Chapter 9

Gorou blinked a few times as he slowly came out of his sleep. He was confused for a few seconds how he had fallen asleep in an unknown room, sitting in a chair, with a blanket wrapped around him. Slowly, he recalled last night's events and couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed. He quickly jumped up from his seat, already fully awake and energized. He folded the blanket and placed it back on the bed, gathered up his belongings and made his way to the living room. To his biggest shock, he found that the Traveller and Paimon had already left by then. He felt alien in this big mansion, and suddenly didn't even know which way was out. He ran a few panicked runs around the house before he heard a familiar voice.

"Gorou? You up yet?"

He sprinted towards the voice and found Traveller and Paimon at the front door.

"You guys! I'm so sorry, I have no idea how long I was asleep! I hope I didn't cause any trouble."

Traveller gave a warm smile and reassured Gorou. "It's totally fine, I'm glad you could have some sleep. I hope it was peaceful?"

Gorou opened his mouth to answer automatically, when it hit him - he didn't remember what he had dreamed about that night. No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't recall if it was a bad dream or a good dream, let alone any of the contents of it.

"I... think it was?" Gorou replied, but deep inside he was extremely confused. What had happened that made the dreams stop? Was this permanent? Had something changed?

"Actually, I have some good news for you, so I wanted to ask you to come along with me. We're going to Watatsumi Island!"

Gorou stepped back, his ears immediately showing that he felt unsure about it.

"A-are you sure it's okay for me to go back just yet?"

"There's something important I'd like to show you. Would you come with us, please?"

Gorou couldn't say no to Traveller, and he decided to trust him, even though this went against everything he believed.

Traveller quickly teleported the two of them to the island, where it was already the afternoon. Gorou just then realized how much time had passed since yesterday.

"Ehem!" Paimon cleared her throat proudly as she pointed towards a poster on one of the barracks' walls. Gorou squinted to make sense of it, though it took him a while. Paimon, with an expression of "shucks, can't be helped!" decided to explain what exactly they had done.

"We thought it was important that no matter what species or type of person someone is, they get the respect that they deserve! Therefore, under the codename B.A.R.K., a.k.a. "Beings Are Respectable, 'K?!", it is requested of every single person to respect other people's boundaries, including honouring requests, allowing personal freedom, but most importantly, ensuring that nobody ever feels unsafe. It turns out, this was an issue that affected several members of the army, so it was high time that something was done about it!"

Traveller chimed in to shed some further light. "Of course, the movement is still in its first phase and some details are not worked out too meticulously yet, but the important thing is to start somewhere. If anyone feels like the system can be improved, they can send an anonymous letter to the BARK committee, who will ensure that the rules are updated to allow every member of the army to feel safe and heard."

Gorou stood in front of them, speechless. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that someone would look out for him like this, and find a solution to his problem that he himself could not even come close to solving. As it finally sank in, big teardrops started rolling down his cheek.

"Gorou?! What's wrong?! Does your tummy hurt?!" Paimon yelped in concern, and Gorou chuckled in response inbetween a few sobs.

"No, no, I'm okay. I just think it's a really nice movement that will help a lot of soldiers... so I'm really grateful to the two of you... I really, really am." Gorou moved in for a hug and squeezed the two of them tight.

When Gorou let go, Paimon continued to boast. "Aaand, I hear from Traveller that the Berry Tea I painstakingly helped gather the berries for, really worked! So, I guess I was double useful, ehem!"

Gorou smiled endearingly. "That's right! The berry tea was fantastic, thank you to the both of you for it. I feel all great now! It really worked!"

The three of them continued to celebrate and talk more about how exactly the movement came to be. Gorou found out that Kokomi and even his own soldiers took a huge part in setting it up and quickly spreading awareness among the ranks.

Gorou didn't know if this would really solve things permanently, but he knew he could count on Traveller and his friends, and that was all that mattered.