<Short Story> Seven Colors nanairo

1
I climbed the stairs from the Yamanote Line platform and headed left through the plaza where commuters pass each other. There, lined with manned ticket windows, was a scene that is rare in the city center and nostalgic for me. Once I passed through the automatic ticket gate right next to it, I was already on the Keikyu Line platform.

Back when I was a student, I would hear the announcement of the final destination every time I boarded a train at Shinagawa Station.
"Misakiguchi"
It was the fifth summer since I started working that I decided to finally visit the terminal station I had only known by name.

Along with the humid August breeze, the limited express train pulled into the platform. As I settled into a window seat, the train began to move gently. Feeling a bit of a travel mood in the two-seater row, I looked at the scenery outside. Through the gaps between the buildings lining the tracks, I could see my old school, which passed by in an instant. This was the starting line for today.

Going to a place I've never been. That small adventure alone lit a light in my heart. Just as I took out my smartphone to capture the scenery I was seeing for the first time, an email flew in from a junior colleague at work. My head instantly switched into work mode.

I looked over the attached file and the message. It was an error report regarding the customer management system we had just released last week. I sent a message saying I would get off at the next station to contact them, and put my smartphone back in my pocket.

I've become completely used to getting calls from work on my days off. When I first joined the company, I used to be terrified by every report of errors and bugs, but experience accumulates with every failure. Recently, I've built up an immunity to the pressure on my shoulders and have started to find my work rewarding.

Compared to my student days, which were spent entirely on reports and part-time jobs, I have freedom now. I can go anywhere during long holidays, and I have the money to do so.

I don't think my life is that bad. In fact, I think it's on the better side. But something is missing. Where on earth can I find something to fill this unfulfilled feeling?

I got off at Keikyu Kawasaki Station for a moment to contact my junior colleague. I instructed them to stop the part of the function causing the system to go down and to pass the alternative procedure to another department, then hung up.

I'll check it lightly from my home PC tonight and head to the office first thing in the morning.
I stretched once and cleared my head. Just as I thought about buying a drink before boarding the next limited express, I saw a man running up the stairs, skipping steps. Every time he kicked off the platform, he would impatiently push back his long bangs that kept getting in his eyes. His bright eyes, the same color as his hair, looked at me for a moment.

When he passed right in front of me, leaving behind a refreshing scent, one of the beach sandals that had been caught on his white foot was left behind in front of me.
"Oh, wait!"
When I called out instinctively, he stopped in front of the train whose doors were about to close and looked back, shouting, "This goes to Misakiguchi, right?"

At the abrupt question, I looked up at the electronic bulletin board to reconfirm the destination. All that came out of my mouth was a single "No," but he stood there, out of breath.

The doors closed, and the red train rattled past us. When I saw the tracks shimmering in the heat, the humid summer heat suddenly returned.

"I'm sorry."
He looked down shyly and walked over with one foot still bare. He looked up after slipping his beach sandal back on. He must be about a college student's age.
"I got flustered when I thought I wouldn't make it in time for my meeting."
Perhaps to hide his embarrassment, he began to explain the situation.

"The next limited express is coming soon, the one bound for Misakiguchi."
"Oh, thank goodness. Once the sun goes down, snorkeling isn't as good, so I wanted to get there early."
"Snorkeling? Can you do that in Misakiguchi?" I asked back instinctively.

Certainly, if there's a sea, there must be one or two beaches. But even if you can swim, I thought snorkeling was a bit of a stretch, and then he smiled as if he had read my mind, saying, "You just thought, 'What are you going to see in the sea of Kanagawa?', didn't you?"

"Actually, I thought the same thing when I heard it from a friend. But it seems like there are quite a few tropical fish every summer. Apparently, they come in on the Kuroshio Current."
"Huh, is that so?"
"You can see them in tide pools, too. Would you like to come with me?"
What was he suddenly saying? Just as I was about to decline, the limited express arrived.

"Oh, it's here. Let's get on."
It would be unnatural not to take the limited express after missing the local train before it. Besides, my destination was the same anyway. I got on the train as he urged me. When we entered the car, he sat down next to me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Oh, by the way, how far are you going?"
"For now, I'm going to Misakiguchi too."
"What, we were going to the same place. So, why are you going to Misakiguchi? ...I know. It's the 'Misaki Maguro Ticket', right?"
He seemed to be answering his own question, but he was looking at me with innocent eyes, waiting for my answer. Dragged along by his pace, the conversation continued.

"I don't have any particular purpose. I just suddenly thought that even though I rode this train every day for school, I had never gone to the end of the line."
"Wait, that's it?" He widened his eyes.

It might have been a very uninteresting answer. I regretted not just lying and saying "I'm here for the tuna" to go along with the conversation, when—
"Nice!" He suddenly grabbed my right hand.

"I've always admired that kind of aimless solo trip."
I didn't know if you could call just riding a train to the end of the line a trip, but I was swept up in his momentum and agreed. ...This is a type of person I don't have around me.

"It's perfect, so let's go to the sea together. Everyone usually stops at the fishing port, but if you go a little further, there's a beach. My friend is coming to pick us up by car, so once we get to the station, it's right there. I'm Yuzuki."
While shaking my hand that he had grabbed, he smiled, showing his teeth. I suppose this meant we were going together.

"I'm Sakamaki."
I didn't really understand why things turned out this way, but it was a trip without any real purpose anyway. Besides, I found myself starting to think this situation was a little interesting.
The scenery was flowing by at a speed that seemed like it would blend together. When the sun shone through a break in the clouds, the sky began to brighten.

My smartphone vibrated in my pocket. It was a report email from my junior colleague.
"Work?"
As I was reading the message, Yuzuki asked.
"Yeah. It seems like there was a bit of trouble earlier, but it's fine."
"Aren't you an SE, Sakamaki-san?"
"How did you know?"

"Just a hunch, I smelled a fellow professional. I'm a programmer, but the guy I'm meeting at the station is an SE. We're at the same company."
I was surprised that he was a working adult, but finding a common point made me feel a sense of closeness. After that, starting with work, we talked about various things. I couldn't help but laugh at his problem of always being seen as younger than his actual age, which was the opposite of mine, but the episode that he was actually only in his second year of working, even though he was only one year younger than me, was so far removed from my own life that it was a shock.

One year of ronin, and then he was certain to be held back a year after only six months of enrollment. The reason was international volunteering. He said he decided to leave Japan the moment he heard the news about the disaster in Samoa.

"It was a place I had been to before. So I just couldn't think of the people living there as strangers."
Hearing those words, something pricked at my chest.
"My mother cried a lot, and the lover I was dating abandoned me," he told me shyly, and that story was very dazzling to me.

After passing through one tunnel and continuing for a while, the scenery changed from buildings to greenery.
Yuzuki listened seriously to everything I said, and was surprised or laughed. He didn't seem interested in probing whether someone was like him or not. The time until we arrived at Misakiguchi Station really passed in a flash.

2
When we got off at the terminal Misakiguchi Station, the clouds had cleared and the sky was clear and bright.
After passing through the ticket gate, Yuzuki ran toward a black Jeep parked in the rotary. A young man with black hair and narrow eyes poked his head out of the driver's side window. He was a young man who looked like he was very capable at his job. When he looked at us, he bowed.

After finishing a simple self-introduction, we immediately started moving by car. The friend named Kaminaga, who joined us, was the same age but seemed to be Yuzuki's superior at the company. He seemed to be the leader of the same project team now.
"Even if you were invited, you followed Yuzuki well. Weren't you worried?" Kaminaga asked while turning the steering wheel on a road where houses and fields lined up alternately.

"Well, my purpose was just to come to Misakiguchi Station, and Yuzuki didn't look like a criminal," I joked, and Kaminaga's eyes reflected in the rearview mirror smiled faintly.
"You can't judge a book by its cover."
"Don't talk about me like I'm a criminal, Kaminaga."
Yuzuki, who was catching the wind in the passenger seat, pouted.
"No, I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about Sakamaki-san."
"Me?"
What on earth did that mean just now?

Kaminaga parked the car in a private parking lot in Aburatsubo and took a pop-up tent out of the hatchback. I bought three bottles of well-chilled tea and a pair of beach sandals at a small souvenir shop in the lot, and immediately changed into them. While being seen off by the bent-over woman who was tending the shop, we headed for the sea.

The bright laughter of a family that had just finished their leisure time and returned. The sunlight that scorched the skin and the scent of the tide. I remember that when I was a child, I also looked forward to being taken to the sea. Nostalgic memories welled up.

Kaminaga walked in the lead, followed by me and Yuzuki. The three of us opened our plastic bottles.
"Around two o'clock, it feels the hottest, doesn't it?" Yuzuki took a sip of tea and looked up resentfully at the sun, which was already beginning to tilt.

"That's because it's the time when the midday heat is transmitted to the atmosphere and the ground," Kaminaga said as if it were obvious, looking down to escape the heat.
"I see, I've never even thought about why two o'clock is hot." When I agreed honestly, Yuzuki laughed, saying, "Me neither."

Perhaps it was a shortcut to the sea, but Kaminaga left the road and entered the forest.
It was a pleasant path, with trees covering it like a roof, continuing on forever. I wonder if it was a feeling of gently descending a slope from a high place to the sea; the sea that occasionally peeked through the gaps in the branches and leaves was more transparent than I had imagined.
The breeze blowing through carried away the sound of the cicadas that doubled the heat. I took a deep breath.

"We'll be at the beach soon."
Yuzuki grabbed my arm as if he couldn't wait to show me the tropical fish, and stepped in front of Kaminaga.
A boy in a swimsuit ran up the stone steps extending from the side of the walking path. In his small hand, he held a dripping snorkeling mask. Once we go down here, it's finally the sea. My pace naturally quickened.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we came out to a beach that drew a gentle arc.
The sea. Just that alone made me excited, and I headed straight for the water's edge. My feet sank into the damp sand. Every time the waves washed in, my footprints were erased. When I was looking only at my feet, Yuzuki beckoned me, saying, "Over here."

On the left side of the beach, I could see a rocky area with a strange shape that looked like it had carved the waves as they were.
While the beachgoers were starting to leave, we pushed forward toward the rocky area. The bedrock, which was hollowed out in places like Swiss cheese, had tide pools of various sizes.

Yuzuki approached a corner where children were gathered and called me. When I stared into the tide pool, creatures were found one after another. As I followed a school of small fish about one centimeter long with my eyes, a blue fish appeared. A tropical fish. When I let out a cheer, the children who had been squatting and staring at the fish suddenly looked up.
"There was one over there too just now!"
A boy I didn't know invited me to another tide pool. When I stood up without hesitation, Yuzuki laughed for some reason.

We were able to see yellow tropical fish in the tide pool we were guided to. I was just surprised that there were really so many.
"The blue one you saw earlier is a blue damselfish. The yellow one here is called a butterflyfish. There might be another species with a shape similar to a butterflyfish."
At Yuzuki's words, the boy who had been leaning his face close to the sea surface stood up and immediately headed to another tide pool.

"Hey! Thank you!" When I called out a beat late, the boy waved back.
"Something about this is nice, isn't it?"
He didn't say clearly what that was, but I felt like I understood what Yuzuki meant.
"Yeah." My mouth turned up naturally. My chest was filled with gentle feelings.
"Oh, come to think of it, the tent."

I turned back, thinking I had to help set it up, but Kaminaga had already finished setting up the tent and even changed his clothes. We hurried over to him.
"Kaminaga is also very knowledgeable about the sea. He's a diver."
"Huh."
Hearing that, I was convinced. Even wearing a rash guard, his toned body and tanned skin certainly suited the sea well.
"Yuzuki, you're also knowledgeable about fish species. By any chance..."
"No, my parents' home is in Minami-Izu. So, the sea has been close to me since I was a child, I guess. By the way, Sakamaki-san, have you ever dived?"

"Forget diving, this is my first time coming to the sea since elementary school."
"Seriously? The inside of the sea is amazing. You'll realize that there's another completely different world right here so close to the world we live in."
"It's certainly amazing. I've seen it in photos, though," I said, looking down at the transparent water bottom.
"Let's go in."
"Huh?"
"The sea!"

Seeing my stunned face, Yuzuki laughed and rolled up his pants to his knees, dipping his feet into the water.
"Since we're here, you have to feel the panorama that you can't understand from photos. No matter how high-performance a camera is, it's no match for the human eye."
"No, but my swimsuit..."
I looked toward Kaminaga, who was approaching, as if seeking help. He was chuckling, suppressing his laughter as if it were very funny.

"I'll lend you a mask. Why don't you just put your face in from there?"

Kaminaga lent me his mask in exchange for taking care of my daypack. Just putting my face in is no different from looking down, I thought, but I reluctantly put on the mask and had him adjust the strap. I went down to the rocky area close to the sea surface and leaned forward slightly. Vivid colors that looked like tropical fish were flickering back and forth in the sea.

I filled my lungs with plenty of air and submerged my head in the sea surface. The gently rising waves covered my ears. People's voices, the sound of the waves, and the sound of the cicadas were all covered by a film of water. The sea of tropical fish, which I thought I could see through even from the outside, was spreading out before me, incredibly clear. The sight of schools of brightly colored fish drifting back and forth between the corners of the rocky area and the seaweed looked so calm that everything on land felt like a commotion.
I was satisfied with the world of the sea that I saw through glass in photos, on TV, and at aquariums, and I thought I knew everything, but what on earth did I know about this world?
Kaminaga dived into the sea and showed me where the tropical fish were hiding.

I lifted my face and took a breath many times, then returned to the world of the sea and followed Kaminaga's fingertips. It was frustrating that I couldn't leave this rocky area.
A wave splashed, and suddenly my vision was enveloped in bubbles. I was surprised and sat up, but my clothes were already soaked. The ones who jumped into the sea right next to me were the boy from earlier and his friends.

The children approached Kaminaga. Kaminaga was teaching them the names of the fish that could be seen around here. The mothers who hurried over said "I'm sorry," but they left the children to Kaminaga.
Yuzuki lent me a towel. I took off the mask, wiped my face, and pressed the towel against my clothes, which were already beyond saving.

I went back to the tent to get my smartphone and took a picture of the children floating in the sea and Kaminaga. It was a hopelessly clumsy photo, but I hoped it would serve as a key to remember this feeling.
When I suddenly shifted my gaze away from them, there were smiles from families, lovers, and many people that were not defeated by the summer sun.

I think it's been a long time since I've touched someone else's smile. You laugh because it's fun. You laugh, and it becomes even more fun, and you feel happy. From there, happiness spreads like a contagion. People are surely more connected to those around them than I think. Something missing, and something I want to hold onto because it's dear, is surely always right by my side. I feel like I was able to remember something very important by coming here.
"What's wrong, Sakamaki-san?"
"I think I understood a little bit about how you felt when you wanted to go to Samoa, Yuzuki-kun."When I said what I thought from the bottom of my heart, Yuzuki gave me the biggest smile of the day.

3
By the time we finished moving to Misaki Port, it was starting to get dark. While we were parking the car in a parking lot near the port and looking for a restaurant while looking at the signs, my stomach began to growl with hunger. Most of the area around here is seafood restaurants that mainly deal in tuna. Yuzuki and I didn't care where we ate as long as we could eat tuna, but Kaminaga was picky. We walked for six or seven minutes and entered a restaurant that served not only red meat but also rare parts like skin and stomach.

We sat at a table and Kaminaga and I decided on our orders immediately, but Yuzuki, who couldn't narrow it down, went to the staff with the menu in his hand.
In the meantime, Kaminaga and I toasted with tea.
"Sorry about that, he's a restless guy," Kaminaga said, looking with an exasperated gaze at Yuzuki, who was clearly having a lively conversation about something other than the menu.

"Is Yuzuki-kun always like this?"
"He always moves toward what he's interested in. It's a waste of time to predict his actions, so I just deal with the results Yuzuki brings."
"I see." Rather than saying he has a deep heart, should I say he has a large capacity? Somehow, I think he's an amazing person.

"I was surprised that someone like Sakamaki-san followed Yuzuki."
"At first, it felt like I ended up going before I knew it. But when you get caught up in something like this, it's interesting because you can have experiences you absolutely couldn't have if you were alone."
"I see. Then that's perfect."
"Huh?"

"Yuzuki might look like he has the ability to take action, but he's just impulsive, and he's the type of guy who sleeps all day on his days off. Probably, if Sakamaki-san decides on a destination, and then we proceed in an interesting direction with Yuzuki's sense of smell, and I steer, it'll be just right."
Kaminaga saying that so nonchalantly was funny, and I couldn't help but laugh.
"Certainly, if that's the case, it seems like I can see interesting things with peace of mind."
Meeting types of people you wouldn't normally get to know. Is this also the real thrill of a solo trip?

"Shall we go somewhere again next time?"
"By all means. Come to think of it, I heard from Yuzuki about you going to Samoa. That area also seems like a place with a beautiful sea, doesn't it?"
Perhaps the word Samoa reached his ears, Yuzuki, who had been talking to the staff at the counter, returned to his seat.
"Hey, did you guys talk about something interesting while I was gone?"
The three of us toasted again with our teacups.

"Sakamaki-san said he wants to go to Samoa."
Even though Kaminaga was saying something outrageous so casually, Yuzuki took the bait quite normally.
"Wait, seriously? When are we going?"
When I was swept away and jokingly said, "Maybe around the September holidays," Yuzuki started registering the schedule on his smartphone.
"I'll get the tickets."
Kaminaga started looking up flights on the spot, but before that, I had one big problem.
"I don't have a passport."
For a moment, the two of them looked at each other, and then they laughed.

We talked, ate, and left the restaurant just before closing time. The lights of the sign had also gone out, and the outside was completely wrapped in darkness. Perhaps the sea breeze brought a sense of liberation, but even though I hadn't even had a single beer, I felt refreshed.
We got a ride in the car to Yokosuka-Chuo, where Kaminaga lives, and from there, Yuzuki and I took the limited express train. Yuzuki took a window seat. I sat next to him as if it were natural.

"That was fun, Sakamaki-san. Somehow today went by in a flash, didn't it? Maybe it's because we met up late?"
It was as if it had been planned from the beginning that I would come, but it's strange because I felt like I had been an acquaintance of the two of them for a long time.

I wish I could have seen the world of the sea a little more. But I don't know if I'll actually enter the sea alone in the future. If I part with Yuzuki, I feel like my passion will disappear as if waking from a dream, and I became reluctant to part. After returning home, what awaits me is the reality of work. Of course, I don't hate that either. But—
"I finally found something I could get absorbed in, too," I said instinctively.

Yuzuki turned a gentle, likable smile toward me.
"Shall we go together again next week?"
Was it a joke, or should I take it seriously? While feeling happy, I couldn't give a straight answer, and Yuzuki continued, "I have a great idea."

"Hey, why don't we go stay at Kaminaga's house after work on Friday? If it's Yokosuka, we can drink at night, and since the sea is close, we can sleep in in the morning. Doesn't that sound fun?"
"Um, didn't you say earlier that there's one week left until the deadline?"
"I'll work twice as hard as usual, so it's fine! But if it doesn't look like it'll be finished, help me with the testing."

I must have had a very blank face, because Yuzuki laughed so hard that the surrounding passengers turned around, saying, "I'm joking."

It became stupid to have worried even for a moment about whether I should take the invitation seriously. When I think about it, even today, he dragged me, a complete stranger, to the sea.
"We have to practice snorkeling or skin diving in Japan during the summer, too. Because we're going to Samoa in September."
"Are you serious about that?"
"Huh? Because Sakamaki-san started saying it."

"...Oh, right. I said it."
I feel like Kaminaga's joke was the start of it all, but I didn't care about the details anymore. Going to the sea in Samoa with today's members. The fact that this was a confirmed matter made me incredibly happy.
"Why are you laughing, Sakamaki-san?"
"No, just a little."On the window glass, the city lights and our smiles overlapped.

4
I loosened the collar of my dress shirt and let out the breath I had been holding. In my daypack, which is ill-suited for a business style, there is a set of snorkel gear I just bought, in addition to a change of clothes.

Five days have passed since I first peeked into the world of the sea. I couldn't forget that excitement, and I became absorbed in researching the seas and tropical fish all over the world on the internet. Come to think of it, the tropical fish in the Miura Peninsula seem to be what are called 'dead-end migratory fish' that cannot survive the winter. When I think that they will disappear with the end of summer, I even feel a sense of sadness at that beautiful coloring.

The limited express train gently enters the platform of Keikyu Kawasaki Station. I pass by a familiar face through the window. When I get off once, just like that day, Yuzuki waves his hand at me.
"Maki-chan!"
The area under his eyes is blue as if he had been punched. It seems he pushed himself quite hard to make tomorrow a day off no matter what.

A little later, Kaminaga in a suit comes and bows to me. Even though it's only been five days, the reason I feel like it's been a long time is probably because I wanted to see them.
"Sakamaki-san. I found out that we can go to Samoa even with just a three-day weekend," Kaminaga says with a straight face as his first words.
"It's only 20 hours one way! It's fine to depart from Haneda and arrive at Narita, right? Maki-chan."
Both of them must be too tired and have lost their minds. Just as I thought that, Yuzuki shoved a reservation screen at me.

"For now, let's get on the train," I say, putting my hands on their shoulders while suppressing my laughter.
What kind of interesting things will happen tomorrow?
The summer night breeze gently pushes my back. At the destination of the red train, a seven-colored future that will heat up our hearts is waiting.