Coming downstairs I could see the whole gang was gathered and eating breakfast, I was the last one down.

“Good morning.”

Smiling towards them I sat down between Lyria and Nyla. Inara glanced towards me while doing a cute pout.

Kissing Lyria on her cheek she giggled cutely.

“Good morning, it’s good to be home.”

I turned towards Nyla and kissed her as well.

“Yeah, I really missed you all. It seems like you girls have come to terms about me being from another world.”

Nyla responded to me with a slight blush before nodding.

“Well it was hard to fathom or even imagine the world you came from and that something like that was even possible. But as Lyria said, you are here now so it doesn't really matter.”

Inara got a serious look on her face.

"I think that we have to keep this a secret between us. If the mage tower finds out they might take Alex into custody so they can study him and extract everything he knows. The church might also either use him as a sign from the gods or hunt him down while calling him an invader or devil..."

Lyria looked horrified at the prospect and instinctively grabbed my hand.

"Yes you're right Ina. We can't let anyone know about this, I didn't even think about it."

Nyla was nodding along agreeing to keep this a secret.

I guess I was too lax and didn't completely consider what me being here actually represented for the people and powers around. It wasn't an everyday occurrence that someone was ported to another world.

I gently stroked Lyria's hand with my thumb.

"It shouldn't be a problem since you are the only one that I have shared this secret with. As long as we keep this to ourselves and you fill me in about a plausible back story from where I'm from then everything should be good."

After making up a story in case I ever needed one the girls were able to relax.

With the matter settled I tried to change the subject.

“So you said that you were going to stay at home for a while?”

Inara looked my way.

“We haven’t decided yet, but we talked about it before we came. All in favor of taking it easy for a couple of months?”

Lyria nodded right away, Cassandra was chewing her lips while seeming out of it.

“Well I was thinking about signing up for the fighting pits I always wanted to try it, but yeah I’m up for staying at home.”

Nyla was the last to answer.

“Then it’s settled we are taking a break for around two months.”

Inara grinned while settling the matter.

“Huh? What I didn’t follow?”

Cassandra was really out of it, she was lost in her thoughts while throwing me glances sometimes. It was uncharacteristic of her not to take charge of a discussion or pay attention to the conversation.

The girls giggled at her reaction.

“Haha, I never thought I would see the day that you of all people would be so out of it.”

Inara laughed the loudest.

While I was smiling at the scene Lyria stroked my thigh under the table. Looking surprised at her she gave me a coy look while licking her lips, before turning back to her breakfast.

***

Nyla was exercising in the back yard. After breakfast, Alex and Lyria had gone to the orphanage for a visit and settle some matters for his project.

It was good to be home, but she still didn’t know how to proceed with Alex, Lyria and Inara made it look so easy. But she always went completely blank when she wanted to get closer to him.

Sighing she threw herself into training, thinking about it only made her more depressed while getting her nowhere. She could only try to follow Inara's advice and be herself, the problem was that she didn’t know how to do that around him.

“Hey Nyla.”

Alex called out to her while stepping outside.

She lost herself in the motions and didn’t even notice how long she was out training, looking up she saw that the sun had moved considerably since she started.

“Hey, Alex. Are you done with your errand?”

She saw Alex scratching his head while having a slight smile.

“Yeah, I just got back and came for some exercise myself. I’ve really improved while you were gone, watch this.”

Getting a big smile on his face he looked into her eyes before taking a deep breath shifting into a concentrated look for a couple of seconds, after exhaling he went into a full sprint in the limited area they had.

He was going at a decent clip, it wasn’t anything special. But compared to how he was before their trip it was a clear improvement.

Smiling happily at how cute he looked showing his progress to her like this.

She clapped her hands while nodding towards him.

“That’s really good, I see you have been diligent in your training while we were gone.”

Seeing her reaction he got a strained smile on his face while scratching his head.

“Well I kinda made a technique for myself since just using mana for empowering had limited results. It’s still far from what I intended it to be but I’m a lot stronger now than before.”

Gaping her mouth she couldn’t believe what he said, but making a technique that actually worked was only something geniuses could do. The only other cases where when old monsters through sheer experience and expertise did it.

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

He was positively glowing in pride when he saw her reaction. He started to explain it to her, something about making a proper exoskeleton structure with mana that overlaid his body and focused the reinforcement on the bones and muscles while having a defensive layer outside the skin. With some kind of specific shape grid structure that overlapped the human skeleton and muscles to support them like the foundation of a building, she didn’t really understand exactly what he meant as it was so different from the usual methods but it sounded complicated.

Nodding towards him she acted like she was following what he said and when he was done she happily smiled while congratulating him.

“That’s really amazing. Making something that works is a real feat, I’m proud of you.”

Hoping that she said the right thing she gave him a thumbs up.

“Thanks, I still have a long way to go. It’s really hard to hold everything together, especially while moving.”

“Don’t worry about it that’s normal. It wasn’t that long ago that you even awakened so the progress you have shown so far is really impressive.”

She mentally patted herself on the back for not saying for a guy, it was good that she showed some tact here. Inara would be proud.

Nyla hadn’t really planned to train for so long, but since Alex was here she decided to extend her stay. Since these were the moments she could most easily spend time with him. Maybe she could find something to talk about outside training as well.

Her plans didn’t pan out since she didn’t know how to broke any subject, going blank whenever she wanted to talk to him didn’t help.

When it was getting close to dinner time she was bummed out since she didn’t make any progress again. Slumping her shoulders she turned towards Alex, before she could figure out what to say or do.

“Hey Nyla, we haven’t really done anything together outside training. I feel kinda bad about how I have been neglecting you…”

“No no no, it’s not your fault. I never proposed or did anything myself so you don’t have to worry about it…”

Shaking her head after the initial shock, she had been so passive that he was taking charge again.

Damn it, no wonder she had so few friends and never got close to any men. Unless the people around her initiated she would always just stand there like a doofus not doing anything.

“No still, is there anything you want to do?”

Alex looked gently towards her, she felt her heartbeat getting louder while her face heated up. This was a golden opportunity, a chance.

“Uuuhhh… We could… schedule our training together?”

‘NOOOOO! You idiot.’

Lamenting about how stupid she was in her head she was frantically searching for a way to salvage the situation.

Alex got a coy smile on his face while raising an eyebrow.

“No I thought about something else, we are already training together every day. Well I wonder if you could help me with my project in a couple of days. And if there is anything you want to do or just sit down for a talk find me. Okay?”

Nyla nodded towards him while mentally berating herself. She didn’t even notice he stepped up to her, not until he put his hands on her shoulder and pulled her down toward him. She was going on autopilot until she saw his face right in front of her, and he gave her a deep kiss.

“I wouldn’t mind spending the night with you either.”

Winking towards her after he pulled back she stood there shell-shocked. It was like lightning coursed through her body when he put his tongue in her mouth and her mind went completely blank. It was so different compared to her first kiss, and the pecks he gave her.

Standing there dazed while licking her lips remembering the sensation, after a few moments she jolted.

‘Nooo! You just stood completely and utterly still while he did everything. Inara would berate me so hard if she finds out…’

Her face went red when she remembered how forward he was, he even said that he wouldn’t mind spending the night with her. But this was to fast, she wasn’t ready.

She wanted to do it right, follow the steps like in the stories she read. They would first get to know each other than go on a date where she would show off how strong she was while dazzling him and making him blush by her womanliness. On the way home, he would throw shy glances towards her and she would take his hand in hers. When they finally got home she would pick him up give him a loving kiss and carry him to bed where they would consummate their love.

But now a kiss was enough to knock her off her game. She couldn’t even imagine how she would react to the real thing. It was Nyla that acted like the shy bachelor not the other way around. The whole script was completely flipped.

Shaking her head Nyla promised herself that she would do better next time, and when she was confident in herself then she would lift him up and carry him to her room like a real woman. But first she had to help him with his project and become more natural and relaxed around him.