After finally getting Sara her dress, we made it back to the Vila with no troubles. Of course Sargent Eva is just standing there staring at us… Menacingly!

“Hey… Sarge!” She’s still staring at us still. I try to talk again to evoke a response out of her only to be interrupted.

“Rookie do you know what time it is right now?!” My body is whipped into shape as she barrages us with her words.

“18:58 Mam!” I stood as tall as possible while she inspected us for any imperfections.

“Now why would that be a problem Rookie?!” Was I really supposed to know the answer to her hard questioning?

“I have absolutely now idea, Mam!” She seemed to know what it as and continued her assault visually and verbally.

“You’re 34 minutes too late!” Really?!

“Mam, how is that possible, Mam!” She stands back and prepares for her worst. She bursts out barking more orders.

“It means, you have no future in this field! Either you can drop and give me 50 or get out of here!”

Exercise? That’s where I draw the line.

“Ah yea I think I’ll just leave. I’m more of a reader than an athlete.”

I turn away from her waving. She seems to freeze unknowing of what to do with my attitude.

“Huh.”

“See ya.”

As I begin to silence her game she got more desperate.

“Rookie, you can’t just not do it!”

Of course I took that as an opportunity to play with her even more.

“Hm? I couldn’t hear you, I’m too far away!”

“You haven’t even moved! You’re such a mood killer.”She cries out grumpy that I’m no longer playing.

“Says the one who’s trying to force me to do push-ups because I was early.” I try and retort as she complains.

Both of us give such a piercing gaze into each other eyes trying to make the other person back down. Sara interjects, trying to cut through our bitterly comedic rivalry.

“Hey… How about we just go? It looks like everyone else went ahead.”

We both look around. Sara was right, everyone had left. We both look back at her. Our demeanor adjusted.

“Yea, sure why not?”

We walk along the beach side enjoying the company of each other. As we drew closer music became louder and lights could be seen getting brighter. There was an abundance of people and a lots of different venues with all types of games and prizes. Streamers and banners litter the area. There ‘s all types of art pieces hanging on the rocks that show the creativity of those who came before and those of the now.

“Woah...This place is so pretty…”

Eva looks around.

“But… Where is everyone else?!”

“Huh? We’re right here”

Eva jumps and leaps on to my shoulder alerted. There was Yume, Aron, and Karawase.

“Oh Yuyu it’s so nice to see you again!”

Karawase gives me a tight hug.

“My air ways are getting cut off…”

“I thought you’d never come back.”

“We were gone for just half the day.”

“Time is a monster! Spending it with you is deadly enough.”

Was that supposed to be a compliment? We continue to walk through the multitude of booths looking at all the amazing games and foods. Curious of which ones to go and see what they have to offer. Though, I still have a feeling something is missing. It’s nagging at me. The guilt seeping through my body. If only I could figure it out.

“Yu! Look over there!”

Eva points to a man who’s doing an absurd trick. A basket of apples are sitting next to him while he’s carrying a sword. He lifts 7 apples out of the basket and tosses them high into the air. As they fall down, he aligns his sword with them seamlessly sliding them onto the sword. None of them split. The crowd cheers awarding such an oddly amazing feat.

“I… want to try it.”

Eva has that spark in her eyes she only has when she’s got a new invention to try out. I have no idea how I should even try and talk her out of this one. I look over to Aron who’s got his mouth taped shut. Was that her doing?! Actually, considering the previous circumstances he probably did that to himself… Eva rushes over to her as we’re left to catch up. As we approach she weaves through the crowd trying to get his attention.

“Hey, Hey you! You’ve gotta let me try that!”

“Eva you can’t just be rude like that!”

Of all people I had an expectation of her refraining from this type of talk for at least a little while longer. The man turns to see who is calling his voice. He peers over to see her.

“Ah! A patron to the craft I see! Fine, I’ll show you how us Apple-Treaters do our art!”

“He-Hey wait!”

He grabs Sara and brings her into the center?! Eva watches on in horror seeing that she had been mistaken. Her face begins to scrunch as she becomes more annoyed. Sara all the while is trying to make sure that she wasn’t transported to another dimension. He straightens out his body, towering over everyone in the crowd. Everyone goes silent watching intently.

“Now the most important part of the art is handling of your tool!”

He hands his large sword to Sara she can barely hold it. Hmph. Maybe if she had learned how to keep her feet planted and use that weight more as a broadsword similar to something...in...berserk. I remembered. I forgot about Milk Boy! How would I even find him in such a large place there’s just so many places he could be?! Where do I even begin…? I feel an uncomfortably strong stare coming from behind me. I turn around and there’s a set of bushes that are rustling. I bolt into action and the bushes lead into a forest. On the beach? Now wasn’t the time for questions, I pushed through the trees to keep sight of him. The closer I got, the brighter a light became. Right as I got close to it my breath becomes heavier. My body slows to almost a crawl and I begin to limp trying to catch the deviously quick creature. Only to fall right next to the fire being greeted by it’s genuine blaze and overanxious heat. I hear footsteps get closer and closer to me. I gaze above to find what seemed to be a strong caveman watching from above me. I hobble backwards trying to find a way out, but seeing as my energy had faded away from me I drop.

“I… have one last request before you eat me.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What?”

“Tell me why you’re wearing that stupid outfit.”

“It’s a reference you wouldn’t get.”

Sojiro had seemed more muscular than he once presumed. The very dirty suit made of leaves and tree bark did nothing, but help that perception. He turns around after answering the one question determined to leave.

“Wait!”

“What? I have no use in being here.”

“I have more to say!”

I didn’t really, but I wanted to keep him here so we could talk. He continues to battle me away.

“Really, if it’s nothing too important then I don’t want to hear it.”

“Oh, that’s how we’re going to play. Then the newest manga that got axed was-”

“Halt! Don’t say it. You know how much I hate those!”

Sojiro finally breaks from his gloomy and mopey mood to bring me a complementary response that he usually does. But I guess I shouldn’t tease him especially since I’m actually here to say…

“I’m sorry.”

He’s stunned for a moment and afterwards he sits with his back turned next to the fire.

“Well, continue on.”

“I shouldn’t have burst out at you… I’ve been worried about you since you went missing...even if I forgot why.”

“What was that last part? I couldn’t hear you very well?”

“Never-mind that! Just… Come back to us, it’s odd without you here.”

He turns back around smiling next to my sweating body.

“Really?”

Not really, but I miss having fun talking to him.

“Yea…!”

“Haha! I knew you guys wouldn’t be the same without me… Because it isn’t the same without you guys. I miss all the times we would talk and laugh, the ways you would teach me so many valuable lessons, the friends that I thought I could make on my own…”

He makes it sound like he died! He’s barely been gone for a day. Undeterred he continued to spill his emotions.

“I’ve never really had friends before you all, everyone would make fun of me. I didn’t have this accent always. I thought it would be better to be normal than try and be myself. I gave up on manga for some time and thought to myself… ‘if I can just become more like-able’, but before I could do anything everyone just ignored me. I was never given a proper chance. That’s when I met you and that strange accent you had that day.”

“Sojiro I…”

“The way you brisk-fully whisked around everywhere, not a care in the world. Confidently striding like the world had nothing held onto you, I wanted it. So from that day forward I vouched to be more like you. But I had also forgotten why everyone had ignored me in the first place. I can’t tell what people want.”

He shoves his legs into his head.

“I stopped talking because I thought maybe everyone just liked to hate on me. But after spending years in these woods, I’ve realized. I was the problem all along.”

I looked at him. He was alone next to the fire. I don’t remember the day for reasons, nor do I know him before we met. If it is one thing I know, it’s this.

“Sojiro, you’re still my friend and I hope you know we nor you are going anywhere any time soon. You mean just as much to me as anyone else I care about. Even if we get into one silly fight where I’m annoyed. Sure a bit insensitive, and a bit annoying, and a bit of a weirdo, and-”

“I get it!”

“Yea… But that doesn’t matter because don’t you think I’m a weirdo?”

“No?”

*Sigh*

“Yes, I’m a weirdo. One of the biggest ones out there, I am the one who thought you how to be one after-all! I thought I could run away from my problems, but the more I try and do that all it does is leave me weaker than before.”

“So you fought like a champ to power through it?”

“You could say something like that ahahaha…”

“I never thought of it like that! But what does that mean, for us I mean.”

“There’s one problem I’ve been having recently.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ve been craving to teach someone recently about all someone needs to become the ultimate.”

“Oh, Oh! I know who that is!”

“You do?”

“Yes, it’s me!”

“Oh, I see, Then maybe you could help me fix that problem.”

“Sure! As long as we work together and help each other through our problems.”

“I’m fine with that.

He reaches out for my hand with his newly formed smile. I grab for it and we firmly shake.

“Now that we’ve made up… could you help me out and get back up because I’m about to burn!”

Sojiro helps me back up and I can finally move again. He guides me through the forest back to the beach. His “years in the forest” helped him whatever that means. But I’m glad he’s back. On our way there, I see another angry face, but I’m not too sure why it’s hers…

“Yuta come over here!”

I wonder what she’s mad about, but I’m not here to find out if I ignore it. Without a notice’s moment more I dash over to her trying to give her a bright smile.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“You ran off…Without me.”

“Wha-”

She grabs onto my shirt looking up to me, what I once was annoyance turned out to be worry. I didn’t want to leave it that way though.

“Ah… Well you see I was just realizing we forgot about Sojiro! Ahahahaha…”

She clearly wasn’t going to have it. Only giving me a look determined to make me feel bad about my actions.

“Today is supposed to be a date. So, no matter where you are… I’m not leaving your side got it?!”

Maybe it was anger?

“Ye-Yea!”

She swiftly turns from me and grabs my hand.

“W….what are we waiting for? Let’s get a move on.”

*Sigh*

I really should uphold my promises more. She begins to move around and we head out to more booths on our own. I can’t help but watch trying to figure out where she’ll try and go next. At first I thought she wasn’t too serious about this whole date thing, but it looks like it’s the real deal! Sara is so invested in all the little and big booths trying to get me do as much stuff as humanly possible in the limited time we have. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a real date and usually I feel like I would be following whatever the world leads to. I am now too but this time it’s different. Sara isn’t focused on what she just wants it’s clear even if I have no idea what’s going on and suck at it all, she wants me to have just as much fun as she is. What an odd feeling… Is this what a date is supposed to be like? Where both of us are having fun even if we are doing something that the other person doesn’t like so much?! I think this whole date thing might be more interesting than I first thought. More and more of the booths begin to blend together as we go to whatever looks the most fun. Time slows to a crawl with us being the only things moving throughout it. I wouldn’t mind if it stayed like this for a while. Although I could run for quite a while in my had, my body of course began to give out. And Sara look as if hers was prepared to give out quite soon too. So we took a break by the ocean letting the waves clear out whatever was on our minds. In silence we sat.

“Hey come back here!”

We look over to see a kid and his dog bolting towards us.

“Sara watch out!”

I dive over her to make sure the dog doesn’t hit her on accident. It heads straight towards us only to slowly walk around us. The kid dashes by us without giving a second thought. I look in awe as I couldn’t have expected that.

“um…”

I look below me to see Sara pinned below my arms.

“Ah! I...I wasn’t thinking strai-”

“No.”

“Huh?”

----

I look up as he stares at me astonished that he doesn’t need to move. That’s fair if I were in his position I wouldn’t understand too, but I’m wanting to clear up one thing. I want to make my next action intentional. My mind feels clear and… I don’t want to let that go to waste!

“You’re ok with this?!”

Yuta begins to get up off of me but before he moves too far away I grab his arms. He looks me in my eyes a sense of fear appears to overwhelm him, probably thinking that I’d get angry. Thinking back to earlier today… Yea that would be fair, but! Right now is different. Trying to invite him to feel the same comfort as I do, I smile.

“So, what if I am?”

The momentary fear of my reaction fades away.

“Thank goodness I thought you were going to fire me!”

“I don’t think that’s possible even if I wanted too...”

As we sit there in the awkward upright position, I decide that this is it. I pull him back down ontop of me and ask him.

“Yuta aren’t you tired of mistakes?”

“Oh? Ummmm… Not really!”

“What?” I wasn’t expecting that answer. Oh, that’s right he’s not really that cool type of guy/

“As much as I think my mistakes are embarrassing or anyone else’s mistakes… If we don’t make them, then how can we become better versions of ourselves. Like you! I think the best version of you is the one who just tries her best and lets herself go. Rather than trying so hard to avoid them that it ends up just going wrong anyways. Besides it’s way more fun to fail than trying to win am I right?” He gives me a bright smile.

I’m unsure how to respond… That was…

“Cooler than I expected.”

“What?! I’m cool…” He looks away pouting.

“As if!” I burst out laughing.

“O-Oh yea well would a lame person do this?!”

He leans in and kisses me. Before I could even react it, the feeling was gone.

----

Oh, God, Oh, God, Oh God. I took it way too far didn’t I?! I just didn’t want to be out done. Sara has such an awe stricken look on her face… I’m not sure how I’m not dead yet but I shouldn’t-

“Hey Yuta…”

I fear to look at her, but I feel the heat of what could only be anger radiating off her. I close my eyes bracing for the worst.

“Why did you stop?” Her face was nothing but beet red.

“Well… I thought you weren’t going to take it well.”

“If you’re going to over-do it for a mistake, then at the least commit to it.”

And with that she returned the favor. She broke through my pin, kissing me. Rather than backing down like I did she continued. The softness of her lips astonished me, as the distance between us became non-existent. With the amount of force she exerted, I toppled over. Grabbing onto her for support made the already limited dead air between us lessen. The longer it lasted the faster my heart began to race, getting hotter and hotter. The waves that once had faded away from memory crashed louder than ever. Giving me the push to try again despite everything that has happened or that will happen. In this moment, I didn’t want to be afraid, I didn’t want to run away. I wanted what I felt like best suited me, being myself. We pulled away from each other once our breaths finally ran out after what had felt like an amazing age long kiss. The waves somehow getting even louder. The heat sapped from both of our bodies captured straight onto our lips. We sat there looking into one another trying to get some air before we talked once again. Though once we did, it was pretty clear, both of us had one question on our mind.

“So… What does this make us?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure.”

We smiled and laughed once more. But needless to say for the rest of the night we barely said a word to each other. What a summer.