Chapter 10: Trust
The fever did not allow Yamato to sleep well that night. When he was a child, his mother would prepare him a special medicine and Takeru would keep him company until he got better. But Yamato was alone. He had been alone for a long time. After his parents' separation, his mother decided to return to the Old Continent. Takeru wanted to go with her, but Yamato decided to stay on Turtle Island with his father.
Hiroaki Ishida was an investigative journalist. Because of this, he used to be away for long periods of time. Nevertheless, he needed someone to take care of the farm for him. Yamato used to tell himself that his father needed someone at home for when he got back, someone to take care of him. His father was not a good cook, and, when he was working, he sometimes even forgot to eat. If Yamato wasn't there to take care of his eventual needs, what would be of Hiroaki?
His father hadn't come home for three years.
Yamato had caught a bad flu and there was no one to take care of him.
It's okay, he thought, I'm an independent adult, of course I can take care of myself. I need to get better soon, if my father comes back... he will need someone to cook for him...
That night, he heard a noise in the pantry, where he kept his winter provisions. It was very difficult for Yamato to get up from the bed and go downstairs. He grabbed the shotgun before opening the pantry door. His lantern didn't light well, but he noticed that there was another lantern burning down there, on the ground next to a cloaked figure who was putting food into a sack. The person turned to him.
"My companions are hungry! You have a lot more food than you need, so I'm taking some!" said the woman.
"You have some nerve to break into someone's house..." Yamato had a coughing fit and couldn't finish the sentence. He felt weak and supported his weight on the shotgun so that he would not fall to the ground.
"You don't look well," the woman said, "you better lie down."
"Don't pretend you care about me, you...you..."
Everything seemed to spin around Yamato. He lost consciousness.
When he woke up, he was in his bed on the second floor. There was a wet towel on his forehead. The mysterious woman was sleeping in a chair beside him. Without the hood, Yamato saw her face for the first time. She was beautiful, although her skin was a little pale. Her shaggy orange hair fell to her shoulders.
"Hey, thief!" Yamato called. "What are you still doing here?"
The woman woke up, rubbing her eyes. Once she looked at him, she smiled.
"You seem to be feeling better, that's good!" she said, getting up. "I'll get you some soup."
"What soup? I hadn't made any soup!" Yamato was confused.
"I prepared it while you slept," she explained. "Since I was getting some of your food for my companions, I thought I should prepare something for you to eat, too."
"You were stealing my food," Yamato corrected. "I don't understand why you're still here."
The woman looked at him as if Yamato had said something stupid.
"I couldn't leave someone sick without assistance!" she stated.
"You jeopardized your chance to run away with food to help a stranger... you're not a very smart thief..." Yamato muttered.
"Hey!" she fumed. "I always make good choices! And don't call me a thief! I'm Sora Takenouchi, a revolutionary, and I was just getting food to help my comrades!"
Yamato was very surprised to hear that. His mother used to tell him that revolutionaries were crazy people who ate children for breakfast. The woman before him didn't look like that kind of person, though.
"How can you go around saying that you're a revolutionary?" Yamato asked. "Do you want to be arrested or killed?"
"I don't usually tell anyone that I'm a revolutionary!" Sora defended herself.
"You just told me!" Yamato reminded her.
"But you and I are already friends!" Sora stated, smiling.
"What? Friends? You and I?" Yamato thought she was mocking him.
"But of course! You gave me some of your food, and I'm taking care of you! That sounds like a good foundation for a lasting friendship, don't you think? Therefore, yes, we are friends!" Sora concluded. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll get your soup."
Sora left him alone in the bedroom. Just then, Yamato realized that she had carried him upstairs and put him in bed. She's pretty strong, Yamato thought, but she trusts people too easily. If she's not careful, someone will take advantage of her in the future... this woman needs someone to protect her from malicious people... someone to take care of her...
At that moment, Yamato realized that he had already started to care about Sora.
Once Yamato managed to assemble a small group of people on the camp (Daisuke, Miyako, Ken, Jun and Takeru), he told them that he needed their help to rescue Sora. There were several concerned gasps. Daisuke was about to go to the place where Toshiko and the other revolutionaries were still reunited with the emissary of Shrimp Island, but Jun intervened:
"She wasn't kidnapped. I saw her and the new redhead stealing a pair of horses from the stable. Sora was going with him willingly."
"You saw them? Why didn't you stop them? How could you let the demon take Sora away?!" Yamato raised his voice.
"I asked them where they were going," Jun said. "According to the undead guy, they were going to ask a favor from a witch."
"WHAT?" Takeru shouted, excitedly. "A witch? Witches are real? Now, that's a plot-twist!"
"Witches aren't real!" Miyako stated. "It's probably some charlatan!"
"You used to say the same thing about Koushiro," Daisuke commented.
"Come on, Daisuke, what are the odds of us finding two science-defying creatures in such a short span of time?" Miyako inquired.
"What was the favor?" Takeru asked Jun. "What were they going to ask the witch?"
"I don't know," Jun replied. "Sora told me that they wouldn't take long to return, and then took off."
"She told you that?" Yamato asked. "Are you sure she wasn't being forced to go with him?"
"Sora is a strong and capable fighter, a skinny and short guy like Koushiro wouldn't be able to force her to do anything!" Jun stated.
"I know she's strong..." Yamato muttered. "But I can't just not worry about her! I can't believe she just went along with that demon! A man she has known for less than a day!"
"You have to trust Sora's judgement, Yamato!" Jun scolded him. "She's the daughter of Leader Toshiko, and she's been a revolutionary for her entire life!"
Yamato looked down, unable to think of a response. He already knew everything that Jun was saying, but sometimes just knowing things wasn't enough to ease his concern. Koushiro was a mysterious being that could see the future and return from death, who knew what else he was capable of doing? Who could know for sure that he wasn't plotting to endanger Sora?
A few minutes later, Sora and Koushiro arrived at the camp, riding the horses they had stolen the night before. Yamato ran to the woman. As soon as she got off the horse, he embraced her tightly.
"Please, don't disappear like that!" Yamato pleaded. "I was so worried!"
"Sorry," Sora whispered, hugging him back. "I'm alright. Everything is fine."
"What about the witch?" Takeru asked Koushiro. "Where is she? What is she like? What did you ask her?"
"She stayed in the boat with Os- with the Captain!" Koushiro quickly corrected himself, giving Ken a concerned look. Ken didn't seem to know what was up with Koushiro.
"We're going to explain everything, but first..." Sora said, interrupting the hug to look at the rest of the group, "we saw a ship with the flags of Shrimp Island and the Empire at the port. It wasn't there when we sailed last night. What's happening?"
"An emissary of the Lady of Shrimp Island is reunited with Leader Toshiko and the other revolutionaries," Daisuke explained. "She came with a proposition: to take Yamanaka to be exiled on Shrimp Island in exchange for supporting the new revolutionary government."
"That's insane!" Sora snapped. "Shrimp Island is part of the Empire! They would never support a revolutionary government!"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Iori said. He was approaching the group, coming from the mansion's direction. "There are rumors about colonies that want to break free from the Empire and might be cooperating with Tierra Roja. It could be the case with Shrimp Island."
"Did the emissary say anything about betraying the Empire?" Koushiro asked, getting off the horse.
"Not directly, but she seemed strangely sympathetic to our cause..." Iori said.
"I'm going to talk to my mother," Sora decided, walking away from the group.
As she headed towards Yamanaka's mansion, a guard with a golden armor and a young woman wearing a beautiful red kimono exited the front door. The emissary was a lady with bright red hair tied with a comb on top of her head. Once she was close enough to Sora, she stopped walking and studied the other with her cold blue eyes.
"Lady Makino?" The guard called, turning around to see why the emissary had stopped.
"Lady Makino is my grandmother, Ryo," she said, "I'd rather have people call me by my name."
"You're the granddaughter of the Lady of Shrimp Island..." Sora commented in low voice.
"I am Ruki Makino," she introduced herself formally.
"Sora Takenouchi..." Sora introduced herself as well.
"You must be the daughter of the revolutionary leader. I like the look of contempt in your eyes," Ruki commented, showing the other a subtle smile.
"You sure are brave to come to a revolutionary camp accompanied by only one guard," Sora told her.
"I trusted that the revolutionaries wouldn't be stupid to the point of harming a noble young woman who visited their land on a diplomatic mission. The repercussion such aggression would have around the world... you don't need more bad publicity, now, do you?" Ruki said.
"I've never heard of lackeys of the Empire being diplomatic with revolutionaries," Sora stated. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that Shrimp Island would support us in exchange for handing over Yamanaka?"
"He may be my Grandmother's least favorite cousin, but he's still family," Ruki informed her. "We'll keep him locked in the palace, and we promise he'll never interfere with your government."
"How nice of you to be so concerned with your family," Sora had scorn in her voice, "to the point of betraying the Empire to support us."
"Don't be silly, Miss Sora," Ruki had now a colder tone of voice. "Any and all support would be discreet. In the eyes of the world, we would still be officially enemies."
"What would stop you from attacking us after getting Yamanaka on Shrimp Island?" Sora inquired.
"Let's just say that the world might be heading in an interesting direction soon, and it might be wiser to make tactical alliances against a Power that could crumble... hypothetically speaking." Ruki explained. "Turtle Island might be a small fish in a pond, but it is a place of interest of a much larger fish... un tiburón..."
That's Castilian for shark... Sora thought, nowadays, the only place where Castilian is spoken is...
"I'll wait for the response of our proposal until the sunset, on my ship," Ruki informed.
"What if we don't hand Yamanaka over to you?" Sora asked.
Ruki smiled.
"When my ancestors came to power on Shrimp Island, centuries ago, every single member of the old royal family, along with their supporters, was hunted down. No matter how well they thought they had hidden themselves, every last one of them was found and killed. It is not smart to oppose my family, Miss Sora. I trust you not to be an idiot."
The emissary and her guard walked away. As Ruki passed by Koushiro, she could feel intense hatred coming from him. For a second, she was under the impression that his eyes had glowed.
After a tense meeting, the revolutionaries had come to an agreement that nobody really liked. Once the emissary and the other revolutionaries exited the room, Toshiko was left alone with her thoughts. Her gaze went from the wooden table in front of her to the large open window across the room. She wondered for how long the sun had been up.
The sound of a chair being moved startled her. She hadn't noticed when Sora had entered the room. Her daughter was at that moment sitting by her side at the table, showing her an anxious look. Toshiko thought about what to say to her. Was there a possibility that Sora wouldn't hate her after knowing what she had done?
"I talked to the emissary from Shrimp Island," Sora informed. "I saw the others leaving with a defeated expression... just like the one you're bearing right now... you're going to give Yamanaka to her, aren't you?"
Ashamed, Toshiko covered her face with both hands.
"How could we say no to them?" Toshiko asked in a murmur. "They have more resources, several warships, hundreds of soldiers... Lady Makino is related to the woman who married the Emperor's brother... meanwhile, we only defeated Yamanaka because of luck. Decades of resistance, dozens of deaths... only for a supernatural boy to scare his henchmen away. We have less than fifty people on our army. Even if we were to get more volunteers, we wouldn't have time to train them before an attack. We could be wiped out..."
Sora wasn't saying anything. Why wasn't she yelling at her mother? She should be calling Toshiko a coward! Instead, Sora was looking at her with compassionate eyes. Toshiko wondered if she was pathetic to the point of deserving her daughter's pity instead of her righteous fury.
"From what that woman implied, Shrimp Island might be secretly working with Tierra Roja to break free from the Empire," Sora said. "There could already be a plan taking place. If Yamanaka was the price to pay to defeat the bigger-"
Toshiko stood up suddenly, startling Sora.
"Don't give me the reasonable talk! Don't!" Toshiko ordered. "I'm letting the man who was responsible for the death of your father, of Iori's grandfather, of Jun's and Daisuke's parents and of many other innocent people go! I'm betraying their memories! You know that!" Toshiko sat down. "I failed to give them justice because of my cowardice..."
"That wasn't only your decision, was it?" Sora asked. "The rest of the group must've agreed... or at least the majority of it..."
"Aren't you disappointed at me?" Toshiko asked, looking at her daughter. "Aren't you angry?"
Sora looked up for a couple of seconds, thinking about what to say to her mother. When she looked at Toshiko again, she had a sad smile on her face.
"Sometimes, I feel like I'm made of anger..." Sora said. "Letting Yamanaka go without even going through a trial infuriates me. It's like I'm boiling on the inside... all I've ever wanted was for that man to suffer... to pay for his crimes... I know that you must feel the same way. Nevertheless, you chose the option that was safer for everyone. You chose the well-being of the group and of everybody on this island over your desire to punish Yamanaka. If I were to hate you for that, I'd be a really terrible person, wouldn't I?"
Toshiko had a couple of tears roll down her face. She wondered if her daughter had always been that wise.
"There's not a lot we can do now, but I still think I could make a difference," Sora told her mother. "I want to go to Tierra Roja. If I go there, I'll be more able to contribute to the fall of the Empire!"
Toshiko smirked.
"I remember when Hiroki and Fumiko told me that they were going to Tierra Roja..." she muttered, sadly. "We're always losing our brightest ones to that place. I should've known that you would want to go there sooner or later."
Sora slightly blushed.
"I thought you would oppose my decision..." Sora muttered.
"I'd be lying if I said I'm not worried," Toshiko let her know. "But you're an adult, Sora. You grew up to be a responsible young woman. I trust you to know what's best for your life."
Sora smiled.
Toshiko smiled as well. Then, she added:
"I don't think I'm going to stay as the leader for long. Once we reorganize the government, the people of Turtle Island should choose their representatives. That would be appropriate, wouldn't it?"
Sora stayed silent for almost one minute, looking at her mother with surprise. Then, she asked:
"What are you going to do when you're no longer the leader?"
"I'm thinking about opening an Ikebana school," Toshiko replied.
"I see..." Sora said, softly. "I wish you all the happiness!"
"I wish you all the happiness on your journey as well!" Toshiko said back.
While Sora was talking to her mother, Koushiro was telling Yamato, Takeru, Miyako, Iori, Ken, Daisuke and Jun everything that had happened. They were all sitting on the grass, forming a circle. Ken stopped paying attention after Koushiro mentioned Osamu being on the boat. They know! They all know I'm related to that fearsome henchman! Now, they won't want to have me around anymore! Miyako won't teach me how to read anymore...
"Is everything alright?" Daisuke asked Ken. "You seem upset."
"I understand if you wish for me to leave you, now that you know that Osamu Ichijouji is my brother," Ken announced, standing up from the grass.
"We already knew you were a henchman. Why should we be surprised that your brother was one as well?" Miyako asked, confused.
"But doesn't his name ring any bell?" Ken asked. "Osamu Ichijouji? Infamous murderer of revolutionaries?"
"I had never heard that name before," Yamato said.
"The last revolutionary who died was Mr. Takenouchi," Jun remembered. "Is your brother old enough to have been involved in that."
"He's three years older than me," Ken informed.
"Then, he definitely wasn't there," Jun concluded.
"Is it possible that he lied to me about being a murderer?" Ken wondered, hopeful.
"He was very skilled at murdering Koushiro," Iori pointed out. "I'd say that he has definitely killed people before, but not revolutionaries."
"Like people who were trying to run without paying their debts..." Daisuke muttered, looking down. Jun looked down as well.
"Then, he's still a terrible person..." Ken murmured.
"He's trying to change!" Koushiro stated. "Mr. Osamu has a boat now. He won't have to hurt people anymore! Besides, he was very worried about you, Mr. Ken! I even had to lie to him about trapping your soul, so he would take us in the boat!"
"Weren't you the one who taught him how to operate the boat in the first place?" Miyako asked. "Couldn't you just steal the boat from him?"
"But I wanted him to have a chance to better his life!" Koushiro defended himself.
"And what was up with you taking Sora to Shrimp Island so a witch would show her your memory of a vision you had?" Miyako continued. "Why did you have to go through all that trouble? Couldn't you just tell her what your vision was?"
"I thought that if she had seen what I saw she would understand why I thought she was going to save the world... but in the end she wasn't convinced..." Koushiro sighed. "Miss Sora told me that the vision was too vague and that Mr. Yamato was a very supportive boyfriend."
"Did... did she really say that about me...?" Yamato asked, completely red. Once he noticed that everybody was staring at him, Yamato coughed nervously. "Anyway, I'm glad that Sora wasn't convinced by your silly attempt at manipulation! Honestly, I should teach you a lesson about overwhelming people with the responsibility of saving the world!"
"I wasn't trying to manipulate her!" Koushiro stated. "And I still believe that Miss Sora will bring down the Empire, even if she doesn't believe it herself!"
"If you ever try to make her mind-" Yamato began to say.
"I don't have to make her mind! Miss Sora is an intelligent person!" Koushiro affirmed. "Don't you trust her judgement, Mr. Yamato?"
"Of course I trust her judgement!" Yamato shouted, standing up.
"It doesn't look like you do!" Koushiro said, defiantly.
"Alright, that's enough!" Takeru tried to alleviate the tension. "My brother has always been overprotective and sometimes, when he's too emotional, he might say things that aren't-"
"Who are you calling emotional?" Yamato snapped. However, when he noticed the hurt look on his brother's face, Yamato felt guilty of the way he talked. "I'm sorry, Takeru."
"It's alright!" Takeru said, forcing a smile to lift the mood. "So, Koushiro, you were saying that the witch named Mimi showed your memory of the vision to Sora. Did she show her something else? Perhaps something about your past?"
Koushiro looked down, apprehensively.
"I got lost in my memories... Miss Sora saw things from my past..." Koushiro's voice was barely audible. "She saw how my parents were killed... how I died for the first time and how I met Taichi and Hikari... how Hikari died, and I got cursed..."
"Who cursed you?" Yamato inquired.
Koushiro closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Once he opened his eyes, he looked up to Yamato and answered:
"The woman known as the Goddess: Justine de Léon."
Deep silence wrapped them. Yamato took two steps back, shocked. Disturbed, Ken fell to his knees. Feeling everybody's eyes on him, Koushiro tried to explain everything as quickly as possible:
"The first time I saw her, when I died, my parents had just been murdered by imperial soldiers! I was angry and sad and said things she found offensive! I asked her why she hadn't stopped her soldiers and accused her of being responsible for their actions! And then she gave me the clairvoyance and told me to stop the tragedies that I would see before they happened... I came back to life, but I never could... I never..." he felt a lump forming in his throat and his eyes getting warmer, but refused to cry. "I couldn't save Hikari from the plague, I tried everything, but she still died... I couldn't accept that! I just couldn't!" at that point, it was impossible for him to stop the tears from falling. "Justine had brought me back to life once, I thought she could do the same for Hikari. Therefore, I ate poisonous berries, so I could see Justine one more time... I begged her to save Hikari... I begged her... Justine told me that she had cursed me with clairvoyance to teach me humility... she said that humanity marched towards its own destruction and that only fools believed that the world could be saved. But I couldn't accept that! I couldn't! I called her a horrible and selfish person! Then, Justine cursed me with endless deaths and resurrections until I accepted her world view... when I came back to life, Taichi was already..."
Koushiro couldn't go on any longer. He covered his eyes with both hands, trying to hide the tears that were still coming out. Yamato didn't know what to think.
"You're the Devil!" Takeru exclaimed, suddenly. "We learned in the Church that the Devil tried to steal a soul from Heaven and was punished with infinite deaths... of course! How did I not make this connection before! It was so obvious!"
"You figured it out already... you're very smart, Mr. Takeru..." Koushiro said. "I don't know if there's any point in saying this, but... I don't eat souls, nor do I do any of the horrible things people say the Devil does. I just wanted to save my friend... and because of me, Taichi..."
"This is too much to take in..." Miyako said, getting up. "The Goddess is real? And so is the Devil? And Koushiro is...? No, wait! That can't be right!"
"Those weren't just stories..." Ken muttered, terrified. "Is there really a Goddess out there cursing people?"
"I never believed in that religion the Empire tried to force on us," Iori commented. "But if what Koushiro is saying is true, if he defied the first Empress, then he might be the first revolutionary!"
"You're right!" Daisuke exclaimed. "Not satisfied in opposing the Empire, Koushiro opposed the Goddess herself! That takes a lot of courage!"
"Indeed..." Jun muttered. "But if the Goddess is real, and the Empire serves the Goddess, and we fight the Empire, then... are we enemies of Heaven?"
"Koushiro!" Takeru had a desperate voice. He approached the other and shook his shoulders. "Does Hell exist?"
"Yes," Koushiro said. "It's not exactly a place, though. It's more like... people wandering on the Underworld sometimes get stuck thinking about-"
"Am I going to Hell, Koushiro?!" Takeru shouted. "I... I never really considered the possibility, but, you have to let me explain! I never meant to cheat on Willis with Wallace! They just really looked alike! I truly believed I had one boyfriend called Willis Wallace!"
"What...?" Koushiro had no idea how to respond to that.
"You did what, Takeru?" Daisuke inquired, seriously.
"Tell that story straight, Takeru! I want to understand how that happened!" Miyako ordered.
"Is everybody from the Old Continent like Takeru?" Iori wondered.
Yamato stopped paying attention to them. The only thing in his mind was what Koushiro had said. The Devil... Koushiro is the Devil... all the stories his mother had told him, the stories his father had advised him to dismiss, came to his mind. The Devil was the father of lies, he tricked people into committing sins, he made people sick, sank ships, made volcanos erupt, he devoured souls... Koushiro is the Devil...
"Yamato!"
He turned around to see who was calling him. It was Sora, who was coming in his direction. Yamato rushed to her and said:
"We need to talk."
Sora wasn't surprised by his request.
"We really do," she agreed.
Sora took Yamato to her tent. Sitting across from him, she told him everything that had happened. Koushiro had already told him most of that story, except the woman's decision to go to Tierra Roja.
It should make sense that a revolutionary who wanted to make a real difference in the fight against the Empire would have the desire to go to that country. However, Yamato thought that decision was risky. It was one thing to be a revolutionary on a small island and fight a pathetic nobleman. However, going to Tierra Roja would put Sora at the center of the world's biggest geopolitical conflict. Even though she said she didn't believe Koushiro's absurd story about how she would defeat the Empire and save the world, Yamato couldn't help but think that the Devil's actions and words had still influenced her.
"He's the Devil," Yamato told her right after Sora finished speaking.
"That's just a story people made up about him," Sora said. "The truth is much more complex."
"How do you know the memories you saw were real?" Yamato asked. "He could be in league with the witch! It could all have been a plan to deceive you!"
"Koushiro wasn't trying to deceive me!" Sora stated.
"But he is the Devil! He…" Yamato struggled to find the right words. "How can I be the only one who finds that man suspicious?"
"Yamato, do you really think that if Koushiro wanted to manipulate us, he would tell us about his past with Justine?" Sora asked. "He took a huge risk and put himself in a very vulnerable position! He's a confused person, but he's not trying to hurt anyone! You would understand if you had seen what I saw!"
"But he convinced you to go to Tierra Roja!" Yamato said. "You never talked about it before meeting him! The Empire has been trying to invade and destabilize that country for decades! There is no place more dangerous than Tierra Roja in the world!"
"Going to Tierra Roja was my decision!" Sora stated. "You may not like what I've decided, but don't you dare insinuate that I can be so easily manipulated by others!"
"You trust people too easily, Sora!" Yamato accused. "Remember when you met me? Taking care of me back then was a crazy idea! You didn't know who I was! What if I had handed you over to Yamanaka's henchmen?"
"I knew you wouldn't do that," Sora said.
"You had no basis for knowing that!" Yamato raised his voice. "Just like you have no basis to trust Koushiro! Sora, I understand that you care about people and want to see the best in them, but you need to understand that sometimes you make irresponsible decisions!"
"Oh, so I'm irresponsible?" Sora was losing her patience. "Then, should I have left you alone and sick that night? If I hadn't stayed, you could have died!"
"You shouldn't have cared if some stranger was going to die! You should have done what was best for you!" Yamato stated.
Sora stared at him, shocked.
"If I thought like that, I wouldn't be a revolutionary..." Sora spoke in a disappointed tone of voice. "I thought you understood that by now..."
Yamato gulped.
"Maybe I don't understand you at all…" he muttered. "I'm not a revolutionary, I joined your group because of you…because I wanted to protect you. I guess I'm not altruistic enough to understand why you want to go to a dangerous place like Tierra Roja or how you can trust someone like Koushiro..."
"Yamato..." Sora said, reaching out to hold the man's hands. "You don't need to protect me. I just want you to trust me."
"That's what everyone has been telling me all day! Whenever I showed concern for you, I was told that I needed to trust you!" Yamato remarked. "I want to trust you, Sora! I really do! I know that you're brave and want to help everyone, but I can't help but worry! I can't... I don't think I'll ever be able to stop worrying about you! I'm so afraid that something bad will happen to you... I'm sorry..."
"It's normal to be scared and worried about the people you love," Sora assured him. "Don't feel guilty about how you feel. I understand you, Yamato. But I really want to go to Tierra Roja. I won't force you to come with me, but please don't try to stop me."
"I won't try to stop you," Yamato promised. "But even if you don't need my protection, I would like to be by your side."
"I would also be more at ease with you by my side," Sora let him know.
A few days after Yamanaka was taken to Shrimp Island, Sora's group finished their arrangements for the trip to Tierra Roja. After expressing how glad he was that Koushiro had freed his brother's soul, Osamu tried to convince Ken to learn how to pilot the boat, but Ken tried to avoid his brother at all costs. Miyako met Mimi and, although she still doubted the woman was a real witch, she couldn't help but admire her beauty and confidence. Iori was psychologically preparing himself to meet his parents in Tierra Roja, after many years of separation. At the port, Yamato gave Jun instructions on how to take care of the farm, while Takeru promised her that he would take good care of Daisuke. The red-haired siblings laughed at the intensity of the blonde brothers. Next to them, Sora said goodbye to Toshiko.
Alone in the engine room, Koushiro recalled the time he had spent in Tierra Roja, right before going to Turtle Island and being killed by Taichi. When he was arriving at the port of Ciudad de la Primavera, he saw a little boy staring at him with eyes that glowed pink. The same glow Hikari's eyes sometimes had. He still remembered what the boy told him that day:
"La serpiente se acerca del abismo. La serpiente nos devorará a todos."
Thank you for the reviews and for your patience. Next chapter, the second arc will finally begin.
The translation of the final line: "The serpent approaches the abyss. The serpent will devour us all. "