Target: Nabu Island

(Sun Yao)

"Hmm?"

Somehow, she had fallen asleep again.

A thin blanket still covered her, while Miluno had already disappeared from beside her. The bubble shield was gone too; Miss Miluno had probably broken it herself.

Before her mind had fully cleared, a familiar yet unfamiliar physical urge rose from her lower body, making her cheeks heat up.

"I kind of need to use the bathroom."

After all, she had drunk a lot of beverages before boarding. She had just been asleep the whole time, which was why she had only noticed it now.

Rubbing her eyes, she felt her way out of the cabin and jogged toward the restroom by the first-class entrance with her legs pressed together. Passing the dining area, she saw Miss Miluno sitting there, elegantly enjoying breakfast.

The restaurant's seats and tables folded down from the cabin walls. Each table had a small window in front of it, allowing diners to enjoy the scenery outside.

"Miss Miluno."

"Good morning. You're awake?"

"Mm..."

Milk cereal, thick-cut beef, and pasta—an odd combination for breakfast.

And there was quite a lot of it. Miss Miluno looked even slimmer than she was, yet she had an unexpectedly large appetite.

"We'll begin descending in half an hour. Just like during takeoff, you'll need to stay seated with your seatbelt fastened and won't be able to walk around, so hurry up and eat something too."

"I need to use the restroom first... uh, I mean, wash my face."

She could not bring herself to say she needed to use the bathroom, so she could only say she wanted to wash her face.

"There are towels, toothbrushes, and other toiletries in the restroom. You can use them directly. Oh, you can also take a shower."

"...Huh? Take a shower on the plane?"

She seemed to remember seeing a shower room when they had toured the plane after boarding.

"Mm, but it only has a shower, and each use only provides five minutes of water... I've already washed up. It would be better if you rinsed off too."

Miss Miluno's hair was indeed smoother than before. It even looked like she had applied hair oil, gleaming in the sunlight from the window. She really knew how to enjoy herself, but five minutes was far too short for a shower. How had Miss Miluno managed to do so much in five minutes?

Then I should take a shower too!

She had originally planned to wait until they reached their hotel in Hawaii, but since she had the opportunity, it would be better to get clean sooner. After all, she had sweated a lot yesterday.

But before that, she still needed to relieve herself!

Sound effect: the babbling murmur of a stream

(Bai Ziye)

That fool, was she really too embarrassed to even say she needed to use the bathroom?

She had not gone to the restroom for several hours, and she had been walking with her legs pressed together. How could I possibly not notice?

I had really wanted to tease her about it and enjoy watching her squirm.

But as Miluno, I could not do that.

After all, I was her idol now.

"...This beef is so tender."

With only half an hour left before we had to prepare for landing, I began to feel reluctant to leave.

Though the first-class cabin was not particularly large, it had everything one could need and was practically a capsule suite. The plane meals were unlimited, and there was even a shower room.

Five minutes of shower time might have felt rushed to others, but for me, those five minutes could be stretched endlessly into a time to enjoy properly.

"Sigh, I knew money brought happiness, but I never expected it could make someone this happy."

After finishing breakfast, I saw Ceruno emerge from the restroom. She had changed into the pajamas provided on the plane. They were exceptionally soft and high-end, and could even be taken away, so I had taken a set and stored it inside the Star Crystal as well.

"Finished?"

She nodded with a silly grin, and her hair was not even completely dry yet.

"Hehe, it felt so nice."

"Eat something. Once you're done, we should head back to the cabin."

"Mm."

Ceruno sat across from me and picked up the sixteen-page menu... The only problem with it was that it had no pictures. Just looking at the names made it hard to imagine what would be served.

There were no seatbelts on the restaurant seats either. Before landing, we had to return to the cabin.

The descent seemed to take longer than takeoff.

The moment we sat down in the cabin, the announcement for the upcoming landing began. The television automatically displayed footage filmed from the nose of the plane. In the distance, the vast Hawaiian Islands came into view—they were far larger than I had imagined.

We strapped ourselves into our seats and began to experience the rolling ups and downs of the descent.

Then the plane landed steadily on the runway.

Before getting off the plane, Ceruno was still sighing. "Ah~ Good thing we didn't agree to come through Miss SpiCa's wormhole. Otherwise, we wouldn't have gotten to enjoy first class."

"That wasn't my reason."

"I know! Miss Miluno, you definitely just didn't trust that wormhole system, right?"

As I unfastened my seatbelt, I nodded.

"More accurately, I didn't trust SpiCa. She's a magical girl known as the 'Sage Schemer,' so naturally her thoughts run unfathomably deep. If we followed her plan completely, we would inevitably become pieces in her hand."

Ceruno merely gave a wry smile and did not respond.

It would be difficult to make her agree with me. After all, her original dream had been to join the Association and become a liaison like Yin Wei or Luer. Even looking farther ahead, she had only wanted to become a tactical officer under SpiCa.

Becoming a magical girl had fulfilled her dream ahead of schedule and beyond all expectations, and the Association was what had made it happen.

Under those circumstances, it was impossible to make her wary of the Association and SpiCa.

"Sigh, let's get off, then."

Because first class had its own dedicated passageway, after we crossed the jet bridge and left the VIP lounge of Honolulu International Airport, we waited a while longer before Yin Wei from business class arrived.

"Ah! Let me help you!"

Ceruno ran over and took Yin Wei's backpack for her.

I asked, "What's the plan next?"

"By boat."

"Huh? We're not finding a hotel?"

"Oahu is too densely populated. We need to go to a less populated island to determine whether you have a special constitution that attracts External Invaders."

Ceruno asked too, "Will it be a yacht?"

"Mm. You might even see whales along the way."

After leaving the airport, we took a taxi to the harbor. The Association had already arranged a small yacht—not particularly large, but more than enough for four people.

Standing on the pier, we looked out at the boundless ocean and the scattered islands.

I asked, "Which island are we going to?"

"Nabu Island. Stop looking; it isn't listed in any travel guide."

"Huh? Why not?"

"It's a private island, and the owner has been waiting there for quite some time."

"The owner? Who is it?"

Yin Wei did not answer. She merely took the lead and boarded the small yet luxurious yacht.

"I want to save a surprise for you. Come to think of it, none of you are afraid of dogs, right?"

I shook my head to indicate that I was not, while Ceruno excitedly raised her hand.

"Dogs? I love dogs the most!"

If nothing unexpected happened, she was probably thinking of the Samoyed owned by the neighbors downstairs. Those dogs, called smiling angels, did indeed look very friendly.

But she had never truly kept or interacted with a dog, so her words had something of the air of someone who loved dragons only from afar.

Once the yacht sped up, it moved as though flying over the sea, though it was far bumpier than a plane.

Nabu Island, as Yin Wei had called it, was not in any Hawaii travel guide, so I could not really imagine what kind of island it was.

However, the yacht's course pointed us toward our destination.