Mystical Journey

He quickly went back to shore and accepted the dry towel Raffaele handed him. Ever since they got to know each other, in these past two years, they had gotten so close that there was nothing they could not tell each other. Of course, they still had their respective innermost secrets that remained hidden from each other, Garen could sense that, and he could tell that it was the same with Raffaele.

The Raffaele right now was no longer as childish as she used to be, in the past two years, she seemed to have undergone some special education, her thoughts becoming more and more mature, while her personality grew more and more aloof, other than Garen, she had fewer girl companions, and more underlings who looked up to her.

Before she knew it, her reputation among her peers became stronger and stronger, and now that she was in her first year of high school, she had already become the most powerful boss lady in the school.

Raffaele was wearing white swim clothes, her chest was still not very developed but small and delicate, peeking vaguely from beneath the swim clothes, her fair white arms, and smooth white long legs were her most eye-catching assets.

Her skin was unlike other girls, as she grew older, rather than growing coarse, her skin grew smoother and softer.

"There's something I need to handle at school, I need to go back guest." A trace of exhaustion flashed past Raffaele’s face, "You ride back on your own later, I won't send you then."

"No problem." Garen nodded, seeing the exhaustion on Raffaele’s face, it was her true face that she only showed him. "You're too tired, why don't you give that organization or whatnot to someone to handle, we're just students, we don't need to create an organization or summat to trouble ourselves."

"It's fine, I can do it." Raffaele waved her hand, she had always been a forceful kind of woman and was equally formidable. "It's just a minor problem, I can get it settled in no time."

She was just like a ferocious lioness, powerful, fierce, but also had her proud and beautiful side.

As she grew older, that quality of here also intensified, she could always make the best decisions, until her many peers and even her elders silently approved of her leadership.

Simply said, she was just like a natural-born leader.

But there was something that Garen could not understand at all, and that was the reason behind Raffaele creating a Blood Pact Group. The core members of the group were also all shrouded in mystery, and could not be seen anywhere, but there were a ton of outer members everywhere, be it boys or girls, a large portion of the excelling students had all joined this club.

Watching Raffaele turn as though to leave, Garen suddenly pulled her back.

"Don’t rush, let me show you one last magic trick."

Raffaele smiled, turned around and looked at Garen, her expression full of anticipation. Sometimes Garen would show her some magic tricks that looked very magical, they were very interesting, and also very fun.

Garen smiled slightly as he held open both hands, his palm upturned in front of her.

"There’s nothing in my hands, right?"

"And then…"

He gripped his hands lightly, and then, right in front of Raffaele’s eyes, he gripped them slowly, as though he was holding something in them.

Abruptly, he spread open his fists.

There was a small red pebble in the middle of his palms. They came in a pair, very organized and delicate, and there was a seemingly natural carving of a girl’s blurry features on them.

"Close-distance magic! Impressive!" Surprise flashed through Raffaele’s eyes, her mood apparently lightened, "One each." She just took one of the pebbles, putting it in her palm carefully, and then she looked at Garen with a smile.

"Alright, one each." Garen smiled too.

Raffaele’s thoughts had always been very mature, and also slightly odd, she seemed to be very insistent on something, an aim or ideal that was extremely hard to achieve, that was also why Garen was slowly beginning to accept her, although Raffaele’s growth was incomparable to his, but compared to the other, even more childish normal students, he would naturally choose Raffaele, who he could communicate more with.

With that subtle acknowledgment, over these past two years, the two of them had become a pair that was like friends, but also like lovers.

Keeping the red pebble away, Garen suddenly felt a touch of warmth around his right wrist, and his hand was pulled into Raffaele’s.

Raffaele’s hand grabbed his, placing his right hand on her right chest, and then pressing down slowly.

That perky, full, and bouncy feeling, that warm touch, tinged with the bodily fragrance of a young girl, slowly permeated into his nostrils.

"This is your reward…"

Raffaele turned around and jogged away, leaving behind only her chiming, tinkling laugh.

From afar, Garen watched Raffaele put on her shirt and trousers, get onto her own white motorbike, wave in his direction, and then kick-start the engine, beginning her journey back.

As the motorbike picked up speed, the female rider’s golden hair began to wave backward in the wind.

In a place where Garen could not see, the pretty face under Raffaele’s helmet began to grow colder as she left the beach.

"Since you won’t listen to warnings, looks like we have no choice but to start the war."

She murmured, and the image of that stout white person with the earstuds seemed to appear in her eyes.

****************

Garen remained where he stood, raising his right hand slightly and sniffing it, there was still the girl’s fragrance lingering on it.

"I never thought…" He shook his head and laughed, an ancient monster like him who had lived for so long, was actually beginning to truly feel something for that child-like little girl.

In that instant, it was as though he could see his cousin Hathaway’s shadow on Raffaele.

Turning around and continuing to walk into the water, his exceptional swimming skill allowed him to tread water in the depths of the ocean, and he would not sink even if his body was upright, that was also the reason why his family had slowly begun to put down their concerns and gotten used to this habit of his.

Returning to his previous position, Garen immersed himself into practicing the channeling of his secret technique once more, and he would occasionally use himself as bait, to lure some sea sharks that wanted to eat him, and then he would ‘eat’ them in a few strokes, using them to increase the Black Sethe’s Insidious Palm Power.

Thinking back to how Raffaele had hurried back just now, Garen suddenly thought of something. "Why don’t I follow her quietly and see what she’s up to?"

Raffaele had always been secretive, he had no idea what she was doing, and he had also tried to investigate once before, but it never came up to anything. This time, however, it seemed like something important was happening, so Garen’s curiosity was ever so slightly piqued.

Looking at the sky, he saw that the setting sun was almost about to sink under the sea’s horizon, and only a tiny bit of the arch was still poking out.

Garen trained for a little longer, and only turned around to swim back to shore when the sky had nearly gotten completely dark.

Just then, a shadow seemed to flash before his eyes, a black shadow.

"Hmm?"

Garen frowned slightly, and felt something was amiss, stepping onto the sand bare-footed, he suddenly turned around.

He had no idea when, but somehow there was a delinquent standing behind him, with his hair dyed red and white.

This man was wearing flashy clothes that practically sparkled silver, his hands in his pockets, his head cocked and his expression unhappy as he stared at Garen.

"Who are you?" Garen asked in shock.

"For some reason, looking at a guy like you, who’s so perfect you don’t look like a man, really pisses me off…" The delinquent said, his expression condescending.

"Looks like you’re not a normal person?" Garen asked, ever so slightly surprised.

"Very smart, I like talking to smart people. Alright, look at my eyes." The delinquent’s eyes stared hard at Garen, and his voice suddenly became softer.

Garen felt slightly dizzy, his eyes seemed to have some strange pull and whirlpool, luring him into meeting his gaze. Garen was just about to resist, when something occurred to him, and he forced down the urge to retaliate.

"When Raffaele comes back at night later, you find a chance to send a message to this number using your phone, a blank message. Then you do your best to keep Raffaele there, perhaps truly making her your woman would be a good way to do that." That delinquent’s bleary voice seemed to come from far, far away. At the same time, he showed Garen a paper slip with a number on it, letting Garen see it closely.

Garen relaxed his body and heart, carefully feeling this sudden feeling of fogginess, this new and unfamiliar feeling was as though his own body was reacted automatically. The delinquent in front of him was like a natural enemy, just one glance, was enough to affect most of his main bodily functions.

Despite himself, he knew, if he just obeyed his instincts, he might actually truly have to obey the other person’s instructions.

This strange feeling of being controlled was extremely new and exciting to him.

Unfortunately, although this feeling of being controlled might be very powerful to normal people, to the point where they could not resist it, but to him, he just needed to move his already-formed aura slightly, and he could already easily break through this feeling of being controlled.

It was like tying an elephant with a string as thick as a hair… or covering a powerful time-bomb with a paper lantern.

By the time this feeling vanished, there was already no trace of that delinquent anywhere.

That extremely terrifying speed, as though he teleported, also left Garen in awe.

It was as though his physical body had no weight at all, just like a shadow, moving and stopping at will, completely disregarding momentum.

The night breeze blew softly.

Garen stood alone on the beach, looking at the empty space in front of him, as though that scene just now was just an illusion, and a feeling of excitement rose instantly in his heart.

"This world… is finally not so boring anymore…" The corners of his lips curved slightly, and he turned around, walking toward the rock with his clothes on it.

Soon enough, amidst the roar of a motorcycle engine, a white motorbike rode down the twisting paths, headed towards Grano.

Not long after the motorbike left, behind a rock on the beach, a brunette girl walked out slowly, she looked at the direction Garen had left in quietly, taking out a black cell phone and quickly calling a number.

"The target has left, the plan is a success." She said softly.

"You be careful, don’t let that woman notice your movements." There was an attractive man’s voice coming from the other end.

"Don’t worry, I’ll just distract the guardian for less than a minute, and I’ll just be giving some psychological hints to control them, I won’t do anything more than that, so I surely won’t be discovered."

"That’s good." The male voice on the phone paused, "I’ll come find you at night, wait for me."

The woman’s eyes immediately lit up with a burning passion.

"Mn, I’ll wait for you…"

She put down the phone, turned around, and disappeared into the crack between the rocks.