Leaving Marsh and Choco for a moment, the clam master heads out the temple and found Raisins running towards his direction. The clam master grimaced at her presence, "C-Clam master! Lookin' fresh and good like always." Raisins greeted.
"You have a lot of explaining to do." The clam master remarked, making Raisins feel disappointed of herself, "Forgive me, clam master. Spare this old woman from punishment." She begs as she got on her knees, bowing down.
"Don't make a scene, you old hag. It's pointless, I'll have you back in this temple at midnight, by then I'll have you pay for your mistake." Clam master said without any shred of mercy.
Then Raisins got up and bowed once again, "I truly apologize for the inconvenience, clam master! I shall come back to see you later."
From there, Raisins was dismissed. The clam master lowers his head and sighs, "What a pain in the arse." He utters to himself as he pulls out Marsh's purple orb from his pocket, staring on his reflection on the orb while deeply immersed in his thoughts.
When Raisins disappeared from the clam master's sight, she looks around to see if anyone was following her. After the coast was clear, she proceeds to enter an alley leading to a secret hideout she's been going to.
She knocks three times on the door and whispered a password, "clam master is a fraud."
The door opens up for her, and a fellow raisin woman greets her, "You may enter."
As she got inside, there were 10 more raisin women gathered at the moment, they were expecting a few more member to be present but Raisins began the meeting. "Raisin sisters, I've come to inform that my time has come... I failed to restrain that damn boy with these flabby arms." She waved the loose skin on her arms.
"That damn boy, cursed thee!" One of them complained.
"Hush sister Raisinella, do not curse nor blame the boy for this must be the work of destiny." Raisins clasps her hands with a serious look on her face, "For years, we have been trapped inside this clam after being banished by King Sugar Cube VIII—"
"Damn square face coward!" One of them interrupted her speech, and the other followed along with each of their own creative slurs against the former king of Sweet Kingdom.
"Sisters! Sisters, settle down damn it!" Raisins yelled, and they all calmed down. "Enough!... I know we all hate his ass, but get a move on! Sheesh. The one you need to be hatin' on right now is none other than the clam master!—we're the only ones who know about his secret."
"What was his secret again?"
"Goddamn it, Raisiniel. I know you got dementia but get a grip girl, we've been talking about this for ages." Raisins groaned, running her wrinkly hands over her wrinkly face.
"Tell us the secret anyway!"
"For the love of!—" Raisins sighed with exasperation, still she gave in to their demands. "The clam master is no longer the wise and kind grape we know, he has been hiding something important after he turned his fellow grapes into these hideous wrinkly old hag forms and brainwashed us to blindingly follow his every word!—but fortunately, we were able to break through his brainwashy spell thanks to our strong minds... or dementia." She mentions.
"Yeah!" They all agreed, raising their flabby arms altogether, "What now?" Raisinella asked.
"Tonight, my presence is requested at the temple by the clam master himself, he's planning to punish me for failing my task restraining the damn boy and I'll most likely going to die," Raisins confessed, everyone gasped except for Raisinta who had poor hearing.
"You can't die, you're the only person who's sane enough to lead us wild gals!" Raisiniel voiced the group's concern.
"That's why we're all here right now, we can finally execute the plan we've been preparing for our whole lives. And the key has finally arrived..." Raisins had Choco and Mash in the back of mind, trusting that they're the ones who'll save them from the oppressive clam master.
Meanwhile, both Marsh and Choco were still inside the room, trying to process how the clam master had just cured an incurable sickness. "H-How... exactly?" Choco asks.
"Don't ask me, I'm surprised as you are!" Marsh said, his grin plastered on his face, "But wow! Whatever that clam master guy did, I feel great!" He couldn't stop checking his chest, seeing the cracks gone like a miracle.
Choco was happy for him, but he can't help feeling bothered by the fact that Marsh never told him about his condition. Although he doesn't want to stick his nose into Marsh's business, unless he willingly tells him about it himself.
Marsh noticed his friend's sullen expression, and so he tapped on the matter, "Is there something you have in mind?" He asks.
"...I never knew you'd have that crumbling sickness." That was all Choco can say.
Marsh averted his gaze, "Oh Choco, I never told you because... I didn't want you to worry or... pity me." He hugs his legs and buried his face on his knees, "I'm already pitiful as I am, and I don't want to look even more pitiful."
"Dude, I never thought you were pitiful!—I think you're a cool guy. And even if I knew about your sickness, you'd still be the coolest person I know!" Choco said, trying to cheer him up.
"Quit it." Marsh chuckled, "We both know we'll never be cool, we're just some runaway losers." He quoted, referring to the time when Choco said something similar to both of them.
This made Choco snicker, "I guess that's true."
"Where's this clam master guy anyway? I've got to thank him for this." Marsh looks around, excited to see this person.
As for Choco, he felt uneasy about that guy. "Marsh, look, everyone in this place are weird freaks... I'm not sure about the clam master, but something about him is—"
"Magical? Yeah, I get that a lot." The clam master returned, surprising them both. "So you're the guy? You don't look like you belong in the Sweet Kingdom." Marsh remarked.
The clam master laughs in a friendly tone, "That's because I come from the Fruit Empire, I'm a holy priest there if you're wondering. That's why I'm capable of healing any sickness, including yours."
Every word coming out his mouth seemed sketchy to Choco, he sounded a lot like those con mans that would approach him so that they can fool him to buy their products or invest in their businesses. Choco have been fooled plenty of times before he can actually tell a genuinity in a person.
He held Marsh's hand to warn him, but his friend was immediately charmed by this clam master, "A person from the outside world!" Marsh was way more impressed to hear that this person came from another country. "Your holiness, I'm truly in debt to your kindness. Thank you... thank you so much for curing me from this sickness!"
"Hah, I'm only fulfilling my divine duty to help anyone in need." He claimed, making Choco roll his eyes.
"This is great!" Marsh grinned, "I've been wanting to talk to someone from another place, will it be alright to ask you a few questions?" His enthusiasm reached the clam master as he approached him with sparkling curious eyes.
"Ahaha, why of course! It would be lovely to have this chat as I show you around the village." The clam master turns to Choco who seemed uninterested, "Would you like to come along?"
"I'm a bit tired, so I'll be taking a nap here." He reasoned, crossing his arms and laid himself on the table.
"Very well, shall we stroll around Marsh?"
"Yeah, sure!" Marsh replied without any hesitation, leaving Choco by himself in that room.
Although he claimed to wanted to nap, Choco went out the temple deciding to spy on the two.
"Aha!" He uttered when he saw them at a distance, he ran to close the distance between them, hiding himself at an alley way, "I'm sure that guy can't be trusted..." he whispers to himself, glaring at the clam master's back.
"Mm!!" And before Choco can even begin to eavesdrop, something covered his mouth preventing him from screaming, and quickly pulled him deep into that alley.