Chapter 67: Holding Hands

Asahi felt like he had been transported to another world after entering the aquarium.

This place should have been above ground.

If you go outside, you would be able to see the sunshine and feel the gentle breeze of spring.

However, the inside space was different.

It was not an exaggerated metaphor, it could literally be described as another world.

It was as if he was breathing underwater.

The world was so tinted with blue that he had such a feeling.

“…This is amazing.”

 

Asahi let out a voice of admiration.

He had visited aquariums several times before, but they were all memories of the distant past.

At least, he didn’t remember going since junior high school.

For that reason, it had been a long time since had seen such a scene, so he was quite shocked.

And there was one girl who was more shocked than him.

She was shocked, of course, but also impressed.

“Look, Asahi-kun! The fishes are swimming above us!”

 

“It’s swimming alright.”

 

“There’s a ray over there! It looks like it’s smiling happily!”

 

“It sure is.”

“Oh, isn’t this Nemo!? He’s so small and so cute!”

“Yep, it sure is cute.”

 

He couldn’t help but look at her whilst saying “cute.”

According to what he had heard, Fuyuka had never been to an aquarium before.

To be precise, she lost the reason to go with her family.

Fuyuka’s expression was sad as she said this, and Asahi, knowing her background, was secretly thinking of how to entertain her.

“It’s like the Dragon Palace…”

 

Looking at Fuyuka’s enraptured face as she gazed into the tank and got excited like a child, it seemed that there was nothing for him to worry about.

The worry he felt was overridden by the blue-ness of the place.

It was enough to stay immersed in the blue world and interact with the inhabitants of the sea.

Asahi reconsidered his thoughts as he gazed at the fantastic scene…

“…Fuyuka?”

He called out her name in a small voice.

But there was no response.

“Fuyuka.”

 

He called out again with a more clear voice.

But the result was the same.

Looking around, he couldn’t find the girl who had been standing next to him a moment ago.

This meant that…

It was what we call lost.

“Sigh…are you Hinami or something?”

 

Asahi smiled, remembering the day they went to pay their first visit to the shrine.

The crowd was reasonable, but the locations were limited.

She shouldn’t be too far away yet, and they should be able to meet up with them soon.

Anticipating this, Asahi decided to look for the lost girl.

“…Found you.”

 

Less than five minutes after the search began, the lost girl was found.

Two corners away from the original location, the aquarium’s main feature, the tank.

Fuyuka was mesmerized by the whale shark, the star of the expansive space, and Asahi somehow decided to watch from afar.

The background music was pleasant to listen to, and the lighting was dim and blue.

Creatures of all sizes shared a space that mimicked the deep sea.

In the midst of all this, Fuyuka, who was as slender and small as the overwhelmingly large whale shark, radiated a special presence.

People, and the fishes, took a glance at Fuyuka.

And perhaps they shared the same opinion.

“It’s beautiful.”

Unconsciously, unaware, Asahi muttered quietly.

Various words of praise arrived to his mind, but no other word could be so perfect to describe the sight behold.

“…Oh, she noticed.”

 

She must have finally awakened from her dream.

Fuyuka, who had been engrossed in the other dimension, came back to herself and understood the situation.

From that point on, it was no longer beautiful, but rather, cute.

“…Asahi-kun?”

 

Asahi heard a faint voice calling his name with an anxious expression.

She wandered around, sometimes almost bumping into people as she passed by.

“Fuyuka.”

When Asahi called out to her, Fuyuka’s expression brightened.

“Asahi-kun! …W-what are you doing?!”

“It’s your punishment for going off on your own.”

He lightly tapped or rather stroked Fuyuka’s head.

Perhaps sensing Asahi’s worried look, Fuyuka’s expression immediately changed to one of remorse.

“I’m sorry…I was so engrossed that I didn’t pay attention to the surroundings around me.”

“Is this a bad influence from Hinami? Be careful next time.”

“…I will.”

 

“If you want, you can grab my sleeve like you did at the shrine…or something.”

Fuyuka became a little depressed, so he interjected a joke in a slightly cheerful tone.

“I heard there’s penguin over there, and―”

Asahi was just about to walk away when he tried to regain his composure.

As he moved forward, a force pulled him backward.

When he turned around to see what was going on, he saw Fuyuka blushing and looking down.　

And then, he lowered his gaze.

Fuyuka’s thin fingertips were touching his large hand.

“…Fuyuka?”

“…With this, we’ll never get separated.”

 

The palms of their hands overlapped naturally and effortlessly.

He could feel the warmth of their skin touching each other.

“…Let’s get going.”

 

“…Okay.”

Asahi and Fuyuka walked side by side through the underwater tunnel, holding hands tightly.

In a world where everything was dyed blue, their cheeks were endlessly red.

The invisible feelings of the two were also certainly connected by a red string.