Guys, I kid you not, I must've written this story like 2 years ago but just kept having other things to post first so I kept pushing it back ;~; But now it is finally time! My guilty ship, Hikakuro, which consists of my two fav girls~! I know they are an extremely niche pair with few enjoyers, so I decided to give them Aquarium AU, because they deserve it.
I actually wrote this before Aquatope on White Sand was an anime... so once that aired I was like "oh look my Aquarium AU" haha only this is quite different, honestly.
Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.
Blue Summer Romance
Chapter 1. Blue Seas Aquarium
After finishing up a very successful second year of high school, Saijou Claudine only enjoys a few days of her summer vacation freely before getting to work finding a summer job.
And it doesn't take very long for her to get one.
After all, such a charismatic, energetic, beautiful young girl would do well anywhere in town.
Several staff at the local diners offer her a waitressing job anytime she comes by, and the local mall would definitely accept her for selling clothes, makeup, or any other kind of product.
But Claudine had worked her fair share of brief retail jobs in the past, and she wants a change of pace this time around.
Which is why she sets her sights on something a bit more unique: the local aquarium.
Formally titled Blue Seas Aquarium, it's a medium-sized facility that carries all sorts of marine life. It's nothing hugely extravagant, but it isn't your average run-of-the-mill day trip, either.
Claudine had gone there several times in her life with her parents, and sometimes with classmates as well. The aquarium hosted live shows every day, some with dolphins, others with seals, and others still with live feedings for the sharks or penguins.
Claudine had always loved this place all her life, not just for the learning experience of getting to see such rare creatures up close, but also too for the sense of magic and wonder it often sparked.
Therefore, she politely turns down all the offers from the diners and the malls, and instead interviews for the Blue Seas Aquarium.
Being she has no degree or any kind of training to handle any of the animals, Claudine applies for the job of a tour guide. Since she attends a theatre school, she believes that taking a summer job that involves standing and speaking in front of people for the majority of the day would benefit her greatly.
Claudine answers all of the questions asked of her with confidence and wit, and by the end of it all, the woman who interviews her is thrilled to tell her things are looking good.
Only a few days later, Claudine receives a call to confirm she'd gotten the job.
Though she is professional and grateful on the call, the second she hangs up she's rushing to her parents to throw her arms around them in glee.
That day, she stops by the aquarium to pick up her new uniform, which consists of navy blue pants and a brighter blue button-up shirt with cuffed sleeves and a popped collar. She thanks the woman who had interviewed her, who is actually Claudine's new boss, and is given her schedule for when she'll begin working next week.
Until then, Claudine is presented with a packet full of information about the specific animals she will be in charge of touring. She's going to have to study up and know all about these animals, so she'll be able to answer any questions the customers might have. Claudine accepts her packet and her uniform, which she packs up into a brand new bag provided to her from the gift shop.
With this, Claudine takes the bus home and gets right to work reading up on the animals she will be in charge of.
The aquarium was divided into five main sections, and there was a daily tour guide for each, as well as a few backup people to cover or swap. A group of customers would begin at one section, go through that guide's territory with them, and then be passed off to the next tour guide to cover the next section, and so on, until they'd gone through the entire aquarium.
Claudine would be in charge of smaller sea creatures, ones that covered a long and spacious hallway divided into several separate little rooms. Some of the creatures that will be her new forte include crustaceans, reef fish, eels, and jellyfish.
She reads up on them religiously, all through her final few days before the job begins, and all through her weekend. She makes a sort of script to follow and does a few trial run-throughs for her parents, who offer nothing but praises for her.
By the time Monday morning comes, Claudine is absolutely glowing with excitement. She dresses in normal clothes and brings her uniform along with her to change once she gets there, then has a quick breakfast and wishes her parents goodbye for the day.
She hurries along to the bus stop and waits to take the bus about ten minutes across town, where it deposits her on the block of her destination.
It's still several hours before the building opens to the public, so only staff are in the area, sweeping the sidewalks and doing their usual preparations for the day. Claudine is let in by the guard at the front door and then proceeds to her boss' office, where she's given her own ID badge.
After using the employee changing rooms to put on her uniform, Claudine reports back to her boss, who gives her a brief quiz, asking questions about the animals she will be in charge of. Claudine answers everything perfectly and confidently, and her boss commends her.
They run through what the typical day will look like, and she's given a few tips from senior employees, such as what to do during an emergency, or even just how to handle a pesky customer. Overall, everyone is very nice to Claudine and expresses their support for her on her first day.
She's very excited about it all and is determined to make her first day, and all the rest of the summer, a success.
After her co-workers have finished giving their points of advice, everyone heads off to their respective areas to begin preparing for the customers. With one final wish of good luck and a reminder of how to call for assistance if she needs it, Claudine's boss lets her go.
Claudine all but spins on her heel and hurries off toward her new working area. Her heart is pounding with nervous excitement, even before any customers arrive.
But the moment she steps foot into the very place she'd always loved and adored as a child, it brings her right back to more innocent times and puts her at ease.
Claudine's section for tours is called The Undertow, because unlike other places in the aquarium that consist of larger spaces for tanks, which contain tons of gallons of water or open-air enclosures, hers is more like one long hallway.
She takes her time this morning visiting each creature to admire them. The tanks and animals here are smaller, the largest of which being about five feet across, which houses the moray eels. Other than them, there are also ribbon eels and other smaller species in their own separate tanks, and beside them are star fish, shrimp, prawns, crabs, and lobsters. Reflecting them on the other side of the hallway are sea horses and all sorts of various colorful reef fish.
The tanks of sea life line the wide hall on either side all the way down its length. And at the very end, in a section where the lights are dimmed, are the fluorescent tanks of jellyfish.
Claudine loves the entirety of The Undertow, but this may be her favorite section. The darkness is cozy and cool, and the purple and blue glows given off by the tanks of jellyfish put a person at ease.
Claudine herself spends several moments here, gazing in wonder at the bioluminescent, gelatinous bundles as they float placidly around the cylindrical tanks that reach upward instead of sideways. It helps her calm down a bit more as she runs through her script in her mind, and prepares herself for her first day on the job.
And only a few minutes later, an announcement is made that the Aquarium will be opening in just a few moments.
This is it!
Claudine leaves the jellyfish and hurries to the other end of the hallway, the start of her section where the previous section's tour guide will pass off the first batch of customers to her.
As soon as the doors open, even though Claudine is nowhere near the entrance of the building, she can already sense the change in atmosphere. Pleasant music starts to play over the intercom, and already she can hear the distant sounds of an excited crowd.
And as the moments pass by, Claudine becomes increasingly more eager to greet her first batch of customers, until at last they're standing there before her all at once. Claudine draws in a deep breath and welcomes them all enthusiastically.
"Good morning, everyone! Are you ready to venture into the depths of The Undertow?"
More than half of her crowd of the early-morning twenty are children, all of whom reply with cheers.
Claudine begins her tour by bringing everyone to one side of the hall first, where she talks about the crustaceans for several minutes. She then brings them to the other side to discuss the sea horses and star fish. Claudine follows her script perfectly, and improvises a few things here and there as well to make it more engaging.
She moves gradually down the hallway, pausing every several yards so the people can observe the tanks and their inhabitants. Claudine entertains questions with ease, and always has either an official answer provided by her workplace, or a very highly educated guess.
She loves seeing the looks on everyone's faces. While the children are unabashedly glowing and energetic, even the older teens and adults can't help but smile as they watch the sea creatures. That's just one of the many reasons why Claudine loves the aquarium, because even the stressed-out sticklers of adults often get a bit of a spark back in their eyes when they're able to look at fish and animals they don't often get to see.
Before she knows it, Claudine has led her group to the jellyfish section, where they linger for several minutes until the next tour guide comes to collect whomever wishes to move on ahead at the time. Most people move along, but there are a few who linger in The Undertow, doubling back to take pictures of their favorites and such.
Claudine is filled with a satisfying rush of accomplishment. She checks her phone for the time so she'll know how much time she has before she can expect her next group.
In the meantime, she entertains more questions and observes the creatures a bit more.
When she's got a moment to herself, Claudine takes a walk to the employee break room to take a drink from her water before returning to her post to meet her second group.
The way the schedule works is she typically has a group at the start of every hour for three hours in the morning and three in the afternoon with her lunch break directly in the middle. Each tour of her section takes about forty minutes, and then she'll have twenty or so to walk at her leisure. Of course not every customer joined the tours, and many simply went at their own pace, so there are always some people lingering around at the tanks, pointing at the fish or laughing at the eels' funny grins.
Claudine soon entertains a third group, and then heads off to enjoy her lunch break for an hour. But she only takes about thirty minutes to eat, and spends the rest of her time wandering around the rest of the aquarium to observe the other animals.
There are much larger tanks containing bigger fish of the same species, but the largest tank of the aquarium holds dozens of species, including sharks, sunfish, sting rays, and a few sea turtles. And as she makes her way to the outdoor enclosures, that's where the dolphins, seals, and sea lions are swimming about.
She enjoys her time outside, then heads back in past the penguins and returns to her post.
Claudine soon greets the first group of her afternoon and proceeds with her tour. And as per usual, several people linger at the end in the jellyfish section.
But by the time Claudine has finished touring her fifth group of the day, almost an hour after the previous group had finished, she notices one girl still lingering at the jellyfish.
She's about Claudine's age and height, wearing a light blue t-shirt with a white bear's face on it, and white shorts, as well as a golden star-shaped pin in her hair, which is jet-black and falls all the way down to her hips.
Claudine remembers her from the previous group; she'd probably been the only person who hadn't said a word the whole time. And by now, she's been lingering at the jellyfish for over an hour, which is much longer than most people tended to linger, even at their favorite animals' enclosures.
Claudine will only have one group left today, which will give those people enough time to have the final two tours of the rest of the building and still allow them time for the gift shop before they close at 6PM. If this girl doesn't get going with Claudine's last group, she'll probably miss out on half the aquarium.
Claudine makes a casual mental note of her and decides that if the girl hasn't gone within the next hour, Claudine will approach her.
But for now, she handles her final group of the day, which is also mostly children and their adult guardians.
And by the time they reach the jellyfish and Claudine officially finishes with her last tour of the day, that girl with the long black hair is still there, staring up at one of the cylindrical tanks. Claudine tactfully raises her voice a bit to address everyone so as not to single her out.
"Everyone, the next guide will be here shortly to lead you onto the final two sections, and after that the aquarium will be closing. Please, if you'd like to complete the full tour of the Blue Seas Aquarium, consider joining them! Thank you very much!"
With this, most of the customers head over to get ready to follow the next guide to the subsequent section. But that girl still lingers at the jellyfish tanks.
Claudine knows it isn't mandatory for guests to follow through with every single tour, and they can all break off and go wherever they'd like, whenever they'd like.
But for some reason she's just a bit worried about this girl.
It's obvious that she's here alone, and she's already been in the jellyfish section for two hours now. Claudine has to wonder if she's lost and too embarrassed to admit it, or if she was waiting for someone and got stood up on a date.
She can't be nosy, but she is able to use her uniform as an excuse to speak to the girl.
Once the majority of the group moves on, Claudine approaches the girl who still looks as mesmerized by the jellyfish as she had two hours earlier.
"Excuse me, Miss?" Claudine says politely. "Do you need help with anything?"
The girl doesn't respond right away and just continues staring, as if entranced. Claudine prompts her again.
"Miss?"
This time the girl blinks and looks at her a bit startled, with light blue eyes like the summer sky over the sea. Her only response is to shake her head. Claudine smiles.
"All right. If you need anything at all, please let me know."
The girl nods, and Claudine leaves her be.
Putting her concerns aside for now, Claudine wanders the aquarium a bit more for the final hour until closing, helping direct a few people here or there and even managing to catch the last penguin feeding. Then, at 5:30, the final announcement is made for closing, encouraging all patrons to make their way to the gift shop and enjoy their night.
By the time Claudine returns to The Undertow, the jellyfish girl is gone, and Claudine isn't sure if she's more worried or relieved.
"I hope she's all right by herself…"
Once the customers have left and the aquarium has officially closed for the day, Claudine and the other employees reconvene in the staff room to congratulate one another on another successful day and discuss anything important.
Claudine is praised by her boss for being a very professional and approachable person, and everyone gives her a round of applause. Claudine is so enthralled she almost tears up, but refrains.
After thanking everyone for their hard work, Claudine changes her clothes and takes her leave. She boards the bus and is back home before 7PM to tell her parents all about her day at dinner.
After that, she showers and lies down on her bed to relax, going through her phone with all the dozens of pictures of the animals she'd taken today. She can't wait to do it all again tomorrow.
As she curls up for bed, Claudine's mind is swimming with fish and dolphins and ocean imagery as she falls asleep. That night, she dreams of diving, deeply enough until the jellyfish begin to glow and shine.
And swimming beside her is a quiet girl with long black hair and a star-shaped hair pin.
A/N: Mostly just setup for this little AU to start, but things will pick up soon! What, exactly, is the deal with this mysterious girl...?
Please review!