Blackberry Bun's Journal: Chapter 26

[Blackberry Bun]

Chapter 26: Prologue to The Untold


One week had passed after the friendship festival. All of the new friends had returned to their homes, and life continued without anything so special. I hadn't made any more new devices because I had no new idea, so over the one week I only walked around visiting friends from time to time. Sometimes I remembered the day one year before, when I still had no friends at all. I didn't know what I would have done without them. Thanks to them I had completely removed my inconfidence and had started to go out more. I could imagine me not being my current self if I hadn't met them.

After having lunch on that day, I decided to give Strawberry a visit because I hadn't seen her in the last four days. I walked to her house, but only to find that she was not at home. I didn't know what had happened, but I noticed that the ripe berries on her garden were all over the ground like if someone had thrown them around. Looking at the mess I decided to pick all the berries up and put them on a basket I found nearby. After I was done, I decided to visit Angel Cake so I walked to Cakewalk. Once I arrived there I knocked on the door and she opened it.

"Hello, Blackberry," she greeted. "Please come in!"

"Hi there, Angel," I greeted back. "What are you doing right now?"

"Not much," she replied.

"Same here. That's why I walked around visiting here and there," I said. "By the way, Strawberry is not home. Do you know where she might be going?"

"She went to Seaberry Shore three days ago with Rainbow," she answered. "She said Coco Calypso needed some help."

"And let me guess... she left her sister again, right?" I said.

"Well, that's not exactly right," she said. "Apple didn't want to go with her. I don't know why, though."

"Oh, really?" I remarked. "Who is taking care of Apple now?"

"Orange Blossom. Custard and Pupcake are there as well," she replied.

"Hmm... I feel like visiting them there. Do you want to come with me?" I said.

"Why not?" she replied, and the two of us walked to Orange Blossom Acres.

When we arrived there, we climbed the stairset to her house and knocked on the door. Orange opened it soon after, but she put her pointer finger in front of her lip and pointed inward. From the door we saw Apple sleeping on the sofa along with Strawberry's two pets.

"Nap time I see," I said with low voice.

"We can talk outside," Orange said, slowly closing the door from the outside.

"I just wonder why she didn't want to go with Strawberry this time. Has she said anything like that?" I asked.

"No, she has not said anything about that. But maybe it's because she has been there a few times," she answered.

"I see. Then there will be no problem," I said.

Soon after, I left the place along with Angel Cake to let the three of them to have their rest. I then separated ways with Angel Cake and went to my home. On the way I kept thinking about Seaberry Shore, especially the sea. I hadn't ever thought about going underwater before, and I was sure the sea had many wonderful things to see. With that in mind, I decided to modify Falcon's engine so it would be able to run underwater like a submarine as well. Once I arrived home I put the thoughts into realization over the next four hours. As the result, Falcon could then run underwater although the speed would be very slow while underwater. The modification also reduced its flight speed by around one quarter, but it didn't really matter for me.

After the work was done, I immediately piloted Falcon towards Seaberry Shore. On the way I thought of visiting Coco Calypso first before going under the sea, so I decided to land near her house first. Once I arrived I noticed Rainbow Sherbet's boat docked near one field of sand, and then I landed on that field of sand. I got off and walked towards Coco's house, then I knocked on the door but there was no answer. I then thought that they could be at the beach, so I walked there. However, when I got close to a large stone, I heard something from behind it.

"Where are you two going?" a voice I recognized as Coco asked.

"Just a little something we need to do," a voice I recognized as Blueberry said.

"Together," a voice I recognized as Rainbow said. Then there was a silence for a few seconds.

"Seaberry, the legend didn't end there, right?" a voice I recognized as Strawberry said.

"Heh, yeah. It was actually just the beginning of something horrible which happened next," a voice I had never heard before replied. "I wish I didn't know about that part..."

"How did you know, Strawberry?" Coco asked.

"The way Seaberry told us the legend," Strawberry replied. "It seemed that she was hiding something. But let's not mind about that."

"Yeah, some things are better left unknown," Seaberry said.

"Let's join our friends," Coco said, then I heard footsteps fading away.

I then walked to follow the footsteps towards the beach, and once I arrived at the beach I saw five girls in swimsuits on a distance. I could recognize four of them as my friends, but I had never seen the last one. I then thought that she must have been who they had called Seaberry. I then decided to wait near Coco's house until they returned, so I walked back.

Around half an hour later, while sitting on a rock, from a distance I noticed the girls returning from the beach, and they were already in their regular outfit. They seemed to notice me because they waved their hands to me.

"Hi, Blackberry! When did you come here?" Strawberry shouted.

"Not long ago!" I replied, approaching them.

"Too bad. If you have come earlier you would have heard Seaberry's story," Coco said.

"Yeah, it was absoloo-tely the best story I have ever heard!" Blueberry said.

"It's fine. By the way, I see someone I don't know yet here," I said, looking at the new girl.

"I'm Seaberry Delight. Nice to meet you," she said.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Blackberry Bun," I said.

"By the way, Blackberry. We are leaving for home now. I'm berry sorry that we cannot stay here for longer," Strawberry said. "I wish we could, but I'm starting to worry about Custard, Pupcake, and Apple Dumplin'"

"And I'm now absoloo-tely worried about Cheesecake," Blueberry said.

"I see. I guess I will stay for a little while longer. That is, if nobody minds," I said.

"Why should I? You can stay as long as you like!" Coco said.

Later, Strawberry along with Blueberry and Rainbow left Seaberry Shore. The sun was already setting so there was no point in going under the sea because there would be nothing to see because of the darkness. I, with Coco and Seaberry, then had dinner of seaberry treats while Seaberry repeated the story she had told to the others for me. Indeed she told me the story in a way that she seemed to be hiding something.

"Thanks for repeating the story for me, Seaberry. It is really a nice story," I said after she finished. It was already dark by then.

"It's not a problem," she replied. "Oh, I think it's time for me to go home."

"Where do you live?" I asked.

"Under the sea. You have to swim if you want to visit my house," she said.

"Under the sea...? I kinda don't get it," I said, wondering.

"There's a cave which leads to my house under the sea," she replied.

"Oh, okay. Now I understand. But... can you see clearly underwater? Especially in this darkness?" I asked.

"Everyone can, right?" she asked back.

"No, I can't see well underwater, let alone without sunlight," I replied.

"I can't too. You're the only one who can I think," Coco said.

"Oh..." she said, lowering her head. "So I'm the only one... different?"

"Ah, never mind that. Different or not, we are and will always be friends," I said, which seemed to cheer her up again.

"That's right, Seaberry. We'll always be friends no matter what," Coco said.

"Thanks," Seaberry said. "I guess I will take my leave now. See you tomorrow."

"Could you come again tomorrow? I'd like to visit your house tomorrow," I said.

"Even if you didn't ask, I sure will," she replied, and then she left the place swimming.

That night, I stayed in Coco's house. Because she didn't have any extra bed I my only option was to sleep on her sofa like the last time I had been there. Even though of that, the bamboo sofa felt comfortable. At the next day, Seaberry came as promised and then the three of us agreed to go to her house together.

"But... how to get there?" Coco asked. "I can't see much underwater."

"You remember my flying car, don't you Coco?" I said. "It now can dive underwater as well, so we can use it to get there."

"Oh, that's really good to hear! Where is it?" Coco asked, and then I took Falcon's remote from my pocket and pressed one button to reveal it from its invisibility.

"Right there. Let's go in," I said, walking towards Falcon. The two girls followed me as well.

After all of us had gotten onboard and put the seatbelts on, I piloted Falcon to fly over the sea for a few distances away from the beach. After that I slowly landed on the water surface and switched it to underwater mode.

"This is the first time I go underwater. Is it going to be safe?" Coco asked.

"It will be. Just relax and enjoy the ride," I replied.

"Okay if you say so," she said.

I then piloted Falcon to dive underwater, and it slowly sank into the sea. The next thing we saw was the beautiful underwater scenery of corals, many kinds of plants, and animals. The thing that attracted me the most was a group of fishes which looked very cute and beautiful.

"Those fishes are very beautiful," I said.

"Yeah, they are so cute," Coco said.

"Those are the sea sweeties I have told you about," Seaberry said.

"I see. So, where's your house?" I asked.

"Let's see..." she replied, looking around. "Ah, it's there, on the right. See that cave?"

"Ah, okay. Let's go there," I said, piloting Falcon towards the cave Seaberry had just mentioned.

"Is the cave large enough for this car to enter?" Coco asked, looking at how small the cave entrance was.

"We won't know until we try," I said, attempting to enter the cave.

Squeezing through the cave was apparently not as difficult as I had thought. Soon after, Falcon resurfaced from the water and a house with the shape of a giant seashell was the first thing we saw.

"That's your house?" I asked.

"I have never said it wasn't," Seaberry replied.

"What a beautiful house," Coco commented.

"Thanks," Seaberry said.

The three of us then got off from Falcon and walked to the house. At the inside, we saw that all the furniture there was made from seashells. The space inside was not that large, but it was comfortable enough for all of us.

"Your house sure is nice," Coco said as we all sat down on the chairs in Seaberry's living room.

"Thanks. Would you like something to drink?" Seaberry offered.

"No, thanks. I will save it for later," I kindly refused.

"Me too," Coco added.

"Okay then, now that we are all here, what are we going to do?" Seaberry asked.

"Well, you see, that legend..." I said a little bit timidly. "It doesn't end there, right?"

"Oh, you realized it too..." she said.

"Yeah, and now I want to know the missing part," I said.

"Well, I actually don't want to tell anyone else about that part," she said, lowering her head.

"Oh, too bad..." I said. I didn't insist because I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

"But, if you really want to know it, I can show you," she said, which surprised me a bit.

"You said show?" I asked.

"Wait a moment," she said, standing up. She then left us and came back a few minutes later bringing a book.

"What is this book?" I asked.

"This book is the one which told me about the legend, and the untold part as well," she said, giving it to me. "You can have it."

"For me? Really?" I asked.

"I have done reading it, so it's better to give it to someone else rather than having it to collect dust," she said.

"Thank you very much," I said.

The next few hours were spent talking together and then enjoying underwater sceneries with Falcon. After we were done, with proper goodbye I left Coco and Seaberry at Coco's house. It only took a few minutes until I arrived at my house again. Once I got in my bedroom I immediately started reading the book Seaberry had given to me. I quickly read through the parts I had already known from Seaberry, and then I got to the untold part...

--End of Chapter 26--