There was another interesting rant that Chief went on one time. The subject made me a little uncomfortable this time, but I knew he was just trying to offer some of his wisdom in the weird we he usually did.

"It's probably a no-brainer for everyone, but parents can really make a guy on-edge at times. The precise reason is likely because they're your parents. Somewhere along the line, they drill into your mind all things they've done for you out of love, and it starts this guilt trip of how ungrateful you are for them whenever they piss you off in some way. And if you're one of the good kids, you really do start taking into consideration and feel a little bad about realizing what they pull off to raise you. But then, with more experience, with all those times they've told you not to make excuses for your actions, you begin to realize that all that time they've been making excuses for the way they've been treating you, too. It starts reaching a point where being their child starts feeling derogatory in same because of the imposed authority they have over you. If they're good parents, you know it's with the motivation that they love you, but that doesn't really make the whole thing any better. Sometimes you have to wonder if there will ever come a time that they'll get over themselves so that they'll eventually come to let us show how grateful you really were the whole time.

Growing up can suck real bad sometimes. You'll never be sure how much hormones can mess you up sometimes, and you may not even realize the changes as time goes on."

It's pretty embarrassing, actually.

For most of my early childhood, my life mostly revolved around my older brother. I didn't remember much about my parents back then. Maybe that's why I felt so distant from them when he went to Japan for training.

So what then? I couldn't really tell anybody if my parents were good or bad anything.

It's a little too late to form any lasting opinion on them now.

At least I had the guys at the café and Kat to look after me.

If anything, my only abandonment issues left are with my brother.

I guess I can't completely understand about the baggage with his parents that Chief went on about.

But there was one thing that bothered me when I thought about it:

Why the hell did my folks let my brother go all the way to some foreign country on his own?


7th Memory: All In The Name of Love


Two whole seasons passed since I wound up on this island.

Natalie still hassled me into showing her some boxing, with Denny sometimes dragging me away from work and training in order to more fishing. And then there's Julia who tries to get me to relax at the local café when everything else started stressing me out. Of course, I still looked forward to whenever I could just unwind with Sabrina after doing favors for her at the mines. As for that creamy treat-themed cowboy, I opted to stay away from the guy as much as possible. As much as Sabrina wanted me to get along with him, actually trying to do so was too much of a pain. It was better this way, anyway: I wouldn't get pissed off at the guy while he was hanging out with her, and he can enjoy himself as long as he behaved. I really wanted to trust her, so here's hoping her influence might someday reach appoint where I can someday tolerate his awful presence.

Overall, it became a daily routine with the occasional mixed bag thrown in. Every day had some element that I could see coming a mile away.

Of course, I knew this couldn't last forever.

It was early fall, and Natalie once again had me show her the ropes with boxing. After all this time, I feel like I've been very slow with her, as I never went through all the fundamentals with her somehow. I never thought I was an ideal teacher, to be honest.

"Natalie, you're too much weight in your punches again!" I scolded.

Natalie stopped punching in mid-air and stared at me funny.

"Whoa, what? Come on! Isn't that how you're supposed to get power in a punch? The more weight, the more power?" she argued.

I shook my head in disgust.

I knew that kind of simple use of force was a common thing to believe, but I learned better along the way.

"No. Listen, I know where that kind of thinking comes from, but it won't help out in the long run. A simple thing like a jab, especially, shouldn't be executed like that! And that's the simplest, least energy-wasting punch!"

I threw out a few quick jabs in the air, showing how little pushing was needed.

"Just think of it this way: the force of the blow, the power behind the strike; it's all about the time of impact. Every bit of force should be applied the moment you make contact instead of on the way, otherwise you're wasting energy getting there instead of throwing it all into the actual time of attack. It's… like a snapping motion, I guess." I explained to her.

"Whaaat? How does that work? I use the same sort of punches on Elliot whenever he bugs me and they work just fine!" Natalie retorted.

Oh good grief.

Please stop bringing up how you'd use hand-to-hand combat to abuse your brother and focus!

I'd feel more confident in teaching her if I was she'd use it for a reason that wouldn't bug me…

"Yeah, there are times where putting all your weight into a blow will help, but tends to be more effective as a desperation strike like a haymaker. Even then, it would help more if you added a little wind-up for extra oomph, but all that ends up doing is use up a whole lot of time and energy. Simply pushing like that is just shoving your fist in your opponent. You gotta hit like a whip to do more damage and use less energy! Strike and retract! That way you can also maintain a decent defense while still staying on the offensive!" I further elaborated.

"And that involves… applying force at the last minute?" Natalie asked me with a blank stare.

This was tough.

I personally learned for myself that showing this with the arms can be much tougher than with the legs. Muay Thai had first got me to look into kicks, but it was a Tae Kwon Do student like Chief who was able to tell me how useful this snapping motion really helped. Some martial art that involved mostly kicks could feel like a very limited arsenal, but using fast and effective attacks can really make a difference. He was always telling me how he lacked confidence in being a true fighter despite being a black belt, but in those few sparring matches we had, he did a really good job putting on pressure and keeping me away with those lightning legs of his. The guy was also pretty flexible for someone claiming to be out of shape.

"Look." I said.

At the risk of hurting my hand, I dragged her over to the nearby sign to demonstrate.

"This is a punch when you simply shove your weight at your target."

I imitated Natalie's preferred punching method, and it made a thud against the sign.

"And this is a punch when you chose to snap into it."

This time, I lightly, but swiftly moved my arm towards the sign, only to twist my fist and push out at the moment of impact, causing more of cracking noise.

Natalie watched back in disbelief as she noted the difference.

"You heard the difference?" I asked her.

She sort of looked at me with this blank stare.

"Y-yeah…"

"Now, I suppose trying to apply this to a hook and uppercut might be difficult, but it has its way of working out too-"

"Chelsea! I received some really important news!" an older woman cried out.

The crier rushed in to interrupt our lesson while holding a letter. Said crier turned out to be Felicia, Natalie and Elliot's mother. She had her light red hair mostly combed back and tied into a very fluffy ponytail.

She looked very kind and gentle, like the kind of mother you'd expect most to be like, though she tends to squint a lot. Oddly enough, I've seen Natalie make a very similar expression whenever she's super happy over something.

Come to think of it, Ms. Mirabelle once told me Felicia is quite the jokester whenever they talked together. Putting Natalie's michevous nature into consideration, wouldn't that mean there was a chance Felicia might have been a little like Natalie when she was younger? And could this mean that Natalie might grow up to be just as prissy and cheerful as her mom under the right circumstances?

I think my brain just broke.

"What is it, Ms. Felicia?" I asked her.

"I just received word that Mark, the designated farmer for the islands, will be arriving by the end of next week!" she told me.

Natalie raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, does that mean-"

"Looks like I'll finally be able to head out soon." I finished.

Natalie started looking real upset while her mother was mildly concerned.

"I'm almost torn. I'm actually quite happy that you'll finally be able to make the trip you were intending to make before the storm arrived and ruined everything! But at the same time, I feel sad that we'll have to let go of a dear friend we made on the island." Felicia lamented.

"Hey, no big deal! We still got a good two weeks left to hang out, right? I'm sure we can make the best of that time!" I replied, hoping it would lighten the mood.

"But… but it's really cool to have a friend like you around!" Natalie complied, "Every other girl on the island is too girly, but you're actually someone I could get behind and have fun with! Do you know how hard it can be sometimes trying to get a good conversation with Julia and Lanna sometimes? Lanna's all giggly form being a chipper former pop idol, and Julia's just as saintly as Mom is!"

I'll said it again: for someone who dresses the way she does, her personality would allow her to wear a nun outfit with proper pride.

"It is true that Julia's such a well-behaved young lady." Felicia added.

"Natalie, I'm sorry. Really. It's just… I wasn't planning on being the residential farmer forever, and besides, there's someone waiting over the coast for me that I promised I would meet with. This meeting is very important to me, so I have to make it as soon as the island's secure…" I told to her.

I knew trying to explain to Natalie wouldn't make things easier, but she had to understand the truth.

My time as "Chelsea" was good and fine, but I couldn't just remain stagnant forever. I already learned that the hard way. "Ophelia" still had some growing up to do, and there was no way she can truly move on with her life until she finally became stronger.

"Chelsea…" she whimpered as she came close to the point of crying.

"Natalie, hold on." I told her gently.

I decided to hold on to her while keeping her safely out of sight.

I figured if any outsider saw her in such a vulnerable state, she wouldn't hesitate to rage at whoever was unfortunate enough to witness this. I couldn't let that happen now, could I?

"It'll be alright. When I'm gone, I'll be sure to get you the address I'll be staying at. And you know where I've been living before here, so you can write me there when I'm done with my training overseas! It'll be cool. You know a long-distance friendship has a much better chance at staying afloat than any crazy dating sort of thing! Besides, I'll be sure to stop by here before I return home. We're tight like sisters, don't you know? I'm not going to run off and forget about you." I assured her.

That girl was trying so hard to stifle her tears. I'd tell her it was okay to her to cry, but I think for now it would be the last thing she'd want to hear from someone she looked up to like a hero.

"Chelsea, please. If you're really going, don't you dare forget about us!" she cried.

I started having strange flashbacks of when my brother left me to learn his martial arts in Japan, and how much I was begging him not to go.

I was about to do the same thing, wasn't I? My brother left me behind to do something he thought was more important, but...

No, this was different. Everyone else I was living with except for him never really paid attention to me. Natalie has her family along with an entire community to look after her.

It was really strange looking at her like this. In one way, she was like my shadow, but a long time ago, I had also seen her as someone I may have become if only brother stayed to watch out for me.

It was probably a cheap reason to get along with her, but I guess everyone needs someone they can relate to so they knew they weren't alone in the world. It looks like I was just that person for Natalie, but she'd have to learn to move on. I'm probably not the best person to teach her that there's more to life than acting tough, something that I wish I realized sooner myself.

"There, there, Natalie. We'll just have to hold her such a big feast before she leaves they she'll have no choice but to remember us." Felicia proposed.

The shaken tomboy rose her head and looked at her mom curiously.

"…Mom?"

"You've been hanging out with that young Gourmet for quite a while now, yes? I'm sure you'll be able to cook up a fine meal that'll leave a lasting impression on Chelsea's taste buds." Felicia suggested.

"Really? You think so?" Natalie asked.

"I've seen you work so hard at the kitchen, honey, and I can see the love you put in your cooking. You're so passionate in it… I doubt your love for cooking will let you down." Felicia assured her daughter.

Natalie then lowered her head, stifling even more tears. I saw her clench her fists, as if some hard thought had just struck her. Suddenly, she stepped back and pointed a finger at me with a determined look in her eyes.

"Here me out, Chelsea! When that day comes, I'm going to make such a great meal that it will power you a thousand times more! No, you'll over nine thousand times stronger! I swear it! Just you wait!" she proclaimed.

Wow, give the girl a scoter and she'd likely shatter that thing into a million pieces!

Um, maybe that expression wouldn't make sense to the right people.

Natalie's red hot determination made me grin.

"Of course! Now I want to try this meal you have planned more than ever!" I told her.

"Good! There's no way I'm going to let you down!" she promised me.

At the same time, Felicia was observing her daughter with a curious grin of her own. I was starting to think by the… er… twinkle in her… squinty…eyes… that she was feeling something nostalgic of her own. Maybe she went through something similar to what her daughter did just now?

"Okay! Now with that said, Mom, would you mind giving Chelsea and me some space? I want Chelsea to teach me some more boxing stuff!" Natalie asked to hurry things along.

A rather pleased Felicia giggled and stepped back.

"Not at all! I'm sure your friend still has much to show you." She replied.

"CHELSEAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" another voice cried out in the distance.

Great, what was it this time?

One incoming stampede later, it was revealed to us that it was Julia who came bearing more news.

"Julia? What's going on?" I asked her, feeling unsure just how urgent this might be.

That poor lady looked shaken. She must really be worried about whatever it was.

"It's Vaughn! Regis called him to the manor!" she cried.

Just great. It had to be a Wednesday, did it? I really wanted to keep my policy of staying out of Flan's way if he was really the decent guy Sabrina said he was, so I didn't want to bother dealing with this.

"So?" I asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Look, I know you couldn't care less about him, but Regis is Sabrina's father! You're her friend, aren't you? She looked really upset when she came to get Vaugh for him! Whatever's going on between the three of them must be bad news for sure!" she warned me.

Sabrina? Upset?

And Snidely Whiplash is involved?

Great. Just Great.

No, this really does sound pretty bad.

I don't know exactly how Flan's caught up in this, but if this involved Sabrina and Snidely, well…

Sabrina's likely going to suffer the worst of it.

I didn't waste another moment. Once again, I rushed towards the manor where everyone was meeting.

Julia's really got to stop making me do this.

Once I arrived there, it looked like everyone else made it to the meeting. It wasn't too long before someone started speaking up.

"So, what are we doing here?" A familiar, jerk-ish voice demanded.

I got closer and noticed that Flan was standing center-stage right before Regis' desk.

The face of the iconic villain-like man glowed with an intense wrath.

"...You seem to get along very well with my daughter, Sabrina…" he hissed.

"Meaning?" Vaughn huffed.

Regis' gleaming eyes crept closer to Vaughn's face, looking ready to bite it clean off.

"A MAN LIKE YOU WOULD ONLY BECOME FRIENDLY WITH MY DAUGHTER FOR OUR FORTUNE!" he accused.

Well, that took me back to when Sabrina first brought up the man. I arrived at the very same conclusion as him. It didn't help that he sucked at being nice to people in general.

"DON'T YOU EVER COME NEAR MY DAUGHTER AGAIN!" Regis threatened.

"Father! Did you ask Vaughn to come see you just so you could say that to him?" Sabrina demeaned to know form the sidelines, "You're so rude to him!"

"You stay out of this, Sabrina!" Regis ordered.

The hell? What is that moron saying? This whole personal conference had everything to do with her! Of course she had to speak up!

Suddenly, as if some great presence possessed her, Sabrina stepped forward with her posture fully erect and ready for decisive action.

"But Vaughn isn't like that! It's not your decision, father!"

I probably had the widest smile on my face at that moment. Seeing my friend stand up for herself, when she's usually one of the most gentle people I knew, was quite possibly the coolest thing I had ever seen.

"Hmph," Regis scoffed, "I'm not falling for it one bit! From what I've heard, that young man only cares about money!"

An uneasy memory lingered into my mind. I did remember Denny forcing one of his discussions about Flan, and one of them did go on about how business-focused the guy was. Hearing it from him, it did give me enough reason to get pissed off at the cowboy for hanging around Sabrina for his own motives.

A harsh foot stomp echoed throughout the manor that quickly knocked the smugness off of Snidely's face. Flan was staring him straight in the eye, looking more pissed off than ever.

"I'll admit, money is the most important thing to me, yes. But I'm not that way with Sabrina!" he declared, "I am not happy with you feeling that way about me!"

My eyes went wide with disbelief.

There he was, throwing out his trump card with everything he had.

He didn't waver or flinch. His eyes simply stayed focused on the man before him, who was clearly outraged.

I didn't believe it. That rotten cowboy actually looked pretty manly there. Like a real man.

I never thought I'd ever come to see the day.

"Is that all you had to say to me?" Vaughn continued, with both his hands clenched.

I'm not sure if the guy was quick to resort to physical violence, but it looked like he was really going to let that villain have it one way or another.

"Fine. You know what? If that's how things stand, then I'll never talk to Sabrina again! Happy now?" he shouted.

Regis' jaw dropped. My jaw dropped. Sabrina's jaw dropped. The only one in the vicinity without their mouth gaping wide open was the man who just spoke up.

What. The. Hell?

Was that no-good cowboy really going to let it play out like this?

"V-Vaughn?" Sabrina whimpered.

Snidely's mouth slowly curled into a very wicked grin. He was silent at first, but when he opened up again, he was roaring with the most vile laughter I had ever heard. It was like the bad guy had finally triumphed over good.

"Yes! Yes! That is acceptable to me. Very very acceptable! Music to my ears, in fact! Now then, I insist you get out of my house this instant!" Regis roared.

I doubt he knew just unsettling an atmosphere he was leaving with his obnoxious glee. All of it was just too disgusting to watch.

I wondered for a moment if that stinking cowboy was going to change his mind, but then he just turned away and walked off without looking back. He even walked past me and never bothered to pay attention to me as he head towards the door. Without saying another word, he slammed the door, and presumably stormed off.

At that moment, my blood was boiling. I wasn't completely sure what caused it to heat up so much. Was it that cowboy's departure? Was it Snidely's sudden demands? Or was it Sabrina's suffering? I didn't know. And eventually, I didn't care.

The one sound ringing in my ears was that damn tycoon's mocking laughter.

"Did you see, Sabrina?" Regis began, "he was simply trying to trick you by relying on his looks. That cad. What shallow, contemptible man he is."

"Father!" Sabrina's voiced cracked.

Maybe I could have let Sabrina try to handle this on her own, but I thought I was more than angry enough for the both of us. I still wasn't sure what really set me off, but at the moment, the one I was most mad at was Regis.

With this burning feeling taking over, I threw myself forward and quickly cut the distance between me and Sabrina's dad, only to stop myself by slamming both hands on his desk.

"YOU… IDIOT!" I shouted.

This time it was my turn to wipe that smug look off his face.

"Y-Y-You lowly commoner! What are you-"

"SHUT UP! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THAT BASTARD YOU SENT AWAY JUST DID?"

Okay, so I still didn't have anything nice to call Flan. Sue me.

Regardless, that second line left him twitching frantically.

"HE JUST CUT OFF TIES WITH SOMEONE HE CARED ABOUT! ALL TO SAVE FACE FOR HER SAKE! YOUR OWN DAMN DAUGHTER!"

I raised and pointed a finger at her impulsively, wanting to show that man how visibly upset my best friend was. He took a glance, but his emotion barely changed.

"DO YOU FEEL HAPPY DOING THAT TO HER? HUH? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY?"

Still, he refused to answer me. He just sat there, gritting his teeth.

I don't even know if I was really scaring him. For sure, though, he was genuinely shocked. I probably could have smacked the guy upside head right then and there, but I didn't bother. I think all that yelling pretty much made my point.

After a long silence, Regis scoot his chair back, took one more glance at his daughter, shifted his eyes towards the door, and… actually just sat there, maintaining the silence. So much for anything else he had to say.

So I decided to turn away instead, a lot like the cowboy before me did. I focused my sight and Sabrina and noticed her trembling on the spot. In the end, it was as I thought: she was the most upset of all out of anybody.

There was a chance she was even bigger ticking time bomb than I was, but I took my chances anyway. I walked up to her slowly, with most of my rage contained at the moment. I looked her in the eye as best as I could, and asked her the one main question on my mind:

"Does he really mean a lot to you?"

On that rare instant, Sabrina removed her glasses and rose her head to meet me. Her bare, violet eyes were tearing badly.

"Yes… the world…" she answered softly.

Then I dropped my head, tightened both fists, and clenched my own teeth.

"Fine…" I sighed.

Finally, I made my way towards the door, as if I chose to imitate that damn cowboy's actions when he left.

But when I grasped the handle and opened the door, I didn't even bother closing it.

I took one firm step out the door, then took off sprinting.

I had to find that damn cowboy. This was his responsibility now.

I was going to leave the island in two weeks, and like it or not, the only one I could trust to take care of Sabrina, the one friend I could completely confide in out of this whole island, was him.

I didn't like any of this, but what choice did I have?

That guy made his one decisive move to show much he cared about her more than anything, and she expressed to me, twice, that she would be more than willing to return his feelings.

It was all up to me to fix this whole mess.

Damn it. Why it did all have to come down to this?

Damn it…

Damn it!


Up Next:

Vaughn takes center stage.