Looking up from her seat, Luna saw Akiro entered her room although the latter looked a bit surprised.
"Hmm, I thought you have finished eating already. Since Miss Zione and I haven't eaten yet we'll join you but we'll eat outside. It isn't appropriate here," Akiro said.
"But what about this food?" she asked as her food was prepared already and thought that it would be a waste to be left here although something came up deep into her imaginative mind.
'Hehe, I can eat this all later,' Luna said and laughed ominously.
"It's not a problem," he suddenly uttered. Then he glanced at the table and snapped his fingers.
In a blink of an eye, she found herself in a garden filled with beautiful flowers and other strange unfamiliar plants. Meanwhile, at the center of the garden was her table with the food she was served earlier. Her eyes widened as the unnatural movements he had been doing were something she could not fathom and thought, 'Is there nothing impossible in this place?'
She became preoccupied with their magic until her mind suddenly wondered about her family. He said that time halted in her previous world but she could not be at ease at all. 'What if something wrong happened?' she thought. Luna began to drown in her thoughts and did not notice that Akiro was calling her.
"Luna?" Akiro asked.
Luna suddenly looked his way, flustered. "A-ah, why?" she said.
"Are you finished eating or you're still full? You barely touched your food," he said as his eyes stared into her and her plate.
She looked at them who were about to finish eating. Her mind had wandered for too long. She slowly nodded her head and went silent for a while.
Akiro easily noticed her longing and sadness.
'Why did she keep changing her mood?' He thought desperately but did not show it on the outside and kept his blank appearance.
Since that's the case, there was only one thing he could do. Akiro coughed a little and said, "Well, I think it's better if you explore the place before starting to practice. It's good to familiarize yourself first to clear your mind."
Hearing it, Miss Zione quickly accompanied her to a place that would elevate herself, leaving Akiro alone. She brought Luna above a cliff, of all place. It was where a small village could be seen below. The scenery was indeed beautiful, similar to an exquisite painting but it's thanks to Luna that she wasn't suicidal or else with her weak state of mind, she could be thinking of jumping right now.
Then she sat on the grass and bent her knees towards her face. The place had relaxed her mind bit by bit, helping herself not to get drown by loneliness. She just couldn't help herself to yearn for her previous world nonetheless, she admitted that this place was not that bad. It would be a waste if she didn't enjoy the world of Vermillion before going back home.
This world was like the fantasy stories Luna had read from books. She often imagined how it feels to be in the main character's shoes which were shocking when it did happen for real. Filling herself with optimistic thoughts, her loneliness soon faded.
"This will be a wonderful experience I'll ever have," Luna thought and smiled while feeling the blades of grass towards her palms. After that, she stood up from the ground and soon heard someone's incoming footsteps. She turned around attentively and saw Akiro whose mood seemed lighter than usual.
"I'm glad you cheered up," he said and suddenly let out a genuine smile. She quickly turned her sight to her right side.
"Luna, your face is red, are you sick?" Akiro asked worriedly.
Her eyes widened and stepped back a little. "A-ah hahaha, it's nothing don't mind me," she said. Luna couldn't take it anymore and began to laugh awkwardly.
"Anyway, we should not waste time and you should be teaching me about time traveling by now," Luna uttered, an attempt to change their topic.
Akiro agreed. Since she was fine now, they left that place and went to a part of the garden wide enough to practice. His relaxed face and genuine smile had disappeared long ago as his serious face came back the moment they started the practice.
Then Luna saw him with his pocket watch in his hand.
'Eh? It appeared out of nowhere, right?' Luna thought.
Akiro raised his index finger on his left hand to catch her attention. "The first thing you should learn is how to form your pocket watch anytime you want. It's important especially when a crucial event took place and you have to multi-task during those times. It needs a lot of concentration so the faster you can do it, the safer you can escape from the danger around you," he said.
"Then how can I do it?" Luna said. She tried to keep her composure but Akiro ignored her and continued his explanation. In her eyes, he looked like a wise old man that was pretending to know everything.
'Just explain how to do it, okay?' Luna thought preventing herself to burst out.
Then Akiro finally answered her after his long introduction to time ability. "Good question, this power is sealed within one's body, and to use its power, you need its material form. The only way to do it is to feel its powers flowing into your hands and if you succeeded, a light will appear. After that, a pocket watch will start forming into your hands," he explained.
His pocket watch disappeared and called her attention.
"I'll show you how it's done," he said. Akiro closed his eyes for a second and opened his palms. A light showed up and started to form a golden pocket watch.
'That easy?!' Luna thought.
Although Akiro followed with an explanation. "The amount of time the watch would be formed depends on how you're experienced," he said.
When Akiro did it within a blink of an eye, Luna could see his years of experience with his acquired ability.
"Now, try to bring out its material form," Akiro said.
'I should try my best!' she thought.
At first, Luna did not know how to do it since it was just unbelievable and illogical. It was defying the studies she grew up believing in. Then, she decided to follow his words. She started closing her eyes and imagined the flow of magic but nothing happened. Nonetheless, she didn't want to stop.
'I'll copy how they do it based on what I read in books! Feel it, feel it!' Luna thought.
Luna thought to relate it with her knowledge. She refused to believe that her knowledge would be useless in this new world. Because of that, she didn't have a hard time on her next try since her wide imagination, reading fiction books, watching several fantasy movies, and a bunch of scientific knowledge helped her understand how to do it, in her version and understanding.
Luna opened her hands and eyes as something seemed to flow within her veins other than blood. It was an overwhelming feeling she felt for the first time. Then, the silver pocket watch was formed after a gleam of light.
"Finally, look, I made it!" she said as she raised her hand and showed the pocket watch to Akiro. Her materialization time was longer than him but she knew that his performance earlier had already reached its peak. She couldn't help but think about clearing that huge gap.
On the other hand, Akiro looked at her with astonishment. She didn't know that she had the potential to be a magic-user despite being from a world devoid of magic. He remembered that he barely felt magic the first time he traveled on her world.
"W-well done, practice it more for faster materialization," Akiro said.
Normally, it would take some time to form a pocket watch or summon an item. The first thing was how to learn the item's magic and how it would flow to the summoner. They could only dream of accomplishing it within the day although some rumors said that there could be one genius that could appear every one thousand years.
Moreover, a magic item was picky with its owner so a person would need ample time to be familiar with it.
Akiro thought that the pocket watch was originally his so it should be unwilling. There should be an unknown force that allowed it to be summoned. Nonetheless, he concluded that she was different because she wasn't originally from this world and she comprehended it based on her knowledge that he would not understand.
Since Akiro didn't belong to Earth, he didn't know that countless stories about magic and others have been made up and Luna happened to like those things. Moreover, she was interested in science and had unique creativity so she could easily imagine how to do it. The magic within her seemed to understand complex knowledge and followed what she wanted to do.
Most people in Vermillion would need to start from the very beginning and could not visually imagine how to do it. Each person would develop their way of using magic and Luna happened to use it by her knowledge of how magic should work.
"One more thing, you should command it to disappear so its material form will come back inside you," Akiro said.
He explained it in a short phrase since Luna could easily catch up despite being a person who came from another world. Luna nodded her head. Since she succeeded by creating its material form, she could reverse it. Akiro watched her intently. Usually, a person would get depressed by summoning it for the first few weeks, and here she was, filled with enjoyment on her first day.
'Such a weird and different person,' Akiro thought.
Not long after, Miss Zione showed up. "Master you have a guest," she said.
It was such a short simple announcement but it certainly made Akiro frown. He knew someone who would dare visit his place without informing him at all. That visitor always made Akiro lose his cool from time to time.
"What does he need this time?" Akiro whispered.
"Long time no see, Akiro!"
A cheerful man smiling ear to ear walked towards them. It took Luna's attention because he's too loud and it impeded her concentration.
'Who is he?' Luna thought curiously.
~~To be continued..