Ail

"Taffy decided to have a picnic at the Lake of Death with Raena and I..." "S-she pushed her in. Taffy ended up drowning, because she couldn't swim..."

"We lost a band member recently. It'll never be the same without him, but we at least want to do something to honor his memory." "He drowned... in the Lake of Death."

"Leia drowned. In a lake near here." "It was... at the Lake of Death."

The Lake of Death. Upon first glance, it's simply a lake connected to a thin river, located in a forest somewhere in the center of Neturus. But in actuality, it is a place said to be cursed. According to the many rumors I've heard, it's said that it got its name from a legend about a girl who drowned herself in the lake after her boyfriend cheated on her and broke her heart. It's also said that she haunts the lake in the form of a young maiden... A maiden named "Raena". And she'll beckon others and drag them into the lake with her to share her suffering...

Normally, I think rumors like that are total baloney. However, after hearing about three deaths that had to have happened at that same lake, I figured it wasn't nothing more than a coincidence. So I decided to ask a couple people about it, and sure enough...

... there were more than just a few deaths at that lake. A couple of people simply up and vanished there as well. Eventually, people got around to saying the place was cursed, and no one went anywhere near the area again.

Despite that, I felt I needed to know more about the lake. I had a suspicion about something... something I knew I wouldn't find out about simply from doing research. There was only one thing left for me to do...

... I'd have to check out the lake myself.

--

I decided to look over a map of Neturus to find out where the lake was, but I noticed something I wasn't expecting. After confirming it with some people, I found out it was actually a pretty grand walking distance away from here.

Dang, I figured it was closer. Well, I'm definitely not going there on foot...

... I guess it's time I finally made use of that.

I packed a few things, just in case, and was about ready to head out...

... until a certain shy, sweatshirt wearing girl almost opened the door in my face.

"O-oh, Ail!" Tear said in surprise. "Are you heading somewhere?"

"Yep. I'm going on an 'excursion'." I responded, partially sarcastic.

"Um, what?" She looked at me, confused. "I-I'm sorry, but what do you mean?"

I sighed, putting on a more serious expression. "I'm going to the Lake of Death."

"W-what?!" She exclaimed, looking frightened all of a sudden. "N-no! You s-shouldn't go there! A-Ail..."

"Relax, would you?" I patted Tear on the head to calm her down. "What's the fuss about?"

"B-but we've heard that a couple people died at that lake! Three of them!"

"No... There were more than just three."

"W-what?!" Tear exclaimed in shock.

"I talked to some other people about it. Apparently the casualties are in the double digits..."

Not surprisingly, she looked horrified from the news. "So why... W-why would you wa-..."

"... What if it has to do with that?"

"Um, 'that'?"

"The deaths at the lake aren't the only strange things that have happened at this school, y'know."

"Hm? ... Ah! Y-you don't mean...!"

"The monsters, yes. It would make sense if they had some connection with each other. I don't really know for sure though, so I think it'd be worth checking out myself."

"B-but it's still dangerous! You should at least bring someone with you..."

"I'd rather not get chef boy mixed up in a matter like this... And your legs are shaking so much that you look like you'll collapse at any second..."

"... I-I'll go."

"Are you sure?"

"Y-yes. I have a reason to check out the lake, as well..."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"N-never mind; it's nothing. Don't worry about it..." Tear uttered, with a more quiet and melancholy tone than usual.

"...?"

--

We then walked out of school, left the grounds, and headed the opposite way of the school's bus stop.

"Wait, Ail!" Tear said suddenly.

"What's wrong, Tear?"

"There's a bus stop near the forest..."

"Oh, really? So?"

"Well, y'know... Wouldn't going by bus be faster than walking there? It'll take us almost an hour on foot."

"Yeah, you're right. I talked to some people about it, and they also sai-... Hey, wait a second; how did you know that?" I asked questioningly. "Were you planning on going to the lake on your own or something?"

"W-what?!" Tear said with a startle, suddenly averting my gaze. "I-I, um..."

"Eh, whatever. Never mind; it's not important." I reassured her. "Anyway, we're not walking on foot, and we don't need to take the bus, either."

"Huh? Then how are we...?"

"You'll see. Follow me."

I took her around to the back of the school, where a couple of students' bikes were located.

"We're... biking there?"

"Not quite. Take a look at this." I gestured her over to a different looking bike; a much thicker one with a motor attached.

"Wha? This is a strange looking bike... How do you pedal it?"

"Um, are you serious?" I uttered in disbelief. "You really don't know what this is?"

"U-uh, no..."

"'Course not. Making a joke suddenly would be pretty un-Tear like, wouldn't it?"

"Huh?"

I sighed. "Never mind. This is a moped. To get it to move, you have to step on the gas pedal, like you would for a car. It's sorta like a cross between a scooter and a motorcycle, and it's not very fast. I don't need a license to use this because of that, though."

"Oh, I see..." Tear said, seeming amazed to be learning something new suddenly. "So it needs fuel, right?"

"Yep. Speaking of which..." I checked the gas meter. "Oh, good. There seems to be enough in the tank, thankfully."

"Um, Ail?" Tear asked suddenly. "You said this was called a 'moped', right? So why is 'Motor Bike' painted on the behind?"

"I think that's actually supposed to be some sort of brand name. Although it's sounds pretty simple and unoriginal, if you ask me. People sure come up with weird names for things these days..."

"But it looks pretty old..."

"Really? Oh well; don't look a gift horse in the mouth, I guess."

"Someone gave this to you?"

"Yeah, Tech did. Not really sure why, though."

"Oh..."

"Hey, check this out." I opened up the top of the back part of the seat, revealing a small compartment.

"Wow, that's neat! So that's why the rear part is so thick..."

"Heheh... Alright, that's enough admiring the moped." I said, placing my bag inside and closing the seat back down. "Let's get going already."

I got on, and started the engine.

"Hop on."

"I-is it okay for me to ride it with you?"

"Of course it is! You think I'm going to drive off ahead of you and make you walk there by yourself?"

"U-um, okay..." Tear climbed aboard, clutching my shoulders for support. She seemed to be scared by the engine noise.

"No need to be afraid. And you're better off grabbing my waist."

"A-ah, right..." She swiftly switched to grabbing my waist, with a look of embarrassment on her face.

"Hang on tight!" I backed out of the bike rack area, and drove off towards our destination.

--

"Well, we're here." I said, after making it to the forest. "At least I hope so..."

"Don't worry; we made it here fine." Tear added, after we'd both gotten off the moped. "Over there is the bus stop I mentioned earlier."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it, Miss Confident." I said in a joking manner, then decided to change the subject. "So, what did you think of the ride?"

"Oh, it was kind of scary, but it was also fun!" She began to fidget. "I-I wouldn't mind riding with you again, actually..."

"Sure thing. Want to drive next time?"

"N-no way! I couldn't..."

"Yeah, you're right. Considering how you are, I bet you'd crash into everything."

Tear looked at me with an upset expression on her face. I just chuckled in response.

After deciding to get all the silliness out of my system for the time being, we 'ventured' into the forest, where the Lake of Death was supposed to be. As we were about to head there, I realized something...

"There sure are a lot of trees in this forest..." I uttered, disconcerted.

"Well, that's to be expected, right?" Tear replied, saying so in a way like she was saying the most obvious thing in the world.

"When I checked this place on the map, I expected we could just head straight for it, since it's connected to a river. But these trees..."

"Oh, yes. You're right..." She said, realizing what I was upset about. "And I can't remember where the lake is, either..."

"Remember? Have you been here before, Tear?"

"A-ah!" She exclaimed, suddenly seeming startled. "N-no, I meant... U-um, y'know..."

"Oh... You mean on the map, right?"

"Y-yeah! Yes, I meant the map..." Tear calmed down. "I-I'm sorry..."

"That's okay, don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll manage somehow." Tear's been acting kind of strange today... I wonder if the rumors scared her?

"So, what should we do?" She asked. "Where do we start looking?"

"Hm..." I cupped one of my ears and pointed it towards the forest. "Maybe if I try to listen to the river flow..."

"Ail, the river doesn't flow from or to the direction we came in from. I don't think you'll be able t-..."

"Ah! Over there!" I pointed a little to the west. "The water isn't making as much noise there compared to everywhere else, so that's where the lake must be!"

"U-um, what?" Tear looked at me, confused. "But there's more water in the lake than the span of the river, so shouldn't it be making more noise?"

"Nope! Actually, since lakes are more wide open than rivers, the water and the vibrations they make are more spread out, so the noise of the river flow lessens as a result."

"Oh, really? Wow, I didn't know that!" Tear said, seeming amazed to be learning something new suddenly... again. "Heehee, leave it to you to know things about sound."

Ha ha...

"But that's strange; I can't hear any water at all. I'm impressed that you were able to tell all that about the river from here."

"...!" I fell silent for a second. "..."

"U-um, Ail? Are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine. Let's get going."

"Uh, okay..."

--

After a couple of minutes of getting through the annoying placement of shrubs and trees, as well as some hilly terrain, we made it to the lake.

"Here we are. It was kind of a pain, but since we technically took a shortcut, it wasn't as difficult to get here as I thought it would."

Tear said nothing, as she looked around uneasily.

"What's the matter? You expecting a ghost or monster to pop out?"

"W-well..." She started to say, trembling. "Considering all that's happened, a monster appearing suddenly wouldn't be that surprising..."

"True... I really hope one doesn't appear, though. That'd be the last thing I'm looking forward to..."

"M-me too, of course..."

But if the monsters have something to do with this lake...

I went closer to the lake to take a look at the bottom.

"A-Ail! Be careful, you might fall!"

"Don't worry, that won't happen. And not to brag or anything, but I'm actually a pretty good swimmer, anyway."

"O-okay..."

I bent down and peered at the lake. "Hm..."

"Do you see anything?" Tear asked, walking towards me slowly.

"I think I see something down there. Something strange..."

"W-what do you mean by 'strange'?"

"Like... Something that shouldn't be there..."

All of a sudden, the ground began to shake near the lake, causing a huge ripple to appear on the water's surface.

"What was that?!"

The ground shook again, this time away from the lake, causing me to fall towards the water.

"Gah!"

"Ail!" Tear tried to grab my hand, but to no avail. "AIL!!!"

With no way to stop myself, I free-falled into the lake. I wasn't in the water for long though, as I was brought back up by something. Not by a friendly face, no, but by...

"A monster!"

"ROOAAARR!!!" The metallic monster made the familiar screeching sound we've heard before, while holding me tight in its grip.

"I'm guessing you aren't here to rescue me, are you?!" I said to it snidely.

Dang it, I can't move my arms! I can't use my sword like this...

"Paint!" Luckily for me, Tear was there to help. "Green Paint!" She shot wind out of her paintbrush, towards the monster's arm gripping me.

"ROOAAAR!!" Unfortunately, the monster easily stopped the paint by splashing water over it and Tear.

"Oh no, my paintbrush got wet! I can't use my paint like this!"

Jeez, come on! I tried to struggle out of the monster's hold, but I wasn't even able to budge.

The monster seemed to notice, and turned its head to look at me.

There's something strange about this monster... Was it the one who drowned all those people?

After looking at me for a while for some reason, the monster turned its attention to something else. Not at Tear like I was expecting, but... the lake itself.

Wait, is it going to...?

"No, don't!" She cried, realizing what the monster was about to do.

Still having hold of me, the monster jumped up, and sunk itself deep into the water.

"AIL, NOOO!!!" Is the last thing I heard Tear cry out, before I was brought below the surface of the lake.

Unable to move, and with nothing to see but the monster above me, I turned my focus downward.

There's something else weird down there... What is that?

I didn't have time to take a closer look, as the monster eventually brought me away from the bottom of the lake. It instead pressed me against one of its sides.

"Nngh!"

The monster did nothing, except keep me still at the lake's side.

I see... It's trying to drown me...

I eventually got to the point where I had to release any excess oxygen.

The monster looked at me confidently (well, as confident as a monster could look), while I had nothing to do but wait to die, as there was no hope left for me...

...

... if I were a normal person, that is. Rather than look like I was scared for my life, I simply smirked at it.

"Sorry about this, but your plan isn't going to work." I told it in a normal voice, which seemed to surprise the monster.

I took advantage of its confusion to free one of my arms and take out my emblem.

"Treble!" I took out my sword and stabbed the hand that was gripping me, finally freeing myself.

"ROOAARRR!!!" The monster cried out in pain.

"Tear's not the only one with something to hide..."

I swam at it swiftly and slashed at it, with little effort.

"... You see, when it comes to me and water..."

I swam under it, and with the power of my sword's sound waves, launched the monster upward over the surface of the lake.

"... there's pretty much nothing I can't do!"

I jetted myself above the water as well, holding my sword in front of me.

"SOUL SOUND SWORD!!!"

Powered by compressed sound vibrations in my sword, I sliced the monster in two, while still in the air.

"ROOAAAR!!!" The monster proceeded to explode, while I landed safely back into the water.

Meanwhile, Tear looked at the whole ordeal with shock and awe (no surprise there), until I jumped back out of the lake.

"See, I told you." I told her with a calm expression, while putting my sword away. "I really am a good swimmer, aren't I?"

"A-Ail..." She simply looked at me, then started to sob. "AIL!!!" Tear suddenly lunged herself at me, crying into my shirt.

"Tear..."

"I-I thought... I thought you wouldn't come back..." She uttered, still crying. "I thought you drowned, too... Just l-like..."

"There, there." I patted her head comfortingly. "I'm okay, so there's no need to cry."

Tear stopped crying on me, and wiped her face. "H-how... How did you come back out of there?"

"..." I stayed silent.

"Ail?"

"... I-I guess there's no point in hiding it anymore..." I said hesitantly. "Tear, you're not the only one with a big secret."

"W-what?" She seemed confused.

"For almost all my life, I've had this weird... power. A power associating with water."

"Really?"

"I can see clearly through water... I can hear water from far away... I can swim quickly through water... And I can even breathe underwater."

"S-seriously?!" Tear looked at me in disbelief.

"I found out when I was little, so I naturally thought it was the coolest thing ever. But when I showed my friends, they didn't take it as well as I thought. Eventually everyone in the town I used to live in found out about it, and I was ostracized..." I sighed. "Even my father... was disgusted with me. He wanted nothing to do with me. And I had no idea why."

"W-what about your mother?"

"She apparently passed away when I was really young. I barely even remember her..."

"Oh..."

"Ever since then, I've always felt I was truly alone. Even the people that have been nice to me in this school; I could never really consider them my friends, because I'm afraid they'd also ostracize me if they found out my secret."

"Ail..."

"But there was one exception. For some reason, this person seemed like someone I could truly become friends with..."

"Who?"

"... You."

"M-me?"

"Yeah. I guess that's why I'm able to tell you this so easily."

"... B-but wait." Tear started to say. "Didn't you say I reminded you of someone from a long time ago? Wasn't that one of your friends?"

"That person... The person who you remind me of... is myself."

She said nothing, simply looking at me with a forlorn expression.

"Listen, Tear. If you don't want to be friends with me anymore, I understand... I-it's perfectly fine..."

"... No. It doesn't matter."

"Huh?" I said, wide-eyed.

"I don't care whether there are some strange things about you or not. I'll always like you, Ail." She smiled at me. "I'll always consider you my friend."

"T-Tear... Thanks."

"And, I'm sorry..."

"Sorry for what?"

"Even though you told me all this, I still can't tell you my secret..."

"Your secret has to do with this lake, doesn't it?" I stated bluntly.

"E-eh?!" She exclaimed in shock.

"This isn't your first time in Neturus, is it? And something happened to you at this lake too, right?"

She covered her mouth with her hands, still in shock. "H-how did you..."

"Well, you aren't hiding your gender because you like pretending to be a boy, right? If that's the case, it must be some sort of disguise, and it wouldn't make sense to make one in a place you've never been to before."

"I... U-um..."

"Am I right?"

"... Y-yes." She admitted. "What you said... is all t-true."

"Did you also lose a friend to a monster?"

"To a monster? N-no, not exactly..."

"Then, did it have to do with... Raena?"

"...! ... R-Raena..." All of a sudden, she curled up in a ball, and started shaking uncontrollably. "No... n-no... NO!!!"

"H-hey, Tear! What's wrong?!"

"I-I couldn't... I DIDN'T...!"

"TEAR!" I yelled at her and shook her to get her attention. It worked eventually, and she calmed down.

"... I-I... I don't want to talk about this anymore..." Tear said, starting to sob again.

"Sorry, Tear. You don't need to say anything else about it."

"I-I want to go back... I don't want to be here anymore..."

"Of course." I helped her stand back up. "Let's get out of here."

She nodded, not uttering another sound.

"... Sorry, I know you don't want to say anything else, but... When I asked you about your secret before, you told me 'I might be put in danger'. What did y-..."

"A-Ail!" Tear cut me off abruptly. "I just realized something!"

"W-what? What is it?!" I asked, wondering what got her riled up out of nowhere.

"The monsters always capture a person, right? But that monster... d-didn't..."

"...!"

"Monsters can only attain physical form by taking control of someone." I remember Ms. Reachet telling me before.

"J-just what... What was that thing?!"

End of Chapter 9...

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Writer's Comments:

Jeez, this chapter sure was a doozy... Not only is it over nine pages long (which is pretty long for any chapter I've written so far), a lot of things were revealed! Like... well, you read the chapter already; you don't need me to tell you.

Actually, from the original, this chapter is (sort of) two chapters combined into one. I'll explain why I combined them this time later. The needless detail on the moped can also be to blame for making this so long...

Despite this chapter's length, I managed to get this up pretty quickly (in comparison to the length of time I put up the last one). After enough perseverance, I was able to finish this after only a couple of days! ... Hopefully, I can get through the rest like this, too...

By the way, since this is chapter 9, we're already halfway through this series! Only nine more to go! Where this series is headed, nobody knows (except me, lol). This chapter ended rather awkwardly, but don't expect that to be the last time...

- CS-Masyet