Was she serious?

I decided to return to the village right after Aura left. She might feel offended because of the way Lance treated her friend. Despite that, she was just a usual good lady who could be found anywhere.

"Where are you going?" Lance stopped my walk.

"The village," I replied without turning back.

"Don't you feel that you should tell the police about this?" Lance suddenly asked.

"Well, I..."

"This island is bad news, I know it!" continued Lance. "You shouldn't talk to them!"

"Well for starters..."

"Mawar must be too scared to live on this island all by herself!"

Okay, that's it. I threw one of my carrots to his head as he was beyond cowardly and silly. Go away, you freaking chicken! How would I reply if he didn't let me continue? How would I feel if I wasn't even allowed to talk to the others?

Mawar this, Mawar that; I was so agitated as I walked down from the mountain road.

Was he a kindergartener??

The more I thought about it, the more upset I felt. He didn't even realize what he had done AND I kept on asking why the young Lance was way more handsome and reliable than this adult one? Did he change? Yes, that's also the probability. A lot of things happened inside my brain and I couldn't see the road clearly; the tears filled my eyes. And... I slipped on the muddy mountain road.

"Are you okay?"

Someone grabbed my arm and I could see the only 2-meter-tall human on this island, saved me before I fell to the mud.

"Next time you hike, change your shoes, okay?" Storm the bear warned me. "The mountain is actually not a hard hike but the access is pretty horrible."

"Thank you," I appreciated his kindness as I tried to gain my balance back. "I didn't watch the mud, I'm sorry."

"All's good," Storm smiled.

"Are you going to the mountain?" I asked based on the direction he came.

Storm shook his head.

"I guess I would end my day here," Storm answered while looking at the jungle. "No one needs my help at this point. If you don't mind, do you want to go back with me?"

I embraced his kind offer.

The bear –I meant Storm, wasn't as frightening as it seemed. He kept on checking my condition once in a while without even once ignoring nature. I learnt much, about the jungle, the mountains, and animals, briefly. He also mentioned and showed me the hot springs and lake that we could visit for change. Again, he seemed nice. Should I trust him to ask about the thing that happened in Cowie? Well, what's the worst that could happen? I will get departed at max, and wouldn't be killed as I never backstab anyone here.

I felt adventurous.

"Hey, Storm?"

"What?" he replied.

"Does everyone come to the mountain often?" I cautiously asked while tilting my head up to match Storm's height.

"Well, not everyone but you can count me, Jin, Olivier, Azriel, then a bit of Reanne and Kaoru..." Storm tried to count the people with his fingers.

What did he mean by a bit of Reanne and Kaoru? I shrugged, whatever.

"That's an unordinary party you got there," I chuckled.

"It is!" Storm proudly answered. His eyes were gleaming cheerfully. "Well, everyone has their purposes."

"Purposes?" I interrogated.

"Yes, let's say that Reanne and Kaoru came to the mountain for the medicinal plants..." Storm returned his fingers to count again. "Azriel needs to gather the ores from the mountain for his tools ... or should I say, our tools?? Hahahaha..."

Okay, so Storm got a bad joke like me.

"How about Jin?" I asked.

"Whattt?? What's with this sudden question about Jin? You want to hit on Jin already??" teased Storm. "Well, he's handsome, yess yes, big point to that. Oh, he's also smart, yessssss. And he's strong, yes yesss, but not nearly as strong as me."

I pinched his arm to stop him from teasing me. He clenched his teeth out of the sudden pinch.

"No!" I shrieked with a suppressed tone. "You did mention that he often goes up to the mountain!"

"Oh, you're right," Storm gained his composure. "I don't know his past but I think that Jin has a habit of going to the mountain even before reaching Cowie."

"He's not an islander?" I concluded.

"Yes, some of us," explained Storm. "Jin, Aura, and the modern fellows like us aren't the islanders."

Okay... something's strange here.

"But I guess since he came to Cowie, he still found some happiness upon visiting the mountain... for a different purpose," Storm ended his explanation.

"There's nothing in the mountain," I whispered.

"There's nothing, you're right," Storm smiled and followed my whispering. "But he doesn't come to the mountain as often anymore now."

"Why?" I asked again.

"Ohh, you do like Jin so much, eh?" Storm was back with his playful nature.

"Come on!" I rolled my eyes.

"It's simple," Storm let out a flat face. "It's because Olivier was no longer there."

As we reached the village, I and Storm parted ways even if there were still a lot of things that I needed to ask. Since I had nowhere to go, I decided to reach the supermarket, which was surprisingly, not so super. The building was small and if you had to name it, it was rather a traditional minimarket –with plants in the yard and hanging flowers on the roof.

I saw a man watering the outside plants while wearing an apron. A new man, I never saw this man before even in the meeting. He bowed as I approached his distance.

"Welcome," he greeted me with such a low voice --not lazy, by all means.

"Thank you," I bowed back. "I harvested some vegetables, please have some."

The man before me smiled very kindly as he picked one asparagus and ate it raw. I couldn't help but watch his appearance -- he had rather long golden hair with a cute pink scrunchie. Now, his apron was also adorable –a pink cow apron.

Was it just his style to be this cute?

"Oh, this asparagus is so good," he commented. "Nice harvest."

"I don't think I'm worthy enough to get the credit since I'm not the one tending the farm... but thank you," I replied.

He nodded; blended in his watering flower activity.

"Do you often eat asparagus raw?" I asked to fill in the silence.

"For now, I guess I need to eat what I can to gain brain capacity, if that could answer your question," he replied.

"Why?" I asked.

"Hmmm..." he muttered. "Because my rival is a pretty big-brained guy."

I didn't know what he meant by that sentence, and I was glad I didn't find the time to ask as Elise surprised us with her sudden appearance.

"Hey, Jemi!" yelled Elise by the door. "That's so rude! Ask Luna to come in!"

Oh... so this guy with cute taste is Jemi. He might be someone who didn't belong to the team.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry," he apologized. "We were having a chat. Anyway, that's my fault. Please come inside."

"No, no... it's okay. I just came to share the veggies," I rejected the kind offer. "Fresh from this morning, please take some."

I thought I would get another excited reaction, but I'd never been this wrong. Elise glared at me after looking at the harvest basket I showed her.

"Why?" She asked.

"Pardon?" I didn't understand.

"Why do you share the veggies?" she explained. "You won't get money that way."

Ah... I should've expected this kind of reaction. I know even for the goodwill, there would be a bad reaction.

"I don't mind," I smiled. "The crops belong to this earth; thus, it only makes sense that I want to share it with everyone around."

Elise and Jemi looked at each other as if I had done wrong this time.

"Are you sure?" asked Jemi in a teasing voice. "Oops, I already took your asparagus though."

I nodded.

"Yes, I'm sure. You still could take some if you want."

Elise's killing face slowly turned into a beautiful face upon hearing my sentence.

"I'm sorry..." she apologized right after. "It's still traumatic for us so I need to make sure."

What kind of trauma, though? I would ask but I knew today wasn't a good day to talk about it.

"Do you hate Olivier?"

I froze; yet managed to ask.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I heard from Kaoru that you and Lance ran when Olivier as a naturalist was mentioned," again, Elise gave me the killing vibe.

I didn't have this hate for Olivier, at all even if I did understand how would it feel if someone got underestimated and underappreciated like what we did to Olivier. We were at fault, and sadly I couldn't even stand on my feet at that time.

"It wasn't like I did bad things to her," I explained. "Though it sounds so defensive, but to be honest, I never look at her like that even once."

Elise didn't seem to accept my answer based on her sudden strict face. At this time, I learnt that I should change my wording –without lies, so my listener could accept my reasoning.

"Olivier, I never hate her..." I paused. "She even greeted me before knowing me and she didn't hide her sickness. If there should be a feeling for her, it would be I appreciate her for that honesty."

Elise smiled in relief. It seemed like she was satisfied enough.

"Thank you," she seemed elated. "I'll take this and this and..."

I held the harvest basket while Elise was busy picking vegetables. Her mood changed instantly ... just about time she creeped me out with that mood. She looked distant from others but I didn't know that she was this loyal.

"I'm surprised that you heard about us at the clinic..." I opened up a new conversation.

"Reanne wouldn't tell, but Kaoru was like our messenger," replied Elise. "Anything that happened on this island, we will know. We will notice."

I watched Elise as she put her veggies carefully in a paper bag.

"I wouldn't call myself as being close to Olivier though..." Elise elaborated. "Oh, I don't think I'm that close to anyone but Kyo in the team."

Her story made me puzzled.

"Then, why?" I questioned.

Elise stopped her work.

"Family doesn't need to be close, right?"

Elise bid farewell as she left the front yard with her veggies –with me suddenly struck by her words. 'Family doesn't need to be close' –a simple but frightening sentence. This team... wasn't a team. It was rather a monolith. When someone got kicked, the whole members would be sufficient to send you off space.