The couple left lovingly.
“......”
“......”
Ao and Hiyuki stood before the fish tank with their face red.
On the other the side of the gla.s.s, the kissing fishes were still kissing.
“I… I wonder where are the Kitefin sharks?”
Ao squeezed out these words as if he had trouble breathing.
“...I-I think, they are over there?”
Hiyuki kept her head low, and said in a volume that was barely audible.
That was the direction the couple was headed, thus it would be dangerous to go that way now.
“L-Let’s stay here for a while longer.”
“Yes… Yes.”
Hiyuki nodded stiffly. And so, the two were silent once again… At this moment, Hiyuki suddenly said:
“I-I am sorry… Kazetani-kun.”
Ao turned in surprise, and Hiyuki kept her head down with an expression on the verge of tears, with the mole besides her lips also trembling. This shocked Ao even more.
“Why are you apologizing, Hyonomiya-san? Do you know that couple?”
Ao asked a completely unrelated question by accident, which made Hiyuki furrowed her brows deeper, and she gripped her bag tighter.
“No… Not that, this… this is the first time I went out with a cla.s.smate… I am happy and full of antic.i.p.ation… but nervous… My face is stiff… I can’t talk at all…”
Ao felt as if someone punched him in the face.
I see, Hyonomiya’s face is tense because she is nervous, not because she is angry.
She was probably feeling apologetic, Hiyuki’s eyes were welling with tears.
“Kazetani-kun kept talking to me on the train too, but I couldn’t answer properly either… Kazetani-kun must be feeling… feeling very uncomfortable… I thought I would get better in the aquarium, but I still couldn’t speak properly, so I kept quiet…”
Their cla.s.smates hailed Hiyuki as the ‘Ice Maiden’ and watched her from afar.
Everyone thought that Hiyuki’s expression was frosty and her eyes cold. Her lips with a mole near it never opened, so they felt that she didn’t want anything to do with normal students.
Because Hyonomiya Hiyuki was a lofty person.
But the real Hyonomiya-san is actually a conservative and timid person who wants to be good friends with everyone.
He was the only one who knew that Hiyuki was such a girl.
Hiyuki was sorry for acting this way, that’s why her face turned stiff and she couldn’t talk properly. Ao lamented to himself why he didn’t notice this.
Ao bowed towards Hiyuki.
“I should be the one to apologize!”
“Why do Kazetani need to apologize? T-The one who was wrong is me.”
Hiyuki respond fl.u.s.teredly.
“No! I am wrong too, this is my first time going out alone with a girl, so I don’t know anything.”
“That can’t be, isn’t Kazetani-kun really popular?”
“Huhh?”
“In cla.s.s, you are always… chatting with the girls, and get along well with them.”
Hiyuki lowered her gaze again with a sad expression, making Ao panic.
“That’s just idle chat.”
“But, when Kazetani enter the cla.s.sroom in the morning, the girls will say good morning to you… Not just the girls, the boys will… gather around Kazetani-kun… Everyone likes Kazetani-kun…”
Hiyuki’s voice gradually became depressing.
Hiyuki always entered the cla.s.sroom just before the lesson starts for self study in the morning and lunch break.
The students would gather with their friends and chat noisily. Hiyuki didn’t talk to anyone, n.o.body greeted her too. She always kept her back straight as she walked coldly into the cla.s.sroom and took her seat.
Ao didn’t think people hung around him because he was popular. But in Hiyuki’s eyes, she was very envious that he could chat with the girls, and felt sad about it.
Hiyuki stood before the tank with her head down and placed her hand on the gla.s.s. The colourful tropical fishes danced around her fingers.
“Our cla.s.smates greet me in the morning because I said good morning to them first. Hyonomiya-san, try greeting everyone too. Our cla.s.smates will then say good morning to you too.”
Hiyuki made a face of disbelief.
“I-Impossible… I will just spoil everyone’s mood.”
Ao replied with a cheery smile.
“Not at all. Ahh, why not greet me first. If you do that, I will say good morning to you in a loud voice!”
Hiyuki was still looking at Ao with uneasy eyes.
“If… If I say good morning before everyone in cla.s.s, Kazetani will say good morning to me too…?”
“Of course.”
Ao confirmed brightly. Hiyuki seemed to be on the verge of tears as she lowered her gaze.
If she gets close to me in front of everyone, others might notice that she is writing light novels, is she worried about that?
Normally, Hiyuki would never talk to Ao, or meet his eyes.
Ao thought that Hiyuki was being cautious and shy, but it might not be so simple.
“If Hyonomiya-san is willing, you can talk to me anytime. Also, I will greet Hyonomiya-san starting from tomorrow.”
Hiyuki’s shoulders trembled, and she looked at Ao.
“We meet after school every day, and even visited an aquarium on a Sunday. Isn’t it weird that we ignore each other in cla.s.s completely?”
Ao said shyly. Hiyuki looked at him with her eyes red, but her expression was different from before.
“Well, only if Hyonomiya-san doesn’t dislike that.
Hiyuki shook her head.
“I don’t mind.”
She then continued quietly:
“It… makes me glad.”
Hiyuki lowered her red eyes, her lips with a cute mole besides it broke into a smile, and Ao’s heart skipped a beat.
Wonderful, she finally smiled.
Ao was elated too. At the same time, Hiyuki’s expression was too cute, making Ao’s face heat up and his chest thumped wildly.
“We should find the Kitefin sharks soon.”
Ao suggested a little embarra.s.sedly, Hiyuki nodded and answered shyly:
“... Yes.”
That couple wasn’t at the kitefin shark tank.
Ao stood together with Hiyuki, watching the blue seawater through the transparent gla.s.s.
“So that’s a kitefin shark, uwah, it’s huge, and looks strong.”
Its back was covered in grey skin that looked like crude armour, the tip of its dorsal fin was shimmering with white light. As it moved its body slowly, the lofty Kitefin shark advancing in the water was just like the patterns on Hiyuki’s mechanical pencil, rolling its large blue eyes.
The eyes looked empty and devoid of light, but it emitted a strong aura. Its eyes that were akin to the bottomless sea did not look at Ao and Hiyuki as it swam between the anemone and the corals. The way large fishes swam under water seemed effortless and graceful.
Hiyuki stared at the Kitefin shark with her translucent eyes too. She was probably thinking about how she could write about the sharks, showing a serious and unapproachable expression.
Hyonomiya-san is like a Kitefin shark...
If he say a girl looked like a shark, it would definitely earn her ire, so Ao didn’t say it out. But the lofty and graceful aura, the cold eyes that seemed deep at a glance── the overwhelming sense of presence and beautiful appearance seemed to overlap with Hiyuki who was standing near it.
“Hyonomiya-san, when did you start liking Kitefin sharks?”
Ao asked, and Hiyuki’s shoulders trembled.
“Ah, my bad, did I interrupt your observation?”
“... No.”
Hiyuki shook her head stiffly, and said timidly:
“Kitefin sharks… are fishes… related to my mother…”
“Related to your mother?”
“... When I was three… My mother died of illness… Before she was hospitalized, she brought me to the aquarium… to watch the Kitefin sharks. My mother bought my Kitefin shark mechanical pencil for me right then.”
Memories about her mother… I see. Hyonomiya-san’s mother pa.s.sed away when she was young...
Hiyuki muttered lonelily. Ao listened attentively and felt his chest constricted.
Hiyuki reversed the term Yoroizame (Kitefin shark) into Sameyoroi, and used it as her pen name. She also wrote about Kitefin sharks in her works, not because she liked them, but because they remind her of her mother.
What about Hyonomiya-san’s father? Living somewhere else? Or did he pa.s.s away too?
He was concerned about the circ.u.mstances of her family, but he couldn’t ask it out loud.
When she was talking about her mother, Hiyuki’s eyes were cold and filled with sadness, making her look more lonely. As she watched the beautiful shark with cold eyes swimming by itself, Hiyuki mumbled in a soft voice:
“Kitefin shark… is an organism living in the deep sea, and won’t go near shallow waters… And they don’t move in groups… always acting alone…”
Its large round eyes would never look this way. The small fishes swam in schools, anemones and corals grew together, but Kitefin sharks always swam alone.
“That’s why… the story I wrote… is all a sham…”
In Hiyuki’s settings, the world the main character Subaru arrived in was a cl.u.s.ter of islands in the sea, a fairy tale like nation where the citizens commuted by Kitefin sharks. Kitefin sharks loved sweet desserts and if they could form a mental link with a human, it was possible to communicate telepathically.
Also, everyone in that nation had a Kitefin shark of their own.
Not as a pet or a livestock, but as an important companion.
In the beginning, Subaru didn’t have a shark of his own. But he met the aloof Kitefin shark Heimleslie, who ignored Subaru at first, but got closer to him over time.
And so, Subaru gradually formed a mental link with Heimleslie and succeeded in hearing his voice, becoming unique partners.
In Hyonomiya-san’s work, all the Kitefin sharks are gentle, appear in shallow often. The sharks would marry and raise families, and maintain cordial relations with humans...
But all that was a lie.
The real Kitefin sharks don’t act like that, Hiyuki’s sad eyes seemed to be saying so.
His chest hurt as if something was squeezing it── But Ao worked hard to not let his feelings show── He said in a loud, cheerful voice:
“Well then, the Kitefin sharks in Hyonomiya-san’s work are special Kitefin sharks.”
“Huh?”
“They are Kitefin sharks that will swim in shallow waters, get along with humans, and help humans. They’re the best kind of Kitefin sharks.”
Hiyuki looked at Ao in surprise.
The cold aura around Hiyuki faded, and she had an innocent expression just like a high school girl. Ao smiled, thinking that Hiyuki looked really cute like that.
“Light novels are very liberal, you can write about anything right? So there is no problem if there is a world with such Kitefin sharks, and personally, I find it fun. Maintaining a level of realism in the story might be important, but I like mixing a bit of fiction into the real parts.”
“......”
Hiyuki stared at Ao with an innocent expression again. At this moment, a family with a child in tow walked over.
“Ah, it’s a shark, awesome!”
“That is a Kitefin shark.”
“Mom, I want a Kitefin shark.”
“We can’t do that alright, it won’t fit in our bathtub.”
They chatted leisurely.
Hiyuki’s eyes redden and she sniveled.
She then averted her head anxiously, sniveled a few more times before turning back to face Ao.
“That’s right… there must be Kitefin sharks like that.”
She blushed as she spoke softly, and smiled.
Seeing the lips with a mole nearby break into a smile, Ao smiled too.
After that, they toured the aquarium one round, and ate lunch at the underwater restaurant. All the walls in the aquarium were made of gla.s.s, and they chatted and ate happily in the company of sea creatures.
“The kid’s meal… is so cute.”
On the fish shaped plates were little pieces of sausage cut into the shape of octopus, omelette rice with a fish drawn in tomato sauce on it. Hiyuki muttered to herself as she looked at the children’s meal picture.
“Want to order it?”
Ao said in a mischeivous tone.
“Hmmm, b-but…”
Hiyuki panicked.
“I will order it too, let’s try it.”
“K-Kazetani-kun.”
“Hi, I would like two set of children’s set meal.”
Ao told a waitress in a loud voice.
“Sorry, only students below primary school can order that set.”
The waitress rejected him politely.
“Ah, is that so? Sorry, ehh ── Please wait a moment!”
“Of course, please take your time to browse the menu.”
After the waitress left, Ao covered his face with his palms.
“Uwah, that’s embarra.s.sing. My face is hot.”
He heard a cute laughter. Ao shifted his hands and saw Hiyuki laughing.
“Ah, sorry, but… you are so cute.”
Cute!
A girl called him cute.
That was a huge blow for guys, but Hiyuki’s gaze was sweet enough to make one melt away. The smile on her lips with a mole besides it made Ao feel restless again.
That might be embarra.s.sing… But I get to see such a cute expression from Hyonomiya-san, so it is worth it.
“This is a secret between me and Hyonomiya-san.”
After hearing Ao say that, Hiyuki nodded happily:
“... Yes.”
Ao felt his face burning, and his heart rate accelerating.
“Ah, what should we order?”
He looked at the menu.
Ao chose grilled oyster and seafood soba, Hiyuka picked baked crab, and the couple discussed about the unfinished ma.n.u.script as they digged in.
“Are the Kitefin sharks good reference?”
“Yes, they are very useful.”
“I will give you another suggestion. A descriptive style that leaves a deep impression has one important point.”
“What is that point?”
“Showing the frame of mind of the person watching the scene.”
“... Frame of mind?”
Hiyuki looked at Ao with her transparent eyes.
“Yes. When you are sad, the scenery you see have the colour of sadness, when you are happy, everything looks bright and shiny right? So, how is the character viewing the scene feeling at the moment? If you write with this in mind, the scene and the emotions of the character would be in sync, and the readers would resonate in the same way. In a love novel, if you describe the charm of the girls from the perspective of the boy who loved her, she would be the most enchanting. The person you like would be the most charming person in the world, right?”
Hiyuki slumped her body a little and averted her eyes by a bit, then looked at Ao with unnatural movements and asked:
“... Loving a person not because he is charming… But find him charming because you love him?”
“Either way is possible.”
Ao stated directly, and Hiyuki slumped her body again.
Ao continued:
“You can think of it this way: When you think the other party is charming, that’s when you fell in love with him.”
“I-Is that so…?”
Hiyuki seemed to be panicking for some reason.
“It will be perfect if it is like a light novel where ‘everything seems to be sparkling’.”
Hiyuki slumped her shoulders with her face red, and started wolfing down her baked crab.
“T-The sauce is thick and nice, very delicious.”
“Is that so? Great.”
“Hmm hmm.”
Hiyuki kept nodding her head as she ate her baked crab while blushing.
There was a dolphin performance besides the pool in the afternoon, Ao and Hiyuki went to watch it together.
The dolphins drew a beautiful blue arc as they leapt out of the pool. Ao and the children cheered, while Hiyuki was engrossed and looked happy.
The trainer held a bait up high, and the dolphin bowed politely. At that moment, Hiyuki sighed sweetly.
“So cute…”
When she muttered that, Ao remembered Hiyuki calling him cute earlier. Her eyes that could melt anyone appeared before him again, making Ao’s heart race.
── She is… really cute.
Uwah.
The dolphin swam to the depths of the pool.
“Everybody, let’s shout the names of the dolphins. The first one is Yamato.”
The trainer told the audience.
“Ready, set…”
She then gave the cue to prepare them.
“Let’s shout too.”
“Hmm?”
“Here, let’s shout together.”
Hiyuki opened her eyes wide in surprise.
Ao shouted with the children:
“Ya── Mato!”
Influenced by Ao, Hiyuki shouted together one beat later:
“... Mato!”
The voice was soft and shy, but Ao heard it clearly.
Splashes burst from the water surface, and the dolphin leapt higher than them. The emotions of the children erupted and Hiyuki smiled.
“Next will be Yukari. Ready── go.”
“Yu── Kari!
“... Kari!”
Hiyuki shouted, louder this time.
And with each subsequent dolphin, Hiyuki’s expression became more cheerful as she shouted the dolphin’s name, making Ao’s heart beat fast.
When the performance was over, Hiyuki’s face was red with excitement.
“That was fun!”
She said in a bright tone.
Later, the two of them shopped at the souvenir store, browsing toy fishes and postcards. Ao bought mechanical pencils with dolphin patterns for the twins back home, one pink and one light blue.
The Kitefin shark mechanical pencil Hiyuki’s mother bought for her was also being sold. When she saw that──
“They are still selling it.”
Hiyuki smiled happily.
She bought an alb.u.m of the fishes to use as reference.
“Do you have curfews on days off too? We should go back soon.”
“Yes… But, one last thing… I want to see the Kitefin shark again, is that alright?”
Hiyuki asked timidly.
“Alright, let’s go.”
The crowd was thinner this time. There wasn’t anyone before the Kitefin shark tank.
Ao and Hiyuki stood side by side in the corridor illuminated by blue light as they watched the Kitefin shark. The surroundings were really quiet. They could hear footsteps from the distance and the voices of children, but that accentuated how serene this area was.
Hiyuki’s pale profile turned towards Ao as her transparent eyes watched the Kitefin sharks swimming slowly.
Its dorsal fin shining with a white glow sliced through the waters silently, as the shark gracefully moved its long, grey body. Just what were the powerful, lofty Kitefin shark’s large eyes were looking at?
The lonely king of the ocean that won’t appear in shallow waters or move in groups──
“We… seem to be under the sea.”
Hiyuki muttered.
Under the shining ray of lights, Ao and Hiyuki were dyed in the colour of the ocean.
“... That’s right.”
It was probably so quiet and serene because they were under the sea.
It felt as if he was alone in an alternate way together with Hiyuki. Hiyuki probably felt the same.
“I… don’t want to go home…”
Ao thought that he misheard.
“I just want… to stay here like this.”
The dream like whisper came from Ao’s side again.
Ao turned towards Hiyuki, the pale Hiyuki basking in the blue light, who was lowering her head sadly. Her lowered gaze was wavering, her lips with a mole besides it were pale, her slender fingers held her light blue dress tightly… As if she was going to melt into the blue light…
“...Hyonomiya-san.”
Ao called out to her hesitantly.
Hiyuki lifted her head as if she just snapped out of her trance.
“I’m sorry.”
Her cheeks blushing slightly, she continued frantically:
“T-That wasn’t what I was saying, I was thinking about Subaru… the scene after his date with Cyan, as they were preparing to go home, that must be how he felt…”
“Oh, so that’s what it was. You gave me a scare.”
Ao sighed in relief.
“I am really sorry.”
When she bowed, her l.u.s.trous brown hair fell from her shoulders.
“Not at all. I think the date besides the sea would be a wonderful scene.”
Ao said with a smile, and Hiyuki showed a dazed expression. Shortly after, her lips with a mole besides it broke into a smile.
“Yes.”
She answered.
“Let’s go back.”
“Yes.”
Hiyuki was all smiles even after leaving the aquarium.
On the train back, the scene outside the windows were steadily dyed red. The two of them sat in adjacent seats with their shoulders almost touching, their heartbeat racing as they conversed quietly.
“... Kazetani-kun, you can find joy in any work you read… Are there any work that doesn’t sit well with you?”
“There is, like novels printed on A4 paper using ma.n.u.script formatting which makes it a press, the ones printed directly onto A3 paper in booklet format, or works that are great but have hard to decipher handwriting. The printed ones could still be read, but it is troubling if I can’t make out the handwritten ones. I will mark the words with a question mark, try to read the synopsis, but still have many parts I don’t understand… If I really can’t make any headway, I will leave a note saying ‘I am sorry, I am unable to read the wordings on this work’, then send it back to the publisher along with the works that didn’t make the cut. Of all the ma.n.u.scripts I screened, that was the only one I rejected without reading it… Even now, I wonder if that was a timeless masterpiece, if I could only decipher it…”
However, the staff in the editorial department probably couldn’t read it too.
Hiyuki opened her eyes in surprise, then mumbled after Ao finished.
“That… is a bit different… from works you don’t like.”
After that, she asked:
“Well, what type of stories… do you like the most?”
“Compared to contemporary literature and cla.s.sics, I very much prefer light novels.”
“Within light novels, which type do you prefer?”
Hiyuki asked vigorously.
“Well… Probably stories with foreshadowing.”
“Foreshadowing…?”
“Yes, there are many genres of light novels, if I find out after reading to the later parts and ‘ah, so that is a foreshadowing’, I will feel excited, happy and moved at that moment. The same for submissions, works that uses foreshadowing well is the most exciting. It will feel like ‘ahh, so that happened to pave the way for this part’.”
“Foreshadowing… meaning that a plot point would be mentioned early for future developments, giving the readers a hint of what is to come── correct?”
“Yes, for example, the loyal subordinate of the demon king turned on him at the climax of the story and become the hero. The readers would be surprised, but they wouldn’t be able to accept it right? If an explanation is inserted at this juncture that the subordinate of the demon king only pretended to serve the demon king because his parents were murdered by the demon king, and was biding his time to bring down the demon king, it would feel very forced. But if earlier writings supported it, for example, the att.i.tude of the subordinate seeming weird, or a prophecy about the hero having another companion, when the betrayal happens, the readers will be excited and think: ahh, so he is the last warrior!”
“... Like Leonardo in ‘BraveChro’…?”
“That’s right, Leonardo who was originally an enemy became the companion of the main character when he was in mortal danger, turning the tide of the battle completely. It gave me gooseb.u.mps. The foreshadowing was planned skillfully, I didn’t imagine that they would tie up the loose ends that way, I was completely tricked.”
“... Me too.”
“Foreshadowing is a double edged sword, if it’s too obvious, the readers would find out about future developments, so it has to be subtle. But if the readers don’t remember the foreshadowing at all, it would lose its effect. So it has to be shown to the readers openly, but not let them realize that it is a foreshadowing.”
Hiyuki muttered:
“That is difficult.”
“Yup, that’s why I feel moved when I see a well resolved foreshadowing. I like such stories a lot.”
Ao stated his words strongly. Hiyuki whose hair and eyelashes were basking in the light orange rays of the sun looked at Ao shyly.
When the train reached its stop, Ao and Hiyuki alighted together.
The outside was covered in faint lights too.
“Kazetani-kun, did you ride a bicycle to school…?”
“Yes, I parked it at school.”
“We can walk to school then…”
Hiyuki seemed happy that she could walk a bit further with Ao, her lips with a mole smiled faintly, and Ao’s heart thumped.
Under the glow of the setting sun, Hiyuki was more beautiful than normal. Her smooth hair, eyelashes, slender wrists, perfect face was sparkling…
Hmmm? Sparkling?
── It will be perfect if ‘everything seems to be sparkling’.
Ao remembered what he said at the aquarium.
Wait, this is just like a foreshadowing.
As he felt anxious and his heartbeat accelerated.
“Kazetani-kun.”
Hiyuki who was walking besides him called out with a steady voice.
It sounded sweeter than usual──
“I will work hard… and write a story with a perfect foreshadowing.”
Why did Hiyuki look so bright?
Why was he so conscious about Hiyuki?
Hiyuki’s lips with a charming mole opened shyly. She lowered her gaze slightly, and said in a soft voice as if she was confessing something important:
“I hope… Kazetani-kun… will like it.”
Ao’s heart beated heavily.
Like── She doesn’t mean liking Hyonomiya-san, but the novel written by her right? Wait, why am I panicking?
His face was as hot as a kettle and his mind was a mess.
Hiyuki who was covered in bright lights stood beside him shyly──
“Hyonomiya-san…”
When Ao was just about to speak.
“Ao-chan!”
A sweet and clear voice echoed out.
A voice that would leave a deep impression, you would never forget after hearing it once. The owner of the voice was just as charming and seemed older than Ao, a pretty woman who seemed to be in her early twenties.
She was wearing a pink T-shirt with black prints of rabbits on it. Her chest was bountiful and she had on a hoodie jacket and a black mini skirt with lotus patterned laces usually worn by high schoolers. This dressing fit her, giving the feel that ‘she might be an adult, but she is still cute’. Her curled lashes had thick mascara on it, going for the posh look.
“Huh, Aeka…?”
She suddenly hugged Ao.
“Ao-chan, it’s too much, too much, Ao-chan.”
Her bountiful b.r.e.a.s.t.s pressed onto Ao’s body with her soft hands wrapped around his neck. She had a sweet fragrance about her as she cried about being too much.
“Aeka, calm down.”
“Erm… I…”
In contrast to the woman hugging Ao, Hiyuki said in a barely audible voice.
That’s right! Hyonomiya-san is right beside us!
Hiyuki furrowed her brows and her cheeks blushed.
“S-Sorry…”
Hiyuki said before Ao did, pa.s.sed right by Ao and ran in the street as the evening turned into night.
“Ah, Hyonomiya-san!”
Ao called out, but Hiyuki didn’t turn back.