Episode 4: The Lonely Spirit

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As Suzuna sat alone on the beach, a strange being appeared before her.

???
......

Suzuna
A-A monster? It doesn't seem like one...

Suzuna
Hey, hey. Um, who are you...?

Suzuna
Ah! Are you the Rain God...?

Suzuna
No, that can't be right, can it?

???
... Mm.

Suzuna
Huh? Was I right?

Suzuna
(But why is the Rain God in a place like this?)

Suzuna
(I'd like them to do something about the weather for tomorrow's event, but...)

Suzuna
(But, for some reason...)

Suzuna
Hey, hey.

???
......?

Suzuna
You looked really sad a moment ago. Did something bad happen?

Suzuna
Wait, you probably don't speak our language. I just started speaking without thinking about it. Ha ha.

Rain God
I can't see my friend...

Suzuna
Huh?

Rain God
I'm sad because I can't see my friend...

Suzuna
What!? You can talk!?

Suzuna
That's super cool -- you can talk in our language, even though you're not a human! Is this what they call bilingual!?

Suzuna
Maybe this is what they call a "random encounter"! Cool, cool! This could be a great experience for me!

Suzuna
Hey, hey, since we're here, do you want to talk about it? Is your friend someone from this island?

Rain God
No. My friend is a spirit like me. The humans call her the Sun God.^[1]

Suzuna
The Rain God and the Sun God, huh... But you said the humans just call her that, right?

Suzuna
What're your real names? What do you guys call each other?

Rain God
... We don't have them. We've always been together, so we've never had any need for names.

Suzuna
Okay, I see... But wouldn't it be even better if you two had nicknames just for each other? Let me think of ones for you!

Suzuna
Hmm... I wonder what...

Suzuna
... I got it!

Rain God
......!?

Suzuna
We can do "Rainy" for the Rain God, and "Sunny" for the Sun God!^[2]

Rain God
Rainy and Sunny...

Suzuna
What do you think?

Rain God
Sunny, Sunny...

Rain God
Yeah... I like it. Rainy, and Sunny...!

Suzuna
My name's Suzuna! Nice to meet you, Rainy!

Rainy
Thank you, Suzuna!

Suzuna
I'm glad you like it! So what kind of friend is Sunny?

Rainy
We always wake up at the same time, though we do get into little arguments sometimes... But we spend every summer playing a lot with each other.

Rainy
And then, we go back to sleep together, until it's time for us to meet again.

Suzuna
Whoa! It sounds fun, always getting to play together! I'm jealous that you don't have any classes or homework!

Rainy
Classes...? I'm not sure what that is, but yes, I'm always together with Sunny.

Rainy
The humans were always watching over us as well. I was very glad for it.

Rainy
But... This spring, when I woke up, there was nobody there but me. We'd had an argument some time before, and we'd gone to sleep without making up... Did she not wake up? Or does she just not want to see me anymore...

Rainy
I want to see Sunny again... I don't want her to hate me...

Suzuna
Rainy... I totally get those feelings.

Rainy
Why is that?

Suzuna
The thing is, I came to this island for a job. I promised the girls from this island that I'd come!

Suzuna
But I got into a bit of a fight with one of the friends who I came here with.

Suzuna
I've got some time off after tomorrow's event, so I thought we'd be able to have an awesome vacation together, but...

Rainy
You've also come apart from one of your friends?

Suzuna
Kinda, yeah?

Suzuna
My friend goes to the same school that I do, but that school might be dissolved. Wouldn't that be seriously terrible? Oh, dissolved means the school is gonna go away!

Suzuna
If that happens, we might never be able to play together like this again, right!? So this might be the last summer vacation that I get to spend with my friend like this...

Suzuna
Maybe we shouldn't have come to this island after all...?

Rainy
......

Suzuna
But as a model, there's no way I could turn down this offer.

Suzuna
Ahh... Why did this have to happen?

Yuuki
1. "Suzuna! You were over here?"

Suzuna
Ah, Smarty!

Suzuna
Were you worried? I'm sorry!

Suzuna
I'm all right. I just needed to cool down a bit. I was thinking about how I might've said too much...

Suzuna
Hey, hey! Listen to this, though!

Suzuna
Ta-daaa! This girl is the Rain God we heard about! Isn't she super cute!?

Yuuki
1. "Which girl?"

Suzuna
Are you doing a bit, Smarty? C'mon, this isn't the time for laughs! It's this girl right here!

Suzuna
Wait, huh? She's really gone.

Suzuna
That's weird. Rainy was here just a moment ago. She was crying really sadly...

Suzuna
They call him the Rain God, but that's not her real name. She didn't even have a real name for herself! Shocking, right?

Suzuna
So, I came up with the name Rainy for her!

Suzuna
And, also, even though she's a spirit, she can talk in our language! We talked for a while!

Suzuna
What did we talk about, well...

Later.

Suzuna
... And that was it! Friends who get into fights, right? Isn't it a super sad story?

Suzuna
What do you think of that kind of friendship, Smarty? Doesn't it make you feel super emo?

Yuuki
1. "It reminds me of you and Misaki."

Suzuna
Me and Misaki!?

Suzuna
Umm, now that you mention it, I guess so... We also fight every so often, huh...?

Suzuna
But we really just want to cheer each other up and say nice things...

Suzuna
Huh? That means...

Suzuna
Misaki was only saying that stuff earlier because she wanted to cheer me up about the event maybe getting cancelled?

Yuuki
1. "Of course."

Suzuna
Of course...!

Suzuna
Maybe I've been thinking too much about work, huh? Normally, I would've caught my self right away, but I guess I just had a really bad temper today.

Suzuna
Thanks for reminding me, Smarty!

Suzuna
Huh!? Misaki was crying because I got mad at her!?

Suzuna
Smarty, this is no time to be standing around -- let's hurry! I gotta get back to the village and apologize to Misaki!

After cheering herself up, Suzuna sprinted off to the guild house where Misaki and the others were, leaving the just-arrived Yuuki behind.