Chapter 9: The Calm
The next morning, two medical staff workers escort Keido through a corridor inside the bottom of a cargo vessel.
It has been nearly 22 hours since Keido and the rest of his men learnt that their mission to capture Inori Yuzuriha ended in failure. Knowing that there is no point in continuing their operations in Bali, not to mention that the province is now under a temporary curfew due to their actions at the airport, Keido and his men had since withdrawn from the island and retrieve Yuu and any surviving mercenaries from the ocean before retreating to their ship which serves as their floating hideout. As their ship now remained stationary somewhere near the Sapudi islands, Keido and his men spent their time resting and healing the injured before continuing their pursuit of their increasingly elusive asset.
When they arrived at one of the metal doors on their left, one of the staff workers opens it for Keido before he and the other step aside. With his hands placed behind his back, Keido steps inside the room and one of the staff workers closes the door behind him. As the gray-haired man walks over to the lone bed in the room, a nurse looks up and walks over to her superior.
"All his vital signs are normal. No defects." The nurse reported as she held out a folder to Keido. The man quietly takes the folder and bows his head to her. The nurse nods back to him before making her way out of the room to leave her superior and the patient alone.
While the other surviving mercenaries were placed somewhere else on the ship, Yuu had an entire ward for himself to rest. Even with his superior now present in his room and standing at his bedside, the boy casually watches a video on his smartphone to keep himself entertained while lying under the sheets.
"I gave you a simple task to capture Inori Yuzuriha and eliminate those who stand in our way. So, explain to me why not only we find you empty-handed, but also stranded in the middle of the ocean along with several injured men?" Keido asked icily.
"Who cares?" Yuu replied irritably as he pauses the video and places his phone down on top of the drawer on his left. He rises from his bed and looks back at his superior with a cold glare. "At least we still know they are heading towards Singapore. And the next time I meet her…I will break her bones…have her watch me crush her friends into tiny bits…and sprinkle them all over the floor."
"How can you promise me that?" Keido asked, causing Yuu to grit his teeth in anger. "I always thought you were one of the most outstanding soldiers back in the facility. I admire your resolve to destroy the enemy and finish the mission. But it seems this setback has lowered my opinion of you."
"Are you doubting me, boss?" Yuu asked bitterly. "Do you think I lack what it takes to put down that pink-haired bitch?! Let me remind you that while I may have failed to bring her back, the last time I fought her, I hit her hard on the head several times like the pathetic weakling she is!" Keido stood calm and still as the blonde-haired boy now angrily jabs a finger at his face. "So shut the fuck up or I'll-"
Without warning, Keido suddenly takes out a device that resembles a remote and presses a button. To his shock, Yuu suddenly finds himself frozen in place as every organ in his body has abruptly ceased all its functions. Unable to close his jaw and lower his arm, Yuu began trembling and retching in agony as he no longer feels his lungs. He could only stay still on his bed as Keido held up the remote in front of his face.
"If you would like to know what this is, it is a similar tool that all of us in the company used to…educate our weapons in the case any of them goes out of line. Even Sakura Matou fears doing so because of this device her late grandfather possessed. And I certainly have one for you too." Keido explained coldly. "The serum in your body may made who you are now…but we created it. We can control it. That is why as your superior, you will treat me with utmost respect. This will be your only warning."
Yuu could only respond with an agonizing groan.
"If you think I'm wrong about you, promise me you will bring Inori Yuzuriha to me the next time we find her. Understand?" Keido asked icily. Despite not getting a response, the man lowers the remote and presses the button again. As soon as he feels his body free from his control, Yuu quickly wraps his hands around his throat and gasps for air.
"Do not disappoint me again, Yuu." Keido said one last time before turning around and walking away.
After hearing his superior stepping out of his room and closing the door behind him, Yuu closes his eyelids and breathes heavily in rage. Stupid Keido. Who the fuck does he think he is? Waltzing into his room and telling him what a failure he is. He is wrong. Everyone is wrong. Yuu is not a failure. Unlike Gai, Inori and every other human weapon of Matou Industries, he is clearly, no, truly better than anyone else. Whether it is the time he scored a perfect 60 at the shooting range, or when he bested eight mercenaries on his own without falling face first on the floor, he is truly the greatest of them all, and he will show that old fart he is absolutely wrong.
But it was not just Keido who pissed him off. None of this would ever happen to him if it were not for Shu and Haruka Ouma. To hell with them! He was so close in finishing that pink-haired bitch until they both had to grow a spine and humiliate the shit out of him. How dare that woman fired a heavy shot to his chest. How dare that son of a bitch threw a baton onto his forehead. Don't these assholes know how fucking painful that felt? Fuck them. Fuck the Oumas to hell!
Now in blind rage, Yuu gets up from his bed and bellows as he runs over and throws a continuous series of powerful punches onto the metal door. Outside, two mercenaries who happened to make a turn into the other end of the corridor while on patrol duty could hear the mixture of his yells and the loud clangs on the door to his ward made with every punch he threw. Knowing that the boy is going on a frenzy, the two men quietly turn around and walk off to another part of the ship.
After an entire minute, Yuu lets out a massive roar as he delivers one last punch squarely onto the center of the door. Not caring that his fists are now bleeding and badly bruised, Yuu lowers his arms and breathes heavily while taking a moment to examine the mangled display he left behind on the door, but it was not enough to erase the images that are still lingering his head. Images of the people who shamed him, smirking and laughing in glee at the fuckface he is. Yuu grits his teeth and narrows his eyes while making a solemn vow.
"Shu Ouma…Haruka Ouma…I will kill you both…I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU BOTH!"
Most people would be fully awake by nine thirty in the morning, but Ricky continues sleeping soundly on the floor at the bottom of his yacht. The man had not gotten a decent sleep for the last two days since he needed to stay awake spying and protecting Inori and the Oumas. Now that he has the opportunity to do so, he keeps his eyelids shut and snores loudly in his slumber, hoping that it will last for the rest of the day.
But unfortunately, that must now come to an end when he felt a nudge on his right shoulder.
"Ricky Blade." Inori called as she kneels beside him.
As his eyelids twitch slightly, Ricky moans in annoyance as he turns his body to his left and returns to his sleep, only for the girl to nudge him once more at the back of his right shoulder.
"Ricky, wake up."
The man grumbles and furrows his brows, trying to ignore the feminine voice that is persistently preventing him from resuming his slumber. Seeing that she still cannot seem to get the tired man up, Inori now leans closer to his right ear.
"Ricky, can you hear-"
"Alright, I'm awake! Sheesh!" Ricky yelled irritably with his eyelids now wide open. The sudden outburst caused Inori to widen her eyes too as she leans herself back in astonishment while keeping the plate of nasi goreng flat on her right hand. Thankfully for her, Shu was kneeling beside her and gently placing his right hand on her back to keep herself from falling over.
As Ricky groans and turns his body to his right to make himself look up at the ceiling, he removes the sheets off him and turns his head to the two teenagers with a visibly irritated frown, causing Shu to chuckle in amusement.
"I know how you feel." Shu commented while Inori holds out the plate of nasi goreng in front of Ricky's face.
"Here." Inori said softly with a worried frown. "Have something to eat."
As Ricky munches on his food with his cutlery, he, Shu and Inori walk up the stairs and make their way up to the top floor of the yacht where Darren and Haruka are conversing with each other at the dining table with two empty plates placed in front of them. The two adults turn their attention to them when they arrive at the top.
"Well, look who finally got his butt up from the floor to smell the nice morning air." Darren smirked at Ricky.
"Did you enjoy the food?" Haruka asked Ricky. "It's nasi goreng. I made it myself. It's a good thing your fridge happens to have the right ingredients to make them."
After taking a gulp, Ricky looked back at Haruka and said in awe, "Yeah, it's good. Thanks."
"You're welcome." Haruka bowed her head to Ricky before he, Shu and Inori walked over to the dining table. After placing his food down on the table, Ricky turns to his right and looks around his surroundings. Besides the huge and mostly deserted body of water around them, his yacht is currently docked at a lone pier that leads all the way to a stretch of sand and a small fishing village. The village seems to be entirely abandoned, and it is surrounded by a large forest made of tall trees that stretch for several miles.
"Are we in Singapore?" Ricky inquired as Darren got up from his chair and walked over to him.
"Nope." Darren shakes his head as he stands beside him on his left. "We're in Batam, one of the nearest islands to my home."
"The yacht was nearly out of fuel by the time we arrived at the Riau Islands, so I decided to make a stop here." Inori explained to Ricky as she and Shu walked over and stood beside him on his right.
"You stayed up all night driving the boat?" Ricky asked the girl. When Inori nodded in response, the man gave a wan smile and bows his head back. "Thank you."
Inori and Shu smiled back at the man before the four look back at the village and forest.
"This is good hiding spot Inori found too." Shu said as he stuffs his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "I'm sure this fishing village was filled with so much life many years ago, but it is now entirely abandoned due to the changing landscape of Batam over time."
"If there is no one in this village, I'm sure we'll be safe here for the time being." Inori added.
Ricky nodded his head as he made sure the empty village was devoid of human life. This is great. Not only have they escaped from their pursuers for now, but they have also found a perfect hideout where there is not another person within the perimeter. And knowing that there must be a populated area out there on this island that has connections with the outside world, Ricky can not only find the nearest gas station to buy fuel for his yacht, but also find someone to lend him their phone so he can contact his superiors to pick him and Inori up at their location. Of course, he would have to apologize to Shu, Haruka and Darren for doing this as he ultimately does not believe the latter knows of a place where Inori can be free and safe, but at the end of the day, Ricky needed to do what is necessary to keep her away from the wrong hands and finish the mission as soon as possible.
"Good. I guess now, we better head to the nearest town from here and get some gas back so we can refuel this boat and continue our journey to Singapore." Ricky said. Suddenly, to his confusion, Darren wraps his right arm around the back of his shoulders and the bespectacled man gave him another smirk.
"Orrrrrr…we can stay here in Batam for a little longer to have some fun and relaxation." Darren suggested.
"Are you serious?!" Ricky asked Darren in annoyance.
"Hey, after all the fighting and shooting we experienced yesterday, we could use a breather. Don't you think?" Darren asked.
"Honestly, I'm inclined to agree with him." Shu said. As the two men look back at him, Ricky's mouth gape open in bewilderment while Darren smiles with glee.
"I certainly would like to do some grocery shopping and sightseeing here too." Haruka said as she walks over to Inori from behind and places her hands on her shoulders. They both look at each other as the stepmother asked with a warm smile, "Would you agree, Inori?"
Inori smiles weakly and nods her head to Haruka before looking back at Ricky and Darren.
"I would like to stay here for a while…and learn more on what is like to live your life free and normal." Inori said.
Realizing his passengers are staring back at him pleadingly at this point, Ricky lets out a heavy sigh of defeat.
"Fine." Ricky said flatly as he looked back up at Inori and the Oumas. "We can stay here just a-"
"Alright!" Darren yelled excitedly with a wide grin as he tightens his hug and pulls Ricky closer to him, causing the dark blonde-haired man to yelp.
Inori, Shu and Haruka smile at each other before the brown-haired teenager wraps his fingers around the hand of his pink-haired friend.
"Let's go, Inori." Shu said warmly to Inori. The girl nodded to him in agreement.
After navigating through the forest for thirty minutes, Inori, Shu, Haruka, Ricky and Darren find themselves arriving at the side of a lonely stretch of highway with a few passing vehicles in sight. They managed to get the attention of a random pickup truck driver, and believing the five must be lost and stranded, he allowed them to ride in his vehicle and take them to the city of Batam. They thanked the driver and hopped onto the back of the truck where Shu, Inori and Haruka choose to stay close to each other on the left while Darren and Ricky sit across on the opposite side.
Their journey to the city was uneventful for the first seven minutes until the truck arrived at a cantilever bridge that connects to another small island. As they drove across the bridge, Inori, Shu and Haruka turn around and take a moment to savor the beautiful view of the ocean body that separates the two islands.
As they continued their journey northwards, it only took two minutes for the truck to drive across the small island and arrive at another bridge. This time, it was a much larger and longer cable-stayed bridge with two 118-metre-high pylons maintaining the structure. The five passengers could also see the traffic looking heavier as they approached a much larger and more urbanized island.
After arriving at the other side of the bridge, the truck now drives through what appears to be a mostly residential area. As they pass by a few residential apartments, Inori could see the various activities that the civilians are performing at the balconies of their homes such as doing the laundry, watering their plants, reading the newspaper and playing music with the guitar.
The driver brought his truck to a halt at a junction when the traffic light in front of them turned red. As the driver waits, Inori and Shu turn around and see a tall metal fence surrounding an elementary school at the side of the road. They watch the children kicking a ball, riding the swings and taking turns to go down a slide in the school playground. The boy turned to Inori and noticed that the simple display of them having fun was enough to bring a sense of awe and wonder to her, only for her joy to be replaced with disappointment soon after. Now that the girl realized everything she had learnt from Matou Industries was a lie, she cannot help but feel disheartened that she never got to experience the same amount of joy and freedom that these children are having right now. The two turn around and lean their backs against the bedsides of the truck right before the light turns green and they could feel the vehicle moving again.
They would drive through another wide-open field filled with tall trees of all shapes and sizes, except there are more cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles driving past them on the roads this time. Eventually, about thirty minutes after leaving the residential area, Inori, Shu, Haruka, Ricky and Darren find themselves arriving at the more bustling commercial and industrial area of Batam. The buildings around them are a lot taller and colorful, the traffic is much heavier and busier, but there are still plenty of trees grown at the sides and center of the roads to keep the island looking lush and green.
As the truck pulls up to the side of a grocery store, its passengers decide to drop off from here. Ricky paid and thanked the driver for giving them a lift before making a turn to the nearby grocery store, hoping that its owner could lend him a phone to contact his superiors. Unfortunately for him, Darren quickly grabs him by his right upper arm and pulls the dark blonde-haired man away from the store, telling him to follow him and the others to another store that caught their attention.
The store is located at the corner of the street. Upon entering, Inori, Shu, Haruka, Ricky and Darren see that on the right, there are multiple handbags of various designs and colors displayed neatly on the shelves. On the left, there are four clothing racks filled with traditional shirts and skirts known as bajus and sarongs respectively, and behind them are a shelf of mannequin heads wrapped in hijabs of different colors and lined up in a horizontal row. Haruka, Ricky and Darren go over to the right side of the store. The stepmother examines the handbags as a store employee assists her while the two men stand idly behind her. Inori and Shu are at the left side of the store and looking at the clothes and hijabs in front of them until the girl turns to her right and sees a man sitting outside a changing room similar to the one that she used back in Bali. A woman soon comes out of the room to show herself dressed in the white hijab, blue baju and blue sarong that her boyfriend wants her to wear, much to his delight.
Realizing that this is one of the things people do with their freedom and spare time, Inori turns back to Shu and gently places her hand on his right shoulder to get his attention. He looks back at her and sees Inori picking up an orange long-sleeved baju from the rack in front of them and holding it up to him. Knowing what she wants, Shu sighs inwardly with a weak smile on his face.
Ricky, Darren and Haruka stand idly outside the changing rooms for ten minutes until they heard a click from one of the doors. As it opened, the three widen their eyes and drop their jaws in awe as they see Inori stepping out of her room in her new clothes. The girl is now dressed in an orange long-sleeved baju with traditional yellow flower patterns that extends down to her hips and a long black sarong which flows down to her ankles. Wide smiles appear on the faces of Haruka and Darren as they both nod their heads approvingly at her. Ricky also gave Inori a wan smile while giving her a thumbs-up.
Inori smiled weakly at them before the door next to her dressing room slightly opened. As she and the others turn to it, Inori walks over and looks through the narrow opening to see Shu standing inside the room looking embarrassed. After a brief conversation between the two which ended with Inori reassuring him that it will be alright, Shu lets out a heavy sigh and proceeds to open the door to reveal himself.
As Inori steps aside, the adults can see Shu awkwardly looking down at the floor while wearing a white baju, a pair of white trousers and a dark tan cloth around his waist known as the samping, sewn with traditional white bamboo sprout patterns on it. When Shu looks up at the adults, they stare wordlessly at him for a few seconds before his stepmother smiles and claps her hands approvingly at her stepson's new outfit. Ricky and Darren smile at him as well while nodding their heads. When Inori walks over and places her hand on his right shoulder, Shu looks at her and feels his shame and uneasiness quickly vanishing. The two teenagers smile at each other as Shu feels her warmth until Darren walks over to him on his left and wraps his right arm around his shoulders. As the bespectacled man holds up his phone in his other hand, Inori stands close to Shu and the three smile for the camera.
Later, as Darren, Ricky and Shu converse with each other at the top right corner of the store, Haruka shows Inori a beautiful red glittering handbag displayed on a shelf. The stepmother carefully picks it up and holds it in front of the girl, asking her if she would like to have one. However, Inori looks down at the dark grey pouch bag that she still carries by her side and caresses her fingers across it. Ever since Shu bought it for her back in Bali, she had never removed it out of respect and loyalty to her new superior. However, now that she is no longer obliged to see him and Haruka as people of higher position, she could choose to get a replacement for it. Yet, for some reason, she feels as if her mind is telling her otherwise.
Was it out of respect? Loyalty? Probably. But as Inori gently places her hand on the left side of her chest, she cannot help but feel that it is something…stronger.
Inori took a moment to stare at Shu, who chuckles in amusement while engaging in his conversation with Darren and Ricky. Afterwards, she looks back at Haruka and shakes her head, telling her that she is perfectly fine with the bag she currently possesses. Haruka smiles and nods her head as she respects her decision.
A few minutes later, everyone walks over to the cashier at the other end of the store, and Haruka pays for the handbag and clothes that she and the teenagers had picked for themselves. The stepmother and the cashier bow their heads to each other before she, Shu, Inori and Darren turn around and make their departure.
After making sure they are a distance away from each other, Ricky approaches the cashier and asks her if he can borrow the store's phone. Suddenly, to his shock, the cashier cried in alarm, thinking that he was trying to commit a crime, causing Haruka, Shu, Inori, Darren and the other customers and employees around them to turn to her and Ricky. Now panicking, Ricky tries to calm the cashier down until Darren quickly runs over and assures the young woman that he does not mean any harm. The bespectacled man quickly wraps his right arm around Ricky's shoulders and escort him out of the store.
About ten minutes later, Ricky lets out a heavy sigh of relief as he, Darren, Shu, Inori and Haruka continue walking down the streets of Batam, all while the teenagers are now dressed in their new clothes.
The pink-haired girl suddenly stops at her tracks when something on her right catches her attention. Shu, Haruka, Ricky and Darren stop as well when they noticed her, and they all turn to the direction she is staring at.
It turns out Inori is currently staring at a gigantic billboard installed in front of some buildings at the other side of the road. The billboard shows an advertisement for a local water park located at another side of the city and features a picture of a family of four in their swimming attire cheerfully staying on top of a giant float above a pool of water. Simply seeing the smiles on their faces instantly made Inori feel dejected as she is grimly reminded once again of the opportunities she lost during her childhood.
As they notice her grim expression, Darren nudges Shu on his left upper arm. After getting the boy's attention, he whispers into his ear while giving his suggestion on how they can cheer the downhearted girl up. Shu glances at Inori before smiling and nodding his head to Darren.
After a fifteen-minute-long taxi ride, Inori felt she had skipped a beat when she realized she, Shu, Haruka, Ricky and Darren are now standing outside the exact same water park that she saw on the billboard. They later go over to the booths to buy their tickets.
After passing through the gates and walking further into the facility, Inori and the others find themselves standing in front of a giant playground from a distance. The girl watches the children and adults dressed in their swimming attire and laughing cheerfully as they had fun running around the area and riding down the slides, all while being drenched in water by the sprinklers and giant pail installed above the structure.
Inori gently places her right hand on the left side of her chest once more and lets out a sigh of contentment as she is glad the place turns out exactly like she imagined. Inori turns her head to Shu when the boy walks over to her side. As Shu wraps his fingers around her left hand, he gestures her to follow him and the others, and Inori smiled and nodded in response.
Knowing they need a change of clothes before going further into the water park, the five of them head inside the souvenir shop to look through the swimsuits that are on sale and pick the ones they decide to wear. Ricky paid for them with his credit card, much to his annoyance, and they all leave the store and head inside the changing rooms.
About ten minutes later, Shu is the first person to step out in his new swimming attire. After walking a distance away from the men's changing room, the boy places his hands on the sides of his hip while currently dressed in a pair of blue board shorts that extend down to his knees. He stands idly as he takes a moment to see the various attractions that the water park has to offer. Of course there is the giant playground in front of him, but beyond that, he also notices some taller, longer and curlier slides on the left and a long river filled with people sitting lazily on their floats on the right. They should check them out while they have the time.
Speaking of them, Shu suddenly snaps out of his thoughts when someone wraps her right arm around the back of his shoulders. The boy turns his head to his left and sees Haruka smiling at him while wearing a one-piece lilac swimsuit. He awkwardly averts his eyes to the side. Even though she is his stepmother, he cannot help but admit that she does look beautiful in it.
Soon after, Ricky walks over and stands beside Shu on his right. Both he and his stepmother see the man is not only currently wearing a black jammer, but he also had his shoulder length hair tied into a small and messy ponytail to show off his right eye. Shu and Haruka both smile and comment that he looks good with his hair tied up. Ricky shrugs, asking if they really think so. When the Oumas nod their heads to him, the dark blonde-haired man sighs and thanks them.
Ricky suddenly feels a pat on his back when Darren shows up and stands beside him on his right. The dark blonde-haired man looks back at him irritably while Darren also comments how good he looks with his ponytail, even reminding him of a certain famous English footballer during his youth. Ricky and the Oumas can see that Darren is now dressed in a dark blue jammer, and the bespectacled man challenges the dark blonde-haired man to a water fight. Ricky narrows his eyes and says icily to him that he will regret that.
Finally, the four of them turn around when they heard Inori calling out to them. Shu gasps and feels his cheeks blush upon seeing the girl dressed in her new bikini while walking away from the women's changing room. The top piece is bright pink with white frills and has a small red ribbon sewn at the center. The bottom piece is red and has a small white frilly skirt around her waist to go along with it. As she stands before them with her arms and hands in front of her waist, Inori asks if the attire she had picked is appropriate. Shu lowers his head for a moment while Haruka, Ricky and Darren nod their heads to her. The teenage boy soon looks back at Inori and manages to crack a weak smile as he awkwardly nods in approval as well.
The five head over to the giant playground first. Ever since watching the children play outside the elementary school earlier today, Inori wanted nothing more than to try out the slides first.
Both she and Shu climb up to the top floor of the structure and watch a kid ride down its tallest slide. Shu asks Inori to let him go down first so she may observe the right way and posture to do so again. The girl watches the boy holds firmly onto the safety bar above him as he sits down and lets his legs lie flat. Shu releases the bar and gives himself a push soon after, letting himself ride down the slippery slide. When he reaches the bottom, Shu cannot help but chuckle as he had fun doing so. But as soon as he tries to stand up on his feet, Inori reaches the bottom of the slide as well with her legs up and she ends up kicking her superior in the butt, causing him to yelp as he stumbles forward. Inori widens her eyes in shock as she places her legs down and watches Shu rubbing his hands around the area where she kicked. But when he turned around to look at her, the boy laughed in amusement. A weak smile takes form on Inori's face soon after, relieved that her superior is alright.
Haruka notices this while standing below the spray fountain at the bottom right corner of the playground. She smiles and sighs blissfully at the sight of her stepson having fun with Inori before a string of water splashes onto her right upper arm. She yelps and slightly turns to her right to see Ricky raising his hand and apologizing to her while standing behind a water turret.
Just as another string of water flies towards him, Ricky swiftly lowers his hand and moves to his left to dodge it before firing his turret at Darren. Both men move and turn their turrets side to side as they kept firing at each other until Ricky successfully lands a string of water onto Darren's left shoulder. The bespectacled man sighs and admits defeat while Ricky laughs and points his finger mockingly at him. But his moment of triumph gets interrupted a few seconds later when the giant pail above the playground tilts to the right after being filled up with tons of water and it splashes it right on top of the two men. Now completely drenched, Darren and Ricky stare blankly at each other as the latter lowers his arm with his face distorting into a miserable frown.
Later, the five of them make their way to the left side of the water park where there are two different attractions. The attraction on the left is a wide red slide with eight rounded corners. At the bottom of it is a large pool where a couple had gotten off their inflatable raft and handed it over to a water park staff member. The staff member pushes the raft over to a conveyor belt that carries it along with multiple others to the top of the slide.
The other attraction on the right are three steep and long slides. The five take a moment to watch three people screaming as they ride down the slides at fast speed due to the velocity they gain from the steepness. When they reach the bottom, huge amounts of water burst upwards from the last stretch of the slides as they slide across the floor.
After much consideration, Inori places her hand on Shu's left shoulder to get his attention and points her finger at the wide red slide. Shu nods his head as he agrees to go along with her. Ricky, Darren and Haruka on the other hand decide to ride the steep and long slides on the right.
The three adults joined the queue, and it took them fifteen minutes to arrive at the top of the slides. When it is their turn, Ricky, Darren and Haruka each sat down on a slide and the two men glance at each other with narrowed eyes, seeing which one of them will reach the bottom first. Haruka rolls her eyes at how childish the men are behaving before they all see a staff member who is standing beside the woman giving them the signal to move. The three adults look to the front, lie down, fold their arms and scream enthusiastically as they ride down the slides together.
Meanwhile, Shu and Inori just arrived at the top of the wide red slide, and they are handed a round-shaped two-seater inflatable raft from a staff member. They place their raft down on the slide and take a few moments to sit on it and cling onto the safety handles at their sides. They both look up to find themselves sitting in front of each other, and they smile to reassure one another that they will be fine. Shu turns to the staff member on his right and tells him they are ready. The staff member goes over to the back of the raft where Inori is sitting, and he helps push them down the slide.
When they reach the first rounded corner a few seconds later, Shu and Inori find themselves sliding up a tall curve, causing the boy to whoop and the girl to widen her eyes. Shu continues screaming in joy as they slide down the curve soon after and continue riding down the rest of the slide. Their raft keeps moving faster after going up and down at every rounded corner until eventually, they arrive at the bottom and create a huge splash onto the pool.
Shu laughs as he removes his hands from the handles and gets off the raft. When he wades over to Inori however, he sees the girl still sitting on her side of the raft in shock. Shu manages to get her attention by placing his hand on top of hers. After Inori yelps and turns her head to her superior, she apologizes to him, and he helps her get down.
Later, Shu, Inori, Haruka, Ricky and Darren head over to the lazy river at the right side of the water park where many men, women and children are sitting on floats and letting the water take them to wherever it is flowing. The five each grab a float from a staff member and take turns to place it on the water, sit down on it and enter the attraction.
As the five ride along the river together, Shu, Haruka, Ricky and Darren lie back on their floats and sigh blissfully as they relax. Inori on the other hand sits up and observes the people around them. She spotted a family of four holding hands together and forming a circle as they rode along the river.
Wanting to do the same, Inori turns herself around and bumps onto Shu and Haruka's floats, causing the Oumas to sit up and look at her. The girl wordlessly grabs a hand each from Shu and Haruka and holds them up. Realizing what Inori is trying to do, Shu and Haruka smile at her before turning to Darren and Ricky and reaching for their hands. The two men look up when they felt the Oumas grabbing their hands and pulling them closer to them and Inori to form a circle. Now sitting up on their floats, Darren and Ricky turn to each other and the former gives a puppy face to the dark blonde-haired man while holding up his other hand to him. Ricky groans and grabs it, causing Darren to smile.
As the five of them now stare at each other while riding along the river, Inori's lips curved slightly into a blissful smile as she admires the bond they have created.
After getting off the lazy river, the five of them decide to visit one last attraction at the other end of the water park. It is a large rectangular-shaped pool of water with a swimming lane laid out near the other end to prevent anyone from going there. Shu, Inori, Haruka, Ricky and Darren carefully swim their way over to the center of the pool without bumping into anyone. When they arrive, the five of them look around and wonder why every man, woman and child are simply floating around idly.
However, they do not need to think for long as only a minute later, the five of them and everyone else in the pool could feel themselves being lifted momentarily by a huge wave. It turns out that at the other end and beneath the pool are several vacuum chambers that have begun operating by sucking the water in and out to create multiple waves.
After everyone in the pool floats over another wave, causing them except Inori, Shu, Haruka, Ricky and Darren to whoop excitedly, the pink-haired girl quickly swims over to the brown-haired boy and grabs his left hand tightly. Shu turns to her and widens his eyes upon seeing the girl frowning and breathing heavily in fear as the ride is painfully reminding her of the strong and violent tides she battled with during her perilous journey to Bali.
Desperately trying to find a way to calm the girl down before another wave arrives, Shu quickly turns to Haruka, Ricky and Darren and call them to come over. The three adults obliged and Haruka and Darren swim over to Shu on his right while Ricky goes over to Inori on her left. The brown-haired boy grabs and holds up his stepmother's left hand and advises her and Darren to do the same with each other. Without asking, both Haruka and Darren do as they were told.
Shu tells Ricky to grab Inori's other hand, and the man sees the girl holding it up to him. After Ricky grabs onto it, Inori turns back to Shu who tells her that everything will be fine because they are by her side. The dark blonde-haired man widens his eyes as Shu's words made him realize he is helping to reassure a former human weapon of Matou Industries. But despite reopening his painful memories of his failed mission to save someone like her, Ricky tells Inori that her superior is right. The pink-haired girl glances at Ricky before looking back at Shu and nodding her head nervously.
As the five of them now look to the front and see another wave that is bigger than the last coming towards them, they cling their hands tightly as they and everyone else in the pool ride along it. Soon after, more huge waves flow over to them continuously. Inori shuts her eyelids and seals her lips while everyone around her cheers with every wave they float over. After conquering two more waves, the girl now opens her eyes and gasps as she, Shu, Haruka, Ricky, Darren and everyone in the pool float over the next one. Now realizing how enjoyable this is, Inori cracks a smile and continues holding onto the hands of Shu and Ricky as they proceed to float over the next wave. Shu smiles as he sees Inori now enjoying this and he looks back to the front as they spend the next few minutes riding the waves.
When the ride was over, Shu, Inori, Haruka, Ricky and Darren decided to end their stay. They head into the changing rooms to remove their swimsuits and dress back in the clothing they wore before, with the teenagers once again wearing their traditional Malay clothes.
After leaving the water park, Shu, Darren and Ricky could feel their stomachs rumbling. Realizing they had forgotten about lunch, the five decide to head back to the city to find a place to eat. Thankfully, Darren knows of a good dining area in Batam from his last trip to the island with Alicia earlier this year and hopes the others will enjoy their time there too. He helps flag down a taxi for them and they all take their seats inside the vehicle before he tells the driver to take them to the aforementioned dining area.
Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at their destination and Darren paid the driver before he and the others got out of the vehicle. As the taxi drives off, Inori, Shu, Haruka, Ricky and Darren see that they are now standing outside a street market that is made up of multiple vertical rows of vending food carts that sell snacks, drinks and all kinds of local and foreign food. Beyond the street market is a hillside with a giant white text sign built on top of it. It spells out the words 'Welcome to Batam' and they can be seen by everyone at every corner of the street market.
As Shu already notices some of the carts selling his favorite food that he ate back in Bali and Japan, the boy excitedly gestures Inori to follow him. The girl obliged and they both ran off to one of the nearest food carts. Haruka tries to call and reach her hand out to the teenagers, but she quickly gives up and sighs blissfully while watching the two enjoy themselves. Darren suggests Haruka to leave them be while they and Ricky go their separate ways, to which the stepmother agreed with.
The first food cart Shu and Inori visit is one that cooks and sells martabaks. It was one of Shu's favorite snacks that he would buy and eat every day after work back in Denpasar. As Inori watches the vendor prepares the food, Shu explains to her that they are basically folded pancakes with omelet and chopped vegetables. When the vendor finished cooking, Shu requested two martabaks for him and Inori. He pays the vendor after getting their food and both he and Inori take a bite out of them. The girl widens her eyes as she revels the taste inside her mouth. She nods her head to her superior who smiles back at her.
Meanwhile, Haruka, Darren and Ricky are standing near a cart that sells satay. As the three watch the vendor cooks the skewered meat over a grill, Darren said to Ricky that it is one of his favorite foods back in Singapore while Haruka added that it reminded her and Shu of the yakitori back in Japan. Ricky admits to them that while the food reminds him of the shish kebabs made in Turkey, he had never tried any kind of skewered meat before.
They each bought a bag containing six pieces of satay and received a cup of peanut sauce from the vendor. The three adults each take a piece from their bag and dip the meat into the cup of sauce before eating it. As Darren and Haruka munches on their food, Ricky on the other hand pauses for a moment after taking his first bite. Suddenly, he proceeds to chow down the rest of his skewered meat. Both Darren and Haruka look bewildered as one by one, Ricky dips and eats every piece of satay in his bag within less than a minute.
The next food cart Shu and Inori visits is one that sells Takoyaki balls, a snack that the boy fondly remembers eating back in Japan. After each receiving a tray of six of these balls of minced octopus from the vendor, Inori asked Shu if he ever missed his native country. Her superior admits that although he no longer has any good memories of his life growing up in Japan after his father's death, he does still think of it every now and then, as well as wondering how much things have changed over there. They both stay silent for a moment before Shu and Inori hold up their trays and each skewer one of their Takoyaki balls. After eating them, they both look back and smile at each other as they enjoy the taste of their food.
Suddenly, when they hear crying, both teenagers turn their attention to a child and his parents in front of them. The small boy is wailing in sorrow after accidentally spilling his ice cream onto the floor, and his parents kneel to his level and try to console him.
When their attempts do not seem to be working, Inori decides to walk over to them with her tray of Takoyaki balls still in her hand. Shu watches as the girl softly calls out to the boy, causing him to bring his sobs to a halt as he and his parents turn to her. Inori kneels to his level and holds out her tray of food to the boy, gesturing to him to take it. The boy stares at her food for a moment before taking it out of her hands. After skewering one of the Takoyaki balls and consuming it, the boy takes a gulp and gives Inori a wide smile. With the child now freed from his misery, Inori and the boy's parents stand back up and smile at each other. They bow their heads to one another, with the couple and their child thanking the pink-haired girl for her help and kindness. As the family of three turn around and leave, Inori turns around to see Shu walking over to her. Her superior praises her for doing a good deed, causing Inori to smile back at him.
After eating a few more snacks around the market, Haruka realizes that it is now five thirty in the evening, and she proposed to Shu, Inori, Ricky and Darren to take a group photo with the 'Welcome to Batam' sign before the sun starts to set. They all agree and make their way to the other end of the market. When they did, Haruka takes out her phone from her pocket while the others stand in front of the sign and line themselves horizontally. Both Shu and Inori place themselves in the middle, Darren stands beside the boy on his right, while Ricky stands beside the girl on her left.
Haruka manages to get a passer-by to take a picture for them. The man agrees and Haruka quickly goes over to the others and places herself between Ricky and Inori. The dark blonde-haired man moves to the side so that the stepmother can now be the one standing beside Inori on her left.
After holding up the phone, the man tells everyone to move slightly to their right so that Inori can be positioned right in the middle of the shot. Ricky stands close to Haruka on her left as the man now backs away until he gets a clear view of the city sign behind them. The five stay still as the man counts to three and takes a few shots. After doing so, Haruka goes over to the man who hands her phone back to her. She takes a moment to look at every photo he had taken of them and thanks the man for doing so. After the man bows his head to her and walks away, Haruka turns around to see the others walking over to her, and she asks Ricky and Darren for their phone numbers so she can send the pictures to them and Shu. After doing so, Ricky, Darren and Shu receive the photos in their phones and admire them. Shu shows the pictures to Inori, and she smiles and nods her head approvingly.
Suddenly, the five of them could hear music being played in the market. They look to the center of the market and see a group of three street musicians playing their traditional Indonesian instruments. One man who is sitting on a chair is strumming a guitar called the Gambus while the other two men standing beside him are playing a flute called the Suling and a drum called the Marwas. While playing their instruments, many people walk over and stand near the musicians. They clap along as they enjoy listening to their music, and even a few couples start dancing in front of them. They move side to side before the women dance around their male partners who raise and clap their hands. After the women place themselves in front of the men, the couples now turn to each other, lock their arms together and twirl around in circles.
Inori gasps softly as she closely watches their movements. The memories of the episode of Molly and the Magical Forest she saw on the television came flooding back inside her head, and she could vividly remember how captivated she was by the dance between Horace and the titular character. Seeing the two of them showing their devotion and admiration for each other by simply keeping their grip, balance and contact while moving around in circles somehow gave Inori that same feeling she had while showing her loyalty and respect for the Oumas, and now watching these people doing the same thing in reality only fuels that passion further. The girl breathes heavily as she places her hand on the left side of her chest once more. She has no idea what this feeling inside her body is at all. And yet, her mind is urging her to do it.
Unable to hold back her feelings any longer, Inori blindly goes over to the musicians and dancing couples, bewildering Shu, Haruka, Ricky and Darren.
Much to the surprise of everyone, Inori placed herself in front of the musicians and began dancing along with the couples behind her. The onlookers cheer as Inori and the couples now move to their right and spread their right arms out. They move to their left, spread their left arms out and briefly raise their hands high in the air twice. They hold their right arms up and wave them side to side while placing their other arms behind their backs. They twirl around in a clockwise direction before holding their left arms up this time and waving them side to side with their right arms behind their backs. After twirling around in an anticlockwise direction this time, Inori and the couples place both hands behind their backs and wave their heads side to side while hopping on the spot with one foot at a time.
While the onlookers continue clapping to the music and dancers, Shu, Haruka, Ricky and Darren smile as they are charmed by Inori's performance. Her display of energy and passion had brought much joy and delight to them, but Shu felt the happiest of them all.
The boy softens his eyes as he still remembers his first meeting with the girl. She was still a stoic and emotionless fighter back then who would not think twice to kill anyone just to protect the people around her if it were not for his authority. She was also clueless about the normality of life, as well as being out of touch with the world around her. This made him feel sympathetic and want nothing more than to help her understand what it truly means to be human, even if she thinks this is all done to fulfil his late father's final objective for her.
Shu began reminiscing about all the things they had done together during their time in Bali and now in Batam, from giving her a new look and a set of clothes, to showing her how to have fun without fear and anxiety. It was all to teach her how to live her life with happiness and without restraint, and as he now sees her dancing in the distance, he feels nothing but pride and accomplishment over what he had done for her. And come to think of it, Shu also realized he had never felt this joyful in a very long time. He could not remember when the last time he had this feeling was, not since he learnt about the death of his father.
Shu looks up and stares blankly at the sky for a moment. Is it meant to be fate for Shu and Inori to meet each other? Did his father want this for them?
Suddenly, the boy yelps and snaps out of his thoughts when Darren nudges him on the back of his left shoulder. Shu looks back at the bespectacled man who smirks and gestures him to go over to Inori and dance along with her. The boy looks back at the girl and ponders the idea. She does need a partner to dance along with the other couples after all. Knowing that he will not have another opportunity, Shu briefly places his clenched fist above his chest before finally running over to her.
After Inori and the dancing couples finish another twirl, the pink haired girl turns to her right and looks surprised to see her superior placing himself beside her. Shu briefly smiles at her before both teenagers look back to see the couples behind them now waving their hands side to side while taking two steps to their right and do the same thing again when moving to their left. They glance at each other once more before performing the same movements as them.
Haruka, Ricky and Darren quickly go over to the teenagers and dancing couples just as more people gather round them to watch their performance. As the three adults now stand near the dancers to take a closer look, Haruka holds up her phone and begins filming her stepson and his friend just as they and the couples now briefly extend their left arms out while taking a step forward. They hop on the spot twice before briefly extending their right arms out as they step forward again. Ricky chuckles in amusement as he and Darren watch the teenagers with their arms folded.
The other couples eventually grow tired a minute later and stand aside to watch the rest of Shu and Inori's performance along with the other onlookers. As everyone around them except Haruka clapped louder, Shu and Inori now hop over to each other while waving one arm side to side in the air and placing the other behind their backs. They hop past each other and perform a twirl on the spot before looking back at each other and repeating the process again. After doing another twirl, Shu and Inori hop over to each other one more time.
This time, they lock their arms together when they get close and both teenagers laugh as they dance around in a circle several times, causing the onlookers, including Haruka, Ricky and Darren to cheer. When Shu and Inori are done, they remove their arms and have their backs facing each other. As they continue hopping on the spot, they both hold onto each other's hands from behind and Inori twirls around Shu until she is now standing in front and facing him. Still holding hands, Inori twirls around again while Shu carefully lifts her left arm over her head. They both kneel and stand back up within a second, and as the music is about to come to an end, Inori twirls around once more to face Shu and her superior pulls her closer to him. She releases Shu's left hand and turns to her left. Still holding onto her left hand, Shu lifts her left arm over her head twice as Inori performs two more twirls. And when the music finally draws to a close, so does their performance as Shu and Inori still cling onto each other's hands while they both spread their arms out and gaze at one another. As both teenagers stand there and breathe heavily in exhaustion, the onlookers erupt with cheers and applause after being blown away by them. Ricky and Darren clap their hands as well while Haruka stops her recording and lowers her phone. She smiles joyfully at Shu and Inori after being delighted by their spectacular display.
As they pull themselves and stand close to one another, Shu and Inori smile blissfully as they continue staring into each other's eyes for a few moments. They release each other's hands, turn to the clapping onlookers and make solemn bows to thank them for their support. They also turn around to bow to the musicians, who all happily nod their heads back to them.
When the teenagers stand back up, Inori gasps and places her right hand on the left side of her chest as she felt the burning passion inside her heart again. But this time, she could also feel it around her cheeks as well. While placing her other hand on her left cheek, Inori stands idly with her eyes wide as she wonders what exactly is happening to her.
As night falls over Batam, Ricky finally remembers that they still need to buy fuel for his yacht, and the five of them take another taxi ride to the nearest gas station. When they arrive, they all head inside the convenience store, and Shu, Inori, Haruka and Darren look around to see what food, drinks, groceries and supplies they could buy and bring back to their hideout. Ricky on the other hand wastes no time grabbing three empty jerrycans from the shelves and heading over to the cashier. After paying for them with his credit card, Ricky asks the cashier if he can borrow the phone. The cashier nods his head and places a desk phone in front of the man.
However, after picking up the phone and placing it next to his ear, Ricky suddenly finds himself hesitant about pressing the number keys. With his eyes softened, he turns around to see Shu and Inori conversing with each other while standing in front of a shelf filled with various snacks and candy bars.
For the longest time, Ricky thought the best way to help these former human weapons of Matou Industries is to contain them due to their unpredictable nature. The memories of his failed mission still haunt him to this day, and he wants nothing more than to prevent Inori and the Oumas from sharing the same fate as the mother and her daughter whom he was unable to save. But now, after spending an entire day of fun and leisure with Inori and the others, the man is starting to feel unsure of turning her in.
Not only had he witnessed how much Inori and Shu need each other, but also how capable the girl is of doing so many things that a normal person would do. Even though she possesses the same level of strength and abilities as the other human weapons he encountered before, her care and devotion for Shu makes her feel different than the rest. Maybe Shu is right about her after all. Maybe she does deserve her freedom. And maybe it is possible to tame these human weapons simply through nurture and understanding. She truly is something special.
After thinking long and hard, Ricky turns back to the cashier and apologizes for the inconvenience before placing the phone back down.
Sovereign: I would like to thank Darth Necron and LayLay lives for reviewing. Thank you! This is the longest chapter of the story I've written, and also my most favorite so far. :)
Chapter Revised on 18th November 2024 (Thanks LayLay lives!)