Chapter 12: Girl, Attacked

 

 

 

Chapter 12: Girl, Attacked

 

WHEN Nichika awoke, she found herself in the same inn room she had slept in the previous night. Curtains fluttered over the window, scattering rays of gentle morning sunlight across the hardwood floor.

She sat up in a daze. Immediately, a brown-haired boy leapt on her, his eyes shimmering.

“NICHIKA! G’morning! Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere?” He nearly spilled the contents of the washbowl he was carrying on top of his head, but he safely placed it on top of the sideboard next to her bed. Humming, he submerged a cloth in the boiling-hot water, wrung it out, and then offered it to her. “You can wipe yourself down with this.”

Nichika gratefully accepted the warm rag, still unable to fully grasp the situation. “Wolfie? Um? I….”

“We’re leaving today! I’m so glad you woke up in time!” Wolfie exclaimed, throwing the windows open.

The scenery drew an awed, breathless exclamation from her. “Wooow!”

Beyond the window, against the backdrop of the deep-blue sky, enough aerial vessels to fill the panoramic view were in flight. Recognizing the conspicuously gigantic whale among the other smaller vessels, Nichika hopped out of bed and dashed over to the open window.

“Is that Maria?!” She squinted to make out the details and counted five tiny whales flying alongside the big one. The mischievous calves were having a blast swimming around Maria. “She successfully gave birth! What a relief.”

But that means… How much time has passed? When did Maria give birth and leave the confines of that cavern?

“Hold on. How long was I asleep—”

“You’re finally awake, stupid apprentice?” A voice that could only be described as the embodiment of disgruntled cut her short.

Nichika looked over her shoulder to find Oswald leaning against the door with his arms crossed, glowering at her. Sensing that she was in for it, she awkwardly greeted him, “M-Morning.”

“Two days. Two WHOLE days. How are you going to repay me for all the time and money I wasted because you were snoozing away?”

Her eyes grew round in surprise as he stalked over to her. I don’t think I woke up once during those two days… I was in that deep of a sleep?

“I…slept for that long?”

“That’s not all, either. You made all my work on this job go unpaid. I’m adding the balance to your bill.” He pushed hesr forehead backward until she fell back into bed.

“Uwah!”

Faster than Nichika could sit back up, Oswald struck her with an ultimatum. “We have no more business in this city. We’re leaving in thirty minutes. I’m leaving behind anyone who doesn’t make it in time.”

“Aye aye, sir!” Wolfie barked.

“Th-Thirty minutes?! Wait, wait, wait! I still haven’t changed yet! And I want to bathe!”

“Then you better do it all in thirty minutes.”

“Nooooooooooo!”

***

AFTER managing to get ready in less than half an hour, Nichika stood at the cliff port with a travel rucksack on her back. The large aerial vessel, Whale, just happened to be on its return flight. When it spotted them on the dock, it flew over to the port and came to a stop with a jerk. A familiar face appeared out on its deck and looked down at them.

Pushing her goggles up on her head, Mihm raised her voice loud enough to be heard below. “Nichika! You’re up?”

“Yup! Sorry for making you worry!”

Smiling brightly, Mihm jumped down from Maria without using the gangway. Nichika smiled in return as Mihm gracefully landed. She glanced around to take in the newly restored energy brimming around them in the city.

“Looks like things are finally doing well,” Nichika commented, “I’m glad the babies were born without complication too.”

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think she would have five calves! Life is going to get busy.” Mihm awkwardly scratched her cheek as she worried for the future, but her happiness outshined the anxiety. Her gaze swept up to where the Whale Aviation Company Headquarters rested on top of the cliff. Quietly, she confessed, “To tell you the truth, all the company employees got together to discuss the situation. We’ve decided to dissolve the company and each operate our own business independently. We’re an aviation union now—like a guild.”

The union would set the absolute minimum and maximum possible fare prices, but each individual helmsman would be free to decide how many times a day they would operate and their hours. Helmsmen and helmswomen were now embarking on new business ventures, such as offering limited express flights or flights with meals included, to differentiate from each other.

Mihm smiled blissfully as she petted the whale calf that came to nestle against her. “People can work at their own pace from now on. I heard the ocean route has reopened too. I’m pretty sure we won’t have any more vessels in danger of being worked to death.”

“Really? I’m so glad to hear that,” Nichika said sincerely.

“Damn it,” Oswald muttered, “I shouldn’t have billed the company. How was I supposed to know they’d dissolve in less than two days…?”

The two girls beamed at each other, ignoring the grumbling man in black beside them. Meanwhile, Wolfie, the only straggler from the group, was busy chasing after the delicious, alluring smells wafting from a food stall in the distance yet again.

***

“PREPARE for takeoff! Hold on tight, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride!”

Nichika’s group and the other passengers boarded the platform on Maria’s back, finally setting off from Seaside Blue Port City. Holding on to the railing surrounding the massive deck, Nichika’s eyes opened wide as she watched the ground rapidly draw away from them.

“Mesmerizing…” she marveled at the view.

The deck was similar to a boat ferry’s, but the ride was much smoother, with less shaking. If she hadn’t come to this world, Nichika would’ve never had the chance to experience riding the back of a flying whale.

When I put it into perspective, this is an experience of a lifetime.

A gentle breeze blew past, playing with her hair on the way. She laughed as she watched Wolfie, back in wolf form, playing with the whale calves. Snow-white birds flew in formation overhead.

***

NICHIKA moved around the deck to take in the different views. To the south, she basked in the beauty of the deep-blue ocean. Walking halfway around the deck to the north, she gazed at the white mountaintops in fascination. That was when someone spoke behind her.

“I’m surprised you can keep gawking at that stuff without getting bored. It’s not my problem if you accidentally fall off.”

She looked over her shoulder at Oswald who should’ve been napping on a deckchair, but he had directed his sleepy face toward her. She faced him with a radiant smile. “I know I’m late saying this now, but thank you so much for saving Mihm and the babies, Oswald.”

Nichika was convinced he’d conducted a separate investigation after he freed her to try it her own way. And here she had been thinking he was an inhuman monster who only cared about profits. His actions during the Whale incident proved he wasn’t so far gone as to be impossible to save.

So she had sincerely thanked him. In return, however, she received a rather warped reply.

“Having another one of your misunderstandings, are we? …I simply determined it was better than suffering through all the complaining you would’ve put me through for the rest of the time we’re stuck together if I hadn’t done it.”

“Silly Oz. You need to be more honest with yourself.” Her unrestrained, goofy grin gradually deepened the creases in his brow. Afraid they were about to end up in yet another quarrel, Nichika changed the topic. “Ahem. Err…where are we headed now? Toward those white mountains?”

Oswald glanced at the faraway mountain range across the ocean, then turned his face in the opposite direction, his expression slightly clouded. His black hair and mantle fluttered in the refreshing sea breeze.

“No, we’re currently on course for Cherry Blossom Kingdom.”

“Cherry Blossom Kingdom?”

“We’ll be able to do a bit of research there without being pursued by the Witch’s Council. Alright, I’m gonna nap now.”

“Ah, hey!” Nichika sulkily puffed out her cheeks at him as he quickly found a comfortable spot and fell asleep for real. Left without a conversation partner, she muttered her empty complaints to no one in particular, “Would it kill you to give a better explanation? Aren’t I at least your temporary apprentice? You won’t even teach me a single witchy thing, either.”

She recalled the battle they had fought in the cavern. Though her master had been the one controlling her body, the blazing heat of the flames she formed in her very hands had been neither an illusion nor a sleight of hand.

“How did he do that? Can I do it without him?”

The blue hairclip had been removed from her hair by the time she’d woken up. Was she unable to use magic without being connected to Oswald through that clip?

“Hmm. I still have so many questions.”

A second after she made up her mind to seek the answers in Cherry Blossom Kingdom, she heard the heavy flap of large wings overhead. Curious, she looked up. A single feather fell from the sky, flashing once in the light, before drifting into her hands. It was a gold so stunning that it looked entirely unnatural.

“…?”

Suddenly, a big shadow crossed over her. She tilted her neck back to take a second look and blinked at what seemed like a black dot in the bright sunlight. The dot rapidly grew bigger until—

“Huh?”

A man, with gold wings jutting out of his back, was zooming in a beeline for her. “NICHIIIIIIIII!”

“EEEK?!”

He literally tackled her with his arms open wide. Nichika tumbled onto the ground and was being squeezed before realizing what had hit her.

“Ahhh! I’ve finally found you, my lovely honey! My sweet love!”

“EEEK! AAAAH!” she shrieked.

Not paying any mind to the fact that he had pushed her over, he began kissing her neck. Nichika screamed her throat sore and desperately tried to push him off, but the man held on like an octopus. Shoving his face back with her hand, she at last managed to get a word in edgewise.

“Who are you?!”

“Now it’s time for you to come with me, Nichi! There’s no reason for you to wander this corrupted world any longer!”

“I asked who the heck you are! Answer me!”

The other passengers stared at the fiasco from a distance, unwilling to get involved.

Tears in her eyes, Nichika continued to shout, “Quit the crap and GET OFF—HEY! Don’t touch me there!”

“You must’ve been so lonely! It must’ve been so hard for you, but you can relax now! I’ll heal you with my love that’s deeper than any ocean!”

Chills shot down her spine as he rubbed her thighs. Inhaling a sharp, deep breath, she screamed in the loudest voice she could muster, “SOMEBODY HELP ME!”