𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐀 | 𝐓𝐎𝐌𝐎 𝐱 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑

⚠️⚠️ 𝟖. 𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒

IT WOULD be the third day we waited before Tsuyoshi finally cruised by, picking us up and sweeping us away to our next destination.

Tomo explained our unfortunate situation, I remained silent, stroking Tama's sleek white fur, "Yeah, that crazy woman was like 'Arrrg! Get out if you're siding with the filthy!' but I still wanted to stay so I was like, 'We haven't even done anything so shut up, you're ugly anyways.' So rude of her right? So she was screaming some more and..."

He was taking a very liberal retelling of events, but who was I to comment? I cast my gaze out of the window, ceasing my petting only to continue once I received tiny nips and mewls of disapproval in retaliation. What a needy cat. I had created a little place to sit amongst the clutter of items in the cramped boat. I hadn't missed being stuck in this thing at all. The rest of the ride was mundane with Tomo and Tsuyoshi's occasional bickering and snide exchanges, it all contributed to a unique yet ordinary environment.

It seemed... ordinary. I had finally been graced with some sort of normalcy.

I didn't want to leave Tomo, but all journeys came to an end. Why is it that when I thought of that, my heart twisted in pain and my chest grew so unbelievably heavy?

I tried to put my mind on something else. Tomo wanted to visit Tatarasuna, the home of the Mikage Furnace. I had only heard tales of it in passing, it was a dangerous island, but rich in treasure. Mora, of course, is what he was after. The rewards to be reaped from a successful visit would be more than enough to get necessities and other things, like an actual meal for all three of us. The catch (as there always is) was that it's an island festered with ronin and treasure hoarders, some more friendly than others. Tomo hadn't revealed this until after we had both agreed to go, he gave me the option to back out, but I could tell by the exasperation on his face that he'd rather not be scavenging beaches for food any longer.

So here we were, travelling to the notorious island.

I was still sceptical, it's impossible to travel too far into the island due to the heavy concentration of electro energy. Vision holders even have a rough time withstanding it. This would force anyone there who travels in search of wealth to skirmish around these areas and the unaffected parts. Most of what we come across would be sucked dry of anything remotely valuable, especially considering the barbaric scavenging behaviours of the treasure hoarder. Ronin were more respectful in treasure hunting from what I've seen, they tend to just take what they need.