A monster fish, some three metres long, landed on the ferry’s deck with a bang as Gaius dropped it from the skies. It flopped helplessly for a few seconds, before the elders of the Kusanagi family fired out needle-sharp blasts of qi.

           Blood pooled underneath the corpse, before running off to the side. Grooves had been cut at the side, proving an outlet for the blood to drain off the boat…which incidentally, also meant that rolling coins had a fifty percent chance of plopping into the sea. The bathroom’s lock had been destroyed a few days ago, by a man who rushed out to save a tower of coins he’d stacked up on the deck when the ship tilted to the side. He’d only managed to save half of them.

           Gaius, who had tossed the fish onto the boat alone, descended onto the sea’s surface and washed his hands with the seawater, making sure to give the blood streaming out of the ship a wide berth.

           The ferry was big enough to hold ten such fishes of that size with no issue whatsoever, but the Kusanagi seniors weren’t going to let it take up space for nothing. Swords, which looked suspiciously like katanas to Gaius, glinted in the moonlight, flashing rapidly for a few moments in a coordinated flurry.

           Giant cubes of meat rolled onto the deck, leaving behind a skeleton, which was swiftly tossed overboard with a splash. The water around its landing point bubbled furiously for a few seconds, the furore dying down a few seconds later.

            Monster attacks weren’t all that rare nowadays. For the past few weeks, nightly attacks had become the norm — sea monsters that looked remarkably similar to swordfish or sea hippos had attacked the ferry on a regular basis. The smaller monsters had even learnt to pick up scraps of monsters, trailing behind the ferry and grabbing a few bites out of whatever the Kusanagis tossed overboard after food processing was completed.

           “Seems like we struck monster gold today,” Gaius muttered. His eyes were fixated on what looked like a predatory bird, which, by the looks of it, seemed to think that their ferry was prey.

           The surroundings shifted as Gaius activated the Blink ability. A surprised squawk followed as the boy landed on the bird’s back. At close range, the boy could give a rather accurate estimate of the bird’s wingspan, around ten metres from left to right. Unsheathing his Terminus, Gaius plunged the weapon through the monster bird’s neck, with a vengeance that could only come from having dried, preserved meat as a staple for nearly two months on end.

           After decapitating the bird for good measure, Gaius dropped onto the deck and dropped its headless corpse onto the deck, eliciting a round of good-natured cheers from the Kusanagi seniors.

           “Nicely done, eiyuu!”

           “Fish and chicken tonight, it seems!”

           It seemed that the older generation was more prone to using what sounded like Japanese words, although Gaius had given up on guessing what they meant. Once in a while, Nakama would ask Kenouji about certain words, especially names, but the teenager wouldn’t have the answer to them. After a few times of being reminded on and on about his inability to answer questions, he had made it a point to lead conversations away from any topics that might just provoke Nakama into asking questions.

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           It was a point of entertainment for Gaius and Isabelle, since Kenouji visited them often. The teenager was proving to be a rather good teacher, after Isabelle pulled him aside and hinted that teaching Nakama things would be a good way to prevent her from asking questions.

           Gaius nodded at an elderly lady who had offered a towel to him with a smile, before wiping his clothes with it. The towel was soaked with some cleaning agent, as usual, and it didn’t take long before the boy’s clothes were squeaky-clean once more.

           “Thank you.”

           “That bird you just hunted is one of the East’s apex predators,” she said, her voice somewhat creaky. “You just saved a few lives from doing that.”

           “I’m not that noble,” Gaius replied. “I just wanted to have some chicken…like food for tomorrow.”

           “You’ll have it, dearie.” The old lady smiled, and ambled away slowly. Despite her lumbering gait, her steps were lined with a confidence borne from old age alone, and Gaius’ desire to support her as she walked faded away.

           “Thinking about something?” Kenouji spoke from behind Gaius.

           “That old lady there, that’s all.”

           “Oh, she’s his granddaughter,” Kenouji replied. “She’s currently the decision-maker for the older generation in the family. Most of my decisions go through her first.”

           “Doesn’t the generation gap…?”

           “She’s more in-touch with us than her children,” the teenager replied, a wry grin on his face. “Do you know the meaning of ‘open-minded’? She is the paragon of that very word. She’ll already be an expert on any new fads or trends when you intend to try it out.”

           “Decisive too, eh?”

           “Decisive?” Kenouji cupped his chin. “I never thought of it that way, but it does look like you’re right.”

           “I usually am,” Gaius replied. “Now, how far are we from the North? By my estimation, we should be rather close to the continent by now.”

           “Even closer than you think,” said Kenouji. “Last night, there was a favourable current, which increased our speed by an order of magnitude. The ferry nearly broke apart last night too.”

           He shot a glance at Gaius. “Didn’t you feel it?”

           The boy thought back to last night, and then shook his head. “I was probably floating off the ground, so if it was a gradual increase, I didn’t feel it.”

           “Mediation, eh?” Kenouji rubbed his nose. “Does that even help?”

           “It does…I think.” The boy glanced at the old men and women, whose glittering swords were about to turn a predatory bird into tomorrow’s lunch, and shuddered slightly. “On second thought, it does. Very much.”

           Kenouji turned to where Gaius’ eyes were looking at, and his face instantly darkened. “I see a diet of preserved meat has done quite the damage to my family. Maybe they too should do something about mediation, eh? Thanks for your suggestion.”

           Gaius bobbed his head up and down, before sneezing. “Man, the fishy smell is getting to me. I’ll go rinse myself in the bath or something.”

           “Go on ahead,” said Kenouji.

           As Gaius entered the main cabin, he heard the teenager mutter, “Did I forget something?”

            Probably the pile of gold your family also left behind in the East, I guess. The boy shook his head and grabbed a set of clothes in his own room, and then walked towards the bathroom. A good rinse would eliminate the smell…probably, anyway.