Chapter Text
The Momobami Twins Kirari and Ririka were the largest albino blue whales in the world reaching to about 110 feet and 300 tons each. They often migrated together in the North Pacific ocean and so inseparable were the two that they each took turns helping each other thwart off any courtships from unwanted males of their species.
One day on the way back from their feeding grounds in Mexico and en route to Japan, Kirari spotted a strange colored Risso's dolphin who was being kidnapped by a bunch of other frisky male dolphins. What should have been black markings on this dolphin's body and lips appeared purple and her eyes had round rings that made her look more like a panda or a Vaquita.
Dolphins were not monogamous creatures and it wasn't strange for males to form co-ops when trying to catch a mate. Usually, most female dolphins in this situation end up being receptive to these sorts of advances especially with several males working together to keep her locked in a confined space to swim. But this particular dolphin, fought and chirped vigorously, displaying her unwillingness to mate. She thrashed back and forth, only to get blocked by the bodies of the randy males seeking her attention.
"Ugh, gross," Ririka snorted water through her blowholes and took a deep breath before diving back in. Ririka communicated telepathically to her twin, "I need to whet my palate with food before I throw up. Too early in the day to be looking at dolphin erections. Care for more Krill? Its been quite a long swim."
Kirari answered, "Go ahead, I think this feisty one needs my help."
Ririka answered, "She'll give in. Its not like their kind have any self-control. They mate all year round."
Kirari turned her blue smoldering eyes to her twin, "Can't you hear her chirps? She clearly doesn't want their attention."
"Butt out, `Rari. Just because you're the queen of the ocean doesn't mean you have to get involved in every petty fight. Pick your battles," Ririka swam up to take one last deep breath before diving lower to fill her jaws with food.
But Kirari couldn't leave it be. She was attracted to how fiercely the dolphin tried to guard its space and swam vigorously to dodge the love-spears pointed at her nether region. The desperation to which the males tried to keep her from escaping would soon prevent her from taking in enough air to breathe.
Kirari opened her gigantic mouth and bellowed, "Let her go."
The soundwaves that travelled through the water was enough to rattle every sea creature for 1000 miles.
The males, startled at first, then began to let out chirps of amusement mistaking the albino whale for her timid twin Ririka. They refused to let the female through. Kirari charged at them with her blue eyes smoldering and her mouth open. The movement was enough to pull the current towards her fifty-feet long jaws. Terrified of being eaten, the males scattered leaving the female Risso's dolphin to swim vigorously above, jumping high up in the air to take in the oxygen. Kirari closed her mouth and quietly resurfaced, watching as the purple-colored Risso's dolphin rested well above the surface of the sea.
"Thank you, your majesty. I am honored and humbled by your presence, Queen Momobami Kirari," the purple colored dolphin marked with rings around her eyes and lips spoke softly and for a moment, it looked as if she was going to roll over belly up from exhaustion.
Kirari's eyelids narrowed, flattered by her discernment, "You recognized me...apart from my twin. Clearly your companions did not. How did you know it was me?"
"I have often seen you from afar, your majesty, and your eyes are much narrower compared to Queen Ririka. And there are many things about you too that I have observed. You seem to use your left flippers and left flukes more often when you make your graceful turns. I've also admired the ways you glide across our waters as if you truly own the entirety of the ocean. I'm also accustomed to the thrilling vibrations of your whale-calls, amongst many other things."
"May I know your name?"
"I am Igarashi Sayaka, your majesty, a native of these waters."
"You fought well, Igarashi Sayaka. You may swim over and rest on my back. Or my dorsal ridge, if you prefer."
"B--but, your majesty, I am just a low-ranking scout, unworthy of the attention of the Queen of the seven seas."
"A scout? What are your duties?"
"To record human activity encroaching on our territory to the south east."
"Would you like to be my personal scout?"
Her panda looking eyes widened and tears seemed to well up in her deep black eyes. Her response was soft chirping, "Really, your majesty? I have a large collection of durable sponges and rare shells!"
Kirari laughed. Gusts of wind and sprays of water fountained up through her blowholes, "Not that these toys would ever make any difference to my choosing you. I want you by my side so that you can regale me with tales of having investigated humans. Plus, I'd really much like to know the how and why you were able to recognize me apart from my twin. Not many do."
And so Kirari and Sayaka spent all their time together. It took a few months before Sayaka was comfortable enough to swim closer to Kirari or ride on her back when their travels were too swift and long. During the daytime, Sayaka often helped Ririka to catch Krill by dropping her sponges to stir up their nests. Kirari, however, preferred lobsters and squid, which forced Sayaka to be a little more creative in trying to herd them into Kirari's jaws since Sayaka also wanted squid for herself. Not that Kirari ever needed the help to hunt but being doted on by the cute dolphin often had her heart beating more than twice a minute.
"You're getting soft, Kirari," Ririka communicated telepathically to her twin, "Don't let affection spoil you. Remember your duties as queen of the seven seas."
Kirari ignored Ririka's warning as she watched Sayaka play with the colorful shells, arranging them to her liking.
"You know I can watch her all day long and still think our time too short?"
"You have to let her go. She needs to be among her kind. And also, I get bored trying to swim too slow just so that she can catch up with us. No one should set the pace for our travels but us."
"Then go ahead. You don't always have to wait for us. If you wish to cover a wider ground, then do so at your preferred speed."
Soon, the timid twin found herself exploring more and more of the oceans alone as waiting for both Kirari and Sayaka to cease their playful bantering irked and caused Ririka distress at being excluded. And yet, somehow the absence of the twin turned out fortuitously in Kirari and Sayaka's favor as the dolphin slowly began to show more affection to her sole travel companion. When in the beginning, Sayaka was considerate of not showing favor to either of the albino twin queens, now they were free to express their growing attrraction to one another.
Sayaka could swim even closer. She would shyly brush up against Kirari with her fins or show off her above-water jumping skills to entertain her queen. While Kirari slept, Sayaka woud emit soft high frequency clicks, detailing just how much she adored Kirari. At times, Kirari wouild feign sleep so that she could listen to Sayaka's litany of love that came in the form of sonar communication. Kirari often enjoyed the stunned and terrified look in Sayaka's eyes when she casually opened up one eye. Sputtering with apologies, Sayaka would make excuses that she was simply rambling. Kirari would laugh then give her embarrassed companion a soft wink. Kirari often wondered if Sayaka could hear it. The quickening of her heart which beat more times each minute of everyday that they were together. She wondered if it would be enough of a confession. That she too adored Sayaka just as much.
One day, Ririka found herself the target of a male blue whale's attention. She let out her cries as an emergency call to Kirari who had to travel faster to come to her twin's rescue. By the time she had arrived, she was surprised to find another blue whale called Princess Mary who had gallantly arrived to aid Queen Ririka's distress call even though she was several feet smaller than Ririka. Kirari, having remembered that she had left Sayaka behind, swam back at breakneck speed only to find her gone from the spot where they had last parted ways. What was left instead were the sponge toys and shells that Sayaka had collected on the ocean floor, scattered and in disarray. This was not like Sayaka Igarashi at all, who always arranged her toys in a peculiar way.
Weeks passed and there was no sign of Sayaka and eventually Kirari had to abandon the spot where she hovered, guarding Sayaka's sea toys. Not knowing what to do, Kirari scooped up Sayaka's toys and swallowed them, keeping the sponges and shells in the far pouch of her baleen. Kirari even ventured as close to the human shorelines as she could but still hear none of Sayaka's adorable chirps and clicks. What had happened to her, Kirari wondered. Had she been hunted and killed?
Months passed and Kirari had sunk into a deep depression, often neglecting her duties to patrol the deeper territories of the oceans. She stayed close to the Pacific in the hopes of hearing the sounds Sayaka would make. Tears formed in Kirari's eyes at the memories she had of Sayaka. Particularly the memories of the late evening, just listening to the love confession of Sayaka's clicks and soft chirping while Kirari pretended to be asleep. Queen Ririka and Princess Mary tried their best to cheer Kirari. Ririka learned to be a little more affectionate to her twin while Mary's method of keeping Kirari's spirits up was challenging her to swimming contests. And when Kirari declined the invitation, Mary called her a dead, beached whale to her face. Still, Kirari refused to leave the waters of Japan and remained sullen for the most part, waiting patiently for Sayaka's return. Which seemed in vain as the long hours stretched into days, weeks, and months.
Finally, Kirari had broken her silence during the winter and for the first time, composed a song for Sayaka Igarashi. She had heard male whales compose songs before in the hopes of attracting a mate. Never did she ever consider that she, a female albino blue whale and Queen Kirari Momobami, at that, would be composing one for a dolphin. But Kirari had to keep up the hope that Sayaka Igarashi was alive out there somewhere. She sang her song each night at one spot knowing that it would travel for 1,600 kilometers. Then on the next night, Kirari moved on to another vicinity, spreading her whale call far and wide.
Unknown to her, Sayaka had been caught in some fisherman's net, captured, and donated to Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise. Because of her keen intelligence, she quickly adapted and learned tricks to entertain the crowds of tourists and amusement park visitors. And though she was treated to all the fish she could ever eat and affection from her human captors, being confined to a space that was 200% less of the ocean that she was free to traverse caused her to be restless. She made friends with the other dolphins in the aquarium but refused to mate with anyone of the healthy males in captivity. She longed for Kirari but being held in an enclosed pool water cut off her communication with the seas.
One night under the full moonlight of February, Sayaka finally heard Kirari's singing. It brought tears to her eyes listening to Kirari's mating call thousands of miles away. Sayaka tried to answer in chirps, shrieks, and dolphin cries but as pool water could not carry the vibrations far and wide, the sound of her sonar clicks could only go so far.
"All Blue For Only You, huh? What a sappy love song. I pity that poor whale. She really doesn't know you got snatched and locked up in here, ha!" Aoi, a sea otter in captivity, taunted Sayaka as he rubbed at his own belly.
"Cheer up, Igarashi," Yumemi the friendly bottle-nosed dolphin nudged Sayaka with her long nose then did backflips to entertain her friend.
"Usually the smart dolphins get to travel the world and perform in other ocean parks," The one-eyed sea lion Midari spoke as she pushed a ball in Sayaka's direction. When Sayara refused to toss the toy back, Midari continued, "So keep learning those tricks and dazzle the crowd. If you'll be number one, maybe the humans will reward you with a swim out to the open."
"Yeah, keep giving her false hope, Midari. I do quite enjoy that empty look of despair in her eyes," Sachiko, another sea lion, cackled.
But it wasn't false hope because true enough, Sayaka had dazzled the crowd with her ability to interact with her human captors displaying tricks that had everyone taking online videos of her and posting it on their social media. She soon became on-demand and was rotated between the amusement ocean parks of the world. And with each travel where she was on loan to the other aquariums, she could hear Kirari's whale call from far away whenever Kirari travelled to a different ocean to spread her song called "All Blue For Only You," a song that had Sayaka Igarashi's name included in it along with her features, quirks, and habits.
En route to Hawaii, their usual cargo plane had been sent for repairs and the crew were forced to transport the animal stars on a huge cargo boat called Phoenix. Somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, the combined efforts of Aoi, Midari, Yumemi, and Sachiko were able to fool their human handlers and while Aoi, Yumemi, and Midari were caught and brought back to their cages, Sachiko was able to slip past them and escape to sea. There, she quickly traded information to curry favor, status, and position from the council of the seven seas. When news of Sayaka's captivity and whereabouts reached Queen Ririka and Princess Mary, the two of them quickly brought the news to Kirari.
Overjoyed, Kirari quickly assembled an army of blue whales to tail the massive cargo boat called Phoenix. There, her blue whale soldiers began to leap into the air, belching and throwing up loads of industrial waste that found its way to the bottom of the sea. Kirari's blue whale soldiers regurgitated all the garbage back onto the cargo boat. The added weight of the smelly load sent the boat rocking and swaying but it wouldn't tip over no matter how much was dumped. Ririka then attempted to send the other blue whales to use their bodies to try and tip over the Phoenix. And though the whales had smashed their bodies up against the steel, it still was not strong enough to tip the Phoenix over.
Finally, Kirari conceeded defeat, swallowed her pride, and swam to her distant cousin's abode in the deep. Yumeko was the queen of the Krakens and was all but delighted at the idea that Kirari, the Queen of the Seven Seas, would now owe her a favor.
"Well, who knew that the proud Queen Kirari even had a weakness, at all. For a while, I thought you were merely annoying the entire ocean with your silly sad whale song. Turns out, its madness. And over a dolphin."
"All or nothing, Yumeko. Otherwise, don't waste my time or yours."
"Oh, I'll help. No biggie. And not because I want a contest between our species. If you can promise to stop singing that depressing love song, I'll help sink the Phoenix. Don't even need an army for that."
"Thank you," Kirari replied through pursed blue lips.
"And you'll compose a song for me. A happy one filled with tales of my heroic deed and unmatched beauty."
"Don't push it," Kirari spat back succintly.
Yumeko followed Kirari to where the Phoenix tried to drop anchor. It was sending out distress calls and much of the human crew was rescued into choppers that came from nearby oil rigs. Only the animals now were left in the cargo bay. Yumeko extended her giant tentacles and tipped the Phoenix over sideways before it turned upside down from the force of her titanic arms. Princess Mary then led the operations to the rescue of the animals in the cargo bay. Releasing them from captivity made Queen Ririka proud of her new companion.
When Sayaka and Kirari were reunited, their tears of joy shone bright under the moonlit night. Above water, they were visible as both dolphin and albino blue whale surfaced to breathe air. Frantic chirping and clicks escaped the Risso's dolphin's lips as Sayaka quickly explained what had happened to her but Kirari spoke sparingly in gusts of wind blowing from her blowholes. Her heart beat too loudly in her own ears it was almost deafening. She was breathing too fast for all to see. Her excitement, laid bare. Yet, all Kirari could think of was how beautiful her purple Risso's dolphin was with her strange purple hues on the lips and rings around her eyes that made her look like a panda. Amidst the garbage and wreckage of the Phoenix cargo ship, she was still the most beautiful sight Kirari had ever seen. And more. Her chirps, squeals, and happy clicks were the most beautiful music filling the night air. It filled Kirari's soul with joy.
"Sayaka. There will be time to explain later. Look up, my darling. Isn't the moon beautiful tonight?" Kirari spoke as softly as she could. With so many eyes and ears on them, she wanted to confess her love to Sayaka as subtly as she could.
"Yes, my queen," Sayaka replied, overcome with joy.
"Call me, Kirari," she insisted as her eyelids drooped in affection.
Sayaka swam and rubbed her fins and flippers against Kirari's huge blue lips. They stayed silent for a while, under the moonlit night and in that stillness--that long silence--Sayaka finally realized that Kirari's heart was beating faster than normal for a blue whale. In that silent space love was the loudest sound. And because they had been parted for so long, she finally understood how much Kirari had truly missed her.
Sayaka whispered, "Ki--Kirari, your heart is beating so fast! I can feel it in the water all around me. I can feel the sound of it deep inside me. Its music to my ears and ecstasy...Kirari."
Beaming with pride, Kirari spoke, "Did I hear you say music? Ah! Allow me to sing `All Blue For Only You', Sayaka Igarashi. Please swim on top of me and rest on my crest as I shall raise you up on my back and sing it for you and only you."
Awash with tears of joy, Sayaka did as Kirari requested. Skin on skin, her own dolphin heart thumped in time to the beating of Kirari's piano-sized heart.
Groans, moans, and other obnoxious sounds filled the night air as all the nearby sea creatures dispersed as far as they could. They were all upset that they were going to hear Kirari sing the same damn song which she had been singing for thousands of miles all over the world everyday for the last nine months after being parted from Sayaka Igarashi.
Yumeko protested by filling the surrounding waters with her glutinous black goo Kraken ink and screamed aloud from its depths, "Kirari, dammit! Sing a new song!!!"