“Hey, Ryo!”

Ryo jerked up his head, successfully being pulled out of his agony. “What?” he frowned.

“Don’t look at me that way,” Yamapi complained. “You dozed off when we’re supposed to be going for a scuba diving.”

There was a small bitter smile formed on Ryo’s lips. “Sorry.”

Yamapi had to bite his lips when he heard that, and he felt something is tearing up deep inside his heart. “Something is wrong?”

“No. Nothing,” Ryo shook his head, briskly applied his mask and fins, preparing himself for the dive. Yamapi had to stare at his best friend for a few more seconds, before he sighed and gave up. Ryo had become harder to express himself each day, ever since he turned into a Liminal. Yamapi learned not to ask.

So Yamapi simply shrugged and said, “You know, I hoped you didn’t kill Ueda.”

There was an obvious frown on Ryo’s face, Yamapi could see behind the diving mask. “Pi, I really don’t want to talk about this but we had no choice...”

“I hoped it wasn’t you,” Yamapi interrupted. “I wish it was me or someone else. Because I knew you would blame yourself. Just like you are now.”

Ryo blinked, staring at Yamapi’s face speechlessly. He wasn’t sure when, but over the years Ryo knew Yamapi had the ability to read him inside out, without voicing a word. They’ve gone through a lot together, somehow it’s understandable.

“How does it feel to kill?” Yamapi’s tone was low, woven with reluctance and sorrow.

And Ryo had to swallow hard. “It feels damn horrible.”

Yamapi didn’t say another word after that. He knew he shouldn’t. No matter how much he wanted to say he understood, he couldn’t. Because Yamapi killed people in his unconscious state. Ryo was the opposite of him. He just couldn’t say it. He knew whatever he said might just hurt Ryo more. So Yamapi simply nodded, pulled down his mask and said, “Let’s find the pearl. The target is the green pearl. And it’s a deep sea diving, don’t go too far from each other,” he then connect his snorkel and compensator.

Ryo formed a small bitter smile, nodding as he prepared his apparatus too, before they both threw themselves off the boat, down the deep blue ocean, the spot where Yamapi saw Ueda’s pearl fell.

*****

“Why do I have to go? Who would feed the Liminals if I'm gone?” Yabu complained, shouldering his rucksack.

“Oh, come on!” Jin sighed. “The Liminals won’t die easily just for missing a few meals.”

Jun chuckled. “Are you sure it would just be a few meals?”

“What?” Jin turned to the merman. “What do you mean?”

“You’re asking me to bring you to Takizawa’s place, do you think we’ll just go for a cup of tea then come back home?” there was a hint of sarcasm in Jun’s voice which was not go unnoticed by the two lads. “Besides, to be honest, I do know he used to stay in Hokkaido, but I don’t know the exact address.”

“Really? What else do you know about Takizawa?” Jin squinted, eyeing Jun curiously.

Jun raised his hands, giving out the action of surrender as he shrugged. “I don’t see the point of lying to you. This is really all I know,” he smirked. “But bring me there, and I can be more than helpful to you.”

Jin had to stare deep into Jun’s eyes before he could actually answer back. “I have yet to fully trust you. But I won’t leave you here. Try something funny, and you’ll be dead.”

Jun didn’t show even a tinge of fear though. He kept smirking as he hopped onto the car with Yabu and Jin, driving towards the airport. As the car went further, the fae that had been flying around them perched on the fence, watching the disappearing around the corner before the fae flew back away, going through a few corners until it reached a house.

Through a slightly opened window, the fae flew in and the eyes shone pink before turning himself back into a human. There was another two guys sitting inside the house, watching something on the television.

“Where have you been, Uchi?” Yoko asked, turning away from the screen.

The fae grinned. “We should get going.”

That stole Subaru and Yoko’s attention.

“I just got back from my stalking. The Keepers just headed to Hokkaido where Yamapi and Ryo are; Takki’s old house,” Uchi beamed.

Subaru switched off the TV. “This is it,” he grinned. “It is our turn to go and do something for Ryo and Yamapi now.”

*****

The underwater world apparently is darker and compressing than Yamapi thought. Well, especially when you were specifically searching for a tiny green pearl. The torch was on, but all Yamapi could see is the fishes, and some unknown creatures he had never seen in his life. Carefully he activated his eyes, shining in bright gold and he looked around with his eagle eyes. Things seem a lot clearer than before, and Yamapi started scanning around. It should be somewhere there.

Ryo caught the glance of Yamapi’s golden eyes, and he knew his best friend was using his Liminal power, going all out for this. He took another look around him as he squinted. Inwardly he kept chanting "Ueda's green pearl" hoping it would just pop out in his view. But ss much as he wanted to help, he was completely useless underneath the water. And he wasn’t anything like a griffin that can use the eyes to search diligently no matter what environment that is. Ryo blinks, diving around further. Guess this is what we call teamwork, huh. There was an invisible grin formed at the corner of Ryo’s lips. This is the part when he would be a little less useful than Yamapi. He saw Yamapi dove around a huge rock, and Ryo wasn’t sure what happened, but Yamapi’s hand motioned him to follow. So Ryo slowly moved closer to his best friend.

But his eyes widened in shock when he reached the corner. Behind the rock was a huge underwater cave, and not too deep inside the cave was a tightly closed door. But that wasn’t what surprised them. It was the huge symbol on the door that caught their attention – the pentagram. Ryo looked back at Yamapi, whom of course, not any less surprised than he was. And the two slowly approached the door. Landing on the edge of the cave, Yamapi’s hand pressed the door. It was locked.

For a moment, they wonder what they should do. To be completely honest though, they weren’t even sure if they should really go in. But curiosity wins. And Yamapi’s eyes shone in bright gold again, as he held his hands up and his claws merging out from the tip of his fingers, breaking his suit. As if taking in the cue, Ryo jumped a bit backwards, just right before Yamapi banged the door. He clawed the door, and some cracks slowly appeared, breaking through the pentagram symbol.

There was a long silence with Yamapi’s claws remained embedded in the door before they sensed the ground shaking. Something was breaking below their feet, and the rocks started crumbling down. Yamapi quickly retrieved his hands, jerking them out in the process which successfully breaks a segment on the door. He grab the edge of the broken door to prevent him from falling, and his other hand grabbing Ryo’s hand so his friend won’t lost.

The concussion had gotten worse by then, and Yamapi and Ryo weren’t able to register what was happening. The only thing they knew was that there was something really huge appearing from underneath the ground, and in mere seconds, that thing pushed them all the way up from the water – fast. Yamapi clawed the edge of the broken door, just to make sure he didn’t fell off, and tightened his grip for his best friend. A few minutes later, the concussion stopped and they realized they were already breathing the air. Yamapi finally loosened his grip, looking around as he saw the huge ocean and the blue sky. He stepped on the floor extended just a few stairs from the door he gripped, and he let Ryo sat on the floor.

Taking off his diving apparatus, Yamapi frowned. “What the hell had happened? What is this thing? Why are we back on the water?”

Ryo didn’t immediately answer. He took off his diving apparatus, eyes shining in bright red. “Wait here, I’ll be right back,” and he turned into a phoenix in a matter of seconds and flew up high in the sky.

The view from up above was tremendous. Ryo could see a huge building floating on the wide sea. It was like a great legendary wall of China, made up into a circle with a star connecting the five circle angle – like a pentagram. And there was a building made up in the middle of the star. Ryo gasped at the view. Yamapi was standing at one end of the star angle, where they found the door.

“Ryo! What was it?” Yamapi yelled from where he stood.

Ryo quickly flew back down, turning himself back into human as he landed on the ground. “It’s a very unexpected findings,” he said as he explained what he saw. Yamapi listened in awe.

“What the hell are we getting ourselves into?” Ryo ended his description.

“No,” Yamapi said, facing the broken door in front of him. Something inside him is building up; he wasn’t sure about it himself. “I can at least tell we’re getting nearer to what we’re searching for.”

“Wanna go in?” Ryo asked.

“You’re scared?”

“Pfft, you’re asking the wrong guy, dude,” Ryo rolled his eyes. “I’m just worried if anything happen to you. This looks like nothing we ever faced before.”

Yamapi grinned. “Either we fight until the end, or we say goodbye to our freedom, Ryo.”

Ryo was kept silent for a while. “I think the building at the middle is the castle that hold the secret. Let’s go,” and Ryo inwardly swore he’ll make sure Yamapi would return safely. Even if it would cost his own life.

They pushed the broken door, which apparently the lock was broken as well, and they easily entered. When they closed the door again, they noticed they were in huge hall, with another exit on the opposite side. But the problem was, right in front of that opposite exit was a flock of Liminals of different types, looking wild and hungry; and they didn’t seem like the ones who were able to control themselves too.

“Oh god,” Ryo’s eyes shone in bright red. “Time to go wild.”



To be continued...