We Find Comfort In The Apricity

Measure 78: Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!

"Number 18 it's your turn. Same question. Now you have two barrels left, one is filled with water and the other isn't. Pick one."

Haven walked towards the barrels and with a shaky hand she picked the one on the right. It was filled with water, and on the bottom of the lid was a number written: 4 minutes underwater.

She looked up at Neptune with trembling eyes and whispered, "I'm scared."

Neptune smiled gently and patted her shoulder, "It's alright miss, just take a deep breath."

Neptune allowed her to take a deep breath then gently submerged her head and started the timer.

"Tsk, he didn't let ME take a breath." -Ryusui muttered still wringing out his wet hair. Ava sneaked up right behind him and crouched down to his eye level.

"What do you think about him?" She whispered.

"Oh geez you scared me. What do I think about who?" -Ryusui

She looked at Neptune and raised her eyebrows.

"Ah, why are you asking me?" -Ryusui

"You're the only one talking."

"Fair enough, uh I don't know. He doesn't talk much with us, only with you. But by what we've seen so far, he's not very nice to men." -Ryusui

"I thought so, I'm sorry about that. He's still green, but before I came here Mrs. Bri told me Neptune was quite a trouble maker. His brother was in charge of him, and he was always very, very exhausted."

"But why are you evaluating him? Isn't he your lackey?" -Ryusui

"My lackey? Where did you hear that?"

"I- Nevermind, I personally just don't like him." -Ryusui

"...Thanks for your input Ryusui." She patted his shoulder and walked back to the front of the table.

Ryusui sat there dumbfounded. Did she just call him by his name...?

"Hey, hey! Psst!! What did she say?" Senku whispered across the table.

Ryusui smirked and folded his arms, "I'm not telling you!"

"Are you kidding me? What are you a grade schooler?!"

Ryusui frowned and stuck out his tongue, making Senku face palm himself.

By now two minutes were up. Haven was doing surprisingly well, believe it or not she was Ava's star student. She learned very fast and she was one of the few people that took a genuine interest in science.

Ava didn't teach science a lot in her town. This was because in order to keep the town running, she felt that it was more necessary to learn how to do other things. And she thought science needed your undivided attention and lots of time. So she refrained from teaching science, but every now and then some kids would come up to her and ask how things work. And then she got the chance to tell them at least a little bit of the wonderful science behind everything.

It's just now Ava thought Haven was a disgrace because she panicked. She let her primal instincts take over her frontal cortex. She hurt Kohaku for her own sake, because she was alone. So naturally, Ava lost all hope on that girl.

And just like then, panic was creeping up to Haven's head. She accidentally breathed in through her nose, allowing water to enter. She choked and coughed, more water was entering her body. Her oxygen ran out, she kicked and slammed her hands against the barrel, she tried pulling away Neptune's arm but he only stayed calm.