"Len, this is stupid."
"Come on! I heard this place is really cool. It's like the wildlife refuge from Fairbanks, but way better." I pulled RIn along the sidewalk towards a small building. Behind it, tall trees rose high into the sky. The air was heavy with the humidity of the mini rainforest ahead of us.
A sign reading Bosque De Ciencias sat in front of the entrance building.
"Do you know what it means?" Rin asked, still dragging behind me a little.
"Something… Park. I dunno. But let's go."
She rolled her eyes. "There are probably better things we could be doing right now."
I turned on her. "Why are you always so scared to go do fun stuff?"
I was joking and my words seemed to impact her more than I intended. She furrowed her brow. "I am not!"
"You didn't want to go do laser tag," I pointed out.
She frowned, avoiding my eyes.
"You didn't want to go to the zoo," I added.
"Fine. Fine. Let's go."
With a grin, we started towards the entrance once more.
The building was just as hot and humid as the air outside. A wooden sidewalk wound out the exit opposite of where we entered. A group of excited kids danced along the path, their mothers frantically running after them. The walls were the same smooth cement as the rest of the city. We paid our way in and followed the crowd.
It was like we had been transported to another world once we left the other side of the building. Although we were still in the heart of the city, there was no sign of any buildings, cars, or crowds. A forest of deep green stretched in front of us. Birds chirped constantly in the canopy above us. The cloudy sky was barely visible through the winding and weaving branches above us.
"Do you think it's gonna rain?" Rin asked. She seemed to be looking for any excuse to leave.
"Even if it does, we'll be fine," I promised her. "Now, come on! There are animals down here."
"Animals?"
We walked further down the path. The ground below us alternated between wooden bridges, dirt paths, and stone sidewalks.
Rin glanced nervously around the jungle. "Are they… are they in cages?"
"Probably," I answered with a grin.
"That's… reassuring."
"Chill out. They wouldn't let us on the path if it wasn't safe."
After a few minutes of wandering, we crossed another large bridge. The soft trickle of a river below us filled the area.
"Look!" I grabbed the railing, pointing into the water. A log stuck out of the water. Sitting on top of it was a family of turtles.
Rin squinted to see them. "Turtles?"
"Yup. Wild turtles."
They all crowded onto the small log. "How many are there?" She asked.
"...Five? I think?" They varied in sizes, but each one wore an identical dark shell on its back.
"Are they okay?" She asked with narrowed eyes.
"Yes, Rin. They're fine."
"Well, I'm just asking because they aren't moving or anything-"
"They're fine," I assured her. "Better than any turtle in a zoo."
She glanced towards them one last time, her eyes shining but her expression oddly blank, before turning away. "What's up here?"
Beyond the bridge, the wooden path stretched up into a staircase, leading to a path suspended over the jungle floor. I jumped ahead of her. "Let's go see."
I flew up the stairs. She followed softly after me.
We walked along the path for a long time, stopping to see all the colorful plants, tall trees, and curious wildlife along the way. The air smelled fresh, clean from any evidence of the nearby city. It was hot, too. Like every other day. People walked past us occasionally, but the screaming children were long gone ahead of us. Most of the time, it was just the two of us, walking through the woods alone.
I expected Rin to lighten up at some point, but she never did. To my dismay, she remained her quiet, reserved self for most of the trip. Part of me was disappointed. It felt like I had failed in making her smile during one of our adventures together.
Once we descended the stilted-path, we turned a final corner. Suddenly, we were greeted with the sight of a crowd in front of us. They were gathered around a small pond. A metal railing lined the water, and several people were leaning dangerously far over it. The sidewalk sloped downwards along it, allowing people to see the animals from under the water.
"What's in there?" Rin asked, her flat voice doing nothing to betray her curiosity.
"I dunno. Let's go see."
She crossed her arms shyly. "In that crowd?"
"No, no. There's a little underwater area down here. We can see through the glass." There were no people at the bottom and that probably meant there were no animals at the bottom. But it was worth a shot.
We skirted the crowd, still unable to see the animals in the water beyond, and continued down the sloped sidewalk to the glass. Clear blue water filled the habitat on the other side. Rin stepped ahead of me, pressing a hand against the glass and peering through.
"I don't-"
Just as she began speaking, she jumped back at the appearance of a large sea creature. It was huge, easily the size of a grown person, and swam its way through the water with a thick tail and a pair of arm-sized flippers.
"What is that?" Rin asked, taking a step back. Finally, she wore an expression that wasn't blank.
"They're manatees," I answered, staring at the creature with awe. "This place is famous for their manatee sanctuary."
She shot me a glare over her shoulder. "You know they were here, and you didn't tell me?"
"It was a surprise," I defended. I slid my hands casually into my pockets as Rin took another timid step towards the glass.
The manatee swam slowly through the water, dipping in and out of sight between the rocks and plant life that grew at the floor of the water. Another one came in sight, this one not as large as the first, before disappearing towards the other end of the pool once more.
She chuckled slightly. "They look like fat dolphins."
"Don't let them hear you say that. They might get mad."
She rolled her eyes. "Shut up."
I leaned against the glass with a sigh. "Do you not like them?"
"What? Of course I do. They're cool," she answered with a cross of her arms.
"You don't look very excited," I observed.
"How would you know?" The sass in her voice seemed as more of a defense mechanism than anything. She was excited, she was just trying to hide it.
"Well…" I trailed off, gazing slowly into the water. "You're not doing that thing where your eyes get all big and you hop around like a little kid."
Her eyes widened and she looked away. "What's good about acting like a child?" She asked softly, obviously hiding a blush from me.
I didn't know where this wave of confidence was coming from, but I found it almost overwhelming. "It's cute," I answered with a shrug.
Her eyes snapped back to me, then slowly turned back to the manatees. There were four of them in sight, now. They swam in circles around each other playfully.
There was no sound between us except the chatter of the nearby crowd and the soft waves above us.
"Come on," I finally said. " Skye's probably closing soon. Let's go see what the others are up to." I turned away, then looked over my shoulder to see Rin still perched against the glass.
She didn't move.
"Unless," I said, turning to face her. "You want to stay a little longer?"
Her fingers intertwined nervously into each other in front of her chest. "Maybe… maybe just a few more minutes." She offered me a feeble smile.
I returned it, stepping back to her side once more.
"There you guys are!" Flower greeted us with more enthusiasm than I had ever heard in my life. I narrowed my eyes, suspicious at the happy scene before Rin and I. We had stepped into the living room of our cottage to see Anon, Kanon, Yuma, and Flower all dressed in their civilian clothes with wide smiles on their faces. They each had their shoes on like they were going somewhere.
Rin seemed just as confused as I was. "Did… did you guys find Lu-"
Kanon waved a hand dismissively. "No! All this shit has been too much. We're going out."
"Out?" I asked. My eyes flickered to Yuma. "You're going, too?"
He shrugged. "I need to get away from this screen. And we're all probably dying soon anyway. Might as well have some fun before it happens."
Flower nodded. "He's right."
"Where the hell are you guys even going?" Rin asked.
Kanon crossed her arms proudly. "Yuma and I saw a little street party on our way home from Skye. Thought we'd grab you guys and go check it out."
"Street party?" Rin furrowed her brow.
"It's a Brazilian thing," Anon answered with a smile. "Basically just a bunch of tables and chairs thrown everywhere with food and music. And dancing."
"Um…"
"And you guys are coming, too," Flower concluded.
I shrugged. "Okay."
Rin seemed unsure, but she knew she didn't have a choice. So she agreed as well. Five minutes later, all six of us paraded down the sidewalk towards the sound of a speaker somewhere along the narrow streets of Manaus.
"For a business trip, there really isn't a lot of business going on," I observed.
Yuma scoffed. "Speak for yourself."
"Yeah, Len. He's right," Kanon agreed. They walked side by side ahead of the rest of us. "Those two call each other every day. Sometimes twice, or even three times. And deciphering each one for any clues is exhausting."
"What have they been saying?" Rin asked, seemingly glad to talk about something work-related.
Kanon sighed. "Mostly the same stuff. 'Come over, I miss you!' and then 'Sure, babe! I'll be there tomorrow!' and then the next day, Luka hits her with the 'Sorry, I'm busy!' or 'I forgot!' It's kinda sad, honestly."
Rin furrowed her brow. "What if she never shows up?"
"She has to, eventually."
"I don't think she does."
"Shut up, you two," Flower scolded them. "Tonight, we have no idea who those two are. I just wanna have one fun night where I can get wasted and wake up in a random alley in Brazil."
I chuckled. "Haven't had a night like that in a while," I admitted, remembering all the stupid antics my friends and I had gotten into.
Flower flashed me a devious smile. "Tonight's the night."
The streets were devoid of people. Once we traveled further into the city, orange street lights began to illuminate the path before us. The setting sun was too low to provide any light but did wonders in casting the sky in different shades of pink and purple.
"I hear music!" Kanon giggled excitedly. Sure, I'd hung out with Rin in public before, but everyone else? This was a new experience altogether. Despite never having done this before, I still felt an odd sense of deja vu. Like I had experienced this before.
Well… that's because I had. With my old friends. Before I supposedly committed suicide.
Anon clapped her hands together, laughing with glee. "Ah, I can't wait! Come on!" Out of nowhere, she grabbed Rin and Flower's wrists, pulling them away from our group. Kanon laughed, running after the girls.
Rin shot me a concerned look before they turned the corner on the street. The music was loud, now. We were here.
"Guess it's just us, huh?" Yuma fell into step next to me.
"What, you gonna ask me to dance or something?"
He punched me in the shoulder. "You wish."
We rounded the corner. It seemed we had found all of the mission pedestrians. Between a narrow road, not a moving car in sight, a throng of people moved, some talking, some eating, most dancing to the music played by speakers that I could not see. Stringed lights hung across the street, tethered between the two tall buildings. It was exactly how Anon described it. There were cheap, plastic tables and chairs dispersed along the sidewalks while most of the dancing happened on the pavement of the road itself. The girls had disappeared through the crowd. It caused a ripple of unease to go through me.
"Let's find somewhere to sit," Yuma suggested.
Keeping my eyes on the crowd, I followed him. I wasn't paying much attention to where I was going, as most of my attention was drawn to the crowd in an attempt to find the girls, but I managed to follow Yuma through the sea of tables without much of a problem. The scent of cigarette smoke and alcohol filled the air. Everyone we passed wore a smile on their face.
"There they are," I said aloud, spotting the four of them near the edge of the street. A group of locals had found them, seemingly instructing them on a dance that many of the other women were participating in as well.
"They look like they're having fun," Yuma joked, pulling out one of the white, plastic chairs and sitting in it. I sat next to him, my eyes glued to the girls for fear that I might lose them again. It would be very easy to be lost in a place like this.
I chuckled. "I guess."
A trio of girls, looking to be around the same age as them, were waving their arms and swinging their hips to the music. They would do a couple of steps, then our girls would copy them. Anon and Kanon seemed focused on every movement of their new friends, trying very hard to imitate their steps. Flower followed along, though not with nearly as much enthusiasm. Rin stood to the side. She wasn't participating at all. Instead, she hugged herself tightly and scanned the crowd. Her expression was blank but it was easy to tell that she was insanely uncomfortable. And probably trying to find us.
I waved my arm as her eyes passed over the tables.
"Dude, she's not gonna see us," Yuma told me. Just as the words left his mouth, Rin's eyes stopped on us. She gave a small smile, instantly relaxing ever so slightly.
"You have pink hair." I lowered my arm. "How can she not see us?"
He shrugged. "Fair point."
Kanon laughed, the sound barely audible over the crowd and the music, pulling Rin off of the curb and forcing her to participate in their dance. Their new friends laughed loudly as well. And spoke English, it looked like.
"I'm about to get trashed," Yuma said. "I gotta find where they're serving drinks. You want anything?"
I shook my head. "Nah. I'm okay. Just hurry back, alright? I don't like us all being split up like this."
"Hah," Yuma threw his head back before standing from his chair. "We've made you too paranoid. It's a party. Have fun. Get drunk. I'm bringing you something."
Before I could protest, he walked away from the table towards a line in the distance. If that was the line for alcohol, count me out. It looked like a half hour wait.
As much as I wanted to talk to people, look around, and enjoy myself, I couldn't do it. Protectiveness for my squad was more prominent in my mind, and I knew I wouldn't be able to relax with the knowledge that we were all split up, with no way to contact each other, in a foreign country where we also had enemies.
Like they can't handle themselves, I scoffed at my worry, my eyes still watching the girls. Out of the six of us, I was probably still the one most likely to fuck something up. And yet here I was, worrying about Yuma or one of the girls getting into trouble. They can handle themselves just fine.
But, still.
Kanon stood behind Rin, her hands clamped around Rin's wrists, puppeting her into the movements of the dance. Rin grinned, pushing herself away from the girl and instead standing next to her while the locals showed them the footwork one more time. The music echoed through the road, the foreign words complete gibberish to me.
The more they danced, the more I noticed Rin relax. Before long, she was smiling and laughing just like the others. Even Flower had loosened up a bit, dramatically waving her arms in the air to mimic the locals and eliciting laughs from the others in response. I couldn't help but wonder if she'd had anything to drink.
After another try, Rin tripped over her own feet, sending her sprawling right into Kanon. The two of them fell over, disappearing for a second onto the pavement before pushing back to their feet, each in hysterical laughter.
I smiled.
"You're staring."
I looked over my shoulder to see that Yuma had returned unexpectedly quickly, a beer bottle in each hand.
"I'm not staring." Leaning back in my chair, I looked him dead in the eye.
He raised an eyebrow.
"I'm just- I'm just making sure we don't lose them."
"Uh huh," he nodded his head, unconvinced.
"Whatever," I responded with a roll of my eyes.
He sat back down in his chair and set the beer on the table across from me. I ignored it half out of distaste for it and half out of anger that he'd caught me… staring.
"So that's why you don't know where you're going," he said after a moment, taking a drink from his bottle.
"What?" When I spoke, I didn't look at him. Rin tripped again and was caught this time by Flower. Rin pushed off of the girl with a laugh.
"You can't decide on where you want to go after all this because you want to go with Rin, don't you?"
The question was so unexpected and yet so obviously true that I didn't even know how to respond. So I didn't.
He took another drink. "Have you talked to her about it yet?"
Rin repeated the steps again, in perfect unison with the others, this time making it beyond the move that caused her to fall twice before. The others, including the locals, cheered in unison at her success.
"I… I mentioned it," I muttered, not entirely comfortable talking to Yuma about it. With a sigh, I grabbed the bottle from the table. Where you go, I go. I had told her. Did she know I was serious?
I raised the bottle to my lips and took a swig.
"What'd she say?" Yuma asked.
I shook my head. "...Nothing, really."
"You probably need to talk to her about it again, then. Like, actually talk to her."
I was afraid to. Talking to her about something as serious as that would force me to admit that my feelings for her may have escalated beyond friendship. It was weird for me to even admit it to myself.
But why? How could I have gone from hating her, letting her beat me up with a pole and yell at me every ten seconds, to running across rooftops and calling her cute to her face? How did I get there? It had seemed so sudden, like this feeling had come out of nowhere. Yet, at the same time, it felt like it had been gradually building this whole time. Through every adventure; saving her in London, watching her enthusiasm in her first game of laser tag, our movie day in Mexico, how she had snuggled up against me during the scare with Flower and Anon in Fairbanks. Through all of that, something had changed. It was obvious to me now.
But why?
Across the tables, Rin smiled at the girls next to her as they launched into another round of their new dance.
The answer came to me quickly. Sure, she was an attractive person with an adorable smile and eyes that could light up the room. But it was more than that. She was determined. Adventurous. She knew what she wanted and she'd stop at nothing to get it. She was brave, too. Even after almost dying in London, she was able to sneak into Meiko's own home and stand tall against her. She had been so scared. Yet she kept going.
She always had a plan.
"Are you gonna talk to her?" Yuma's voice brought me back to reality. The music faded back into my ears, the sights and smells of the scenes around me touched my senses once again.
I took another drink. This time, it was Kanon who fell at that difficult step. I could faintly hear Rin's amused taunting from my seat. Kanon rose from the ground, standing much taller than her, and retorted her own taunts. They both wore smiles.
I didn't even mention how competitive she was.
"Uh, yeah. I think so," I said, just to keep Yuma from asking any more questions. My words fumbled clumsily in my mouth. Fuck, I thought. Grown adult. Still fumbling words over a girl.
But it was Rin so I couldn't be too hard on myself.
"Well you should," he advised. "Otherwise, she could go somewhere on the other side of the world and you might never see her again."
That wasn't happening. And yet just the thoughts running through my head were enough to get my heart thumping in my chest. When was the last time I had felt like this? There had been girls in college, but none more than a casual hookup. I was suddenly reminded of the nervousness I had felt when I first came to these people. It like I was back on that metal table in the infirmary, waking up in the Montana base to Anon's friendly grin, the others gathered cautiously around the table behind her, for the first time.
These thoughts raced through my head a million miles per second. "I know," I finally answered, taking another long drink. I was stunned to find my bottle was already empty.
Yuma chuckled. "Knew you wanted some."
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, the bottle held limply in my hands. Some more girls, who seemed to be friends of the locals, had joined in on their dancing. I felt a tinge of frustration every time Rin was blocked from sight.
"What about you?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder towards him. "Is Kanon going with you."
He had been mid-drink. With a small sputter and a cough, he set his bottle down on the table. "Uh, yeah. She is."
"You talked to her about it?"
He nodded slowly. "We're, uh, I'm forging us a marriage license."
I widened my eyes. "Whoa."
"Yeah."
"That's… intense."
"It'd be a lot easier than getting one later," he pointed out. There was a small blush rising to his cheeks. "Just don't tell her I told you, okay? I don't even think she's told Anon yet."
"Like, I knew you two were a thing, but marriage?"
He smiled nervously and avoided my eyes. "It's, uh, been going on for a lot longer than you've been here."
I nodded, looking back towards Rin and the others. They were right where I'd seen them before. "Well, congrats, I guess."
He chuckled. "Thanks."
A silence fell between us. Yuma let out a deep breath and down the rest of his drink.
"When do we go get them?" He asked, rising from the table once more.
I shrugged. "Whenever you wanna leave, I guess. But they look fine for now." I handed him my empty bottle.
He rolled his eyes. "Why do I have to be the beer bitch?"
I shot him a sly smile. "Because I won at arm wrestling."
A huff escaped him. "Fuck you," he murmured before turning his back and returning to the line for drinks.
Rin's laugh echoed through the street once again.
About time you figured that one out, Len. Jeez. It's only been thirty chapters.
Also, PSA, your reviews give me life. For real. Love you guys.
Thanks for reading! :)
