Chapter 1: The Daily Routine

A man wearing an ivory button-up shirt under an ashen suit stared at the remains of a fractured world, his golden eyes shifting between the floating chunks of land that were once a fully functioning city, now simply drifting over an undulating sea of golden light, seemingly suspended in zero gravity. 

The man stood on a segmented road hovering closer to another "island," with his ashen suit jacket slung over his shoulder. His dark neck-length wavy hair flowed in the wind restlessly. 

'How long has it been since the world ended? Since I first died?'

Jin walked to the broken edge of the pavement and jumped down to the lower portion of land - a piece of concrete connected to a general goods store with broken windows. 

Jin's eyes shifted down towards the endless radiant abyss beneath him, observing the smaller pieces of plastic trash and other objects drifting within, as if they were sinking in clear resin. 

He watched a scorched fence slowly float deeper down until it burst into flames and disappeared after some time, devoured before it could even touch the glowing sea.

'When that meteor hit Earth, so many thoughts were probably trying to make their way to the front of my mind… but they were drowned out by my desire to live. I couldn't hear anything else.'

A lithe woman walked out of the general goods store with an iron bat in one hand while her other rested within her pocket. She wore a crimson jumper jacket with a black beanie atop her messy scarlet hair.

"Jin. This new island doesn't have anything, it's been cleaned out already," she spoke as she walked next to him with a bored expression, following his gaze with her lazy emerald eyes.

"Hmm… Alright."

Jin swiped his finger across the air in front of him, summoning a plain golden panel with beveled edges holding several rows of text.

__________________________

Name: Jin Shikabane.

Energy Remaining: 6 days, 8 hours.

…

__________________________

Jin stared at the upper portion of the panel with a sigh, ignoring the rest of the information in the box.

'Six days left before we die, huh…?'

Jin looked up at the lemony sky, a pale reflection of what's underneath, and up there breaking the constant hue of yellow was a colorless dark void where the sun was supposed to be.

Sadie swiped the air in front of her but no panel showed up, yet her eyes traced the invisible words as if she could see them.

"We only have five days left, Jin."

"Five, huh? In that case… I guess I'll die."

Jin suddenly careened off the edge and let gravity pull him into the bright abyss.

"Jin!?"

'Before my first death, I made a wish. I don't know why, maybe because of how the meteors looked… but it changed everything, it put me in this stupid loop of death and undeath.'

Jin stared at the approaching radiant light as it grew intense enough to blind him, his body quickly bursting into furious white flames in reaction to it as his skin broiled into a deep brown until his vision became cloaked in a pure ivory canvas - his senses burnt from reality itself. 

A square golden holographic panel popped up in Jin's fading mind.

[Trigger Detected: Activating Wish.] 

A lonesome darkness followed, a hollow one where all of Jin's senses and thoughts were reduced to nothing.

But it didn't last long as the sound of birds chirping quickly assaulted Jin's ears, pulling him back to life.

Jin winced and slowly opened his eyes to the irritating light, finding himself lying down on pleasantly-scented grass with the familiar azure sky above him.

"Huh... It's scary how I've gotten so used to yellow..."

Jin sat up and rubbed his head while taking in the calming scenery around him; the soft breeze and gentle hues of emerald grass and the sapphire sky massaged his brain with a deep sensation that eased his throbbing head.

"Relocated Life, that's the Wish I've been given, the ability to return to life after death. A minor inconvenience is that I always wake up in strange places when I die… Heh... It's ironic how I cling to life through death, huh?"

"Master Jin? I hear your rambling, are you awake?" the graceful and dignified voice of an old man echoed through his head.

"Yep. I hear you, Walter… Loud and clear." 

Jin groaned then stood up groggily.

"Very well. I'm next to Miss Sadie and Miss Emilia. You've been out for two days this time so we already began our work and found a battery in the world you're in."

"Great work, Walter. Point me towards it," Jin stretched his limbs while looking around at a lush forest with apple trees scattered within it.

"Right away. According to master Skouter, there is one to your east, it should be relatively close."

Jin turned his head east to the faint silhouette of a village; the hazy buildings barely visible in the distance. 

"I see it, Walter. Starting retrieval…"

"Good luck."

Jin sighed then walked across the open fields towards the village; it was at least five minutes worth of walking.

While Jin was blessed with undeath, Wishes still had finite energy sources tied to a person's life essence. They worked like car's engine by constantly burning fuel even when they remained unused, so batteries were essential to replenish the exhausted essence. 

Luckily, batteries were practically everywhere if one knew where to look, and Jin's group, Nexus, specialized in battery search and retrieval. 

As Jin let his mind wander towards his usual routine of refilling Wishes, Jin eventually approached the village with its run-down houses made of dark wood and maroon bricks.

His eyes gently shifted throughout the structures and the villagers inquisitively. The people within the land were toiling away, guiding their animals, carrying boxes of produce or simply chatting with each other. Unlike him, they wore rags and patched-up tunics with dull earthy colors, the classic image of a peasant from forgotten pasts according to Jin's limited knowledge of historical literature.

Jin appeared out of place considering he was now the best dressed man in the village, so it wasn't long before he started drawing attention to himself; distrustful eyes filled with caution, curious eyes filled with wonder, all sorts of faces looked at him for many reasons.

"Hi there, Mister! Are you from the city?" a small voice called out to him from below.

Jin looked down at an excited dark-haired girl in a colorful patched-up dress, staring at him while bouncing up and down - unable to keep herself still from the excitement.

"Uhh… Yeah. I'm from the city," Jin smiled at her, finding her upbeat attitude adorable.

"Whoa! What is it like in the city?"

Jin's eyes darted back towards the villagers, noticing even more eyes staring at him now. He quickly glanced at the tools they held which consisted of pitchforks, axes and a few wooden wheelbarrows with vegetables in them - nothing worth fearing. 

The only thing in the village that stuck out as strange was a well with an amber crystal that poured honey into feeding troughs, seemingly out of thin air. And strange feathered pigs which ate from the troughs as they made weird noises akin to an old man wheezing every now and then.

'That's unnerving… Hmm… Besides that crystal, they probably don't have advanced technology here. I wonder if I can use that somehow…'

Jin rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a cerulean multi-purpose army knife he had with him for opening bottles and then smiled disarmingly, hoping he looked friendly enough.

"In the city, we have wagons made of steel, our animals have specialists to make them beautiful, and our knives can be used for everything and anything, like this." 

Jin tossed the tool to a nearby blond villager who tensed up at the sudden throw but still managed to catch it. 

The young man looked at the tool with awe.

"Whoa, it has a corkscrew, a knife and… what even is this?"

"Is that a small saw next to it? Bah, what is this junk?" an elderly villager walked closer to the younger one to inspect the tool.

"Hey, what is that small hook for?" 

"Can I see?"

Drawn by curiosity, more villagers surrounded them, their eyes glued to the knife with child-like curiosity.

'That thing's old junk and they're still flocking to it like sheep, huh?' Jin smirked without intending, feeling a strange sense of superiority taking over him.

Then he cleared his throat.

"Excuse me people, I came to this village in search of… my brother. I was told he traveled somewhere close to this area? We're twins, so he looks exactly like me."

The villagers looked at him then at each other with cocked brows, some scratched their chins while others shook their heads as they spoke to each other.

The small girl tilted her head while crossing her arms as if to recall something, her deep blue eyes momentarily radiating a gentle aquamarine.

"Your brother is missing…? Hmm… Weird… I don't know where he is…"

Jin stared at the girl carefully.

'Did her eyes glow...?' 

The young blond villager walked to Jin, holding the knife with his arm outstretched to give it back.

"Mister, some of the other folk might know something. They're working near the farms to the east or near the skinners up north. I can take you there," the blond villager spoke with a soft smile.

His face was angular, with a well-defined jaw, that and his blond hair gave him a prince-like charm which contrasted his shoddy clothes.

"Showing me around would help me out a lot... And you can keep the knife as thanks, how about that?"

"I can? Are you sure? I mean this looks like expensive work by a skilled blacksmith… I'm Evans, by the way."

"Jin. A pleasure," Jin nodded with a faint smile.

"Then follow me, Mister Jin."

***

Jin used the pretense of a search mission to wander around the village without drawing suspicion to himself. Thanks to the young villager in tow, he didn't even have to say much whenever someone approached them with either disdain or curiosity. Anyone who even thought to suspect Jin of any wrongdoings was dissuaded quickly by Evans, allowing him access to deeper parts of the village without much resistance. 

When they eventually reached the villagers Evans was talking about, Jin asked them fake questions about his fictional brother which had no possible answers, they only served to lower people's guard down through sympathy to further dissuade whoever still had doubts despite Evans' presence.

"He always had our dead mother's brooch with him, did you at least see that? We lost her when we were young, so he's the only family I have left… I don't want to even think about losing him…"

"Do you know any villages with healers? He's not the healthiest and was bed-ridden for most of his life… I fear he might've collapsed and ended up there…"

"Are there any wolves nearby? My brother is traumatized by them because they bit his leg as a kid when he tried to save me… It's pathetic how I can't save him when he needs me now…"

Jin spoke those words with a pained face, expertly crafted through years of social work. The lies helped lower the villagers' guard, allowing Jin to ask about their own families and living state as he tried to pry for anything unusual or useful, yet nothing was out of the ordinary or worth noting, but their answers gave him perspective into their way of life and arsenal. 

His tales didn't melt everyone's heart, but by the end of his trip through the village most people looked at him with frowns and grim expressions, not intending to bother him further while some offered him sweets and drinks to lessen his burden, which he promptly refused. 

'They're not different from the people in the middle ages, where swords and bows reigned supreme and farms made you king. But even those weapons are rarely seen around here. Hmm… This is an incredibly vulnerable farming village, so they're currently in an era of peace? That means I've got the advantage.'

Despite that, they still had numbers over him. He couldn't simply take their battery in broad daylight… or maybe he could... who would stop him, after all?

Jin walked to the center of the village near the honey dispensing well while Evans followed behind him somberly.

"Looks like nobody has seen anything… Sorry, Mister Jin."

Jin stared at the well, his eyes focused on deciphering its mechanism more than keeping his false dejected look going.

"That looks interesting," Jin pointed at the well.

The villager paused in surprise then snickered.

"Oh hardly. Our Terystals are very weak and inefficient compared to the ones in the cities. We have to charge this one almost every week or the Feggles go mad."

 Jin stared at the crystal intently; it was embedded in a metal casing which was connected to a chain and suspended from the wooden roof above it. It pulsated with a low hum, oozing honey in a way that defied physics as he knew it.

"Seiya! I can't find my purse, can you help me?" a plump woman's shrill voice pierced Jin's thoughts and drew his attention to her.

The woman was standing next to the dark-haired child from earlier who tapped her chin while appearing deep in her thoughts, her eyes momentarily glowing a soft aquamarine.

"Oh. Did you check… under your bed?" Seiya grinned widely and the lady nodded in relief then walked away quickly.

"Seiya, I broke my grandpa's vase, papa's going to be so angry! Please help!" a boy her age with tears running down his cheeks ran to her, holding a purple pouch full of broken clay pieces.

"Ah… Uhm… Uncle Yeur has some leftover glue we can use… Let's go and ask him together," she smiled encouragingly.

"Seiya! I listened to your cooking advice and it made my stew a million times better but no one is buying it!" a bald man in an apron stained in all manners of liquids ran to her with a concerned look.

"Uhh… Maybe because your stew wasn't good in the past, so people are scared of it? Try selling it under a different name or even have someone else sell it for you... and give out free samples!"

Every time the girl spoke to the people around her, her eyes flickered a bright aquamarine.

'I wasn't imagining it… She's a Wishbearer, the same as me. And judging by when her eyes glow, her Wish is pretty easy to guess too… I could probably use that…'

Jin's eyes were fixated on her, his mind trying to formulate a plan around her Wish.

"Heh. That's my sister Seiya. She's wise above her age and people look to her for guidance all the time, almost like our mother before she passed away. No matter the problem you have, she always has a solution, that bright little wonderchild," Evans spoke with pride.

"Mhm…" Jin bit his thumb, trying to get his brain churning.

"Hey, Evans! Stop fooling around and come help me prepare dinner!" a grumpy old woman with a hunched posture and a thousand wrinkles on her face yelled at Evans, her hair was tied up into several buns which didn't help in lessening her terrifying visage.

Evans tensed up when he saw her then he sighed.

"There's still time until dusk, grandma! Tsk… Sorry, Jin, I have to go. I hope you find your brother... and uhh… I don't mind searching with you later if you're still around."

Evans waved and quickly ran to the old woman.

But Jin didn't even look at him leave, his eyes were still glued to Seiya as she tried to comfort the crying child.

'What if I just ask her? Her Wish should make her help me if I word it right… But I need to tell her the truth since I think her ability failed to work on my fictional brother.'

 Jin took a deep breath and walked to her.

Seiya and the crybaby sniffling next to her both looked at him approaching.

"Oh. The Mister from the city. Did you find your brother? I… I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful…"

"Oh but you can be helpful."

"Huh? I can?"

"Mhm. I want your help to save my friends from dying. You're their last hope, you see. There's no one else I can rely on," Jin smiled faintly at her.

Seiya's eyes widened and her lips parted, the weight of his words felt tremendous. Her eyes overflowed with a radiant cyan shine, no longer a subdued flicker but instead a constant magnificent glow.

"How?" she asked with furrowed brows, gulping at the magnitude of the issue.

"Mm... Finish helping the people who need you then come see me. I think you can find me yourself, right?" Jin turned around and walked away.

However, she wasn't satisfied with his words and tried to walk to him.

"Wait, what do you mean by–"

"Seiya! My papa's going to be home when the sun sets, please!" the crybaby tugged at her shoddy dress.

Seiya turned to him and nodded with a frown, quickly grabbing his hand and leading him away.

***

Some time later, Jin sat under a tree in the middle of the forest looking at the barely observable village with a dejected look.

'Stealing it from under their noses, huh? Extremely underhanded... But... is this really the only way? Maybe I should look somewhere else-... no, not with our current time limit...'

Jin sighed deeply and looked up at the sky which was dimming down to a foreboding violet as the horizon devoured the sun in its daily cycle.

"There you are, the Mister from earlier," Seiya called out as she walked to him with a basket, a smile plastered on her innocent face.

"Hm?" Jin looked at the basket. 

She moved close enough that he could see at the apples tucked inside.

"Oh, these? These are for grandmama. She's celebrating my uncle getting a job in the city. He's going to wear fancy clothes like you too and get us a bigger Terystal!" Seiya giggled but then her smile slowly faded, replaced with a concerned frown.

"Mister… You said that… I'm the last hope for your friends? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you see, kid… My friends are sick. It's a sickness that will kill them eventually. I uhh... I lied about looking for my brother, I was actually looking for a cure to help them. And I know where it is but only you can get it for me. Will you help me?"

The girl's eyes widened and slowly glistened with tears but she grinned through them, her smile brighter and warmer than the sun on a chilly day.

"Of course! I don't like when people are hurting, so I'll do my best to help your friends! Just tell me what I can do," she beamed with enthusiasm.

"Mhm... Let me... think of how to tell you this..." Jin stood up and scratched his head while looking at her.

Her eyes beamed with starry radiance as she bounced up and down on her toes.

Their expressions were the exact opposite of one another; while she was smiling with purpose and determination, he looked downcast and crestfallen as he thought about his words.

Her shoulders suddenly eased as she started looking around the forest with a worried look.

"The forest sure looks scarier at night... but I always play with my friends here during the day, even when grandmama says I shouldn't! I even take the Feggles here so they can eat sometimes!"

"Hmm… That's not right. You should listen to your grandmama..." Jin smiled at her softly but then frowned.

"Kid... Your eyes glow... Did you happen to see a shooting star or falling meteor?"

"Yes! Nobody else believed me when I told them it was big, bright and went boom! It was the most beautiful thing! Did you see it too, Mister!?" the girl's eyes lit up as she bounced up and down even more rapidly.

"Yeah. When you saw that star, were you in pain? Were you… crying?"

"No, I wasn't in pain… But I was crying because… nmh… No... Uhm… I wished that I could be as dependable as mama was to me… I want to help the nice people in the village!"

"Helping the villagers, huh... I see… That's… pretty wonderful," Jin's eyes sank lower, her words making his choice harder.

"Mhm! Did you see one too? What did you wish for, Mister?" Seiya moved in front of Jin's line of sight, excitedly watching his face with curiosity.

"Hmm… Something stupid. I wish I could go back and choose something else."

"Huh? Why?"

"Kid, do you want to see that exploding star again? It was beautiful, wasn't it?" 

Jin smiled faintly then pulled out a silver handgun from his hidden shoulder holster, showing off its intricate engravings as he pointed the barrel at her.

"Yes!" the girl grinned widely, bouncing even higher on her toes from the uncontainable excitement she felt.

"Well, this is… an advanced device from the city. If you look through it you can see the star explode again."

"Really!? That's amazing! Is uncle gonna have one of these too?" the girl grabbed the barrel and looked through it.

"Whoa… It's so dark…"

"Mhm… I'm sorry…"

***

The hunched elderly woman approached Evans, who was toying with the multi-purpose knife.

"You've been sitting there worshiping that knife for hours! Get off your butt and do something useful!"

"Tsk… Ack! Granny… I finished my part already. I'm trying to understand how this thing works. It's so simple but so amazing… I think I can make more of this."

"Idiot boy, forget the knife! Seiya hasn't returned from gathering apples. She must be playing around again even when I told her not to wander too far! Go find her now!"

The old lady pulled out a ladle and started hitting Evans with it.

"Ow! Alright, relax!" Evans jumped away and began sprinting towards the nearby apple tree with an annoyed scowl.

"Dammit, Seiya… Goof around when grandma's not cooking something…"

But not even halfway towards the nearest apple tree and a thunderous bang echoed out from within the forest, scaring birds into flying away into the evening sky.

Evans skid to a halt and quickly looked at the barely visible feathered creatures with a furrowed brow.

"Huh? What was that noise? An explosion?" 

Evans' expression grew anxious and he swiftly ran towards the forest as quickly as he could, exerting his legs to push himself through the distance swiftly.

He reached the forest and ran between the trees while looking left and right for whatever made that piercing sound.

'I don't see the glow of fire… What could it be?'

He hurriedly maneuvered past trees and jumped over branches and small uneven mounds of dirt, his face anxiously darting all over the place in search of some sort of explanation or a light source.

"Seiya!? Where are you!? Sei-agh!" Evans tripped on a branch yet managed to awkwardly keep himself from falling.

"Dammit! Seiya!? Can you hear me!?"

Evans ran and ran, his chest heaving as his breath became labored, yet there was still no sign of anything. Unfortunately, with the encroaching darkness of the night, it was even harder to see where he was going so he couldn't stop himself from tripping and tumbling down a second time.

"Agh!" he fell at such an angle that he slammed against a tree and landed on wet soil painfully.

"Ugh… Damned branches and roots… Tsk... And what is this? Why is the ground so wet?" Evans held his head in pain then looked behind him with a scowl. 

His eyes suddenly stretched wide in horror when he noticed the glistening blood puddle and realized its source.

His chest heaved and shook rapidly, growing incriminatingly faster until he couldn't take it and let out a heart-wrenching scream.

***

Jin walked out of the forest with a listless look as he moved away from the village, his left sleeve drenched in fresh blood.

Evans' scream reverberated through the trees behind Jin but he didn't pay it any mind, as he was too busy with his own overwhelming emotions.

"It really is ironic… how I cling to life through death… the death of others."

Jin looked at a luminescent sphere of golden radiance in his left hand, somewhat ethereal and covered in crimson blood with masterful spiral etchings.

'The only way to refill an engine's fuel when you don't know what it needs is by robbing another similar engine of its contents…'

The "batteries" were cores from other Wishbearers, replenishments from someone else's Wish and life essence.

Searching and acquiring them through murder was just another normal aspect of life to Jin, but this was a first... Out of all the worlds he traveled through, he never came across a child Wishbearer before.

Jin had always hoped there were other options, but he didn't know of them, leaving him with the cruelest one. 

"It had to be done…"

This was another shot, another soul taken, just like every other day... so why did it hurt deeper than the other acquisitions? Why did she feel different? Because of her personality and demeanor? Or her age and her stolen future?

"Master Jin, radio check. Sadie only has three days left rounded up. It's advised you hurry up with retrieval."

"Yeah... Walter, I got the battery. It was… It was a kid, Walter…"

"I see," the voice on the other end was calm and collected.

"Mhm… Tell Emilia to pull me back."

"Right away."

Jin stared at the glowing core in his hand with a scowl as the air around him suddenly shimmered and vibrated, reality warping itself to surround him with a transparent fluttering blanket. 

Jin suddenly found himself inside of a dimly lit bar, illuminated by soft neon blues and pinks radiating from a sign made of glowing wires with "Nexus" written on it. The sign was plastered on the deep-hazel wooden wall.

Vibrant magenta seats lined up the milky marble counter where a stoic old man stood mixing drinks with a cocktail shaker.

Jin glanced at the old gentleman, at his silver slicked-back hair that matched the color of his well-trimmed beard. The old man's ivory shirt contrasted his fancy black vest which had golden astral engravings, matching the motif of his golden tie. Everything about him screamed elegance with the most graceful of tones.

Since Jin arrived, he felt a familiar softness pressing against his back tightly as a pair of arms kept him comfortably close. He instantly glanced behind him at a violet-haired woman squeezing him close. 

"There we go!" the bright-haired woman stepped away and looked at him with a wide smile. Her eyes, which were glowing lavender, quickly returned back to a deep ebony.

The woman was wearing a tight black tank top with a skull drawn on it, visibly the wrong size. It was complemented by a long-sleeved fishnet top and a violet skirt matching the shade of her hair. Her already pleasant features were further accentuated with eyeliner and black lipstick.

Jin raised an eyebrow at her.

"...Aren't you entering your rebellious phase a bit too late, Emilia?" Jin tossed the glowing "battery" towards the old man, who grabbed it and placed it under the counter.

"Heheh... Skouter found a clothing store and picked it out for me… It doesn't look good?" Emilia stared at him with an anxious look, seemingly awaiting his input.

"No, it looks good... I'm just used to seeing cute pastel colors on you," Jin patted Emila's head with a practiced smile, hiding all his mental struggle behind it.

She exhaled with relief then walked to Sadie who sat casually on a velvet couch with her legs resting on a black coffee table.

"Sadie, they all said I look nice in it!"

"I told you, hotstuff. You're rocking that outfit," Sadie winked with a proud grin.

"It was Skouter's choice, and you know how he always says the most obscene–"

Jin walked to the bar and sat down on a stool with a sigh as the girls talked in the background happily.

'Another day, another core.'

"Are you reaching your breaking point, master Jin?" Walter stared at Jin carefully.

Jin shook his head bitterly.

"No, but it was a kid, Walter…"

"That's terrible," the old man's expression and tone of voice were calm yet monotone, as if he didn't even mean the words he said or cared that much about it.

"There must be another way, Walter…"

"Why don't you discuss it with the group? One of them might know something we don't."

"Don't be ridiculous, the second they know what these 'Batteries' we're hunting down are, they'll stop searching for them and choose to die like idiots. I can't find them alone…"

"Then you're choosing to hunt for batteries. You have to live with that choice and face reality, it's easier once you accept it."

"What are you saying? There is no choice, Walter. Death is not an option that I can just choose."

"It is a choice for you, not for the 'batteries' we're hunting down."

Jin clicked his tongue and looked away in irritation.

"You need to grow up, Jin. You're still too green. Your emotions are making you slack off, we're behind schedule because of you," the old man shook his head.

Suddenly, a man kicked the door to the bar open and tossed several bags on the ground.

"Check it! I make fishermen all across the globe jealous! Even though I don't fish, baby!"

A blond man wearing pilot goggles, with dyed streaks of lime green on his almost white hair, walked in while pulling the eyewear back to his curly hair. He was wearing a snow-white hoodie highlighted with deep viridian lines on the right side, with a black satchel strapped around his chest.

"Nice haul, Scoots," Sadie's lips curled into a cat-like grin.

"Just an average day for me, Saddy," Skouter stretched his arms with a groan then looked at Jin.

"Oh, you're back! Does that mean it's time to party? Oh man, oh man! I found some premium stuff so that's perfect. Walter, you better go crazy with them!" Skouter laughed and sat down to rummage through the bags.

"Here you go, master Jin. The essence is ready, but it's been... taxed..." Walter poured down a small amount of a shimmering amber-colored drink into a plain white coffee mug and placed it in front of Jin.

Nobody knew what "taxed" meant besides Jin and Walter. It was a motivational system they devised where regardless of the gathered batteries, Jin would get a share based on a performance evaluation instead.

Walter poured the same drink into four other glass containers of different shapes then slid three across the counter.

Jin quickly chugged the drink down in one go then sighed.

"You guys can start without me... I need some fresh air," Jin stood up but Skouter quickly forced him back down as he held several bottles cradled in his other arm.

"Not so fast, friendo! You need to let off steam more than any of us considering you travel to these crazy worlds for our sake, so let's go crazy and let it all out."

Sadie walked to a glass in the shape of a skull and drank from it while Emilia moved to a cute teddy bear-shaped one.

"Tsk… Skouter, not now," Jin grimaced.

"Especially now, Jin. Come on, Walter! Mix em good, do your magic!" Skouter placed the bottles on the counter then grabbed a beer mug and drank its contents.

"He's right, Jin. We need to let loose because our world ended, there's no point in holding back now," Sadie nudged Jin with a grin.

"Please, Jin? I don't want to see you so tense…" Emilia pressed herself against Skouter to move closer to Jin as she used her pleading puppy eyes on him.

"Tsk… Fine…" Jin sighed deeply, visibly irritated by all of them.

'These carefree people… But it's fine this way. They shouldn't know a thing. It's how I want things to be.'