Golden Valley Train Station, September 2598

Three close friends, two of them 17-year-old boys and one of them a 19-year-old girl, made themselves fit into the tiny and cramped seating area of Golden Valley Station's only vegetarian cafe. They were having some sandwiches before they had to go aboard a bullet train in an hour and twenty-five minutes.

"How are we old enough to go to college already?" Ushio commented while munching on her egg salad sandwich. "It feels like it was just yesterday that I helped you guys study for the Academic Potential Measurement test in between helping my mother manage the Copper Valley Monument of Deforestation Atrocities and in a blink of an eye we're ready to leave home."

"Aiii friiking haatte APM! Yuusless piss of tess," Asahi chimed in before biting firmly into his veganized Reuben sandwich. "Datt messsurrrrd nottting battt hauu fasss yuuu kennn go truuuh arbiitrarii nambaaa of problem sett. It telllsss kallejj nooting offf aurrr kreativviti orrr personalitii. Noo fannn."

"Yeah!" Carossio said while stuffing his face with the bottomless french fries. "I would rather help Kahoko-san clean up the Gaburs' enclosure and administer anti-rabies vaccines to those winged elephants than sit through a boring exam. At least the Gaburs don't ask me to graph a parabola or balance a chemical equation or calculate the acceleration of a spacecraft with known mass and net force. Well, the last example was easy but you get my point."

"I think we all did well on APM in the end, all things considered," his girlfriend said pensively while slowly stroking the foggy surface of her iced tea, "because look at us! Asahi won a scholarship to study hydrology at Blue Orchid University just like he always dreamed of doing and we secured our places in the horticulture and public policy programs of Brown Aspen Polytechnic Institute of Ecology respectively. APM was stress-inducing but doable."

"Am gonna miss yuu bottth," Asahi looked up from his plate, "enn aii wishh yuu lakk."

"Good luck to you too, man!" Carossio smiled radiantly. "Hold on, I have a gift for you."

He reached into his bag and handed Asahi a green box wrapped in white cloth.

"Kruzzz d-dde fl-flooress?" Asahi's eyes sparkled as he opened the present. "Q-que h-hermosa."

"Ushio helped me pick it," Carossio said. "May the Lord keep you and bless you, mi hermanito."

"Watashitachi o aku kara sukudashite kudasai omo yo," Ushio reached across the table and tenderly brushed Asahi's palm with her thumb. "I pray that you will be delivered from evil."

"Un millon d-de g-grraacciasss," Asahi's eyes gleamed with happy tears, "aii will kipp dis seff."

"We also have a more practical gift to give you," Carossio glanced at Ushio before staring into Asahi's luminescent hazel eyes. "But only if you want to. Only you can decide whether to use it. We just thought it might be useful but, again, it's up to you. You don't have to take it."

Ushio handed the surprised boy what seemed to him a combo of a music player and cell phone.

"This is called text-to-speech," the girl explained, "and I saved up my hourly wage from working at the museum to order it from a manufacturer of assistive medical accessories in Brown Aspen. How it works is that if you type a sentence this device would turn it into its spoken form."

"This thing is the latest offering in devices targeted toward mute people and those with speech impediments ranging from mild to severe. Now," Carossio deliberately slowed down, "I know that these contraptions have been criticized by those with speech impairment for not providing natural-sounding speeches, but in the last few years, the manufacturing company has done big leaps and bounds. You can now set up the tone and intonation you want. You can even control the speed of the speech, so you can have it be as fast or as slow as you'd like. Cool, huh?"

"Aii anderrrstandd if it is kammingg from yuu, S-syo, batt from Us-shh-io tuu?" Asahi caressed the device contemplatively. "U-ssh-io yuuuss-ed tuu haaattee tekknollojiii."

"I used to be extremely mistrustful of technology, true," the girl said bashfully. "But I've recently appreciated that some technological advancement can improve their users' quality of life. Asahi, even though you're fluent in Copper Valley sign language now, you'd still face communication barriers. People at your university are more familiar with Sycamorean sign language."

"B-Batt... iff aii recifff dis diffaisss, den it is laik i suupoortt da viu dat dos huu kenn spiiik arr betta dan dos huu kennot en dat is.." he paused to spell with his fingers, "O-R-A-L-I-S-T."

"Asahi," Carossio squeezed the younger boy's shoulder. "We know how you feel about Oralism. We know you don't subscribe to the belief that people who can speak are superior and those who can't inferior," he squeezed tighter. "However, real life is rarely uncompromisingly black and white, you see? Your need for text-to-speech is purely about survival, not about ideology."

"Aii–" Asahi trailed off. "Aii tiinkk maiibee mai kess is a greiii arrea. Aii niid hellp hellpinng peeple anderstenn mi. If da spiiss tuu tekks ken hellp witt maii akkssen isssu, den meiibe it is oke for mii tuu yuus it."

"The whole point of having easy access to advanced technology is to ensure people always have a choice," Ushio interjected. "And I have just begun to accept that logic, but it makes sense to me that it is good to have options and we shouldn't judge what a disabled person opts to use to help them make their disability less of a hindrance to their ability to fully take charge of their own lives," she smiled kindly at Asahi. "You should take charge of yours. Even though your sister Ayumi will be there in Blue Orchid University too as she is finishing her senior capstone thesis, I don't think you should expect her to be your assistant on a regular basis."

"Orraitt," Asahi flashed his two friends a toothy grin. "Aii will giff dis tekknologii aa chenss."

"That's what I like to hear!" Carossio playfully hit his shoulder.

The train to Orchidsboro is arriving in four minutes. Passengers, please stand by, the train schedule announcement from the loudspeaker said. Departure status: on time.

"It is guutt baii," Asahi said with a slightly sad smile. "Aii haff to go."

"Hasta la vista," Carossio hugged him one last time. "Until we see each other again."

"Asahi, ki wo tsukette," Ushio joined the group hug. "You'd better take very good care of yourself, promise? Stay well and all the best. Give us a call when you've set foot on campus."

"Of korrs," Asahi intertwined his pinky finger with hers. "Aaantill nekks taiim, yuu twuu."

***

Asahi's seat was by the window. He could see Ushio and Carossio on the platform running after the train and waving their hands until the train left the station.

Y lo que me queda de vida, quero vivir contigo, he thought of a song lyrics. I will be there and you will be near and that's gonna be the deal, my darling. Speaking of, as excited as I am to head to the university of my dreams, a part of me wants to trade places with Ushio. She will always be near Carossio. Man, I came out to Ushio that one unbelievable night, but did she ever catch on that I am head over heels in love with her boyfriend? Maybe she did and she doesn't mind. Maybe she did and she's good at hiding her jealousy. I'm really glad she doesn't treat me any differently, though. She could have severed our friendship, cut ties with me completely, and forget I exist.

Y estos dos ojos, que me dicen que han de llorar cuando te vayas, he blinked a way a tear. It's killing me inside the way Carossio looked at me. His eyes were full of warmth, and yet I know the warmth they radiated was nowhere as intense as the one they directed toward Ushio.

The train crossed a bridge and a herd of Gaburs were flying over the vastness of the ocean. Asahi signed I wish I could feed you peanuts and thought back to his ten-year-old self. Wow, that sure does feel like a lifetime ago. I was insecure and Carossio relentlessly took down the walls I built.

Soon, the train left the hills behind and entered a long, dark tunnel. Asahi felt around in his waist bag for his phone and opened his music library before settling on an album by a boyband called El Niño en El País de Nuncajamás. He pressed shuffle and put his earbuds in before gazing absentmindedly at the darkness outside. A song called Left Behind By the Train of Time played.

The lyrics were as followed:

You've awakened from your beautiful illusion/ that has kept you in oblivion

You look into the mirrors/ cursing the wrinkles and fine lines on your face

Your youth has passed you by in vain/ as you kept your dreams as mere dreams

Your youth has gone to waste/fantasy from a bygone era/achingly poignant imagination

You desperately search for a way out of your paralyzing regrets

You wish you could turn back the clock/ so you might learn to seize the day

This song makes me feel so weary, Asahi smiled bitterly. That's to be expected from a song about someone whose youth was in vain. That line about a dream that remains a dream, though. Hella relatable. My dream of dating Carossio would remain just a dream for the rest of my days. But Mama and Papa have raised me to believe in reincarnation. If I am reincarnated, would I still be gay? Would he still be straight? Would we find our way into each other's hearts somehow?

The next song on the list was a Spanglish song titled Mi Media Naranja, Enamorada. Asahi hastily pressed the skip button, not wanting to hear a word about finding one's better half.

Soulmates are such a stupid concept. How do you know there's only one person you could match with? he smiled mirthlessly. In another life, in another dimension, I could have been a girl who loves a girl and maybe the Carossio of that dimension would feel what I'm currently feeling.

***

The train's arrival at the Orchidsboro Station was delayed by three and a half hours due to some rocks from a collapsing boulder that had blocked the railroad. The locomotive operator had to manually reroute the train to another track. Asahi sent a quick text to his sister, notifying her of the delay. Ayumi texted back that she didn't mind waiting since it meant she could take her girlfriend shopping first.

Asahi: You have a girlfriend? Since when? I thought you were cooped up in the library.

Ayumi: Since the middle of last semester. She was in my Infectious Disease Resistance 701 class and our instructor paired us up to do a field study about the rate of Lyme disease infection in white-tailed deer compared to caribou. Our job was to create an algorithm-based artificial intelligence model that could predict how the rate of infection would change if we hybridize white-tailed deer with a specific breed of caribou that was more disease resistant.

Asahi: White-tailed deer? How dreamy. Let me guess, you fell in love with your girlfriend while fawning over a fawn? And then you got no work done as you fawned over each other.

Ayumi: Haha. For your information, we got A++ for our project. Yes, we did lose our cool over an unusually and breathtakingly gorgeous doe and her babies. The doe was a white-tailed deer but she had reddish fur; a shade of maroon and vermillion with specks of chestnut.

Asahi: Tell me you took a picture of that doe!

Ayumi: [file. image0081]

Asahi: That's the single most precious thing I've ever seen. Okay, so back to your research. I assume this deer stuff carries over to your final semester? And is your girlfriend a co-author of the M.Sc. xenobiology thesis you're completing or something?

Ayumi: She's helping me with the programming and code-writing part of the thesis. Actually, we put a twist on our project by also proposing a hypothetical budget for the hybridization of caribou and white-tailed deer. Deandra has a second major in Business Administration, so her implementation of business theories adds a new flavor to our thesis.

Asahi: So your girlfriend is a xenobiology enthusiast who knows how to do coding while also managing a business and at the same time likes to shop to unwind. Her resumé must be top-notch. Who is she exactly and where can I learn to be such a ladykiller as she is?

Ayumi: Ladykiller? I thought you were into men!

Asahi: Oh, sis, you knew I meant that in a gender-neutral way. Fine, I'm gonna use a gendered term. Where can I learn to be a Casanova, a Hercules, an Adonis, and a Samson at once?

Ayumi: Dios mio, hermano. Just choose one or two from the Pantheon, but not a bunch.

Asahi: Hm, maybe Samson. I want luscious hair and super strength. But being Adonis would be cool too. Eternal youth because you'll be reborn countless times? Count me in.

Ayumi: I completely forget how we managed to get ourselves so far off tangents in this conversation.

Asahi: Haha. Perks of having me as a sibling, am I right? We're switching topics as if we're switching the light on and off. But to answer your question, I was asking who Deandra is. How does she manage to wear many hats?

Ayumi: Multitasking comes naturally to her because she's the heiress of a sizeable company.

Asahi: What company?

Ayumi: She made me sign a non-disclosure agreement because of trade secrets. Whatever she confided in me about the company she's gonna inherit, I can't confide in anyone else.

Asahi: I see. She must be a celebrity of some sort.

Ayumi: I mean, to date, she's never been on TV or radio so that's why no one has ever been able to tell she's next in line for her father's position. It's nice to keep an unassuming presence because we wouldn't be able to pursue a relationship with each other if she were already famous.

The Rivera-Sakamoto siblings kept on texting each other until, at last, the train reached Orchidsboro just as the fireflies started coming out of hiding and a waxing crescent moon revealed itself among a constellation of stars.

As soon as Asahi walked over to her with his oversized suitcase, she gave him the biggest hug ever and kissed his forehead.

"Good job for surviving an awfully tiring train trip!" she said before gesturing to a tall, slender, and thick-haired woman in a cerulean blue hoodie and black sweatpants. "That's Deandra."

"E-eencantado d-de c-conocc–ccorte," Asahi extended a hand."Yuu arrr byuutifool."

"And you look quirkier and cuddlier than Ayumi had described!" Deandra replied. "So squishable."

"Pliis noo squiishiing. Am sweettii en aii niid aah syoowerr."

"Sorry, I didn't get that last part. What is anidasowa?"

"Oh!" Asahi held a finger up and turned his text-to-speech on. "I'm sweaty and I need a shower."

"Then we gotta hurry and drive you to the dormitory. The undergrad xenobio dorm?"

"Ahh, akssuallii, am in hiidrolojjii deparrrtmenn."

"Oh! Forgive me for immediately assuming you're in the same department as Ayumi," Deandra chuckled. "So you're not a mini Ayu-chan, huh? But why do you want to study hydrology?"

"B-bikos maii vill-ll-agge niid samm-wann whuu kenn bii da garrdd-diian of da ossshiian. Am konserrrnned abauutt haiiiheeerrr shiii saaalinitttii lefffell ennn possibell tsuunamii."

"There hasn't been any tsunami in Golden Valley since 2355, little guy," Deandra said with a hint of adoration in her voice. "But it's commendable that you care so much. Oh, and you're right that monitoring sea salinity is the key to a healthy coastal community. I remember learning about it in Fundamental Ecological Concepts 303 back as a Junior."

"Asahi has a fixed special interest," Ayumi explained. "He has sustained an interest in collecting information about tsunamis ever since he was an 8-year-old. I guess that 3rd-grade Earth history class about earthquakes in Tohoku and the geology class about tectonic plates shook him badly."

"I donnn wanna see maii frennss get swe-ee-pt app in wavess," Asahi said. "Enn olsoo da taiinii wiing-ngged eleffann. I knoo dei kenn swiimm battt rolinngg wavesss kennn drauun dem."

"You're afraid of Gaburs drowning?" Deandra was filled with awe. "Bless your heart, angelito."

"We should find you a good place to get dinner from," Ayumi changed the subject upon noticing her little brother was on the verge of hyperventilating. "What would you like to eat? Pizza? Sushi? I feel bad that your train was delayed and they didn't even feed you for free."

"Kennn wii haff hambaguu?" Asahi looked up expectantly. "Wiittt a ssiidee of bigg sandeee."

"Hamburgers and sundae it is then," his older sister nodded. "Let's go to Giant Burger Shack."

—

Deandra offered to pay for everyone's dinner. At first, Asahi was reluctant to let her treat him, but the woman insisted that it was only right that she did so on the occasion of meeting her girlfriend's little brother for the very first time.

"Is hamburger your favorite food ever?" Deandra made some small talk. "Or sundae is?"

"Aii laiik booth!" Asahi said through a mouthful of meat, tomato, and lettuce.

"You shouldn't talk with your mouth full," Ayumi shook her head and reprimanded him playfully. "Chew first and talk later. Are you sure you're 17? You look like you're 5 now."

"Oh, kamm on, amm hanggrii. Let mii eattt in peasssh."

"I will," Ayumi replied. "Deandra and I need to do something real quick, anyway, but you keep eating, okay?" she got up from the sitting booth and beckoned her girlfriend to follow suit.

Asahi kept munching on his burger but an intrusive thought invaded his mind.

When Ayumi does not want to have me around when she does stuff with someone else her age, he pondered, usually it turns out to be some boring adult stuff like politics and the stock trading climate. But I'm an adult too now. Perhaps now I won't find them boring.

He was about to run out of the hamburger shack when something else occurred to him.

But if it's just politics and stocks trading, why would she not want me to hear their conversations? That Deandra woman... I have a bad feeling about her. Maybe I should eavesdrop. Maybe she's actually abusive to Ayumi and my sister wants to end things.

He made his way out of the door and hid behind a dumpster before his eyes darted ferociously in search of Ayumi and the woman he was suspicious of. He spotted them talking in an alley.

"When your brother mentioned he wants to study hydrology," Deandra sounded exasperated, "it sent my danger radar to an overdrive. You signed an NDA agreement, Ayumi. I need to hear from you that you didn't say a word to him about my dad's not yet finalized plans to expand his mining companies just beyond land mining and into deep sea mining."

Fuck! Deep sea mining? But that's just asking for catastrophic stuff to happen! Asahi had to hold on to the dumpster lid to prevent himself from sinking to the ground. Like a tsunami!

" I swear I kept my mouth zipped up!" Ayumi threw her hands up. "It was a simple coincidence, Dea-chan. You're being paranoid as hell. Asahi-kun has always been fascinated by water."

"Maybe I'm paranoid, but better be on high alert than be sorry!" Deandra's voice was laced with venom. "I already reminded you millions of times that dating me means keeping things on the down low. We need to be low profile. My dad has a lot of competitors wanting to know his next move, which could bankrupt him. Can you keep a secret, Ayu? Or should we break up?"

"That's the only thing you care about, bankruptcy?" Ayumi shouted angrily and pointed an accusing finger. "What about environmental impacts? Tell me, where is the first deep sea mining location Mr. Milton wants to experiment with? Is it on a beach somewhere near my village?"

"It is. Don't worry, he has access to the most advanced technology on our planet and als–"

"I don't care about how advanced it is!" Ayumi barked. "Anything that has never been tested before and was still just speculative science has a chance of going so wrongly so quickly."

"You don't trust my dad's expertise and years of experience?"

This woman's an extreme technophile, Asahi rocked back and forth in his hiding, gods help us.

"It's not about expertise or lack of," Ayumi breathed in deeply. "But it's my village! My home! I love Golden Valley and I just couldn't believe you'd let your dad destroy my homeland."

"He won't!" Deandra insisted. "Like I was saying, we have the right equipment for sea min–"

"Asahi is right all along for fearing tsunami!" Ayumi folded her arms. "I should've listened to his concerns instead of being dismissive of his special interests. Fuck, he's smarter than your dad."

Oh, boy. Asahi's face turned as red as a boiled lobster. I'm not a genius, just super-focused.

"Don't you dare insult my dad!" Deandra hissed. "That's not a line you'd want to cross."

"But you've crossed mine!" Ayumi retorted. "You crossed it by not letting your dad know that you have a girlfriend whose homeland could turn into nothing but ruins if he proceeds with his plans," she was now letting out a muffled cry. "You clearly care more about your dad making money than about the feelings of someone you call a girlfriend. That's hurtful."

Should I interfere? Asahi shuffled his feet uncomfortably. Ayumi needs to violate that NDA. For herself, so she won't be ordered around by this bossy bitch. Also for our village's own good.

"I don't like this any more than you do, Ayu! But you gotta know I'm powerless against my dad. In the Milton household, whatever he says goes. Isn't that the same at the Rivera-Sakamoto's?"

"Don't compare your shitty excuse of a father to my Little Tree tribe's wisdom and culture."

This is getting out of hand. Asahi felt like puking. I feel like Papa and Mama should be notified. If Ayumi couldn't tell them because of that stupid NDA, then I would. Unless... what if Deandra would find out I'm leaking her secrets and then she would press charges against my family?

"I was just asking if your parents were strict too!" Deandra huffed. "But anyway, you've got nothing to worry about. My dad's focusing on land mining for the time being. You can relax. He won't carry out his plan for sea mining until at least 2605 or so."

So we're dealing with a thicking time bomb that could go boom in six or seven years. Asahi did the mathematics mentally. Six years would go by pretty quickly. What can I do? I'm just a boy.

"For everyone's sake," Ayumi wept silently, "I really hope your dad would forget about it."

Ayumi is like that person described in a song I listened to a while ago about wanting to break free from imposed voicelessness, a chained heart, and a clipped pair of wings. Maybe I should tell her to listen to that song. It might not do much but maybe she'd know what I'm getting at. I'll text her the song lyrics. Then, it is up to her what to do about Deandra bossing her around.

Asahi: Hey Ayumi, have you ever listened to a song called 'Oppressed Heart Defying the World? It is a pretty good song to listen to when you're mad at injustice or just angry in general.

OPRESSED HEART DEFYING THE WORLD

What should happen when they've chained your hearts for years?

And sewn our lips shut so we won't sing?

What did they expect when they cut off all your limbs? When all they've done was to clip your wings 'til you bleed?

And they thought they could keep you meek by cutting your tongue

You and I baby, we know our truths

We owe them no explanation

Let their words just be like the passing winds

You and I against everyone

They didn't let us speak

But we're sure as hell aren't gonna fall in line!

Forget trying to fit a mold

We are made to be shapeless and free!