Chapter 192: A Change of Pace, Part 4.

All throughout the night, I slept well enough. However, even in my dreams, I felt like a detective. Or perhaps one of those conspiracy theorists. Creating a board filled with strings and thumbtacks, linking every possible event together.

The more I thought, the more I considered, the more events linked and correlated the further down the rabbit hole I went. In my dreams, it felt like I was drifting further into madness. Where everything had meaning, where every action and reaction was part of a larger play.

Just before my sanity snapped, I woke. Rather, a loud forlorn horn blew, carrying over the vast ocean, and woke me up.

“Attention passengers!” A voice crackled from over speakers located throughout the ship. “We have arrived at our destination and will be docking soon! Please start preparing to disembark!”

How long had I been asleep? What time was it? A quick check outside my window had the sun blazing in the middle of the sky, so, noon perhaps? I’d slept through the night and morning. I hadn’t even showered or bathed after coming back, just throwing my dress in a corner and collapsing into a bed.

I was soaked in sweat. And though we had arrived, getting into port, or whatever passed for one here would probably take some time. Time enough for a quick shower.

By the time I finished and dressed, we officially docked. I gathered my luggage and made my way towards the off ramp. Stepping out of the confines of the ship, I was immediately blasted by the cloudless blue sky. The sun beamed above, bathing everything in a golden glow. The sky was blue, the ocean was even more blue.

As for our destination?

They said we were at an archipelago. A series of islands all connected, or at least, in somewhat close proximity to one another. We were docked at the largest island, an island covered in modern buildings and wide paths. We stepped out onto white concrete that was both smooth and oddly pleasant despite the burning sun above. It was hot, but it didn’t feel oppressive. A light breeze came from afar, blowing over the island, cooling us off. The slight spray of water, as waves hit the pier helped to keep us cool as well.

We were then led further in, where a series of carts lay, to take us to our next location. A hotel that sat at the center of the island. As we went, we got a good view of the island’s amenities and what awaited us for the last few days of the event. Quickly, it became apparent that this place really did feel like a resort with pools everywhere, beach music playing over speakers dotted all over the place. There were lounge chairs everywhere. Places to sit, under shade or not.

Small kiosks and shocks where food and drinks were served. We passed by a part of the shoreline, where the sand was almost blindingly white, unmarred and untarnished by man. And further in, we saw more modern shops and stores, with large glass windows to let as much light in as possible.

Besides the hotel which sat at the center of the island, was a large-scale mall and shopping center. Selling everything we’d possibly need for our vacation needs. As for cost? Well, technically, everything was paid for. We were free to do as we please.

The hotel was a monolith of concrete and steel. What graced us on entering was a massive fountain in the reception area. Besides the reception counter was a shelf filled with itineraries. Which showed what events were available when, and also where everything was located. Apparently, a small-scale amusement park existed on the far end of the island from the port. We’d have seen the giant wheel during the drive, but the hotel building had blocked our view of it.

Besides the park was a casino… of course. A small, forested area for hiking and climbing, a beach, a small pier for boating and jet skiing. The more I looked, and the more I realized how compact it all was, the more I realized just how… organized this was. There was something for everyone.

Talent shows, singing competitions, a fashion show, a rock-climbing competition, a volleyball tournament, and other more, eccentric activities. Such as Jet ski races, something called a butt battle, snorkeling treasure hunts, and so on.

Not to mention every event awarded event coins. Even here, in the lobby, I could hear everyone discussing what events they’d take part in. And as if drawn in by such talk, familiar faces all gathered.

Everyone was dressed for summer, with light clothing, sunglasses, and bags with them. The immediate group was Ophelia, Talia with Shi in tow, Liche, and Joan. Other groups in the periphery of our group contained other familiar faces. We exchanged glances, but none of us approached each other, nor greeted one another.

All of them had their own groups, and well, I had my own as well. yet… There was an odd one out. Standing awkwardly on his own, fiddling with his glasses, wearing an ill-fitting button-up shirt fit for the beach and shorts that just made his legs look spindlier than I thought possible. This was a face I never thought I’d see here. A face, I’d rather much rather have not seen.

“Hey, who’s that?” Talia was the one to notice my lingering gaze. Liche and Joan had as well, but at least they had the tact to keep their mouth shut. Yet, with Talia speaking up, the man became aware of our group, or rather, me.

“Ah, Prima! What a surprise to run into you here!” The man marched forward, big grin on his face. Acting like he not only knew me, but that we were friends.

“Nathaniel.” I reply back, brusquely, he doesn’t seem to notice. Rather, he definitely does notice but pushes on.

“Please, we worked together before, right? Call me Nathan.”

I said nothing, just looked at him. His smile falters. Nathan had the power of hypnotism, or perhaps mind control, though limited. He was working for the fourth division, the bull pen of the company. We were, nominally working together, but… we were not friends that was for sure. Not with what he did during our meeting.

“Ah, look, I just… I wanted to give my condolences. What happened with Terada, and well… I just wanted to check if you were doing okay?”

I wanted to snap at him, give some snarky reply, but instead, I took a moment to breathe.

“Thank you. I’m fine. It’s hard, but… we have this vacation to relax, don’t we?” I say.

“Yeah, we do, and well…” He hesitates… Making me sigh.

“Yes?” I say, despite knowing how bad of an idea it is.

“Think I could join you? I mean, I don’t know anybody, since well, ya know. And even if our last meeting went well, maybe we could?

I’d rather not, but I wasn’t going to say that out loud. Instead, I looked over to the group.

“I don’t see a problem.” Liche says, looking between me and him, curious.

“I’m not too sure, but… I don’t think he’ll be that much of a problem.” Joan adds in, earning a look from me. “We should be fine, and… I think it might be a good idea to have him join.”

“I don’t really care either way. Anyway, what are we going to do?” Ophelia.

“Er, if your fine with it, I am.” Talia.

As for Shi, well, yeah. She wasn’t paying attention. She had her hand in Talia’s, but she was looking at me, with a popsicle in her mouth… Clearly expecting or asking for something.

And I don’t think it was my blood.

“Well, majority says its fine, so, I guess you can join us.” I stated the resolution, though, I could deny him. This wasn’t a democracy, but… there was no need to pull that card yet.

“Yes!” He pumps his fist, “So we dropping our stuff off in our rooms and reconvening here?” He asks.

“Yes, that’s the plan, everyone good with that?” Everyone agreed, save for Talia.

“Hey, Prima.” Talia speaks up.

“Mm?” Was my response, glancing over.

“Well, I know we were supposed to be separate, but Shi stuck with me during the whole cruise and well, do you think you could watch her while we’re here?”

Ah… so that’s why Shi is looking at me like that? Good to know…

“I can do that. Rather, I didn’t think she’d do that.” I respond.

“Well… I told the crew about her, and they were accommodating, but she didn’t like staying in her room alone.” Talia replies.

“Has she been feeding?” I question calmly.

“Yes, thankfully they had food for her, and the popsicle is well, anyway, I’m just asking if you could take over watching her. I don’t mind doing it, but…” Talia hesitates.

I interject. “No, I get it. If you’d told me earlier, I could have taken over sooner.”

“No, I heard about what happened, and well, you looked like you needed the rest.” She states back, embarrassed.

“I did, but you didn’t have to keep an eye on Shi, you could have let me know.”

“I know, I just, I don’t mind honestly. I mean, yeah, it’s a bit weird knowing who she had been, but it’s also kind of… nice? If that makes sense?”

“Not really, but as I said, I can watch her while we’re on the island. Not unless Ophelia wants to chip in.” I direct my question to Ophelia.

“Hell no. Sure, she’s a lot less annoying than she used to be, but I have no intention of getting close to her. That and I got my own little one to watch.” Ophelia motions to the bag on her back, where nestled in is the ape.

“Right right, well, follow me Shi, we’ll head up. We can bunk together if you don’t want to be alone.” Shi nods and grabs my hand. Her grip firm.

“Right, meet back here in, about an hour? Take time to get yourself situated, look around the hotel, and see if you need anything. I’m thinking we can head to the mall first and make any necessary purchases there.”

“Oh, that sounds fun!” Joan said.

“Oh, maybe we could buy swimsuits?” Liche adds, though…

“You didn’t buy one?” Joan asks, confused.

“Didn’t have time. Not with everything going on.” Was Liche’s response, though…

“I don’t have one either.” Ophelia adds. Talia was the same, Nathan had his, as for me, well, yeah, I didn’t. I didn’t have one.

I wasn’t too sure I wanted one, but… a consensus was met. We’d meet back up and go shopping in an hour.

With Shi in tow, I went ahead and brought her with me to my room. Unpacking didn’t take too long, but Shi was sticky because of the popsicle, forcing me to take time to help wash her up. By the time we were done, it was almost time for us to meet back up.

However, before that… I went ahead and gave her a more thorough examination. With a hand on her head, I went ahead and probed her with my magical energy. That, and checked her over the link we shared.

Her soul had grown by a fair margin. She should be speaking by now, based on what I was feeling. Her eyes held a flicker of intelligence, and she was showing emotions. Given some time, she might start speaking on her own.

As for strength wise, she was doing fairly well. Since consuming those pills, her strength had grown just as much as her soul had. Still, she wasn’t entirely independent, not yet.

Thinking on that, Talia must do a lot for Shi. Sure, as whatever she was, she didn’t need a lot of care. Just blood here and there, but Talia did spend the most time watching over her. More time than I did…

I haven’t had a lot of time with her in the past few months. Work has been hectic, and really, even during the cruise I spent most of it just relaxing.

Perhaps, now I could make up for that oversight.

Making sure she was ready for our trip, we left. Down in the lobby, I was among the last to arrive. With the lobby itself emptied out of other groups. Gathered up, we went straight for the nearby mall.

The mall itself wasn’t empty. Luckily, we arrived after the latest wave of arrivals were finishing up with their own shopping. Giving us the area to ourselves to look for swimsuits.

Despite having already bought one herself, Joan was keen to join in with us. As for Nathan, he was set to the side.

“Having another opinion might help.” Was Liche’s opinion. I didn’t necessarily agree, and she seemed to enjoy watching Nathan squirm. The others, however, agreed with her.

There were a large variety of swimsuits on display. Some more normal, others more, risqué. With the help of Talia and Joan, we managed to pick out a simple swimsuit for Shi which had a bit of a fluttering skirt and extra material at the top as well.

Liche chose, of all things, shorts and a strapless bikini. I would have thought she’d pick something riskier, but maybe I’d misjudged her. Ophelia went for what could only be a wetsuit, for diving. Talia and Joan went for bikinis, with Joan wearing a simple summer dress over it, and with Talia buying a thin, lightweight jacket to go over hers.

As for me? Well, I leaned more towards something conservative. A simple one-piece, but perhaps they’d sensed my hesitation, or it might have just been due to me picking last. Whatever it was, everyone was invested in finding something for me.

Liche kept offering up the more scandalous options. Even trying to get me to try them on, but I was vehemently opposed. As for various two-piece bikinis and such, I gave them a go, including some more complicated swimsuits, however wearing them made me feel oddly exposed.

“I’d rather not just walk around in my underwear.” Was my response, which earned odd glances. Even when offered to wear jackets, or other items over it, I wasn’t too sure I liked the idea of so much exposed skin.

In the end, we settled on something a little middle of the road? A high cut one piece swimsuit. It fit my form well, without being too much. The material was thick enough that I didn’t feel exposed, only…

“Is it supposed to bunch up like this?” I muttered, having to adjust the lower part occasionally.

“Eh, it happens.” Was Liche’s response.

By the time we finished, it was already evening, so we found a place to eat and headed back to the hotel for the night.

The next day we started the day running, literally. There was an early morning run that I took part in, mainly for the exercise. A lot of others joined in, afterwards we went to the beach, and spent most of the day there, ending the day by going to a party that started once the night started.

Drums, the sound of yelling, fire bursting out. At the center of a stage was an apparatus.

“LIMBO!” Someone yelled, as people joined in, chanting, “How low can you go!” Not everyone joined in with the festivities as drinks were passed out, as the stick was lowered and people were forced to contort lower and lower.

I hovered at the edge of the festivities as our group separated, with only Shi sticking by my side, enjoying her virgin bloody mary. I was easy enough to lose myself in the ongoing festivities, yet my mind kept drifting back to what the bartender had told me.

How did this relate? How was this conducive to the mascots’ plans? Yes, this broke us out of the monotony of our lives. Kept them from stagnating by introducing variables, but was there more to it? Another layer?

As I sipped at my colorful drink, a body settled in beside me at the table. I glanced over, and…

“Long time no see.”  They, no, Grim said. “I’ve been told you haven’t been helping us out lately.” She said, without a hint of accusation in her tone, just curiosity.

“Yeah, work caught up with me. I’ve been working on a big project.”

“I heard about it, rather, we heard about what happened. My condolences.”

“Its fine… Any word on what happened with Kenta after the event?” I asked her.

“No, we have an arrest warrant out for him, based on the reports we received. Including yours. However, we haven’t found traces of him.”

“No? Nothing?”

“Yeah, even Taylor has put some effort into finding the guy, but he’s vanished. We’re thinking he has some serious backing, which is unlikely, or…”

“Or?”

“Or he’s dead.”

Fireworks went off in the distance. The crowd cheered.

“What makes you think that?” I asked as the noise died down.

“We found blood near the crime scene, he left out a side entrance in the parking garage, and that’s where we found his blood.”

“And his body?” I ask.

Grim shrugs. “Gone, from what we can tell. Part of why we think he might be dead is due to the blood, it’s not just on the ground, but all over the walls. Almost like someone had cut him. Taylor thinks it might have been with a knife.”

“A knife?”

“Yeah, a larger knife. Like a kitchen knife or something…”

I sipped at my drink. Something about that, seemed oddly familiar, but… yeah, it wasn’t coming to mind.

“I can’t say him being dead or not is better or worse.”

“Right? Anyway, we’re keeping an ear out. Also, when this event ends, if possible, I’d like you to swing by the station.”

“You would?”

“Well…” Grim avoided my gaze. “The chief more so, she received your request to access our stores. She wanted to discuss that with you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind; how soon would you like me to meet with her?”

“As soon as possible, oh and, I do have another question.”

“And that would be?” I asked.

“Tomorrow, there’s a volleyball tournament. Care to be my partner?”

“Me, why?” I question.

“No reason, just wondering.”

I thought for a moment. “I’ll ask around beforehand, see if anyone else wants to do it, otherwise I should be fine. Are you staying in the hotel too?”

“I am, we can meet in the lobby beforehand, whether you want to team up or not.”

“I also have your number still, right? I could just message you?”

Grim nods, “You could.”

“Let’s do that then. That way, if I don’t partner with you, you have time to find another partner.”

“Sounds good. Any other plans for this event?” Grim asks.

“Not sure. I’m not too interested in the rock climbing, or the triathlon. Some of the other events are team-based, and I’m not sure I’d like to participate in those. As for the extracurriculars…”

I eyed the ongoing game of limbo. “I’d rather not make a fool of myself.”

Grim laughs. “I get that. Well, I’d like to stick around, but I do have a job to do.”

“Sure…” I start, but… “Do you really have to? This is an event, rather, it seems like a calm one, do you really need to do anything?”

Grim frowns, “Being on deck if something goes wrong is my job. Yes, generally, these events are safe, but the mascots like their little twists. You never know when they’ll decide to throw a wrench into the works for the hell of it.”

“Have they ever done that?”

“For normal events, yes, and generally, for events like these, non-lethal ones, people won’t die, but… they can make scenarios that can cause larger issues. Anyway, I’d like to explain more, but I do have to go.”

“That’s fine and thank you for the information.”

“Yup and just let me know if your available for the tournament.”

And like that, we separate.