...yeah... so... maybe it wasn't a dream...

*rustle*

"..."

The girl partially woke up because of some minor noise in the room, grimacing without even opening her eyes.

She instinctively began to search for her pillow with the Zane print, but no matter how long her hand wandered across the bedding, she couldn't locate it.

"Nnnnngh…"

She grumbled in annoyance, forcing herself into a half-sitting position with just her core muscles, which caused her to rise in a zombie-like fashion.

"P-pardon me, Miss! I didn't intend to wake you up…!"

"Nhghnnn?"

Someone suddenly gasped, sounding all apologetic and scared, making the girl grumble and turn in their direction, wondering why in the world she forgot to turn off her computer and how in the world some random add began to play…

However, when the slouching girl with terrible bed hair and even worse expression opened her eyes slightly to glare at the monitor…

"I'm sorry, Miss! I'm terribly sorry! I was just bringing you water…!"

And what she saw was a young woman dressed in a maid's uniform like the one in anime, deeply bowing her head and apologizing again and again while clenching an empty crystal pitcher while another one - filled with water - was placed on the round table together with a crystal short glass.

"...nnnh…?"

The low blood pressure in the morning was a thing that the girl had to deal with her whole life, and this day wasn't any different, rendering her brain unable to register anything for at least ten minutes after waking up…

…which meant that she grumbled again, not comprehending either the situation or any of the words that came out of the maid's mouth…

"...where Zane…?"

In such state, the girl looked away from the maid and grumbled with a scowl, referring - of course - to her missing pillow with a print.

"...eh…?"

That behavior certainly took the maid off guard, as she seemed to be expected a harsh scolding instead of an upset but meek mumbling.

"...no Zene… where…?"

"?!?!"

…so it was an even bigger surprise to her when the young miss began swaying from side to side about to fall right back into her slumber while continuing to grumble while using the absolute minimum of brain power… if any at all…

"Don't worry about anything, Miss! I will get him right away!"

Nonetheless, the maid wasn't going to miss an opportunity like that! She could not only save herself from the harsh scolding of the young lady of the house but also score some favor by fulfilling her wishes as soon as possible!

With such thoughts, the maid stormed out of the room while the girl…

*pomf*

…lost the battle with sleep and fell back onto the numerous pillows with a soft sound…

*brush*

"...nn…?"

That's why the moment that she woke up sometime later, tickled by the soft touch of someone playing with a stray hair that fell across her hair, she let out a confused noise and opened her eyes slightly.

Did the nice grandma landlady come in to check on her again…?

…was along the lines of what the girl was thinking, expecting the cheerful wrinkled face of a gray-haired lady slouching under the pressure of age.

"Ah…! I'm terribly sorry. That was unbecoming of me…"

"..."

Henceforth, when she was met with the surprised face of the shark-teeth servant, her brain blanked out for a few seconds.

Enough for Zane to take back his hand and move off of the mattress while apologizing with a flushed face.

"I… I was merely continuing the tests from the last night! When this world was a game, I could never do…"

"..."

Zane began making excuses under the blank expression of a speechless girl.

"...no… that's not it… I'm sorry for acting so selfish… The truth is I couldn't help myself when I saw your sleeping face…"

But then the monstrous servant shook his head and clenched his fists, steeling himself for the girl's reaction.

"...ohhh… I am still asleep…!"

"...huh…?"

In the end - he wasn't prepared for the girl's reaction at all, as her expression brightened while she nodded to herself.

"How was it called? Lucid dream? Damn! It looks so real!"

"...h-hello…?"

The girl continued nodding her head while looking at the taken-aback servant. She jumped up on her feet and turned her back to Zane as she faced the window.

"Cool, cool. So, I want to fly now, and Zane, I want you to follow me!"

"?!?!"

The girl declared confidently, causing the servant's eyes to widen, taking at least twice their normal space.

"Hey…!"

She was clearly looking at the window, and she crouched as if intending to jump head-first through it…

"HOLD UP!"

"Ho-ugnfgh!"

But just as she sprung into action, Zane called out, throwing himself forward, grabbing her ankle, and pulling her back, which resulted in the girl mushing her face against the mattress with full momentum.

"...owwwwww…! What the hell…!?"

The girl grabbed her face and yelped, her face smushed into the bed.

"What in the world are you doing?! Even when this was a game, there was no flying with the exception of the tamed leviathan-class monsters pulling the elven magic ships! What makes you think that you will be able to do it now that it all became a reality?! You could get hurt!"

Zane dragged the girl closer and flipped her while still holding onto her ankle, even while scolding her recklessness.

"...eh…?"

The girl yelped softly while blinking repeatedly, first staring at Zane's face and then focusing on the leg he was holding her by.

"..."

"..."

During the short and awkward silence, the girl moved her foot a few times as if trying to figure something out.

"...oh…"

She mumbled to herself while wiggling her foot some more before moving her gaze back to the servant.

"Did you remember everything now? Good. We can try to start figuring o…"

"UKYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Seeing her take a deep breath made Zane sigh in relief but just as he was speaking, the girl revealed the reason for the breath - a scream of sheer panic.