A Seaside Story (part 24)
Moar! In such rapid succession too. :O
"Leave the island?" Sadako says suspiciously, when Subaru timidly asks her, like a ten year old asking to go to the sweet shop. "Well... if you're going with Yasuda, I guess I can allow that," she concedes, though she looks like if she could have found any reason to say no, she would have. Subaru nearly faints when she reaches for her wallet and hands him two crisp thousand yen notes. "You'd better pay your way," she says sharply.
Embarrassed at being talked to that way in front of Yasuda, he mumbles his thanks and hustles Yasuda back out of the inn, eager to get going before she changes her mind and finds some floors for him to scrub or something.
"Must be like coming to stay with your great-aunt," Yasuda comments with a little smile as they make their way to the little ferry port.
"I'd describe it more as, being imprisoned in a witch's lair," Subaru replies sourly.
Yasuda laughs. "Aww, she's got a good heart," he says. "She let you come, didn't she? And even gave you money..."
"She didn't look happy about it!" Subaru protests. "It's like this all the time, slave labour, then a grudging reward..."
"But if she really didn't want to, she wouldn't give you anything at all," Yasuda reasons. "She thinks you're doing a good job, I can tell," he says with a grin.
Subaru thinks he'll reserve judgement on that one. "I like how she's so willing to let me go places if you're with me," he says dryly. "You must be a good actor."
"I'm not acting!" Yasuda protests, suddenly quite impassioned. "I really wanted to change! I came here as a new person. I'm not pretending. I want people to know me as a good person!"
Subaru is struck by the uneasy realisation that maybe he'll have to really want to be good before he can actually manage to truly reform. If that's the case, he might be on the island for a very long time. "I think you succeeded," he says with a wry little smile. "Even Sadako totally trusts you. And she doesn't miss much." He wonders how Sadako, who sees all, hasn't suspected anything; but right on the heels of that thought comes another - that even if she did suspect, maybe she doesn't care, because she can see Yasuda's heart is truly pure now. "See it with her witch's powers," he mutters under his breath.
If Yasuda hears him, he doesn't comment. "This town's been really good for me," he says sincerely. "I really like it here. I can't imagine living back in the city now."
Subaru is still cynical. "Really? You don't get bored?"
"Well, if I have some free time I usually go for a run or a walk," Yasuda says. Subaru still isn't convinced, but Yasuda goes on. "I've come to really love nature since moving out here - so many beautiful birds and plants and fish! You never see such amazing things in Osaka! I really feel a connection to the earth here," he says earnestly, turning to look into Subaru's face.
Subaru's instinct first instinct would usually be to mock such sentimentality, but he's slightly taken aback by Yasuda's unfailing sincerity that he just can't bring himself to think of a cutting remark.
"But sometimes, especially during winter when it's too cold to really enjoy being outdoors, I go to the mainland and pick up some books or CDs or DVDs or something to keep myself occupied," Yasuda adds. That's the sort of answer Subaru was expecting in the first place. But Yasuda had no hesitation in giving him the weird answer first.
They buy their ferry tickets and soon the boat comes in. It doesn't take too long to get back to the mainland - at least, it doesn't feel nearly as long as it did when Subaru came across. He's surprised how close it really is - it certainly feels like a thousand miles away, and possible several decades too.
The place where the ferry lands isn't exactly what Subaru would call a city, but it's the closest thing Subaru has seen in a while. The first thing he sees outside the ferry port is a combini, and he marches right across there with the intention of buying cigarettes, before realising he now has not much more than 1000 yen left in his pocket, and has to feed himself. Even though Yasuda offered earlier, it would look pretty bad to blow his money on cigs and get Yasuda to pay for his lunch, when he saw Subaru squirming as he was given his pocket money in the first place. That would just be sad. Subaru still has some pride - it's pretty much all he does have at the moment. So he manfully restrains himself.
"I bet you don't smoke, do you," he says hopelessly. It's not even a question - Yasuda is such a goodie-two-shoes, of course he won't now, even if he used to back in his bad boy days.
"Afraid not," says Yasuda, inevitably. "You'll get over it!" he says cheerfully. "You'll feel so much healthier, the air out here is so much better for your lungs!"
Subaru fights down the urge to punch him. It's one thing to get all soppy about how he's changed and is now so good and all - it's quite another to try and tell Subaru what to do for his own good! Especially in the very sensitive area of nicotine withdrawal. He'd got his hopes up! He just hopes this is a one-off, and Yasuda won't try and thwart all his other attempts to find some simple pleasures with which to comfort himself when he goes back to the cheerless austerity of the inn.
"Do you mind if we go to the record shop first?" Yasuda asks.
Subaru has no objections - though he feels a certain adrenalin rush when they step through the door. His body clearly remembers the need for hasty exits and avoiding security measures associated with visiting shops that sell portable media. They were always his favourite place to shoplift, because he could steal things he really wanted, and rip the CDs and then sell them on at prices cheaper than the shops could sell them at! But that was in the good old days, of course - with these new advances in digital downloading, everyone could have much easier access to songs they wanted to hear. Even if they want to pay for them, they can do it much more easily and conveniently. Subaru's services are not needed anymore. But there just isn't the same thrill about illegally downloading music, Subaru thinks! Anyone could do it! But it takes a certain type of person to be able to walk into the shop and dare to smuggle out the wares, avoiding detection.
It's not like Subaru has any money now anyway, even if he saw anything he wanted, and wanted to be a good boy and pay for it. Looking around, he feels the familiar tingle, the slight speeding up of the pulse... it would be so easy! He hasn't lost the skill, that he's sure of!
He doesn't have any money now, anyway - even less than he had when he was thieving. He definitely feels the temptation, out of habit and opportunity as much as anything else. But... he's been allowed to come here, as a reward for his good behaviour. Does he really want to blow the chance of ever being allowed to come again? Or, potentially, being allowed to ever go home? It really does feel... wrong. Subaru feels like, if he did give in and steal anything, he'd genuinely feel... guilty.
Besides. It's not like he has anything to play CDs on right now anyway. He wanders round, flicking through the racks - now he really can't have anything, of course he sees a bunch of stuff he wants.
Yasuda obviously has too, because he has a small stack in his arms. Subaru is surprised to see that a couple of them are ones he wanted too.
"You like Oasis?" he asks, pointing.
Yasuda looks down at the CDs. "Oh yeah! They were the first foreign band I got into," he says. "I hadn't listened to them in ages, but then they split up! I was so shocked! I felt like I wanted to come and buy the stuff I didn't already have, revisit their music," he goes on, obviously delighted to talk about it. "You like them too?"
"Yeah," Subaru says. He doesn't have any more eloquent words. "I thought the Gallaghers were so cool."
Yasuda chuckles. "Me too," he says, and Subaru guesses that yeah, there'd probably be the same appeal to Yasuda the delinquent as there was to Subaru. "Who else are you into?"
"I was getting into reggae just before I came out here," Subaru says. "My friend knows some guys in a reggae band, he took me to see them a few times."
"Oh, reggae?" says Yasuda with more than polite interest. "I don't know much about it I'm afraid - but I love hearing new music!"
When Yasuda goes to pay, Subaru stops by the reggae section and picks out a compilation his friend lent him. He catches up to Yasuda in the queue, puts it on top of the CDs in Yasuda's hands. "This one's good. If you're interested. I'd recommend it," he says, feeling a bit silly all of a sudden.
Yasuda picks it up and looks at it. "Oh, thanks!" he says, with no suggestion he's anything less than grateful. "I'll listen to it and let you know what I think!"
Yasuda's enthusiasm is infectious, and Subaru finds his good mood from earlier is sustained. Not for the first time since he came to the island, he feels that it's actually nice to be listened to, and this time, moreover, he thinks it's nice to be on the same level as someone.
TBC
"Leave the island?" Sadako says suspiciously, when Subaru timidly asks her, like a ten year old asking to go to the sweet shop. "Well... if you're going with Yasuda, I guess I can allow that," she concedes, though she looks like if she could have found any reason to say no, she would have. Subaru nearly faints when she reaches for her wallet and hands him two crisp thousand yen notes. "You'd better pay your way," she says sharply.
Embarrassed at being talked to that way in front of Yasuda, he mumbles his thanks and hustles Yasuda back out of the inn, eager to get going before she changes her mind and finds some floors for him to scrub or something.
"Must be like coming to stay with your great-aunt," Yasuda comments with a little smile as they make their way to the little ferry port.
"I'd describe it more as, being imprisoned in a witch's lair," Subaru replies sourly.
Yasuda laughs. "Aww, she's got a good heart," he says. "She let you come, didn't she? And even gave you money..."
"She didn't look happy about it!" Subaru protests. "It's like this all the time, slave labour, then a grudging reward..."
"But if she really didn't want to, she wouldn't give you anything at all," Yasuda reasons. "She thinks you're doing a good job, I can tell," he says with a grin.
Subaru thinks he'll reserve judgement on that one. "I like how she's so willing to let me go places if you're with me," he says dryly. "You must be a good actor."
"I'm not acting!" Yasuda protests, suddenly quite impassioned. "I really wanted to change! I came here as a new person. I'm not pretending. I want people to know me as a good person!"
Subaru is struck by the uneasy realisation that maybe he'll have to really want to be good before he can actually manage to truly reform. If that's the case, he might be on the island for a very long time. "I think you succeeded," he says with a wry little smile. "Even Sadako totally trusts you. And she doesn't miss much." He wonders how Sadako, who sees all, hasn't suspected anything; but right on the heels of that thought comes another - that even if she did suspect, maybe she doesn't care, because she can see Yasuda's heart is truly pure now. "See it with her witch's powers," he mutters under his breath.
If Yasuda hears him, he doesn't comment. "This town's been really good for me," he says sincerely. "I really like it here. I can't imagine living back in the city now."
Subaru is still cynical. "Really? You don't get bored?"
"Well, if I have some free time I usually go for a run or a walk," Yasuda says. Subaru still isn't convinced, but Yasuda goes on. "I've come to really love nature since moving out here - so many beautiful birds and plants and fish! You never see such amazing things in Osaka! I really feel a connection to the earth here," he says earnestly, turning to look into Subaru's face.
Subaru's instinct first instinct would usually be to mock such sentimentality, but he's slightly taken aback by Yasuda's unfailing sincerity that he just can't bring himself to think of a cutting remark.
"But sometimes, especially during winter when it's too cold to really enjoy being outdoors, I go to the mainland and pick up some books or CDs or DVDs or something to keep myself occupied," Yasuda adds. That's the sort of answer Subaru was expecting in the first place. But Yasuda had no hesitation in giving him the weird answer first.
They buy their ferry tickets and soon the boat comes in. It doesn't take too long to get back to the mainland - at least, it doesn't feel nearly as long as it did when Subaru came across. He's surprised how close it really is - it certainly feels like a thousand miles away, and possible several decades too.
The place where the ferry lands isn't exactly what Subaru would call a city, but it's the closest thing Subaru has seen in a while. The first thing he sees outside the ferry port is a combini, and he marches right across there with the intention of buying cigarettes, before realising he now has not much more than 1000 yen left in his pocket, and has to feed himself. Even though Yasuda offered earlier, it would look pretty bad to blow his money on cigs and get Yasuda to pay for his lunch, when he saw Subaru squirming as he was given his pocket money in the first place. That would just be sad. Subaru still has some pride - it's pretty much all he does have at the moment. So he manfully restrains himself.
"I bet you don't smoke, do you," he says hopelessly. It's not even a question - Yasuda is such a goodie-two-shoes, of course he won't now, even if he used to back in his bad boy days.
"Afraid not," says Yasuda, inevitably. "You'll get over it!" he says cheerfully. "You'll feel so much healthier, the air out here is so much better for your lungs!"
Subaru fights down the urge to punch him. It's one thing to get all soppy about how he's changed and is now so good and all - it's quite another to try and tell Subaru what to do for his own good! Especially in the very sensitive area of nicotine withdrawal. He'd got his hopes up! He just hopes this is a one-off, and Yasuda won't try and thwart all his other attempts to find some simple pleasures with which to comfort himself when he goes back to the cheerless austerity of the inn.
"Do you mind if we go to the record shop first?" Yasuda asks.
Subaru has no objections - though he feels a certain adrenalin rush when they step through the door. His body clearly remembers the need for hasty exits and avoiding security measures associated with visiting shops that sell portable media. They were always his favourite place to shoplift, because he could steal things he really wanted, and rip the CDs and then sell them on at prices cheaper than the shops could sell them at! But that was in the good old days, of course - with these new advances in digital downloading, everyone could have much easier access to songs they wanted to hear. Even if they want to pay for them, they can do it much more easily and conveniently. Subaru's services are not needed anymore. But there just isn't the same thrill about illegally downloading music, Subaru thinks! Anyone could do it! But it takes a certain type of person to be able to walk into the shop and dare to smuggle out the wares, avoiding detection.
It's not like Subaru has any money now anyway, even if he saw anything he wanted, and wanted to be a good boy and pay for it. Looking around, he feels the familiar tingle, the slight speeding up of the pulse... it would be so easy! He hasn't lost the skill, that he's sure of!
He doesn't have any money now, anyway - even less than he had when he was thieving. He definitely feels the temptation, out of habit and opportunity as much as anything else. But... he's been allowed to come here, as a reward for his good behaviour. Does he really want to blow the chance of ever being allowed to come again? Or, potentially, being allowed to ever go home? It really does feel... wrong. Subaru feels like, if he did give in and steal anything, he'd genuinely feel... guilty.
Besides. It's not like he has anything to play CDs on right now anyway. He wanders round, flicking through the racks - now he really can't have anything, of course he sees a bunch of stuff he wants.
Yasuda obviously has too, because he has a small stack in his arms. Subaru is surprised to see that a couple of them are ones he wanted too.
"You like Oasis?" he asks, pointing.
Yasuda looks down at the CDs. "Oh yeah! They were the first foreign band I got into," he says. "I hadn't listened to them in ages, but then they split up! I was so shocked! I felt like I wanted to come and buy the stuff I didn't already have, revisit their music," he goes on, obviously delighted to talk about it. "You like them too?"
"Yeah," Subaru says. He doesn't have any more eloquent words. "I thought the Gallaghers were so cool."
Yasuda chuckles. "Me too," he says, and Subaru guesses that yeah, there'd probably be the same appeal to Yasuda the delinquent as there was to Subaru. "Who else are you into?"
"I was getting into reggae just before I came out here," Subaru says. "My friend knows some guys in a reggae band, he took me to see them a few times."
"Oh, reggae?" says Yasuda with more than polite interest. "I don't know much about it I'm afraid - but I love hearing new music!"
When Yasuda goes to pay, Subaru stops by the reggae section and picks out a compilation his friend lent him. He catches up to Yasuda in the queue, puts it on top of the CDs in Yasuda's hands. "This one's good. If you're interested. I'd recommend it," he says, feeling a bit silly all of a sudden.
Yasuda picks it up and looks at it. "Oh, thanks!" he says, with no suggestion he's anything less than grateful. "I'll listen to it and let you know what I think!"
Yasuda's enthusiasm is infectious, and Subaru finds his good mood from earlier is sustained. Not for the first time since he came to the island, he feels that it's actually nice to be listened to, and this time, moreover, he thinks it's nice to be on the same level as someone.
TBC