Chuckling erupts from the backline. 

“That was a joke, right? How can anyone survive underwater for 24 hours?” A man asked.

She offers a stern glare in response.

“No jokes here. The most hardened of divers can survive underwater for years. Myself included. If you can’t manage something of this level, then you’re not cut out for this.” 

“... Damn. You got me.” He says. 

“Alright, if there are no more questions, everyone please stand on the dive plate.” She states. “Attacking other divers and the use of artifacts is expressly forbidden. Coming to the surface before the 24 hours are up is an automatic disqualification.”

Everyone lined up on the dive plate. Yvie began stretching her arms and legs. Others were hyping themselves up or taking deep breaths. The screech of the loudspeaker caused some to visibly flinch as it came on.

“Divers, dropping in 30 seconds,” Palla announced. 

A barrier came down from the ceiling, sealing the divers into the drop zone. Yvie excitedly bounced up and down while taking deep breaths. Grace tried to steady the beating of her own heart as she resolutely balled her fist up. Yvie extended a fist to Grace.

“Good luck!”

Grace smiles back before fist-bumping Yvie.

“Back at you!” 

Palla’s voice echoes through the loudspeaker. 

“Three… Two… One!” 

The door beneath their feet opens up as the group is blasted into the ocean at high speed. Palla had been in the operations room with tens of staff members manning multiple computers around her.

“Alright, launch successful!” One operator comments.

“Can confirm, they’ve arrived at the center of Entasi.” Another states.

“Good,” Palla says. “Activate the spy fish.” 

In the ocean surrounding the examinees, small fish the size of an orange begin to move. In the back operations room was a wall of monitors that connected to each fish, as well as specialized operators to review the footage in real-time.

“Spyfish are fully operational.” The operator states.

“Great. Now, all that’s left is to see how they do.” Palla sips from a mug of coffee. “It’s going to be a long night.” 

After being dropped in the ocean, Yvie watched as all the surrounding divers began to scatter. Grace’s hair gently waved in the water as she had before swimming away.

“The first step is to find shelter. I won’t last 24 hours without somewhere to sleep down here.” Yvie thinks. “I don’t need to worry too much about oxygen. Since I can hold my breath for about eighteen minutes.”

Yvie passes by a school of fish as she swims along the vibrant array of coral reefs. She spots a bright red piece of coral and runs her finger across it. Unlike the expected rocky texture, it was smooth to the touch as if covered in something. Yvie broke off a small piece of it and saw small shadows beneath. Small fish swiftly flittered about through the water between the reefs, ducking from the filtering rays of sunlight from above. 

Yvie continued along until she came across the shoreline. A tall wall of rock stood before her as she continued to swim around it. Coral from the rocks beneath had stretched onto the wall ahead of her. A smile stretched across her face as she continued past the overgrown coral wall and gave herself some distance from it. Looking at the colorful coral wall from a distance, Yvie scanned the wall, looking for any hints of her objective. An odd growth of kelp caught her eye. 

The kelp itself had been flowing along with the gentle sway of the ocean, but it had been growing from the bottom of a small outcrop of coral that jutted out abnormally compared to the rest of the wall. Yvie brushed the coral aside, peering into the dark area hidden away from the sunlight. Unable to see anything, Yvie stuck her hand inside, creeping through the darkness with purpose. Rather than reaching inward to prod at the back of the opening, she aimed her arm upward, sticking out a finger.  Her expression turned from intrigue to disappointment upon realizing it wasn’t what she was looking for. She removed her arm from the opening and collected the kelp before continuing her search.

“I guess it wouldn’t be that easy to find a Stable Grotto. Well, I’ll keep searching. Worse comes to worst, I might just have to find a Skelva fish to get some air before I keep searching.”

As Yvie continues her search, she cuts her finger on a sharp rock. The blood escapes from her finger and creates a red cloud around the wound. Yvie grimaces for a bit but goes back to looking around. Two shadows dart around the vicinity of Yvie, skittering about using the shades of the reef to hide. Yvie stumbles upon another opening in the wall of coral and excitedly does a fist pump, punching the coral and hurting her hand. After shaking off the pain, she reaches her left hand this time into the small opening. Reaching her hand upward once more, she sticks out her finger and feels a breeze tickle the tip of her finger. She smiles, and two shadows come swimming out into the open. They move toward her with incredible speed and aim at her finger. 

Yvie notices them coming at her and swaps her hand out, allowing the bloody finger to reach into the opening. The two shadows chase after her finger into the hole, but they don’t return. Next, Yvie herself swims into the opening. Albeit tight, it allows just enough room to comfortably pass through, despite her shapely body. Her head exits the water on the other side, followed by the rest of her body as she stands up and sees the two fish that tracked her blood, flopping about on the flat and smooth coral-looking rocks. The space was lit up by a pair of flowers that grew along the walls; they emanated a gentle light from their petals.

“Dinner and a place to stay! Talk about two for one!” She exclaims.

The two fish now lying silently were being eyed by Yvie.

“Ah, I almost forgot.” She says.

She takes the piece of coral she broke off and uses it to mark the wall with an oily substance, like a horizontal dark brown line. The bright coral rocks contrasted greatly against it. The two fish that pursued her were known as seeker fish; they were fatally addicted to the scent of blood.  Despite only preying on microscopic organisms, it is unknown if this is a feature they unfortunately retained through many years of evolution. Yvie takes the piece of coral she found and sets it down at the center of the grotto.

“Ignition coral’s gotta be one of my favorite things.” She mutters.

She takes a rock from the grotto and slams it against the coral, causing it to ignite instantly. The flame is decently sized, and Yvie takes the two fish, then wraps them both in kelp before laying them near the fire. She sits down near the fire and gazes into its billowing flames before zoning out. 

Meanwhile, back at the beach on Sorimi, Marissa and Neo were at a secluded part of the beach, cut off from the liveliness of the regular beachgoers. This part of the beach was a hidden gem, surrounded by natural rock groupings, which served as nature’s wall, allowing the two to talk without fear of being heard. Its entrance is a small alcove covered with dense algae. 

“So gimme the news,” Marissa states.

“I’m being switched off the orphanage.” He states. “The boss isn’t satisfied with the arrangement. He thinks the payments are coming in too slowly.”

“Ugh, great, looks like I might need a drink when I get home.” Marissa shudders. 

“Not at all. I can’t be sure of who they’re sending, but I wanted to give you a heads-up.” Neo spoke.

“That’s plenty helpful. We’ll need to think about what the next step is…” Marissa said, while biting the nail on her thumb.

“Depending on who they send, things could get dangerous.” Neo sighed.

“Dangerous? What do you mean? Didn’t they crack down on moneylenders years ago?” Marissa questioned, her tone rising.

“They did, but at Sandy Beaches, we still have a few well-known collectors who are more violent. Not to mention one of them is the boss’s daughter.” 

Marissa pinches the bridge of her nose. 

“This just gets worse and worse…”

“I’ll try to do what I can, but it doesn’t look like there’s much I can do.” He says.
“It’s fine. You’ve already been helping us out a lot.” She says. “Just be careful on your end. I know how you tend to get, wanting to play the hero and all that.”

He inches closer to Marissa, steadily reaching his hands around her waist and pulling her close, his lips drawing closer to hers. 

“Hard not to, when there’s such an incredible woman at my side.”
“And just when did we decide that I was by your side?” She asks, bringing her voice down to almost a whisper.

“From what I recall, you’d follow me all over town when we were kids. Got into all sorts of trouble, too. Despite it all, look at how far we’ve come.”

“I seem to remember it was you chasing me around.” 

“I do love a good chase.”

“Of course you do.”

The breaths melding with one another, their eyes locked and gazing passionately underneath the setting sun, rays of light hitting against the sea and rippling behind them. The beauty of the sunset was lost on them as they were tightly trapped in each other’s gazes. Like lightning, Neo struck, pecking her lips with a kiss, grabbing her hand, and spinning her around as if ballroom dancing. He released her, nearly causing her to fall over. Watching her regain her balance, her face was red with embarrassment.

“Tag, you’re it now.” He smirked.

“Damn you… That was a low blow. This game of tag has been going on for 10 years!”

“You did the same to me. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t catch on. You must be losing your edge.” He teased.

“You'd better count your days, because when I get you, you won’t see it coming.” She looked up at him while almost kneeling with a menacing grin.

“Sure, sure…” He brushes it off.

The two of them leave the hidden beach together and split off as she heads back to the orphanage.

“I need to prepare, just in case.” She mutters to herself on the walk home.