Previously:

"That joke isn't funny!" Hope scolded her.

"But he wants you, right?" Faith teased with a smirk. "He put up wanted posters and everything. You can seduce him with your awkwardness! Don't worry, I believe in you."

"A prince acting as a main general isn't going to abort whatever plans his country has for a date, Faith," Hope retorted sharply. It was hard for her not to blush out of embarrassment. She couldn't seduce her way out of a paper bag! "Besides, it's been six months. I'm probably just a vague memory now for him." She was pretty sure the only reason he wanted to recapture her in the first place was for the knowledge she had of the more advanced technology from their homeworld, and that was dangerous information to be handing out to such an aggressive nation.

"Don't worry," Sinbad told her with a firm, reassuring tone and determined expression. "I don't consider that an option. No matter what happens, we won't turn you over to that tyrant." He may not know that much about their technology yet, but he could tell from the little he did hear about twins' world that it was much more advanced. And since it didn't rely on magic, it could be used by anyone. That made it very dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. 'It would be disastrous if the Kou Empire or the organization got their hands on either one of these girls...'

"Ohh~?" Faith purred suggestively. She looked like she was trying not to laugh at him. "No matter what, huh?"

'I'm beginning to wish I could hand you over, though...!' Sinbad thought with a vein throbbing on his temple.

Chapter 54: Special: How Kouen Learned About Hope's Arachnophobia

Going back a bit in the previous chapter, while the twins were preparing the veggie burgers they served everyone...

"Say, just out of curiosity... Does your other boyfriend know about our weakness against those eight-legged freaks?" Faith asked her sister while she watched her cook, feeling bored.

"Kouen? I told you he isn't my boyfriend," Hope reminded her with a small frown of annoyance, sweat-dropping. She didn't need to keep teasing her about it. "Yes, as a matter of fact, he does..." she answered, blushing a little out of embarrassment at the memory.

"Ooh~ I'm sensing there's a story there!" Faith said with a Cheshire cat grin. "Tell me! Tell me!" she insisted, bouncing around her excitedly like a hyperactive toddler.

"No way!" Hope retorted sharply, blushing harder. If she told her that, she'd never live it down!

Meanwhile, on one of the vessels in the Kou Empire's fleet...

"Say, now that the little miss has her sister back, doesn't she have any other weaknesses we can take advantage of?" Gaku Kin mused aloud, wondering what kind of trap they could set for Hope, who was proving to be a shockingly elusive girl.

"I think we would have to find her first," Kokuton pointed out.

"Yeah, it's like she dropped off the face of the earth," Seishuu agreed. "You'd think a set of identical twins with ginger hair would be easier to find..."

"Well, if she wasn't so resourceful, then she wouldn't have survived so many days alone in a dungeon to begin with," En Shou pointed out.

"True..." the others agreed as they all cast a glance at the back of their stoic leader, wondering what he was thinking about the situation. Given their plans for Balbadd, he probably had bigger concerns than finding a missing girl, but the pursuit seemed unusually personal for the general. They didn't realize the prince could hear them.

"Heh." Kouen smirked, gazing out over the ocean as he silently recalled the memory of the occasion he discovered one such weakness.

"TELL ME!!" Faith insisted, shaking her sister by the shoulder until her head wobbled like a bobble head's.

"OKAY! Geez!" Hope snapped, finally giving in to her sister's persistent begging. 'I just know I'm going to regret this, though...' she thought, sweat-dropping, already feeling chagrined.

«« Flashback ««

"Ahh~" Hope sighed, testing the water in the metal tub by sticking one foot in first. Nice and warm. It was pretty thoughtful of the guys to prepare this for her in the privacy of her own tent, seeing as she definitely couldn't bathe herself in the public bath they had set up for the men's use on the other side of the camp. She would probably die of embarrassment if they saw her naked. They had even heated the water for her. Considering they had to draw the water and carry it there themselves by hand, in multiple trips, it must have been a chore. "This was really nice of th—" She froze before she could finish climbing in, stopping short when she realized there was something small and dark hanging from a shiny thread only a few inches in front of her, directly over the tub. "GYAAAAHHH!!!"she screamed, levitating out of the tub like a cat avoiding open water, and shooting straight back out of the tent without thinking, fueled only by fear and frantic thoughts of putting herself as far away from THAT THING as possible.

"GYAH?" Kouen said, stopping as he was passing by Hope's tent just as he heard the terrified shriek from within.

"Shouldn't be—KYAHHH!?" the men began, startled into an actual cry when the half naked girl came flying out of the tent backwards, slamming straight into their fearless leader.

"S-S-Sp-Sp—!?!" she stuttered, blue with shock, scared witless to the point that she couldn't even form a full word.

"..." Kouen stared down at her while she pressed herself up against him instinctively for safety (and because he was blocking her path to get away) and clung to him with one hand while she clutched her towel to keep it wrapped around her with the other. She was so frightened that there were tears in her eyes.

"Sp...?" the men asked, sweat-dropping at the absurd scene, trying not to blush or stare too much at the more than half-naked girl that their prince and general appeared to have taken a personal interest in. That was easier said than done, but none of them wanted to find out what would happen to them if the fearsome and famous Ren Kouen caught them ogling or drooling over his woman.

"Sp-Sp-Sp—!" Hope raised a shaky hand and pointed at the tent. "Sp-Sp-Spider—!" she cried at last, pressing closer to the firm and solid obstacle obstructing her escape route/Kouen in an unconscious attempt to put as much distance between herself and the object of her fear as humanly possible.

"..." Kouen followed her pointed finger to stare at the tent in front of them. The flaps were closed, so they couldn't see anything inside (it's unlikely they would have been able to see anything anyway from their distance), but he assumed it must be serious for someone who was normally shy, yet had no trouble leaping into a seemingly bottomless ravine without hesitation, to be so terrified that she appeared to have forgotten that she was practically naked.

'Over a spider...?!' the other men thought, taken aback.

Kouen glanced sideways at them out the corner of his eye, noting how quickly they all returned to studiously looking in any direction but Hope's. He put a protective arm around her.

"!" Hope said, surprised enough by the action that she suddenly became aware of what she was doing enough to feel embarrassed, but was still too freaked out to get her hand to completely open and let go of him. Some color returned to Hope's pale cheeks when she blushed. She was glad that she had at least kept her towel on. "!" she gasped again when he started steering her back into the tent with THAT THING. "N-No...!" she cried, trying to push back against him, but he continued forward, dragging her with him.

"You can't stay out here," he told her. Hope's blush deepened, because she understood what he meant with all the other soldiers standing around and couldn't argue against it, but she still didn't want to go back in with the bane of her existence lying in wait for her. Feeling her trembling, he was almost tempted to ask if they didn't have spiders in her world, but since she had been able to identify one by name for herself, they obviously did.

"Th-That's not...!" she stammered nervously as the flaps closed behind them. She tightened her grip on him as they moved deeper into the tent.

"Where is it?" he asked her, looking around for the source of her fear.

"O-Over the b-bath..." she answered, gritting her teeth tightly as he moved them even closer to THAT THING. This particular spider was rather tiny by most standards, but with her senses heightened by a fierce phobia, she couldn't NOT see it. She tried to focus on her breathing to avoid a full-fledged panic attack while she stared the enemy down, praying it wouldn't come any closer. "!" she gasped, squeezing closer to him when it began sliding further down its silk thread. Kouen was looking closely at the same spot she was, but as soon as he thought he saw something move, he lost sight of the minuscule arachnid again.

"... I don't see it."

"It's right in front of us!!" she cried, starting to feel frustrated, even though she was aware that he was being very patient with her. She didn't doubt for a second that he had far more important things to do (from their POV) than slaying THAT THING. "!!!" she yelped in alarm when a draft pushed it closer. Her eyes widened with horror as the silk thread floated in her direction, growing longer as the spider slid down to come closer. And closer.

"!" It was Kouen's turn to be surprised when Hope suddenly withdrew her hand to draw his sword from its sheath with a frightened squeal and watched with slightly widened eyes as she transitioned fluidly into a swift two-handed swipe through the air in front of them. It seemed she wasn't as paralyzed with fear as he thought. He found it interesting that she had found a way to push through that weakness. For someone who claimed to be inexperienced wielding swords, she had surprisingly good form. Hope credited a combination of practicing Eskrima and years of playing Lacrosse with Faith for their school's varsity team. She stood paused with the sword still raised, eyes darting around for her target. She glanced back at the blade and relaxed.

"Phew!" Hope said, lowering his sword to hand it back him. She wiped the tears that had formed in her eyes away with the back of her free hand. "Sorry about that... It was getting too close for comfort, and I panicked..." she apologized a bit sheepishly, starting to calm down now that the menace had been taken care of.

"No... but you shouldn't try to take a man's sword without warning," he told her with a small smirk, admiring the view as he accepted it back from her. He had allowed it because the situation had seemed so dire for her, and he didn't believe she would use it against him; but if anyone else had tried that, he would have dropped them without hesitation.

As if the spider were avenging itself upon Hope from beyond the grave with a curse, it was that exact moment when her towel chose to fall.

"#%^$&!" Hope cursed with wide eyes, glowing bright red from head to toe with embarrassment, quickly grabbing at the traitorous cloth while she turned away as she squatted down, pressing her chest to her knees in an attempt to hide as much of herself as possible from him. Although the moment was painfully slow for her, it all happened in a flash, and she did at least manage to keep the towel from falling below her waist before hoisting it back up over her breasts. 'OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOOOD—!! HESAWHESAWHESAAAW—!!! HE TOTALLY SAW—!!!!' she thought nervously, her mind reeling with mortification. She almost felt like crying, but that would be even more humiliating. Very slowly and reluctantly, she turned her head to look up at the silent prince over her shoulder, bracing herself, wondering what his reaction would be and what kind of face he was making.

"..." Kouen was looking down at her, his stoic expression completely unchanged. Hope's cheeks became an even deeper shade of red as they continued to stare at each other without speaking a word. She had no clue what to do in this situation, and her voice was caught in her throat. It wouldn't be the first time a guy had accidentally seen her naked, but the previous incident had been something she and her friends could laugh off with only relatively minor embarrassment. This felt a lot more serious and 100% more awkward. She really wished Faith was there. Actually, her sister would probably just make the situation worse with inappropriate behavior, but at least she wouldn't be alone in there with him. "... You should finish your bath before the water gets cold," he said, abruptly breaking the silence as he turned to leave, still holding his drawn sword in his hand.

"..." Hope watched him go and released a sigh of relief as soon as the tent flaps closed behind him, glad to have her privacy back... even though she wasn't entirely sure how she should feel about his total lack of reaction—not that she really wanted him to have one, but the man didn't even blink, and it made her wonder how he could keep such a straight face. Hope frowned slightly and tilted her head a little, now more puzzled than embarrassed. Was she not considered that attractive in this world? She was even more confused by what she could have sworn was an odd pang of disappointment. Did she want him to keep staring at her? Hope sweat-dropped. 'Seriously, what is wrong with me...?' she wondered, a little chagrined at herself, blushing again. 'Maybe he didn't see anything after all...'

Kouen paused a short distance away from the tent and raised a hand to cover his flushed face. 'I saw everything...' he thought. Every divine detail. Clearly. He had managed to keep it together so she wouldn't have to feel too embarrassed, but now... He couldn't believe it. He wasn't the type to get flustered over a little bare flesh, yet there he was. Blushing. He may even need to dump cold water over himself.

How dangerous. That girl really was too careless.

A gleam of light on the exposed blade of his sword caught his attention. He had forgotten he was still holding it. He went to sheath it and stopped when he noticed a small speck stuck to the reflective surface. Examining it more closely, he found the smudge had seven and a half legs. It was Hope's spider. He smirked. Even with shaking hands and tears in her eyes, she had swung his sword with enough accuracy to crush it on the thin edge of the blade. He chuckled and cleaned the sword before sheathing it.

»» End Flashback »»

"..." Faith stared at her sister with her mouth open after the story was finished, squinting a little. "Are you freaking kidding me?" she asked. She could see from the way Hope avoided direct eye contact and blushed that she wasn't. "Pfft—HAHAHAHA!!" Faith burst into laughter, leaning over and tearing up slightly, slapping her knee. "Oh my God, that's hilarious!"

"I'm glad you find my humiliation amusing!" Hope retorted sharply as her blush spread, a small vein throbbing on her forehead.

"Haha! Remember how you said you didn't think he would still remember you after all this time?" Faith asked her with a wide grin in between laughs, wiping her wet eyes. "Well, trust me... He definitely remembers!!" she exclaimed brightly, howling with laughter.

"Shut up before I smack you!" Hope scolded her with a clenched fist as her blush continued to deepen along with her embarrassment. "Besides, he really didn't seem all that interested to me..."

"Why wouldn't he be? You've seen us. Is he gay?" Faith asked. Their gaydar was usually pretty accurate.

"I didn't get that impression... no," Hope answered. No ping. Not even a blip.

"Then he's interested," Faith stated with absolute certainty and a smug smirk. "Trust me."

On his ship, Kouen smirked again as he looked down at the sword hanging at his waist, placing a hand on it. Among other things, he couldn't get the priceless look on Hope's face when the towel fell or that adorably flustered expression she wore as she looked up at him out of his mind. He wouldn't mind seeing it again. In fact, he looked forward to it.

"I will find you..." he promised the absent girl, admiring her skill for evasion even as it frustrated him. "I'm not letting you get away that easily."

"Achoo!" Hope sneezed. "What the? Where did that come from...?" she wondered, sniffing a little.

"Heh. Some hot guy must be talking about you somewhere," Faith remarked with a sly smirk.

"You're confusing real life with anime again," Hope deadpanned, hoping she wasn't getting a summer cold, even though it was probably fall by now back in their homeworld.

"Like there's really a difference in this world?" Faith said with a shrug. "How many 'impossible' things have we seen since coming here?"

Hope thought about it for a moment. There were so many she had lost count.

"... Okay, fair enough."