The Sleeping Darkness

10. The Resolve

They spent the following two months frequently visiting their friends in Tosatsu Kingdom, even if Wadanohara was more than just afraid that they could be found out. They told them about what happened to some of them, and at one point, they didn't even know where to look when Lobco saw Aom again, whom she thought to be dead at the bottom of the sea.

And of course, there was Princess Tosatsu, who was in a more than crabby and depressed mood for being unable to help her friend Uomi when she was attacked. She didn't talk much about it, but it was clear to see what she was thinking. She also was the reason the sea dwellers were allowed to stay in the castle - the King didn't care if they were there, and he constantly (in his more than creepy voice) told them that he hadn't had guests in the castle for a long time, and that it made his daughter feel better so it was okay for him too.

Wadanohara and Samekichi didn't talk much about the possibility of returning home, but at least Samekichi was thinking about it a lot. He didn't know what was going on in Wadanohara's head, but she was sure she would inform him about her ideas sooner or later.

He was trying to figure out ways to not make this whole thing into a suicide mission - which it was, no matter from which direction he decided to look at it.

He concerned himself with many things at once - he tried to assure Wadanohara that she shouldn't feel pressured about the plan, and that she should think it through.

Meanwhile, the Witch World was going head first into it's hot season (which was ironic because that world had a mostly mild, warm climate anyway and thankfully it lacked a colder season, just like the sea), and the temperatures were approaching levels he had a hard time bearing. The sky was more glowy than usual and there was no wind anymore. The dangling stars were hardly visible through the rich orange color and the purple grass wilted with unbelievable speed.

He just wanted to leave.

It would have been different if he could spend the whole day underwater, but just sitting in the crater was boring, there was nothing to do except swimming and more swimming. Which maybe was not that different to what he would do anyway, but without anything to look at and to explore, it felt pointless.

"How do you even deal with that," Samekichi asked Wadanohara, who sat at the edge of the crater on one of the glittery black rocks reading a book, while his tail dangled into the water, "With all your black clothes and stuff."

"You're wearing leather pants Samekichi, you tell me," Wadanohara shut her book and looked down to where he sat.

"That's because I'm...I'm...!" He crossed his arms, unsure what to tell her, "Only old men wear pants made from floppy cloth!"

"It's okay, I get it," She was repressing a snicker, he just knew it, "But we really need to go to town, or else we won't have any dinner tonight."

"Urgh, I don't wanna," Samekichi groaned with a most miserable face, splashing up water with his tail.

"I can take the broom and go alone," She hopped down from the rock and started walking towards the house, "It's okay, I just won't be able to carry as much."

"No, wait, I'm on my way, alright?" He also bounced up from his spot and followed her, no one should ever say he wasn't going to help her carry stuff, or that he just sat around like a lazy blob.

He could hear Wadanohara's almost inaudible giggling and wondered how she even did that, he couldn't even remember one instance where he let out a giggle like that. Maybe it was a thing girls were born with and he just would never be able to replicate.

Wadanohara was busy looking through the ice box one last time, probably determining what they need and how much they could carry at once, and he watched her closely, as something seemed to be different about her. His eyes were good, but the brightness outside and the sudden shade inside irritated him a lot and it took him a few moments longer to actually see what it was that had changed.