Lost in Summer! Fated Paradise · Chapter 12
Vacation, Take Two!
The light hits first...
The summer sun, hammering straight down overhead.
Then the ground gives...
Sand curling warm between my toes.
And...
*Splash!*
Luna
Oh wow, we're... at the ocean...
Smile
Yep. The ocean...
The same old ocean...
The ocean...
Luna
Pfft... Ahahaha!
Without warning, Luna burst into the laughter she'd been holding back.
Luna
Ahaha... Sorry, sorry! Come on, don't all look so miserable. Let's perk up, okay?
All we have to do now is squeeze every last bit of fun out of this vacation!
Smile
Correct. Asherah is scheduled to arrive by train tonight.
Plus, Ayla paid us generously for the quest. We have more than enough to enjoy the rest of our summer vacation.
After returning the captured pirates to the city authorities, Ayla sailed us back to the beach in Flora.
Luna
What about you, Ayla...?
Ayla
...I have to believe my parents found their way off Grave Island too.
That they refused to surrender to fate, just like me.
Maybe they escaped and got stranded on another deserted island. Or maybe they're somewhere too far away to contact me.
So this time, I want to set out on another adventure for them, not myself.
I'm going to ask the man who lent us the boat before if he'll captain my next voyage.
Luna
...Yeah. I see.
Hehe. I'm sure...
...You'll find a brighter future.
Ayla
Oh! Is that a prophecy from the great Luna herself?
Luna
Ahaha, who knows?
Either way, you can trust a genius oracle like me!
Before we parted, Ayla gave us a generous reward for lifting her curse...
She even paid us the full amount of her wager as a bonus, so our party funds were practically overflowing.
...Wait. If our pockets are that full...!
...Luna...!
Luna
?
Smile
Luna, has your criminal repertoire expanded to theft?
Sure enough, Luna had her hands deep inside our now-bulging party purse.
...Step away from the money.
Smile
Assessment. Luna is already siphoning off casino funds because she lacks self-control...
Luna
Whaaat?! That's not what I'm doing!
Just how little faith do you two have in me?!
I was separating our spending money from the rest so we wouldn't have to lug the whole fortune around!
...Really?
Smile
...Deception. Captain, do not allow the con artist to manipulate you.
Luna
I'm not lying! I was just making sure we'd be prepared for Asherah's arrival...
Oh really? Preparing for Asherah's arrival, huh?
...Huh?
Smile
...Captain. Luna just used a word that should not exist in her vocabulary.
...Negative. Behavioral inconsistency detected. Under normal circumstances, she would never plan as far ahead as Asherah's arrival...!
Luna
Hehe... Normally, you'd be right. But I made a promise to Ayla on our way back from Grave Island.
Come to think of it...
Ugh...
I was glad to be heading back, but staying below deck in those rough seas had left me seasick.
Hoping some fresh sea air would calm my stomach, I dragged myself up onto the deck...
Ayla
Hehe... I see...
I spotted Ayla and Luna sitting together at the bow, facing the sea and chatting quietly.
They seemed to be enjoying their conversation, so I decided not to interrupt and sat down nearby to settle my stomach.
Luna
Yeah, Ayla. Just like seeing the world outside your window made you want to keep living, I realized that I—...
...—realized something!
Because of the strong gusts, I could only hear fragments of their conversation.
Not wanting to eavesdrop, I tried to give them some privacy, but...
Uuugh...
...The more I tried to move, the worse my seasickness became, so I had no choice but to remain sprawled where I was.
Ayla
Luna...
The cool breeze, and the sound of waves struck the hull.
Between the breeze and the waves, fragments of their voices reached me, strangely putting me at ease.
Ayla
Hmm... but...
Luna
But we've seen it for ourselves, haven't we?
...—for us.
Their voices were so calming that I must've closed my eyes without realizing it...
Luna
Woooow! Smile, look over there!
Smile
Ba-dump...! Could that be another magic seashell?
Luna
Gotcha!
*Splash!*
Smile
*Gasp...!* Y-you con artist...!
Luna
Ahaha! You're the fool for falling for it again!
After treating ourselves to ice cream as part of our "luxurious vacation," we finally hit the water.
Smile insisted we were conducting field research on magic seashells, not playing in the water, but...
Smile
...Gotcha.
*Splash!*
Luna
*Gasp...!*
S-Smile, youuu!!
Smile
Luna's the fool for falling for it again.
Whatever Smile chose to call it, anyone could see that she was absolutely playing in the water.
Smile
...Wait...
Luna
Huh? What's wrong, Smile?
Smile
The pink seashell I picked up earlier is missing.
Ugh... I likely dropped it into the water by accident.
Luna
You mean the pretty pink one you liked more than all the others?
Smile
I did not like it because it was pretty.
Its coloration was statistically unlikely to occur in nature. I merely estimated that it was the specimen most likely to be a magic seashell...
Luna
Hmm... Want me to find it for you?
A beauty like me can do more than swim. I'm a great diver too.
Smile
Correction. First, no objective metric supports classifying Luna as a beauty.
Second, as stated before... Not recommended. The chances of finding the lost seashell are extremely low...
Luna
Still, we've been playing around here this whole time... It has to be somewhere nearby!
Wait here. I'll find it in no time!
*Splash!*
With that, Luna dove straight into the water.
Luna
Yeah, Ayla. Just like seeing the world outside your window made you want to keep living, I...
...
I think... I want to start truly living again.
Ahaha! Hey, don't look so alarmed. I wasn't planning to throw my life away or anything like that.
...Still, what I was doing before wasn't really living. I was only existing.
All I did was wait for the ending I'd already witnessed, letting the rest of my life slip away.
But after experiencing a miracle that defied fate, I realized something.
The world I thought was quiet and boring was actually filled with enough noise and excitement to make my ears ring.
Ayla
Luna...
Luna
...
Once fate is observed, its outcome can never be changed.
That's the unbearably cruel truth of this world.
But...
Ayla
But...?
Luna
Every outcome is followed by what comes next.
One outcome becomes the cause of what follows, and that cause gives rise to another outcome. That, too, is a law of this world.
Ayla
...
Luna
So even beyond the ending I foresaw, there must still be a next.
Ayla
But... if something comes after it, can it really be called the end...?
Luna
But we've seen it for ourselves, haven't we?
Ayla
...!
Luna
If the story ends without another page, then we simply have to write the next one ourselves.
...
Even now, someone is writing the chapter beyond our ending for us.
So I will believe in that and start living again.
I hope you'll do the same.
Ayla
...Yes. I'll keep living, no matter what fate puts in my way!
Even the sun that day, which had seemed as though it would never set and had inspired someone to keep living...
...Was slowly descending beyond the horizon.
And...
Smile
The moon is already out.
Luna still hasn't come out of the water. Impressive.
Yeah. She will not come out no matter how many times we call her...
Should we start packing up?
Luna insisted on searching a little longer and continued looking underwater.
Leaving Luna to continue her underwater search, Smile and I started gathering our things.
Smile
Captain, the magic seashell isn't the only thing on my mind...
I can't stop thinking about the two moons phenomenon either.
Smile spoke while struggling to fold a beach mat three times larger than her body.
The two moons...?
Smile
...
No matter how many times I review it, the sight remains inexplicable.
Unresolved mysteries are not acceptable. A scientifically valid explanation must exist.
You think there's a scientific explanation for that?
Smile
...Although uncommon in Flora, mirages do occur.
Normally, something observed this close to shore could be explained as either an inactive specimen carried in by the current or a rare mirage phenomenon...
Temperature differences between layers of air refract light, causing objects to appear where they are not actually located.
...So...
So it was a mirage...?
Smile
...Negative. Upon reconsideration, a mirage fails to account for several critical observations.
The temperature difference that day was not particularly large, and the brightness of the refracted moonlight as well...
Ugh... Prior hypothesis withdrawn. Mirage theory is insufficient to explain yesterday's miracle...
Then what was it...?
Smile
...For now, I have decided to leave it as an unresolved question.
So you don't know.
Smile
Additional specimens or phenomena, such as the magic seashell, may eventually provide the data required to solve it.
After pausing in thought, Smile returned to wrestling with the oversized beach mat.
Just then...
Luna
Captain! Smile!!
You're finally out?!
Luna finally came out of the water after searching for the magic seashell until moonrise.
She held the pink seashell Smile had lost, along with...
Smile
Another magic seashell in a different color...!
Luna
Hehe, pretty, right? It shines in all the colors of an aurora!
Smile
Ooh...! Its appearance indicates a high probability that it's another magic seashell...
Smile's entire face immediately lit up.
Luna
I was searching for your missing shell when this beautiful little thing caught my eye!
I thought you'd like it, so I brought it right over!
Smile
...Thanks, Luna...
Honestly, I didn't expect to get it back.
The odds of retrieving something lost in the ocean are low...
Luna
Hehe! Bad odds aren't the same thing as no chance at all!
See? We even found another pretty shell because of it!
Smile
...Luna...!
Deeply touched, Smile gazed up at Luna with shining eyes.
Luna
Hehe! Go on, kid! You can hug me if you want to thank me!
???
Heeey, everyone...
Smile
*Flinch...*
Luna
Huh? What's wrong, Smile?
Smile
Cause unidentified... But a chill just ran down my spine...
Luna
What?! Are you coming down with a cold already?!
Smile
Ugh... I refuse to catch a cold. Asherah said it would interfere with tomorrow's training...
...Ah.
Luna
Oh.
Something we had momentarily forgotten suddenly came to mind.
???
Oh? So you haven't completely forgotten about tomorrow's training.
Omega wants beach time too! But Omega has training... But Omega really, really wants beach time!
...Then another forgotten voice reached us from somewhere beyond the darkness.
A-Asherah...
Omega, are you all better now?
Omega
Yep! The Saintesses said Omega's all better now!
Asherah
Wow, it's been ages, everyone!
Luna
A-Asherah...
Asherah
Did you all have plenty of fun while I was gone?
Then you must also be ready for enough brutal extra training to make up for all that fun!
Smile
...Hic!
Luna
Aaaah! Captain, save meeee!
I'm soooorry!!
...And so, that unusually hot night was drawing to a close.
...What? I thought you were all fixed now.
Cube Palace
Negative. Omega Control's update was completed successfully.
However, a very minor technical issue occurred during this unit's custom firmware update.
The Monolith Order's 116th and 117th Saintesses failed to follow the safety instructions provided for the update.
Do. Not. Power. Off. This. Unit. While. It. Is. S-a-v-i-n-g.
...Yeah, I think I can guess what happened.
Cube Palace
Until corrective firmware is installed, intermittent malfunctions may occur, particularly when processing large data updates.
This unit routinely archives the Voyager Savior Party's operational history. Abnormal behavior may occur during database backup procedures.
What do I need to do?
Cube Palace
Request. Activate the virtual-space simulator to rebuild the database and correct the erroneous information within it.
...This unit accepts no liability for injuries sustained during training inside the simulator. Consent to these terms is irrevocable and—
...Oh, come on!
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