Dispersing the Crew

Tim and his crewmates docked their ship at Pononia Island as it was the nearest island that had public transportation available to everyone, constructed by the agencies.

The sky was hued by the sun fall, beneath the orange skies, where everybody stood and observed Karisa board the agent ship. "I hope Elder Rai becomes better. Take good care of him, okay? I'm sure Dr. Louree and Nina will make sure to fix his health." Codey explained.

"I will, thank you, and I hope you'll be able to find Harry."

Karisa answered with a nod as she held a bag over her shoulders, only to be soon approached by Natan, who looked at them. "Tim, if you don't mind, I'd like to take care of some business. It's a personal thing I'd like to do myself." Tim quickly became infuriated.

"What the hell are you on about? I don't see a reason for why you should go back too, and not to mention that you came to that statement so suddenly!" replied Tim, irritated by Natan's sudden choice. "I know, but please, this is important to me. You'd probably want to help me, but this is something I would like to do myself. Would you please listen to my request, captain?"

Tim's cheeks puffed as his ears and nose blew out steam. He then felt Ayuka's palm touch his shoulder. "Look, I understand how it feels, but please, listen to your friends' wishes. Besides, I'm sure it's important to him." Tim cocked his head to the side with unamusement and then crossed his arms, then slowly reached with his face in front of Ayuka, their nose tips nearly touching.

"W-What are you doing?" she gulped, feeling embarrassed while quickly heating up into her face, sweating. "Hmph..." Tim realized the reason why she heated up and reddened and immediately sidestepped, while Ayuka took a relieved breath. "Fine. But he's the last person. I'm not allowing anyone else to leave the ship. Go ahead, Natan, hopefully, you'll succeed with whatever you need to do."

Ayuka quickly rotated to the side and quickly covered her ears. The sweat continued to sprinkle around her face as her mouth trembled. "I almost lost my cool..." she whispered and took a relieved sigh.

"Thank you, captain. When I'm finished with this mission, I'll consider returning to the ship, and I'm sorry I won't be there to help." Claimed Natan as Tim smiled kindly. "Yeah, sure, just take care of whatever you need, and hopefully, there will be enough room for you to be back on board, Natan."

For once, Natan expressed his friendship and bowed in front of Tim. He held his violin case on his shoulder and made sure to shake hands with Tim. He turned around and followed Karisa on the ship, who struggled to pull the case. "Why's this case so heavy?" earlier bag she held seemed to be much lighter and easy to transport, yet for some reason, it was much heavier.

"Do you need help?" questioned Natan with a confused face. She giggled shamefully, but declined his help, then boarded the ship with Natan.

They waited for the ship to sail away for the next five minutes, and once it did, they waved at their friends from the docks. "See you again, guys!" called Kou, followed by Ralphie's sentence. "When you come back, I'll make sure to cook for you as much as you'd like!"

Yumiko hopped on the wood and waved energetically. "Thank you both for helping me save my home!" soon, Ayuka started to feel a bit strange and became suspicious.

"Hey, guys... did Elliott stay on the ship or - where is he?" everybody froze in their position and looked around stressfully until Karisa's bag was forced open. Instantly Elliott hung onto Karisa's body and held her tightly while her eyes quickly ended up becoming surprised. "Bye!" Immediately everyone's eyes popped out of their sockets, and Tim immediately ran to the edge of the docks, shouting.

"Elliott?! What the hell are you doing?! Come back here!" but he ignored his command and waved. "Sorry, I'd rather go see that adorable little Nina! Take care!" he shouted and laughed out loud. "Elliott!" Codey yelled, then continued, "Did you forget we're supposed to find a gateway back home?!"

"Yup, I know. But you left Nina behind, so I suppose you wouldn't mind me visiting her, right?" his friends shouted his name in unison and then felt awkward. Their eyes were twitching as they couldn't believe Elliott's scheme.

"Get back here!"

Forgetting about his curse, Tim immediately dove into the water while Ayuka squeaked. "Hey! Did you forget you can't swim?!" she grasped the hold of his pants, nearly pulling them down, but lost balance and splashed into the water.

Others looked into the sea water only to gradually see Ayuka swim to the surface, holding Tim's weakened body. Despite knowing it was a stupid move, she stayed calm, and pulled him up to the surface and gently lay him on the docks, where he became traumatized and spit out a fountain of water.

"Come on... Please be less reckless. You're stressing me out too much when you fall into the seawater." Ayuka stated and reached for her forehead. "Yup... you got it..." Tim said and coughed.

Kou crouched next to his head and gently poked his head. "Just let him go. You'll never change his mind when he's locked onto something. Plus, he's with Karisa, so I'm sure she'll take good care of him."

Tim slowly sat up and leaned his torso onto his elevated leg, and sighed from being disappointed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He stepped back up and looked at his clothes. "Great, I'm all soaked. Let's board our ship so that I can change." Others agreed and laughed while slowly returning to the ship, leaving Ayuka behind her with a relaxed smile.

"He never changes, huh?" Ayuka spoke, only to watch Yumiko peek from behind her, holding her arms crossed on her back, then bow her torso forward. "Hey, Ayuka. I can't help but notice. You blushed earlier when Tim's face was right in front of you. Is there something I'm missing?"

Ayuka jumped from shock and quickly backed away after squeaking. "Y-Yumiko?! W-What? N-No, there's nothing. It's just that he was a bit too close to my comfort, but nothing to worry about, hehe..." Yumiko spotted Ayuka looking to the side and saw her jiggle adorably from embarrassment.

"Oh. My. God. I got it! It's so obvious! You like him!!" Yumiko laughed and pointed her finger at Ayuka, who quickly flinched on the spot. "What?! Like him?! I don't! I just felt uncomfortable! I told you so!" Yumiko playfully continued to mock her politely.

"That is so cute! C'mon, tell me! When did you start to like him?!" Ayuka leaned forward and became furious, trying to mask her feelings. "I told you that I do NOT like him!"

"But Tim told me that you like him." Ayuka squeaked again and questioned. "W-Wait, he did? So, he knows?" Yumiko then straightened up, and put her arms on her back, winked, showing Ayuka her tongue. "Nope, he didn't, but you just admitted that you like him."

Ayuka's face turned redder than fire, grasped her head as she screamed into the air from being exposed. "How could I be so dumb?!"

"Hey, don't worry. I won't tell him, promise. All I wanted to hear was for you to admit it." Ayuka lifted her head and looked at her awkwardly. "You won't?"

"Of course, I will, haha!" Yumiko spun around and chased after the others in an instant. "Wait, no! Yumiko! We can talk about this! Hey! Stop!" Ayuka could only hear Yumiko giggle in front of her as she ran, and soon they would resume their voyage to the Urban Craftsman Island. "Yumiko!!"

To be continued...