Yamapi and Ryo faced the dawn on the Honshu’s easternmost shore, both leaning against the pole of the dock. All around them, sailors were scurrying to finish the final preparations on the ship that would, in a matter of minutes, be taking them to Hokkaido. The salty breeze whipped at the loose folds of their clothing as sea spray dampened the dock on which they stood, waiting for the signal to board.
 
“Are you sure it’s a good idea taking a ship?” Ryo asked, voicing his concern.
 
Yamapi glanced over, holding a hand up to block his hair as it scattered around his face with the morning wind. His eyes showed determination, as they often were, and his other hand was held in a tight fist at the rail. He shook his head and gave Ryo a small, genuine smile. “I’ll be fine.”
 
“Okay,” Ryo replied briskly, then sighed. “Just stay near me. I kind of had a bad feeling about this.”
 
Yamapi bit his lips, looking around the wide blue sea once more. Yamapi believed in hard work and perseverance, and he knew nothing good will be achieved without pain. But at some point, he regretted being himself. It just felt unfair, that he had to go through such things. Ryo gave up some time ago, but Yamapi wanted to hold on to his hope. “Ryo, you need not follow. Just stay here and enjoy the rest of your life peacefully.”
 
Ryo scoffed, rolling his eyes dramatically. “As if you can go without me,” he laughed. “I know as Liminals you’re stronger than I am, but in some moments, you’re just useless. This is one of them,” Ryo gestured towards the ship.
 
Yamapi scrunched his face in annoyance. “Yeah, thank you for the compliment,” he replied sarcastically. Ryo grinned. He knew Yamapi didn’t take it to heart though. And he proved his point when Yamapi’s lips curved upwards, shuffling his raven hair into a mess.
 
Ryo averted his gaze to the golden sun that was now rising above deep waters growing bluer by the second. “Anyway, I would feel lonely without you here,” his melancholic voice echoed, killing his smile in a matter of second. And Yamapi fell in silence.
 
“I’m sorry,” Yamapi murmured. His heart clenching at the pain, remembering the moments Ryo lost everything dear to his heart. And his eyes flickered at the necklace with white pearl, tangling around Ryo’s neck by the blow of the wind – it was pure, calm and beautiful, just like the original owner.
 
“Don’t be,” Ryo shook his head, grabbing Yamapi’s arm as he pulled the younger forward. “We should hurry, they will be leaving.”
 
They trotted hurriedly when they saw a middle-aged sailor waving from the ship's boarding plank, beckoning towards his passengers. The boarding plank was pulled, the sails were dropped, and then the ship was floating away from the dock, towards the sun. Yamapi looked back, until the ship was too far out for him to see the land, he faced the distant horizon. His gaze was more piercing than the morning chill of the water. He wanted his freedom, his freedom to live a normal life, his freedom to love whoever he deserved – the piece of his will that life's cruelties had not been able to spoil, that dared to hope. And that part was waiting for him at the end of his journey. He was at least sure of that.
 
The storm struck at midnight. Unforeseen from the south, gales rocked the ship and its occupants with earthquake force, and it was all the sailors could do to keep the ship on course. Ryo and Yamapi did as they must, staying out of the way and letting the trained men do their frantic work. Water pounded the sides of the ship and hundreds of frigid raindrops stabbed their flesh like needles, the sheets of water so thick that it was nearly impossible to see four feet in front of them.
 
Yamapi kept a strong grip on the strap, while Ryo just tried to balance himself without any hold. The storm's wicked wrath broke chunks of wood off the mast, seen clearly only when lightning cracked the death-dark sky. The shouts of the sailors were lost to the wind, ruining communication.
 
It was when Ryo noticed all of the sailors stopping dead in their tracks and facing the prow that Ryo too turned and he saw the tidal wave, larger than any he had seen in his life. The entire crew had frozen, knowing any more effort was useless and that their end was inevitable. In the seconds that the wall of water started to arc and then fall, Ryo had only one thought.
 
It was a dragon.
 
“No way,” Yamapi gasped, feeling his grip tighter. “It’s appearing from the sea!”
 
Ryo shifted his sight towards his best friend. “Pi, you’re sure you’re okay?” Ryo wanted to just turn himself into what he is, but he couldn’t afford to let the sailors saw his other form. But when the strap Yamapi was holding on snapped and sent Yamapi tumbling down the deck, Ryo couldn’t care more. He might lose his best friend.
 
At that very moment, the eyes of the tanned boy shone in bright red, and his whole slender body turned into a large firebird with beautiful feathers of gold and red. The last thing the occupants of the ship could think was the presence of a dragon in the sea, and the sudden appearance of a phoenix from their own ship. But they never had the chance to think, or feel the massive wave hit. Large plank of woods tore off from the starboard side and beat them whole. The ship was breaking. And Ryo flew straight towards the end of the ship to catch Yamapi behind his back.
 
“The people fell off the sea!” Yamapi said, rivaling the noises around them. His hand gripped Ryo’s back feather tightly, in order not to fall.
 
“We don’t have time to worry about them. They're floating on the board anyway, they'll be tossed by the sea. The dragon is going to have a feast! We need to stop it,” Ryo replied.
 
“Holy ! Another Liminal? And even worse, it's a dragon!” Yamapi spat.
 
“Take my necklace, Pi. We need to save the dragon, as well as those innocent people,” Ryo ordered, flying around the head of the dragon to distract the creature from the men floating in the sea. “Sorry, Takki, we still need to borrow your power.”
 
Yamapi grinned, undoing the white pearl necklace around Ryo’s neck. “We’re pathetic, right? We just can’t do anything without him.”
 
“Well, you can’t do anything without me, either,” Ryo added.
 
Yamapi scoffed. “You still have time to joke. But well, it means you cannot die,” he grabbed the white pearl and carefully stood on Ryo’s back. “You’re not allowed to.”
 
When Ryo flew nearer to the dragon, and the dragon raised its head, opening his mouth to grab whatever feast he might get, Yamapi jumped on the dragon’s head, gripping its scale strongly as he struggled to place the pearl on the dragon’s forehead. Just as he reached for his aim, the pearl shone. And the last thing Ryo could register was a bright light shining around them.
 

 
On a deserted beach at Hokkaido, Ryo landed and let Yamapi down with a stranger on him. Yamapi carefully put the fainted boy down the sandy beach as Ryo turned himself back into his human form. The boy looked around their age, strands of copper hair covering the fair face.
 
“Dragon isn’t a mere Liminal. Who is this guy?” Ryo queried.
 
“How would I know,” Yamapi shook his head. “But he’s a new Liminal, that’s for sure. He lost control of himself,” he knelt down, threading his fingers along the wet hair strands of the stranger. “This curse just needs to stop. It harms people more each day.”
 
“We’re going to leave him here?” Ryo asked.
 
“You’re kidding me, right?” Yamapi squinted. “We just purified him with Takki’s pearl, it would take a few days before he could remember the whole thing. We can’t just leave him here.”
 
“Fine, let’s just bring him along. But who is he?” Ryo grumbled.
 
Yamapi took another look at the boy, and he pulled out a handkerchief from the stranger’s pocket. There was a name embroidered nicely at one end of the handkerchief – Ueda Tatsuya. Yamapi tilted his head aside.
 
“Now why do I feel like I heard that name somewhere before?” Ryo pondered loudly.
 
“Ryo, he’s one of the Keepers,” Yamapi’s answer hit Ryo hard. “He’s Jin’s colleague. The 'U'.”
 
The small waves crashed the beach lightly, sending the melodic sound around them as they froze. Neither had anything left to say. They weren't sure which fact that surprised them the most; the fact that they had a Keeper near them, or the fact that a Keeper actually turned into a Liminal himself. Ryo knew by that time fate really loved playing with them, probably even waiting to see what they’ll do to defy it.
 
 
To be continued...