Once Arno and I made our declaration against Therese Cistra, months passed as we trained for the fated cross zone finals that’ll ultimately decide whether or not we become counter-terrorists. So why…we’ve been working so diligently…so why…

“Why are we at the beach?!” I was seconds from ripping my own hair out.

We were training our asses off, so why are we getting so sidetracked the day before the big event?

“I’m gonna go change! I’m so excited! I’m gonna build sandcastles that scrape even the skies!” Anna ran to the restroom to change.

“Buildings that tall wouldn’t make any sense! It’s like playing with cards. If you stack too high, it’ll fall over easier!” Arno pointed out.

Jack chuckled a bit and said “So you’d rather believe in the idea of a floating fortress like the Elizabeth than a building with enough integrity to reach the skies?” I took note of his red hair. After the new dawn festival, he decided to dye his hair back to its original color. It honestly looks nice on him.

“Well, I’ve seen the Elizabeth! I’ve never seen a really tall building. What about you guys—” Arno looked over to Rono and Gollie and noticed that Rono was muttering something along the lines of “Anna in a swimsuit…Annabelle in a swimsuit…” with a lecherous look on his face. Meanwhile, Gollie was trying to get him to stop thinking such thoughts with a concerned look. All of a sudden he directed that gaze towards me.

“Ori in a swimsuit…”

“Gross…” I cringed as his eyes glanced around my body from head to toe. Arno stepped in the way and stared right back at Rono. “I don’t know why, but I feel like I’ll have to knock you out if you keep this up, Rono.” That immediately brought Rono back to his senses.

“R-right! There are tons of other girls here anyway! I’m gonna go get ready. Let’s go, Gollie!”

“As long as you approach them respectfully, I don’t care what you do. Just don’t be weird about it, okay?” Gollie and Rono immediately left to change as well.

“Well, I’m gonna change too. I’ll see you then, okay?” Arno smiled and waved as he went to the restrooms too.

“I still think this is a waste of time…” I sighed.

“So do I…” Derris spoke up. He’s been a lot less talkative lately. For example, during that tall building chat, he would’ve butted in about his father’s plans to make a building like that and that he’d invite us “If we were lucky” or something like that. “We’ve still got a long way to go. I’ve still got a long way to go. So to just sit around like one of the most important events in our lives isn’t tomorrow, just doesn’t sit right with me.”

“Everyone needs a break, Foxtrot.” to my right, I heard a voice and looked over to see the person who invited us here: Instructor Matthews. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses and black shorts and sandals with a fiery design on them. In his hand was a snow cone that he was devouring with each passing second.

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“Can I tell the both of you a story?”

“No,” I said.

“Hell no,” Derris said.

The both of us were about to walk away when the Instructor finished his snow cone and pulled us back by the scruff of our uniforms. “Call it my winter years getting the better of me, but let an old man complain about his regrets to someone.”

Damn it! I can’t tell if he’s really strong or if I’m just that weak! No, he’s pulling Derris too. This guy just scales like crazy! Jack can probably help us!

“Jack!” When I looked over, Jack was already on his way to the restrooms to change, waving and smiling like royalty. I see…so you too would abandon your comrades when backed into a corner. I guess I’ll put you in the same camp as Gollie. I closed my eyes and with a slight smile on my face, admitted to defeat.

“The climax of my fault as a teacher started last year with the 20th first zone division…”

Arno

Once I switched into my swimming gear, I was ready to take on the world! I could probably do a bunch of laps around the beach as training, so I got a swimming cap on as well as black swimming trunks with purple accents.

“Time for some more training!” I was about to run out of the changing rooms, but Gollie stopped me. He had a surprisingly fit body that could compete with mine in terms of physique. He wore pure white swimming trunks and had a bucket with a little plastic shovel in his hand. “Arno, it’s supposed to be our day off, remember?”

“Day…off?”

“Don’t tell me he doesn’t even know what a day off is…” someone then approached the both of us. His swim gear…was the most drastic out of all of us.

He slicked back his hair, wore sunglasses, had a short sleeve button up shirt with a floral pattern, and swimming trunks continuing said floral pattern.

“...Who are you?” I squinted my eyes, attempting to decipher who this was.

“It’s me! Rono! And let me tell you what it means to have a day off: it means picking up chicks!”

“I think Ori’d get mad at me if I talked to girls a bunch…one time before we were trainees, we had this rich client that would always get touchy with me. She confronted me about it, but couldn't explain why she was so mad about it. I guess she had a hard time admitting her feelings too.” I smiled a bit thinking about that time before.

“Oh yeah…you guys are dating now.” Rono rolled his eyes, and then they lit up when he realized something. “That means you have experience with girls! You gotta help me! Please help me pick up some girls, big bro Arno!” Rono bowed before me.

“Arno, don’t indulge in his nonsense. Jack and I were planning on building sand castles! Doesn’t that sound more fun?”

“Nah. I’ll help him out.”

“Seriously?” They both said.

“Seriously.”

“Seriously?” Jack pulled the curtain of the stall we were all in front of. He had black trunks with red accents.

“Seriously—wait guys, is it seriously that hard to believe?”

They all gave me a look that showed exactly what they thought of my ability to socialize. It was like they were all in on some joke and I just figured out what the punchline was.

“You’re just a bit…slow on the uptake is all.” Gollie said as he scratched the back of his head.

My entire world shattered. These guys…are calling me dumb! I saved the day twice over and they’re calling me dumb! My final clash with that warhammer CT…my overclock swing against Daniel…they think dumb-guy Arno did it! All of those scenes, I imagined the guys placing dunce caps on my head.

“I’ll prove it to you…” As I muttered under my breath, the other guys leaned in and questioned what I said.

“This is the start of my super smart arc! You guys’ll see! I’ll get Rono a girlfriend by the end of this trip!”