Umi ni ikkou
Early August, year 2042
“Shit” Tsubasa hissed through gritted teeth as he tore another moving box from the closet where they’d been stashed half a year ago. He dumped its contents on the floor and started tossing through the things. “Where the hell are they?!”
“Hey. Watch the langua- what are you doing?”
Tsubasa looked up for a second to face his dad before going back to his search. The man had just come out of the kitchen with a coffee mug in his hand, looking puzzled.
“Well. You see. It slipped my mind, but we’re going to the beach today and since I still haven’t unpacked everything, I can’t find my swim shorts! Oh, and the bus leaves in like 10 minutes!” Tsubasa said as he tossed things aside. If Tsukino hadn’t texted him half an hour earlier he wouldn’t have remembered at all, he would still be on the couch, zapping through the channels.
“You’re going to the beach?” Kyouji asked and Tsubasa stopped for a moment.
“Yes, if I had remembered I would’ve told you… Finally!”
Tsubasa found what he was looking for and quickly stuffed the black swim shorts in the bag he had left on the sofa. He could feel his dad still watching him. “I’ll be gone all day, so you don’t have to make dinner or anything”.
“I see… Well, have fun. I have work today and have an early meeting tomorrow. I’ll probably stay at office so-”
“So you won’t be home when I get back, got it” Tsubasa finished his father’s sentence for him. It was an old story. He went through the things in his bag making sure he had everything. The doorbell rang and they both looked towards the door.
“Who’d come here this early?” Kyouji muttered and went to open the door. He hadn’t even reached the hallway before the door was opened from the outside and a pink-haired girl stepped inside.
“Ojamashimasu” she said closing the door behind herself. Kyouji stared, confused, as she saw him and quickly took a bow. “Pleased to meet you, I’m Tsukino Hana; Tsubasa’s classmate” she said cheerfully. Kyouji returned the polite gesture with a slow nod.
“Ta-Taiyouno Kyouji, Tsubasa’s dad...” he answered her then looked at Tsubasa who still stood in the living room, looking like a deer in headlights. Tsukino saw him and waved.
“Hi Tsubasa!”
“Hi, sorry let me just get my shoes, then we can go” he grabbed his bag and hurried to her, sitting down on the floor to tie his shoes.
While watching him Tsukino reached out and combed through his hair with her finger. Startled Tsubasa shrieked and covered his head with his hands.
“Wha-what are you doing?!” he stuttered out looking up at Tsukino who was trying not to laugh at his reaction. Kyouji had stepped out into the kitchen to hide, he could barely keep himself from snickering at Tsubasa reaction.
“Did I surprise you? Haha, sorry. I thought I could fix your bedhead” she laughed.
Tsubasa finished putting on his shoes, got up and looked in the mirror. He sighed at his hair and grabbed a brush to fix the mess. As they left his dad appeared in the doorway to the kitchen again.
“I’ll be home tomorrow!” he called to him. Tsubasa just nodded before closing the door behind himself.
“You and your dad are quite alike” Tsukino said as they walked down to the bus stop by the main road. They’d be meeting up with the others on the bus.
“Really? Most people who’ve met him ask if I’m adopted” Tsubasa muttered, he got all his looks from his mom, there was not a single thing about his appearance that resembled his dad. Kyouji was grey furred with green hair and brown eyes.
“You make the same face when surprised; I bet you got your jumpiness from him to” Tsukino said, Tsubasa smiled at that.
“You’re right” he answered.
They didn’t have to wait long for the bus and once they got on they found Sigma and Epsylon at the back.
“Hi guys” Sigma greeted, flashing her signature smile. Tsukino took seat on the right side of the bus, Tsubasa sat down on the same row but on the opposite side. Their two seniors were occupying the entire back row with their bags; Epsylon was using them as back support with his legs tossed over his girlfriend’s lap.
“Aren’t Kazu and Yoru coming?” Tsukino asked.
“Oh, they are. Apparently public transport isn’t good enough for Yoru, he’s having his driver give them a ride” Epsylon snorted looking up from his phone.
“Of course” she replied leaning back in her seat.
“So, anything exciting happen you these first few days of vacation?” the small boy continued, putting his phone away.
“Nope, homework and hung out with Mayura; we did some shopping and stuff” Tsukino said rolling her head to the left so she could look over at her friends.
“Please tell me you have some homework left” Epsylon said with slight concern, which made Tsukino laugh. She never left anything for last minute.
“Yes. Yes, I have some left. Like a couple of pages of math, I think. I’m saving that for a rainy day”
“Who spends their first week of well-earned summer vacation doing homework? You should have fun instead” Sigma scolded.
“But homework is fun” Tsukino muttered, earning disapproving looks from her friends. “it’s fun for me” she added after the moment of silence. Sigma who couldn’t hold a serious expression for more than a few seconds cracked up in a smile again and turned to Tsubasa.
“What about you Blue, what have you been up to?” she asked.
“Me? No-nothing much really, just gardening” Tsubasa said. He was sitting with his back turned to the window, legs out in the aisle so he could face his friends more easily.
“Gardening? Like flowers?” Sigma asked, curious.
“Fruits and vegetables” Tsubasa answered, scratching the back of his head as Sigma started asking about what he was growing and if she could buy some from him.
As the bus rolled into yet another stop Tsukino spotted her best friend and quickly called out to her.
“Mayura! Back here”.
“Hi guys” Mayura greeted when she arrived at the back of the bus, Tsukino got up so she could slide past her to the seat by the window. “I was sure I’d miss the bus. My sister had borrowed my bag again without telling me; couldn’t find it anywhere” she said.
“That sucks, my brother borrows my stuff like that to” Epsylon noted.
“Same. Akiko always took my stuff without asking before I moved to the apartment” Tsukino added. “She probably still does, I just don’t notice since I’m never home”.
Sigma listened to the three complain about their siblings and pouted.
“Why am I the only one without siblings to fight with?” she exclaimed causing everyone to laugh. “Wait! Tsubasa aren’t you an only child?”
“Actually, I have a sister…”
“What~? I was sure you were an only child, you don’t seem like the type to have siblings” Sigma pouted again for a moment.
“Sorry Sigma-san” he smiled apologetically.
“Oh well, at least I have Yoru” Sigma comforted herself, shrugging. “What’s your sister like, what’s her name?” she then asked as she leaned forward.
“Uhh… I think I have a photo…” Tsubasa scrolled through his phone. “Her name’s Uta, she’s super nice, spoiled me way too much when we were kids so I can still talk her into doing or buying stuff for me… here” He held up the phone so Sigma could see more easily.
“Wow, the two of you look so different from each other! Is she older?”
“Yeah, she’s 9 years older.”
“9 years?! That’s a lot. Do you get to see her often? I mean, you moved to a different city and all…”
“She actually moved to Komatsu a few years ago, so now I get to see her plenty” Tsubasa felt weird talking so much about his family, but Sigma had such a knack for just keeping conversation going.
“Let me see to! Does she look like your dad?” Tsukino had caught onto their conversations and was leaning out of her seat to see what was on Tsubasa’s phone. Somehow, in the short minute he’d been talking to Sigma both Mayura and Tsukino had done up their hair. Tsukino had low twin-tails, that with her thick and curly hair looked like pompoms sticking out below her ears. He thought she looked cute.
“Uta doesn’t look like dad either” He laughed as he held out his phone for Tsukino to look. As she did, she found that Tsubasa’s sister was a purple fox. She had brown hair and yellow eyes.
“No kidding, neither of you look at all like your dad” Tsukino was amazed by how different the three of them looked, she and her siblings all resembled their parents very obviously.
“Well, I look like mom and Uta is adopted so…” Tsubasa kind of trailed as he revealed why none of them looked alike.
“Your parents are such good people!”
Their conversation trailed off and they all settled back. Tsubasa sat leaned against the window and found that his eyes kept fixating on Tsukino’s hair, the pink curly pompoms. It suited her, she looked cute.
“Tell her”
Tsubasa jumped at the sudden whisper from his senior. He eyed back between the seat and the window to see Epsylon peering at him with a knowing smile on his face. “What?” Tsubasa whispered back.
“Tell her you think it’s cute” Epsylon urged, Tsubasa immediately felt his cheeks heat up. Was he that transparent and readable? “Go on” Epsylon told him.
“I-I don’t know…” Tsubasa hesitated. He wasn’t good with compliments.
“She’ll appreciate it” Epsylon assured him and Tsubasa turned to his pink haired friend, swallowing his fears.
“Tsukino” he paused long enough for her to look over at him, “having your hair like that suits you” he blurted out, leaving her staring at him for a few seconds. Tsubasa had just enough time to start wishing he was dead when she broke into a smile.
“Thank you!” She said softly, it made Tsubasa smile to. That was worth the embarrassment. Tsukino always had a tense or annoyed look about her at school, mostly because of Yoru. It was nice to see her smile.
When they got off the bus in the parking lot Yoru and Kazu were already there waiting for them.
“Took you guys long enough, we’ve been waiting for half an hour” Yoru told them when they met up.
“Not our fault that you decided to come early” Tsukino muttered, Yoru grinned at her and reached out flicking one of her twin-tails.
“That is totally cute on you” he said.
“Thanks…” Tsukino didn’t appreciate Yoru’s compliment as much as Tsubasa’s.
“Are there changing rooms around here somewhere?” Tsubasa asked and Mayura grabbed his arm.
“Yeah this way, I need to change to so I’ll show you” she said and pulled Tsubasa off with her.
“We’ll meet you guys down at the beach okay?” she called back to the others.
While Tsubasa and Mayura got changed the other’s headed down to the white sanded beach. The weather was great, not a cloud in the sky and the wind just a light breeze. They all dumped their bags in a pile by the path.
“I brought a volleyball, thought it would be fun to play some” Kazu said holding it up.
“Cool, let’s play when Tsubasa and Mayura-san get back” Epsylon said as he helped Sigma undo the zipper on her dress. Tsukino was first to step in the ocean and tossed herself head first into the knee-deep water.
“The water is great!” she called out when she resurfaced. The other four joined her.
“Hey, you meanies! You started without us!” Mayura called down to them when she saw everyone in the water. She grabbed Tsubasa by the hand and ran down the last few meters to the beach. She tossed her bag and Tsubasa managed to drop his before he was pulled down to the water by his excited friend. As soon as the water hit his feet he stopped dead in his tracks and yanked his hand out of Mayura’s. Surprised by the sudden halt, Mayura looked back, “Is it too cold for you?” she asked as she watched him walk up to the bags and sit down in the sand.
“N-no, but someone has to watch our stuff” Tsubasa said giving her a smile, hoping she’d buy it. Mayura just shrugged and headed out in the water, to Tsukino who had been watching them.
“What’s up with Tsubasa?” Tsukino asked when Mayura reached her. The blue fox looked back again. It looked sad, him sitting there alone.
“I don’t know. He just froze when we got to the water, said he’d watch our stuff” Mayura said tilting her head to the side.
“Oh I know what that is” Tsukino said wading back to the beach.
“Of course you do!” Mayura called after her before joining the others as they practiced passing the volleyball to each other.
“Hey, you” Tsukino called out when she got onto the sand again, Tsubasa looked up. “Boring person over there, why aren’t you playing with us?” she asked and walked over to him.
“Well… someone has to watch the stuff” Tsubasa said avoiding eye contact.
“No you don’t, you need to have fun with us, come on now” Tsukino said urging him to stand up. Tsubasa got on his feet and let himself be dragged down to the water again but Tsukino stopped there letting go of his arm.
“If I teach you how to swim will you play with us?” she asked looking back at him. Tsubasa was stumped. How did she know that he couldn’t swim? He hadn’t told anyone.
“Don’t look so surprised. Not being able to swim is super common. But it’s not hard to learn, come on” Tsukino said walking out into the water again.
“O-okay” Tsubasa answered and quickly followed her. He wasn’t scared of water, he just didn’t want to make a fool of himself. The only reason he couldn’t swim was because he’d never been taught… and his dad was overprotective. But Tsukino was offering so why not at least give it a try? They waded out together till they stood waist deep in water. Tsukino dived and quickly resurfaced just a few feet away.
“Your turn” she said wiping her bangs from her face.
“Huh?”
“Dip!” she laughed and splashed water at him with both hands. Tsubasa backed up in surprise and tripped over his own feet. He went under the surface with a loud splash. He felt so clumsy. It only took a few seconds before there was a hand clamped around his right arm that pulled him up again.
“I hope you held your breath. Sorry, that was a bit mean of me” Tsukino said, previous amusement all gone from her voice. Tsubasa found his footing and stood up.
“I’m fine. What next?” he asked excitedly, wiping his hair from his face. It made her smile again.
Closer to the beach in the shallow water the others were getting good at passing the volleyball between themselves. Yoru was having trouble concentrating though, he was busy watching Tsukino and wishing he couldn’t swim.
“Yoru-kun, watch out!” Mayura shouted. Yoru turned just in time to get hit on the shoulder by the volleyball she had passed him. He lost his balance and fell backwards landing in the water with a splash.
“Sorry!” Mayura called and Sigma picked up the ball as Kazu helped Yoru up.
“You good?” he said with an amused smile. Yoru just glared at him as he combed his wet hair with his fingers.
“We’re back!” Tsukino said as she and Tsubasa came walking back to the shore. Tsubasa looked a lot happier than before.
“That was fast” Mayura said.
“Yeah Tsukino is a really good teacher” Tsubasa agreed.
“I know right? She taught me to.” Mayura said cheerfully.
“Wow, we could’ve used you on our field trip last year. Not even half our class knew how to swim” Epsylon commented.
“You guys give me too much credit, you two were easy to teach” Tsukino laughed catching the volleyball as Sigma tossed it to her.
They all played together for a while before a few headed to the beach to dry off in the sun. Yoru and Sigma kept racing each other in the water, Sigma easily won each time and Yoru refused to give up.
Tsubasa really liked this, he couldn’t remember the last time he played with his friends back in Nomi like this.
Epsylon suggested they’d check out the salt caves since Tsubasa had never been there. Yoru and Kazu immediately refused, Tsubasa thought it was amusing how they were afraid of bugs. Sigma also passed on the caves and headed for the beach with the other two boys.
“I don’t really see any bugs” Tsubasa said as he followed Epsylon into the cave, his eyes adjusting to the dark.
“Yeah well, if those two see just one snail or crab they’ll run away screaming” Epsylon answered making Tsubasa laugh. “Here we go, watch your head” Epsylon said and ducked through a small entrance. Tsubasa followed, and stood once he was inside. He found himself in a small white room; everything was covered in salt crystals – even the air tasted salty.
“Wow, this is so cool” Tsubasa whispered, there were holes in the cave roof which let in more light.
“Sigma usually makes necklaces out of these and sells them at festivals” Epsylon said as he searched the wall for bigger crystals. “Help me collect some, I’m sure Mayura and Tsukino would like some to.”
The two spent a good while collecting before swimming back to the beach, hands full of salt crystals. When they got back the others were still sunbathing, Mayura had a big hat covering her head and Kazu was reading a book. Sigma was laying on her stomach, drawing circles in the sand with a finger. Epsylon snuck up on her and with a grin tossed himself on top of her making her squeal.
“Oh my god, that’s cold!” Sigma cried and shot up on her knees, Epsylon quickly wrapped his arms and legs around her so he wouldn’t fall off.
“That’s cruel Epsylon-san” Tsukino laughed, it was rare to see Epsylon goof off like that and everyone watched as Sigma tried to shake her drenched boyfriend off.
“You’re ice cold! Please~ let go of me” Sigma begged and he finally dropped down in the sand.
“Haha sorry, I had to… we come bearing gifts though, hold out your hands” Epsylon laughed as he gave Sigma all the salt crystals he had collected.
“These look great, you’re forgiven, thank you so much!” Sigma exclaimed rolling the crystals in her hands.
“Where’s Yoru?” Epsylon asked after looking around and not finding him.
“He went back to change and fetch us some firewood” Kazu said picking a crystal out of Sigma’s hand. “Mind if I take one?” he added, Sigma just shook her head.
Tsubasa had sat down in the sand between Tsukino and Mayura. “I picked some for you guys too” he said and emptied one hand of crystals on each of the girls’ towels. “Aww, thank you Tsubasa-kun” Mayura said and gathered up the crystals to put them in her bag.
“Hey…” Tsukino’s voice made him look over to her, she waved at him to lean closer and when he did she grabbed his shoulder and pulled herself up, putting her face so close to his that her lips touched his cheek when she spoke, “thanks” she whispered, before leaning back with a grinning.
Tsubasa didn’t know what to do, he knew his face was red so he just mumbled out a quiet “you’re welcome”.
“Hey!” hearing the angry shout they all looked up to see a bound stack of firewood come flying and land just a few feet from where Tsukino, Tsubasa and Mayura sat, making the sand splash on them. It was Yoru who had thrown it. “What did I tell you about stealing her from me?!” Yoru shouted. Tsubasa flinched and Tsukino shot up to sitting.
“I’m not property Yoru! Stop being so possessive, I’m not yours!” she yelled back. “Are you crazy what if that had hit us?” she then added pointing at the stack of wood.
“Okay!” Sigma used her cheerleader voice and clapped her hands together. Stopping Tsukino and Yoru mid-fight. “No fighting” she scolded waving with a finger, “those who fight will go without dinner.”
“Why don’t you guys go get change and when you get back, we’ll have the fire going” Kazu said and Mayura agreed.
The girls went to the changing hut and when they got back the fire was lit. They let the guys go get changed as well and had Yoru help them roll some logs up to the fire for all of them to sit on. Sigma and Epsylon stood for the food, which was a noodle wok Sigma had prepared. They ate and planned a trip to Kaga. They had dessert to and before they knew it the sun was setting. Tsukino noticed how low the sun was and pulled her phone from her pocket to check what time it was.
“Crap!” she exclaimed.
“What?” Mayura asked.
“Our bus left like five minutes ago” Tsukino sighed making the orange-haired girl scramble for her own phone only to see the bus had indeed left.
“… How are we gonna get home now? My parents will never drive out here to get us” Mayura said, looking a little worried.
“I guess I could have Nishimura drive you all home, it would be a detour though…” Yoru said, making it sound like he was making a great sacrifice.
“That’s okay, I can call Uta she lives in the area” Tsubasa said pulling his cellphone from his pocket. Yoru leered at him for a moment before letting out a huff.
Tsubasa stepped away for a couple of minutes while making the call.
“We have a ride” he said as he put his phone away, making the two girls smile. Tsukino was extremely grateful she didn’t have to ride with Yoru.
“Let’s clean up and put out the fire then” Sigma said and got up.
They all cleaned up and made sure the fire was put out properly. Then went back to the parking lot. With no benches to sit on, they all took seat on the fence instead and waited for their respective ride. Sigma and Epsylon had already left. They were going to stay in Sigma’s family’s summer house for a few days, it was only a few hundred meters from the parking lot.
Yoru’s driver showed up first, in his shiny car, cruising in and parking. Yoru and Kazu got off the fence and headed for the car. “See you guys next week!” Kazu called to the others before getting in the car after Yoru.
“Yeah! We gotta do some more planning for Kaga!” Mayura called back waving as the limo drove off.
“Would that be Uta?” Tsukino asked pointing to the dark convertible rolling in just as the Yoru’s car left.
“Yeah” Tsubasa replied as the car came to a stop in front of them. Uta stepped out and Tsukino thought she was much prettier in person than in that photo Tsubasa had showed on the bus.
“Have you been waiting long?” Uta asked as she gave Tsubasa a quick hug.
“Forever” he replied jokingly and Uta turned to Tsukino and Mayura.
“And you two much be the friends. Hello, nice to meet you both. I’m Uta, Tsubasa’s older sister.” she said all this in a very sing-song tone and Tsukino could tell she was teasing Tsubasa. Having younger siblings was great.
“My name is Tsukino and this is Mayura” Tsukino quickly introduced them both.
Uta smiled before leaning closer to her brother again, whispering “those are some pretty friends you have.”
“Stop that!” he snapped at her, face red.
“Oh lighten up. How about we hop in the car and get you guys home?” Uta said gesturing towards the car.
Uta dropped Mayura off at a shuttle station, she would take the train back into the city because she didn’t want Tsubasa’s sister to have to drive across town. After that Uta drove Tsukino home to her apartment.
“Thank you for the ride, Uta-san. See you next week Tsubasa” Tsukino said as she got out of the car.
“Yeah, I’ll see you later” Tsubasa called back as Tsukino headed up the stairs to her apartment building. When they had driven off Uta glanced over at her younger brother.
“How was your day?” She asked which immediately earned her a smile.
“It was great, we had a lot of fun” Tsubasa answered.
“You just sat on the beach all day, didn’t you?” Uta said rolling her eyes.
“I can swim” Tsubasa said sounding very proud.
“Really? Since when?” his sister asked in surprise, she was always the last to know stuff now that she didn’t live at home anymore.
“Since today, Tsukino taught me.”
“Oh really~ do you like her?” Uta asked, she had to pry. She couldn’t help it, it was her job as the older sister.
“She’s nice.”
“Like, like her” Uta clarified to remove all loop holes to her question.
“I don’t know… you know I’m bad at that stuff” Tsubasa said tiredly.
“A little maybe?” Uta pushed a little further, soon he’d start yelling at her for asking too much.
“Maybe…” Tsubasa answered, making Uta smile.
“Well, aren’t you growing up nicely” she hummed to herself.