Standing in front of a love hotel as their only place to stay for the night, Yamato looked around. It was an interesting city, to say the least. The buildings were like he expected, not at all like modern buildings and more comparable to medieval standards. There were also trees that reached far into the sky, in the middle of the city. With structures on them like a treehouse, but in a much larger and organized scale. To him it was a mystery what those structures were used for, as most things he could think of would be impractical. But what did he know, in a world full of magic and elves? He was still interested though. But he also did not want to waste time, as it was already late. So they entered the hotel, to spend a platonic night. It was pretty fancy, compared to the rest of the city. But maybe that was just the how it appeared from the outside. While Yuki walked around excited and thrilled about the situation, Yamato spoke to a receptionist.
"Hello? We were told that we are expected."
"Uh huh. Names, please."
"...Tasumaki Yamato and Hikari Yuki"
"Just a moment.. ah, there we go. We don't usually have people reserve here if they aren't regular customers. You must be new in town then... Anyway, enjoy your stay. You have room 212. Some of your belongings were brought to your rooms, make sure to take them with you once you leave."
"Thank you."
"Why would she point that out…?"
Yamato took the keys that were handed to him, while Yuki decided that she was going to pull him away to their room as fast as posible, before he realized that the receptionist was somewhat pretty. Even though she believed herself to be infinitely more beautiful, she had yet to figure out his type. So she grabbed onto his arm and pulled him away from the reception, towards some stairs that lead to the second floor. While she did that, Yamato spoke to her without showing any real resistence to her actions, nor problem with their situation.
"Hey, Yuki... That Satomi got us this place to stay was your fault, right?"
"...What? I have no idea what you are talking about, Master! But they say you assume what you want to believe, so if you wanted me to be behind this, you can be honest with me~"
"Right..."
She got a little flustered at him calling her out like that. She thought she hid her actions well. Not well enough, it seemed. But since she did not feel like he was mad at her, she did not feel bad for it either. She continued pulling him towards room 212. After arriving at the door, Yuki snatched the room key from Yamato's hands and quickly opened the door. Entering just as quickly, she pulled him along.
"Look, Master! Everything's looking all comfy!"
"Well, yeah, it's meant to be…"
"A little more enthusiasm, please! I was worried we'd have to sleep on the street or something… But this is great! Are we going to share a bed, Master~? Or will you have me sleep on the floor after all..."
Yamato looked at the bed in the room, then the floor and finally back at her.
"Do you even need sleep? I'd think an angel would be above such mortal needs."
"Well, think again! I need much sleep and body warmth, or else I will wither away! Besides, I already told you I'm sealed and stuff, so I'm not really all that powerful right now… Meaning I need to sleep. With. You~"
She made a heart with her hands and gave him an inviting look, at which he just turned away to look through the shelfs and storages in the room.
"Sounds made up..."
"But it's true!"
"Fine, I guess we can share the bed. Are you like this with everyone?"
"No, I am not! And it's very rude to ask! I'm only with this because of the pure love I hold for my dearest you~!"
"You seem like an extremely unstable person."
"Awwww, you think we need to stick together forever because we need each other~? Does that mean we will cuddle?"
"Do what you want..."
"Yay! So I can also talk to you and ask you questions all night long? Like your favorite color, your favorite food, your blood type, your romantic type and your hobbies?"
Yuki's enthusiasm was exhausting to him. But he could handle it. He felt as if he was entertaining a child, as hyperactive as she was. Yuki ended up not asking many questions. The things she did ask were harmless things like Yamato's favorite color or his favorite food, like she announced. Her innocence was almost misplaced, concidering where they were right now. But maybe it was better that way. Yamato thought about this world, how it all worked. His mind drifted off into complex and deep thoughts.
"What a strange world... I can't say if I find it boring or not. Concepts like magic... or my personal abilities manifesting in these stats... I wonder what death is like in this world. How it's viewed. Is it a tragedy? Something inevitable? Do people accept it, have explained it as something magical or divine? Well... There will always be those who can't accept it. Maybe there is a way to cheat it. In a world with magic, surely there would be somebody who tried achieving immortality. Or resurrection… For me, who has reincarnated into this world, it seems irrelevant. Yet I am curious… Death is the physical manifestation of the end. Fearing the end is most likely the most human thing to experience... However, I can't tell if my craving for that feeling proves, or disproves my humanity… I wonder what Yuki thinks about that. She's an angel, so I suppose she would know about it best. Or maybe she'd just follow my opinion, that seems like something she would… Oh. She's already asleep... I'll just ask her tomorrow then..."
And so, Yamato's thoughts came to rest as he too, fell asleep. Yuki clung to him even in sleep, though nothing special happened, they looked quite wholesome even. However, as the next morning came, Yamato woke up as soon as sunlight entered the room. Only to find Yuki staring at his face, while playing with his hair.
"Morning, Master~"
"…What are you doing...?"
"I was watching you sleep."
"For how… Why?"
"Uh... Because that's a really nice thing to do, duh?"
"Uh huh… And by the looks of it, you have been doing this for a while now…"
"The moment you fell asleep!"
"…Right, how nice… Didn't you say you needed sleep? How does that work with watching me sleep the entire night? Sounds like you lied."
She gasped exaggeratedly, though she actually hated being thought of her as a liar by him.
"N-no! I'd never ever lie~ I just didn't tell the whole truth~ I do need sleep without mana supply, but still less than a human. I need like twenty minutes of sleep to stay awake for three days~"
Yamato just looked at her with a blank stare. It seemed like she expected some sort of praise for her ability. So he patted her head in hope that it would be enough, which it seemed to be.
"Yay, that's right! Look how useful I am!"
"...Anyway, we should take a closer look around the city. Though I don't think we will be able to stay here for long."
"That's okay, Master! We can just take this delicious breakfast I made to go!"
"I thought you watched me sleep the entire time…"
"I took a super tiny break to make breakfast, and impress you with my cooking skills!"
"Oh, okay… Thank you."
"You're welcome!"
Proud of what she considered a successful first step to seduce him, Yuki packed sandwiches and other things he only caught a glimps of into a picnic basket, and was ready to go.
"Alrighty then, it's like a date!"
"It's not a date."
"It's totally a date, no matter what you say."
"Whatever… You said you don't have any mana and therefore can't use magic or something right How do we recharge that?"
"Ah... Well there is that one method... A true loves kiss…"
Yuki's face blushed shyly, and yet there was a teasing glint in her eyes.
"If that were the case, you would have oushed for it way sooner. So I assume if there is a way, it's not as accessible as a kiss."
"Fine, you caught me, smarty pants…"
"So, is there an actual method?"
"Ah, right. I believe I mentioned it before, how there is mana in any and all living things from this world. However taking mana from one to the other, usually results in something of a poisonous side affect, essentially death for both the provider and the receiver. Though that depends on the dosis and compatibility, which varies but lets not get into that. Because I am awesome, I can take mana from others without this side effect! Well, on my part. They still die. But I should add that I find the process to be gross and I don't wanna do it if I don't have to!"
"Aren't we especially angelic today…"
"Why, thank you, yes I am~!"
"Whatever… So someone with more mana would be more useful to you?"
"Duh."
"Makes sense. How much mana does the average person have then?"
Yuki looked up in thought for a moment.
"That's hard to tell. I'd say enough to fly for a while, maybe cast a few basic spells up to tier 2..."
"What does that mean?"
"Ooh, right! Let me educate you on the general laws of magic, which I assume apply to this world! Ahem, whether if you cast with a phrase or without, magic remains categorized by its strength. Which is why some spells are harder to cast without a phrase, as the phrase functions as something like a catalyst for the mana the spell requires to activate the desired affect. The higher the magic tier of the spell, the more difficult it becomes to cast. But it's also a direct ranking system to the spell itself. For example, a tier 1 spell, in general, always loses to a tier 2 spell in a direct confirmation. Which is why you should memorize the tier of each spell, as well as the name, if you want to learn magic. Spells can have a tier from 1 up to 14, which is the highest known level of magic. Anything after 3 is already considered pretty advanced. Anything after 8 is like, super duper advanced, and we will likely never see 12 and up."
"That was very informative, thank you, Yuki…"
"You're welcome, Master! Let's go on our date now!"
"It's not a date."
As they went out to the city streets, they discovered that it was quite lively here. There were many people, almost exclusively elves. The two with their clearly not elven appearance did not quite fit in, and got multiple looks from the people around them. It created a weird the atmosphere around them, that did not help Yuki to frame this as a date at all. So they went into a part of the city with less people. It was an alley, very dark despite it being broad daylight. They were about to discuss where to go next, but were interrupted by three hooded strangers, blocking the exit of the alley. One of them, by the sound of his voice in his 40's, Yamato assumed, took the initiative.
"Your kind isn't welcomed here."
It was oblivious what they were getting at. It did not seem like they were willing to talk it out either. But Yamato was not going to respond anyway. Instead, he immediately jumped towards the guy that stepped forward, and with speed difficult to follow with the naked eye, hit him in the stomach. The hooded stranger tried to react, but he simply could not keep up. After the initial strike, Yamato pulled the strangers head down and smashed it against his knee, leaving him unconscious in an instant. He fell to the ground with a broken nose broke and heavy nose bleed, some of it landing on Yamato's shoe. The other two pulled out knifes and tried to attack. Yuki, who was already pissed of at the fact that Yamato got blood on his clothes, was about to lose it. She moved so fast, almost teleporting, her wings appearing just so they could be used as a sort of spear-like weapon. The second guy was impaled by her sharp wing before he even realized that she had moved. The third one, realizing the scale of threat that he faced, attempted to run away. But failed to do so as he felt Yamato's arms around his neck, choking him out until he passed out as well.
"I didn't take you for the kind of person to just beat people up, Master!"
"Obviously I don't walk around attacking people… But it was unavoidable in this situation. I'm not taking chances in a world where people throw around magical balls of fire or whatever."
"But those guys couldn't even use any magic."
"Well, feel free to signal that to me next time. More importantly, this kind encounter was not normal, was it?"
"If you are asking if all elves result to physical violence and behave like thugs, no, they do not. Based on Satomi's treatment of us, we can at least say there are some exceptions, even if this actually is the norm."
"I guess we should ask them directly what their problem was, even if we might get nothing out of it…"
Yuki realized that unlike Yamato, she did not knock anyone out. She killed her guy, which made questioning a bit difficult. But since they still had two of them alive, she did not see a problem with it. The guy who got impaled by her wing fell to the ground as she hid her wings again, as he had been in the air the entire time.
"Whatever. But aren't you athletic, Master~? Where did you learn that?"
"I was just lucky that they underestimated us, is all. They probably mistook us for a couple."
"…"
"Anyway, didn't you say you need to absorb their mana or something. One of these would do?"
"Oh.. R-right. I'll do that… Because that's totally necessary…"
"Urgh, this is so horrible! It's like… Using someone else's phone charger! But I will do it! For you, Master…!"
Yuki pointed her index finger at the dead body on the ground. It floated slightly above the ground, as a blue shining light streamed out of his chest towards Yuki.
"There… Hope you're happy now."
"Okay. So how much mana can you use now?"
"Not much. Like I said, they couldn't even use magic… Naturally, they are not very useful to me."
"Well, better than nothing, I guess.Can you make the one who I attacked first wake up?"
"Yeah… But we don't have anything to tie them up with. What if they try to attack us again or scream for help?"
"That's alright. Just do it."
Yuki looked hesitant at first. They were a threat in her eyes. But if anything happened, she would just kill them too. So she did just as Yamato said, and woke him up using healing magic.