Queenfisher

Read the previous chapter's Author Note for the explanation why this chapter is divided so weirdly @_@. But essentially, it's a [Regular Chapter Beginning Scene] -> [Extra in the middle] -> [Regular Chapter End Scene]. Only because of overall length, the Extra became a natural split in the center.

So if you wish to read only the Original chapter content, this page contains the End Scene -- scroll down below the Extra to see where it is ^^. But like I said before, the Extra is not filler and chronologically fits in here. But I am afraid that the overall length might be intimidating to some readers, so you can skip it for now.

Just come back and check it out later ^^. I'll tell you when (but this "Extra" originally came from a later Flashback (when they're older, too), so I'll definitely mention it when we get there).

Chapter Forty-Five

Rockhard

Part 3/3 + extra

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Extra Continued

(you may skip it to the last segment if you only want to read original Rockhard 3/3)

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Up above, Nekohiko only glimpsed the diminishing circle of lighter dark sky in the well's entrance before the Ghost snatched him too far away to see anything.

The icy cold shocked him when he plunged into the foul, brackish water. He gasped for breath, but the Ghost pulled him in deeper. His trained Binder reflexes overtook him after a moment, and Nekohiko remembered he didn't need to breathe.

He could Bind air into his lungs instead. He was a Binder, for crying out loud!

He let himself be pulled under the water, his hands already forming the signs for an attacking Nagare spell that he aimed at his feet. Toward where the coiling tendrils of fog had grabbed him.

But by then, all the pulling had stopped. The Ghost let him be -- it was no longer dragging him. Instead, the slimy, unpleasant touch of its foggy body crept away from Nekohiko's wrist and started forming a vague, humanoid shape in front of him.

Nekohiko stilled. Not fighting, not attacking.

Only observing.

Hadn't Asazuma said this Ghost wasn't dangerous or malicious? Just annoying? Could it be that it didn't want to harm anyone?

Out of the diffuse darkness, a fuzzy outline of a haunting, ghoulish face emerged palely in the water on Nekohiko's eye level.

A gruesome, terrible face: bloated, purpled with spidery veins, eyes bulging and blind with pearly milkiness. A corpse. But not a real one. Only a faded image of it.

Just from the sight of it, Nekohiko's heart sped up. Through will, he forced himself to stay calm and observe. Because however ugly the face appeared, it... didn't attack.

It didn't seem like it would.

Instead, it looked as though it wanted to... speak.

Nekohiko switched his attacking gestures into Imperial fusion and Bound whatever bubbles of air were in the water to his lungs. All aggression and fear seeped out of him. Only strange curiosity remained.

The Ghost face loomed closer, mouth opening up in a plea.

What are you? Nekohiko wanted to ask it.

But the Ghost didn't care to answer that.

Remember, it whispered, the ethereal voice as though coming to Nekohiko from afar. Remember I existed.

Excuse me? Nekohiko asked.

Ah, the Ghost lamented. Betrayed, cheated, murdered. Thrown into this well.

Then forgotten.

Erased from memory.

My well covered up with stone and laughter. All traces of my pain gone from the world and from the people's memories.

Do you understand?

Please, remember I existed. Tell everyone that I did. Tell them about the injustice.

Nekohiko shuddered from the ghoulish cold and a foul, lingering fog that touched him from all the sides. He couldn't truly comprehend this Ghost's story. It was disjointed and too vague to feel it deeply. But Nekohiko still ached at the pain he heard in the Ghost's words and the cruel fate it bore.

Murdered by whom? Why? When?

The story threads were dissipating even as Nekohiko tried to understand it. But he felt for the Ghost's sorrow nonetheless. Perhaps he could not relate to this poor creature. But did it mean he couldn't understand?

Of course he could. This feeling... of the world's fundamental injustice and inability to fix it... so familiar.

It reverberated through Nekohiko's core.

Suddenly, a searing red flashed high above the water, and Nekohiko snapped his eyes up to stare in surprise.Amid this fiery glow, a thin dark figure hurled toward Nekohiko. A young person, jumping into the water.

And surrounded by such heated, crimson glow of the Hira technique -- who else could it be?

Abihiko's feet dashed against the water surface and the boy fell through in a flurry of bubbles. Above them, the fires still burned, illuminating bits of the dark depths of the well. In this feeble light that waved through the water below, Nekohiko saw clearly how enraged Abihiko looked around him and how fast were his gestures assembling the simplest attacking sign.

Don't, it's not malicious, Nekohiko wanted to tell him.

He reached his hand to clutch Abihiko's sleeve and draw him near. Abihiko's short hair floated around his face every which way, only highlighting how vulnerable and dismayed the boy was. But his muscles under Nekohiko's fingers were tense, ready to act.

Nekohiko pressed his lips against Abihiko's ear.

Don't attack it. It's harmless, he Bound the gentlest sound of his voice directly into Abihiko's hearing.

Abihiko clenched his fists, then gave Nekohiko a glare. He mouthed something angry but realized speaking in water didn't work that well.

Clutching Nekohiko to himself by the waist, he leaned in, too. The brush of his mouth over Nekohiko's earlobe was ticklish and hot.

Attack what? Who is harmless? There's nothing in here! Abihiko's voice emerged inside Nekohiko's mind. Come on, let's go!

Perplexed, Nekohiko looked back at the Ghostly face looming just beside Abihiko's shoulder in the black water. The Ghost was clearly here... yet Abihiko still couldn't see it?

As if understanding, the Ghost nodded at Nekohiko. Its blind, tortured face showed nothing but weariness.

Most people cannot see the injustice of others. It's invisible to them. You were the first person to see my well. And the first to see me, in years.

Abihiko was nudging Nekohiko to swim to the surface of the water and away from the Ghost that was forever trapped in darkness and unfairness. Nekohiko couldn't help but glance back at it.

A thought jolted him.

But Abihiko got inside the well -- it means he can see it! he wanted to tell the Ghost in wild hope. It means he can see you, too!

But the answer came to him already faded, already disappearing amidst the murky depths.

People see injustice only when it concerns those they love. He came because you fell into the well.

And his mother will come because her son had fallen.

But they will never see me here.

They do not care. Alas.

...

Will at least you remember that I was here?

...

Abihiko yanked Nekohiko up in one forceful rush.

Above the water, Abihiko's fiery illuminating spell seared Nekohiko's eyes. He sputtered and panted, rubbing his face off his wet hair sticking to it. Hard to say who was clutching whom because he and Abihiko were one huge tangle of arms and legs as they floated at the water surface of a very narrow, slimy well that ended in a pale starry sky overhead in a disquieting circle.

And scaling down that circle along the slick, moldy walls, was Asazuma. Swift and silent, she crept downward like some bizarre human-spider hybrid, her arms and legs spread against the walls, her eyes only on Abihiko down below.

"Mom! Here!"

Abihiko reached out and she grabbed him in her protective embrace. She grabbed Nekohiko, too, because Abihiko never let him out of his arms.

And Nekohiko could only think --

So it was true. The Ghost had told him how it really was.

Abihiko only cared to see the haunted well when Nekohiko was concerned. And Asazuma only saw it when her son was endangered.

And while it made sense that this was how the world worked, Nekohiko couldn't help but feel disheartened by it.

Did... nobody care about unfairness around them as long as nobody they cared for was involved? He was so absorbed with this dark, unsettling thought while Asazuma and the Great Nagare and Hira Lords helped him and Abihiko out of the grimy well -- that Nekohiko missed most of what the adults talked about afterward.

Apparently, because of Abihiko jumping into the well, Okinaga now could see it, too, so he and Asazuma wanted to scale down and properly exorcise the Ghost that lived at the bottom. Shaken and wet and cold, the children were left in Yakabe's and Kazuragi's care for the time being.

But Nekohiko didn't want to be cared for when something so unfair was happening right before his eyes.

The Ghost only wanted to be remembered. Only wanted justice.

And for such a small thing -- it had to be exorcised?

"Lord Yakabe," he called.

Yakabe leaned in, patting Nekohiko's back under his and Kazuragi's dry outer robes covering both sodden boys to protect them from the summer night chill. "Yes, Nekohiko?"

"Please, tell Lord Okinaga and Lady Asazuma not to hurt the Ghost. It's not malevolent," Nekohiko hurried, mumbling. "It's only... in pain. Because nobody remembers it and nobody cares."

Yakabe bit his lip, aggrieved. After a delay, he nodded. "We'll take care of everything. Don't worry."

"Will you?"

"I will. Kazuragi," Yakabe called to his husband. "Can you get them to safety?"

"Wait for me, love," Kazuragi said instead of a confirmation. He stepped up to Nekohiko and Abihiko and clutched both by their waists from the back. The rising winds around them startled Nekohiko because it sure looked as though Kazuragi was trying to carry both kids away?

Were they leaving?

Was Yakabe staying with Asazuma and Okinaga? To take care of that Ghost?

"Can't we help?" Nekohiko told him, but Yakabe shook his head.

"It's better that you go home. It will be easier for us to deal with it without any additional threats to either of you. Ghosts can be dangerous even if they don't want to be. Do you understand?"

And without further explanation, Yakabe and Kazuragi exchanged quick little glances, and Kazuragi shot into the air with both kids in tow.

The wind slammed into Nekohiko's face so hard, he had no choice but to squeeze his eyes shut and curl into Kazuragi's chest. Even so, his thoughts were still absorbed by what he had seen and heard in the well.

And about how little anyone around him cared about it.

It only took Kazuragi a couple of minutes to land back in Lord Hira Okinaga's castle under the Adamantine Mountain, in the front courtyard. And less than a second to dump Abihiko and Nekohiko in the hands of Daichi and other servants as the winds slashed hard through the castle, taking Kazuragi with them.

"Kazuragi! Tell Mom to kick that Ghost's ass!" Abihiko yelled after him. "It almost killed Neko!"

"It did not," Nekohiko lashed out at him in anguish.

"It drowned you in this stinky crap! It deserves to have its ass kicked just for that!"

Nekohiko was so full of conflicted emotions, he found nothing better to do that to hit Abihiko in the shoulder. And again, though, this time, Abihiko caught his fist before it landed.

Fuming, Nekohiko ripped his wrist from his hold. "Don't touch me."

"What the hell is the matter with you?"

Nekohiko didn't answer. He only wanted to fume.

But not for long.

Standing right there, in the middle of a worried gathering of Hira servants, Nekohiko watched the darkness clouding the high ceilings of the Inner Mountain, feeling lonely and cold and abandoned.

But then his eyes dropped to the lonely, cold, and abandoned boy beside him as Abihiko glowered at the ground beneath his feet -- and something in Nekohiko stirred.

Like a trace of sudden warmth.

He knew Abihiko didn't care about other people's issues or injustices in the big world. Abihiko simply wasn't the kind of person to care about others too much. But even though Abihiko hadn't been able to see the Ghost in the well, Abihiko had seen the well itself.

Because Nekohiko had fallen into it.

"Why did you jump?" Nekohiko asked him abruptly.

"Mmm?" Abihiko was still shivering from the dirty, icy water that had drenched him. He swept his curling wet hair out of his eye and gave Nekohiko a glare. "That damn well looked so evil and disgusting, I... had to jump, I guess."

"Because it was evil and disgusting?"

"No, idiot. Because I was worried that something evil and disgusting would happen to you in there," Abihiko spat and turned to slurp toward the porch. "How dumb can you be?"

Nekohiko followed after him, only slightly less bitter than before.

"Remember, two weeks ago," he said when he caught up to Abihiko in the main hallway of the castle. "When you said you and I can try to change the world for the better?" He stopped, swallowing a hard knot in his throat. "And then when Lord Okinaga told us we will only grow strong if we have this... axis inside us? Some rockhard belief we stand for? I think I have found mine, Abihiko. I want to fix the injustices of the world. I want to make my Empire a better place."

Painfully slow, Abihiko blinked as he stared at Nekohiko.

"All... right?" he said. "What does it have to do with anything tonight?"

"Everything," Nekohiko told him. "So let's do it. You and I. Let's fix my Empire from the ground up. You said we can try, remember? I didn't believe you then, but now I do."

Because even though you couldn't see the poor Ghost inside that well, you still jumped.

You jumped because you care.

About me.

"Let's... try, Abihiko. Together."

Seemingly uncomfortable, Abihiko wanted to laugh it off, but this time, Nekohiko didn't mistake the boy's flippancy for the lack of concern.

Because Abihiko was concerned about things. His way of showing it was... weird, yes. Rude, brash, quite a bit selfish. But if Nekohiko could see where the injustice was and what needed to be done to fix it, and if Abihiko cared enough about Nekohiko's passions -- then the two of them could do something good. Something truly wonderful about it.

"If you say so." Abihiko shrugged noncommittally.  

Caught in a rush of gratitude, Nekohiko clasped Abihiko in his tight, heartfelt hug. "Thank you."

Abihiko gasped, off guard. "For... what? Ugh, stop it. You're making it weird." He pushed Nekohiko away, but not harshly. Just to keep Nekohiko from suffocating him to death with his clingy embrace. "You're such a dummy, Neko. I don't get you at all. Tch."

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Extra End.

Below is the Original Rockhard 3/3 Continuation for those who skip ^^

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***

The incident with the Ghost worried Nekohiko for days afterward even though Asazuma promised and promised that nothing bad had happened to the Ghost when she and Okinaga exorcised it. But he didn't believe her and kept pestering her about the rules and laws of Spirit Wayfaring for days later.

He realized he knew so little about so many things other than taxes and agriculture. Too bad the majority of Binder lore only came through experience, not through books. But that, Nekohiko and Abihiko had covered.

They already decided to become Wayfarers after they graduated. They would roam the Empire and help people and Spirits find peace and justice. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Nekohiko would still have plenty of time before he had to ascend his throne, so... why not travel? Why not see the wider and bigger world and learn more about it?

And this was how his short stay at Hira Okinaga's castle went by. In daydreams and plans and hopes for a brighter future. It was a pleasant stay -- something that Nekohiko was thankful for. He'd learned a lot and he had discovered his deepest convictions. What his rockhard beliefs were.

A tiny fight with Morokata now seemed so far away and so insignificant...

In fact, most of the worries he'd had in Izumo paled in comparison. It was true, what Hira Okinaga had told him. When one discovers their bottom line -- their core -- everything else becomes no more real than a mirage or an illusion.

But it seemed that Nekohiko was alone in this admiration of Lord Okinaga's solid, grounded way of life.

Even Abihiko's dreams about Wayfaring were drastically different from Nekohiko's.

"We will travel on my new Magma Hounds! Just imagine how awesome our Wayfaring adventures will be if we ride on giant Demonic Hounds! Everyone would piss themselves in fear when they see us," Abihiko gushed in his ear, daring to tickle Nekohiko's armpits through his clothes. Not that it worked. Nekohiko's tickling tolerance was extremely high.

But his tolerance for nonsense wasn't.

"We want to become Wayfarers to bring good to the people. Not to scare them shitless," Nekohiko sighed in response.

"We can do both at the same time, no?"

Today was Nekohiko's and Abihiko's last day before going back to Izumo. The two of them sat in the stalagmite garden in the backyard of Okinaga's castle. Okinaga, Daichi, and some other Binding soldiers were sitting further away, drinking morning tea and playing cards. Little Kusuhi dug in the crystals in the ground, happy to find something she could play with.

Mellow from all this cozy commotion around him, Nekohiko was consumed by reading maps of the Hira Lordship, already imagining which roads he would one day take on his Wayfaring. But Abihiko was naturally only busy aggravating him. Nothing else the boy wished to do with his day.

Or with his life. Apparently.

"Come on, Neko, let's go now look at my future Hounds while Okinaga is still home or he won't allow me into the stables!"

"I won't allow you into the stables because this is your fifth time changing your mind about what gift you want for your wardship anniversary," Okinaga's dry voice came from beyond the stalagmite grove.

"What?! No, it isn't!"

Daichi who sat with Okinaga chuckled. "Last time, it was the diamond helmet," Daichi mused. "And before -- the Mirror of Mysteries."

Although Okinaga kept his reserved attitude, his tone was still slightly disappointed-sounding. "You can't even remember, Abihiko. That is not the Hira way. You have to make sure what you want and not jump at every thing that catches your eye at the moment. Now you also say you want to become a Spirit Wayfarer. But before, you told me you wanted to be a general and fight in wars. Do not mistake whim or fancy for what is truly important to you. Do you understand?"

Ah, Nekohiko knew what Okinaga meant. Everyone did, judging by their snickers at Abihiko's enraged expression.

"Whim or fancy?" Abihiko growled.

"Are you a man or are you a goldfish?" Okinaga gave him a stern look. "Pick something and stick with it, Abihiko. People only truly respect those who have solid beliefs."

Well, yeah. Kind of.

But even Nekohiko felt this was going a bit too far.

"First they call me blaaaa, now I suddenly have the attention span of a goldfish?!" Abihiko raged in boiling whispers later as the two boys stalked through the rough-stone dark corridors of Okinaga's castle.

The lava and magma veins ran through the walls and the ceiling, illuminating the place with a fiery but pleasant glow. Through his stay, Nekohiko had already gotten used to such bizarre lighting as well as to the general grim and somber look of the place.

"Who does he think he is?!" Abihiko growled again. "Pfff."

He pushed open the double doors to a very large room Nekohiko had at first thought was an archive or a library. But it was only Okinaga's "treasury".

Which didn't say much because the items kept inside weren't of much use to most people. By "treasury", it meant souvenirs and mementos Okinaga had gathered for only himself and his family members to enjoy. None of the stuff inside would be considered as any kind of real treasure.

Abihiko had only shown it to Nekohiko briefly on the first day precisely because of how unimportant the stuff inside was. But now he was frothing. Now he wanted to poke fun at Okinaga's own "precious" things. And more than that -- to gloat and threaten the security of all these "treasures" as well.

He was a very petty boy at times.

"Look at that. A bent helmet, wow. And a portrait of the foreign opera actress on a plate. And a bracelet with a temple drawn on it. And a postcard with a giraffe on it. Not at all what a goldfish would choose, am I right?"

The postcards, books, magnetized pictures, inkbrushes in novelty forms, hairpins and cloth pendants of touristic nature, the different kinds of festive robes and sandals -- all such items were amassed on the tables and shelves as though, indeed, in a real treasury where gold and diamonds and personal diary entries should only lie. Everything free to touch and explore. Everything open, like an honest, unafraid heart.

"What a bunch of crap," Abihiko mumbled as he put on his head a bamboo hat with the words "Silk Road Pilgrimage Never Ends! A Pilgrim Once, A Pilgrim Forever!" written across the brim in embroidery.

To be completely honest, yes. Nekohiko almost smiled when he saw a jade inkstone made in the shape of a rice cake. Most of these things were garbage. But it was also somewhat charming.

His attention landed on a shelf that was protected from the outside world by the sheet of translucent crystal. There were several such shelves around, but in most of them, there were some actual treasures like foreign coins and pretty jewelry. On this shelf, however -- only a string of seashells.

Not very beautiful, and not very impressive. Seventeen seashells strung together in a necklace.

"Or maybe I should take this stupid postcard with a bunny on it as my gift from Okinaga for my tenth anniversary as his ward?" Abihiko asked, still fuming. "Or this single broken chess piece? Or maybe this teacup? Goldfish, my ass."

"What is this one?" Nekohiko nodded at the seashell necklace.

Immediately, most of Abihiko's anger dissipated. "Oh! I wanted to show you this, by the way. I don't know what this necklace is, but my mom knows. Good that you asked! MOOOOM, Mom, come over! We need your help!"

Nekohiko barely shielded his ears from rupturing. But Abihiko was already prattling on as though he hadn't made the most deafening noise just now.

"What I do know," the boy went on excitedly, "is that this seashell over here --"

He pointed Nekohiko to one of the many unimpressive seashells.

"-- is called... guess what?" Abihiko giggled as though anticipating. "It makes me think of you every time I see it. And think of this seashell every time I see you. Can you guess what its name is?"

...

Nekohiko hated games like these. Why did people always force others to guess random stuff for them?

"...Nekohiko?" he said at last.

"Kitten's Paw, you dummy!"

"Sure." Nekohiko was still not amused.

What did some random seashell have to do with him?

"Mom," Abihiko called when Asazuma popped into the treasury and started sniffing around the souvenirs as though looking for something she wanted to steal. "Neko wants to know what this stupid necklace is all about? Tell her. I know she'll like it. All girls would." He leaned in to whisper dramatically, "It's some pathetic love story-related. I guess you were drawn to this necklace because your maiden heart can sense its romantic nature. Obviously. Anyway, I'll be by the weapon shelf. Call me after you finish listening to sappy stories, bye."

Shock rendered Nekohiko speechless.

"You've asked me to tell you this story at least seven times last year," Asazuma told Abihiko dryly as she came to stand beside Nekohiko.

"Yeah, when I was little. I'm not anymore. I'm thirteen. I'm a man. Weapons. Magma Hounds. Is that a tiny Bound vehicle?"

Nekohiko studied Asazuma's longing expression as she reached her fingers out to the crystal screen in front of the seashells. But she never dared to touch it.

"These are the seashells of all the seventeen seas that Okinaga and I had been to when we were young and... on the run," she said, smiling.

"On a run? From whom?" A sudden realization clouded Nekohiko with confusion. "Seventeen seas in the... foreign lands?"

"Mn. We were running from our parents and from Binding. It's... not easy to explain. You might have noticed that Binding breeds inequality among people and doesn't bring relief to the Spirits. It's all about those who have the power and abuse it. And those who have not. And since no Spiritway magic works outside of our Empire's borders, when Oki and I were young, we thought that... maybe we could escape this Empire of unequal, cruel, unjust treatments. That the world away from Binding would be different."

Her voice left no doubt about what she had found outside.

"Our families tried to find us. Him more than me, of course. Like Okinaga himself, his parents only had one child. One opportunity to have the Hira bloodline go on."

Nekohiko paused in horror.

"Lord Okinaga would run away from his duties as the Lord of the Mountain?"

That didn't sound right. Not Okinaga. Not the man whose resolve and sense of responsibility were hard as a rock.

"We are all different people when we are young," she went on forcedly. "We are dreamy, and we think we can change things for the better. It takes time to find one's rockhard core, you know. Thus, not every attempt becomes your truest core."

Wait, wait...

We all think we can change things for the better.

All people do that?

Nekohiko bit his lip, anxious.

"Not important," Asazuma went on. "In any case, Okinaga had gathered all these seashells because he wanted to make it a symbol of freedom. Of faraway seas and endless horizons. Each seashell from a different sea in the different corners of the world.

"Then he made a necklace out of them. And gave it to me. He said, all the seas and skies and mountains and mists of the world will be ours. Yes? If you put it on, we will go on and gather the rest of the seashells from all the other seas and oceans of the world. We will go on forever, and we will never stop."

She suddenly grew quiet.

And so did Abihiko. Nekohiko flicked his eyes to the other boy's hushed figure by the plate armor stand. He looked genuinely inspired as he listened to his mom speak.

"...and what did you do?" Nekohiko asked after a few moments passed, and Asazuma was still not continuing her story.

She cracked a smile. Half-sad, half-disbelieving. "What did I do?" She dropped her hand off the crystal screen. "What do you think?"

Nekohiko didn't know.

How could he tell? He had no idea where this was going.

His obvious bafflement made Asazuma exhale in a tired laugh. She patted his shoulder and went to the doors. "...like you said. How could Okinaga run away from his family and his duties and his brilliant future? How could anyone who cared about him let him keep running from all of that?"

"..."

Nekohiko followed her with his eyes as she left, then calmly trailed them to Abihiko.

To his wordless question, Abihiko only shrugged. "Like I said. Sappy. What did you expect?"

"It's as if this necklace is the most... Hisome thing about Lord Okinaga." Nekohiko turned back to the shelf. He put his hand on the screen as Asazuma had done and tried to imagine running somewhere far away... the horizon and the dark seas that hid beyond it.

Like a dream, an illusion that wasn't meant to be. A lie that had nothing at its core.

But he couldn't really.

Even though he understood what Asazuma had said about the unfairness of his Empire... it was still his Empire. Even unjust and unequal. He loved it with all his heart, like a ground -- a baseline -- an axis of his existence. He could want to change it, but he would never run from it. Beyond his Empire, there was simply nothing.

Abihiko elbowed him. "Shhh, don't tell that to Lord Okinaga. The 'most Hisome' thing of Lord Okinaga's. I already imagine his face if he heard something like that. He would probably throw this stupid necklace away just to prove you wrong."

Nekohiko shook his head. "It's his treasure. The most important thing that matters. He would never throw it away."

"Um..." Abihiko snorted, then dragged Nekohiko away from the shelf and back toward the souvenir tables. "Whatever you say. Didn't know you were such a romantic. Oh, I will remember this. One day, I will remind you that you said something this saccharine without even cringing. Ha-ha-ha! Ah, can't wait to use this against you several years from now! Maybe I should ask Okinaga to gift me these seashells so that I can force you to wear them and remember this very moment! You're such a hopeless girl, Neko."

Oh well, Nekohiko didn't even mind that. Let Abihiko laugh all he wanted. Because the harder Abihiko mocked it, the more Nekohiko saw that Abihiko cared.

He cared a lot.

"See? You are a goldfish. Now you want to have these seashells only to prove how wrong I am?" For the first time since ever, Nekohiko wanted to tease back. "Typical goldfish behavior."

Abihiko's eyes had never grown so huge.

"You don't think I can have my own rockhard beliefs, huh? My axis?" He crossed his arms on his chest, turning aside majestically. "Oh, we'll see. I'll show you one day. Just you wait."

And Nekohiko could only smile back at him-- in disbelief and the slightest tint of playfulness.