《LUCA-夏日友晴天》 动画 第十三章 中文版↗
“Where are we going?” Giulia asked.
Luca had turned the bicycle onto a different street. He thought for a second and said, “Uh, a shortcut!”
Giulia looked at Luca, impressed. “Steeper, rough terrain. I like it!”
Alberto rolled his eyes.
“Why aren’t you training?” Giulia asked Alberto.
In response, Alberto pulled a big clump of pasta from his pocket and shoved it into his mouth. “I’m always training,” he mumbled around the food.
As the bicycle reached the top of a hill, Luca looked thoroughly exhausted. He turned toward the bottom of the hill and saw no sign of them.
His parents.
He had seen them, back near the piazza, and in that moment, he’d panicked. That was why he had ridden so hard, so fast, and taken the “shortcut.”
“Bravo, Luca,” Giulia said. “That was your bestest yet!”
Then she pointed down the hill at a train that was leaving the Portorosso station and heading up the coast.
“Oh! Guys, look! That’s the train to Genova!” she said.
“That goes to your school?” Luca asked.
Giulia nodded as Luca looked at the train longingly.
Alberto rolled his eyes again. “Pffft,” he said.
“I was wondering, actually,” Luca said slowly. “Is your school open to. . . everyone?”
“Well, it costs a little money, but. . . I guess!” Giulia replied.
“Great,” Alberto said. “Thank you, Giulia, for showing us the boring thing that takes us to the terrible place. Now can we focus on what matters? If we lose this race, we’re not going anywhere.”
Luca grasped the handlebars of the bicycle a little tighter, and looked down the hill.
“Santa Mozzarella, the downhill,” he said softly.
“I know it looks scary. But here’s what you need to know,” Giulia advised.
“Would you stop bossing him around?” Alberto said, interrupting her.
“What is your problem?” Giulia demanded.
“I’m his friend! I know what he needs!” Alberto insisted.
“Oh, yeah? Well, then what does he need?”
Alberto moved in front of Luca on the bicycle and said, “Me. We’ll just ride it like we did on the island! Together! Andiamo!”
Alberto pushed off, taking everyone by surprise. The bicycle started down the hill, wobbling, weaving left and right, as Giulia and Luca shouted “No!” and “Alberto, stop!” The bicycle was totally out of control, going way too fast.
But whenever Luca protested, Alberto just said, “That’s Bruno talking!”
“No, I’m pretty sure that’s just me!” Luca replied.
But Alberto wouldn’t brake for anything. And when Luca tried to take control of the bicycle, they ran into someone playing chess.
The boys continued to fight over control of the bicycle, and this time, they smashed into a guy carrying a crate full of lemons. Both Luca and Alberto ended up with a lemon in their mouth.
Just as they spit out the lemons, the bike came to a cliff.
And then it went over the cliff. . .
. . . where it hit the sea with a resounding SPLASH.
“Porca paletta. What was that?” Ercole wondered aloud. He had just heard the splash. Ciccio ran over to the water to scout things out.
Ciccio shrugged, then offered Ercole a bite of sandwich. Ercole knocked the thing out of his hands and barked, “Not now, Ciccio!” He rose from his seat, harpoon in hand. “Eyes on the water! Move, move!”
Giulia had already reached a railing above, but Luca and Alberto were still underwater. Luca could see that Giulia was looking around in a panic, trying to find them.
But he also knew that he couldn’t let her see them like this. Like sea monsters.
Reluctantly, he swam off, down the coast, away from Giulia. Alberto followed.
A little while later, Luca surfaced, and then Alberto’s head bobbed up.
“Look,” Alberto said, trying to explain his behavior. “I was just trying to show you how to do it right.”
“You don’t know how to do it right!” Luca shot back. They walked out of the water and onto shore. As they dried off, they transformed into their land monster selves.
“I got us down the hill, didn’t I?”
“You crashed! Into the sea!”
“It’s fine!” Alberto insisted.
“Nothing’s fine! My parents just saw me!”
“Luca, your parents aren’t here.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Alberto shook his head. “Look, this town is making you crazy. We just need to win that Vespa, and we get outta here.”
Then he put his arm around Luca, attempting to make peace. But Luca wasn’t having any part of it, and threw his arm off.
“It’s not gonna be any different! I don’t want to. . .” Luca said. Then, summoning his strength, “I want to go to school.”
“That again? We can’t go to school!”
“You’re just afraid you can’t do it!”
“I’m not afraid,” Alberto said. “You’re the one who gets afraid.” He shoved Luca.
Luca shoved back. “Shut up!” he said.
Then the fighting started.
“What happens when she sees you?” Alberto gasped as he got Luca in a hold. “When anyone sees you?”
Luca shoved Alberto off, but before the fight could resume, Giulia came running over.
“You’re alive!” she shouted, and hugged them both. “Hey, you’re never allowed on my bike again. Stick to food, big guy.”
Giulia was just glad to see the boys, and was trying to make light of what had happened before. But she immediately sensed that something was wrong between them.
“Uh, what’s going on?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Alberto said. “Let’s just get back to training.”
“Actually, we have something to ask you,” Luca said. “We were wondering. . . if we could come with you to your school?”
Giulia couldn’t believe it. “Santo Pecorino! That’s the best idea ever! Yes! Of course!”
Alberto was fuming. That was it. “Uh, Giulia, your school. . . does it take all kinds of people? I mean, what if some of them were. . . not human?”
“Alberto?” Luca said, utterly afraid that his friend was going to say something rash.
“What if some were, oh, I don’t know, sea monsters?”
“Sea monsters?” Giulia repeated, not getting it.
“I doubt your school would even accept sea monsters, right?”
“Oh!” Luca said, erupting in a fake laugh. “Ha, ha! That’s a weird joke, Alberto.”
“Yeah, I know, it’s kinda hard to imagine,” Alberto said. “So let me just show you.”
And Alberto fell into the water.
Luca screamed, “No!” But it was already too late.
Giulia was annoyed. “Ugh, come on—we don’t have time to goof around.”
But Luca told her to wait. A moment later, Alberto came out of the water.
As a sea monster.
Instantly, Giulia was afraid. “Don’t hurt us!” she shouted.
“See?” Alberto said, happy to be right. “I knew this would hap—”
“Sea monster!” Luca screamed, pointing at Alberto.
“Luca?” Alberto asked, confused.
There were tears in Luca’s eyes as he shook his head.
Giulia positioned herself between Luca and Alberto, and said, “Stay back.”
Whatever it was that Luca was trying to do, he picked a really bad time to do it. Because at that moment, Ercole and his friends heard the shouts of “sea monster” and ran to see what was going on.
As they emerged over some rocks, harpoons in hand, Ercole shouted, “Sea monster! There it is!”
Ercole charged toward Alberto, screaming, “Ragazzi, now!”
Alberto shot Luca a look of utter disappointment and misery, then dove into the water. Ercole aimed his harpoon, throwing it into the sea.
“No!” Luca yelled.
But the harpoon missed, and Luca could do nothing but watch as Alberto swam away.
“Gah,” Ercole said, then turned to face Luca and Giulia. “Idioti! You let it get away!” Then, looking at Ciccio and Guido, he said, “To the boat! We’re gonna kill a sea monster!”
Giulia and Luca stood on the shore, watching as Ercole and his friends ran off.
