Periwinkle - Life in shades of blue (part 1)

Koi

おざなりな僕ら溢れ出した声が(We casually let our voices speak)ただ大切なことは伝わらないようにできてた(But forgot to convey what mattered the most)

蒼のワルツ (Ao no waltz) by Eve

The glass of the window is cold and damp against my forehead.

The metallic sky is glooming over us and stretching forever on the surface of the ocean before me. Sea foam bubbles on the crest of angry waves and smashes on the concrete, sprinkling salted water on the docks, where it mixes with the rain droplets copiously falling from the clouds.

I love to watch a mighty summer storm. In comparison, even I can look weak.

My finger traces the path of a raindrop down the window, as it rolls to the bottom and gathers more and more momentum when it merges with the water already splattered on the glass.

"That's the wrong fish tank."

I don't have to turn around to know Suguru is now standing beside me. A smile easily lifts the corners of my lips when I remember why I'm here. A date. With him. I want to jump and scream to release some of the adrenaline building up in my stomach, but instead I gently tap on the window. "Do you think they're using the same water?"

Silence beats in my eardrums before I hear him scoff. "I can't tell if you're serious. But," I snap my head to the side when his hand wraps firmly around my arm to pull me away, "I want to find Nemo. Let's go."

I'm too stunned by his enthusiastic smile to be able to carry myself with my own two legs, so I let him drag me across the main hall to enter the first room. He lets go of my arm, clearly rapt by the illusion of being underwater. I smile fondly at his cute wonder, as he slowly walks to take everything in with an "o" shaped mouth and big eyes.

We're in a glass tunnel, surrounded by the water inside of what I suppose is the main pool. I look up to admire the colorful animals swimming right above our heads. It really is suggestive, and it's only the first room. We proceed through the exhibition, Suguru constantly captivated by the weird shapes and colors of the animals behind the glass, and me, awe-struck by the dimples on his chin and the way the water reflects in his eyes.

I'm not particularly interested in fish, I never knew he was either, but I'm starting to understand why he wanted to come here of all places for a first date. Everything's peacefully quiet in these corridors, you could almost hear the sound of the water splashing against the glass. There's something deeply fascinating in having just a fragile material such as glass between your hand and a sea creature, when you know you could never see them up close in the wild. It's almost like using infinity.

I stop when we get to a larger room with a huge glass wall on one side. There's fewer people here, just one kid and a couple of adults following a guide. I lean on the handrail with my forearms, putting my sunglasses away to appreciate the full color version. It's not long before Suguru's scent envelops me and his elbow grazes mine when he copies my position.

I can feel his eyes on me, but I keep mine straight forward. I know he meant this as a date date, not like KFC at Christmas' Eve but more like "let me take you out and hold your hand and kiss you goodnight before we part" kind of date. The knot in my chest tightens, this is something I only ever dared to imagine and now that it's happening I feel like slapping myself to wake up. I don't know if he has any remote idea of just how dreamlike this whole thing feels to me, but he looks like he wants to make it way more realistic when he opens his mouth to talk. As soon as I catch him from the corner of my eye, my brain fails shorted and makes me speak first.