I was currently eating some tropical ice cream with Gita (not that my previous concerns were forgotten, but I needed to take a break). Rainbow color was surprisingly delicious and mixed with passionfruit flavor it was even better. I know I had just eaten a ‘piragua’ but there is no such thing as too much sweet.

{Nio would come to have temporary diabetes in his thirties}.

   Now we had to join the group since Mattari and John were going to address the class and divide us into groups to explore ‘El Morro’. I asked the teacher if we were going to have guides, but she said we weren’t, I don’t know if this is as if by plot armor, or if that is how they handle things there, after all, I’m not from Puerto Rico.

   While I stood next to Gita who was eating her double coconut flavored ice cream, we started to talk about this new anime movie that was coming, and how the soundtrack was going to be made by a rising new Japanese group that Gita had been following online. But while we talked (and barely listened to the group divisions), I noticed something quite interesting. John kept throwing glances in my direction so I decided to point gun fingers at him, like what I sometimes do, but he didn’t respond, so I paid more clear attention, his eyes were not on me, they were on Gita.

   I hid my face a bit and grinned, it seemed the fishing outing had dealt more impact on John than I thought.

'Calm down… I know this is your element Nio, but do not jump to conclusions. Play this safe. Write a note in your notebook, and be alert for if it happens again, then you can start theorizing and scheming.'

   I crouched and got my notebook out of my backpack to write, much to Gita’s concern as she crouched next to me. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Gita’s sudden movement snapped John out of his stupor, and back on task. My grin grew as I wrote and tried to hide my notes from Gita, much to her pouting even if she understood my reasoning (not entirely).

…

   Teams already divided, Ao-sen, John, and I were located on the trail towards ‘El Morro’, and the other groups were slowly making their way towards it. I could see Gita was with two other girls that struggled to talk freely, kinda like her in some ways. Kiken was sadly trapped between two boys that were, definitely trying to get her attention, I could see her with a hand on her purse, probably snuffing the life out of one of the Nio plushies I had gotten her. Mattari was with Panchikikku, and another boy, in this case, I felt bad for the kid, he seemed intimidated by Mattari, and scared of Panchikikku’s outbursts… Can’t blame him on either. I didn’t know much about the other groups, some looked fine, others not so much, but in my opinion, my group was the best.

- “Ok, let's do our best to take this seriously, Chiru made an exception in putting u all together, despite knowing we know each other well enough to cause a ruckus. Let’s prove that wrong by doing our best behavior.”

- “Sure… Let’s do it Joh-”

- “Sen-sen!”

Whatever I was going to say to John fell short of Ao-sen’s call for battle.

- “Ao-Senshi… You have asked for combat at such a moment?!”

- “Guys…”

- “Only if you can catch me, my mortal enemy, today is the day I free young Nio from your grasp, you fiend!”

- “Guys…”

- “Prove your speed then, Warrior of Water!”

- “No… No running!”

   Too late, Ao-sen was already sprinting the path towards ‘El Morro’, passing beside, and in between groups and tourists alike.

- “Don’t worry John, we won’t cause a ruckus inside a historical place, but this is the outside, nothing wrong with a little exercise to get there. Embrace your inner ‘shonen’ character!”

   I didn’t wait for John to respond as I was already sprinting towards Ao-sen. I saw John stay in his spot, sigh, and begin to run towards us with a slight smile on his face.

…

   Once inside ‘El Morro’, Ao-sen turned me back to Nio, and we ignored our brawl in favor of looking around and reading some information on the building. I saw some American tourists and decided to ask them if they knew a little more about San Juan than what was here. They said they walked through a path called: ‘Paseo la Princesa’ and saw a wall that was a mix of old and new, supposedly part of the old wall feels, and they did their best to fix it, but it was not the same. They also said there was an area full of cats, by the farther areas of the trail. I took notes on that, despite not being one of the places we needed to know about, but still, the more the better.

   John was checking something that the brochure said was called a ‘Garita’, meanwhile, Ao-sen was, totally engrossed in the information provided on each area of ‘El Morro’, examining each area with a sparkle in her eyes. For a moment it was like John and Ao-sen had switched roles.

   Ao-sen was looking at everything like a curious student craving knowledge, all signs of the word warrior spark, commander, or lieutenant were gone, no delusion at the moment with exception of her heroic coat. Meanwhile, John was epically posing next to the ‘Garita’ looking at the ocean as if he was some Spanish captain or something (he shouldn’t be proud of that if what the brochures say about the Spanish people and this Island is true).

- “Hey guys, remember we have to take notes on this place, we do have to make an essay about all we learn and see from Puerto Rico.”

   As if a switch had been flipped, Ao-sen and John took out small notebooks, in perfect synchrony, and started to write down information.

   The smell of the salt hitting my nose, and the breeze from the area, brought a new sense of satisfaction, it was strange but nice. Everything was calm, there was no romantic tension, just three friends hanging out as they learned from a historical place on an island that no one knew how their school was able to afford to bring their students to.

   Of course, we failed miserably at keeping the ruckus down a notch, since eventually, Ao-sen couldn’t hold her ‘chuunobyou’ in check and challenged me to combat in this ‘ancient battleground’ when John wasn’t looking. Our battle was fierce, dodging bystanders as we whispered our attacks and made poses, trying our best not to disturb the other groups and least of all the other tourists or locals. Honestly, it was the most fun battle we’ve had so far. Everyone looked at us as if we were in middle school (me most of all) and some laughed. Some with less knowledge thought we were making an interpretative battle (one couple gave both of us a quarter thinking we were performers), then again, many of our attacks had invisible swords.

Eventually, John caught up to us and bunked both of our heads.

- “Ok, we have reviewed every area of ‘El Morro’, let's compare notes and see if any of us missed something.”

- “The history of the warriors in this land and their fortress is most impressive commander John, but the way they treated the natives of this land in the past is most dishonorable. Thankfully present Spain is a better society.”

- “Yeah, it was sad, but this place is cool.”

   After we compared our notes, we headed out of the fortress and had another race in the opposite direction. The first one was won by me; I may be small but ‘I am speed’ as a red car with eyes would say. Sadly, stamina isn’t my thing, so by the second race, John had to carry me mid-way onwards since my stamina was shot, giving Ao-sen victory. I’d have to buy John some tropical ice cream as thanks, but I was going to make sure he picked something wild like passionfruit, or rainbow, no coconut for John.

…

He picked coconut.

   But most importantly, after we were done with ‘El Morro’, the teacher allowed us to spend the rest of the day exploring ‘El Viejo San Juan’, all the traditional areas of San Juan. It was a risky move, but she emphasized remaining with our assigned groups, they were third years, and I was with them, they were expected to be responsible. That emphasis was mostly made for me, I tried to look inconspicuous. Our phones would receive a text from the school when it was time to go. Now it was the second-years’ turn to go to ‘El Morro’.

   We decided to go to a place locals called ‘El Parque de las Palomas', an area full of pigeons that people could feed, an American lady pointed us to it, thank God for her, not knowing Spanish was a weakness, even if I saw Ao-sen talking to a local in English and he understood, yet got confused by Ao-sen’s peculiar way of speaking.

   Once we were there, we bought some food to give the pigeons in that area. Ao-sen kept making comments about how if those pigeons awakened their warrior sparks, they could become messengers in case of war. John on the other hand was scared as heck since the pigeons swarmed over him the moment he opened the bag of food, it seems even the pigeons liked him the best, I could only laugh and feed the few pigeons that deemed me worthy, (this is not depreciation on my part, it’s just I’ve never been good with animals).

   After that, we made our way to a bus stop to go to the bathroom, fair is to say, Ao-sen simply could not go there, and John and I stayed there more than needed, because of throwing up due to the smell and condition of the toilets. Thankfully, we found an area close to some food places that had decent bathrooms that Ao-sen could use, while John and I stared blankly in space wondering why we didn’t consider coming here first.

   Moving through the marginal, we saw some cruise ships lining up, and a commemorative pirate-like boat. Ao-sen kept telling us to board it and that using her spark energy she would turn it into a vessel for war. Even she laughed at that.

…

   As time passed, the sun was coming down so the three of us made our way to some area next to the coast and bought some local food. Then we saw something amazing.

- “It looks like the fireworks festival in here!”

   A large trail with multiple stands selling traditional foods and candy, traditional crafted things, collars, soaps, wood crafts, etc.

- “Are they celebrating something?”

- “No, it is mostly like this. During a celebration, there are even more than this.”

- “Thanks.”

   A local boy, more or less John’s age, had approached us and talked in English with an accent. Both Ao-sen and I understood, but since John was terrible in English, despite his parents being American, he was stumped. I felt sad for the dude, but rom-com protagonists sometimes grab the short end of the stick to help the plot move forward, maybe I could get Mattari to teach him or something, or Gita, since she is constantly conscious of John’s needs, and doesn’t make a big deal when she helps him.

- “Cool ‘pava’!”

   I couldn’t help but smile as the boy left continuing his trail. He didn’t judge me for wearing it, nor laughed, nor called me racist, he could tell I liked it.

   Fair to say, walking through a festival-like scenario without seeing crowds wearing yukatas or kimonos, was strange, but it wasn’t like me, John or any of our friends or acquaintances wore them, we weren’t very traditional, and went to the festivals to have fun.

   Three seconds of walking through the lane after that boy left us, Ao-sen and John had already gone separate ways. To my right, I could see Ao-sen looking at the traditional crafts that looked like they could belong to a warrior or looked like a warrior. John on the other hand was all over the place, I just hope he brought enough money. We had to change currencies when we got to Puerto Rico, as the Island doesn’t work with yens, rather dollars, but still. I worried about his pocket here.

   My eyes, however, were glued to the fountain at the very end of the trail. The sun was no more, and some stars could be seen, but the only light I saw was the fountain’s glow, as the water sprinkled from and close to the statues on the fountain. I could see many people, both tourists, and locals, taking pictures on the fountain.

   Slowly but certainly, I made my way to it, droplets of water hit my face and clothing, but I didn’t care, it was a great view. The smell of saltwater hit my nose again, and I felt that satisfaction feeling again. To my right, I saw the entrance to ‘El Paseo la Princesa' the one the tourist had talked about back at ‘El Morro’, but it was too late to go there now, especially since I didn’t know at what point the cat territory began.

   My eyes were still at the fountain.

- “This would be a perfect spot for a moment between one of the girls and John.”

- “Do you ever stop thinking about that, young Nio? Have you ever, even, been in love yourself before?”

   At some point Ao-sen had made her way towards me, she was holding a bag with a few warrior-like crafts from the stands, at least she bought only what she truly wanted, contrary to John, who I assume is still raiding the stands of their crafts and emptying his wallet in the process.

- “To answer your second question first, no.”

- (Questioning look). “How do you know… Love on the battlefield is sometimes unavoidable. It strikes when least expected. Love is war.”

- “I hope you didn’t mean the last part in a way that makes you have to pay rights to the author. But back on focus, if you are like me you can tell. In my case, I haven’t let myself fall in love, for obvious reasons. Whenever I had a crush on someone, I plucked it out before it took hold or became more. For example, in fourth grade, I had a crush on you, but I rapidly squished that feeling, as that wasn’t my goal in life.”

   Ao-sen took a moment to laugh. She wasn’t making fun of my feelings, she understood the reasoning, but we were such kids back then, that feeling a crush at such an age, felt silly once you were our age. I laughed shortly after she started. We stared at the fountain together.

- “I also had a crush on Gita, after the first month of class in Eagle High, but I plucked it out before my shipping mission began. She was already in love with John, and I knew that, and even if she wasn’t I would have plucked it anyways.”

   This time she didn’t laugh. We stared at each other, I knew she wanted to ask something along the lines of; ‘Why didn’t you do anything with it? Why didn’t you try to tell her?’, but she knew it would have been pointless to make me second guess myself, and besides I don’t have it anymore (and before you say, I’m not in denial, I’m a shipper, before understanding the feelings of others I need to understand my own if anything I’m blocking feelings from developing regarding another friend of mine. Current progress in feeling block, 100% success).

- “Then how do you know that none of those crushes were actually love?”

   Ao-sen was talking normally, something I’ve only experienced a few times with her, the most recent one being when she told me she no longer wanted to end up with John.

- “I’m not like you Ao-sen. I don’t think my feelings can change, yours could, and that is great. Your experiences, and what made you happy made your feelings change, but for me… I know one thing. I can pluck out crushes because the feelings are not too deep, but if I ever let my guard down, and the crush in me grows into love… No matter what I try, I will not be able to pluck it out, it would remain there burning until I saw the person that caused this love end up with someone else, and the feeling died on its own."

   Ao-sen, stared at me with wide eyes and a blank expression, placing her body against the cement of the fountain, as I did the same. It was only a few moments later when I realized I made it sound sadder and more dramatic than it is. I mean, love goes unfulfilled constantly, it’s all about the role you play.

- “Hahaha… Sorry, I made it sound darker than it, actually is. And not to worry. I will not let myself fall in love, so I won’t have to feel that pain. But even if I do, I still have you and my other friends to help me through it… Right?”

   She didn’t laugh with me; I had ruined the mood. Dang it! But I did see her nod at my last statement, which made me happier than I thought it would for some reason.

   After some quiet, I decided to speak again. John was still buying stuff. How much money did he bring?

- “But to answer your first question: ‘Do you ever stop thinking about that, young Nio?’..." (Imitating her voice).

I imitated her voice to lighten the mood, which worked as I saw her smile.

- “A question referring as if I ever stop thinking about shipping. The answer is yes. Throughout this day, ever since we went to ‘El Morro’, up to when we reached this fountain. All I’ve been thinking is how much fun I’ve been having with John and You. I’ve really had fun, from seeing you making comments on warrior stuff, to John running from the pigeons, even the bathroom incident. It brought a sense of satisfaction in me, almost as much as shipping, and anime rom-coms.”

Ao-sen’s smile got so wide that I thought her face wouldn’t contain it. She gave me a side hug.

- “I’m glad you find satisfaction in simple moments with friends.”

Slice-of-Life.

It hit me. Sometimes, when there were no good rom-coms, I would watch slice-of-life anime with romantic subplots. Romance was never the main plot, there were no tensions, love triangles, etc. It was about people doing normal things, and if romance was involved so be it. It brought calm to watch those. And I realize, this was what this experience had been. Slice of life, three friends having fun.

<…>

{Nio’s development: Level Up!

Level 2: Slice of life enjoyer (Was always with him but he didn’t realize)

Stats: Despite mainly being a rom-com anime fan,

and living his life as a rom-com shipper, he now gains

satisfaction in the simple things of life, preferably with friends}.

<…>

John finally joined his friends with two bags full of trinkets, he was sweating.

- “How much did you spend?”

- “Commander, I know for a fact that as a lieutenant, my rank is below you, but If I may speak, that was all too much, and you will forget most of it exists in two weeks.”

- “Nonsense.”

We stayed in silence but then burst out laughing, as John knew Ao-sen was right.

   We decided to take a group picture with the fountain on the back, and I did the same thing I did with the picture we took at the camping event. I sent it to everyone I knew. Three seconds later I received a pouty face emoji from Sanagi, followed by a message telling me she wished her school could have gone to see that.

   Two minutes afterward, we all received an Eagle High text saying we needed to regroup at the starting point, tomorrow we would go to the science museum in Bayamon, and it was time to go back to the hotel.

   On our way back, I asked Ao-sen if she truly believed in her delusions, since I had seen her act normal sometimes. She told me that she chose to live like that, that for her it was like the pink-haired girl from the anime about the girl with the eye patch. She chose to remain like that. She felt one day she would stop, but for now, as her spark was burning with life, Ao-Senshi would live on, and would one day expel Sen-sen.

   We reached the bus, thoroughly exhausted, this time I sat with Panchikikku, who had a troubled expression on her face, I guess she was pondering something, but I was too tired to pry on it. It had been a great day, and as the bus moved toward our hotel, I closed my eyes with a smile on my face. I knew my life wasn’t slice-of-life, but having it sometimes in the middle of my rom-com shipping shenanigans was a welcome pause.

…

   New developments for the shipper, he now likes slice-of-life, good for him or whatever.

   Anyway, next time. A day has passed, and now Eagle High is going to the Arecibo Observatory, but a certain ‘tsundere’ with the love for boxing, athletic stuff, and a bald boy, considers a risky move that could get her detention, one she is not willing to involve the Shipper on. What does she plan to reveal to her bald love interest? And what will this mean for the future going forwards? Find out next on “Protagonist is a Shipper” part 2.

...

Actual Puerto Rico areas were used during the writing of this chapter. The areas the characters mentioned and visited are based on how I remember them, I haven’t been to ‘El Viejo San Juan’ in a long time, and things might be different, or my memory may betray me. Some things might have been altered for plot reasons, but most are as I remember. If something isn’t factual as of now, I apologize, but this book is mainly driven by plot, but I did my best to write the places as I remember them from my last visit there.