A Well-Deserved Break

After some time, the quartet arrived at the beach. It was completely empty, but there were some trees nearby, some standing and some fallen. Ryu sat down on an old tree stump, as if he was refusing to relax. 'So this is what the beach looks like in real life,' Makoto thought, feeling the salty breeze on his face. "So," Shiro said, looking at Ryu. "You're just going to sit there?" Ryu nodded in a militaristic manner. "Mhm," he said, looking straight into the water on the shoreline. "You all do whatever you're going to do, I'll keep watch." Shiro shrugged. "Alright," he said, looking back at the water. "I won't force you."
The group stayed quiet or a while, but after a few seconds, Ryu looked at Shiro. He said nothing, but it looked as if he was looking directly at one part of Shiro: his shoulder. 'Why's he staring so intensely?' Makoto thought, confused. But when Shiro looked in Ryu's direction, having felt his strong gaze, Ryu turned away before Shiro could see him looking. He chuckled and said, "Ryu? Were you," he paused, waiting to see what Ryu would say. "I wasn't looking at you," Ryu said quickly, as if it was embarrassing. "Why would I be looking at you?" Shiro chuckled again, making Chihiro chuckle too, though he tried to hold it in. "Is it my shoulders or something?" Shiro said, lightly teasing Ryu. "No, why would I look at your shoulders?" Ryu said, obviously trying to sound nonchalant. "It's not like I'd want to look at another Paladins shoulders. Besides, it's not like I really care if you have very defined shouldersー"
Chihiro burst out laughing, interrupting Ryu, who looked at him, confused. "What?" Ryu said, genuinely confused. "I don't get it, why are you laughing?" After Chihiro was able to control himself, he just said, "you were being funny, Ry-Ry~"

"Don't say that out loud!!" Ryu said, getting up quickly and facing his younger brother. "Hehe," Chihiro laughed, still thinking about what Ryu had said before. "Well, it's already midday, so I'm going in the water!" He said as he ran towards the shoreline. But the one problem was that Ryu noticed he was still wearing his full uniform. His full Apex uniform. "WAIT!" Ryu shouted at Chihiro, some kind of fear in his voice. "Don't get your uniform wet!! At least take your boots off!!!" Chihiro, who was already standing ankle-deep in the water, turned to face Ryu. "Then get over here~!" He said, his young age taking over. "No!" Ryu said, refusing to move. "I have to keep watch!" Shiro nudged Ryu towards Chihiro lightly. "Go with him," he said, smiling. "I'll stay back here, you go enjoy yourself."
After thinking about it for a few seconds, still kind of torn between his Apex duty and the water, Ryu sighed. "Fine, fine," he grumbled. "I'll go to make sure Chihiro takes his boots off and keeps his uniform dry." He went quickly to the shoreline, until stopping suddenly at the water. He took a step back, seemingly worried to get his uniform wet. 'Just go far enough to tell Chihiro to stop getting his uniform wet,' Ryu told himself. He took a deep breath, and was about to take his boats off to go to Chihiro, when the sea foam came a bit to close for his liking. But then, Chihiro took Ryu by the arm and playfully dragged him in to knee-deep water. "Woah, woah, wait!" Ryu said, trying to take his boots off, but being unable to. "We finally get a day off, Ryu," Chihiro said with a smile. "Enjoy it!" Ryu stopped for a moment, unsure. But soon, he sighed and said, "alright, fine. But not for long, OK?" Chihiro chuckled and sai, "not for a bit, we're staying out here all day!!"

Makoto saw the brothers in the water and smiled. 'I wonder if I should go in, too,' he thought, and just as he did, Shiro nodded towards the water and said, "you go, too, puer." Makoto looked at him, then back at the water. "Then you should come too," Makoto said to Shiro, smiling. "Hm? Why's that?" Shiro asked, slightly confused. "I mean," Makoto started, "you always seem to do a lot for the Apex, so you deserve this break, too." Shiro chuckled, but before he could come up with a reason why he shouldn't join the others, Makoto too him by the hand and went to the water, pulling Shiro with him. "Shiro's coming too, now?" Ryu said, a small smile starting to appear on his face. "I suppose I am, puer," Shiro said with a chuckle before wading over to the others. "Why are none of you taking your boots off first?!" Ryu shouted, not with anger but still uncomfortable. "And stop calling me puer, Shiro!"
Shiro chuckled. "I suppose you know what 'puer' means if you're so upset," he said with a grin. "Yes, I do," Ryu said, pouting. "You're treating me like a child, when I'm practically a grown man!" Chihiro and Makoto giggled as the playful bickering continued. Suddenly, Chihiro started splashing Ryu with water. "H-Hey!" Ryu said, shielding his face from the water. "Stop! You're making my jacket wet!" He said as he began splashing water back. Chihiro started laughing even more now, and began splashing Makoto, who began laughing as he splashed water at Chihiro as well. "Well, that's unfair," Shiro said with mock frustration and a mischievous grin. "If there's two of you, there should be someone to help Chihiro!" As the whole group began splashing one another, all that could be heard on that beach was their laughter and playful bickering, long into the evening.

At around supper time, the quartet came closer to the shoreline to rest from all the splashing, and swimming as well, that they had been doing. Suddenly, Chihiro and Ryu noticed the royal carriage coming towards where the sand met the grass. "THE PRINCESS!" The two shouted before ducking behind a larger-than-average-size rock.
As Iduna exited the carriage, she grabbed four equally sized, thin boxes and ran over to the group, going over to where she saw Ryu and Chihiro first. "Ryu~! Chihiro~!" When she got close enough to see them behind the rock, the brothers stood up quickly, seeming embarrassed. "Yes, your highness?" Ryu said politely yet awkwardly. "I made these for you," Iduna said, holding out two of the boxes. The two looked at each other, then each took a box. When they opened them, their eyes widened in surprise. "A-A new uniform?" Chihiro said, surprised. "I could see yours was getting worn around the cuffs, and Ryu's had that large rip from the fight with the Abyss King," Iduna explained to Chihiro. "And you've both done so much for the Kingdom and Eldoria as a whole, so I thought it was only fair to fully show my gratitude to you for everything."
Ryu and Chihiro looked at each other in surprise, then back at Iduna. "You made these," Ryu started, his face a bit red, "for us?" Iduna nodded, smiling. "I have some things for the others, so I'll leave you two now. Hope you like them!" She said as she ran over to where Shiro was sitting. "Stop blushing," Chihiro said as he nudged Ryu. "No, you stop blushing," Ryu said back, though they were both equally blushing.

"Shiro~!" Iduna said, running over to where Shiro was sitting on a fallen tree.  "Hm? Oh, Principessa," Shiro said with a smile as Iduna approached him. "Here, this if for you," Iduna said as she handed another box like the other two to Shiro. "Oh? This is for me?" Shiro said, a curious smile on his face. Then, when he opened it, his eyes widened, and he did a double-take. "A new uniform? And with only one sleeve, too?" Shiro asked, pleasantly surprised. "What did I do to earn such a gift from the Princess?" Iduna smiled. "I made sure to copy your current uniform as best I could," she said, to which Shiro chuckled. "Well, thank you, Principessa," Shiro said with a smile, closing the box to keep the uniform clean.
Makoto watched from the sand as everyone got praise and a new uniform. 'They all deserve it,' he thought, though honestly, he felt kind of left out. It was as if he knew somehow that Iduna wasn't going to come up to him and give him a uniform, and he had already come to terms with it. But then, he saw Iduna walk up to him, and she was holding one last box. 'Is that...' Makoto started to think, but Iduna had already walked up to him. "Makoto," she said with a gentle smile, "I have something for you, too."
Makoto took the box she was holding. It was somewhat light, but had some minor weight to it. He looked at Iduna, who nodded for him to open it. When he did, his eyes widened, and he thought he was dreaming for a moment. "I-Iduna," he started, his voice breaking slightly. "You... you made this?" Iduna nodded. "I thought that since you've done so much, you deserved your own Apex uniform." Makoto, still a bit in shock, chuckled and wiped the tears that wanted to start. "Iduna, thank you," Makoto said. "I never got a gift like this from anyone at my school." Iduna chuckled a little. "Well," she said, "whatever they were thinking to not give you a gift of some kind, they must've been wrong; after all, I know you're very strong, Makoto.

                                                   In every way I can think of."

Before Makoto could say anything, they were interrupted by one of the guards who had brought Iduna there. "Your highness," he said, "there are some officials coming to the Palace later this evening. You ought to be getting ready to meet them." Iduna smiled sheepishly and said, "oh, I had forgotten about that, hehe. I'm coming!" Before she turned to leave, she gave Makoto a wink.
After Iduna returned to the Palace, it was already quite late. Ryu had started up a small fire, since the group had decided to camp overnight. Chihiro had already fallen asleep, and Ryu was almost asleep as well. 'Today was fun,' Makoto thought, looking up at the stars. He yawned and looked at Shiro, who was sitting next to him. "You know, puer," Shiro said, "I really don't mind if you put your head on my shoulder, if that's what you were going to ask." Makoto chuckled, half asleep. "You *yawn* read my mind, hehe." He yawned a third time and put his head on Shiro's shoulder.
The sound of the waves and the crackling of the fire made Makoto feel like everything was going just as he had planned, even if he had never intended to meet any of them: Ryu, Chihiro, Shiro, Aethenraed, Lupin, Iduna, or Haruka. Even though every day was full of its own problems, troubles, and such, being together with the people he had come to trust made it as if none of those troubles existed. It was as if the jocks never existed, either.

        All his problems were washed away, just like the sea foam on the shoreline.