Preparations

Soon after Selena walked out of the room Hajime looked at Yue. "So are the two of you really good?" He just wants both of the people close to him to truly not have any problem and if there was any he would try to do something to fix it. 

"You don't need to worry, we talked. She is just more emotional than what I have come to know is all" recalling the hug full of warmth. 

"Ya she has been like that to most people she doesn't know. I say it like a defense mechanism. She doesn't talk about her past beyond middle school. Some scars are just deeper than skin."

"Mmm I see. Well we are going to be on a journey, who knows what will happen."

"Ya but that hasn't stopped her from looking out for me in the past." Smiling recalling an old memory where she made a fool of herself in order to change the mood. Hajime looked back at the door once more.

Poking at his side, Yue knew he just wasn't in the mood. "Go already better get it over with instead of asking yourself what if and if only." Unlike the monster kill ready to fight his way out of anything Hajime was wishy washy like an internal battle was taking place. After a few minutes Hajime got up and said I was back in while exhaling a deep breath he had been holding unconsciously. "I'll be back."

"Ya." she said with a smile. Watching him express so much more emotion over a little talk over fighting. She found it funny. 

Meanwhile Selena was already in the boss chamber with the iceberg of the returned hydra. "Sigh it is a lot of meat we are going to need to eat," getting tired of the horrible taste of meat they had been eating up to this point. Weaving her hands Selena transformed all the ice back into water, casting water dragon but instead of just attacking one of the destroyed pillars or the wall in the boss room, she controlled the water dragon to keep moving in a circle around her in order to practice her chakra control. As she watches her handy work while smiling, she guides the dragon to zig zag move low to the ground as if it was trying to attack an unknown enemy.

She noticed the longer the try kept water manifested in that form, the more it was costing her over time. Since she already had water under control, she weaved her hands once again and made the dragon shoot water bullets from its own body at the pillars, destroying the half pillars to rubble. Taking a breath, as if she ran for a bit, she took a moment to look back at the hydra and get ready to cut it into small pieces.

Find her magic easy to use at the moment she used gale claw on katana. Wanting to hurry up she let out a series of wind blades out in order to cut the meat into blocks for easy transport. 

"You know your brand of magic is something else Selena. With that much control you would probably give Yue a run for her money if you shorten your cast time." At that moment Selena turned around to see Hajime scratching his head. 

"Jezz you cheater, you used Hide Presence." Get a bit flustered when Hajime suddenly appears. Seeing that he came for something she sat down on a nearby bolder look at him. "So what's on your mind haji?"

"What if I just want to see my friend?"

Selena deadpanned at such a cheesy line being said at this time. "I say you left a very beautiful lady behind just to see little old me."

"Can you stop that already?" Get frustrated at Selena devaluing herself. "You know very well that you are very beauti…" Hajime looks away, his face reddening just a bit. 

Seeing that what he wants is a true conversation and not just a back and forth like they usually do. Selena patted the stone next to her and invited Hajime to come closer. "I'm not sure what you were expecting, but I'm just not interested in you that way." Just as Hajime was about to say something Selena cut him off. "I see you as family, after all." Looking up at the ceiling of the cave she said, "Look I'm just honestly not sure what I want, but I am not going to make you wait for something when I, myself, am not ready." 

"You know I'll wait for you if you only ask right?" Hajime looks at Selena dead serious. 

"Haha. I don't want you to, I've seen the way Yue look at you with all the love in the world. You've given her a second outlook at life, and I'm not going to take that away from her." Looking right back at him. 

"Mmm," seeing where Selena was coming from, Hajime recalled how even though Yue clearly wanted to use one of her passive skills to mark him as hers early on in the dungeon, she asked for permission that he did not give thinking about Selena at that moment. You know you're being very wishy washy.

Would you pick between the two of us then if I asked? 

No, he replied immediately and without hesitation.

"Then I am not going to make you choose then." She says as she hugs him. "She is going to make you a very happy man. I could probably do so too, if I was looking for that kind of relationship. Unfortunately I am not looking for that type of commitment right now. And who knows," she continues, releasing a hand to bump his chest, " maybe you will be open to the idea of a harem one day." She finishes with a smirk, completely catching Hajime off guard. 

In the midst of the hug, Hajime hugs her just a bit more tightly. Like he was afraid that she could disappear at any minute.

"You know that those are very dangerous words? What if one day I do get a harem, just like those blockheaded protagonists?" He says with his head in her neck, too scared to see the look she might have on her face from that idea. After a few minutes to calm their emotions down a little, they finally release themselves from the hug. 

"So are we going to talk about the other thing?" He asks, looking at her eyes.

A mix of emotions flashed across her face, at first surprised, then scared, then finally landing on guilt. She knew that if she told him, it was possible that the events would no longer happen. "I really can't right now, Hajime. Can it wait?" 'If I did tell you, I don't think you would be ready for it.'

Seeing the different emotions that appeared on her face, he became more curious about what she was hiding from him. However, as soon as he heard those words, he was left stumped. Up until now Selena had always been so straight forward with her emotions, but ever since they ended up in this Abyss, it is like all of the little things have been piled up. "You know you took the wind from my sails." Scratch his head awkwardly 

"I promise that I will tell you my secret one day, but until then, can you please keep trusting in me?" She asks, looking him in the eyes, hoping to see the same warmth that she has come to know.

Her eyes were pleading with him, just like when they found her after being separated. He knew that his words could potentially break her. "Ugh, yeah, I can wait… I just hope that it isn't too long of a wait though."

"Thank you," she says, grateful that Hajime wasn't pushing the issue. Getting up and stretching, she continues, "Well, with that heavy stuff out of the way… You want to help me get this meat into the mansion?" Pointing her thumb at the pile of frozen hydra meat that was behind her. Her right hand reached for her sword, ready to continue to cut up the meat into smaller blocks.

Hajime stands to his feet as he replies, "Yea, sure, but it is a lot of meat. Think it will fit in that huge refrigerator artifact there?" 

"If it doesn't fit, Yue or I could refreeze the rest near the mansion." Selena says while grabbing a pile of meat. Hajime followed suit and they both kept transporting chunks of the meat back to the mansion. By the time they finished, the artificial sun was dimming, almost as if it was a setting sun.

Wanting to get out of the way for Hajime and Yue first night, Selena took the first bath in warm water and let out a big sigh. 'I am so glad that I don't need to worry about the heavy conversations for now. I hate the feeling of walking on eggshells around those that I love' Soon after getting out, Selena saw Hajime getting ready to go take a long bath himself. "Don't waste all the hot water you hear." As she gives him a knowing smile.

"Shut it you. I don't want to hear that from someone who takes an hour just to take a bath!"

"Like you're not going to do the same thing" she retorted back.

"I never said I wouldn't," smiling as they passed by each other. She had picked one of the spare bedrooms far away from the master bedroom Hajime would clearly need for the night to come. 

After entering her room, Selena started to meditate in order to practice more nature transformation to familiarize herself with the elements that she has. It was a very slow process since she couldn't practice too much while they were diving into the Abyss. Of her elements, Ice came the easiest from all of the jutsus that she has used fighting the monsters. Water was a little bit more difficult to manipulate, but was easier than her wind chakra. Since she has never used any wind ninjutsu, she didn't have the feel for it, so it was like trying to cool a server with a folding fan. (clearly a gamer at heart)

It was obvious that she couldn't hear a man's cries of surprise. It was clearly just the wind that came through her window.

Yue walked into Selena's room some time later. She saw her in criss cross position and the atmosphere made her think of their last fight with the dragon. Although this time it was much more tranquil like water. 

"Hey are you okay." Yue asks, worry filled her eyes.

Tilling her head in confusion, "um yes" she replies, opening her eyes she saw Yue look at her body. So she looked down to see that her training was shown outside her body. With her focus broken the chakra went back to normal flow and the aura she had disappeared soon after. 

"Hmph I just came to tell you to stay in your room for tonight,'' She had just gotten a bit flustered thinking something else was going on, but seeing the aura disappear she thought it was just more training. 

"Yes mom. I will stay in my room and act like nothing is happening whatever that may be." Selena sarcastically responds with a roll of her eyes.

"Good. I will help you with that as well," as Yue walked out, Selena could hear what sounded like an earth wall blocking the door so she couldn't walk out without using something destructive on it. 

Later on that evening she definitely could NOT hear two people yell out their name to the heavens or later on in the master bedroom, or the bed slamming back and forth. No, not at all.

The next morning Selena had cut down the wall since Yue forgot, in all her infinite wisdom, that Selena still needs to powder her nose from time to time.

After some time, Hajime could be seen walking into the dinning room with Yue latched onto him like a koala. Selena, on the other hand, could be found in the kitchen cooking a big ass piece of meat on the stove, utilizing the mana stone in the stove to keep the fire nice and high.

"Good morning," Yue said with a coquettish smile oozing all over her face. "Yea, sup Selena?" Hajime asks. Although he couldn't help but wonder if she heard all of that, with his face glowing with a slight blush.

Not able to hold in her smile anymore she said "Oh Hajime, you look so haggard. Do you need to sleep more?" It was the middle of the day already since he was only forced to get up due to being very hungry. "And Yue you glowing. Something good must have happened to you. You must tell me your secret one day."

Hajime, not being able to hold back, threw a nearby vase at Selena. Seeing how she was latherin it on pretty thick at the moment made him feel even more embarrassed. 

"It was the greatest night that I will always remember. I can give you tips if you need it, Selena."

Now it was her turn to get her face to blush since she had already had a rough night trying to ignore the two monkeys in her head from imagining the night. 

"ANYWAYS," Hajime says, trying to change the topic, "What do you girls want to do? I was thinking that we could stay here for a bit and train."

With a quick look at each other, Yue and Selena just nods to Hajime's plan. Thus the Trio's training started once again.

xxx 

A week has passed, and the Trio in the front yard of the mansion. Hajime and Yue were facing Selena in hand-to-hand combat, and Yue was sporting some lumps on her head from the multiple times she had been hit.

Hajime was getting his gut kneed at the moment while holding one of Selena fist with his normal arm and his new metal arm was all be held off by Selena in turn. However, since the two were very close, and Hajime wasn't used to fighting against another human, he missed the knee aiming for his gut and was wheezing air, falling to the ground. "Come on Hajime, I know we are friends but I need you to look at me as if we were enemies."

"Yea, yea. I know it just..." As Hajime got up Selena stepped next to him putting one leg right behind his leg and pushed him back, making him fall back to the ground since his footing throw off once again. 

"Come on my little grasshopper, you're still in the middle of a spar. You've got to stay alert." 

Get frustrated at the fact that Selena was just toying with him, Hajime got up. He did not want to feel so helpless, even though with his guns he could take just about anyone already. 

They would go on to spend the first few hours sparring in hand to hand combat to polish Hajime. Yue, however, gave up mid way not wanting to get more lumps to Selena and Hajime chagrin.

xxx 

When it came to their magic lessons, Yue would return the favor right back at Selena. Yue would be throwing fireballs, earth spikes, and water blasts, all while Selena was trying to cast water and wind ninjutsu. 

"You gotta be faster than that Selena" Yue said, as she was holding a fire javelin at the ready to break Selena's next attack the moment it appeared. 

Selena was launching blasts of wind at the incoming attacks, feeling as if Yue was being more aggressive for some reason. Just as she was about to launch a counter-offense, a fire javelin was right in front of her, destroying the clothes she borrowed from Oscar's closet.

"Can you stop using fire! I'm losing more outfits again!" Selena got exasperated at the fact Yue could use any other element as she probably still has more outfit.

"No, it gives you the incentive to go faster," Yue says, smiling wickedly as she throws a water ball at Selena, wanting help put out the fire she started. 

"Haha, very funny," Selena sarcastically replies, seeing all the water based attacks come at her. Weaving hand signs, Selena casted water dragon ninjutsu, taking over all water spells and sending them right back at Yue. Having seen this scene for a week, Yue gained an appreciation for the control that Selena had over her constructs. While Yue's attacks were just 'make and launch', Selena can make her constructs zigzag around different obstacles instead of just over-power them.

While this training was going on, Hajime remembers when Selena mentioned that her eyes gave her a type of magic sense that could show her the weak point in a spell formation. With this information, Hajime was given an idea for a lens that could help him do the same so he could try to shoot down spells.

At the start, Hajime was set to create his own gun-fu with the help of a special ring that Oscar had at the mansion. He started to learn the timing of how to reload his gun in the middle of his movements so that it wouldn't interrupt the flow of battle. As he creates this special martial arts of his, Selena would occasionally watch him with her Sharingan to imprint these moves herself. The only unfortunate thing was that there was only one of these rings that had space magic imbued into it, so Selena will have to wait to properly train in it.

On a random day right after Selena got butt kicked by Hajime's overwhelming firepower.

"I want it." Selena pulled hard on the only storage ring the party had.

"You shut your face, you got magic. I need this for my gun-fu I'm developing." As he gets his hand away from her grasp, he lifts it above his head.

"But what if I lose an outfit, I could just make one appear and boom problem solved." She whined all the while trying to reach for it. 

"No, you can wait till I can make you one." Hajime said, Exasperated at Selena bringing this up once again. 

"Or better yet, why not just don't lose your outfit, ever thought of that. It's easy just to learn to cast faster." Yue was smiling looking at Hajime.

"I'm sorry I'm not a walking element tank ready to shoot on command yet master!"

"Hmph you sure go train some more then, instead of bugging Hajime."

All the while Hajime had already walked away to do something else and take the ring with him. 

xxx

Afternoons are mostly spent studying for Yue. Hajime and Selena were in the workshop making another iconic gun Hajime built in the original timeline Selena knew. Schlag, a second pistol to complement Donner since now he had two arms once again. He recreated Schlagen since, in the last battle it had been destroyed. Then came one that Selena favored, Hajime mentioned that he needed something to deal with hordes of enemies, especially since both Yue and Selena alway had an AOE attack ready; thus his pair of miniguns named Mizelei were created. While they were very powerful, they could only be used for a limited time. So to add onto his arsenal, he made a rocket launcher pair and dubbed it Orkan. To go along with it, he made a few different ammo types from all the materials: tar that burns at 3000 degrees, regular rock packed with explosive rock, Smoke shells, and a shrapnel pack rocket that blasted into many pieces of metal for those group battles where he needed to slow them down.

Soon after, with help from Yue, Hajime ended up making a lens that reproduced the same effect as in cannon where he could see the weak points of spell and tailored his fight style to aim for the weak point of spells. When it came to Selena's ninjutsu Hajime couldn't find a weak point per say, but if they were small attacks it didn't matter as his bullets would rip right through them with no problem. However, when it came to the big attacks, he had to expend more time on them. Yue pouted for days, seeing that Selena's spell seems to be able to hide their weakness according to Hajime. 

Yue, after ransacking Oscar's closet for clothes, decided to combine them with the monster pelts and spider silk from the dungeon to craft new clothes for everyone. Yue looks at Selena and says "I made you a week's worth of them so please don't break them. All these take a lot of time to make."

Selena takes the clothes and just grumbles, "They never show the clothes getting torn up in anime… it's not fair" much to Hajime's chagrin. Selena in the meantime learns that her affinity with creation magic wasn't zero; she is only able to use maybe about 30% of the skill output and she needs a table to help focus on a set task. Without it, it would cost her more mana and time just to make a bullet, whereas Hajime made them in droves by the seconds now. 

Xxx

After the second week, Yue helped Hajime make a very special artifact that blocks sound from leaving a room for Selena's sake. She got very frustrated with them and ended up knocking out Hajime one day during training since the two were like horny rabbits in the sheets. Throughout the whole two months of training, Hajime's and Selena's stats just kept on growing due to the hydra being that powerful. They had enough meat to last almost another month, but they did gain one final skill from the beast "Limit Break". 

On a random day Hajime and co were outside try out Hajime first iteration on his vehicles 

"…And are you sure this is going to work?" Selena asks, looking at Hajime with a clipboard, using his demon lens and checking to see if the circle will let the bike move.

"Of course, and if you don't help I won't make you one. I can make a car seat and you can ride shotgun" He says, smiling evilly.

"Ugh, Yue. Hajime is being mean to me!!"

"Mmm, better you than him. Don't worry I will catch you if you fall."

"I take back the two of you are the worst! Making me test drive something that could break or worse blow up."

"Yea yea, now hurry up. We are not getting any younger, and I need this data to move forward with our project."

"Fine!!" Selena starts pouring her mana into the bike. As should be obvious, unlike a typical motorcycle back on earth, the more mana one pours into it, the faster it should go in theory. 

Selena went around the small track that Hajime made only pouring in the bare minimum, too scared to see what would happen next.

Hajime in a good mood yelled "Okay, now pour in more and pick up speed! You are barely going thirty miles an hour."

"Easy for you to say." Grumbling about the order Selena added more mana to what she was already pouring in, almost double it, and the bike easily hit sixty five miles per hour and the bike suddenly started to make a wired noise. 

Going that fast would normally be fine for Selena, however, the fact that this was the first time between both her lives that she has been on a motorcycle that made it scary for her. This resulted in her forgetting to control the amount of mana she was pouring in, and soon enough the bike hit ninety miles per hour. A few moments after, the back wheel gave out causing the bike to spin out of control, the back wheel flying away from the bike and causing it to flip. Selena, unfortunately was launched from it and blacked out.

Waking up some time later, Yue and Hajime had poured elixir on Selena since the crash was very much unexpected. "How are you feeling?" They both asked.

"I'm not sure what happened, one minute I remember riding the bike, the next I was flying? or crashing would be a better ap discretion for it…"

"Ya you got some sick ass air time," Hajime could help let out a laugh. "You also had plenty of skills, so didn't you have a way to land more gracefully? 

"Ugh, did my data help you at least?" She asks, ignoring his other statement. 

"Yes, it was very helpful and now I know what I need to fix."

"My everything is hurting, carry me Hajime."

"Liar! hmph"

"Now I'm emotionally damaged" Selena says, as she raises both her hands into the air to emphasize her current state.

"Fine, I'll take you to the outdoor bath so you can clean the mud off yourself." He says while rolling his eyes.

"You also destroyed another outfit Selena," Yue deadpanned looking at the shirt that was torn apart and dress pants also gone. It looked like Selena was wearing mini shorts instead of pants. 

"Ugh, the thing I do for a free ride" Selena gestures as if she was truly hurt. Giggling all the while. 

xxx

"It has been two months, ladies, we've gotten as strong as we can in the meantime. With all our equipment and magic, we will most likely be hunted down, given what we heard about these evil gods. But if you protect me and I protect you, no one will stand in our way." Hajime smirks at the fact they are going to take on the world. 

"With three of us, we got them" Yue smiles, all the while showing off her ring and necklace.

"With everything you made for us most common things won't even be a threat." Selena covered her mouth with the turtle neck Yue made in current outfit. "These earrings are great too, Hajime" as Selena shows off a simple earring with Divinity stone embedded in it, just like Yue's ring, giving them an extra tank for mana. "Although, you two make it sound like we are just going to take a leisurely stroll." Getting a headache just thinking about the future problem, rubbing her finger on her forehead. 'I just wish I knew more about these eight liberators they fought.'

"Don't worry about it too much. Nothing can be done over thinking about it, Selena." He patted her shoulder good naturedly. "We will blow up the world if need be."

"That's a flag, Hajime. Please stop." Selena deadpans, recalls how he threw a meteor at the plant in a light novel.

"Hajime can do anything," Yue puffs out her chest as if she was the one getting praised. 

Laughter could be heard from Hajime as he thought about it. "That would be pretty ridiculous," as he wipes away a tear from that idea. "Well, let's get going. I want to breathe some fresh air."

"I want some real food. I'm so sick of monster meat." Selena deadpanned at the fact that nothing could be done to save her from the taste of this world's horrible tasting meat. 

"Yea, that too" Hajime said sheepishly, forgetting to think about their food dilemma.

"I don't see anything wrong with it," Yue says, while licking her lips.

"Easy for you to say, moocher," Selena says, squirting her eyes at Yue.

"You want to go another round before we leave," Yue asks, with her hand glowing, fireball ready to shoot at Selena. 

At that moment Hajime hit both of them. Resulting in a "Ow" from the two. "Come on girls, let's go to the surface."

"Yea" both girls said in unison. As the trio steps into the teleporter and heads towards more trouble along the way. 

With a flash of light, the room was left empty, leaving just a chair and the circle behind.