Aqua Terrarium (Nagi No Asukara)

Chapter Ten

"W-what?! Akari-san-," I couldn't finish my sentence at the news Kaname and Chisaki relayed to me, my instinct easily telling me to make a run to the shrine.

Just when I thought that things were finally settling down. How did the ones from the sea find out about Akari? What about Hikari did he know too? No doubt everyone would be making a fuss about this. A person from the sea consorting with someone from the surface... I've seen how they banished people like those and to have it happen to Akari?

I couldn't stomach it.

She's like the elder sister we never had. In fact, she was the one I got along with first before Hikari. I know that the rules of the village are absolute but... Does it really have to end like this? The look on Akari's face when she kissed the man... She loved him dearly and to part them away like that because of some kind of shallow rule is just plain cruel.

I guess now I know what Manaka felt about the relationship between the people of the land and the sea. I guess I had been too clouded of my own experience that I failed to realize that not everyone is like my father.

I said so myself, didn't I? That I would change for the better. That I would see things in a different light. In a way, I guess the Terrarium I had been trying to protect had become too crowded. The only way I can get out of such a small and stifling world is to break the glass with my own hands.

For their sakes and for mine.

"The shrine!" I huffed, the sight of the familiar pillars and wooden structure appearing from our line of sight. By this time, Chisaki and Kaname pass me, my figure following theirs to the small hole hidden by a pillar.

"Hikari, We heard about Akari-," Chisaki finally spoke up when we squeezed in to the hole, both Hikari and Manaka were huddled by the sliding door that was slightly opened.

The look of worry on both their eyes mirrored ours. For some odd reason, a tugging at my heart causes me to grip the cloth on my chest in worry.

As if all of this is a calm before a storm.

--*--

*Slide*

The sliding of the door caused the saltflakes to dance across our faces, causing Chisaki and I to cough lightly when we entered.

"Even the classroom is covered in saltflake snow." Chisaki commented as we strode to our seats, my eyes noticing a few pictures of us plastered on the cork board by the shelves of our old classroom.

I can't help but stare at some of them in a nostalgic manner, the giggles and footsteps echoing around me as I recalled those memories. Back before things changed and when I thought that we'd all be together like this forever.

"It's the first time I've ever seen old man Hayakawa that angry... It was rather frightening." Manaka voiced out, causing me to look away from the pictures and turn to them who have all settled in their respective seats.

Only Chisaki and Hikari remained seated on the table of Manaka and Kaname respectively, with me leaning by the teacher's table as I stare at our small gathering.

"They were talking about the rules of the village, right?" Kaname started the discussion, all of us nodding in agreement.

This discussion was still a bit edgy for me due to my father, the memory very vivid whenever I try to wrap my head around why people of the sea were forbidden to marry those from the land. My father who had abandoned us and the sea for some woman on the surface- just what could they offer that we ourselves could not give.