When I initially displayed my control, I didn't think too deeply about anything, really. That was the way it was. But… I soon realized that I'd be worked like a horse. And of course, I was…
"Hehe, nice work, Mr. Lumberjack," Julia teased, giggling as she and Lena picked up the plank.
As it turned out, the wood here was quite hard. The others had difficulty dealing with it, except for the 3 who could mend them to their will. And so, I was assigned the role, 'lumberjack.'
Noel and Emely suggested we pressurize water into jets, and since the other 4 elementalists couldn't. They turned to me. I suggested they blast sand...
Either way, I found myself chopping down trees alone, making planks as the others carried them to dry and char in the fire to make the wood more resilient.
I wouldn't have thought of it myself, but the others seemed into it, especially the guys. Though I reason the girl's motivations were more about survival. But several of them had fun either way, just spending time with their crushes.
Maya mostly lingered on Oliver. Lena and Kurt. Ida and Andreas. Julia, as subtle as she thought she was, obviously held affection for Noel. But Signe and Malin had their eyes on him as well.
Good luck, I suppose.
Then, after a few hours of work, it was 7:21:50. My body was heavy; a mild migraine constantly harassed me. I saw how the others had fun despite the circumstances, but…
Am I not simply a glorified chainsaw? No matter. I think I'm grasping this magic stuff.
.. ..
A few hours ago, Noel and the others drew a blueprint for the 'base'. Luckily, someone had a ruler on hand, saving us from headaches.
They came up with a base of triangles, connecting the trees, forming it into a hexagon. It took some effort from Lova, Oliver, and Julia to mend the upper midsection of the trees outward, but it worked.
Not going to lie, Noel has always been cool like this, and I'm proud to be his childhood friend. But there's so much pressure on him. I'm glad he has Professor Emely to lean on.
I was unsure of how best to help him. Ever since we were children, he has been the one helping me. I proved that I was able to stand on my own and be dependable, but… he never showed vulnerability even once.
Always strong, leads people, makes them smile. Girls always fawned over him, but he never dated one—that was my childhood friend.
Strangely, we never thought more of the other more than a brother or sister-from-another-mother.
Then one day, he talked about Alum all excitedly—I did wonder if he swung that way at the time, but he clearly didn't.
—Sigh…
There were so many conflicting feelings in my chest. Like… where were we? Was the a way home? How were my parents doing? A scarier thought: would we survive?
I didn't have the answer to those questions and tried my best to stay strong. But… I'm exhausted.
..
The sun was about to set, but the forest was still colorful and bright. It was very pretty.
When I headed to see how Alum was doing, Kurt and the other earth users split rocks into floor tiles, grinding them until they became smoother.
Another thing to note was that we'd all become stronger physically as well. Carrying all this would be tremendous work; it was, but not as strenuous as one would expect.
There wasn't much to do anymore; the base was sturdy, and we had a roof over our heads, an almost finished floor, low walls, and a fireplace. There were many things yet to be done, but this was enough for now.
I'm honestly impressed by how much we'd accomplished during these few hours—I don't doubt that this could become quite a cozy place.
Then, I saw him.
Even though he could stop for today, he continued and prepared for tomorrow. He was always listless in class. But seeing this, I couldn't help it; something stirred within me again.
He was drenched in either water or sweat, perhaps both. His collarbones were visible; the top of his long-armed linen shirt was partly unbuttoned. I didn't know what it was, but seeing the sleeves rolled up made my heart skip.
Mou… It's bad for my heart… I told myself, clasping my chest.
Making it worse, it clung to him and was slightly see-through. A droplet trickled down his chin, down his neck, and collarbones.
As if to accentuate his gem-like golden eyes, the flora's luminescent lights perfectly illuminated them. Not only that, the droplets in his jet-black hair glimmered, twinkling in the warm lights.
—Haaah…
Deep breaths…
"Working hard, I see," I said as I walked closer.
"You think?" he replied, his eyes half-lidded, lips lightly parted as he lightly tilted his head.
He always had such an indifferent expression. But it's cute.
"I mean, you've been at it for a few hours—surely you're tired," I said, unconsciously resting my hands on my hips.
"I suppose there is some fatigue. But not bad—"
"You're not lying?" I abruptly cut him off. "A few got dizzy from exertion and rested frequently, but I don't think I've yet to see you rest at all!"
"Pff…" He lightly chuckled. "I do take them, you just catch me at a bad time whenever you come by."
Ugh…
"If you say so…" I searched my pocket, "Here," I added, handing him my only chocolate bar.
He looked at it, then at me. "I think you'd better have it," he said.
"Why?" I asked.
He appeared to tiptoe around answering before saying, "Y'know… you didn't appear that well yesterday."
Huh…?
"…"
I could feel my ears slowly heat up as he silently averted his eyes, scratching his cheek. No… it wasn't only my ears, but I'm probably beet red.
"Per—"
"I-Insensitive!" I ended up yelling as I cut him off, then pushed the chocolate onto him. "I'm fine," I said, quickly making my escape.
.. ..
—And there she goes.
I glanced at the chocolate in my hand. Then, at Miu, who ran away.
Pff… that's adorable.
Putting the chocolate in my pocket, I stretched. I needed to see the results of today's work, thus draining the water and sweat from my clothes. It really was convenient.
When I joined up with them, they were all fatigued; most of them mustered a smile as they saw me, handing me fruits. Then, after a while, more people gathered around the trunk.
"Good work, everyone," Noel and Emely said.
"Likewise," everyone replied.
"Now, some of you have already been up there. But as for the rest, how does it look from the outside?" Noel asked.
"Quite fancy for noobies, I'd say," Oscar said.
The others agreed. Excitement built as they chattered among themselves.
Emely clapped her hands. "Well then, should we head up?" she said, smiling despite the exhaustion.
"Yes!" the others cheered.
..
One after another, they climbed up a ladder. An elevator was planned, but there wasn't enough time for that today; it was getting dark. Then again, the forest was bright enough.
It was a decent place, I'd say. There was an already lit fireplace. The walls were tall enough to protect from the wind and rain. This place was more designed like a public area, and proper housing was due.
I'm sure most of them have wondered if there was a civilization out there. There could possibly be one, but that was a risk nobody would currently consider.
Still, most of them passed out as soon as they got to sit down. A few liked their private space, and others huddled together with jackets over them as it got increasingly cold; the fire wasn't enough.
On the other hand, Noel leaned on one of the pillars, looking out while the rest slumbered. He presumably planned on staying awake all night. I walked up to him after making sure Emely had fallen asleep.
"Are you not going to rest? The others fell asleep pretty fast," he said, flashing me a grin.
"What about you?" I returned the question.
He shrugged.
"I'm fine for the most part. Just a little sore now that I think about it."
I stretched out a hand, patting his head.
"…Ruffling my hair, are we?" he chuckled. "What am I, a kid?" he inquired, turning his gaze forward, looking out into the night.
"Don't like it?" I asked.
"It's… You have a pretty childish way of expressing affection, don't you?"
"Should I stop?"
"…" He paused. "Well, it's not bad once in a while," he added. A light, somewhat exhausted laugh escaped.
"Good work," I simply said.
His silver eyes turned to me, widening for a moment before his lips tugged into a warm smile.
"You too, man. You too."