It's kinda short but at least I got this chapter out of the way!
Kirino, although he seemed determined at the time, must've completely forgotten about his vow, as he locked himself in his room moping ever since they got back.
Shindou paced outside his friends door and knocked on it for what seemed like the 40th time that day,
"Come on, Kirino! Open the door!"
There was no response. Shindou sighed, "I know you're really sad right now, but I just want to help you. Unlock the door."
again, nothing.
Shindou saw one of the palace maids passing by,
"Hey!" He called to her and she turned around,
"Yes?"
"Is there an alternate way into this room?" Shindou asked, pointing to Kirino's door, "Like a workers entrance or something?"
The maid thought for a moment before nodding, "I believe there's another door in Kirino-sama's closet for the other maids to collect laundry without disturbing him." She pulled a key from her pocket at stuck it into the lock of a nearby door, opening it,
"This is the door here. To your right is the entrance to Kirino-sama's room."
Shindou smiled gratefully to the maid, "Thanks so much!"
She smiled in return before swimming off down the hallway.
Shindou opened the now unlocked door. It opened into a small messy room cluttered with clothing—both casual and formalwear.
On the far right wall was a door, and since it was the only door in the room, Shindou assumed it'd lead to Kirino's room.
The door creaked ever so slightly as Shindou pushed it open. Sure enough, it opened into Kirino's bedroom. Shindou slowly made his way over to where Kirino's bed was.
The only sign he even knew Kirino was on his bed was the muffled sound of him breathing, as he was completely covered his blanket which was bundled up in a ball.
"Kirino?" Shindou said softly.
There was a short silence before he got a response, "Shindou?" A pair of blue eyes slowly rose out of the bundle of blankets, "How did you get in?"
Shindou moved closer to where Kirino was, "One of the maids unlocked the closet door for me."
A scaly orange Merfolk tail slid out of under the blankets as Kirino began to shove all the pillows and blankets off. It was still strange to Shindou, a tail instead of legs, no matter how many times he's seen it before
At this point, Kirino's head and shoulders had come out of the blankets, and when he was close enough, Shindou gave him a tight hug.
Kirino tightly hugged Shindou in return as he spoke between the tears that had begun to flow again,
"I just don't know what to do. My father was strict and forceful at times but now that he's not around I just don't know what to do."
Shindou rubbed his hand up and down Kirino's back as he attempted to sooth the tearful merman,
"Kirino, at this point, there's only one thing we can do, we have to find out how to get rid of IT."
Kirino pulled away from Shindou and tugged the blankets around his shoulders,
"Yeah, I know. But I have no idea how to do that! Where do I start? What books do I read first? My father always told me that, now that he's not here anymore, there's no one else I can ask."
Shindou gave Kirino a smile, "I may not be as well-versed on Merfolk history as you are, but just like your dad said, I got myself wrapped up in this mess, and now I'm going to help fix it!"
Kirino grinned thankfully at Shindou in reply, "Thanks. I appreciate it, I really do! As you can see I don't really have anyone else I can really talk to since it's too dangerous to leave the palace…" He paused for a moment, "By the way, before we went out to where IT was, what did father day to you?"
Shindou blushed as he remembered the conversation, "N-nothing really!" He stammered, and Kirno looked at him, confused on Shindou's slightly embarrassed tone a voice, "He just wanted to thank me for letting you stay with me after the storm!" He finished quickly.
Kirino chuckled, "Are you sure, because you're fumbling your words up!" He smiled, "He probably said something stupid and overprotective! I remember when I first met my friend Midori he wouldn't let me be in the same room as her alone!"
"Uh, yeah! He just said something like that…"
Kirino laughed slightly at Shindou's reaction, "That's for coming and talking to me…If you hadn't I probably would have stayed in here for a week…" there was a short silence, "But going back to getting rid of IT, I have no idea where to start…"
Shindou thought for a moment before remembering what the deceased Merfolk king said right before he died, 'defeat Iia and Tios' "How about what your father said, before he-" Shindou cut himself off, not wanting to remind Kirino of the loss of his father, "Your father said, 'defeat Iia and Tios'. Who are they?"
Kirno glanced at Shindou, "I actually don't know… There was one book I read about it, but halfway through the book the royal librarian snatched the book away from me and told me to start reading the books that I was told to read. I don't know where it went after that…"
Shindou smiled, "Well, now we have somewhere to start!"
Kirno moved to get off his bed, but stopped to think about something while sitting on the edge, "So my father wanted to thank you for letting me stay with you, eh?" He looked up to Shindou as he got off his bed and started swimming towards the door, "I want to thank you for that to, along with all the other things I've thanked you for! I don't know if I'd even still be here if you hadn't come along!"
Shindou just gave a small smile and a nod as he followed Kirino out of his room.
Good? bad? how was it? Well the next chapter is the library scene, where a lot of stuff is found out!