Unleash the Chuunibyou!

Chapter 25: On the Road Again

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Fumiko clapped her hands together repeatedly early the next morning after getting ready, causing the groaning Hani to slowly rise out of bed even if she looked like the very definition of pain at the moment.

"Fu... why?" Hani asked miserably as she appeared to be on the verge of crying. "You have no idea how painful this is."

"Because we need to leave sooner rather than later if we want to make the most out of our travelling." Fumiko replied as if it should have been obvious. "So come on."

"Wait, travelling?" Hani asked while seeming to snap out of her hangover if only momentarily. "Where are you going and why am I going with you?"

"Because, last night, I looked through the ethereal veil and saw the path that the stars have laid out for me." Fumiko replied dramatically. "Now come, we must make haste towards Citadel!"

"Citadel?" Hani asked. "Listen, I know that I said that I was going there soon, but seeing as I have money now I can wait a few more days before-"

"So you won't be going with me then?" Fumiko adopted the sad and tearful look which she'd used on Jennifer the receptionist before.

"Eh? You're going to leave anyway?" Hani asked in shock.

"Of course. I just thought that I could give you a ride seeing as we're both headed in the same direction." Fumiko answered. "But I need to leave this morning due to reasons."

"What reasons?"

"Reasons." Fumiko continued while figuring that it might not be best to tell her friend that she was just following a vision that she'd had last night which may or may not have come from her descent into insanity.

"Mah, Fuuu~" Hani complained. "If I would have known that you were leaving today, then I wouldn't have drank as much as I did last night..."

"I still don't think that you should be drinking at all." Fumiko countered. "Like I said, its bad for kids. Even a fifteen-year-old like yourself."

"Don't worry about me. I've already matured in all of the proper areas." Hani stuck out her chest with pride, and only now did Fumiko realize that the woman was actually gifted in the figure department. Though she figured that she would eventually grow into a busty lady herself one day.

"Mental growth counts too, but I guess we're already too late for that..." Fumiko acted sad as she spoke.

"You know, you can be really hurtful sometimes." Hani replied while silently crying.

"You have no idea." Fumiko replied. "Now come on if you're going with me. We need breakfast and then we need to buy food for travelling. Though not water seeing as I can make it myself."

"Well, seeing as I'm headed there anyway, I'd much rather go there on Buru than walk." Hani started to sound excited. "Just give me a little bit to take a bath and I'll-"

"No need." Fumiko interrupted her before holding her hand out towards the woman. "Warm Water Jet."

As soon as she spoke the words and imagined what would happen, a large stream of warm water suddenly shot out of her hand and hit Hani directly, stopping any further conversation or complaints that might have come from her and the woman desperately attempted to shield her face from the liquid. However, after manipulating the water to hit the berserker from all sides, Fumiko eventually figured that she'd done enough before she stopped her spell and nothing but a completely drenched, now awake but even more miserable-looking Hani was left sitting on the bed in front of her.

"Dry." Fumiko continued, and while all of the water was gone in an instant, Hani's ears and tail suddenly became so fluffy that they poofed outwards with the fur on both becoming soft-looking cones.

"I- I'm not even sure how to react to this." Hani eventually said after finally getting over the shock of what had happened. "Should I be angry that you just started shooting spells off at me or thankful that I'm clean now?"

"I'll settle for 'ready to go'." Fumiko reply mercilessly. "Now come on. First is breakfast and then travelling rations."

"Why are you in so much of a hurry?" Hani asked as she got up in order to follow Fumiko out of the door, though not before she quickly got dressed in her armor and made sure that her warhammer's sheath was securely on her back.

"Because I have an appointment in Citadel that I forgot about but can't miss." Fumiko replied. "It's in two days."

"There's no way that we're making it to Citadel in two days, even with Buru." Hani stated.

"We won't be using Buru." She replied.

"Huh? But then we'll- Wait, do you have something even faster?!" Hani asked excitedly.

"Yes, but you're not driving." Fumiko wanted to kill the hope before it took place in the woman's mind.

"Oh, you're no fun." She moped before they eventually arrived at the bottom floor of the inn and Fumiko ordered more fruit for her breakfast and Hani ordered a plate full of meat. And after finishing and paying for the meal, Hani led them to a general store which had tasteless meals that could apparently last forever under any conditions before Hani bought several and Fumiko bought five while having to hand over most of her copper coins over to the merchant before they were ready to go.

"So, what are we going to take?" Hani asked excitedly as they exited out of Algus's southern gates, which were the closest exit to the city from where they were.

"Arashi." Fumiko answered.

"Arashi huh? I like the sound of that! It sounds... fast..." Hani's words slowed to a stop as Fumiko summoned her staff. "Umm... What'd you take that out for?"

"This is Arashi." Fumiko explained while gesturing towards it.

"Huh?" Was all Hani said before Fumiko dropped the staff and it almost hit the ground again before hovering just above it.

"Remove weight and mass while I grant you Featherfall." Fumiko chanted while holding Hani's hand. "There, now you shoud be safe even if you fall off."

"Fall off of what, exactly?" Hani asked while still sounding unsure.

"But maybe we should test it first." Fumiko suddenly second-guessed herself while ignoring her friend's question. "Do me a favor and jump. I don't care how high."

"Umm..."

"Jump." Fumiko insisted, and thankfully Hani compiled before she let out a short shout of surprise as she flew a meter into the air but didn't come back down immediately as she was slowly descending back down while still in the air.

"What is this?!" Hani asked in a panic.

"I made it so that you can't fall to your death." Fumiko answered. "We'll never make it in time if we use Buru, so the only other option that we have is to fly."

"Fly?" Hani asked Fumiko in what sounded like fear as she grabbed onto her outstretched hand and pulled herself to the ground. "Fu, I'm getting a bad feeling about this..."

"Just get on." Fumiko ordered before she stood on top of Arashi as she figured that she would have to get used to standing on top of it eventually if her visions were to be believed. "And don't worry, I'll protect you."

"As a mercenary hearing that from a little girl, I feel a little bad about myself." Hani whined, though she thankfully still complied as Arashi rose from the ground as soon as Fumiko stood on top of it before it rose just high enough so that Hani could sit on the back of it. "Like this?"

"Yes, now hang on, try not to fall off and enjoy the scenery." Fumiko replied before Arashi started rising slowly at first because she wasn't used to it either, though eventually it picked up speed the further that they got from the ground before Fumiko threw caution to the wind and began to move them forward when they were about thirty meters in the air, all while Hani was screaming behind her.