So Close, Yet So Far

Mizouchi turned towards Akihiro and then looked back at Natsume, “Huh? No no..what are you saying!?”

“Oh, so you want to lie now? Okay...I guess you don’t want our help right?”

Mizouchi looked at Akihiro again, as if Akihiro was hindering what Mizouchi actually wanted to convey. His confusion could be seen clearly as he kept tilting his head quizzically. After seeming completely dazed for a while, he looked towards Akihiro and boldly asked, “Do you love Ayane?”

“I don’t know.”, Akihiro replied.

“Well, better make up your mind fast, because if you do love Ayane, we would become rivals.”, Mizouchi said with a serious look on his face.

“Hahaha, Mizouchi-kun, in a way, you are kind of amazing. How do you say cringe stuff like that so seriously? ”, Natsume laughed in the corner.

“How did you know that I liked her? I even consciously put effort to conceal it.”, Mizouchi asked as he faced Natsume.

Natsume suddenly stopped laughing. “Yea I know. Sometimes, you all forget that I am the Great Love Philosopher. I can feel the love in the air.”, he continued dramatically.

“Agh, you even tried getting a teacher to call you that by placing a bet right? You really are a weird kid.”, Mizouchi said.

“Haha, I lost the bet though. Imagine if I won. Even the teacher would have accepted me as the ‘The Great Love Philosopher’.” Natsume joked. “But anyways, let’s get to the point. Do you want us to help you out?”

“I can do it by myself. I don’t require your help. Just don’t interfere with my plans. That’s all.”, Mizouchi said as he looked at Akihiro.

“Haha, sure then.”, Natsume laughed.

---

After being unable to bear Natsume’s persistence, Ayane agreed to come along. The four of them met up at the station. She tried avoiding Akihiro as much as possible because she didn’t know how to face him. Things had gotten awkward between the two. Thus she always stood closer to Mizouchi and talked to him most of the time.

“But look at this; I got the key to her summer villa also. Haha, just look at how hot I am.”, Natsume said.

“Yes yes Mr Writer and Model-kun, now please enter the Shinkansen before we miss it.”, Ayane said as they laughed.

They took a ride in the ‘Shinkansen’, the Japanese bullet train, famous for its high speeds. It passed through the lush green farms and the rocky mountains, filled with tall trees. After a long journey, they finally arrived at the station, close to Rumi’s summer villa. The sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky. The waves danced and glittered as they crashed back and forth into the beach. Few seemed to be having fun as they took a dip in the crystal clear water while the rest basked in the golden warm rays. Ice cream stalls, food stalls, etc lined the coastline and were surrounded by smiling toddlers.

“It’s the beach!!”, Mizouchi shouted excitedly.

“I can’t wait to swim!”, Natsume added.

“Yea yea, you just want to peek at other girls swimming...”, Mizouchi muttered as his face displayed disgust.

“Hehe...no, that is not the case. I am a professional swimmer. I almost qualified for nationals in middle school.”
“Liar...”, Akihiro said. “I saw your search history.”

“WHAT! WHEN? HOW?”, Natsume freaked out.

“Grab him, both of you!” Mizouchi ordered immediately.

Ayane and Akihiro grabbed Natsume’s hands and pinned him to the ground. Natsume tried to resist but eventually gave up. Mizouchi put his hand in Natsume’s pocket and slowly pulled out his phone.

“Oh my! Look at this”, Mizouchi showed the search history to them.

‘How to wear a female swimsuit’ was searched on images a few hours ago.

Ayane’s face turned red.

“WHY WOULD YOU SEARCH THAT? AND WHY ON IMAGES?”, Ayane shouted.

“Natsume is actually weird,” Mizouchi replied.

“You’re realising that now?” Ayane asked sarcastically as she let go of Natsume’s arm. Akihiro released Natsume’s arm too and allowed him to stand up.

“Oi! Give me my phone back! Don’t forget, I’m the only one who has the keys to the summer villa!”, Natsume said as his face turned red with embarrassment.

“See, he’s dodging the question!” Mizouchi exclaimed.

Natsume grabbed his phone from Ayane’s hand and ran. “MWAHAHAHA!”

“Why is he running and laughing like that?”, Mizouchi asked, as he watched Natsume going bonkers.

“Oh, only he knows where Rumi’s summer villa is.”, Akihiro said.

“Fast, catch him!”, Ayane shouted as the three of them grabbed their bags and ran behind Natsume.

---

The three eventually caught up to Natsume and followed him until they finally reached Rumi’s summer house. It was a massive structure, made out of wood. The vast aristocratic mansion looked absolutely stunning from the outside. On top of that, the cool breeze along with the view of the waves crawling over the pale yellow shore could be seen from the balcony of the luxurious villa. Although Rumi’s family hadn’t used it in a long time, the property still looked pretty well maintained.

“I was expecting it to be a little older and haunted...”, Natsume muttered.

“Well, that just means less cleaning, right? Let’s finish the cleaning right away!”, Mizouchi announced.

Natsume unlocked the door and pushed the door open. The whole house was covered in dust. It seemed as if it hadn’t been cleaned in decades. There were cobwebs all over the ceiling, with spiders crawling on them. The whole house was dark, as the curtains were closed.

“Okay, looks like we have to begin cleaning right away. Rumi told me that the cleaning equipment is in the garage.”, Natsume said.

“Natsume, what do we do about this?”, Akihiro asked.

Natsume looked towards Akihiro. He was standing next to a very posh looking black motorbike in the garage. It looked like it had been bought recently as the license plate was missing.

“Oh my god! Isn’t this that super-fast motorbike that can go up to 300 kmph in seconds? What is such an expensive motorbike doing here? Oh my god!”, Natsume couldn’t hold back his excitement.

“Umm...the keys are right here.”, Akihiro said as he pointed to the keys in the keyhole under the speedometer.

“OH MY GOD! Are you telling me we can actually drive this? OH MY GOD!”, Natsume shrieked and fainted from the excitement.

Ayane bent down and tapped Natsume’s cheeks. “Damn, he’s actually unconscious. What a dude...I’m a hundred percent sure he’s just acting. He just doesn’t want to help us clean.”

“Haha, that sounds like something Natsume would do.” Mizouchi laughed. “Anyways, let’s just leave him here and go clean. Also, let’s not touch the keys. We don’t even know why it’s there. The bike looks really expensive too. We’re better off not touching this bike.”

Ayane and Akihiro nodded and grabbed the cleaning supplies. The house was fully furnished and had wooden furniture. The huge sofa, king-sized beds, table etc were covered in plastic, probably done on purpose to prevent them from getting dusty. They were able to finish cleaning the whole house within two hours. The sun was still bright and the crowd at the beach had increased.

“Finally done! Now we can go to the beach and have fun!”, Mizouchi exclaimed as he began stretching his body to warm up. “We are going to play beach volleyball right?”

“Yeah!!”, Ayane replied enthusiastically.

Mizouchi turned his attention towards Akihiro. “Can you please call Natsume? And Ayane, you have the volleyball, right? Get it.”

“Okay.”, both of them nodded. Akihiro walked out of the door to call Natsume, who was probably still lying unconscious in the garage. Ayane walked up to her bag to take out the volleyball, her swimsuit, sunscreen etc. That’s when she noticed something weird.

Her swimsuit was missing.

“WHAT!? MY SWIMSUIT IS MISSING!”, Ayane shouted as she began panicking.

Mizouchi ran into the room. “What! Are you sure you brought them?”

“Of course I broug-”

The door slammed open. Akihiro stood at the entrance. “Natsume is missing. He’s not there at the garage.”

“What!?”, Mizouchi and Ayane shouted in sync.

“Where did he go?”, Mizouchi asked.

“How would we know? Do you think he already went to the beach?”, Ayane asked.

“His sandals aren’t here. He must have gone to the beach.”, Akihiro said as he pointed to the shoe rack.

“He probably is trying to hit on some women while we aren’t watching.”, Mizouchi said.

Ayane looked at Mizouchi, “This is bad. We need to find him fast. This is Natsume we are talking about. If we don’t stop him, he might end up in jail.”

The three of them ran out of the villa to find him. They looked everywhere but couldn’t find him.

“Damn I don’t see anyone hitting on the ladies here.”, Mizouchi said.

“Looks like this beach is safe for women,” Ayane replied.

“Not until we find Natsume!” Mizouchi exclaimed. “Okay let’s split up and search for him.”

“Oh Mizouchi-kun, look over there. Do you see that woman talking to the rest of her friends? She has the same swimsuit as me. It looks pretty good on her, right?”, Ayane asked.

“Oh yea, it looks extremely good on her.”, Mizouchi said.

“It’s not a ‘her’. That’s clearly Natsume.”, Akihiro said.

“WHHAAAT!!!”, Mizouchi and Ayane screamed together.

Natsume was wearing a wig and Ayane’s swimsuit. He had disguised himself as a woman and was trying to talk to a group of girls on the beach.

“Oh my! Your swimsuit looks amazing! It really compliments your slender figure.”, Natsume complimented one of the girls in the group.

“Ahaha uhhh-”, the girls took a few steps behind and pointed behind him.

“Wait what happened? Is there something on my face? The only thing on my face is ‘beauty’.” He replied smugly.

“No, behind you…”

Oh behind me?”, Natsume looked back. Ayane was fuming with rage as she cracked her knuckles.

“Oh hi there, Natsuki-chan.”, Ayane said in a passive-aggressive tone. “We have been searching for you.”

Natsume’s face turned sour. He took a few steps back and tried to run away. Ayane immediately grabbed him and dragged him away.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”, Natsume screamed as he was taken away from the group of girls.

---

Later on, the four of them played beach volleyball. Even though things between Ayane and Akihiro were awkward, she was still having a lot of fun.

Akihiro and Natsume were in a team. They were completely annihilating the opponent team, consisting of Mizouchi and Ayane but Ayane seemed to be having so much fun.

They were taking a break as they sat on the sand and watched as the waves crashed onto the shore and retreated back into the ocean.

“Sometimes I wish I was born in America. They greet each other by hugging.” Natsume said as he let out a big sigh.

“Pervy idiot...” Ayane muttered.

“Hehe.”

“But don’t guys greet each other like that too?”, Ayane asked.

“Nooooooo!!! Don't ruin my American fantasy!”, Natsume cried dramatically.

----

After playing till sunset, they went to a popular restaurant nearby to get some Ramen for dinner.

“Oh my, this is so delicious!” Ayane exclaimed.

Watching her as she relished her food, Akihiro felt a sharp pain in his head. He was used to it now and was starting to get better at hiding his discomfort.

“Haha, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you this happy.”, Mizouchi said.

“Haha, what do you mean? I’m always happy!”, Ayane exclaimed as she continued slurping on her noodles.

Natsume finished his bowl and then looked at Mizouchi and Ayane talking. They seemed to be really enjoying their conversation. He rested his chin on his palm as he stared at them and thought to himself,

‘How much more time until her smile fades away?’