***Ahm... According to the poll, in, uh, my profile... "If the ship ever sank, what will Len do" ... OWWHH IT'S A TIE between the bananas and Rin. 35% voted for the bananas, and the other 35% voted for Rin. Well, the people have spoken, thank you voters. Mark my words any misfortune or anything death-related will be because of THOSE voters who voted for the bananas. ***

Chapter 3: Ship of Fools

11:05 AM

"This is stupid, I have the money. Why can't I just pay the ticket fee to you here? Instead you're telling me to wear this outfit and do your job?" Len stared at the outfit Kaito gave him, waiting for a reply. Kaito was a bit busy going through some… Files and such.

"First of all, no, I'm not a servant. I'm a sailor, so you're not really helping me, you're doing some other servants' job. And second of all, even if you buy a ticket "here" from me, there won't be much difference. We don't have any extra beds or rooms for the passengers, but there are tons for the workers." Len sighed over the bitter truth and blankly stared into the suit Kaito gave him. Not much different than the usual coat he uses, but still…

"Not to mention the clothes. You're telling me you're going to use the same coat you wear today for the next ten days to France?" Oh, Kaito had a point there.

"Fine." Len groaned and entered the changing room; at least, being a servant on that fancy ship, he'd get a bed, some clothes, and food, probably.

"How are you going to tell your fellow shipmates about a new butler on board? They should have an absence board or-"

"Trust me, I'm a sailor. I know what I'm doing." Kaito cut in.

"You've only been here for a w-"

"Just trust me and I'll get you into the list, stop worrying! I have a list here on what you should do as a servant." So that's what he was looking for. Schedules, huh?

"I won't go through much details, but here are a few things you have to do. Think of this ship as a hotel, the layout is similar. All you need to do is serve people in the dining room, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Easy, right?"

"Great." Len replied with a monotone voice.

"And now, a couple of advi- … Some rules around this ship. I'm not asking you to take notes, but this is serious business Len."

"On a scale of a missing cat case to the 'organization' case, how serious is it?"

"…Does the seriousness matter? The point is there are some rules"

"I'm serious when I said I want to know how serious it is, Kaito. Your definition of 'serious' and my definition of 'serious' are two different levels." And by 'two different levels' Len meant, Kaito could still keep calm and have a straight face in situations Len would panic at.

"I guess it's as serious as the Japan's case we did? Maybe a little bit more, somehow… I guess…" Len threw him his coat and tie to Kaito, who was standing not too far from him.

"What kind of sick ship are we in to be that serious? And you're making me a part of this ship of yours?" And Len thought the clothes, food, and bed were the worst part of the journey.

"Not my fault, you climbed aboard. –sigh- I should have pushed you off board when we were still near shore." But then Len would yell at him. And track him down...

"Just tell me the problem this ship has."

"Well, I heard there are… 'Special passengers' in here, planning on doing… Certain things." Kaito lowered his voice.

"Just get straight to the point and tell me. No need to be so vague."

"The other sailors told me there will be a bloodbath soon." For a second there, the word bloodbath gave chills down Len's spine. He wasn't sure why, but the way Kaito say it made it sound so… Serious and real when it could be just a joke. Sailors after all love to exaggerate things. That's how mermaid legend was made.

"Funny how the sailors know so much about this. Don't tell me your crew is planning on a Mary Celeste-like adventure."

"Pfft. Mary Celeste didn't have any signs of blood or force, only missing people."

"You know too much Kaito, don't make me look into your... Ship."

"Hey, you asked for it. I told you earlier here, I'm new." New enough to know special passengers were there; planned to do certain things in the ship?

"I can ask you a few questions if I could." Len opened the changing room's curtain and fixed his tie. "But right now I just want to live through the next ten days. Just tell me what I need to avoid." Kaito lend him a pair of glasses, which Len accepted with a raised eyebrow.

"To be honest I don't see why this glasses is necessary." The two of them left the changing room and walked through the hallways.

"It's called a disguise. Okay, so here are the 'rules'. One. Do not interact with other sailors or servants. Except me. You'll cause suspicion, it'll be tricky, I need to cover your story up... And they're kinda scary, I don't want little Len to get bullied or anything. Two. Do not go to the boss' office. The boss isn't on board, but she's quite-"

"You're telling me there's no captain in this ship?"

"No. When I say 'boss' I mean, another boss. The boss who owns this boat and some other boats. The captain is another thing, he's nice and all, but avoid him anyway. You'll cause suspicion. You're just a servant who does what everyone needs to say, you don't need to talk. Be like Rin when you two first met." That wouldn't be much of a problem.

"Is there a third point?"

"No, but there are some places you need to avoid. I'll make you a map and mark down the places you have to avoid. Trust me, I know what I'm saying. I'll give you the map once you're done, here…" Kaito opened the room, revealing a full packed fancy dining room.

"It's lunch time now, and I need to take care a few things. Good luck, pal. If you don't know what to do, just think about, you know, Rin. Since this is basically what she does every day, the only difference is the magnitude." He pushed Len inside and closed the door tight.

...

Hahah.

Silly Kaito.

Thanks to him, he knew exactly what to do there. At first he didn't know why he couldn't just ask the questions in his head earlier on the rest area. Maybe he was just too afraid to find out the answer? It struck him like lightning when the thought came.

He's a detective for heaven's sake! The list of things Kaito told to avoid are the things he needed to the most before he could even think on leaving the ship.

'Interact with other sailors, other servants too, I suppose. Go to the boss' room, and when I meet him again, I'll ask him for the map on the list of things I need to look into.'

"Ah, excuse me? I'm new here."

12:30 PM

'The other servants are okay, they all have backgrounds and families. So far, nothing is out of the ordinary…' The only thing out of the ordinary so far was Kaito and his little talk.

"So, did you get it? You really don't need to write everything down, you know? You look smart, ah, what's your name again? Leon right?" It doesn't hurt to have a –temporary- friend. The auburn haired man's name was Lui… And for a slight second there Len thought he was a woman. Something about him just seemed so… Graceful?

… But that's beside the point.

Len had no troubles at all carrying trays, smile at all the passengers, cleaning all the mess, what troubles him the most was that paranoid feeling on his head. There was that feeling, where he felt like someone was watching him.

'Of course someone is watching me, I need to serve all these people, in a way, they need me.' Len continued to write on his notepad.

"Thanks for everything, I think I get it now." He slipped his pen and notepad to his coat's right pocket and followed… Wherever Lui was going.

"You pick up things real fast, Leon… And this is your first day, right? That's pretty impressive!"

"It's nothing, really… By the way, is it our break already?" Len wasn't sure if Kaito was overreacting with the crew; if it's a matter of background then he was just fine writing up stories along the way. Was he worried that his and Len's background won't match? Len was sure they could figure things out that way.

"Yep, why?"

"Do you know any telephones… Anywhere, in the ship?" Nothing big, really. He just wanted to give a quick call…

"…I only know one, I saw it in the boss' office once." It's funny how Len just met him and Lui was so open. Or maybe that's just how co-workers treat each other there? To work on a ship 24/7 for a long period of time; whether want it or not you need to be nice because you never know who could push you off board.

"Can you tell me where it is?"

"WHAT? No! You're not supposed to go to the boss' office!" Lui stopped and glared at him, as if he was a mad man… Though in a way Len was a mad man.

"It's fine, all I want to do is call a friend of mine."

"No! Unless you want to d-"

"What's the problem here?" A sailor bumped into them.

"I want to go to the boss' off-"

"Nothing! He doesn't want to go anywhere! He's new and all, so…" Lui cut in.

" I heard he wanted to go to the boss' office… And, you're new? Since when did we get a new servant? We're not hiring…" The sailor looked at him from top to bottom… Len looked completely normal, and smart. Too smart, for a servant. Damn, it was the glasses wasn't it? Len realized that earlier, he thought he'd look too smart to be a servant.

"Today's my first day, and you heard right, I wa-"

"You're that new guy, right?" Kaito came out of nowhere and quickly cut in. "I need to talk to you for a second ." Behind that straight face of his, Len knew him well enough that on Kaito's head he was screaming 'WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING' or something along the lines. It almost made him laugh.

"He's new right? He might not know yet...," the sailor said. Len raised an eyebrow. The second Kaito cut in, both the sailor and Lui went all… Nice.

"Yeah! I think so too. Come on… Whatever your name is, we need to talk."

Kaito led him to the boiler. They went deeper, down the stairs, passed by a few sailors, it was hot there too. Some of the machines in there gave out heat, some of them even gave out a crude-like smell. If Kaito wanted to talk… Why of all places, he picked there? The only way they could communicate was… By screaming. And there was no guarantee screaming would work either.

There was a small room in the middle of all the noisy machines, if it weren't for the light from the window of that small room, Len wouldn't have seen it. For some reason, an odd… thought came to his head.

'A noisy place, accessible only for sailors / workers, locked, … I could kill a bunch of people in that room. If my prey tries to run away, odds are if they're not careful they could fall, and the machines here, they're enough to kill… Wait, what am I thinking?' The two entered the room, Kaito sighed, locked the door, and covered the window.

If Len didn't know who Kaito was he'll assume he'd murder him right that second.

"So you asked me the things you need to avoid, as reference to what you should do… I'm… Glad that I didn't give you the map." He scratched the back of his neck, wondering what to do next with him. Obviously, he couldn't just let Len roam around the ship for the next ten days without getting into any kind of trouble that could cost his life, Len's life, and several other innocent lives.

"Just don't do anything stupid." Was the best… Scratch that, the only thing Kaito could come up with.

"You know what's in my mind right now? Stupid things I could do in this ship. Interrogate the passengers, prank some of the sailors, put poison on all the passengers' wine, laugh at their reactions, steal the passengers' belongings, throw them all off board, call Rin with a telephone from the boss' office, destroy all the safe boats, and some... Other stupid things."

"What kind of 'this is a serious situation' do you not understand? When I told you to lay low, I mean, you have to stay l-"

"I guess I'm just a curious person. When you say it's dangerous, I can't help wanting to know what could happen."

"Curiosity kills."

"Your point being?" Len had been through worse; and Kaito knew that. For the time being, Len have assumed the two of them had been through worst situations.

"Okay, okay. Let's put it this way, let's play a game. The name's ship of fools, a dice game everybody loves." He stirred the conversation away... Finally found a smart comeback / plan.

"And…?"

"In ship of fools you have to bet everything you have. Money is not to be used in our case though." Kaito gave a satisfied smile; that's the type of smile Kaito would show off to everyone whenever he has a great idea.

"And you already have a bet set up for us?"

"If you win, and I lose, I'll tell you everything you want to know. If I win and you lose, you'll shut up for the next ten days and do as I say... though promise me whichever happens don't do anything that can drown us." Len opened his mouth, about to argue. It wasn't fair, he was new, he didn't even know how to play.

"I'll give you some time to practice, we'll play at eight." He went for the door and unlocked it.

"See you then."