Chapter 116 - Ocean Eyes

"Halma! Why didn't you tell me that you're leaving soon?!" Gem said after seeing Halma in the hallway upon wandering alone.

"Uhm, who are you?" Halma asked while looking around as if looking for Gem's lost parents.

"Oh!" Gem exclaimed after remembering the fact that she changed her hair and eye colors just this morning. "It's me, Gem!" Gem said while showing Halma her original hair and eye colors.

"G-Gem?" Halma asked, still not confused, and was now alarmed.

"Yep, it's me! Gem!" Gem said enthusiastically before changing her eye and hair colors to blue again.

"H-How?" 

"It's the effect of my evolution."

"You mean your menstru-'' Halma asked which Gem only shrugged as a response..

"Why didn't you tell me you're leaving soon?! I was looking forward to spending more time with you!" Gem said while pouting.

"I- uhhh, I have a lot of things to manage back at the capital," Halma said while admiring Gem's new blue hair and eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm just not used to being kept in the dark, Riveth is acting up and I need to go back before she comes here herself and drag me with Fily back to the castle," Halma said in a goofy tone which confused Gem.

'What happened to the prideful and confident Queen?' Gem thought to herself even more after seeing the Queen roaming around the hallways alone and in a normal beach attire instead of her flashy Queen-like dresses, similar but not exactly the same to the design of her own beach dress.

"When are you going?" Gem asked and spotted the room to the basement behind Halma that was slightly open.

"Just, preparing something," Halma responded in a nervous tone which made Gem decide to leave her alone for now.

'She must be busy,'

"Okay! See you later then," Gem said energetically before walking away while waving at her goodbye.

'I wonder what she's preparing?' Gem thought to herself before going out of Halma's sense radius.

***

"Where's Gem?" Von asked after seeing both Fily and Petunia beside them, waiting for the Zoomer to arrive.

"She's in-" Fily tried to answer with her usual bubbly personality but was suddenly interrupted when Petunia covered her mouth using her furry tail.

"Shh, aren't we supposed to be enemies?" Petunia said to Fily sarcastically.

"Pfft, Petunia!" Fily said while covering her mouth from Petunia's tail.

"Hmph," Petunia only replied while walking around her Gummy cloud.

"When are you going to apologize?" Lei said without looking at them.

"Apologize for what?" Fily asked innocently which made Petunia proud.

"We're not going to apologize for helping save the island," Petunia added.

"Oh? Is it about that time when we betrayed you and handed you to the Crones?" Fily said after realizing why Von and Lei must be angry at them.

"Exactl-"

"If that's the case then I'm sorry! We really didn't mean to do that but we have no choice." Fily said with a pleading expression which made Von and Lei look away out of embarrassment.

"Okay, apology accepted," Von said without even trying to look at her which made Fily happier.

"Yeyy! Are we good now?" Fily said that Lei, being the one standing near her, immediately responded with a "Yes," just to make her move away from them.

"Gahh, I can't believe this girl." Petunia shook her head after being betrayed by Fily for saying sorry to Von and Lei even though she's the mastermind behind everything including keeping the plan from the both of them in the first place.

"I'm here!!" Gem announced while hopping along the wide staircase.

When the four of them looked, Von and Lei's face immediately screamed confused while Fily was just her usual bubbly personality and Petunia her no-reaction snobbish face.

"Gem!!" Fily shouted while anticipating for her while the two boys just stared at Gem strangely.

"That's Gem? What happened to her?" Lei said which was then followed by Von.

"What happened to you!? You look uglier!" Von remarked the most discouraging words ever which made Gem frown from having a happy face.

"You're uglier! Hmph!" Gem said and rolled her eyes at Von.

"What are you saying!? Gem is not ugly!" Fily exclaimed while putting her arms around Gem's small shoulders.

"Tsk," Von said and looked away while Lei couldn't take his eyes off of Gem's blue eyes.

"Is that real? W-What happened?" Lei asked while still looking at Gem's eyes which flustered her.

"It's just a perk from my evolution." Gem said while covering her face using her hair for being too flustered from Lei's stare.

"Evolu-?"

"Just Salamandite things," Fily said with a smile before pulling Gem to her other side and away from Lei.

"Cool," Lei said and cleared his throat after losing eye contact with Gem's fascinating ocean eyes.

***

"Have you been here before?" Von teased Petunia about being the first one to find this hidden scenery along with Lei.

"It's better to visit in the morning, you can really see the sunlight making a line across the clouds just like in a real beach," Von said which made Gem fascinated for not being able to see a real beach in her life before.

"Let's just wait for the sunset then?" Fily pitched in which made Petunia drop her jaw and applaud Fily for being smart.

"As expected from our brainly sister!" Petunia said while clapping while Von was just bummed for having his flex interrupted by Fily's smart remark.

"I should have just continued my plan," Von said obnoxiously, which earned him a slap on the shoulders from Lei.

"Life up here is a lot better than life down there so don't even think about that again." Lei scolded him.

"That's right." Gem said, agreeing to Lei's remark which gave Lei another chance to see her ocean eyes once again.

"What did Halma add in this place anyway?" Fily said while moving forward to disrupt Lei's vision from Gem again.

"It's mostly just the water," Von answered while looking weirdly at the hidden tension between Lei and Fily. "What's wrong with both of you?" he added even though he did not really care much about it while Petunia and Gem were just busy admiring the view in front of them.

Sitting on a sandy beach inside a cave at cloud level with an artificial infinity pool that connects with the clouds under the island, who wouldn't be fascinated by such a view?

"I wonder what the ocean looks like?" Gem asked out of nowhere which Lei answered nonchalantly. "Same as the reflection in your eyes."