Time in a collapsing world

"Eh?"

Alicia lowered her head, looked at the hand that penetrated her chest, and then looked up at the boy's face. Why would he do this to her so ruthlessly? It was obviously the first time they met...

"..."

"..."

"...?"

Alicia had closed her eyes and waited for death to come, but the strange thing was that she didn't feel any pain at all. Instead, the boy opposite seemed to have been severely injured and pulled out his hand as if he had seen a ghost. It was unbelievable. He looked at this [similar person], then quickly disappeared deep into the woods with his head in his hands.

"……what happened to him?"

Alicia touched her chest and found that it was unscathed, not even the slightest wrinkle in her clothes.

What a miraculous method, like magic~?

After realizing that she was not affected, Alicia regained her original vitality and became curious about the boy who performed magic on her.

He unexpectedly met someone who was as "different" as him so quickly, so he couldn't let him go so easily~?

So, with this thought in mind, Alicia followed the boy away, even if it would delay her search for [Paradise].

……

Until nightfall, Alicia finally found the boy again, but he was falling asleep now, and it seemed that he had done something extraordinary just now?

In front of Alicia's eyes, the sleeping boy's body and surroundings were covered with the corpses of various strange giant beasts. Some giant beasts were covered with wounds, but some giant beasts had no wounds at all. The cause of death could not be seen with the naked eye, but Alicia knew that this was what the boy had done.

With such a weak body, he can deal with these huge beasts. It seems that this boy is not only beautiful, but also very powerful.

Alicia seemed to have forgotten the boy's behavior that penetrated her chest just now, and walked out from behind the tree where she was hiding, heading towards where the boy was.

"..."

As if he heard Alicia's subtle footsteps, the boy opened his eyes and woke up.

"Who?"

The boy sat up from the pile of corpses and looked in Alicia's direction with dull eyes.

"It's me, Alicia. We just met. You haven't forgotten me, right?"

Alicia waved and greeted him as she approached, without any precautions at all.

"..."

"I just searched for you for a long time. I'm so tired... By the way, why do you sleep in a place like this? Is it really comfortable to sleep here?" Alicia came to the bottom of the pile of corpses. He raised his head and looked up at the boy sitting on the pile of corpses.

"..."

The boy was silent, seemingly choosing silence again as before, but Alicia could tell that this time, the boy was thinking about how to answer his question.

Compared to just now, he seems to have changed in some way...

After making this discovery, Alicia's eyes lit up. After all, if she could communicate well, wouldn't she be able to ask him some questions?

So Alicia cleared her throat and chose to ask again the question she had not gotten the answer to before: "Let me introduce again. My name is Alicia. What is your name?"

"..."

The boy was still silent, with a slight confusion in his eyes. Yes, what is his name?

Guessing what the boy was thinking, Alicia suddenly became excited, "If you don't have a name, would you like me to help you come up with one? I'm the best at naming, Alicia. I started it myself, how about it, does it sound good?"

"..."

Being silenced by Alicia's new question, the boy was thinking about whether the name "Alicia" sounded good or not.

"If you don't speak, that means you're acquiescing!"

Alicia quickly used her little brain, trying to come up with a nice name for the boy before he reacted.

"……No."

But unfortunately, before Alicia could think about it, the boy had already come to his senses and rejected Alicia's kindness.

"Hey~ why not? A name is a very important thing. If you don't have a name, I won't know how to call you in the future."

"……'after'?"

The boy heard the hidden message in Alicia's words.

"Yes, 'in the future', I want to invite you to travel with me, find [Paradise], and then become tourists in [Paradise] together!"

Alicia nodded matter-of-factly, seemingly not thinking that the boy would reject her.

But...if she really refused, would she be sad?

As a new person in this world, the boy didn't have any complicated thoughts, but he just didn't intend to disappoint the girl he met for the first time.

Therefore, the boy agreed to Alicia's invitation by default, but he did not want to leave the name to Alicia because he always felt that the name she gave him would not suit him well.

"If I were to choose a name, it would have to have the word 'love' in it. As for the full name... Amélie? Or Aphelida? They all look pretty good..."

Sure enough, Alicia's muttering was full of factors that made the boy uneasy.

"I have a name, you don't need to give it to me."

Helpless, the boy had no choice but to lie, just to put the matter off temporarily.

"Eh~ Liar."

Alicia decisively exposed it.

"it is true."

"Okay...what is that?"

"..."

"What is it~?"

"...Li."

The boy was already trying his best to use his brain, and finally found the name in his mind temporarily, "My name is Li."

"Well...you must have just gotten up."

"……that's not important."

The important thing is that your name is normal.

"I'm so disappointed... I also wanted to give you a nicer name... But 'Li'... is not a bad name, right? As nice as my 'Alicia'~? "

The boy had a strange look on his face. It was obviously his name, so why did he have to cater to this girl's preferences?

"Then, Li, let's go together. We can't sleep here anymore, otherwise the stench from the corpses will be difficult to wash off."

"Um……"

Now that he has acquiesced to travel with Alicia, Li will not go back on his words, even if he did not verbally agree.

Li jumped down from the pile of corpses, but perhaps because it was the first time he used this body, he fell directly to the ground and gnawed on the mud. It took him a long time to get up.

"Are you okay?"

Alicia asked curiously as she looked at Li's disgraced appearance.

"...It's okay, where are we going next?"

Li patted the dust on his body and asked.

"The next step is of course...huh?"

Alicia blinked her eyes and looked at the uniform woods around her, as if she had lost her sense of direction and suddenly didn't know where to go.

"Hey~ I seem to be lost~?"

"..."