drinking,  she realized it will be hotter walking under the sun and so, she dipped her feet first and then she started splashing herself with the water. This reminds her of her young self, bathing outside of their house with a hose. It's just sad how she can't remember who she was with that time.

"Lady, we need to keep going or you will have to stay in the open for the night. It will be dark soon and you have not eaten anything."

"Will be dark soon?" she murmurs to herself, looking up at the sky. But the sun is still shining hot? Does their sun just pop like a bubble? With a sigh, she gets off the water, squeezing her hair and clothes.

"Why did you soak yourself? Don't you know you get sick like that?"

"Where'd you get that idea from?"

Kenshi who is up on a tree branch shrugged. It's hard to comprehend how he climbed that tree really fast. 

"I saw little huma-- children I mean-- who run through the rain and then they let their clothes dry up. The next day or two days after, they start coughing, probably a cold."

"When you said it's about to get dark soon when the sun is still shining this hot on us, did you mean the sky will instantly turn black? Like someone had painted the sky black with one stroke?"

"Oh, you'll see, lady. You will see how this world is majestically different from your polluted one." He smirked at her before jumping off the branch a couple of feet from the ground. It had her eyes large and mouth gaping.

"D-did y-you just--"

"I jumped off," he calmly says. "You probably didn't see that comin', eh?"

And she shakes her head slowly from side to side. Are things here going to keep surprising the shit out of her? Like people jumping off from a distance and being okay? Can she do that too?

Suddenly Kenshi snapped his fingers that brought her back, blinking a couple of times before focusing on him.

"Humans from here uses spells, potions and powers. It makes them stronger, to fight for evil monsters out there."

"Like the sabertooth?! And wait, does he use special spells to transform himself into a human? Beasts do that too?"

"Keisuke is no beast. He is a friend of mine," he tells her. "That's not important right now. What's important is we find a place for you to stay the night."

"For me? What about you?"

"I do not stay in someone's house. It's uncomfortable for me and since you conceived that I am a slime, I'd rather you stay in the comfort of a house. People from your world don't sleep at forests and dirt."

"Have you been to my world? You sound like you know things there."

"I have," he slowly nodded. "But this is not the time to discuss our worlds. We need to go now, lady."

While Kenshi walks ahead of Mizuko, she stares at his back for some moments. If he has been there, then she can just go back, can't she? 

"I won't have to deliver the message!"