Drip. Drip. The sound of water dripping from the ceiling.
Dark. Damp. Gasping for air after choking on water. Couldn't see anything at all. When Ray regained consciousness, he slowly pushed himself up, carefully opened his bag, took out a magic lantern, and swung it around.
The whale's inner walls lit up with white light. He was lying on the highest-looking mound of pink flesh in its stomach.
Water flooded the wide area. Small fish leapt about as if the whale's belly were a huge pond. He spotted Jason and Aria unconscious in the water, so he quickly waded down to drag them up onto the mound where it was less wet.
Their clothes clung to their skin, completely soaked and freezing. After checking, Ray realized they must have swallowed a lot of seawater and couldn't breathe, so he immediately decided to save them.
"Excuse me, Aria." Ray supported the silver-haired beauty's head, tilting her chin upward and pinching her nose shut before leaning close to her face.
"Ah— cough, cough, cough!"
She choked and coughed weakly, slowly opening her eyes to see him right in front of her. Droplets from Ray's wet hair fell down. His beautiful blue eyes were closer than ever before.
"Ray?" Her expression showed she didn't understand anything.
"Okay, that's better." He smiled broadly, let out a sigh of relief, and wiped his brow before quickly turning to help Jason.
Aria, still dazed, sat up and stared at the back of the tea-haired boy.
She felt a strange warmth at her lips and touched them curiously with her fingers. Then, upon seeing how Ray was helping Jason, her face flushed red at the sight, and she tried to take a deep breath to calm herself.
"Ah— cough, cough, cough!" Jason sputtered after Ray gave him mouth-to-mouth.
"Wha— what the hell! What are you doing, you damn orphan!?" Jason, now conscious, immediately shoved Ray away so hard that Ray landed on his backside.
"I was saving your life, you idiot!" Ray was getting angry now. The last time he had tried to comfort Jason, he'd been rewarded with a punch. And now, even after saving his life, he still got shoved.
"Hey, Jason, you should be thanking Ray," Aria said. "If he hadn't done that, we'd be dead. What he did was necessary. Don't think too much about it." She was trying to tell herself that as well.
"Tch! No way. I'm saving my first kiss for a smoking hot beauty with huge— assets! No way in hell am I letting it be you, you damn orphan! How dare you! You bastard!"
Fuming, red-faced with rage, Jason charged at Ray and shoved him into the wall.
"Ow! I should've let you die, Jason!" Ray yelled before kicking back at him, the two of them shoving each other hard and tumbling around.
"Who the hell wants help from scum like you anyway? You're ruining the honor of a noble like me. Help me for what!?" Jason shouted, throwing a punch, only to get punched back.
"Sigh…" Aria pressed a hand to her temple and slowly changed into dry clothes, unnoticed by either of them.
She then watched them scuffle.
"Hey, Ray, can I ask you something? I've seen Jason treat you horribly, yet you still comfort him, still give him mouth-to-mouth. Are you just too kind?"
Ray turned to her.
"Well, I saw he was in trouble, so of course I helped him, Aria," he answered simply while pushing Jason's face away as the boy thrashed like a rabid dog.
"That's your only reason?" Aria frowned, arms crossed.
"Yeah, that's it. I've been through desperate, near-death situations myself. I know what it's like. I know how badly you want someone to reach out to you. So if I have the power to help, I won't let anyone else end up in the same place I was. I'll extend my hand to anyone I can."
Ray spoke without thinking too much, still prying Jason off of him. Aria smiled faintly at his kindness and gentleness, unable to look directly at him.
"Screw you! Next time don't bother. Let me die. If living means being saved by someone like you, I'd rather die! You weakling!"
"What's your problem, Jason!? Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?" Ray shot back with a punch.
"Just existing is your crime, you damn orphan!" Jason yelled, punching back.
And so the two kept brawling, with Aria making no move to stop them.
While the boys were busy beating each other, Aria used her time wisely, summoning her beast to attack the whale's stomach wall.
But all magic mana failed here in the whale's stomach. The more she tried to use it, the more it seemed to be absorbed away clearly a special property of this place.
Aria crossed her arms, deep in thought, with the fighting boys as her background noise.
"Hm… If magic doesn't work, I'll need brute force beasts." She summoned her ice bear to punch, claw, and smash the stomach wall, but it barely made the skin bruise.
She could deal damage, but not enough to break out. Even if all three attacked together, the result would be much the same.
"We can't break through. We'll have to find another way."
Right then, the boys' fight ended, both lying on their backs, exhausted.
"Here. Bandages. You can treat yourselves, right? And change your clothes or you'll catch a cold — pneumonia, even."
Aria walked over, placing the first-aid kit in front of them.
"What are you, my mom, you silver-haired hag!?" Jason barked, but took the supplies anyway, as did Ray.
"Learn to appreciate people's help for once! Aria helped us," Ray said, annoyed.
"When did I ask anyone for help? Mind your own business! I've got my own kit. I'm not so pathetic that I need yours."
Aria, used to hearing worse from others millions of times over, wasn't fazed by Jason's words. She understood why Ray was irritated, though — and it was nice to have someone be annoyed on her behalf for a change.
While they bandaged up, Aria brought out three boxed meals and a magic lantern, setting up a small camp on the stomach mound.
Jason's stomach growled. Ray's did too. They glared at each other, calling a temporary truce as the three sat down to eat together under the warm blue light.
In the stillness of the whale's stomach, the water lay calm, as if the creature were asleep. The long-haired silver beauty spoke up.
"This might be our last meal."
"What do you mean, you silver-haired witch?" the purple-haired boy glared.
"We can't use magic here, and its stomach is too thick and strong to pierce. We don't have much time left to live." She continued eating as she spoke.
"No way. There's got to be another way out. There has to be hope," Ray said, though his expression was starting to look worried.
"What the hell. I'm not dying here!" Jason slammed down his spoon and stood, shouting. The cool-headed girl stayed seated.
"I don't know. If we can't find a way out, we're done. I can't think of anything. We can't use magic. We can't rely on strength. If I'm going to die, I'd rather die peacefully," Aria replied calmly.
"Die, huh…" Ray's face fell. "I haven't achieved my dream yet. I can't die. But… if I died chasing it, maybe I wouldn't regret it."
Hearing this, Jason flared up again, grabbing Ray by the collar.
"Don't you get all noble on me. Easy for you to say — you've never had to carry anyone's expectations. You're just an orphan with no parents."
"Oh, come on! Let me go. I'm not fighting you again, Jason." Ray shook him off.
Aria still didn't intervene. The two glared at each other, ready for another round.
"Or… are you jealous of Ray, Jason?" Aria tilted her head.
The words struck a nerve, leaving the purple-haired boy unable to answer. Ray was stunned by the look on Jason's face.
"Huh? What would I possibly have that you'd be jealous of? Why would you be jealous of me, Jason?" Ray asked, confused.
Jason only grew more silent, his anger on the verge of tears. Aria leaned in and whispered in Ray's ear so Jason wouldn't feel humiliated.
When Ray heard, he blurted, "Huh? Wait, your real dream isn't to be a Tamer?" He voiced Aria's deduction.
"Tch. So what if it isn't? Mind your own business!" Jason clicked his tongue.
Aria whispered to Ray again.
Ray pieced it together with what he'd heard yesterday. "Wait, so your father forced you to become a Tamer? You wanted to be something else, Jason!?" His shock was obvious.
"Oh, for crying out loud! If you're just going to tell him, why whisper at all!?" Jason growled at the pair acting like close friends.
Ray slowly edged closer to the purple-haired boy.
"Jason? Is the reason you're jealous of me — the reason you hate me — because I can choose my own dream? Because I don't have to bear my father's expectations like you?" Ray's voice was full of sympathy as he began to understand Jason's story.
"Yeah. So what? I get pissed off every time I see you doing whatever you want," Jason shouted, cornered into admitting it.
Ray felt a pang of sadness. He had never known what Jason dealt with at home. Slowly, he walked forward and hugged him warmly, as was his nature.
"Argh! What the hell are you doing!? Let go!" Jason thrashed.
Ray didn't let go, and Aria joined in, hugging Jason as well.
The warmth brought tears to Jason's eyes. In his life, his parents had almost never hugged him — only scolded when he displeased them, when his grades were poor, or beaten when he embarrassed the family.
As the weakest child in the family, he had tried everything to win his father's approval — pushing others down, elevating himself — to protect his own fragile pride. But in the end, he couldn't escape the truth: he had nothing, and he didn't even want to be a Tamer.
"Enough! Let go of me!"
Jason shoved them both away and sighed. "Fine. Damn it. If we're all going to die anyway, I'll play. My song. My dream!"
With that, the purple-haired boy pulled an acoustic guitar from his bag and strummed it in the whale's stomach before Ray and Aria. His voice was powerful, fierce with rage, striking the hearts of his two listeners to their very core.
He sang, sang, and sang until the last note, pouring all his blazing emotions into smashing his guitar against the whale's stomach wall until it broke.
"Let me out! I'm not ready to die! I'm going to chase my dream!"
He smashed the guitar over and over in a frenzy, summoning all ten of his beasts to punch, claw, and bite the whale's stomach, even knowing it wouldn't work.
But the song had ignited something. Aria summoned all ten of her beasts to join the attack, even without magic or their usual skills.
And Ray — Ray was fired up, burning. He summoned over two hundred beasts at once. Chaos erupted.
The whale's stomach became like an open safari park, beasts from Ray, Aria, and Jason pounding away nonstop.
Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam!
"Yaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"
And at last, the whale could not bear the pressure in its stomach.
It vomited them all out into freedom.