134340 |JJK FF|

Chapter 15

"We completely lost them!"

Yumi felt slightly stunned at the sight of Jeongguk grinning. Like, no annoyed frown or sly roll of his eyes, a genuine smile of pleasure.

Her eyes swam away from his bunny-like teeth to focus on the seashore where she was sure people were going crazy at their departure.

She supposed the sight of the beach and its inhabitants reduced to the size of dots as they finally got around to starting their mission was a beautiful sight. She soon realised she had a grin plastered on her face too.

Taehyung didn't seem as fazed by Jeongguk's grin as she, "So, what are we supposed to do now?"

"Find the cure to the feline illness, of course!" he was really excited to start his epic plan, Yumi decided.

"I know that." Taehyung stated, "But like, how?"

"This is where the cases started at first." Jeongguk quickly caught on, clarifying his idea, "You can't deny that stuff has always been fishy here– don't make that face at me, I didn't mean to make a pun– this sea's got weird creatures, and this weird illness started here. Don't you think it's too big to be a coincidence?"

"So what are you saying?" Taehyung questioned, "The fishes are trying to start a war?" he seemed to think the idea to be ludicrous.

"Not a war," Jeongguk hastily clarified, "But they probably will know something, won't they? I planned to start by questioning them,"

"What'd you think they'd know?"

"We think it could be a new species of Pluto itself. Not the ones we interfered with and created, like that carnivorous plant with mad jaws. Something Pluto itself is bringing in, for the first time in two thousand years! The sea's mysterious. The exotic hybrids here could tell us something about it,"

The wind rustled, messing with their hair with the same mischief that was glistening in Jeongguk's eyes. The fact that his life was very much in line near the sea didn't seem to catch up to him at the moment.

"...Proxima is setting," Taehyung finally remarked, at least they knew where to start.

Yumi turned to face the slowly sinking star, hearing the others do the same. Proxima was reflecting an orange-red glow that shimmered off the ocean, as it slowly sank under the horizon. The orange clouds floated alongside the wind, casting slowly disappearing shadows over them as their eyes slightly watered at the direct sight of the bright red body letting out its last shine before sinking under the ocean.

Yumi blinked, the floating shadows lingering in her eyes and slightly dimming her sight. At long last, this long day finally came to an end as night took over.

"Go off to the sleep chambers, then," Jeongguk bounced on his heel, backing off to the cabin, pumping his fist in the air, "Captain Jeon will take care of the ship!"

Jeongguk had been right in one thing, the ship was quite small. It had seemed magnificent when it was transforming, but there was only so much mass that could be wrought upon. And the sleep chambers seemed to take up the smallest part of the ship as if that wasn't the most important part.

It contained three bunker beds–perfect for the six of them–accompanied by basic pillows and blankets. Just by looking at it, Yumi could feel her arms and legs get tired. She crashed into the bottom bunk of the nearest bed, barely hearing Taehyung mutter a few threats before taking the most distant bed from them, burying himself under the blankets as if that were the only thing stopping him from attacking them again.

As she lay, she could feel a small bump in her pocket. Fishing it out, her eyebrows shot up as she recognised it as that red flower Jeongguk had given her.