Hinako's eyes were cheerfully skipping around as she held tons of bags filled with her clothes and lingerie while wearing her new outfit. I also wore a new outfit that I took from the mall instead of the bathrobes I got from the spring bath. 

We were walking towards the exit of the mall as Hinako's step suddenly stopped. Her eyes were glancing left and right as she grabbed her DI42 from her bag. 

"Another portal coming!" Hinako warned me. 

I also prepared my railgun as I took precarious cautious eyes. Hinako tossed her DI42 in the air as she held her staff, making the handgun float. 

We looked left and right, but not a single light appeared, until suddenly Hinako screamed at me, "Sayoko! Above you!"

I grabbed my knife with my left hand without hesitation as I saw a goblin falling down towards me as I stabbed it with a quick movement. The filthy odor and green blood stained my clothes once again, however I was too focused on staying alive to complain. 

Hinako sighed in relief as she looked around her surroundings, "I don't feel any mana, it should be safe for now."

"I see…" I said with an annoyed expression while tossing the goblin away from me. I held my railgun with my right hand as it was stained by the goblin's blood. 

Hinako was looking around with a puzzled expression as she muttered, "how strange…"  

"What's wrong?" I asked. 

Hinako thought for a moment before answering, "goblins are weak, so they are usually social creatures and live in a herd. However, we saw only one and two goblins passing the portal just now."

As soon as Hinako said that, another portal appeared in front of us. We rushed to prepare for fighting as a familiar creature appeared. It was a blue goblin. 

Hinako was observing the goblin as its expression descended into panic and fear. Hinako pointed her staff into the goblin as she chanted a spell, leaving the goblin in a wall of fire. 

"Sayoko, let's run!" Hinako notified me as she grabbed my hand while running towards the exit of the mall. 

We headed into the purple car I parked in front of the mall as I tossed my railgun into the backseat car. I drove through the road as Hinako was holding her staff while closing her eyes. 

"Anywhere is fine, just drive for a little bit," Hinako said. 

With no particular reason, I drove us into a familiar gigantic house I used to visit, rather than a house, it was more accurate to call it a mansion. The mansion was near our current location, so It didn't take us long as it only took six minutes. We arrived in front of a gigantic mansion as Hinako quickly left the car as I followed her while grabbing my railgun. 

The mansion had an enormous gate with a ton of landscape filled with greenery in front of it, a fitting image of a simple, yet large green garden. I unlocked the gate with ease as we headed inside the gate. 

Hinako's eyes grew panicked as she shouted, "another portal!"

We were looking around with cautious eyes as Hinako suddenly shot her DI42, aiming near the mansion. She was able to hit a blue goblin that just appeared from the portal, however even after the goblin died, the portal remained. 

A minute later, another blue goblin appeared as Hinako used magic to easily blow the goblin away into smithereens. The portal disappeared alongside the goblin. 

"Why do goblins keep on appearing?" I asked with an annoyed expression. 

Hinako took a deep sigh before answering, "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Is this like in RPG games where waves of portals appeared out of nowhere to test us?" I asked with a video game reference. 

Hinako thought for a moment before saying anything, her eyes were filled with uneasiness and questions, until she finally sighed in frustration. 

"I don't know what 'RPG' is, but you might be right. With the way they are appearing, it's almost like they were sacrificing their companion to go through the portal," Hinako sighed. 

I was still illiterate about the world Hinako used to live in, however a world with magic would attract someone like me. I'd wish to learn as much as I could about it, even if I wasn't able to use magic. 

"Sayoko, did you notice anything strange about how the portals behave?" Hinako asked. 

I could only shake my head in confusion as I answered, "no."

"The portals, they always appeared near us. My detection magic is the strongest amongst my world, so I was able to detect at least in the range of eight kilometers of magic activity. Even then, no portals appeared anywhere else except the one where our eyes could see them. Meaning, the portals could only appear near us."

I focused on keeping up the information Hinako gave to me. However, I was struggling. It was something I never thought about in detail before and something I neglected. Even with this piece of information, I only thought of it as portal spawning in games and such. Therefore it was normal for portals to only appear near the players as it would overrun the world if portals appeared everywhere, making the game unplayable. 

Hinako thought to herself for a moment as she came to a conclusion, "no, it's not that the portals only appeared around us, since my existence denied that hypothesis."

I tilted my head in confusion after hearing Hinako's words. She took a deep breath before continuing. 

"The portal only materialized near you, Sayoko."