Scene 3
EVENING FELL on their practice spot. Enta was sprawled out on the ground. His face and body were covered in scratches, his training clothes ripped and torn.
“Whoa, hey, you jerks!”
“Ouch! Now you’ve done it!”
He could hear the faint sound of people quarreling. Someone else jumped in to fight in his place. Enta summoned the willpower to open his eyes. As he cracked them open, he spotted someone’s right foot…with a friendship bracelet tied around their ankle.
“Kazuki…?”
The other students yelled bitterly at the interruption. “Don’t get involved, this has nothing to do with you!”
After knocking one opponent to the ground, Kazuki stood protectively in front of Enta and said, “It absolutely does have something to do with me! Don’t lay a hand on our Golden Duo!” Kazuki then landed a beautiful roundhouse kick on the boy that was still standing.
And with that, the fight was over.
“Enta, are you okay?”
Enta struggled to his feet, his voice heavy with frustration as he said, “Kazuki…don’t put yourself in danger for my sake. If something happened to you, even death wouldn’t bring me peace!”
Kazuki smoothly extended his hand toward Enta. “Don’t worry. No matter what happens, we’ll be the Golden Duo ’til death do us part.”
The two of them immediately performed their signature pose.
“Dishing it out!”
Ahh, I could die happy right now.
“Nah, you’re not gonna die,” a voice interrupted.
“Huh?”
Enta was still splayed out on the ground when he came to. Toi hovered above him, looking down. “K-Kuji?! Why are you here?!”
“You suck at fighting.”
“Wh-where’d they go?! Don’t tell me you chased them off?”
“Nah. I just asked what they were doing, and they took off running,” said Toi as he began juggling the soccer ball they abandoned.
Enta could see the athletes from the other school in the distance, looking battered and worn-out as they ran off. “Damn it!”
“You know those guys?” Toi asked.
“They’re from a team we beat last year.”
“Aha.”
Toi didn’t express the slightest interest, but Enta continued anyway. Some of his wariness toward the other boy left him, perhaps because he’d just been utterly humiliated in front of Toi. “Our soccer team went pretty far in the competition, you know. Because…Kazuki was on our team last year. The day you transferred, Kazuki quit the team. But I still haven’t accepted it.”
“Not going to do you any good to obsess over someone who quit.” Toi was completely right.
“Ever since we were kids, this is where we practiced. But now that Kazuki’s gone, it doesn’t have any meaning anymore.”
After a pause, Toi said, “You guys are like brothers, then.”
“Yeah, I guess. And I know if things keep going like this, Kazuki’s never going to play soccer again.”
“Then—”
“If I give up our spot, it’s like accepting that it’s over. I want to be a team again, to pass the ball to Kazuki again. That’s why I need those Wishing Plates!”
Toi silently approached. Enta instinctively drew away as the other boy slipped past him. Then Toi glanced back and said, “I’m the one who’s going to nab those plates. I’m not handing them over to either one of you.”
It seemed that coming to an understanding with Toi would be impossible, after all. Enta focused on that instead of the guilt of not thanking Toi for helping him.
By the time the sun had set, Kazuki was out of his Sara outfit and sitting in the Kappa Plaza, pleading his case to Keppi.
“What am I going to do? There’s no kisu anywhere. All the fish markets in the city are sold out.”
“It’s the work of the Kappa Zombies, ribbit,” Keppi said, as if his answer were prerecorded. The plate on the top of his head spun around and lowered, revealing a mechanical arm that hoisted a TV into the air. A video of the Azuma Bridge was being streamed live on the screen. Since it was Keppi’s device, Kazuki could plainly see the Kappa Zombie, despite remaining in his human form.
In the middle of the bridge was a Kappa Zombie with the head of a kisu. Women lined up in front of it, each wearing a bridal gown. As they came up to plant a kiss on his lips, they too were turned into fish. He spotted a familiar figure among those girls still waiting for their turn—Otone!
“Sis?!” Enta exclaimed, rushing up in time to catch a glimpse of her. Toi followed just a few steps behind him.
On the monitor, Otone wore Enta’s friendship bracelet tightly around her ankle.
That was supposed to be for Kazuki, Enta thought as he demanded, “Keppi! Turn us into kappa!” He leaped forward without thinking.
“Desiiiire…Extractioooon!!”
Keppi slammed into Enta’s proffered butt.
“The object of this Kappa Zombie’s desire is kisses, ribbit.”
A little embarrassed by the word and its implications, Toi bashfully commented, “Well, my brother did say KISS is the devil.”
“It doesn’t matter, I need a kisu for Haruka!”
“And I need to get that friendship bracelet back!”
With a fire lit in all of their hearts, the curtain opened on the night’s battle.
“Kappature it!” Keppi cried as the three of them flew toward the creature.
“Quantity over quality! All that matters is how many kisses I’ve stolen!” said the zombie.
Disgusted, Enta replied, “You value the number of kisses over the quality?”
“I want to be loved by all the women of the world!”
“What the heck is this guy going on about?” Enta’s anger rose as he listened to the zombie’s assertions. “Kissing has no point if you do it with anyone! A kiss is how you express a love for someone that’s too strong to contain anymore!” With Kappa-Enta’s cry, the Kappa Zombie’s body began to fracture.
“Saraaa!”
“Saraaa!”
“Saraaa!”
And then all together, “Sarazanmai!”
As the transfer of the zombie’s shirikodama began, Enta realized for the first time just what he’d done. Plucking out the marble of energy meant that it would be his secret revealed next. It was too late to regret his actions now. Enta trembled with fear, anticipating what was to come as his vision blurred and transformed.
“Leaking.”
The first scene they witnessed was of the soccer team’s locker room. Enta snuck away during one of their breaks and was now standing in front of a locker with “Yasaka” written on the nameplate. Enta swiftly swung the door open and grabbed for Kazuki’s training clothes. He squeezed them against his chest and breathed out, pushing all the air out of his lungs. Then he buried his face in the fabric, drawing in the smell.
“Stop! Don’t waaaaatch!!”
He didn’t want this. Yes, he had wanted Kazuki to know how he felt, but this went above and beyond confessing his love to Kazuki. This was the one thing that he absolutely wanted to take to his grave!
Toi took the shirikodama from Enta. As he drifted in the seas of their shared consciousness, he felt conflicted. Was it appropriate for him to see whatever was about to be shown to him? But once begun, the “leak” couldn’t be stopped, and their consciousnesses began to combine.
The next scene was of a classroom, bathed in the light of a sunset. Once again, Enta ducked away from the soccer club to go rifling through Kazuki’s desk. What he pulled out was a recorder case. It was easy to imagine where this was going to lead.
Even though Toi wasn’t the one getting exposed by this leak, he still found himself wanting to scream, No more!
In the red glow of the classroom stood Enta, gripping Kazuki’s recorder in his hands. He stared unblinkingly at the tip before resolutely popping his mouth over it. Toi could feel the pleasure—the satisfaction that Enta felt at this almost-kiss—as if it were Toi’s own, though he wished he didn’t.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” he muttered.
The shirikodama shifted from Toi’s hands to Kazuki’s, and at last, the final scene began to play. It was from the night before, by the riverbank, when Enta planted a kiss on the sleeping Sara-Kazuki.
“Enta…kissed me?”
Since they were linked, Enta could feel Kazuki’s confusion directly. It was all he could do to scream, “It’s all ooooooooover!”
As the Desire Field over the Azuma Bridge dissipated, Otone regained consciousness.
“Where am I…?”
Despite the late hour, there were many other women walking around on the bridge. Otone saw her fishing equipment by her side and remembered the date she had planned.