Arafura S1 - Darker Than Black
S1 | Chapter I _Treatment And Explosion II | Something Behind The Mirror

Dark as night. The brightly lit garden lights illuminate the courtyard. The flowers seemed to sway over thousands of rainwater. The leaves of shady trees fly due to strong wind gusts. Seen on the streets of the castle, the leaves were scattered so that it looked troublesome. Not only that, things have been very wet since yesterday. Millions of drops of rain fell on the tiled and flowed down small pipes into the sewers. Seen some of the irrigation is clogged because of the amount of foliage waste that is dragged by water currents. I don't know what to say to this rainy weather. This time of the afternoon it should be hot to make the flowers bloom. Insects are present free to absorb the juices from the flowers. Birds fly in the blue sky with their flocks while chirping heed the day. What a missed moment.

Aio leaned silently on a small gazebo among the shady trees. His eyes looked at the sky without a twitch. His mouth was only silent letting the sound of rain rule the situation. But, Aio didn't mind that. Rain water is very soothing. He loved the rain for a long time, always playing with friends just to play water, jump messing with puddles, and running around hitting thousands of rain water while laughing together. Ah unforgettable good memories, that's why he loves the rain.

Unfortunately that was before, Aio knew this time was different. Aio did not want to believe his thoughts but the current rain was like no ordinary rain. Rain rage—that's what Aio thought. This rain seemed to be just rushing and drizzling and then repeating itself so that it made it not stop at all since the chaos of yesterday's marriage that made the academy split.

Soon Aio ended his thinking. She smiled and bewailed her situation. Now is not the time to worry about rain. At this time Aio was feeling sad, he felt as if he was not noticed by Mr. Rom when he had really worked hard to get the information. "I have sacrificed. My beloved cat—" Aio began to shed tears. His cat was killed while on the run from the borders of the Gakuinia Water Academy with him, when his friend was caught lurking and forced to flee. Aio also ended up being monitored by the girls, in the end the cat went down to help hold the girls to inhibit the pursuit while Aio immediately ran away leaving him. Brave cats who have sacrificed themselves—Aio do not know now what the fate of the cat is like.

Among the lights on the courtyard, a Shin came stepping here. His hair became slightly wet so it looked even messier. He carried a box in his hand— had no idea what it was for and why, but Shin was clearly not the type of person who came from a vigilante with babble. He was a calm man who was always there if Aio was sad.

"It turns out you're here. Aio." Said when I got here. He then sat right beside Aio's left.

"When did you know I was here?"

He slowly opened the box. "Basic fool. Is there any other place outside the castle besides this shack?"

"Rather gazebo." Reply Aio fix.

"Yes, what is it. Old buildings made of wood."

The box is open. A puff of steam immediately came out from inside the box and then disappeared. It turns out that there are two small glasses containing warm drinks that are very tightly closed. The glass is gray and made of aluminum. Beside the two glasses was Aio's favorite sweet food. Mochi is round and snow-white. It contains sweet beans and sugar, no matter what sugar, but Aio really likes it. Both of Aio's sad eyes switched on looking slightly radiant. "The waiter started making mochi again?!"

"Yes, that's it. More precisely mochi sukabumi."

"What's that, I like it so much!"

This mochi is commonly called sukabumi mochi by kitchen maids. I don't know what the word has to do with sukabumi, but Aio imagined it might be the name of a place. Heaven was full of sweetness with mochi, ah that state might be able to treat his heart.

The two mochis from the box were immediately taken by Aio to be executed by his mouth. Really impatient, even his tongue was drooling like hunger. The mochi was immediately thrown into his mouth. "ah! Mouth smear!" He said it was delicious the first bite. The melted nuts and sugar filled Aio's mouth. Very sweet and delicious. It felt like it had been a very long time since Aio had eaten this mochi. Like thousands of years!

Suddenly Shin laughed. "Basar you. Just like a kid."

"What's Shin? It's a Gakuin Academy Favorite meal, everyone likes it. Yes, even though the academy has collapsed, but at least the sense of mochi is not lost."

Shin smiled. "really yes. It was fortunate that Mr. Rom protected the servant."

Aio was immediately surprised. "What's? So there's a special waiter?"

"You don't know?"

"No, I guess all the waiters know. I see they always make it."

Shin laughed too. "You're too outrageous. He just knew to eat" he said jokingly, "in the kitchen it always comes half-finished. No one knows what the recipe is. Only the special servant knows. But all this time I've never seen who that special servant was, everyone else did, finally everyone thought this food was from outside the fort."

This time Aio laughed. "Shin, as usual you always explain in great detail. I like that! But, it's still weird! If this Mochi is indeed from outside the fortress how?"

"That's certainly very bad. There may be a new riot. Moreover, not a few disciples wanted to escape from here."

Aio began to understand. "Yes too. There is no way out to get through the fort. Tall, steep, and slippery. Many were injured and died climbing the fort, let alone any weapon could not penetrate it. Like a stone from heaven."

"Ok, you already know that." Shin took the mochi and ate it.

They both enjoyed the mochi. White candy like snow that enveloped the mochi had scattered into the pants, some fell littering the wood gazebo and then immediately disappeared because of the wet wood. This time the rain regained control of the atmosphere, but Aio felt comfortable. Luckily Shin gave her what she liked. Mochi was immediately exhausted without remaining so that it left two glasses of warm water untouched. Aio took the glass and opened the lid. "Warm tea?" Aio said, he smelled it while closing his eyes. A very soothing smell.

"That's your favorite, too, right?" Ask Shin.

"of course. This tea will make the atmosphere feel calm."

"It's a coincidence."

Shin then took the glass as well. Busy the cover until it makes the steam fly and disappear. The tea is still warm and fragrant. The glass in Shin's hand held out before Aio. "Let's have a toast."

Aio smiled a little. "Return!"

Shin responded to that. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, rain has always been blamed for one or two reasons. The rain has never stopped since the end of yesterday's wedding so people hate the rain. Though I think rain does nothing wrong, it fertilizes the soil and helps us not to dry."

Shin started to get serious. "Just this time I saw you thinking something other than yourself. Did you—" suddenly Shin stopped his words.

Aio frowned in confusion. "I? Why?"

"A—don't forget. I remember only one sentence from the book I read. A book about the book of Lipus that was written by the Huudy family, the contents of 'People always celebrate what looks good but forget what is bad. This unfair behavior can bring you havoc.' I now finally understand what that means."

"Huudy family? I've never heard that."

Shin laughs. "No one knows. I stole the book from the teacher when I stopped by their private library. Ah that was a funny experience! The book looks very foreign, everything is very foreign. Unfortunately, the book fell down when I ran away from the mess in the teacher's house, exactly when I wanted to return the book."

"Aren't you a martial arts expert, Shin?"

"Come on, don't be stupid. Which expert is willing to spend his energy on pointless things. After all back then hundreds of girls had come to make the boundary of their territory. I could die if I didn't run."

Aio was a little surprised by that word. "Air Gakuinia ya—" he muttered while slightly showing a sad look.

Shin realized something. "Oh yes Aio, by the way what happened to you? You looked sad when you brought that information. What's going on in there?"

"Ah not—" Aio slightly smiled despite still looking sad, "—my subordinate was caught lurking at that time. I immediately ran with him but my cat chose to keep protecting me."

Shin was silent and did not show a sad or concerned look. He no longer felt the need to bring it up. Shin went straight to the heart of the matter, "Did you manage to scout? Or failed?"

Aio nodded. "Of course I succeeded. That's why I had intended to tell Mr. Rom, but unfortunately I was already angry with Mr. Gen and then went here."

"What kind of information did you get?"

Aio looked seriously at Shin's eyes. "Their type of government, their purpose, and their rules. You need to know, Shin, when I compare with us, the girls are two steps ahead of us."

"You mean those girls—?"

"That means they are certainly ready with all the possibilities that will happen."

Shin was a little surprised. His voice turned very serious. "Tell me, Aio. Tell me about the girls."

•••

•••

Message :

Hi thanks for coming here. Do not forget to give value and criticism yes so that the author can develop :) Greetings from Sundanese people in Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia.

•••

criticism and suggestions can also be conveyed through :

Email: sales@gmail.com

or chat in this chapter 💕

•••

Info on the authorship of Arafura :

Twitter/instagram: @accines