The Magician of Sound

The next day, Kai opened the tent as he headed toward the bathroom to fix his hair. He found Tommy inside.

Kai only nodded as a greeting and did his own thing, like fixing his bed hair and brushing his teeth.

After finishing his business here, Tommy should be leaving this place. But he seemed to have another business with Kai as he stared at him for a few seconds.

"Do you need anything?" Kai asked without a change of expression.

"I just want to warn you."

"About this island?" Kai glanced at him, confused.

"No."

"Oh. Is it about the soon-to-be student council president?"

"You know? Ah, I think it's not weird for you to know…" Tommy sighed. "That woman is dangerous… She wants to control everything if she is on the top."

"She is your fiance, right?"

Tommy gritted his teeth and nodded. "As much as I hate to say it, yes. But I just want to warn you because she even tried to control my life. She even forced me to marry a few other women of her choice!"

"Oh! The main girl searched for your harem members?" Kai smirked.

"No! The reason why she chose them is that it would be easier to control them and me…"

Kai's expression turned serious before he asked, "Now that I think about it, the next raid mission will have…"

"Her grandfather. Luckily, if it were not because of you, we would be under his army, specifically under her. I don't have a particular feeling for her grandfather. I have even met him a few times. However, it might be due… No, I shouldn't say more than this." Tommy shook his head.

"…" Kai thought for a moment. "If I tell you 'You are going to follow me for the entire year', what will you do?"

"!!!" Tommy opened his eyes wide. "What do you mean?"

"If we have some leads about this matter, I will be going to another place like this. In other words, you won't get any problem in school until she graduates."

Tommy gasped. If that were the case, she couldn't manipulate him and his group mission because the mission would be under the direct command of Ria Ross and President Brent himself. He also thought a mission with their group would be something amazing and enjoyable. Hence, there wasn't a single complaint if that really happened.

Kai finished brushing his teeth, started walking, and patted Tommy's shoulder. "Then, you can start praying that we will find something amazing on this trip."

"…" It took him a few seconds before he could react. He turned around and saw Kai's fading back with complicated expressions.

Kai, on the other hand, went toward their tent to wake up the girls.

An hour later.

Kai and the others stood in front of the exit with Carissa. They had breakfast and brought their lunch.

"Let's go." Kai signaled them and walked outside.

Carissa immediately guided them to the town that used to be the living places for the inhabitants.

There were around a hundred statues here, and yeah, all shattered.

Kai looked at the buildings that almost collapsed due to the passing time before finding another Moai beneath it.

This one was the most intact because it was only split into two instead of shattered to pieces. Hence, he used this as the first subject.

He looked at this over-large head statue that seemed to have a three-to-five ratio between the head and the trunk. He then looked at the heavy brows and elongated noses with a distinctive fish-hook-shaped curl of the nostrils. The lips protrude in a thin pout, albeit hard to see due to the fact that the broken part is here.

He then checked the elongated ears along with the jaw lines that stood out against the truncated neck and began touching it.

"The arms are carved and rest against the body in various positions… Although this statue doesn't have visible legs… I think there is something different…" Kai furrowed his eyebrows before sticking his ears on the stone statue.

He should be able to listen to any kind of sound coming from the statue, but he did this to get a more accurate view because he needed to check everything. Yet, not a single clue could be found from this statue.

Isabelle also widened her eyes, focusing her entire being on this statue. She checked the stone itself before moving to the part where it broke.

Sofia did the same and tried to find something with her sixth sense but to no avail. It was just a normal rock from her perspective.

"Is there anything different between the shattered statues and the normal ones?" Kai asked Carissa.

"There is one."

"Ho?"

"We just confirmed it with all the statues on the island yesterday, so the report is still not there. But we have confirmed that all shattered statues…" Carissa took something out of her bag and placed it above the stone. It was a small box device that looked like a Nintendo, but the moment it touched the statue, it showed '0' on its screen.

"What is this device? Is this device can detect ghosts?" Kai furrowed his eyebrows as he wondered whether it could be related to a paranormal thing.

"Do you like those movies?" Carissa smirked before shaking her head. "And no. This is a magic detector device. As you can see, the zero on the screen means there isn't a single magic power inside this statue."

"No magic power? But the report…" Kai suddenly fell into silence as he realized. "I see. We need to check the normal statues after this."

"Yes." Carissa smiled before glancing at the others, who seemed to realize a bit slower his meanings as well.

"Are there any statues around here still in the normal state?"

"No. The statues around here have been shattered. If you want, you can find those after we leave this place."

"…" Kai thought for a moment and looked at Michelle and the others. "I guess we will go according to the schedule. So, we are going to explore this area, including the cities today."

"Sure. I think it's not best to split up and consider the number of houses that are still standing… I think one day is enough." Carissa gave her permission.

"Alright then. Let's go around. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled and check any clues such as lore or items that might be related to the statues."

After that, the group began hunting for statues for another three hours. However, there wasn't a single clue nor magic power inside those statues. They then started exploring the cities and stormed to many houses that still stood tall on the land, albeit barely.

Even a few houses crumbled due to them. Luckily, Carissa didn't say anything about it and treated it like normal. It seemed she had explored the houses as well, only to find nothing. In fact, a few houses should also collapse because of her.

Kai then ignored the problem and checked everything in the southern part of the island.

Finally, dusk came, and they decided to return before the sky turned dark. After all, it would be hard to see at that time, even with the natural light of the moon.

The group had dinner and immediately headed back to their tents.

Kai thought for a moment before raising a topic with the girls. "What do you think about this island?"

"Creepy."

"Eerie."

"Ruined."

Michelle, Tasha, and Ayaka answered him almost immediately.

"Hmm? Why do you think so?"

"I just can't shake the feeling that there is something on this island. The only problem is we can't see it. That's why I say this island is creepy." Michelle explained.

"So, you mean there is a ghost here?" Kai asked.

"Not at all. I think it's not a ghost, but something else. And it's also not magical beasts…" Michelle shook her head and sighed.

Kai nodded and turned to Tasha. "How about you?"

"Mostly the same as Michelle. You know about my Space Magic, right?"

"Yes."

"The Space Magic in my body was tingling when we were in the town… No, I should be more accurate. It's not Space Magic, but Sealing Magic."

"!!!" Kai frowned as his body shook by that statement. "Sealing Magic? Does that mean there is a trace of that?"

"Who knows? I might probably overthink it because we only have less than a hundred people on this island… And without lights." She shrugged.

"Anyway, we should get another clue because we will check the normal statue tomorrow." Kai nodded and looked at Ayaka. "What do you mean by ruined?"

"After looking around, I notice a few things. First, the destruction of the island wasn't due to the magical beasts alone. There might be some scratches here and then and some roaming… But if you check more closely, there are a few craters around the area.

"It should be either from a powerful force or something that weighs a lot… And I don't know if you notice it, but a third of the craters like that will have a statue buried there… That's why I think there was something going on in the past. And the fact that most of the houses are still fine or at least don't show something like battle aftermath, I think this is not that simple."

Kai closed his eyes for a few seconds before asking, "Was there any fights between the magical beasts and the islands? Or could the statues themselves move?"

"…" Not a single of them could answer this question because it was their objective coming to this island.

Kai took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright. Let's end it here. We will continue tomorrow."

The girls agreed, resting their minds from this mystery.

Day one – Failed.