༄ Heart of the Sea༄ ༄ A lull in the sea fanfic ༄

Chapter 5

Me, Tsumugu and Sensei watch from atop the hill where we were collecting wood as the others had to return to the sea. "Goodbye!"  Mukaido-Chan and Hiradaira-Chan both turn and wave up to us while shouting their goodbyes while the boys continue walking.

I grin and jump up while waving, "see you tomorrow!" I shout back. It was so nice to spend time with them and talk with them, I'm happy that they also volunteered to build Ojoshi-Sama with us! As the walk home, I feel a tug on my sleeve from my left. I turn and smile when I see Tsumugu staring at me, he motions his head over behind his shoulder causing me to peek around him. As I go to look, he calls for our teacher. "Sensei, I have something to ask you."

It's a great idea, what Tsumugu came up with! I'm sure it will help everyone out and be convenient. I lock my hands behind my back and stand up straight again as the two talk it over. "That could work..." Sensei rubs his chin.

"Then let's do it!" I cheer with a close eyed smile. "I'm sure they'll love it as well!" I turn around to go finish gathering the last of the woods since we needed to start cleaning up. It'd be too much work for the three of us to do this since the rest of our classmates went home. I pick up the dry and brittle sticks before tossing them into the red wheel barrel that Sensei found in the school. Tsumugu walks up and begins helping me pick up, "Do you want to start today?" He asks.

I want to and would definitely say yes if I didn't already have plans. I sigh and feel my shoulders droop, "I can't. I've already stayed late enough, Minato and I promised mom we would make dinner tonight since she's working late." I can feel his eyes watching me from behind and I know what's going through his head. Another late night without mom, leaving both Minato and I to eat dinner together.

I dust my hands off when he speaks up again from behind me, "Grandpa needs help with the nets again." He nonchalantly says. My whole body perks up when he says that and I turn, already anticipating what he's going to ask, "He'll need your cousins help again."

I raise my fists to my chest and nod, "We can come over after dinner! I'll phone mom!" I grab the handles of the wheel barrel and lift it up as we begin making our way down the hill, "Tsumugu, thank you!"

Tsumugu's grandfather often asks Minato for help when there's a lot to do and gives him a little bit of pocket change in exchange for my cousins work. It sometimes helps us get by but as the years have gone by, I think Grandpa has started inviting us for work since Mom works a lot. After all, it's hard to be a single mother providing for two children. Grandpa happens to invite us very often when Mom has a night shift, though sometimes she has to work during the day.

Me and my mom aren't from Oshiooshi. We're from another town in Japan along the coast that's just outside of another one of the fourteen sea villages that exist around Japan. That sea village is where my mom was born and where my dads father is from. My grandpa left that sea village and had him on the surface with my grandma, so he was born without Ena. My mother met him and fell in love and they gave birth to me! We were happy for a few years as I grew up until the accident. Then it was just me and mom.

Mom had an older sister, my aunt Tsubasa. Tsubasa moved over to Shioshishio and met her husband who lived there. They had Minato, my cousin four years before I was born but they're no longer with us as well. Mom and I had moved here when I was seven to take in Minato on the surface since I don't have Ena and can't live in the sea. He doesn't like to go to school here since there a rivalry between the land and sea, so he was enrolled in school in the city after we took him in. Since having lost her husband and needing to take on another kid, Mom worked a lot in an attempt to provide for us. She always did her best and worked as much as she could during the night at a 24/7 restaurant in the city so that she could spend some of the evening with us.