After that, we had considered moving on with the island tour, but since both of us were already dead tired from the hike up to the viewpoint, we just continued to look at all the sights from above. It didn't hurt to take a breather, and I was still learning plenty about the island, just not from up close.

"So wait, if we came from this way..." I pointed, "Does that mean the house is over there?"

"Yes, though the thick bamboo forest is obstructing it." She smiled, "As you can see, just this island is large enough to hide and never be found if you so desire."

"Wow, I thought for sure it was tiny, but I guess that's just cause I never explored past the residential area." I figured.

"It's important to sometimes be adventurous and courageous." She said with a smile, "It's only then when you get the full grasp on just how large the world truly is. I imagine my father felt the same way when he left."

Oof, hard topic to revisit all of a sudden. But she wouldn't have mentioned it if she didn't wanna talk about it, so I'll go along with it.

"You said your father left the island to see the world, right?" I chuckled, "My dad was the same, though he left his home village before he even met my mom."

"So your wound isn't as deep." Her smile waned, "Then again, I assume your grandparents were the ones that took the brunt of it."

"Yeah, that's true..." I looked up, "I never met my grandparents. I was supposed to, but I was off studying at university when my parents and brother went to visit them."

"University?"

"Like a school for adults." I smirked, "Heh, I'm a prodigy though, so I got way earlier."

"Congratulations." She followed my gaze upwards, "Do you think they ever regretted it?"

"Hm? Our dads?"

"Yeah, do you think they ever felt unsure of the path they were taking?"

"Mn... I think they did." I said honestly, "My dad's situation somehow ended up fine, but that doesn't mean it was smooth sailing the entire time. If you asked me to go through all the things he did to get to this point, I would have smacked you straight across the face."

"It was that rough?" She raised an Eyebrow.

"I'm just talking about it from my perspective." I turned to her, "My dad's far more resilient. Maybe he never did regret the choice to leave his home. At the end of the day, you'd have to ask him if you want his opinion on it."

"That's fair..." She looked distantly at the bottom of the hill we were on.

Looks like she got bummed after I yapped too long about my dad. Was I supposed to ask about her dad instead? Gah, I'll try to course correct as soon as possible.

"And what about you?" I asked, "Do you think your dad-?"

"Shhh!" She ducked me down before pointing yonder, "Something's down there."

Yikes, I misunderstood her expression. And here I thought I was really good at discerning people's emotions from their aloof faces. Guess that only works for Meil, after all... But wait, what does she mean by something being down there?

"Gasp, you're right!" I carefully looked to where she was pointing, "There's movement in the shrubs!"

"You think it might be the old man?" She asked, "Or is it a beast?"

"No, it's a person, and judging from the White and Brown hair, it's gotta someone from the island." I surmised, "Shall we get closer and investigate?"

"Are you crazy? It's way too dangerous!" She held me back.

"What's this? Suddenly scared, are we?" I teased her, "But wasn't it your own advice to sometimes be adventurous and courageous?"

"That's not an excuse to be reckless!"

"Oh come on, with your brawn and my Book, there's nothing this person can do to us." I reassured her, "Plus, like I said, they're definitely a Schnell. If they're walking through such thick shrubbery, that means there's a path down there. A potential detour, perhaps?"

"I've never seen anyone walking down there before..." She tried recalling, "Nope, there's nothing down there, so this person is definitely suspicious."

"See? And what else should we do when faced with a suspicious individual than investigate!" I began running down the path we came from, "Let's go!"

"Wait, Nelly!" She called out, "Don't run, you're gonna-!"

-Trip, is what I assume she was about to say, but then ironically enough, it happened to her instead. Now it's one thing for her to trip after explicitly warning me of the very same hazard, but remember—We're on the side of a hill right now. In other words, she picked me up down the road, which resulted in the both of us tumbling down together, eating dirt and grass as we did. Thankfully the terrain didn't have too many rocks, but it still hurt nonetheless.

"Ack! You idiot!" I shouted as our speed finally began to decrease, "Wear proper shoes, for fuck's sake! Gods!"

"You shouldn't have ran in the first place!" She angrily shouted back, "Gah, so much for trying to be sneaky..."

Oh right, we were on a mission to sneak up on the person in the shrubs. Looks like we at the very least thankfully fell down the side of the hill where they were, but given the loud thuds, thumps, shouts and curses that accumulated thanks to our little fall, I'm sure whoever they were were alerted and fled the scene without even thinking about it. They'd have to be an idiot not to, after all.

"You good?" I felt a gentle wind practically lift me back up on my feet, "Quite the nasty tumble you had there."

"Yeah, I'm fine..." I answered the unfamiliar voice, rubbing my head as I finally looked up to see who it came from, "Ah? ...Huh?"

"Nelly..." Lee, Lem's father, stood there with his mouth agape, "And a young hot babe in a leaf bikini... Ack!"

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

With a smack to the head from the person beside him, he quickly shut up with the lecherous comments about my friend. But it's not Lem's dad I was surprised to see. No, rather as I said, the person who had scolded him just now.

"Now is not the time, Lee." Meil held a rather dangerous looking device in his hand, threateningly pointing it at Showa, who was still sitting on the ground, "Prepare for battle."

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***

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Oh. My. Gods. HE HAS A BEARD. I repeat, Meil has A BEARD! And he looks even more dreamy than I ever could have imagined! What the hell, have I been missing for that long!? This guy, he really didn't spare a single moment of time to take care of himself, he was just on the search for me from the very moment he found out, huh! I can't believe it, and to think I doubted him once! Oohhh, his Eyebags too! Aren't they supposed to make him look worse? So why oh why does he look even cooler than before?! He looks so rugged and manly... Hm? Wait a second, did I hit a growth spurt recently? He seems shorter.

"W-Wait now, hold on!" I stepped in between his gun thing and Showa, "What do you mean by battle!?"

"Nelly, step aside." Showa got up and stood in front of me, "I'll handle these guys, you run to the old bastard."

"Wait, there's a misunderstanding here!" I tried to explain, but it was too late.

Without hesitation or thinking it through, Meil had fired off the gun thing at Showa, hitting her shoulder directly and apparently shocking her to the ground.

"Showa!" I ran to lift her up.

"Don't touch her, kid!" Lem's dad pulled me back, "You'll get shocked too, c'mon now!"

"No!" I yanked myself free, tears dripping down my face as I did, "Showa! Showa, wake up, please don't die!"

Her Eyes were wide open, scarily so even. For getting shot, her reaction didn't seem all too fazed in fact. Simply looking up at the sky, unaware of the fact she's dying in front of me. Right, the people of these islands probably haven't ever had to encounter a gun, so she must be feeling nothing but confused right now. Dammit, why Meil...!?

"Ahem." Meil cleared his throat awkwardly, "Was... Was she not an enemy?"

"No, you idiot!" I went to examine her wounds, but surprisingly found no bullet holes, "What...? Ugh, never mind! She was my friend, why didn't you listen to me when I told you not to shoot!?"

"Sorry about him, Nelly. He's a bit sleep deprived." Lee chuckled.

Huh, is this funny to you? You monsters! Oh Gods, I finally started to get along well with Showa, I don't want to part ways with her so soon! Please, don't let this be the end.

"Hey, c'mon now." Lee nudged Meil, "Tell her, don't make her cry anymore."

"Tell me what?" I glared back, with Meil's annoyingly deadpanned expression reflecting off my tears.

"This is not a real gun." He waved it around, "It is the high voltage non-lethal self-defense weapon I told you about, remember? She will be fine, she is just a bit incapacitated is all."

"...Eh?" I darted my gaze between her and them.

"Yep, it just kinda tickled." Showa finally managed to speak again, "Sorry for scaring you, Nel. I kinda thought I was dead too."

"You..." I hugged her on the ground, "You... Damned idiot!"

"Ow! What the hell!?" She got pissy after I smacked her across the face, "Why'd you do that for!?"

"You could've said something earlier, dumbass! I thought you really died!"

"Well excuse me for being bewildered by a foreign weapon!"

Bickering for a while after that, the two men simply sat back and waited for us to run out of breath before they could interject and join the conversation properly.

"It seems we are the rude ones for not introducing ourselves first." Meil cleared his throat, "Meil Deram, Lee. It is a pleasure, miss...?"

"Showa." She nodded before shaking their hands, "Showa Schnell."

"Mighty fine to meet you, Showa!" Lee shoved Meil next to her, "Meil, just a question. You sure you never had a daughter before? You two look identical."

"Surprisingly, she more so resembles Nelly, what with the short hair and cute, round features." Meil said it just like that.

"Eh?! You think I'm cute!?" Both Showa and I jolted.

"This guy just can't stop wooing girls and making it look easy..." Lee smirked.

"It is an objective statement, I have no subjective input on the matter." Meil elaborated.

"...Only to flub it at the very end. Typical Meil." Lee groaned, "It wouldn't have killed you to just keep your mouth shut and nod every now and again, y'know?"

"Hold on, about what we were discussing earlier..." Showa awkwardly danced around the topic, "Mister Meil, a long time ago, my father left this island to see the outside world. Is there a possibility he maybe changed his name to yours?"

Ehh? You think Meil's your dad? Woman, you have to be crazy. Maybe the beard is fooling her into thinking he's older than he really is, but I know for a fact that he couldn't have had a child some twenty odd years ago, because-

"Wait, why are you nodding!?" I shook him up, "Meil, you're thirty! She's like over 20! The numbers don't add up, have you gone cuckoo!?"

"Wah~" He turned to whimper to Lee, "See what happens when I shut up and nod every now and again~?"

Ah, so that's the case. It seems he just misunderstood Lee's assignment. Phew, for a second I actually got scared there. Man, I missed Meil's confused confusing confusion, this really makes me feel right at home.

"You gonna stop violently shaking him now?" Showa asked.

"Eh, he deserves five more minutes at least." I shrugged before increasing my speed.