Chapter 2: Welcome to the 21st Century!
Yuuto woke up to the sound of clinking dishes. It was strange. Not the sound itself, but the fact that it was coming from his kitchen. He lived alone, after all.
The realization hit him like a cold splash of water: Nina.
He scrambled out of bed and rushed to the kitchen, already dreading what awaited him. Sure enough, there she was, standing in front of his microwave with a determined look on her face. She was holding a can of tuna in one hand and a spatula in the other.
"What are you doing?" Yuuto asked, his voice laced with dread.
Nina turned to him with a proud grin. "Making breakfast! Behold, the culinary prowess of Nina, the Great Time Traveler!"
Yuuto's eyes darted to the microwave. The timer was set to 99:99. "Wait—what did you—?"
Before he could finish, the microwave sparked, groaned, and promptly died. Smoke billowed out, filling the kitchen with the smell of burnt plastic.
"I… may have underestimated this device's capabilities," Nina said, coughing slightly but still looking annoyingly confident. "Is it normal for it to make those noises?"
Yuuto buried his face in his hands. "That's a microwave, not a time machine. And you just murdered it."
Nina tilted her head. "Microwave? Is it… a weapon? Why does it have numbers on it? Is it a countdown to detonation?"
"It's for heating food, not detonating it!" Yuuto snapped, dragging her away from the crime scene before she could do any more damage.
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The Apartment Rules
After airing out the kitchen and mourning the loss of his microwave, Yuuto sat Nina down at the table. He cleared his throat, adopting the sternest expression he could muster.
"We need rules," he declared.
Nina raised an eyebrow. "Rules? You mean like laws of the kingdom? I was a queen once, you know."
"You were a time-traveling general yesterday," Yuuto shot back. "Pick a lane."
"I contain multitudes," she said, crossing her arms and giving him a smug look.
Yuuto ignored her and grabbed a notepad. "Rule one: No touching any of my appliances. Ever."
"Noted," Nina said with a solemn nod. Then she tilted her head. "What's an appliance?"
Yuuto felt a vein in his temple throb. "Microwave, fridge, TV—anything that looks expensive, complicated, or electrical. Don't touch it."
"So, I can touch this… table?" Nina asked, poking it with one finger.
Yuuto slapped the notepad onto the table. "It's a table. Yes, you can touch the table."
"Good," she said. "Because I have big plans for this table. Royal feasts! Council meetings! Maybe even—"
"No council meetings!" Yuuto interrupted. "Rule two: No weird declarations. You're not royalty here. You're just… some girl from out of town."
Nina looked offended. "Out of town? I'm out of time."
Yuuto groaned and scribbled more notes on the notepad. "Rule three: Don't make me regret letting you stay here."
"That's an oddly vague rule," Nina said, leaning forward to read his messy handwriting. "How will you measure regret? Is it by how loudly you sigh, or how many times you bang your head on a wall?"
Yuuto ignored her. "Rule four: If you break something, you pay for it."
"With what money?" Nina asked, genuinely curious. "The currency of my era was rare gemstones and enchanted metals."
"Well, in this era, we use yen," Yuuto replied. "Do you have any?"
Nina reached into the pocket of her oversized hoodie and pulled out a shiny rock. "I have this! It's a fragment of a star I collected during the Celestial Wars."
Yuuto stared at the rock. Then he stared at her. "That's a literal rock."
"It's priceless!" Nina insisted.
Yuuto sighed, adding "find her a job" to his mental to-do list.
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Shopping Adventures
Later that day, Yuuto realized Nina needed clothes. She couldn't keep wearing the same hoodie and sweatpants forever—not that she cared. Nina seemed perfectly happy wearing his borrowed clothes, despite the fact that they were two sizes too big for her.
"You can't just walk around looking like that," Yuuto said, dragging her toward the nearest shopping district.
"What's wrong with my attire?" Nina asked, tugging at the hoodie. "It's comfortable! And it smells like you, which is oddly reassuring."
Yuuto's face turned red. "That's not the point! You need proper clothes. Clothes that… fit."
They arrived at a clothing store, and Yuuto immediately regretted his decision. Nina's eyes lit up as she darted between racks, examining everything with the curiosity of someone who had never seen modern fashion before.
"What is this?" she asked, holding up a pair of jeans.
"Pants," Yuuto replied.
"Pants?!" Nina said, scandalized. "People wear this? But where's the armor? The chainmail? How does this protect you in battle?"
"It's not for battle!" Yuuto snapped, already regretting his life choices.
Nina grabbed a sparkly pink dress next. "This one! It looks like something a princess would wear."
"You're not a princess," Yuuto reminded her.
She ignored him and draped the dress over herself. "Do you think this would intimidate my enemies?"
"Your enemies are probably laughing too hard to be intimidated," Yuuto muttered.
Eventually, they left the store with a few plain outfits that Yuuto picked out himself. Nina pouted the whole way home. "You have no sense of style," she complained.
"And you have no sense, period," Yuuto shot back.
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Modern World, Modern Problems
Back at the apartment, Yuuto handed Nina a smartphone.
"This," he said, "is the most important tool of the modern era. It can do almost anything—call people, find information, order food—"
"Does it summon dragons?" Nina asked, holding the phone gingerly.
"No. No dragons," Yuuto said. "But it can play games, so that's basically the same thing."
He spent the next hour teaching Nina how to use the phone. It was… a process. Nina treated the device like it was a sacred artifact, bowing to it before tapping the screen. When Yuuto showed her how to scroll, she gasped like he had just performed a magic trick.
"This is incredible!" she exclaimed, scrolling through a news app. "Your people are so advanced. Look at this—'Man Marries Robot.' Truly, this era has mastered diplomacy with other species."
Yuuto snatched the phone away. "That's not diplomacy! That's just clickbait!"
By the end of the lesson, Nina had learned how to take selfies and accidentally subscribed to three streaming services. Yuuto decided that was enough progress for one day.
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Late-Night Conversations
That evening, the two of them sat on the couch, eating instant ramen. Nina poked at her noodles with a curious expression.
"Your food is strange," she said. "It lacks the… how do I put this? The dramatic flair of ancient banquets."
"It's ramen," Yuuto said. "It's not supposed to have dramatic flair. It's supposed to be cheap and edible."
Nina took a bite and immediately brightened. "It's delicious! I take back everything I said. This is the food of the gods!"
Yuuto chuckled despite himself. Watching Nina adapt to the modern world was exhausting, but… kind of entertaining. She was like a chaotic little hurricane, constantly disrupting his quiet life.
"So," Nina said between bites, "what's the plan for tomorrow? Will we conquer a neighboring kingdom? Fight off invaders? Perhaps slay a dragon?"
"We're going to the convenience store," Yuuto said flatly.
Nina looked disappointed. "Do they sell weapons there?"
"No," Yuuto said. "But they do sell snacks. And if you behave, I'll let you pick one."
Nina grinned. "Deal."
As chaotic as she was, Yuuto had to admit… life was a lot more interesting with Nina around.
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End of Chapter 2