The desert's daily scorching heat continued to flourish over the sand trails that Tim and his crew proceeded to trek over. With barely an hour until they reached the capital, they took a break from the road to drink the water and sit on silver pebbles carved into the earth.
"This heat is killing me. Is there no other path where we could go through to avoid getting sweaty? We'll end up drinking out the entire source of water if we keep going this way and so slowly."
Nina approached the smaller rock and sat in the middle of it, clutching a bottle of water that she drank at the same time as Tim. They were fortunate that Ireene shared her bottle with them before they split off, as well as Kou, who delivered the barrel of water.
"This is the quickest way to the capital, but there are no suitable shadows to provide relief from the heat. After all, it "IS" a desert, the driest location you could probably walk across, and we'll never catch up to the rest if we keep sitting idle."
Tim coughed in the background after nearly choked on water, and Tomomi smacked his back and chuckled in between the periods when Kou chatted and tried to brighten their mood. While Tomomi shook his fallen body, he held his own neck as he quickly gulped the water down his throat, and dropped on the floor, his skin scorching.
"I didn't even know this was supposed to be a shortcut? I suppose you sure know this place from every corner."
"Well, if it wasn't obvious, it's where I grew up? How can you be so dumb to forget that?"
Nina grew irritated as a result of Kou's terrible and nasty mood and sighed to calm down.
"You don't need to be so rude about it, you know."
While observing Tim on the floor wriggling like a snake, stretching with his hands forward and progressively losing his calm, Kou twisted his body around, closed his eyes, crossed his arms, and remained silent. With Tomomi next to Tim, placing her finger on her own chin, bent forward a little. Tim's pupils were literally spinning.
"You OK...?"
Kou's feelings were difficult to read. They were mysterious, with only a few complaints. Tim's throat ache finally brought him to his senses, and he stood up quietly scratching the itchy part of his head. He then took another look around the area and bent his head to the side. With the rest of his companions looked mystified, he closed his eyes and began to contemplate.
"Something on your mind, Tim?"
Nina asked.
His response quickly reached out after muttering words and letters from his mouth, which were practically flying through the air. "I was thinking..."
"I've heard there were some creatures living near Shautara Island, where you brought the water from. Ireene introduced them as aggressive creatures if I remember correctly. So, the real question is... How *did* you manage to bring the barrel without being attacked?"
Tim's question caused Kou's cheeks to burn. His mouth shivered, he moved to the side, and gulped swiftly without trying to convey what he was feeling. He couldn't possibly have made up a lie, therefore he told the truth about his effective retreat.
"You know... Just a bit of luck, left and right..." Nina's eyes quickly detected lies which Kou hid behind the worried eyes, and persuaded him to tell the truth. "You're lying!"
"Why would I be lying?! Don't make these dumb assumptions without even knowing somebody properly!"
"It can be seen plainly inside your eyes. You're attempting to dupe us into thinking you got away by chance. It could easily mean that those "Hornhogs" just weren't there, or maybe they were asleep, perhaps even leaving you alone... But that's an easy lie to figure out, besides... Ireene told us that Hornhogs are creatures who'd attack a person without hesitating, unless you plan on telling us that you became "buddies" with those creatures."
Tim and Tomomi both happened to overlook Nina and Kou's chat in favor of a game of rock, paper, scissors in which Tim's every reaction was defeated by Tomomi's. Tim lost after a few games by giving up and bending his torso forward. His arms dangled, and he became depressed. Tim reacted angrily, pointing his fingers at Tomomi, who merely giggled and lightly bonked her fingers against his forehead. Tomomi began giggling with her hands, leaned on her chin, in response to his objection.
"So, come on Kou... Tell us the truth." Kou shifted his attention to the side, facing the pointed rock that had taken on the shape of a spike. He grumbled, regretting his deception and deciding to tell the truth by returning his gaze to Nina while keeping one eye on Tim and Tomomi, who continued to quarrel over nothing while enjoying themselves.
"I fought my way through them. That's all there is to it, I swear."
Despite Kou's short answer, Nina stumbled upon astonished feelings. She fixed her glasses and started to tie her hair into a ponytail, talking in between her actions. "I didn't know you could fight." Kou acted casually without giving in to her praises. "Yeah, I can. What does it matter? It's not all that impressive. You can fight too." Nina giggled to his answer and flushed from feeling ashamed of her own skills in battle.
"I can't fight at all. I'm their friend who's here just for fun. You see... Before we were thrown inside this dimension together with the rest I was just a normal girl who moved away from her hometown. I entered to a new "era" that I like to call it, and came across an academy where people had some of the most incredible talents. I met Tim as one of the first people, along with Ayuka and then by pure misfortune assigned myself to "that" exact same academy in which every other talented student was. I suppose I've gotten used to these rare occurrences. It's been quite a while ever since that happened, but now..."
"... I was thinking that I might want to enter the next "Multi-Reality" Gateway and accompany Ellie who'll probably return to his home. I want to become useful for them, and learn more about treating patients, since I visited a nursery school before that crazy academy. If I had the knowledge on how to treat people more effectively, I could easily treat any wounds that my friends receive in battle. If I can't battle, I at least could be there as some kind of support."
Kou was interested in her plans and listened to her, while seeing Tim in the background being pulled by the cheeks by Tomomi who enjoyed doing so, while Tim seemed to be unimpressed by her actions, but stayed calm and respectful toward his friend. Kou became quite red in his face as he looked at them. He quickly heard Nina call out to him. "Hey, Kou? Is something bothering you?"
Kou hurriedly fixed his gaze onto Nina and shook his head as a denial toward her question. "I'm fine. I guess you're planning to leave your "crew" to study about the nursery? It's probable, but I'm not the type of guy who'd be interested in something like becoming a doctor."
"That's completely fine. What about you, Kou? Is there some kind of wish that you'd like to fulfill? I'd be interested to hear it."
Kou spotted that Tomomi looked at him and noticed her lovely smile. He saw sparkles and glowing colors around her, then noticed her look back at Tim and squeezed the bottle, where the water from it showered straight into Tim's head, causing him to become soaked. Tim kept his unimpressed face, looking at Tomomi laughing at him. Only then, Kou answered Nina's question.
"There's nothing I have as my wish..."
It surprised Nina, even confused her, but she understood why Kou made another lie. She asked another question after remembering Ireene's words.
"But I thought you wanted to go on a ship journey out to sea. Why should you change your decision now that you've grown up and have the opportunity to sail through the magnificent blue sea? If you'd like, we'd be happy to take you out on the water, and perhaps even make you a part of our "crew." It'd be something to remember for your future self."
Kou overreacted upon her idea and quickly yelled. He expressed anger, sorrow in his eyes, but there was a hint of him wanting to sail through the ocean to discover more of his world, he lives in.
"You can't be serious, can you? What would I want to do with a bunch of violent pirates like you?! I guess Ireene didn't make it obvious that I'll never, ever trust any kind of lost person like you! I don't care if I sail the ocean or not; I'm content with my current situation and nothing will change my attitude! Not even some scary pirates like yourself! Just because I'm helping you doesn't mean we're friends! I'm just repaying a favor for one of your members, who fought that nasty Jawjack pirate!"
Suddenly a loud tremble sounded throughout the rocky fields. From beneath the sand a massive eruption of sand occurred. It spread and piled sand all over the ground, over which a massive figure of a crab appeared. It horrified Nina and Kou who prepared for battle, but stopped upon noticing Tim raise his arms high in the air. He shared a bright and wide smile and quickly called out to the crab before him.
"Jazu! You've come back! Hooray, we can finally head for the capital without wasting much time! Oh, how I've missed you." Tim flung himself into the crab's huge legs, snuggling with his shell close to Tomomi, who pat Jazu on the head. Nina and Kou, on the other hand, remained stunned and unmoving.
The journey continues...