Slowly, he regained consciousness.

He was lying in a bed in a house at the harbor.

Nearby, he could hear people cheering and celebrating.

Was he in the inn? Had he made it? Did they win?

Suddenly, a door opened. Koru came in.

He was quite well bandaged.

"Ah, you're awake! We almost feared you wouldn't make it!" he said as he walked to the bed.

"Really? You didn't need to worry about that... Anyway, what happened? Did we win? What happened to your brother and the pirates?"

Koru was silent for a moment. He slowly sat down on a chair next to the bed.

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"We won! Your final attack caused the tank to explode from the inside. After that, the remaining pirates fled."

"And your brother?"

"He didn't make it. Neither did Paron. After the fire was extinguished, we found their remains in the wreckage."

Both were silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry," Kawao said.

"For what?"

"For killing your brother. He was a psychopath, but he was still your brother, your family. If you wanted to hit me or kill me, I would understand."

Koru sighed.

"If we hadn't met today, I would indeed be very angry with you. That's true! But even now, I'm not really happy about it. I just can't be... My brother was a monster. And maybe he really deserved to die. I truly believe that. But still... Even if he didn't see me as part of his family, he was still part of mine. And it's always hard to lose someone you once loved, no matter what mistakes they made in their life. That bond between us will always remain. So I can never truly forgive you, no matter how much I want to. It should be me apologizing, not you."

Both were silent.

"What will you do now?" Kawao asked.

"I..." he began, but suddenly the door was kicked open, and John stumbled into the small room.

He was quite drunk.

"Why, Kawao? Why?" he slurred.

"Why did you lie to me?"