The Legend of the Golden Carp part 2

Periphilia looks at him.

"Oh, yeah, and how are we supposed to do that?"

Gorge looks at her, confused.

"What do you mean?" as he jumps in the fisherman's boat. 

"Hey, what do you think you are doing?!" Shouts Periphirilia.

"You know that's theft, right?"

Gorge looks at her, even more confused.

"What do you mean by theft?
It's not theft if you give it back later. You stupid"

.....

Periphirilia looks at him, speechless.

"Gorge..."

"Aye, aye, the crew begin boarding the ship now!"

Periphirilia looks nervous.

"We aren't really doing this, are we?"

"Of course we are!" Replies gorge

"You promised, remember? Together forever"

Periphirilia blushes

"What about the food, items, and preparations?"



"Haha, no worries; I'm sure we'll find all those things along the way, right ?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, leave it to me, the great captain of all the seas."

"When did you get to travel the seas?"

Asks Periphirilia, confused yet again.                                                                                       

 "Um, the time when the bird was dragging me along in many different places
I've got more experience than anyone else, haha."

Periphirilia blushes, finally entering the boat.

"The weather is decent; not bad, not dark, although the water looks darkish."

Gorge releases the boat from the dock and starts rowing.

"Let the adventure begin. Yeah, let's go!"

Gorge screams at the top of his lungs.

Periphirilia jumps out of her seat, terrified by the sudden scream.

Gorge looks at her apologetically.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to scare you."

He grins and takes her hand in his.

"Hey, let's hold hands so neither of us gets scared anymore.
It's just like the last time...
Remember when you helped me?"

Periphirilia looks at him longingly.

''Yeah, I remember it."'


Periphirilia blushes
Gorge blushes as well.

They are both currently sitting quietly and not exchanging any words. The boat slowly navigates the stream, passing various trees in the distance. The birds have stopped chirping, and it's starting to get a little dark. Periphirilia tightens her grip on his hand.

Gorge is unable to resist being overcome by the atmosphere.

What is this weird feeling? He thinks to himself.

It feels very similar to that time on the hill.

But the atmosphere is completely different.

Could it be? Her?

He looks at Periphirilia and sees her staring at his face.
She blushes as she sees that and turns her face around. It's completely dark now; they are still swimming through the water; both are staring at each other; they can't see anything, yet they can picture each other's faces perfectly.

But then the stars lit up the sky.

Wow

Gorge is completely mesmerized by the beautiful scenery.

Periphirilia is looking at the scenery nostalgically.

"Remember when I told you that the only thing that could be prettier than the sunset on that hill is the crystal-clear ocean reflecting the starry sky?
I think this is even better.
Hey, are you even listening?"

Gorge is so immersed in the view that he can't hear anything. He's standing at the boat's helm, at the forefront of the otherworldly scenery.

Periphirilia moves closer to the gorge.

"Hello, earth to Gorg..."

She slips

"Ahhhh!" screams Periphirilia as she hits the gorge, and they both stumble down into the water.

However, Gorge doesn't even attempt to swim to the surface; he realizes the view is even better underwater.                                                                                                                            Do I keep looking?
But if I do, I might disappear.
Hmmmm. I guess it wouldn't be so bad to disappear right here and now.
Gorge thinks to himself.

Suddenly, a hand grabs him, and Periphirilia drags him to the shore. They are both coughing out water.

Gorge is lying on his back.

"Hey, Periphirilia...."

"What ?"

"Should I wish for the robe to be gone?"

"Well, yeah, you said that you have been trying to get rid of it for, like, forever."

"I don't think I mind it that much anymore.
I have just realized there are so many amazing things I haven't seen yet. Wishing for some old robe to disappear is lame.
Just think about it: first the hill, now this: what if we wished for the golden carp to bring us to the most beautiful place in the whole world?
Wouldn't that be so much more awesome?"

Periphirilia grins very faintly.

"You said that this robe makes it weird to approach other people; does going to a beautiful place once justify a life of solitude? Are you really sure about this?"

Gorge smiles

"What solitude? I'm not alone anymore; I've got you now, together in the middle of nowhere. Just the two of us, without a sign of life anywhere in sight.
Well, except for insects and small fish.
But they don't count.
Because, you know, they are stupid. Like really stupid
As stupid as those fishermen who were laughing at a brave explorer."

"Haha"
Perihirilia laughs

"Okay, let's do it. Let's go see the most beautiful place in the whole world."

"Damn, we are soaking wet; isn't it getting kind of chilly?"
Gorge is getting a bit cold.

"Silence". After Periphirilia says this, neither of them knows what to do next; they stare silently at the ground.
Gorge suddenly jumps up.
"Aha, I know what to do."
"You do?"
"Haha, leave this to the survival expert, the greatest captain of the seven seas.
We need to hug each other so that we will warm up. Easy, right?"

Periphirilia doesn't look very convinced.

"Are you certain this would work, given that we are both wet?"

"Well, we never know unless we try."

Periphirilia approaches Gorge, and the two embrace. They only recently became aware of each other's warmth. However, neither of them was looking at each other, whether for the beauty of the scenery or the awkwardness, but both had their sight fixed on the horizon. With every second that went by, it grew warmer and warmer until it became hot.
Periphirilia blushes a little, while Gorge is completely red and barely conscious. There is complete silence around them; their breath is very loud, and it feels like they are disrupting the immersion.


I can't hear Gorge breathing anymore.
She looks to her side.
And there he is, completely passed out, turning purple.

"Oh, no, don't die!" Periphirialia shouts in horror.
She grabs him and shakes him, but that doesn't do anything.
That's it. There is no other choice; I have to do this. Periphirialia thinks to herself.

She gently puts Gorge down on the ground,  lifts his head with one of her arms, and performs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation techniques.

Gorge slowly opens his mouth.
He's even redder than before.
Perephirilia also becomes beat-red, panics, and falls on top of him.
They get up and sit quietly for a couple of minutes with their heads down.

"What the hell happened to us?" Asks Gorge

"I don't know."

"You know, I have never had this much fun before. Thanks for everything." Gorge says as he puts on his widest smile yet.

Now it's Periphirilia who's blushing uncontrollably.

"No, there is no need for thanks; you know I'm having the time of my life here too.'' She says this as she's smiling with her eyes closed.

"I think we should stay the way we are now, just the two of us traversing the world while searching for beautiful things and uncovering the world's greatest mysteries."

Perihirilia smiles widely
"Okay, let's do that together, just the two of us."

"Promise ?"
Gorge reaches out his hand with his pinky raised.

Periphirilia does the same, and they cross their pinkies yet again.
"Yeah, pinky promise."

They both make their most sincere and carefree smiles, which show no worry and signify pure happiness.

Gorge silently looks around.

"Where is our boat?"

"I had to leave it to travel downstream since certain someone needed to be saved, like always."

"hehe, sorry"
Says Gorge while giggling

Periphirilia looks at him calmly.
"Well, it's not the end of the world; with no one to steer it, I'm sure the boat had to hit the shore at some point. And since no other humans are here, I don't think someone else would take our boat.
The more concerning thing is that we do not have supplies or know where we are going.
I get the feeling that we will not return from this journey."

"Don't worry; it's going to be alright. We've got each other. Nothing can go wrong when two people are working to help each other, right?"
Reassures Gorge.

Periphirilia calms down a little.

"Well, in any case, we will look for the boat tomorrow."

Gorge jumps up with excitement.

"Yay, double adventure !"

"Now, calm down. We've got a long day ahead of us. Let's get some rest.
Save the excitement for tomorrow."

Periphirilia yawns

"Okay," agrees Gorge
They both lay down and slept together warmly.