Act 4: Trial of the seven islands - Chapter 4

The Island of Greed wasn't too difficult to pass. Neither of them were greedy – except for Kyusaku's obsession for books and items with a historical value that almost made him fall for the illusion – and they actually had a pretty good time there, enjoying the beach and all activities around it, even forgetting their investigation for a few hours. They only remembered after reaching the Island of Envy.

On the surface, it looked no different from the other islands, with rather warm weather, a clear sky and turquoise waters. However, both of them felt nauseous as soon as they set foot on this island. The images of his dream crossed his mind, just as detailed and vivid as when he had seen them the first time, making him sick. Miyaji had a similar feeling; his face paled and he became quiet.
They didn't stay long on this island, as his partner quickly dragged him towards the ferry, even skipping the trial. It wasn't like they had to participate in every trial anyway, as guests were free to enjoy the other activities at their disposal and ignore the trials without risking a failure.

When they reached the next island, Kyusaku waited as his partner took a few deep breaths before asking if he had any idea what was happening there.

"It's probably... those that died here."

He didn't elaborate much, only saying that there was a powerful resentment lingering on that particular island. Is it because of the sin it represents? Kyusaku wondered, the fresh air helping him feel better. Since Miyaji's face was still quite pale, he offered to get him some ice cream while he rested nearby.

The elf got him his favorite flavor, looking over his shoulder to check on his partner, when he overheard the conversation of a group of people nearby – they mentioned the name of his partner, and their words immediately made him want to resort to violence, until something caught his attention.

"He's a liar who doesn't trust his partner," one of them said, "otherwise, he would have told him who he really is."

Kyusaku froze; there was no way random people on the street could have known that. It's an illusion, he realized, his expression of anger changing to one of annoyance, and it's using my memories to rile me up. He didn't like this one bit, so he made an effort to ignore them and go back to his partner, handing him his ice cream.

He stopped right in front of him, a little taken aback by the face he was making.

"You look like you're about to strangle someone."

"I heard some... unpleasant comments. But it's still too early to lose a trial..."

"You're right. We need to see the other islands first." After a pause, he hesitantly brought the conversation back to the islands' history. "What happened here 700 years ago, do you want to talk about it...?"

Miyaji's gaze wandered towards the Island of Envy behind them, a complicated expression on his face, before turning back to look at his feet, slowly eating his ice cream, which seemed to make him feel a little better.

"It was centuries ago, but I still remember it vividly. I wouldn't say I dislike my job, but I hate wars and what they leave behind. I remember coming here after the conflict had ended... Everyone on this island either starved to death, or died of horrible mutations caused by magic poisoning."

"Right, they ate mostly seafood and the water was poisoned..." Kyusaku remembered. "Did you see any many-eyed fish while you were there?"

His partner's eyes widened a little bit, but he quickly understood. "Oh, is that what you saw in your dream? No wonder you had such a strange expression when they brought out fish for lunch..."

He nodded, and the redhead looked away again.

"At the time, I did find it strange that there were no souls left on the island. Although it's likely for souls to dissipate if they're too weak, I thought it was a little weird that all of them had completely dissipated. There should have been at least a few of them that remained, likely due to a strong resentment."

"The even weirder thing is that there are still a lot of ghosts from the war on the mainland, but nothing on the islands... Could they all be on the eighth island?" Kyusaku suggested, his eyes widening in realization.

"Now that you mention it, I didn't notice any extra island back then... Even if it's hidden by a powerful artifact, then it's possible the souls were pulled there."

"In the end, we're back to that mysterious island again..." The elf summarized with a sigh, feeling like they were going around in circles and not making much progress at all. "If only we knew how to get there..."

Miyaji finished his ice cream and stood up, stretching his arms before turning to face him, looking a lot better and reenergized.

"Guess there's nothing we can do but check out the other islands. There might be a way to reach the eighth island on one of them, and if we can't find one, then we can just purposely fail the Trial of Sloth and put that rumor to the test."

After all, rumors all had some truth to them.

With a clear plan in mind and since they had already passed the Trial of Wrath, they decided to spend the rest of the afternoon participating in the various activities the theme park offered. They were still on vacation after all, and so far they hadn't had that many opportunities to enjoy it.
The Island of Wrath happened to host a martial arts tournament, which Miyaji eagerly participated in when he saw the prize for first place was a free, unlimited buffet. Kyusaku cheered him on. Though he wasn't particularly interested in the prizes, he did like watching Miyaji effortlessly win all of his matches. Not only was it extremely satisfying to watch, but his partner's mastery of martial arts had reached such a level that each of his moves seemed calculated, rehearsed to perfection. Watching him fight, it almost looked like he was dancing.
Kyusaku rarely got the chance to watch him – except when he was practicing; after all, if they were fighting, he had better keep his eyes on his own opponent than on his partner – and he found himself unable to take his eyes off of him.

After their rather heavy dinner, Kyusaku only wanted to sleep. He hadn't eaten that much in a long time, but he figured that since it was free, he should enjoy it as much as possible. Now, his partner had to drag him to the ferry before he had a chance to fall asleep, as they planned to reach the next island while it was still bright outside to save some time.

"Remind me again why we have to go now..." Kyusaku asked, rubbing his eyes after taking a seat on the ferry.

"The Trial of Lust only takes place at night. If we go tomorrow, we'll have to stay an entire day just for the Trial. We don't have that much time left, and I'd love to enjoy this vacation a little bit before going home, so I want to finish this job quickly."

"You're not the only one. For Tsubari to dump that on us on our first vacation... Next time, I'm not telling him where we're going."

"I bet he would still find a way to give us work."

The elf chuckled, and before he knew it, they had reached the hotel. A hand on the doorknob, Kyusaku froze and turned to his partner, realizing he had forgotten something important.

"Miyaji, what's your favorite color?"

"Blue," he replied without hesitation.

"Blue?" The elf repeated, slightly taken aback; in all honesty, he thought Miyaji would have preferred colors such as red or yellow.

His partner smiled softly. "It's the color of someone important to me."

He closed the door behind him, perplexed by his partner's answer. Could he be talking about that God of Knowledge? At the moment, it was the only answer he could come up with. With a shrug, he put away his luggage and was about to get changed when his ears twitched as they picked up the sound of footsteps behind him. He whipped around only to realize it was just Miyaji.

"You could have knocked," he scolded him with a sigh of relief. "Almost gave me a heart attack."

"I was trying to surprise you!"

"Good luck with that, then. All the discretion in the world won't help you when I have these ears."

"Well, if I can't sneak up on you," his partner declared as he got closer and closer until he ultimately pinned him against the wall, "there are still other ways I can surprise you."

Kyusaku was not impressed. "What are you even trying to accomplish here?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes, but couldn't find anything to say when he realized his partner's face was dangerously close to his own.

"What are you doing?" He muttered, even though the look on his face coupled with his actions were enough of an answer.

Well, if it's from Miya, I don't mind it, he caught himself thinking as he almost let him close the gap between their lips.

Almost.

In a fraction of a second, the elf violently pushed 'it' away and summoned his weapon, grabbing it fiercely and pointing it at the illusion that took Miyaji's shape. That was close. If I didn't catch the anomaly caused by the light... He shook his head, and focused his attention on the illusion, who was now standing in front of him with its hands raised.

"Woah, hey, calm down, I'm just doing my job here. Destroying illusions is forbidden."

It can hold coherent conversations, Kyusaku noted, slightly impressed but still disgusted by how perfect it looked. It read my memories, took his appearance, and tried to seduce me. It acted so much like Miyaji that I didn't suspect a thing. Why is this illusion so intelligent? Creeped out, he just wanted this gross thing out of his room.

"Get out of here right now, or I'll cut you in half," he threatened, all softness gone from his face.

"Hey, did you not hear me? I said it's forbidden to destroy us! I'm just doing my job, don't take it out on me!"

Wait... destroy?

"You're not an illusion... You're a puppet!" He blurted out as he was starting to figure out what was going on. "No wonder you don't want to be destroyed! Illusions can't be damaged, but puppets sure can."

That shimmer I caught fooled me, but it's actually a puppet using an illusion spell to change its appearance!

"Since you know that, stop swinging that thing around!" The puppet pleaded. "That's dangerous!"

The elf's tone changed, and a grin formed on his face. "If you don't get out of my room right now, I'll chop your dick off. That's not destroying, I'm just ridding you of a non-essential body part," he added before it could argue.

The most common material used for puppets was clay, as it was very malleable – and that kind of puppet could easily grow back a broken part. Realizing it couldn't win, the intruder lowered its arms and let out a sigh as it turned to leave. It stopped in front of the door, giving him one last look.

"I'll be counting this as a fail for you."

"What?!" Kyusaku exclaimed, outraged. "Nothing happened, you didn't even get to do what you came here for! How can this be a loss?!"

A smirk appeared on its eerily familiar face, making Kyusaku's skin crawl; he hated that it was using his precious partner's face.

"Had you not realized I wasn't real, you would have let me."

The door closed, echoing in the now silent room, and he finally lowered his weapon. Speechless, Kyusaku stared at the door for a moment, not sure what to think. In fact, his mind felt almost empty, safe for one thought repeating over and over again. Would I really...?
The scene replayed in his mind a hundred times as he pondered this, trying to ignore the slight disappointment he felt after realizing it was all fake. He couldn't help but wonder how it would have felt, or what would have happened if it was the real Miyaji who tried to kiss him.
His eyes wandered to the clock on the wall, and he let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, pushing the blue strands out of his face, the exhaustion from the day hitting his body all at once like a brick wall.
He finally got changed and flopped onto his bed, barely able to keep his eyes open any longer; though, as soon as he closed them, memories of Miyaji and of the earlier incident flooded his mind.

"That's a problem for another day."