Chapter 653 Sunkissed Worrier

Sunday was everyone's rest day. Keng spent that time catching up on Lee Seng's homework. Ritsuka offered to study and help him, but Keng declined it. He knew everything he needed to know from Lee Seng's memories. His mind was sharp so how bad could human homework be?

Turns out, it was tedious and a bit annoying. Questions asked similar things and Keng wondered how much of this would be repetitive. By the end of Sunday night, he finished all the homework due for tomorrow and cleared through a quarter of the content for all of Lee Seng's lecture classes.

"I still need to do all of the hours for the Specialization classes." Keng sighed, leaning back into the chair. He stretched his arms, body shaking in response to his muscles being able to not stretch for a while. Keng rested his arms in his lap as he stared at the table and laptop. News flicked across the laptop screen. Keng let out a sigh. "Everything I've tried to dig about Lee Seng is gossip. It sucks to at the center of attention."

Keng closed the laptop and stood up. He exited the room and climbed the stairs to the first floor. It was as quiet as it could get here. He could hear people doing different things in their respective rooms. It all sounded like most were studying or having alone time.

Keng didn't bother to turn on the lights. He had darkvision, so what did it matter? He moved into the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing some juice. He closed the fridge, grabbed a cup from the cupboard and filled the cup with juice. He set the carton down and gulped the juice down, sighing in satisfaction. He filled the cup, again and capped the carton, storing it back in its place.

Keng wandered back to Lee Seng's room, noticing Calis coming down the stairs.

"Why are you in the dark?" Calis asked. He stood three or four steps before Keng. Keng turned, taking a sip.

"Lights aren't needed." Keng told him. He started his way down the stairs when Calis followed after him.

"Did you hear anything from Number 9 or 10?" Calis asked.

"No. I'll probably hear from Akio tomorrow. Why?"

"Well, I just wanted to…" Calis glanced around. There was nobody around. Keng entered Lee Seng's room, setting the cup on the desk as he sat on the chair and turned his attention to Calis. Calis closed the door and leaned against it. "Check in. That's all."

"Mmm." Keng nodded. "There isn't anything to report. If there was, you'd know."

"I know, I know." Calis sighed.  Keng watched Calis glance over to something else in the room. He stared off for a while, giving Keng the strange assumption something was up.

"What's wrong?" Keng asked.

"Hm?" Calis looked at Keng. Calis's eyes widened slightly as his shoulders moved upwards.

"What's wrong? Something happen?" Keng asked, again.

"No. Nothing's wrong. Just checking in, that's all." Calis began to turn as Keng set his cup on the desk and stood up.

"Calis." Keng grabbed Calis's wrist. He spun the Merman around and studied Calis. "Did someone from your village contact you? Is it bad news?" Calis's entire body loosened as he gave a weak smile.

"No. Nothing like that." Calis pulled his hand away from Keng. He turned slightly away, grabbing the doorknob. "I just wanted to check in with you." Keng's ears wiggled as his eyes narrowed.

"Something's wrong. What is it?" Keng grabbed Calis and roped him over to the bed. "Sit and talk. You look like you're going to burst into a million pieces." Keng pulled the chair over and turned it. He sat in it, giving Calis his full attention.

"Well…" Calis sighed, looking at his hands. "More of the Merfolk are being inflicted with the strange disease… My father… He's one of them." Calis's hands folded together. The blonde Merman wore a deathly worried face. Even with Calis showing how worried he was, he kept himself for showing any more emotion than that. "The disease is killing my people, Keng… We need to find that cup soon."

"I know." Keng nodded. "How 'bout this? After school, we'll go visit this place I was recommended by an Elf. I can figure out where Lee Seng is and that'll bring us one step closer to finding the cup."

"What if we don't find him in time? What if my people die before that happens?!?" Calis's voice rose as he looked up at Keng. Keng understood what he was feeling. He was experiencing a very similar thing.

"Then Lee Seng and I turn into Demonic Foxes, and we lay waste on everyone and everything until one of us is dead." Keng answered. Calis shrunk, lowering his head back down. "I promise you, Calis. I will find Lee Seng soon and we'll be reunited. We'll find you the cup together and you can go home and save your people."

Keng stood up and ruffled the sunkissed Merman's hair. He gave a pat to his shoulder and then turned to grab the tablet. He unlocked it and tapped the internet app.

"Here." Keng offered the tablet to him. Calis's eyes glanced at it, unsure what we should do after he made an outburst out of his situation. "Take it." Keng pushed it into Calis's hands. There was a picture of a silver cup with jewels embedded into it. "I've ben looking around at cups ever since I came back yesterday. Since we're playing the waiting game, I decided to scour the internet and found some cups for sale online. If you know how it looks, you can figure out it here." Calis hit the next tab, shaking his head and continuing forwards.

"It isn't any of these." Calis answered, handing the tablet back. "It's like the cup we saw in that map. Uhh…"

"Here." Keng clicked out of the internet browser and opened a random drawing app and handed the tablet over to Calis. "Draw on this." Calis spent a couple of minutes drawing a goblet cup overflowing with water. There were jewels on the cup with Merfolk scripts along the rim of the cup.

"It looks like this." Calis handed the tablet over. "I saw it a handful of times when I went to the temple to pray. The cup's a holy relic and you'd notice it right away."

"Metfolk writing?" Keng pointed at the rim. "What's all of this supposed to say?"

"It's supposed to be Merfolk writing. Some sort of script, but no one's allowed close to the cup except for a handful of people. There's Merfolk script written on it. That's all I know. It wouldn't be any of those cups you showed me though."

"Bummer.' Keng sighed. "I thought I'd get lucky and find it online."

"Even if it was online, I think it would be too expensive for you to buy." Calis added. "I doubt you have that kind of money."

"Nope." Keng clicked his tongue. HE shut the tablet off and set it on the desk. "I guess we'll continue searching for it then. I'll continue to peruse the internet to see if it randomly shows up."

"You'll know when the cup is near." Calis stood up.

"How?" Keng leaned back into his chair, raising his head up to Calis.

"There's always a strange set of noises that come with it when the cup's being used."

"What about when it's not being used?"

"Mmm, I was told it sounds like ethereal singing. The kind of singing that almost sounds creepy but isn't because the cups emits this peaceful aura."

"Okay…" Keng nodded. "Define 'strange set of noises.' What does the cup do exactly when it's being used?" Calis began to make a set of random noises that sounded like different animals. Keng swore at one point Calis was just messing with him, but when Calis continued without laughing, he felt like Calis was probably telling the truth.

"Like that." Calis spoke after his noise session. "At least that's what I hear. Apparently, the cup makes different noises depending on who you are. It could totally sound different for you."

"That… That makes everything so much harder." Keng sighed. Calis nodded, licking his lips. "Well, I guess that's why you're with me. You know what it sounds like, so it'll be easier for us to find it if you're with me. I guess that's it then. I promise I'll look for the cup whenever I can't look for Lee Seng. We'll see what happens tomorrow with the information I got from that Elf healer, and we'll go from there."

"You think it'll be worth it?" Calis asked moving to the door.

"Hopefully." Keng turned. "We'll see tomorrow."

"I guess." Calis smiled. "Night. I'll leave you to do your thing." The door opened then closed, leaving Keng with his thoughts. He stood up, putting the chair back in its spot before lying on the bed. He yawned as he pulled the phone out of his pocket.

'Let's hope something happens tomorrow.'