The Sky Is Falling (2)

"Wow, our brave hero tucked his tail between his legs real quick." Yuki mocks me in between bites of pork.

"What? I can't even talk to people anymore? What's wrong with wanting to get to know a guy? Maybe I'll grab him if Sam isn't interested."

"What?! No!" Sam shouts her face bright red with embarrassment. It really feels like a party as we all chat and eat. I can see Shinobu and Travis rolling on the ground with laughter as I dodge Sam's fists while trying to talk her down.

Eventually, the party calms down, and the drowsiness of a full stomach has me lying on the ground. Apparently, the idea is pretty popular because it isn't long before we're all laying around gazing up at the cloudless sky.

The warm mood is dampened slightly when Sakura makes her appearance. It seems she snuck back to her tent and changed as she's no longer wearing her pajamas. Her eyes are cold. The flower girl grabs a slice of bread and chews on it while hiding behind her wilted hair. I want to offer her some words of encouragement, but now isn't the time. Our first priority is getting out of this forest alive.

After breakfast, we gather up our supplies and prepare for the trek back to town. Travis orders us to get into formation, so I fall to the back with Yuki. The morning dew has dried, and the heat of the sun is beginning to make its way to the forest floor. Life is blooming through the woods as winter ebbs away. I glance at the woman walking haughtily beside me and think back to all the techniques she used during our battle in the dungeon.

"You like what you see?" Yuki smirks. I ignore her attempt to get a rise out of me and begin my line of questioning.

"I saw you use a lot of force vector-related skills while in the dungeon. How did you go about learning them?"

"Oh, that's what you wanted to talk about." Her shoulders drop in disappointment. I don't know what she was expecting, but this is of the utmost importance to me. She scratches the back of her head as if to dig out the memories locked in her mind. "It's not that big of a deal, really. I've been getting in fights for as long as I can remember, and I just kinda picked it up along the way."

"What does it feel like?"

"Hmm, about what you'd expect, I guess. It's like after you punch someone, you want to hit them again but harder. I feel it course up through my body and shoot out my fist."

"So it's more like a flow than just placing a vector."

"Yeah, just like that. Why do you want to learn how? I don't know how well that will translate to your spear, though."

"No, I was thinking about learning a skill called Hydraulic Strike. I think it works similarly to your technique, but the force of your weapon is amplified instead of your fist."

"Ah, that makes sense."

"What were the other skills you used down there? That combination seemed pretty unstoppable from what I saw." I continue to probe the fighter for information while making sure to slip in some compliments to loosen her tongue. People love talking about themselves, especially when you gas them up.

"It is pretty cool, isn't it." Yuki crosses her arms and closes her eyes. I roll mine when I see her smirk to herself like an idiot. By the time she opens her eyes to check for my reaction, I've masked my disappointment with a bright smile. "Well, let me tell you about it then. Adrenal Flood dumps a bunch of adrenaline into your bloodstream. It also amplifies the mental and physical effects of the hormone. Our brains limit how much of our muscle fibers can activate at once, and adrenaline allows us to break past that. While using more of our muscles makes us stronger, it also makes us more prone to injury."

She pauses to look at me for a moment.

"Have you ever been in a situation where it feels like time is moving slower? Like something shocking happens, and you can see it in slow motion?"

"Yes, of course," I reply.

"That's also due to adrenaline. Our brains gauge time by how much information we take in every second. By increasing how much information we perceive, it makes it feels like time is dilating." I've heard most of this before in biology class, but it's fascinating that a medieval society has such a strong grasp on the inner workings of the mind.

"That seems pretty strong just on its own." I goad her into continuing her explanation

"It might seem that way, but like I said, it makes you more prone to injury. That's why I also used the skills Skeletal reinforcement to strengthen my bones and Muscular Enhancement to prevent my muscles from tearing themselves apart.

"That must take a lot of stamina."

"Which is why I can't do it for very long. If Travis didn't give me that Elixir halfway through the fight, I would have basically been useless. Sometimes I can't even move after I use that combo."

"Sounds risky."

"Only if you don't trust your team." She gives me a thumbs up with a big smile on her face.

[She's goofier than I first thought. I can see what Travis meant when he was talking about being her mediator. She's growing on me pretty quickly.]

I can't help but shake my head and smile at her antics. Seeing her so proud of her friends would warm anyone's heart.

"So what was happening with Josh and Sakura this morning?" Yuki puts her finger under her lip as she changes the subject.

"Josh has been Sakura's target for her affections for many years, apparently. For whatever reason, they could only become friends after I dragged them together. After that, Sakura became very physically affectionate with Josh without realizing that he doesn't like to be touched. He had a pretty rough situation at home, and I don't think he was able to express himself clearly enough to reject her advances until recently. Now that he's coming out of his shell, she's going to have to focus more on his needs instead of just trying to be close with him all the time." I calmly explain. Having watched the two kids for several months now, I feel like I have a relatively strong grasp on their relationship.

"Why don't you tell Sakura all this?" Yuki tilts her head questioningly.

"If you were upset, would you want me coming up and telling you what to do?"

"No, I'd get pretty pissed off."

"Reasonably so; if she wants my advice, she'll approach me when she's ready."

"Ya know, you're not so bad, Nick."

"I just seem that way at first appearance?"

"Yeah. You're an asshole." I blink off her stark criticism and smile.

"That's fair." We continue the rest of the trip without exchanging many more words. We're both introverted people, and it's nice to sit with your thoughts sometimes. I look around at our two teams that have grown so much closer during this adventure. Travis has one arm on Josh's shoulder as if to prevent him from escaping while the large man talks his ear off, Shinobu and Sam are giggling amongst themselves at the center of our formation, and Jim points things out to Sakura while explaining their importance or meaning. It really feels like we're one big team now.