Motley (#Wattys2016)

2: Shanghaied

Masa pounded on the cabin door angrily. "Let me out! Bring me back to Tosto!"

"Nope," Reiko said lazily.

"Look, why did you shanghai me in the first place? Why am I still alive, and where is my money?" Masa asked them furiously through the door.

"I told you, you needed to comply by our rules," Nori said patiently. "And you said you couldn't, so you'll stay in there. Alone. Without your money."

"What an annoying brat," Ryota muttered. "Let's kill him and be done with it."

"Can I do the honors?" Reiko asked.

Satoru peered at the eager expression on her face. "Reiko, you're just strange all over."

"There will be no killing. Remember? We need a navigator! A forger! A smart person!" Nori said.

"So that's why I'm here? I'm enchanted," Masa said sarcastically.

It was the next morning. Masa had just woken up, and woke everyone else up with him. For such a scrawny kid, he made a lot of noise trying to force the cabin door open with a dustbin. Luckily he was weaker than they had expected. The most damage he had done was wake them up from all the pounding on the door hinges. They were all having breakfast of the usual old crusty sourdough, except for Masa, who they had not let out at all yet. The crew sat in a circle on the deck.

"Eggs would be delicious," Satoru said. "I wish we could have some eggs."

"With this extra money, we could probably afford it. We're going to Somma Island next, so with Masa's seventy pastils..."

"You could probably only afford eight," Masa said from the cabin.

The crew was silent. "What was that?" Ryota said quietly.

"The Somma marketplace, the one closest to the docks where you'll probably restock your materials, charges around six or seven pastils for a chicken egg."

They all stared at the door. "How do you know that? Have you been to Somma before?" Satoru asked the closet door.

"No, but I have read about it. And because of the climate, the chickens aren't very healthy so customers are primarily charged more for a good egg. Calculating the price of an average egg at an oceanside market like that plus the extra fees for chicken feed, stock, and for regular supply and demand, I'd say you'll probably be paying about eight pastils."

Nori looked sideways at Ryota. "And you said we didn't need him."

Ryota rolled his eyes. "Alright, let's let him out."

Reiko got up and unlocked the cabin door. It immediately swung open. Masa stumbled out and blinked in the bright light. They were all smiling at him. When he got used to the bright light, he shined his glasses on his pants, put them back on angrily, and finally spoke. "Do you realize how unacceptable this is?"

"Kind of," Nori said. She took a bite of bread. "Oh, yeah, want some?" She offered the last piece of bread to him.

He snatched it out of her hand, but did not eat it. "So I'm here because you need me," he said. "Because you haven't been to school."

"Mm-hmm."

"And what are your rules?"

"Oh, the third rule was just to not leave the ship without our knowing, that's all." Nori finished the bread, yawned and stretched like a cat in the sun.

"Really?" Masa said incredulously.

"Yeah."

They looked in each other's eyes for a few moments. "Alright," he said. "I'll be your... I don't know... genius? But to tell you the truth, I'm not that smart."