"Puff!" A ball of sand found its way to Yegan's head and particles of beach sand came apart upon making contact. And before he could even speak, another but to Amine's head; drawing the attention of everyone around.
"Khay. What was that for?" Lilith cried out.
"It's a lot isn't it?" He said, tossing up and down a ball of sand in his hand.
"Yeah." Yegan replied, face downwards, the light in his eyes; wavering. His hand immediately went up and caught a ball of sand that flew his way.
"We came to the beach to have fun" he scooped sand from the ground, squatting. "And I intend to do just that." He chuckled and balls of sand found themselves flying in all directions, to everyone that was in his line of sight. And before long, they all found themselves in the middle of a sand ball fight, chasing each other around the beach and slugging at each other. A heated friendly play of sand ball slugging instigated and highest height of the game, everyone turned on him, he could see it in their eyes, fifteen against one and he knew he couldn't win, so he ran.
The shores of the beach received him with open arms as the combined force of fifteen sand balls hit him in the back flung him across sending him landing face first into the wet sand. He laid there bare and turned over, hands stretched out and laughing his heart out a he gazed into the sky. The rest of the team came to join him at the shores of the beach, the ocean brushing against them and retreating. They stared over the horizon of the ocean and smiled their hearts out.
"We really are going to be doing this after all huh." Khay exhaled.
"Yeah. It's just us that knows this truth."
"Unhuh." Mira responded. "What kind of friends would we be if we turned our back on the one that was lost just because we were scared and dealing with unknowns?"
"Yegan, I know you and the rest of the Blue Peacocks would have gone out on your own to do this."
"Well, we would have surely spoken to you all before embarking on this suicide mission."
Khay and the trio chuckled in response.
"Then it's decided. The Kaina Retrieval Team is born today."
"But isn't 16 people for 1 person too much?" Kiriku whispered.
"He would have made friends you know?" Amine replied. "Plus he owes me for that painful back massage."
"That settles it then." They stared at the setting sun as the evening breeze blew.
Vavel – Dolrea.
The 9 o'clock sun shone softly over the capital of Vavel.
The High Palace.
The long corridor of the king's palace was filled with a row of people all about. To the left and right sides, there were people standing and silently watching, the whole room demanded the silence as the graduating students stood in the middle in a row of four, 62 students on each row. They were all dressed in suits and decent dresses of their choosing, suitable for the occasion.
A few meters ahead to the area before the stairs that led to the kings throne stood the teachers of the academy and behind them the king was seated and his right hand man, standing to his right.
Principal Yash came forth. He wore a dark grey set of suit that complimented his ash hair.
"Humble citizens of Dolrea, parents, brothers, sisters, students. It is with great pleasure that we all have assembled here today. To bid farewell to the budding leaves that have stayed under our shade all these years. Congratulations truly, you are a year group that would be hard to forget." He caringly said.
"Lina." He softly called out and she responding, coming out of the line of seeming defense in front of the king, below the stairs. She had a box in her hand and in it was a pack of cards arranged like a deck. Yash reached to his left where she stopped at and fetched the first card. He began to call forth each student by name and before long, all 248 students had been attended to.
The life of the party washed over as murmurs and clanging noises of glasses and mild music enveloped the atmosphere. Amidst all this excitement, the summon for a few students went unnoticed by the majority and in the private meeting chamber of the king, footsteps echoed across the across the room and it reached the individuals that had gathered and gone down on one knee with their heads to the ground, as if they were preparing to be knighted.
"Raise your heads, younglings." And they did. The king took his seat and sighed. "To think these past few days would be so brutal on you lot. These people really have bad timing. Don't you think?" he threw the question to the people across the hall and it met no response, it was more or less as if, no one wanted to speak unless they were expressly pointed out to speak, they were in the presence of the Emperor King Churchill III.
"Indeed." Taiga his right hand replied with much vigor. "As requested my king, the students that were present at the scene of the incident that day. And he gazed at them with much anticipation as he smiled faintly from the comfort of his seat.
"Khay Barmeda Chislon, Trilith Rajagalia, Lilith Rajagalia, Han Jun, Lui Jun, Amine Teta Na, Mira Holt, Ingrid Sous, Kiriku Bamfo, Hodgard Rikraman, Tanvi Teta Na, Ranfa Illen, Kai Kamikaze, Yegan Yerevan, Yousef El Mahmoud-Kareem and Theodora Lucius."
Their eyes widened in shock. "I commend you for your brave act and quick decision that ensured the safety of the students at the time of this unforeseen and unpredicted incident. The casualties would have been drastic if it wasn't for your intervention. Moreover, to fight against your own friend, a familiar face in the span of such a short time, you really have my gratitude."
They all raised their head in a shocking response to the last sentence the king uttered.
"King… you know about what happened?" Khay spoke.
"Of course. I wouldn't be fit for king if I couldn't tell. It appears someone went to great lengths to bury the truth of the incident."
"You're awesome king!" Trilith exalted from the sides.
"Haha!" the king chuckled in response. "Everyone in this room knows what truly happened. Hikami Kaina was a troubled young boy, but there is still yet hope, isn't there, Theodora Lucius?"
The king was just taking every one of them by surprise. "Yes indeed. My lord, there is." she said from the middle.
"Raise your heads. All of you." The king commanded.
"What would you like to do? I already have a team ready to apprehend the situation, yet something tells me making a move like that would leave a bit of a sour taste. So tell me. What do you plan to do?"
"The king sees rightly." Yegan responded. "We indeed have come up with a solution after giving it a long thought. We know that this is something that may very well be beyond us all but we have decided that no matter how big it is, we will go after our friend, to bring him back home."
"Really?"
"Yes." Khay affirmed. "Kaina… Hikami Kaina was our friend, somebody we knew since growing up, stuff happened and he became someone we could hardly recognize and just when he found his way, all of this happened. We can't let it his story end like that."
"I see. Does Khay speak for all of you here?"
"Yes sir!" they all responded in kind.
"Alright then." The king replied. "Taiga. Put Elfa Ingrid on the other case, let the children handle this one, I believe they would do just fine!" He smiled at them and their faces lit up in joy.
"And one more thing, like informed, a certain someone indeed went to great lengths to change the entire narrative, let's have them thinking that we believe them. Thread careful. From here on out, things may be different than you've been used to."
"We are grateful for your concern emperor!"
The king heaved a sigh in response. He never was fond of that title.
"Taiga. Have them deliver that to the academy premises. It should send a convincing message."
At the entrance of Dolrea Academy was a statue, crafted in Hikami Kaina's image, made out of fine material and at the base was the engraving;
"ROWDY IN THE BEGINNING, NOBLE AT THE END"
Hikami Kaina, Friend and Son.