16th Wave - A Shell's Brittleness, A Heart's Yearning [2]

Kojin Okihiro had no dreams.

He knew how to appreciate life and be grateful, and he did so.

As a young child, he was fortunate enough to be cared for.

As a teenager, he was fortunate enough to meet the right people at the right time.

As an adult, he had a place to sleep, work, and never starved.

To Kojin Okihiro, there was no reason to ask or even hope for more.

‘Give me one more day.’

Yet for some reason, he did.

After Eirin’s cousins explained the situation to him, Kojin Okihiro asked for more. He tried to hope.

According to the twins, Eirin simply needed to go back and get treated. It didn’t mean she could never visit again. It didn’t mean they couldn’t keep meeting each other like they were doing before. Yet as Okihiro heard and struggled to understand everything the children were telling him…

Even after everything, I still know nothing about her.

The reason she got hurt, the thing she had to give up to get a pair of legs, her role as a princess. He knew nothing. And every time he learned a little, he was blown away by how different their realities were.

Eirin ruled in a world filled with magic, freedom, and beauty.

He existed in a space that felt as vacant and distant as the open sea.

In that moment, Kojin Okihiro realized what he had to do. Or better yet, what he couldn’t do—the thing he couldn’t dare to dream. So he asked for one more day.

One more day to stay with her.

One more day to see her smile and watch her laugh.

Because a reality where they both coexisted in the same world did not exist. Could not exist. And Okihiro knew, deep into his soul, that if he waited any longer to part ways…

That sorrow, his heart would not be able to carry.

‘Give me one more day.’

It was what he wrote to the twins. A last request.

The man changed the day of his shift and made sure he had everything they would need to go sailing.

He saw the broken glass and Tomi-san’s concern. He saw the moments Eirin would gasp and clutch at her chest in pain.

Yet he focused on Eirin’s smile. On making her laugh and making her eyes sparkle.

For he had only asked for one more day. Because his heart would only be able to hold it for so long.

“Eirin.”

Okihiro could not hear whether there was sadness or resignation in his voice. Yet by the way the light died in her eyes, perhaps there was something worse.

「Do you hate me?」

He almost laughed at her question. It was so far away from the truth, it was funny. Tragically so.

「You are hurt.」

「You need treatment.」

The twins had given him a few notes. Things to show Eirin to explain what they had told him. Yet he could see in her eyes that she knew what he was talking about.

“Hah…did my cousins put you up to this? Seriously, this is ridiculous—I’m fine!”

She signed the last words, a sharp desperation emanating from her hands, reflecting the fear brewing in her eyes.

Okihiro shook his head.

「You are in pain.」

「It’s serious.」

Princess Eirin bit her lip, barely noticing the pain spreading across her chest. The truth was, Risei had met her the night before.

“You could damage your song, Eirin. Lose it forever. This is not a game anymore, and you are not a child.”

She had to visit the Witch to get her song back. Yet who was to say she would be able to come back as easily? That she would be able to threaten Risei again, and be away for so long?

I don’t need legs to keep meeting with him. We can meet on the boat, as we always did.

…yet why am I feeling like this?

Why did it feel like they would never see each other again the moment she stepped out of the boat?

“Will you come tomorrow?”

‘Tomorrow’, the one word he was able to read.

Okihiro clenched his fists. Tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Bury the pain in his heart.

「Recover first.」

“But will you come tomorrow?”

She took two steps closer, raising her voice, glad he wasn’t able to hear it shake.

「I have work.」

「Perhaps later.」

Tears burned in her eyes. Eirin knew he was behaving strangely, that there was something wrong. His expression, his eyes, his broken smile—they were all wrong.

“This is not a game anymore, and you are not a child.”

Yet Risei was right. The sailor was right. Eirin needed her song back.

Even if I return now, I can visit him later. I know where he lives now. Even if he doesn’t sail, I can go to him again.

It will be fine. There’s time.

When Princess Eirin finally nodded, Okihiro felt the same weight lifting from his shoulders and crushing his heart. He sighed, shaken, relieved, broken.

「Thank you.」

Eirin hugged Okirin with a strong grasp, not wanting to let go. The dog licked her face at least six times before Okihiro succeeded in separating them. Yet when the time came for her to say goodbye, Eirin didn’t know what to do.

Her chest hurt. She felt cold.

She didn’t want to leave.

「 Goodbye.」

It was the way he looked at her. The princess didn’t even pay attention to his sign, she only saw his gaze. The pain behind his eyes.

Before either could do or say anything else, her arms were around him. Embracing him. Crushing him. Eirin could feel the man’s heartbeat and the warmth escaping from his skin. More than that, she could hear her own heart breaking and racing, again and again, while all the tears she couldn’t hold fell.

Their embrace lasted no more than a few seconds.

When she turned and dove into the water, Eirin did not look back. She couldn’t. She only kept swimming.

Kojin Okihiro stood still.

The man never heard the princess jump into the water. He didn’t hear if she was crying. He didn’t hear her racing heart. It was something that had never bothered him so much before—being unable to hear. On the contrary, sometimes he was glad.

He had never thought about it as much before.

Why he hated the noisiness of the city so much, and why the sea brought him so much comfort. Yes, part of the reason was the people. How others looked at him. How others spoke of him. How others interacted with him. Yet at that moment, he finally understood what all those noises were.

A reminder of his loneliness.

In the sea, there were no sounds. No people. No voices. He would gaze at its vast waters, roaming in no particular direction, toward no particular person, and see it as an extension of himself. His life. And then, only then, he would feel at peace. For it seemed to be the only place he could truly belong. A place as lonesome as him.

Yet Eirin had changed that.

She brought so many sounds—so much life—he was always so desperate to hear. As if he had been living in a drifting boat, with no maps or lighthouses to guide him, before Eirin finally appeared with a compass.

 A direction.

“Yet you do like them, don’t you?”

That was Tomi-san’s question.

Before he knew her name, before he knew she was a princess, before she appeared in front of him with legs. Tomi-san asked if he liked the merfolk who had been visiting him for days.

Back then, he couldn’t answer. Because he was uncertain. Because he was afraid. Because he couldn’t understand what he was feeling.

Okihiro touched his face. His fingers were wet, yet not with seawater.

Tears. His tears.

…I like her.

I really, really like her.

Kojin Okihiro knew better than to hope.

He knew better than to wish.

Yet on that day, the one day he requested, the day he dared to make it special, he acted unlike himself.

He was foolish enough to hope, and wish, and dream.

Just for that one day.

“EIRIN!”

He let out a piercing cry. Loud enough to make it feel like blades were cutting through his throat, for that was the only way he could tell there was a real sound coming out of him.

“EIRIN!”

He called out for that name again and again, his heart thumping wildly against his chest, the wind blowing at his face. Again and again, he called for that single name.

And right within his sight, barely able to see a face, he spotted a silver-haired princess.

Eirin was not used to swimming without her tail. It was uncomfortable, impractical—slow. Yet even then, she had to make sure. She needed to know she was hearing right.

When she broke the water’s surface—out of breath, face flushed—her eyes met his in the same heartbeat. Eirin couldn’t see him that well, yet she saw him raise his arm and throw. With all his strength.

Something shot from the skies, like a falling star, going straight at her.

Princess Eirin raised both arms, reaching out for it. For its beautiful shine, for the man who had thrown it at her. And almost like a miracle, it fell right into her hands.

When she turned to Okihiro again, she saw him signing.

「One day.」

「Bring it back.」

It took her a long time to process his words. And before she even did, Eirin lowered her gaze.

Staring at the thing that shone like a falling star, the thing Okihiro had called her dozens of times just so he could give it to her before they parted ways.

A golden locket pendant.

The sailor’s very own shiny necklace.