Chapter 54 - Satoshi's First Date?

Chapter 54 – Satoshi's First Date?

Author's Note: This chapter was written with a lot of help from Emmanual.

Woosh!

Another monster was dead.

"Two hundred and fifty-four." I counted.

That one was barely a challenge.

Slash!"

Kana had taken out three rat-like creatures in one swing using her swallow reversal technique.

"Two hundred fifty-three. Two hundred fifty-four. Two hundred fifty-five." Kana jeered. "Looks like I'm ahead now."

Aiming at a tarantula a few hundred meters away, I released my bowstring, causing the monster to explode into a puddle of blood before it could even react.

"Two hundred and fifty-five. We're even now."

"Two hundred fifty-six." Kana added as she punctured an 8-legged anomaly. "Looks like I'm in the lead again."

Crap, I was losing! I had to use my ultimate technique.

Transforming my bow into a machine gun, I aimed it at a nearby hive of gargantuan hornets.

"No." Kana held her breath. "Don't you dare."

"Yes." I playfully smiled. "You leave me no choice."

Holding the machine gun at my hip, I spammed who knows how many rounds of pure lead into the hive, obliterating every single insect that was living inside it.

"One thousand and something? I'm the winner here."

"No fair!" Kana jumped up and down whilst pouting her face. "You cheated!"

"Hey! You never specified what counted as monsters!"

"Still!" Kana sulked. "It's not fair!"

I mean, she did have a point...maybe?

"It's getting late now." I changed the subject. "Maybe we should find somewhere to rest."

"You're right." Kana yawned. "I'm super sleepy. Where should we go?"

I looked around, oh, that area looks good.

"Maybe that hill over there?" I pointed. "It's free of trees and the grass there looks very comfortable."

"Sure! Why not?"

We headed towards the grassy hill, the cool breeze caused her silky platinum hair to waver in the wind. Her scarf fluttered like a flag, and her katana scabbard rattled a bit.

"Satoshi, could you tell me a joke?"

I was too mesmerized by her beautiful complexion to answer her question. I came back to my senses once she lightly poked me in the abdomen.

"Yeah-wait…what did you say?"

"I said, could you tell me a joke? It's so boring out here."

"Yeah, sure. Give me a second to think about it."

"No problem. Take your time."

I immediately blurted out the first thing I could think of.

"My best friend's wedding was so beautiful. Even the cake was in tiers."

I immediately cringed so hard it felt like I was punched in the stomach. That was quite possibly the worst joke in existence.

"Hm? I don't get it."

Oh yeah. Her country probably didn't have wedding cakes.

"Alright. Umm…What do you call a boomerang that won't come back?"

Kana held her hand to her chin for a while, probably thinking of an answer.

"I don't know."

"A stick."

"Ohhh…. I get it! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Kana erupted into laughter. She really looked more beautiful when she was smiling, and the moonlight reflecting on her ivory skin only contributed even further to this.

"Oi, Satoshi! You still here?"

I was gazing at her as I was blushing, presumably making her feel quite uncomfortable.

"Oh, I was just thinking about something."

We reached the top of the hill. Brushing aside some dirt on the ground, I found a soft patch of grass to lie on. Kana found another spot right next to mine, and we both lay there facing the sparkling and flickering stars.

The cool breeze tickled my neck and my exposed hands.

….

Over 15 minutes have passed by since we had been just sitting here, not muttering a single word….

The uneasiness was almost unbearable.

Maybe I should say something? About what though?

As I struggled to find an appropriate conversation, I glanced upwards.

Huh? The sky, the many heavenly bodies. The uncountable stars that shined brightly and the full moon, they were fascinating and delightful to look at like usual...reminds me of back home. Wait, something is a bit odd. I don't recognize their positions at all!

I knew what to talk about now.

Aiming to break the awkward silence, I came up with a conversation topic.

"The night sky back home certainly is different than here."

"Wait, really?"

In the blink of an eye, Kana was all pressed up against me, her eyes shining bright and her body exuding the sense of curiosity.

Oh crap! I was still acting normally on the outside, but my body was in full panic mode.

Blushing profusely, I turned my gaze away from her and began sharing my knowledge of astronomy to her in a monotone voice.

"Most of our constellations were named by the ancient Greeks, such as Orion, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Orion was named after a hunter, and Ursa Major and Minor were named after bears. The Big Dipper was named after the eponymous dipper like the one you use to scoop up soup."

"Really?!!" Kana sparkled. "Tell me more."

Huh? It caught her interest!

Taking in a deep breath I focused every single fiber or my body into one goal. Remembering and relaying everything I knew about constellations to her.

"Hydra is the largest constellation by area, the best time to view Aquarius is in October, and there are 88 official constellations…"

I continued to spew out every single fact I knew about constellations. There was quite a lot. Fortunately, I have a good memory, a very good memory.

"Out of those 88 constella-"

Kana cut me off from talking. "Satoshi." she asked with a bewildered expression, "Why aren't you making eye contact with me? Is something wrong?"

Ah, damn it. I didn't even realize that. This wasn't a habit of mine...so why didn't I make eye contact with her? That isn't important now, so hopefully she doesn't think I'm uncomfortable around her.

"Uh-er…umm…yeah…nothing's wrong. How about you tell me everything you know about constellations in this world?"

She jerked her head back and blinked a few times. She gave a faint smile as she widened her mouth.

"Well, we have over a hundred constellations depending on the source. The most prominent constellations are named after holy and vassal weapons. That one over there is called Katana, after this vassal katana. There's also Musica, named after the vassal music instrument, and Ofuda, named after the holy ofuda. The Hunter constellation is not really visible from here during this time of year and it is more visible from the other hemisphere…"

Kana's body expressions and smile grew more vigorous the more she spoke. I think I was bewitched.

I tried to listen to her, but I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried to focus on what she was saying, it would just land back on her…., her perfect figure that was enhanced by the marvelous night sky.

She was so...beautiful.

I was stuck in this state for who knows how long.

"What do you think about this, Satoshi?"

Too mesmerized to do anything, I just nodded. Kana stared at me, probably expecting an actual response. She probably wanted my opinion on her astronomical knowledge.

"You're really knowledgeable about this. In fact, I think you could have been an astronomer since you're so knowledgeable on the star bodies."

Kana's joyful manner slightly disappeared. After a brief pause, she gave me a weak smile.

There was a sudden silence. A strong uneasiness sprung up in my heart.

"So, what's wro-"

"You're not wrong, Satoshi. Actually, when I was young, I wanted to be an astronomer. The vivid stars and the mysterious constellations fascinated my young self. When I was a toddler, I would love to lie on the grassy hill next to my house just as we are doing now and count every star in the sky." She took a short pause. A pained smile rose. Maybe she was looking back on the past. "Obviously, I never was able to finish."

Reminiscing about her childhood memories, her smile quickly grew genuine, bright, blinding and once again...completely ensnared my heart.

She exaggeratedly widened her arms. "Occasionally, my friends and my family would join me on the hill teaching me all they knew about the stars. Some legends even say that we reached the moon, and that's where library rabbits come from! I had a bunch of good memories relating to astronomy. Sadly, life never goes how you plan or want it to. Maybe I should say…you can't have everything you want in life even if it's just two things."

I was completely invested in what she was saying. In fact, it was quite relatable. Though, the way her tone shifted in the end, I knew what was coming next.

"When I was last on that hill, who knows how long ago, I realized something. Dreams are like stars that radiate light. What happens when one star outshines the other?"

I nodded, setting my hand on her right shoulder. Kana nudged herself slightly closer to me.

"My dream to protect the weak…My will, want and need to protect and defend the elderly, hungry, homeless, fatherless, motherless, hopeless, and all those in need…did not outshine my dream for living all my days looking up to the skies and being completely captured and fascinated by the celestial bodies."

Saying all this, Kana still didn't drop her smile, even though it looked really forced. Her muscles were slightly bulging. Her fingers were aggressively gripping her thighs...She was doing her best to suppress her feelings.

"Almost all my time, effort and energy were spent on swordsmanship. Despite that, I tried my best to learn more about the skies, reading books and learning from travelling merchants and bards. However, I couldn't. I was too tired. I was too stubborn. Because of my relentless pursuit of astronomy, I was too fatigued to practice actual swordsmanship, causing me to have to pick one or the other. You could say I had to walk away from the sky."

"Ha..ha..hahahahaha…''Her laugh was painful, it was like there was a cry resting behind her throat trying to not get out. Right now, she was definitely hiding what she felt like on the inside.

What could I say to comfort her? My mind was running a million calculations, trying to figure out the optimal thing to say in this situation…

I couldn't think of anything...the only thing I got isn't the most comforting. However, maybe it could work? I am not sure, but honestly in this situation I didn't have the leisure to waste more time pondering.

I took a deep breath.

"I also had to pick between many things in my childhood and adolescence. I had to pick between studying computer science and law in college. I had to pick between participating in the national spelling bee and the geography bee…"

Kana's eyebrows furrowed.

"Though," I continued, "Those are not nearly as bad as what you dealt with. God knows how much time and effort it took to become so good at swordsmanship, and your infatuation with astronomy clearly outshines my hobby of computer science."

….

She slowly withdrew her eyes and just stared forth with a blank expression.

Yep, I screwed up. Damn it!

Silence settled again. I needed to come up with another conversation starter! And quick! Think, Satoshi, think!

An idea popped in my head. It was maybe the biggest gamble I ever made in my life! Okay maybe not...but, it's a pretty big one!

I swallowed the saliva in my throat. And slightly moved an inch closer to her. I looked right at her. She too looked at me, a bit confused.

Ba-dum! Ba-dum!

Ba-dum! Ba-dum!

My heart was in emergency mode, screaming to me 'abort mission!' However, I refused. I licked my lips…

Her lips in turn muttered, "What the…"

God damnit! Why did I do that! She is going to think I am a weirdo! Okay, stop. I have to go with it now!

"Um…have you ever fallen in love with somebody?" I barely managed to squeeze out my throat.

"Eh? No, I have no experience with such things." She responded quickly.

"Ha..." I scratched my chin nervously; my eyes began zipping all over in complete anxiousness. "I don't know much about it either. I've never dated anybody, that's for sure."

"I see." she blankly stated.

Ah, yep. I messed up big time. I wanted to forget about all this. Heck, I wanted to slap myself back into the past!

As we continued to sweep our eyes across the night sky in absolute silence, save for the chirps of some nocturnal creatures, a streak of bright white light streaked across the sky, its brilliance and luminosity far outshining the dim in comparison stars.

"Kana," I pointed out, "do you guys have a tradition of wishing upon shooting stars?"

"We sure do!"

Yes! Her normal mannerism is back.

"How about we make a wish each. I wish for world peace, cliché as it may sound."

She might cringe upon hearin-

"What a coincidence! I also wish for world peace."

Huh? Well, if I think about it...that did sound like Kana.

"Will two wishes make it twice as effective?"

"We can only hope so."

"So, Kana, how do you wish the world to be like?"

"I hope the world will be a place without much conflict, and everybody can live in peace and harmony. I have tried to enforce this everywhere I went, but one time, when I was younger, I failed. There were a bunch of demons attacking this town, and I-I failed t-to save them…"

Not being able to save people, that's something I can very much relate to. I can remember it clearly. Honestly, I wouldn't want to. However, it would be a disservice to abandon the memories of those that died… and its reality, I am a hero. This is something I must accept the reality of.

"I understand where you're coming from. Just recently, when the Spirit Tortoise reawakened, I failed to protect one of the cities that joined the Confederation after defeating the Spirit Tortoise the first time, causing thousands of casualties."

This topic was really depressing. I could see it reflected in her forlorn expression.

"So, Kana, do you want to hear a song?"

"Go ahead."

Pulling out a crude acoustic guitar that I had made during my time in this world, I began slowly playing "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic. The tune and lyrics of the song combined with the magnificent night sky made a lot of sense.

"By the way, Satoshi, did you know music in this world has power? The better somebody is at music, the stronger they get."

"Really?" I questioned. "I would have never expected that."

The relaxing guitar music had caused Kana to eventually fall asleep. Struggling to keep herself awake, she rested her head on my shoulder. Blushing, I initially wanted to shake her off, but her slumbering form was just too cute. Besides, I couldn't disrupt her sleep, for that would be rude.

Continuing to play relaxing acoustic music, I fought to keep myself awake in order to ensure Kana's safety during the night. Since we were out in the open, who knows what monsters might be lurking around?

Throughout the entire night, I fought to keep myself awake under any and all circumstances. I punched my lap so the pain would keep me up and drank some energizing medicine to prevent myself from falling asleep. As the sun rose and Kana woke up, my eyes were bloodshot, and I was trembling with exhaustion. Once she sat up, I could no longer control my body, and I collapsed into a heap and began snoring.

How long was I out for?

Upon waking up myself, I noticed that the sun was right above us, which meant it was noon.

"Did you stay up all night, Satoshi?"

"Yep." I responded.

"Why did you stay up all night?"

"I wanted to make sure you were safe."

Kana blushed. "All that for me, huh?" She gave me a gentle smile. Then she pulled herself in and kissed me on the cheek.

"How sweet of you, Satoshi."

Wait…What did she do? AHHHHHH!!!!

"Well," I interrupted the moment, "We should probably head back now. Indigo must be so worried."

Lifting ourselves up from the cozy, plush, grass, we exited the forest and headed on the main path towards the capital.