Chapter 5: [Chapter five] Hitching a ride

...I think I overdid it.

I was only trying to goof off a little and maybe give a snappy line, but now Yahanaseara's staring at me with the exact same kind of fevered gaze as what the girls back home would send my way whenever I'd so much as breathe in their direction.

Oh, he's so cool~

He's so dreamy~

And then I'd kindly remind them of the fact that I'm a girl and for some reason that would have them squealing even louder.

What the hell possessed me to do that...

"So."

Just clearing my throat, not trying to mask my awkwardness at all. No sir, not me.

"We should probably get out of here, the sun's going to be setting pretty soon."

While my original plan was to camp out here overnight, that was back when I thought that this would be a solo trip.

"Ah-" Yahanaseara is shaken out of her daze. "There is a village within walking distance?"

"Not really," I shake my head, "but it's less than an hour's travel if you use Starlight Wi-"

Damn it.

"Savior?" she calls out in concern.

...I am so stupid.

"Sorry," I sigh. "I was thinking in terms of solo travel, but Starlight Wing isn't exactly something I can use with an extra passenger..."

And there's no way in hell my arms would be able to hold out if I tried to princess carry her all the way back.

"You need not worry about me," Yahanaseara says. "Even in my human form, I am fully capable of flight."

"No, that's no good," I shake my head. "There's no way you've already recovered enough to be wasting energy like that."

"......"

The guilt in her eyes is more than enough of an admission that I'm right.

"Ebon Wing and Stardust Wing have the same problem as Starlight Wing... Silver Drift's no good either..." I mumble to myself while shifting my staff around in my h- "That's it!"

"Eh?" Yahanaseara stares at me.

"I just figured out the solution to our little dilemma," I reply, quite happy with myself at the moment. "It just takes a little bit of preparation..."

After stepping a short ways back to give myself some free space to work with, I rotate my staff so that it's parallel with the ground and then begin chanting.

"Together, we reach new heights.
Soaring across the heavens, cutting through the clouds, racing past the stars.
Lift me up so that I may join you, for nothing can hold us back so long as we are together."

With every word I speak, the glowing red symbols commonly referred to as Script are carved into the air around me.

"Houkiboshi."

And with the final utterance of its name, the spell itself is invoked and all the Script instantly blinks out of existence.

"Er..."

Yahanaseara stares at the now-floating staff with a puzzled look on her face.

"We'll be riding this back into town," I say with an assuring smile.

Can't say that I'm entirely confident about this, though... while this spell does keep the rider from falling off, finding a comfortable way to sit on the object that it causes to float is more than a little bit tricky to manage.

Eventually, I settle on a side-saddle position, with part of the staff tucked under my knee for added support and my arm holding on tight for balance.

...yeah, that should do it.

"Alright, hop on," I say, gesturing to the confused Elemental Spirit with my free hand. "Once you're situated, we can get going."

"...if you say so..."

Veeeeery cautiously, Yahanaseara approaches the floating staff, getting a good grip on it with one hand before slowly taking a seated position. After taking a little while to get comfortable, she lifts her legs up from the ground.

"!!!"

And then her arms snap around my back like a whip and pull the rest of her body close to mine.

"S- sorry," she mumbles. "I did not mean to-"

"It's fine," I shake my head. "You good staying like that?"

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"I feel so ashamed..."

She lowers her head and starts pouting.

"Hey, I get it," I say. "Flying under your own power and riding a flying object are two completely different monsters."

"You are correct..." she sighs.

"Well just hang onto me if you're feeling like you're gonna lose your balance, it doesn't bother me at all."

"Thank you, Savior."

And with that, we gradually make our ascent and set off towards our destination.

At first, Yahanaseara is pretty much hugging onto me as we cruise through the skies. But it isn't long before her hold on me relaxes and she ends up sliding one arm off entirely so that she can help prop herself up with it instead.

I don't neglect to notice that she still leaves the other one at my waist just in case, though.

Precarious balancing aside, it's honestly a pretty nice ride. Since the spell is deflecting most of the wind that would otherwise be buffeting me in the face due to our speed, the only actual issue is in maintaining a comfortable seat on this staff that was decidedly not intended for this purpose.

"You good back there?" I call out behind me.

No response.

Her hand's still right here on my waist so it's not like she fell off or anything... maybe she's not feeling good? I know that Elemental Spirits can't get sick sick, but maybe they can still get motion sickness?

While a multitude of worrisome scenarios play out in my mind, I glance back at my passenger.

"........."

She's just sitting there, gazing off in the distance with her emerald eyes sparkling in the light of the setting sun and her long fluffy hair trailing along like a cloud...

...and now that tingly feeling in my chest is back, only like a thousand times stronger than before. What the hell.

"Savior?"

"!!?"

Seriously, what the HELL. My heart damn near stopped!

"J- just checking on you," I stammer. "You feeling okay?"

"Yes, I am fine," Yahanaseara replies. "Being up this high in the sky after having spent all that time underground had me feeling... nostalgic."

"I can imagine," I reply with a nervous chuckle.

She then turns her gaze towards me, and her melancholy expression quickly turns into one of concern.

"Are you feeling well, Savior?" she asks. "Your heartrate has increased..."

"Yeah, totally fine," I sigh. "Just feeling kind of jumpy, I guess."

Wish I knew why, though.

There isn't much else in the way of conversation for the rest of the ride into town, with Yahanaseara continuing to take in the sights and me trying to focus on steering us in the right direction.

It's definitely not because I'm feeling too nervous to even attempt to speak. No sir, not at all.

Just as my legs are starting to get sore, the farmland that stretches around what passes for the town (whose name I never bothered to catch)'s outer boundary comes into view on the horizon. As such, I steadily decrease our altitude as we pass over it before finally coming to a stop just outside the town proper.

"Aaaand here we are."

I hop down from my staff and give my legs a quick stretch before turning back around to help Yahanaseara down.

"Uh..."

Damn, I forgot just how much shorter she is than I am.

"...I could lower it a little if you want."

"That won't be necessary," she replies.

Placing her hand atop mine, she pushes off from the staff and practically floats down to the ground.

"While I may be in a weakened state, I am far from helpless," she says while giving my hand a little squeeze.

"Eheh..."

Fortunately, the smile on her face pushes aside any worries on my end about having possibly offended her.

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