[EXCLUSIVE] - Gaia Gear Ch.01 Pt.04

4

　The lingering winds after the storm continued to batter the coast, thundering and rumbling. Another wild whitecap rolled in on the other side of the coral reef, creating a wall of white spray.

　"No! No, no!" Everly repeated as if those were the only words she knew.

　"I haven't made up my mind yet," Affranchi said firmly, standing against the wind.

　"Noooo!"

　Everly wailed, bent over, burying both elbows into her midriff. The wind whipped her rough dress around her, a fitting reflection of the storm within her.

　"That's why I said, let's talk about it!" shouted Affranchi, running after her as she fled. Everly ran as if she couldn't bear the thought of him getting any closer, her cries of "no" echoing in the air.

　Affranchi understood her pain.

　"But why, why am I chasing after her? Why am I trying to convince her?" he wondered to himself.

　Affranchi realized that he had already decided to go to space. But he couldn't bring himself to fully commit to it yet. On the other hand, he didn't dislike the idea of living with Everly, catching fish, tending to the sugarcane fields, collecting coconut oil, and making tools for daily life with coconuts. 

　"I don't dislike that at all. I love it, in fact."  

　Affranchi Char said, pausing in his stride. As he watched Everly run away, those words escaped his lips.

　The sun cast its blinding rays through the gaps in the drifting clouds.

　Her back against the light, Everly collapsed onto the coral beach with a thud, crying. Affranchi could see her back rising and falling, heaving as she sobbed, the sight strangely clear in his vision. 

　"But Everly... she is convinced I will go to space..." he thought to himself, feeling a sense of discomfort wash over him.

　Others were already predicting and deciding for him what he was trying to avoid. It was an even more uncomfortable feeling than the ambiguity he had felt earlier.

　"I'll go, then..."

　That is what Affranchi wanted to say.

　That is how he felt.

　"...?"

　Beyond Everly's trembling back, a shadow loomed.

　"There shouldn't be anything that tall up there."

　As he tried to walk past the crying Everly, he looked down at her exposed shoulders, which were glistening as they shook.

　"...!?"

　Affranchi felt a pang in his chest at the sight.