The Earth After Rebirth

When he looked at Hiro, he was still sound asleep. So he decided to follow, alone. The footsteps were already out of his earshot when he finally got out of the tent but he knew the direction they went. The sun was on the verge of coming but it was still dark.

The further he walked, the more he could make out a sound of splashing water.

'Not another water monster, please.' He pleaded.

As he got close he could make out a silhouette, it looked like a human taking a bath. There was steam however so he couldn't tell at that distance.

'Wait, are there sirens in this game? I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead.'

He approached with caution, as if he were a predator navigating the long grass slowly so as to not be noticed by the prey. But when he reached the river bank, he saw a familiar face.

'She's —'

He didn't finish his thoughts, he couldn't turn on time, he couldn't react at all, as the arrow met with his armour. If it weren't for the fact that he was seeing a woman bathe — fictional or not — he could've reacted better.

"It's me, goodness!" He shouted as he turned around.

'It's not real, but still, it's modelled after her. Never thought my first time seeing a naked woman would be a virtual one.'

"I know," Isla replied coldly, "why are you sneaking around? Are you a perv or something?"

"Please don't get a big head, I just —"

Another arrow zoomed dangerously close past his cheek.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't know. I heard footsteps and followed them. I thought you were a siren, swear." He was talking with his back turned to her.

"Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding then."

Kiro's heart nearly jumped out of his chest, as the voice sounded closer than he expected.

Though he still didn't turn around. He could take her in a fight, he was levels above her but he'd rather not.

"You can turn around."

So he did, there she was. Her red hair still wet from the bath, her skin was kind of crimson.

"Is the water that hot?"

"It is, apparently you can adjust it with sheer thoughts."

"Why'd you choose steamy hot then?"

"To keep pervs like you from peeking." She joked.

"Haha, very funny."

Kiro felt sorry for her skin though. It looked too delicate to be under that much pressure. He didn't really understand people who bathed with extremely hot water. His mum did too.

Kiro noticed that she had something stuck in her hair, it looked like seaweed. He didn't really know what to do, so reached out his hand.

"You have—" He was about to reach in and grab it.

But she beat him to the punch, and removed it quickly. She smiled awkwardly. She had seen the thing through his big blue eyes. As dark as it was, a perk of elves.

Right behind her, the sun started to come out. Kiro couldn't choose, his eyes darted from her to the sun. They were both beautiful. Isla noticed his weird eye movement and turned to look, she was entranced by the view.

"Beautiful," she said looking at the sun rising.

"Yeah," he replied, looking right at her.

She turned to look at him and their eyes met. For the first time they've known each other, they felt like, at that moment, they could truly see each other. They could just tell the others intentions — which caused both of them to smile.

Kiro didn't notice before but the water in this river was clear. It was almost translucent. You could see every rock lying on the river bed. He quickly splashed water over his face.

"That's about it? You're done bathing?"

"Don't tell me you're tryna get me nude, Miss Silva?"

"Wh-whaat are y-you—" She couldn't find the words, which made the heat she was feeling worse.

"Haha. Let's catch some fish. We need to catch food when we can."

She still hadn't found her voice so she simply nodded.

Kiro was about ready to strike some fish with his staff.

"Wait, can I try?" She asked.

He gestured forwards, as if to say, 'be my guest.'

She took out her bow and arrow, and unconsciously embedded her mana on the arrow.

"Wait, are you tryna—" It was too late, the arrow travelled at amazing speeds, the moment it touched the riverbed, it exploded. Causing the water to rise and fall on them.

Kiro used his hand to wipe the water from his eyes.

"You've done it now, Princess."

"I, uh, sorry."

The fish weren't just dead, they were charcoal. Which was strange in Kiro's opinion since it was just mana.

"Do you have a fire affinity perhaps?"

"I don't know?" She nervously laughed, "at least now you're fully bathed?" She joked.

"Gee thanks, I needed that."

Kiro got down, scooped some water, and splashed her.

It was ice cold, so she was frozen in shock. She did the same, and soon it became a competition of who could make the water colder to splash their 'nemesis.' Shouts and laugher echoed throughout. They were fully in the river, the water was knee deep.

"Hey that's not fair, you can't use your skills."

"And why the hell not?"

Kiro was using palm strike to get a better and bigger effect. He felt like a kid, for the first time in a long time. He was genuinely laughing and having fun.

"What are you guys doing?" Hiro called out from a distance.

They stopped, looked at each other, "bathing" they said in a chorus. They couldn't contain their laughter when they saw the reaction on their faces.

"Together?" Saanvi asked.

"What's the big deal, it's virtual."

They all walked back to the camp, after Saanvi insisted on taking a bath too, while Hiro just splashed some water.

They took the rations the boys had prepared. Thanks to Isla they couldn't use the fish at the river. They downed their breakfast, packed the tents and continued forwards.

It was a good thing that there was only one road, so as to not get lost. If you wanted to explore the forest, you could deviate from the road and it won't be hard to find the road again.

Hiro and Saanvi were walking at the front. They seemed to have grown close over the morning they were left just by themselves. Hiro was conversing with her, although he seemed nervous and strained.

Kiro saw a flower with turquoise hues on the petals. It was the odd one out, so he picked it. Without thinking, he just...

"Here." He first gently tucked her hair back behind the ear, then inserted the flower.

"Knew that'd look good on you."

Isla didn't breathe the whole entire exchange, she still couldn't. Her face was red, her eyes popped out in a drunken shock.

Only then did Kiro realise what he'd just done. He liked the girl, and he didn't want to spook her either. To top it all of, they were two people who were worlds apart.