At Sea

The events that follow were described to me by my sister over the phone.

The team of Osana-chan, Estouls, Tanaka-san, Raphine, and my sister were the 'sea searching' team. While the rest of us were off doing who knows what in the Melee Club, they were out on the ocean.

The first thing they did after they broke off from us was to head to the nearest dock. At this point the day was already coming to an end and people were beginning to tie their boats to the dock.

"Excuse me?" my sister asked, "We would like to go out on the sea to look for a lost waifu, would you mind taking us?" She spoke to one of the random people tying their boat.

"Are you crazy girl! The suns already heading down for the day!"

They each tried asking people for help and got similar rejections. Eventually they found themselves next to a shack that sells bait. There were some benches next to the shop, so they decided to rest there. The shop owner was beginning to close up as they sat down.

"I can't believe we can't find anyone to help us!" Raphine cried out as she slumped over the bench.

"They were already done sailing for the day, it can't be helped," Osana-chan said.

"We need to figure something out, maybe someone will let us rent a boat?" Estouls suggested.

"Do any of us have sailing experience though? I don't think a bunch of amateurs should go out on the water at night," Tanaka-san said while rubbing his chin.

They all let their heads hang, save for my sister.

"Come on guys! I'm sure there is someone who can help us!" she tried to encourage them.

"You all must not be from around here, huh?" the shop owner said while closing the shutter of her shops window. She rubbed her hands together as if she was brushing off dust while she walked over to the group.

"We aren't, is there something we should know?" Tanaka-san asked.

"The waters aren't safe at night. There is a gang of waifus who is active from when the sun sets to when it rises. There isn't anyone... or rather no one sane would go out there and risk starting something with them."

"A gang of waifus?" Osana-chan asked while tilting her head.

"Yeah, they are the fierce Moby Dick Gang. Ruled by the titular Moby Dick," the shop owner explained.

"Well, should we just call it quits for the search?" Estouls asked. "It sounds like we would just be potentially starting a fight if we went out there."

"But what about Tako Musume's sister? I'm sure if we explained to this Moby Dick she wouldn't attack us," my overly optimistic sister said.

"Emiko-chan, we do want to help Tako Musume, but it sounds like no one would be willing to sail out right now," Osana-chan said.

"Hold on; you said no one sane would go out there earlier. Is there someone that would go out there?" Tanaka-san said to the shop owner. She sighed.

As if on cue, some loud banging started to be heard in the shop. Then, a matter of seconds later, the door on the side of the shop flew open, and an older man stepped out. He had shaggy, white hair and wore a pair of green overalls. His left leg was a peg up to his knee, but other than that, he seemed like any other old man.

The man hobbled out to the group.

"Ayumi, I'm heading out!" the old man yelled excitedly. The shop owner shook her head with her hand pressed to her forehead.

"Grandfather, I keep telling you not to go out there," she said in a voice that did not attempt to argue.

"No, today is the day that I get that Moby Dick!"

"Oh, you're going out on the water?" my little sister happily asked while clapping her hands together.

"Yes, I am, little lady; I have a mission!" the old man said sternly as he stared off at the ocean. "I have to get that Moby Dick back for taking my leg!"

"She took your leg!" Raphine asked in a shocked voice.

"Indeed, it was on a night much like this one. I was happily sailing on the ocean when I encountered her," he emphasized the 'her' with a growl, "She came out of the ocean and bit my leg off!" the old man yelled while pointing to his leg.

"No, she didn't," Ayumi said with a groan.

"Now I have to sail out there every night, but don't go thinking this is all for revenge! No, I will bring her reign of villainy to an end!"

"Wow, that's amazing! Would you also be able to take us so we can look for a waifu?" my sister asked.

Osana-chan pulled my sister aside.

"Emiko-chan, I know we want to get out there, but I don't think we should go with this old man," she said in a worried tone.

Thank you, Osana-chan, for speaking reason.

"Osana-neesan, I know he seems a little sketchy, but we need to find her sister!"

"We can always catch a boat first thing in the morning when there is not a gang of waifus running around."

"Wouldn't they technically be swimming around?" Tanaka-san said after entering the aside conversation. "Anyway, I think we should join him as well; I am interested in meeting Moby Dick."

"Doesn't that old man seem unwell? Should we even let him be sailing right now?" Osana-chan tried to reason.

"We shouldn't, but he just goes out on the water even if I tell him not to," Ayumi said after entering the aside conversation.

"I don't think we have to worry too much about a fight if we go!" Raphine said after joining the aside conversation.

"Milady, I will go with whatever we decide," Estouls said after joining the aside conversation. At this point, they had all entered the conversation, yet my sister still described it as 'aside.' I just let it go as she continued with her story.

"Even still..." Osana-chan tried to say.

"Oh, wait, he's untying his boat now!" Tanaka-san said. He broke off into a sprint to the boat. Raphine and my sister ran after him. After a few moments, Osana-chan and Estouls joined them.

They all jumped onto the boat and headed out to the sea. It was a decent-sized fishing boat that was powered by a motor. The only one left on the shore was Ayumi, who pulled out a fold-up chair and placed it on the dock. My sister said she could see her staring off at the ocean as the shore started to go out of view.

They were on the water for a moment before anyone said anything.

"Huh, who are you?" the old man asked suddenly after noticing they were sitting on the boat.

"We came with you to look for a waifu," my sister told him.

"Whatever," he grumbled as he steered the boat out onto the dark water.

"Oh! Otaku, do you think that is Tako Musume's sister?" Raphine asked.

"No, that's some driftwood," Tanaka-san confirmed.

"Even if she is out here, would we even see her? The sun is already down," Osana-chan said with a sigh.

"Do you think we should have waited until the morning?" Estouls asked.

"We don't know if we can find her, and there is danger from being attacked by a waifu gang; I think it would have been best to wait until the morning in this case." Osana-chan sighed.

"Our waifu's here can protect us if we get a fight, and Raphine does have good night vision." Tanaka-san reasoned.

"Oh, Otaku, is that her?" Raphine shouted.

"No, that's a buoy."

"Osana-neesan, don't you want to help Tako Musume?" my sister asked.

"It's not that I don't want to look; I'm just saying it would have been better to wait," Osana-chan said.

"While I agree with you, Milady, we are already out here on the boat; it is too late," Estouls said.

"Oh, that's a waifu for sure!" Raphine shouted.

"No, Raphine, that's... a waifu," Tanaka-san confirmed what Raphine saw. "Wait, she's coming at us fast! Grab onto something!" Tanaka-san suddenly yelled. Everyone grabbed onto some part of the boat—everyone except the old man who left the helm and grabbed a harpoon gun.

A waifu suddenly jumped over the boat from out of the water. She had long, wavy white hair and wore a long white dress. 

The waifu graceful arched over the boat and crashed into the water on the other side. Then she came to the surface and stood out of the water with only her feet and a part of her legs still underneath.

The old man lit up a spotlight on the boat and aimed it at the waifu. She brushed her hair back and looked at the group with ocean blue eyes.

"Well, who have we here?" she asked in a smooth, songlike voice.

"Moby Dick!" The old man shouted.

"Ah, good to see you again, Jiro," she said with a smile, "but I was talking to the guests you brought on your boat today."

"Um, Moby Dick-san, we just came out here to look for the little sister of a waifu named Tako Musume; we don't want to fight or anything!" My sister shouted.

"Never mind them! Today is the day I finally take you down!" the old man shouted. He shot the harpoon gun at Moby Dick, but she only caught it in her hand. She sighed and threw the harpoon to the side.

"We do this every night. Old men really should be getting their rest, Jiro."

"Silence you, I'll never rest until I take my revenge!" the old man Jiro shouted.

Moby Dick sighed.

"Kids, I'll let you take this foolish old man back for tonight, so why don't you all head on your way."

"Don't go thinking I'll let you get away that easily!" Jiro loaded another harpoon into his gun and fired it. Once again, Moby Dick effortlessly caught it.

"I guess we will need to fight, huh?" she said softly.

Raphine and Estouls were ready in a flash. Raphine had an arrow drawn and pointed at Moby Dick, and Estouls had his lance at the ready.

"So, you wish to fight? I guess I can play for a little while," Moby Dick said after taking a long look at each.

"Wait, we don't have to fight!" my sister yelled out, but it was too late. Moby Dick gently bent down and moved her hand through the water in the direction of the boat. It was as if she was trying to splash the people on the boat. However, the volume of water resembled more of a giant wave and drenched everyone who was on board.

Raphine wasted no time. She fired off an arrow at Moby Dick. The white whale waifu immediately fell below the sea as a patch of ice froze over the water. They watched the ocean for a while as nothing happened. Raphine's golden bow disappeared, and an elegantly carved wooden bow materialized in its place. She pulled the string back, and an arrow of light formed on the bow.

Raphine fired the arrow into the water, and it lit up the entire ocean under the boat. Moby Dick's shadow became visible. It was rapidly swimming up to them.

"Get back!" Raphine yelled. A moment later, Moby Dick broke from the water's surface and grabbed Estouls. She flew up in the air with Estouls in tow.

In the air, Moby Dick spun around and threw Estouls at the ocean.

"Estouls!" Osana-chan yelled.

The husbando was quick to react. He summoned his griffin, which swooped down just above the water to catch him.

Moby Dick gracefully fell back into the water. She came back just above it and looked at the group.

"Hah, not too bad. I haven't had a real fight for a while, so forgive me if I am rusty."

Raphine drew another arrow of light and pointed it at Moby Dick. Estouls flew high up in the air and looked down at the fight.

Moby Dick looked up at Estouls on his griffin, and she let out a sudden screech that seemed to shake the ocean around them. The griffin was immediately knocked out and began to plummet.

Estouls leaped off his griffin while it was de-summoned. He managed to land on the edge of the boat and had to be hastily pulled back in by Raphine and Osana-chan.

"This is just a waste of time!" the old man yelled. He ran across the boat to the bow while loading another harpoon. He didn't get a chance to fire it. Instead, he tripped and stumbled off the ship.

"Old man!" the crowd on the boat yelled simultaneously.

Moby Dick immediately went under the water. The rest on the boat ran forward and tried to look down in the dark water. Tanaka-san grabbed the spotlight and aimed it where the old man had fallen in.

"Do you see him?" my sister yelled out.

"Estouls! Can you jump in?" Osana-chan asked.

"I could try, but it does no good if we don't know where he is," Estouls answered.

There was a thump on the boat behind them. They all slowly turned around to see Moby Dick with the old man in her arms. He coughed for a moment as she sat him down.

Moby Dick sat next to Jiro, and he fell on her shoulder.

"There you go, why don't you get some rest now. It's too late to be awake," she said softly.

In a flash, Raphine and Estouls were standing in front of Moby Dick. Each had their weapons pointed at her.

"Shh, be quiet; he is finally getting some sleep," she said to them.

Raphine and Estouls looked at each other then they looked over at the others. Tanaka-san was just rubbing his chin while Osana-chan gestured to them to stand down.

The pair's weapons disappeared, but they didn't back away.

"I think you have some explaining to do," Tanaka-san said after a moment.

"Shouldn't we just leave her alone, Tanaka-san," my sister asked.

"Not without some answers, Juyo-chan."

Moby Dick sighed.

"I guess it doesn't hurt to tell you," she said softly, "I'm this guy's waifu."

"You are!" my sister shouted.

"Be quiet," Moby Dick snapped back in a whisper. My sister put her hands over her mouth.

"How long have you been his waifu?" Tanaka-san asked while rubbing his chin.

"Oh, who can say at this point. Fifty, maybe sixty, years. He was a much younger man when we first met.

"That many!" Osana-chan said in a hushed but shocked voice.

"It shouldn't surprise you, Milady; I have been a part of your family since your father was a young boy, you know," Estouls told her.

"Anyway, maybe 15 or some odd years ago, we were on the sea when we got into a scuffle with some pirates. He, his son, and I were out fishing when the ship got attacked. We were immediately thrown overboard. When I dove under the water, his son was nowhere to be found, and his leg was tangled in the fishing net. Then the pirate's waifu's attacked us," she stopped and looked at the sleeping old man, "I couldn't find his son, and I couldn't get him out of the net. I was trying to fight off the attackers who were trying to pull him in with the net. At that moment, he made a decision and cut off his leg so he could escape. When I finally got him above the water, he said to leave him and look for his son. I didn't, and we fled."

"So, then he was mad at you?" Tanaka-san asked.

"Yes, but the loss of his son saddened him more. And I didn't have the heart to tell him what happened... his son was part of that band of pirates. I found out later that he had staged the event to fake his death; he didn't care if his father died in the process. I couldn't tell Jiro that, so I ended up telling him that his son had died. After that, I decided to leave him alone for a while so he could mourn. I watched over him from the sea. Unfortunately, his memory began to twist around that time as well. Perhaps it was to cope, or maybe it was from getting older. Either way, he mixed up events that happened. When I finally came back, he had started going out every night to hunt the whale that took his leg. Ayumi was unable to stop him, so I told her I would watch over him at night. I would scare off people in boats that got too close and have mock battles with him on occasion. Eventually, she spread a story of my gang to keep people away."

My sister, Osana-chan, and Estouls were crying.

"That's so sad!" Estouls shouted.

"Shh," the other two whispered through tears.

They didn't get too much time to say anything else. At that moment, a large body began to rise out of the water behind them. The boat shook as it slowly grew until it towered above them.

Moby Dick gently lowered the old man down and ran to the helm. She fired up the engine, and the boat took off.

"What is that?" Raphine yelled.

"Your interrupting!" Osana-chan yelled through tears.

"It's a Kraken waifu that has been hanging out here recently!" Moby Dick yelled.

The boat charged forward as the waves became rough.

"It's walking to us!" My sister shouted as she ran up to the helm.

"Estouls, use your griffin to go up there and knock her out!" Osana-chan yelled.

"It's no good; my griffin won't be able to be summoned for a few minutes longer!"

"What about Junkers? She can fly!" Tanaka-san yelled.

That is when my sister decided to call me and relay the story. She had told the whole thing as this giant waifu was chasing them.

Meanwhile, the old man slept peacefully through all of this.

I looked out at the ocean at the large shape approaching us as I hung up the phone. The boat they were on made it to the shore first, and they all jumped off.

"Get Junkers to fly..." Tanaka-san was about to say but stopped when he saw that Junkers was out cold. "What happened?" he yelled.

"Uh, I'll tell you later..." I said.

A large thud got all our attention. We looked up at the large waifu that was looking down at us. It felt almost as if we were receiving some kind of grim reminder.

"K-chan!" Tako Musume suddenly yelled. She ran up to the giant waifu

"Ah, T-chan, so there you are!" the large waifu said. She bent over so that she was lower to the ground.

"Everyone, this is my little sister Kraken Musume!" Tako Musume told us. Sure enough, this giant did look like the much smaller Tako Musume. The octopus waifu sure left out some essential details that would have helped in our search.

I took a deep breath and decided just to ignore any passing comments I could make.

"I'm glad you found your sister, Tako Musume," I said in the best happy voice I could make.

"Thanks! It was all thanks to you guys!" she affirmed.

I don't think we helped in any way, but I held my tongue. No one else said anything as well, perhaps being too in shock from seeing her sister. We ended up hanging out on the beach for a little while longer before the sisters went their separate ways. Soon after, Moby Dick carried the old man back home as well. Then, we finally were able to go to our hotels and sleep.

Pretty soon, we were already on the train ride back home.

"Wow, that went so fast!" Tanaka-san said while looking at his phone.

"Yeah, that was a fast trip," Raphine added.

"Oh, the trip? I was talking about this construction of the tower..." Tanaka-san said, having just realized he had spoken out loud.

I ignored them and turned away to look out the window. Trash-chan was sitting across from me, also staring out of the window.

Before we left, we had all ended up visiting the old man again. My sister thought we should try to explain to him what happened, but he wouldn't hear any of it.

So, Tanaka-san and I executed our next plan. We told him that Moby Dick had been slain. He happily cheered when we told him this, though a tear rolled down his face at the same time. After that, we introduced him to a new nurse who would help take care of him, Moby Dick. She cut her hair, donned a pair of glasses, and wore a nurse's uniform. I told Tanaka-san the uniform probably wasn't necessary, but he insisted.

"Ah, who are you?" the old man asked.

"Molly, I'll be taking care of you from now on," she told him.

The old man hobbled across the room and looked at her in the eyes.

"Have we met, Molly?" he asked. "You remind me of someone I think I was close to?"

"We... have not, but it is an honor to think I remind you of someone close. Now, I have prepared a box of bait and some iced tea. Would you like to go fishing?"

"Oh, I love fishing and Iced tea! How did you know?"

"Just a lucky guess."

"You're all right, Molly!" The two happily went on their way while Ayumi made a sigh of relief.

We got judgmental looks from my sister and Osana-chan for the plan we had come up with, but it worked. With that, we enjoyed the remainder of our vacation until we went home.

I looked over to Trash-chan from the window. She was beginning to doze off.

"Hey, Trash-chan, do you intend to stay with me even when I get old and confused?" I asked softly. I did not expect her to hear me, but she looked right at me with a wide smile.

"Of course, you won't get rid of me that easily," she said. I made a small smile and turned back to look out the window. It wasn't too much longer until I fell asleep.