Chapter 3: Sea of Nightmares
Legend:
You will see: !!! or ☆ before the start off some parts in the story. Once a paragraph begins with !!!, you have to wait for the ☆ to confidently read the next parts. If you read any paragraph before the ☆ appears, then the !!!'s part is not yet done, meaning:
!!!- intense psychological scenes ahead.
☆-back to the storyline you guys are used to.
●_●- you'll be inside a character's body.
○_○- you'll be in third person POV again.
( ) -immediate reference to some terms not known by most or I'm pitching in my opinion.
p.s. these symbols can come in combinations
p.p.s. these symbols only come out of special chapters. You will always be given notice at the first line of the chapter indicating " ●_● ... connecting..." before it proceeds with the story.
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***INTENSE TRIGGER WARNING AHEAD, FOR THOSE WITH SEXUAL TRAUMA PROCEED WITH CAUTION OR PASS THIS SECTION***
Day 2
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!!! + ●_● ... connecting ...
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... connecting ...
~In a psychologically vulnerable situation ~
... connected...
That feeling of being adrift,
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like you're floating in the middle of the sea.
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In that submerged state wherein everything you hear is muffled up,
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the only clear sound was that of the waters and waves,
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intermingling.
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Then,
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you wonder
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What was it you were listening to,
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to begin with?
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where are you?
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Then,
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that feeling warps into a spiraling sensation of some sort
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similar to vertigo episodes were you spin
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spin
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spinning
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without control
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out of nowhere,
a heavy weight from some obscure angle pulls you down
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You resist it
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and yet you notice that you're falling even faster
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but your body doesn't seem to recognize your resistance
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The impact of the fall caught you off guard
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but
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You haven't seemed to have realized that you're sprawled on the floor
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Your body then acts up
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intestines and all running to your throat
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that sick, disgusting feeling
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stomach lurching
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limbs, ice cold
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palpitations and sweat
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a dreadful sense of powerlessness
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and
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something else
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ah
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it's
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fear
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like on a freight train
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but there's something different this time
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You
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You can't move
...exe
... connecting ...
... connected ...
You try your best to move
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that stomach of yours doesn't seem to want to wait and catapult all those innards out
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You don't want your bed all drenched with that morning puke
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You struggled and struggled
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Even shouted
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but nothing
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bizarrely enough
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after all that,
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your eyes started to see a hazy dark place
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You saw a blurred up human holding on to your knees
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The next thing you knew, a cold finger was making its way to your groin
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You realize,
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this isn't real,
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this isn't your memory
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It's someone else's
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It's Shizuka's.
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You felt what she felt
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and you also felt immense fear when the warning signals her body was sending you was recognized by your brain
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Shizuka knows this person
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and from what her body is telling you,
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it's someone very,
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very bad
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You felt her body struggle with the last bit of strength she has
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As she was struggling, you heard words and conversations
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mixed up together like some bad television sound in black and white
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but you recognized each word
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it's just that
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you can't access yet all her memories to know
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who said it
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when it was used so casually
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each f*ck** up time these things were said
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You felt an intense drop on her emotions,
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an aggressive torrent of loss
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a loss piece of herself
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just like how you woul feel loss at times
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when something traumatic is happening
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"She is not leaving with you!"
"You always need this, need that! What do you think? Money comes out of nowhere?"
"Missus, your child is such a good child. She's well behaved and smart."
*Slap* "Did you brush that breast of yours to seduce him?!"
"Your mother is asking you to go upstairs."
"How could you let her live with that s*xual predator?! What were you thinking *****?
"Can't you wear more decent clothes, those baggy clothes make your figure go to waste."
"Are you sure you don't want to call the cops? I can help."
"Hey, Shishi, you really need to leave that house."
"Congratulations, Shizuka your parents must be so proud."
"You're getting heavier and heavier, nothing like when I was your age."
"Mom, I feel sick, you have to believe me." A young girl's shivering voice pleaded.
"How dare you! Just because your father's family is starting to communicate with you, your all pompous!"
"She shouldn't have said that. She gave birth to you, she has to be responsible for you. She has to earn, on her own, the money to let you live."
"Shizuka, Happy Birthday."
"How dare you lie to me!"
"Isn't it nice? Maintain your grades and I'll buy what you want. If not, then not only nothing. Your grounded."
"Hey, Shizuka, why are you allowing this to happen to yourself."
"Do you understand? You have to say that!"
A child was crying as she questioned, "But mama, you said I shouldn't lie!"
"You perverted Sl*t! You're just gonna get yourself knocked up!"
"My daughter won that contest by just watching those anime."
"You two faced imp, they say you're nice? How come at home you're like this huh?"
"Stop it *****"
You felt that Shizuka was beginning to become psychologically drained as she tried her best to ignore all those voices. You also felt the same disgust she had with those fingers getting closer to her groin, you noticed she started to fight that force holding her back all the more.
A young woman asked brokenheartedly, "***, why do we have to leave? We didn't do anything wrong..."
"You always come home late, always have those groupings, those practices!"
"I love all of you equally."
"*** ***, could you please! I'm tired."
"She's been using that money to give to us."
"I hate you!"
"You're not my child, for all I know your the child of one of your mother's men."
"No..." You hear Shizuka whisper with her hoarse voice. She continued to fight from whatever it was that was keeping her still. You felt that she was drenched with sweat and every muscle, every fiber of her body felt heavier and heavier.
"You have to be the bigger person, Shizuka."
"She's thin, you aren't! Starving, look at how fat you are!"
"How could you be so selfish? What if she stole something from us."
"He has autism spectrum disorder."
"All these things! I gave it to you!" A crashing sound could be heard! "I can also break them!"
"Oh, so you like those kinds of things, then we should do it." the man said as she pulled the child to his lap.
You then saw her vision suddenly collapsing, you quickly realized she was closing her eyes in agony and despair.
She was shouting at the top of her lungs, "STOP! STOP! NOOOOOOOO! I DON'T WANT THIS ANYMORE!I'M NOT LYING! PLEASE STOP! I DIDN'T DO IT! I WAS A GOOD GIRL, MOM! MOMMY, BELIEVE ME!! STOOOOP!" and you felt something in you break.
Ah, it was because when she shouted, you realized that her shout had vulnerability, reminding you of all the times when your own voice sounded the same, making you remember all those exact f*ck** up situations that triggered it.
Because you're very aware,
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no matter how strong people become,
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many of us still continue to fight those inner demons
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you inner demons gape at that searing crack
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that crack that nobody seems to know how to fix
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but everybody knows how to worsen
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You feel the surroundings change
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The next thing you knew, she was in a room.
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You felt her blink and blink to see clearly.
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The bewilderment she felt brought about a peculiar sensation,
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a sense of familiarity
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it was that usual dilapidated ceiling,
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those dust filled windows,
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that hot air,
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you could even relate to her fingers' in contact with the fine wood of the floor she usually slept at.
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The room was fraught with an eerie dark silence.
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You felt that she was still binded by something,
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some invisible force that kept her laying on the floor.
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You felt nervous as her heart was beating erratically.
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You felt a cold hand suddenly caressing her cheeks as you heard an ominous voice speak, "You'll be staying like this forever, right? Staying with me."
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When you and Shizuka saw the face of a demon smiling at her, its face showing joy in her struggle.
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You felt her fears getting the better of her as she shouted with all her might, "NOOOOOOOOO! GOD! GOD, PLEASE HELP ME!"
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... connecting ...
All of a sudden you felt her body move up, flesh and bone hitting metal could be heard. Unfazed, you notice her blankly looking in front of her, lips trembling, body filled with sweat. Her heart beated so loudly that you felt you could even hear it. As she was pulling her knees towards her chest to hug herself, you felt her trembling hands. Then, her whole body began to shake. Since you can't see her since you're currently seeing through her eyes, let me describe her sorry state: If one looked at her, she seemed like an empty human shell.
☆ + ●_● ... status: connected ...
GIST: she was dazed for a while after waking up from a nightmare
She stayed like this for an unknown period of time all you knew was she was in this state for a long time until,
"knock, knock, knock."
you heard someone knock from outside. The sound woke Shizuka from her daze as she spurn around to look at her environment. You saw that other than the bed she was on, there was a double deck bunker parallel to hers which had two more bed. Becoming aware of this, you felt now, when she realized that her head hurt. In her tryst to wake up, she hit her head on the second bed's steel frame. You felt from Shizuka that the pain she felt paled in comparison to her nightmare. There was this lost look about her as you felt her slowly calming herself before facing anyone.
A knock was again heard. Shizuka slowly went towards the door, you heard the hollow footstep on steel as she then opened the door. Egon was in front of you, he was the person knocking. You saw his surprised look that only lasted for a second as he stared at Shizuka (you) before he regained his composure, he explained before asking gently, "We're currently with the Federal Government. You... do you need me to check up on you?"
His startled look caught your attention when Shizuka raised her head. Her eyes looked at the reflection in his eyes depicting Shizuka's lifeless look as her chin trembled upon hearing his words, you noticed her quietly gazing at him.
A few minutes passed like that. You then heard him ask, "Would you mind... if I give you a hug?"
You felt her blink as her lips trembled.
Egon sighed, he then said, "If it's yes, blink thrice. If it's no, blink twice."
Shizuka looked at him. You felt her blink thrice.
He carefully went near her as his arms enveloped her. You heard him whisper to her ears, "I'm here."
Shizuka remained motionless. She just felt a bit nice while in a warm embrace.
A few more minutes passed by like this. And you were starting to get pissed of with the episodic pauses. You start blaming me, the author for these fits of pauses. Hey, I have no choice, I can't depict psychological states casually. Cut me a bit of slack. (has a begging face on) Moving on:
"I'm going to tighten my hug a bit. Just give me a push if it's threatening your personal space." you heard him offer with his husky voice.
You felt the very weak nod she did. When he tightly hugged her, he noticed her freezing body and you notice that she was trembling very lightly in his arms. Egon closed his eyes and kept quiet. You felt the immense apathy brimming from within Shizuka as she steeled herself to talk with him.
○_○ 'M:\WEBNOVEL\MP\son005.exe'
terminated unexpectedly with status code 39600. The system will now shut down and restart.
After minutes passed by, he felt Shizuka's hands slowly hugging him back in a light caress like way. He then felt a tug on his shirt. He gave her a bit of space enough for him to look her in the eyes. He then heard her hoarse words, "Thank you." even though her face remained expressionless. There was a bit more life in her than earlier on. He nodded.
Surprisingly, he felt her tug his shirt again. Egon looked at Shizuka with a quizzical and serious look, after staring at one another, he saw Shizuka blink two times. He raised his brows as he then mechanically withdrew his body, remembering his own words.
After regaining some of her personal space, Shizuka rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand as she sighed. Lowering her head, until only her nose could be seen, she inquired, "Where are we going?"
"Headquarters." flatly he answered.
She hesitated, asking, "Do you... have questions?"
"I do. But I won't force you to answer." he said reassuringly.
"It was me." she admitted without any qualms as her face remained pale and again, expressionless.
Egon looked away from her as he sighed and answered, "I know." Interestingly, instead of the usual disappointed look that most characters give, his face showed resignation that lazy people usually give when given menial tasks.
She stared at those emerald like eyes and added, "And I know that you know that."
His eyes constricted when he heard such a reply. "You know?" as if asking himself.
"For some unknown reason, Shizuka can easily understand how people think." she said as calm as the gentle ripples from a lake but in a very detached manner (a research was conducted on people who speak in third person. They aren't crazy, they could be someone who has a disorder or it's their coping mechanism to stress. The Moser's (2017) research result depicted that some people's brainwaves, when speaking in third person, disassociates them with the emotions of what they are saying in third person. Here, Shizuka has started to speak in third person as a form of coping mechanism since technically she isn't in a state of mind to function normally, any trigger will cause a fight or flight). Shizuka raised her head as she looked at him.
He subconsciously remarked, "It's good that you know how to protect yourself."
"Egon isn't sure about his promise anymore, huh?"
Egon chuckled wryly, "Can you not understand everything?"
Shizuka retorted apathetically, "If only Shizuka can." If one listened carefully, there was a very subtle sound of pleading in her voice when those words were spoken, so subtle that Egon almost didn't catch that hint.
His face became solemn, he then pointed at the bed.
Shizuka nodded.
As they both sad at the edge of the bed, they looked at one another.
"Egon wants to understand how serious it is?" Shizuka asked mechanically.
"Yes, to see if you're a threat."
"Egon seems to not be afraid that Shizuka would become apprehensive with this honesty?" a smile crept up her face. But rather than warmth, she looked like a persecom, her eyes almost even blinked in an unnatural way.
"If you can easily read the situation, then any deviation from the truth will lead to mistrust. You're already consciously disassociating in this conversation."
Shizuka had a weak smile while she spoke with her raspy voice, "Shizuka finds it pleasurable to speak with smart people." she even added a weak giggle at the end.
Her affirmation helped relieved Egon to let the conversation take a lighter course before dropping the bomb. He agreed, "It is. But let's not make my head big."
Her smile deepened as she complied with a, "Mm."
"You and I know that there are special cases for psychological states, depending on a person's upbringing, environment, intelligence, adaptability."
"Indeed, I would be lying if I say that there are some things Egon and Shizuka does not understand very well. One must be very aware that the defense mechanism has set in."
"Then, will you be letting me in or will you be playing me along? Just so you know, I have a puppy's heart deep in here." he pointed at his heart while his face was flashing a very provocative grin.
A sweet sounding laughter filled the room as Shizuka found his rhetorical question quite comical, "Shizuka isn't interested in you." she quipped.
Egon chuckled at her, then his eyes looked like eyes that wanted to see right through her soul as he added, "I know. However, I need a more serious answer." But the way he asked for it made Shizuka question within herself how good he is at measuring the right amount of distance with his actions and words, so as to not alarm her, it was almost too perfect, she thought. She then betted with herself that in a few more words he'll try to feel out the boundaries.
Pondering for a while, her lips drew into a thin line. "She can't, as of the moment. She just had a nightmare."
He looked at her in an unadulterated manner, he then cocked his head to the left before explaining, "Too much disassociation is dangerous."
"Then would Egon prefer I play the dissociative disorder card (or commonly called multiple personality disorder)?"
"I would have actually preferred if it was multiple personality disorder. At least..."
Shizuka cut her off, "What? Then, you could bargain with the other personalities to better understand Shizuka, adjust to them... life isn't as simple as your presumed daydreams."
"Nihilism?" he said seriously.
She blinked before giving a two word explanation, "When triggered." her words sounded like a pet owner's dotingly sharing some habits of their pet but her face remained stoic.
"That day you were crying..."
The atmosphere became tense as Shizuka immediately retorted, "Don't. Overstep." her eyes held a sharp glint like the aura of an unsheathed sword.
"You're in our territory." he replied lazily.
"Don't bluff. You and I know," she emphasized on the word I before continuing, "That you aren't threatening me. Testing waters when unstable is as good as creating mistrust."
"You're masking too much." Egon observed her as he honestly stated his surface level assessment.
"Egon, or should I call you more intimately to appease you?"
"Eggsie, go ahead, Shishi, humor me."
Shizuka's bet payed off, the pattern of him always being accepting and lenient on her showed that he isn't haphazardly conversing with her. The tension on her lessened as she whispered, "Okay, Eggsie. I'm here. I'll play along for now. You have to make sure that this will not go according to the Federal Government's plan." looking at his eyes, there was an unreadable expression on her face.
"It depends. If you don't like it, explain it to me like I'm some student incapable of simple comprehension. If you do like it, I won't stop it, of course."
"Don't try to dodge the bullet."
"Promise me that you'll explain it to me. If the explanation is as honest and accountable as our conversation now. Then, I wouldn't mind it if you will be placed under my watch as a law abiding citizen."
"It seems you've grasped a bit of my case."
Hearing this, he couldn't help ask, "And so have you. You don't seem to mind that I'll be watching over you?"
"We seem to have a somewhat similar level of wavelength. I don't think you'll play a bad card with me." Her voice now had a soothing quality as she elaborated while her eyes looked him up and down, as if assessing some product.
"I didn't major in only psychology, I'm not a doctor to fully go with the doctors creed, but I can use my previous military merits to request this; in accordance to your mental state."
"How sweet... but do you really think I need your protection?"
"You don't. But I feel that I can trust your intangible moral compass' hold on you."
Shizuka snickered, the remark was quite uncanny. "Aren't you afraid that your evaluation will be deemed questionable on the grounds of intangible evidence?" she eyed him and saw for the first time a serious and complex emotion. She then heard him say, "Shishi, I really am a researcher. A professional researcher. That isn't my cover."
Shizuka changed the topic and there seemed to be a change of heart as she bargained openly, "Then, let's talk about something tangible."
Egon's shoulders relaxed, "Fire away."
"We'll still work on that research, right?"
Egon shook his head in bewilderment, "Aye, milady. Aye."
She patted his head like a dog, as she joked, "Okay Eggsie. Now, I'm a bit hungry, being on the run and all. You know, let me teach you some gentleman's etiquette to reel the ladies and gents in."
This remark got Egon's full attention, left eyebrow even raised in consternation.
"First of all, don't ever have a serious conversation with a possible lover if they're famished. I'll be very honest with you, I want to kick you right now. Secondly, some people would lose their appetite over such talks on the dinner table. Thirdly, this is one of the most basics of basics in food etiquette applicable to both ladies and gents, what you just did was a form of disrespect towards the very food that should have been happily travelling my digestive tract, or anybody else's for that matter. Now, let's see if you've learnt. Answer this question: Can you give me some food? And I want egg not you." her face held a look of scrutiny as she said that last line.
Baffled and amused, Egon jokingly showed a look of bereavement, "I think they have that in the cafeteria. Shishi, so many women wanna take a bite at me, you... that hurt."
"Not appetizing." Ignoring him, she stood up and opened the door.
"Hey, Shishi?" he said as he stood up.
Shizuka paused but continued to look ahead, "Hmmm?"
"Conrad and the Nabokov couple are here."
She pondered for a bit before nodding.
"And Shishi?"
"Hmmm?"
"You don't know where the cafeteria is, you don't even know what we're on, so, why don't you let me take the lead?"
She ignored his half-baked evaluation of her intelligence. "You can just give instructions like go left, straight, turn right." She explained as she side eyed him, adding, "I don't want to look at you, I want to maintain it that way. To give your so called trust... and what was that? Oh, accountability a chance to grow."
Understanding what she meant, he grunted as he saw her walk out the room without even waiting for her.
When she walked out, she saw that the hallway was filled with pipes, and she was surrounded by different metals all seemingly connected with one another. After observing for a while, she deduced, even spoked aloud, "Boat or Submarine?"
Hearing this, Egon blinked twice before instinctively answering, "Submarine."
Shizuka turned towards him and chirped, "Is this trip gonna take a while? If it is, I'll give you brownie points if you show me around this baby."
She saw him rolling his eyes at her, she giggled and instead heard Egon's instructions as it echoed the hallway,
"Straight ahead."
She pouted before turning away from him and walked in the direction he gave. Up ahead, she saw some stairs and paused for a bit.
"Don't go up the stairs. Still straight ahead."
She observed her surroundings before moving forward. After walking a while, she caught the scent of something appetizing. She hastily walked towards it totally forgetting Egon's existence.
Noticing her walk picking up some pace, he instructed, "To your..." he stopped when he saw how she just went ahead as his left eye twitched, he who had been used and thrown away without even getting anything back was left out in this steely cold place.
Upon reaching the cafeteria, she paused for a bit wondering about her identity and if she was even known here. Her stomach grumbled as she was thinking, making her lower her head in shame, she still needed Egon's assistance. She saw Egon's leather shoes beside her barefoot left foot.
"You could've at least given me slippers." she nagged, hoping he didn't hear her grumbling stomach.
"You walked so fast."
"You were supposed to give instructions that I would follow."
Egon did a double take at her, making him suspicious of her grumbling, that level of deception was beyond normal. He couldn't help but remark dryly, "You don't say?"
"Nu-uh! Guess I was mute back there." she defended herself shamelessly.
They had a stare off as swords were flashing in the air (exaggeration).
"Shishi!" a woman's voice called out.
Shizuka's eyes widened as she slowly looked at where that voice came from. Recognizing the woman, her face had cheeky grin, with her canine tooth flashing as she waltzed towards Aubi. The next second, she hugged Aubi, while her right foot also hooked itself on Aubi's hips. She chirped intimately, "Aubs!! Aubi~ Aubi~"
Aubi shook her head in disbelief, "Why are you always so childish?"
"I am not! I'm just a sweetie patootams~" she rebutted.
The next second, a husky, somber voice complained, "Do you even realize what you look like wrapped around my wife like some perverted hooligan?"
Shizuka looked back while still hugging Aubi as she quipped, "Aubi, you're still young. If ever you divorce Andre, could you consider my existence as a possibility?"
The veins on Andre's forehead started to throb visibly as he forcefully pulled Shizuka away. She then acted all adorable and told on Andre defiantly, "Aubi, Aubi! Look, even he is threatened by my existence. Aubi, look at me."
Aubi had a doting look as she giggled at her husband and Shizuka. Her husband groaned in exasperation. She finally heard him beg, "Aubs, don't listen to her! Help me take out her claws off you!" His right hand was pushing Shizuka's face and at the same time covering her eyes while his left hand was pulling her shoulder away from Aubi. He continues chanted to Shizuka's, "paws off my woman kid, paws off! Take those freaking paws off. His torso tried to block the two, it's just that, instead of separating, the two women buckled up and carried Andre's weight. "OH, COME ON!" he shouted in annoyance.
Shizuka heard the irritation of his shout so she suddenly let go of Andre, his body, with no longer having any support, was going to fall. However, a hand strongly helped him balance himself. He sighed before nodding at Conrad. He had an unfazed look as he let go of Conrad before looking at the trouble maker.
Shizuka, at the sight of Conrad hid behind Egon like a small defenseless bunny.
Conrad looked at her before looking at his uncle, "Did she talk?"
Egon blinked for a while before frowning, "Somewhere along those lines."
"What... uncle?!"
"Conrad, she's under my jurisdiction as of the moment. We'll talk it out."
His face was filled with scorn at this half-hearted answer from this uncle of his. He then looked at Shizuka with a mixture of admiration and distaste as he spitefully unearthed past grievances, "Oh-hoh, finally, we meet. I still remember your proud criticism, darling. You described my work as one of the most poorly configured software's you've ever encountered."
Shizuka denied like a pro, "I beg your pardon, I think this is our first time meeting."
Conrad scornfully looked at her as he clarified, "Yes and No, darling. Yes, it's our first time meeting. No, this is the second time we've spoken with one another."
She sighed, totally ignoring Conrad as she walked in front of Egon, "Eggsie, you and your nephew ARE related. Is there something charming about me that all the guys in your family, you and this kid who's subconsciously flirting with me?"
The uncle and nephew duo both scoffed at the same time. Egon just shook his head while Conrad immediately grabbed hold of Shizuka's left arm forcing her to face him, "Listen, you! First of all, my program isn't poorly configured. Second, I wasn't prepared at that time since Andre only messaged me minutes before you took over."
Shizuka's left brow raised as she looked at him with disdain, "Trying to sound professional while looking unprofessional. Kid, listen to me, first of all, drink more milk so you can grow taller than me. Second, let go of me before I break your pretty little arm. Third, you still can't be decisive upon understanding the circumstances." she then patted his forearm holding her.
Egon looked at the odd air between the two. He even realized that the both of them loved elaborating with those almost exact word choices. Seeing her eyes, Egon spoke with a hint of authority, "Little Nex, let her go."
He looked at his uncle, then at Shizuka. He let go of her before puffing out hot air as he mumbled incoherent words to himself.
Looking at the teenager before her, she then proceeded to make eye contact with Egon. He saw her cocking her head towards Conrad, she gave him a disapproving look.
"Nex, apologize."
His eyes held a complicated gaze for a few seconds, a while later his face scrunched up. He breathed in deeply before staring up at Shizuka as he enunciated properly like a well mannered child, "I apologize for my temper and how I held your arm."
Shizuka's eyes looked at uncle and nephew, before she softly snorted. Seeing the line people were at, she walked towards the line for food as if she was pulled towards that direction.
Conrad stood beside his uncle as he whispered, "Is she sensitive."
"As of the moment, we have the same my evaluation." Egon explained. His eyes, couldn't help but observe Shizuka.
He saw her looking at all the food, sometimes on tiptoes, her neck stretched out, her hand massaging her stomach.
Conrad couldn't help but look at what his uncle was looking at. "Uncle, she seems famished." a pique of interest could be heard from his voice.
Egon analyzed, "From our conversation earlier on when were escaping, theoretically, she couldn't have eaten." pausing for a bit, he continued to ponder the woman's hunger, "We were both too tired when we reached the cave to even think of that. She fell asleep, I took the night watch. You came, she was placed in the sleeping quarters. Yeah, she didn't get to eat dinner." He looked at his nephew as realization hit him, "Oh, she hasn't about three meals now. Since it's the afternoon."
Conrad's left eye twitched as he listened to his uncle's unnecessary elaboration.
When it was Shizuka's turn to get her food, the male staff looked at her oddly. She then opted to point at herself, this bewildered the staff all the more. The next thing he knew, he saw the woman in line pointing at a group of people. One of the people from the group seemed to have noticed him and Shizuka. The person that looked was Egon, he nodded at the staff. The staff then questioningly looked at Shizuka then looking at Egon again, he saw his hands moving about in the air as if to mimic the act of putting food, before nodding his head at the staff. The woman near Egon started conversing with him and he didn't look at them any further.
The staff blinked, understanding the order, he gave Shizuka a generous amount of serving.
Looking at the food before her, she immediately sat at the nearest empty table, her voracious made her seem like she was deprived of food for an unknown amount of time.
Going back to Egon and group
"Did she admit?" Aubi asked carefully.
Egon nodded like it was some casual question. He then remarked, "Aubs, grandpa already investigated her. It's not that simple anymore with what happened yesterday. By the way, were there any casualties?"
Aubi had a somber look, as if not hearing the latter half of his statement.
Egon was not offended, Aubi has been like that ever since they were you. He looked at Andre, then at Conrad.
"There wasn't any. The hotel staff were just knocked out with sleeping gas. Luckily, during their attack, there weren't civilians roaming around the hallways of both floors."
Conrad then added, "Her stuff is with me, where is the copy of the worm?"
Egon looked at Conrad as he stated coldly, "It's in her phone."
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CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
PrimSuspectOMelons
PrimSuspectOMelons Hi, I was drained by this chapter. As of the moment I cannot add anymore details. I'll just add it tomorrow since it's my free day. Earlier on I had to cook and take care of the dogs. So, really, sorry. I'll make sure this incident will only be for today. I haven't fully adjusted my usual schedule and with the addition of my writing. Other than that, I'll keep you posted if need be. Night, my fellow night owls.