A New Experience

"A New Experience" (新体験) is a short story released as the appendix booklet for Monthly Comic Alive June 2018 issue.

Summary
In an exciting summer vacation, things had turned into something unbelievable for Kei Karuizawa. She had found herself stranded on an uninhabited island as she watch the passenger ship leave the sea. Surrounded in all directions by the sea, she started to worry about how she could escape this island. However, she was neither anxious nor panicking and she was filled with gracious thoughts of how this moment could last forever — this was because Kiyotaka Ayanokōji was on the island with her. She believed that Kiyotaka would save her no matter what situation she would encounter. Due to her confidence, she felt no anxiety, but she was confused about her location. She started to question Kiyotaka about their whereabouts, and with Kiyotaka's response, she found out that they were still in Japan. How they knew was because of the unfocused view of Mount Fuji they had in the distance, but the only way to escape was to swim.

Due to her physical strength, Kei realized that she didn't have the strength to swim away. Looking around, she noticed a hawk gracefully taking flight towards Mount Fuji. As she wondered how great it would be if she had wings, her gaze fell to Kiyotaka who was looking straightforwardly towards the mountain. She noticed that Kiyotaka was able to swim all the way there. She also noticed that Kiyotaka didn't show any sign of swimming away, which made her joyful, but she felt bad because she always gets in the way of him. Kei's body was continuously getting hotter due confusion of how they would escape.

Kei started to question his concern for her, which led her to become nervous of hearing his answer. Unexpectedly, Kiyotaka looked at her straight in the eyes and answered (without hesitation) that she was his precious partner. His words offered her warmth, but she noticed that they were both wearing swimsuits with their bodies making contact. For Kei, the situation was getting a bit out of hand, and she tried to backing off form him, but he continued to hug her. In sudden realization, she noticed how they were both gazing at each other.

Trivia

 * Mount Fuji, a hawk, and an eggplant simultaneously refer to Hatsuyume (初夢), the term in Japanese culture to describe the first dream one has in the new year which is believed to particularly foretell the luck of the dreamer in the ensuing year.