It's been about a week since the cruise officially began. Currently, the ship was progressing steadily through Greece's collection of port towns. So far, things have been pretty uneventful. The places that they stopped at were scenic and welcoming. It was a nice change of pace from the usual hustle and bustle of big cities like Munich or Berlin.

The grey clouds in the sky kind of sapped away from the overall experience, but that was only a minor concern. Minato hoped that the weather would clear up soon. There was nothing worse than having your vacation ruined by an unexpected thunderstorm.

Aside from that, Minato also partook in many of the amenities that the Carnival Argentum had to offer.

Mainly, he spent his days in the ship's public library. He also attended some of the shows that the ship theatres were hosting. They were mainly musicals, but Minato was fine with that. He much preferred the constant song interruptions as opposed to hours upon hours of trite dialogue and horrid accents.

There were more activities aboard the ship beyond the scant few he mentioned, but most of those required a fair bit of socializing. Minato avoided them as best as he could.

One thing that he did find himself enjoying quite a bit were the day spas.

He especially liked the deep-tissue massages that they offered. He was almost certain that the masseuses here were of divine descent or something. How else would you explain their magic fingers?

Minato liked to think that going to the day spa was more than just self-indulgence. It was also a form of training.

Massage parlors often required their clients to strip almost completely nude. The one aboard the ship was no different. While Minato wasn't ashamed of his body (he was relatively lean with a fair bit of musculature, a side benefit from all the hours he spent working at dig sites all across Europe), getting naked in front of strangers was a completely separate issue. The fact that all the masseuses aboard this ship also happened to be beautiful women made things even more awkward for him.

To reiterate, it was good training.

Overall, he was enjoying himself.

****

It was the morning of the ninth day.

Minato had built up a bit of a routine lately. Mostly, he spent his time lounging around in some of the quieter areas on the ship. His actions for the day usually depended on whether or not there was anything on the itinerary that caught his interest. Usually, he skipped most of them, but there were a rare few that caught his interest.

Regardless, the start of his day was usually always the same: breakfast at the solarium.

The solarium was a wide-open area with windows for walls. It overlooked the front deck of the ship. It also had a buffet open 24/7, something that Minato readily took advantage of.

There were actually quite a few dining areas scattered all throughout the ship. For example, on the third floor, there was a "fancy" dining area where they served things like escargot or some other French dish that he did not know how to pronounce. The front deck had a grill that served hamburgers by the poolside, while in the lounge, there was an ice-cream parlor that was usually overrun with children.

The solarium buffet was Minato's current favorite, mostly because they were one of the few places that served Japanese cuisine.

He ate here practically every morning.

For the first few days aboard the ship, he had been rather self-conscious about his presence in the buffet. The solarium was packed to the brim with all sorts of people, yet they all shared one thing in common: they came here in groups. Whether they be friends, family, or even a pair of lovers, nobody was alone. Well, nobody except for him. He couldn't help but feel as if he stood out among the rest of the passengers.

Of course, the reality of the situation was that he went largely ignored by everyone. Still, to Minato, it did not feel that way.

Fortunately, he had gotten less self-conscious as the trip progressed.

Minato was on his way to the solarium when a commotion by the doorway attracted his attention. He looked over, only to come across a surprising sight.

There was an odd man slumped across the floor in front of the entryway to the solarium. He was clearly inebriated; Minato could practically smell the alcohol even from across the hall. The man was oddly dressed. In a place where the typical attire consisted of shorts and Hawaiian t-shirts, seeing someone dressed in a beige trench coat was certainly weird.

Two staff members held the man by his arms as they dragged him away from the solarium. The man did not resist. He simply kept murmuring to himself in a half-drunken stupor. Minato was too far away to make out his words.

Another staff member opened the door before they threw the man out into the hallway. The man tumbled for a moment before he hit the wall and sank to the floor.

Minato stared at the scene with wide eyes. The situation itself made him uncomfortable, the man himself even more so. Entering the solarium now meant passing by the drunk man. It felt… inappropriate to just pass him by like that, especially after what he had just seen. Should he say something? Should he even do anything? Maybe he could eat out at another one of the dining areas? God knows the ship had plenty of them.

Before he could make a decision, the drunkard's head shot up and turned towards him. Minato froze like a deer in the headlights. He took note of his appearance. Dark bags covered the man's eyes, while an uneven stubbled decorated his lower face. The man had a short crop of dirty blonde hair.

"What are you lookin' at?" The man growled at him, his words slurred.

"I'm sorry!" Before he could stop himself, an apology reflexively left his lips. By the time he realized what he had just done, it was already too late.

The man blinked in surprise. The last thing he had expected was for the kid to suddenly shout out an apology while bowing down at him with such intensity that his head almost hit the floor.

Before he could recompose himself, Minato was already a step ahead. Spurred by his own kindhearted nature, Minato offered to help the guy out. Like before, the man did not resist. Minato half dragged the man's slack body over towards the front deck, where he laid him out on top of one of the chaise lounges by the poolside.

The man let out a grunt as he flopped onto the plastic lounge like a dead fish on land.

Minato breathed out a sigh, as he stood back up and stared down at the man. He was not sure whether he should just leave now or what, but before he could come to a decision, the man suddenly spoke.

"Thanks for that kid."

"Ah, it's no problem." Minato scratched the back of his head, a familiar gesture for those who knew him. "You looked like you needed the help."

The man grunted again. "I got a hangover. Stayed up too late at the bar."

The Carnival Argentum had plenty of bars (probably more than it actually needed), but Minato had yet to visit any of them. He doubted that would change anytime soon. Despite the looser age restrictions in Europe, Minato still considered himself underaged.

Minato took note of the man's accent. After a moment of hesitation, he asked, "by chance, are you British, sir?"

The man nodded as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. The sun caressed his face, yet the man looked deathly ill. At the very least, he was probably nursing a killer headache. "Name's Constantine." The man spoke out, "You?"

"I-it's nice to meet you, Mr. Constantine." He politely responded. "My name is Sahashi Minato, er… I guess over here, it would be Minato Sahashi." Despite his time in Europe, that was one habit that he never really got around to fixing.

"Minato… you Japanese?"

He nodded in response.

Constantine let out another grunt. "Huh, your English is pretty good. Can't even hear an accent on you."

"Uh, thanks. I've actually been living in Europe for about a year and a half now. I guess I picked up a few things."

It was true. While Minato was somewhat fluent in English prior to his arrival in Europe, it had been nowhere near the level of proficiency that he was at now. As a universal language, much of the communication between Professor Wagner and his colleagues had been conducted in English. In order to keep up with their discourse, Minato had no choice but to get better. Along the way, he also managed to pick up a little bit of German, some Spanish, and even Chinese. The latter was thanks to a couple of transfer students from Beijing.

"Well, it's a good language to pick up for traveling." Constantine acknowledged. "You travel a lot, kid?"

"Ah, I think I do…" Minato hesitantly stated. Did he travel a lot? He wasn't quite sure how to answer that question. Technically, he had only ever traveled once. Did his cross-country adventures through Europe's various dig-sites count?

"You think?"

"I, I mean I do. I, yes." Minato gulped. "Y-yeah, I travel a lot."

"Hmm…" Constantine side-eyed him for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders. "You're a weird kid."

The disheveled man stated and Minato could not find it in him to object. His shoulders slumped. Minato inwardly prepared to make a retort, but he quickly noticed that Constantine was no longer paying attention.

He felt that it was a bit rude of the man to just abruptly end their conversation like that, but upon closer inspection, Minato quickly discovered that Constantine had actually fallen asleep. He could even hear faint snoring.

After a moment of blank staring, Minato decided that it was probably best to not disturb him. With a shake of his head, the youth left to go get some much-needed breakfast.

******

It took two days before he had another run-in with Constantine.

This time, he was on the lower floors, right where the casino area of the ship was located.

Minato did not really plan to play or anything. He wasn't big on gambling. Besides, his luck was always a bit weird whenever it came to games of chance. Suffice to say, casinos weren't his usual thing. The only reason he was down here was because he had gotten bored and decided to explore the ship. This was just where his wandering feet had taken him.

It was here that he caught sight of Constantine.

The man was dressed much the same as their last encounter, which led Minato to wonder if the man ever washed his clothes, or if he even had other clothes to begin with.

Constantine rolled a cigarette between his teeth as he loomed over a slot machine. His expression was a fair bit irritated.

Minato mentally debated with himself for a good while, before he mustered up his courage and decided to approach the man.

"Hello, Mr. Constantine." Minato greeted. Again, the familiar scent of alcohol hit him with the full force of a runaway semi-wheeler.

Constantine turned around and narrowed his eyes. It took a good ten seconds before recognition finally flashed through his face. "It's you, kid. Uh… Mito, was it?"

"Minato." He corrected.

"Yeah, that's what I said." He continued unfazed. "Anyway, what are you doing here? You don't look like the gambling type. Too much of a goody-two-shoes."

"You're mostly right…" Minato sheepishly scratched the back of his head. He was not sure how to feel about being called a "goody-two-shoes." At least it wasn't an insult, right? "I was exploring the ship. I sort of just ended up here, really."

"Make sense." He slightly dipped his head before turning back around to face the slot machines. "This damn ship's like a maze. Half the time I don't even know what floor I'm on."

That's probably because you're always drunk. Minato inwardly thought to himself. He was tempted to say something but decided to keep quiet at the last second. Even now, the man was clearly intoxicated. It was a wonder how he was even still able to walk and talk under such a condition.

"I don't know about a maze, but I'm sort of used to navigating big places like this," Minato stated. The university that he had worked at had a pretty big campus. As Professor Wagner's unofficial junior assistant, he often had to travel from building to building. It was a bit of a mess, especially during the first few days, but in the end, he pulled through.

"Yeah?" Constantine tilted his head in his direction. "You work in a museum or something?"

"Or something. I was a junior assistant for an archeologist." Minato explained. "He used to travel around a lot, mostly to various dig sites. I tagged along."

After a short pause, Minato also asked, "What do you do, Mr. Constantine?"

The man stopped for a moment. He pulled down the lever of the slot machine. Unsurprisingly, he failed. "I'm an… independent contractor. Yeah, that sounds about right."

He murmured the last part to himself. Unfortunately, he was not as quiet as he thought himself to be. Minato had heard it loud and clear.

"An independent contractor?"

"That's right," Constantine grunted. "My job takes me across the continent, sometimes even overseas to America."

"Wow…"

It sounded interesting, but for the life of him, Minato really didn't know what type of contractor the man was. Was he like a mechanic or something? Truth be told, Constantine did not look the type. He gave off an impression similar to a hard-boiled detective.

Well, he's more washed-up than anything. Maybe past-his-prime? That could work too.

Of course, Minato did not voice any of his thoughts. That would be rude.

"That's… impressive?"

Constantine just shrugged. "It is what it is. Getting past customs is always a pain in the ass though."

The man fiddled around with the slot machine again. Unsurprisingly, he failed.

"Damn it," the man cursed under his breath. Tonight was simply not his night.

"C-can I give it a shot?" After watching him consecutively fail over and over again, Minato finally decided to speak up. "I'm usually pretty good at stuff like this."

Constantine stared at him with hard, soul-searching eyes. After a moment, he shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, why the hell not. I've already sunk two grand into this thing, might as well give you a chance. Pull the lever, kid."

As he spoke, Constantine inserted his last token.

"Okay then…" Minato took a step forward and casually pulled the lever.

The machine beeped to life. After a short roll, five sevens flashed on the screen.

"Ah, I hit the jackpot."

Constantine's eyes practically bugged out. Seeing the five matching icons on the screen, a trail of saliva dripped down his chin. As for Minato, he simply stared at the screen with a look of placid acceptance. What he said before was true. He had always been good at games of chance. To this day, he had yet to lose a single game of rock paper scissors. Unfortunately, his luck didn't really help him out with most of his problems, so he never gave it much thought.

"What—how the hell— kid, how did you do that?" Constantine's reaction was completely different from Minato's own. He fixed him with a serious stare."Did you use magic?"

"Magic?" Minato titled his head in confusion. The way he had worded it seemed a bit weird.

"… Never mind." Constantine shook his head and turned back towards the slot machine. "Still, that was pretty crazy. Never thought I'd see someone so lucky."

Pushing aside the weirdness of the previous exchange, Minato shrugged his shoulders. "Like I said before, I'm just good at stuff like that. It's no big deal."

"Right…"

The conversation trickled down from there. Constantine quickly cashed in his winnings. The blonde man was even nice enough to give Minato a cut of the profit.

Overall, it was a nice evening.

*****

His third encounter with the blonde-haired alcoholic came on the seventeenth day of the trip.

This time, it was Constantine who approached him.

Minato was on the upper deck of the ship, enjoying some much-needed fresh air. He was leaning against the railing, watching as the waves struck against the hull of the ship, when a voice suddenly called out from behind him.

"Hey, kid."

Minato turned around. He took notice of the familiar face dressed in an even more familiar trench coat.

"Hello, Mr. Constantine. How are you today?"

"Doing fine," he grumbled. "Last night's hangover isn't as bad as I expected."

"That's good?"

"It is what it is." The man shrugged his shoulders. He rifled through his pockets for a bit before he pulled out an unlit cigarette.

Minato watched as he lit the cigarette with a zippo lighter. Constantine took a long drag before he breathed out a content sigh. After a moment, he noticed Minato staring at him. The man quirked his lips up in what was probably a facsimile of a smile.

"You smoke, kid?"

"No, I don't." He responded. Beyond the usual health reasons, Minato had a much more personal motivation for his aversion to cigarettes. His mother was a smoker. The thought of following in her footsteps in that way simply did not sit right with him. Perhaps there was some subconscious part of his mind that linked the smell of burning nicotine with his mother's overbearing personality… but then again, he was probably just overthinking things. He often did that.

"Don't know how it is for everyone, but for me, smoking helps calm my nerves." The man explained. "I'd say you should try it yourself, but that probably isn't a good idea. Anyway, they kicked me out of the lobby for smoking. Even threw away my pack. Luckily, they forgot to check my back pockets, bunch of dumbasses..."

Constantine chuckled to himself.

Minato decided to laugh with him. Personal feelings on the subject aside, he did not think that Constantine was all that bad of a person. Sure, a little rough around the edges, but nobody was perfect. The way he saw it, Constantine was just a little bit more… unique than most people.

Still, it made him think: why was someone like Constantine even on this ship in the first place? He didn't really exactly scream "tourist".

After only a little bit of hesitation, Minato decided to ask him that same question.

Instead of replying, Constantine parroted the question back. "Why are you on this death trap of a ship, kid? Don't think I didn't notice the fact that you're here all alone. Normal people don't really do that sort of thing, you know?"

He'd be lying if he were to say he wasn't caught off guard by the sudden reversal. The fact that he even noticed his status as a lone passenger only made things even worse. Still, it was an easy enough question to answer.

"I, I got a ticket from a friend." He shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't really want to go, but not using it would have been a waste. In the end, I think I made the right choice going. The trip's been pretty enjoyable so far. What, what about you?"

For a moment, there was silence.

"Work," he gruffly responded. "My next job's in Italy. It was either this or hike through the woodlands of Europe. Fortunately, I'm not really on a time crunch, so I chose the easier of the two options."

Well, that somewhat explained things. If this was some sort of last-minute decision, then it sort of made sense why Constantine only had one set of clothing with him. It wasn't all that good of a reason, but it was a reason nonetheless.

Minato opened his mouth to say something else, but their conversation was abruptly cut short as a shadow suddenly covered the upper deck of the ship. He turned his gaze skyward, only to see a mass of roiling clouds hovering over his head.

He furrowed his brow. "That's weird… It's been cloudy all trip, but never to this degree."

"Yeah…" Constantine glanced up at the sky, his face all but unreadable. More than the weird weather, it was Constantine's demeanor that took him by surprise. There was something about the way he looked at the sky that just screamed trouble. Was he afraid or something? Maybe a phobia of some sort? From personal experience, his little sister was afraid of thunderstorms. He wouldn't begrudge the man if he possessed a similar fear.

Minato looked back up.

What the…?

Were his eyes playing tricks on him? For a moment, he thought he saw… something. A humanoid figure, or something close to it, hidden amidst the swirling clouds. That can't be right, can it? What would a person be doing in the sky?

Minato blinked and looked for the figure again. To his disappointment (and relief), the figure was gone. It was as if he was never even there in the first place.

Instead of the figure, it felt as if the sky itself was responding to his probing gaze. The clouds churned. They dipped and swelled, like thrashing serpents vying for supremacy. The familiar flash of lightning occasionally illuminated the sky, yet for some odd reason, there was no thunder. There was nothing but the sound of howling winds.

It felt… ominous wasn't exactly the right word, but it was close enough. It filled him with no small amounts of worry. After all, he was currently stuck on a ship. Boats and thunderstorms practically screamed danger.

"My motion sickness pills won't do much here…" Minato murmured underneath his breath.

When he turned back around to face his companion, Constantine was already gone. It was as if he had vanished in the air. Slightly perturbed, Minato decided to get some cover before it seriously started raining.

He spent the rest of the day lounging around in the ship's library. Despite the dark clouds that loomed overhead, not a single drop of rain fell that night.