Art and Beauty

We all have our own little places to go to whenever we want to run away from the world. I have the beach again after that night I revisited it with Yume. For Satoro, it seems to be this art museum.

“I’ve been here once when I was a little kid,” I say.

Yume, Satoro’s mom, and I stand in front of a tall white building decorated in carved structures and etchings. It has two pillars sitting on each side of the building, stretching all the way to the top of the building. Satoro sees us as he sits against one of the pillars. Yume and I walk towards him, but Satoro’s mom sprints ahead.

“Satoro!” shouts Satoro’s mom.

She hugs him tightly and slowly caresses the back of his head.

“Mother…I…cannot bring myself to let it go…I am truly sorry…” says Satoro.

“I know, sweetie. It’s alright. It’s okay. You can draw all you want.”

“But mother…”

“Don’t worry. You won’t hurt me or make me feel sad. You’ve been carrying the burden alone for a while now, haven’t you?”

“But…”

Satoro hiccups within his mom’s arms. All of the weight on his shoulders is finally being let off at long last. Satoro probably still tried to stop himself from doing anymore art and came here to say goodbye. Probably wasn’t the best choice to come here if he wants to try and ditch drawing altogether, but I can’t blame him. I found my way back to that beach, and he found his way back here, even after not wanting to upset his mom anymore.

“No, Satoro. You should draw. Draw all you want. You’re an artist. You’re an amazing artist, and I’ll always support you. I shouldn’t have been as scared as I was.”

“Scared?”

“Yeah. I shouldn’t have been afraid of people judging you for drawing or being like that guy. I shouldn’t have forced you to make a decision you hated. I’m sorry.”

“Mother…”

Satoro continues sobbing. They finally manage to come to an understanding. It’s hard to not get emotional when I see them finally accept each other, but I managed to hold my feelings in. Well, maybe I was just a tiny bit emotional. Just a bit.

“And you’ve managed to meet some friends through your art. How could I stop you after that?” asks Satoro’s mom.

Satoro turns his head and looks at us. Both Yume and I wave at him.

“Hey, Satoro,” I say.

“Hiya! We were looking for you, Satoro,” says Yume.

“Sir Yuma, Miss Yume…I did not imagine that you two would attend a party held for someone such as me. I do not deserve your acts of kindness.”

“Satoro, stop. You really think you don’t deserve it at this point? We’re here now, aren’t we?” I say.

All that bullying and harassment has really made him doubt his own self worth so much that he still thinks Yume and I are tricking him. That way of thinking makes my skin crawl because of how much damage that’s been done to his self-confidence. It’s time to change that.

“Satoro, you can believe in them, okay? And remember, if they ever do anything to hurt you, momma will hunt them down and turn their faces into mashed potatoes,” says Satoro’s mom as she glares directly at us.

She’s serious. She will definitely turn me and Yume into mincemeat.

“I’ll make sure you won’t have to do that, Miss Fujimura. I’m not a fan of having any part of my body turned into mush…” I respond.

“Mashed potatoes huh…that reminds me, we haven’t eaten anything today,” says Yume as she pats her stomach.

Is food the only thing that’s on Yume’s mind? Although, she’s not wrong. I’m starting to get hungry too. Anyways, Satoro needs to trust us. If he doesn’t, then we won’t be able to get anywhere.

“Satoro. Yume and I both know how good you are at drawing. You’re talented and you deserve better. It’s unfair how you were treated back then,” I say.

“Sir Yuma…” responds Satoro.

“There’s no way to go back in time and stop those people from saying and doing what they did, but I can promise that Yume and I won’t let that happen anymore. We won’t abandon you like so many people have done before. Even after saying all of that, if you can’t trust me, then at least trust your mom.”

Satoro looks at his mom, and she nods back in agreement.

“It’s okay. It’s your call. You know them more than I do after all,” says Satoro’s mom.

All that pain just because he wants to do art is unfair. His dad ditched him and his mom in this mess to the point where they are both afraid of reaching out to others and pretending to be who they’re not just so they can have some peace in their lives. That really pisses me off. Yet, that still doesn’t piss me off as much as the people who didn’t even give Satoro a chance to be himself. I dig the fingernails of my right hand into my palm as I curl my fingers into a fist. It’s just like what happened to me in middle school when Hiroto graduated at the top of his class in college. Sure, not as extreme as Satoro being compared to his lousy dad, but it’s the comparison to someone else that really irks me. I hate it.

“Sir Yuma, Miss Yume, will you two really help me out?” asks Satoro.

There is still one thing Satoro needs to do before Yume and I could really help him out. Just one small thing.

“Only if you stop calling us sir and miss. Just call us by our names. We’re friends after all,” I answer, smiling at him as I do.

“I mean, he can keep calling me miss if he wants to…” comments Yume as she puts her index finger on her lower lip.

“Yume,” I say.

This girl really wants to complicate things for no reason. Don’t do this now when we’re this close.

“Kidding! Kidding! Don’t get mad!” exclaims Yume.

I sigh and turn to Satoro. I stick my right hand out and say, “Yume and I will stick with you no matter what. Besides, I really want to see that drawing of Yume. It’ll be amazing. I know so.”

Satoro looks down at my hand, then back up at my eyes, then back down at my hand. I know. It’s hard to accept people back into your life when so many people left before you even knew what happened. It’s hard to believe in the good of other people again because you’ve been burned too many times. It’s hard to look forward to the future without remembering the pain of the past. I know, Satoro.

“Then…Yuma. Thank you. Both you and…Yume,” says Satoro, putting on a big smile as a single tear streams down his face. This is the first real smile I’ve seen him put on.

He shakes my hand with a firm grip—most likely afraid to let go of me physically and emotionally. Yume puts her hands on top of ours.

“Yeah, we’ll make sure you aren’t alone anymore!” exclaims Yume.

That’s right. I’m not alone either. Yume was here to help me with this. I’m doing all of this to help Yume get back to the moon too. It’s a weird feeling. I want my peace and quiet back so I can relax by myself and have space to breathe again. I don’t want to be around people, and I just want to drift aimlessly through life. However, I’m here shaking hands with a guy I never thought I’d talk to and with a mysterious girl who randomly found me one day. I don’t dislike this. In fact, it feels kind of…nice.

“Now then!” says Satoro’s mom. She puts her arms around all of us and continues saying, “Let’s go home and eat. I bet you kids are starving. We still got a party after all.”

She’s right. That’s why we’re here in the first place. We make our way back to her car and take our seats.

“Finally, some food!” says Yume.

Seriously, this girl’s brain has been replaced by her stomach.

“Yes! I know my mother’s cooking will delight you two,” says Satoro.

“You betcha!” agrees his mom.

I sigh and look out the car window. As the car starts up and speeds away, I look back at the museum. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of Satoro’s work makes its way into a museum in the future.

                                                                         ***

It’s been a week since Yume, Satoro, and I ate over at Satoro’s house. Satoro’s been feeling better ever since that conversation we had with him and his mom. He draws as much as he can every day without having to hide his phone anymore. Tonight’s the night when we finally head back to that beach so Satoro can get that image he’s been wanting ever since Yume and I first talked to him. Well, that is if a certain girl can hurry up already.

“C’mon, Yume!” I shout.

I’m standing outside of my house with Satoro under the full moon, waiting for Yume to get dressed. It’s already past nine Satoro’s mom is picking him up in about an hour at the beach, so we don’t really have much time to be waiting around.

“Yuma, there is no need to rush her. The beach shall wait for Yume if it needs to,” says Satoro.

“Yeah, but your mom is going to pick you up soon, and it might get too late, and we might not get the right angle of the moon, and—”

“Yuma, it will be okay.”

Satoro smiles to reinforce his words. He’s right. Why am I panicking so much about this? Satoro is the artist and Yume is the one he’s drawing. I’m just there to guide them to the beach and stand around. There’s no reason for me to worry so much.

“Hey, Yuma!” shouts Yume from inside the house.

“Yeah? You done?”

“Almost! I just want to know what your favorite color is!”

What is this girl doing? Mom’s helping her get dressed, so why does she need my input?

“Red. Why?”

“Okay!”

Yume stops talking, leaving me and Satoro to look at each other. I shrug my shoulders. This is ridiculous. I turn away from the doorway and look out into the street.

“I’m gonna start walking,” I say.

“Huh? But Yume should be almost done,” says Satoro.

He’s right again. Why am I so impatient? Am I that eager to get this over with? Not really. I’ve managed to wait until now. There’s no need to rush. Calm down.

“I hope so.”

Maybe I’m just too eager to be on that beach again. I didn’t think about that beach the entire week until now. I guess it’s because now that it’s actually the day, the anticipation is killing me when we’re so close.

“Sorry for keeping you two waiting!” says Yume.

She’s finally done. I hear her approaching the doorway. What could have kept her away for so long? Probably nothing important.

“Amazing…” says Satoro.

“Hey, Yuma,” says Yume.

“What?” I ask.

I sigh and turn around to look at her. She’s wearing the same white nightgown when we first met. However, she’s added two red ribbons: one around her waist and another around her neck. She’s also wearing a white sunhat with a red hat band wrapping around the crown. She’s wearing white sandals instead of going barefoot like before.

“Whoa…” I say as I gaze at her.

Oh. So that’s why. That same feeling of awe from that first night I met her wells up inside me again. My heart beats rapidly inside my chest, ready to burst out from seeing Yume.

“How…do I look?” she asks as she nervously smiles.

Seeing her like this makes me want to jump for joy due to being able to see this for myself. I have to calm down now for a different reason. She’s still that weird moon girl I know. She’s…beautiful.

“O-Okay…” I answer.

“Aww. Only okay?”

Yume looks down at her gown and frowns a bit. Wait, I didn’t mean to be that harsh.

“No, you are absolutely magnificent, Yume,” answers Satoro.

“Oh! Thank you!” says Yume, followed by a small giggle.

She softly smiles from Satoro’s compliment. Damn. I feel a bit bad for stumbling over my word now.

“L-Let’s go. We don’t have much time left,” I say.

I turn back around and start walking. I feel my face heating up from both seeing how Yume looks and how I embarrassed myself from stammering so much. My stomach feels like it’s in my throat from how nervous I am. I keep walking. That’s all I can do.

“Yuma! Oh well. Let’s go, Satoro!” says Yume.

“Understood. Lead the way, you two,” says Satoro.

They follow me as we make our way to the beach once again. We past by the shops as a few cars drive by. I sneak occasional glances behind me at Yume as she and Satoro talk about various things like candy and homework. Oh shoot. I forgot we have a school project due soon. I really don’t want to focus on that at the moment.

“Ah! The moon!” shouts Yume.

She runs ahead of me and grabs my wrist, pulling me along with her.

“Yume?!” I shout in surprise.

“C’mon, Yuma! The moon is so big!”

She takes me along with her across several blocks, running as fast as Yume could to get to the moon in the distance. We don’t stop until we reach the sand on the beach. Both of us try to catch our breath as I look up at the sky. The moon is enormous tonight. It’s perfectly round and shining brightly along the beach, illuminating the sand and creating small sparkles in the water and the droplets that splash up from waves hitting the beach. There are a few clouds in the sky, but the stars and moon still manage to shine in spite of them. It’s a gorgeous night sky—as expected of this place.

“We…really…didn’t have to…run all the way…Yume…” I say while gasping for air.

“But…I got…so…excited…” says Yume as she also gasps for air.

After several more inhales, we finally catch our breath. Yume looks up at the moon and exhales deeply.

“It’s so pretty…” she says.

She walks closer to the ocean until her feet are submerged in the water. She looks at the moon for a long time as I stare at her back. What could she be thinking? She probably misses her home, right? I’m still not sure how helping out people will send her back to the moon. It’s not like I’ve seen her fly or anything before. I just hope I’m actually able too—both for my sake and hers.

“What a spectacular night sky…” says Satoro as he approaches from behind me.

“Yeah, it really is,” I respond, looking away from Yume and focusing on Satoro. “So, what do you think?”

“It is…perfect.”

He whips out his phone begins drawing immediately. He stops to sit down on the sand, then he continues drawing.

“The lighting, the color contrast, the small glints in the background, Yume standing so elegantly under the moonlight…it is simply perfect, Yuma,” says Satoro.

“I’m glad then,” I respond.

I turn and look back at Yume, who’s still staring up at the moon. It really is perfect. This is why I love this beach. The view is unbeatable from here. I feel so dumb for stopping myself from coming here for years.

“Hey, Yuma,” say Yume.

“Yeah?” I ask.

She turns around and looks at me with a soft smile. Then, she asks, “The moon is beautiful tonight, isn’t it?”

I couldn’t focus on the moon at all since I’m finally seeing Yume in the moonlight. Her eyes seemingly glow as she looks at me. Even though it’s night time, Yume’s presence alone brightens up the beach. It’s hard to tell when the moonlight stops and when Yume's glow begins.

"...yeah," I answer.

“It truly is a beautiful moon,” says Satoro.

“Yeah, she really is beautiful…” I respond.

I stare at Yume for a long time as she plays with the water, gleefully skipping around and splashing around with her feet. All I can do is smile at Yume enjoying herself. Eventually, Satoro's mom arrives and picks Satoro up. I didn't get to see what he drew, but I have a pretty good idea what it could have been.

Hiroto, I think I may have found something more precious than the night skies you showed me from back then.