11 I want to get off!

While Doug and the other representatives were gathering at the north gate of the space port, Asai and Momoka had just reached the stairway leading down into the large hole cut into the stone. After approaching the hole they had found out the name of this incredible attraction.

The Morningstar City Slow Geyser, named after the fact it was like a geyser erupting constantly in slow motion. As Asai and Momoka approached the stairwell they realized that it spiralled down around the edges of the hole for quite a distance, all the way down to a viewing platform near the bottom.

The two of them began to slowly descend the stairwell appreciating the beautiful sights of the floating water as they went down. As the two of them got further down, they saw that the city had installed a number of lights that shone onto the floating water, creating an ethereal light show.

The two of them stood with open mouths as they watched the otherworldly display. The lights morphed and transitioned in colour and shape as the water floated and danced above and below them.

After slowly walking for a while they reached the viewing platform. Quite a few meters below them the the underground stream trickled by and they could see, every now and again, sphere's of water lifting up from the surface of the river. Following the sphere's of water and raising their view to the sky, they could see the number of differently sized beads of water, lit up by the variety of lights installed into the walls of the cave.

They stood in awe at the incredible kaleidoscope of colour created by the seamless cooperation of man and nature.

Asai glanced over at Momoka and saw that she was smiling unreservedly. When she smiled like this Asai could really see her fangs, however he thought it was strange that something as insignificant as a slightly different appearance could make someone think that they are better or worse than someone else. As far as he was concerned, Momoka's fantastic golden eyes and fangs were just another part of her beauty, as out of the ordinary they may be.

Whilst he was thinking these thoughts Asai had forgotten that he was staring quite intensely at Momoka. When Momoka turned to meet his gaze he became startled and blurted out the question that was on his mind.

"Err, so Momoka, Takechi said that you are an alien, what kind of alien are you?"

Momoka looked quite sad hearing Asai's question. Noticing this change in Momoka's expression, Asai quickly backtracked.

"Ah! If you don't want to answer you don't have to."

Momoka smiled at Asai's consideration of her feelings.

"No, it's ok. We're going to be fellow students soon so I have no problems telling you about myself. That's what miss Shiro told us what to do after all, right?"

Momoka smiled brightly, accentuating her beauty even more.

"I'm Dragonian."

"Dragonian?"

Asai had never heard of such a race, and so was quite curious to hear a bit more.

"Yes that's right. Apparently we descended from a line of ancient dragons and dragon blood is said to run through our veins, hence the name."

Asai nodded in understanding and Momoka carried on.

"Also the Dragonian's are said to be able to tap into the power of their bloodline and awaken a extremely powerful dragon form, but that is a very rare ability. There are only a few Dragonian's alive right now that are capable of it."

"Heh~, that sounds pretty impressive, I wish the human race could do something cool like that."

Asai replied enthusiastically, he honestly thought that it was pretty cool that Momoka's race could transform. After all what young man didn't dream of being able to transform into a dragon or some other powerful form?

On hearing Asai speak about how cool he thought the things that most people thought were quite strange or creepy, Momoka felt a warm feeling of happiness spreading in her chest. She smiled warmly at Asai, with her pearly white teeth and fangs showing without concern for who may be watching.

"You're a strange guy Asai, most humans are put off by aliens but you don't seem to even be bothered by the fact I'm an alien."

"Why would I be? I think that just because we look slightly different doesn't mean that we are any better or any worse than each other?" Asai replied with a confused tone in his voice. After speaking these words another question arose in Asai's mind and he spoke up.

"Speaking of which, what's the deal with all the racism? Takechi seemed to really be looking down on aliens earlier, seemingly for no obvious reason as well. Is it just because he's a jerk or is there a reason for it?"

Momoka sighed hearing Asai's question.

"No, unfortunately it's not just Takechi, the history of the racism of the human race against aliens stems back to the beginning of the space age. For a long time the powers that are commonplace today did not exist, and all the sentient races in the Galaxy were equal, however the emergence of power changed the balance of power across the Galaxy. The human race were the first to develop the powers that we all know of today. At first they weren't very potent powers but as time went on their powers grew in strength, and soon they stood above all the other races. With their new-found power, human kind began to naturally supress all the other races and over time the choices of everyone who wasn't human was narrowed down to submit or be destroyed."

Hearing the dark history of the human race for the first time Asai was both saddened and surprised.

"How could they dominate so completely? It's not like aliens don't have powers right?"

"Yes, while it is true that aliens do develop powers, there just seems to be something in humans DNA that allows them to develop powers at a frequency that just dwarfs all the other races. As a result of that no one could keep up with them and they became the dominant race across the Galaxy. This of course, caused a majority of the human race to start looking down on the alien races across the Galaxy. The human races superiority has continued to this day, hence the reason for the strong racism towards aliens."

Momoka had a somber look on her face as she recounted the reason for humans racism against aliens. Asai couldn't believe what he was hearing, but at the same time he didn't know what to say. The mood between them became stifled and awkward, Asai felt almost guilty for the actions of his own race towards Momoka. He had lived most of his life in an isolated village with next to no knowledge of the outside world, so hearing all of this had been a humbling experience for him. He wasn't sure what to say in situations like this and it seemed that Momoka was the same.

The awkward silence was starting to get painful for Asai and he decided to just start saying whatever came to his to break the silence.

"It's been quite the day hasn't it?"

Momoka smiled and reflected quietly on the day's events for a brief moment.

"Yeah, it sure has. Ms Shiro seems like a really nice person, even though she can be a bit eccentric."

"I think a bit eccentric is an understatement."

Asai and Momoka both laughed joyfully at this.

"I wonder what Ten no Ryū academy is gonna be like... How many other students will there be? Will they be friendly? Also Ms Shiro said that the academy isn't even fully completed yet so I'm curious about how much isn't completed. I'm worried about a lot of things but I'm still excited."

Momoka said with a hint of obvious excitement in her voice. Asai was also interested in these things but he wouldn't know until he arrived there.

"I can't say what it's going to be like, but I'm the same as you. I can't wait to arrive there regardless of the state of the academy."

Both of them became excited at the thought of their new academy, and they looked on at the mystical light show, quietly contemplating what the coming days would bring. While they had been chatting, Yui had come down the stairwell to meet the two of them with Patrick and his camera man following closely behind.

"Yo! What do you guys think of the Slow Geyser?"

Momoka turned to face Yui with sparkles in her eyes to respond.

"It's amazing! I can't believe something so beautiful could be found in the middle of this city."

Yui laughed smugly hearing Momoka praise her choice of tourist spot. She then smiled mischievously and her eyes brightened with childlike excitement.

"You know there's something I've always wanted to try here. Do you guys want to try it with me?"

Asai and Momoka looked at each other, unsure of what to say seeing Yui's mischievous smile. Eventually Asai tentatively replied.

"Yeah I guess so, but what is it-oof!"

Before Asai had a chance to ask what it is that Yui had wanted to try Yui had already picked the both of them up and was already trying it. Holding one of them each on one of her shoulders, she ran to the edge of the viewing platform at an incredible speed.

"W-w-what are you going to do???"

Momoka was startled by Yui's sudden actions and neither of them were sure what Yui was going to do as she bounded towards the edge of the platform. Dave the camera man also followed her actions completely unsure of what she was about to do.

"Haha don't worry about it! Just enjoy the experience!"

Yui shouted out cheerfully just as she reached the edge of the platform. Then stepping up on the guard rail of the platform Yui took a mighty leap off of the platform into the air.

Yui's jump was followed by the screams of Asai and Momoka and the disbelieving face of Patrick and Dave. After hanging in the air for a second Yui and the other two started to fall to the ground, however before they could land into the river beneath them their fall was broken with a splashing sound.

Asai and Momoka looked around them and soon realized that they were floating in a sphere of water, suspended a few meters above the river in the air.

After a few seconds Yui's head broke above the surface of the water and she sucked in a deep breath.

"Haha! It worked! I can't believe it! I honestly thought that we would sink straight through the water and fall down."

....

Momoka and Asai were speechless. What would have happened to them if it had turned out how Yui had imagined? They didn't bother to think about it any further and instead tried to focus on the peculiar floating bath sensation.

"Hmm it's a bit cold in here though, you guys don't mind if I heat up the water do you?"

The two of them shook their heads and Yui smiled. A dim red glow enveloped her body and the temperature of the water began swiftly rising, soon the water temperature had risen to a very comfortable 40°C.

Momoka and Asai noticing the change in temperature started to relax as they began the serene rise to the top of the cavern. The three of them observed their surroundings with delight on their faces. The view on the way down was impressive enough but being part of the view on the way back up was a completely new experience, but it was nonetheless very enjoyable.

The problem was that Morningstar cities slow geyser was a massive tourist attraction and attracted thousands of people a day. The three people floating in one of the sphere's of water did not go unnoticed. The large crowds looked on in amazement not just at the wonderful light display but also the odd sight of the 3 people floating in the air along with the water.

Realizing this fact, Asai and Momoka's expressions changed from those of enjoyment to embarrassment at an incredible speed, both buried their faces in their hands out of embarrassment to attempt to hide themselves from the gazes of the onlooking crowd.

They started to wish that the water would launch up into the air at incredible speed instead of gently floating upwards. I want to get off this ride! The two of them thought to themselves.

Unfortunately for the two of them there was no escape, they could only wait for the sphere of water to reach the top in it's own time. Yui laughed loudly with a carefree smile plastered on her face as people pointed their phones at the three, taking pictures and videos of them with shocked and angry expressions on the face of the crowd.

Patrick too, was with dave capturing every moment of their slow ascent, following them via the stairwell. Mercifully, for Asai and Momoka, the sphere of water soon reached it's limit and burst, allowing them to land off to the side of the cavern. Asai and Momoka still had their head in their hands and their clothes were soaking wet, right now they were wishing that they had never agreed to Yui's idea. Yui was still laughing and smiling after clearly enjoying the experience of the floating hot tub, having seemingly not noticed the scornful gazes of the crowd.

Yui walked up to the two of them and placed her hands on their shoulders, Asai and Momoka suddenly felt a warm feeling spread across their bodies and in just a matter of seconds their clothes were completely dry. Asai and Momoka at this point finally looked up at Yui with surprised expressions on their faces.

"I haven't mentioned this yet but my specialty is pyrokinesis, I'll be teaching you if it turns out either of you have that power."

Asai checked himself and found that he had completely dried out and there was not a spot of dampness left on him.

"Ah that was good fun. Still it's time for us to move on, are you two ready to go?"

Asai and Momoka were both apprehensive to carry on after what just happened but Yui assured them that they would just be shopping for gifts for the rest of their time there. When they heard that, both Asai and Momoka were happy to follow along with Yui.

The rest of the day was spent casually shopping around for gifts for the other teachers at the academy. The day passed quickly and soon the evening began drawing in, and it was time for the group to return to the space port to head home.

Yui no longer had the carefree smile that she had sported for most of the day, instead, knowing what was coming her face was serious and determined.

At the space port the representatives were relieved to see that Yui Shiro was finally making her way over to the space port. After being forced to stand around and wait for a large portion of the day they were absolutely furious. However seeing that the fight would soon be upon them, they calmed their mental state and roused their fighting spirits.

"Finally, it's time!"