"Jea-ha! You're awake! How are you feeling?" Yona's voice fills my ears and I feel my hand twitch. Now that I've gained some conscious, sunlight was hitting my eyes, making me feel the slightest bit of irritation.

"Can someone close the blinds?" I ask aloud. I hear thudding right next to me before Yona takes my hand.

"E-Eyre! Are you okay?" The blinds are finally closed when I decide to open my eyes. I look to the red haired princess wearily before holding a hand to her cheek.

"That was a crap question, Yona. I'm fine now. You should know that." Her face flushes with relief
and I try to sit up, my hands shaking. Unfortunately, Hak catches it. He forces my head back onto the pillow.

"Sleep." He orders and both Yona and Kija nods their head.

"Go to sleep!"

"Eyre, you must sleep!"

"You, too." I mutter as I see the bags under their eyes.

"We tried to make you two throw up what you drank, but..." Yun says to the two of us.

"And my clothes?" I ask, gesturing to my dress that I only got to wear yesterday, although it's miraculously spotless.

"Before Hak punched you, Yona changed you into one of the complimentary kimonos, she just changed you back when we were sure you stopped..." Yun explains, but tried to think of a verb to finish the sentence.

"Yeah. I took my fist and punched you right in the stomach." Hak fills in and I chuckle softly.

"That's why I felt like my bones were going to break earlier..." Jea-ha mumbles under his breath and I stifle a laugh.

"Thank you, Hak. Though wasn't there anyone else?"

"Be grateful. Shirohebi was originally supposed to do it. I thought you two would die so I took over. Kija just simply didn't want to punch his girlfriend, even if it would save her life."

"Yes, but it might end it as well, Hak."

"No, even a normal punch from Hak would kill a normal person. I wouldn't have died from the drug, it would've been because I was beaten to death."

"If it's a strong drug, symptoms might come up later."

"It's fine, I'm used to drugs." I turn my head to Jea-ha, slightly disturbed.

"Ah, no, just kidding." He covers up and I lift my head back up to the ceiling. Soon, Jea-ha's been tied up because he's 'dangerous'. I was miraculously able to convince them that I'm alright, and that I could help them find the place where I almost died. My legs are still a bit shaky, but I was able to manage.

"This is where the two of you fell unconscious." Kija says and I glance around, trying to remember anything.

"What's wrong, Yona?" Yun asks as she continues to look behind her.

"Something... It feels like someone's watching us..."

"What?"

"I wonder if it's just my imagination."

"Miss, it looks like something's over there." Zeno says, looking to a canal. We all hurry over, wondering what he's caught. As soon as I look into the canal, I gasp and reel back, holding my hands to my mouth. KIja holds me close to him, a hand wrapped around my head with my face buried into his chest.

"He's dead?! What happened to him?!"

"He probably lost his footing and slipped because of yesterday's rain. Move aside, I need to clean it up." The man pulls out the corpse, setting it on a wooden board, and covering it with a cloth.

"That man... his fingernails were discolored and his teeth were falling out. I wonder if just drowning causes you to be like that..."

"It's around 70 degrees fahrenheit, so he must've died around 3 to 7 days ago. It takes them that long to float up. If I'm sure, there weren't any bruises on his chest, neck, or shoulders, meaning he was dead when he was tossed in... But it doesn't make any sense..." I look down, thinking.

"E-Eyre, what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the way he may have died. It'll make this easier." I say, and look to him. 

"Was he in any way bloated?"

"I-I don't know, maybe? We all didn't get a close look.." I nod my head and decide to place it in the back of my mind, just to think about it when I get the time.

"The people living here are strange." Hak comments and I look around.

"What do you mean? They're all walking around normal- ohh~ That's the strange part..." Suddenly, we hear a pained scream coming from down one of the alley ways.

"UWWWAAHHH!!" We all bolt off in that direction and soon see the sight of a man, kneeling down and screaming.

"What's wrong?!" Kija ask but the man shuffles away from KIja, screaming for him to stay away.

"Stop scaring them, Shirohebi."

"It's my fault?!"

"This is no time to be fooling around!" I scold the two, hitting them over the head.

"DON'T COME HERE!! AAHHH!" The man begins scratching at his face, leaving nasty trails of blood.

"It isn't you fault, Kija. This person isn't sane..'' I mumble sadly, looking at the sight of the man, still clawing at his face.

"He's probably had the same as you two yesterday. This person is also..."

"This town... What is happening here..?" Yona asks to nobody in particular with a scared face.

"You guys..." I hear a different voice, and I turn to see one of the townspeople.

"Are you travelers?" He asks us.

"Yes..." Yona replies.

"You shouldn't stay in this town for long. You should leave quickly." He advises.

"Uhm... What happened to this town?" Yun asks.

"Didn't you see that man from before?"

"That man... He's a drug addict, right?"

"People and corpses broken by drugs... It's a common occurrence in this town."

"I heard security here was bad, but... I didn't think drug addiction was rampant."

"This place is one of the better ones," The man says. "There are worse towns in the coastal areas in the water tribe."

"Worse?"

"Why the costal areas?" Yona asks and I fill in for her.

"It's because they're on the coast. And what do you get on the coast?"

"Trading ships." Hak realizes and I nod my head.

"Kai empire... or should I say, Southern Kai's merchants have been smuggling in a drug called 'Nadai' into the water tribe's costal towns."

"Souther Kai?!"

"Nadai... It's a drug I've never heard of before..." Yun mutters.

"Nadai isn't circulating in Kouka kingdom. That's why no one knew of its viciousness at first. Right after taking it, you feel immense pleasure and your pain is dulled. Little by little, you start seeing hallucinations, feel a pain as if your whole body is breaking apart, and eventually go berserk."

"Is there  an antidote?" I ask.

"Two of our friends got involved with it."

"What was that?! The only solution is to make him throw it up quickly or he'll have to go through intense withdrawal symptoms. If a person falls to Nadai even once, no matter what kinds of outrageous price it costs, they'll try to get their hands on it. The Souther Kai merchants are using these people as rats to spread Nadai around. Once you realize it, many people of Shisen are already past the point of no return."

"It looks like you haven't taken any Nadai, but... aren't you going to run away?" Yun asks the man and he shakes his head.

"I'e been doing business here since I was born. No matter how rough it gets here, it'll always be my hometown. I can't easily throw it away. Also, those Southern Kai merchants have expanded their dominance. The market around here is in shambles, though." With that, the man walks away.

"I can't believe the water tribe, known for its peacefulness and beauty is... being chipped away by this kind of disease."

"Let's look into it a little further." Yona says. That's when someone grabs her shoulder. She turns around in surprise, only to see that it's a rather pissed off Jea-ha.

"Jea-ha!"She exclaims, then looks down to see Shin-ah wrapping himself around Jea-ha as a sort of anchor.

"And Shin-ah.."

"It was a rough game of tag."

"Sorry, Yona..."

"Jea-ha, you shouldn't be moving around." I say, arms crossed.

"You as well, Eyre dear. Why aren't the two of you staying put?!" He leans into Yona's face, still angry.

"Stop sticking your nose into this town's business! It's too dangerous!"

"Jea-ha..."

"The darkness here is much more dangerous and uglier than in Awa. We should leave this town immediately. If you get involved with this, you could die." Yona looks at him before shaking her head 'no' I scoff and roll my eyes.

"Not going to happen." I say. He clenches his fists before shouting at the two of us.

"Listen to me!!" He shouts and I flinch back. Yona stays put before going into one of her speeches.

"Even if I avoid the danger now, it'll eventually become a threat to the country. It's not only Shisen. All of Kouka kingdom's coastal towns. Even the place where Captain Gi-gang is, Awa, might face this danger. I can't back down. I am only traveling because I want to fight the people's sufferings. I can't forgive Naidai. The thing that hurt both you and Eyre." Jea-ha takes a moment to look down at the girl before sighing.

"That's unfair... putting it that way.. I understand." He makes his final decision and she smiles. From there we begin walking around the town.

"Miss! Here! I made you a flower crown!" Zeno yells happily and I bend down a bit so he could place it on my head. I smile, although wondering how he got the flowers.

"Thank you, Zeno. It's lovely." He smiles back before running off to be his usual cheerful self with everyone. I giggle at his childishness touching the flowers on my head gingerly.

"What's wrong, hime-sama?" Kija asks Yona as she turns her head back for the nth time.

"It's nothing..." She insists once again, and continues walking. Kija left us, going a different path, informing Yun about his disappearance. I took it no mind, and continued on my way with the others. An hour or two later from asking the local townspeople about Nadai, and looking out for the drug addicts, we stop next to one of the canals, talking about the Nadai. Kija had come back by then and Yun broke off from the group, just to talk to some more people about where some night clubs or the like might be. Shin-ah taps me on the shoulder.

"Eyre.. Yona..." He says before pointing to three women who keep looking at us. When they see that we've caught sight of them, they make a run for it.

"Yona... Should I chase after them?" He asks and Yona shakes her head.

"It's all right, Shin-ah." She says before she catches sight of Yun.

"Yona, Eyre, I've negotiated with a store where people assemble at night."

"Thanks. Even if we investigate like this, we won't make much progress."

"But... It's really dangerous, right Jea-ha?" He sighs and looks down.

"I can't say anything to her now. But if you decide your life is in danger... I'll take both you and Eyre dear and run away no matter what you two tell me." He says and I pause, choosing my words carefully.

"..I'll be careful."

"Well then, let's begin."

---------------------------------------------

Once again, a tad bit shorter than usual... Sowwy ;^;

But anyway! I've started a new colab fanfic with @nikotheneko called Double Trouble! I hope you all look forward to that when it comes out and we are both currently writing it through rp!

- Eyre quickly found out that Jea-ha is one of those people that floods their phones with needless selfies every second when Jea-ha figured out Eyre's password.

- When Hak told everyone a scary story involving bears, Yona asked Eyre if there was any more magic stuff that Eyre could pull out from her duffel bag. Eyre found a stick and brought back the seabear circle.

- Although he hid it well, Hak is the one that cares for Eyre the most, closely behind Kija. He couldn't help but feel empty, concerned, and frustrated when his bae was practically being tortured by the Nadai in the room behind him.