Even with his eyes closed, a dazzling light stirred Axel's consciousness awake. A sweet, tangy scent filled the air. Groping for its source, his hand brushed against something soft and substantial.
"Hm?"
As his mind cleared, Axel opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was bare skin, topped with a hint of pink.
"Lemon?!"
Realizing what—or rather, who—he'd been holding, Axel bolted upright. He and Lemon were in bed, both stark naked. The implications were obvious. Glancing around, he confirmed this wasn't his room but Lemon's, where he'd been a few times before.
"Uh… what happened?"
He tried to piece it together.
In a tanker's guest room, Axel had interrogated the two young Sealion pilots. Their story was a headache. A mid-ranking Federation commander in Libya, North Africa, had been raising orphans from a nearby town. Noble on the surface, but his true intent was to brainwash them into loyal private soldiers. Some kids, discovering this, stole Sealions from a DC remnant stash and escaped, only to be picked up by pirates in these waters.
Back at the Ecuador base, Axel reported to Vindel. The boys, being pirates, were taken as prisoners, but their age—around ten—made harsh treatment untenable. Through Vindel's contacts, they were sent to a facility. The mission exposed the military's rampant corruption, and Vindel's face twisted with a mix of regret and rage. Axel, preoccupied with Kyosuke's actions, had no energy to console him and left for the mess hall.
"Gimme something, anything—alcohol," Axel said at the mess hall.
The bartender, sensing his mood, silently served a Pilsner, Ecuador's go-to beer. Never thought my first drink as Axel would be to drown my sorrows, he mused. The "Master," as the bar's head insisted on being called, had a knack for reading patrons. Axel downed the beer without hesitation—and then?
"Wait, what happened next?"
His memory blanked after chugging the beer. Next thing he knew, he was in Lemon's bed, both of them bare.
"Axel?" Lemon's sleepy voice broke his thoughts, her drowsy eyes meeting his.
"Morning," he managed.
"Good morning," she replied, her tone soft. Noticing his confusion, she tilted her head. "What's wrong?"
"Uh, well… we slept together last night, right?"
She nodded, then fixed him with a half-lidded stare. "You don't remember?"
"Sorry," Axel said, sheepish. "I remember the beer, then nothing."
He hadn't expected Axel's body to be such a lightweight. Nearly twenty years since reincarnating, and he'd never touched alcohol—until now, with disastrous results. In his past life, he could handle a drink, not a heavyweight but never blackout-from-one-beer bad.
Lemon gave a wry smile. "From there? Honestly, you're hopeless."
She recounted the night. When she'd arrived at the mess hall for dinner, Axel was already drinking—a first in their two-year acquaintance. Intrigued, she joined him. Over drinks, Axel vented about Kyosuke, the military's corruption, the Inspector, the world's creator, and—most shockingly—his reincarnation.
"Wait, what?!" Axel's jaw dropped. I spilled my biggest secret? Drunk?
Sweating, he glanced at Lemon, who met his gaze with an amused smirk. "Doesn't sound like just drunken rambling."
Her sharp mind was a curse in moments like this. Her eyes gleamed like a predator's as she crawled closer, still bare.
"Put some clothes on, will you?" Axel blurted, momentarily captivated by her flawless skin and assertive curves before catching himself.
"Why? I'm not ashamed of my body," she teased, unfazed.
Her playfulness conjured an image of Excellen from the comics, teasing Britt in nothing but a towel. She's too much like her, Axel groaned inwardly.
"Alright, I surrender," he said. "I'll tell you what I know, but please, get dressed. I can't think straight."
He could've dodged, but Lemon's insight would see through any lie, especially after his reincarnation slip. Better to share what he could and secure her help for Shadow-Mirror's future. Denying it would only breed suspicion.
They dressed, then faced each other. "What do you want to know?" Axel asked.
"Let's start with what you know," Lemon said.
"Good question. To put it simply, I know parts of the future—limited, but still."
"Limited?"
"Yeah. For example, in the original timeline, I never befriended Dr. Montague, and the Timeflow Engine never reached Shadow-Mirror."
"But you changed that history?" she pressed.
"Exactly. This world's full of death flags. I've got to act in my favor to survive."
Lemon closed her eyes, as if recalling something. "So, your 'foresight'—it's not real?"
"Nope. The telekinesis is, though."
"Did Axel have telekinesis in the original timeline?"
"No, I gained it after being reborn as Axel."
"How?" she asked. "Did you join the Special Brain Institute's artificial telekinesis experiments?"
Axel shook his head and snapped his fingers. A spatial storage portal opened beside his face, a slime tentacle extending from it.
"What the—?" Lemon's eyes widened, stunned.
"Reincarnation perk," Axel said, explaining the slime and spatial storage. He kept quiet about other abilities, lacking proof. These two were enough to make his point.
"That's… incredibly convenient," Lemon said, studying the slime.
"The knowledge of the original timeline? That's another perk," Axel said. "In my past life, this world was a story."
"A story?" Her skepticism was expected, but her work on Aguieus made her quick to grasp the idea.
"Exactly. Someone in a parallel world—don't ask me how—unconsciously observed this one and turned it into a narrative, thinking it was their own idea."
Lemon nodded. "Makes sense, from a theoretical standpoint."
As a layman, Axel could only take her word for it.
"Let's leave it there," Lemon said. "If I hear more, it might twist the future. Plus, knowing too much takes the fun out of it."
"Fair enough," Axel said. "If that's okay with you."
"Just don't tell me anything world-shattering unless you have to. Who else knows?"
"Just you," Axel said.
"Not Vindel?"
Axel hesitated. He'd considered telling Vindel, his friend since officer school, but with Vindel's growing hatred for corruption, it felt risky.
"Maybe someday, when the time's right," Axel said.
Lemon read his expression, understanding his caution. She stepped close, wrapping her arms around him from behind. "I won't say anything. But know this—I'll never betray you."
"Thanks," Axel said, turning to kiss her gently.