Prologue - By the Sea
When I was in the first grade of elementary school, I first learned the term "Ocean View".
During a family trip with relatives, my cousin Sayaka walked into the hotel room and immediately shouted:
"Ah! This is Ocean View!"
To me at that time, Sayaka, who was four years older, was a know-it-all and reliable older sister and even an object of admiration. I tilted my head and repeated: "Ousha Wiyub?", and she triumphantly replied: "This is the room from which you can see the sea", Sayaka grabbed my hand and ran to the window, looked at the shimmering water surface and whispered: "This is so beautiful".
After Sayaka had seen enough of this scene, she ran out of the room to visit the souvenir shops, while I was still alone in the corner of the room facing the sea, seeing me like this, my father opened his mouth:
"Masaki, do you like the sea?"
"Love it!"
I nodded vigorously, my father smiled happily and hugged me tightly from behind.
"Dad needs to move to another place for work. And I want to take this opportunity to move to the coast."
At that time my father was working at the district police station and we lived in an apartment nearby, and although it was cozy, it was small and cramped at the same time. Later, I learned that my father had passed the promotion exam and in the same year was finally transferred to the long-awaited crime department.
"This house is spacious for one family and rich in nature, for you, Masaki, there are many places to play here.... This is your mother's favorite city, so I think you'll like it, Masaki. Do you want to move?"
After a moment of silence, my father added this sentence and slowly touched my head.
I wasn't interested in anything about my mother, who died before I began to understand what it was, I never even saw her face, but I was a little sad to part with my friends in one apartment.
However, hearing the worry in my father's voice, I couldn't say no.
Then I asked: "Can you go to the beach with me?", and my father nodded somewhat happily:
"Sure. You can swim, fish, and you can also do sea sports, and just strolling along the beach is also a lot of fun."
In an embrace with my smiling father, I imagined the happy days to come.
Ten years have passed since then.
The wild girl Sayaka with the double ponytail is now a college student with thick makeup that would make anyone's eyes bulge, my father, the young policeman who used to be a district police officer, is now a gray-haired experienced officer of the crime department, but I'm an ordinary second-year high school student. The view of the sea from the window has become less attractive, but sometimes I think: "It's great that I moved here."
I still love the sea.
