"Uhh, is it morning already?" Hanah mumbled with the typical hoarse voice of someone just waking up. She blinked several times, trying to chase away the remnants of sleep that still enveloped her consciousness.
For a moment, confusion appeared on her face as her purple eyes scanned the unfamiliar room—high ceiling with crystal chandeliers, walls with luxurious wallpaper, and a king-size bed much softer than her bed at home.
"You're awake?"
The girl turned toward the source of the voice and found Kazuki sitting casually on the sofa near the window. The young man looked fresh and neat, clearly having woken up earlier. What caught Hanah's attention was the food Kazuki was enjoying—a triangular slice with melted cheese and familiar toppings, lifted with one hand while the other held a smartphone.
"Uhh, what is that...?" asked Hanah, rising from her sleeping position and sitting on the edge of the bed. She combed her messy hair with her fingers, trying to look a little more presentable despite having just woken up.
"This?" Kazuki raised the food in his hand a little higher. "It's pizza," he answered casually, as if finding modern food like pizza in a medieval world was perfectly normal.
Hanah blinked, surprised yet again since they arrived in this world. She got up from the bed and walked closer to Kazuki, examining the food carefully. Sure enough, it was pizza.
"Are there places to buy pizza in this world too?" asked Hanah with an amazed tone, unable to hide her surprise. First a modern hotel in the middle of a medieval city, and now pizza. This world was becoming increasingly difficult to understand.
"Yes, I just found out that there are pizza shops in this world too," replied Kazuki while chewing the last piece of his pizza. He wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin available on the table. "Do you want to try it? If you want to eat, I suggest taking a shower first."
Hanah realized that she was still wearing the same school uniform from yesterday, while Kazuki had already changed clothes. The young man now wore a familiar black hoodie with their school uniform pants. The hoodie clearly came from their original world—perhaps Kazuki had brought it in his school bag, ready for cold weather or after-school sports activities.
"You're right, I should shower first," Hanah nodded, stretching her body which felt stiff after a long sleep. "By the way, what time is it now?"
"Around nine in the morning," answered Kazuki without taking his eyes off his smartphone. "The bathroom is over there. The hot water works well, strangely enough."
Hanah walked toward the bathroom Kazuki pointed to. The door opener was a classic metal handle, in contrast to the surprising bathroom interior—modern shower, sink with automatic faucet, and even a toilet with electronic flush buttons. Once again, the contrast between modern technology and the medieval world backdrop left Hanah amazed.
After refreshing herself with a warm shower and putting on new clothes they bought yesterday—a simple light green dress with a light brown knitted vest—Hanah felt much more ready. She dried her hair with the soft towel provided by the hotel.
Hanah sat on the sofa beside Kazuki, reaching for a slice of pizza from the box still open on the table. Warm steam was still rising from the food, indicating the pizza was still fresh and had just been delivered.
"Wow, this is delicious!" exclaimed Hanah after the first bite, her eyes widening in amazement. "It seems to be made of beef," she added, observing the abundant toppings on the surface of the pizza.
"Yes, you're right," replied Kazuki, who had now shifted his attention from his smartphone.
"By the way, what should we do now?" asked Hanah while enjoying her pizza, her purple eyes glancing at Kazuki.
"Clearly we need to find a way back to our original world," answered Kazuki, "But I think it's better to find our classmates in this world first!"
Hanah stopped chewing, the half-eaten pizza slice still in her hand. She stared at Kazuki with wide eyes, thoughts of their class consisting of thirty students suddenly appearing in her mind.
"Classmates?" she asked with a surprised tone. "Are our classmates also in this world?"
"100% they're in this world, which is why we need to find them and unite with them," he answered with full confidence. Then, his expression softened slightly as he added, "To be honest, I've never really talked to them, so I don't know their names at all."
Hanah couldn't hold back a small smile hearing that honest confession. It was true, Kazuki was known as the quiet student who hardly ever interacted with his classmates. He spent most of his time at school sleeping in class or staring out the window, as if the lessons being taught were too boring to pay attention to.
"Yes, you're right," Hanah nodded, finishing the last bite of her pizza. "You always sleep in class and rarely talk. But where should we look for them?"
"They're definitely not in this city," said Kazuki, "It seems there are several cities in this world. How about we ask someone who works at this hotel? We need to find out about the cities in this world first."
Kazuki's logic made sense. If they wanted to find their separated classmates, the first step was to understand the geography of this new world and possible locations where their friends might be.
After finishing their satisfying pizza breakfast, Kazuki and Hanah prepared to begin their search. They tidied up the room sufficiently before grabbing their respective school bags and leaving the hotel room.
The hotel corridor in the morning appeared more lively compared to the previous night. Several other hotel guests passed by them, most of them being expensively dressed people who were clearly not ordinary residents of this city.
"This world is really strange," whispered Hanah to Kazuki as they entered the glass elevator that took them down to the main lobby.
Kazuki just nodded.
◇◇◇
Kazuki and Hanah headed straight to the reception desk, where they saw a familiar figure—the woman who had welcomed them last night. Her name was displayed on the name tag pinned to her dark blue blazer: Lilina.
"Good morning," greeted Lilina with a friendly smile when she saw them approaching. "Did you sleep well? Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Good morning," replied Hanah, slightly surprised to find herself understanding and able to speak the local language fluently. She hadn't noticed this when they first arrived, but now she realized that the language used by local residents should be foreign to her, yet somehow she could understand it perfectly.
Kazuki, seemingly aware of Hanah's confusion...
"We're looking for our friends," said Kazuki, getting straight to the point. "About thirty people, all wearing school uniforms like what we wore yesterday."
Lilina looked surprised at the question, her eyebrows raised high. She invited them to sit on the nearest sofa while she called one of her colleagues to replace her position at the reception desk.
"Let's talk more comfortably over there," said Lilina, leading them to a more private corner of the lobby with three plush sofas surrounding a small carved wooden coffee table. The woman served hot tea in a ceramic pot for them.
"So," Lilina began speaking after they were all comfortably seated, "You're not from this world, are you?"
The direct question made Hanah gasp, but Kazuki remained calm. He nodded slowly, deciding that honesty was the best strategy in this situation.
"That's right," answered Kazuki, "we're separated from the others. We need to find them."
Lilina sipped her tea elegantly, appearing to consider this information carefully. There was no surprise or doubt on her face, as if the arrival of people from another world wasn't particularly strange in this world.
"Ah, so you're looking for dozens of people wearing strange school uniforms?" asked Lilina to confirm, her sharp eyes observing the reactions of her two young guests.
"Yes, more or less," answered Hanah, taking over the conversation. "Do you know something or have they ever come to this hotel?"
Lilina looked thoughtful for a moment, tapping her slender finger on the side of her teacup. Then, as if remembering something important, her blue eyes widened.
"Unfortunately not," answered Lilina, "but with the CCTV in some cities, maybe we can find out where they went."
The word "CCTV" made Hanah and Kazuki exchange glances. Modern surveillance technology like CCTV shouldn't exist in a world with medieval-level technology. However, considering the modern hotel and pizza they found, the existence of CCTV might not be too surprising.
Lilina stood from her sofa and gestured for them to follow her. The woman led them behind the reception desk, to a small room that seemed to function as the hotel's security center. Inside the room were several monitor screens displaying various angles of the hotel and—more surprisingly—several locations in the city.
"Let's try looking at last night's CCTV footage," said Lilina, her slender fingers nimbly typing on a keyboard in front of one of the large screens. "To see if there are people you're looking for."
The monitor screen flickered several times before displaying black-and-white footage from various angles of the city. Lilina quickly shifted between views, searching among the sea of faces captured by the cameras. After a few minutes of searching, she finally stopped her hand movement on one particular recording.
"That's them!" exclaimed Hanah spontaneously, pointing at the screen.
In the footage, a large group of teenagers wearing school uniforms identical to those worn by Kazuki and Hanah yesterday was visible. About thirty people, they appeared to be walking in an orderly group, led by several people who looked more confident in the front row. Although the image quality wasn't very good, Hanah could recognize some familiar faces.
"Are these the people you're looking for?" asked Lilina, zooming in on the image for better detail.
"Yes," answered Hanah briefly, her eyes not leaving the screen displaying their classmates.
Lilina studied the direction of the group's movement, comparing it with the digital map of the city displayed on the adjacent screen. After a moment of analysis, she nodded slowly.
"Hmm, judging from the direction they're walking," said Lilina while pointing to the path on the map, "it seems they're going to the capital."
"The capital?" asked Hanah and Kazuki almost simultaneously.
Lilina nodded. Her slender index finger tapped on a certain point on the digital map—a large star-shaped formation.
"Yes, Crystallis—the capital of the kingdom," explained Lilina.
"How far is the capital from here?" asked Kazuki, his eyes narrowing as he observed the scale on the map. His brain was already formulating a travel plan.
Lilina took a crystal pen from her blazer pocket and began drawing a line on the map, following what seemed to be the most efficient route. A bluish glowing line appeared behind the pen tip, marking main roads, intersections, and various small towns they would have to pass through.
"It takes one or two days to get there if you walk or ride regular horses," answered Lilina, tapping her pen on the edge of the map. "But you can take the train to get there faster."
The word "train" made Hanah and Kazuki exchange glances. The fact that a world that looked like a medieval setting had trains further highlighted the strangeness.
"However, there's a small problem," continued Lilina, "The train can't take you directly to the capital. The railroad only reaches as far as the city of Zyranthia."
Lilina's finger moved to another point on the map—a city located about thirty kilometers from the capital.
"In the city of Zyranthia, there's a horse carriage terminal," Lilina continued her explanation. "You can take a horse carriage to reach the capital from there. It might take an hour to reach the capital from Zyranthia City, depending on traffic conditions and weather."
Hanah noted this information in her mind, feeling slightly relieved that they wouldn't need to walk for days. However, another question arose in her thoughts.
"Why can't the train go directly to the capital?" she asked curiously. "Wouldn't that be more efficient?"
Lilina smiled slightly, as if the question was frequently asked by visitors. "Crystallis is surrounded by the Silver Forest, which is very dense and protected by ancient magic. Even with our technology, building railroad tracks through that forest is very difficult and dangerous."
Hanah nodded in understanding.
"You will arrive in Zyranthia perhaps at 7 or 8 in the evening. The next train departs from the main station in an hour. If you hurry, you can catch it."
Lilina glanced at the large clock hanging on the wall of the room. "It's ten o'clock now. The train leaves at eleven sharp, and the station is about fifteen minutes' walk from the hotel."
"Alright, we'll take that train," said Kazuki firmly, rising from the sofa. "Do we need to buy tickets first?"
"I can help you with that," answered Lilina, taking out a thin square-shaped device from her blazer pocket. The device lit up with a soft blue light as she tapped its surface. "How many tickets do you need? Two, right? What class? Standard, business, or executive?"
"Just standard," answered Kazuki quickly. With his ability to create money from nothing, they could actually order executive class without any problem.
"Alright," Lilina tapped several times on her device. "The total will be twenty gold coins. You can pay here."
Kazuki took out several gold coins from his pocket—coins that Hanah was sure were created with his power—and handed them to Lilina. The woman promptly counted the change and gave two thin blue-glowing cards to them.
"These are your tickets," she explained. "Just show them to the officer at the departure gate. Your carriage is number 7, seats C4 and C5."
"Thank you for your help, Lilina," said Hanah sincerely, holding her electronic ticket carefully. "You've been very helpful to us."
Lilina smiled warmly, "No problem," she answered in a light tone. "I hope your journey is pleasant. Oh, and be careful in Crystallis. The city is beautiful, but also full of complex politics and intrigue."
Hanah's eyebrows raised at the warning, but before she could ask further, Kazuki had already gently pulled her arm.
"We need to go now," whispered the young man.
Hanah nodded, waving to Lilina as a final thank you before following Kazuki.
During their journey, "Kazuki," she whispered, making sure no one else could hear, "do you think our friends are okay? What if they're in danger?"
"They're in a large group," he answered. "There's strength in numbers. Besides, not all of us might be 'ordinary'."
The statement made Hanah pause. She remembered their conversation last night—about the possibility that in their world, there were others besides Kazuki who possessed supernatural powers.
"You mean, maybe some of our classmates also have... powers?" asked Hanah, her voice barely audible.
Kazuki just shrugged slightly, but his gaze indicated that the possibility was very real.
Hanah and Kazuki walked side by side toward the direction indicated by the digital map that Lilina had given as a guide to the station.
After walking about fifteen minutes through increasingly crowded streets, they finally arrived at a magnificent building that was clearly the train station.
"We're here," said Kazuki, stepping confidently toward the station entrance. "Come on, the train leaves in twenty minutes."
Hanah nodded, following Kazuki's quick pace.