"Hiro, hurry up!" Riza roughly called out as she boarded the luxurious cruise with all her luggage. "We'll leave you behind if you don't move!"
Hime, along with flandre, was already aboard the ship, regarding her own baggage with a vigilant eye as she stood at the edge railing of the ship. Amongst her innumerable amount of suitcases was a foreboding coffin, which, in all candidness, disturbed the passing guests that were occupying that particular area.
"Honestly," Reiri sighed in protest, shifting uncomfortably in her humble funerary box. "Did they not read the 'fragile' label on this casket?"
Soon, the men that were grudgingly carrying the coffin up the stairs mercilessly tossed it beside the other passengers' luggage.
"Fuga."
"Yes, Flandre, that must have indeed been painful," Hime remarked with one last look at the casket before returning a shrewd gaze to her own luggage.
"Hey, be careful with that!" Sherwood reprimanded the workers that were unfortunate enough to be in charge of her belongings. She sighed in exasperation, but with one look at her beloved sister's blood warrior, she was content once again.
"Hiro, come on up, you shouldn't make royalty wait~!" she exclaimed seductively.
"C-coming!" Hiro shouted in response, climbing the stairs to the ship with his own bags, which were only two.
Ah, that's right, Hiro recalled, contemplating the enormous cruise ship as he embarked it, the stairs being removed as he reached the entrance in order to set sail. It's because of Sherwood-hime that we're here…
~ Flashback Beginning~
"So, what exactly brings you here, Sherwood?" Hime questioned her little sister.
"My, Onee-sama, as prying as always, I see," the little princess commented. "Do I really need to have some business ready in order to visit you?"
"If it's not business, then state your purpose," Hime continued cooly.
"Well," Sherwood resumed, unperturbed, "it's this." And Francesca, who'd been standing by her side the entire time, placed a letter in the small princess's patient, open hand.
"What is that?"
"It's a catalog with a formal invitation attached to it!" Sherwood informed. "It seems that I've somehow won a trip to a resort island for three days! It's all paid-out, so there's nothing to worry about. Transportation will be by a luxurious cruise ship, it says. But…"
"But…?" Hime incited for her sister to continue.
"But"—she cleared her throat demurely and blushed a bit—"I need to be accompanied by an adult, in order to go."
Hime smirked.
"W-what's with that knowing smile!?" Sherwood cried, flustered. "Onee-sama, the only reason I've come to you is because you resemble an adult. But you're not really old enough to be one!"
"Well, Hime does have that mature air to her," Hiro commented, having been standing by the wall the entire time, along with Riza.
Sherwood appeared to be absolutely horrified. "Hi-Hiro… you prefer older women?"
"Eh? N-no, I never said that!"
Sherwood turned to her sister with tears of frustration at the corners of her eyes.
Though my sister is my rival, I… She cleared her throat and regained her composure. "At any rate, I've come to formally request a favor of you, Onee-sama."
"Yes, do go on," Hime urged, amused.
"Please accompany me on the trip to this resort island, and in return, I promise not to make this short voyage a disappointing one," Sherwood proposed.
Hime chuckled and stood to walk over to Sherwood. Once she reached the small princess, she stuck out her hand. "Then I accept this proposal of yours, Sherwood."
Sherwood smiled widely and took her big sister's hand for a grateful shake.
~ Flashback Ending ~
It's strange how Hime agreed to go on this trip on such short notice, Hiro thought, following behind Hime and the rest of the gang to the dorms, since the trip to the island would require an overnight stay in the ship. I feel bad for leaving Onee-sama behind, but she said that someone needed to take care of the house so…
"Whoa, no wonder they call this a luxurious boat!" Riza exclaimed in awe as she slammed open the door to her temporary room. Small, but cozy.
"Not only a beast, but a primitive one at that, I see," Reiri remarked wryly.
"Heh!?" Riza whipped around to encounter an unpleasant surprise. She frowned disdainfully. "Reiri, when did you get here?"
"I can't stay in that coffin for the whole entire trip, you know," Reiri explained.
"It'd be nice if you did," Riza muttered to herself.
"What was that?" Reiri snapped.
"Cease that bickering, you two," Hime reproached. "If as a couple you will argue, then as a couple you shall sleep. You two will take this room."
"WHAT!?" Riza shouted.
"I have to room with this dog?" Reiri spouted, appalled. "I think I'd rather go back to my coffin, if you don't mind, Hime-sama."
"It's not that I particularly mind it, but your casket is currently stored at a restricted area, along with the rest of the passengers' luggage," Hime informed. "In other words, you can't access it."
"Ah, yes, Reiri-san and Ryuu Ryuu-san were in a shortage of tickets, so they had to sneak in," Hiro recalled.
"Fuga."
"Yes, it is just as Flandre says," Hime agreed with a nod. "The two can't freely walk around the cruise due to the probable chance of being caught. Of course, I'm not as concerned for you, Reiri, since I'm sure you can take care of yourself?" Hime finished with rising intonation, to grant Reiri the benefit of the doubt.
"Certainly, Hime-sama," Reiri assured with a curtsy. "I'm honored that you regard me with praiseful eyes."
"Good," Hime concluded. "Then, Hiro, please escort me to my room. If you manage to find Sherwood, send her to my room, as well. She will be staying with me."
"Ah, of course, Hime," Hiro complied, and promptly followed after her, soon catching up to walk right beside her.
"Hmm, there's something about this room…" Reiri mused. "It gives off a strange aura."
Reiri turned to find Riza approaching the lower bed, already set to put her stuff on it.
"That's my bunk, bitch."
- - -
Having safely guided and dislodged Hime at her room, Hiro sighed in exhaustion and alleviation. His muscles told him that he needed some rest, but his famished stomach begged to differ. As he lied on the bed of his lone, single room, he turned his head to the side to check the time on the wall's clock.
7:00 p.m.
He recalled hearing a voice through the ship's intercom announcing that the dinner buffet would be served to all passengers at 8 p.m. in the main hall. In his fatigue, he realized that he had no idea of where the main hall was, so he rose from his bed, leaving his bags behind, and exited his room. He figured that, if he had an hour before dinner, he might as well search for the place.
After roving for a few minutes or so, Hiro encountered a crying, young girl.
"Waaaaan!!" she wailed, wiping her eyes fervently.
Hiro ran to her aid. "What's wrong? Are you lost?"
The girl sniffed and turned to face Hiro with a tearstained countenance. She nodded.
"Do you want me to help you find your parents?" Hiro offered.
The girl smiled and her eyes widened in joy. "Onii-chan will help me?"
"Mn-hmn," Hiro reassured.
"Eh-heh," she laughed, and then ran off ahead of him, down the long hallway.
"H-hey, wait up for Onii-chan!" Hiro called, and followed after her.
- - -
"Ah, this is such a wonderful cruise," Reiri sighed in delight. "And yet, I'm rooming with the dog."
"Shut up, Reiri," Riza snapped. "No one asked you."
Reiri rose from her bed.
"Well, at any rate, I'll be leaving on my nightly stroll now," Reiri announced, opening the door to the room a crack.
"Ah, yeah, sure," Riza acknowledged absent-mindedly, now distracted by her portable video game device.
Reiri didn't pay it much heed and promptly left.
The vampire sauntered freely amongst the other wealthy guests, fitting right in with them due to the unsuspecting elegance her presence radiated. While ambling between the crowds, a beautiful gentry girl caught her watchful eye. Just as she was about to approach her, a teenage boy discerned himself from the large assembly of people and wrapped his arms around her waist before planting a tender kiss upon her lips.
Reiri turned and sighed in disappointment. With the way he had kissed her, there was no chance for her to be a virgin. Where was Reiri to find an evening meal now?
Reiri made her way back to the dorms. Her feet gradually grew heavy, though. And her pace was slowing.
Well, this is strange, Reiri thought. All of a sudden, I'm feeling tired.
She stretched a bit in an attempt to pull it off. Hmm, that pressuring sensation is still there. It must be because I haven't drunk some blood in a while yet.
Reiri decided that she would ignore the feeling of gravity pushing her against the corridor floor.
- - -
"How are you feeling, Sherwood?" Hime questioned, sitting straight on her bed and reading a book. Every now and then glancing at her sister, who was glued to their private restroom's toilet.
"Ugh…," Sherwood groaned, looming over the toilet limply.
Hime chuckled. "I never thought you'd be one to suffer from motion sickness, Sherwood."
"I'm not," the sick princess responded. "I do just fine on a plane. And it's not like I've never been on a cruise. So maybe it has something to do with whatever it is that I ate."
"Have you eaten anything suspicious today?" Hime asked.
"Not really. Just what Francesca usually feeds me," she recalled.
Ryuu Ryuu made an undistinguishable noise.
"Shut up, Ryuu Ryuu." Sherwood dogmatized," There's no way Francesca would have tried to poison me."
At that statement, Francesca, who had been tending to her mistress the entire time, stood up and bowed countless, apologetic times.
"Don't worry, Francesca," Sherwood assured. "I'm sure it must have been something else."
"Fuga."
"What is it, Flandre?" Hime responded, turning a page of her book.
"Fuga."
"You're in trouble?"
"Fuga."
"You want me to turn around?"
"Fuga."
"Where are your manners, Flandre? Where's your 'please'?"
"…. Fuga."
"Well, then, now I shall."
When Hime pivoted completely, she didn't find Flandre at any corner of the room. "Show yourself, Flandre. I'm not very fond of these types of jokes."
"Fuga."
"Up?"
So, Hime raised her chin and her eyes found the ceiling. And there was Flandre.
"Flandre, please refrain from playing on the ceiling."
"Onee-sama, I doubt she's doing that on purpose," Sherwood voiced from the bathroom.
"Of course," Hime began to say. "Someone as heavy as Flandre shouldn't be able to float all the way up there."
"I wonder…," Hime mused, rising from her bed, scrutinizing her gynoid from a distance.
At that moment, Riza slammed the door to the two young royals' room open without restraint. She began to mouth inaudible words with a wild look on her face, clearly shaken.
"Wha…. What's going on out there?" Sherwood asked from the restroom, now suffering from a sharp headache.
"Revetahw era uoy gnitpmetta ot yas, Azir," Hime articulated, then promptly stopped.
Riza scowled and shrugged to indicate incomprehension. She pointed to her throat and mimicked the act of speaking. Nothing came out of her mouth, though.
"Ti sraeppa sa hguoht uoy evah tsol ruoy eciov, Azir," Hime cryptically continued. "Dna Ym eugont smees ot eb elbanu ot etaerc tnerehoc secnetnes, sa llew."
Riza stomped on the floor angrily and searched for pen and paper. She found the cruise's meal menu, grabbed it, transformed her right hand into wolf form, and scribbled-scratched on the menu the following message:
"What the heck is going on, Hime? I can't speak!"
Hime did not posses a mighty paw with enough pressure to write on a plastic menu, so she resorted to calmly sauntering over to one of her bags and fumbling for a piece of paper and a writing utensil. As soon as she found some, she wrote the following message:
"You are not the only one, Riza. It seems that I can no longer speak Japanese."
Riza responded on her plastic menu:
"No kidding."
Hime searched beyond Riza's shoulder with her eyes and then wrote down the following:
"Where's Reiri?"
Riza rolled her eyes and scribbled on the plastic.
"I'm not her watchdog. And besides, I thought you said she could take care of herself."
Hime sighed.
"She could be going through something of the same nature as us at this very moment."
Riza side-glanced at the floating Flandre and she clicked her tongue in a nasty "Tch!"
"Fine. I'll look for her."
"I'm coming, too. I will search for Hiro."
"Do what you want."
Before leaving, though, Hime thought it necessary to take precautions and tie Flandre close to the part of the ceiling she was floating by, in order to keep her from floating away somewhere else or, by some odd turn, fall to the floor. It's not that the gynoid would get hurt, but the floor would indeed receive the slam of its life.
With the tying taken care of, Hime and Riza, each holding a sketchbook and a pencil now, set out of the room to look for the missing people of their faction. Francesca stayed with the ill Sherwood, as well as Ryuu Ryuu, and Flandre wasn't able to descend from the ceiling no matter how much she tried, so she had to stay.
- - -
"Where did that little girl go?" Hiro wondered in solace, having straggled from the child.
He heard laughter far off in the distance. It resembled the little girl's, so he quickly followed after it. Once he arrived at what he thought to be the place where the sound originated from, he found himself to be at a kitchen after entering a room.
"What…?" Hiro shut the door behind him and scrutinized the empty scullery. "That's weird, I'm sure I heard something…"
He perceived the metallic rattling noise that was beginning to rapidly grow behind him. When he turned around, it was already too late—a huge, sharp nice pierced through his body.
That was the odd fact, though. It pierced right through him. It didn't hurt injure him the slightest bit.
I thought, for sure, I was dead, Hiro thought in disbelief before collapsing to his knees. I really should get used to this dying thing, though. How many times has it been already…?
Hiro gulped and forced himself to pivot a complete ninety degrees in order to see in more detail what exactly caused his near-death experience.
The knife firmly hung on the kitchen's iron wall.
Hiro's eyes dilated when he felt six more knives fly right through him and land on that same wall alongside the first knife.
"W-what's going!?" Hiro hurriedly crawled to another corner of the room.
The room's metallic stock, pots, pans, spoons, forks, etc., were beginning to coalesce into one, joint ball in the air. Hiro braced himself for what would be the most painful hit of his life, but just right as the ball was beginning to launch towards him as a meteorite would towards the earth, Hime appeared before him and countered the ball to the other side of the room with her folded sketchbook. She grabbed Hiro's arm and ran out the other door of the kitchen.
"Hime, thanks so much for saving me!" Hiro gratefully exclaimed, bowing countless times before his master.
"Uoy yam pots, Orih," Hime said. "Ew evah rehto sgniht ot yrrow tuoba ta eht tnemom."
"…. Eh?" Hiro tried his best in attempting to decipher what Hime had just said.
Riza wrote something down on her sketchbook and showed it to Hiro.
"We'll explain later. Right now, we've got to find Reiri."
- - -
8:00 p.m.
Reiri was locked in the janitor's closet.
She had found no other option but to resort to that in order to avoid passengers from seeing her at her current state. It was not a very good one. A few minutes ago, she had been feeling an off pressure pushing her down and causing her to feel heavy, but she never thought that it would turn into something so serious that she would begin to hyperventilate. Since she had no tickets to show that she was indeed a guest at the cruise, she had to resort to hiding.
At first I thought it had something to do with me not drinking blood, Reiri mused. But not having a drink has never incited for something such as this to occur, so it has to be something else.
While in the closet, she had heard a multiple amount of steps, but the ones that were approaching her now were familiar ones.
Don't I know these steps...?
"Hime…-sama?" Reiri weakly called out from the closet.
"Irier?" Hime echoed in response, searching for the root of the sound.
"Sorry, wrong person," a muffled reply emanated from the closet apologetically.
"Reiri-san? No, no, it is us!" Hiro confirmed.
"Hiro…?" Reiri painstakingly raised her head in the dark closet.
Riza's ears perked up, she got down on all fours, and tracked down Reiri's smell and voice. When she found the source of both, she rose from her police dog position and pointed to the janitor's closet.
Hiro ran to where Riza was pointing and opened the door. "Reiri-san! Are you alright? What are you doing here!?"
Reiri placed her index finger atop Hiro's lips to silence him.
"Shh, Hiro," Reiri cautioned huskily before winking at him. "We don't want the hall monitors to find me now, do we?"
Hiro shook his head vigorously.
"Good…" Reiri forced a smile for the young warrior, but even she was not strong enough to hold it. "Ugh…"
Hiro continued, more quietly now, "Reiri-san, do you need help getting up?"
"I-if it's not too much trouble, Hiro," Reiri humbly replied.
Hiro stretched out a hand towards Reiri, but just as she was about to take it, her hand went right through Hiro's.
"Oh, no…" Hiro blasted. "Not again…"
Reiri couldn't hold her hand up any longer and her entire body collapsed on the janitor floor.
Hime glanced at Riza, who happened to catch her look, and then nodded towards the vampire girl. Riza frowned but obeyed Hime's unspoken order.
Riza pushed Hiro out of the way and entered the closet, she showed her back to Reiri and squatted, holding her sketchbook to the side for her to read.
"Here, get on."
"I'd rather not," Reiri declined.
"Hey, you can barely walk, and if we stay here any longer, we're going to get caught. So drop that snotty attitude and get on!" Riza demanded.
Reiri reluctantly resigned, limply rose, and slowly climbed onto the girl's back. She wrapped her arms along the girl's neck and immediately wore a scowl.
Riza, along with her inhuman strength, stood and held Reri firmly by the rear. She walked out of the closet and, as she did, she didn't fail to notice that Reiri had somewhat grown laden. And the pressure continued to increase.
Is this pressure what's making her so weak? Riza wondered.
Reiri grew unexpectedly comfortable and dug her face into the werewolf's contrastingly soft back.
Hime signaled for the gang to follow her, and they did. They all soon arrived at the princesses' room. Riza laid Reiri on Hime's bed and sat by her, while Hime grabbed a chair close to a desk and Hiro leaned on the wall. Sherwood wanted to welcome them, but her condition had only worsened since they left, and she was still glued to the bathroom toilet along with her faithful maid Francesca. Ryuu Ryuu had fallen asleep in the midst of it all, and no one seemed to have noticed that poor Flandre was still floating by the ceiling, tied to it even.
Hime pulled out her sketchbook and wrote down the following:
"I suppose everyone's wondering what's going on."
All nodded.
"Yes, I, as well," Hime continued in her sketchbook.
Everyone face-palmed in their minds.
"Hiro," Hime called to attention. "What happened back at the janitor's place?"
Hiro's face instantly became solemn and he began, "I'm not sure. For some reason, I couldn't touch Reiri-san. My hand went right through hers, almost as if I were a ghost. Come to think of it…"
"Come to think of it… what?" Riza joined in.
"Before Hime rescued me at that kitchen, a knife flew past my body without hurting me," Hiro explained. "What's weirder, though, is that the knife moved all by itself. The stuff that followed moved by itself, too! Hime… is this ship haunted?"
"Don't go off assuming nonsense, Hiro," Hime responded. "Besides, if that were the case, wouldn't it be you who is the ghost?"
Hiro strolled over to Ryuu Ryuu in a desperate attempt to touch him, something to remind him that he's still human. His hand went right through the panda when he tried to pet him, though.
"No… no…What's happened to me!?" Hiro cried.
"Calm yourself, Hiro," Sherwood ordered doggedly, dragging herself weakly out of the bathroom with Francesca's help. "It's not just you, but all of us."
"What do you mean, Sherwood-hime?" Hiro asked.
"Have you honestly not yet questioned why my sister and that werewolf are speaking through pieces of paper?" Sherwood continued, pressing her stomach to lessen the sick feeling that was threatening to return.
Hiro turned back to Hime and Riza, and finally noticed the sketchbooks they carried with them. He had noticed them before, after Hime saved him, but when they went to look for Reiri, he completely forgot about their condition because he was too focused on his own misfortunes.
Hiro slumped his shoulders and his head dropped in shame. "I'm sorry, everyone…"
"Hiro… Have you ever heard of Karma?" Sherwood queried.
"Um, yes," Hiro recalled. "'What goes around comes around,' right?"
"Exactly," Sherwood concurred. "So… supernatural beings, such as ourselves, attract supernatural occurrences." Sherwood coughed and then turned to her older sister. "Isn't that right, Onee-sama?"
"Correct. As Riza and I searched for Hiro in the cruise, I noticed one of the screen panels that showed us the course of navigation. When I saw three familiar islands, I realized, with as much certainty as can be given, that we were sailing through the Bermuda Triangle."
"No way…." Riza exclaimed.
"Y-you mean… The Bermuda Triangle?" Hiro repeated, desperately clinging to the hope that he might have heard incorrectly.
"Are there any others?"
And that confirmed it.
Hiro gulped. "But… vehicles that go through the Bermuda Triangle almost never return…"
"And we are no exception," Sherwood added. "We run the same risk of never seeing land again."
"Hime-sama, if I may join you, I'd like to have a say," Reiri suddenly piped up, grudgingly coming to a sitting position.
"You shouldn't force yourself," Riza said. "You'll break the bed."
"Well, thanks for you concern…. for the bed," Reiri finished, and then turned to Sherwood. "Anyhow, following your theory of the Karma. Are you trying to say that we are the only ones being affected by all this?"
"You're a keen one, are you not? Well, I'd expect no less from a vampire," Sherwood commented. "You see, as I was puking, I had some time to think."
Yeah, no kidding, Riza thought.
"If the theory of Karma is correct, then none of the normal humans in this ship should be experiencing any abnormalities from themselves or their surroundings. Their "average" energy brings about only "average" situations. We, as supernatural beings, attract supernatural situations to ourselves. By being in the Bermuda Triangle, we are, in a way, incredibly "boosting up" our supernatural energy and therefore triggering much paranormal activity around ourselves."
"Well, that makes sense," Reiri agreed. "Does that mean that each and every one of us is experiencing some abnormal condition at the moment?"
"If what Sherwood-hime said is right, then I guess so," Hiro said. "I mean, I can pretty much walk through walls now…"
Hime pulled out her sketchbook and scribbled:
"Hiro, your molecules are disintegrating, that is what allows you to pass through anything. If this continues, though, you will disappear. Slowly, but surely."
"…Huh?" Hiro once again feared for his life. "B-but you'll be able to revive me, right, Hime?"
"If there's no body, my blood won't have any vessel to feed. So once you disappear, you are a dead man," Hime revealed laconically.
She says it so bluntly, Hiro thought in dismay with a waterfall of tears streaming down his face.
"Oh, I know I should have asked before but… What is Riza-san suffering from? The same thing as Hime?" Hiro queried.
"No, she is mute," Sherwood dropped in.
"Oh… Riza-san… this must be very hard on you…" Hiro sympathized.
"Ara, whatever do you mean, Hiro?" Reiri said sarcastically. "I think I quite like this new Riza better."
"Do us a favor and shut up, Reiri," Riza furiously communicated.
"My, so you actually know how to spell?" Reiri laughed. "That's quite the surpise…—ugh."
"Re-Reiri-san!?"
Hiro ran to Reiri's aid. "Are you all right, Reiri-san?"
"I-I'm fine, Hiro," Reiri assured, lying back down on the bed. "I think I've figured out what's wrong with me—it's the gravity. It's pulling down on me quite forcefully, and the pressure keeps growing."
"If this continues," Hime resumed, "The gravity pressure will increase so much to the point that it will push Reiri through floors and out of the bottom of the cruise. She will drown to death before she even reaches the seafloor, though. And the hole she leaves on this ship will cause the cruise to sink. Either way, it's just a matter of time."
Reiri smiled weakly. "Why, I never thought I'd meet my end in such a way. Oh, well, I suppose a Titanic ending doesn't sound so bad."
"I won't let that happen," Riza assured the vampire girl.
Reiri suddenly felt an unfamiliar heat shroud her cheeks.
"I have my brother's death to avenge, so there's no way I'm just going to accept dying here," Riza declared.
"So you hold onto that pride," Reiri breathed, closing her eyes and turning away from Riza. She didn't want the werewolf to see her at her most vulnerable.
"But… I don't see anything wrong with Ryuu Ryuu or Francesca," Hiro commented.
Ryuu Ryuu was sleeping soundly by the side of the room and Francesca was still acting as a support for Sherwood, who was trying her best to remain standing.
"Is that what it looks like?" Sherwood smirked. She had Francesca walk her over to Hiro and, once she was there, Sherwood took his hand to place it on Francesca's chest.
Hiro immediately snapped his hand from where Sherwood had placed it. "W-w-what are y-you doing, Sherwood-hime!?"
"Come now, Hiro, don't be embarrassed," she said, and took a hold of Hiro's hand once again to put on Francesca's chest. "Do you feel the pulsations…. of Francesca's heart?"
"… Yes."
"Gynoids are robots. They are not truly alive. They are not supposed to possess a beating heart."
"W-what does this mean, Sherwood-hime?" Hiro queried.
Sherwood chuckled faintly. "Francesca has become a… human."
Riza's sign read: "Eeeeeeehh!??!"
"In this paranormal realm we're currently within, it's very likely that Francesca will age and die in a matter of hours," Sherwood explicated. "This place is most likely to exaggerate the clock on a human's lifetime, making it shorter than it should be."
Hiro glanced at Ryuu Ryuu, still resting on the side of the room. "Ryuu Ryuu-san seems fine, though."
"Everyone appears to be so peaceful when they're in a comma, is that not right, Hiro?" Sherwood hinted.
"Comma!?" Hiro. "So Ryuu Ryuu-san is in a comma!? B-but people recover from those!"
"With treatment, yes," Sherwood agreed. "But this is not a hospital. We have no way to feed Ryuu Ryuu or take care of his needs while he's asleep. He'll die either due to starvation or dehydration…"
"As I've said before, it's all just a matter of time," Hime repeated.
"Then…. Then what are we supposed to do, Hime!?"
"What is there to do, Hiro?" Hime echoed.
"Oi, Hime, are you actually just going to let us die here?" Riza questioned angrily. "I know you've got to have some sort of plan."
"Of course, there's always a way to escape troublesome situations, but this one is not under our control," Hime explained.
"Then I'll take it under our control! Tell me what it is," Riza demanded.
"Simply put, it's all up to how long it takes the cruise captain to sail us off the Bermuda Triangle and into our intended destination. At the pace we're going, though, it appears we won't make it in time."
"Then it's done! All we have to do is tell the captain to go faster and problem solved!" Riza concluded.
"If only it were that simple. What are we to say? That we are experiencing abnormalities within ourselves and it's due to the Bermuda Triangle?" Hime continued. "If we do that, and the other passengers are completely fine, we'll be discovered. Reiri and Ryuu Ryuu, who've sneaked in, will not be able to hide if we're searched."
"Puah!" Sherwood gagged, the nauseating feeling having returned to her being. "I'm going back to the restroom…. Ugh…"
With that, the ill princess ran to the toilet and locked herself in. A series of disturbing noises and flushes followed in sequence.
"So, if nothing is done, Sherwood-hime will grow even sicker?"
"Apparently so," Hime opinioned.
"Then what are we standing around here for? Let's go to that Captain guy and tell him to hurry up!" Riza urged. "If we're careful, we won't be discovered."
"No, Riza, you must stay here and watch Reiri," Hime ordered. "If gravity begins to pull her down with a stronger grip, then you must prevent her from breaking through the floor."
Riza released an inaudible "Tch!" in complaint, but complied with Hime's request.
"Hiro, hurry, you're coming with me," Hime wrote out in her sketchbook, subsequently dashing out of the room with Hiro at her heels.
"…. Fuga…"
Oh, they forgot Flandre, Riza thought.
- - -
8:30 p.m.
Hiro and Hime hurried down the lengthy halls, searching for a stairway that would lead them to the second floor, since they were currently stationed at the first.
"The Captain should be on the fourth floor, the one that is inaccessible to all guests," Hiro informed, taking out a booklet that depicted a map of the ship.
Hime had now grown used to writing out messages on her sketchbook at a fast rate. "The halls are empty. Where do you suppose al the guests have gone, Hiro?"
"Well, I'm guessing the main hall, where they're serving the dinner buffet," Hiro said, his stomach supporting him with a loud growl.
Hime stopped in front of a rectangular hollow. She climbed the steps that led to the second floor.
"W-wait up, Hime!" Hiro called, scurrying up after her.
Once Hiro caught up to Hime, he found her standing with her arms folded, her eyes sharp and lips curved in that familiar grin of hers. Hiro followed the princess's gaze and was petrified by the sight that awaited the acknowledgment of his eyes. A red carpet, the same that adorned every corridor floor, was lifting itself in a spiral, taking the rough figure of a snake.
"Hi-Hime, wh-what is that…?" Hiro trailed off in fear.
"I can't rightly say… though it's probable that it's just one of this phenomenon's manifestations," Hime inferred.
The creature hissed menacingly and launched at Hime. The princess's valiant blood warrior ran to her rescue and stood in front of her to heroically block the hit, being inflicted in her stead. Hiro was slapped against the wall and his breathing grew heavy.
"Hi…. Hime, are you okay?" Hiro inquired, his arm surrounded by the healing mist that the royal blood granted him.
Hime, a bit surprised, assured him, "Yes, Hiro, I am fine. Though you really didn't have to cover me, since the creature's aim was off-range. It would have never hit me."
Hiro face-palmed. Ugh… Well, this is embarrassing…
The snake-like being stuck out its tail and swung it in Hime's direction. The sharp princess quickly dodged the attack and grabbed a hold of the tail.
It may be mobile, but it's still nothing but a carpet, Hime thought.
She handed the wildly swinging tail to Hiro, and her eyes told him everything he needed to know. "Hold that."
The blood warrior got a good grip on the carpet tail and ran back to the end of the hallway. With that part of the snake's figure taken care of, Hime would only have to deal with the head. The top part of the carpet slashed at Hime, but she managed to evade the attack.
Hime tightly placed the sketchbook between her hands and swiftly moved to counter attack the snake's side. The snake recoiled, having had its side ripped. Hime didn't allow it any time to recover and came on even stronger on it. She ripped many of the pages out of the sketchbook and sent them flying towards the snakes like Frisbees, except that these didn't return. The hard papers probed cuts into the snake's figure, and the carpet began to fall apart, thread-by-thread.
The creature hissed one last cry before fully dispersing into shreds.
Hime ambled to where the creature's remains lay, and there she picked up the sketchbook she had dropped amidst the combat.
She wrote in it again.
"Come, Hiro, two more floors."
- - -
Riza sighed in weariness. She tapped her head on the wall she was leaning against and turned to check on Reiri, whose figure she allowed her eyes to rest upon for a small while. She heaved another sigh and wrote down the following message:
"How're you holding up?"
Reiri made the effort to lift her head, read it, and respond:
"Well, sparing the fact that I feel as though my organs are turning into 30-pound sacks and I'm about ready to break this bed, yes, I'm fine."
"Good to hear."
"… Ugh."
As much as she would have wanted to disregard Reiri, Riza knew that if she didn't delay the progress of Reiri's gravity, then doom was surely upon everyone on the boat.
Suddenly, she was struck by an epiphany.
"Oi, Sherwood!" she wrote down hastily, running to the bathroom door and slipping the note below her door.
"Bwuah… what is it?" Sherwood replied nauseatingly from the other side of the door.
"Since you said that as supernatural beings we attract supernatural situations, doesn't that mean that if we join the average beings, their average energy will overpower ours and we'll be surrounded by average situations?"
"… Well, if the theory is correct, what you say might be true," Sherwood contemplated. "However, our abnormal energy won't be completely diminished, it will only be temporarily subdued by the overwhelming number of average energy. If you're planning to delay that vampire's growing gravity, then joining the rest of the average guests down at the main hall is your best bet, if not the only one."
"Then I'll take my chances."
With that said, Riza retired from the door and ran towards Reiri. She tried lifting the vampire's arm up so she could drape it over her neck, but it was astonishingly heavy. Riza felt a pang of guilt. She was complaining about having to stay and watch over her mortal enemy, while the girl in question herself was coursing through so much agony and still capable of making witty remarks. Riza stretched, breathed in a deep amount of air, and hauled the vampire onto her back.
Crack!
Oh… my…. back…
Shit.
- - -
Hime and Hiro climbed the stairs that led onto the next floor, the one that preceded the last one, where only authorized personnel, such as ship captains, were allowed.
"Just a little more, Hime!"
"Let's hurry."
As they closed the distance between themselves and the next flight of stairs, though, Hime abruptly stopped, resulting in Hiro's sudden compact with her back.
As Hiro rubbed his head, he asked, "Wh-what's wrong, Hime?"
The gothic princess pointed to the cruise walls that enveloped them. They were closing in on the two.
"The walls are coming together! We're gong to get crushed!"
"Hiro, read this carefully, at the rate in which these are uniting, it's rather improbable that I'll make to the end of the hall in time to catch the stairs without coming into contact with these walls. For you, though, whose molecules are disintegrating, it is possible to accomplish this, since you've become practically a ghost. Hiro, you must go and direct this cruise into the right direction before it's too late."
Hime writes fast, Hiro thought, but immediately returned to the matter at hand. "I… I… Yes, I will be sure to sail this ship to safety, Hime!"
Hime nodded, as callous as ever, and ran past Hiro to track back the path from which she came from.
Hiro ran as fast as he could in order to avoid having to come into contact with the moving walls. His luck emptied out, though, just as he was about to reach the end of the hallway. The walls pressed against one another, and Hiro thought himself a dead man. When he squeezed an eye open, though, he felt himself perfectly fine, and noticed that he was in between the closed walls, but not inflicted. Hime was right. Now, he had to hurry upstairs, onto the last floor.
His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the little, crying child that had lost her parents by the stairs.
How did she get all the way over there? Hiro wondered in shock.
The girl beckoned for him to cross over to her side.
"Come, Onii-chan, I'll guide you to the last level!"
- - -
Riza was huffing in exhaustion, taking excruciatingly heavy steps all the way down the hallway to take herself and Reiri to where the average people's presence overflowed with average energy.
"Hey, you two over there, stop!" an unidentified individual commanded.
"Oh, crap, it's back to the closet again," Riza cursed, and dashed to the janitor's room, where Reiri was previously hiding.
She dropped Reiri carelessly, opened the door, and then comically dragged her rock heavy body into the closet, shutting the door as fast and quietly as she could. The hall monitor ran by them undetected. Riza groaned in relief.
"Huh, wait a second, I can talk now!" Riza noted.
She turned to Reiri, who was passed out due to the dropping.
"And she's not as heavy as before," she commented. "That means we must be close to the guests. Just a little more…"
And she trudged out of the closet, along with Reiri, to resume the journey to the main hall.
- - -
"What are you doing here?" Hiro inquired, chasing after the girl.
The girl glanced back, to make sure that Hiro was following, and flashed him a smile before she returned to track. Hiro resolved on not losing her this time, and tried his best to keep up.
When the two finally reached the top floor, which was really only a room, they opened and shut the door that divided the stairs and the chamber. Hiro gasped continuously in order to catch his breath, but during this action, he lost sight of the girl that had guided her here in the first place.
But how? Does this room have any other exits? Hiro wondered, astounded.
Then again, the small kid could be playing hide and seek, and being tiny enough to fit into any limited spaces, it wouldn't be surprising if she were never detected. Hiro shook the issue from his head and settled again on his mission—to make this boat sail faster into the promised destination and away from the Bermuda Triangle.
He headed for the Captain's seat, which was surrounded with many intricate systems to work the ship. He turned the big seat that belonged to the captain, seeing the white chapeau that stuck out the top, but when he did, the unconscious Captain dropped to the floor, twitching.
W-what…!?
"C-captain, sir?!" Hiro sputtered out, alarmed. "W-what happened, sir? Please, wake up!"
Otherwise, who's going to sail this ship? Hiro questioned in panic.
"I… I must do it," Hiro said to himself, determined.
He rose, leaving the captain unattended on the floor, and ran to where the navigating systems where. Hiro was overwhelmed by the various flashing lights and numerous colored buttons, each bound to perform a different function. He was worried that he'd press the wrong one and mess up.
Well, so be it.
He placed his faith on luck and took a chance. He flew his hand to the button that appeared to control speed, but it went right through it. His eyes widened in incredulity, but he attempted the action again. After another failure, he performed the same action several, desperate times, but it was of no use. He had become completely transparent.
He fell to his knees, but they began to sink through the floor, for he was no longer capable of touching anything.
Right then, the little girl presented herself before him again.
"Please…," he pleaded, wearily. "Please, make this ship go faster. Press… that … button…"
And he slipped through and out of the captain's chamber, soon wallowing within unconsciousness.
- - -
"Hiro… Hiro, wake up…"
He heard a voice calling to him, but it seemed so distant.
"Let me take care of this, Hime," another voice reassured.
The owner of the voice grabbed the meek warrior by the shoulders and shook him so violently it was almost as if he was being shaken by an earthquake.
"WAKE YOUR ASS UP, HIRO!"
"Uwah!!" Hiro shouted, startled. "W-what was that for, Riza-san?"
He scanned the room in which he was in, and it was Hime's. At least, the one the ship had provided for her. Everyone, including Francesca and Ryuu Ryuu, were watching him, encircling him.
Reiri once again flashed that sly motion of the lips she had for a smile. "Ara, Hiro, shouldn't it be us questioning you? After all, we found you at the Ladies restroom."
"Hi-Hiro, I never thought you had those kind of hobbies," Sherwood cried in dismay. "B-but if invading those sort of places please you, then I suppose I can accept—"
"N-NO! I wasn't there because I wanted to! Besides… why was I there? What happened? I mean, everyone seems to be back to normal."
"Ah, well, I'm not sure," Riza shrugged. "All I know is that we're finally out of the Bermuda Triangle, and very close to arriving to that resort island."
"Yes, the captain apologized for the delay," Hime informed. "He apparently had an epileptic attack while his partner, the other captain, was out for a break. Congratulations, though, Hiro, it seems you managed to make it in time to save everyone on the boat."
Hiro gazed down at the white sheets that he was sitting on. "I… I didn't do anything… It wasn't me who saved everyone."
Hime raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "If not you, then who?"
"This little girl," Hiro explicated. "Just as I was sinking through the floor, she appeared. And I begged her to please find a way to speed the ship up. I guess she did."
"Average energy attracts average situations, could it be that that might have been the reason for that girl to have been able to cross the hallways Hime and Hiro struggled to pass?" Reiri suggested.
"How could a little girl, alone, be able to do that? You'd need an incredible amount of average energy in order to do that though," Sherwood mused.
"Maybe she was a big simpleton?" Riza offered.
"Or a total nobody," Reiri said wryly.
"Let the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle remain so," Hime concluded. "We should attend breakfast. It's already 8:00 a.m."
"Yeah, I'm starving!"
"How unsightly for a girl to say that!"
"Quit your nagging, Reiri. I bet you'll be the one wolfing down on the food once we get there."
"Reiri-san, Riza-san, please, don't argue so early in the morning!"
"Quiet, Hiro, we saved your butt. Hadn't it been for us going into the Ladies restroom before anyone else had the chance to, you would have been labeled a pervert!"
"Hiro, that is a title a warrior of the royalty should never obtain."
"Like I said, IT WAS NOT LIKE THAT~!
"Hiro, don't you dare do ecchi things with Onee-sama! If you wish to, t-then please take me ins—"
"Wuagh!!!!!!!"
The gang continued to chatter until their voices were mere echoes that faded with the distance. They had felt as if they'd forgotten something, but they decided they would remember once they'd eaten, and promptly dismissed the feeling.
"…..Fuga."
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First of all, everyone, I am SO SORRY for neglecting this story. I hope you'll forgive me...
Second of all, there's a new story that will soon be making its entrance into the the Princess Resurrection section! The title will be "Sibling Wars: The Reflection of Peace," and its author will be WildNaru. If you're going to want more insight into my story, then I'd recommend you read that one, as well. Let's just say that my story and his story are going to be closely related...
And lastly, I'll try not to take too long writing the next chapter. It would really help me if you guys reviewed (:3). It gives me the will to go on. Thank you, everyone, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter (and its length)!
P.S: Kudos to the person that figures out what Hime's saying when she can't speak coherently. ;D