The final curtain
Episode 0.1; Ghost
The exam is officially, and finally over. The ship is going to depart in about two hours so some of the students stayed back on the island to play around in the sea, while most of them decided to board the ship.
As for me, I was the first one to come aboard the ship. I didn't want to be bombarded with random questions I didn't want to answer so I left as quickly as I gave me explanation about my plan. There are a small minority of students roaming around the ship with full intent on finding me. It's almost like I have a bounty on my head or something.
I haven't sent the points to Ryuuen or anyone yet since I figured I should do that in person, especially with Soranyan and Ibuki. Their pay is much less than Ryuuen, about a quarter of the million he asked for so I'll just lose 1.5 million private points. It's not that big of a deal, it's more like a means to an end.
"I regret revealing my plan now, it was fun to let out all that at once but the downside....is hiding away from the first years until things have calmed down."
I'm basically sitting ontop of the cruise ship with a bento box right next to my person, along with a full supply of soft drinks and mineral water. I even have a sleeping bag off to the side if I need to sleep up here.
I expect to stay up here for awhile, it might be cold but it's better than being moulded down there by a bunch of hungry alligators. I texted Kujou earlier and told her my location, she's among the people who aren't hunting me down and is just walking about taking in the view. She had an extra bento box so I used my parkour skills to hop into her room and sneak out the bento without her permission so I'll make sure to apologize to her once we meet again.
The sea breeze is nice, it's still the morning and just entering the afternoon but I don't feel hot in the slightest. The breeze of the ocean is cooling me down so well, at most I'll only suffer the sheer cold of the night but that's why I have a sleeping bag. I can sleep on hard ground as much as I want but I won't fall asleep if the temperature drops like crazy.
"Hah.....this is so boring......" I'm already starting to fall victim to my fatigue.
I moved around so much during the island adventure, my workout routine isn't as consistent than back when I'm with grandpa so my physical ability has dropped slightly. I'm not that much out of shape or anything, but I guess not being able to sleep properly also got to me so I'm a little sleepy.
"It's so boring.....I'll....just....hit the...sack......for awhile...."
°°°
"Mmm....hhnnnn hah...." I get up from my sleeping bag with a yawn.
The golden colour of evening has set in as it dyes everything in a bright yellow, this must be the the Golden Time of the month.
So I slept from afternoon all the way to evening huh? About 6 whole hours, that's literally the sleep I need for the next day. Why did I wake up in the first place? I don't mind seeing the gold of the world and all but I prefer to stay asleep since there's nothing for me to do right now.
"I should at least get a drink and enjoy the scenery for an hour or so...- hmm? This is....the scent of smoke?"
"Huh? Oh, you're awake."
I turn my head towards the familiar voice. It's Kane, smoking a cigarette just a ways away from me. The top of the cruise ship is quite large but not many people come up here, it's the perfect place to admire the scenery by yourself or with another person.
"Kane? What are you doing here?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to get a cig in... Fuuuh..." A puff of smoke comes from her mouth as she pulls the cigarette away from my mouth.
She's in her more casual outfit, the black cat ear hoodie with her dark red shirt, real nice outfit especially for someone like her.
Ah, now that I feel the wind, we've already started to depart back to the school. That'll likely take a few days, and unfortunately I don't think I can stay up here for even two weeks so let's hope they hurry up and call it a week.
"Need a drink? I got ya a little somethin'."
"Hmm? A bottle of lamune, didn't think you were so considerate."
"Yeah, yeah. Just take it or break it."
I chuckle lightly before sitting near the corner, the exact opposite from where Kane is sitting right now. I'm not trying to distance myself from her, but the smell of cigarettes is almost like toxin to me and it's second hand smoke so it's more dangerous to breath in anyway.
Ah..... it's so nice. A sense of warmth wrapping around your body as you stare off into the golden light connecting the sea and sky while sipping on a bottle of lamune. This is bliss.
"You look like you're enjoying yourself, despite the manhunt going on down there."
"Yeah, the sleeping bag isn't as comfortable as an actual bed but it's better than sleeping in a tent. Besides this is Golden Time right now, there's no reason for me to feel sad or annoyed."
"You love this huh?" She's right, I downright adore this sight.
It's shining so brilliantly, it's only temporary but at least it's enjoyable. The gods didn't hold back when they were making a moment such as this, it's almost like this is the time you could do anything you want.
Jump off right now and you might reincarnate as a bird, hop off the deck and you'll turn into a fish in your next life. It feels like you can do anything you want, a sense of freedom to do whatever you if you will.
"Sorry, I should have done more. This might not sound like what I usually say but you were really exhausted after the exam right?"
"Yeah.... Almost too exhausted. It's ok to worry about someone by the way."
"You should rest more then, you have nothing else to do anyway so might as well head straight back sleep."
We speak to eachother, not even taking glances at the other with each word that comes out from our mouths. The sun is directly in between us, this yellowish ball of heat shows how distant we are from eachother.
"I don't want to sleep yet, rather I can't sleep as long as you're smoking up here."
"Tch, fine I'll stop after this."
"Thank you. Oh by the way, what did you do to raise our points to 385 anyway?"
Her body tenses up for a second before sighing and turning towards me with an exasperated expression.
"I extended the deal further will class-D, Ryuuen was going after class-A the entire time so he found out the identity of A-class's leader. I ended up using that information to betray both him and class-A."
"But the plan was to almost leave class-A alone right? Sure we screwed them over but that was just so they wouldn't mess with us, why did you go for them then?"
"Because there was no other choice. Have I hadn't they would have likely had 100 points, we're trying to catch up to class-A so it only makes sense if I stop their movements for the time being."
"You're merciless...."
"Not really, Ghost handled all the talking so if you wanna blame someone talk that chick."
"No thanks, I don't think I can handle her right now."
She improved on my strategy just so we could stop any advancements class-A could do, at this point it's highly likely we're only about 200 private points in range of class-A. I wanted to keep from paying Soranyan at the time for some reason so my only thought process was to not aim for them, I'll definitely get shit for this.
"Hey...Kane? Who's Ghost anyway?"
"You're asking that now? Wow, you're a serious retard. If you want to know then don't ask me, not like I know entirely what she is myself, either that or I'm too tired to explain."
"Alright...can you bring her out?"
"If you want, I'll warn you once I wake her up she'll be annoying." So she's a asleep?
"Nevermind, I'll just accept the fact you won't tell me for the time being."
I'm not mad she won't tell me anything. I expected that she wouldn't in the first place.
Golden Time, such a magical time of the month. It has a strong significance with me though, I understand it better than no one yet Kane seems extremely familiar with it as well.
Could she....no no, it doesn't. Make sense and I have no evidence to support it. Either way, there's no excuse why we shouldn't enjoy this Golden Time together....