Chapter 5: Abundant Scarcity【P1】
Masaki
Oh, that is it. It always feels good when it extends this far.
“Hold it steadier, Sora,” I shout across the spray, water sloshing against my curled up jeans. “I need an accurate measurement—”
“Masaki. This is not—” The roar of the water streams splashing around us swallows the rest of her words.
“I am almost there! Just keep it steady, stop trembling so much.”
Twenty-seven… twenty-eight…
I step backward, cleanly hopping over a brass second hand sweeping toward my ankles beneath the shallow surface.
Twenty-nine—
“Hey! Touch the globe!” a boy shouts from the stone rim, pumping his fist with a grin.
“Touch it! Touch it!” another onlooker joins in, drawing a crowd.
Touch what?
Sora shrivels under the attention, locking up and pressing herself against the fountain’s granite edge across me.
“Go for it, it brings good luck!” A girl claps her hands, joining the growing spectacle.
“Touch what?” I halt, glaring at her. “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?”
“The world, you blockhead.” She points past me. “Quickly!”
In the center of the basin, a polished steel ball sits behind a fortress of water jets and symmetrical iron decorations.
“Stop thinking and do it! It’s been months since anyone was crazy enough to try!” The boy leans over the stone ledge, palms flat, eyes wide.
“Do it! Do it! Do it!” the circling crowd chants.
I eye the ball, then look back at my line. “Stop shouting! I’m measuring the basin, I’ll get to your silly ball in a second.”
“What is going on here?” A loud voice breaks the chant, scattering the onlookers.
Tzzzzzzzzzk.
Sora drops her end to escape, sending the metal tape whipping directly toward—
“Ow!” I shake my stinging fingers.
“Hey! You two! Get out of the fountain right now!” A girl in a tracksuit marches through the remaining crowd like a snowplow, charging straight for the basin.
So close.
I bolt, nearly tripping over the rotating clockwork.
Zzzt-clik.
What is that sound?
Ssszzzrrr!
She races around the rim of the fountain, her feet hidden behind the stone ledge as she cuts off my escape route.
I pivot, charting a path right back across the center of the basin.
Passing the central pillar, I slap my palm against the steel ball with a smug grin. A quick glance around reveals no onlookers left to notice. Total waste.
The girl blocks my new path, waiting at the edge.
“Wow, are you like... police?” I sidle toward her. “What are those things you are moving on? Mind if I—”
The minute arrives. The bar ticks through the shallow water, striking my ankle and flipping me down. I hit the basin flat on my back.
Muffled laughter ripples through the remaining onlookers as I push myself up. At least the tracksuit girl’s expression softens slightly at the sight of my wipe-out.
“Alright, out of the water. Game’s over.” The girl waves me over with a flick of her fingers. “First-year…”
“On my way, boss.”
With my hands clasped like a dutiful butler, I trudge toward her—then snap them open, launching a wave of fountain water straight into her face.
“What the—”
“Sorry, no time!” I vault over the stone rim, plunging low into the thick of the crowd to vanish.
Hopefully my phone did not get too wet. I do not suppose there are telephone booths in this place.
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Discover what happens next in: Chapter 5: Abundant Scarcity【P2】
Written by Limited_Infinity. Extras, official publishing platforms and updates are publicly available only on the Patreon page “_Limited_Infinity_”
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