Old Faces Anew

It’d been almost a week since we returned from the research trip. Today is the day Kokomi is finally going to be released from the hospital.

After we docked the boat, Miyuki came past with the van, picked up Kokomi and took her to the hospital. At the time, we thought it may have been better to get an ambulance but since she was almost back to walking on her own; Kokomi insisted that she take private transport to keep it simple.

After being admitted, Kokomi was kept for five days under constant observation to check for any resulting complications. The doctors wanted to make sure that not only was all the liquid out of her lungs but also wanted to ensure that she was also fit to go diving again in the near future, considering her status at work. It was going to be some time before she could dive again but everyone wanted to make sure she was going to be okay.

Toya and I visited her every afternoon to fill her in on what was happening with the testing back at Oceanworld. After everything that went on, all the teams decided they would consolidate their research material at Oceanworld since they were all still worried about Kokomi’s health.

Since Oceanworld had large working labs on-site, it was very easy to accommodate a handful of foreign scientists. All the scientists got to work so quickly with all the samples, it was like they were in their home labs. These people can really adapt to any environment.

On one of my visits to Kokomi, I decided to ask her if she would tell us from her perspective what happened under the water. At least, what she could remember from it.

“Just after I left you and Subbie for my side of the reef, I noticed that it started to slowly get harder to breathe. After about five minutes or so, I tried to take a breath and could barely get any air from the mask.

At that moment, I thought maybe the hose for the mask had failed, since there was still oxygen in the mask, I started calling out for help. I wasn’t sure if the message got through, so I kept repeating myself with the little bit of strength I still had.”

Kokomi struggled for a moment as she took a pause and took in a breath. Her eyebrows seemed knitted as she pieced the events together in her mind.

“After making that call, I took off the mask and slipped on my backup mask around my waist. I then reached for my backup octopus regulator and tried to purge the water from it but it too produced no oxygen. I checked the gauges and they all read zero. It was at this point I knew I was in trouble.

Unfortunately, this was one of the few dives I hadn’t packed my mini spare tank with me. Of all times to forget. I won’t make such a stupid mistake like that again. I pushed hard to swim up to the surface but before I knew it, I blacked out.”

Kokomi looked down at the bed as she recounted the story, a few tears falling from her eyes. This was clearly a difficult and traumatic experience for her.

“Well, Kokomi, let me tell you what it was like from my perspective. Both Beni and I heard your radio call, and I went over looking for you and spotted you above floating. Your eyes were wide open, and you had no mask on. I’m not sure where the mask went, maybe you knocked it in when kicking to the surface?”

I took a deep shaky breath as I fought the emotion building up and continued the story, “When I reached you, I saw you weren't moving so I placed my full-face mask on you and brought you to the surface. I thought you had well you know, passed on as you didn’t look alive when I got to you. I was crying so much and shaking when I got to the boat.”

I reached the end of my story, and each shaky breath brought a fresh wave of emotion over me. As I began to cry, Kokomi took my hand and our eyes met, only this time I could see relief in her eyes.

“I was told by Daiki that you were the one who saved me but until I heard it from you, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Because of what you did, I was kept alive with your mask until I was taken back to the boat. In many ways, I owe you my life. I’m completely grateful for what you did! Thank you Kayo.”

There was nothing I could say, all I could do was embrace her while she sat in the hospital bed. I was just happy she was alive. Now that we got some of the emotional stuff out of the way; I had to get Kokomi up to speed on the research we had been conducting in the lab.

“Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that things are going really well back at the lab in Oceanworld. All the teams are working diligently together to combine all the information we collected. We managed to get a lot of data in those few days even with the issues we had. However…”

Kokomi cut me off toward the end of my spiel.

“That is all good and well, I knew that things would go smoothly with all those people involved. What I really want to know is the real details.”

“Real details?” Confusion showed itself on my face as I tried running my mind through all the possible details that Kokomi would have needed to know and be brought up to date on.

Kokomi leaned forward with a sly grin, “About Beni of course! Have you been getting any closer to him?”

I felt my cheeks redden and sweat upon my brow, “Well, I… um… I got his email address...”

Kokomi had the largest grin on her face I had ever seen. She must be really into gossip. I am not sure what to say. I mean, Beni and I had a nice conversation, but I don’t know what to make out of these feelings.

Just then, two knocks echoed against the door before it began to creak open. We both turned to look at who was at the door.

It was none other than Beni coming through the door with a bouquet of flowers and a little card in his hands. Oh no.

I can feel my cheeks flushing a darker shade of red and my knees started to shake.

Kokomi began to smirk even more, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. Why now Beni!?

Beni smiled as he entered, oblivious to the fact that just a moment ago he was a topic of great interest, “Great to see you Kokomi! Oh, and you are here as well Kayo! I brought you some flowers!”

“Oh Beni, what perfect timing! Thank you! How nice of you to come by! Yes, I am doing much better now.” Kokomi beamed politely at her new visitor.

Beni put the flowers on the table and took a seat near Kokomi’s bed. I started to toy with my hands and fidget a little bit. I felt my heart aflutter- what are these feelings? Kokomi broke the awkward silence with a little playful remark.

“Well, I’ll be getting out of this place tomorrow. Beni, why don’t I give you a special little tour of the aquarium with Kayo?”

Beni grinned enthusiastically and nodded in response to the offer, “That would be great!”

Kokomi gave me a little wink and smile as she finished talking. Why is she torturing me like this?!

The moment Kokomi entered the lab, everyone dropped what they were working on and welcomed her back. Loud cheers were heard across the room! Everyone was so happy to see her back once again. Kokomi looked on in surprise and a little bit of embarrassment. Either way, we were all glad to see her back in her natural habitat.

Once everyone had settled down, we started looking into the findings from all the experiments and filled Kokomi in.

I had been assisting both Beni’s and Toya’s experiments for the past week whenever they needed an extra hand. I had also been the one to go and help with the daily activities going on in the aquarium in place of Kokomi. This entailed feeding time with the dolphins as well as checks for all other animals who have daily needs.

No matter how many times I swim with them, playing with dolphins is always a fun way to spend a day. Seeing the enthusiasm and liveliness of the dolphins always left a smile on my face.

As I was finishing that thought, I felt a buzz in my pocket. I checked my phone and saw Yuri’s name on the top of my message notification list. It felt like it had been an eternity since the last time I heard from her.

What could she have to say? I unlocked my phone to this message:

Hey Kayo!

This is funny but I have the day off today and decided to take a trip down to Kamogawa! I’m at the front gate of the aquarium now! Are you here?

I felt another smile come across my face- I can’t believe Yuri is here! I need to go and see her right now! I started walking toward the door and caught sight of Beni along the way. He always seems to have such great timing.

He grinned as he caught sight of me, “Oh hey, Kayo where are you going?”

I felt myself blush a little at the sight of his smile, “Oh! Um… I am going to the front gate because one of my best friends from Tokyo is here. It is a little unexpected, but I am going to go greet her.”

“That’s so nice of her to come down to see you! Why don’t I tag along?”

That offer from Beni caught me off guard and I stuttered for a moment, “Um… It’s okay. I don’t want to trouble you. I am sure you are busy and…”

“Nonsense! Come let’s go meet your friend! I’m excited to meet her!”

Oh my goodness. I am surprised Beni wants to come to meet Yuri. I nervously hoped that Yuri doesn’t ask too many questions about him. I don’t need another Kokomi torture session.

At the front gate, I could see Yuri looking down at her phone waiting for me. I yelled over to her, and she looked up to the sound of my voice. She began running over to me and we gave each other a big hug when we met. It was really good to see her again.

Yuri had the largest smile on her face after we parted from the hug, “It’s so good to see you Kayo! Wow, look at you in your Oceanworld overalls! It really suits you! And who might this guy be?”

I looked over to Beni and was ready to introduce him, however I noticed he had already beat me to the punch, “How are you doing, Yuri, was it? It’s nice to meet you! My name is Beni, I work with NASA and I am doing a little trip over here at Oceanworld. I’ve been working with Kayo for the last few days and really getting to know her. You have a great friend here.”

I felt myself blush in response to his words but looked down to avoid drawing attention to my flushed face.

Yuri did not seem to notice as she looked around excitedly, “Nice to meet you too! Yeah, Kayo is such a great friend. I am excited to see all of the stuff you guys do over here at the aquarium.”

Yuri, Beni, and I walked into the front gates to meet the rest of the staff. I wanted to show Yuri everything we have at the aquarium and give her the best impression of what I am doing over here. When we got to the lab room Toya and Kokomi were waiting for us outside.

“Yuri, allow me to introduce you to Doctor Kokomi and her assistant Toya.”

The three exchanged pleasantries and then I decided to take Yuri on a little private tour myself. I am sure she and I have a lot of stuff to talk about and it is best we are alone for that.

Before leaving doctor Kokomi, I asked her if she could set up a little welcome surprise for Yuri and she said that she would be more than happy to. Yuri and I walked toward the centre of the aquarium and started making our way to the dolphin pool. We immediately started talking about the workplace investigation.

“So, Kayo, I have so much to tell you. I have been interviewed by Morikawa-san so many times this week about the investigation. He even had two private questioning sessions with me. I am not sure how things are going but they are digging into every part of your work life.”

I felt tense at her words, it still felt unsettling and surreal to hear that every aspect of my work life in Tokyo was being investigated. “Oh, this was really unexpected but when we got off the research boat the other day, Morikawa-san was there! Not only that, but I found out that his son was one of the doctors on our boat! We had a little talk on the dock, but he seemed like he had a lot of things to tell me soon.”

“No way! How crazy is that to run into him all the way over in Kamogawa!? When we were talking, he was asking me a lot of questions about your personal life. I think he is really trying to understand what makes you tick.”

“That is really interesting. I really want to know what he is exactly trying to do here.”

Yuri and I finally arrived at the dolphin tank bottom window.

This was the same place I first came to when I first arrived at the aquarium less than two weeks ago. I thought it was oddly sobering that in just a span of two weeks, not only did I find myself in the same position but also, it was now my turn to enact the same surprise just as Kokomi first did to me when I got here.

I told Yuri to wait down here for a moment and I would be right back. I ran up the stairs to meet Doctor Kokomi who handed me a tank and my wetsuit. I am sure doctor Kokomi would enjoy this little joke as much as I would.

I jumped in the dolphin pool and one of my favorite dolphins, Keru, swam up to greet me. This was perfect. I grabbed hold of Keru and we both started heading toward the downstairs window. Just as Kokomi did not long ago, I passed by waving at Yuri. Yuri jumped back with surprise and waved back at me.

It feels really good to be on the other end of this surprise this time. After passing the window, I decided to do a second pass and tell Yuri to come up to the top of the tank. After swimming past the window once more to see if my little trick had worked, I saw that no one was standing at the window anymore. This could only mean a mission success.

I released my grip on the dolphin and broke through the surface. I looked around and immediately spotted Yuri in the stands. She looked to be in utter shock at what she had just seen. I decided to finish off my little trick in style.

Holding one hand out, I was caught by another one of the dolphins and brought close to the crowd on the surface before letting go once again. This time I let my momentum in the water carry me to the edge of the pool where I grabbed on with my hands.

Kokomi’s and Toya’s hands immediately reached down to pull me from the water and Kokomi embraced me. Wow, I am really getting good at this.

“I’m so proud of how much you’ve grown in confidence. I’m so happy you decided to come down here!”

Turning to see Yuri clapping along with the crowd at the trick I had just done, I swear I could see her tearing up from here!

“You know what, I’m glad as well!”

This was the first time I can remember where I felt one hundred percent sure that I had made the right choice coming down here.

I moved to the side gate where Yuri had made her way so she could get closer to me. Before I turned and went to see Yuri, I asked Kokomi one more question.

“Is everything ready to go?”

“Just like you asked Kayo, I think it’s a wonderful thing what you’re going to do for her.

“I think so too Kokomi. Thanks again for going along with it!” I grinned in appreciation.

I turned and walked to the gate. I opened the latch and motioned Yuri inside. She seemed a little hesitant but came along with me.

“How did you like the show, Yuri?”

“What did I think? I had no idea you had that sort of talent. You looked like a natural in the water! I’ve also never seen you so happy before as when you were talking to the other scientists. I can see why you love it here…”

As she began to trail off, she was obviously thinking about the words she had just said, I decided to swing my second phase into action. Now was my chance.

“Well, you know Yuri, I may just have one more surprise for you.”

“Oh, what’s that?”

I pointed over to where Kokomi and Toya were standing waiting for us. As Yuri looked up, Kokomi revealed a wetsuit for Yuri with her name clearly printed on it. Her eyes grew wide when she realized what was going to happen next.

“Oh no no no, no way. I’m not getting in! I don’t even know where to start with this! Thank you but I really couldn’t...”

“Oh, come on Yuri, you came down all this way to see me and see why I love it so much. Let me show you what it’s like from my perspective. It is like nothing you have ever seen before! Don’t worry, I’ll be by your side the entire time!”

Although she didn’t look very assured by what I had said, I think some of my words got through to her as she tentatively took the wetsuit from Kokomi.

Kokomi in turn immediately took Yuri by the shoulders and guided her to the back area where she went to get changed. Toya and I on the other hand prepared some small scuba equipment.

“Oh My Goodness Kayo, I had no idea what it would be like to take a breath underwater! It truly is a magical experience! Those dolphins are amazing! I can see why you love it so much here! It makes me want to try it again sometime!” Yuri gushed, overflowing with excitement from her time in the water.

I grinned in response to her infectious excitement, “I’m glad you loved it, Yuri! It’s refreshing to hear that from you, I was kind of nervous thinking back to my plan and how you might hate me for it. Come back anytime and come swim with us!”

“Oh, never worry about that Kayo. While I was truly scared of getting in the water today, I trusted you one hundred percent of the way and knew nothing bad would happen. I just might take you up on that last offer.”

As we approached the front gates, Yuri turned to face me. I could tell there was something important she wanted to tell me.

“It’s amazing to see how much you’ve grown since we saw each other two weeks ago! You are no longer the girl who would lie down and get trampled on. You seem confident in yourself now. It’s really lovely to see! I hope you’ll come back to Tokyo but honestly, I see that your life here is best for you.”

Yuri hugged me tightly as she continued with a shaky emotional voice, “I know the investigation is coming to an end soon, so you’ll have to make a big decision soon. Please know that I am here to support you in whatever decision you make. I’ll be a little sad to not see you at work anymore if you choose to stay but as your friend, I just want you to be happy.”

As we parted from the hug, I saw tears in her eyes, she took a deep breath as she smiled proudly, “Take care of yourself and I’ll see you soon!”

With that, Yuri went on her way back to Tokyo. She’s right though. I have definitely grown in so many ways since coming here!

Walking back to the office area, l received a notification on my phone. Opening it up, it was the email I had been dreading receiving. The one that I knew could spell the end of my new life here. It was from Morikawa.

Dear Kayo Suzuki,

I trust this email will find you well. I hope your doctor friend is doing well after the accident. My son informed me she has made a full recovery which I am most relieved to hear.

We have concluded our investigation and require you back up in Tokyo on Tuesday of next week.

With today being Friday, you should have plenty of time to return for this meeting.

See you soon

Toshi Morikawa

Just reading this sent shivers up my spine. Was I really ready to face the music of my old life again, just when I was starting to enjoy my life down here?

Doctor Kokomi had already headed home for the day so I guess I will tell her tomorrow.

I wonder how I’m going to break it to her that all of this is about to come to an abrupt end, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. I need to see what they are going to say in Tokyo before anything else. This is going to be a stressful next couple of days.

Just thinking about this conversation makes my head spin, how am I going to tell her tomorrow...