Jaken ran over to Akechi, wrapped his hands over her hand on the fishing rod, and pulled her back.
"Walk backward," said Jaken. They took a few steps back and Akechi reeled in the nen thread. Once more the tug from the catch pulls the duo straight to the edge.
"Woah!" they said.
"Maximum output, please!" said Jaken as he felt his feet beginning to lift.
"How?" asked Akechi, panic.
"Use Gyo on your hands while I use my nen to stabilize us without going overboard,"
"What's that?!"
Akechi felt the tug on the fishing rod and nearly went overboard, but, Jaken held onto her tiny waist and infused nen feet were kept in place.
"Whoever your teacher was didn't teach you correctly,"
The surrounding ocean mist sprays on the yacht and the clouds slightly darken. Nemdy humming a tune while she prepares the spider crab in the sink when a large body of a fish slithers past the window. She drops the kitchen knife in disbelief. The scaleless fish's body illuminates a glow of red and blue. She ran upstairs.
Meanwhile, Akechi manifests a larger volume of nen to pull in the catch. A round large-headed fish sticks out from the ocean. The mists shrouded the creature but the shadow of it was massive. Akechi releases the nen from the fishing lure while the fish widely opens its mouth to stretch. The duo of anglers watches in awe as the fish flashes an oval shape of red and a long line of blue lights into the water.
When the sun broke through the clouds and the mist thins it out. They saw an eel-shaped head, scaleless, and a large transparent row of sharp teeth. The rainbow fish lure reflected the sunlight rays and wedged between a pair of smaller-sized teeth. The eyes of the giant sea creature have a protective layer of white milky mucus substance. The giant headfish began to shake back and forth, causing violent waves to come up overboard.
"Step back!" shouted Nemdy and summons a large fishing net above the yacht. She aims at the beast's head began to shrink and the body slowly rises upward but shrinks. The creature disappears but Nemdy's fishing net is on the ocean surface.
"Jaken," said Nemdy, "Grab my fish tank for me,"
"Yes ma'am," said Jaken and ran downstairs for Nemdy's fishing tank. A few moments later, he appears with a round fish tank with a water filter and passes to Nemdy.
She scoops up the fishing net into the cylinder fish tank and fills the tank with ocean water. Ging stayed where he was unfazed by the ordeal. Nemdy held the fish tank close to her chest and excitedly announced, "Mission complete,"
"Huh?!" said Akechi confused
"I'm a marine biologist," said Nemdy, "I dreamed of capturing a deep sea creature, one day, to study,"
She hugs the fish tank.
"You're welcome?" said Akechi
"I was helping too you know," said Jaken
"Of course," said Nemdy with a smile, "Everyone here was helping me,"
"Just don't let the fish out on board," said Ging
"Copy that, sir," said Nemdy
She carries the fish tank to the bedroom to care for the deep-sea fish. Akechi rolls one arm in a circular motion and straightens her back. The muscle aches from the tug of war with the fish got the best of the small body.
Jaken sat across from Ging and whispered, "She's talented, don't you think?"
"She lacks control of her nen and," said Ging
"Her nen ability is versatile," said Jaken
"I will see what she got as an inexperienced Nen user," said Ging.
Jaken smiled and leaned back on the sedan sofa. Akechi inspected her hand but more importantly, was annoyed her clothes on the drying rack were soaking, again. Immediately, she grabs each piece of the clothes and wrings out the ocean water. The shorts and tank top are mildly wet but dry quickly under the sunlight.
After the passing of excitement from the fishing next the men idle their time while Nemdy and Akechi prepare supper for everyone. They clean the spider crab thoroughly and bring the pot of water to a boil. Then they put the spider crab in the pot of boiled water and rested for half an hour.
They pour the boiled spider crab into the sink, piece by piece break the spider crab, and assemble the walking legs on a plate.
"This goes out to the table," directed Nemdy to Akechi. She brought the plate to the round table. Nemdy places the crab head on top of a flattened lettuce leaf and adds the cucumber slices on the side of the crab body. She places the next dish on the side of the counter for Akechi to bring upstairs. Next, Nemdy prepares a small bowl of paste and adds a spoon.
Lastly, she went upstairs with a large plate of rice for everyone. They ate a yummy dinner, satisfied, they shared fishing stories. Ging talked about his biggest catch a kingfish from Whale Island which motivated him to leave the island. Nemdy grew up in a coastal city and volunteered at a rescue aquarium. Sometimes Nemdy can participate in fishing trips to locate rare species and assist the anglers. Jaken fished locally in the valley and wanted to experience deep-sea fishing.
"Wow," said Akechi, "This is my first time fishing so, I'm happy I caught a big fish,"
She pridefully smiles.
"Beginner luck," said Jaken
"We need to go on more fishing trips together," said Nemdy
"I'm relief nothing went wrong," said Ging
"Don't forget about me," said Jaken with his index finger pointed at his chest, "She wouldn't be here, twice, if I didn't rescue her,"
"Thank you," said Akechi, "Jaken, you're the kindest teacher ever,"
They chuckle around the table. Afterward, the men cleaned up the table and washed the dishes while the women took turns to shower and get ready to go to bed. When everyone settles in for the night Akechi and Nemdy stay up late.
"Tell me a bedtime story," said Nemdy turning off the bedroom light and locking the door. Akechi under the blanket and lay out her long hair on the pillow.
"Which one?" asked Akechi.
"The romantic folklore," said Nemdy and joined Akechi on the bed. In her yellow nightgown with a long-sleeve and ruffle handcuff. She lay sideways and gazed at Akechi.
"The peacock silk robe?"
"Mhm-hm," said Nemdy and eagerly nod.
"Long long ago," said Akechi, "there is a kingdom far in a jungle. The king and the queen had one son. He was of age to be married, but, he rather spend his time away from the palace going hunting, and fishing, and chose to with his only friend who lived in the wilderness,"
Nemdy attentively listens. Akechi talked for a very long time.
"Only the celestial silk robe also allows us to deep dive into the ocean," said Nemdy "Then I explore the wondrous sea floor and study the sea creatures,"
"This sea creature by my bedside lives deep, deep in the ocean where are no sunlight. The only lights are from deep sea creatures using bioluminescence," said Nemdy with dreamy eyes, "I would be one of the few marine biologists to study the scarcity of these creatures,"
The bioluminescence from the shrunk sea creature complements the dark bedroom, flashing red and blue in the fish tank on the desk behind Nemdy.
"I'm excited and happy," said Nemdy
Akechi, worried, and asks, "What if your nen runs out?"
"Oh," said Nemdy, "then the yacht goes undersea,"
"We are at risk?!" said Akechi with a whiny voice of distress.
"This sea creature in my estimation is more than a hundred feet long and would survive just fine,"
"What about us?!"
"Not to worry," said Nemdy, "My ability costs a small amount of nen and I am able to retain it for a longer time,"
Why me? Why is my life always at risk?! Akechi holds back the negative words by pulling her lips together and stretching. Making a weird face at Nemdy.
"You don't believe me?"
"I do," said Akechi. Somewhat. She turned away from Nemdy, "Let's go to bed,"
Nemdy hugs Akechi from the back.
"H-hey!" said Akechi and heard Nemdy giggle, "this isn't funny,"
"Cheer up," said Nemdy, "In case anything does happen we will be together floating into the ocean abyss,"
Akechi placed her hand over Nemdy's and wanted to share with someone what had happened to her. But, Akechi decides not to and hits her head back on the pillow.
"Thank you, Nemdy, you're the best," said Akechi
Nemdy didn't respond but her quiet breathing soothed Akechi and she noted it was time to sleep.
The next day everyone was up and resumed their roles. Akechi assists Nemdy in the kitchen while Jaken is in charge of the wheel and Ging answers a few incoming phone calls. He sat at the yacht's edge and fished. In a couple of hours, they came to Port Diamond and docked their yacht. Akechi gathers her personal belongings, changes out of Nemdy's clothes into Machi's clothes, and tightens her kimono sash. She folded Nemdy's clothes and placed them on the bed.
"You can keep the shoes," said Nemdy greeting from the doorway.
"Thanks, Nemdy," said Akechi turning around to her.
"You're welcome,"
She entered the bedroom went through her suitcase and pulled out a wallet.
"What are you doing?" asked Akechi.
"I'm grabbing a couple of hundred so when we go into town we can stock up supplies,"
"Alrighty," said Akechi. They exited the bedroom and went upstairs to the deck to join Ging and Jaken.
"Hey, you two," said Jaken, "ready to go?"
Nemdy smiled and said, "I am,"
Jaken pulls out a walking plank to the bridge. Ging exits first followed by the ladies then Jaken close off the yacht. They enter Port Diamond. On the wooden port stand a couple of fishermen with their fishing rods, patiently, waiting for a fish bite. The ocean breeze uplifted their spirits. Coming ahead is a wide pavement road leading to the town square the bustling townsfolks going about their tasks around them. Children are on small little hilltops flying their kites and teenagers gather in groups to gossip. Adults are shopping about and minding their own business.
There were several home-style stores lined along the sidewalks, in the center of the town square is a water fountain with four benches on each side. Four street lampfish designs on each corner of the town square. They smell the delicious seafood and pizzas from cafes.
"Nemdy," said Jaken, "want to go grab seafood?"
She places her finger on the chin with her eyes going up and thinks about it.
"When we are all done shopping and the four of us put everything on board then we all can dine at a restaurant,"
"Of course," replied Jaken. I'm disappointed! He felt a tiny sting in the heart.
Akechi feels excited to visit a new place and looks around. Gee, I should have used my PTO to go on more vacation when I was alive. They pass by a store with two large windows, advertising artistic crafts and local items of furniture. Akechi's hair has small frizz sticking out on top of the head and the clothes smell like sea salt. She smooths the top of the head with her hand but the frizz returns to its position.
When she turns to look at her companions, Jaken is slung over next to Nemdy as she smiles at Akechi. Ging stays in the front of the group. Akechi falls back to walk next to Nemdy.
"What's wrong with Jaken?" asks Akechi.
"He's sad," answered Nemdy
"How come?" asked Akechi.
"You," said Nemdy and winked her eye.
"Me?!" Akechi
"He wants to spend time with me, but, I have been having so much fun with you," said Nemdy
"Oh!" said Akechi. Poor Jaken~
Ging waited for everyone to catch up.
"I'm going to a local antique shop up this alleyway," said Ging
"No worries," said Nemdy, "I will be going to the grocery store to replenish the food supplies and grab a couple more cooking utensils,"
"Don't overspend, Nemdy," said Ging with his arm cross
"Would you be grabbing the gasoline fuel for the yacht?"
"Yup,"
"Perfect," said Nemdy, "We will be back on board soon,"
Ging went his own way leaving behind the trio behind.
"I'm going to make it up for Jaken," whispered Nemdy leaning in close to Akechi, "Why don't you go with Ging,"
"I-I don't know if he wouldn't mind," said Akechi
Nemdy took out many large bills, rolled them up, and gave them to Akechi. She protests at Nemdy's gesture.
"I-I don't need that," said Akechi
"You do, darling," said Nemdy
"I'm okay," said Akechi, "I will be fine,"
"No, you won't be," said Nemdy and put them into her kimono sash.
"Take it with you in case of emergency," said Jaken
"What about your trip?"
"We have enough," said Nemdy, "if I don't then Jaken can pick it up for me,"
Nemdy chuckles and Jaken crosses his arm. I don't know about that.
"I don't know what to do or say to express my gratitude," said Akechi
"Don't worry about it, Akechi," said Nemdy
"I am going," said Akechi
"Take care, Akechi," said Nemdy and she parted ways with her and Jaken followed behind Nemdy.
Author's note:
Hey readers,
thank you for reading this far. I have so much tasks at home to do and working graveyard sucks away my time to be here, behind a the computer, to bring in more chapters for everyone. When you can bookmark or save my work into your history so you don't forget this story. I'm definitely finishing up this story soon. Love ya'll and thank you for your supports.