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… How long has it been since we stopped our adventures?
Yes, it's been so long since we felt the cool breeze blowing through my gray hair with yellow streaks, the calming sensation of being on the surface, in a boat, swimming in calm waters where the waves are low and break against the rocks of the blue sea. I missed that…
Like, living at the bottom of the sea is fun and all, but... I hadn't seen Wadanohara's smile in ages. She smiled and all, but it wasn't the same without that shark. The kingdom is grateful for his return, and I'm grateful to see you happy, Wadanohara. But something bothered me during this time... We seemed distant, even when close to each other.
Dolphi spent her afternoons reading Cherryblod's books. Fukami isolated herself, believing she would never see the witch happy again, and wondered if that shark was really important. And me? I observed. Years passed and everything became incredibly interesting, but I wouldn't take that in a positive way. In those years I can say one thing: the bottom of the sea had become repetitive. I leaned on the railing that kept the boat away from the blue water.
“Memoca?” I heard someone calling me. It was a shy voice, very familiar, especially to me... Dolphi. She had grown as much as I had in those last few years, and for some reason we had drifted apart. Our friendship was strong, so why was it now reduced to such limited contact? We exchanged a few words and returned to our tedious daily lives. Her dark eyes stared at me worriedly.
“Hey Dolphi!” I replied cheerfully. What did she want to hear? That didn't matter to me as much as the reason she was worried about me, and yes, that was clear on her face “Don't worry, I was just thinking!” I turned completely towards her and put on my best smile. She smiled back, but unlike me, she didn't show her teeth.
"I'm sorry then..." I expected the conversation to end at that point, as it always did, and my suspicions were correct. Dolphi began to turn to go back inside the boat. For some reason, I saw that scene in slow motion. And, perhaps for the same reason, I felt I couldn't let it end now. I grabbed the long sleeve of her sweatshirt as I propelled my body forward. Why did I do that? Now she was watching my red face.
"Ah... Uh..." the dolphin's face seemed confused, but to me... it was even more so, after all, the lack of contact clearly affected me more. She was so natural, she seemed to ignore the things around us "Your scarf is messy, let me fix it for you!" I rushed with a smile that clearly showed my nervousness. It was clear I made up an excuse. Naively, however, she didn't seem to notice and continued.
"Okay..." if it were like the past, I would probably be completely excited about something as simple as fixing a scarf, she would be uncomfortable with the situation. I feel like the roles have reversed here, or almost. I felt my heart pound and my body grow warm, but I didn't understand why. I started to clench my fists while gripping the scarf around her neck. She unfortunately noticed my unease “Memoca...?”
“Ah, it's not bad... Haha!” I gave a better smile than before, but still shaky, as were my fingers that were fidgeting with her yellow scarf.
“Memoca!” the dolphin immediately pulled me from my thoughts. Her face was different, it looked like the past... I realized I almost made her cry... I... “Stop it and just say what you want to say…” she held my shoulders firmly, and her palms also seemed to tremble.
“I was thinking about how we've drifted so far apart these past few years, you know? That's all, so... I wanted to talk to you more.” she smiled while letting a few tears run down her face.
“I'm so sorry about that!” Dolphi... Relax, it's not your fault, and even if it were, it would be half your fault too ”So what do you want to do? Wadanohara isn't on the ship and Fukami is heartbroken... You know, right?”
“What do I want?” I paused to think, it was only a few seconds, but I felt a vast emptiness, I couldn't even breathe, but I quickly answered “I want you and me, sailing on this sea and eating star fruits!” She laughed, and I joined in. We sat on the boat's wooden plank and finally started to really talk “Look, a hawk!” I pointed to the sky reflected in the water.
“What, where?!” She searched while I moved closer to grab her waist. I pushed myself and shoved her to the ground “Oh, Memoca…” We laughed together and looked at each other. I stared into her dark eyes while she gazed into my golden ones. We blushed simultaneously.
“Look, we're true soulmates! We even blushed at the same time... Although, I'm not the tomato in this relationship.” I smiled wickedly while Dolphi's face was redder than Lobco's.
“Hey!” she pushed me away, but forced me to stay on top of her.
"I think I understand, Dolphi." I looked at her, and she asked for the pretext. "Words are too cliché... I prefer to demonstrate." I grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled her close, sealing our lips with a kiss that lasted about fifteen seconds. "Understood?"
"I don't think so... Could you repeat that?" she said shyly. I laughed and now I went towards her, bowing.
"I love you, shark-chan."
"I'm not a shark!" she exclaimed in despair, and I just laughed. "They're scary!"
"Relax, I know perfectly well."