Tides: Years of Dawn

Geraint had been sitting in the cafeteria for a long time, and he watched the students gradually finish walking after they increased in number.

He had already finished his portion of dinner, but he still drank slowly with a glass of juice, and carefully observed the companions who came and left one after another around him.

"I'm done eating too," Crewe wiped his mouth with his tentacles, and said to Geraint contentedly, "Let's go back!"

"You go back first." Geraint said, his eyes had turned into vertical pupils like snakes.Every time they encounter violent mood swings, Haimin will show a part of the animal state.

At this moment, Geraint's heart was beating very fast, and he was waiting for the two playful sea crocodiles to enter the cafeteria.

"What are you going to do?" Crewe poked Geraint's arm with his tentacles. Seeing that Geraint ignored him, he rolled his arm with his tentacles again.

"...Don't make trouble!" Geraint withdrew his arm.He's tense right now, and a little anxious.It wasn't the first time he had done bad things, but it was the first time he had done bad things to Brother Sea Crocodile.

He knew that the two crocodiles liked to bully Crewe, but he never dared to confront the sea crocodile brothers.There are two reasons. One is that the sea crocodile brothers are children of the lord of the Cracked Rock Islands, and the other is that the two are tall and burly, taller than Geraint by more than a head.

They were domineering, and many of their companions had been bullied by them, but most of them dared not speak out, including Geraint.He once tripped over the crocodile tail stretched out by the sea crocodile brothers in class, and fell in public, bleeding from his mouth and nose and losing his mind.They also deliberately knocked over the dinner plate several times, spilling the sashimi they had managed to get all over the floor.

But bullying Geraint himself was one thing, bullying Crewe was another.

Geraint could suppress his anger at being bullied, but seeing Crewe's limp look, he couldn't get angry at all.

He didn't want to look useless in front of Crewe, he wanted to look down on Crewe, so he had to act braver than Crewe.

Before seeing the figure, the voices of the two came from one end of the cafeteria.

Geraint's heart tightened, and he quickly pushed Crewe away, urging—"You go back first, don't bother me."

Crewe sat beside him blankly for a while, and after confirming that Geraint really wanted to drive him away, he silently packed up a few books on the table and walked towards the entrance of the cafeteria.

Geraint narrowed his eyes slightly, looking in the direction Crewe left.Crewe had to brush shoulders with the crocodile brothers, and Crewe didn't seem to realize that there was anything wrong with it.

But Geraint realized that he saw his brother Dale glance at Crewe again with that very unbeatable look.Although Crewe didn't look up, Dale deliberately stepped on Crewe's tentacles outside his robe.

Crewe was strangled, and when he turned around and saw that it was Brother Sea Crocodile, he resignedly retracted his tentacles, hugged his textbooks and left in a hurry.

The younger brother Geros and his elder brother looked at each other for a moment, then laughed mischievously.The laughter echoed in the deserted cafeteria, making Geraint feel harsh.

Geraint silently squeezed the small medicine bottle from his pocket, lowered his head, and waited for the sea crocodile brothers to take their seats.

Inside the bottle is Geraint's sea snake venom.

Geraint was a poor student, but he knew his venom well.He knew how to use this venom that was fatal to other people, how much dose could make a person stunned and shocked, and how much could kill a person within 5 minutes.

He didn't dare to kill people, otherwise, according to the laws of the Cracked Rock Islands, those who seriously and intentionally hurt fellow seamen would be eaten by their compatriots.He doesn't want to be cut off piece by piece and fill other people's stomachs, but at least he can make the annoying guy foam at the mouth and twitch.

He was going to send the sea crocodile brothers to the school hospital for a month, and he believed that his skillful use of his venom would make it impossible for the medical staff to check anything.

He has planned everything, yes, he only waits for the sea crocodile brothers to sit down, and then talk and laugh loudly.He can take this opportunity to pour the contents of the small medicine bottle onto the dinner plate, onto the bright red fish or the dark green kelp.

If not, he can spill it into a full drink.

The sea crocodile brothers are very nervous, with well-developed limbs and simple minds. They can't notice Geraint's little movements, and they will eat up those things stupidly.

The two brothers had fished and the plates were on the table, now they went to get their drinks.

Gerald stood up.

With his left hand in his pocket, he tightly pressed the lid of the medicine bottle, and with his right hand, he quickly picked up a few books and tucked them under his arm.

He walked around the long table, lowered his head, and walked quickly towards the place where the two brothers placed the plates, while the two brothers were drinking drinks with their backs to him, their long crocodile tails dragging lazily on the ground.

Geraint carefully avoided the two fish tails with rough skin, his eyes fixed on the two plates of fish meat.With his left hand, he nimbly pushed open the bottle cap with his thumb, and poured the liquid in the small bottle on the two plates of fish in a fair manner along the direction of travel.

His movements are swift and stealthy, swift and agile as a snake.Then he quickly put the bottle into his pocket, maintained the same forward speed, and left as if nothing had happened.

When he completely walked out of the long table and was near the exit, he breathed a sigh of relief and quickened his pace.

He needs to leave the scene as soon as possible. Although there are not many people in the cafeteria, if he waits until the Sea Crocodile Brothers attack before leaving, Geraint will inevitably be questioned.

But just when he thought he would succeed immediately, the moment he walked out the door, he bumped into another person who was late to the cafeteria.

His books were scattered all over the floor, and his head was hit badly.He was just about to start swearing, but unexpectedly, the other party grabbed his arm first and helped Geraint, who was knocked crooked, to stabilize.

"Are you all right?" said the man, with a ring of green scales on his wrist, which reminded Geraint that he had bumped into a sea monster.And that sea monster happened to be acquainted with him—"Geraint?"

Geraint was taken aback, and the next second realized that something was wrong.He hurriedly bent over to pick up the fallen textbooks, and tried to maintain his usual tone of response—"Ha, Gawain...I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine."

But how could he be fine, meeting the student union president at this time must be something.What's more, the chairman of the student union is still a guy with a lot of things, so he will inevitably ask - "Where's Crewe? You're not with him today?"

"No, he said he has a lot of homework, so he's going back first." Geraint packed up his textbooks and smiled reluctantly.

Geraint had to leave, he couldn't waste time with this troublesome sea monster, otherwise——

The sea monster nodded, and was about to continue to ask something, but suddenly there was a loud noise from the cafeteria, and then the administrator of the cafeteria yelled, shouting that someone had fainted.

The sea monster immediately turned its attention to the center of the cafeteria, let go of the hand holding Geraint's arm, and walked quickly towards the cafeteria.

Geraint didn't even dare to turn his head, hugged the textbook tightly, spun around like a snake again, and disappeared quietly outside the door.

"Where have you been?" When Geraint returned to the dormitory out of breath, Crewe looked up from behind his homework.He squeezed the charcoal pencil, got off the chair, squirmed to the side of Geraint, and wiped the sweat from his companion's forehead with his tentacles, "Ah...why are you sweating so much?"

"...It's okay, I'm in a hurry." Geraint said, pushing Crewe's tentacles away, throwing the textbook on the bed, and got into the bathroom.

He added a lot of sea salt to the bathtub. For sea people, sea salt has the effect of healing physical wounds and calming the mind.He turned back into a sea snake and lay down completely on the bottom of the bathtub.

He wanted to calm himself down, but he couldn't calm down his heartbeat.

For a 14-year-old boy, everything he had just experienced was thrilling enough.In particular, he also bumped into the student president of Gao himself for two terms so unfortunately, which broke all the plans.

But Geraint kept reassuring himself that he just happened to be a little late for dinner, and he just happened to be there when the Sea Crocodile Brothers were poisoned, and he just had a face-to-face meeting with Gawain.If they ask, just explain yourself.

All the flaws were made up by Geraint's brain. It is easier to fall into fantasy when you are guilty, but you can't find anything from the perspective of others, and the same is true for Gawain.

But the reality is not as good as Geraint imagined.

Just as Geraint lay at the bottom of the bathtub and didn't want to leave, wishing he could just fall asleep like this, someone knocked on the bedroom door.

Crewe said a few words to the people outside the door, then walked around to the bathroom, and said to Geraint inside—"Geraint, are you done washing? Gawain is here, and he said he needs to find you."

--damn it.

Geraint suddenly emerged from the water, bringing out a large spray.He clenched his fists, not daring to respond to Crewe's question.

"Geraint? Are you asleep?" Crewe called again.

Geraint still didn't respond, he looked up at the high window, wondering if it was too late to slip out of the window now.

TBC