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Late November, around the time when the temperature finally dips below freezing. Sakaki stands outside the aquarium, wearing a warm coat and jeans. Did she forget? Maybe her train was late. Maybe her father… Suddenly, a small bundle of scarves and mittens comes up from behind her, yelling “Miss Sakaki! Miss Sakaki! I’m terribly sorry I’m late, Mr. Tadakichi got out this morning!” Sakaki blushed at how cute Chiyo looked in her bulky winter jacket.
“Oh, it’s no problem at all,” Sakaki said, casting aside her earlier doubts.
“It’s very cold out, Miss Sakaki, we ought to go inside before we catch something.”
Sakaki nodded, and they both entered the aquarium together.
“It must be nice to be a fish in here, not having to worry about the cold and all,” Chiyo commented as they stepped into the warmth of the building. Sakaki again blushed, imagining how happy the fish must be in the safety of an aquarium rather than in the dangerous ocean.
“Say, where’s Osaka? She did mention she would be coming along, right?”
“That’s right, I’m sure she’ll catch up once she gets here though! It’s not unlike her to show up late, you know.”
As the two walked between exhibits, they shared different facts about the fish that they saw.
“That one’s an anglerfish! They look really scary with their sharp teeth, but it’s also so cool that they use their bioluminescence to attract prey,” Chiyo said as they passed the pelagic zone exhibit.
“Oh, I can see a couple of nurse sharks laying next to each other,” Sakaki said. “They don’t have to move through the water to breathe like most other sharks do.”
“And they’re very sweet!” Chiyo added.
Sakaki wished to herself that she could be a nurse shark, laying on the seafloor next to her friends without a care in the world.
As they walked through a tunnel surrounded by fish on all sides, a majestic manta ray seemed to soar over their heads. Taken aback by the beauty of the creature, neither Chiyo or Sakaki could muster anything to say other than a silent “woah.” It looks as if i could ride on it like Mr. Tadakichi, Chiyo thought.
The two girls stood watching the penguins in the Antarctic exhibit, and Chiyo thought back to the time when she, too, was a penguin. “And then Miss Yukari pushed me to the ground, that was very mean of her.”
“People can sometimes act strange when they see something as cute as you in a penguin costume, Chiyo-chan.” Sakaki suddenly imagined Chiyo in that penguin costume, slipping on the ice with the other penguins. She smiled.
“That doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt! And Tomo thought I was trying to trick her!” Chiyo exclaimed, snapping Sakaki out of her daydream.
“You know how Tomo can be. I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it. Besides, didn’t you and Osaka have a good time at that year’s culture fest?”
“Yes, we ate takoyaki together!” Chiyo smiled, brushing off any unpleasant memories with how happy she was that Osaka was her friend.
“I’m getting a little hungry. How about you, Miss Sakaki?”
Looking down at her stomach, Sakaki noticed that she was hungry too. Pulling out a map of the aquarium, she saw that the food court was nearby. “Let’s go get something to eat,” she said with a smile.
They walked up the steps to the food court, and Sakaki glanced at the menu. After taking a second to realize what the menu said, she began to tremble.
“Is everything okay, Miss Sakaki?”
“It’s… It’s just that…” She was troubled by the amount of seafood dishes available. “It’s… Nothing. Don’t worry.”
Having ordered a simple salad for herself and, reluctantly, sushi for Chiyo, Sakaki sat down at a table and began to slowly pick away at her meal.
“What’s the matter, Miss Sakaki?”
“I suppose I’m a little worried about Osaka. She still hasn’t shown up.”
“You’re right, I hope everything is okay. Maybe she caught a cold?”
“Maybe.”
It just so happened that Kaorin was at the aquarium at the exact same time on the exact same day as Sakaki was, for completely unrelated reasons. She stood next to the sea otters, watching them hold hands and cuddle. Blushing, she imagined herself and Sakaki as sea otters, floating in the water, holding hands. “Oh, Miss Sakaki,” she muttered under her breath, “it would be so cute.”
Sakaki and Chiyo approached the sea otter exhibit, and just as they entered, a small figure seemed to notice them and immediately darted out of the room.
“That was strange,” Sakaki remarked, before looking at the sea otters holding hands.
On her way to the gift shop, having seen most of the exhibits by now, Sakaki noticed a strange yellow cat-shaped figure floating in one of the tanks. She hesitated for a moment. “...The father…” she muttered.
“What was that, Miss Sakaki?”
“Oh, it’s nothing...” She was sure she was just seeing things.
Chiyo stared confused, as she looked into the eyes of a catfish, in its own staring contest with Sakaki. Chiyo smiles, settling that she must have misheard Sakaki.
In the gift shop, Sakaki was overwhelmed by the amount of stuffed animals. Plush fish of all shapes, sizes, and colors decorated an entire wall of the gift shop. She darted from shelf to shelf, looking for the cutest one, when suddenly, one stood out to her. A catfish. She locked eyes with it, slowly reaching out to grab it, then realized that it would be embarrassing for a girl as old as her to be so happy about a stuffed animal. She opted for a keychain instead.
As the two left the aquarium, Chiyo turned to Sakaki and said “I bought something for you in the gift shop!” Pulling out a small stuffed fish. It was the catfish that Sakaki was looking at! “I noticed you staring at this one and could tell you really liked it, so I thought you would like it if I bought one for you!”
Sakaki blushed, almost falling over with excitement. She gathered herself and said “Thank you, Chiyo-chan, that’s very thoughtful of you,” and gave Chiyo a pat on the head.
As they walked to the train station together in the cold, Chiyo once again remarked, “I hope Osaka is okay.”
Ah’m doomed, Ah’m gonna get gobbled up by a shark! The day before, Tomo had convinced Osaka to sign up to swim in the tanks with the fish and she was face-to-face with a gigantic whale shark. Heeellllppppp!!! Get me out of here!!!