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A cool morning breeze washed against Towa’s and Rean’s faces as the pair took in the view aboard the Courageous’s deck. The two spent their early mornings looking at the clouds and “getting their daily vitamin D.” Something Towa learned from Beatrix.
Truth be told, the true reason was just comfort, being aboard an airship offered little respite and quiet, especially for the captain. So Rean and Towa enjoyed the little comfort time that they had together alone, dropping any formalities, the pair just acted like school children, maybe a bit immature at times for their age.
“Hey Rean, that cloud kinda looks like a cat!” Towa pointed at the sky.
“It does! And that one looks like a hamster.” One such activity that they did to de-stress was to lay on their backs and look at the clouds, pointing out interesting characteristics to each other.
“Hmmm, I say it looks like a chipmunk!”
“Actually now it looks more like a squirrel.” Rean interjected.
“I don’t think squirrels are that thin though.” Towa replied.
“Are they? I’m not exactly caught up with my rodent biology. Ha-ha…”
“How about I show you some pictures tonight?” Towa asked.
“Sure. Oh, speaking of the time, we’re going to be late!” It was a quarter past 9, and breakfast was usually served at around 9.
“Oops, we got carried away again.” Towa couldn’t help but lament that these good times couldn’t last forever.
“We can always come up during lights out.” Rean suggested.
“We could, but aren’t you the one always worrying about my sleep schedule?” Towa replied.
“True, I guess we can’t. Oh! How are those sleeping pills working for you?” Helping Towa up, the pair started making their way to the canteen.
“They’re fantastic, I’ve been able to sleep properly again!” Unfortunately, Towa was suffering from insomnia due to stress as the captain. As outside of her usual duties on the bridge, came with a whole lot of responsibilities involving maintenance checks. The usual culprits were Towa worrying over minor details such as if the engines were running at proper RPM or if the autopilot was correctly instructed.
Towa was always a worrywart, and that came at the cost of her sleep schedule. Usually these thoughts came when she was already in bed, causing her to get up and go to the control room in the middle of the night. A normal person would be able to ignore such thoughts, had it not been for the fact that the ship and its occupants' lives were entrusted to Towa by Victor S. Arseid.
Even with assurances from her close friend George, Towa would still be unable to rest, leading to a nasty cycle of tossing and turning until she gave into temptation.
Rean, worrying about it getting out of hand, decided to take it upon himself to purchase some sleeping pills for Towa during one of their supply runs. A simple over the counter medicine that just helped ease stress and encourage sleep hormones.
“I don’t even need to drink two cups of coffee anymore!” Towa proudly puffed up her chest. “Except for dinner…” Towa was still unable to catch a break when it came to the workload during the evening.
“That’s great to hear, just remember not to overuse em.” Rean cautioned. Towa gave him a reassuring nod.
“Once this is all over, I can sleep normally again.”
Turning the corner on the way to the canteen the pair stumbled upon an interesting sight.
More specifically it was their friend George currently nailing down a bunch of wall decor.
“Hanging up some new flags?” Towa looked over.
“No… Just… Someone keeps pulling and ripping these off!” George vented in frustration. “It’s been like this for the last few days, first it was like a few misplaced boxes, then it escalated to this… Vandalism!” What Geroge was referring to was the mess in the hallway, a few plants had been tipped over, and the usual flags of Erebonia that lined the walls were torn off, some books that were in the library return bin were also scattered on the floor.
Towa and Rean just turned to look at each other in confusion. “Who would do this?” They both thought.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m sure we’ll catch the perpetrator soon, I’m going to give them a piece of my mind!”
“We’ll help however we can!” Towa said.
“Thanks, I’m going to be late for breakfast, do you mind saving me a dessert?” George asked.
“Of course.” Rean replied.
After wishing George the best of luck, the pair made it into the canteen, only to notice something very wrong immediately. The coffee station was closed. Usually Towa and Rean could enjoy an unlimited supply everyday, but today the canteen ran out much to their horror.
It was then they discovered their peers had taken the whole supply.
“W-What happened?!” Rean was in shock, usually breakfast was quite noisy, but today not only was it quiet, but everyone looked like zombies.
“Keep it down…” A familiar goan caught the pair’s attention. It was Alisa, sitting with Laura who was fighting with Fie over a pillow.
“W-What happened to you guys?” Towa asked.
“Some loud noises during the night.” Alisa explained. “It started out with groaning, then it evolved to objects getting thrown around and banging on the steel floor. It’s starting to get unbearable, no one can sleep.”
“That sounds awful.” Towa replied. “Can you figure out what’s the source?”
“No… I tried one night, I got close. But then it just disappeared without a trace, and then the noise started coming from above me.”
Perplexed, Towa and Rean decided it was best to just grab their breakfast and process their thoughts on the bridge.
“How strange.” Towa said. “I’ve never seen this happen before.”
“Yeah, it’s strange.” Rean tried to think of the most likely possibility, sabotage was out of the question as the actions made no sense in regards to hampering Class VII’s goals in the war effort. Besides, what type of saboteur would draw this much unnecessary attention to themselves?
“It just doesn’t make any sense.” Rean said aloud.
“Mhm. Maybe it’s someone playing a prank on us?” Towa suggested.
“Perhaps. Still, this worries me.”
“I wouldn’t think about it too much, seems harmless so far. I’ll just issue an announcement to everyone so whoever it is hopefully stops.”
Agreeing that it was the only course of action they could take, the pair separated after breakfast to do their usual chores and tasks around the airship. Still, Rean could not get that unsettling feeling out of his gut.
Later that night Rean would join Towa for dinner, one of the perks of being the captain's favourite. Though Towa would always claim that it was to study together, deep down she just wanted to spend more time with Rean.
Only risk came with someone seeing Rean enter her quarters, luckily it was quite easy with half the crew taking naps or already gone to sleep.
“See, this is what a chipmunk looks like, versus a squirrel.” Towa pointed out to Rean. As promised Towa brought out one of the many animal encyclopaedias. Living in Ymir, Rean rarely saw these common rodents.
“Oh I see, they’re both pretty cute still.”
“I know it’s childish, but I really find them cute.” Towa replied.
“There’s nothing wrong with that. I think you should take pride in that.”
“Thank you Rean. Oh dear, time.” It was reaching 9 o’clock, who knew that time would pass that quickly when looking at pictures of rodents.
“Alright, but be careful tonight.” Rean warned.
“I know, I’ll make sure to lock my room.”
After exchanging some more pleasantries the pair retired for the night. Rean was still worried though.
That night Rean lay in bed, he just couldn’t shake his worries. “Relax Rean, it’s just somebody playing tricks on you.” Finally shutting his eyes, he took a deep breath before.
“AHHHHHHHHH!”
A sudden scream jolted him up from his bed. “That was upstairs.” No time to waste, Rean grabbed his tachi and bolted out the door.
Running upstairs, he found Elliot on the ground, frozen with fear. “What happened?!”
“I-I saw it! A ghost!”
“Ghost?!”
“Yeah, it was letting out awful sounds, knocking over everything in its way!” Elliot replied.
“Running down the hallway, Rean could see the carnage left behind, books on the ground, cables torn from the walls, a few tipped over plant pots. “So it’s a ghost!”
Turning the corner, Rean realised it was a locked door. “Shoot. I forgot they can go through walls.”
Turning around, Rean could hear other students waking up to see what was going on.
“Elliot, what in Aidios’s name are you screaming about?!” Machias said.
“I saw it! An awful ghost, the ship is h-haunted!” It was too dark for anyone to see properly, but as Rean helped Elliot up, another cry came from above.
“That sounds like Alisa?” Rean hurried up, only to see a group gathered around Towa's room?
Rushing past, Rean froze as Towa was on the floor.
“What’s going on?!” Rean asked.
“I don’t know, I just heard screaming, and when I came here, the door was opened and president Towa was on the floor unresponsive.” Alisa explained.
“She’s breathing.” Laura noted, checking Towa’s vitals.
“I’ll take her to the infirmary. Is Linde awake?”
“After all that just happened. The entire ship is awake.” Alisa replied.
Grabbing Towa in a princess hold, Rean rushed Towa to the infirmary where Linde was luckily already there, and briefed on the situation.
“There’s nothing wrong with her vitals… Hmmmm.” Linde was perplexed. “I’ll look after her for now, go get some rest, Rean.”
“I’d like to stay, in case anything else happens.” Rean insisted.
“In that case, lemme grab you a blanket then.”
That night Rean stayed by Towa’s side, Linde ended up returning to bed at Rean’s behest. As morning came Rean had fallen asleep by Towa’s side.
“Mhm… (Yawn) H-Huh?!” A voice startled Rean. “Where am I?!”
Waking up, Rean could see that Towa was conscious again. “Towa!” Giving her a big hug that caught the petite girl off guard.
“W-What’s going on? Why am I in the infirmary?!” Towa asked, shocked.
By now other students have arrived to check on Towa.
“You got attacked in the night by a ghost.” Alisa explained. “We found you laying on the floor in your room.”
“H-Huh?” Towa was puzzled. “I-I don’t recall being attacked…”
“None so ever?” Laura asked.
“Mhm mhm.” Towa shook her head. “I locked my door before going to bed as usual.”
“How odd. Are you feeling any pain? Side effects?” Fie added.
“Nope. I’m perfectly fine.” Towa insisted. “Really, I swear.”
“Well if you insist then. We’re gonna leave for breakfast, we’ll save you and Rean a cup of coffee.” Alisa said.
“Thanks.”
As the group dispersed, Towa and Rean were left alone.
“So breakfast?” Rean extended a hand.
“Yep.” Taking Rean’s hand, Towa hopped out of the bed. “Y-You weren’t here all night were you?”
“I couldn't be sure if the ghost would strike again.”
Towa blushed. “Rean! What did I say about watching a girl sleep!?”
“I-I was looking away! I swear!”
Towa just smiled. “I’m glad you were keeping me safe though. Thank you.”
“Mhm, I swear Towa. Once I get my hands on this ghost, I’m going make it wish it stayed dead.” Rean declared.
“Tee-hee, watching you act tough is funny.” Towa teased.
Arriving at the canteen, Rean and Towa could already see that there was a commotion.
“I saw it! It was carrying some books and dragging it across the hall!”
“What happened next?”
Looking over, Rean could see that it was Elliot telling everyone his story.
“It just disappeared past the restricted access doors.”
“T-Then I heard it attacked president Towa.” A female voice said.
“Y-Yeah, rumour has it the ship is actually haunted, apparently the Prince had a former lover who died onboard, and now haunts the hallways as a vengeful spirit!”
Rean and Towa just decided to move on with their day. “Those are some rumours…” Rean said.
“Y-Yeah… I think they have quite the imagination.”
“I think we need to settle this soon though. Rosine told me that the longer a ghost lingers, the more its power grows.”
“Mhm.” Towa agreed. “Make sure to teach it a good lesson for me!”
The day went on as normal, as the students moved on from the shock, Towa still commanded the bridge, ghost attack or not, she insisted that she didn’t need a holiday.
Returning to the bridge after a long reconnaissance mission, Rean and Towa greeted each other with a hug.
“How are you feeling?” Rean asked, giving Towa a head pat.
“The usual, lonely without you.”
Much to Rean’s surprise, Towa had already brought their dinner up to the bridge, luckily the bridge was empty minus those two.
As they ate together, Rean still couldn’t shake off his worry. “You’re not suffering any curse effects are you?” Rosine had also taught Rean that most vengeful spirits either slowly eat away at their victims or attack using various forms of curses.
Towa shook her head. “Nope, I checked up with Beryl too, she said that I was perfectly healthy and free of curses.”
“I see… sorry if I’m overreacting a bit.” Towa smiled at Rean.
“Don’t be. I’m actually really happy that you care a lot about me.”
“Thank you… Also uh, you got a lil, lemme get that for you.” Towa had gotten some sauce from her meal on her cheeks, and Rean was unsure how else to approach it, taking his napkin he gently wiped Towa’s cheeks, causing her to go bright red in embarrassment.
“R-Rean! I can do it myself!” Towa pouted. “You got some on your face too!” Reaching for her own napkin, Towa launched herself at Rean’s face.
It was a normal night of the two taking turns doting on one another. After finishing their meals and taking a quick bath, the pair retired for the night.
“Remember to stay safe.” Rean reminded Towa.
“You ought to be careful too. You aren’t planning to stay up are you?”
“It’s not a big deal, I took a nap today while Valimar flew me back to the ship.”
“I-If you say so. Just don’t over do it, please!” Towa said.
“I promise I won’t.” After giving Towa one last head pat, Rean made his way around the dark corridor, first thing first. He had a nagging feeling that something was off.
Heading up to the bridge, Rean was greeted by the night time crew. “Oh, hello Rean, is something the matter?” A female student asked.
“I’d like to ask if there has been any unauthorised access to the maintenance hallways during the nighttime?” The Courageous was a massive airship, and around the clock maintenance was required, luckily there were many locked rooms that allowed engineers easy access to vital parts of the ship, in addition to them having a quirk of acting as shortcuts for engineers to move around the ship in a timely manner with many entryways and exits to other floors, one of which, Rean ran into the previous night.
Puzzled, the student informed Rean that those doors are locked shut and would require a special keycard to access. “We do have logs for when they’ve been accessed, would you like me to pull them up?”
“Yes please.” Rean watched as the student imputed into her terminal. “Okay, it seems like yesterday night around 11:30 PM the access door on the 3rd floor was used, alongside the one on the 4th.”
“I knew it.” Rean knew something was amiss. “Since when did ghosts use keycards?” He thought to himself.
After thanking the student, Rean moved back down to the ship to investigate, he now needed to narrow down who would have access to the maintenance shafts. “The first 2 I can think of off the top of my head are Towa and George.” The latter was the head of the engineers and the former was the captain so she would have access to anywhere on the ship.
“No no, neither makes sense. It has to be someone from the maintenance team.” Rean thought as he patrolled the dark hallways of the ship.
The low hums of the engine system alongside the sound of his boots on the hard metal floor was all that he could hear, when suddenly. “?!”
Something was inside the library? Rean cautiously approached the source of the noise, what sounded like someone opening a door followed.
Drawing out his tachi, Rean took a deep breath. “Whoever you are, show yourself!” A few seconds of silence followed that felt like minutes, before Rean could make out a shape in the darkness.
“Stop! Whoever you are!” Rean shouted at the figure. It was then he heard a goan of some sort back.
“Mrgh… Ugh…” It sounded almost like a zombie.
“Wait… I recognize that voice.” Getting closer Rean used the flashlight on his ARCUS to illuminate the dark halls.
“T-Towa?”
Rean couldn’t believe his eyes, but there Towa was, shuffling around in a clumsy manner. Approaching with caution Rean could see her eyes were still closed. “Is she still asleep?”
“...Heeree’s theee bookss…” Towa muttered as she dropped a bunch of textbooks from the library onto the floor.
It was then that Rean put two and two together. The ghost that everyone was scared of was just Towa sleepwalking. “She must be dreaming about being the student council president.” That would explain all the misplaced objects.
Getting closer Rean caught Towa in his arms. “Mhmmm… Reeaan…Youuu smmmelll niceee…” Towa said, rubbing her head into Rean’s chest. It was then that he remembered a warning the shopkeeper had given him about taking the sleeping pills while drinking caffeine, forgetting that Towa usually had a night time cup of coffee.
“(Sigh), alright. Let’s get you back to your room.” Carrying Towa in his arms, Rean brought the sleeping brunette back up to her room.
After tucking Towa back into bed, Rean turned around to leave, only to be stopped by the sleeping girl who grabbed onto his coat.
“Mhmmm. Don’ttt… leaveee…” She grumbled. Relenting, Rean stayed by Towa’s side again for the second night in a row.
At first Rean looked to pull over a chair to sit on for the night, but the still asleep Towa had other plans, and suddenly yanked Rean into her bed. “W-Whoa!”
“Comeee’reee youuuuu…”
Rean tried to break out of her grip, but that only caused Towa to tighten it even more, eventually Rean gave up and accepted his fate. “When did she get this strong?” Rean thought to himself, as he just decided to make due with the situation and try to sleep.
Morning came, and Towa woke up to a beautiful morning, taking in a deep scent of Rean who she hugged like a pillow. “Rean… You smell so nice…:” Towa said, half asleep. “Wait. REAN!?” It was then that Towa realised that she was awake.
Jolting up, Towa started first by pinching herself on the cheek, confirming she was indeed awake, she looked over to the sleeping Rean before becoming bright red.
“R-R-R-Rean… I-I-I-Is in m-my b-bed.” Trying to slowly climb over him, Towa suddenly tripped and fell on top of Rean.
“Ngh? T-Towa?” Rean turned over, only to see Towa’s face between his legs.
“W-Wait, this isn’t what it looks like.” Towa said.
“I-I-I.” Rean’s face too became as red as Towa’s face.
After a few awkward seconds, Towa broke the ice and asked Rean the obvious question on why he was in her bed. After informing Towa what happened the previous night, they both calmed down as things unravelled.
“I-I see… I was sleepwalking.” Towa had one embarrassing moment replaced with another. “I-I’m so sorry! I made you worry.”
“No it’s my fault for not warning you about the pills!”
“I should’ve read them more carefully!” Towa curled up into a ball using her blanket, she just wanted to find a hole to hide her embarrassment. “A-All the trouble I caused….”
“Towa…” Rean leaned over to comfort her. “It’s not your fault, I’m sure everyone would understand.”
“You think so?...” Towa asked, her voice was very muffled by all the sheets that she buried herself in.
“Yeah, of course! So please.” Extending out his hand to Towa, Rean urged Towa to get out of bed. With much reluctance, she did.
“C-Can you please just keep it between us?” Towa requested.
“Of course.”
“...Thanks…” After letting Towa get dressed, the pair made it down the hallway to see a group gathered around.
“There they are!” Alisa cried out.
“Huh?” Rean and Towa watched with confusion as a few students gathered in front of them.
“You killed that ghost right?”
“How tough was it?”
“Was it big and scary?”
The questions were endless.
“G-Guys” Rean tried to explain the situation, but was drowned out by all the noise.
“Quiet! All of you!” Laura ordered.
“Thanks. Everyone, I took care of the ghost, it will no longer haunt these halls.” Rean declared.
“How did you take care of it?” Alisa asked.
“With my bed- I mean sword! I used the eight levees on it.”
“Sounds like it was quite the fight. Wish I could’ve been there.” Fie said.
“I will explain more details later in the day, but everyone should really go on with their duties.” At this point Rean was trying to just get the crowd to leave.
Luckily that worked and eventually everyone dispersed except for him and Towa.
“Phew, that was close. Nearly messed that up.” Rean sighed.
“Yeah, a bit too close for comfort.” Towa said. “Thanks though, I really appreciate it.”
“No problem. Shall we get some breakfast?” Rean asked.
“One last thing. Can you kneel for a second?”
“?” Rean was confused, but obliged Towa.
Leaning in, Towa gave Rean a kiss on the cheeks. “Thanks for always watching out for me.”
Rean smiled, holding out his hand which Towa accepted. The two happily walked together.
The End