A day had passed already and Manaka—despite being an overpowered conceptual being—did not want to get off the bed.
This was by choice and not really by force.
"Manaka, come on let's go explore the surroundings, we came here for a vacation!!." Sayaka said with a pout as she tried to pull his arm but spectacularly failed.
Kyoko was by his side, sitting at the beds frame while licking a lollipop she made Manaka conjured. Manaka groaned and turned to face Sayaka. "I am in a state of interdimensional exhaustion, sailing a bubble world in an endless dark void for two years will really hit you the next day."
Sayaka's lips twitched. Then she flatly spoke. "Do you hate us that much."
Manaka groaned again and sat up slowly, he looked at Sayaka and used his hand to pat her head. "My cute blue haired wife, I don't hate you but I really am not feeling a bit too well."
Sayaka didn't mind his hand on her head, instead she was trying to see if he was lying or not which was harder than it looked.
She let out a sigh and looked at Manaka. His copper irises were a bit dimmed and his hair was a bit pale, other than that, there was nothing else.
"Maybe you're hungry, want my lollipop." Kyoko asked handing him the stick.
Manaka's lips twitched, for some Reason, he felt like this scene happened differently a while ago, but none the less, he still took it. "See, Kyoko doesn't say such terrible words to me and besides, we have spent time with each other and lot of times in the bubble world."
Kyoko made a sound and smirked. "Heh, there is nothing wrong with spending mote time together and besides, I'm sooo bored, let's travel to some kingdom in this world and have some fun there, we could even find new types of food, if you know what am talking about."
She nudged Manaka playfully. Manaka thought about it and sighed.
"Fine," Manaka muttered, the lollipop stick poking out from the corner of his mouth. "But if I collapse into a puddle of conceptual static, I'm making you two carry the puddle."
He stood up, and for a moment, the air around him rippled like heat haze. The paleness in his hair didn't quite vanish, but his copper eyes regained a sliver of their usual, unsettling luster. With a snap of his fingers, his rumpled bedclothes shifted, weaving themselves back into his usual attire—clean, sharp, and entirely too pristine for someone who claimed to be suffering from "interdimensional jet lag."
Sayaka beamed, her earlier pout vanishing instantly. "That's the spirit! No more rotting in bed."
Manaka rolled his eyes. "What if I find another wife when we go out."
Sayaka's face went through a rapid-fire sequence of expressions—surprise, indignation, and finally, a narrow-eyed look of absolute confidence. She crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back on her heels.
"Oh, please," she scoffed, though a faint pink dusted her cheeks. "If you survived two years in a literal void with just the two of us and didn't accidentally manifest a goddess of patience just to deal with your grumbling, I think our positions are secure. Besides, who else is going to put up with a man who complains about 'conceptual static' while wearing hand-woven reality for pajamas?"
Manaka choked on the lollipop.
The "conceptual exhaustion" he'd been milking for the last hour evaporated in a flash of genuine panic. He looked at Sayaka, his copper eyes wide with a mix of betrayal and sheer terror.
"Mami?" he repeated, his voice jumping an octave. "You want to bring the Holy Maiden of Muskets into this chaotic dynamic? Sayaka, I love you, but your sense of self-preservation is non-existent. Do you want the house to be constantly filled with tea sets and the looming threat of being tied up in yellow ribbons every time I forget to do the dishes?"
Kyoko let out a sharp, jagged laugh, nearly falling off the bed frame. "She's got you there, Manaka! Mami would have this 'vacation' organized into a strict schedule of cake-tasting and moral lessons within twenty minutes. You wouldn't be allowed to rot in bed for a single second."
Sayaka's grin turned mischievous as she saw she'd finally broken his lethargy.
"Exactly! Think of it as an insurance policy. If you won't get up for me, you'll definitely get up if you hear the clink of a porcelain teacup and the sound of someone calling you 'unrefined.'"
"Horrible," Manaka muttered, though the corners of his mouth twitched upward. "Both of you are teaming up against me. It's a coup. A domestic uprising."
He reached out, his fingers tracing a small circle in the air. The space before them tore open with the sound of chiming bells, revealing a shimmering window into the world outside their sanctuary. "But the idea of it doesn't sound bad, as you know, I didn't get to reach out to her before she got killed. At that time I was very weak. Anyways, let's go to a place called the Jura Tempest Federation."