The Boy by the Shore (Olikase Vocaloid AU)

Chapter 3: Cerulean

The near-noon sun felt warm on my face as I jogged down closer to the coastline. I smiled at the idea of finally making a friend as the cerulean waves grew ever closer.

I had almost reached him when I heard a voice call out to me somewhere to my left. "Hey blondie! Oi, look at me!"

I turned and searched for the voice's source. A girl with long pink braids was waving over to me. I sighed and ran up to her.

"Uh, hi?" I asked. "Can I help you or something?"

"You were going to try talking to Fukase, right?" she asked right back.

"Fukase? The guy with the red hair?"

"Yeah, him."

"Oh. Yeah, I wanted to see if he'd be good company. I don't really stay on the mainland a lot, so I was wondering if he'd be someone I could be friends with while I'm here," I replied, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye.

The girl only shook her head. "He doesn't talk. A few of my friends and I tried getting him to say something, but he didn't respond. He's been like that for years."

"Years?" I asked incredulously. "How can he not talk at all? Doesn't he go to school and have a family or something?"

She shook her head again. "Nope, nothing. He just sits there. He doesn't have a home, or school, or a family, and has to go to local restaurants for food. I don't even know how he has the money. No one's seen him in the city, only at the beach."

I looked back at Fukase. With his bright red hair and eccentric attire, he seemed like he'd be an open person. I sighed and finally made my decision. "Well, I might as well try talking to him, right?"

"Go ahead, no one's stopping you. But if he doesn't respond, don't take it personally."

I smiled at her and thanked her for letting me know, before turning around and walking back to where Fukase was seated.

"Oh yeah, the name's Rana!" she called after me.

"And mine's Oliver!" I called back.

~~~

I finally reached him and casually waved from his side, trying to get his attention. He looked up at me, his face expressionless. Now that it was bright and his hat wasn't covering his face, I noticed that he had bright ruby-red eyes that starkly contrasted with his pale skin. He wore a red tunic with an off-white coat on top, and matching red and beige boots. Wrapped around his neck was a bright red cravat bow tie.

I plopped myself down next to him in the sand and offered my hand. "Good morning! My name's Oliver," I said, trying not to sound awkward. After anticipating this for a while, I had no idea what to say.

Silently, he shook my hand.

"It's, uh, nice to meet you."

He was still quiet.

So Rana really wasn't kidding... I thought. That's fine. I'll find a way to get him to talk. I had no idea where this determination came from. I could've just been friends with Rana and joined her friend group for the short while I was on the mainland; but no. I was determined to figure out what was up with this boy.

"So, someone told me you don't talk much. I guess if you've gotten used to it for so many years, then it's probably not a big deal for you now...but I can't imagine not having a voice."

Fukase just looked at me strangely.

"Or... maybe you do have a voice? And just don't use it?"

He rested his chin in his hands and didn't respond.

"Well, this is officially the most one-sided interaction I've had with anyone before. But that's okay, it's not the end of the world. I really just wanted someone to be with other than my brother." I paused my monologue to stretch out my legs before me.

"Well, if you won't tell me about yourself, I might as well go ahead.

"When I was twelve, I moved here to Japan with my older brother. I used to live in England, by the way. He's a sailor, so I usually end up tagging along with him on all his voyages. Because of that, I've never really had a set home or school since then... I mean, we have our apartment, but it's more like a hotel room to drop into in between our trips."

Fukase didn't respond, but I could tell that he was interested.

"Usually our trips are just from Honshu to Hokkaido, we never go anywhere interesting. You see, my brother's been sailing cargo boats this whole time, and we usually only transport cargo within Japan. We've been to Korea a couple of times though. I wish we'd get to stay there for a few days to look around, but we hardly get the chance to be tourists. Other than eating local food, we never get to do anything interesting."

I briefly considered stopping my rambling and leaving him alone, but he was watching me with such a sad and invested expression that I found myself getting carried away.

Even though Fukase didn't utter a word, he was a good listener. He was following along with my stories and I felt like a pirate from the 18th century telling tales of my voyages. As long as he was paying attention, it seemed like progress from what Rana had told me.

Before I knew it, the sun was already setting and the sky was colored pink again. I had finished telling my stories for the day a few minutes before; we sat in silence staring at the blue waves and every now and then, Fukase would steal a glance at me. I pretended not to notice.

I found my mind wandering to reasons why Fukase didn't speak. I wasn't sure if he didn't have a voice, or if he just didn't like to speak. Maybe it was something else entirely. Nevertheless, his company was strangely comforting.

I sighed as the sun began to dip below the horizon line. "I'd better get going. My brother probably noticed I was gone by now, and I have some work to do..."

He smiled with understanding and waved slightly. I stood up and waved back.

"I'll be back tomorrow!" I promised and walked back up the shore, cerulean waves racing behind me.

A/N:

Apologies to my mobile readers, I know some of the paragraphs got longer than I had intended! I'll try to split them better next time...

I hope you enjoyed this chapter anyway! Pleeeease vote if you liked it :3

See you in the next update!

~Stargazer