Four Girls and the Cursed Treasure of Coyotli: Chapter Three

His shot connected, knocking the pirate from the rope causing him to fall into the sea below. The fight had begun.
Natsuki instantly drew the two pistols held to her sides and opened fire, several rounds exploded from her flintlock repeaters before she dove towards the rail of the ship, followed by Sayori who took cover waiting for the first wave of pirates to board the ship.
One after another ship mates landed on the deck of the ‘Heartbeat’ and engaged the others, two pirates thrust their swords at Anon who weaved in between the blades, cutting down the first pirate and meeting the blade of the second with his own with a tell-tale clash. With their swords engaged in a duel of their own the pirate swung his free fist at Anon, catching him in the shoulder and sending him backward freeing their blades once more.
Without warning his head splattered open following a resounding crack, Anon turned to see smoke waft from the barrel of Monika’s blunderbuss before she holstered it, smiling at him and winking.

“Can’t let you have all the fun, Anon.”

She ducked as an oversized brute swung a fistful at her, jabbing her sword forward straight through his stomach in one swift movement, withdrawing her cutlass and shoving the burly mass towards another pirate who had begun charging her causing him to stumble out of the way, giving her a free window to attack.
The air was met with the sounds of cannon fire, the deck beneath them shuddered as it attempted to withstand the blow.

“What are you idiots doing to my ship?!”

Monika roared as she engaged another opponent scolding them like a mother would a child, running him through without a hint of remorse.
Meanwhile Yuri was wielding her two blades her elegant frame almost dancing as she battled, Natsuki had holstered one of her repeaters and was reloading the other, preparing to pelt the advancing pirates with another volley of lead bullets. Next to her was Sayori who had been tailing her the entire fight shaking in fear, tears started to well up in her eyes. Natsuki fired into the crowd before ducking behind cover once more and grabbing the girl next to her.

“What are you doing dummy, get a hold of yourself!”
“I-I can’t Natsuki… I don’t like fighting you know that.”
“Well it’s either us or them, so you better start fighting or we’ll be done for.”

A pirate rounded the corner taking the pair by surprise, Natsuki grabbed Sayori’s sword arm and thrust it into the pirate running him through.
The girl whimpered.

“I’m sorry!”
“Don’t apologise idiot, now get fighting.”
She finished reloading and cocked her repeater preparing for the next attack.
“Come on, I’ll stick with you but you have to try and fight back, okay?”
“O-okay…”
Natsuki moved out of cover and returned to the fight, Sayori following suit.

The battle continued for some time, by now the Doki crew had felled a good number of the enemy and only sustained minor injuries, The ‘Heartbeat’ was much worse for wear as a second round of cannon fire rung through the air, tearing holes in the ship’s hull like a knife through fabric.
More pirates had boarded the ship. Monika and Anon fought back to back relentlessly clashing swords with the opposition. Running the last of the group through Anon turned to the captain behind him who returned the gesture, for a moment their eyes caught one another. Anon thought to himself for a moment.

“Was this his chance...?”
“Should he do it?”

His gaze passed over her soft lips for a moment, despite the commotion she still wore her pretty smile.
Suddenly a large thud on the deck nearby caught his attention, snapping him away from the beautiful dame in front of him. A large Brute hand landed on the ship brandishing a large blunderbuss, taking aim at the two. Anon thought quickly, shoving Monika backward to the ground as the pirate fired, the sound of the gunshot rang like a clap of thunder.

“ANON!”
Monika fell to the ground, her eyes fixed on the faint, sad smile upon Anon’s face as be braced for impact.
The blunderbuss’ projectile shattered in mid-air sending shrapnel hurtling towards the lieutenant, it struck him three times. One in the shoulder, one in the stomach and one in the leg.
“NO!”
Monika loaded her own blunderbuss and fired once, felling the enemy with a shot to the chest.
“No no no no…”
She scrambled towards Anon as he stumbled and fell to the ground, blood pouring from his wounds as he grabbed his shoulder in pain. The captain took the lieutenant in her arms, cradling him as her eyes began to water, she shook him pleadingly.
“Anon please… Don’t you die on me please!”
The lieutenant could only muster a faint smile in between pain wrought gasps.
Everything around the captain slowed to near standstill, the world drowning out and blurring except for the dying man in her arms.
“Please God… Don’t…”
“M-Monika… I-I…”
Anon could barely get his words out, his voice was rough.
“I…”
He blacked out, going limp in the arms of the captain. She set him against the wooden rail of the ship, crouched next to his seemingly lifeless body.

“Monika what are you doing? We’ve almost won this, come on.”
It was Natsuki, she had taken cover behind the mast to reload once more, by now most of her artillery had been discarded or lost during the battle leaving her with nothing but a pair of flintlock pistols.
“A-Anon… He’s…”
Natsuki’s gaze fell to the man lain against the rail.
“Shit...”
Monika stood and ambled towards the girl, tears streaked down her face. Yuri joined the two meanwhile Sayori was nowhere to be found on deck. Apparently she had abandoned Natsuki during the fight and hid somewhere. Yuri’s eyes were fixated on the body that lay behind their captain, a crushing silence fell among the group.
A sudden yelling broke the silence, it came from the attacking vessel, the group turned and watched as a pirate threw a gunpowder explosive towards the group, Natsuki shakenly drew the duelling pistol from her bandoleer and took aim, firing once. She missed. Shock rippled through the group as it landed with a thud and rolled along the planks of the deck, coming to a halt near Anon’s unconscious form.

The resulting blast shook the entire ship, splinters and debris were sent flying across the deck as the crew dove to the ground to dodge the torrent of wreckage coming their way, raising their heads from the deck. Monika was already on her knees as they watched as Anon was sent hurtling off the vessel from the explosion.
Anon’s body froze in mid-air momentarily as did everything else around her, time stopping. She couldn’t take it in.
Without even thinking for a split second Monika took off towards the starboard side and dove overboard after the lieutenant as his body hit the murky waters below with a resounding splash. Leaving the other two girls on the deck alone. They looked at each other, Natsuki gasped, something was off about Yuri.

Her plum-purple eyes had tightened to no more than two tiny dots and her breathing had become deep, almost animalistic panting, her eyelids twitching furiously. She looked like she was losing her mind. Before Natsuki could even open her mouth Yuri whipped towards the opposing ship and stormed off, leaping over the gap between the two shipsand disappearing into the hull of the ship, brandishing her swords at her sides. Natsuki gathered what few weapons she could find and rushed after her.

Monika’s head returned to the surface of the water as she gasped for air, before long she filled her lungs and dove under once more, searching frantically for any semblance of a person. She spotted a dark form off in the deep and hurtled after it like a shark tailing its prey.
A pair of black boots came into view, following by dirty white trousers and a deep blue navy coat, it was Anon. The captain kept swimming, pushing herself forward as she reached out towards Anon’s legs, grabbing them and pulling the lieutenant towards her, wrapping him in a tight embrace. She didn’t even swim anymore, she just hung in the ocean like a feather held in the folds of the wind, her arms enveloping him. The tears that formed in the corners of her eyes disappeared and mixed in with the water surrounding the couple as pure anguish washed over her, followed by some sense of relief. Suddenly her lungs strained.

Meanwhile Natsuki made her way through the hull of the ship finding body after body, each more butchered and maimed than the last, the sound of fighting came into earshot as the gunslinger burst into the dining room of the shipto find Yuri ferociously duelling three pirates at once, her swords flying wildly without even a hint of form or talent. Her usually calm and reserved demeanour had been replaced by some sort of animalistic, carnal desire to kill. The dame felled one pirate and turned to the other two, without even a split second in between she forced her sword straight through the neck of the second pirate, leaving the third.
The third ship mate approached her, he was the largest and most muscular of the three, His sword met Yuri’s with such force it sent the girls sword flying, doing the same as she brought the second blade in hoping for a surprise attack. She didn’t even step back now that she was unarmed, instead she drew a small knife from the back of her belt and lunged forward, diving under the sweeping blade of the pirate she aimed her own piece at the knee of the crew member, connecting. He stumbled and fell to the ground.
She straddled his fallen form and slammed the blade of the knife into his jugular and withdrew it, she didn’t stop however. Instead she sent the knife into the pirate once more, following with a third and fourth, repeatedly stabbing the now dead pirate relentlessly, like a beast eating at its prey, blood splattering across her arm.
Natsuki approached the dame and put a hand on the shoulder of her free hand.

“Yuri… Yuri he’s dead, sto-”
She was cut off as the girl whipped round to her.
“Let go of me!”
Natsuki didn’t take the hint and yelled back in retaliation.
“Yuri come the fu-”
Again she was cut off, this time by Yuri grabbing at the collar of her shirt.
“Shut up! Shut up God dammit.”

The violet haired girl stood up as another ship mate kicked the kitchen door open, his round figure wobbled into the room as he brandished a metal pan in one hand, a rolling pin in the other. The sword master picked up her weaponry and rushed towards him dodging the swinging kitchen utensil as she swiped one of her blades towards him, he blocked with the rolling pin, the tip of the blade becoming stuck in the wooden cylinder. He swung with the pan again catching her across the side of the head with a resounding “Twang.”
The fight was slowly turning in the cooks favour, Natsuki drew her fully loaded repeater from her belt and took aim, cocking it and firing once, following with a second shot. Bot bullets found their mark in the man’s chest and neck respectively, Yuri followed up by dragging the blade of her free sword across his throat, he fell to the ground with a thud, blood flooding over the room.
Yuri shot Natsuki a death glare before running off into the deeper parts of the ship leaving Natsuki to tremble in fear. The pure hunger for destruction that tore across Yuri’s face burned into her mind.

Natsuki stayed there for some time, by now the sounds of Yuri’s rampage had died off, whether she was still going or the battle was over Natsuki didn’t know, nor did she want to. Finally she got up off her position against the wall and left, headed for the deck above.

Monika resurfaced, her mess of brown hair breaking the calm sea water and spreading like tendrils while lifting Anon’s head out of the water as well, she spluttered and coughed as her lungs searched frantically for air. She could hardly keep the lieutenant above the surface, his weight was almost too much for her to handle as she tried to swim closer to the vessel, she surfaced just off the left side of the ‘Heartbeat’s bow. The dull silence telling her the battle was over, she caught a glance of something pink flashing over the gap between the two ships and called out.

“N-Natsuki!”
The girl on the ship stopped, whipping her head around looking for the source of the call, it came once more.
“Natsuki!”
It was Monika and it sounded like it was coming from the front of the vessel.
“Natsuki please!”
The head of pink messy hair appeared over the rail of the bow.
“Monika?”
“Help me up, I can’t keep Anon up for much longer.”
“Y-Yes captain.”
The girl disappeared only to return a few minutes later, throwing a rope ladder over the rail and tying it, climbing down towards the ocean below.

“Give me his arm or something, we’ll pull him up together!”
Monika mustered the remnants of her strength and lifted the lieutenant out of the water towards the girl on the ladder, she reached out and grabbed the scruff of his navy jacket, pulling with as much might as her tiny frame could pull together. Together they slowly worked him up the ladder, Natsuki finally pulled him over onto the ship, reaching over again for her captain and pulling her on board as well.
The captain fell to the deck, panting in pure exhaustion. Every limb in her body screamed out in pure agony as she drifted in and out of consciousness on the ground. She felt Natsuki grab her and shake her but everything was blurry around her, the girl’s voice drifted off as the world faded to darkness.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thundering footsteps caught Anon’s attention, directing it towards the door of his bedroom. His father exploded through the doorway almost pulling it completely off its hinges, an almost senile expression coated the man’s face.

“Anon! I think I’ve got something!”
“What is it, papa?”
“Come see! Come see! You’re gonna love this!”
The child sat at his writing desk, pages dotted with little doodles of ship battles and pirates brawling over treasure were scattered across the table

“Papa I don’t wan-”
He was interrupted as his father grabbed him, lifting him out of his seat and hauling him down the hallway excitedly.
“There’s no time to explain Anon! I’ve discovered something!”

Bursting into the man’s study the scent of tea mixed with the salty air coming in through the windows caught Anon’s nostrils, crisp sunlight shone through and bore down on the large table in the middle of the room, upon which lay a large map and several notes strewn across the surface covered in hastily written chicken scratch.
Anon’s father bounced towards the table, his excitement and glee were immeasurable as he motioned for the boy to join him in staring at the map.

“Look Anon! I’ve finally put all the clues together, I have a lead on the next one! Do you know where it is?! Do you?!”
“No papa.”
The boy’s voice was dry and uninterested, contrasting the eccentric and bubbly voice of his father.
“Puerto Rico! Look at my notes there, the ones in front of you.”
Anon’s eyes fell to a large stack of papers in front of him, he could barely make out the writing.
“Papa you know I can’t read your messy hand writing. I wish you would learn to write properly.”
“That takes too much time, I’m a busy man, Anon.”
“You’re unemployed.”
“Maybe so! But the winds of adventure and excitement are a full time commitment! Anyway, I found that my grandfather explored the coast of Puerto Rico aeons ago and he documented everything he found in his diary there.”

He picked up an old, heavily battered leather diary, opening it and flicking through the parchment sheets within.
“Papa…”
“Here! On June 23rd he discovered some ruins in the thick of the jungle, the mark of a raven etched into the pillars, or what was left of them at least.”
Drawing back his shirt sleeve and displaying his mark to Anon.
“A mark similar to this! Look at the drawing he made! They look exactly the same, except in his sketch the raven faces left whereas on my arm it faces to the right.”
“Papa.”
“I’m so excited, I’m getting so close to finding this treasure, Anon! One day all this will be wort-”
Anon raised his voice, it echoed off the dull blue walls of the room and silenced the mad man in front of him.

“PAPA!”

The man peered at him, almost overflowing with joy. “Yes my son?”
The child’s eyes flared with resentment.
“I don’t care papa! I don’t care about any of this! I just want to be a normal kid and play with the other kids just like everyone else, I don’t want to do all this treasure hunting stuff with you, it’s weird and scary.”
The man’s face fell instantly, a hint of empty sadness crossed his face before being replaced with a ferocious anger.
“You… You’re no son of mine! My son would jump at the chance to find treasure with his father. He’d love the opportunity to sail under starlit skies in search of the spoils that bless our waters and soils.”

The man advanced upon him, Anon stepped back but his father was faster.
“You’re not my son! Begone foul imposter!”
He swung at the boy, connecting his fist to his son’s head knocking him to the floor in one sweeping movement. The boy fell to the ground motionless, he had been knocked unconscious.
“A-Anon…?”

The father crouched by the boy’s body and held him by his shoulders, shaking him.
“Anon wake up. Please, I didn’t mean any of it you’re my son! I’ll let you do whatever you want just wake up!”
Anon remained limp, the father stood again as panic washing over him, drowning him grabbing at his lungs and straining them.
“No! I can’t… I didn’t… It wasn’t me...”
He grabbed his head, now yelling his voice filling the entire house with noise, shattering any semblance of silence that hung over the place.
“I need to get out of here, Lydia will kill me if she finds this.”
Anon’s father scrambled around the room in panic, hastily grabbing whatever notes and books he could, rolling up the map and stuffing everything he could fit into a large brown bag that lay in the corner of the room before rushing out the door. Leaving the unconscious child in his wake.


Anon awoke on his back, as he sat up the world around him came into focus and he realised he was on a beach, the soft white sand receded under him as he adjusted his position slightly. The air around him was gentle and cool, a soft breeze twirled around him lightly toying with his long brown hair.
The cold foam of the waves that advanced upon the sand slowly caught Anon’s bare feet sending shivers up his legs, he jumped to his feet and cursed trying to shake off the water that clung to his heels. The shore felt balmy and welcoming, almost eerily so.
Everything felt serene, almost like a dream. One Anon hoped he would not wake up from any time soon. He took off along the beach assessing his surroundings. The thick tree line that hugged the beach met his eyes, burning green hues of palm trees blended with the vibrant purples and reds of the floral bed that blanketed beneath the canopy.

Eventually Anon came across something odd, it was made of rock and circular in shape, like a disk. Sand covered most of the object. Anon got to his knees and began dusting it off, pulling handful after handful of the white hot powder unveiling the secrets beneath as if he were unravelling the bow on a present.
Finally the full object came into full view, Anon held the stone slab in his hands, his gaze passing over every inch in search of any clues as to its story or what it was. The slab was painted with etchings and markings in foreign tongues, one he could not fathom, his eyes finally came to rest on the head of a bird, wings outstretched almost disappearing off the edge of the tablet. Anon figured it was some sort of ritual slab and decided to discard it, standing once more.

Suddenly the winds surrounding him picked up becoming furious gales that attempted rip at his hair and clothes. The soft waves that lapped along the shoreline became torrents, each wave hurtling upward before crashing down upon Anon who stood on the beach below, despite this he remained dry. The stone at his feet caught fire, turning to a ball of flames that danced in the wind and licked at his feet, yet he didn’t feel the burning sensation.
Anon was gripped by the sudden feeling that nothing was real anymore, the view in front of him stretched, colours liquefied and melded together mixing into unidentifiable hues before tearing almost as if a page was being ripped in half in front of him. A sinkhole opened in the sand beneath him unveiling a black abyss into which Anon fell.
In moments it felt like hours had passed as he continued to plummet towards a realisation that seemingly would never come to him, a tearing sensation gripped his limbs as the blackness around him faded to a deep, dark blue. A single black streak remained in Anon’s vision, suddenly his fall halted as he hit a floor that wasn’t there.

The world around him fragmented, the only consistent being was the black figure that hung in front of Anon’s eyes, he tried to move his head but his entire body had frozen up. He tried to scream but only silence fell from his mouth deafened by the dull ringing that had enveloped him. The blackness in front of him finally moved. It spread two wide forms from its sides like a bird spreading its wings to take off from its perch. Waves of smaller black forms fell from a non-existent hole and approached Anon, pitch black masses soared towards him and surrounded him before disappearing without a trace.
In the commotion the being had grown a head, it was bird like. From what Anon could tell it was a raven. Its head reared to the left before slowly turning to face Anon. Suddenly he felt a burning on his forearm, searing his flesh as if someone was dragging a red hot rod across it, he lifted his arm and looked upon it. Something dark was painting itself along his skin twisting and turning, two black forms spread from top before finally drawing the head of a bird, tilted to the right.
The forms beak opened as it spoke, silencing the ringing that bombarded Anon’s ears, the voice was familiar but he couldn’t attach a name to it.

“What happened to Anon?”
Another voice joined it as the bird continued to speak. Once again Anon could not tie a name to it.
“He went overboard. He’s going to be okay.”

The darkness that surrounded Anon shook violently, two circular forms opened behind the raven. Emerald green disks gazed upon him suddenly bursting into merciless flames before vanishing as everything cut to black in an instant.

“When will he wake up?”
“I don’t know…”

The call of a raven echoed and the dream finally warped before shattering like glass.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anon’s eyes opened, he could feel the bags under his eyes and he grimaced. Pain held him in a firm grasp as he tried to sit up, something took him by the shoulder and pushed him onto his back again. A soft voice following.

“Anon please stay still, you need rest.”
The lieutenants eyes were unfocused, the world around him blurry but he could make out the messy coral bangs of Sayori as she leaned over him. A faint smile on her face. Slowly the world began to return to normal.

The girl spoke again. “How do you feel?”
His voice was a mere grumble as he replied. “Terrible.”
There was a pause before he felt someone grabbing him and hugging him, squeezing him just enough to cause a little pain. Soft sobs found their way into his neck.

“A-Anon we were so worried! We thought we’d lost you.”
“What do you mean?”
His neck became wet as tears streamed down the girls face and onto him.
“Natsuki said you went overboard after you blacked out, Monika dived in after you and pulled you out.”
“Oh… Well that explains why my entire body hurts.”
Her embrace tightened sending more pain shooting through the man’s body.
“S-Sayori let go, you’re hurting me.”
“Sorry! Sorry…”
She dropped him again.

“Where are we? Where’s Monika?”
“We’re on the ‘Heartbeat,’ your quarters. Monika is resting in the captain’s quarters, she passed out after she got you back on board.”
Anon moved to get up, only to meet Sayori’s hand once more, despite the pain he lifted his own arm and brushed it off.
“I need to see Monika. Help me up.”
“Anon please don-”
“Sayori. This isn’t up for debate, take me upstairs.”
The girl pouted. “Fine, let’s go.”
Anon sat up slowly and lifted himself to his feet with Sayori’s help, he stumbled a little almost losing his balance.
“We tended to your injuries, you should be okay but we’re going to take you to a doctor once we reach Puerto Rico.”
The two ambled upstairs, Anon limping on his undamaged leg.

“Where are the others?”
“Everyone’s in their room resting up. Yuri hasn’t spoken a single word since she…”
“She what?”
“I’ll let Natsuki tell you, she knows more than I do. I was hiding for most of the fight.”
The girl attempted to stifle a sob but it broke through, she stopped in the hallway causing Anon to stop lest he continue on his own and risk falling over without her help.
“Sayori… What’s wrong?”

She cupped her face in her hands and hid from the lieutenants prying.
“I-I’m a coward Anon, I can’t handle a fight like that.”
“It’s okay, Sayori.”
“No it isn’t Anon. Any of you could have died and I wouldn’t have done a single thing to try and stop it. That’s not okay.”
Anon wrapped his arms around her and sighed. She whimpered into his chest.
“Listen Sayori. Some people just aren’t cut out to do that kind of thing, some people prefer to live peaceful lives spending their time with others or on their own. Not everyone jumps into the heat of battle at a moment’s notice.”
“I put my friends in danger by being an… an idiot…”
“That’s alright, trust me. I understand how you feel, besides I never took you for the fighting type in the first place, so I’m not disappointed or anything.
“Y-You didn’t?”
“No, you’re far too innocent and joyful for that kind of thing.”
“Oh…”

They stayed in the hallway for a few moments, Anon’s arms still tied around the crying girl.
“Come on, we’re not doing much good staying here.”
They continued making way for the captain’s quarters.


Sayori pushed the door of the captain’s room open and held it.
“I’ll leave you two alone. I need sleep anyway, spent all day looking after you.”
The lieutenant smiled warmly at her.

“Thank you, Sayori. That means a lot to me.”
She returned the smile and left, the door closing slowly behind her.

Anon limped towards the small four poster bed in the corner of the room and sat down next to the captains sleeping frame, gazing down at her. She seemed peaceful. He sat there in silence watching, hoping for any signs of movement, but nothing came.
Bringing his hand to her face he brushed away a few stray strands of her brown hair and began caressing her soft face, it was slightly damp to the touch, Anon figured he mustn’t have woken up long after the incident. Finally his palm came to rest cupped around her cheek, this was one of the first few ounces of free time they had together where he wasn’t almost dying, for the most part at least.

A small smile crept along his face, for some reason he couldn’t seem to rip his eyes from her sleeping face, her tranquil complexion entranced him, almost inviting him to move closer. As he did so the girl moved ever so slightly and she spoke, her voice hushed almost as if she was talking her sleep.
“Anon…”

She fell motionless again, whether she was drifting back into the dream world or never even left it to begin with Anon couldn’t tell, but the sound of his name only hit him hard, he could feel his face warming up a little as well. He felt a slight pang in his stomach, a sudden feeling of fear crossed him as butterflies began to flutter in his chest.
The couple remained like this for what felt like an eternity, Anon’s head dropped into his hands, his gaze fixated on the floorboards blankly as he pondered to himself.

“What would have happened if I weren’t there to shoulder the blow earlier? Would Monika have died?” he shuddered at the thought.
“Why did she dive in after me? I guess this treasure means a lot more to her than I previously thought.”

He turned to look at her again, almost caught off guard by her beauty.
“Maybe I’m just being too hopeful, as usual.”


Monika felt something press against her forehead, after a moment her eyes fluttered open to find Anon sitting next to her on the bed, he gasped and his gaze darted to the corner of the room, his face turning slightly red.

He stammered. “H-Hey.”
She smiled up at him. “Morning Anon.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Better now that you’re back with us.”

The words shook him up inside, rattling the butterflies that had landed inside him causing them to take flight once more.
“Sayori told me what happened earlier. Just wanted to say I’m sor-”
He was interrupted by a finger pressing against his lips followed by a hushing.

“Anon, if you didn’t push me over that pirate would have hit the both of us.”
She sat up, wincing in pain as she did so.
“Thank you, Anon.”

The captain wrapped her arms around his back and squeezed him tightly, Anon hesitated for a moment before returning the warm embrace.
“I-It’s nothing, ma’am.”
She let off her tell-tale giggle.
“I told you not to call me that.”

They held the hug for a few moments before breaking apart, Monika shifted her position and leaned against the headboard behind her, their eyes interlocked in one another as they traded smiles.

“Thanks for diving in after me and all, but why did you?”
She started to speak but cut herself off, pausing as if her mind was stuck on something, her face reddened a little matching the shade of Anon’s.
“I don’t know... Call it instincts I guess.”
“What do you mean by that?”
She just replied with her usual soft smile, teasing him slightly. The two fell silent, staring at each other.

Suddenly the atmosphere changed, it became heavy and the silence between them was emphasised, the two figures on the bed still locked eyes as they began to lean in towards one another slowly, as if controlled by their impulse.
The door swung open, the two pirates jerked backwards, Monika hitting her head off the headboard behind her letting of a faint “Ow.”

It was Sayori. Her usual sunshine radiant smile worn proudly on her face, in her hands she held a small tray littered with fruits of all kinds.
“Hi guys! I nabbed these from the other ship and thought you guys should eat something.”
She bounced over to the bed and placed the tray between the two.
“How are you, Monika?”
“In pain, but I’ll be okay, I’m more worried about Anon. By the looks of things you bandaged him up well but I still think we should get him to a doctor as soon as we can.”
“You’re right as always captain! I’ll go get Natsuki!”
She skipped out of the room humming to herself, shutting the door behind her.

Anon chuckled as he lifted a green apple from the tray.
“Where on earth does that girl get her energy, earlier she was…”
He cut himself off, deciding not to burden the captain with Sayori’s woes for now.
“Was?”
“Extremely tired, she looked dead for the most part.”
The two ate in silence, enjoying each other’s company for the moment.


Finally the sky outside began to darken as night fell, Anon stood up. Grabbing onto the bed frame for support.
“Well, I should get going.”
“Oh?”
There was a hint of disappointment in Monika’s reply.
“The more rest we get the better. You know?”

Anon’s chest was thumping like a rabbits foot, the kinds of thoughts that were tearing through his mind was burning him up inside and he could feel it creeping along his face and judging by the captains tone he figured she felt somewhat the same.
He shuffled towards the exit and opened the door, turning to the dame who still lay in bed, he smiled faintly which she rewarded with her own smile and wink.

“Goodnight, Monika.”
“Night Anon~”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Soon enough they had taken rest at Puerto Rico, the girls rushed Anon to the doctors as quick as they could.
The four girls took up most of the space in the cramped waiting room, Natsuki paced back and forth passing the wooden table in the middle of the room over and over, contrasting Yuri who sat as close to the corner as she could avoiding making eye contact with the other three, instead fixing her cold, blank stare on the floor. The other two sat on the dark brown couch, Sayori had her feet up on the table and was twiddling her thumbs.

Suddenly the door to the doctor’s office opened and Anon limped out, followed by a small, elderly woman who smiled at the girls sweetly. Sayori leapt off the couch and bound towards Anon, grabbing him and hugging him.
“He’ll be okay for the most part, considering he doesn’t get into any more fights until he heals fully.”
The girls huddled around the lieutenant and the woman.
“I can’t thank you enough, ma’am.”
“Don’t mention it dear, please get well soon. Goodbye now.”
She waved them off and returned to her office, closing the door behind her.


The group filed out into the small town, Yuri tailed the group slowly. Monika was the first to speak up.
“We should probably split up and ask around town, someone around here is bound to know something relating to treasure, right?”
The others nodded.

“Yuri, Natsuki and Sayori you go that way, Anon you’re wit-”
Anon raised his hand to silence her. “I think I’d like to go with Yuri.”
The violet haired girl behind him gasped, her eyes flitting to him for a split second before falling downward again.
She looked at him quizzically. “Are you sure, Anon?”
The lieutenant nodded firmly.
“Okay then, come on you two, let’s get moving.”

The three disappeared into the crowd leaving Anon alone with the sword master, he turned to her and smiled.
“Shall we get going?”
He was met with silence, but he understood. Anon still wasn’t sure what had triggered such a response from the girl but that wouldn’t stop him from trying to help somehow. He took off in the direction opposite to the other three, Yuri followed behind him.

Out of nowhere the lieutenant stopped, the dame behind him bumped into him softly finally breaking her silence.
“S-Sorry Anon…”
He pointed at a sign that hung a few buildings down.
“You like tea, right Yuri?”
“Y-Yes… Why do you ask?”
“Why don’t we stop for some? I could really use something to drink.”
“I’d like that. Are you sure Anon?”
He turned and fixed her with a reassuring smile.
“Of course, Yuri, let’s go.”


The two sat across from one another, porcelain cups in hand. Tea wasn’t Anon’s go to choice in terms of drink, he preferred something much harsher that could dull the pain that still had some slight hold over half his body. Yuri gazed into her cup contently before taking a sip. This was the first time Anon or anyone had seen any form of smile show itself on her face, hopefully this was a sign she was getting better already.

“So…”
She looked up at him, her smile faltering a little.
“What is it?”
“How are things?”
She sighed quietly, her eyes dropped to her cup again.
“Okay I guess.”
“Are you sure?”
“Mm…”

Silence. Nothing new there. The lieutenant decided to press onward.
“You know, Sayori mentioned something that happened while I was out cold.”
The girl in front of him gasped, her face turned to shock as her eyes darted around the room looking for anything to derail the conversation with.

“I… I… Anon it was n-nothing.”
“Sayori made a pretty big deal out of it, so I’m led to believe otherwise.”
He reached across the table and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Yuri you can talk to me. You understand that, right?”
Her eyes finally came to rest on his, she sighed.
“I… I don’t know how to talk about it, Anon.”
“That’s okay. You don’t have to for now, just know I’m here for you when you’re ready.”
He smiled at her, her face instantly growing a dark shade of red.
“O-Okay… Thank you, Anon.”
“Don’t mention it ma’am.”
He downed the rest of his tea and stood up.
“Come on, let’s get going.”
She followed suit and they exited the shop, heading back into the bustling town.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

End Chapter.