Chapter 9: Nonagons

As we dismounted the bus, I felt a sudden heaviness in my body as though all the gravity fell on me. Surely it wasn't from my backpack, hence I just presumed that it was because I'd been seating inside the bus for a couple of hours.

"Are you okay, Miss Sakura?" a tiny voice came from my side.

My classmate with her hair tied in pigtails asked with a concerned look on her face. She pulled her backpack to her side and searched for something in its pocket. What is she doing?

I looked at her baffled, waiting for her to say something but it seemed she was pretty absorbed in her little treasure hunt inside her backpack.

"Oum…"

"Got it!" she exclaimed, pulling and raising her hand to the air.

I glanced upward and ended up squinted as the sunlight immediately met my eyes, I saw a rectangular shadow. Gradually, she settled down her hand and showed me what was she holding.

"Medicine?" I furrowed my brows as soon as I'd seen it.

"Yep!" she energetically answered. "My mother said you could avoid getting motion sick if you drink it before the trip…But I think it would still be effective even you drink it after the trip. Care to try it, Miss Sakura?" she offered, stretching her hand with the medicine towards me.

She gave me a long explanation but I found it no sense. First of all, the medicine that she was trying to offer me was the one that would put your body in relax after you drank it, which means if I would take it, I'd be forced to stay on the bus alone while they were having fun.

It's such a waste if I spend half of my day lying on the cold leather seat inside the bus. And probably, the driver has to turn off the aircon. I imagined myself in that situation and hastily shook my head, strongly against that idea.

"Oum… No, thanks," I firmly refused, but I appreciated her kindness and it was such a rude thing to do to the one who tried to help you. "I mean… Thank you. I'll gradually feel better, probably. Anyway, what group are you, oum…"

Ooops, I forgot her name…or I simply didn't know her name from the start. Thinking about it, I spent most of my school time reading books and such in my seat. Hence, I'd barely remember the people I'd communicated with, even my own classmates.

She retracted her hand and looked at me dubiously. After a while, she flinched as though she realized something.

"Geez, Miss Sakura we're classmates for two years, you know." She precisely showed her light disappointment, I just averted my eyes and felt guilty about it.

"It's Eimi, you know. Year 5 Class B, Hana," she said, Introducing herself. Though, I don't think it was necessary to say the latter one. "Please do remember it this time."

"Hah… Pleased to know your name…and sorry, I guess." I made an awkward laugh.

"Heh heh, I never knew that you have a side like that… I thought you're the kind of person that's too hard to approach. Somehow this changes my view of you," Miss Eimi chuckled, hand slightly covering her mouth.

Do I really look like that?

"Anyway, let's go, Miss Sakura. They already entered the gate."

"Oum…"

With that, we followed our teacher's instructions and begun our way to the large structure— I said it was large but it was actually a wide structure divided by a loft. As we walked through the brick layered road, my nose picked up a weird scent. It smells fishy… Obviously, it was because of the creatures inside the structure but I hadn't anticipated that I could smell it even outside the building.

I suppose all aquariums surely smell like this…

After we got our tickets and entered the gate, large stairs downwards piqued my attention. Apparently, it led to the curve walkway tunnel, as it says on the pamphlet that had been handed out earlier.

After a while, our class broke out into our groups and started to meander. First, we stood in front of the large map of the aquarium, voting for our first destination.

"Okay, let's head first to the sea slug exhibition!" The spiky boy announced, pointing his finger to the left side of the map. The other two boys in our group agreed but… Slug?!

"…Isn't them kinda gross?" asked the ponytai— Miss Eimi, showing her disapproval on her face.

Now that you said that, I noticed Miss Eimi was like a walking emoji that shown easily what she felt, she always wore her emotions in her sleeves. I supposed I should start calling her Ms. Emoji, I thought but it immediately struck me that it was such a childish thing to do. What am I even thinking?

"Of course not!… I heard they even have the blue dragon one here."

"Rejected! A slug is a slug even if they are in the water and slugs are gross! Am I right, Miss Sakura?"

"Oum… I guess?" I retorted, shrugging my shoulders and letting them decided where would we go first since it wouldn't really affect me. Personally, I don't want to go to the sea slug event but adults aren't t afraid of such small and wriggly creatures, that was why I wasn't afraid too.

As I expected, the boys won this debate since they had the advantage in numbers. The ponyt— Miss Eimi still complaining but eventually followed as soon as she heard Sea Bunnies. That's why a kid always loses in such debate.

After roaming around the aquarium for a few hours, meeting different creatures that we'd never seen before, finally, we had met our final destination. Of course, our final destination for our first schedule.

After feeding the penguins, we headed to the main attraction of the aquarium: the curve walkway tunnel.

"So pretty…," I viscerally voiced my amusement.

As I peered through the thick glass, a swarm of fish startled me, swimming as fast as they could. Looking up, there—a stingray quietly floating as though it was soaring through the sky. Different color corals were displayed on the sea bed with small fishes hiding in it and crabs peacefully roaming in a distance.

For a moment, the small fishes made me concerned since they were surrounded by large fish. Thinking about it, why would they put prey and the predator in the same tank? Would it look like more of a carnivorous show than an aquatic one?

As I debated myself, a shadow ran into my eyes. A diver, covered with black clothes and bubbles streaming from the side of his mouth, waved at me. I reluctantly lifted my hands and imitated what he did. He made a thumbs up before he swum upwards and left me hanging in a haze.

"..."

Oh, I see… I struck my palm after I'd got the answer to my questions, then jolted and looked around if anyone saw me do that, and returned my hands to my sides.

Fortunately, my groupmates were so captivated that no one noticed I did that silly thing.

Having my attention back to the aquarium, a sharp light met my eyes. I looked up to the transparent ceiling, squinting. I thought we were under the ground, why was there sunlight passing through the water? I slowly closed my eyes. For some reason, the light felt so warm and comfortable and it's as though gradually wrapping my whole body. It felt someone's hugging me. Maybe I should start to freak out…but still.

Just then, someone reached my hand and squeezed it. I yelped, hastily retracted my hand, and looked at the culprit.

"Wha-what are you doing?"

My heart still running fast thus I mostly stumbled on my words. I clutched my hand on my chest and took a step away from him. Meanwhile, the spiky boy was just looking at his hand in a daze.

"Oum…"

"Wha-what's wrong with…"

My hand and my cheeks were so hot and I felt like my heart was about to burst, the muffled water splash noises that were almost everywhere earlier were now pushed behind the back of my ears until all I could hear was my breathing. I tried to stop my heart from thumping too hard by blocking my hand on my chest but it was useless.

"S-sorry…" He slightly inclined his head.

After I calmed myself and release the stiffness in my shoulder, I took a breath. I looked straight at him. "So…what was that for?" I asked, as friendly as possible since it seemed even the spiky boy was shocked by what he did.

His gaze lowered to the ground and I could barely see his expression.

"That's…"

"That's?"

"I-I think my hand just move on i-its own…" he stuttered.

"Huh…"

Weird as it was, I started to get concerned about whether he could properly hold a conversation in the future. Thinking about it, he wasn't like this before…or he was? I couldn't remember.

Indeed, I never pay attention to the people around me except for my sister. All I did was to seat on my chair and read books, probably that was the reason why I don't know anything about my classmates. Certainly, if I didn't attend this trip—I would never notice their traits and differences.

"Anyway, I really think my hand just moved without my control. Just don't mind it." He waved his hands as though creating an invisible shield between us.

"Right, but I do mind it."

"Please, don't. I… I just want to confirm something," he said in a muffled voice.

I crouched and looked up at his face, trying to meet his gaze but I failed. He just averted his face again, to the point that he was almost turning his body away from me.

He's weird… It isn't hot here but his cheeks and ears were so red, and there are even drops of sweat on his forehead?

After analyzing his aspects, I sighed. Ultimately, I gave from searching for answers. It seemed he's unwilling to talk so I wouldn't push it into him. Stepping back, I decided to get back to watching around the aquarium and forget what had happened earlier. But then.

"Sakura!" he called my name as soon as I turned around. I looked at him over my shoulder. Honestly, it is getting really annoying…and tiring? I tucked in my lips, watching him trembling with hands closed. Then, after a moment he looked up and our eyes met.

"La…later… After we… Uh mmm…the amusement park…can…"

Yeah…I do understand… Irked, I thought.

"Ca…can we go to the amusement park together!?" he blurted out, but then his gaze gradually went lower along with his voice. "I… mean… wandering around the amusement park or stuff heh heh," he added with a voice that I nearly couldn't hear.

Now that he said that, the last course of our trip was the amusement park. And since amusement parks didn't really excite me, I decided to just stay on the bus and read some—oh, right.

"Oum, actually—"

"That's not fair, you know."

But before I'd finished my words, a small voice came from a distance. It was Miss Eimi, grasping the straps of her backpack. She walked and snatched my arm, enveloping it with hers.

"Wah!"

"You can't take Miss Sakura for you alone," Miss Eimi said, slightly tugging my arms.

"I…I'm not! I'm just," he paused, his gaze wandered around as though it searching for the next words to say. "You know, Sakura is such a loner so I volunteer to be her accompany in the amusement park," he added, pointing his finger at me.

"Oum… Excu—"

"You can't be Miss Sakura's accompany since you're always teasing her! You're such a bully."

"I'm just telling the truth."

Admittedly, I supposed he was telling the truth. Having nothing left to do, I left them and continued my gazing around the aquarium. Trying to stop them from fighting was just a troublesome thing to do. Surely, after a few moments, they got tired and parted ways without another word.

Looking at the fish peacefully swimming through the water, I felt something warm swirled inside my chest. I clutched it and looked upwards, wondering what did I just felt.

Maybe it's just because of the light glinting into my eyes…

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