tochilock M/M fan-fiction 1-10P English ver.
※This is a long post, so I'll collapse it
(↓Since this is an app translation, the nuances might be a bit off.)
When I really put my mind to drawing tochilock and realized I couldn’t compromise on Harlock’s character design, this felt like the absolute limit. The first five pages are just a long setup to get to the last five. I’m still trying to treat this as a M/M fan Fiction… but I also find myself thinking, “If I’m going to spend 10 pages drawing something like this…” Still, it’s the kind of effort I can only put in when I’m really in the mood. I was most excited when the rough draft was done; inking it was a real drag. Given how it turned out, I thought it might have been better to just draw a bunch of messy sketches like the rough draft, but I wanted to try recreating that black-and-white feel from the original at least once. It goes without saying that a master’s stylized simplifications are a world apart from someone who can’t draw properly just filling the page with solid black. Well, at least I enjoyed the atmosphere.
Since it's about 14000 characters long, I'll upload separate Japanese and English versions.
This is a story about Tochiro and Harlock going boating on a lake. I wrote it because I wanted to see a date-like scene without having to think too much about it.
※It's an app translation, so the nuance might be a bit off.
Three suns blazed in the sky above this planet, showering warm sunlight across the lake stretching as far as the eye could see. Yet despite the intense radiance, the temperature around the vast lake remained stable at around 18°C, creating an ideal climate—neither hot nor cold.
The weather was perfect, the scenery flawless, yet two men sat in a boat upon the lake. One was nearly two meters tall, the other childlike in stature. Sitting facing each other caused the boat to tilt diagonally. The smaller man complained, “This is unbalanced,” but the taller man calmly dismissed him, saying, “You knew this would happen.”
Harlock said, “I landed on this planet because you said you wanted to get off.”
“You were the one who said there was a huge lake and you wanted to investigate it, and you were the one who made me build a boat.”
“I know that. I'm the one who said it.”
When Tochiro retorted quickly, his best friend sitting across from him nodded and said, “If you know that, then that's fine.”
The planet's atmosphere was nearly identical to Earth's, allowing them to descend to the surface without needing equipment like masks or airtight suits. Though they'd stopped here at Tochiro's insistence, the planet's warm climate and abundant natural beauty made it perfect for a vacation. Tochiro had descended under the pretext of “water quality surveys and securing drinking water,” but the trip was largely a holiday. The crew members were enjoying leisurely camping wherever they pleased. Encounters with dangerous creatures were possible, but being a crew of forty rough pirates, they took care of their own defense. An unspoken rule aboard the Arcadia was “no plundering the weak.” Thus, even when landing on an uncharted planet, the crew refrained from unnecessary killing beyond hunting for food or defending themselves.
Tochiro descended to the shore of the enormous lake, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “We'll need a boat to explore this lake,” he said. What seemed like a muttered aside was actually directed at Harlock standing beside him. Harlock shifted his gaze from the lake to Tochiro and repeated, “A boat?” with puzzlement. The height difference inevitably meant he looked down on Tochiro, but that couldn't be helped.
“That's right. I really want to explore this vast lake by boat. Luckily, there's plenty of wood around here for building one.”
“So?”
“You can whip up a boat in no time, right? I want to ride in it.”
Harlock thought for a moment before saying, “I want to ride in a boat too.” He added, “I'll build one if it's a two-seater. Is that okay?” Tochiro thought for a moment too, then nodded. “Alright.”
While Tochiro picked edible fruits from the untouched primeval forest and noisily cracked open large, coconut-like fruits, Harlock worked silently on building the boat. He used support machines arranged from the ship to fell trees and process them into the parts needed to assemble the boat. He wouldn't hesitate to build anything that could be called a ship by hand. Though it was hard labor, building the wooden boat was also enjoyable. While engrossed in his work, Harlock heard Tochiro, bored with fruit-picking, shouting in the distance, “A huge blue stag beetle!!” and “An even bigger, glossy black grasshopper!!” Even with the support machines, the task took a full day.
Tochiro inspected the finished wooden boat and declared, “Not bad.” The small wooden vessel, modeled after the shape of an ancient Earth ark, had a somewhat romantic feel for two men to ride in, but it was perfectly adequate for exploring the lake.
The boat was a classic rowboat with only one oar. When Tochiro asked, “What about mine?”, Harlock replied, “You don't need two rowers in a boat this small.” One person was enough to row it, and he had no intention of letting Tochiro decide where they went.
Three suns poured down their generous light, making the lake surface sparkle. From the boat gliding across it, Tochiro remarked, “Water pooled in a huge crater to form this massive lake. The principle is simple enough, but you don't often see a lake this enormous.” “The view isn't bad either,” Tochiro added. Harlock nodded without pausing his rowing. It took considerable effort to leave the shore behind until the lake filled the entire view. With only one oar propelling the boat, that effort rested solely on Harlock's arms. Yet, despite his seemingly slender frame, where did he find such strength? Harlock possessed enough brute force to toss a cyborg aside with one hand. Occasionally, he'd mutter, “Give me a break,” but the boat glided smoothly across the vast lake. The scenery was indeed magnificent. The lake water was crystal clear, revealing even the shapes of fish swimming below. It was a heartwarming sight to see glossy, ultramarine-colored waterfowl approach the boat without caution, swimming alongside it. Occasionally, a strong gust threatened to blow Tochiro's hat away, but each time, two hands extended from the poncho's sleeves gripped the hat's brim tightly. It was a familiar sight to Harlock, but with Tochiro seeming in good spirits and not cursing, even those things felt like part of the pleasant scenery on the boat bathed in gentle sunlight.
“This spot should do,” said Tochiro, so Harlock stopped rowing. He carefully lifted the oar out of the water and laid it across the boat. His palms, enclosed inside his gloves, throbbed with a faint warmth from rowing for so long. Sitting across from each other, Harlock glanced at Tochiro without really looking. From beneath the ragged poncho he always wore, Tochiro was pulling out beakers, test tubes, and small mechanical devices, arranging them on his knees. His small hands dipped a glass test tube into the water. Holding it up to the sunlight, Tochiro muttered something to himself. Harlock shifted his gaze from Tochiro to the lake surface. Aside from the faint ripples where Tochiro had briefly dipped his hand, the lake lay as still as a mirror. After Tochiro poured the lake water into the small machine and waited a few minutes, a sheet of paper densely covered in text was ejected from the machine's side. Peering at it through his thick glasses, Tochiro remarked, “This is amazing. It's almost indistinguishable from bottled water sold on Earth. And it's quite high-quality hard water too.” He selected two beakers of a convenient size, filled them with water, offered one to Harlock, and said, “Cheers.”After gulping down the water, Tochiro chuckled, “Drinking too much untreated water might give you an upset stomach, but this much should be fine.” Harlock nodded and spoke briefly into the communication device on his wrist: “This is Harlock. Swimming clearance granted.” While some crew members were likely already swimming in the lake, as the captain who had accompanied the water quality survey, he wanted to make it known that the vast lake's water contained no harmful substances. Tochiro cheerfully suggested, “Why don't you take a dip too?” Harlock replied, “Not a bad idea, but I'll pass for now.” Two full days of his scheduled leave still remained. “If I feel like swimming tomorrow, I will. If not, napping on the boat sounds pretty nice too,” he said. “Yeah, that sounds good,” Tochiro agreed with a nod.
Occasional gusts of wind rippled the water's surface and ruffled Harlock's hair. The gesture of his long fingers brushing hair from his forehead to his cheek with an air of annoyance seemed natural, yet it also looked like a scene cut from a movie.Tochiro wore his usual hat and poncho, but Harlock was dressed differently. He wore a dark navy short coat, a set of linen off-white shirt and slacks, and khaki sneakers—a casual, light outfit. Sitting across from each other, they couldn't help but see each other's appearance. Harlock, seemingly at a loss with his long limbs in the cramped boat, was just staring blankly at the lake surface, but he looked incredibly handsome. Under the bright sun, the boat floating on the lake suddenly struck him as the classic date scene from an old movie.
Harlock asked, “Finished with that water quality survey?” and Tochiro said “Yeah“.
“You just wanted to go out on the boat and play, didn't you?” Harlock said, and Tochiro said again“Yeah“.
Harlock fed up and Shaking Head, so Tochiro said, “Well, I do work sometimes.” He spoke into the communication device on his wrist: “This is me, this is me. I'm sending lake water to the ship now. It's not abnormal weather or a tornado or anything like that, so don't panic.” Then, fiddling with some incomprehensible machinery at his side, he said, “Watch this.” About 100 meters ahead of the boat, a water column shot up. At first, it was a thin, small column, but it spiraled upward, drawing in surrounding water and growing into a massive column. Soon, the column's diameter is about 10 meters. With a thunderous roar, it was sucked up into the Arcadia waiting overhead. The giant column mingled with the sunlight, creating a rainbow on the lake's surface. It was a magnificent sight.
The water column created by Tochiro caused ripples on the lake surface, rocking the boat considerably, but neither panicked; they simply swayed with the motion while gazing at the rainbow. Spray from the water column drenched their clothes like rain, but the sunlight made it less bothersome. Still, it soon felt like heavy raindrops were falling, so Tochiro pulled a folding umbrella from inside his poncho. He eagerly opened the sturdy black umbrella and offered it to Harlock with a “Here.” Harlock looked slightly surprised and said, “It's fine, you use it,” but Tochiro stubbornly kept holding out the umbrella. Tired of the back-and-forth, Harlock took it and held it over his head. The sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella echoed in the bright sunlight. Tochiro, sitting across from him, propped his chin on his hand and watched Harlock holding the umbrella. Feeling awkward under the steady gaze, Harlock tilted his head and smiled slightly. “What's up?” he asked, but his best friend across from him just said, “Nothing.” Though the wide brim of Tochiro's usual tattered hat kept his head and face dry, his poncho had soaked through, its color changing. Worried his small friend might get cold, Harlock leaned forward, snatched Tochiro's hat, and handed him the umbrella instead. Wearing the wide-brimmed hat, Harlock said, “I should've done this from the start.” Tochiro replied, “Well, this isn't bad either.”
Once Tochiro finished sending the measured water volume to the Arcadia, the towering water column swiftly shrank, returning to the lake's original tranquil surface. The rainbow floating on the water vanished just as abruptly as it had appeared. It had all lasted barely ten minutes, yet it was an extraordinary experience and a breathtaking sight. Tochiro calmly operated the device in his hands, performing miracles both great and small that ordinary people could never achieve. Though he never voiced it when they were alone, Harlock deeply respected his friend. When Tochiro folded his umbrella and casually remarked, “Time to head back to shore,” Harlock nodded in agreement. Since Tochiro didn't ask for his hat back after stowing the umbrella inside his poncho, Harlock kept wearing it as he rowed.
During the journey back to land, Harlock took several short breaks to rest his oar-rowing hands. During one such break, he returned the hat he'd been wearing to Tochiro's head.
“It's good for blocking the sun, but that hat stinks pretty bad,” Harlock remarked. Tochiro's face twisted in disgust. It was true that the wet, damp hat and poncho were giving off a foul odor as they dried in the sun. Tochiro grumbled, “Shut up.” Harlock laughed and said, “I'll give it a good wash when we get back to land.” When Tochiro asked, “What do you mean, ‘wash everything’?” with obvious annoyance, Harlock replied, “I'll wash everything you're wearing, and you yourself, nice and clean.”
“I'm not a dog or a cat!”
“Because you smell like one. If you don't like it, wash yourself. There's soap in the luggage.”
“I hate baths.”
“A lake isn't a bath.”
“Don't give me that nonsense.”
“You're the one who is.”
They rode the boat back to shore, chatting about trivial things. Just before reaching land, Tochiro slowly stripped off his clothes and jumped into the lake. At first, he looked terribly displeased, but as he dove underwater and swam around, his mood seemed to lift. Harlock returned to shore alone, submerged Tochiro's discarded clothes in the water, then roughly smeared soap all over them. He tossed them into a basin made from woven grass, stomped on them to wash, and black, dirty water seeped out from the clothes at his feet. He repeated this three times, laughing to himself at how filthy they were, muttering, “Damn dirty.” After hanging the washed clothes to dry, he took off only his coat and headed back to the lake. Tochiro was lying naked on the boat, sunbathing. As Harlock approached the boat with a splash, Tochiro grumbled, “Don't come peeping.”
“It's too late now bored to do peeking your body.”
“Then leave me alone.”
“Come over here. I'll wash your hair and body.”
“wouldn't be thrilled to be washed by you, unless you were a peerless beauty woman”
“Too bad. I'm the only one here.”
“Hey, stop it!” Ignoring the shouts to stop, Harlock scooped up Tochiro, who was lying on the boat, and dove straight into the lake. Tochiro instinctively clutched the arms of his glasses with both hands to keep them from getting lost underwater. After a few seconds submerged, he surfaced and grumbled at Harlock, “What the hell are you doing?!” But seeing his best friend, dripping water from his long hair like a wet rat, he couldn't help but laugh. Seeing Tochiro laugh until he was doubled over, Harlock couldn't help but laugh too. After they finished laughing, Harlock took out some soap, rubbed it into Tochiro's wet hair, and scrubbed it vigorously. Having missed his chance to get angry, Tochiro grumbled as his hair was washed, muttering, “I'll wash your awful hair for you.” Then, as dirty foam had gotten into his mouth, he spat disgustedly. Harlock replied magnanimously, “Alright, I'll let you wash it.” Tochiro snatched the soap from Harlock's hand and began scrubbing his own body, clearly displeased.
