"You should really stop flirting with everyone," Kageyama grumbled. His hands curled around the cup, restlessly shifting it around.
"Why don't you think that this may be the last time I can do that?", Kuroo drank his cappuccino, his eyes wandered around the coffee shop. It was small and cozy, the coffee was good but it seemed like the shop was not very well-known. Weird.

"...What makes you say that?", Kageyama's brows furrowed. He was visibly disturbed because of what Kuroo had said.
"I mean, the expedition will be extremely dangerous, we will practically be walking around the deepest parts of the ocean. Water pressure can squeeze us flat, unknown creatures may poison us or eat us, equipment failure- "
"Stop, stop, stop. Now you're making me nervous," Kageyama covered his face with both his hands, devastated. "If you didn't mention that, I would have been all 'sunshine and rainbows'. "
"Technically there's no sunshine down at that depth but I'll accept that as a metaphor."

"...Can't you just stay silent and let me be happy for a while?", Kageyama groaned, "Don't rain on my parade."
"Someone has to be practical to keep both of us safe, and that is me. So it is my duty to dump a cloudful of water on your sunny scenery. No need to thank me."

Kageyama had never felt the need to hit the person in front of him so bad, "I really want to-"
"This was just in: the body of the late marine biologist has been stolen from the mortuary. The police has arrived at the crime scene to investigate. Please stay tuned to find out more about the strange case. Any useful information..."

The sound of the news presenter faded into the background. Kageyama's voice now reduced to a frustrated whisper, "What is happening?"
"I don't know, but clearly there is someone who is targeting us, or rather Atlantis," Kuroo sounded grim. He narrowed his eyes and bit his lower lip. No one knew what he was thinking.

"You think someone wants to locate Atlantis?"
"Why not, it's an ancient city, there's gotta be a bit of treasure for them to loot," Kuroo took a small sip from his coffee. "Or at least, something historically valuable that can be auctioned for thousands of dollars. Who knows, maybe there are some mythical creatures there that can cost a fortune when introduced on the black market. There's lots of possibilities."

Kageyama pursed his lips. He did not like how this was going. He did not like being unable to control the situation. All these twists and turns popped up out of nowhere and scared the heck out of him.

Kuroo leaned back on his chair and sighed, "Well, we can't do anything now anyways. Best leave it to the police."
"I don't know about that, the police is always so inefficient," Kageyama scoffed.
"Bro, give 'em a chance, at least they have the authority to investigate."

"Do you feel like we missed something?"
Kuroo turned towards Kageyama, his attention was entirely on his colleague. "What do you mean?"
"I just feel like there is something that we should know about. There's a missing link in the chain, and it's related to Atlantis."

Kuroo was silent. To say he did not care about the mystery around them was an understatement. He figured these events all lead to Atlantis, but he did not know where to start.
"So where do you think we should start? The history of Atlantis?"
"Bingo."

Kuroo blinked once. Twice.
"You know it's just a joke right? There are no records about Atlantis except Plato's dialogues and...the writings Tokuma found."
"Yeah I know, but it is also the only lead we have, isn't it?"

Kuroo sighed. What appeared to be a joke had become reality.
"Fine. Let's get to the library before lunchbreak. I don't want to wait."
"Sure sure, whatever you say Kuroo," Kageyama chuckled, following Kuroo out of the cafe. Not after paying for the drinks, of course. It was his turn to pay after all.

They arrived at the city library 25 minutes later, out of breath. For some goddamn reason Kuroo challenged Kageyama to a race, knowing he would accept. And so here they were, sweating like crazy under the scorching heat of the summer sun.
"Why is it so hot?", Kuroo panted, hands grabbing at the helm of his shirt to use it as a makeshift fan.
"Are you serious? It's the middle of summer, of course it would be hot," Kageyama grumbled. "Come on, let's get inside."

A wave of cool air washed over the two when they stepped in the library. They visibly sighed in relief, not really caring about the sudden change in temperature.

"Split up? It'll be faster," Kuroo asked. "I'll took the left while you go with the right."
"Ok. Meet up at that table over there?", Kageyama pointed at the table at the far right corner of the room.
"Sure."

Turned out there were a lot more books about Atlantis than they had thought. When they had finished sorting, 2 tall piles of books stood proudly on the table.

"...Did someone say there's nothing about Atlantis- ", Kageyama's voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Yeah yeah, I know what I said," Kuroo smacked Kageyama's shoulder. "Now shut up and start reading."
Kageyama shrugged his shoulders and flopped down on the chair, hands shifting through the pages.

~~~

The shadow of a cloaked man suddenly moved. His eyes carefully scanned his surroundings before taking the call.
"Yes, I have added the book to the shelf."

The sound from the other end was barely audible.

"What do you mean by that? Of course the title is related, if not how can they sort it out?", the cloaked man raised his voice in frustration, but quickly brought his voice down to a whisper.

More buzzing noises came from the other line.

"Why me? Aren't you afraid I will mess things up and ruin your reputation as always?", sarcasm painted his hushed questions.

Angry sounds escaped the speaker, the other was clearly irritated.

"Give me one reason why I have to follow them while I can be of better use somewhere else."

More buzzing noises.

"Fine, but I have one condition."

The other end was silent, then something heavy crashed. A vase, perhaps. Then a booming sound followed.

The cloaked man seemed to be familiar with that. He did not flinch.

"You think I don't have the courage to do this? What a shame."

The cloaked man whispered something into the speaker.

"So do we have a deal?"

A single word was uttered through gritted teeth.

"Good."

Something resembled a growl was heard before the cloaked man ended the call.

"Did I make the right choice?"

The unanswered question lingered in the air. His request had helped him gain control, but it was also his own sword of Damocles. A looming blade hanging on a single strand of horsehair. Terrifying, yet necessary.

~~~

Hi guys, Cir here. I'm trying to update frequent for this story. I really love the plot and I just hope that it can receive support and constructive criticism from all of you.
Anyways, does anyone play Genshin Impact? Yeah it may be a bit dumb but I'm into it lately, just for fun and beautiful characters haha 😆 I'm in the Asia server btw ☺ Oh and uh, I play just for fun so don't be toxic if I'm not what you expected me to be. Thank you for your support 💜

#CIR