"Remain calm and collected; cool as ice, when things go south." -Suisei Deus

After I explained everything to everyone, we said our goodbyes to Sora. I told him that we were going to come back and start hunting for the gemstones. We then were on Shizuka’s private ship, sailing towards south Greenterra. It was nighttime, the ocean was pitch black and the sky was lit up with millions of stars and our andromeda galaxy could be seen. Jinn was at his sleeping cabin using his laptop after a long session of stargazing, Nightshade was with him doing a website or something for her DJ page, while Shizuka was reading a book at the side of the ship, but she then closed it to come and talk to me while I was hanging out with Sachi.

“So, got any information on the divine gemstones? Ms. Black is a color.” I said jokingly.

“Nothing yet, I’d have to look more into it with Shizuka, Ruki.” As we were talking, Shizuka walked in and asked,

“Rukito, are you sure keeping her like this is a good idea?”

“Shizuka, don’t worry, I trust Sachi; if she says that Ochiru is gone, then Ochiru is gone.” Sachi blushed, held her shoulder while saying,

“Thanks, Ruki, but Shizuka is right to be worried.” Shizuka sighed and said,

“Whatever, as long as you keep her in check.” I wrapped my arm around Sachi’s neck, scratched her head with my knuckles and said,

“This idiot isn’t going to do a thing.” Shizuka took a deep breath, shrugged and said,

“If you say so.”

“Hey! That hurts!” Said Sachi. Did Shizuka really change? Did she let go of her envious self? As of now, it looks like she has. If I ever plan on being with her I can’t have that side of her with me. For now, I’m not going to get into any relationships, I… still have to let go of Kasai after all, so I’m just going to be friendly with all of them. Finding the gemstones and proving people that I’m not evil comes first. I also need to talk to Akira somehow.

“Why don’t you talk and get along with each other? I’m sure you both will be great friends counting that you both have an exaggerated amount of IQ.”

“S-Sure.” Said Sachi.

“Uh… if you say so.” Said Shizuka. I walked up to Shizuka, laid my hand on her shoulder and said,

“Come on, I understand why you would act this way towards her, but give her a chance, she is not Ochiru, she is the most unique girl you could ever meet.”

“Alright.” She said while smiling. “One condition.”

“Hmm?”

“Can you come to my sleeping cabin tonight?”

“Woah! Woah! Shizuka, I didn’t think that-” She instantly blushed and said,

“No, you perv! I just want to talk now that you recovered your memories!”

“Yeah, yeah, sure it is, and when I’m about to leave you’re just going to throw yourself on me, maybe a little drunk and-” She covered my mouth, blushed even more and said,

“A-a-alright Sachi! Let’s get to know each other!” That worked better than expected. This is how you beat smart girls, with emotions!

“What is he talking about drunk?” She asked Shizuka.

“O-oh! Nothing at all!”

“Did… did you drunk kissed him in the past?!” She is way too smart and creative.

“What?! No! Of course not!” I left and walked towards Jinn’s sleeping cabin. I’ve recently noticed that I can read ancient language now, and I can also speak it and understand it. After I talked with Suisei and got my memory unlocked, that has not been a problem; I guess deep back in my memories I used to be able to fully comprehend it.

“FUCK! WHY IS IT NOT WORKING?!” I heard Jinn yelling.

“J-Jinn, it’s fine, if it doesn’t work then-” I heard Nightshade saying.

“N-No! I swear! I know how to do this! I just can’t look up the problem since there is no damn Wi-Fi on this old ugly ship! I’m clicking on the links to navigate outside the homepage, but they are not working!!!” I opened the door and said,

“This is your ship news reporter, to report that we are currently passing near the equator so the tides are going to be small, allowing us for a smooth and restful night.”

“Rukito… I’m not in the mood for laughing, but thanks.” Said Jinn.

“I heard,” I said.

“Hey brother, aren’t you excited for my first DJ concert?!”

“A concert? Already?”

“Yeah! Jinn uploaded some of my songs online this morning, and people quickly caught up with it, and since my singularity changes their moods, they really love my songs!”

“Oh, that’s amazing! What's the URL?”

"Djexiled.netlify.com, Jinn hasn't bought a domain yet."

"I'm broke! And it's still not done! I'm working on it!" Talking about songs, now that my PTSD is healed, I don’t really need the headphones… but at the same time I feel like listening to her music makes me even stronger when I fight, so I think I’ll keep the headphones.

“Yeah, the concert will be two weeks from now! Fuji helped me set up the event and everything, so hopefully, everything goes right.” Counting the fact that people hate pixies, I have to be there at that concert to make sure nobody tries to hurt her.

“Nightshade, I need to talk to you about something,” I said.

“Oh. Uh, yeah, what is it?”

“Come to my cabin,” I said while walking away.

“Uuuu… what is he about to do?” Said Jinn with a playful tone.

“Shut up, Jinn! Worry about fixing your bug.”

“Right… sorry…” We arrived at my cabin, I sat down on the bed and signaled her to sit down beside me.

“U-Uhm, what is it?”

“I know what has happened to you, Nightshade. I know your whole past.

“What do you mean? How?”

“I think it was your lullaby.” I began explaining to Nightshade everything that I knew. How she wasn’t liked by her sisters, and that Juliet was her mother, at the same time being the pixie maiden. Most importantly, how she had the goal of re-uniting pixies with humans. She was completely shocked, she still had the urge to help them but she didn’t know that she was the daughter of a human and a pixie, but apparently the pixie genes are stronger so she is still a full pixie with small human qualities like her height being taller than the common, and her hair being purple while all of her sisters have black hair.

“Shizuka will soon help you get your memories back, but this is as far as I can tell you, Nightshade.”

“Oh… that… everything makes sense now. Thanks for telling me, brother.”

“You have to know, after all, you have a goal to achieve, right?”

“Yes, I do.”

On the other side, Shizuka and Sachi’s chat changed from a normal friendly conversation too…

“You seem like a genuinely nice person, Sachi, but we are both smart so let’s just get to the question you’ve been wanting to ask me, and I’ve been wanting to ask you.”

“I was waiting for you to say that.”

“What are your intentions with Rukito?” Shizuka asked her.

“Hmm… he is free to choose himself. I’m not going to force myself on him, and I’m not going to chase him around. If he wants to be with me, then I’ll gladly accept him with open arms, but as for now, I’m more than glad that he wants to be close friends with me.”

“You know that’s not specifically what I’m trying to say.” Said Shizuka.

“You want to know if I like him? Of course, I do, just as you do, do I love him?... I… I’m not sure how to answer that; I don’t know exactly what love is, but I’d sacrifice myself for him, that’s for sure.”

“Well, I just wanted to know because I don’t want to make the same mistake again.”

“What do you mean?”

“If he chooses you, then I’ll be fine with it, you seem like a nice girl. I just needed to make sure you were.”

“Oh… thank you, Shizuka. In fact, you’re the one that deserves him more than anyone, I don’t even think I have that big of a chance compared to you, but I’m glad hearing that you will support his decision no matter what.”

“No… the one that deserves him more than anyone is not alive anymore.”

“Right, Kasai. You know she seemed like a sweet girl from the first time I met her.”

“She was… way too kind and sweet. That’s what got her killed in the end.” After that, they went back to a normal conversation.

After Nightshade left my cabin, Shizuka knocked on my door twice, then I said,

“Who’s there?”

“Spell.”

“Spell who?”

“Okay: W.H.O.” I chuckled and said,

“You can come in.” She smiled and said,

“I can’t believe you still remember that.”

“Well, I got my memories back, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did.”

“Come here,” I said signaling her to sit beside me on the bed. She scoffed and said with a smug,

“I’m not that easy of a woman-” I got up and pulled her onto the bed.

“Aw shut up with that crap!” I said while chuckling.

“W-what do you want from me?” She asked while blushing.

“Huh? You’re the one that wanted to talk to me!” I said.

“R-right! It was quick!” She started playing with her hair, while her legs wouldn’t stop moving. “I-I just wanted to say that… t-that.”

“Shizuka, are you ok?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine!” It’s not often you get to see this young girly side of her.

“What happened to that woman act you were putting? Now you just look like a cute little girl hiding behind your blushes.” I said with a chuckle.

“S-shut up! Y-you silly!” I chuckled again and asked,

“So? What did you want to say?” She took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

“I just wanted to let you know that… if you need help with anything or want me to you know… maybe… c-c-… cuddle! I’m here for you!” Aw, that’s so cute. She wants to sleep with me, but… I don’t think I can bring myself to do so.

“Oh, then how about now?” I asked with a jokingly tone. She soon started taking off her jacket, and shoes, “Wait! I was joking!” Damn, she is really serious about it. I guess she really wants to help me emotionally, she is really that worried about me?

“Oh, ok.” She said. She looked at me, looked away, then looked back at me again while still blushing, she gave me a quick and awkward hug, then got up.

“Uhm…”

“Well, that’s all! Close friends cuddle, right? So there’s no problem of doing so with each other, r-right?”

“I would love to! But not now, I… I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.” I said.

“O-ok! I’m not really good with these… social things, Rukito… it’s incredible how much you can miss when you have your head buried in between books and research papers. But I hope I can help!” Shizuka is a bookworm and a logistic girl, when it comes to emotions and social life, she doesn’t know a thing or two about it.

“I understand, Shizuka. Thanks, for everything, once again.”

“You’re welcome.”

“And if you want, I can teach you.”

“T-teach me on what? Aren’t you technically still my student?” I chuckled and said,

“I don’t mean that kind of academic teaching.”

“So?” I got up, got close to her and said,

“I mean more of a… social teaching.”

“Oh, I understand now.” She said while playing with her hair. “So you’re going to teach me how to… kiss people and stuff?”

“W-what?! No! I mean- I could, but- wait, no! Stop baiting me!”

“H-huh? I’m not trying to!” She said while still twirling her hair around her finger.

“I need some time first. I’m not ready for ‘kissing practice’ yet.” I said. We were both dodging the question if we wanted to date each other so much, but we were so nervous that we didn’t really think about what we wanted to say. I was sure I was going to decline if she asked anyway, since I still need some alone time to cool down. On Shizuka’s side, I don’t think she wants this either since she thinks it’s wrong getting with me after Kasai passed away, but she can’t lie to her heart, it must be hurting her a lot.

“Oh, I wholeheartedly understand that you need time! That’s completely fine! I-I just don’t know how to help you right now.” Would being in a relationship with her really make me forget the broken feeling of losing Kasai? Of course not… but… It really could help me not think about it, and maybe I’d even fall in love with Shizuka as much as I did with Kasai… no… probably not… If I didn’t have that internal fight between myself, I would have probably never looked at another girl for years, but… life goes on. Kasai would want me to be happy, not to cry. Right?

“For now I’ll just be your social teacher!” I said. Let’s keep things slow and steady.

“O-ok!”

“After you heal Yosuke I’m going to teach you on how to act on dates!”

“Got it!” As she was walking away she stopped herself, paused for a second and said, “Kasai’s last words were for me to take care of you… that’s… that’s all I want to do, Rukito. I don’t want you to think I’m taking advantages or anything… in the end… I loved Kasai as a sister.” I remained silent; I didn’t know what to say to that. She stepped out, looked back with a smile and said,

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Shizuka.” She looked down to the ground, paused for a second and said,

“Do you mind if I… would it be ok if we-” Suddenly, a large bump was heard at the side of the ship, causing Shizuka to lose her balance. I dashed towards her and grabbed her.

“W-what was that?!” I said.

“I don’t know…” We quickly rushed outside. It was all pitch-black, all we could manage to see was from the light on the ship, the ocean was all dark. We all rushed outside to check on the problem, and we saw Sachi crouched on the side of the ship looking down into the ocean.

“Sachi! What happened?” I yelled.

“I knew we couldn’t trust her…” Said Shizuka.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions…” Said Sachi while getting down from the side and walking towards us. “I have a bad feeling.”

“What happened?!” Yelled Jinn while running towards us.

“I think we encountered a menacing predator.” Said Sachi. She was keeping calm, while at the same time showing some worry. We suddenly heard a loud and deep hiss. Shizuka’s face suddenly dropped and then she asked me,

“R-Rukito, you said we are sailing through the equator?”

“Yes, why?” Something quickly appeared out of the water, it was too dark to see, but I could see its silhouette, it looked like…

“Lux!” Said Shizuka while opening her Wisdom-World. A ball of light suddenly shined on top of the ship, illuminating everything around it. The giant creature was a…

“SNAKE!” Yelled Jinn. Shizuka flipped through her book and said with a shaky voice,

“H-his name is Titanoboa. They are a genus of very large snakes that live on the equator. They could grow up to 12.8 m (42 ft) long and reach a weight of 1,135 kg (2,500 lb). But this one… this one is an Emperor Titanoboa, it’s completely black to hunt better at night, and it’s even bigger than normal! They were extinct for many years, but they came back after we limited Chlorofluorocarbons, and nature started growing again. ” Shizuka started shaking.

“W-what do we do?” Asked Nightshade. She released her harp and said, “My singularity works on animals, so maybe-”

“No, Nightshade! Snakes don’t have ears, they can only hear vibrations and low-frequency sounds, so it’s not going to work!” They snaked quickly went for Shizuka. He could swallow her in one big bite. Thankfully I reacted in time, and grabbed Shizuka while jumping away from the snake.

“Shizuka, are you ok?”

“Y-yes… sorry, I.” She was shaking from head to toe. She almost seemed like she was going to die of hypothermia from how much she was shaking.

“Shizuka, do you happen to have… Ophidiophobia?”

“I… m-maybe!”

“Head back inside, we will take care of this.”

“A-alright.”

“Guys, the snake is going to wait for us to plan on how to kill it.” Said Jinn. Shizuka walked inside, then I said,

“I heard that most snake usually like to wrap around their prays to kill them, but since it’s so huge, it can just swallow us in one bite, and the worst part is…”

“We aren’t going to die quick, the digestive fluids will be the ones doing that job.” Jinn finished saying.

“Can we please look at the positive side of things?” Asked Sachi while making a spear out of the darkness. “OMBRA ARSENAL”

“I’m afraid there isn’t one at the moment.” Said Jinn while activating his singularity. “ASTRAL GUARDIAN”

“No…” This is my chance to start redeeming myself. I, right now, am the strongest version of myself… a clear mind and a strong will.

“Huh?” Said everyone while looking at me.

“This fight is mine to take,” I said while standing on the edge of the ship looking dead into the snake’s eyes.

“Ruki, don’t be an idiot.” Said Sachi.

“Brother, are you sure about this?” Jinn scoffed and said,

“Make it quick.”

“Jinn…” I said while looking down at the ocean.

“On it.” He used took out his pistol and shot 6 times at the ocean. I then decided to jump down.

“RUKITO!” A small area on the ocean froze, I fell on top of it and maintained balance. Alright, counting the fact that my singularity changes with my soul, right now it should be the best version of itself. The snake started breaking the path of ice that Jinn made, I then looked at Jinn and said,

“Jinn! I’m counting on you to keep it frozen!”

“Got you!” I took a deep breath, closed my eyes for a second while the snake was breaking the ice around me and thought, what is your name?... speak to me.

“Those who oppose my soul shall bend the knee. The past, the present and the future are all up to this… o’ great Hikari, the god of light, and life, bless my last hope with the universe’s best blade.” A blue light started shining from the heavens, piercing the clouds with blue beams. A hole opened in the clouds as a sword slowly floated down to me. It was a katana with the name of it engraved that read in ancient writing, ‘Sirius Ultima’. I got an instant flashback of Akira receiving this sword by Suisei, his sister, to defend their family. Akira kneeled as Suisei gave him the sword in front of a giant crowd in heaven.

“You may only use this sword for good, you hear?” She said with a playful expression. Akira looked at her, smiled then said,

“Fine, fine. I’ll try, little star.” It had a white handle and a blue, frozen blade with writing engraved on the blade itself.

“It will not come to you unless you are at peace with yourself, got it? The stars know and see everything, brother.”

“But what if-” She flicked his nose and said with an adorable yet angry expression,

“Na-ah! I don’t wanna hear it!” Akira chuckled and said,

“Alright, little star. I promise.”

“You better!” I came back to reality, grabbed the sword. As I made contact with it, I felt a chill run down my spine. I started breathing out breath vapor, and started getting cold, but not cold enough to stop fighting. I had that same calming sensation I had when I was with Suisei. I looked at the snake while pointing the sword at it and said,

“You should have remained extinct.”