With a now darkened sky, the party had come to an end.

A heap of drunken hunters were now relocating to their quarters, with some unconscious—being dragged by their feet.

The deck was littered with food and bottles—a mess that someone would need to clean up.

As Kenzo was one of the few still able to stand, he helped clean the leftover mess. But even with how little he had drank, it was still a struggle for him to stay on his feet as his vision was somewhat blurred.

After he gathered a few empty bottles, Kenzo searched for a place to dump them. Aiming to check below deck for a spot, he stumbled across the ship toward the stairs. But before reaching them, he had walked by the cabin doors.

Ever since what Theo told him, there was a growing curiosity in him to know what he would find inside. However, being caught trespassing would just give Vic a reason to work him harder.

So he ignored the temptation, and turned away from the cabin. But then, the doors opened and someone quickly dragged him inside.

Now inside the pitch black meeting room, Kenzo could feel someone covering his mouth.

“Be quiet, it’s me,” they said.

The unknown person then lit a lamp and lifted it—revealing their face.

It was Theo.

“Surprised?” he said. “The person who usually keeps watch couldn’t help but drink too. By the end of the party, I managed to sneak in since he could barely keep his eyes open.”

Theo pointed down. “Since mostly everyone is down below, we have some time. But let’s be quick, Lady Social is down there too but could come up any minute.”

Kenzo nervously looked around the room.“I’m not sure I should,” he said.

“Look, I can still see you’re tipsy,” Theo said, as he pulled Kenzo by the arm. “We won’t get caught, but if we do just blame it on the drink. Come, follow me.”

As Kenzo reluctantly followed Theo, he could now really feel how much the alcohol was affecting him. Usually he wouldn’t risk doing something like this, but his sense of fear had been dulled. This just made him want to act on his curiosity even more.

Eventually they had gotten to Lady Social’s quarters. Theo reached to open the door, but it was locked.

“Was just checking,” he said, as he raised his hand and revealed a set of keys. “You can thank Bron for these. I stole them while him and Lady Social were dancing.”

Theo put each key in the lock until one eventually worked.

Once inside, he searched around until he found a lamp on the wall. The room illuminated as Theo turned it on.

Kenzo nervously observed the room. It gave him a strange feeling of nostalgia, even though it wasn’t really the good kind.

Theo then tapped him on the face. “I can guess why you’re zoning out, but we need to start looking around.”

Shortly after, they began to search the room for any clues. While Theo checked the nearby bookcase, Kenzo looked around the bed. It was there he came across two chests, both which were unlocked.

“There’s two chests here, but I think I’ve seen them before,” Kenzo said.

Theo walked over and brought the lamp closer. “Oh. Captain William had this brought onto the ship. It’s just what was agreed to be paid for Lady Social’s service,” he said.

Kenzo noticed a strange smell coming from inside. He reached to open it, but Theo stopped him.

“I can’t just let you look inside,” he said. “The captain might have brought it, but it was on the behalf of someone important.”

Theo then brought his lamp to the second box. “But this one must belong to Captain John, so you’re more than free to look inside,” he said.

Seeing how old and pirate like everything looked, Kenzo wondered if it was filled with gold just like in the movies.

However when he opened it, it was filled with something unexpected.

“Whoa,” Theo said.

Inside, was a dozen or so closed pocket watches.

“I didn’t know he still made them,” Theo said, as he picked one up. “But why does she need so many?”

Kenzo also picked one up and inspected it. The only other one he’d seen was the one Captain John had, but these didn’t look quite as impressive.

When he turned the watch around, there seemed to be letter’s engraved in at the back.

“J.L…” Kenzo said, reading the letter’s out loud.

Theo turned to him. “Those are just initials. These watches were made by—”

But suddenly, an abrupt sound came from the other room.

Someone had opened the cabin doors.

Theo put back the watch he’d picked up—closed both the chests and got up swiftly to turn the lamps off. He then went to the door and quietly shut it.

Kenzo went to join him—but unlike Theo—he’d forgotten to put away the watch he picked up. So he decided to just put it into his hoodies pocket. Theo then called him over and they both pressed their ear against the door.

The voices of Lady Social, Captain John, Captain William and Vic could be heard from the entrance.

“He’s managed to conjure up quite a formidable fleet of allies over the years,” Lady Social said. “Being a hunter with patience is a very rare thing. But that man has shown how deadly such a combination is.”

“I’ve even heard whispers of the Valric sister’s joining the campaign,” Vic said.

“They can remain whispers for now,” Captain William replied. “However, the accomplishment’s you speak of is only a fraction of what makes the man so remarkable. It’s been refreshing to work with someone so reliable.”

“You don’t work with him, you work under him. And If he’s so reliable then why’s he asking for my help?” Captain John said. “All that sloth of a man has done is let the enemy gather back their strength on that damn island.”

“And in-turn we’ve gathered ours,” Captain William answered. “Even with your reckless attempts in the past, he recognises there’s a reason you’ve kept coming back alive from there.”

“Gah! Whatever. And Bron, stop following so close to me!” Captain John yelled.

“I’ll stay out here with Bron until the meetings finished,” Vic said, as the others walked into the cabin.

Once the doors had closed, Theo and Kenzo could hear them taking their seats.

“Okay gentlemen. This is the last day of the negotiations. As expected you two haven’t made it easy, but today I am hoping we can secure a deal you’ll both be happy with,” Lady Social said.

The captains remained silent.

“Captain William, you may not be leading the campaign but don’t forget you’re here to represent the one who is,” she said. “Having an experienced hunter, especially one such as Captain John can severely alter the campaign’s odds of success.”

“I….I understand,” Captain William replied.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s just get this over with,” Captain John said.

“Good good,” Lady Social replied. “However before we start the meeting, there happens to be something important that I wish to discu—”

But Kenzo had leaned too far toward the door and the watch in his pocket had fallen—loudly crashing onto the floor.

The meeting room fell quiet.

Theo looked down at the watch and then back at Kenzo with a judgemental stare. With not enough time to pick it up, he quietly pushed Kenzo to the back of the door and placed his finger on his lip—signalling him to be quiet.

The sound of footsteps began to creep from the other side. Then, the door opened.

Theo put his hand around Kenzo’s mouth as Lady Social’s shadow protruded into the room.

She then put one foot inside and stepped on the watch.

“Is something wrong?” Captain William asked, as she was about to inspect what it was.

Lady Social took her feet off it and kicked it away as she turned round.

“No no,” she said. “Just the waves around here causing things to fall.”

“That’s why I hate stacking things,” Captain John said.

She then grabbed the door handle.

“Well, how about we continue,” Lady Social said, as she closed the door. “As I was saying, there is something I wish to discuss…”

With her voice growing distant, Theo and Kenzo gasped out as they stopped holding their breaths.

“That was close,” Theo said, as he removed his hand from Kenzo’s mouth. “Seeing the situation we’re in, I guess I’ll tell you. Captain William already knows I’m in here.”

Theo then took a step back. “He suspects there’s something strange going on, so I suggested to have me sneak into here.”

Kenzo realised it would have been odd if Theo did something this risky just to help him. It made sense for others on the ship to have their own agenda’s.

“Huh,” Theo said, as his attention shifted to the centre of the room.

There was something glowing underneath a cloth on the desk. It seemed the light from the lamps had hidden it’s glow, but now it was dark enough to clearly see it.

Both Theo and Kenzo walked over to it.

On closer inspection, it looked like a soft yellow mist was coming from underneath the cloth.

They both looked at each other—knowing neither wanted to be the one to lift it. But Theo eventually grabbed the cloth himself and slowly pulled it off.

“Whoa,” Kenzo said.

Under it, was a collection of vials. Some were empty while others were filled with a yellow glowing liquid. The light coming from the vials was almost mist like and made the hairs on their skin prickle up.

It gave off a very unsettling sensation.

“Look here,” Theo said, as he noticed a small book and a stack of papers to the side.

After picking up the papers, Theo noticed there was writing on it.

“It look’s like a bunch of letter’s,” he said. “Hold on, using the lamp should be fine for now.”

As Theo grabbed and lit the lamp—he immediately started to read what was on the papers.

“Most of them are about some kind of experiment,” he said. “But it’s weird. I recognise the writing on one of them.”

While he continued to read, Kenzo picked up the small book and saw that there was writing inside. After flicking through some of the pages he noticed it seemed to be Lady Social’s diary.

But turning the page revealed the last entry—which caught his attention. It read:

We talked some more today, and I still can’t picture him being the one. Still, I’d be a fool to brush all this off as just a coincidence.

But I am ready now. I’ve already shed my tears, for both the past and present.

The future is all that matters now, and I feel he’ll come to understand that.

Isn’t that right, Kenzo?

Shivers went down Kenzo’s spine as he read his name. He was unsure of what this meant.

As he put the book back down, he noticed Theo hadn’t said anything for awhile. It was then he looked over to see him still reading the letter’s but with a horrified expression.

“Our ships navigator has been writing to her,” Theo said, with his eye’s still on the papers.

It was then Kenzo noticed his hands were shaking while reading the papers.

Theo lifted his eye’s. “I…I can’t believe what I’m reading.”

He then scanned the desk and found something covered by a smaller cloth next to the vials. When he hesitantly lifted it, there was a strange fruit underneath with a large chunk of it missing.

Theo slowly looked up at Kenzo. “We need to leave,” he said.

Suddenly, the sounds of a commotion came from behind the door.

“I’m going out there,” Theo said, as he walked to the door.

When he opened it, the cabin doors had just been closed and there was only one person left inside the meeting room.

Looking down—with his head in his hands—was Captain William, sitting at the table.

Theo hurried over to him. “Captain! Are you okay? What happened?”

But the captain didn’t respond.

Kenzo also came out of the room and stood close to the table. On closer inspection, he could see that the captains hands were shaking.

After a few more failed attempts to get the captain to talk, Theo turned to Kenzo.

“I can’t leave him,” Theo said. “You have to go warn the other’s below.”

Suddenly, the clashing of swords could be heard from outside.

“Kenzo, listen. I don’t know everything yet, but Lady Social had another reason she wanted us all on her ship. There’s no time to explain, but you have to sneak downstairs and force our crewman awake,” Theo said.

“I-I can’t do that,” Kenzo replied.

“There’s no time for that!” Theo yelled. “If anyone see’s you, you just have to run for it. Everyone below is probably too drunk to hear the fighting.”

Kenzo looked down as he couldn’t believe what he was being asked to do. If they were really fighting out there, then he could end up being hurt—or worse. It wasn’t even clear to him what all this was about.

There was no way he could get involved in this.

But then, he looked up and was met with a desperate stare. The look in Theo’s eyes—it was just like the girl from the store. Kenzo still had leftover guilt from ignoring the girl, and it hurt him to think he was about to do it once again.

“Please. You have to,” Theo said, as a final plea.

Kenzo looked down again in contemplation. The voice in his head, the one telling him not to get involved was screeching at him. The rule was being repeated over and over in his head.

Do not get involved….

But it’s usual strength was fading, as it seemed to be being blocked by a foreign force. Something in Kenzo’s system was currently inhibiting his sense of fear and consequence.

The alcohol.

After a deep breath, Kenzo began to walk to the cabin doors.

“Are you going to help?” Theo asked.

Kenzo didn’t reply.

Once he got to the door, the sound of battle could still be heard from outside. He hesitantly opened it and slowly peeked through to the other side.

The deck was littered with the bulk of Lady Social’s men.

At the centre was Captain John and Bron—fighting a handful of these men, as she watched just a short distance away from where Kenzo was.

Next to her was Vic, who was also watching.

“Lady Social has made you and Captain William a generous proposal,” Vic said, as Captain John fought off his opponents. “Is there any point to this stubbornness?”

The captain took a step back to catch his breath. “I didn’t come on this ship to be lectured about her ridiculous experiments! That woman’s just a spoilt brat who expects everyone to believe whatever she says,” he replied.

Captain John then stomped on the deck twice. “Can’t those drunken fools hear what’s happening up here?”

Back at the cabin door, Kenzo was wondering what was even happening. It was only a few minutes ago that the captains were casually talking amongst themselves.

The scene in front of him was an extreme contradiction to everything he had experienced thus far on the ship. Lady Social had been a comforting presence in an otherwise chaotic environment, but was now watching as her own guests were being attacked.

What could have happened in that meeting room?

But with everything that was going on, it seemed like this was the perfect opportunity for him to sneak past. Lady Social and Vic had their backs toward him and the rest of her men were focused on the fight.

Kenzo looked back at Theo and nodded his head, acknowledging his earlier request.

A few seconds later, he was now in the process of sneaking toward the stairs to the side. As he inched closer to his destination, Bron seemed to have noticed him—but promptly returned to fighting his opponents.

Kenzo was now only a few steps away from the stairs. But he suddenly heard a voice behind him.

“Kenzo, wait.”

It seemed, he had been spotted.

When he turned around, Lady Social was looking straight at him.

“With all the sneaking around you’re doing, you’re beginning to act more like a hunter,” she said, with a playful tone.

The look on her face became slightly more serious.

“All of this must be confusing for you,” she said. “Remember what I asked you at the party?”

Lady Social then looked toward the battle and back at him.

“I asked you what would it cost to have everyone together like that in the future,” she said. “This is what it would cost. Someone has to be willing to take the burden of doing what needs to be done. And even if just for the children, I’ll gladly be that person.”

Kenzo knew that the time left to get help was fast closing. If he was going to go down, it would have to be now.

The look on Lady Social’s face softened.

“I know you don’t want to be entangled in all this Kenzo. Just leave things to me okay,” she said. “Sometimes, It’s okay to not get involved.”

They were simple words, but these words carried a heavy meaning to Kenzo. Someone had just told him it was okay to not get involved, that it was okay to do nothing. It felt like he’d been waiting for someone to tell him it was okay to not want to change anything.

And so, the will to help had left his body.

Kenzo then stood still, observing everything unfold without his involvement.

But Lady Social’s eyes suddenly widened as she gazed upward at something behind Kenzo. When he too looked around, he saw that Captain John’s ship had sailed up from behind the Unity Cruse.