Chapter 4: Happy Place, hurry and catch Tetsujin!
Reaching the fishing village, the four decided to rest someplace quiet. Unfortunately, it seemed Tetsujin had an affinity for food. He looked at the food stands with wide innocent eyes. At first, we thought a woman might of caught his eye, but no, were we ever wrong. Tetsujin charged madly towards the stands and before any of us could react, he was out of sight. This is going to be a long day.
We split up to cover more ground and searched all the food places and met together at the middle of the village by noon. Everyone was panting while the villagers gave us some questioning looks. More than once Aishou snapped at them and Ketsurui seemed to love all the attention. The sisterly banter went on for quite a while and they were distracted and had not spotted Tetsujin. We thought we looked in all the food stands for him but again we were wrong.
I managed to find the prick at an ice cream stand. An Ice Cream stand! I listened a little to his conversation with the ice cream man. Then I listened worriedly. Then frantically. Then I frowned. Wow. Tetsujin could not haggle and was about to be ripped off with the ice cream man gloating happily. The idiot was about to pay as well. Does anyone see the problem in this? Tetsujin was supposed to mean "wise" but unfortunately, I rather think it should have been "Baka."
As soon as he left the stand, I raced after him. To my luck, he turned around and I crashed into him. Cold and iciness froze me from the waist down. Arghh! The prick got ice cream on her! Why, I am going to take a stick and bash his empty head in! I am going to kick him hard and make him wish he were never-!
"Jocelyn!" were Tetsujin's first words. The insufferable prick was talking as if nothing happened! I prepared to beat Tetsujin within an inch of his life when Aishou and Ketsurui ran up to us.
"There you are Tetsujin!" Ketsurui exclaimed.
"Took you long enough." Snorted Aishou.
"Sorry guys, I am a huge fan of food," informed Tetsujin.
"Then perhaps you have heard of the word abstinence? Perhaps you should abstain from this?" suggested Jocelyn evilly.
"Not eat food?" said a shell shocked Tetsujin, his eyes going wide. Beside, them, a clock rang and a coo-coo bird came out of its house. Coo-coo, coo-coo! It was very hard not to laugh out loud and only a chuckle escaped their lips.
Jocelyn had an evil smirk on her face and the others seem to laugh at his insecurity at the horrible thought. Aishou and Ketsurui saw the smirk on Jocelyn's face and looked warily at Tetsujin and Jocelyn. The day was just getting weirder.
"Come on guys, let's go eat some brunch," said Ketsurui trying to dissipate the building tension in the group.
"Sure!" said an enthusiastic Tetsujin. All of them sweat-dropped when Tetsujin ran to another food stand practically drooling over the food.
This was going to be a long day and food-filled. Sighing, they took out their purses to pay for the food they were going to buy. The menu consisted of fish products only adding to the dark mood starting to build up around the group. A shadow looked over the roofs of houses at the food stand curiously at the group of foreigners. Yes, a most pleasant filled day, he thought.
Eating in the stifling hot weather after you searched an entire village was vastly un-amusing. The stench of fish was heavy in the air but Tetsujin seemed not to notice. The three were taking turns shooting dark looks at him throughout the afternoon but he seemed too content to notice. He set their teeth on the edge and you could almost see smoke coming out of Jocelyn's ears. Was Aishou grinding her teeth or was that Ketsurui?
The day just kept getting worse. When, Tetsujin started dreaming about food once again, happy place, happy place, he repeated inside his head. When an image of an angry and furious Jocelyn, he said out loud, "NO HAPPY PLACE, no happy place!" They turned to him and frowned. Was this going to happen every time Tetsujin came into contact with food?
Idly, Jocelyn was imaging Tetsujin taking a fist to his face from her. Oh, that was extremely amusing! While Tetsujin was chanting no happy place, Jocelyn was thinking, this is my happy place! When Aishou and Ketsurui came back from the little girls room, they found one companion screaming "No happy place!" while the other was saying "Happy place! Happy place!" Then they ran off in opposite directions chanting. Perhaps they should buy some ear muffs, they mused.
The uneasy feeling of being followed made the group wary of the village. Their senses told them that they should get away but from what they could not figure out. Night soon came and blanketed the village in a thick darkness.
"Aishou? Jocelyn?" Ketsurui asked quietly. The group stopped to look cautiously at her. "Someone is following us."
"We know," was Aishou's simple answer. The group turned around to look at nothing.
"Come out stranger. We know you are there!" yelled Jocelyn.
A figure leaped off one of the village roof and landed squarely in front of the group. The stranger was tall and seemed to loom over them. But Aishou put fists on her hips and the stranger swayed as if she loomed over him. He regained his confidence quickly and glared hungrily at the group.
"You four are wanted, with a pretty price on your heads," explained the stranger who took out a belt knife. "Very good reward, indeed."
The group shrank away from him, his words ringing in their ears. Disbelief, and fear were painted on their faces. Tetsujin decided to try to negotiate but he was cut off with a rude gesture. Aishou and Ketsurui looked pale under the moonlight and they clutched each other, fear painted on their faces. Jocelyn looked determined but her knuckles were white. What could they do? They were trapped, and there was no way out.