28 — WATERMELON AND SEEDS
The waves of the night ocean and some stars in the sky. Groups of young people in the distance, lots of laughter and nonsense. Alone and closer to the sea, she was crying. Her feet in the sand.
He didn't know what to do, and the group of thieves was already long gone.
Hyoga looked at her, she was wiping the tears on her face. He wanted to apologize, perhaps.
"My name is not Alexei." He said a little distant and extremely uncomfortable.
She turned her face and saw a young man in the dark. It took her a while to recognize him, but as she measured him from head to toe, she saw those ridiculous leg-warmers on his shins. She let out a laugh, interrupting her sadness.
"I must have done something really bad to endure this." she told herself.
Hyoga stayed there, at the same distance, not knowing very well what to do with his hands. He looked out over the ocean. It was night, so he could see little but foam from the nearest waves.
"And what's your name then?" she asked, drawing his attention.
He looked at her and she wiped her nose on her sleeve.
"Hyoga."
She laughed.
"You're lying again."
"No, my name... is Hyoga." he repeated, annoyed.
She finally believed it.
"And are you going to stand there, Hyoga?"
He sat. Still a little far from her.
"Do people where you come from go to the beach like this?" she said, pointing to those leg-warmers.
"We don't have beaches."
"And where do you come from anyway?"
"From Siberia."
"Siberia?!" she surprised, finally turning to face him fully. He confirmed it.
"And what are you doing here?" she asked, really interested, and he just looked back at her suspiciously.
"I'm on a mission."
"How mysterious."
It really was a mystery and he was a long way from solving it. He remembered that he was sitting there for another kind of mystery: that of guilt.
"Sorry about what I said at the stadium." he said, very crookedly.
She shrugged.
"No. You were right. I really was running away." she said, sinking her feet a little into the sand. "My best friend just wanted me to get over this whole situation for a while. But she…" The girl hesitated. "She's so excited that everything she does reminds me that I'm sad. And the reason why I'm sad."
"Your sister hasn't come back yet?" he asked directly.
"No," she replied, crestfallen. "But I'm going after her."
"Do you know where she is?" Hyoga cheered.
"No, but…" and she hesitated, looking up at the sky. "I can't explain it, but I can feel her. I know she is close."
Hyoga looked at the sky and saw that there was a star with a very weak brightness, but also different from the others; it had a subtle reddish tinge. He had a chill.
"Did you see the fight today?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Andromeda showed up." she commented.
"Yeah." he agreed. "What do you think of these fights?" asked Hyoga honestly.
"It's all a great show." she said. "But it's super well performed. It may sound silly, but… the Pegasus boy never gives up. And before he was taken inside the lockers I know he saw me and gave me a thumbs up. I bumped into him yesterday near the bridge."
"Pegasus?"
"Yes. His name is Seiya." said the girl. "He's our age. He said that he had also lost his sister. And that he would be strong to be able to find her again."
Hyoga didn't show much reaction, but in her heart she remembered the intensity with which the boy fought in that Arena.
"You must think it's ridiculous, but… seeing him winning today was important to me." she said. "I know I'm going to find my sister."
She smiled, but her face was still wet from her tears. Maybe she felt very lonely, thought Hyoga.
"You also didn't told me your real name." he said back.
The girl got up and wiped the sand off her clothes.
"My name is Shoko."
The two got up and Shoko forced Hyoga to walk along the beach, close to the sea, where the sand was colder and more humid. They talked as much as possible, because Hyoga was terrible at that. She actually thought the boy's clumsiness was amusing, but she still couldn't accept that the fool walked on the beach in his snow leggings.
They talked about Siberia, as she wanted to know everything about the midnight sun, which Hyoga said that did not exist in the village where she lived. He was bad at talking.
"What about the northern lights?" she asked, trying to find something.
Hyoga did not respond immediately, as the aurora borealis brought him immense sadness.
"Yes. It occurs a lot where I come from." he said.
"Is it beautiful as they say?"
"More than anything." he said, longingly.
"Wow..."
Shoko wasn't quite sure if she was impressed by the possibility of that enormous beauty from the Northern Lights or by the affection she felt in Hyoga's voice, as he was so closed and direct.
After walking for a few minutes, Shoko stopped and Hyoga looked around.
"This is my street." she announced the end of the night.
Hyoga looked over her shoulder and saw a narrow street sink, winding, crossing the great avenue. It was lit up, but it was late.
"I can walk you." he said.
"I know how to defend myself." she joked.
He was silent looking down the street.
"But you can walk me."
"If something happens, I shouldn't defend you then?" he asked.
"Silly." she laughed. "These things don't happen here." she commented.
They left the strip of sand onto the sidewalk along the shore; Shoko tapped her shoes and put them on. They crossed the great avenue and entered the narrow winding street that was well lit, but very deserted. A few cars parked on the sidewalk, tree-lined houses close together. They walked down lightly talking about the Tournament, about each of the participants. She took a flyer out of her bag with the list of all participants for Hyoga, who went to every fight, but didn't know anyone.
Then they arrived.
"There's no fight scheduled tomorrow." she commented, and he immediately blushed.
He swallowed his tongue.
"I won't be able to find you on corridors where you shouldn't be." she commented with a smile. "But tomorrow there's a fair on the pier."
"Is there a forbidden corridor at this fair?" he asked.
She laughed and knew she would see him again. She closed the door shortly after giving him a nice goodbye.
Hyoga went back along the winding street to the big avenue towards the small place where he was living in the city. In the tiny apartment in which he stayed, always with everything paid for, always with some provisions, he left the light on to read the pamphlet given by the girl.
It listed the 10 boys and girls who fought in that Tournament and had a profile for each of them. He carefully read the passage that spoke of Pegasus.
"Seiya." he repeated in the darkness.
He trained in Greece, at the cradle of the Knights, said the pamphlet, and Hyoga was confused for a moment. Next to it was a photo of Shiryu, the Dragon Saint.
"China."
He noticed how each one of them apparently came from a distant place. Including Andromeda.
The day after, very early he arrived and found the pier still setting up the fair that would take place later. He had the pamphlet with him and with it he stood at the end of the pier looking out to the sea, leaning on a parapet. The next match would be a few days away, and it was goint to be an Andromeda fight.
The ocean breeze hit his face and cooled the rising heat. Gradually people were arriving for the fair, but Hyoga was thinking about hi fate.
"Rebels have broken the Oath of the Saints and has put the Sanctuary's secret at risk. They need to be punished and discharged."
Rebels, he thought, remembering his Master's words. He opened the pamphlet and saw the photographs of those rebels. But, with more curiosity, he read the entire page dedicated to the organizer of the event. The Graad Foundation heiress, Saori Kido. A girl older than all of them who signed the event and laid down the rules.
"What is she up to with this?" he asked himself, trying to imagine if she had any idea what she was doing.
Hyoga was confused and also scared. His mission was clear, but also absurd. Killing ten boys and girls in a city like that. He felt like there were eyes on him on all sides and that's why he liked the sea, because in front of him no one was staring at him.
And there was more to the mystery. What did the Black Saints wanted with the Gold Cloth? Had the Black Saints also been chosen for that mission? If so, he could simply wait for the punishment to be done, as it had already been for one of them.
He opened the pamphlet again and found the victim: Ichi.
"The Hydra Warrior, Ichi trained in Finland to return to the Tournament and try to be the strongest among the 10 Knights. His favorite food is warm salmon soup."
He also liked soup.
"Hey!" called someone behind him.
It was Shoko.
He turned and tucked the folded flyer into his pants.
"I can't believe." she said, smiling. "Without your warmers?!"
"I was told it's not very much used around here."
The girl was next to another girl, a little smaller, her hair pulled back in two side tails. Both wearing the same clothes, a school uniform, as they had just left school.
"This is the Eiri I told you about."
"Hm. So you are the mysterious boy who keeps stealing my friend in the Tournament?"
He was super embarrassed and didn't know how to respond.
"Uh, Shoko, you haven't mentioned how cute he is!"
"Shut up Rumi!"
The friend stopped laughing.
"I'll leave the two lovebirds alone. See you tomorrow, Sho!"
"Get outta here, Eiri." she lashed, seeing her friend disappear at the fair.
"Rumi?" Hyoga asked.
"Oh, that's what I call her when I get mad." and then she took Hyoga's hand and pulled him to the fair. "Come on, I have an idea."
They went back to the fair, which, at that time, was not exactly very crowded, and Shoko took Hyoga to a beautiful fruit stand. She gave money to the woman who ran the tent and they bought two cold slices of watermelon.
"I bet you don't have this fruit in Siberia." she joked.
They took the slices to the end of the pier, which was emptier, and the two sat down with the huge ocean in front of them. And there they ate their huge slice of ice-cold red watermelon. Hyoga really found the fruit delicious.
"Hey. Don't eat the seed." she said. "Do it like this, look."
Shoko spat out one of the seeds as far as she could into the sea. He looked at her, his face all smeared with fruit. He had seed all over his face. She took one of the seeds nailed to his cheek and with her hand threw it into the ocean.
And so they were eating and spitting seeds on the pier.
They spent the rest of the afternoon together, as she forced him to go on the little roller coaster where the brave Cygnus Saint let all his emotions surface, such a dread that he was left with the falls.
Shoko was dying laughing when she saw his desperate friend. They went downstairs and she kept imitating him, their faces, their mouths, their screams. They played darts and Hyoga managed to hit an impossible target that left Shoko stunned, as she had never seen anyone hit. But, seeing that Hyoga had ulterior motives in that award, she decided to intervene on her own.
"Do not even think about it. If you're thinking of giving me the prize, you can choose another one, because I won't carry this huge bear back home." she smiled.
He looked at the other options and let out a smile when he found something perfect, something he didn't even need to hit the hardest target to get.
A small crystal swan with its wings open.
She loved it.
"Are there many swans where you come from?"
"No," he replied. "Only one."
She didn't understand, but Hyoga pulled her back to the fruit stall.
He wanted more watermelon.
The afternoon lengthened and they barely saw the time passing, as Shoko forced the boy to do a second round of everything. She laughed a lot and caught a few smiles on the boy's face; Shoko realized that her favorite moments were the ones she managed to get the boy unconfortable.
As the afternoon began to fall and the sun to disappear in a sky that was painted orange, Hyoga and Shoko went down the stairs of the pier to walk on the sand.
They were light as plumes.
She had the little swan in her hand and was looking at the sun setting through it, throwing a bunch of lights in her own face.
"They say it's bad to look at the sun like this." Hyoga spoke.
Shoko carefully placed the swan in her bag.
"I'll have class all day tomorrow." she announced. "And the day after as well."
"Then I'll see you in the Tournament corridors." he said and she smiled.
"Eiri won't go this time." she said. "How about, instead of you looking for me the entire night, we can sit together this time?"
He almost died of embarrassment and she laughed at him.
"See you there, then." she said, saying goodbye.
"See you."
She saw the girl walk away down the avenue and into its narrow street.
A cold stomach. He found himself staring at her smiling without any reason, and then almost died of embarrassment.
The huge success of the first semifinal, the spectacular fight between Pegasus and Dragon, made the demand for tickets for the second semifinal much higher. So Hyoga found himself surrounded by a crowd of people getting ing the stadium extremely excited. He regretted not having arranged somewhere to meet her and stopped at the parapet of one of the floors doing the impossible: trying to find a ponytail in the crowd that flooded the stadium. And there were many different hairdos, never the right one.
But, as always, she found him.
"How do you always find me?" he asked.
"You're the one that looks more goofy." she said. "Let's go."
They descended the stairs together to a row farther along, but very close to the Battle Arena. On that night, Hyoga decided that his distant mission would be set aside, after all whatever the punishment was due for those Saints, maybe it would be better to pay it after the whole circus was over. The secret was already out there.
"Looks like Andromeda is the favorite." he said, pointing to a group of fans with personalized T-shirts with the Andromeda boy's photo, pompoms, their own songs and dances to support their favorite.
"He is." she replied.
Hyoga noticed how her smile had been polite, but uncomfortable. Shoko cracked her fingers, something he didn't remember seeing.
"Is something wrong?" he asked seriously.
She dismounted slightly and reached for the pendant.
"No. I'm just… feeling weird."
"Do you want to leave? We can just stay on the beach looking at the sea." he said.
"No. It will pass." she said, but soon regretted hiding and opened up to him. "Actually, today is my sister's birthday. So I'm feeling a little weird. But… it's not sadness. It's anxiety. As if I was sure that I'm going to find her again and I'm waiting for it to happen."
"And what will you say when you meet her again?" asked Hyoga, naively.
The direct and innocent question dismantled Shoko's insecurity, as it was a question with the certainty that it would happen, and that made her a little happier.
"I'm going to scold her. She'll hear me." Shoko said, smiling.
The lights dimmed and the fight was about to begin, the roar of the crowd rose, as did the people around them. The atmosphere in the stadium was amazing. The two also got up to see the entrance and were contaminated by the atmosphere. Hyoga saw that Andromeda would not wear his Cloth and got a little worried.
The first round ended with Shun's victory, to a huge fanfare in the audience.
When the second round ended with Unicorn's victory, everyone stood up to better understand what had happened to Andromeda to fall from the Arena. Except Shoko.
Hyoga noticed that her face was livid and her hand was grasping the winged pendant.
"You are not well." Hyoga spoke.
"I feel my sister." she said.
"Here?" he said, looking around.
"I don't know how to explain."
Hyoga sat and didn't know what to do, when he noticed something curious in the Arena: the Andromeda Cloth dressed Shun's body against his will, it seemed. He had magnificent Chains that were protecting him from something.
Worried, Hyoga looked around, to the broadcast booth, where he remembered the Black Saints had been, and also to the Golden Urn, which he knew was empty.
There were shadows near the Urn. Suspicious shadows.
The Nebula Chains were tense in the middle of the Arena and Hyoga saw how the warriors who had invaded the stage were arguing amongst themselves. There was something going on there.
But there was something going on beside him.
"Hyoga." called Shoko. "Hyoga…"
"Shoko. What is it?"
"I feel a huge pressure in my chest, I don't know. I don't know what to do."
Hyoga knelt in front of her and held her hands.
"Listen. Breathe. Look at me." he asked. "Everything will be fine."
The stadium lights then all went out and the golden urn slowly began to open. The two didn't even see it, because Hyoga was holding Shoko's hands, who closed her eyes tightly trying to keep inside herself a huge anguish.
When the lights returned, the scream from the audience rose in a frenzy and startled both Hyoga and Shoko, who saw the huge Nebula Chain stretched from the Arena to a person's fist on top of the Golden Urn.
She attacked Andromeda from a distance.
Shoko got up, startled, and took Hyoga's hands. Her chest pounding hard.
"Shun, you haven't changed a thing." said the voice of the mysterious warrior echoing through the speakers. "You keep crying too much. I'm already full of your tears! You will be the first one to die, get ready!"
And she flew from where she was to hit Shun with a powerful kick.
Hand in hand with Shoko, Hyoga felt a terrible and enormous cosmo energy.
It wasn't Phoenix.
But the girl beside him.
ABOUT THE CHAPTER: Making Hyoga and Shoko a couple was a lot of fun, as their personalities are very different. But it fits perfectly, because Hyoga and Eiri (Eris from the first movie) also had a certain thing, and I took advantage of that idea, but with Shoko in Eiri's place.
NEXT CHAPTER: BORN UNDER MALEFICENT STARS
What is the strange cosmos awakened in Shoko?