"What am I going to do...?"
"What should we do?"
I sat slumped in the grass of a land I didn't recognize in the slightest, hanging my head in despair. Licia stayed right by my side, gently stroking my back.
"..."
When I stole a glance at her, she gave me a radiant smile.
"Is something the matter?"
"...No, let's just try to make sense of the situation for now."
"Mhm."
Why are you so calm, Licia?
I had assumed we were both trapped in some inexplicable mystery, but it seemed Licia understood our circumstances surprisingly well.
First off, this was a virtual world, not the reality we knew. Or at least, that was what Licia claimed, and if she said so, then so be it (I was practically brainwashed at this point).
Furthermore, we were obviously the ones who had been brought here. She explained that she was able to come along because of our soul connection or something of the sort. I didn't understand it anymore!
"It seems there are other people here, too."
"You can tell? In that case, let's go find them and—"
"No."
Wait, why the immediate rejection?
"...Why not?"
"Do you really think I'd let a chance for lovey-dovey time alone with you slip away, Luka?"
"Licia, what are you saying with such a straight face...?"
But her words made me happy, so I decided it was fine.
"Well, I suppose we can hold off on regrouping for now. We don't even know if they’re good people, anyway."
"Yes, let's do that."
The sky was still bright. If this was a virtual world, I wondered if the concept of time even existed. If it did, there were several things I wanted to get done before night fell.
What was I supposed to do, though? My survival knowledge was limited to what I’d absorbed from watching half-remembered videos on the Discovery Channel. It wasn't like I could actually pull it off. At this point, the whole situation was just one big "what am I even doing?" case.
"Licia, do you have any survival knowledge?"
"I have none."
Of course not. I could only laugh.
"Actually, me neither... I'm sorry. Sorry for being such an unreliable Luka."
"Fufu. I have nothing but absolute confidence that I can love you no matter what kind of Luka you are."
When exactly had her affection for me hit its limit?
"We can't go back immediately, can we?"
"No, that would be impossible for now," she stated coolly, her hair fluttering in the breeze.
Despite her composure, our situation was actually quite desperate. Still, maybe it was better that we could at least move around with a bit of cheer.
We looked out from the top of a grassy hill and spotted what looked like a lake in the distance, so we decided to head toward it.
Tiresomely enough, it turned out that the concept of time did exist here. After a while, the sky began to darken and the air grew chilly.
"Leave it to me, Licia. I'm going to make this hand-drill method literally breathe fire."
"Mhm."
I took a likely-looking wooden stick and rubbed it against a likely-looking wooden board with every ounce of my strength.
"Uuuuuuaaaaaah!"
Yeah, it was impossible.
"Are you kidding me? There's no way I can do this."
"..."
Licia stared at me in silence as I collapsed, utterly exhausted. Since Licia was originally from the ring, I wondered if she even felt the cold. No! I couldn't think like that; that was just an excuse. Licia had to be cold, even if I was practically burning up from the physical exertion.
"...Just trust me. I'm still—"
"Hmph."
Whoosh!
"Wait, what?"
"What's wrong, Luka? Come and warm up."
"Oh, right. No, wait, wait, wait!"
"What is it?"
Why was fire suddenly sprouting from her fingertips? My hard work... no, forget that. Why could she use magic?
"...Licia, you can use magic?"
"Yes. Though, strictly speaking, this is yours, Luka."
What? Oh... I see.
"...It seems I can use Minato's power here."
My power, huh?
"Fufu."
She suddenly placed a finger to her lips and giggled.
"W-What's so funny?"
"Nothing. It just felt a little nostalgic..."
Nostalgic... I hadn't really thought about it before, but when had Licia become separate from Nana? Was it after the Hero betrayed us? Or was it from the moment the world was reset?
"..."
"Luka?"
I suppose there was no point in dwelling on it now.
"Sorry, I was just thinking."
"Get it together. We're going without dinner tonight because of you, remember?"
Ah, right. I had tried to catch fish, but my makeshift fishing rod had snapped. I spent the rest of the time struggling to catch them with my bare hands, which resulted in a harvest of absolutely nothing.
"Wait, couldn't Licia have solved everything with her magic? Starting the fire, for instance..."
"I couldn't get in the way while my husband was working so hard, could I?"
I wondered if her wife role was already set in stone. It was the same with Nana, but I found I couldn't really get angry at Licia. Instead, I just felt like this was how things were supposed to be. Their faces were so similar they could have been twins. Was my ego from my previous life just too strong? I guess I was quite the devoted husband.
That night, we welcomed the darkness without a single luxury like a tent or a sleeping bag. We simply huddled together under the boughs of a single tree.
Yet, just being there together was enough to keep any anxiety or dissatisfaction at bay.
It was a warm night.