"So, what's your type?" Lee asked without a hint of shame.
"Little boys." Showa replied just as shamelessly, "The precious kind."
"That one's on me for asking..." He sulked before reinflating, "In any case, why are you wearing such sexy lingerie? We're you like at the beach or something?"
"No, this is our national wear." She vehemently defended the leaf bikini, "My goodness, so Nelly really wasn't making fun of me when she said you guys view us as weirdos."
"Can't help it. Usually only real slutty chicks wear the clothes you're wearing, and only behind closed doors for their husbands." He shrugged, "If a girl wore that stuff in the middle of any town outside of here, she'd get dragged into an alleyway within the hour. That, or a jail cell, which honestly I'd prefer."
"I can understand your confusion on the matter partly, but trust me it'd be the most normal thing to see if only you two could see the rest of the islanders."
"Too bad we can't, cause then we'd be the ones dragged into jail cells." Lee chuckled, "Heh, no thank you. I've had my fair share of prisons."
"Prison... Are you a bad guy, Mister Lee?" She saw right through his demeanor.
"You could tell? Nah, just kidding, I'm not a bad guy anymore." He continued, "I was in my youth, but then a ton of things happened that eventually led to me seeking what everyone else calls "the right path". My idiot son seems to despise this fact though, cause he just can't stop getting into trouble."
"Lem, I've been meaning to ask, but..." She licked her lips nervously as she asked, "Is he really nineteen?"
"Yeah, all grown up. Time sure flies, but sadly his height... not so much." Lee smirked, "I assume Nelly told you? The kid's short as shit."
"Yes, I also saw him once or twice, so I know." She squirmed about, "H-He's... quite interesting. For a boy... a man to look just like a boy."
"Keep your mitts off him, wench." Lee got the memo, "He's only got Eyes for Nelly."
"But he hasn't opened them to see me yet, though."
"Fair point, you have my blessing as long as he consents." Lee shrugged, "With your tastes in men, I'd assume consent is the most important part of the equation here."
"Alright, we get it." I stopped the story briefly to intervene, "You two got along swimmingly, that's very nice. Now get to the actual point of the story!"
"We're getting there!" Both of them shouted back.
Anyways, the two of them kept chatting and laughing along the beach until they happened to come across someone short enough to match Lem's height that was acting shifty.
"Think that's him?" Lee asked.
"We can't be too sure." Showa thought to ask, "As his father, do you two perhaps have some code word or phrase that would notify the other party of your presence?"
"Son!" Lee shouted with all his might.
The figure off in the distance paused as if to peek behind him, but was quick to dismiss the call for attention.
"Heeey, it's bandit time~!" Lee sang a tune familiar to them and them only, "Tch, he's still ignoring me. He used to love singing that song with me when he was younger."
"Maybe he just grew up and forgot."
"God, that's worse than him going deaf!" Lee thought for a second before thinking something up, "If you don't turn the fuck back around, I'll tell Nel all your embarrassing childhood blunders!"
"Ooh, tell me more!" Showa was the one who got excited, though.
Alas, no matter how much Lee tried calling out to him, Lem just refused to turn around or stop sneaking away. The thought occurred that that person may not have even been Lem in the first place, but Showa reaffirmed that quite literally no one but the kids of the island were that short. Due to the strict curfew placed upon them by the adults, this meant it could only either be him or Nelly walking in front of them.
"And we know Nelly's with Meil in the jungle..." Lee reasoned, "Y'know what? Let's just go run over to him."
"That'd only scare him off-" Showa then immediately got left in the dust, "Ah, you're not listening."
Trailing after the mysterious figure with as much speed as they could muster, it seems that the initial sprint didn't take too long to exhaust them. As it were, Showa was quite tired from hiking the entire day, and Lee was running on fumes for weeks now. In short, this failed attempt at a full-on sprint on the coarse sandy terrain only served to jolt and scare off the mysterious figure into running away themselves. Well, that, and to tire both of the pursuers.
"Gah, haaaah... Damn, guess these old bones aren't as good as they used to be." Lee was panting at this point, "Shit, am I really that old? I was 25 just a couple years ago."
"When was that exactly?"
"When Lem was just born, I think."
"Ah, that explains it."
"Well, the boy's gone. Nothing we can do about it now." He shrugged, "Dammit boy, what ever happened to listening to your old man's words?"
"So hey, since he disobeyed you and all that..." Showa timidly twiddled her thumbs, "Could you tell me more about his youth now? Y'know, since you promised and all..."
"Seriously, that was the most important conclusion she came to?" I yet again stopped the retelling to ask.
"Yes, and I am very glad I did!" She contently returned a smug smile, "Now I know a lot more about the cute little guy!"
"...The hell'd you tell her?" I turned to Lee.
"I think he'd actually kill me if I told you, Nel, so for now it's just gonna stay between the two of us." Lee pointed to himself and Showa.
Dammit, I obviously couldn't care less about it, but now that the information is purposefully being gatekept, I'm dying to know!
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"Come on, tell me!"
"Nelly, please be quiet while they explain what happened next." Meil told me off.
"Looks like someone's invested in the story." Lee smirked, "Alright, best get on with it then."
"Harumph!" I pouted.
And so, we return to the two of them walking towards the current spot in the beach we were at right now, located just next to a small wooden dock. Right now, there weren't any boats around, but while they were chasing after Lem, there was just one.
"He's seriously jumping in the boat!?" Showa tried speeding up, "Where does he even wanna go? This is the central island of the Archipelago, wherever he chooses to go will just be the same as if not worse than here!"
"In that case, we ought to hurry!" Lee nodded before turning his walk into a run, "Kid! Hey, come back!"
The boat was mere meters away when it had left the dock, setting sail for the moonlit darkness of the sea in front of it. These two didn't have any torches or flashlights with them, and since it was already midnight by then, all they could do is sit back and twiddle their thumbs.
"Oi, what are you doing?" Lem noticed Showa start running towards the water, "Hold it, don't tell me you're gonna swim after him!?"
"Lem! Come back here, your father is looking for you!" Showa began strutting through the water's surface, gradually getting more and more submerged as she went deeper, "Ack, no use, I already have to stand on my toes just to feel the floor beneath me... Ugh, whatever!"
"Whatever?" Meil tilted his head, "What do you mean by that? What did you do?"
"She just kept walking." Lee explained.
"I figured if I just held my breath long enough, I could walk under the water and then jump onto the boat from beneath..." Showa sighed.
Damn, that's one stupid plan.
"Worst part is it almost worked." Lee revealed.
...Nevermind.
Going back into the flashback, Lee explained that all he could use as an indicator of Showa's current position were the occasional bubbles that floated up to the water's surface. That being the case, the bubbles did gradually close the distance between them and the boat, and when the time was right, Lee gave her the signal to jump out.
"Now, girlie!" He shouted, "Kick up with all your might!"
With a loud splash, she emerged and barely grabbed onto the boat. Raising her head above the water to breathe in some air finally, her relieved smile was cut short when she noticed a particular anomaly. The terrified face of the mysterious escapist did indeed match that of Lem, but there was something above him. A tiny, distant spec that kept seemingly increasing in size as it got closer from the heavens.
"Lem~!" The spec shouted, "Catch me, I don't wanna go splat!"
"Huh!?" Even he turned around all confused before smirking, "Heh, took ya' long enough, dude! I Command you to land unharmed!"
With his Eyes shining a bright Yellow, Lem had successfully managed to save this unknown ally that fell from the sky and straight into their boat. According to Lee's Eye witness testimony, it was thanks to Lem's Iro Ability that the person somehow managed to position himself in the air to land perfectly into the water next to it, essentially re-emerging out of it unscathed. What followed was only even more hectic.
"Whoa! Leaf bikini tanned White haired babe!" The figure gawked at Showa's beauty, "And she has Red Eyes too! Will you marry me?"
"Ah, what?" Showa let out a bewildered yelp as she barely held onto the boat's edge.
"Don't propose to the enemy, jackass!" Lem smacked him, "Knock her off and help me oar! We need to leave!"
"Ehhh? She's an enemy?" The person slumped forward dejectedly, "Tsk, fine... No hard feelings, pretty lady. I'm taken."
"Hey, wait, I can't swi-!"
Lightly undoing her tight grip around the boat's edge, these two managed to rather easily plop the poor girl into her most dangerous environment before speeding off without a hint of remorse for their actions. She sunk down almost immediately, but before she could even hit the ocean floor, Lee had already jumped in, grabbed her and took her back up to the surface.
"Phah! Euuuugh!" He let out all his frustration and adrenaline at once in the form of a powerful groan, "Dammit kid, that was way too dangerous! You could've died!"
"Ah, sorry..." She sulked.
"Tch, well I'm tired right now, so you're gonna have to wait a bit before I can take us to shore." Lee felt bad for yelling at her, "Can you at least float?"
"I can doggy paddle." She started splashing about in front of him, "Ah, but I didn't use that this time because it would've been too slow."
"...Then why'd you sink when they tossed you off?" I asked.
"Cause I was embarrassed." She blushed lightly, "Getting proposed to all of a sudden is a novelty for me. A-And the person just said it like it was nothing! In our culture, that question is usually only reserved for the tightest of couples..."
"Yeah, it's like that for the rest of the world as well." Meil sighed.
"But hey, at least we now know who the person that came to Lem's aid is." I smirked.
"Wait, you know him?" Showa tilted her head.
"Yes, when it comes to our shared list of acquaintances, there is but only one person who would without fault make it his first priority to wed a beauty, regardless of her affiliation." Even Meil cracked a smirk after realizing who it was.
"I didn't meet the guy for long, but he certainly gave a strong impression back in Simpleton." Lee chuckled.
The guy has two wives already, and now he's looking for a third? Is this greed, lust or just another case of differing cultures clashing? Who else could it be but everyone's favorite Slanted-Eyed perverted Foreigner Issei, and I right? But for the guy to have fallen from the sky like that, I wonder how he got there...