Laban walked up besides me. "I bet taking a swim in the ocean would feel even better!"

I smiled. "Yeah, true."

"Huh? The waves are pretty big." He looked at the water through that weird circle thing. "I can hear the waves making a commotion."

"What does that mean?" I asked, confused.

"What's this? Ocean-telling?" Naru asked.

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

Suddenly, a thick fog rolled in.

"What the..."

"Where'd this fog come from?"

"Soncho, look!"

We all looked in the direction Tobisuke was pointing in.

"What the heck is that?"

"Is that a haunted ship?"

"I doubt it."

Eventually (and I don't know why) we were all standing on the ship.

"Why do we gotta get on the ship?" Ranjiro complained.

"Why? You scared?" I teased, getting in his face.

"No, I'm not!" He pushed me back down so I was standing flat on my feet.

"Soncho..."

"You've got me here, so don't be scared."

I smiled. "You've got me, too."

Ranjiro placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don't pull any pranks."

The mast creaked. Tobisuke whimpered and clung to my jacket while Ranjiro tensed and his grip on my shoulder tightened.

I sighed when Aiga made fun of them for being scared. "It's only natural."

"But you're not scared."

"Meh, I love horror movies, so it doesn't really bother me," I said, shrugging. I heard a weird sound, but brushed it off as my imagination.

"Did someone say something?" Tobisuke asked.

"The floor creaked! That's all!"

I sighed and walked over to Suou, listening to Beyn and Anami explaining the whole thing.

"Nine? There's eight by my count," Ranjiro said.

I glanced over at the silhouette, which seemed to be staring at me.

We all stood outside the doors, and entered when the time started. I knew no one was behind me, but I could hear footsteps until I turned to the right. I stopped and looked back to see a boy with green hair. The same one that was staring at me earlier. I sighed and continued down the hallway.

I continued stumbling down the hall, my eyes darting from side to side. I felt a sudden wave of warmth and realized that I was having an anxiety attack. "Thank god that there isn't anyone to see me like this," I mumbled.

Eventually I entered a room with a ramp going up and felt the effects of the attack subside slightly.

Beyn appeared on the screen. "Accuracy challenge! To pass, you must launch your bey onto the pressure plate at the top of the ramp."

I smirked. "Easy enough." I grabbed my launcher and Nocnitsa-Satori. "Go, shoot!" Raising my hand, I flicked it up, making Nocnitsa-Satori follow and land on the pressure plate. The ramp turned into stairs, and I walked out, immediately feeling like I was in a dream.

After a bit, I saw Aiga, Naru, Ranjiro, Gumita, and Tobisuke running from something.

The boy from earlier stood in a conjoining hallway. He glanced over at me.

I nodded and followed my friends at a slower speed. When I looked back, he was still watching me. "You do realize that there's a time limit, right?"

He didn't say anything.

I turned back around, stumbling slightly with each step.

"Okay! Time's up!"

I walked out of the door. Instead of battling, I decided to wait until the time was up to walk out since I was dizzy.

Ranjiro and the others ran out of another door. "We didn't make it!"

•~•~•~•~•

"Tell me you didn't have an attack in there," Suou said as I finished drinking the water.

"I can't help it."

"You were alone, what if something happened?"

I waved off his concern. "Nothing happened, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. See you in a bit." I headed up to the deck to get some fresh air.

"Don't stay up all night again."

"Can't promise."

I spent most of the night sitting there, staring up at the stars and singing quietly.

"Will you be the curiosity to my Mars? Collecting stars each time I think of you makes a galaxy in my palm. Count the stardust in your eyes, baby we're so far apart. Take a trip to space and back and still it wouldn't hmm hmmm..."

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled out my phone to see a familiar name on the screen. "About time, man." I opened up my messages.

Dude it's been a week

I know. But you've gone longer without texting.

G r o u p  c h a t s  e x i s t  f u b u k i

Okay.

Why'd you even text me lmao

Shu's offering you a place on the team.
Nat? Are you there?

Jfhlajfskdjrdkydkgxmeigckhdfjshgkwhrkdj
Yeah, sorry kinda freaked out lol
My parents probably wouldn't let me tho

Why not ask them once you're back in Japan?

They wouldn't say yes I know it

Are you sure?

Ye
Gonna go to sleep now

I put my phone away, but not before taking a picture of the stars, and headed back to my room.

Once I was in my bed, I sighed. "'Nother day. 'Nother attack." I absentmindedly ran my fingers over the healing cuts on my leg.