Beach Episode Fin.

I caught up to Kurumi at the base of the rock formation, my lungs burning. I flicked her nose, hard.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For stealing my costume, obviously!"

"It's not that high up..." Kurumi trailed off, squinting at the rocks.

"Then you can go get it."

"But Ryū-chan, what if I fall and get hurt? You'd feel terrible!"

I rolled my eyes. Classic Kurumi guilt trip.

"Ok, fine, I'll get it!"

She reached for the first handhold, then froze.

"Um, Ryū-chan? Is it normal for rocks to... pulse?"

"Sure it does. What's next, it's too slippery? Too sharp?"

Instead of answering, Kurumi grabbed my wrist and pressed my palm against the rock surface.

Holy shit. The rock was actually vibrating, like there was something alive inside trying to get out. I yanked my hand back but the sensation lingered on my skin.

A distant motor cut through the sound of waves. I turned to see a speedboat racing toward us, kicking up water behind it. Someone in professional diving gear hung off the side rails, and even through the mask and snorkel, I could tell exactly who it was by the way she carried herself.

"GET AWAY FROM THOSE ROCKS RIGHT NOW!"

Yup, definitely Sae. And she sounded absolutely livid.

Sae hauled us onto the speedboat like we were bags of rice. Water dripped from my swimsuit as I caught my breath, trying not to think about how much I probably looked like a wet rat.

Through her snorkeling mask, Sae's eyes looked even more intimidating than usual, like some creature from the deep came to drag disobedient high schoolers to their watery graves.

"I thought I explicitly told you two not to come here." Her voice came out muffled through the snorkel, but the disappointment cut clear through.

"Nya-sorry, Sae-chan!"

Sae yanked off her mask with a sigh, but I could see the edges of her mouth twitching. Nobody could stay mad at Kurumi for long. It was like trying to scold a kitten.

"Technically, KQ was supposed to evacuate the whole beach," Sae said, tossing a few towels at us from under the seat. "It's on us for not following through."

"Hey, Sae… are we even allowed to ask about that rock? It felt alive when we touched it."

"You touched it?"

"Yeah..." Kurumi shrank into her towel-cocoon.

"Is it a kaiju?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"Why's it just sitting there then?" Kurumi tilted her head.

"It's not. It's on its side."

"Aww, that's kind of cute! Like taking a nap~"

Sae looked away too fast. But not before I caught the flash of pain in her eyes. I realized what she couldn't bring herself to tell Kurumi.

The kaiju wasn't sleeping. It was dying.

"What happened to it?"

"Tell me… did you notice the hike in gas prices recently?"

"Yeah, Gran Gran wouldn't shut up about-" I stopped. Oh.

"We think it mistook the oil deposits for something similar to what it consumed in its native habitat. Started attacking the rigs, drinking everything it could find."

So it poisoned itself.

Kurumi bounced between us, her towel slipping off one shoulder. "Maybe we could make it some soup? That always makes me feel better when I'm sick!"

"Kurumi." Some truths were better left unspoken.

I looked back at the dying kaiju. In a way, it was lucky. It wouldn't have to watch everything fall apart. It wouldn't see the chaos, the panic, the desperate scramble for survival that was coming once the magma spills. A quick exit, stage left, before the curtain fell on everything.

So while the rest of us waited for the end, this creature had already found its peace, becoming one with the ocean it chose as its final resting place.

But the dying kaiju wasn't the only tragedy at the beach. My costume was still stuck up on those rocks.

"Um, Sae? My costume's still up there on those rocks. Could you...maybe..."

Sae was already pulling her mask back on. "Sure. I just finished business here anyway."

She dove into the water, resurfacing near the rocks. Within seconds, she scaled the rocks like the bulky diving gear didn't slow her down at all. If anything, she moved more gracefully in it than I did on flat ground.

"Oh thank god." I hugged it to my chest the moment she handed it over.

"Ryū-chan, you're not seriously going to-" Kurumi said as I started pulling the costume on right there on the boat.

The wet fabric clung uncomfortably, but I'd take that over being exposed any day.

***

The boat cut through the waves back to beach, where Toukawa-san waited with Little Shit and Rhino. The moment we docked, Rhino floated up to Sae, making soft whimpering sounds I'd never heard before.

Little Shit waddled over, head tilted in confusion as he poked at my dripping costume. His eyes crossed even more than usual, probably processing why his human was wet.

"Wait!" Kurumi waved her arms frantically as everyone started to disperse. "We need to do something first!"

I recognized that tone. It was one of Kurumi's impulsive ideas again. The old me would have shut it down immediately, made some sad excuse.

But lately… I'd been giving in more often. Maybe I was finally admitting, even if it's just to myself, that her dumb ideas usually turned out to be fun.

"What is it this time?"

Kurumi's face lit up as she pulled out her phone. "Group photo! To commemorate today!"

She propped her phone against a pole, fiddling with the timer settings while humming that annoying cat song she loved so much.

"Everyone squeeze in!" She waved, backing up toward us. "Even you, Sae-chan!"

"I'm still in diving gear," Sae protested weakly, but Kurumi was already dragging her into frame.

"Perfect! Okay, ten seconds!" Kurumi turned and sprinted toward us.

THUMP

One second Kurumi was running, the next she was eating sand. She'd tripped over something white - another one of those crystals.

Click

Later that night, I carefully positioned the printed photo on my desk. Everyone looked like themselves: Toukawa-san looking slightly bewildered, Sae with her stoic expression, Little Shit with his eyes pointing in opposite directions. And there in the corner, Kurumi face-down in the sand with one leg in the air.

"Who's the idiot who fell?" Gran Gran peered over my shoulder, squinting at the photo.

I just kept staring at the image, at this perfect capture of my weird, messy life. The life I never asked for but somehow ended up with anyway.