Chapter Fifteen - Let's Go To Indonesia!
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[Timeline 4 / May 11, 2021 - The Watson Family Manor]
Before going back to Paradise, I decided to stop by my old family home to visit a special someone.
I push the mansion's doorbell and wait for someone to answer.
*Ding Dong!*
I didn't exactly come from humble beginnings. When my dad, Dr. John H Watson, and his buddy, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, got into trouble sometime in the 1990's, dad, mom, and Mr. Sherlock fled the United Kingdom and settled down here in America.
When they first arrived in the country, Mr. Sherlock used his big detective bucks to buy this fancy mansion, which just so happens to be the house I grew up in.
*Ding!*
Suddenly, I get a notification from my phone. I take it out of my pocket and take a look, it's a text from Mr. Sherlock. It reads, "Amelia, come inside."
"Looks like dad isn't here." I say to myself as I put my phone back in my pocket.
In recent years, Mr. Sherlock has gotten quite sick, leaving him unable to walk. His sickness is also why he had to stop mentoring me. It's a sad sight. The still great detective being unable to utilise his skills because of an unfortunate illness.
I slowly open the doors and walk inside. As I enter the house, I look around the living room, searching for Mr. Sherlock. The house is completely empty, but the fireplace is going.
"Mr. Sherlock?" I say as I walk across the room, looking for the detective.
*Ding!*
I get another notification from my phone, it's a text from Mr. Sherlock that reads, "My dear Watson, if you wish to find me, then you'd better make use of what I had thought you." So he's inviting me to solve a mystery, classic Mr. Sherlock.
I look around the room once more, scanning for any clues. First off, the fireplace is still going, which means that he must be somewhere near. No responsible person would just leave a fire unattended.
However, why is the fireplace on in the middle of the day? Maybe it's a red hearing Mr. Sherlock placed to throw me off guard... But he's having difficulty walking, there's no chance that he would leave a fire burning somewhere he couldn't easily get to in case of an emergency. So he must be somewhere near the living room.
One thing catches my attention as I search the room once again. It's a book, 'A Study In Scarlet', the biography that my dad wrote about the first case he saw Mr. Sherlock solve.
It's sitting on a small coffee table, next to an empty cup of coffee. There's also a bookmark placed in the book.
I think I found the solution. Mr. Sherlock can't be in a room far away from the living room, so he could either be in the study on the left, the bathroom just past the study, or the kitchen to the right.
But if he went to the study, why would he have to place a bookmark in his book? Couldn't he just bring it with him?
I place my finger on the empty coffee cup, ouch! It's still blazing hot. Meaning that he finished the coffee right after he brewed it.
He must be in the kitchen, making something. Knowing that whatever he was cooking would take long to finish, he placed a bookmark in his book, so he wouldn't forget which page he was on while he was in the kitchen preparing his food. And he finished his coffee before it would start to go cold.
After coming to my conclusion, I excitedly sprint to the kitchen. And as I enter the room, sure enough, I see Mr. Sherlock sitting at the dining table, eating some beans with toast.
[ Sherlock Holmes - The Legendary Detective ]
"Splendid work, Amelia!" Mr. Sherlock congratulates me, clapping the back of his toast holding hand with his free one. "What did you think about today's mystery?" He asks, looking at me in anticipation.
"It was really easy this time around, you definitely gave me too many clues." I say confidently, Mr. Sherlock reacting with a smirk.
"I wanted to give you something elementary today, since you'll be leaving for your mission soon." Mr. Sherlock says nonchalantly, munching on his beans. "Huh?!" I exclaim in suprise. "How did you know that!?"
"Well..." Mr. Sherlock gets ready to explain as he puts his toast down. "When I looked out of the window to see who was ringing the doorbell, I saw you, and an unfamiliar car parked outside. And judging by the bulletproof frame and tinted windows, I can only guess that the person in that car was a Hololive manager so-."
"Wait..." I interrupt Mr. Sherlock, "How do you know about Hololive?" I ask, completely dumbfounded. Kronii said I was the only person who figured out the secret of Hololive. Did Mr. Sherlock find out before me and just didn't tell anyone?
"It all started when I watched that debut concert of yours." Mr. Sherlock says. "Even though they were holograms, I recognised one of those girls you were dancing with, Gawr Gura, the Atlantean. A few years before you were born, I took on a case that ended with me uncovering the truth about the lost city of Atlantis. Since then, I had assumed that Atlanteans were the only mythical creatures that existed, but after seeing that concert, I decided to do some research about the Hololive corporation."
"First off, I started investigating the human members. The easiest ones to find were the Hoshimachi, and Sakura clans, seeing as their existences were barely hidden at all. And all it took was sending a friend on a short visit to the Sakura family shrine to find out about Ceres Fauna. And from that I..." Mr. Sherlock explains, each word he says bringing my jaw closer to the floor.
So he figured out what Hololive was in just a few months. Meanwhile, it took me a little over a year of nonstop research.
"Seems like there's no mystery you can't solve, Sherlock Holmes." I cheekily smile at my mentor as I sit down on a chair opposite from the detective. "Don't forget that you beat me to the punch, Amelia. You have amazing potential as a detective." Mr. Sherlock says with an encouraging look.
"So, why did you come to visit me?" Mr. Sherlock asks, wiping his hands after finishing his toast. "No reason really, I just wanted to pay you a visit before my big mission." I say with a false smile as I clench the small flower my pocket. I'm probably going to die on this mission, I really came here to say my final words to Mr. Sherlock.
"You can't fool me, Amelia. I can tell that you're feeling down." Mr. Sherlock says, looking past my fake smile. Guess there really is no mystery Sherlock Holmes can't solve.
"I think I'm going to die soon, Mr. Sherlock." I say calmly, causing Mr. Sherlock to look at me quizzically. "And you're okay with that?" He asks. If it's for Ina and the rest, then I don't think I mind.
"I think so. It just seems like... the proper thing to do." I already failed the mission once before, I have to make up for it this time around, even if it cost me my life. Sacrificing myself for the world, it's something I think is only right.
"Amelia, there have been many times in my life that I was so blinded with the idea of self sacrifice that I almost couldn't see a possibly where I could live alongside the person I was willing to die for." Mr. Sherlock says, standing up and limping to the other side of the table, where I was.
"Remember that you're a detective Amelia, and a good detective never gives up. That means not throwing your life away without first thinking of a way to survive."
I look out the window of the car as I think about what Mr. Sherlock said. I've been so determined to use the Kirin's flower that I never even considered the possibility of beating Laplus some other way.
I'm definitely still gonna use the Kirin's flower if necessary, but hey, I've never used time stop before, maybe that's gonna be enough to beat Laplus.
"What's wrong Ame? Feeling nervous?"
[ HenMa - Amelia's Manager ]
"No, just thinking about Bubba." I lie, not wanting to spill out any deep feelings onto my unsuspecting manager.
"Don't worry Ame, Bubba will be properly taken care of by us managers. Actually, he'll probably be spoiled to death." HenMa jokes as she tries to cheer me up. "Hehe." I chuckle as an image of an overgrown Bubba comes into my head.
"We're almost here Ame, are you ready?" HenMa asks as we get closer to our headquarters. "Yeah, I'm ready." I tell HenMa, but I'm mostly just talking to myself.
[Timeline 4 / May 11, 2021 - Hololive's North American Office]
HenMa parks the car and we step out, I then close the door behind me before me and HenMa walk towards the office.
"We're lucky that the fast travel doors Sana made are still around." HenMa conveniently exposits as we walk. "Why is that?" I ask. "Unlike an attack which only exists for a short moment, Sana's fast travel doors are permanent constructs created by her ability." HenMa says before opening the office's front doors.
We then walk to the office's back room, and HenMa unlocks it for me. "Good luck, Amelia! See you soon." HenMa wishes me as I put one foot in the door. "Thanks. I promise I'll come back." I say before putting the other foot in and stepping into the council's throne room.
[Timeline 4 / May 11, 2021 - Throne room of the Universe's Courthouse]
"You're late, Amelia. It's five o nine." Kronii chews me out as soon as I step in the room. "Sorry, I had to pay someone a visit." I say apologetically as I walk to my chair.
My chair is placed smack dab in the middle, right next to Gura and Kiara's. Well, my chair's not exactly in the middle, because of the four chairs placed to the left of Shiori's.
Four unfamiliar girls are seated in each chair, each of the girls talking amongst themselves. "Who are those guys, Gura?" I whisper to the shark to my right. Gura responds with a shrug of the shoulders, "I have no idea."
I take a look at the four girls again, and notice that Shiori's talking happily with them. Does Shiori know these girls?
"Now that Amelia's here, let's get started." Kronii says, clapping her hands to get our attention. "We need to leave quickly to make up for lost time." Kronii says, and I can't help but feel like she's targeting someone with that last line.
"First off, I want to introduce Myth to the rest of the team." Kronii signals the four new girls to come to the front. The girls walk forwards and line themselves up in front of Cali's podium. "These girls are the four prisoners of the Cells maximum security sector, the Birdcage."
Prisoners? Suddenly, a memory flashes into my mind.
#
"I know some more suspects, Amelia." Shiori says, a smirk on her face. "Really? Who?" I stop and ask.
"Two years ago, four girls were imprisoned in 'the cell' for staging a coup against the council. The power of those four girls combined could probably be enough to kill Sana."
#
So these are the girls Shiori was talking about, the girls who challenged the council. But why would Kronii enlist the help of the council's former enemies?
"The girl on the far left is Koseki Bijou, the jewel of emotion." Kronii says, causing my mind to quickly snap back to reality.
"Hi everyone!" The girl says excitedly, and suddenly, a sense of excitement wells up in me too.
[ Koseki Bijou - Master of Emotions ]
"Her ability is to make others feel the same emotions as she does, so make sure not to let her emotions get too extreme." Kronii explains, causing everyone to be disappointed that Kronii spilled the beans on Bijou's ability.
"This girl is too cute, I just wanna have her all to myself!" Kiara says, reaching out to Bijou. "Look's like her ability's already taken hold of you." Shiori says as she holds back Kiara, who's struggling to break free from Shiori's hold.
Looking to my right, I can see that Gura has the same look in her eyes. "So pretty! So pretty!" She says like she's in a trance, looking ready to pounce. So before she can do anything reckless, I grab her hood, keeping her in place.
"Sorry about that, I tend to be desirable to most people." Bijou says, rubbing her finger on her chin. "I'll put them back to normal." She says before focusing, squinting her face like she's suffering from post-Taco Bell syndrome.
In an instant, Kiara and Gura wake up from their trances, looking surprised. "What was I doing?" Kiara asks, looking to Shiori. "You were being really thirsty for that rock girl." Shiori says, pointing to a smiling bijou.
"I wonder why you guys weren't affected by the girl's ability." Gura says, looking at me, Ina, and Shiori quizzically. "It's because we're all intellectuals, right?" Shiori asks with a proud expression. "Maybe me and Ina are, but I don't know about you." I joke, and Shiori scoffs in response.
"I'm pretty sure that the Ancient Ones protect me from magic." Ina says, her book flying around her as evidence of the Ancient One's presence.
'Cthullu's not protecting you Ina!' Is what I really want to say, but I have to hold myself back.
"Maybe you two have a natural resistance against magic." Kiara suggests, and Shiori responds excitedly. "So me and Ame are special, huh?"
"Shiori, you're only immune to Bijou's ability because you're always around her, managing the cell." Mumei says, keeping her chosen's ego in check. "Then what about Ame? Why is she immune?" Gura asks, scanning my body with her eyes as she analyses me again.
"Maybe she actually is resistant to magic?" Bae suggests as she casually leans back in her throne. The room is quiet as everyone debates on Bae's suggestion, anticipation welling in me as I wait for someone's second opinion.
"Yes, it's possible." Fauna says as she looks down and evaluates me. "Seriously..." I can't believe I actually have a resistance like that. Maybe I'm the chosen one.
"We can discuss Amelia's resistances or whatever later, right now, let's focus on the mission." Kronii says sternly before pointing to the two twins in the centre of the four prisoners. "These two are Fuwawa and Mococo Abyssgaurd, the twin guard dogs."
"Bau Bau!"
"Bau Bau!"
The two say in unison, shaking their head happily from side to side.
[ Fuwawa Abyssgaurd - Fluffy Demon Dog ]
[ Mococo Abyssgaurd - Fuzzy Demon Dog ]
"These girls are extremely energetic, so make sure to keep them from being too rowdy." Kronii advises as the two dogs excitedly hop in place.
"These two are cute too!" Kiara squeals as she squirms in her chair, resisting the urge to coochy coo those two puppies.
"Seriously, they don't look like prisoners at all." I say as I stare at the two adorable criminals in disbelief. These two really commited mutiny against the council? I find that hard to believe.
"Don't underestimate them Ame, they're cute but deadly, just like your little pee wee." Shiori makes another low brow joke, simultaneously making her laugh, and making me feel uncomfortable. I don't even have a pee wee!
"This girl is the most dangerous of the four, beware of her, Amelia." Kronii warns as she gestures to the last girl.
"Nice to meet you, I'm [ Nerissa Ravencroft - The One Horned Demon Of Song ]" She says with an alluring gaze, each of her words being delivered a soft melody.
"The most dangerous one..." I mutter, staring at the demon in front of me. She definitely has a dangerous feel to her, what with being a demon and all.
"Hey, did you know? Nerissa was so powerful that the council had to remove one of her horns to weaken her ability." Shiori says, turning to her right to face everyone.
So that's why she's called the 'One Horned Demon'... I'll definitely have to keep an eye out on her.
"This is your team, Amelia. As the leader, you have the responsibility of leading this team to success. Remember that anything other than victory will result in grave consequences." Kronii's words apply an unimaginable amount of pressure on me. I'll have to somehow lead a team with actual prisoners and Shiori to victory against the literal god of knowledge.
We're all screwed.
"Dang Kronii, you're doing all this just to deliver some Kronite?" Gura remarks, laughing at the absurdity. ...Oh yeah, Gura doesn't know about the Cthullu mission.
"Uh... well of course, this... Kronite, is extremely important after all!" Kronii akwardly blurts another lie, trying to keep up the Kronite story.
"Hmmm, I forgot about that." And Gura believes her once again. These two such are a perfect pair.
"Ahem! Anyways, we've already prepared a ship for you outside, packed with everything you'll need. (The Kronite's in there too.)" Kronii says, trying to end move on as fast as possible.
"So, who's gonna be our sailor?" I ask, and Kronii smiles softly.
"Shiori will be the captain of your ship."
[Timeline 4 / May 11, 2021 - The S.S Kaela 67]
"This bad boy can take us to Indonesia in less than a week!"
Shiori's our captain..?
"Wooah! For a prototype, this is pretty fast hueh?"
I didn't even know she could steer a boat. Can she steer a boat?
"It's got more than a week's worth of food and water stocked, so at least that shouldn't be an issue."
I'm seriously concerned here. My life is in Shiori's hands.
"Ame!" Gura's words snap me out of my frantic thoughts, bringing me back to reality. She looks annoyed, was she calling out to me for a while?
"What's up dawg?" I say akwardly to the ticked off shark. "Did you bring everything you need?" She asks, raising the bags in her hands to show me.
"Yeah, I just brought the essentials." I gesture to the small suitcase in my hand. It's packed lightly, only containing hygiene products, a few extra clothes, and a few small items. There's no point in encumbring myself with a large bag, I'll only be gone for a week.
And it's not like you can bring your favourite stuffed animal with you to the afterlife.
"Ame and Gura! Get on board!" Shiori excitedly shouts at us, waving her hand in the air. A shiver runs down my spine, I just remembered that Shiori's the one piloting the ship.
"Sigh." I resign myself to my fate and walk towards the boat.
*Thunk*
*Thunk*
*Thunk*
The metal stairs sing as I walk up the giant metal hears know as the S.S Kaela 67.
"Hey, Ame, why the long face, huh?" Shiori asks, completely unaware that she's the source of my dread.
"Don't worry, you got this Shiori." I say encouragingly, placing my hand on her shoulder. Though, I'm more just convincing myself than actually giving her words of encouragement.
"Huh? What?" Shiori's completely perplexed, but instead of answering her question, I walk inside of the ship.
It's quite a big ship, the interior looks more like a small cruise ship's than an average boat's. There are three rooms for sleeping, two big ones and one smaller one, there's a decently sized kitchen, and it's got two bathrooms.
"It's like a cruise ship in here!" Kiara says, sitting down in a couch in the main room. "Don't get too comfy, Kiara, remember that we're still on a mission." I remind the phoenix, but she just nestles deeper into her seat. "Don't worry, Ame, I know that. I'm just relaxing a little before we get going." Kiara says, casually chilling in her seat.
"Sigh." I guess it makes sense that she isn't talking things seriously, she doesn't know what this mission is really about. But I can't help but be worried when my crew is acting so carefree.
"Amelia Watson, correct?" A voice from behind me says. I turn around, only to see one of the prisoners, the one Kronii called the most dangerous. "Nerissa Ravencroft..." I mutter, a sense of dread filling me as she looks me in the eyes.
"So you've already remembered my name, that's great!" Nerissa smiles, unnerving me even more. Nerissa then looks down at my feet, and chuckles. "Are you afraid of me?"
Surprised, I take a glance at my feet. I'm standing farther away from Nerissa than I was just a second ago. Did I subconsciously take a few steps back?
"I mean, it's kind of hard not to be afraid, when you're talking to a literal prisoner." I akwardly respond, her presence is definitely that of a criminals. She has a dangerous aura, one that I can't help but be afraid of.
"Don't be like that Amelia, trust is important in forming new friendships." Nerissa smiles sweetly, a sickeningly sweet smile.
"Alright! Let's get ready to roll!" Shiori shouts from the pilot house, alerting everyone. Including Kiara, who was sleeping on the couch.
"I look forward to working with you, Amelia." Nerissa says, putting her hand forward for a handshake. "Yeah, me too." I reluctantly accept her handshake, my hand shaking with fear.
For this mission to be a success, I need to trust my teammates. That should be easy enough, right?
Author's notes:
Yo, it's Yur3i. Since there wasn't a proper author's notes last chapter, I've got a lot to say this time around.
First up, I wanna talk about the things I was supposed to last chapter.
Like, the fact that I never explained what the council's podium things are. This whole time, I've been calling them podiums, even though podiums aren't really things that you sit on.
Basically, the "podiums" are thrones, that's why they're in the "throne room". They're thrones with podium-like chair desk things attached to the front of them.
Next up is, how does Myth know about the council? I'm talking about Gura and Ina here.
In this universe, the council is kind of like Hololive's big bosses. Every member of Hololive listened to the managers, and the managers listen to the council. And the council makes public appearances too, like they did during the battle royale, so I'm sure that everyone's seen them at least once or twice.
So, you know how in the last chapter, Cali says she's traveled to other worlds? Some of you may be wondering, if Sana's gone, how did Cali travel to all those worlds so fast?
Well, you see, one of Cali's abilities is the ability to travel across the river Stix extremely quickly, basically being able to teleport anywhere along it. You've seen it in chapter 7, when Cali created those puddles on the floor. Cali is able to travel across worlds by teleporting to each world's little puddles of Stix.
This next topic is something I've been wanting to talk about for a while, but I just keep forgetting to bring it up. This is about the use of honorifics like Chan, San, Sama, and all the others.
In the first few chapters, I was really reluctant to use honorifics cause honestly, I thought it was live cringe. But somewhere along the road, I decided that it was okay for me to use them. That's why Iroha says Laplus sama and Ame casks Suisei her senpai.
So, I'm not against the use of honorifics. But it's kind of a pain in the ass to have every character refer to the senpai's as senpai. That's why Gura says, "is that Suisei's axe?" In chapter ten, instead of, "is that Suisei senpai's axe?" And I'm not going to be using nicknames like Sui Chan either, it's just really tedious. So, honorifics will only be used to showcase how one person views another.
For example, Iroha respects Laplus a lot, so she calls her sama. Things like that.
And the last one for chapter 14, is that the scene of Ame receiving the Kirin's flower is very heavily inspired by the song Wouldn't You Like from EPIC The Musical. In that song, Hermes gives Odyseuss the Molly flower, a flower that can create magic creatures, so that he can defeat the witch Circe.