When the rest of the food I had cooked up was dealt with, Akitsu, Musubi and I went to the maintenance shed in the back of the school that had all the outdoor stuff and mounted on the walls were a key chain board that had several marked key rings for the golf-carts, the buses, and several other vehicles.
But with us wanting to not make a fuck load of noise in using a bus, not to mention a bus not having any off-road capabilities which would be needed for the next zones needed to reach the Sekirei's group.
Our only option was the go-carts, with the go-carts being battery powered so after making sure they were charged. I grabbed the batteries out of the other two carts and then we drove back to the kitchen where Musubi said. "Ok! Now to load up everything!" She cheered happily.
I nodded as I looked at the golf kart and I said. "The Golf Kart is one of the large six seater ones, and it says here on the side in the warning labels that it can carry eight hundred pounds comfortably, or tow a thousand pounds."
Thankfully we also found an outdoor cart that was clearly meant for carting around wood cuttings and other debris so we could hook that up to the golf kart. But either way I looked to the girls and said. "Within the weight limit, we should probably be bringing highly condensed food like dried vegetables and food staples like rice."
But then Musubi raised a hand and asked curiously. "What about freeze-dried meat my Ashikabi?"
I tilted my head to the side and considered that... Then I said firmly. "Load up all the rice and dried vegetables first. Then we will take the meat if we can."
Granted yes the meat would be extremely good to have in freeze-dried form. But I knew it was also a bit annoying to be ready for cooking beyond being used in soup or something like that.
Both girls nodded with Musubi grinning and giving Akitsu a little nudge. "Ok! Then I will start loading up the rice and vegi's! Jake you and Akitsu grab some tea bags or whatever as that will make a lot of people happy when you bring it!" She said.
Then the excited physical type Sekirei ran into the pantry with a metallic clanging noise ringing out as she grabbed two huge fifty-pound bags of rice in each hand.
"Alot of the people like tea... So let's get some." Akitsu said as she strode into the secondary pantry that was filled with more expensive goods like dried tea leaves, instant soup mix, and along more niche things like the spice mixes for the cooks to make things like Kimchi apparently.
Once we were in the other room Akitsu spoke quietly. "So. How did you end up here without being a waifu or husbando from the Company?"
I shrugged and I answered honestly. "The Company isn't the only organization in the Omniverse... When I died, my soul was simply not compatabile for any cheats I could get before I would normally get sent to another world."
Akitsu remained silent as I took a breath and continued. "I needed the whisps of the Primordial Energy that came from those Primordial Energy Items I been picking up. And with the points I get from the items, I can basically purchase any cheat I want at some point."
'Assuming I survive that long.' I thought with a wry smile.
But after a long minute as Akitsu and I were sorting through stuff, she spoke softly. "Do you think that a cheat you got. Could fix my broken Sekirei sigil?"
She wasn't even seemingly asking me, but more of herself but hearing her question I said honestly. "I don't think I need that really. You at your core are a Company waifu, and thus you naturally form a soul bound with whoever you fall in love with with the Sekirei bond coming naturally as well."
Akitsu was silent for a while as I gathered a box of a couple thousand cane sugar packets.
Until she seemingly spoke to herself. "Sekirei aren't able to wing themselves on other waifus... Or even other Husbando's of the Company, our clone nature and those soul bonds you mentioned superscede our natural reacting process."
Then I felt the room become a bit cooler as I watched Akitsu shift slightly as with a slight blush entering her cheek. "But you aren't a clone... You are a normal human which is the prime target of Sekirei's."
The issue with Vtuber waifus and other people that came from base earth was that they could and would happily tell everyone they met how shit their lives typically would be in their home universe.
So it was clear that Akitsu naturally had more of an enlightened outlook on her current status. Hell I would be surprised if she herself weren't looking for some kind of cure for her status as a 'Scrapped Number' with how there were countless waifu clones and husbando's in this hell universe.
"Anyway... Let's get this stuff moved to the cart." I said as I hefted up the box of sugar packets and the tin can I had that was filled with dried tea stuff apparently.
Akitsu nodded with something in her eyes... But I was hoping she would wait until we met back up with her group before she did anything. As I was honestly needing a break from all the excitement before more happened.
As we came out of the other storage area I saw that Musubi had already stacked several large rice bags and some tins that contained dried meat into the cart.
I raised an eyebrow as I saw Musubi coming out of the other storage room with another four large bags of rice on her shoulders and she grinned before calling out. "Ello Ashikabi! Oh you got some goodies as well haha."
I nodded and then after Musubi carefully put the bags of rice down she eagerly hopped over the cart and then my arms were filled with curvy Sekirei flesh as Musubi's bright pink wings flared from her back as her kiss created a bridge between our souls.
And as we broke the kiss and her Sekirei wings naturally faded slightly Musubi giggled and spoke excitedly. "Oh! Hey Jake... Can you do me the biggest favor please please please!?"
Being totally overwhelmed by Musubi's energy I could only helplessly nod with her grinning and then I froze as she literally picked me up a foot off the ground like a baby with her hands lifting me from my armpits.
And then she spun me around with her saying brightly. "Amazing! Now fix Akitsu's broken crest! I know you can do it since you are my Ashikabi!"
Never... Never have I ever felt this fucking awkward as I stared into Akitsu's flummoxed grey dark eyes.
It was like someone picked you up and said. 'Hey! You are a doctor right? Fix my friend's cancer for me!' When in reality you were just a dentist...'
But as I felt Musubi's stare into my back as she pushed me towards Akitsu. I could only ride the waves of overactive Sekirei whose entire species was even lewder than the worst of hentai elves.
I landed in front of Akitsu and I took a breath before asking her. "Can I try winging you Akitsu?"
She chewed on her lower lip before she slowly nodded with a flush and so I gently cupped the bottom of her jawline and then I closed in for a kiss.
And the moment our lips met, my legs gave out with Akitsu instantly wrapping her arms around me and dipping down to kiss me as I was robbed of all strength and I couldn't even close my eyes as I was already fucking blinded.
A loud sound of ice in the measure of glaciers shattering and moving rang out as blinding winds of icy silver shot out of Akitsu's back with such force that they filled up the cafeteria while my vision darkened with complete and utter exhaustion.
'My Aura... It formed the soul bridge on its own when she couldn't make the Sekirei-Ashikabi bond.' I thought with Akitsu's large breasts pushing onto my chest as she hugged me tighter with her kiss deepening.
"Woohoo! That's my Ashikabi! His love is so strong that it can even get past Akitsu's broken crest haha!" Musubi cheered and then I felt some strength return to me... But from Musubi somehow?
And I realized that she was pouring her Sekirei blend of psychic/magic energy that helped fill my empty aura stores which prevented me from just passing straight out.
Finally I broke the kiss with Akitsu with her hands going to my own to gently put them between her large full breasts that were somewhat on display due to her deeply cut robe.
"This is the ice of my pledge Jake. I will be your Sekirei forevermore until death do us part." Akitsu whispered.
I squeezed her hands that had taken my own and I said gently. "Ok, girls. I don't think I rightly can drive the golf cart for a full day something trip. I am going to need some rest."
The two Sekirei looked at one another before they looked at me with curiosity. "Alright, this realm's sun is obviously supernatural so we shoudn't sleep here." Akitsu said more measuredly.
But even as she spoke, she had only let go of one of my hands and had the one she was holding intertwined within her own hand while I was feeling obviously overwhelmed by all this.
Either way, I pushed down my human reaction to be put off by the hyper-affectionate Sekirei and I asked. "What was the next minature realm you said? A ruined city?"
To which Akitsu and Musubi nodded with Musubi saying quickly. "Yup! The city is super messed up, and its got some giant humanoid cockroaches that we killed whenever we saw them!"
I raised an eyebrow hearing that and after thinking, and actually feeling the weight of my exhausted eye's as my aura was completely tapped and my very soul was stretched to its limit. I finally just nodded and said. "Fine... I can rest my head on Musubi's shoulder, if something happens just pick me up and carry me while we look for a safe house for a minute."
With that, I went to sit down while Akitsu got behind the wheel of the golf cart that was going to be pulling the cart filled with our supplies.
-
With my head relaxing against Musubi I listened more than anything as I just tried to regather my strength. As I obviously didn't exactly know all the secrets of aura. Hell for all I knew there was a special breathing technique that could make it recharge faster.
But either in the meantime I just tried to relax as Akitsu drove the golf cart that was pulling the cart filled with supplies out of the massive school campus realm and into the next one.
And it was... Very clear when we hit the next realm, my mind that was drifting in exhaustion was jolted awake slightly as we went from high quality smoother black top, to the harder more rough asphalt of the so called ruined city.
"It's always weird going from one realm to another that's not an indoor thing." Musubi muttered to herself and I opened up my eyes and my lips twitched as I saw what she meant.
Back in the school realm previously there was that weird supernatural sun floating above our heads. But here it was already seemingly closer to night in twilight and the western-style city we were driving through was in clear ruin.
"Damn... I bet there is a bunch of Primordial Energy Item's inside these ruined skyscrapers." I muttered as I looked around as we were driving through the downtown section of the ruined city.
Musubi's arm that was around my waist gave me a slight squeeze as she spoke more quietly as she was endlessly looking around for threats. "We didn't even look for them, the roaches were really mean and tried to eat us. But I am stronger than they are and Akitsu can deal with them from a distance."
I nodded knowing well that Akitsu was one of the stronger Sekirei in being one of the single-digit numbered Sekirei... Though on that topic, I couldn't help but wonder if Musubi still had Yume inside of herself like in Sekirei canon?
Or would her status as a clone preclude her from having Yume within herself?
"We need to deliver the supplies, Jake, once we get to our group. I am sure if you explain how you can buy supplies and other goodies. They will help funnel some PEI's over to you." Musubi said reasonably and I nodded in agreement as I sat uprightly with Musubi throwing a pout at me for no longer leaning on her.
But as we drove past an intersection I felt the tense silence of the dead ruined city and I couldn't help but look around at the ruined skyscrapers surrounding us.
And as I did so, I shivered as I saw them.
Tall humanoid figures, like four meters tall and dark with their hardened exoskeletons with large bulging white eyes on their horrific human and bug-like faces.
"They are watching us," I said slowly as I saw the figures in shattered windows and atop the roof's just staring at us.
And Akitsu said coldly. "They remember us... Or more specifically myself as my ice is very effective in freezing them to death."
I looked back ahead of us and blinked as I saw a sprinting humanoid form shoot out of one of the nearby skyscrapers heading towards our golf cart. And before I could even pull up my shotgun that was resting in my lap a large spike of ice shot up from the ground through the chest of the massive cockroach.
'Shit... Yeah, those are the cockroaches from Terraformers.' I mused as I could finally recognize them better.
And they were definitely intelligent to at least some level, even if they were likely confined to this realm like the other monsters I had seen were. "Wait can I sell these monsters as well?"
To which Akitsu said calmly. "Yes, they are natives to the realm so they are seemingly worth two to three points each. But gathering all the corpses together and sending them to someone with one of the cross-dimensional bracelets aren't really worth it."
I deadpanned as I had gotten literally close to a thousand points for dealing with all those zombies and the few mutated zombies of the previous school realm.
And if there were a couple thousand of these bug fuckers here at least, that could be enough points for me to get a cheat I wanted!
"Well... I have my own bracelet. Maybe when your group hears about the huge stores of the food stored at the school realm I can get some credits from them." I mused more to myself while wondering if my slug shotgun shells could even kill them honestly.
I was thinking that yes they could. But that wasn't exactly something I was overly excited to test.
"The exit to the realm seems to be the highways leading out of the city, thankfully the car's aren't just piled up on the roads too badly." Akitsu spoke out and as we got out of the downtown area and onto the highways I paused as my bracelet pinged out a PEI on the very road itself.
"There is a PEI right on the road around us, can we stop for it?" I asked with a wry smile.
And Musubi said easily. "Yeah, that should be fine. It's not like our supplies are going to spoil or anything."
As we kept driving I was able to break into a couple of the wrecked cars and even had Musubi rip open a large trash can so I could grab another four Primordial Energy Item's..
And seeing the grand total of forty points entering my point counter... I was reminded how groups were once again by far the best method of combing through places to get points.
'Speaking of other groups... I wonder how that battle waifu group is doing?' I thought as I remembered Yang, Sinder, Rebecca, and Lucy in that other group me and Mizuhara met.
But after another twenty minutes of driving on the highway, my vision blurred and then abruptly darkened as the falling sun in the ruined city realm abruptly disappeared and we were in pitch darkness.
"Ok! Now we are in the super spooky forest!" Musubi called out and I looked around in the rather dim lightning the golf cart provided along with the flashlight on my shotgun.
And we were now on a well-pressed gravel forest road that was completely surrounded by large tree's with the only light sources being the bright full moon that seemed especially large.
Like when I stared at the moon, I raised up my fist and extending my fist outwards my full arm length, the moon was still a good deal bigger than my fist could cover up.
"So... Any monsters here?" I asked curiously.
And both girls shook their heads with a slight frown crossing Musubi's face that I could barely see in the relative darkness.
"Nope, we crisscrossed this realm a good bit looking for things like farms or even something like a grain depot. But there is nothing but forests as far as the eye can see. And although we saw some deer, and other normal animals. We didn't see anything... Weird." Musubi explained.
Every realm was dangerous in its own way... The first realm I really went into was a mall where I met Mizuhara and it had an oversized radroach of some sort, the next was the fake subdivision realm that had all those Micheal Myser clones.
And the next one in the school realm had all those zombies, the point being is that every realm I had been to so far. Did have something dangerous in it in some way.
"Does every realm have a monster or something?" I asked curiously.
And Akitsu quickly replied more calmly. "Yes and no, yes they do always have something dangerous about them. But the danger doesn't need to specifically be a monster. Not to mention that should you just kill the monsters or dangers within a realm, it's not like they respawn out of nowhere."
I jumped slightly as a rabbit shot past the golf cart down the road making Musubi giggle and say. "It's alright Jake. Me and Akitsu ran all along this realm previously looking for things and couldn't find anything, any monster in here has very specific parameters before it can come out I bet."
And she was right... I remained tense against her as we drove through the dark forest for several hours where nothing happened besides us seeing some natural wildlife. However, I couldn't help but wonder how the wildlife lived in this realm.
But after several hours we reached the next realm without issue in what was apparently a reflection of a large hospital and its grounds. "Well. I am glad we don't have to attempt to drive our golf cart through the hospital itself."
Then I paused as I asked. "Did you girls check inside the hospital for food?"
And both girls grimaced before Musubi said darkly. "Inside the hospital are a bunch of weird zombies or whatever that have been taken over by really nasty plants that control the zombies bodies."
I blinked hearing that and Akitsu added on. "The whole inside of the hospital is covered in the weird plants... We didn't want to chance getting infected, or worse. Bringing back contaminated food."
Which was fair enough.
The ride through the hospital realm was stopped short as our first battery for the golf cart died, and so we spent a good few minutes figuring out how to properly switch the batteries around beyond what I did in just ripping the batteries out of the other golf carts.
Then we continued on without incident as apparently the plant monster inside the hospital was deathly afraid of the sun above our heads.
And boy was that a lovely eye-opener, going from the full moon dark forest realm to abrupt full powered sun's glory beaming down on us.
But as we were driving around the hospital with the cart behind us making little thumping noises with each bump we hit. I couldn't help something that really... Really bugged me honestly.
'Why is the grass in all these realms so perfectly manicured?' I wondered in exasperation. Honestly, the grass was like literally golf-playing grade and made absolutely zero sense how the grass was perfect wherever I went.
I pushed the errant thought aside as Musubi said more happily as she started bouncing in place. "We are getting close to our base camp! We just gotta cross through one super big realm and then we will be at the realm where my group lives!"
"So is there anyone I need to particularly be worried about in your group?" I asked curiously as our drive past the various hospital campuses was uneventful.
There was a pause as the two thought about it, then Akitsu said bluntly. "Karasuba won't respect or like you because you can't fight her... Lust doesn't really like anyone I think, and a few of the other Sekirei are rather prickly."
As Akitsu stopped speaking Musubi took off. "Yeah although a few of my fellow Sekirei are a bit... Standoffish, we stick by one another! But uhm Kazehana and Rangiku are drunk and may tease you I guess?"
I gave Musubi on my side an amused look before I asked. "What do you mean Kazehana and Rangiku are drunk? Don't you mean like sometimes drunk?"
And with an utter deadpan, Akitsu said flatly. "No... If there is booze within our camp they are drunk, that's why we decided to raid the school for food. Because there obviously wouldn't be any alcohol in the school more than anything."
My lips twitched at that before I frowned and asked more carefully. "Wait how many people are in your group? And how many of you are actually gathering food and such?"
There was a pause before Akitsu shrugged and said. "Well you are one of us so it doesn't matter if you know... Our group consists of about fifteen people. With ten of us being Sekirei, and the rest not being Sekirei." Akitsu finished a bit awkwardly.
So the other five... I remember her mentioning Fubuki from One Punch Man, Lust, who is probably from Full Metal Alchemist, and lastly Rangiku from Bleach. I wonder who the other two are?
"So who are the other two non-sekirei that you haven't told me, as you have mentioned?" I asked curiously and Musubi happily told me.
"Oh, it's a really funny catgirl who also drinks pretty often, her name is Kuroka. And the other one is Feixiao... Who also drinks a lot." Musubi explained before she drew off with a frown. "Wait... Akitsu, why do so many of our people drink so much?" She asked quickly.
And as we left the parking lot of the last hospital building Akitsu said tiredly. "Because they are bored I think. It's not like we have tv in this terrible universe."
'Ah... We are back in the old times basically. When one doesn't have any tv/internet, or any other form of entertainment. Social drinking is the best entertainment.' I thought with a wry smile.
My vision darkened as we kept driving down the road we were on and the terrain abruptly changed as the road turned to harsh dirt I couldn't help several blinks as we went from the bright daylight of the previous realm to what looked like craggy badlands.
And my expression turned to a grimace as hot air smacked me in the face before it cooled down as Akitsu seemingly flexed her power ever so slightly.
"This realm is one of the biggest our group has found actually! There are a few dozen portals and exit points leading to other realms like the one we came through, but this realm has a bunch of bunkers in it that normally has some really nasty humanoid green monsters." Musubi happily explained.
"How long will the ride be to the next realm to get back to your guy's place?" I asked wanting to get up and walk after like the previous six hours of sitting in the golf cart.
Akitsu then spoke up. "I know where we are going and although there is one bad spot we will need to get off and move the golf cart across a river bed. We will probably get there in another couple of hours with the speed we are going."
A couple hours of the golf cart going a good thirty-plus miles and hour... This realm truly was a lot bigger than I thought.
Though the craggy badlands definitely made for a rough ride, but with this realm's monsters being some big green monsters that hid in the bunkers that were scattered around. We were left well enough alone without issue.
After the long drive through the badlands, we finally reached our main destination and once again the weather changed from oppressively hot to much cooler with the sky covered up with clouds.
And I looked around taking in the realm we were in and we came out of the badlands and onto a bumpy road that was winding around a forest with Akitsu saying quickly.
"This realm has weird elf like monsters that come out at night, but we can handle them fairly easily and this realm has several small country towns spread out through them. Which we all currently live within one."
I hummed in thought in response but before I could reply more formally Musubi bounced in place as she said excitedly. "We are almost there! Just another five or so minutes and we will be there and we can eat again haha."
To which I could only smile wryly as I myself was hungry after our long trip here so I just patted Musubi's leg and said. "Alright, as soon as we get everything settled in. I will cook us up some more food."