Just a random idea I had …one of the paragraphs practically wrote itself in my head, and the rest fell in place. Anyway, each section is from the viewpoint from one of the NagiAsu kids (Hikari , Manaka , Kaname , Chisaki , Tsumugu , Miuna , Sayu-not in that order though) and each of them describes a moment from Episode 13 onwards. Try to guess the POV and the episode for each bit. I shouldn't think it'd be hard.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this!
She doesn't hesitate to go in after Akari.
Even though those whirlpools are scary and this whole thing is scary, she doesn't hesitate. Her normal reaction to fear is to run, run as far as possible. But there is nowhere to run this time.
In any case, she has to do this. Akari has people waiting for her on the surface. She is not going to stand there and simply let the Sea God rip away loved ones from each other. She knows this much.
But things don't turn out so simple. The Sea God won't let go, he is a child with a new toy, he doesn't want to let go. But she won't let this go either. After all, there are people on the surface waiting for Akari, waiting so that they can have a new beginning together. The Sea God may be stubborn, but so is she.
And suddenly, she knows what to do.
If you insist on taking someone….take me instead.
…
It is one thing to think you know something, and another to see it right in front of your eyes.
The way Chisaki holds Tsumugu after they back into the boat, it's so precious…but it doesn't surprise him. He had been seeing the signs for a while now. They were subtle, to the extent that even she hadn't realised where her feelings truly lay, but he had always noticed the little details. This wasn't an exception. So it doesn't surprise him.
But it does hurt. This is another thing he knows. It hurts, that the girl he loves is destined to be with someone he can never, ever compete with. It was easier when it seemed that Hikari was the object of her affections, because even she knew that it was a hopeless, throw-a-ball-against-the-wall kind of love. But this is real, deep and quiet. It fuels her reactions towards Tsumugu, and vice versa, without her ever realising it. This is something that he can't come close to, and so he had thought that it'd be better to let him drown. But then he imagined Chisaki's grief, and decided he didn't want her to turn against him. So, against his better judgement, he goes to help. And now, what he knew all along has come back to bite him. It hurts. He should've known.
It shocks him at first, when the boat swerves and he is thrown off. But it doesn't surprise him.
After all, he knows that he will never be able to win.
…
No!
The waves crash, the pillar comes down; her friends are swallowed by the sea. And then, suddenly, inexplicably, it goes so, so quiet. But somehow, that scream still resonates.
Who was that?
She wonders this in an absent , disjointed way as she watches the chaos as people run to get Akari out of the sea and into safety. She briefly registers someone coming to get Tsumugu. She is glad that he is safe, at least.
"Hey, girlie. It's over now. Come off the boat."
Eventually, someone seems to have noticed her. She tries to stand, but it takes all of her energy. The man helps her, and she tries to thank him, but she can barely get her voice to work.
Oh. Right. That was me, wasn't it?
The despair swirls around her. But that is all it does. It hasn't snuck into her cracks yet, she has yet to absorb it. Right now, she is in a fog.
She is taken to a room in the Fishery Cooperative, and her legs give out almost immediately. Someone gives her a cup of tea, but she can't seem to get a grip on it. Everything is confusing; it's as if she is viewing it through a piece of blurry glass, or something.
The adults all seem as confused as she is, they know about as much as she does-which is virtually nothing. Their questions make circles, and these eventually come around to her. What will happen to her. Where she'll live now. That sort of thing. She listens to the words and stares downwards, seeing nothing.
Akari tentatively offers to take her in, but she is cut off by Tsumugu's grandfather. He says that she should live with them-Akari's place will be too full, after all.
Oh, and he is also from the sea.
At that, she looks up for the first time, straight into eyes she had never really looked into before. Eyes that is cloudy with age, but impossibly blue.
Like her eyes.
And although there is so much she will never know, there is one thing that she does:
Life will never be the same again.
…
She is walking away from a confession she doesn't want to hear and doesn't need to deal with when it begins. Tomoebi.
It is brighter than she could have ever imagined. The light bathes everything in its cold glow. It burst through the cracks in the ice with a sound she didn't expect.
And all of a sudden, she knows. She knows. The light blinds her, makes tears fall out. The brightness warms her body, makes it hum with heat and hope. It is a knowledge that pierces so deeply, she cannot articulate it.
But she knows.
She begins to quicken her pace, and soon, she is running , ignoring the calls of the confession she doesn't want to hear , and doesn't need to deal with. She runs, runs towards the light.
Towards her light.
…
He recognises the music, even through his annoyance and sadness. It is the sound of the Ofunehiki, the last things he heard on what feels like the other day.
And so, despite feeling lost, he follows it , a child following the Piper , without knowing what lies ahead.
Somewhat anticlimactically, he ends up at a loudspeaker. But he isn't alone. There is a woman, a few years older than him, also standing there listening to the Ofunehiki song. She seems surprised to see him there.
He looks at her in a distracted way. She's pretty, dressed casually, her purple hair just brushing her shoulders...
Purple hair. Hold on.
He looks at her more closely. The hair is shorter, the figure is taller and more mature. But the hair colour, the shape of her eyes, the way she hold herself, the surprised expression-all of these things, he knows. He knows this girl. Everyone else-they all have traces of the person they were before, but they are all barely recognisable. But yet, somehow, Chisaki is still familiar.
It fills him with a real sense of relief, that at last, he knows something in this changed world.
I'm so glad that you've not changed a bit.
…
It is hard, being 14 years old and realising that actually, you are the same person you were 5 years ago. The same person that was only able to watch the world she wanted to live in through a window, her best friend beside her, feeling the same things. It is hard, whatever age you are, to be jealous of that best friend, and for her to be so oblivious to it.
But this is silly. How could Miuna not know? How could she not know that she is so lucky right now? How could she not know how hard it is to watch them ,looking as if they are already together , while the one she's been pining for still lies in the sea , asleep? If the situation had been reversed, if it had been Kaname who'd awoken first, she is sure that Miuna would be feeling the way she did now. But instead, she remains ignorant of how good she has things right now, and this makes her mad.
And yet…and yet, this is her best friend she's feeling angry towards. Her best friend. The one who shared her longing, the one who used to peer through the window with her, the only one who didn't bully her during second grade. Surely she deserves this happiness now? The answer isn't one that she knows.
It is hard, being 14 years old in this world.
…
He can't help but smile when he turns and realises that Chisaki has fallen asleep. It is one of those moments when she's at her most beautiful. Her face looks so untroubled, peaceful. As if she isn't actually harbouring ghosts.
He notices her hair has fallen across her face, and he kneels down in front of her to push it away. It should be a simple gesture, but it gives him pause.
She really is beautiful. She may be insecure and easily worried and always concerned about change, but she is also beautiful, brave, resilient, and funny. Not to mention, for 5 years, she has been there for him.
In other words, he has every reason to love her.
But at the same time, he has no right to. For one thing, she has been pining for another for the longest time. He should know this –he's her sea slug, after all.
And she is fragile.
This is what he thinks of the most as he lets his fingers linger, as he watches her. All he wants is to hold her, hold her properly and be the one to make the pain go away, but he knows that if he was to press any harder, she'd shatter, a thousand blossoms, scattering everywhere. Surely, she would shatter.
And that would be even worse.
Which is why he knows that he'll let her go if she needs him to. All he wants is for her to be happy, for the troubled look on her face to not haunt her waking hours. He would like to be able to have the right to hold her properly, but his biggest desire is to see her happy. So he will let go if she needs him to, for no other reason than he loves her. This he knows.
But what he doesn't know is how it will feel when she walks away.