Chapter Seven

Gina woke Tatsuya again the next morning, and then Tatsuya followed his normal routine, and he realized how much he really loved his routine. Waking up, getting dressed, washing up, leaving home and taking a walk to school, inhaling that fresh, crisp air before the sun comes up. It was nice and quiet.
Maddy came and sat down next to him at lunch. And Darren wasn’t there. Tatsuya seemed to be extremely happy about this.
“I don’t know where Darren is,” Maddy told him.
“Oh,” Tatsuya said, slightly glad that Darren was no where to be found.
“I think he’s at home,” she said. “I called his house, and his mother said he was sick, but I really hope it’s nothing serious.”
“Sick?” Tatsuya repeated, pretending to care.
“Yeah. I hope he doesn’t have, like, swine flu or something.”
“That would suck,” Tatsuya said bluntly.
“Yeah, it would. Anyway, thank you so much for what you did yesterday,” she said. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“Don’t mention it again,” Tatsuya said. “Really, it’s nothing.”
Tatsuya followed his routine. He liked following his routine. And his routine with Maddy was wonderful. Maddy was actually a nice girl, and seeing his childhood friend every day was lovely, even if she didn’t remember him from ten years ago. And Darren was no where to be found. Tatsuya felt a little bad being happy that he possibly had swine flu, but he was really glad that he wasn’t around anymore. If he died, though, Tatsuya would feel an incredible amount of guilt. The last words he had said to him were yelling at him to leave him alone.
Darren wasn’t going to die, though. Tatsuya was sure of it. He’d be back in school soon, ready to annoy the pants off of him.
“You know, whenever I call his house, I don’t get an answer,” Maddy said. “I don’t know what’s wrong. Do you think he’s seriously ill?”
“I don’t know,” Tatsuya told Maddy every time she asked that.
Maddy seemed worried about Darren, but Tatsuya only worried about Darren because it was bothering Maddy so much.
Tatsuya was at his locker, ready to go home like every other Wednesday afternoon, when yet another familiar face came towards him.
“Tatsuya Gray,” Kaida said, leaning against the lockers next to him.
“Oh, hi, Kaida,” Tatsuya said, closing his locker. “I haven’t seen you in a while. Uh, can I help you?”
“Yes. I was wondering if you’d like to spend some time together this weekend?”
“Y-you were… you mean like a date or something?” Tatsuya stuttered. “I mean—I didn’t mean—with me?”
Kaida smiled her perfect smile, and it sent a chill down Tatsuya’s back. “Yes. Just the two of us. We could get a cup of coffee or something.”
“Wait, with me?” Tatsuya asked again.
“Is there a problem?” Kaida asked.
“N-no, not at all. I’ll see you then.”
Kaida walked off, her long black hair swaying behind her until she swiftly disappeared into the distance.
Tatsuya began his journey back home, and he saw Maddy outside in the parking lot.
“Hi, Tatsuya,” Maddy said, sadness in her voice. “Why do you look so confused?”
“I-I don’t understand what just happened,” Tatsuya said. “I just got asked out.”
“Oh! Who asked you out?”
“Kaida.”
“Yes, of course! Darren was telling me how you kind of had a thing for her.”
“I never did, Darren is just an idiot,” Tatsuya said. “Are you still worried about him?”
“Yeah, I am,” she said. “I think I’m going to visit him this weekend to make sure he’s okay. You should come with me!”
“Okay,” Tatsuya said. He didn’t actually want to see Darren, but saying no to Maddy was just too difficult.
“Cool. Maybe after your date or something?”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll call you or something.”
Maddy took Tatsuya’s cell phone from him, and typed into it. “I’m adding myself to your contacts list,” she said before handing his phone back. “I’ll text you Darren’s address, and we can go there. And bring Kaida if you want to.”
“Sure,” Tatsuya said, pocketing his phone. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
Days of routine passed, and there was still no sign of Darren. Tatsuya was glad, though, as he got to spend more time with his long lost former best friend, who didn’t remember him from ten years ago. It was just a tad bit annoying, though, how much she liked to talk about how worried she was for Darren. The only main thing that was out of routine was reading another entry in Drake Gray’s diary:

It’s near the end of December now. I know, it’s been a while since I wrote, but mainly because I haven’t been able to find the time. I’m all alone now. No, not everyone died, but a lot of us did. And the rest of the crew finally decided they were done looking for the treasure, so they took one of my ships and left to go back home. I must say, it was cowardly but wise of them. They can go back to their families, and their happy lives. I’m not giving up, though. I’m alone, but I’m not giving up. I don’t need anyone, I can do this by myself.
Something weird has been happening, though. I know I’m really bitter about everyone deserting me, and that I want to do this by myself. Chiyo, the leader’s son, came in the other day. He told me he was willing to help, since he was looking for the treasure, too. I told him to leave, though. I told him to leave me alone, because I could find the treasure by myself. He left.
Chie told me that his son had fallen ill. I don’t understand why, and I even examined him myself, and I can’t find any cause for his illness. It seems to be heart failure, though. When I checked him, it seemed as if his heart had… frozen. As if it froze inside of his body, and just stopped wanting to pump blood.
And the weird thing is that it didn’t just happen to Chiyo. It happened to a couple other of the villagers, too. Not only do I have to find a treasure, now, but I have to find out what kind of epidemic has come across this village.


The weekend finally arrived, and Gina allowed Tatsuya to sleep in before he realized that he had to meet Kaida at the cafe that was a block away.
“I don’t like how you’re with so many different people so much lately, Tatsuya,” Gina said. “First that boy comes to your house, and then you have a date with this girl. What next?”
“Gina, I don’t like this girl,” Tatsuya said. “I don’t even think she likes me. She seems too perfect for me.”
“No. She’s not perfect enough.”
“You’re not perfect. You’re a computer.”
“I’m more perfect than she is.”
“Gina, please. I’m not falling in love with you.”
Gina didn’t respond, and Tatsuya didn’t want to talk to her when she started thinking about awkward things. He left his house without another word and walked to the cafe.
Kaida was waiting outside. She was looking wistfully in the opposite direction, the wind blowing her long hair, but not messing it up. Her hard, dark eyes surveyed and scanned every passerby, and her gaze finally caught Tatsuya.
“Hello,” she said, her voice sending chills down his spine.
“Hi,” Tatsuya said, and he opened the cafe door for her.
They sat down at a table in the corner, as if Kaida didn’t want whatever she wanted to say to be overheard by anyone else.
“So…” Tatsuya said awkwardly. “What’s up?”
Kaida shrugged. “Nothing at all. You?”
“Same, I guess. I’m sorry if I’m being kind of awkward. I don’t get very many dates.”
Kaida smiled. “I can’t imagine why.”
Tatsuya laughed nervously. He couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.
“You’re Japanese, are you not?” she asked.
“Half,” he said. “I’m half Japanese, and my father was white.”
“Yes, of course,” she said, as if she had already known and there was really no point to ask him. “Have you heard any good Japanese folk legends from your mother?”
Tatsuya thought this was an odd topic to start off a discussion with. “Kind of, but not really. Nothing interesting.”
“I’m Japanese, too, so I figured we might have heard some of the same stories,” she said. “Ever hear anything about dragons?”
“Dragons?” Tatsuya repeated. “A little bit.” This wasn’t a complete lie, because he had heard of Japanese dragons from his great grandfather’s journal.
“I’ve only heard about dragons. You could say that my brothers are experts on Japanese dragons, so I hear a lot about them.”
“Fascinating,” Tatsuya said. “I’m going to grab a cup of coffee, do you want anything?”
“Yes, could you get me a tall white chocolate mocha, please?”
“Sure.”
Tatsuya went up to the lady at the counter, asked for a tall white chocolate mocha, and a plain coffee for himself. He didn’t particularly like the taste of coffee, but whenever he came to a cafe, he felt compelled to order it. After a few minutes, he got the orders, and brought the drinks to the table.
“Here you go,” Tatsuya said, handing Kaida her white chocolate mocha.
“Thank you,” she said. “So what about dragons have you heard?”
“Oh, not too much,” he said. “I’ve heard that they have incredible power, and that if a human is able to control that power, it would be enough to be absolute ruler of the world or something. Those crazy Japanese people and their insane stories, am I right?”
Kaida chuckled. “So true,” she said, fiddling with the pendant around her neck.
Tatsuya had never noticed it before. When he looked more closely at it, he noticed what it was. It was as if a circular pendant was cut into four pieces, and on of the fourths was put on a string, which was now around Kaida’s neck. There was a little imprint of a leaf on it. The whole thing seemed to be a bronze-ish, golden color, and it was dull and tarnished, so the light didn’t bounce off of it like it should have.
“I love hearing old stories like that,” Kaida said, still fiddling with her pendent. “Do you know how a human can possess the power of the dragon?”
“I have no idea,” Tatsuya said. “But these are all stories. You can’t honestly believe in all of this.”
“You’d be surprised at how many folk tales and myths are based on fact, Tatsuya,” Kaida said, flashing her perfect smile again. “And I’ll tell you how one can possess the power of the dragon. They’re either born with it, or they can… steal it.”
“Steal it?”
“Yes. Maybe I’ll tell you that story on a different day. Maybe our second date.”
“Second date?”
She smiled again. “If you want to have one, of course.”
“I-I… I guess,” Tatsuya stuttered.
“Excellent,” Kaida said, taking a sip of her coffee. “So you’re friends with that other boy… Darren Morris, I think his name was.”
“Yeah, his name is Darren Morris,” Tatsuya said, stirring his coffee. “But I’m not really friends with him. He’s kind of more like a pain in the ass.”
“But he’s been gone for a while, hasn’t he?”
“Yeah. I think he’s sick or something.”
“Sick. Of course.”
“But he hasn’t been picking up his phone or anything. Maddy, you know, his girlfriend, has been worried about him. I hate seeing her all worried and stuff.”
“You care a lot for this Maddy girl.”
“I do. It’s almost like she’s… a long lost friend, or something.”
“I see. Do you know where Darren Morris is now?”
“No.”
“I do.”