The Island


Epic II – The Woman


It just had to rain that night.

Out of all the other nights, the sky chose this particular one to pour its load over the curious island.

How wonderful.

And it wasn't just light rain too! Lighting and thunder accompanied the heavy rain outside, making the island seem more alive than she ever thought it could be.

Why, oh why, does fate love to toy with her like this?

"Are you feeling well, Ryuzaki-san? You look kind of pale."

Turning her head to the right, she saw Oishi, who was seated beside her in the dining table. His brows were slightly knitted in an expression of concern for her health.

Sakuno tried to smile at the thoughtful fukubuchou, though it came out more as a grimace. At the moment, her thoughts are so infected by the ghost stories that Hiyoshi had related to her earlier that day that she wasn't able to summon the will to show a genuine smile for her senpai.

The regulars who were seating closest to her in the long dining table also turned their heads and looked at her probingly when Oishi had vocalized his question.

Not good.

She didn't want to attract that much attention.

She glanced across the table and saw Ryoma giving her a questioning look. He had noticed earlier that she seemed to be greatly bothered by something, but she had brushed his worry away with lame excuses.

Hiyoshi was quietly observing Sakuno with a secretive smirk on his face a few seats from the group's location. He knew exactly what was bothering the poor girl. She's so naïve and gullible. He could not believe that she actually got affected by the ghost stories he told her earlier. She just made it so much entertaining for him. He must admit that she is fun to bully.

"Perhaps the young lady doesn't like the dinner meal that's served to her," said a low and crusty voice that came from her left side.

This time, when she turned her head towards her left, she almost jumped up from her seat. She was grateful that she was also able to stifle the scream that almost came out of her mouth.

Before her, was the looming, large and sallow face of the old maid who was in charge of taking care of the east mansion. Clad in a worn-out and faded kimono, she was probably half the height of Sakuno, stooping, and hunch-backed like the typical Japanese women of ancient horror tales. She had striking grey hair that was swept up in a bun on top of her head. Her eyes, which seemed like they would pop out of their sockets anytime soon, stared at her as if determined to suck up her soul.

The brunette laid her hand on her chest and tried to keep a pleasant expression on her face as to not offend the old woman.

"I-iie, it's g-great. I'm just… having... um… stomach cramps," she finished lamely and let out another soft nervous giggle. "If…you would excuse me, I think I'll retire early for the night."

Sakuno bowed before them and took her half-eaten meal with her, intending to put her plate in the kitchen. Most of the players in the dining area eyed her curiously. The maid seemed to have also taken a keen interest in the brunette's unusual behavior.

The old woman was among the few caretakers who were allowed to stay in the island with the players. Originally, Atobe had planned to bring numerous servants to tend to the players' needs while they were vacationing. Being the extravagant host that he is, he wanted to ensure that his guests would be as comfortable as they can be.

However, most of the players had protested against it. They reasoned out that they would never feel comfortable having a butler or an attendant following them around every second. After all, most of them are private people who prefer privacy over attention.

As an end result, Atobe just opted to keep the people who originally take care of the island resort when it is not being used. Aside from the maid, there are the cooks who prepare the meals for the vacationers (one cook per mansion), a gardener, and a butler who manages the west mansion.

"Nya, should we call a doctor to do a check-up on Sakuno-chan's cramps? She might've caught some weird stomach virus. We are in an exotic island, after all," inquired a worried Eiji.

Oishi's face turned as red as a tomato when he heard the acrobat's question. "I-I don't think it's because of that, Eiji," he mumbled awkwardly. "It might be that 'girl thing' that happens every month, you know."

Eiji's ears perked up and he blinked in confusion. "What girl thing?"

The poor vice captain turned even redder, if still possible. He fidgeted in his seat as if wanting the ground to suddenly open up and swallow him. Why does his doubles partner have to be so slow sometimes?

"It's called menstruation or menses," Inui dutifully answered from his place. "It is the periodic discharge of bloo-"

Kaidoh and Momo blushed, coughed, and almost choked on their food when the data man started sputtering a detailed definition of menstruation over their dinner. The nerve of this data man! Just because he takes a scientific view of everything doesn't mean that everyone else around him does.

The Hyoutei players who were on the far end of the table were spared from hearing the embarrassing conversation simply thanks to their distance. Now, most of the Seigaku players wished that they also sat on that side of the room.

"S-senpai! Can you please not say it while we're eating?" Kaidoh growled out in his deep voice, completely abashed. The boomerang snake specialist suddenly found himself wishing that Tezuka opted not to stay over at the west mansion tonight. If the buchou was there, he would've taken control of the situation before it got out of hand. As it is at the moment, it seemed as if chaos always ensues whenever the captain is not around.

Fuji could barely contain his amusement at the current conversation. His sadistic mind was having a field day. He definitely enjoyed seeing the awkward and embarrassed faces of most of his teammates. On the other hand, Ryoma chose to tune out his senpais. Having been able to put up with them for almost four years, he had developed useful techniques for ignoring their antics.

He turned his thoughts towards the condition of the brunette. For a second, he debated going after her to make sure she's okay. But then again, if the situation really was as his Oishi-senpai suspected, then it's probably better if he left her alone and give her space for now.

Besides, he had enough trust in their relationship to believe that she would come to him immediately at the first sign of trouble.


Later that night…

Sakuno woke up at the booming sound of thunder. It was accompanied by lightning that struck somewhere beyond her bedroom window. When the flash of the lightning faded, she suddenly became aware that her room was in complete darkness. It was odd since she didn't remember turning off the lights before she went to bed.

After the stories she heard from Hiyoshi, she knew that she can never go to bed in that mansion with the lights out.

Not wanting to stay in the darkness for another second, she sat up and quickly felt for her cellphone on the bedside table. Its meager light provided enough lighting in the room for the time being. She flipped her phone open and found out from its digital display that it was already past 2 am in the morning.

"This one is a story that I heard directly from the cook residing in this mansion," Hiyoshi began, the coldness of his tone making her body freeze in terror.

"One stormy night, at around 3 o'clock in the morning, he heard the weeping voice of a woman. It was coming from one of the rooms on the third floor of the mansion. Thinking that it was actually the maid, who's the only other person in the mansion with him during that time, he bravely followed the source of the voice. One step at a time, he got closer to his destination.

"He was right. It was coming from a third floor room – one with its door semi-open. Concerned about the condition of the maid, since he thought she had fallen or something, he did not hesitate to enter the room.

"He was greeted by the sight of a woman who was crouching next to the bed, facing away from him. Her face seemed to be buried behind the sleeves of the kimono she was wearing. He asked her repeatedly if she was okay. Twice, thrice – he couldn't remember. But she neither answered nor acknowledged his presence. She just continued to weep.

"Finally getting impatient, he decided to place a hand on her shoulder. That was when the woman finally lowered her hands and took her face away from her kimono sleeves. Very slowly, her head turned towards him, but when he fully saw her face…" Suddenly, Hiyoshi paused and the creepy look on his face was gone.

"Keh, I really shouldn't tell you," he told her dismissively. But he knew the damage had already been done. Sakuno's face was so pale and her eyes so wide that she literally seemed frozen in horror.

The unwanted remembrance of the story made Sakuno more anxious than she already was. And suddenly, whether it's the product of her overactive imagination or not, the brunette felt the air around her drop a couple of degrees lower.

She jumped at the feeling and rushed towards her door where the light switch was located. With shaking hands, she hurriedly flicked the switch on.

And on.

And on.

And on.

But the light never came on.

'Did the storm bring down the power lines in the island?' Sakuno thought in panic.

But if that was the case, why isn't anyone making a commotion about it? The others should've noticed that the powers had gone out by now.

And then, she realized it.

How silly of her.

They are men. Of course, they wouldn't get easily bothered by silly things such as power outages or ghost stories. Besides, they're probably fast asleep at the moment. It is already past 2 am, after all.

Another loud boom of the thunder had Sakuno scampering back to her bed. She gathered her bedsheets around her and hid under it like a child. She was so frightened that for a second, she debated calling Ryoma. But then, she remembered that her cellphone is technically useless at the moment since there is no reception in the island.

She lied back down and closed her eyes, still under the cover of her blanket. The brunette tried to force herself to go back to sleep. But no matter how many times she tried, no matter how many sheep she counted, she just couldn't. She was wide awake.

It wasn't long before she finally realized that one of the reasons why she couldn't go comfortably back to sleep was because her throat was parched. She would do anything for a glass of water at the moment. That might calm her down a bit and finally give her the rest that she desperately wanted.

Though as much as she wanted to go get some water for herself, she knew she wouldn't be able to make it downstairs alone in the dark. She would most likely frighten herself to death.

Her only other option— no matter how selfish it may be— is to wake up someone to accompany her. Her first choice was her Kunimitsu-nii. He already knew about her fear of lightning and thunder, and somehow, she wouldn't feel as embarrassed admitting to the captain that she was scared by ghost stories, than she would've if she told someone else.

But as fate had it, her Kunimitsu-nii was staying over at the west mansion for the night and thus, could not come save her.

That left her no other choice but to go with Ryoma. It will be inappropriate if she woke up one of her other senpais at this time of the night. And though she really did not want to admit it, she was craving the boy's company at the moment. His presence always has the effect of soothing and calming her nerves. She always felt protected when he's by her side.

And so, with a decision finally made in her mind, she headed outside her room.


'Mou, is it the third room on the second floor or the third floor?'

She was in deep trouble.

The brunette couldn't exactly remember which floor Ryoma's room was on. All she remembered was that it was below her floor, which was the fourth.

She slowly walked along the unlighted hallway of the third floor, very mindful of her surroundings. In the darkness, the meager light that her cellphone casted turned the shadows of the hallway decorations into nondescript monstrous forms.

Sakuno tried not to look around her in fear that she might actually see something.

She was almost at the room where she thought Ryoma was in when she suddenly heard a distant sound.

It sounded like… weeping?

"One stormy night, at around 3 o'clock in the morning, he heard the weeping voice of a woman. It was coming from one of the rooms on the third floor of the mansion…"

Wait a minute…

She's on the third floor!

Kabroooooom.

"Kyaaah!"

This time, she actually let out a squeal at the loud burst of thunder that came from the outside. Without any further thoughts, she went to the room to her left and pounded at it urgently with her fist. She was immensely relieved when she heard footsteps and the sleepy murmur of its male occupant coming closer to the door. As soon as the door opened, she hurriedly mumbled:

"Ryoma-kun! Ryoma-kun, you've got to help me, I thought I—"

"Choutarou, I already told you I haven't seen your necklace aro—"

The occupant of the room and the brunette both paused when they finally saw each other's faces. Sakuno's wide-eyed stare was soon complemented by a surprised gasp and a blush as soon as the light from her cellphone illuminated the person before her.

Shishido Ryou stood before her clad only in dark blue boxers and a thin white shirt.

"T- the heck? What the hell are you doing here?" Shishido awkwardly asked the girl, his cheeks darkening by every second. He was torn between wanting to cover himself out of respect for the girl and slamming the door on her face.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I really thought this was…I'm so sorry," said Sakuno over and over again as she bowed before him. After a couple more of "I'm so sorry" mutterings, she closed her eyes and ran away from his room without hearing what Shishido was trying to tell her.

Oh crap. So Ryoma's room was on the second floor, after all.


Knock. Knock. Knock.

He turned over on his bed, wanting to drown out the offending nose.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

A groan.

He really wanted that noise to go away.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

But it didn't.

"Ryoma-kun?" was the soft voice that came from outside of his room.

That forced him to definitely get up from his bed and leave the comfort of its warmth. He opened the door and what was the first sight that greeted him?

A blushing Sakuno who stood staring at the ground on his doorway. She was in pink pajamas that had white bunnies printed all over it. Her long hair was put up in a messy bun though a few strands had escaped the binding.

For a second, he wondered if he was still in his dream land. It looked similar to a scene that has been frequenting his dreams lately. But now was not the time to think about things like that…

"Ryuzaki?" he confirmed in his sleepy voice. "Doushita?"

Sakuno braved a chance to look up at the boy and was relieved to find him in pajamas, instead of boxers. After the embarrassing incident earlier, she doesn't know if she could ever face Shishido without blushing ten shades of red.

"A-ano…" she started.

Ryoma stared at her with his apathetic eyes, getting more impatient with every second that they wasted just standing there.

"C-can you…accompany me downstairs?"


''Taku,' he thought in exasperation.

So apparently, those clichés of girls who jump at the first sound of thunder also exist outside the world of movies. How bothersome.

Why is he doing this again when he could've just stayed in the comfort of his warm bed?

Ryoma casted a glance at the brunette beside him, who tried to stay as close to him as she can without actually touching him. She was worriedly looking at their surroundings as if afraid that something is bound to attack them any moment now.

The freshman prodigy couldn't help but flush upon how cute she looked getting all scared like that.

That's right. He's just rendered powerless when it comes to this girl's innocently casted charms. She doesn't even need to try.

Frowning, he was a bit irritated by that thought.

He should get back at her for always making him vulnerable to her charisma.

Sakuno and Ryoma had finally reached the bottom of the stairs and started to cross the long hallway that will lead them to the kitchen. They were passing the lounging area of the mansion when an idea struck Ryoma. The thought of it lifted the corner of his lips into a sly smirk.

He slowed his pace a bit and waited until the girl was about a foot ahead of him. Ryoma then executed his plan. He bent his head forward and deliberately blew on the girl's exposed neck in an attempt to scare her.

As expected, Sakuno immediately jumped from her place and glanced behind her in alert. By that time, Ryoma had already pulled back and pretended to act nonchalantly.

"Nn, doushita?" he asked.

Sakuno frowned, before blinking. "There was something…" she started but then stopped herself, "Mou… I guess it was just me."

The brunette started walking again, but this time, actually stayed beside Ryoma. She hesitated for a moment before she grabbed Ryoma's right arm and hugged it.

Of course, the freshman had stiffened upon the close contact but gradually relaxed into it. He hid a smirk when he realized that his plan was actually going better than he expected.

Perhaps if he did it again, Sakuno would get more frightened and she would…

Score.

He waited until she was distracted again. She was in the middle of looking at a hanged up portrait when he bent his head sideways and blew on her—

'Shoot!'

Ryoma's eyes widened when his lips suddenly came into contact with the girl's cheek since she looked up at him right when he bent down. As a result, he ended up kissing her cheek and they froze in that position for a few seconds.

Sakuno was the first to snap out of their moment. With a deep blush on her face, she quickly disentangled herself from Ryoma and frowned up at him.

"R-Ryoma-kun, what—"

"I didn't mean to—"

Whoooooooo.

They both froze for the second time that night when they heard the mysterious sound. To Sakuno, it sounded very much like the sound she heard when she was on the third floor of the mansion. Goosebumps crawled along her skin as she unconsciously hugged Ryoma's arm again, momentarily forgetting their little "incident" a few seconds ago.

"W-what is that?" she whispered, frightened.

Ryoma strained his ears in order to get an idea of where the moaning sound was coming from.

"It's coming from the kitchen," he told the brunette. Determined to find out what it was, he started to head towards the source of the noise. Unfortunately for Sakuno, she had no choice but to follow Ryoma since she was attached to him.

Stealthily, they crept toward the kitchen area, fully alert just in case they encounter someone or something in there.

Step.

Step. Step.

The sound gradually increased as they got closer to the source.

Step. Step. Step.

And when they finally arrived at the arching opening of the kitchen, they were both shocked to see…

An opened window.

Just an opened window.

And the moaning sound they heard was the wind noise coming in.

"Che," Ryoma grumbled out.

He then walked to the window and closed it, effectively stopping the noise.

Sakuno let out a sigh of relief. All of that worrying for nothing. Perhaps the weeping-like sound she heard from the third floor also came from an opened window. She should calm herself. Perhaps, she was just being overly paranoid.

"Get your drink so I can take you back upstairs," she heard Ryoma order her.

With a nod, she sent him a smile and moved to grab a cup from one of the cupboards in the kitchen.


"Are you going to be okay?"

Sakuno was already inside her room with Ryoma on her doorstep. They had managed to head back upstairs without any more awkward incidents or weird occurrences.

"Un. Thank you for accompanying me," she softly told him.

"And gomen, I had to be a bother to Ryoma-kun once again. I try not to," Sakuno told him with remorse in her voice.

"I didn't mind," he dismissed her worry. "It was fun."

Sakuno blinked up at him in surprise. "Eh?"

The prince merely smirked at her and closed his eyes. "Betsu ni," he mumbled before he turned away from her.

Ryoma soon disappeared from her view, leaving the brunette wondering what he actually meant by "fun."


It was already about 3:03 am when she got back to her room. The power was still out but she didn't mind anymore. Her throat is no longer parched and she believed she was actually tired enough to just pass out and not be bothered by her paranoia anymore.

Before Sakuno went back to her bed, she set up an alarm using her phone to ensure that she doesn't oversleep. Once she was done, she happily placed her phone back on her bedside table.

The girl couldn't help but glance out her window that was situated next to the table. It was looking out the back of the mansion towards the out-of-bounds jungle, which was completely hidden in the darkness. Apparently, rain continued to pour heavily outside. She just hoped that it wouldn't affect the cruise of the other regulars, who are on their way to the island at the moment. The brunette doesn't want their arrival on the island to be delayed or cancelled. But of course, she doesn't want anything to happen to them too, so she can only pray that they continue to have a safe trip.

She was about to look away from her window when she noticed the form of something white standing behind the rope that barred the perimeters of the jungle. It was sheltered under the cover of one of the tallest trees. The girl frowned, thinking that it was a wild animal, but it was too tall to be a four-legged animal and too narrow to be something that can stand up like a gorilla or a bear.

Sakuno narrowed her eyes in order to get a better look at what the thing was. By the time she got closer to her window, the lightning conveniently flashed and lit up the area outside for a second.

But that was all she needed to get a clearer view of the white form.

It wasn't an animal, but rather, a person.

A woman, to be precise.

A woman with long dark straight hair and white face.

And she was looking straight up at Sakuno's window, as if glaring at her.

This time, she wasn't able to stifle the scream that came out of her mouth.


Author's Notes:

So I decided to have a little fun with Sakuno in this chapter. Hahah.

Compared to DITTC, the mystery of this sequel is more geared towards the supernatural? As such, the action would not be as intense nor fast-paced, but will still be present.

To answer some of your questions, yes, KiriSaku will have a major part in this story once again. I love KiriSaku, remember? Lol. I just couldn't resist. Hopefully, I'll be able to pull off a more definite resolution to his relationship with Sakuno in this sequel.

Who knows, this might not end up as RyoSaku, after all? *Gets shot*

We'll see.

There will also be quite a lot of SakuxOthers interactions, though it's going to be mainly RyoSaku. It's just so fun to pair her up with other people sometimes. She's like the new black? Lol.

But yeah, for now, please read and review. Until next time!

Japanese Vocab:

Doushita? – What's wrong?

'Taku – short form of mattaku, which is an expression of frustration

Un – yes

Betsu ni – it's nothing