Vento Aureo || Her Muse ||

|| 14 ||

The sight of Narancia gasping and struggling made Latte's blood turn cold. Narancia points at the fallen bowl of soul on the floor. He tries to tell them about the enemy stand but couldn't speak a word. The others had their attention on Narancia. Mista tries to make him answer what is going on. Bruno caught on to Narancia's struggles. "I think he can't talk!" 

"You can't talk?" Mista asks out loud as Narancia grabs the bottle from the ground. Latte follows what Narancia is pointing at. The bottle of wine made her pause. "Water? You want a sip of water?" Mista guesses. Blood spurts from Narancia's mouth as he uses a knife to cut his tongue. "His tongue...it's gone!" Mista looks inside his mouth. They panic to see Narancia couldn't breathe. Giorno rushes to his aid. He is able to save Narancia's life by piercing a pen in his throat. Latte let out a silent sigh of relief when hearing Narancia breathe from the pen tube. 

It took a bit of time for Giorno to create a new tongue for Narancia. Once he got his tongue, Bruno begin to ask Narancia questions about the stand. "I...It came from the soup." He coughs out. Giorno tells him not to force himself to talk. The group is caught off-guard by Narancia's answer about the stand. "He was like a pebble!" He replies, "He was huge, and rain into the restaurant!" Latte blinks at his answer. This is extremely bizarre. 

"Earlier you said the stand was in the soup. You're contradicting yourself." 

"Did I say that?"

"So, it is this big?" Mista guesses the size to him but Narancia said no. He becomes a bit tired at Narancia's contradicting words after asking a few times. Latte looks at Narancia to see him struggling. Bruno and the others can't get a clear picture from Narancia's strange answers. "If it was huge and slow, why didn't we see it? Did you actually see a stand?" Mista moves close to his friend. 

"Of course, I did...n-" Narancia winces as if he is in pain. "You are contradicting yourself again. You're not trying to act tough because the enemy got you, are you?" Mista spoke up. Naranica ignores Mista in which the gunner becomes angry. It is becoming a back and forth conversation between the two of them.

Latte decides to stop Mista by standing between him and Narancia. Her hands touching his chest to push him a couple steps back to give Narancia space. He stops when Latte gives him a firm stare. There is no use for this conversation to go any farther. Mista let out a huff then crosses his arms. "Fine fine..." He turns away from Latte to hide his pink cheeks from him. 

She turns to Narancia then pat on his back - attempting to comfort him. He is grateful for Latte jumping in. Leone spoke up that there is no one suspicious nearby. He guess that it is the work of a remote-controlled stand. Giorno spoke up, "That means the user is watching us from somewhere." He suggests they should leave the place by boat. Quickly, Narancia stops him by grabbing his arm. 

"Yeah, Giorno! Let's do it, let's use the channel!" Narancia covers his mouth instantly. Mista asks why he is covering his mouth. Bruno decides not to follow the channel to use it to defeat the enemy here. If they handle the boss' assassin here then they can leave to the sea of Venice safely. The other agree with the decision. 

An idea pops up in her head. Pulling out her notepad and pen from her pants pocket, she holds it out to Narancia to use. "Huh, why he wants to use that?" Mista asks, "Latte, he is just contradicting everything." Latte shakes her head then motions Narancia to use it. 

SMACK!

Latte pulls back, holding her right hand. Shock could be seen on her face. "OI! What was that for?!" Mista shouts at Narancia. He has his right arm around her shoulders to pull her back to him. Latte looks at the channel where her notepad is lost forever. "S-sorry! It was my fault!" Narancia sputter out. 

"Sorry doesn't cut it-" 

"Enough." Bruno's words stop them. He reminds them that they are facing an enemy stand, not the time to fight. Latte is glad Bruno is able to stop a potential fight. Mista huffs then let his arm rest at his side. Bruno tells Leone to use his stand on the bowl of soup to figure out their enemy. Approaching the table, Narancia stood in their way. "T-the enemy is right over there!" He shouts, pointing at the men's bathroom. Latte stood out the door as look out. Suddenly, Narancia rush inside to close the sink then blocks Leone in front of the toilet. 

The men are caught off-guard by Narancia's strange behavior such as peeing in the toilet in front of them. They left Narancia and Giorno behind to search the table they were sitting at. Latte sighs as it will be difficult for her to communicate with them now since they don't know sign language. The only thing she can do is sit back and watch. Seeing Latte a bit dishearten, Bruno told Latte to stay back and guard Trish. She left the group and disappears in the turtle. 

+++

"Oh, you're here." Trish spoke up then saw Latte's frown. "What happened, did those men say something to you?" Her voice lace with a small threat. Latte quickly hold up her hands, waving no to her. She gestures writing on paper. Trish caught on to her gesture then looks for paper and pencil. Finding what Latte needed, Latte wrote down what happened including Narancia sending her notepad into the water channel. She could see Trish fuming in her seat. She motions her to relax then wrote to her that it is not his fault. 

"Honestly, you are too forgiving..." Trish sighs, "If I was you, I would have him beg for forgiveness." Latte silently chuckles from her words. They enjoys each other's company as Trish shows her a few outfits from her magazines. Latte is glad that Trish thought of her option with a couple outfits from the pages. Time past by quickly when spending time with someone. 

Bruno calls for Latte from outside to meet with them. Leaving the turtle, Latte faces Bruno to see Narancia standing meekly next to him. Quickly, Narancia bows his head with his hands clasp together. "I'm sorry, Latte! There is no way for me to apologize what I had done." He spoke out. Giorno decides to speak out, saying it was an enemy stand that made Narancia behave differently. Latte simply walks to Narancia then pat his shoulder, giving a look of understanding. 

Narancia let out a sigh of relief, seeing that he is forgiven. "Latte!" He wraps his arms around the mute woman's waist. "Hey, that's enough." Mista interrupts them, pulling Narancia from Latte. He gestures to the boat, "We have no time to waste since there are enemies after us." The others agreed. 

Before Latte could get on the boat, a hand on her shoulder stops her. She turns to see Mista looks away from her. In his hand is a leather covered notepad with a black pen. She took the notepad from his hand. "Here, I know its not good enough but its better than nothing r-right?" He stutters at the end of his sentence. Mista silently curses at his uncool side. He couldn't help it if his heart beats a bit faster when around the mute woman. 

"Maybe if you have some free time...y-you can teach me those signs. You know for future missions and stuff like that!" Mista stutters again, his cheeks felt hot. Latte looks up at the flustered Mista then she writes on the paper. "Sure, I would love to teach you." 

She saw Mista's expression lighten up from her answer. "Great." Mista spoke up. He mentally cheers for this victory. Leone calls out for them to hurry up. They quickly join the group to leave Venice by plane. 

+++