Let's Go To The Beach!

It’s been 3 days since that bike trip to the lake with Yukio. It’s been 3 days but I still can’t take the ride home out of my mind. That was the first time after 9 years I heard him laugh so sincerely. At first, I was really taken aback by how much he seems to have changed. He was always a little prickly, but he was never THIS negative before. But, I try to do my best so things could stay the same between us. And frankly, I didn’t mind. I always believed that the Yukio I knew, was still somewhere in there. An energetic, kind boy with a sense for adventure. And I think back at that trip I caught a glimpse of that. But the most shocking part for me was when I talked to him, the day he arrived.

“I hate the sea…” He said. His expression unreadable.

But how? How can that be…? The Yukio I once knew would never say that.

I need to remind him. I will bring the real Yukio back to us. And maybe, just maybe, someday I can finally tell him the truth.

….

“Hana, come on, wake up!” My mother’s voice made its way into my head.

“Mhmm…” I murmured in protest as I fought back the waking sensations overwhelming my sleeping body.

“Come on, it’s morning already!” Failing my attempts of staying in the dream world, I could now clearly hear my mom’s footsteps. She walked to the window and opened the curtains, and not a second later, the sun’s rays filtered through and assaulted my eyes.

“Okay, okay…” Resigning myself to my fate I groggily opened my eyes, sitting up on my bed.

“Good morning.” My mum gave me a small smile as she walked to the door. "Breakfast is already served, so freshen up and come downstairs.” She finally said before descending the staircase.

After giving a nod, I got up and stretched my limbs and back. “…Where’s Chinatsu?” I mumble, noticing my sister’s empty bed across from mine.

Huh, that little menace actually woke up earlier than me for once…

I shrug and head for the bathroom.

What to do, today?

I ask myself, a simple everyday question. These days we’ve just been spending time at Natsu café with Yukio and the others, and I was also fairly busy with the diving shop, so we didn’t have much time to do anything exciting. What day is it, anyway?

After freshening up and tying my hair up the usual way I walk back to my room and check the calendar.

“Oh!” I exclaim, surprised.

“Yep, today is gonna be fun!” I smile to myself and look out the window, overlooking the back of the café Yukio is working at right now. And then I remembered the thoughts I was having before I woke up…

“I’m definitely gonna make you love the ocean!” And with that simple promise to myself I start getting dressed.

“Waaaaah!”

“Come on, Shhhh…” A mother comforts her child, holding it in her arms, as they walk out of our humble establishment.

“Please come again…” I force a smile and wave at their retreating forms.

“Phew…” I breathe out as soon as they’re out of sight. “Please don’t…” I finally voice.

Today we got more than our usual set of customers, but they all left quite early. Why, you may ask… well, that little kid, for some unknown reason, started crying, and not even its mom could make it stop. Irritated, the customers started filtering out of the café, one by one. But don’t get me wrong, I would have done the same! Seriously I was about to take off my apron and put on earplugs! But if my grandma saw me doing that… well let’s just say I wouldn’t be saying all this to you right now. Thus, I tried everything, and trust me when I say everything, to get that kid to calm down. But as you could guess, it was all in vain. Having driven out all of our customers, the dejected mother left herself shortly after, kid in tow of course.

“I’m already exhausted…” I voice, slumping back onto a chair. Me holding up the fort by myself in the mornings has become the norm now. Why can’t I have a cute coworker?

…

No, definitely not Hana. She would just talk non-stop. Never mind, I can handle mornings by myself no sweat.

“Good morning, onii-sama!”

(Onii-sama = A formal and respectful way to refer to an older brother figure in Japanese.)

“Good morning, Chinatsu-chan.” I reply back at the little girl who emerged from her house next door. And now, to answer your question. She has been calling me onii-sama ever since the day before yesterday, just because I helped her get past a hard level on her handheld console and gave her free oolong tea. I swear, I don’t know how things escalated so quickly. I just happened to be free, and I mean come on, I may be a douchebag but even I can’t say no to THAT face! She’s like a quiet mini Hana! (Emphasis on quiet…) They’ve got the same eyes and almost same colored hair although Chinatsu’s is longer. She doesn’t even give me the tomboy vibes her sister did when she was around her age. Although she wears a really boyish baseball cap most of the times.

“The sun’s rays are smothering me…” She complained fanning herself with her hands.

“Stop talking like an old man and come on in then.” I smile at her choice of words as I beckon her towards the inside of the shop.

The little girl happily obliges as she steps inside, walks to the counter and after a moderate amount of effort, hops onto a tall stool.

“Here you go.” I offer her a cool, refreshing glass of oolong iced tea as her eyes light up.

“Onii-sama is a true hero…” She says, bringing the blue colored straw to her lips.

“I prefer vigilante, thank you very much.” I voice, leaning back at the counter.

“Like Batoman?”

“More like that lawyer with glasses. What was his name?”

“You mean Derodevil?”

“Oh yeah, him!”

As our conversation comes to a conclusion, we share a brief but comfortable silence, while Chinatsu slurps on her tea.

Damn, it’s still hot in here…

I suddenly feel myself sweating as I turn to the fan and realize it’s turned off. Figures.

As I fumble with our only source of refreshing air Chinatsu looks up from her drink.

“Oh, Onii-sama. What's that?” Chinatsu points to the end of the counter, where a medium-sized fish tank rests. 

"Oh, that's... Terry." I reply somewhat hesitantly.

"Terry? You got a fish?"

"More like caught him..." 

As you can guess, this is the fish I caught with Hana the other day. I had placed his tank upstairs in my room, but since I'm there only when I'm sleeping, I figured I should bring him down at the shop, so he wouldn't be lonely. Awfully considerate of me I know... To be fair, he didn't seem like he minded at all. Heck, he doesn't even seem to mind living in this tank right now. He just stares at me with his ugly mug. 

And as for the name, believe it or not, it was my idea. Hana liked the name "Terry" I proposed, and thus we decided to name him that. What she doesn't know is that Terry is short for Teriyaki…

"Don't tell your sister, though, okay?" I say somewhat seriously, after explaining Teriyaki's backstory to Chinatsu. 

"Mufufu, of course not, onii-sama..." And as always, the little girl gives me an evil laugh. 

As I'm still fumbling with this nuisance for a fan, Chinatsu perks up once again.

"Onii-sama..."

“Yeah, I’m turning it on now, Chinatsu-chan…”

“I just remembered. I need to warn you.” She voices ominously.

I gulp. “Warn me?”

“My sister is planning something sinister…”

“Sinister as in…?”

“She…” “Good morning!” And right as Chinatsu is about to reveal this life-or-death secret of hers, the girl in question barges into the café unannounced.

"Oh, it's Terry-kun! Good morning!" She looks towards the fish excitedly. The fish, naturally, doesn't even react, instead he just passes her a look and turns back to the window. 

“Okay, Yukio!” Without waiting for any of our replies she turns to me…

“Yes?!” I start fumbling with the fan again out of nervousness.

“We’re going swimming today!” Hana merrily announces.

“WHAT?!” I exclaim loudly as I press a button on the fan out of reflex, and a big gust of wind blows on my face. Fumbling again to try and turn it off I turn to the crazy girl in front of me. “You do realize I can’t swim, right?!”

“Oh, please, onee-san is here, Yukio-kun! You have nothing to fear!” Hana voices proudly, puffing out her chest.

Yeah, she’s definitely planning to murder me today! Chinatsu was right!

“Rest in peace, Onii-sama…” The 10-year-old in question clasps her palms together, in the form of a prayer.

“I’m not dead yet!”

“Heh!”

Okay why is Hana smiling?

After getting past that panic, Hana explained the whole situation to me. Today, or more like tomorrow, was a meteor shower day. It would take place around 4 or 5 am according to reports. Every year, Hana, Emi and Daichi gather at the Kanata beach, to watch the meteor shower and usually camp there for the night. This year, it just so happens to be in the middle of summer (it’s mostly either at the start of summer or shortly after) so Hana wants to take this opportunity and spend all day at the beach.

Didn’t I tell her that I don’t’ like the sea, though? Seriously, this girl man…

She apparently has already contacted both Daichi and Emi, and since they’re both free, they’ll be down at the beach in an hour. They just had to be free today, huh?

So all that’s left is for me to say yes…

“Come oooon!” Hana gives me her best puppy dog eyes.

“I’m not one to repeat myself, but do I look like I own a swimsuit?” I give her a look as she’s taken aback.

“Uhm, you don’t?”

“What person who can’t and, as matter of fact, DOESN’T LIKE to swim, owns a swimsuit?”

“But swimsuits are comfortable while swimming…” Hana looks at me, clearly confused.

“But I’m not planning on swimming!”

“Then why did you jump in the water on your first day here?”

“Because YOU pushed me, you brute!”

“Oh, right…” Hana finally realizes as I sigh in exasperation.

Are we even speaking the same language? Aren’t people here native in Japanese or something?

“What were we saying?” She stops contemplating and turns to look at me anew.

“Haaaah!” I sigh again, this time more dramatically.

“Can’t onii-sama borrow a swimsuit from the diving shop?” Chinatsu joins in to salvage the conversation.

“That’s right! Nice one, Chinatsu!” Hana gives her sister a winning smile and a thumbs up.

“Heh, I excel at what you lack dear sister…” The little girl smiles cockily.

Ouch… Emotional damage…

“Hehe!” Hana on the other hand just giggles merrily.

“Hey, she just called you out!”

I swear, Hana is especially dumb today…

“Never mind, let’s go grab your swimsuit!” She snatches my arm like she owns it and drags me out of the shop. “Chinatsu, do you wanna come to the beach too?” Hana stops right at the entrance and turns back to her sister who watches with an evil grin on her face, still satisfied with her witty comeback.

“Of course. My attendance was predetermined as of the moment onii-sama was joining.” And after that smart-ass line for an answer, Hana nods to herself.

"Bye bye, Terry-kun!" She looks back at the fish, that frankly, couldn't care less, before dragging me out to the sidewalk, and towards the diving shop. 

Wait, when did I agree to this?

“So this is our humble little shop…” Hana voices, gently opening the door to a medium-sized, wooden shop. As soon as she does, the gentle and cool air of air-conditioning tempts me to walk inside.

And of course, I do, as I follow the daughter of the owner inside.

The inside of the shop isn’t all that spacious, which helps you see all the wares at once. Diving equipment is lined up left and right on the walls. Other smaller items, like masks snorkels and swimming glasses are piled up inside small baskets scattered here and there, swimming suits hang from hangers, various sea life posters line the walls and in the far end of the room, there’s a wooden counter, with a man casually standing behind it.

“Welco- Oh, hey, Hana-chan.” I man with long hair wearing a blue bandana cuts off his formal introduction and waves at us, as soon as he notices Hana.

“Hey, Hiro!” She aimed one of her usual radiant smiles at him in response.

“Hello.” I gave him a small bow with my head as he walked around the counter and headed towards us.

“Haven’t seen you before! I’m Hiroshi Abe, but people call me Hiro for short. Nice to meet you!” He gives me a small smile as he introduces himself. He seems like a polite guy, and I bet he works here at Jiro’s shop so he must know a thing or two about diving. He’s got curly long brown hair, a small goatee, a pair of blue eyes and his forehead is covered by a blue bandana. If I were to guess, I’d say he’s a little older than Daichi, maybe around his mid-20s?

“I’m Soraji Yukio, nice to meet you too.” I give him a polite smile too, shaking his hand.

“No way, you’re THAT Yukio!?”

“THAT Yukio?” I ask, clearly confused.

“Hana-chan won’t stop talking about you-“ “Hirooo!” Hana’s loud, reprimanding tone cuts him off.

“Hooo, really now?” I smirk at Hana, whose face is already red and looks like she is about to short-circuit right then and there.

“We’re here about a swimsuit! Swimsuit!” She brings up the main topic.

“Swimsuit? But you’re already wearing one… I mean, you always do…” Hiro looks confused.

“It’s for him, not me!” Hana voices, still a little irritable. Soon, Hiro turns to me, and I give him a silent nod.

“Oooh-kay, then. Right over here, please.” The diving shop’s employ directs me to a part of the shop where a few swimming trunks and tourist tees in hangers hang from a pole.

I quickly start browsing the variations.

“Oh this one looks nice!” Hana chimes in, next to me, as she points at an orange pair of swimming trunks.

Orange? She definitely wants our swimsuits to match…

“How about this?” Hiro voices, taking a small, tight-looking article of clothing out of a hanger.

What the hell is that? A speedo?!

Hana probably has the same thought as me, eyeing the swimsuit wearily, before turning to look at me in disapproval.

I give her the same look, as we turn to Hiro and form two Xs with our arms. I don’t want to imagine how I’d look in that…

Definitely NOT wearing something like that!

After Hiro dejectedly puts it back on the hanger, with Hana’s assistance I pick out a plain blue pair of swimming trunks that reach just above the end of my thigh and fit really well, and leave the shop.

The bright side is that I didn’t have to spend a penny, because Hana and Hiro insisted on it, and I didn’t press on the matter.

After acquiring a swimsuit, Hana made sure to talk to my grandma so she could give me the afternoon off, and to my surprise she agreed to close the shop up for the day fairly easily. Real talk, I have NO CLUE how Hana manages to convince this stubborn old lady…

After Chinatsu, Hana and I were ready, we made for the beach. Kanata Beach isn’t the closest beach to the town, but everyone said it would be less crowded there so apparently that was our best bet. In fact, the closest beach is the one overlooking the port, and it’s fairly popular, but I didn’t see anyone there today, so I can’t help but wonder why we didn’t go there…

After a 10 minute walk, we made it to Kanata Beach.

“Hey, guys!” Hana waved her arm energetically at Emi and Daichi, who were setting up a parasol and some beach chairs. Well, to be fair, Daichi was. Emi was just sitting on a chair, flipping through a magazine.

Emi is my spirit animal…

“Yo, guys, what’s up?!” Daichi energetically waved back.

“Heyo…” Emi momentarily looked up from her magazine to greet us, before quickly retreating her gaze back.

I voiced a couple of greetings to both of them, released some bags Hana made me carry and turned to look at my surroundings.

A slight wind was blowing gently, the gentle sound of the waves, and the muffled voices of the few people occupying the shoreline made their way to my ears. The waves were gently hitting the wet sand at the end of the shore, and the sea glowed in a crystal blue color under the bright sun and azure sky. The golden sand was hot, but not enough to burn your feet. And at the far end of my vision, the same sight. The horizon gently overlapping with the ocean, filling the canvas before my eyes with that familiar, mesmerizing, blue tone.

And with that sight in front of me, I can’t help but raise my expectations, ever so slightly.

Well, today might not be so bad after all…