Looking at the frozen ocean waves in the distance and the seagulls hovering in mid-air, Sora quickly realized what was happening.
This is... Time Stop?
What's going on?
Why did Mahiru suddenly activate Time Stop?
Yamada Elf was a fun-loving girl who liked to cause a ruckus and went out invisible to gather material almost every day. But Shiina Mahiru had a gentle and introverted personality and never used her ability recklessly. So what exactly happened?
"Sora-kun, look over there. Is someone drowning?"
The girl's worried voice reached Sora's ears.
Sora: "..."
I'm sorry.
My body can't move at all, and I can't see anything.
Mahiru quickly realized the situation. Disregarding a girl's reserve and shyness, she quickly opened her arms and gently embraced Sora.
Before long, Sora felt an elegant, faint fragrance drift into his nose. Then, his eyes could blink, and his mouth could open and close:
"I can speak now... Someone fell into the ocean, which is why Mahiru-san activated Time Stop?"
"That's right." Mahiru quickly stepped back half a pace, her pretty face flushed red. She pointed and said, "Right over there, it looks like two people. Please take a look, Sora-kun."
"My head can't move." Sora's tone became serious. "Mahiru, turn my head over first."
"Okay."
Mahiru agreed, quickly stood on her tiptoes, and cupped Sora's cheeks with both hands.
Their eyes met.
The girl's fair, jade-like pretty face rapidly flushed crimson, and her gaze began to wander shyly.
(This pose... is so bad...)
(It's just like the prelude in TV dramas when a girl wants to kiss a boy, right?)
(Hold steady, don't let your imagination run wild!)
(Saving them is the priority right now!)
Mahiru took a deep breath, suppressing the shameful, stray thoughts in her mind, and quickly turned Sora's head.
"Please be gentle, don't twist my head off."
"...I don't have that much strength!"
Sora stared intently at the ocean and sure enough, he saw two vague figures in the frozen seawater.
"There are indeed people in the sea." Sora's expression was grave. "One big and one small, an adult woman and a little girl."
"When we were fishing earlier, I saw a mother and daughter walking on the beach carrying a surfboard. It should be them." Mahiru bit her lower lip tightly with her pearly white teeth, her tone worried.
"Maybe the wind and waves got stronger in the evening, causing an accident."
Sora said softly:
"What does Mahiru-san plan to do?"
"I wanted to find a lifeguard to help..." Mahiru looked around, gently furrowing her delicate eyebrows. "But I don't see any lifeguards."
Sora revealed the truth in a low voice: "Actually, not every beach has lifeguards."
"..."
After a brief silence, Mahiru took a deep breath, her gaze quickly turning resolute:
"Then I'll go save them."
In poverty, one improves oneself; in success, one benefits the world.
With victims right in front of her, and possessing the ability to save them, anyone with a conscience wouldn't just stand by and watch coldly.
"The ocean is not land." Hearing this, Sora warned her earnestly. "If you find you don't have enough strength, Mahiru, you absolutely must not force yourself."
Time Stop cannot alter the original properties of matter. For example, the ocean remains a soft liquid; it can't turn into a hard solid. Mahiru still has to expend physical energy to swim in the sea, and the physical exertion required to rescue someone and bring them ashore is even more exaggerated.
"I know." Mahiru took a deep breath, turned, and jogged toward the beach. "Sora-kun, wait for me to come back."
"..."
Sora really wanted to go together and help. Unfortunately, aside from being able to speak, his body was completely immobilized. He could only silently watch Mahiru's figure quietly drift away.
He saw Mahiru quickly arrive at the beach, take off her shoes, and then resolutely swim into the sea.
Japanese people have swimming lessons starting from elementary school, so basically everyone knows how to swim. Mahiru was naturally no exception, and she was a very strong swimmer. She quickly swam to the side of the drowning mother and daughter.
Looking around, the surfboard was nowhere to be seen, having been swept away by the waves to who knows where.
Under Sora's silent observation, Mahiru quickly picked up the puppet-like elementary schooler and swam towards the shore with all her might.
A moment later.
Angel-sama, holding the elementary schooler, successfully reached the shore.
"Hah... haah..."
Looking from afar, Angel-sama could be seen resting her hands on her knees, panting incessantly, clearly having expended a massive amount of physical energy.
After resting for a moment, Mahiru swam into the sea again. But as she reached out to grab the plump housewife, the girl's heart involuntarily sank.
"So heavy..."
As everyone knows, clothes become super heavy once soaked in water. Plus, the drowning housewife was slightly chubby and not light to begin with. The combination of the two had clearly exceeded Angel-sama's rescue limit.
Looking at the woman's exceptionally pained expression from drowning, Mahiru bit her lower lip tightly, trying hard to think of a solution.
Like a sloth, inching towards the shore little by little?
But the shore is so far away, it would take a very long time to reach it.
Also, Elf had previously verified that the limit of invisibility is twelve hours. I don't know the limit of Time Stop. What if the limit is very short, and Time Stop suddenly ends during the rescue? That's too dangerous to even think about.
So the 'Sloth Plan' can only be an absolute last resort.
"Is there any other way..."
Mahiru bit her lower lip, thinking seriously. Suddenly, her eyes lit up.
"I've got it!"
"If it were Sora-kun, he could definitely rescue her to the shore easily, right?"
"..."
Watching Angel-sama return to the shore alone, Sora was very confused.
I thought you were going to save two people?
Why did you come up alone?
Under Sora's gaze, Mahiru quickly returned to the seawall. The girl's clothes were soaked through, and a few wet strands of hair stuck to her cheeks, giving her a slightly messy but beautiful look.
"Sora-kun, I can't carry that lady." Mahiru gently bit her lower lip and got straight to the point. "So I can only ask Sora-kun to help."
Sora's tone was confused: "Aside from moving my mouth, I can't move anything else. How can I help?"
"I-I have an idea I want to test out..."
Mahiru shyly averted her gaze. Before she even finished speaking, a blush rapidly surged across her fair, jade-like pretty face.
"What idea?" Sora was very curious.
"Don't ask so many questions, Sora-kun..." Mahiru clutched her chest and took a deep breath, softly instructing him, "Close your eyes first!"
"Hmm?"
"H-Hurry up and close your eyes. You're not allowed to open them until I say you can!"
"..."
Sora silently closed his eyes, already having a vague guess in his heart as to what Angel-sama was planning to do.
When they were apprehending the cat-abusing fiend, the two had already verified that close physical contact could share magic power. As long as it was intimate enough, it could even allow him to regain his mobility in the time-stopped world.
But to save a complete stranger, is Mahiru-san really going to go that far?
"It definitely wouldn't work with anyone else, but if it's Sora-kun..."
Mahiru's long eyelashes fluttered gently. With her pretty face flushed crimson, she stood on her tiptoes, her pink, moist lips shyly yet firmly imprinting themselves on Sora's cheek.
"I won't regret it."