Princess of the Sagami Bay

Sometimes in life, we tend to dread the never-ending, unstoppable marching of time. Though when you forget to consciously keep track of the day-by-day, you’re suddenly done with your exams… and it’s summer break.

With our fishing gear in hand, dad, Kazuo and I were walking towards Mochimune Fishing Port, fired up to brave the waters of the Sagami Bay. Other than our fishing gear, we’ve got one more thing with us.

“Eh? What do you mean I can’t sail the boat? I’ve been playing plenty of Battleships, you know?”

That thing happens to be Keito.

“That’s a board game.”

He stretched his arms behind his head, “I know. I’ve become a worldclass sailor thanks to it. First play the board game as preparation, then board the boat and sail across the nation.”

“You don’t really sail, do you? You just blow up boats. Now that I think about it, we might be better off without you on board at all.”

“Dismissing my talents, but the moment sea monsters show up, guess who you will call first?” He bumped his own chest, “Me!”

We arrived at the port. “Hey boys, gather here,” dad called. “We’re hopping on that boat over there.” He pointed at a boat, which had two people on board already.

“Sharing a boat, huh,” Keito moped. “There goes my chance of being behind the wheel…”

“Thank goodness.”

Once on the boat, we got introduced to the two fellow fishermen, Masuda and Suzuki. Currently, we’re waiting on the last person to arrive.

On the same road we were walking on earlier, came a girl running with her fishing gear in hand. She looked about as old as Keito and I, but with a much more radiant appearance. As if she escaped a fantasy world in which she was a princess, to come to ours, with a desire to sail the waters and catch some fish.

“Is she the one we’re waiting for?” Kazuo asked.

The two of them turned around, both with frightened looks on their faces, they took a few steps back. “Akugyo…”

“Akugyo? Eh, isn’t that the same name as that one sea monster…?” Keito grabbed me by my shoulders and rocked me back and forth, “Hear that, Ryotaoru?! We’ve got some sea monsters to fight!” He let go of me and said to himself, “If I knew fishing trips were this exciting, I would have tagged along much earlier, ha-ha!”

The girl really did seem headed to our boat.

“Ahoy lads of the sea! Let’s get going already!” Her enthusiasm from afar matched Keito’s—when it comes to sea monsters, that is.

“Woah…” Keito stared in awe as she got on the boat. “Her beauty… I’ve got but two words to say,” he turned, facing me, “breath, taking.”

“Breathtaking is one.”

When she got on the boat, she asked. “Who might you lot be? Never seen any of you, I believe.”

Keito very eagerly took a step forward, “Allow me to handle the introductions. This is Ryotarou’s dad. This is Ryotarou’s dad’s best friend.” He placed his hand on my shoulder, “And this is Ryotarou.”

Going by the titles of his introductions, his order makes no sense.

“How could I forget, I am Keito.”

“So you guys are the Ryotarou-lot and Keito, huh. Well, I’m—”

“Akugyo, right?” Keito tried to cleverly interrupt.

Her friendly and enthusiastic atmosphere evaporated into a more sea monster-like aggressiveness, “Huh?! Say that one more time—” she grabbed him by his collar and pulled him closer, “—and I’ll become a real Akugyo. I’ll capsize this boat and eat you whole, limb by limb, organ by organ. I will start with your eyes, so you’ll have no clue what part of your body I’m going for next. You’ll tremble in fear as I devour you. Now say sorry.”

“…I’m sorry.”

He quickly hid behind my back, I whispered, “All this talk about sea monsters, but you’re frightened of a regular human, heh.”

“This is no laughing matter, Ryotarou! There is nothing regular about her… I think she might actually be a sea monster.”

“Anyway,” she threw her hair behind her shoulder, “The name’s Ayano. Yoshimi Ayano.”

After we got the introductions out of the way, we untied the ropes and pushed the boat away from the pier.

Once we were in the middle of the bay, we had a nice view of the tree-filled mountains in the distance. If we were to do this same trip later in the year, we’d have a higher chance to see Mount Fuji in the distance with clear skies unlike today’s.

On the waters as blue as I hoped the sky would be, sailed many fellow fisher boats, practicing the same pastime we do. All of us had already casted our fishing rods into the water, Keito, too, for the first time in his life. He got a little demonstration from Dad and Suzuki first before giving it a try himself. Though after a little bit of time had passed, he’s the only one who hasn’t gotten lucky yet. Not a single fish on the hook so far.

“So, how long have you two been fishing for?” Ayano asked when she came over to our side of the boat.

Keito took his phone out of his pocket. “Twelve… no thirteen—”

“Wait… thirteen years or since you turned thirteen?” Ayano asked.

“Thirteen minutes,” he clarified. “I’ve been fishing for thirteen minutes.”

“This is his first time,” I quickly added, to save him from another earful.

“And what about you?”

It was quite the hassle to explain, so I waited for dad, standing next to me on my left side, to jump in. “He used to tag along with me when he was a little brat, but that stopped when he turned nine or so. But last year, he started taking it very seriously again.”

“Only a year?” Suzuki, standing on dad’s left, asked.

“Uh-huh. Impressive, no?”

“Got a big one on the hook!” Ayano suddenly yelled out, though she seemed caught off guard and got pulled forward a little trying to reel it in. “Dammit, it’s fighting back—come here you little-” With some sort of warrior cry, she yelled at the top of her lungs as she used all of her power to keep the rod stable as the fish was aggressively fighting back. She got the massive catch to the surface of the water.

“You got this, Ayano!” Dad encouragingly said

Excluding Keito, I was standing closest to her, and without a bite on my line, I grabbed the fishing net to guide the fish on the boat. After getting it on the boat, I handed her the net.

“Look at that, will ya! Take a look! Got a massive Mahi Mahi fish!” She pumped her fist in the air, “I’m the best damn fisher this bay has ever seen!” She started laughing, “That’s precisely why they call me the princess of the Sagami Bay!”

I didn’t mean to steal her thunder, hence why I didn’t say a word about it myself as I stood back behind my rod, though Keito most certainly found it great timing to tell her, “Woah! That’s the same one Ryotarou caught earlier,” whilst pointing to my bucket—with in it a Mahi Mahi fish, just a little bigger than hers.

She squatted down to properly see for herself, getting visibly irritated, vocalised by a “tsk” click of her tongue. “I don’t like you, Ryota-show-off. All humble, no pride.” She stood up and walked back to her fishing rod. “It’s like you’re looking down on your own efforts. Like a coward.”

“Hey now, that’s no way to talk to fellow fishers on your boat.” Dad said.

She didn’t say anything and focused on getting a new fish on her hook. I also didn’t say anything in response, but did think about what she just said.

“Ain’t that right,” Keito said.

* * *

“Eh? You’ll stop playing in high school? Why? Why, Ryotarou?”

Last year’s summer, not much after our bitter defeat in the first round of the volleyball tournament. As a matter of fact, it was the same day. We sat outside, behind the building.

I pulled my cap down by the brim. “I only joined for you, Keito. If you’re no longer there, what am I doing it for?”

With the thumb-side of his fist, he gave my cap an uppercut, making it fly off into the distance.

“What do you mean? Look how good you’ve gotten! You’ll fit in any high school team.”

“I’m not that good, and neither do I desire getting any better from this point.” I stood up, walked over to my cap, sat down again and placed the cap over my knee as usual.

“It pisses me off, Ryotarou. It pisses me off,” he repeated. “When you look down on your own efforts like that, you’re not only spitting in your own face, but also in mine. How hard we fought to get to where we are now… have you forgotten?”

I didn’t know what to say.

“So what now?” he asked. “What are we going to do with our lives?”

Now I perfectly knew what to say, though I didn’t know how to say it. “I think I’ll be going fishing with my father. I’m honestly tired of this. Club activities and all, being a leader… it’s all so… draining, you know?”

“I don’t got the patience to be a fisherman, man,” he sighed. “But it’s alright.” His usual smile returned to his face. “It’s weird isn’t it? I love having hundreds of friends, you got only one. I love conquering as many things as I can, you dedicate yourself to one. While I fail to be even considered a jack of all trades, you’ll always be a master of at least one. Maybe I wish I could be just a little bit more like you. Only a little.”

* * *

The sun has had enough of standing high in the sky, only to be blocked by the unwelcome clouds every now and again. We returned to the pier.

“Had fun today?” I asked Keito.

He shook his head. “I paid an entire day-trip fishing—which was only fun for the first hour—for one single conversation between you and Katsumata during lunch, only for that to lead to absolutely nothing.”

“Somebody called?” Kazuo suddenly turned around.

The two of us shook our heads, to which Kazuo got a little suspicious. With a puzzled look on his face, he peered closer into our eyes.

“Ah, that reminds me.” He reached for his pocket and handed me a folded up piece of paper. “Erika asked me to hand this to you.”

“Hm?” I took it, unfolded it and immediately closed it the moment I saw the first few words. “…I’ll read this later.”

“What’s it say?” He asked me.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“What’s it say?” He turned to Kazuo and asked again.

He shrugged his shoulders, “Dunno either.”

Out of nowhere, I felt slender fingers sliding over my hand, snatching the piece of paper I was holding out of it.

“Let’s see…” Ayano said as she started reading, her gaze intensifying the further she got, all whilst avoiding my every attempt at getting it back from her. “…Here,” she said in a soft voice as she handed it back.

“What’s it say?” Keito asked once more.