Cut Fin

“Summer vacation is approaching fast, fuck yeah!!”

Zhang is a little too enthusiastic even for him. But it was true. As June arrived, the temperature soared, and the sun cast its radiant glow upon the students, prompting them to adjust the classroom windows to block the intense sunlight until its position shifts.

“Don’t be so loud, geez!”

“Come on, li’l Joe, aren’t you excited?”

“Hey, he’s my li’l Joe now, we went to see the hockey match together!”

Seko chimed in, sporting a smug expression.

“I’ll freaking throw you out of the window!”

Zhang was very competitive towards his li’l Joe Yutaka.

“Speaking of li’l Joes… Isn’t Ravel too invested in his non-pretty girlfriend?”

Seko tried to ease his vocabulary by not using the word “ugly” just out of respect towards his friend.

“She’s not his girlfriend yet.” Yutaka corrected him.

“Well, they’ve been spending time for the last month together.”

“And I hope we will continue to do so!”

Ravel suddenly appears behind Seko along with Fantasia.

“Oh, Ravel! Hi! And … Fantasia.”

Seko couldn’t simply conceal his disappointment that he had to see her face first thing in the morning.

A murmur spreads through the classroom. Ravel can faintly hear words like ugly, zoo keeper, monkey and other insults.

“Shut up, you bastards, you think I cannot hear you? Your personalities are what’s repulsive and not her!!”

Although Ravel knew how to keep it cool and not pay attention to the murmur surrounding Fantasia’s appearance, sometimes he did speak out his mind. Like now.

“Don’t mind them, Fantasia.”

“N-no, it’s fine. I am used to this, you know that…”

Fantasia shows him a sad smile.

“Actually. Are you free during the weekend? There’s a new exotic zoo that they opened recently here in Bratislava.”

“Oh, yeah, I heard about that! There’s this one animal I wanted to see but no zoo that I visited happened to have them!”

Fantasia’s once broken fingers are not bandaged anymore but she still needs to be careful. Her excitement whenever she talked about something she enjoyed was almost contagious.

“What kind of animal?” Yutaka asked with an interest.

“That’s a secret~.”

“A special kind of a monkey?”

“I’ll kill you, Seko.”

“Sorry, sorry!”

“Don’t mind him, Fantasia. He is a good person deep down, he is just a social analphabet.”

“I-I know, don’t worry. You’re all a good bunch, hehe.”

She tries her best to fit in among Ravel’s friends, too. But something seems to be on her mind, as her excitement waned and sadness crept in.

“What’s going on?”

“Uhm… Can we maybe try a different zoo outside of Bratislava…?”

“A different one? Why?

“Never mind!” She shakes her head. “It’s gonna be okay when I’m with you!”

Ravel blushed a little and watched her leave the class 2.A as she wishes a nice day to them all.

“Awww, look at you, your li’l Joe is making you blush~!”

Seko teases him, knowing too well it would be a normal reaction for anyone. While they’re having this confrontation, a male student with red hair from a different class is looking for something in their classroom, although nobody paid any attention to him.

“S-shut up, you stupid jerk!”

The male student who came to borrow their wall world map overhears snippets of their conversation and giggles. After he locks his eyes for a few seconds with Ravel, he leaves. Who was that? Ravel wondered.

***

Finally, a sunny Saturday arrived and Fantasia accompanied by Ravel is enthusiastically running around in the new Zoo that had just opened recently. She stops in her place, looks around suspiciously and then starts running around again like a little child.

“What should we see first, huh? Huh??”

“Haha, stop it, girl, the animals won’t go anywhere, we have plenty of time! Let’s see…”

Ravel opens up the guide map he received along with the tickets and starts reading.

“Hey, the biggest attraction is going to be the dolphin show in about 1 hour! We can’t miss that!”

“Dolphins? Yeah, they’re very nice, I’d be glad! But after that, we need to see the one animal I have been dreaming of seeing in person for ages.”

“Still won’t tell me what it is?”

“Nope! You’ll see when we get there! I don’t want to even know if they are here. I want to search for them!”

“Alright, but you know what the World Order says… We shall start with antelopes!”

And so, Ravel and Fantasia set off on their zoo adventure, marveling at the exotic species they encountered along the way.

“Woah, look at those horns!”

“Antelopes are colored very pretty!”

The antelopes just sit idly within their fence.

Next on the list are boars. Two boars appeared to be engaged in a playful tussle, slamming their heads.

“Nooo, piggies, don’t fight! You are friends, aren’t you??”

Fantasia desperately tries to reach them with her hand but Ravel grabs her from behind, trying to stop her from doing something stupid.

Being a little huffy, Ravel brings her some ice cream in a cone that she immediately grabs and starts licking.

Fantasia is still shook from what she witnessed as her eyes glisten with tears. But they soon light up again once she sees a cheetah in its cage.

“Woah~, what a beautiful kitty.”

“This kitty could kill you, haha.”

“So mean!”

“Oh shit, we spent too much time on those boars! The dolphin show is about to start!”

He grabs her hand and they start running towards an aquatic stadium. Fantasia didn’t realize it at first but Ravel seems to be very interested in those dolphins.

“How cute…”

“Huh?”

“N-nothing!” she shakes her head.

The dolphin show has already started. They barely missed just the introduction of the caretaker who is acting as an MC with a microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Children of all ages! Let me introduce you our new stars of the show! These two dolphins are MADLY in love with each other! Their names? Please give a big round of applause to the fearless hero, Ravel!”

A dolphin emerged from the water, emitting a cheerful sound that seemed to greet the audience. The children erupted in cheers and applause.

“Huh…?” Ravel thought he heard wrong.

“Wow, that hero dolphin has the same name as you!!”

“Ravel’s soul mate is a dolphin who is a little unusual. She is much smaller than your regular dolphin and her dorsal fin has, unfortunately, an ugly cut on the left side. But please, welcome our extraordinary dolphin, Fantasia!!”

The female dolphin jumps out of a water and makes the same sound as the male one. Children are captivated by the synchronized movements they start doing as if they were dancing in the water. The little kids cheer loudly and shout that Fantasia is the best and how cute she looks even if unusual.

Ravel starts frowning, unable to understand what is going on and why the dolphins are named Fantasia and Ravel.

“This can’t be a coincidence…”

Fantasia, on the other hand, is completely engrossed in the show and she can’t take her eyes off the pair.

“They are so cute together! It seems like that cut on her fin is getting in the way of her swimming, but look! Ravel is helping her with his flipper!! I’m gonna meeeelt!”

Ravel stops frowning and his face turns into a smile. He takes Fantasia’s hand and holds it; she is in such awe that she doesn’t even realize how she instinctively holds his hand tightly as well.

“You really are amazing with that ability to not be fazed by unnecessary stuff. I’m getting infected by your optimism every day more and more.”

More than in the anticipated dolphin show, Ravel is lost in Fantasia’s own world.

CHAPTER 5: END