Chapter 12

The bustling city was still busy, filled with people walking to their respective destinations. By the time Navile and Sachi arrived at one of the Whistle Fleet ships, the light of the afternoon sun was already illuminating the entire ship.

But the light doesn't come from the real sun but from the scenery features that all ships have to replace the endless darkness of space by presenting different views.

Almost all Fleet Whistle Ships have a dagger-like shape with a convex top. About a million people live in the ship's central dome. The interior of the ship consists of two main sectors. The first is an area for Defender personnel and a residential area.

Navile and Sachi were in a residential area that contained a shopping center. Shops with modern style buildings are neatly lined up, but there is one shop on this ship that really grabs the attention.

"Why are we here? Are we going to practice in the afternoon?" Sachi asked with a face that couldn't hide her curiosity. A second later the curious face changed, she puffed her cheeks like a child who was whining for candy. With a sullen face Sachi said, "You haven't told me earlier, but why are you practicing?"

Navile took a short breath while rubbing his forehead looking at Sachi who was always impatient if she wanted to know something.

"Come in first, I'll tell you inside. There's something I want to ask to Uncle Neil and Aunt Kana."

Without waiting for Sachi to say yes, Navile immediately walked into the courtyard of a Japanese-style cake shop in the middle of modern city.

As he walked down the path leading to the cake shop, Navile smiled. "They're both weird, aren't they," he thought to himself.

"Yoo… Navile… Sachi…."

The voice that sounded so warm greeted the two. A man wearing a dark green kimono and wooden sandals immediately opened the glass door that written 'Kyoritsi Cake Shop'.

The man's smile grew wider. With a facial expression that Navile thought looked suspicious, the person he called Uncle Neil waved his hand as if he was a stuffed cat calling a shop customer.

"Hi Uncle," said Navile with a slight tug at the corners of his lips. "Where is Aunt Kana?"

Navile looked around the cake shop which was only fifteen square meters in size. His eyes searched for a figure no less strange than the man in the kimono who greeted him earlier.

"Oh… Kana is preparing dinner. Come in."

Navile and Sachi nodded at the same time.

"Navile… what year is it anyway, why he still wearing kimono and wooden sandals like that?" whispered Sachi. Then she noticed another part that was no less curious. Uncle Neil who was walking in front of him and Navile, had shoulder-length hair that was partly curled using a hairpin in the shape of a miniature sword.

"Don't mention it, he can hear your voice, you know!" Navile half whispered back.

Unknowingly, the person they were talking about turned and smiled. His warm smile didn't change at all as if he didn't have any emotions except happiness.

After walking for a few minutes, they arrived at the simple dining room of the cake shop that doubles as the house. Navile and Sachi refer to the owner of the cake shop as an oriental couple because everything in the house is Japanese style

"Why are you so dirty, you must have been playing all day, huh?"

A voice no less warm than Neil welcomed them into the dining room. According to the nicknames given to them by Navile and Sachi. A woman who was about the same age as Neil also wore a light purple kimono. Her long hair was left loose while some of the others were tied using a hairpin with flower ornaments.

"What's playing, Aunt Kana. We have been bothered by the Dolls all day," Sachi grumbled. A tired look was clearly visible on her face. But the tiredness seemed to disappear when Kana brought a bowl of soup that was still billowing.

"Think of it as playing," Kana said as if fighting was a game.

After serving food to Navile, Sachi, and Neil, Kana also sat on the cushion and said, "Let's eat." Her smile was no less wide than Neil's.

"Actually there's something bothering me, uncle."

Navile finally revealed the anxiety that he had been hiding for a long time. He remembered the time he faced a giant spider-shaped monster of crystal in the area of ​​the Dolls sealing monument.

Neil's face didn't change, as if he had understood before Navile said anything. He was the one who took care of Navile. and Sachi at Veda's request. It can't be that he doesn't know the change in his protege's attitude?

Neil continues to eat his food while waiting for Navile to continue his speech. He stares at his foster child.

Navile continues his story after swallowing his food.

"When facing Dolls in the area the sealing monument, my Whistle Device picked up the signal of Dolls in the Veda room. It took me by surprise and lost my concentration. Then…"

Navile paused for a moment and his face seemed to remember the details of the incident that was troubling his mind.

"I almost got hit by the monster of crystal attack, but I managed to open the dimensional gate and returned to the mother ship to check things out. However, nothing happened. Even I didn't feel the presence of the Dolls. there. Even Veda was confused because I came alone without Sachi."

"Oh?"

"Why only 'oh' uncle?" said Navile with great emphasis. He was dissatisfied with Neil's unexpected response. Then, he put the food back in his mouth with a disappointed feeling.

"Let your uncle eat first, okay. I'm too old to think while eating."

Navile couldn't believe Neil said that. All he knows is Neil is a smart person and not too old, That guy just pretends he's old and doesn't understand anything about the Dolls problem, when in fact the guy holds a lot of mysteries. Including the basement hidden under the tatami room of his house.

"You're too quick to say you're old, even though this afternoon you didn't stop glancing at a female visitor," Kana said annoyed.

"I'm not glancing, I'm just watching," replied Neil, laughing so hard till he choked on his food.

"Feel it, it's payback for being flirtatious!"

Navile looked at his uncle and aunt in turn, then chuckled. While Sachi looked like she was digesting Navile's words. If what Navile said was true, it would mean that while fighting the Dolls earlier, Sachi was not aware that there was a danger signal from Veda's place. She immediately looked at Elysion's wand which had turned into a nanobot and hovered beside her.

"Nothing?"

The words that Sachi spoke very loudly took everyone in the room by surprise.

"What's not there?" asked Navile, Neil and Kana at the same time.

"There's no Doll's trace that my Elysion wand received a distress signal like Navile's."

Neil's face turned serious. While finishing his meal, he thought of all the possibilities that could happen.

"Maybe Navile's Whirtle Device is broken. Give it to me, let me check," he said lightly. His friendly face returned to a wide smile.

Navile sighed, he thought that Neil would think of other possibilities. But he didn't want to argue with it, then removed the Whirtle Device from his wrist. A watch-shaped communication device.

"Wait a minute, I'm going to my lab. Oh, by the way, Kana… thanks for the food."

After saying that, Neil immediately went to his lab in the basement. Meanwhile Navile and Sachi stared at their Uncle back with a strange feeling.