After waiting for about an hour in the terminal, we finally boarded an available cab and made ourselves comfy for the long ride.

The cab itself wasn't fully soundproof since the windows needed to be open to let the fresh air in, but the cabman was sitting outside, so the chances of him overhearing our conversations is low if we spoke in a soft voice.

"Alright, here."

Kaena pulled a notebook out of her bag. While flipping through the pages, she said, "There was this one time back in middle school where my friends gave me a lot of food for my birthday. But, the problem was, we didn't know how to store it. Nobody in our family was highly skilled enough to use ice magic to preserve it, and we didn't have enough money to buy more mana crystals. Selling the food would just be rude, and the taste would get ruined when you try to preserve it in salt.

"In the end, despite our best efforts to finish them all, more than half expired by three days. After that, I dedicated three years of my life to learning the principles of the element. In doing so, I designed a device wherein it would preserve your food in a frozen container for weeks to slow down the decomposition. Here, look at this."

She showed me a drawing of what seemed to be a huge, rectangular box. It had a door and shelves inside of it.

"This machine will still be powered by mana crystals, but the user doesn't need any magic skills to use it. The tubes here convert the mana into heat energy, and when arranged in this pattern -- "

"A refrigerator!" I screamed out loud as soon as I noticed it. "You're building a fridge!"

"H-Huh?" Kaena was bewildered over my sudden exclamation.

"I can't believe it, you're building a fridge! Don't you know how long I've been waiting for something like this?! Finally, this world's technology is starting to reach 21st Century standard of living, I was worried I would have to wait another millennium to see any real progress!"

"U-Uhh, yeah, I guess?" Kaena was visibly confused.

I mean, I don't blame her.

But wow, a refrigerator!

No more freezing ingredients with ice spells or putting salt in them!

All of a sudden I feel excited about the Technology Fair.

Who knows, maybe someone there will invent an air fryer?

"Ahem. Please excuse me." I calmed myself down. "Now, you were saying? You're gonna build a refrigerator?"

"I still haven't thought of a name for this yet, so I don't know where you got the name "Re-fi-je-ray-tor", Hisami."

........

Oops.

Right. Kaena is oblivious to the fact that she invented what amounts to modern technology.

"Based on your reaction... You know what this thing is?" Kaena looked genuinely terrified. "If so, then all of my years of hard work..."

Tears were starting to form in her eyes.

"Ahh! Nonononononononono! You've got it all wrong!" I shook my hands. "It's just... Umm... How do I explain this..."

Uh oh.

I might have overdone it with my reaction back there.

Having been used to primitive technology, it was genuinely shocking to me to finally witness something that reminded me back of my old home.

As a result, I probably made Kaena think her invention wasn't original.

That being said, how do I justify my reaction then?

How do I come up with a convincing cover story?

Can I even lie my way out of this?

"........"

No.

She was staring at me with teary eyes.

How could I lie to such a poor thing?

In the end, I guess this was inevitable. No matter how many decades I keep it a secret, I figured that the fact that I came from another world would eventually come out for as long as I live.

I mean, can you explain how I've managed to survive for so long while my physical body doesn't age?

Only powers beyond our reach could do such a thing.

She deserves to know the truth.

And I think it's time this whole world knows about my truth.

But first, I'll start with Kaena.

"Kaena."

"...Yes?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

In the end, I hesitantly told my backstory, from the time of my death at the hospital to the first step I took on Langle Field.

I figured I could stay silent about the decades I've spent this world since she only needs to know how I knew about her invention.

Damn refrigerator.

My saving grace and my potential downfall.

"And that's the gist of it," I said, finishing my story. I looked her in the eyes for a bit, then lowered my head. "Please, do not tell anyone about this. I originally planned to take this secret with me to the grave, but now it has gone to this, I prefer to disclose this information myself."

"...Don't worry, Hisami." She took my hand in hers and gave me an assuring smile. "I won't tell a soul. I promise."

"Thank you," I said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Honestly, it's not that I didn't want people to know that I wasn't from this world originally, but I didn't know what the general reaction would be if people found out about it.

Which is a little scary.

But, as for the person in front of me...

"Wow, that's so cool!"

It was met with fascination.

"A world where almost everything is automated, where you can contact people across the world by pressing a single button on a - what did you call it again? A smart-fone? That's so cool! I want to live in a world like that as well!"

Instant long-range communication. So it is possible after all, Kaena whispered to herself.

"Unlike here though, there is no magic back there. We relied on pure scientific breakthroughs to get where we were then."

"I see... So the presence of mana in this world makes certain things more efficient compared to your world, which could explain the slow progress of technology development in this world..."

"I guess that's one way of looking at it."

"Your parents cried when you died, huh... Is that what true parental love is, I wonder?"

"Hmm?"

"No, nothing. Forget about it." Kaena shook her head and glanced at me with determination in her eyes. "You said you wanted to live in a modern world like that again, right? In that case, I'll work hard to help advance this world's technology to reach that level in no time!"

"...Thank you, Kaena. It means a lot to me."

"so, so!" She placed her head on her hands, and her elbow on her thighs. "Tell me more about the technology of your world!"

"Sure. So I had this thing back in my home that blows out hot hair, and when you let it blow near your hair it makes the water evaporate fast..."

I spent the rest of the trip telling Kaena about all the modern innoventaions I could think of back on Earth, while she listened attentively like a kid hearing her idol speak.