#akishou

I feel like summers used to be hotter in my childhood.

But today’s heat and humidity were still enough to have me wake up and turn on a fan, thinking that it was a close call.

If I continued to sleep like that, I probably would have turned into a desiccated mummy.

I opened the window to try and get the stagnant hot air out.

The sound of a windchime rang from afar, soothing my heart.

Every person spends the summer in their own way.

Akira-kun said that in his childhood, he used to eat the cheapest ice cream from the sweets shop in the morning.

Then he would laze around, watching the shadows grow long as the day went by.

And when the heat was getting unbearable, he would run off to swim in the sea.

……The sea.

The sea, you say.

Speaking of that…

“I’ve never been to the sea before.”

Akira-kun’s hand with chopsticks stopped on the way to his mouth, and his eyes started to sparkle.

And then a deafening shout shook the room.

“Let’s go to the sea then!!!”

Apparently, there’s something about it that makes the heat melt away.

And so, this is how we reach this point of the story.

The rain of topaz

When I opened my eyes, I saw Akira-kun’s face in front of me.

His lips moved; probably he was dreaming about something fun or tasty.

Instead of a pillow, he had a giant floatie.

Instead of pyjamas, he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

And instead of pants, he was wearing swimming trunks…

I did tell him to not do that, but maybe sleeping like this helped him to ward off nightmares.

We had planned to go to the beach today.

But it was still long before dawn, and the streetlights cast a shadow on the room through the curtain of rain.

I turned over in my futon and looked out the window.

I wondered why did I wake up at such an hour.

Probably it was because of the sound of the rain.

“......”

“Shouuu-chaaan… What’s with ya…”

“The rain is so heavy…”

“It’ll stop by the mornin’...”

Akira-kun went back to his happy dream without opening his eyes.

But I was still looking out the window, thinking.

It felt more like a waterfall than just rain.

And sounded more like a hail of bullets than simple water droplets.

…Will it really clear up?

It’s good that the heat will ease off, but I really did want to go to the sea as much as Akira-kun did.

“Shou-chan.”

“Eh?”

“?”

“...Did ya wet yourself?”

“I feel something wet.”

“Then maybe it’s you?”

Dumbfounded, Akira-kun got up and, with a surprisingly firm hand, lifted the futon.

His lower half was soaking wet.

“Whoaaah!!!”

“Eeeeeh…!”

And my butt was too.

And my back, and the pillow.

The whole room was flooded because of this downpour!

We rushed from the bedroom. I immediately jumped to the TV, and Akira-kun to his art supplies.

We grabbed everything that we could see and carried it to the second floor in great haste.

During that time the water level had risen from our ankles to our knees and then to our hips.

We were running up and down the stairs so fast that it felt like both the steps and our legs would break.

The room upstairs was getting smaller and smaller; it even started to feel like the floor was sinking.

But the electric fan was still on the first floor…

Just as I was about to get down, I saw Akira-kun stuck in the middle of the stairway.

“A-a-akira-kun, what is that?!”

“When I opened the fusuma, there was this huge tanuki figurine!”

“Ah, …Eh, but why?! Take more important things!”

“But~”

“Get up quickly! The stairway is narrow, so I can’t get down!”

“Well, it’s quite heavy…”

“......”

…Electric fan.

The electric fan that I had just bought was the only thing on my mind.

This tanuki’s face surely was cute, but to me the electric fan was way more important in the summer.

I grabbed tanuki’s face and kneed it in the stomach.

The impact immediately spread throughout its whole body, and it shattered all around us.

Akira-kun’s hands were grasping the air.

Slipping, I rushed to the first floor.

Water level was still rising.

Electric fan, seal, certificate of payment, winter clothes—at this rate, it would be better to bring this whole dresser up.

“!”

Akira-kun supported me from one side.

It looks like he has finally come to his senses.

From then on, the rescue operation proceeded smoothly.

To think that he was right to sleep in his swimming trunks…

This rain didn’t feel like a storm, but like someone left the tap running.

The night quietly went away, taking the rain and our worries with it.

“......”

“......”

“......”

“Good mornin’...”

“G-good morning…”

The morning sun was beaming on us, comically surrounded by all our belongings.

Akira-kun made me wear swimming trunks as well.

But the water level didn’t rise up to the second floor.

He approached the window from where the bright light shone.

I got up as well and stood near the dresser, looking over the landscape.

“Is this real…?”

It looked like a rural landscape.

Although quite an odd one, overgrown with houses.

In just one night, the rain had submerged the whole city underwater.

The sky still hasn't given up, and it rained here and there.

The peak had already passed, but the water wasn’t moving. Seemed like it wasn’t going to drain for some time. 

“We were plannin’ to go to the sea, but instead the sea came to us, huh.”

“......”

“So, what do we do?”

Dejected, Akira-kun scratched the back of his head with his left hand.

He seemed to gradually regain his composure, but my heart was still beating out of my chest.

“......”

I was thinking about my dad.

“Let’s check how Sparrow Nest is doing.”

But when I stepped on the window sill, Akira-kun tugged on it.

“!”

I put on the floatie so as not to sink.

“Ah~, stop, stop!!”

“I need to go.”

“Calm down!”

“But dad and the others…!”

“Shou-chan, you can’t swim!”

Well, yes, but…

“I have a floatie.”

“Are ya goin’ to flutter kick all the way to there…?”

“......Then what do I do?”

The phone was left on the first floor, so I couldn’t call to ask them if they’re safe.

Things that we brought to the second floor were mostly useless.

Only now I had a painful realisation about just how strong yesterday’s rain was.

“I’ll swim there to check!”

“But it’s dangerous!”

“That’s why I’m tellin’ ya to wait here!”

“Shoutarou!”

I heard the sound of a motor getting closer.

We looked at each other, surprised that someone had called out my name.

“Dad!!”

A pure white boat moored near the window.

Not even wiping his sweat, dad looked me straight in the eyes.

“Shoutarou!”

“!”

“...Help me…!”

I cast off the floatie and jumped into the boat.

‘Help me’.

I've never heard my dad sound so scared since that day.

Landlady, Sally, please, be safe.

The motorboat raced through the eerie waters, carrying our worried selves.

“Oh! Shoutarou-saaan!”

“Yaa~an!”

Two of them were waving at us from the roof.

Fortunately, it seemed that the Sparrow Nest had escaped the flooding on the second floor as well.

But probably dad made them sit on the roof just in case.

Seeing them smile, I was finally able to feel life coming back to me.

Dad parked the boat next to the staircase and, with steady steps, went to his room.

Coming near it, he signalled with his eyes for me to follow him.

In the dimly lit room, he was preparing something with his back turned to me.

…Still.

Our old room had fully become dad’s lab for inventions.

Dull light coming from the window shone on an assortment of metal parts.

“‘’’That’ll do.”

“?”

“Shoutarou, look at this.”

Some kind of machine with a propeller was lying near his feet.

It was connected to a tube about as thick as an arm, the other end of which disappeared into the window.

A large piece of vinyl was floating on the vast surface of water. 

“!”

…No doubt, it's an escape boat!

“Press this button, please.”

“Okay…!”

I did as I was told, and the propeller started spinning, pumping the air.

Immediately, a tornado started in the room.

The furious roar of the motor sounded like thunder.

Paper, screws, and other things were swirling in the air around me, but still I pushed myself to keep pressing the button.

And, slowly, vinyl started rising.

“Sorry, Shoutarou, I made a machine that only you can operate yet again.”

“Oh, okay!”

“It has become a habit of mine.”

“Don’t worry! It’s fine now, right?”

“Thank you.”

“...What is this?”

“A vinyl raft.”

?

“You can go to the shelter on it.”

“......”

“You will go, right?!”

The airway seemed to be clogged. And right at the moment when I thought that vinyl was going to break…

A giant swan head rose up.

“Thank you.”

“Sure…! But… what is that?!”

“A giant floatie.”

“Didn't you want us to go to the shelter…?!”

“Stop the fan, please.”

Rushedly, I let go of the button.

The sound melted gently into the room, and cicadas’ voices whispered through the silence.

“......”

“D-dad…?”

I watched the swan grow till the end.

And then.

“!”

Someone ran above the ceiling from west to east.

A white skirt fluttered in the wind lightly, obscuring my view for a second.

Landlady landed on the swan's wide back and turned around to look at us, smiling and faintly blushing.

“This is amazing, Tetsurou-san!”

“...?!”

“Sally-san, you come too!”

“Yan’ya…”

“It’s fine! I’m here!”

Sally-san shrank back, kicked herself off the roof with both feet, and jumped into the landlady's arms.

The swan leaned heavily for a moment, but after it gently wrapped itself around the two of them.

Vibrant laughter gently floated across the water.

I was shocked by how content my dad looked.

Town speakers had begun to function.

>>Announcement for the people of the Setagaya district.<<

A beach ball went high up into the sky somewhere.

>>Flooding damage has been reported due to localised heavy rain.<<

I heard children’s laughter.

>>Please, take caution and begin the evacuation from the area…<<

“Kyoko-san.”

“Yes?”

“Do you want some shaved ice?”

“Oh, I’d like some with strawberry flavour.”

I should have noticed the shaved ice machine on the window sill.

“Shoutarou, which flavour do you…”

By the time my dad turned around to look at me, I was already in the motorboat.

No one hears the sirens.

Cicadas still cry, as if nothing happened.

It’s as if the city is leisurely and peacefully enjoying this flood.

When I came back home, Akira-kun held a worried expression on his face.

The first thing he did was lean forward from the window and check if nothing happened to me.

“Are Landlady and others okay?!”

“Yes.”

“Did something happen?!”

“No.”

“As if I’d believe that!”

So it is natural for people to be worried. It’s natural, right…?

If someone looks up at you with an expression like that and asks for help.

“I’ll go with ya now!”

“Everyone’s eating shaved ice.”

“Haaa…?”

“There's nothing to be worried about”

“......Ya serious?”

“I am.”

“Er…”

“I am serious.”

“Well, if ya say so then… I’m relieved!”

“Yeah…”

“......”

“......”

So that means…

“We can go to the sea then?!”

“Yes. Let’s go to the sea.”

Akira-kun put his sunglasses on and grabbed a floatie with one hand.

In less than a second, he changed his clothes and jumped to the boat from the window.

He looked at me with his usual refreshing smile.

Sirens kept repeating the announcement.

But we were just as careless as everyone else.

I slowly started the motor.

Then we headed to Soshigaya station, but because of the flood, trains weren’t coming.

“Water’ll probably go down if we go to Seijo.”

“Yeah.”

And so, we boarded the Odakyu line and headed to Shonan.

…After all that.

Having calmed down, I started noticing different things about the surrounding landscape.

The Sengawa river had overflowed, and different fish were swimming here and there.

They didn’t seem to be perplexed by the sudden expansion of their world and carried themselves as if they were regular residents of Soshigaya.

But the most curious thing was that both the sky and the water were coloured amber.

“It’s so pretty.”

“It looks like piss.”

It was as if topaz gemstones were dissolved in them.

I touched the water surface, and small white waves spread from my fingers.

Then I raised my hand, closely looked at my index finger, and licked its tip.

“I-it’s sweet.”

“W–w-what’re ya doin’, it’s dirty!”

“It’s just sugared water.”

The smell of cotton candy, usually reserved for temple festivals, drifted through the streets of the city.

Probably it was one of the reasons why everyone was in high spirits.

Nostalgia brought back childhood memories.

I looked up at the sky once again.

“How strange.”

“Yeah…”

Akira-kun folded his arms and spoke in an unnatural and forced voice.

“Akira-kun, I was thinking that…”

“Shou-chan!”

We were interrupted by a lively voice.

An elegant row boat floated under the sunlight shining through the trees by the side of the road.

Kobayashi-kun was nonchalantly approaching us.

He sat in his dark brown boat almost as if he were straddling a horse. 

Opposite him was Tadashi-kun.

“Good morning, Kobayashi-kun.”

“Oh, good morning! Quite an interesting landscape, don’t you think?”

“How is that rundown house of yours holding?”

After city renovation, mostly rich people lived in Seijo.

So you could even take the submerged landscape for Venice.

“Oi.”

“Everything’s fine. Only the first floor was submerged.”

“Oh, is that so? Well, if you’re having any troubles, you can stay at our place. We have an empty room.”

“Oi!”

“Thank you. That aside, where are you going?””

“We’re just sightseeing. Tadashi asked me.”

“This is Kobayashi from SRB!!! What do you think about this rain?!!”

“!”

“Kagome-san, I would like to ask your opinion on this unusual phenomenon caused by an unbelievable formation of cumulonimbus clouds-”

“W-well, untill next time, Shou-chan! Ha-ha-ha!”

“B-bye-bye.”

“Wait, Kagome-san! And the delinquent-onii-san!!!”

“Ahahaha!!!”

We were told to wait, but it was Kobayashi-kun and Tadashi-kun who were getting further away.

Kobayashi-kun’s laughter disappeared among the trees.

Seems like his son forced him to go mystery-hunting.

“...Did he just pretend that I wasn’t here?”

He really didn’t look at Akira-kun at all.

“Man, he’s annoyin’ as hell.”

“We should go too.”

“Uuu~...”

Looking to the direction where Kobayashi-kun disappeared, Akira-kun grinded his teeth.

I started the motor again, forcibly increasing the distance between us.

Water level started to gradually go down.

But still, Seijo station was submerged as well.

We continued going by boat to the next station.

I started getting used to this landscape.

I looked up without much interest. The blue sky peeked through the rifts in the light yellow clouds.

“......”

…Anomaly.

I remembered Tadashi-kun’s words.

Just as he says, this landscape is weird.

The yellow rain with the smell of candy, it felt more like a joke. And the forecast said nothing about any rain at all.

Adults adapt to everything so easily.

Despite experiencing something so unusual, they keep living as if nothing happened.

And by next week, or even by tomorrow, they’ll already forget about this.

“You too think it’s kaiju?”

I think that Tadashi-kun was trying to imply that.

Akira-kun sat at the boat’s bow, frozen in place like a figurehead and not looking back.

“Who knows.”

“Let’s say there was a cotton candy kaiju.

It was blasted in the sky and became rain… Something like that.”

“Shou-chan, this is kinda…”

“?”

“Well, no one’s buying that kinda story.”

“But it’s not like it’s completely unbelievable.”

“There probably was some explosion at a cotton candy factory. And then it got into the sewers, and that’s where the flood came from.”

“......”

But there’s no cotton candy factory nearby.

And sewer water doesn’t fall from the sky.

Hm.

“Let’s just leave it at that, ‘kay?”

Leave it… at that?

“Let’s stop thinking about it, and just simply live.

Other people probably do just that.”

People do just that…

“Who, exactly?”

“Well, I don’t know that.”

“So maybe there was someone who defeated the cotton candy kaiju?”

“No-no-no, ditch the cotton candy kaiju thought at all!”

“...But I think there was one.”

“Well, he’s now frantically looking into that, together with his son.”

Even though you were treating them like idiots before…

“......”

“Hero’s well, so he’s not sitting home, as they say.”

I don’t really get it.

Akira-kun started saying some heroic things again.

With his large back and his arms folded, he looked like a retired boss of a gang.

…So what he means by ‘leaving things at that’ is that someone’s protecting our peace.

“Assan.”

“A… Assan…?”

Akira-kun turned around to look at me, crossing his legs.

“You said you wanted a nickname.”

“A nickname should be more like…! Well, Assan sounds too distant.”

“Acchan.”

“A-a-and that sounds way too close!!”

“Is there even a correct answer?”

“As many as there are tanmenchan waits!”

It’s probably some mahjong slang.

“Well, I’m fine with everything you come up with.”

“Akkun.”

“......”

“I like how Akkun sounds.”

“......”

Suddenly, he got quiet and dropped his head.

Then he looked to the side with a grim face.

His gaze was fixed on a love hotel.

“I just got a ron.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

I sped up the boat.

“I’m looking forward to the sea, Akira-kun.”

“Yeah…”

Even though I didn’t sleep in swimming trunks with a floatie as a pillow, I still was really excited for you to teach me how to swim.

We got off the boat at Kitami.

The shoal went on and on forward.

A train was standing at the station.

We ran towards the platform and got onto the train right as the departure bell rang.

“Made it~!”

“Thankfully…”

“Ah, Shou-chan! Where’s your sandal?!”

“!”

One of my feet was bare.

I tripped when running up the stairs, and…

I’m sure it was then when I lost it.

Akira-kun took off his sandal, leaving himself barefoot.

“Put it on.”

It was way too big for my feet.

But he made me wear the left one too.

“I’ll get them dirty.”

“Don’t worry about that. We’re going to the sea after all.”

“We’ll have to transfer trains in Sagamioono.”

“I don’t care about the distance.”

The train accelerated, leaving the rain clouds behind.

It was eleven in the morning on a hot summer day.

"...Kobayashi wanted to talk." Shoutarou said, almost too quiet to be heard.

"Why?"

Shoutarou shrugged, "He said he was still on duty, so I should come to the station to talk."

Akira clung to him, "What would he have to talk about with my Shou-chan?"

Shoutarou's lips pressed together awkwardly, "Just catching up, I guess. He's been telling me how Kiyoko and Tadashi are doing."

"Why can't he do this off the clock, then?"

"Would you rather him inviting me to hang out cut into my time at home with you?"

Akira clung even tighter.

"Of course not!"

Shoutarou sighed, nuzzling into Akira's shoulder slightly as his hands came up to rest on Akira's back.

"It's not going to be an all the time thing. We're just... seeing if being friends again works out. And we weirdly keep running into each other."

"Like Choutsugai?" Akira asked flatly.

"Like Choutsugai." Shoutarou agreed.

"So..."

"Nothing between us, I promise," Shoutarou huffed, "You're so jealous."

Akira buried his face into Shoutarou's neck. "It's because you're perfect. Anyone would want you."

Shoutarou warmed pleasantly against Akira's skin. "'m not..." he mumbled shyly.