Chapter 39 - Fun Within The Cruise

"Good afternoon, important guests."

"Gah..."

Ness reacted when the one who greeted them was a man drenched in river water. Also, doesn't this man look familiar?

"Let me show you to your table."

Garas, the crew guard last time showed the middle table to them.

"This is odd, why are we the only ones here? Also, why are you wet, aren't you cold?"

Joren asked to which Garas replied.

"This whole place was reserved just for you, Sir Joren. We take the orders from the higher-ups very seriously. Thus, we had canceled other guests for you to enjoy the whole ride for you and your wife."

"Wife? Oh yeah, wife... we just got married."

Joren laughed and took Ness' hand. She tried to remove his hand but the staff member was especially observant as she noticed from the movement of his eyes.

'Vanessa Vierei. Who is this wonderful woman? I'm seeing a lot of similarities to her and to the venerable Principal-!'

Garas' eyes widened, making Ness almost jump. In a panic, she hugged Joren's arm.

"Yeah... we just got married! I forgot that a lot too, hahaha..."

'No, I don't believe it...'

Garas want to shake that thought away. There's no way, right? If that's true, the repercussions are intense.

'As a number 1 fan, how could I not know that Principal Ness has an older sister!? That would be a disgrace!'

Joren smirked at that moment.

'So soft...' he was truly enjoying it.

"What would you like? We will get the food for you, no need to stand up."

Garas said which Joren and Ness found it convenient.

"Okay, so, how do we know what foods there are? Don't you have a menu?"

Ness asked with a smile, excited to have a cruise meal.

"Oh, you'll have to take a look at the food placed there on the table."

"But to get there..." Ness didn't know what she was expecting so she just stood up, "Come on, Joren, let's just get it ourselves."

"Joren?"

Garas frowned after hearing this.

"... I mean, dear, my love, whatever, come on."

Ness then pulled Joren away, annoyed. The one being pulled away wanted to give the waiter a thumbs up but obviously, he couldn't.

"What is happening here? Are they messing with us?"

Ness complained while taking a big plate of the meal while her eyes are shining.

"Isn't that too much?"

"Nope, never enough for food."

After the two sat down and ate their lunch, they went back to their room. Ness stretched and dropped onto the bed. Joren sat on its edge too but since the bed was big, Ness was comfortable with it.

"So, Ness, when are we going to arrive at the UnderWorld?"

"Hm? After we wake up tomorrow, we're probably there. And don't think of training here! We have a whole day of vacation on a cruise ship! You already did so much for a week so you should rest your body... zzz..."

"... thank you, Ness."

Joren smiled and also laid down on the bed to look at the relatively far ceiling. This is reality, huh... he's actually riding a cruise as a trip to the UnderWorld.

'If my life continued as normal, I wouldn't be able to afford this trip even if I sell four kidneys...'

Everything was like a dream and at that moment, he heard mumbling from Ness. He turned his head and thought-

'If she's a restless sleeper, it would be awkward if another misunderstanding happens.'

Joren inwardly thought, thinking that it would be another trouble. However, deep down, he wished he would jinx it.

Looking at the mature Ness, something really riles up within him.

'She looks so vulnerable. Even though she has now a more mature appearance, she's still childish and innocent. Virena spoiled her too much. Speaking of Virena... I wonder why Ness did that earlier?'

Joren felt the urge to know more about Ness.

But, ultimately, he shrugged it off. It's not something she would answer just because he asked.

'I could see that she didn't really care about me. I mean, it would surprising if she does. She's just being whimsical and doing whatever she likes. But even so, I'm grateful for it. Thank you, again, Ness. Someday, I'll be of your assistance.'

"But now, I should probably focus on getting my soul back... as for Scarlett, I wonder what she's doing?"

While Joren spends his time within his mind, half an hour just passed by and Ness woke up from her nap before sitting up to realize something.

"Ah!"

"What?"

Joren woke up from his daydreaming when he saw that Ness was finally awake.

"Oh... you're awake..."

"Didn't I just say that we should be spending the day active!? What are you doing lying down just now? Also, why are you so disappointed?"

"Huh... but you're the one who slept first."

"Details... details... come on. There's a theater, a swimming pool, a gym, a spa, a playroom, and many more!"

Ness ran up to the door to which Joren followed with a bitter face.

'Damnit! She moved quite a bit but she didn't reach me. Also, I'm sorry for being such a sinner! But wait, a swimming pool? Are we going to...?'

Joren then imagined the mature Ness being in sexy swimwear.

'Wait! Wait! Focus, Joren, you are not a pervert. Every time you think like that, you're proving Virena right!'

While Joren was having an internal conflict, they reached the in-door theatre.

"What are the shows? Are there any anime?"

Ness asked the counter which the female staff answered.

....

In the middle of the stage, a woman was singing in a high-pitched voice.

Joren and Ness were currently sitting in the VIP area while there were no other people even with the tens of rows of seats below them.

"This is so boringggg...."

Ness grunted.

"Huh? But she sings so well."

"So what if she can sing so well? Where's the revenge plot? The main character powering up? The power of nakamas!?"

"First of all, I have no idea what you just said in the last part. Second of all, this isn't story-driven entertainment. It's relaxing and being able to-... wait, are you making faces?"

Ness then giggled before standing up.

"Come on, the bottom line is that I'm not enjoying it."

"Hey, isn't it rude? We're the only people watching her. At least, let her finish. Look at her, she looks like she's about to cry, I think she can hear us."

Joren apologizingly looked at the woman singing in the middle of the stage.

"Nah, let's go to the swimming pool."

"Swimming pool? Alright, let's go."

Joren's face shifted from reluctant to neutral. He then put thumbs up onto the woman at the stage before going off...

"Oh, sorry but the pool is closed today for a cleaning."

A janitor said to them.

"Noo!!"

Joren dropped on his knees before Ness could, leaving her dumbfounded.

"It's fine, Joren, we can go swimming next time."

'He might've really wanted to swim.'

Afterward, they went to the gym. Ness looked around and was left disappointed.

"These things are not even heavy. What am I going to do here? Stretch?"

Joren could understand her. He trained a lot when he was a kid and was always left disappointed whenever the weights in the gym were no longer heavy for him.

He then looked at one weight and found something odd.

"Wait, is this a typo? It says that it's 500 kg heavy?"

"Yeah, are they mocking us? It's so light, I could lift it with my eyelids."

"Hahaha, that's an exaggera-..."

Joren stopped laughing when he saw Ness casually lift the weights up and put them on her closed eyes. With a serious face, she tried to open them but the weights just slipped off.

THUD*

The sound of the weights falling sounds like it was a whole car that hit the ground after falling off the cliff.

"Oh, it's not for eyelids anyway..."

Ness sighed as if nothing happened.

"Let's go to the spa!"

Arriving at the spa, Ness then passed by it.

"Huh? Isn't this it?"

"I forgot I hate being touched."

Ness casually said.

"You could ask for a woman to give you the massage though."

"No, I don't like anyone touching me."

Hearing this, Joren found it odd. Didn't he touch her (nowhere sexual) many times already?

"Here's the playroom! I wonder what kind of games are within this room!"

Ness opened the door before Joren closed it after seeing the objects within the darkroom.

"Huh? Why'd you close it?"

"I think it's a different kind of playroom."

"So what? It's fun to explore new games."

"There's no video games there."

Ness' shoulders dropped while Joren looked around. They are at the amusement center where there are a lot of services for entertainment. They are not even far from the mall. However, it doesn't seem like they would enjoy being there.

"Ah, would you like to go there?"

"Where....? Wait, a karaoke?"