Ch. 6: The Shell Necklace
The light glittered as it slipped through the waves into the room…-.
Orion looked at me with madness in his eyes.
What do I do? My heart…
I reflexively looked away, and Orion chuckled.
Orion: “Are you feeling embarrassed?”
OO: “N-no!”
Orion: “Then what is it?”
I need to check… if it was a marriage kiss.
[CHOICE]
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Did we already do that? (SUN)
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We haven’t done that, right? (MOON)
Orion: “I asked if you’d follow me. And you said you would. No matter how you look at it, that ‘follow me’ is obviously a marriage vow.”
Like I thought…
OO: “But I didn’t make any vow! And…I feel terrible…for lying to your parents.”
Orion: “Don’t worry. The vow was already made… the only difference is whether we go slow or fast.”
OO: “But that’s…”
Orion: “I’m the one who lied. You don’t have to worry about it. You just…just think about me.”
His voice was low as he spoke, and he tilted my head up with a finger beneath my chin.
Orion: “If you want… I can make it so you can’t think of anything but me right now.”
Then his lips slowly drew closer and…
OO: “Stop it!”
I rejected his kiss and ran out of the room.
…
……
This is so wrong.
My mind was reeling with so many different things, and I felt like I was drowning as I watched the scenery outside the bubble sway in the current.
I want to go home. What should I do?
I crouched down and the shell necklace fell from my pocket.
Orion is so upfront.
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Orion: “What’s wrong with telling the person you love that you love them?”
Orion: “What’s wrong with wanting to be close to the woman I want to marry?”
Orion: “To happen to meet the person you love from the bottom of your heart is a miracle, right?”
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But…
I absently looked at the necklace as it drifted in the water…-.
Then a great current surged and caught it up.
OO: “Ah…”
It’s going to go outside the bubble!!
I reflexively reached out my hand to grab it, and the current was even stronger than I’d thought…
OO: “…”
I had been so absorbed with grabbing the necklace that I ended up outside the bubble.
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Orion: “If you don’t want to die, don’t go outside the bubble.”
Orion: “If you go out with just the power I gave you, it won’t be enough.”
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Orion told me not to go outside the bubble.
The sound of the water was growing more distant.
It…hurts…
I thought I could hear Orion’s voice as I drifted from consciousness.
OO: “B-but we haven’t done that yet, right?”
Orion: “What are you talking about? That happened a while ago.”
OO: “About the vow’s kiss…did we already do that, back on the surface…?”
Orion: “What, that’s why your face is red?”