| “ | I want to be together with Pikari, but I am by no means trying to be clingy or reliant on her. I will, with my own two feet, walk next to her. That way, our freed hands won't have to be used to hold onto for hope. Instead, we'll be gently accompanying each other. |
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Navigation (ナビゲーション Nabigēshon) is the twenty-seventh chapter of the Kozue Amano manga Amanchu!.
It was originally published in Monthly Comic Blade, and was later republished in Amanchu! Volume 5 on October 10th, 2012.
Summary[]
Still at their diving training camp, the members of the diving club are preparing their equipment ready for a diving session. While doing so, Ai Ninomiya makes an off-hand comment to Futaba Ooki that she's hopeless when Hikari Kohinata isn't around. This comment really shocks Futaba, and her confidence is instantly knocked, imagining a whole deluge of negative comments about her inability to be independent and that she's dragging the group down.
Sometime later, Mato Katori has gathered the group together to learn how to use the compass attached to their pressure gauge for navigational purposes. She teaches them to point the lubber line on the compass in the direction they want to go, then rotate the bezel so that the index mark aligned with the needle, and then walk 10 paces towards her while keeping the compass steady. They all achieve this. She then instructs them to adjust the compass for the reverse direction and walk 10 paces back to were they were. They all achieve this too. The students look back at their footprints and notice they walked on exactly the same path they walked the first time.
Mato explains that the next step will be to practise this compass training underwater. Futaba begins to panic, hearing Ai's comment in her ear again that she is helpless without Hikari. Hikari notices that Futaba is struggling and comes over to encourage her. She tells her that because she's already practised at navigating, she'll be leaving it up to Futaba today because she knows Futaba can do anything, even if she's alone, but Hikari will be beside her anyway. Encouraged, the group then descend into the water to practise compass navigation. Believing Hikari is beside her, Futaba manages to complete the first part of the training - navigating 10 paces using the compass. When it comes to turning around and going back though, Futaba looks around and realises that she's all alone. She has a panic attack, shaking and frantically trying to remember everything she's ever been told about losing your buddy on a dive, but then realises that she's relying too heavily on Hikari again and resolves to solve this by herself.
She mentally goes through the steps of compass navigation again, and tries to set off, but panics part of the way back. Suddenly, she begins to remember other things she's been taught about diving: to look for lines on the seabed to know which way is the way back to the beach and to look for memorable landmarks. She follows these steps and finds her way back to the group, realising that even though it was Hikari who taught her everything, the solution to her problem was always there even if Hikari wasn't there. Hikari floats down from above her, telling her that she was watching from above her the whole time. She swims back over to the group and they congratulate her. Futaba resolves that from now on she'll try not to cling onto Hikari for support but instead try to walk side by side with her as equals, supporting each other.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
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| Futaba Ooki | Hikari Kohinata | Ai Ninomiya | Makoto Ninomiya | Mato Katori |
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| Cha | Ohime |
[]
| Volume 1: | 01 • 02 • 03 • 04 • 05 • 06 | Volume 2: | 07 • 08 • 09 • 10 • 11 • 12 | Volume 3: | 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 |
| Volume 4: | 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 | Volume 5: | 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 | Volume 6: | 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 • 36 |
| Volume 7: | 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 | Volume 8: | 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 | Volume 9: | 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 54 • 55 |
| Volume 10: | 56 • 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 | Volume 11: | 63 • 64 • 65 • 66 • 67 | Volume 12: | 68 • 69 • 70 • 71 • 72 • 73 |
| Volume 13: | |||||