“Whew...” Kaname and Kyoko exhaled after they watched him leave.
“Boy, talk about nerve-wracking...” Kaname muttered.
“Yeah,” Kyoko agreed. “He’s really handsome, though, right? Strength and elegance in one. Major ‘captain’ vibes.”
“Yeah, true. Totally different from another captain I know.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, nothing,” Kaname said dismissively. Just then, they heard a clamor in the distance.
Captain Harris had been heading back into the ship when a female cabin crew member had bumped into him, then tripped, and turned over a mop and bucket. “Sorry, sorry...” the crew member apologized fervently. She wore a frilly skirt accented by a white apron, black tights, and a hard plastic headband over her hair. Ash blonde hair, done in a neat braid... Kaname thought, but she couldn’t see the girl’s face from her current position.
They were too far away to hear the conversation, but Captain Harris seemed to chide the petite crew member, who bowed emphatically back to him. Then she picked up the cleaning implements, ran towards the prow in a panic... then tripped and fell spectacularly again. Kaname watched the scene unfold, her suspicions churning.
“What the heck. What a clumsy maid...” Kyoko muttered.
Meanwhile, Kaname’s suspicion grew to a near surety, and she found cold sweat rising on her back. There’s no way. I mean... what would she be doing on this ship?
That wouldn’t be the only suspicious sight she would see. It had gotten cold outside, so the girls went back in to tour the various on-board facilities. In the corridor in front of the bar lounge, she saw a young bartender hitting on a group of female students. He was a handsome young man with long blond hair tied in a tail, and thin-rimmed glasses over his blue eyes. The pretty boy was speaking in fluent Japanese, “—Yeah, I mean it! I was raised in Edogawa, Tokyo. I know a great soba place, so if you just give me your phone number, I’ll call you when I’m off work.”
“Aw, c’mon...” the girl giggled noncommittally.
“Hey, new blood! Don’t hit on the passengers!”
“Ah... fine, fine,” the young bartender muttered, the veteran crew member’s scolding returning him to the work at hand.
As she watched him walk away, Kyoko whispered, “There’s something weirdly familiar about that guy...”
“R-Really?” Kaname asked, her tone growing more and more awkward. “You’re sure you’re not imagining it? Most foreigners look alike, anyway. N-Now, let’s go somewhere else...” They walked for a while and peeked into a casino hall. They’d only just left port, but the passengers with a mind to gamble were already gathered around the roulette wheel.
The dealer was a beautiful East Asian woman. She looked to be in her mid-20s, with a slender face and short black hair. She was wearing glasses, too.
“Okay, place your bets! Place your bets and no regrets!” she sang out. “Place ’em fast or your time has passed!” It felt less like roulette and more like a period drama’s game of odds-and-evens, but most of the customers were laughing and placing their chips on the board nonetheless.
“I feel like I’ve seen her before, too...” Kyoko said.
Paralyzed, Kaname just responded, “L-Let’s go.” She didn’t know what else to say. What’s going on on this ship? she wondered. Maybe after she and Kyoko parted ways, she’d pull one of them aside and give them a full grilling. Yeah, that’s what I’ll have to do...
But just as they left the casino and she’d made up her mind, their homeroom teacher, Kagurazaka Eri, came running up to them. “Hey, you two! Didn’t you hear the announcement? It’s time for dinner! All Jindai students, meet up in the grand ballroom!”
Kaname suddenly realized that the students and passengers who’d previously been swarming the ship’s halls were now nowhere to be seen. “R-Right...” No choice, she decided, following after Kyoko and Eri, to head for the grand ballroom where the banquet would be held. The grilling would have to wait.
After his personal greeting to Kaname, Captain Harris spent a little time looking around, making sure everything was ship-shape. It was, of course; this was his ship, and he was very scrupulous about safety.
He didn’t want any problems or malfunctions happening here... especially tonight, with such an important event coming up...
“Captain.” The engine room chief caught up with Harris in the hallway. He was Colombian, just past forty, with a black beard. “Señor, that Japanese girl you spoke with; was that her?”
“Yes,” Captain Harris confirmed.
“When do we take her to the vault?” the engineer wanted to know.
“Late at night, I think. Wait until all the children are asleep.”
“You think she’ll come quietly?”
“Of course she will. We’ll have all her school friends hostage, after all.” The corners of Captain Harris’s mouth turned up. “We’ll throw her four-eyed friend off the side first, to make a point. That should bring her into line.”
“The ocean’s very cold in December, yes,” the engineer observed.
“It’s such a tragedy when people fall overboard,” Captain Harris continued. “On Christmas Eve, Chidori Kaname and her friend will go missing.”
“What about those people—Mithril?”
“We’ve already left port. They can’t touch us,” Captain Harris predicted. “This will make Mr. Gold happy, and I’ll regain my standing with the organization.”
It had reached the time for him to give his speech at the banquet—an annoying ritual, but it was part of his job. Harris straightened his tie and began walking towards the grand ballroom.
The grand ballroom, where the Jindai High students were gathered, was about the size of a school gymnasium. Lines of huge tables filled the cavernous space, covered in a feast stacked high on silver platters. Fragrantly spiced meat; mountains of seafood in wide varieties; whole roast turkey and roast beef that sparkled like amber; lobster halves glistening with juice. The dinner was buffet-style, and every bit of it was all-you-can-eat. The other passengers were apparently eating in other halls, with this space reserved for those related to and serving the students of Jindai High. Most of the students’ dining-out experiences were limited to hamburgers, gyudon, ramen, and soba, so naturally, the
