Heading to Space

(Robin's POV):

A new day had arrived and I may have made a major mistake of staying with Jay in his room and sleeping on the chair. I did manage to get a decent sleep despite having a terrible position. I waited for Jay to sleep before dozing off completely. Right now, I woke up and Jay seems to still be having a nice sleep.

"That's great if you have a decent sleep there... I guess I'll head to the training zone where we put all the air bags..."

I stood up and left Jay's room. Right after I exit, I saw Grace giggling for some reason so I asked her about it.

"What's up?"

"Ah well, I was just thinking about Jay since he was pretty much crying last night..." - Grace

"Yeah, I hope he'll be fine at this point. I don't want them to feel that kind of suffering again where they're separated."

"Heh? Interesting, so you'll be supporting him pretty much?" - Grace

"He's a great person to have as a friend so why not?"

"Friend you say?" - Grace

I ignored whatever Grace had in her mind and just continued walking with her while she keeps a weird smirk.

"Whatever it is in your mind, I have no idea and I do not intend to know."

"Alright then." - Grace

(Last Night, Grace's POV):

I was listening in to the room next to me since I can hear Jay crying. I tried to go out of my room but I noticed that Robin had entered Jay's room for some reason. I guess he noticed it way earlier but I hoped that Jay will be alright.

"...Never knew..." - Robin

I was simply eavesdropping through the wall and listening in. I could hear a little bit but the walls here are pretty much skillfully built. The soundproofing here is pretty decent so I haven't managed to know what Robin said.

All I can think is that he never expected Jay to have a dreadful past.

"But there... Be a lot I've missed out... I wish... Could've helped but... Condolences..." - Robin

Beyond that point I can simply hear Jay crying out where it's pretty clear that he feels really sad to be separated for a while more.

I left the room and tried to check on them without getting noticed. I peeked through the door to Jay's room and it looks like Robin is really trying to take care of Jay in some weird way. Before I knew it, my nose was bleeding a little bit and smiling unconsciously.

"I-I should go back..."

I went back to my room filled with some excitement as my thoughts had something other people might not like.

"Robin and Jay... Hehehe..."

(POV Shift: Robin's POV): Present Time

Me and Grace are currently organizing all the things we will need as we used up a total of five boxes out of fifty. There will be a small contingency but I think it is way more than enough to bring such a major number towards the area.

"Forty-five boxes, so you're saying each one will bring nine boxes each in inventory." - Grace

"Yep, well it's not that difficult since it doesn't take up a huge amount of inventory space. It may be a little difficult since we need to save these portable storage boxes so we can't throw it off once one box is empty."

"Yeah, it's quite a waste if we did." - Grace

Thinking about what kind of things to prepare, I did give her more lessons in terms of team management. She was really focused and did learn pretty well during the discussion. So I gave her some examples and try to test her a little bit in some cases.

"Still got things in mind? This time you'll be acting as support leader in this party. Make sure to supplement everyone well in the scenarios I listed down."

"Got it." - Grace

"I have some more personal questions but you can decline answering them."

"Eh?" - Grace

"Well, you're quite intelligent to a major level. Are you at least at the level of honors?"

"H-honors? Not exactly... I mean, I barely hit top one at times..." - Grace

Barely hit top one? It's not that I'm jealous but I can tell that there's pressure involved.

"Pressured?"

"Yeah... It's a family problem so..." - Grace

"Aight, I won't probe any further. Where's everyone though?"

"I think they're coming pretty soon." - Grace

After some more time organizing all the things, the other three members of the party had arrived with a feeling of preparedness. Jay in particular is no longer showing a rush and seriousness but a more calm behavior.

"Aight, I guess we can head out now. The carriage is pretty much ready there but, let's have breakfast first."

"Alright~!"

Everyone agreed in unison and everyone went towards the dining hall. Jay walked pace with me and asked a few questions.

"Robin, is everything set up already?" - Jay

"Yep, we can pretty much finish all of these pretty soon so."

"I see... Thanks, like a lot..." - Jay

"What are you talking about? No need to thank me that much, I'm just trying to look over for you."

"Really?" - Jay

"Yep, I can't have my friends get down into despair can I? So I'll take responsibility to taking care of my team. It's a lesser group than Denzel but heck, I still have to make sure regardless."

Jay smiled but there was something that I never expected for him to do for some unknown reason. He was looking at me for a few seconds before continuing on forward.

We had breakfast and I had a short discussion with Seymour while they waited in the reins and inside the carriage.

"Make sure that everyone stays pretty safe here. The area you're heading to is pretty dangerous even if it's the environment alone." - Seymour

"Yep, I'm going to keep watch when it comes to making everyone survive. Survival is priority and everything else is secondary. So if push comes to shove, I'll risk myself."

"Really? You're an essential member though, I don't think you should get yourself killed." - Seymour

"I know, that's why I don't plan to get killed."

"Pfft... That's right, so don't get yourself killed." - Seymour

I went back to the carriage and heard Seymour shout out before we left the castle.

"Good luck on the adventure!" - Seymour

There was a long trip towards the west and had major discussions with all the members. They were enjoying the trip so far and we even did some things like playing some card games in the carriage.

"Jay, what even."

"Hmm?" - Jay

In present time, it was evening. We had lunch and dinner earlier during the trip, now it was a night where both me and Jay were handling the reins while they were asleep. Somehow, their sleep wasn't interrupted but I just have to make sure everything's fine so I basically made the carriage to stop for the night.

Jay is currently poking my cheek for some unknown reason.

"What and why are you doing that?"

"No reason, just boredom." - Jay

Both of us are simply sitting over the campfire waiting for time to pass.

"Don't you want to sleep too?"

"Nah, I think I'll be fine." - Jay

"You sure? I appreciate that you'll join me in a long night but it will be pretty boring here."

"Yep, it's fine... Since you're also pretty much going to stay up after all." - Jay

The fact that Jay tries to keep me company for the night made me feel a little better. He made me lower down my guard a little bit be we had talked about various things. One such topic gave me interest.

"By the way, how did you all meet?"

"Well, since we're spending the night up I might as well." - Jay

Jay told me the details of where they met. I heard a familiar name of a school.

"Star Academy? We aced that place if I remember..."

"Eh? I remember a single group acing everything there without any trouble. Was it by chance you guys?" - Jay

"Yep, we're the highly honored students of the place. Well, our clashing for second place ended when Karl transferred there for high school."

"I see..." - Jay

"What about how you guys met?"

"Ah right! Well, we all met during first grade. Of course, Kaede wasn't really close and never trusted any of them at the start. I was pretty social so I managed to get a lot of friends immediately. The first ones I talked to are Grace, Terrence, Ridley, and Rylle. Everything was actually pretty fun but there were of course, a lot of incidents that we don't want to talk about." - Jay

"Yeah, I saw that Ridley has some problems related to memory and Grace seems to be living in pressure..."

"Ah, Ridley hasn't lived a nice life either... Grace too seems to have some parental issues so please don't dwell into it too much." - Jay

"Don't worry, unless you guys are going to open it up to me yourselves then I won't pry further."

We talked a bit more and the sleepiness seemed to have caught up to Jay. He ended up sleeping and laid his head on my lap. This seems a little bad but I think it will be fine since nobody like Denzel or Michael would show up.

Morning came up and I still feel pretty much alright despite staying up. We then continued on like normal while we somewhat try to ask Grace why she was nosebleeding.

A couple hours later and we finally stopped the carriage for good. We immediately entered the border of the biome which actually will get rid of gravity, allowing us to fly indefinitely but have problems about air.

"Okay, time for telepathy."

They all nodded in response as we entered into a zone without any form of air but we can have the joy of free flight.

I have an ominous feeling about this...