A:
Early the next morning, we left for our long-awaited class trip to Ecchi Island. School trips always had an unusual feeling to them. Seeing everyone out of their element, and out of uniform, set an uncommon tone. It made everyone in the class seem closer to one another, almost like family, and in that respect, the trip was already successful.
Some students enjoyed the relaxed dress code, but there was a wide range of dress. Some of the guys looked like they'd just rolled out of bed. Paris had set out normal travel clothes for me to bring, otherwise I may have done the same.
Some of the girls, on the other hand, didn't heed Mr. Pace's warning that this "wasn't Fashion Week at Milan". The designer luggage and sunglasses were out in full force, along with other fancy looking items and accessories that I couldn't identify.
Dr. Prokter was our other chaperone. I hadn't seen her since she yelled at us in the auditorium about the bloomer situation. When I remembered that she hit a student for disrespecting her, I winced. She was a teacher I didn't want to get on the bad side.
Marla was pretty running late. I'd been looking for her, but started thinking about the actual trip. I took a deep breath and emptied my mind.
It was getting close to departure. Devin and I cruised through security and started going towards the gate.
"Hey man, did you see what Veronica's wearing? Or should I say, isn't wearing? I can't wait to see her swimsuit, if this is what she wears on an airplane."
Devin came and announced all of that with a rough pat on the shoulder.
"Hey simmer down Devin, you're already creepy and the sun's not even up yet."
"Creepy? That's you think this is? I'd think that after I poured my heart out, you'd know how sincerely I felt about Veronica."
Before I could respond, my attention was captured by Cole and Luna having trouble at security. Luna was a member of some program that let her zip through security without having to wait in the line.
"Good grief Cole! I told you to sign up for that thing over a month ago!"
"Come on babe, the whole signup process was too complicated."
"I sent you a YouTube video that walks you through the whole thing. This is what I'm talking about."
"Here we go. Let me have it in front of TSA, now."
Honestly, I was a bit surprised to see Cole and Luna going at it again. Previously, they'd been almost a perfect couple. Or, at least Luna cared enough to keep their spats out of the public spotlight. But not anymore, those two blowing up at each other had become a regular occurrence.
Seeing the two of them reminded me why I'd held off on telling Marla how I feel. Obviously, if things keep trending in this direction for Cole and Luna, their relationship is in trouble. But it would be the same thing for Marla and I. So on top of losing the war to the Demon Lord, I would lose Marla as a friend and that would be way worse.
There was another commotion, there was someone else having trouble with security. I turned to get a good look, and I saw a stressed out Marla. She'd dressed in dark green camo pants, a plain white t-shirt and camo hat matching the pants. She looked like she was going off to war than heading to a resort island. I wondered if the outfit had made her more aggressive, because next she was arguing with a burly TSA agent.
"I promise you she not a weapon, she just a wand—"
"Mam, please do not say that word or I will have to detain you and call the Department of Homeland Security, and they would be legally bound to send you to a CIA-approved off-shore black site for further investigation. Which would only complicate your situation further."
"Sorry, I didn't know I you can't say 'wand' at an airport."
"No, not wand, mam. Weapon, you're not allowed to say weapon in an airport or I am legally bound to—"
"I got it. It'd just make me even more late if I went to that black site or whatever. But I'm telling you Kimi isn't a we... one of those things. She's just a magic wand."
"Mam, thank you for not saying weapon. But you cannot expect me to believe that you are carrying a magic wand around with you. You're not a little kid."
"I know that. It's just—"
"Well, is there some reason?"
"I'm... I'm doing cosplay! That's right. I'm a cosplayer with like a zillion followers on Chirper."
"Oh wow, that's so cool. I'm a big fan of Carvel Comics. Did you ever dress up as Ambrosia Witch? From Mutants Z? She is so hot..."
"Umm... Ambrosia Witch..."
"If you just show me some pictures... I could let you through."
The guy started winking at Marla. She looked disgusted. Thankfully, a female supervisor appeared.
"Edward, what are you doing? Why are you harassing this girl? You know this group is from Shadow Lane Prep, right? Her dad owns one of these airlines."
Edward looked dumbfounded.
"That's what I thought. Go clean the bathrooms, Edward."
Edward waddled off, and they let Marla through security.
We all went to the gate and waited until the plane arrived. Once we boarded, they told us it was a full flight and we might run into some turbulence. I didn't let it stress me out, though. The ride was something I was looking forward to. I'd brought my Switch and wanted to play through the last few palaces on my latest 120-hour run through Quiet of the Black 5 Elite.
Devin sat next to me, but had his nose in volume 137 of Dragon Riders.
Someone patted me on the shoulder and I saw it was Betsy.
"Looks like I'm a row behind you. Behave yourself and please keep your seat up. You don't need that much leg room."
"I'll... I'll do whatever I want, ok?"
Betsy was passive aggressive, so I put on my noise cancelling headphones.
B:
As I fastened into my seat, I pulled out my Switch and was immediately disappointed. The battery was dead, and it looked like I'd forgotten the charging cable. Luckily, I had a few backup plans for entertainment. For one, Marla sat a few rows in front of me on an aisle seat within my sight. If I got bored, I could just stare at her for a while, or even if I wasn't bored. But the plan for the time being was to read some manga.
I pulled out the last volume of Momotsugu, a wild Battle Shounen, about a bedsheet that comes to life and becomes the main character's girlfriend. The plot was a little hard to follow, but the art was top-tier. But Momotsugu was best known for something else. It was known for its over the top lewd and Ecchi scenes. It was full of them.
I propped open the book and was laughing before I'd finished the first chapter. But a whack from behind disrupted me.
"What the heck are you doing, Andy? What did I just see on that page? You're reading a dirty book on an airplane?"
Betsy was hopping mad. She was breathing heavily, like a charging bull.
I put the volume away to quell Betsy and prevent the interference of the Air Marshall. I ended up watching a rerun of Seinfeld on the inflight TV.
Even with no games or manga, I found entertainment staring at the back of Marla's head. She had her designer white earbuds in, even though I'd told her they'd make her go deaf. But she'd said she used them to get to sleep.
However, the bloated man next to her was making a ruckus. He kept grunting and shifting around in his seat and had already ordered six alcoholic drinks from the stewardess.
The stewardess came by to check on them, but I stopped her to ask a question.
"Excuse me 'mam, which anime streaming services are available? There's a remote, but all I see is boring stuff like the news and other stuff that isn't cartoons."
She gave me a confused looked and said she'd be right with me after she handled the guy freaking out next to Marla.
Devin, who'd been sitting with his face in his entertainment, turned to me.
"Andy, which rumors have you heard about Ecchi Island? No one would give me a straight answer."
"I found some old Reddit post about this said everyone in their class ended up dating during the trip. But that's hard to believe."
"Andy, that's a troll. Stop believing everything you see on the internet."
Devin took on a suspicious attitude, got in a little closer to me and spoke in a low voice.
"I heard that there was a Gender Swap."
"No way!"
I couldn't help but exclaim when I heard that, just out of surprise.
"Andy, keep your voice down."
He was right. I'd attracted everyone's attention, including the stewardess dealing with the rowdy old man. Not to mention, the topic wasn't suitable for normie ears. I spoke more quietly.
"I heard something about the Bermuda Triangle. You've heard about that, right? The planes that fly over it disappear and stuff."
"Of course I've heard about that. But I don't see what that has to do with this."
I thought that both Ecchi Island and Bermuda Triangle might have some connection with magic. It was long rumored that the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle was magical, but they still hadn't figured it out.
By then, the obnoxious man next to Marla was causing trouble again. The primary cause of his disruptions were the alcoholic beverages he'd been slamming back the entire flight. He seemed to like Rum and Coke. Regardless, his face was so puffed up, I assume from the drinks, that he looked like a marshmallow on a stick.
The drunk man had got into an argument with a passenger one row in front of him. The stewardess came back and scolded him again, this time harshly, and he was quiet.
I watched the whole thing unfold, and so I was caught staring at Marla when she turned around suddenly. That was embarrassing, and I decided to just close my eyes and take a nap.
I was whisked away to a dream of Marla and I frolicking in the sand of a sun-kissed beach. She was in the French Maid bikini and we must've been on Ecchi Island.
"Andy, bet you can't catch me!"
Marla tagged me on the shoulder and ran into the crisp blue water.
I caught up to her, and we held hands as we laughed and played in the waves. We stopped for a moment, when we were covered by an enormous shadow overhead.
A giant wave was about to crash on top of us and there wasn't any way to escape. When the wave hit, I was driven underwater and separated from Marla. I couldn't see much for a while, but was relieved when I felt a gentle arm grab mine.
"I caught you."
The water was about neck high on both of us. Marla laughed and moved in for a kiss… just as I saw the French Maid bikini top, the one I thought she was wearing, float by on the water.