Ulrich stared at the contents of the page for a few seconds. Inside the crumbled paper was an anime drawing. Or at least it was trying to be with the thin lines and jagged eye shape. It was a drawing of an angel with jet black wings, a trenchcoat, and a jagged black katana. He was scowling, and he had a blood red scar on his left eye.

“This your drawing, or…?” Ulrich asked, trying to contain his laughter.

“No! Yes. It’s…not important, now give it back.”

“Is this…is this why you went back to your house?”

“I mean…we’re going to Japan, right? So if I run into a manga artist, I could perhaps…you know, give them the paper and see what happens.”

“Ulrich, buddy. Lay off the guy.” Lainey interrupted. “It can’t be that bad.”

She walked over to see what he was laughing at, but Dominic ran behind him, grabbed his shoulders, and delivered a swift knee to his groin. Lainey saw Ulrich’s eyes twist upwards as he fell to his knees. Dominic quickly took the paper and began running into the boat.

“The hell was that for?” Lainey yelled.

“You stay the fuck out of this, Lainey!” Dominic screamed as he swung the door open. Lainey made sure to follow up in case Sapphire thought anything of the whole ordeal.

Lainey walked through the halls and was about to open the door to Dominic’s room, when Sapphire walked out of the kitchen.

“You hear that?” She asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Dominic just went into his room and left the door open. I’m just about to remind him not to, it’s fine! When’s the fish ready, anyway?”

“About ten minutes.”

“Alright, awesome.” She nodded, walking into Dominic’s room.

When she walked in, she just found Dominic lying on a hammock, scrolling through a smartphone. She had seen a few from this point, but never used one. The screen was basically the whole thing, and it looked pretty legit.

“Go away.” Dominic mumbled, not looking up from his phone.

“You doin okay, man?” Lainey asked.

“I’ll survive, anyway? You know the Crimson Scorching Chili Con Carnes?”

“As a band, yeah. Personally, no.”

“Alright, cool. Dominic replied, playing one of their songs. Around the Globe. Pretty good song.

“So, what’re you doing here?” Dominic asked.

“Eh, just wanted to see what Ulrich was laughing at.” Lainey replied, before panicking slightly. “No wait! I wanna appreciate it! Ulrich’s definitely an asshole, let’s get that clear! I’m not making fun of you!”

“It’s whatever. It’s not my drawing, anyway.”

“Wait, what?”

“I mean, it was my idea, but my friend is the one who actually drew it.”

“Ah, honour defending. Got it.” Lainey nodded.

“Yeah, she’s gone now. Moved a couple years ago and never got her email.”

"Yeah, I feel that." Lainey nodded.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"So, I figured, I have a lot of the story for this still thought out, so maybe I could find some kind of manga artist and make it a full series, you know? For her."

"I get ya, I get ya. Tell you what? I could strike you a deal."

Dominic paused his music. "What kind of deal?"

"Well, you know how easy it is to share music these days? I could pretty easily make a single, making that picture the album cover, and with any luck, she could see it."

Dominic sprung out of his hammock. "Wait a minute! Your band. It's Trik Mystik, isn't it?"

"Uh, yeah?" Lainey replied, confused.

"Yeah! Before she moved, she mentioned something about buying the new Trik Mystik album, so the chance of her actually seeing it is basically one hundred percent!"

"Hey, what do you know? And I'll be sure to mention that you helped save my bandmates." Lainey responded, with a confident smile and a hand outstretched. "Also, try to be nice to Ulrich. I get that he's kind of a dick, but we should probably play nice."

"That I can handle." Dominic responded, shaking her hand. "And to top off this deal, I'll help you bang Sapphire!"

"Wait, what?" Lainey reacted, retracting her hand.

“Come on, you gotta let me!” Dominic yelled, putting his hands on her shoulders and probably shaking a few fillings out in the process. “This friend of mine had the same hairstyle as you. And she was a lesbian! Come on…I just feel I owe you, you get me?”

“Hey, Axe and Pink! Food’s ready!”

“So, guess I’m gonna make my move. Don’t mess this up.”

The two of them went up to the boat, where a meal of fried mackerel and mushrooms were waiting, with some apple juice on the side.

After about a minute of eating, Dominic started his plan.

“So, Sapphire? When was the last time you let someone on this lovely boat of yours?”

Sapphire swallowed her fish, and looked into the sky, which was slowly turning orange. "About…two months. A lady from Italy if I remember correctly."

"Interesting, interesting." Dominic replied, taking a small bite from a mushroom. "What were you doing in Italy?”

"Eh, it's a job for myself, you know? Buying things from certain countries, selling them in others. I won't be some man in a suit buying a mansion, but it's a living, you know?"

"I hear you there." Lainey replied. "So, what were you and that girl in Italy doing?"

"Eh, found her looking at some lovey-dovey stuff. Turned out her boyfriend dumped her after she put on some weight. So, I hung out with her for a few days to get her spirits up."

"Well, I can get behind that." Dominic said, tipping his cider to her. "Always nice to help somebody in need."

"So, what happened to the girl?" Lainey asked.

"We went our separate ways. She stayed in my room for a couple nights, but she had things to attend to, and I had to go to Spain. So, nothing really happened between us."

"Nothing happening, huh?" Dominic asked. "What's that imply?"

"Ah, not much. Sometimes me and a girl I'm helping will spend the night together. A small bit closer, you know?"

"Hm. I get you." Dominic smiled, tossing a side glare towards Lainey. "So, you currently single?"

"Been a while, why?" She responded with a slight hint of caution.

"I mean, my friend Lainey over there is in the same situation as you. Stuck saving the world, and a lot of…tension, you feel." Dominic gave a sly smile and leaned back on his chair.

Sapphire turned to Lainey, with a look of slight concern on her face.

"Is what this…man is saying true?" Sapphire asked, clutching her necklace.

Lainey was quickly throwing glances at both Dominic and Sapphire, while Ulrich just kind of stayed out of the whole thing, barely looking up from his mackerel.

Lainey quickly started stammering.

"W-well, I'm not into girls, b-but my wife is. Ex-wife, I mean. We, uh, got divorced after a while, things weren't working out."

"Well." Sapphire slowly began talking. "That's…certainly a shame to hear about."

"Yeah, it certainly sucked." Lainey looked over at Dominic, while mouthing a quick 'help me.'

'With what?' Dominic mouthed back.

'Just…say something that lesbians would be into.'

Dominic nodded with a look of confidence, turning to Sapphire.

“You know, I was at the beach a while back, right? Really nice day by British standards. And I see this girl sunbathing, right? Completely topless. And she had massive tits! I mean, huge ones! Really lit up my day, you get me?”

“Interesting story.” Sapphire said quietly, clutching her necklace as Lainey buried her head into her hands. Dominic glanced over at the distressed Lainey, and then towards Sapphire.

“Well, miss Sapphire. I must thank you for the mushroom I ate out of politeness, I forgot to mention that I am deathly allergic! So if you excuse me, I have to go die in peace! See ya later!”

"Same here!" Lainey also got up, and both of them ran into their rooms, while Sapphire turned to Ulrich with fear.

"I wasn't told about this! I was only told about the guy who can't eat nuts!"

"That…would be me." Ulrich replied, confused at basically everything that happened. "I have no idea about the others."

"Oh, god! You have one of those jab things?" Sapphire asked, panicking. "Wait. I bought you one. I'll be right back!" And she too, ran into the inside of the boat.

Ulrich just returned to his food, leaving them to their alone time with Sapphire. Besides, these mushrooms were pretty good. And when Sapphire was out of his view, he took Dominic's.