Work Text:
'… the survivors mentioned that they kept hearing "Hajime" as the storm settled down…'
Haru looked at the sole evidence he had about 'Hajime". He looked at the piece of newspaper for a thousand times, he could recite the article already.
"Haru-san?"
His roommate came in and witnessed him staring at the paper again. At this point, Mori was used to the sight.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah." Haru sighed. "I'm just feeling sentimental tonight I guess."
"Is it because of Kai-san?"
Haru smiled at his junior.
"I'll just take a walk outside before going to sleep. You can turn off the lights if you want."
Mori raised a brow at him but didn't pursue further. Haru grabbed a coat and stepped out of their room, walking along the hallway of their dormitory. He smiled to himself at the liveliness. Some doors opened with the sound of music coming from inside the rooms. He reached the door outside and what greeted him were the chilling winds of autumn.
He could see Kensuke and Iku on the watch, along with Kai and Mamoru sharing a warm drink together. Not wanting to disturb the younger ones on their patrol, he approached the ship's captain and medic.
"Kai, Mamoru-san. Hello."
"Yo, Haru." Kai waved at him. "Want a drink? Rikka-san brewed us some warm tea. It's cold out here after all."
"Are you sure you're supposed to be out here while recovering?" Haru raised a brow.
"Eh—I rested for so long, you know I feel uneasy when I don't move my body around. Besides! Mamoru is here to keep me company!"
"I have to make sure his wounds don't open." Mamoru laughed, though obviously concerned at their reckless captain. Kai only grinned as he took another sip.
"By the way, Haru, what are you doing here?"
"Can't I go out at night sometimes?"
"Normally you'd be reading something at this hour."
"Alright, alright. I just felt a bit sentimental after you met Shun, that's all."
Kai gave him a stare.
"Just say you're jealous."
"Well, if you wanted to be straightforward, then yeah, I am." Haru deadpanned.
"Ah, is it because… of this 'Hajime'-kun you often speak of?" Mamoru asked. He pulled a seat when he must've realized that Haru was still standing, though Haru himself didn't really mind standing.
Haru sat down before answering. "Yes. I really wanted to prove that they exist."
"Oh yeah, I accepted you into the crew because of it. But I never really asked you what's up with your uhhh obsession with Hajime." Kai said.
"Don't call it obsession. I simply want to prove my theory."
"Sure bud."
Haru rolled his eyes at their captain. Although, it was true that he clung to his theory a bit too much, to the point that other crew members found it weird. But he can't help it for some reason.
"I never really thought about it much at first." Haru began explaining. "I was just reading newspapers in the library like usual. Then I came across an article where there was a sudden tornado that occurred while a cruise ship was sailing."
“Oh?”
“The article mentioned that the tornado was sudden, there were literally no signs of great temperature difference within the area. Moreover, from what I read, the type of tornado that occurred should be relatively harmless. However, that tornado managed to lift a cruise ship and crash it.”
“That really happened?!”
Haru nodded at Mamoru.
“Then I saw it, the survivors of the tornado were interviewed, and they kept mentioning that it felt like the sea was moving and the noise they were hearing was saying something. They could hear ‘Hajime’ over and over again.”
“I never heard about this?”
“That’s because that happened almost fifty years ago. None of us were even alive back then.”
“Wow, that’s… a lot?” Kai could only say. “Then how did that start your obsession with Hajime.”
Haru rolled his eyes at him. But continued explaining, regardless. “I did get curious about what that meant after. Was it a warning? A spell? There was far too much mystery. But no matter how many books, journals, and articles I read, I couldn’t find anything; And that was driving me mad.”
“Ah. Once Haru wants to know something, he’ll never rest until he gets the truth of the matter.”
“Of course.” Haru smiled. “Since I made no progress about it, I retraced my steps and returned to the article. So, I started with the phenomenon that caused the shipwreck–the mysterious tornado that occurred.”
Mamoru handed him a drink.
“Turns out, there was another recount of a tornado strong enough to destroy a ship as well– a 157 years before that article. Sailors recounted seeing a tornado forming from far away–then they saw what looked like a ship rise then fall into the water. The tornado only lasted for about five minutes. When they went to the spot where they saw the tornado, they could only see debris of the ship left behind… not a single survivor.”
Chills ran down on Kai and Mamoru’s spines, as if the weather wasn’t cold enough. But Haru wasn’t done.
“I wondered if there was a link between the two… and there was… I had a theory of how it happened.”
“What’s the suspense?”
Haru bit the inside of his cheek. This part was tricky, because the evidence was given to him by Kai. He wasn’t sure if Kai would be alright hearing his theory.
“Err, you might be sensitive about it.”
Their captain raised a brow, he opened his mouth, then closed it, as if he realized the meaning behind Haru’s words. He sighed.
“Tell me. I’ll accept anything.”
“... You said so yourself.” Haru mumbled. He took a sip from his tea, calming his nerves as he continued telling them his theory.
“It happened when you, our dear captain, decided to use my warning and venture out in the sea while there was a fucking whirlpool and decided to jump into the whirlpool like a fucking idiot.” He said, smiling as he recounted how he was somehow scolded by the elderly people who were fond of Kai for telling him about the whirlpool.
“HA HA HA.” Kai laughed nervously. “Still holding a grudge?”
“I’m never fucking forgiving that, Kai.”
Mamoru laughed at their banter, but Haru did recall how frightening the medic was towards Kai while their captain was recovering. He was sure that Mamoru wasn’t angry at all, but somehow, he was even scarier with the healing methods he used for Kai.
“Anyway,” Haru continued once his nerves calmed down. “You said that Shun told you that he was the ‘Ending’, something like that. Right?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, I looked back at the situation of the whirlpool, and I realized that it had the same conditions that the tornadoes had. Only that, it wasn’t a tornado this time.”
“...”
“The two of you realize where I’m going with this, right?” Haru asked, though he didn’t wait for an answer. “There is a high possibility that Shun was behind the tornadoes. I didn’t know why he did those, nor if he intended to create those tornadoes.”
“Really?”
“Yeah… and you know why?”
“Uhhh…”
“Ah, are you referring to it related to Shun-kun’s emotions?” Mamoru attempted to answer. Haru smiled and nodded. Of course, Mamoru would know about it, as someone who is technically a poet. “There are myths out there that relate natural phenomena as something that occurs when gods are going through some sort of intense emotions. Like how the rain is explained as a god crying.”
“Yep!” Haru clapped. “Maybe Shun was going through some intense emotions. But I can’t confirm that. Though I am satisfied with my conclusion, because it relates to how I concluded Hajime exists.”
“Oho? Finally?”
“Shun said that he is the End. Hajime means ‘beginning’, so, when there’s an Ending, there’s a Beginning.”
“Ah, Haru-kun are you saying that…”
“Counterparts–such as the moon and the sun, earth and water–are common in myths. So, if Shun referred to himself as the Ending, then he would have a counterpart, which is the Beginning.”
“That… somehow makes sense…” Kai said. “But how are you trying to prove that?”
“Hmm… well… Shun tends to appear to humans a lot. His existence is pretty much controversial except for those who have witnessed him. Though monsters are pretty common here–not a lot really believe that there are gods among them.”
“Haru. You didn’t answer my question.”
“What I mean is since Shun appears a lot, there’s a chance that Hajime barely appears on the surface at all.” Haru sighed. “Maybe if there’s a vehicle, we could use that can go underwater, we could navigate underground. But that requires a vehicle that could withstand the pressure as we go deeper. Even the one that Kurisu is working on is difficult to create–and that is for one person only. We would need a tremendous amount of funds, facility, and materials to even get to working on it.”
“So, you’re saying that it’s impossible for us right now.”
“Yeah. There are limits to what we can do.” He sighed again, downing the tea like it was alcohol. Even though he would never give up on his pursuit, there are times that he would feel down about the lack of progress. At times like this he would like to drink, but Rikka had banned everyone from drinking while on sail.
“But we’ve been in contact with a lot of sea creatures since we started sailing–heck! You’re literally in contact with the one who is most likely linked to him!” Haru wailed at Kai.
“Dude, I only saw him once and we barely interacted before he swallowed me and disappeared again.”
“A percent of progress is better than zero.”
“That makes it barely.” Kai retorted. “Besides, if we are talking about progress, isn’t the guy here who made a pact with a certain seahorse winning?”
“Eurk–”
The two of them looked at Mamoru, who choked on his tea at being mentioned. He laughed nervously, blushing furiously.
“... Suddenly, Mamoru-san feels like a bigger person than us…” Haru commented.
“Haru-kun!” Mamoru said, flustered at the comment. “It’s not like this suddenly makes me amazing! In fact, Kou-kun was too amazing for me!”
“See, they’re even on a nickname basis now.”
“Kai-kun!”
They arrived at their next destination, as requested by Yoru, Aoi, and Rikka this time. An island growing spices unique to that island only. It's been around a year since Kai formed the crew, while a lot of things happened (involving sea monsters, their slightly insane captain, a certain white ocean God), they were starting to earn their reputation. The crew started to relax a little, especially since Mori was cured and joined them. There were a few more that joined along the way and it had been very lively.
But Haru continued with his research, even if he didn't make any progress at all. When he’s not looking for clues about Hajime (which is his first task whenever they arrive at a destination), he explores the island’s landscapes.
“If you’re curious, youngster.” An old lady at the library began talking to him. “There’s an underground cave connected to the seawater of this island. It’s safe to explore there, but since it’s dark, people get scared walking around.”
“Oh?”
Underground caves were rare, and he hasn’t encountered one since they started sailing. He was always curious about them and was quite jealous of Ren when the younger managed to get inside one. Ren refused to talk about what happened inside that cave that Haru already had an inkling of what may have transpired.
After telling Kai and the others where he was going, he set on walking to the underground cave. And like the elderly said, it was deserted, which was a shame since the view was nice. Although the eerie ambience was off-putting. The plants were unusually darker, the leaves were darker than usual. Haru cut off some samples to study with Mamoru later. The ground had a shade of black, as if mixed with mud. He got some samples again. A lot of their members weren’t good at dealing with horror, so he knew he wouldn’t be able to convince them to go with him.
He finally found the cave, which was pitch black from the outside. Haru wiped off a sweat as he turned on his flashlight and went inside.
“Erk–the smell is so strong here.” Haru winced. As he proceeded, he couldn’t tolerate the smell anymore and grabbed the gas mask that Kurisu provided. When the smell became tolerable, he continued exploring, noting all the marks he had seen on the ground.
“Hmm… footprints indicate non-human creatures’ presence in the cave… huh, the sizes are strange… maybe monsters were present here? There are a lot of unusual holes here, as if someone has been removing things… Maybe ores? There are small traces of crystals here…” He noted as he wrote in his journal, picking up the soil containing the crystals and placing it inside his bag.
There was barely anything in the cave though, but the traces of the activity implied that some kind of combat occurred inside. The cave may have contained precious gems, but it may have been ransacked.
Though there was something off about the cave, as if there was a story waiting to be discovered. And he wanted to discover it.
He continued looking around, occasionally looking into the waters.
For some reason, the cave looked darker, he couldn’t tell if his flashlight was running out of battery or not.
Moreover, he felt as if… there was a great presence nearby.
“Eurgh, Haru, get yourself together.” He scolded himself.
Unfortunately for him, his flashlight ran out, and he was too far from the entrance. He groaned. Haru couldn’t explore like this. He had to turn back and get more supplies.
Haru turned to his right where the wall was located, but he felt as if the cave lightened up a little, in a purple glow. It was coming from the side of the waters. He turned around and faced the water.
And there, he met two giant purple orbs looking at him. The orbs, glowing beautifully in the dark like an alexandrite… but more beautiful than any gemstone he had seen in his life. Haru was stunned. Then realized that what he was looking at weren’t orbs, but eyes of someone.
“A-ah…” Haru stuttered, trying to say something, anything. “M-my name is…”
“Haru.” A rich, velvety voice echoed throughout the cave. Haru recalled himself groaning his name earlier.
“Y-yes… you are?”
“.................”
The giant stared at him silently. Haru smiled nervously, unable to look away from their eyes.
“... Hajime.”
Hajime.
Haru stared at them.
The giant said their name is Hajime.
Hajime.
“Ah…”
Haru couldn’t stop grinning, his head hazy, maybe from the scent, or the stress, but–there was one thing that overpowered everything else.
The giant’s name is Hajime.
Before he knew it, his vision went black.
There was a pressure around his body when Haru woke up. Something wet, slimy, and smooth–
“Eh?!”
He found himself wrapped by something black. He looked around and saw the giant, Hajime, still looking at him. Haru noticed that whatever was coiled around him, was coming out from the water at the giant’s direction.
He briefly remembered Kai’s words about Shun’s hair coming from sea foam and he immediately deduced what was happening to him– Hajime was touching him.
Haru didn’t notice Hajime opening their mouth slightly as his heart beat so hard and fast that he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t muster a coherent sentence, overwhelmed by the happiness of the opportunity given to him.
Between the still occurring headache from the scent of the cave, the ecstasy of meeting Hajime, and his body’s reaction from being touched–all of it overwhelmed him and he fainted again.
Though, with how he didn’t realize his own headache, the cause was most likely related to Hajime.
–
“Wah!” Haru gasped as he woke up from the cold ground. He controlled his breath, wondering what happened. He could feel dirt sticking to his skin. It was dark and the last thing he remembered was fainting because of something.
Right, he met–
“You’re awake.”
Haru turned his head and his eyes widened upon seeing the beautiful purple eyes again and felt his heart go weak.
“If you pass out again, I’m leaving.”
Haru immediately grabbed his dagger, slicing his palm, and wincing from the pain–keeping his consciousness with him.
“S-Sorry!” Haru bowed at the giant, though he was unsure if the giant understood the meaning of his gesture at all.
“...........”
Hajime stared at him blankly, and Haru couldn’t predict what they were about to do at all. With nothing to go on, he politely sat on the floor, wrapping his hands with bandages as he tried to think about what to ask. He wanted to say so many things that he didn’t know what to say.
"Uhm… if you're Hajime … then you know who Shun is, right?"
"... Indeed."
Haru's eyes sparkled at the confirmation. He stood up and began rambling. "I had a theory that you existed because there was a tornado recorded centuries ago and the surivivors could hear your name! And after knowing about Shun, he mentioned that he is the Ending so I concluded that you must be the Beginning! Am I right?!"
Hajime blinked at him, right now, the cave was only lit with the giant's glowing eyes. So the momentarily darkness made him wince a bit.
"You talk a lot.
…But you are right."
Haru beamed upon his theory being confirmed. "I've been wanting to see you for sooo long! Others wouldn't believe me and think I'm obsessing over someone who didn't exist but here you are! Ahhh I'm so happy!"
“Why?”
“Huh?”
“Why were you trying to prove my existence?”
“Ah that…” Haru scratched his cheek. “Well, I was reading and saw someone mention your name… When I came up with the theory that you probably exist, I couldn’t rest not knowing if it’s true or not.”
Hajime didn’t respond, and merely closed his eyes, trapping Haru in the darkness once again. For some reason, Haru felt like the atmosphere felt heavier, as if the air pressure became stronger by the second. If it wasn’t for the mask, he had an inkling that it would be difficult to breathe.
“What will you do now that you know I exist?” The ocean god said. His voice became louder, vibrating the whole cave, making Haru stumble a bit. “Are you going to capture those like me to exhibit to the humans? Are you going to attempt to capture me? Or are you going to use Shun?”
“What?” Haru asked, confused.
“You humans are quite fickle. When those like you wish to see us, when someone actually responds to your wishes–you take advantage of it. Despite living short lives, I’ve seen you all attempt to destroy us, hurt those weaker than me–all for your amusement. So, what are your motives?”
Hajime opened his eyes again, this time, his pupils shining brighter, like a flash of light wrapping the inside of the cave. The cave lightened up to the ceiling–then Haru realized what was–or rather, who was in the ceiling. Bones, those belonging to humans, stuck within the hardened rocks, like fossils. But he had seen enough fossils to know that these weren’t old enough to qualify as fossils.
The water where Hajime was in began rising, he could see the ground slowly disappearing and his shoes sinking in the water.
“Show your face.”
The air was thick, Haru knew breathing would be difficult. Yet, he obeyed. He removed his mask, placing it inside his bag and facing Hajime’s eyes again. He winced at the stench that greeted him. Hajime kept a pensive expression–he couldn’t read the god at all. Unlike all the other creatures they saw.
Hajime stayed silent, and Haru felt like the god was waiting for his answer.
“I crave for knowledge.”
“...........”
“... since I was a child, I felt frustrated when there is knowledge that is far from my reach. When I began to realize about your existence, I was made aware of how much I didn’t know about the ocean. The more I learned about your kind, the more I thirsted. As creatures of water, you all live a completely different life from us. It was fascinating.”
The water was already up to his knees, but Haru kept firm. His head started to ache but he ignored it.
“If I gave you the knowledge, you seeked right now. What will you do?”
“Eh?”
“You’re facing me. I know more about the world than others will ever know. Well, aside from my other half. In exchange, this will be the only time we will meet. You will have proven my existence, and you will gain all the knowledge you crave for.”
Haru’s eyes widened.
“No, No!” He shook his head. “Sorry, I think I wasn’t clear enough on what I meant. I do want knowledge, but most of all, I enjoy my pursuit of it.”
“Your pursuit?”
“I enjoy discovering everything within my effort. I like coming up with theories and proving or disproving them. It’s true, I love the knowledge I gain, but I also love the ecstasy that comes along working for it.”
“...........”
Hajime stayed silent again, as if thinking. While waiting, Haru could finally observe the giant in front of him. Those eyes that looked like glowing gems, scales connected the fins on the sides their head, hair where every strand looked like extremely long kelps that somehow looked like silky hair–Haru had already seen water creatures, but Hajime was really–
“... beautiful…”
“....?”
“You’re really breathtaking.” Haru commented. “Just being within your presence, I can really feel how majestic you are–like a King.”
Hajime looked at him.
“You’re trembling. But you still manage to look at me directly.”
“Ah…” Haru smiled and placed his hand on his chest. “It’s only natural that I would be like this… especially when I finally met you.”
“Is that it?”
“Ahaha. Well, that and the fact that I can feel your power, even though we are only facing each other, somehow fills me with excitement.”
“Why?”
”Because… I–I want to learn more about you.”
Hajime pursed his lips, Haru couldn’t help but stare at the droplets of water on the giant’s face, dripping down on the outline of their head.
“Are you sure you are able to handle everything?”
“Anything for you…” Haru smiled gently. “I already made an oath to myself about you when I decided to pursue you.”
Hajime raised a brow, possibly the first obvious emotion Haru saw from the god–if this can even qualify as some emotion he can read. “An oath?”
“No matter how difficult, I’ll set sail, I’ll read anything, I’ll do anything–if it means facing you like this one day… or now, once more.”
“Why would you want to see me again?”
“Because I want to know more about you. Now that I got to see you up close, I want to discover everything, even know things. I’m really greedy in this aspect, you see.”
“..............”
Hajime looked around.
“Even if the reason why your kind is above us right now, is because of me?”
“Ah…” So Hajime was the one who placed them there. “Is that the reason why this cave is in this state?”
“You said it yourself–I’m a King. And a King will protect his subjects,” the pressure increased again, as if gravity was forcing him down again. “Even if it means forcing others to be one with the earth.”
Haru blinked, then he chuckled. “Then I’ll be careful to not be part of them so I can continue getting to know you.”
“.............”
The pressure was lifted off Haru’s body, and the air became lighter again. However, the stench that he smelled still remained. As well as the pain in his head. Hajime was expressionless, but maybe it’s because they’re way bigger than Haru, but Haru could see a slight curve up on the corner of Hajime’s lips.
“You kept your wits with you despite talking to me, so I’ll reward you.”
“E-eh?” Haru stuttered. Maybe it’s because he’s human, but that means a different thing to him… it doesn’t help that some of his friends received that kind of reward from Hajime’s other half as well. Somehow he’s worried that his current state is able to handle it, he has been feeling strangely woozy for a while after all. How did Kai manage to do that with Shun with a bleeding body?
“There were humans making a racket here despite this place being a place to relax by my… subjects. I told a certain pufferfish, jellyfish, and siren to take care of this place… and they went havoc. That pufferfish released a poison out of anger, which evaporated into gas because of the siren, which is why I’m here, to neutralize it.”
“I… I see.” That explains the strange footprints. Though he didn’t know how they could navigate on land at all. He wanted to write it down, but he was worried that his journal would get wet.
“But you were here before I could fully neutralize the air, so some of the poison got to you.”
“Eh?!”
“Don’t worry, it shouldn’t endanger your life. Though you will lose most memories here.”
“EH?! But–” Haru panicked. He just met Hajime, and there was a possibility that he would forget about it. It was way too cruel. He’d rather get his legs broken than this!
“I don’t want this meeting to be forgotten!”
“It won’t. Because I’ll be the one remembering it.”
Haru wanted to complain that that didn't assure him, but his head started to feel dizzy, it must’ve been the effect of the poison. Which explains the headaches from earlier. He held his head as he tried to keep composure, however, his arms were losing strength.
As his vision blurred, Hajime continued speaking.
“I don’t know if you’ll remember this meeting or not. However…” splashes of water were heard, as Haru tried to look, but his glasses had falled from as he lost strength on his legs. He could only see from the blur that the shining eyes were slowly sinking into the darkness of the waters.
“W-wait…”
“... I won’t interfere with your pursuit, but I won’t help you either.”
“W-wait…”
“And I’ll hold onto that oath of yours. You’re not allowed to break that oath.”
“... hold on…” Haru collapsed on his knees. The water was getting lower, but he wasn’t focused on that. His breathing brecame heavier, and the cave was getting dimmer, indicating Hajime’s intention of leaving even more. However, while he was losing strength, he could hear Hajime’s last words to him.
“I look forward to your chase… Ha~ru.”
Before he could say anything else, the throbbing of his head became unbearable. And against his will, his vision went black.
‘Ha~ru.’
‘Ha~ru’
“Oi! Haru!” A loud voice called out to him, shaking his shoulders. Haru woke up from the noise, groaning as he held his head.
“Shut up.”
“He’s awake.” Rikka clapped. “If you slept any longer Tsubasa would’ve given you a true love’s kiss~”
“What.” Tsubasa said.
“What.” Haru said.
“Hahaha…” Mamoru laughed. “Well, Haru-kun’s awake now. How are you feeling?”
“What happened?”
“You didn’t return and we got worried.” Kai explained. “We found you inside that cave all wet and washed up. The hell happened to you there?”
“Did… did you get roughed up, Haru-san?!” Koi asked with worry.
“What’s up with your palm?” Sora asked. Haru blinked at the younger ones, attempting to recall his memories–
‘Ha~ru.’
“!!”
“W-woah! Hey! The patient’s gone mad!” Kurisu hissed when Haru jolted up from his bed, prompting Iku and Mori to force him to lie down.
“Hajime!” He exclaimed.
“Huh?”
“I met Hajime!” Haru’s eyes sparkled. He gripped his blanket, like a child excitedly telling a story. “He really exists! He was huge! and They… he’s… eugh–”
“Woah!” Tsubasa hushed him. “Language, Haru! The kids are here!”
“Not like that! Like a giant–ack!”
He winced at the sharp pain in his head. Mamoru worriedly placed an ice pack on his head, relieving the pain.
“Haru-kun, you should rest.”
“Yeah, you’re starting to have delusions.” Reina commented.
“I’m not lying! I really did see Hajime–! But erk–! I can’t remember what we talked about!”
“Err, ok Haru-san…” Ai awkwardly scratched her cheek. “But the body of water inside the cave shouldn’t be able to contain a giant…”
“Seriously! He has violet shining eyes! He’s.. eugk! Really big! And– and–!”
Everyone looked at each other as Haru attempted to recall his encounter. Kai sighed and looked at Rikka, silently asking him for help. Rikka nodded at him.
“Haru.” Rikka said in a low, soothing voice. He gently held Haru’s shoulders, laying him back on the bed as Aoi fixed his blanket. “Don’t force yourself. Get some rest first and you can tell us the rest later.”
“Hnngh…”
“Sleep.”
“I already slept so much.” Haru sighed. “Fine… I’ll lay down for a bit.”
“Good. Then, we’ll leave you for the day. Come on kids,” Rikka ordered the younger ones, “let Haru rest. Continue with what you were all doing. We’ll meet him at tonight’s party if he gets better.”
A couple of complaints were heard, but eventually, everyone left the room. Kai stood up, leaving several glances to Haru.
“What?”
Kai smirked at him.
“Hey, if what you were saying is true, then you are the star of tonight’s party.”
Haru groaned and shooed them away, prompting to rest and read through his journal, which was left beside his bed thankfully. He groaned at the aches around his body, as if it was put under pressure, yet he couldn’t recall why. He went through the pages of his journal, attempting to write what he remembered despite the ache of his arms.
Unfortunately, he could barely recall anything. Only words which he was trying to piece together.
Half, Shun
“The beginning and the ending… then Hajime and Shun are halves of each other?”
humans, pufferfish, siren, jellyfish, poison
“I can recall seeing some human bones… I’ll confirm it tomorrow.. There were traces of fights there… maybe pufferfish… ah, maybe that was Kakeru? If we meet him again, maybe I can ask him.”
That was as far as his memories could recall. He could still remember the face he saw, the beautiful King of the ocean.
“... Everything about them felt pitch black…” Like the feeling of sinking into the depths of the ocean, pitch black, heavy. “...but their purple eyes felt like royalty… if those even exist in their world.”
“They’re a mystery, someone that exists, but is barely seen… like the depths of the ocean huh…” He mumbled, writing what he was rambling on in his journal again. “Since Shun is his other half, then Shun would be like the surface… huh… Hajime is really his name.”
‘Ha~ru.’
Haru grinned, even if he can barely remember, he was glad that he recalled the last word, his name, which came from Hajime’s lips. He sighed wistfully, lying on his bed again, feeling a renewed sense of yearning.
Even though he had already seen Hajime, proving that the ocean King exists, he yearned to see him more. In fact, the sense of yearning became stronger, was it ok for him to feel this greedy?
He relaxed once more, closing his eyes as he drifted into sleep, hoping to see Hajime even in his dreams. Haru thought he could settle just proving Hajime existed, but now that he met them, he wanted to know more… he wondered if Hajime even wanted to see him. He couldn’t tell.
Still, he won’t give up on his pursuit now. No matter how difficult his goal is.
Not especially when he can still remember how Hajime called his name.
EXTRA 1:
Kakeru found the black snake, sleeping peacfully snuggled around his tail. He swam near their King, wanting to ask about something.
“Hajime-san!”
“Hmmm…?” Hajime opened his eyes groggily.
“How did the cleansing go?”
“It was fine.” Hajime yawned, bubbles forming in front of his mouth as he casually placed Kakeru on his shoulder.
“Hajime-san looks refreshed. Did something happen?”
“Hmmm… I met that human Haru you all talked about.”
The pufferfish almost expanded from the snake’s words. He looked at Hajime, who was unbothered by what he said.
“Really?! How… uhh… what do you think?”
“He’s strange.”
“Ah, well. He is.” Kakeru did not deny it.
“His theories about me are interesting… some a bit off but it was interesting.”
"Oh? Did you correct it?"
"I only confirmed my relation to Shun."
"Eh?! Really? Why?"
Hajime shook his head. "I wanted to make sure that he doesn't have ulterior motives… I know that a lot of you have been attached to their kind lately, but I'm not letting them harm you in any way."
"Ah." Kakeru remembered the time Hajime almost lost it the first time Nozomu was injured by a human. He won't deny that a lot of his friends were curious—and that curiousity sometimes led to severe injuries, which their Lords never dealt with calmly. Ironically, Shun especially was vulnerable to it. Despite his self-healing power, no one takes it kindly when the white snake is hurt by the weaker humans he so loved to watch over. Even though the snake himself is capable of greater violence himself, just from the state of his emotions.
Meanwhile, their King is forced to be invovled with humans due to the very fact that he existed. The fantasies of a Great Being lying in the depths of the vast ocean was something humans loved to chase. More or less, Kakeru and the others found themselves in trouble because of it.
Of course, he and the others responded properly, by helping those humans sink at the deepest parts of the sea, where Hajime liked to rest.
Hajime doesn't talk nor reprimand them about it, but only tells them to be careful. Unlike Shun, he was completely disinterested with humans.
Haru isn’t the first one to pursue Hajime’s existence. But he was the only one whose name their King actually spoke. Though, this was the first time that they met a human that was interested in getting to know Hajime rather than the countless humans who made it their quest to take their King's head. It would make sense why Hajime is a little intrigued.
"He's harmless! He's harmless! Arata-san even swung him around before and he didn't try to stab him!"
"I see. A lot of you have been really chummy with them, haven't you?"
Kakeru couldn't say much about it. It only started as a curiousity, who the human is that their White Lord would mutter listlessly sometimes. It happened that Soushi and Nozomu came across the friends of the human Shun was avoiding. Of course, everyone found out. Before they knew it, a lot of them had come across that human's companions. Before they knew it, they had gotten close with some of them. Although it was still difficult to help Kai's situation since the white snake was far more stubborn than they are.
And that's how they managed to get a hold of Haru's dream.
Of course, they grabbed the chance to play around the guy as well.
“...He’s kinda weird but he is pretty smart… he didn’t do anything to you, did he?” Kakeru asked grimly.
“He fainted when I said my name.”
“Oh.”
“Then I picked him up, he woke up, then fainted again. ”
“I–am sorry?” The pufferfish buried his face on his King’s shoulder, feeling secondhand embarrassment from the human’s actions. “Are you going to see him from now on?”
“No.”
“Eh? Avoiding him?”
“I have no reason to avoid him. I’m not Shun.” Hajime yawned, to which Kakeru felt just a slight pity for the white snake who was somehow insulted and who probably heard that jab. “But I have no reason to meet him either.”
“But you do know that he wants to see you, right?”
“That’s his own mission to do.” The snake said, “If he progresses or not, that depends on him.”
Kakeru grinned. It's not often that Hajime would play around with someone like that. Whatever Haru did, it worked. Even if it was probably embarrassing. He decided not to ask anymore for his King’s privacy, now that he’s content that Haru wasn’t a threat.
“Strict as always.” Kakeru laughed and snuggled on Hajime’s neck. “Are we allowed to say anything about you?”
“That’s your choice.”
“Hmm… then I won’t! Arata and the others probably won’t as well.”
“Why?”
“Coz it’s funny when Haru is in distress.”
“Heh, you can all be really mischievous.”
“Hehe.”
Unbeknownst to them, Haru felt a chill on his spine, as if he could feel a lot of misfortune happening to him in the future.
EXTRA 2:
After days of trying to explain, everyone finally believed in Haru’s words. There was even an attempt to illustrate how he remembered Hajime’s face which was apparently so terrible that Reina made him sit down so that she could illustrate Hajime for him. They were currently at her office on the ship, with him sitting down in front of her desk. Somehow, it reminded him of witnesses being interrogated by the police to describe a suspect’s face.
“He had a nice facial structure–”
“Describe his features, Haru-san.”
“Well, uhh, in human terms, I guess he has dark hair, in the shade of violet? His bangs are similar to how I drew it.”
“Hmmm-mhm.” Reina nodded, sketching on her sketchpad while using his drawing as reference. “What else?”
“He had purple eyes which were–”
“Oka–ay! Purple eyes! Please limit words to five or less!” She interrupted, knowing well how Haru wouldn’t shut up about Hajime’s eyes. Sora and Koi laughed at their interaction, who, Haru didn’t understand why they were hanging around as well.
“Err… he had sharp eyes.”
“... sharp eyes…”
“Long lashes…”
“Ok…”
“.... pensive stare…”
“Are you sure he wasn’t thinking of killing you then and there?” Koi teased.
“I’m alive right now so hopefully not-! … yet… hopefully…”
“If you can even meet him.” Koi whispered, but Haru heard it.
“Koi.”
Koi shrugged at him and continued watching Reina draw as Sora strummed his guitar, humming along the way. After a few minutes, the artist raised her sketchpad.
“I’m done! How is it?” She asked, handing Haru the paper. Haru glanced at the sketcha and he smiled. It was perfect.
“As accurate as I remember!”
“Wooo! Then Hajime-san is a real hottie, huh?!” Reina clapped. “If what you said about him and Shun-san being halves, then we got two pretty ocean gods here!”
“Eh? He is?!” Sora suddenly stood up from his seat and glanced at the sketchpad. He gripped Haru’s shoulders (he understands why the younger reacted that way) and looked at Reina.
“Can you give me a drawing of Hajime-san too?!”
“But you just asked me one of Shun-san!”
“If they’re halves, then why would I only settle for one!? Come on, Reina, pleaaaase!”
“Fine.” Reina huffed and grabbed the sketchpad out of Haru’s hands, tearing a page and drawing on it then handing it to Sora. The musician held the paper happily as he hopped around the room.
Haru kept looking at the illustration, grinning to himself while Reina and Koi looked at him.
“He’s really obsessed with Hajime-san.” Koi whispered.
“I’m going to be honest, Koi.” Reina whispered back. “After meeting Tsubaki, I get it.”
“What the heck.”
“Hey, you’re obsessed with Kakeru-san too.”
“I like him normally.”
“Yeah sure, keep lying.”
EXTRA 3:
“Say, Haru now that you met Hajime, do you think I can ask for his help to help with Shun?”
“I can’t even meet him, you think you can?”
“Honestly that would be funny if I get to meet him more than you.”
“It’s not.”
“Oh? What would you do if I did?”
“I’m going to feed you to Kakeru.”
“Heh, I’d like to see you try.”
“You know, if I choose to, I can study the ancient spells and maybe rewrite one to cast on you so that you never get to meet Shun, right? Would you like to see me try that one?”
“Why you–”
“HEY YOU TWO SHUT UP ALREADY!!”