Marionette

Skies, Chapter Fifty One -Tenbatsu [天罰]

Courage was a thing that Amaya found she truly lacked right in the midst of her torment.

In fact, it was safer to say that she was rather terrified of even stepping out of the washroom.

If she could spend the three days hidden away on the ship instead of having to step out into the open, she'd take up the immediate opportunity.

But of course, if she did do that, she would end up having someone come in to drag her out against her will.

And in spite of all of her vulnerabilities and weaknesses, she was too prideful to let that happen.

She paced back and forth in front of the mirrors covering the wall above the three faucets, her bag knocking against her knees as she struggled to pull as much of her facade back in place.

'Come on, you used to be so good at this ...' Amaya muttered to herself, her arms crossed over her chest as she tried to stop her hands from shaking.

Back and forth, she paced.

There was nothing else she could do while she was still so addled, though she was much better than before, thanks to Nakamura Rio.

There were people here that she couldn't let see this side of her – If they did, then the questions she wanted to avoid were sure to surface before the night was up.

Her only solace was the fact that Nakamura seemed to believe she was merely seasick.

If she did, then Amaya would get off easy.

But she couldn't take any more chances.

Slapping her hands against the sides of her face sharply, Amaya forced herself to take an uncomfortably deep breath, closing her eyes as she tried to will the terror into the depths of her oceans – where everything ended up sinking in the end.

She used to be so good at playing an emotionless front – It was the only side of her anyone could see when she first came to Tokyo.

It was only after months of dealing with Karma every day that she'd started to show her true self little by little.

And right now she was hating that fact.

'It's okay ... Koro-sensei is here, and so is Karasuma-sensei ...' She told herself, her eyes still closed as she tried to convince herself of those words. 'If anything happens, Koro-sensei can help me. He can stop anything from happening...'

Truth in its greatest form. Amaya was certain of her words of self-reassurances.

Even though they were all supposed to be trying to kill Koro-sensei, she found herself instead relying on the fact that he was here right now.

It was the reassurances that he'd step in if anything were to happen that eventually broke her tremors and helped pull herself back together again.

With one last look over in the mirror, Amaya reluctantly turned herself towards the door and left.

The boat was essentially deserted of passengers – Barely a form could be seen anywhere at all.

As Nakamura had said, the boat was already docked at the island, and as Amaya looked outside, she could see the distant forms of her classmates out at the umbrella tables just off to the side of the jetty.

It looked like ... nothing was underway just yet.

She knew it wouldn't stay that way for very long, however.

'Took you long enough.' Karma's voice suddenly spoke up, startling Amaya out of her moment of thought. 'I was beginning to wonder if you'd blackmailed Koro-sensei into taking you home.'