"Every man's island, Jean Louise,
Every man's watchman, is his conscience " ~ Harper Lee, Go Set A Watchman
~*~

The next morning, the four of them landed in Queensland.

"Where to now?" Akane inquired, taking her luggage.

"Some underwater world sea life," Agnes apprised her. " It's a long walk where there'll be sharks all around. Like we'll be walking in a tunnel with the fishes and sharks around us, separated by a glass.. "

"What's so interesting in sharks?," Jason asked, sighing.
Take him to a library, where you only have books? He'll be the happiest.

"They're more interesting than you, at least, Mr. Lecturer," Agnes replied.

"Sure, Cherry," Jason laughed.

"You call her 'cherry', Jason? That's extremely sweet!" Akane exclaimed, smiling. Takumi laughed, nodding in agreement.

Jason Marbles why did you say it?

Agnes shot him a look. He smiled innocently, and went to the Japanese pair of brother -sister to explain.

~'~

They entered the eighty metre long walk away of the underwater world sea life tunnel which was surrounded with sharks, fishes and plants of all types. It was a rich and smooth variety of marine life, about which the guide spoke with keen interest.

"Cool,"Agnes smiled, chewing her dark chocolate. Jason looked around with curiosity.

"Agnes," he whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Stop eating here. It's not allowed "

"Who said that?"

"Keep it back, please "

"Oh, you're one of those "

"Huh?"

" You know I-follow-all-the-rules-they-made- type? "

Jason sighed. She kept her bar inside without saying anything further, but kept glaring at him. He looked at her, amused. Akane and Takumi smirked as they noticed the two if them.

The four of them realized that it was rather creepy seeing all those sharks, jelly fishes and fishes swimming around them while they walked the tunnel. They were curious, interested, scared, exhilarated. They spent their day by seeing seal shows, touching turtles and screaming while seeing treacherous looking sharks, making them fear that, if released would doom them into the sepulchre. Finally exhausted, they returned to the hotel.

~'~

That evening, they sat down on Agnes' couch, in the living room inside of her hotel room . While Agnes, Akane and Takumi spoke, Jason moved around, looking outside the window.

"Jason, please get the map from my bag?" Agnes requested.

"Your belongings.. I can't touch them--"

"Don't worry about that. I do not have any issues," Agnes replied.

Jason nodded lightly, and went inside the room to get the map. As he opened her bag, he was shocked to see diaries. So many diaries , hand-written, each with a title on the cover.

"Agnes?" he called out.

"Yessum?" she said, entering the room .

"You write books?"

She blushed, and instantly closed her suitcase. "Ssh. Don't. It's nothing special"

"Can I read them, please?"

She looked at him, surprised. "You won't like them. I just write for fun"

"Let me?"

She looked down at her suitcase, opened it slowly. Then, she handed him one of the diaries. Sweet as dark chocolate, it said.

"No one has ever read them, Jason. Don't you tell anyone about them"

He smiled. "I won't. I promise".

~'~

After roaming the whole of Australia, the group landed in Philippines. They had an unlimited amount of energy and excitment. Akane hopped, dragging her brother towards the bus with Jason and Agnes laughing behind them.

"We got to hurry. The bungee jumping activity in Danao has a fixed time," the guide informed, hasting the process of transferring their luggage into the bus.

"I hope its safe," Takumi said, entering it.

"Yes," Jason nodded, recalling the adventure caving Agnes had made him do.

Agnes laughed. "Of course its safe. And it's gonna be extremely fun"

And that's when Jason knew he was in trouble. Because in these three weeks, if there was anything he knew about Agnes, it was that, when she said fun, it definitely meant danger.

~'~

"Agnes, if it's something insane again.."

"You're not going, blah blah. I know. I know," she said, shaking her head. He nodded.

"Look, they're just going to tie your waist, put a harness on your back, put you down two hundred feet above in the air, where you will be hanging, enjoying the view, that's all."

Jason stared at her in disbelief.

"Calm down," she smiled. "I'll ask the guide whether both of us can go together, okay?"

"Wait, Agn---"

"Mr.Guide, can we both do it together?"

"Sure, why not?" the guide smiled. "I'll make the arrangements."

He walked, then stopped and turned towards both of them. "By the way, you both make a lovely couple"

They looked at each other, embarrassed. But obviously, if you make such demands, what could one possibly think anyway?
~*~

"You will scream, of course. Everyone does because we hang you people in the air out of nowhere. So well, all the best. We will pull you up in a while," the guide said, fixing the harness.

"Ready?"

They nodded, and then were lowered from the cliff. Agnes screamed her lungs out. Jason simply looked down, his heart beating so fast he was afraid it would come out. THEY ARE ACTUALLY HANGING US IN THE AIR, BY A THIN ROPE AND A HARNESS. THIS IS INSANE.

Jason and Agnes held onto their harnesses tightly. Agnes was laughing and screaming, Jason was looking down at the view.

"You're not paying for the ride. You're paying for the experience," a board said outside the park.
I actually paid for my death.

"Whoa whoa whoa, AGNES!" he screamed.
Both of them suddenly turned upside down. "What is happening?"

Agnes laughed. "Chill, its just one of their tricks"

Both of them slided across each other, screaming. Finally, they settled, and looked down. It was beautiful. The trees, the greenery, everything. Seeing the nature of Philippines from a bird's eye view was something definitely worth paying for.

"Oh, Agnes?" Jason whispered.

"Yes?"

"I read your book"

"In a day?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"And it was beautiful. I didn't know you could write such beautiful books"

She laughed. "Just one of my passions"

"You're going to publish them?"

"I don't know"

"HOLD HER! I'M PULLING YOU BACK!" the guide screamed from above.

Jason looked at her. Then, slowly, and rather awkwardly, he slid his hand on her back. The guide pulled them back, rather too slowly.

"Eh"

"I'm sorry about that," he said, scratching his head.

"It's okay"

"So what are we doing next?"

Agnes' face lit up.

"We're gonna go scooba diving. Basically with the sharks."

~'~

I'm sorry for the late update! I'll update sooner now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

~'~