After leaving the area with the individual tanks, a huge tank on the right side called The Kuroshio Sea came into view. Before we knew it, we saw a massive manta ray swimming in front of us, which kinda startled me. The tank’s glass sparkled blue. It was almost like we were at the Ryukyu palace. It felt so fantastical, out of this world, and more than anything, huge.
After walking the path for some time, we came to a kind of theater. It almost didn’t even look like part of an aquarium anymore with how many people were there. The crowd reminded me of the kind that you’d see at Kiyomizu-dera. Moving from the back where the seats were and through the crowd of people, we came in front of a colossal tank. There was a movie-theater-screen-sized square acrylic panel that looked like it’d been cut out of the ocean. Unlike the guests who were snapping pictures and taking videos right in front of it, I felt like staying back, slightly frightened, despite not being particularly traumatized by anything similar in the past.
Inside the tank was the main attraction of the aquarium, the whale sharks, majestically swimming around. I tugged on Mizuto’s sleeve while looking up at their white underbellies.
“I found her. Over there.”
Mizuto looked in the direction I was pointing. The hall, illuminated by the blue light filtering through the huge tank, was split into two sections: a viewing area, and a sloped area with rows of seats for guests to look at the tank from. I could see her from up where we were near the seating area. I saw Akatsuki-san enter the path to the left of the tank with Maki-san and Nasuka-san, who had been in the same class as us in our first year, and then Higashira-san, who he’d entrusted our suspect to.
“Let’s go.”
Mizuto and I walked down the ramp, slipping through the huge crowd by the tank to get to the path that they’d gone down. Then, we entered the Whale Shark and Manta Ray Corner. Turning right brought us to an area that was unexpectedly bright. Looking up, the world beneath the waves extended as far as the eye can see.
The glass above us was bent in an arc to show the bottom of the huge tank we’d seen in the theater. It was a really strange feeling—like being at the bottom of the ocean. I couldn’t help but feel anxious over the idea of the glass breaking and us being swallowed into the sea. All I could do was gape at it.
Underneath the transparent ceiling, there were benches where many guests were already sitting, and just like me, they were all looking up at the ocean. This was known as the Aqua Room. Akatsuki-san’s group was standing in front of acrylic glass, excitedly gushing and squealing about it all.
“Oh, Irido-san! ’Sup?!”
Before we could call out to them, Maki-san, a tall girl with short hair, noticed us and waved. As she did, the other two turned to look at us, gave a quick wave, and greeted us. Higashira-san alone was obviously trembling from the ocean being right above her. We walked down the stairs to the bench they were by and as soon as she saw Mizuto, she scurried over to him like a small critter that was being chased by bees.
“Mizuto-kun!” she angrily whispered. “Do you know what manner of people you’ve stuck me with?! I’ve had the most difficult time with all the teasing regarding you!”
“Better than being ignored by them, right? You should get used to communicating with other girls.”
“It’s impossible! I’m a virgin otaku at my core! All I can do is act strangely!”
“You seem so confident. Why don’t you allot that confidence to other areas?”
A smile crept over my face as I watched her act as she usually did.
“Whoa there,” Maki-san interrupted, grabbing Higashira-san from behind. “You tryin’ to get all lovey-dovey on an aquarium date with your boyfriend when I’m not lookin’? Not happening!”
“Eek! Th-That’s not what I—”
“Your body’s so squeezable! It feels so nice! Do you use it at night to turn your boyfriend into a crazed animal? Huh?”