Chapter 27 – The Things Between Them

"Hmm? Something in my face, Angga?" asked Clara while looking clueless.

He was flustered when Clara asked that question and had no clue that he had been staring at her for a moment, so Angga quickly looked in another direction. "Nah, it's nothing. I just caught up with this cave's vibe, and that's all!"

She giggled a bit. "I call this place Ounen Underground. To be honest, I don't know if this is underground since there's a light source similar to the sun up there. But since we enter a cave, let's treat it that way."

Angga nodded awkwardly. "Yeah, I agree."

"But, there's something I forgot to tell you, Angga. You know, when a person has faerie dust on their body so that they can see what they normally cannot, they must have full control of their mind because their deepest fears could manifest no matter how impossible it is."

"Huh, what do you mean by that?"

When he glanced over the lion girl, she was nowhere to be found. Clara vanished into thin air.

Angga checked his surroundings and discovered he was alone in this place. He didn't really catch what was happening and started to walk around to find his friend while shouting all around him, only to find that his voice echoed a lot.

"Clara! Clara, where are you?!"

To call the Satwa girl to no avail, Angga finally stopped between the tall, illuminating grasses. If he ventures deeper, he could see another kind of unique vegetation that is impossible to find in his world. But he has to rearrange his thoughts since a little fear has appeared and apparently seeped into his mind.

Between the tall grasses that made him unable to see more than one meter from where he stood, Angga finally calmed down while thinking about all the possibilities that may have happened until now.

Perhaps when the fairy dust was applied to the Ounen Tree initially, and then he started hallucinating? So, was the whole Clara business introducing him to this place all but fake? Yet, when he tried to touch the nearby glowing grasses, he could feel the texture and the vegetation's existence. It was no mere illusion.

"Still, I have to expect the unexpected. There are many things outside of the natural laws from my world that happened here…"

Angga thought that he would venture further so that he could see something awesome deep inside the cave. After a few steps, he halted. What if there was a chance that the Clara who invited him to get inside was truly an illusion so that this place was actually filled with dangers?

If that were the case, he might have wanted to go back to the surface as quickly as possible. Since he knew very well that he had no attack magic or protective magic to defend himself from any potential dangers, 

But when he started to return from whence he came, a faint beast's roar could be heard. Angga jolted briefly, followed by an exaggerated movement while checking his surroundings. Those tall grasses hindered him, so he couldn't grasp his situation well.

This is bad, he thought.

When he fastened his pace towards the direction where he came in, somehow the roar got clearer and louder, as if Angga went straight in the direction of anything that could produce this intimidating sound. So he stopped and stayed in his current position to find another way to get out.

Should he wait for the monster to go away so he could sneak and go to the surface? But what about the possibility of certain plants that gave away that kind of voice? However, He hadn't seen everything in this Union Kingdom world, so perhaps there was a plant species that could do that.

Since he had never seen anything like that before when he explored the town and the area outside Canau (only for the savanna and around Ounen Tree, actually), Angga disregarded his thoughts and assumed that the monster was around.

Therefore, he needed a clear view to assess his situation so he could choose the safest way for him.

"Alright. Just move slowly. I got this," he whispered to himself.

Angga slowly gets away from the source of the intimidating roar and growls to find a nice spot to view his surroundings. He had no choice but to go deeper and find a place where he could have a clear view.

Until he noticed that the sounds didn't get away, not even for an inch, Angga knew that it probably followed him since no matter how he moved around to keep his distance from the source of the voice, the sound didn't get further away, it was a bad thing. 

He raised his pace, trying to get away because Angga had heard the rustling sounds of the grasses. That was dangerous.

Come on, come on, come on, he thought while trying to be as calm as possible when he wanted to shout because the situation was so intense for him. With Clara nowhere to be found, he could get killed easily.

When the growls got closer, Angga lost his composure and started to run. His steps vainly echoed as he lifted his knee to push himself to get away from the monster. He shoved the grasses around him and made rustling sounds, which perhaps attracted the monster to get closer, which was a bad effort to get away.

How come he got into a situation like this? It didn't pass through his mind that he would suddenly meet a threat around where his portal to return to his world was located. When he thought about it, Clara never mentioned any part of this world that was safe from the monsters. Perhaps the town was safe enough since, granted, there were a lot of adventurers and Town Hall staff, and he witnessed the capabilities of the head of the said place to deal with the monsters.

But to meet one in this kind of place, which was basically underground, and there was no one besides him around? No, he didn't intend to die today.

So Angga kept running and running to finally reach the area where the tall grasses were no longer. He still could hear the rustling sounds from behind, which were a clue to him that the threat had been actively chasing him.

He saw a few high grounds to have a bird's view of his surroundings–which was probably not the best idea for now since the monster had noticed and chased him. Angga thought that the way to save himself was to find a place to hide, perhaps under the rocks or a weird vegetation mechanism that would protect him.

But no matter how far he got from the entrance, he found nothing that looked like the place he was looking for. Is this the end of him?

"Urgh–"

His legs started to wear out since he rarely trained his stamina, especially for the long run, while the growls and roars came closer and closer–

It's over.

The only thing Angga remembered was something that touched his shoulder, and then his world was spun. Something struck him and made him roll on the ground for a while, to the point that it made him dizzy.

He was afraid to open his eyes for a few seconds to face the monster that had caught him. And then, at one moment, he mustered his courage to see what it looked like–

"Hey."

"Clara?" asked Angga in disbelief since he found no reason for her to be on top of him.

"Well, I have my reason," said the tall girl while looking down at the human, looking at him with a strange-looking gaze.

This kind of scene somehow reminded him of how he was able to come back here for the first time and found out that being transferred between both worlds wasn't a one-way trip. He helplessly laid down there while someone who was technically bigger than him was on the top of his body as if a predator had caught her prey.

"Then, can you explain your reason kindly? For your information, I thought I was a goner." He sighed in relief.

"Hehe, did I really scare you?"

"You sure did, Clara. My chest is beating hard as hell!"

"Yeah, I know. I'm touching your chest right now," she replied, and Angga looked down. Her hands were indeed on his chest.

"Not much of a fan of your prank, actually. I almost pissed my pants."

The lion girl leaned down so her face would be closer to Angga's while he was complaining. And then, she shut his mouth by kissing his lips and pushed her weight against Angga for a bit while.

Perhaps after a solid five minutes, Clara let go of her lips while observing Angga's facial expression, which was all over the place.

"I'm very sorry if you feel uncomfortable with my prank since I can't contain myself, Angga. You look so cute; that somehow triggered my instinct. So, I need to play around because of it," whispered the lion girl as faint as the rustles of the grasses because of the breeze. "There you have it, Angga. Does my feelings get across to you?"

Yet, no matter how long Clara waited for Angga's response, he was not reacting at all while looking at her with disbelief and a blushed face.

"A lion got your tongue, eh?" teased Clara.

"Shut it."

"Hehe, you know, it's not an instant thing or stuff like that. I've been looking up to you since you first introduced yourself here. And slowly, I've known your kindness until you involved yourself in my private matters. It's not that I didn't like it when you did that, but–ah–you make my chest warm instead. Thank you for everything you've done for me, Angga."

Angga couldn't reply and didn't expect Clara to think of him that way. Now that he was aware of her feelings while maintaining eye contact with her, Angga began to realize how attractive she was. It was not because she was extremely stunning Satwa people in the town that he met. But, it was because he knew very well how Clara as a person is.

She was energetic, curious and wanted to learn about anything. She also chose her own path and was able to face her deepest fears. Of course, Angga has respect towards her, especially when she protected him during the electric fish invasion back at the lodge.

And her feelings towards him were the last push. The cupid was shooting his heart by now.

"...well,"

"Hmm? I can't hear you."

"It's too sudden for me. But, if you don't mind, let me accept your feelings and work on myself so I can return yours," said Angga while covering his eyes with his right arm.

"Sure!"

The lion girl kissed him again as both took their time under the bask of mysterious blue light on this tree underground.

They finally resurfaced towards the Ounen Tree with their hands joined together and heavy blush on each face. When Angga arrived at the point where he could shoot the blue dot portal in the tree, Clara pulled his clothes.

"Wait, you gotta see this on your thing's screen before your return."

"What is it?"

Clara beckoned Angga to do what she asked for, and he activated the remote screen, which enabled him to access most of the broadcasted video from other Recording Orbs until Clara activated her orb to broadcast something. His screen automatically captured the footage originating from the girl's floating round thing.

It showed footage of him from a certain viewpoint, starting from when he was offered the task of promoting the Repose Lodging from Kai. And from there on, the footage showed their moment together while changing abruptly because no editing was applied yet, only a series of random footage. 

It was given since, as far as Angga knew, there was no way to edit their videos from the Recording Orb, and somehow, it truly showed him how Clara looked at him through her orb, which was something he appreciated.

The recording stopped when they successfully created the documentary wildlife video of the water deer and reaped the satisfying results from the Watcher and nothing beyond it since it was pretty hectic from there on with the business against the void bull. Through Clara's video it was Angga's first time knowing his expression when he was in joy because of his hard effort. A weird but warm and nice feeling was built up inside his chest.

"I-I don't expect this at all," commented Angga, almost stuttering.

"I'm sorry that it's not as good as you usually make. Since that power of yours is special to you only, I think," replied Clara while looking in another direction because her face was too hot now to look at Angga's reaction.

"No, it's amazing. I meant, not technically, but it shot through my heart. It's something about me that I've never seen before, and I'm kind of lost in words. You captured me perfectly, Clara. Thank you very much for this kind gift."

Angga's smile captured Clara's heart again. She giggled shyly with a bright, wide grin, illuminating the area around her, including Ounen Tree and its faeries, to embrace her warmth.

"No problem at all, Angga."