Suikawari - Watermelons beware!

“This place is really nice!!”

I wholeheartedly agreed with Sato’s assessment of the beach house. Just a few minutes walk from the sandy dunes and oceanfront, I had felt the slightly salty sea breeze brush past as we arrived. The house belonged to the family of Shimada, a fourth-year and co-president of the club with Tachibana.

He gave us a quick tour of the villa: three bedrooms and four bathrooms, a large living room, a spacious kitchen, and a patio with outdoor seating and room for grilling.

“Glad you like it!” Shimada beamed brightly. “Make yourself at home!”

Once all our belongings were brought inside the house, the ten of us sorted living situations rather quickly.

Sato, Lafon, and Watson took the first master bedroom, while Tachibana and the two classmates Watson invited took the other master bedroom.

Shimada would stay in his bedroom with his fourth-year friend.

Looks like Gotou and I were crashing the living room.

“Sorry, there isn’t another bedroom,” Shimada noted, his hand behind his head. “If you don’t mind, we have spare futons I can get for the living room.”

“Yeah, it’s no problem, thanks for hosting us in the first place, Shimada-senpai,” I replied.

“I’m fine with it! Big open space, and right next to the kitchen!” Gotou grinned. “And hanging out with Iwasaki-kun here’s gonna be a blast!”

***

Later that night, as everyone was getting ready for bed, I lounged around in the living room as Gotou came over with two bottles of tea. “Iwasaki-kun, wanna relax for a bit outside?” His friendly demeanor made the invitation quite appealing, plus the drink in his hand was quite tempting.

“Sure.”

We headed out the back door to the patio, sitting on the lounge chairs, drinks in hand. “I know we haven’t had many conversations, but I heard many stories about you from Megumi,” he chuckled.

“Really?” I raised an eyebrow. “You know, Tachibana-senpai does like to talk about you during work.”

We shared Tachibana’s perspectives on each of us, then about school, hobbies, his hometown near Nagoya, and random topics here and there. He described one of his favorite hobbies as fishing, which was the reason he originally looked for the club before realizing it was mostly for hanging out.

Maybe the club shouldn’t change its name if that’s how the two of them met.

Apparently, he and Tachibana were planning a trip up north to Hokkaido, and he sighed when asked about planning specifics.

“Yeah, she’s hounding me a bit about it, the ‘going with the flow’ part doesn’t cut it.”

“Well, it’s nice until you want to eat somewhere that’s reservation only, or an attraction that’s too crowded, or some place that’s only open at certain hours."

“True.” He laughed. “You kinda sound like her when you mention it.”

“Maybe, but I won’t beat you up.”

“You got that.” He took another sip, propping his legs up on the lounge chair. “I guess instead of worrying about the future, I like to just enjoy the present…”

“Wow, that’s quite deep.”

“Right? I read it from a manga the other day.”

This guy…

“Iwasaki-kun, you worry about the future a lot?”

I thought for a moment. “Sometimes.”

“Then how about the past?”

This question flipped a switch in my mind. “That…more than the future, I suppose.”

Gotou exhaled. “Well, the past isn’t going to change the future now, is it?”

“Did a manga tell you that?”

“Nah, it was Megumi.”

I blinked. He looked over, clinking his bottle with mine. “Last year I would be bummed out whenever I screwed up, like almost flunking some finals, or some freak accidents. And when I started dating her, I’d feel bad that I was embarrassing her or something because of that.” He adjusted his seat as he looked up at the stars. “She said that to cheer me up, and I was like—dang, she’s really speaking the secrets to a happy life.”

“Sounds nice.”

“Hey man, you’re a good guy. One day you meet someone who understands you that way, and boom! You find a reason to be happy in the present and the future.”

***

“Happy birthday!!”

Watson blushed as we all showered her with confetti and celebrations. The plan was beach all day, cookout dinner, and presents; unsure how Tachibana’s shenanigans will pan out now that Watson is 20…

After brunch, our group made its way to the beach with all the supplies in tow: umbrellas, towels, beach balls, drink coolers, just about anything to make today’s trip as fun as possible. Once everything was set up at its location, I took a seat in one of the foldable chairs, taking in the serene atmosphere.

I remember the three girls going to the mall the other day with Tachibana.

Tip #7: Complement your crush’s swimsuit.

Brain, what are you hallucinating right now?!

“Iwasaki. Our new swimsuits.” She pointed at the three of them. And why was Lafon, of all people, pointing it out?!

“Looks great!” I politely replied. I guess it counts if it’s in a group.

Before they could react, Tachibana shouted from the side. “Everyone, it’s time for suikawari!!”

Suikawari, a popular beach activity. So that’s what the large cooler was for. Tachibana opened it, revealing several watermelons, while Shimada pulled out a wooden baseball bat from another compartment.

“Suika-wari?” Sato looked on with increasing curiosity.

“It's a fun game, one person is blindfolded, spun around, and tries to whack the watermelon with the bat,” I replied.

“Ah, like a piñata!” she exclaimed. “I had one for my birthday party…took a few tries…”

That ending part didn’t sound very convincing.

Once the watermelon was set up on one of the beach blankets, Tachibana brought the group back together. “Birthday girl goes first, of course!”

Watson was brought to the front, with Tachibana explaining the rules to her as she wrapped a piece of cloth around Watson’s eyes.

We started cheering as she was spun around three times, and Watson started her trek towards the watermelon. Obviously disoriented, she stumbled left, then right; however, she slowly corrected her path towards the fruit.

“You got this, Chloe!”

“A little to the left!”

“Almost there!”

She arrived at the blanket, raising her arms up to strike. Her first strike just barely missed the edge.

“That’s okay, Watson! Keep going till you get it!”

“A bit to the right!”

Her second strike bounced off the right side of the fruit, but not enough force to split its hard shell. Similarly, her third strike hit dead center, but the watermelon refused to budge.

As she raised her arms for the fourth time, an idea popped into my head. As the group shouted words of encouragement, I shouted some choice words.

“Just think it’s a knife on a cutting board!”

“WHAT!” Her swing suddenly accelerated mid-swing, and the bat connected with the watermelon. With a loud crunch, the melon split into four pieces.

Will I regret my decision later? Maybe. She does know where I live.

We all took turns for the next watermelon. On my first attempt, I fell on the ground after the third spin, earning a round of laughs from the group. Which way was the blanket again?! In my dazed state, I somehow got to the blanket, but my strike glanced the side of the melon.

Once it was Lafon’s turn, she spun around three times and walked forward as if she didn’t even have a blindfold on. With one swift swing, she sliced the watermelon almost perfectly in half.

Sato’s turn now. She…

Wait, where’s she going?

Even though Tachibana had faced Sato in the correct direction, Sato took a hard right, then another right, before over-correcting left and started walking back towards the beginning.

She stopped, raising the to the sky, and we were shouting for her to stop. She’s going to attack us at this rate!

After some guidance, she made it to the blanket. This time, she swung her bat high in the air, so much so that the bat slipped out of her hands. The wooden bat sailed up towards the sky, an aerial projectile with an unknown target. Aerial strike, find cover!

Tachibana grabbed Sato by the arm to pull her back as the bat flew back down.

Crack!

The bat struck the top of the watermelon, splitting it in half clean down the middle.

That was the luckiest strike in the world. Also lucky we wouldn’t get banned from the beach for that.

Sato removed her blindfold, eyeing the watermelon with amazement. “It’s perfect!” Perfectly scary! Immediately after, she started profusely apologizing to us for the accident.

Tachibana brought the split watermelons together to judge how symmetrical they were sliced.

Lafon stood at 9 points out of 10. Sato’s watermelon…

“10/10 split,” Tachibana started. “But -1 point for almost murdering us with the bat.” She raised her hand and pointed it at the watermelons split by Watson. “However, the top prize still goes to our birthday girl with a score of 11 for a perfect four-way split!”

Everyone cheered for Watson as she celebrated the win.

“Alright, enough fruit smashing, I’ll start cutting them up to eat!”