Birthday Ferry to Aomori

From what I knew about her videos, I interpreted their purpose as a video diary with periodic updates. It was similar to writing letters to someone across the world, except it was to dead people and one-way. Her secret passion about the videos caused me to believe she wasn't random with her updates, but followed certain rules.

She didn't record every day or record everything she saw on the days she did. It seemed like she limited herself to twenty minutes worth of content, and I assumed she'd edit to make a five to ten minute video each time.

When we were together at the pie shop, she'd only record once every three or four meetings and give updates by speaking directly into the camera as if she had an audience that was watching. Despite that, I believed she didn't upload the videos on any site and just kept them stored for herself. Though I did wonder if there was an actual audience.

She only opened up about her videos to the Shizuko family and me, because she unintentionally exposed herself at Mt. Maruyama. Sometimes I'd think about how things would be and how we would have gotten along if I never made that discovery on that day.

I knew I showed up in her videos a few times, though I never got to see in what context. I didn't really care and there was no need to pry her into showing me. I was probably absent in most of the videos – which was fine – I knew I added another appearance to the tally on the day of our joint birthday.

After returning from the cemetery, I reunited with Ringomori outside the orphanage.

"Happy birthday to us [You]," we both said.

In all honesty, I didn't know if she meant "Us" as in "Me" while using the plural noun joke, or the both of us together. Either way, it worked out…just for us.

She said, "It's hard to believe that it's been a year since we've reunited."
She shivered from head to toe despite wearing a large wool coat, earmuffs, a scarf, and fuzzy mittens.

"What're you talkin' about? Are you sleep-deprived?"

"Staying up this late is normal for me, but to actually be outside in the freezing cold of Sapporo's peak autumn weather is a new experience."

I myself wasn't showing much weakness to the cold, mainly because I had been wearing a black hoodie with my RONDselia windbreaker opened over it, plus warm joggers. She waddled all the way from the bus stop to the train station.

The entire place was a bit desolate, but I figured it'd soon fill beyond capacity once the corporate workforce people arrived. We waited on a bench inside and chit-chatted until the train for Hakodate arrived at the platform.

As aforementioned before, the train journey would be almost four hours long. Ringomori got the window seat to my left with the mutual agreement that I'd get it on the way back. The JR Hokuto line ran along the coast of Hokkaido from Tomakomai to Mori, and she was asleep before we could strike up a conversation.

Scanning the reposeful mountains outside nearly put me to sleep with a serene atmosphere. Nevertheless, I stayed awake long enough to see the sunrise above the crystalline of the strait. The best part was that she was in my view too, silhouetted by the light from behind her.

I decided to grab her camera from her purse and use it to record the sunrise with her restful face at the edge of the picture.

I thought, She'll probably not see this until after the trip, can't wait to get an angry text about it.

The ambience of the train and verdant landscape eventually put me to sleep for the latter half of the journey. I was awoken by Ringomori when we were nearly at our stop in Hakodate. It was only at that moment that I acknowledged the fact that we were actually going on a trip together, alone, for our enjoyment.

A few months ago, the person I was would have never believed that I'd be in a situation nearly as exciting as this. Realizing that, I wondered what situations the person I'd become in the future would think I wouldn't believe. I was certain that it would be more thoughtful memories.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"We [I] think we [You] mean, are 'we' ready?" she said with a smirk.

"What's wrong with us," I uttered.

In contrast to Sapporo station's early morning barrenness, the peak morning rush hour of Hakodate saw the station absolutely packed. Due to my height, I became the leader and guided a smaller Ringomori through a meandering forest of bodies to the exit. From there, we'd have to head to the ferry terminal by bus, which was another fifteen minutes.

At the ferry terminal, we saw some of the colossal and vast white and blue ferries on the dock. The names of the ships, written in katakana, were "Blue Dolphin" and "Blue Happiness" and the ships that were currently en route were the "Blue Luminous" and "Blue Mermaid." We entered the kiosk and confirmed our reservation without trouble due to the automated machines. We'd be boarding the "Blue Happiness" ferry.

We waited for the boarding gate to open, and in the meantime browsed the shops and restaurants inside. We hadn't had breakfast yet and my stomach in particular was growling. We agreed to eat a light breakfast, I got chicken and rice and she ordered grilled squid stuffed with rice; trust me, the servings were small. When we finished our meals, the boarding gate announced its opening and we made our way down the tunnel into the ferry.

The entrance hall was similar to a hotel's main lobby, except the hall was swaying side-to-side ever so slightly. Other guests were sitting in chairs and diligently watching the news on the wall-mounted TVs while kids gleefully played video games on the floor-embedded tables.

We purchased the "View Seat" classification for the ferry, which meant we didn't have a room suite, but it was better than the standard ticket because it granted them access to a room with a great view. The ferry disembarked and the two of us decided to have a tour of the ship before heading to the open deck.

"There's quite a number of amenities on this ship," she said as we traversed the hallways. "Vending machines with snacks and entire hot-and-ready bento boxes, small gift shops where we can buy ferry souvenirs, and look up ahead – the lounges have bookshelves with plenty to read."

"The weather seems better than predicted for now, it doesn't look like they're goin' to close off the open deck. In case they do later, want to go out there now?"

She agreed, and we climbed the stairs outside. There were no chairs, but we had the "View Seats" so it didn't bother us; look at how entitled we felt. We leaned against the guardrail, and she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then exhaled.

"Do we [You] smell that? The fresh air of the salted water is surprisingly relaxing."

"Must be nice, but – and I can say this for myself – my nose sucks at smellin' things."

Instead of giving sympathy, she giggled while staring down at the water.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it except hope it gets better. Maybe it will during this trip."

"We [I] hope so."

She recorded a few videos of the ferry's departure from the terminal and into the strait while I gave a small commentary about the saltwater air mixing with the chilled breeze to whisk my hair all over my face.

"Hey," I motioned with my hands again, "Can we [I] record somethin' for us [You] too?"

"Oh?" she said with a head tilt. "Okay, sure. What will we [You] record?"

She handed me the camera and I started to record the view just like she was doing, but then I panned the lens in her direction and she flushed pink with the realization that the main focus of my recording was her. I was proud of her, because she was able to quickly relax herself and I captured her true emotions.

This better make it into the video.

She put the camera away and we spent our time on the open deck simply staring out into the strait without a need to talk. Our elbows connected multiple times, but neither of us seemed to mind that. I enjoyed that time, and so did she – perhaps even more than me.

It's funny, the real journey hasn't even started yet, but I already feel like I'm experiencin' more than enough happiness for a week.

I didn't question if I deserved it, just enjoyed the fact that I had it. At that moment, I was literally on the same boat as her, and as I looked around, we were the only ones on the open deck; alone.

"Vieira-kun, if there were chairs here, would we [You] sit down and draw the view?"

"We [I] wouldn't need chairs to draw a line across a piece of paper, color the bottom part of it dark blue and the top light blue with white spots. But maybe we'll [I'll] try somethin' else in the 'View Seats.'"

"Speaking of, can we head there now? It's starting to get a bit chilly out here, at least for me."

"I'm with you on that, let's go."

The seats were two rows of reclining chairs with a relaxing view out the front over the ship's bow. There wasn't much privacy between seats for different parties, but luckily Japanese people were mostly considerate with each other about personal space.

We sat at the front row and enjoyed the view just as much as we did at the open deck, just without the breeze. She must have had an ulterior motive for wanting to come, because not long after we sat down, she fell asleep again – that time with her head on my forearm.

She must've been really sleep deprived before her episode, I'll make sure she goes to bed on time tonight.

My left arm was practically a pillow, but my right was still free to move around. I took out my phone and used my lanky length to place it on the windowsill with the camera app opened and zoomed all the way out. I set a timer for three seconds and posed looking down at my lap with a pencil in hand and my opened notebook. Was I going to wake her up for the photo? Of course not.

The photo was taken and I then replaced my phone on the windowsill with her camera again. I used it to record the two of us as she soundly slept and I leisurely drew the photo I'd just taken. She better thank me for providing her with content. I would finish before she woke up, and she woke up just in the time for the ferry to dock.

We had arrived in Aomori.