Ail

I wonder why Tear's so insistent on wearing that sweatshirt of his...?

Is what I thought, after leaving the shower room.

He even got sick because of it. But he still never took it off...

"You can go back without me. I'm fine, really." Tear said to me, before I left.

There's no way I can do that, idiot. Not the way you are now.

Which is why I decided to wait outside of the room for him. I sighed.

"I'm too nice for my own good sometimes..."

WHAM!

I heard a loud noise from the shower room. It sounded like something fell down. Or some one...

"Tear?! Are you alright?" I ran quickly back into the room. Tear was lying on the floor, motionless.

"Answer me! TEAR!!!" I brought his head up. It looked like he'd fainted, from either his sunstroke or hitting his head.

Either way, he was burning up; he was in a worse condition than I thought. Yet he was clutching his sweatshirt, even while unconscious.

"There's no way I'm letting you wear that!" I said, grabbing it away from him. "In fact, I should probably take his shirt off too..."

When I started to take it off, I noticed some strange lumps on his chest.

What is that?

I lifted his shirt to see. When I figured out what they were, I blushed and put his shirt back down.

"A-ah, sorry about that!"

... Wait a second.

I backed away in astonishment.

"N-no way, it can't be... T-Tear is..."

A GIRL?!

"What? Why? How?" I couldn't think straight at that moment, as numerous questions popped up in my head. My first one was:

Why is she pretending to be a boy?

Although I didn't know the answer to that, I decided to keep it a secret for the time being. I covered her body with her sweatshirt to hide... those, and lifted her up.

I'll just have to ask hi-... er, her, when she wakes up...

When I had gotten back into the room, Mac and Tech were already asleep. I placed Tear in her bed and went to my own to rest. I set the alarm on my watch to make sure I would wake up before anyone else (she wasn't wearing her sweatshirt, so someone else might've found out).

I told everyone about Tear's condition the next morning, and decided to watch over her until she woke up.

It took her a couple of hours before she finally did...

--

"Uhn..." Tear grunted, before waking up.

"Oh, you're finally awake." I said to her, putting down the book I had been reading. "It's already 2 in the afternoon."

"What happened? My head..." She sat up slightly to rub her head, which made what was on it fell off. "What's this? An ice pack?"

"You were burning up yesterday. So much so that you collapsed when you got out of the shower last night." I explained to her. "I had to carry you all the way back here by myself."

"S-sorry about that..."

"Don't worry about it. But now you know not to wear so much to the beach next time."

"R-right..."

I'm surprised she hasn't noticed ye-...

"W-wait, where's my sweatshirt?!" Tear cried suddenly.

... Never mind.

"I put it in the bag I brought. What's the big deal?"

"W-wait, you didn't see?"

"See what?"

"U-um, nothing..." She responded, calming down a little.

I decided not to play around anymore. "So that sweatshirt..."

"Y-yes?"

"The reason you wear it all the time is to hide the fact that you're a girl, am I right?"

"W-what?!" Tear started to panic again. "S-so you did see?!"

"Relax. I haven't told anyone yet, if that's what you're worried about."

"R-really?"

"Yeah. I even made sure no one found out."

"T-thanks. But why...?"

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you reveal my secret?"

"I don't really know why, to be honest. But you probably have a good reason, right?"

Tear didn't respond.

"So, what exactly is your reason?"

"I-I can't tell you... I'm really sorry..."

"Why the heck not?!"

"I-I don't want you to get involved... You might get put in danger..."

"Danger? What are you..."

"Yo!" Chef boy came in suddenly, which frightened Tear. Fortunately, she hid herself beneath the covers in time.

"Well, that was rude. Tear might've still been sleeping, y'know."

"The Master Chef apologizes. Just wanted to see if his comrade was okay."

Comrade...?

"I'm feeling better now. T-thanks for worrying about me, Barry." Tear said weakly.

"That's good to hear. Don't want to miss tonight's event."

"What event?" I asked him.

"The Master Chef is talking about the cave expedition, of course!"

"Cave expediti-... Oh, you mean that Grit Cave tour?"

"Yep, that's right! The Master Chef guarantees that it'll be exciting and something to remember!"

I'm sure...

"So, you ready to get up yet?" Barry asked Tear.

"U-um, not yet... I should probably get some more rest." Tear started to rub her head. "My head still hurts."

"That must've been from when you fainted and hit your head on the floor."

"That explains the bump..."

"If you aren't that sick, then you should come down for lunch. The Master Chef has prepared some delicious food, as usual."

"U-um..." Tear had a nervous look on her face, then turned her attention to me.

Why's she... oh!

"I can just bring it here for him. Tear really shouldn't be walking around in his condition."

"Hm... the Master Chef agrees with your statement. Let's go eat then, shall we?" Chef boy then left the room in his usual, dramatic way.

I got up to leave the room as well, but...

"U-um, wait Ail..."

"What is it?"

"T-thank you..."

"Don't mention it. Be right back." I said, as I left to go get food.

--

I hate to admit it, I mean I really hate to admit it, but Barry's food was actually pretty good. I guess he wasn't all talk after all.

"I wish I could have food like this all the time!" Mac said happily, eating at the table outside with the rest of us.

"It's unfortunate that no one else has as much cooking expertise as the Master Chef." Chef boy stated proudly.

"You had to go and ruin it for yourself, didn't you, chef boy?"

"Hey you guys, did I tell you about the time the Master Chef rescued me?" Betty said suddenly.

"Rescued you? Do tell!" Ally responded.

"I was helping him make something in the cooking room, when suddenly the food in the pot grew and gobbled me up!"

She must be talking about that monster...

"Like, no way!" Relly said, covering her mouth.

"Way! But the Master Chef saved me, so it's all good!"

"What did you do to make the food do that, girl?"

"Like, I know. I feel so ashamed for ruining the Master Chef's masterpiece."

How can Barry stand to be around these girls all the time...? Then again, he is chef boy...

"Hey, Ail. I need to talk with you about something."

Speak of the devil.

"What is it, chef boy?"

"Come with me." He said, with an oddly serious tone.

"Um, sure..."

I followed him inside, into a narrow hallway.

"What do you want?"

"How long do you think Tear'll take to recover?"

"Don't know; I'm guessing a day or so. Why?"

"This might be problematic..."

"Is this about the cave tour? Is it really that important?"

"No, it's not that. Do you remember why the Master Chef invited you two here in the first place?"

"You invited us here because... oh." I said, finally understanding why he was so serious.

"Will we be able to handle a monster without Tear's help? Even the Master Chef is unsure..."

"I-I'm sure we'll be fine. I'll watch over Tear in the meantime."

"Very well. The Master Chef will see you later then."

--

After getting some food for Tear, I walked back to the room she was resting in.

"I'm back. You doing okay?" I asked.

Tear didn't respond, as she had fallen asleep.

"Darn, the food's gonna get wasted. Oh well." I sat down, and placed the plate on the floor.

I wonder why Tear's pretending to be a boy? She wouldn't tell me...

Just then, I recalled something she told me earlier.

Something about putting me in danger... I wonder what that means? I've been put in danger already, so...

"EEK!" I heard a shriek from outside.

"What was that?" Before I could go check, almost everyone rushed back inside.

"What are we gonna do?" "What if we're next?" Two of the girls said, shaking.

"Chef boy, what's going on?" I asked him, leaving the room I was in.

"We should discuss this somewhere else..."

"Fine."

Barry and I went back into Tear's room.

"A monster has appeared." Chef boy said immediately. "And it dragged your friend Mac towards the ocean."

"What?! Really?"

"Yes. It's obvious what we must do now."

"Right. Let's go kill that thing!"

Both of us rushed out of the room towards the exit.

"Ail, where are you going?!" Chelsea yelled. "It's dangerous!"

"I'm going to see what happened to Mac. All of you wait here."

"My Ail~ey is so brave!" Chelsea said admirably.

"The Master Chef will protect you all from whatever is out there."

"Master Chef, save us!" The three girls said to chef boy in unison.

"Be careful, Ail." Tech added.

"Right. All of you, go hide somewhere." I said, before chef boy and I ran outside.

--

Just like Barry said, there was a monster in the middle of the ocean. It was made of water this time, and was much bigger than the last one.

"I can see Mac in there!"

"It's too far away from land..." Chef boy commented. "We need to think of a way to bring it over here."

"Water's no problem for me! Treble!" I took out my sword and ran toward the beast.

"Ail, wait!"

"ROOAARR!"

"Release my friend, monster! Ha!" I tried to slash it, but my sword got stuck. "W-what the?! What's going on?"

"Alright, it's about time the Master Chef shows his true power! Culinary!" Chef boy took out his spatula and aimed it toward the monster.

"Yeah, whatever. Could you help me out here?"

"Certainly. Hot Shot!" A blast of fire was shot at the monster. It didn't hurt it, but at least my sword was freed.

"The Master Chef is interested in how you were able to traverse the water so easily." He said to me, after I ran back to shore.

"There's no time for that! We have to come up with a way to beat this thing!"

I can't cut it, and my sound waves might hurt Mac...

"Chef boy, is all you've got fire?"

"Unfortunately, yes... If only the Master Chef could freeze it somehow."

"M-maybe... I could help."

That voice!

Behind me, clad in her sweatshirt, and holding her paintbrush, was Tear.

"What are you doing here?! You should be resting!" I said to her.

"I-I'm fine." She said, breathing heavily. "Anyway, if I freeze the monster, could you defeat it, Barry?"

"Of course. The Master Chef will leave it to you, then."

"A-alright." She pointed her paintbrush at it.

"ROOAAR!"

"Cyan Paint!" Paint was shot at the monster, freezing it slightly.

"Wow, that brush is full of surprises!" I exclaimed, surprised.

"I-is that good, Barry?"

"Yes, leave the rest to the Master Chef." He held up his spatula. "Art of the Master Chef... Roast, foul beast! Jalapeño Cannon!" A bigger fire then before was shot at the monster, shattering it to pieces.

The monster's remains disappeared into the ocean, freeing Mac.

"The ocean's calm again, just like it should be." I sighed. "Darn it, I couldn't do anything this time..."

"Ail, we need to help Mac." Tear said to me.

"Right..."

--

That concluded our second monster fight. I felt really bad that I couldn't do anything to defeat it, especially since it was one of my friends that it captured. And I was also left to wonder... Just what could we do to cover up what just happened?

I was surprised... how easy that would end up being.

End of Chapter 5

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Writer's Comments:

So that's chapter 5. And yes, Tear's really a girl. Gasp. It was sort of obvious, but... Whatever.

Anyway, although I think the first half is fine, I'm not really satisfied with the last part. Oh well.

Enjoy, I guess. Until next time...

- CS-Masyet