"Can you put the setting to three people and wait for me in the teleportation gate?"

Jules smiled like he predicted this would knowingly happen and waved to me before running ahead of me. It was great Jules was always so understanding and didn't ask about the meaning behind my actions.

I swiftly ran to kidnap Alex as I interrupted him during the process of visualizing another mana spell. I pulled his hand and dragged him to the teleportation gate without any warning. I didn't think about the consequences as Alex shook my grip off after we had already arrived in the second district.

Maybe some people started gossiping and spreading rumors after the bright glow that surrounded the area when the teleportation gate was being used. But I was holding in my victory pose for my quick thinking.

I was only successful as when Alex worked on something, he usually put all his attention and concentration on that one thing. Alex took turns of staring at me and Jules multiple times like we were an odd combination in a package.

"Cousin?" Alex asked Jules for an explanation.

"Wait, you and Jules are cousins?" I forgot to refer to Jules by his full name.

"He's my cousin on my mother's side," Jules gently explained to me.

This family tree thing was getting my head confused. Luke was cousins with Alex and Jules while Alex and Jules were also cousins in connection with their mother's side of the family.

I nodded as I accepted his explanation while I wondered how I would spend the extra time in the second district before the concert began.

"It's you who destroyed the buildings, isn't it?" Alex put his hand on his hip.

I tried to feint ignorance as I pointed to the snack booth. The snack booth was almost like a vending machine as it was operated by a robot, except that the robot acted like a human employee who cooked the food.

"We should enjoy our time since we're here anyways," All the other major stores were closed since it was the middle of the night.

But, similar to my past life, snack booths always ran for 24 hours.

"Do you have any money?" I asked Jules to see if we could spend our time by shopping.

"We're going back," Alex interrupted Jules before he could reply.

Alex immediately searched for the closest teleportation gate with his marble as he quickly scrolled through the options.

"Then go back alone, we have something to do here" I gestured to Jules.

"How do you even know each other?" Alex finally questioned us.

"You don't have to know, you're only invited because of this," I acted like I was yanking the necklace from my neck.

Jules silently watched our heated exchange like he was watching a TV show. It was as if he was an outsider rather than someone who came with us.

"Do you have any money?" I turned to ask Jules again while ignoring Alex.

"Of course, I do," Jules patted my head like he always did when we were younger.

Alex seemed to intensely a.n.a.lyse what was our relations.h.i.+p to each other before he sighed and decided to follow us out of his duty towards Luke. He refused the kebab that Jules pa.s.sed to him after my big purchase.

The sun finally decided to rise in the second district as the sky turned into shades of pink and scarlet red while we threw away the snacks. I admired the sky that I could not see on a usual day since I was so focused on school.

It was nice to be sitting on a park bench and have the luxury to immerse myself into the background. Although, on one side, I turned away from extreme disapproval of Alex and faced a kind smile of Jules on the other side.

"We should explore the other areas in the second district," I suggested.

I wanted to enjoy all the futuristic VR games in the arcade that I read about from books during my studies or go to the tourist areas that I couldn't go to during my last visit here.

"How about the shopping mall?" Jules pointed out the nearest tourist spot on the map inside his marble.

I frantically nodded with approval and gave Jules another high-five. Alex unusually went along with the flow after giving up during our previous heated exchange.

"Stop, we can walk there."

I tried to stop Jules from calling a self-driving car so we could walk through the area instead. At this rate, it would be like travelling with Luke all over again where we would drive through all the exciting spots instead of exploring the area with our own two feet.

"Are you serious Rika?" Alex argued like his last straw of patience was snapped.

"Then you take the car and I'll walk with Jules," I hugged Jules' arms and started to walk on the famous tourist route.

Jules briefly sent an apologetic glance to Alex before turning away.

Alex clenched his hands into fists as he stepped into the unknown realm of walking into a public place instead of taking his usual comfortable route.