#act 11

asahi can make imari smile the most that is a fact ( ͡❛ ‿‿ ͡❛)

☆Kugatsuki ~ Starmyu season 3 Act 11☆

I’m your ally.

I can’t get over how cute Shinobu is! And his obsession with cabbage stir-fry! <3

It was really early in the morning when I started to head out, I made sure to bring stuff we may need so that we can stay longer. Once I got to our meeting spot I was relieved to see Shadow carrying a large bag swung over his shoulder, I did tell him to be prepared but I wasn’t actually expecting him to listen. I waved at him and surprisingly, he waved back! Usually he doesn’t do that, yet his overall mood seemed as gloomy as always.I guess he’s warming up to me? I think I’ve seen him wave at Rouge before. “What did you bring?”I asked him. “Essentials.” I didn’t know what he was referring too but I just went with it and we started heading towards the Shrine. Since we knew how to get there we only took half as long to get there. When we got there, the doors were wide open and I heard a humming that at first I thought was Soma, but then I realized that it was a deeper voice. It got a bit louder and Mesa walked out, as soon as he noticed us he stopped humming and his face turned red and he kinda froze in place, and then I realized that he wasn’t quiet because he didn’t like us, he was just shy. After a few seconds of him awkwardly staring at us with cheeks as pink as the top of his head, Soma walked out cheerfully and lit up when she noticed us. As soon as Mesa noticed her he took it as an opportunity to rush inside faster than I’ve ever seen a meropian run. It was kinda funny in all honesty. “Oh! I was wondering when you two- er, three, were coming back! I’d go tell Mistress but I think Mesa just did that… he sure was in a hurry.” I chuckled and she looked at me weird. “I think we scared him off actually…” Before Soma had time to respond the doors to what must have been the lower levels of the shrine opened up and Lori came up the stairs. She didn’t respond much to us being there, so she must have already known. Maybe Mesa did tell her? “Why hello! So nice of you boys to come back. Will you be staying long? We can set up some rooms if you’d like.” She greeted us. I looked over to Soma and to my surprise she wasn’t looking at Lori with the same look of Admiration she usually does. She seemed anxious. “That’s okay. We were just planning on camping out.” I declined. Immediately after the answer came Soma interrupted the conversation. “Lori- Er, Mistress Lori, Aren’t you gonna tell them???” She asked Lori in a panicked voice. Lori simply responded with an annoyed expression and lifted her finger to her lips in a shush. Soma gasped softly before looking down silently. “Please disregard that. If you need anything Soma and Mesa will be glad to help you for the time being. Tonight and Tomorrow however they will not be working. Good day.” The woman turned around and headed back downstairs, closing the door behind her. I glanced back at Soma to see her looking conflicted. She looked up at me. “Uh, Excuse me. I have a few things to do.” and at that she left. Why did Lori shush her like that I wonder? We headed outside through the garden like last time and I set my bag down on the grass. Shadow sat down across from me and we relaxed for a bit. Palyma insisted that I keep working on my powers so I did. Hours wasted. the sun was starting to set as i called it a day. No progress made in the slightest. Me and Shadow set up to camp out during the night and not long after Soma and Mesa came out to see us. I was a bit surprised to see Mesa too but he didn’t seem like he wanted to do other things unlike usual. “Hi Sonic! How’s your day been?” She asked, seeming happy to see me. “Very uneventful. Other than that fine.” “Ah, that’s unfortunate. Mesa and I are done working now though, do you mind if we sit with you?” “Not at all.” They sat down next to us and Soma gave Mesa a strange look, He looked a bit upset at first but nodded to her after taking a very brief look at us. Soma smiled at the exchange. “So, what is all this stuff?” She asked looking around at our tents. “Huh? Oh This? It’s our camping stuff.” “Ah… What is this “Camping” you speak of?” Did she really not know what camping is? Mesa answered her before I got a chance to. “Camping is when you sleep outside, usually in a makeshift shelter or a tent, which is essentially the same thing.” Soma seemed a bit confused still but understood the explanation to an extent. Mesa smiled at her. “It’s a landwalker thing.” I wonder how he knew in that case? I may not know what he was specifically but I know he’s Meropian so he must be a fish of some sort, right? “I see… very interesting. Did you use to camp Mesa?” “Before I met Lori me and my little brother used to camp all the time. It was fun but he always got into trouble.” “Wait, but I thought you were a fish..?” I asked. “He’s a Lizard!” Soma chimed in. “Heh… an Axolotl to be specific.” Mesa’s voice was almost a whisper compared to Soma’s. “What?? I didn’t know Meropians could be Lizards!” “Most people think Meropians are just people with gills. That’s not entirely true though. A Meropian is someone who calls the Ocean Home.” I guess that makes sense. I remembered back to earlier when Lori shushed Soma. “Soma. Earlier today you wanted to say something to me, when Miss Lori silenced you. What was it?” Soma looked around and cleared her throat before looking at me. “According to Mistress Lori, the Ostium is in danger.” “Oh, You mean Ketea? I knew that already.” “No, not him. They say that a long time ago there was a witch who wanted to take over the world. Everyone says she died a thousand years ago, but Lori says she must have survived somehow. I didn’t believe it at first, I mean- how could someone manage to keep themself alive for that long? But Lori told me about how apparently some landwalker knew the witch and wrote a story about her that proves she’s somehow alive. None of us have read the story though so we have no idea what to look for. Lori wants us to stay vigilant and was thinking about asking you to leave the Ostium here for safekeeping. I guess she doesn’t want too anymore though or she would have discussed it with you. I don’t know why she’d want to keep quiet about it though.” Book… but I just read a book about a sea witch. Could it be real? What happened to the witch at the end again? … oh thats right! She was… imprisoned. Inside. The relic. Oh no. What do I do? Should I tell them? Should I confront Palyma? What about Ketea? So many questions but I stopped myself. I can’t jump to conclusions. No, it couldn’t be Palyma. I shrugged it off. The four of us sat around for a while, talking about simple things, and eventually they went inside and we went to sleep. I slept easy, but it felt like the morning came way too fast, even by my standards. I felt like I hardly slept at all. I was woken by Palyma yelling at me to get up and stop burning daylight. I tried to forget about what Soma said last night, I got out of my Tent and Stretched. It was nice and warm out, a bit windy too. “Where is Shadow I wonder?” I went inside to see if I could find him. He wasn’t in the hall leading to the Garden or the main hall. My eyes passed over the lower level doors. They were open. Usually they were closed so naturally, it drew my attention. Cautiously I walked down the stairs into the dark hall. It wasn’t pitch black or anything, but dark enough that I felt the need to watch my step. Especially since the lower levels are supposed to be submerged. I wasn’t sure if this one was supposed to be or not, but it wasn’t. I walked down the dark hallway until I came to the door at the end. there was light seeping under the door. I opened it and walked in to see Windows at the back, they were right up to the ceiling and weren’t very tall, like most basement windows. There was a bunch of pictures framed on the wall at the back of the large empty room. Walking over to them, I realized who was in them. The first one I saw was of a young Lionfish girl, smiling wide with a big gap in her teeth, She wore a ponytail and was holding a spear. It was Palyma as a child. Above that one, I saw another picture of her, but this time there was someone else. Another Lionfish, she seemed older and gentle, much unlike Palyma herself. “… That’s my mother.” I jumped a little, almost forgetting she was there. Her voice was soft. “Everyone else in my family was always out, busy working on their own things. My mother was the only family I ever got to spend time with. It’s only now that she’s gone I can see how much trouble I caused her whenever I didn’t take my job seriously.” “You not taking your job seriously? Really?” I joked. She smirked at me for a moment. “I always thought I had better things to do. Like Catapulting myself out of trees and seeing how many meters I could throw a spear.” At first I thought she was joking, but her expression said otherwise. “Solid Priorities.” Was the only response I could think of. “Yup… It seems like Lori hasn’t gone in here at all… This room is in shambles.” It’s true it was. the nicest part of the room was the Streams of water flowing through the room up against the wall. I remembered what I came down here for and left the room, back into the darkness of the hallway. I decided Shadow wasn’t down here and went back upstairs. I got back outside and saw him sitting by the fountain looking at the flowers. He definitely wasn’t there before. “Hey, where were you?” I asked as I walked over to him. “Forest.” “Why there?” “I got bored while waiting for you to wake up.” Hearing him say he was waiting for me confused me a bit, why wait for me? All we do is sit around while I stare at the ocean all day anyways. Then I remembered and uneasiness filled my mind. “Since you’re up, let’s get started shall we?” My body stiffened at the offer. Shadow didn’t seem to notice but Palyma sure did. “Oh don’t be such a wuss, it’s only water!” she prodded, a grin crossing her face. “Says the Fish. Of course someone like you wouldn’t understand.” Palyma blinked, then made a pout as she tilted her head to one side. Ugh, she must think I’m such a loser! While I was distracted, Shadow had grabbed my arm and was heading down the grassy hill towards the beach. As soon as I noticed I began trying to escape his grip, but I couldn’t manage to get away. By the time he stopped in front of the water I had given up. He made me take off my gloves and my shoes, and the instant my foot touched the water I chickened out and backed away. Several minutes of hesitation followed. Until Palyma, who had been silently observing up to now, spoke. “Well Shadow, I applaud your patience. If I was you I’d have thrown him in by now.” I was about to snap at her for being so inconsiderate but then I saw Soma and Mesa coming down towards the beach. Great. Now they get to see me make a fool of myself too I guess. Soma saw me and Waved. “Hey you guys! What are you doing down here?” I realized that the two weren’t in their uniforms today, Mesa wasn’t wearing his shirt and Soma was wearing a lavender crop top, darker shorts and light pink sandals. “Trying to teach Sonic how to swim.” Shadow responded in a tired voice. Soma smiled. “Oh! How exciting!” “Not really, he won’t even set foot in the water. Shouldn’t you two be working?” Without answering, Mesa began to walk away, towards a nearby cliff. Soma watched him go before looking back at Shadow. “No, actually. Today is our day off for the week! Mesa wanted to swim. I figured I would come with him to uh… moisturize.” She giggled nervously. I looked over to where Mesa was headed, and saw him stand atop a tall cliff, before gracefully diving in. He almost seemed to be showing off. I noticed Soma’s eyes watch him longingly. She probably came just to spend time with him. The emotion in her face was one I felt familiar with, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. The Meropian shook her head and turned to me this time. “Anywho, Sonic you know you won’t get anything done standing over here. You need to get in the water to swim.” I said nothing and averted my eyes. I didn’t want to look like an idiot, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. “Ah, I get it. You don’t have to be scared. Here let me help you.” She took my arm gently and started walking towards the water. I wanted to back away but somehow having her with me gave me confidence. I wasn’t sure why, but Soma seemed to radiate confidence. I always feel better around her. I wasn’t even bothered by the slime on her hand. My foot touched the water again and I flinched at the coldness, but I tried my hardest to keep moving, and put my other foot in. Soma continued to wade through the water until she reached Shadow and let go of my arm. The water was up to my waist and it felt really cold. “There we are. That wasn’t so bad was it?” She seemed happy and took a step back. Shadow looked at me, noticing how cold I was. “It’s not as bad once you go all the way in you know.” He extended his arm towards me. “Ugh can’t you just get on with it?” He didn’t move but he seemed to get a bit annoyed with my impatience. “That’s the thing, getting you to swim will be near impossible like this, you have to get more comfortable in the water first.” “Then what are we going to do?” Shadow shrugged. “Not much. Just… hang out in here I guess.” With a sigh, I grabbed Shadow’s hand and he started to head out further into the water, until it was about up to my chest. It was still really cold and I wanted so bad to just get out. I looked back to see Soma sitting on a rock talking to Mesa as he swam around. At first I thought she was lying to make me feel better when she told me she wasn’t the best swimmer, but her avoidance of the deep water proves she was telling the truth. “Alright, you need to put your head underwater first.” Shadow told me as he grabbed my wrist, probably to stop me from running away. “Uh… no I don’t think so.” “Sonic if you want my help you have to listen to me. It’s not hard.” I looked at him a moment, unmoving. I wanted to do as he said, but I couldn’t get myself to move. It was frustrating to say the least. Shadow sighed and rolled his eyes. “Do you want me to help you?” “Maybe” I was a bit nervous of what he was going to do, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be that bad. “Alright. You’ll probably want to close your eyes.” He instructed as he placed his hands on my shoulders. “I’m going to count to three and push you down, okay?” “I don’t know if that’s a very good idea…” The thought of getting pushed underwater terrified me, I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. “Relax. I’m not going to hold you there, you have nothing to be afraid of.” I tried to calm myself down, after a few seconds I was feeling somewhat okay. “Ready?” “…yeah.” I closed my eyes. “3…2…1…” I braced myself as I felt myself get shoved down, the water felt cold on my face but I tried to stay put through the initial shock before standing up and shaking my head. I opened my eyes to see Shadow looking at me still. “Did you die?” “Absolutely!” I joked, it wasn’t so bad now that it’s over with. He could tell I wasn’t being serious because he gave a small chuckle. I felt a warmth in my cheeks after hearing something so uncommon, but I passed it off as embarrassment. “Well… I guess since now you’re a lifeless corpse incapable of feeling fear, you won’t have any trouble doing that again without my help?” He was talking in a lighthearted voice, he sounded so friendly he didn’t even sound like himself anymore. I always assumed this kinda thing would weird me out but it was just… pleasant. I could feel myself blushing. I didn’t want him to notice so almost without hesitation, I took a breath and lowered myself back into the cold water. It wasn’t as cold feeling since my face was hot for some reason. When I lifted my head again I couldn’t see Shadow anymore. I Looked around and saw him talking to Soma and Mesa over by the rocks. I walked over to them, I couldn’t hear what they were saying and they stopped when I got near. “Why’d you leave?” “Sorry, I had to ask Soma something.” “Oh really? Like what?” Soma averted her eyes, and Shadow didn’t say anything at first. “Nevermind. It’s not important.” Before I got the chance to pester him into telling me, Soma and Mesa caught my attention. “C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Mesa’s quiet voice ensured the timid Meropian as he gave her arm a gentle tug. Soma shook her head. “Why would you want to swim with a slow, slimey little slug like me? There’s nothing fun about lugging a booger like me around at all!” I was caught off guard by the way Soma talked about herself! Mesa’s face grew disappointed, but not for long. “Nonsense!” He said loudly, before grabbing Soma by her sides and pulling her into his arms as he leaned back into the water. Soma shrieked, then started to laugh. “I swear, one of these days you’re gonna give me a heart attack!” The way they acted sometimes reminded me of a couple. Wait- were they a couple? I assumed they weren’t but it was a possibility. I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Are you doing okay?” He asked me. We’d been over here a while now so I was a bit confused by the question. “Um, yeah I guess. Why?” “Well, this water is pretty deep.” I looked down and noticed that the water was up past my shoulders and if it were any deeper I’d have to be on tiptoes in order to touch the bottom. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize this, but now that I know, panic started to rise. Shadow could see me looking around for more shallow water, but of course I couldn’t see any. “You’ll have to go waaay over there for that. Just relax.” How he always knew what I was thinking eluded me, I guess in this moment I made it quite obvious though. I tried to relax, but the water practically right by my face, and I had no way of getting it away, and it made me nervous, and… and… nope. Nope good. I couldn’t think straight anymore. I raised my hands in a panic and tried to get it away, what I didn’t expect was for it to work. My eyes were shut tight but I heard a low buzzing sound. Unsure of the source, I opened my eyes and saw the water dipping down in front of my face, raising back up in front of my open hands. Why? Why does it only work when I’m not trying to do it? The others all looked at me in silence. “I take it you're… a bit overwhelmed?” Shadow asked me. “Just a bit.” Shadow guided me back near the shore and I climbed up onto one of the rocks. He sat next to me. Soma was floating around near the rocks and Mesa seemed like he wanted to stay close to her, he was practically swimming circles around her. I’d never seen anyone swim so fast before, and he isn’t even a fish! I wonder if Palyma can swim faster? I looked at Soma and noticed her wings were moving quite a bit, despite them never actually moving at all any other time. “Hey uh, Soma? If you don’t mind me asking, what are those things on your back for?” Soma looked at them for a second. “Oh, my wings? I need them to swim. I can’t do it without them.” “Really? How come?” “Well, I don’t have bones or muscles like most people, so I’m not very strong. My wings give me that extra little bit of force I need to get around. Even with them though I’m very slow. That’s… just a me thing though.” Looking at her now, she was very slow, I didn’t even realize she was moving until she pointed it out. She was still pretty in the water though. Just like a water Lily.

ONLY FUCKING MAMORU.