Ruan opened the pot lid, taking a spoonful of stew then brought it up to her mouth to taste. "The soup's ready."

"Nice." Nian stood up. "I'll go get Youmu."

Ruan ruffled through their leather bags and brought out wooden bowls with wooden spoons, handing them out with the stew to Mat and then to the rest after they arrived.

Mat cupped the bowl in his hand. He could smell the meat and spice wafting through the air. "Can I really?"

Ruan nodded.

Taking a spoonful, he dug right in. "It's really, really good."

"If you think that's good, you should really try my cooking next time." Nian said through her full mouth. She filled up her bowl again, only to offer it to Mat. "Your wolf's not gonna eat?"

"I tried giving some, but he won't take it." Mat said, taking the bowl from Nian and bringing it up to the wolf. The wolf turned down his offer with a grunt. "It's probably because he doesn't have a physical body anymore."

"What's that mean?"

"This fella already died once. I used my magic to bring him back alive, but I can only give him a mana form."

"Right, you had that Soulmancy skill thingy." Nian twirled her spoon with her fingers. "I've heard of Necromancy, but this is the first time I've heard of something like yours."

They continued on with their small talk throughout breakfast, with Mat and Nian doing most of the talking. Ruan joined the conversation from time to time when she had something to ask, while Youmu didn't even try.

After breakfast, Ruan brought the bowls and spoons and pot to the nearby river where she washed them. Mat joined her, splitting the work fifty-fifty.

"Is it really okay for me to tag along?" Mat said.

"Sure." Ruan said. "I don't think we mind- just don't do anything funny."

Mat nodded. "What about Youmu?"

Ruan turned back to the rest by the campfire before giving away a slight smile. "That's just her being herself. Don't worry about it."

"If you say so." Mat said all the while continuing with washing the dishes. After a while, he found himself staring at Ruan's rabbit ears out of boredom. Now that he thought about it, he still couldn't believe that Nian, Ruan, and Youmu weren't actually human. But seeing the two ears on top of their heads and the fluffy tails puffing out of their lower backs, he couldn't really deny it.

Still, he wanted proof. Real evidence that these bunny ears were the real deal.

"Hey Ruan."

"Yeah?"

"Can I take a look at your ears?"

Mat was curious. He felt like he was drawn to it, eager to find out how it worked. He wanted to see if they really weren't humans as they said they were.

Mat more or less believed he was inside a fantasy world, though that didn't mean he'd magically believe everything he saw at face value. After all, he was still a firm believer of science- more or less.

"Uhm, sure." Ruan said, running her fingers to both her ears before moving closer to Mat.

Mat fondled her ears as if he was looking for something. A headband maybe, a prop hidden in the hair, or anything that would indicate it being fake. He even tried poking inside.

"Ouch."

"Oops, my bad."

Yup, they were real.

. . .

The cold night wind passed by. Mat sat under the night sky, the thousands of stars dotting the nightscape like a painting. He was stargazing, letting his mind wander as he leaned back on his wolf asleep behind him.

In the city, he couldn't imagine seeing this anywhere. All the skies were dull and black, monotone with nothing to offer him. Here though, the sky burst to color and life, refueling his sense of wonder like he was a kid again.

He still remembered his childhood dream. When he looked up at the stars one clear night out in the countryside, that was when he wanted to become an astronaut. Out in outer space, exploring the moon. But time passed, and that dream of his grew further and further out of reach. It didn't really grow further away though, it was just that his child self didn't realize what it needed to take to get there.

People mature, and people's outlook on life change. Mat was still eighteen, but he was scared that the more he grew, the more his sense of wonder would leave him. Someday he imagined himself completely boring and passive, blending into society like the rest and maybe working an office job.

Everything would end up constant. You wake up, maybe go to school or work a part-time job, go home, sleep- then the cycle continues over and over and over again. But here, in this fantasy world he knew so little of, every single day was a new experience- a new journey. Just in the past few days he's seen corpses, created magic, and even met real life rabbit girls like the ones in playboy magazines.

Mat then came to a question. What do I want?

He turned left and right, finding Nian and Ruan all sleeping on the grass without a care in the world. Not Youmu though, she was still up and about, keeping watch further down by the river bank. Maybe she still didn't trust him, but then again he couldn't even do anything to them even if he tried. These girls were much, much stronger than him. Even with that though, they still agreed to let him join them until they reached the next city.

Still, seeing them together, it started to dawn on Mat that he might not even want to go back home.

When he came into this place, his sole goal was to survive. Now that he has a wolf to stand by him, with everyday food taken care of by the girls, what was his next to-do list?

When he eventually reaches the city and his short journey with the girls come to an end, what would he do next?

"Thinking is hard." He shoved away the thought for later. He'll think about it when he has to think about it, but for now, he just needs to live in the moment without worrying about what's to come. It really wasn't like him to think so hard about these things.

"Oh right." Mat turned to stand, staring at the wolf behind him who was glowing a green glow. "I still haven't given you a name yet."

Mat pondered for a while, moving back and forth before finally settling on one. "Right, let's call you Amigo."

He smirked to himself, thinking how silly the name was. But he felt that it fit him. After all, the wolf was his first ever friend in this fantasy world. He thought of other names like slashy, seeing the scar on the wolf's side, but it felt wrong naming him based on what killed him in the first place.

"Yeah, let's go with Amigo." Mat ran his fingers through Amigo's fur before plopping himself over the wolf like a warm fuzzy bed.

"It feels great having a bed that follows you everywhere you go."

"Get to sleeping already." Youmu said from the distance.