"Whoooosh."
The train bound for Valentine traveled through the torrential rain, slowly approaching Valentine Train Station.
Rumble!
Lightning lit up the land in the darkness, and the rain-drenched ground looked like a vast ocean.
The thunder jolted Leo out of his growing drowsiness. He glanced at the rain outside, then at the pirate, who seemed to be sleeping.
"Kilga, we're in Valentine. Get off with me."
The pirate opened his eyes. Leo hauled him out of his berth and headed for the door.
The other passengers had already disembarked. Outside, only two officers from Valentine were waiting for them. Seeing the prepared carriage and his colleagues holding umbrellas, Leo muttered with a smile.
"Telegraphs really are wonderful things!"
Kilga glanced at the carriage, then looked up at the torrential rain. Without waiting for Leo to open his umbrella, he walked straight into it, closing his eyes and letting the downpour pound his body and face.
"Come and get me."
Annoyed by the pirate's posturing, Leo gave him a hard shove, sending him stumbling forward before catching him by the back of his vest.
"There's water in the Police Station's jail. You don't need to drink rainwater."
Leo greeted his colleagues as he spoke, and together they took the pirate into the carriage.
At midnight, Leo stood holding a cup of hot tea by the window at the end of his hallway at home. The rain outside was easing, and soon stopped altogether.
Leo, who had felt inexplicably tense, breathed a sigh of relief. Clearly, it had been an ordinary thunderstorm. Then he laughed at himself.
"That pirate's really made me a little paranoid."
Interrogation, notes, beatings, questioning, notes.
The pirate was hardly tight-lipped and revealed plenty of things the Valentine police wanted to know. But people in the Valentine area