Chapter 53
The child, who barely reached half of Seran’s height, once again came running toward him today without fail. Even when his feet tangled and his face smashed into the sand, he didn’t mind—he just grinned foolishly.
Every time Seran saw that sight, his stomach churned. For some unknown reason, his chest tightened and nausea welled up.
At last, when the child arrived before him, Seran tilted his head.
“You always call me an angel.”
“Well, that’s because you’re white and pretty! And you suddenly appear when no one’s around! You really did come down from the heavens, right?”
I came out of the sea. But too bothered to correct him, Seran simply nodded.
“Um… thank you for last time, too. Thanks to you, Hans and his friends don’t bully me anymore!”
“It wasn’t for your sake. They were just blocking my way, so I brushed them aside.”
“Still! Thank you, angel!”
The child beamed. Even though the wound at the corner of his mouth from being beaten by other kids still stung, he smiled brightly.
This was already their fourth meeting. His clothes were ill-suited to withstand the cold sea wind. Weren’t humans supposed to be weak to the cold?
He still seemed at an age needing care, yet his parents’ hands never reached him. Now that Seran thought about it, the boy was always alone at the sea—whether on nights when the wind cut like knives or dawns when waves crashed violently.
“You’re always alone, aren’t you.”
“Well, so are you, angel!”
“It’s just less trouble that way. I prefer being alone.”
“I see… but, actually, I don’t like being alone.”
The boy fidgeted with his hands, speaking shyly.
“It’s just… nobody wants to play with me. They say it brings bad luck to be near someone who survived a shipwreck. I don’t really know what that means.”
I see. Seran nodded. He couldn’t think of what to say. Honestly, it was troublesome even exchanging words with the boy.
“So, um, angel…”
“Hm?”
“Please… be my friend!”
The child squeezed his eyes shut and held out his little hands. Seran reached out and opened his palm. Something small and light dropped into it.
“A shell?”
The boy nodded rapidly.
“I wanted to give it to you… I picked the prettiest one I could find.”
Seran gazed indifferently at the seashell in his palm.
Trash, he thought. The shell of a dead mollusk, nothing more than the common refuse scattered across the beach.
But why—why couldn’t he just throw it away? Even Seran himself didn’t know.
“…Thank you.”
He shoved it carelessly into his pocket.
The boy’s face lit up.
“I’ll bring you an even prettier one next time! Then we’ll be friends, right?”
“What is a friend?”
“Huh?”
The boy looked flustered. Naturally so—he had never had a friend either.
“A friend is… someone you look at the sea with… and talk with!”
“I see.”
Seran nodded. If it was just walking by the sea sometimes and exchanging a few words, that didn’t seem so bad.
“Alright. Let’s do that.”
“Really?! You’ll be my friend?! Yay!”
Overjoyed, the child began hopping and spinning around in circles.
“I have a friend now! The angel is my friend!”
Why was he so happy? Watching the child hop about until he inevitably tripped again, Seran found himself laughing.
It was… almost enjoyable.
Becoming friends with a human didn’t change Seran’s daily life. He still slept deep in the ocean and only occasionally surfaced. But naturally, he began drifting toward the island where the boy lived.
“Angel!”
The boy came running as usual. His messy hair now hung past his nape.
“Your hair’s grown.”
“Yeah! It’s been a while since we last saw each other!”
Seran tucked the boy’s hair behind his ear.
“How did you know I’d come today?”
“Huh?”
“Weren’t you waiting, knowing I’d come?”
The boy shook his head.
“I wait every day! Of course, there are way more days when you don’t show up… but that’s okay! Waiting is fun too!”
Ah. That’s right—time flowed differently for humans and divine beasts. For a short-lived human, a single day was scarcely more than a few minutes to a divine being.
By the next time he came ashore, the boy might already be grown. Before long, he would greet Seran with a face creased by age, and then one day, he would return to the earth.
“…I don’t like that.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll try to come more often.”
“Really?! Yay! I’m so happy!”
And indeed, Seran began visiting the island almost every day. The boy was always there, gazing out at the horizon, and whenever Seran appeared, he greeted him with all his might.
Days with the boy piled up. Frost formed on the waves more than once. Another sun set.
“Don’t you think Lord Seran’s changed lately?”
“Yeah. He seems… softer somehow? Definitely more gentle.”
“He goes ashore pretty often these days. Maybe something good happened?”
“I even saw him smile once! Could it be… he’s in love?”
Ignoring the whispers of other spirits, Seran headed to the small island.
“Smile? Me?”
He remembered a few times he had chuckled at the boy’s clumsy antics. Was that what they meant?
“Today, I should ask him that.”
Carrying the day’s topic of conversation, Seran came ashore—only to find the boy lying motionless on the cold sand.
