"Saori Nee-chan, can you give me some dating advice?" As an adult, she became the best possible option for her.
"You are dating someone?" Saori didn't expect that from Nobara. The first reason was that Nobara didn't seem the type to be interested in boys.
The roughest tomboy she had seen became interested in love? A part of her was still there no doubt, if anything it had gotten worse. As for the second reason…
"I-Isn't it too early? W-We are still in high school." Fumi too had a modest mind similar to Saori.
"What's wrong with high schoolers dating? The ones in cities do it all the time." Nobara tilted her head. They were making a bigger deal about this for no reason.
"No Nobara, there is no need to follow something others are doing just for the sake of it." Saori had made some bad decisions because of that mentality, and she didn't want Nobara to fall into the same ditch as many others did.
"Are you serious about this?" Saori's question sent Nobara for a loop.
Was she serious about dating Adam? She would like to believe so, after all her life depended on this. If she couldn't seal her relationship with Adam in this borrowed time, she wouldn't do 'that' with him.
"I am extremely serious." Nobara nodded and seeing her determined eyes Saori gulped.
This kid was serious, a little too serious for her age. Even then she wanted to keep the thought of dating out of Nobara's head. At such a sensitive age where she can be deceived such conviction was a double-edged sword.
"Do you have a picture with him one without filters?" So, she decided to move to something else.
She planned to nitpick depending on the appearance and find something to at least delay this. But when she saw the picture of him standing next to Nobara, her mind momentarily halted. It would be hard to take her eyes off the handsome face, but the thick neck and muscular frame drew her eyes down. And her eyes once again got stuck on the collarbones that peeked through the pure white shirt.
Unknowingly, Saori gulped with a heated face. She couldn't find anything to dig at about his appearance; his face also had a very honest expression. He had the height, the looks, and a good body, even the bleached hair suited him well. There was nothing to dig at about him. But, as she thought all hope was lost.
"D-Doesn't he look older?" Fumi blinked.
"Y-Yes, how old is he?" Saori had missed the point because he didn't look old for her, but considering Nobara this became an important point.
"His age…?" For the first time, Nobara was stumped. She didn't know how old Adam was, thankfully the two were a bit too shocked to catch on her momentarily worry.
"…Nineteen, he is Nineteen years old this year."
"Nineteen…? He looks more mature for his age, I was sure he was around twenty-three." Saori analyzed the picture closely, she would like to ask more questions to find out what type of person he was.
'She is like a little sister to me, so I should be extra careful with this.' Saori coughed to clear her mind of useless thoughts, but before she could ask anything more Nobara snatched the phone from her hand.
"Well, give me some advice please Nee-Chan?" She acted cute, something she had never done before and it worked.
"A-Alright, I'll tell you what I know." Saori coughed.
'Thankfully I noticed what she was up to, if she asked any more questions I would be caught.' Nobara sighed in relief, but at the same time she wasn't pleased with this, 'I do not know anything about him.'
A few more hours passed and the three had enough of their talks, at the end, she didn't get any helpful advice just stories about how bad some relationships end. Nobara gave up partway and the words went in through one ear and out the other. In the end, when she blinked once, she found herself on the terrace of one of the highrise buildings.
The sky had turned dark and he was waiting for her by the edge amidst the cold wind.
"So, did you have fun?" Adam asked facing her.
Nobara nodded with a smile. She enjoyed today in many ways. The shopping, different food that she ate to her heart's content, and finally she got to reunite with Saori and Fumi. It may as well be the best day she had since coming to Tokyo.
Taking advantage of the situation she exchanged numbers with Saori and was to message whenever she wanted. Fumi too showed interest in coming to Tokyo, just thinking about the fun times they could have together moving forward made her happy.
But, before expressing her joy she him about something.
"How old are you, Adam?" Nobara's question was sudden. He blinked a few times trying to figure out the reason she'd ask this out of nowhere.
But, it wasn't long before he stopped thinking about it. If she asked he should just tell her. Hiding his age wouldn't bring him anything good, in a way revealing it would do more good.
"8,741 years old, my birthday is in a few months too." However, that number was absurd to the high schooler in front of him.
"You are not joking, are you?" Nobara was dumbfounded when he confirmed that it wasn't a joke.
She never expected to hear that number when she asked for his age. At most, she thought the difference between them would be like 10 to 20 years at most, after all, he looked young enough to pass off as a college student. But, even if there was one thing to be shocked about, there was another thing to be relieved about.
"At least I won't become like Master Tengen when I age more than 500." Nobara cackled deviously.
"Weird." Adam didn't expect that type of reaction from her.
"Says the one who is over 8000 years old," Nobara folded her arms.
"Nobara, you know that if you want to live over 500 years old…" Adam stopped at that when she nodded with a smile.
"I know, I would need to make another contract to increase my lifespan. But if I did it once, the second time would be much easier. Also, you have a long lifespan so of course I would stick with you… if I decided of course." She coughed a bit to clear the air. She had spoken more than she wanted to.
Nobara knew that this type of talk didn't suit her, but it had to be said. If she decided to stay with him, she wouldn't leave him that easily.
"I always wanted to be immortal and enjoy spending money every day." But, after growing up she knew that she'd need to work to earn money through which these things can be accomplished. Shopping especially requires a lot of money. Even then she still wanted to do this and have a long life.
However, when she heard from Tengen that her body would change and take such a grotesque form after 500 years, she didn't want that anymore. How would she live if her perfect face was distorted into a cube with another set of eyes? Impossible! She'd rather die than allow that.
"Anyway, it doesn't look like I'll lose anything if you increase my lifespan." Now Nobara didn't fear that, someone 8000 years old stood before her and she could never distinguish him from other humans.
But that was on the surface alone.
"You'll lose your humanity Nobara." He said.
"What do you …mean?" Nobara tilted her head.
"The only way to increase your inherent lifespan is by changing your body, there is no other way." Adam has gone through this himself.
Even if he was from another world and had transmigrated as a hero, his lifespan remained the same compared to the people who were originally from that world. If he hadn't done anything he would've died of old age without even reaching Godhood with the sword in some corner of the world.
'But I made that choice because I didn't want to die like that.' But the change that started that day had now taken over his entire body.
The person who became the hero and him were no longer the same. From the top of his hair to the tip of his toes, aside from broken memories nothing remained.
"What are you saying?" However, Nobara didn't understand his words.
He may have godly powers, he can stop time, heal her from certain death, mix illusion and reality, cook otherworldy food, and she was sure that he could do way more than she could understand. But, at the end of the day, she couldn't see him any other way.
"You seem human to me,"