I Want to Hear Your Voice

Chapter 26 – SS Satori’s summer holidays (3)

As Sousuke was feeling uneasy inside, a beautiful emerald green sea stretched out in front of him. Under the clear sky, brightly colored tropical fish could be seen swimming in the crystal clear waters. It was then that Sousuke noticed tears were spilling down from Satori’s eyes.

“Sa-satori?! What’s wrong? What happened?”

(I wonder if Satori actually didn’t want to go on an overseas trip. Was I mistaken to think that Satori would be happy with this?)

Sousuke hugged the shoulder of the crying Satori. Satori then shook his head at the flustered Sousuke.

“Tha-that’s not it. It’s just I’ve never seen such beautiful scenery before. When I thought that Sousuke had done all of this for me, I became so happy that I didn’t know what to do…”

After that, Satori fell silent and couldn’t continue to speak. His eyes were wet with tears, but they were glistening with joy.

“So that’s what it was….”

(So you’re crying because you’re happy…)

The reason for Satori to cry wasn’t because he didn’t like the trip, but that he had exceeded his emotional capacity. Knowing that, Sousuke was so relieved that he almost collapsed on the spot.

“#&@$% !”

The local guide looked at Sousuke and Satori and gave them a thumbs up. Sousuke didn’t know what they were saying, but from the look on their face perhaps they were saying that they were glad that Sousuke and Satori had made up.

Sousuke gave a wry smile as he hugged Satori’s shoulder, then sighed in relief.

The hotel where Sousuke and Satori were staying was a cottage on top of the water, where they could watch both the sunrise and sunset from the horizon. From the spacious Asian-style room they could go straight to the sea immediately. The wooden furniture plus white linen curtains and bedding created a sense of openness and cleanliness. Coral was cultivated underneath each cottage, and they could even feed the fish from a retractable glass table.

“Sousuke, look, look! Fish are swimming there!”

As Satori looked around the room, his eyes widened when he saw the brightly colored fishes swimming under the glass table. Next to Satori, the white fluffy spirits jumped up and down as if trying to catch the fish.

They decided to have lunch on the open terrace right in front of the beach. The atmosphere inside the restaurant was nice, but Sousuke and Satori chose to sit on the beach seats outside. It was great to eat under the parasol while looking at the ocean view spreading out in front of their eyes. The sea breeze caressed their skin and shook the palm leaves. First, they toasted with fresh pineapple juice. Satori looked happy the whole time, his eyes lit up at the scenery before him and he looked around restlessly. Then, his eyes widened at the generous portions of food. The food was delicious, but they couldn’t help but look at each other when a huge parfait-like dessert of ice cream was served. After a moment’s pause, Satori’s burst of laughter could be heard.

They took a leisurely stroll along the beach to help with digestion after eating, then they returned to the room and took a short nap. After that, they changed into swimsuits and went out to the beach again. It was the first time for Satori to swim in the ocean, and at first he was hesitant to even splash the seawater on his face. The sight of Satori nervously clinging onto Sousuke’s arm was so cute. Even so, Satori already has the basics of swimming, so he soon got the hang of it and was able to swim by himself.

It was rather the white fluffy spirits that were having a hard time. They loved the morning dew and thought that the sea that stretched out in front of them was their meal. When they tried to eat it excitedly, they were surprised to find that the seawater was unexpectedly salty. As if it was Sousuke’s fault, they swelled up their wet fur in anger to Sousuke. Sousuke wanted them to give him a break.

Sousuke floated on his back in the exotic sea. In front of his eyes stretched out a sky that was in a distinctly different color than in Japan. Sometimes he could hear the voice of Satori frolicking with the white fluffy spirits, and he thought he was glad to have gone through the trouble to bring them here. Sousuke closed his eyes as he floated on the sea, enjoying the peaceful and restful moment that was far different from his usual daily life. That was when it happened.

“Ah! No, stop! Sousuke…!”

There was a voice of Satori in a panic, and Sousuke opened his eyes immediately.

“What’s wrong, Satori?!”

As Sousuke braced himself to see what had happened, he found the white fluffy spirits trying to swim with Satori’s swim trunks in their mouth. Satori was squirming with a troubled and blushing face.

After dinner, Sousuke went to the beach with Satori. With the cottage lights that lit up romantically, they walked hand in hand along the deserted beach.

“Wow…” 

Under the starry sky, Sousuke was at a loss for words in the face of the beautiful scenery that seemed to be out of this world.

“Back then, I used to see a starry sky like this at the village I used to live in. When I looked up at the sky, the stars were twinkling. It was so beautiful that I could gaze at it all night long without feeling bored.”

It would be difficult to see such a view in Japan nowadays, with all the man-made buildings. Satori’s expression was calm and happy as he sat beside Sousuke and talked about the past.

Until he met Sousuke again, Satori had lived all alone. From Sousuke’s point of view, it was such a long time that Satori had spent all alone. Sousuke had forgotten about his promise to Satori, but Satori mustered up the courage to come and see him. Satori even prepared himself for the possibility that he might disappear after meeting Sousuke one more time.

Suddenly, Sousuke’s chest was struck by a piercing pain.

“Sorry, Satori…!”

(Sorry…!)

He wondered why he had forgotten the promise he made with Satori, and why he had left him all alone.

Sousuke hugged Satori, feeling regretful but unable to fully regret his actions.

“Sousuke?”

Satori wriggled inside Sousuke’s arms. Satori, who could read others’ minds, must have heard Sousuke’s regrets for sure.