“Let’s!”
One voice shouts
“Flipping!”
Another voice shouts
“GO!”
“GO!”
They both shout in unison.
Leaping from the top of the stairs both Masashi and Surabukādo land on the school yard.
Surabukādo turns to Masashi with a devious smile.
“Hey man it’s finally the end of July! It’s finally summer!”
Looking back Masashi sighs.
“Yeah, to be honest, as soon as it turned into July. I wondered why they didn’t just let us out, guess that’s how the schedule works.”
“Well Masashi what do you plan to do now? Are we going to hit the beach?” Surabukādo questions.
“Yeah, my Oba is taking me and my cousin to Yuigahama beach down in Kanagawa. It’s popular this time of year.”
“You think I could get invited?” Surabukādo curiously asks.
“Yeah man, just tell your parents first. And see what they say, you’ll have to bring some of your own stuff though.”
“Ah I see, well, if anything maybe they’ll bring me to where you guys are going!” Surabukādo grins.
“Well well. I ‘ll see you there, right?” Masashi flickers his fingers towards Surabukādo.
“You got it.” He flickers his fingers back.
Waving each other goodbye Masashi feels the warm summer air hitting in strong, It’s finally that time of the year.
Walking out of the school yard Hashimoto just stands posted up near a fence eating ice cream.
“Mr. Hashimoto? You’re here? I haven’t seen you in like a few weeks.” Masashi points to him.
“Ah Masashi! Well considering the fact that you’ve grown to stand your ground, you’ve been given more breathing room.”
“But I’m still going to watch over you just not constantly, man I missed having to do nothing!” He remarks.
“I see. Hey, do you want to come to Yuigahama beach with my family?”
“That sounds interesting, I’ll see if Saijou and Amaiaruheitō would like to come along. But I’ll notify you if anything.” He says while eating his ice cream.
“Got you, shall we get going?”
“Hey kid, you’re fine to go along, like I said you got more breathing room. I just have to check in from time to time.” He says while patting Masashi on his back.
“Oh really.” Masashi thinks for a moment.
“Alright then I guess I’ll see you another time Mr. Hashimoto.”
Waving him goodbye for the first time Masashi gets to walk home without being escorted.
It’s like he’s free of something, free knowing what the world holds.
Arriving home Masashi takes his shoes off and jogs upstairs to Oba’s room.
“Uh Oba, don’t you think it’s the time to head to the beach!”
Opening the door, Oba stands there with ice tea in hand while reading a book.
“Ah dear you’ve come home, well I’ll be ready in a while to get your cousin and see if she’s able to?”
“Ok I’ll see what she’s up to.”
Walking across the hall Masashi knocks on the door.
“Hey Shimizu? You’re asleep or something.”
Opening the door Shimizu stands there in a swimming outfit and all, there are decorations in her hair, even her hair is styled up.
“Hey what’s up Masashi?” She says with a gleam in her face.
“How are you making your face do that?”
“Do what?”
“Ah never mind, well it seems you beat me to the chase you’ve already got your outfit on. Wait a minute, where did you get that towel around your waist?” He asks.
“Ah It was something I found while shopping at this thrift shop. I think it was from a thrift shop, you should check it out sometime.”
“But anyways It’s got a nice pattern, I like where the lines go and even the image of this model who fades with the background.”
“Even the color compliments my hair color!” She says getting a bit excited.
“Haha, it seems you’re ready enough. Well Oba says she’ll get ready after a while, I’ll get ready in the meantime.” He says hurrying his way to his room.
“Ah good luck to that.” She says down the hall.
Searching through his wardrobe Masashi skims through the many clothes he has.
“There it is.”
Picking out the button down, he finds the linen materials to be soft as ever.
He is even still taken aback at the design, it’s dark green in color while having a stylized chicken surfing as the design in the back with patterns to boot.
Now he sighs as it’s time for the shorts, should he pick blue this time, or maybe red?
Thinking carefully at it, he chooses cream colored shorts.
Checking the tag he sees the materials are mostly linen.
He scoffs a bit knowing he is going to be comfortable all day.
Laying them out on the bed, they both perfectly line up.
But he feels one thing is missing.
Going over towards his drawer he opens it, finding the amulet.
It doesn’t work anymore, if anything he doesn’t sense a bit of Tamaryoku from it.
It’s empty, but he feels it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t emit that same sensation anymore, if it’s a gift from his father he’ll gladly accept it.
Putting his towel on his shoulder he heads to the shower to cool down from this summer’s heat.
Rapp Rapp Rapp
“Anyone in here?”
“It’s me dear.” Oba responds.
“Woah, Oba? I didn’t know you were that fast with it?! It’s only been 15 minutes?” He asks curiously.
“I did? Umm, actually did I say that?” She responds with a sarcastic tone.
“Eh? Oba what do you mean? I thought…”
“It’s just a joke! Well… I do change my mind really quickly, ah nevermind. I’ll be getting out quickly so you can get in.” She shouts out.
Waiting in the hall with his hands in his pockets, he wonders what his sophomore year is going to be like.
After all, this summer’s break is only one month long.
He hopes he can get the most out of it.
“Alright, you can get in now.” She walks out of the bathroom with a pleasant aroma.
Getting in he takes a deep breath knowing he’s going to enjoy it.
CHUNKH!
“Hey Masashi, help me push everything in the back!” Shimizu shouts out.
Together, they push the trunk shut that barely holds the things inside.
“You think Oba should get a bigger car?” Shimizu says a little exhausted.
“Nah, it’s just that Surabukādo came along and it got packed. Besides, I like the Odyssey.” He proclaims.
“Wait but why didn’t we just use, y’know our powers to help with closing it?” He curiously asks.
Patting the back of his shoulder Shimizu sighs.
“Then we would have completely caved in the trunk and I don’t think Oba would enjoy that.”
“I see, I see.”
“Hey Masashi!” Surabukādo shouts.
“I could barely make it but I am here.”
“Glad you could!” Masashi smiles.
“Oh hello? Are you Masashi’s sister or something?” Looking Besides Masashi.
“I’m his cousin, it’s nice to meet you. I heard a bit about you.” Shimizu waves.
“Oh? You did, hey Masashi, thanks for putting my name out there!” He cheerfully laughs while putting his hands around Masashi.
“And hey.” He says, quieting his voice.
“I didn’t know your aunt was hot as hell, maybe Miss Yana needs a husband and you need a stepfather, heck even your cousin is a beauty.”
Masashi just turns to him and looks at him with a neutral expression.
“Come on man…” He facepalms his hands and drags it down his face in frustration
“For one, my aunt is married. Her surname isn’t Yanagidate anymore, it’s Odera. Her husband is in the military currently so there is that. And second that I don’t think my cousin would like someone like you, she’s very stingy.”
WHACK!
Chopping Surabukādo in the back of his head Masashi grins deviously “Now it’s my turn. How about I become your stepfather by shimmying my way over to your mom’s room!”
Surabukādo just laughs.
“Alright you got me there.”
“Hey you two get in the wagon!” Shimizu shouts.
Moving so fast it almost looks like Masashi teleports into the car, he hops in the back.
“Well come on in.”
Surabukādo looks stunned, he turns away for a second and Masashi’s already in the car.
Getting in the car, Oba starts the car and speeds off surprising Masashi but he slides his glasses on from his head onto his eyes and laughs.
VROOM!
Rolling up on Yuigahama they get there after an hour of driving.
The place is crowded as cars drive through and from the beach, everything is vibrant, the air feels serene.
Small planes fly over with banners tailing behind them.
Getting out of the car Masashi stretches and stands there as the wind blows.
“Doesn’t this feel nice.”
“It does man it does!” Surabukādo standing behind him also takes the air in.
“Hey you two stop standing there and come help me!” Shimizu shouts out as she opens the trunk.
Walking over all three of them gets the things out of the car.
It’s a good bit of load but they seem to manage it, walking a good distance from where they parked.
Shimizu skips along while Masashi follows right behind her, while Surabukādo seems to be lagging behind.
“Wha? How are you two able to walk around so effortlessly with all of that.” He shouts.
But his words never seem to reach them.
After a while they arrived, so many people gathered across the sands.
“Hey Masashi, where do you think we should set up?” Shimizu says while pointing out at the large open areas.
“Uhm somewhere west of here, like that section where there is a sand mound.” He says while throwing a rock into the sands.
“Oooo~ It does look nice over there.”
Huffing and puffing Surabukādo arrives right behind them.
“How do you guys even do it?”
“Huh what do you mean?” Shimizu responds.
“I think you got most of the heavy stuff Surabukādo!” Masashi points out.
Walking gently Oba just trots right behind them, her head covered by a large sun hat accompanied with sun faded glasses.
“My my, you children certainly are fast.”
Going down the walking board they walk into the sands of the beach, it has a warm sizzling feeling.
“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” Shimizu excitedly shouts.
She digs a small hole in the sand and picks up a crab.
“What are you doing far from the waters of the beach?”
Putting the crab back she skips along to the spot.
Placing all the things down Masashi sets up the umbrellas while putting the cooler firmly into the sand.
“Ah, my shoulder finally feels free.”
Oba sets down her lawn chair and takes her pants off revealing her outfit.
Shimizu drops the heavy bags she was carrying to admire everything around her.
“Hey Masashi, wanna go out in the ocean? I’m waiting to make a huge splash” Surabukādo excitedly says.
“Woah man chill out, we still haven’t fully settled in. Let’s walk the beach first.”
Surabukādo puts his hands around Masashi.
“Hey and maybe if we party enough, we might find Babes here, one on each hand. Life of the party man!”
Masashi just laughs.
“Alright lets get going.”
Striding along the beach there are so many people, everything feels lively.
“Masashi look, there’s an Ice cream stand over there!” he points.
“I think I brought money with me.” He searches his pockets.
A hand is placed on Masashi’s shoulder.
“Hey Surabukādo you don’t mi–”
“Mr. Hashimoto?! So you’ve come?” He says in shock.
Standing behind him is Hashimoto and even Amaiaruheitō who waves her hand in his direction.
Saijou is also there, coming out from the shade he smiles.
“What’s going on Masashi.” Saijou says.
“Mr Syuuto?! It’s kinda unexpected, but how did you guys come here? I mean I didn’t give any directions?” He is confused.
Amaiaruheitō walks forward.
“Actually I called you, but you weren’t picking up. So I checked the location of your phone and saw where you were going, it wasn’t that hard to be honest. All in the name of the technology we have.” She expertly exclaims.
“Ha so you tracked me?”
“More or less.” She says.
“Woah who are you guys?” Surabukādo says, looking confused.
“We used to be this kid’s Middle school teachers!” Hashimoto confidently explains.
A convincing lie yet again, but once more Surabukādo takes it in.
“Ah well it’s nice to meet you guys.” Surabukādo cheerly smiles.
“Well what were you doing Masashi?” Saijou says.
“Me and Surabukādo were going to get Ice cream from that stand over there. But I don’t think I have enough money for the both of us.”
Saijou ruffles his hair.
“Don’t worry, I got money for plenty of us.”
Walking up to the ice cream stand Saijou pulls out his wallet, before he could order a crew of girls walk up to him asking for a picture.
What unfolds is more of a photoshoot, even more people join in.
“Uh Mr. Hashimoto? Does this usually happen?” Masashi whispers to him.
“Well apparently he is very flamboyant, I mean in his younger days I remember hearing he managed to have a lot of girls gawk at him when he was doing a mission to rescue some rich guy’s daughter.”
“To be honest, I think he has fangirls.” Hashimoto comments on the situation.
“Hey Mr. Syuuto, get me two extra ice creams!” He shouts out.
Saijou simply puts his thumbs up as the picture taking intensifies, Masashi wonders how attractive Saijou is for all of this to happen.
After a while Saijou arrives with everyone’s ice cream, including two extra for Masashi.
“Took ya long enough.” Amaiaruheitō says while taking her favorite flavor.
“Aha I guess so, those cameras were blinding.” Saijou laughs as he wipes sweat off his forehead.
“Hey Masashi!” Shimizu shouts pointing out, but she is shocked when she senses the amount of Tamaryoku concentrated in one area.
Surabukādo, of course, can’t sense any of it.
“Uh hello there.” She raises her hand waving at them.
Walking up towards her, Amaiaruheitō is kind of curious.
“Woah so you must be Masashi sister? I can tell you’re strong like Masashi over there.”
“Uh, we’re cousins actually!” She sighs as she has to state that again.
“Ah I see it’s just the similar faces and the hint of green eyes I am seeing that is messing me up.” Amaiaruheitō continues to lick at her ice cream.
“Here you go Shimizu and one of Oba as well.” Masashi gives her two ice creams.
“Thanks, Sashi.” She taps his hand.
“Well I think we should head to the ocean after eating all of this ice cream.” Hashimoto chuckles.
“Yeah good thinking Kyo I have been waiting to be in that nice water since we came here.” Amaiaruheitō pats him on his shiny head.
“You guys go ahead, I wanna see more ice cream options” Masashi waves.
“Heh, Alright see you in the waters!” Saijou waves back as the group head their ways and Shimizu heads back to Oba.
Walking back up to the stand Masashi looks at the many flavours he can see, his eyes amazed at the many options in this small stand.
“So which one?” The person at the stand asks Masashi.
“Uh could I get thi—”
“Yo Masashi?” A voice calls out.
Turning his head he sees Okemia and Hotaru.
“Oh hey you two, I didn’t know you came here?”
Walking up towards him Okemia gives off her usual grin.
“Well after all this Yuigahama beach is a popular place around this time of year, but it’s nice to see you here. But I saw you with that group over there so I was kinda hesitant to come over.”
“It’s great to see you two here as well, oh do you wanna join my group there heading in the water over there.” He points to them.
“Yeah I’ll check it out right after me and Hotaru apply sunscreen.”
“Alright then, I’ll see you guys soon?”
“Yeah we’ll be there.” Okemia gives a thumbs up.
Selecting his ice cream flavor Masashi walks to his group before waving at the two of them as they walk back to their area.
“Phew.” Amaiaruheitō stretches her arms and even her legs.
“It’s time I get loose.” Throwing her long cascading pants off and setting her things down, she tightens her one piece bathing suit.
“Hey Kyo! Saijou! Come on!” She shouts at them.
“Amaiaruheitō catch!” Hashimoto throws a water gun at her.
Jumping in the air she easily snatches it.
“Oooo? So we’re doing this now?”
Before Amaiaruheitō could set the water gun up, a stray spray of water jets past her head.
“Oh you!” She ducks as Hashimoto tries to blast her down. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Saijou even tries to hit Hashimoto but he dodges.
“Ha can’t touch me can you!” Hashimoto boastfully shouts.
SWISSH!
Moving quickly in front of him Amaiaruheitō sprays a huge amount of water in his face.
“Wha? Hey, is that even fair?” He shouts.
Rolling on the ground Hashimoto pulls out another water gun and tries to spray both Saijou and Amaiaruheitō.
“Both of you suck at this!” He confidently exclaims.
But before he can make any further moves both Saijou and Amaiaruheitō spray him down, tagging him.
“How is this fair?” He shouts.
“Come on Kyo! You can handle it.” Amaiaruheitō covers her face while laughing.
Saijou whips his glasses on his face.
“Hashimoto, come on, step your game up!”
All three of them try to tag each other going back and forth, even going out into the ocean.
Looking from afar Masashi sees how they are having fun.
“Damn I gotta get in there.” Masashi takes his button-down shirt off.
KIKCHINK!
Shimizu starts posing and taking pictures of herself, she lays down and does a pose, she poses near a pretty sizable sand castle she made and even takes a picture with the exact same crab.
“How many pictures are you going to take?” Masashi looks down.
“Ah!” She scoffs before stylishly whipping her hair around.
“A girl has to be with her surroundings and that means immersing in said surroundings.” Putting her hand under her chin she snaps a photo of her being in front of the ocean sea.
“For the aesthetics?” He questions.
“For the aesthetics…” She responds while looking up.
“Surabukādo! Come on bro! Let’s get in.” Masashi shouts.
Turning his head Surabukādo closes his time with a few girls he was talking to and runs to Masashi.
“Hey what was that?!” He asks.
“I just took a few lessons from your middle school teacher Saijou! It’s working.” Surabukādo says while rubbing his nose.
“Wait up!” A voice shouts.
Okemia rushes in with Hotaru.
“Hey Surabukādo”
“Oh hey Okemia I didn’t know you and Hotaru came here.”
“We come here every year.” Hotaru states.
“Ah alright, well we are getting in the water hurry you two!” Masashi says with excitement.
“Ok, Ok.” Okemia takes off her shorts, throws them near Shimizu’s large sand castle, stretching out swimwear as she rushes in the water with Hotaru near her.
“Hey!” Shimizu shouts.
“Oh sorry!” Okemia shouts back.
“Shimizu, hurry it up!” Masashi shouts.
All four of them walk into the water, the waves moving against their skin and the orange sun reflecting off their skins.
Moving deeper into the water Masashi feels like the ocean pulls from left to right, or even front or back.
It’s all an experience, the wave knocks him off his balance.
“It got you ha.” Surabukādo laughs.
Getting up from the water he drags Surabukādo down with him.
“Look, I got you now!” He chuckles.
Both of them laugh as water splashes from both sides.
“Okemia, don’t think you can just be here untouched!” Surabukādo drags his hand across the water in her direction.
“Oh really?” She says as the water hits her.
“She and Hotaru both splash at Surabukādo”
Masashi sneakily tries to hurry away but he gets knocked into the water by Okemia.
“Where do you think you’re going?” She coldly says.
“SHIMIZU! Help!” Masashi shouts out.
Shimizu seems unbothered as she continues to take pictures, looking up she sees the four of them playing in the water.
But after applying sunscreen on Oba’s back she decides to get up.
SWOOSH
Taking her towel off her waist she lets it flow in the air, before letting it fly off unto the umbrella that Oba is under.
“Don’t worry your ass Masashi! I am coming.” Running along stylishly she joins the fray in the water.
SPLOOSH!
“Come on Kyo stay up!” Amaiaruheitō says while standing on a surfboard.
“Stay stable”
Hashimoto’s leg shakes a bit.
“Oh come on I’ve never done anything like this before. Are you sure this is a good idea?”
Amaiaruheitō breathes out.
“Of course! Look at Saijou riding that wave over there.”
A bit far out from the beach Saijou is riding a slightly large wave, he surfs through it effortlessly.
“Hell yeah!” He shouts while speeding through the wave.
Hashimoto looks on in utter shock.
“No way, I think I like the shallow waters better.”
“So you’re not scared of Kara’s, Cultists, and other dangers of this world. But you’re scared of a little water?” She turns to him, smirking a bit.
“That is completely different.”
A decently large wave slowly moves towards them, to Hashimoto its impending death.
To Amaiaruheitō it’s a challenge she has never tried before, so her heart is racing for the right reasons.
“Get ready!” She shouts.
Hashimoto just prays to himself.
As the wave rushes towards the both of them.
The orange sun sinks below the horizon, drops below the horizon, the waves become ever calmer despite them still raging on.
Sitting down on the sands of the beach Masashi just stares into the sun, despite today there is still a lot on his mind.
“Hey, you okay? You’ve been here since we finally got out of the water.” Shimizu says while coming to sit next to him.
Looking a little bit intrigued he looks back at the sky.
“I don’t know, It’s not like I am sad or anything. Just looking at this sky has me thinking, a lot of thoughts in my mind just bounce from one setting to another.”
“It’s like I can still have fun, but I often think of bigger things if they just suddenly pop up in my head. It’s not like I can cancel it out and it’s not affecting me in jarring ways.”
Shimizu dries her hair off her towel.
“Ah I see, so you’re just thinking about things of late, well, it might not be that.”
“But it’s just in the moment you feel things that slightly affect your mood, so you aim in on it until the next thought bounces up.”
“So I guess you understand some of it, heh.”
“Yeah I think I do, well we’re going to walk on the boardwalk do you wanna join?”
“Of course I can’t miss a nice walk.”
Getting up Masashi brushes the sand off his shorts and hurries up to the boardwalk with Shimizu.
“Masashi!” Surabukādo shouts.
“Hey what have you been up to?”
“Me and that Hashimoto guy went down to a store to get refreshments, he was hella scared of that wave when he was surfing but he got it down decently.” He laughs as he remembers Hashimoto falling off his board at the last second.
“Hey at least Mr. Hashimoto got it down better than me.” Looking down the board he sees the rest of the group leaning on the railings.
Walking towards them he slides right in with the group.
“Hey Okemia, how are you guys doing?”
“Oh? Masashi, well it’s been a fun day really. Tsk, you kept trying to push me down into the water.” She remarks with a snarl in her face.
“I mean you did it to me when I tried to run away.”
She laughs while looking onward.
“Yeah I did find it pretty funny. But y’know this is probably the most fun I had all this year.”
“Hey Masashi!” Amaiaruheitō shouts, “You saw my killer moves on that wave, it was impressive wasn’t it?”
“You and Mr. Syuuto were crazy, but to be honest I wish I could have joined. But I think it would have been too dangerous for me.” He looks up and sees that the beach has way less people than it did at the start.
He squeezes his hand tightly.
“But I did have fun, I think it’s a perfect way to start this season.”
Smiling as the breeze blows on him and the others’ faces he wonders if he can experience it all year round, even in December when it snows.
He hopes it could be on a level like this.
Walking up to him Surabukādo pats his shoulder.
“This was a great day!”
“It was, it really was.” He says as he closes his eyes.