Chapter One
The summer before my first year of high school, I fell in love with the most extraordinary girl. Her name was Mikai, and the day we first met was when there was a storm watch alert the day before the surfing competition at Kagoshima in the Kyushu prefecture. She was joining in with the other extreme surfers, taking advantage of the monstrous waves that were crashing into the beach. I only happened across them while I was on my way back to my parents' beach house from the convenience store, running errands for my mother.
The way Mikai and I met was by mere coincidence.
She hit me with her surf board. How? I'm not quite sure, but it did force me to drop my bag of groceries.
"Oh, geez! I'm sorry, man! I didn't mean to hit you! I tripped over my sandals because the band snapped!" The sound of her voice was slightly muffled by the crashing waves and the blowing winds. But it was clear enough for me to hear the clarity of her sweet voice.
I rubbed the back of my head with my hand, knowing that there will be a sore welt. When I finally looked up a moment later I didn't expect to see a foreigner with Japanese features.
"Hey, you okay?" she asked, holding my head with her two hands, feeling over the sore spot on my head. "Man, you're gonna have a major headache later. Hey, I know! Wanna surf with us?"
What a strange girl, I thought. Touching a complete stranger and then inviting them out as if we were old friends.
"Thank you for the offer, but I must get home." I said, picking up my bags of groceries and then standing up to my full height. "Besides, there's a storm watch today, you should also be heading home."
"But storms are the best surfing conditions."
I blinked at her. Not only was her reply quick and to the point, but she was also quite tall for a girl. Much taller than the girls I went to school with. "Isn't it dangerous to be out there in this weather?"
"That's what makes it fun? What's life without a little danger?"
Again I blink and am a bit awestruck by her honest reply. Usually when girls spoke to me it was always in a shy manner and they always seemed to have some sort of hidden agenda. But not her. She just said things with a straight face.
"Well…then please be careful out there." I said as rain began to sprinkle from the sky, steadily becoming heavier.
She smiled at me brightly, which made my heart skip a beat and I felt my cheeks warming.
"Thanks! Hey, when you get the time, you should come to the snack bar later. That's where I'm working part-time this summer."
"Ah…maybe…"
"Great! It's called the Beach Bum Bar."
"Oi! Kai! We're waitin' on you!" called out one of the guys she had come to the beach with.
"I'll be right there!" she called back.
Kai…what a strange name for a girl. It's also a bit too masculine, but in a way it suited her. Kai…I had briefly wondered at the moment if it was her first name or last name.
"Well, I hope to see you around so I can give you a proper apology." she said before running off with her surf board under her arm towards her waiting friends.
While watching her run off towards the raging ocean, all I could think about was how she smiled at me with no reserves…
And then I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock ringing.
"Good morning, Sanada-kun." greeted Yukimura Seiichi, Sanada Genichiro's classmate and old friend from their junior high days.
"Ah. Good morning, Yukimura-kun." Sanada greeted back as they met only a street block away from their school.
It was the start of their senior year of high school, and already the new flock of freshmen were overwhelming. Already Sanada could see the freshmen girls ogling and it made his skin crawl. Never in his life had he shown any interest in a girl, and often he wondered if there was something wrong with himself. Especially after being confessed by random girls he's never known to have attended the school, and they would often be pretty, but he never found himself to be attracted to them in any way.
Accept to one.
"Aloha, guys!" came a cheerful voice from behind the two teens as a girl jumped in between them, locking both her arms with theirs.
"Good morning, Amane-chan." Yukimura greeted Amane Mikai, the girl Sanada Genichiro secretly was in love with since that summer. And just seeing her again reminded him of the dream he had of their first meeting.
"I've missed you guys over spring break!" Mikai said, walking between the two boys.
"How was the competition in Hawaii?" Yukimura asked.
"It was a lot of fun. I got to meet a bunch of surfers and a few pros who gave some great advice about how to make most of the waves to score the biggest points. And I got stung by a jellyfish on the last day of the competition."
"What?" Sanada gasped, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, luckily one of the guys had drank a lot of soda so he was kind enough to p—"
"A simple yes is enough for me."
Yukimura stifled a laugh.
"You can be such a prude, Gen-kun." Mikai pouted.
"And you have no shame." Sanada sighed.
"My, my, if I weren't on the inside I would think you two were lovers." Yukimura said in a teasing tone.
Sanada turned his face away in an attempt to hide the blush on his cheeks. It didn't help that Mikai was playing along with Yukimura and hugged Sanada's arm.
"We'll save you a seat at our spring wedding." Mikai joked.
"I'll look forward to it." Yukimura said.
"Don't say things like that and let go of my arm," Sanada said, trying to pull free from Mikai even though he didn't want to. "People will misunderstand."
"What'd I tell ya, you're such a prude." Mikai said, walking ahead of them where she met up with two of her classmates at the school gate.
"Oh dear, homeroom hasn't even started yet and already you two had a fight." Yukimura continued to tease.
Sanada sighed and silently prayed for mercy from this suffering.
While sitting through the opening ceremony to welcome the new students, Sanada wasn't at all paying attention. His mind wandering back to that summer…
Once the storm had passed and all was somewhat calm I was still thinking about the girl from the beach, Kai. It had only been two days since that meeting and I should have been able to forget, or at least move on with my life instead of replaying those few minutes.
And so I find myself standing outside the Beach Bum Bar, and judging from the outside, it wasn't very popular and it was in poor shape. I never bothered coming to places like these, since I normally stay in. So when I was just about to head back I turn and was surprised to be facing the reason I bothered to go out of my way.
"Oh, hey! You're that guy from the other day." she said with that bright smile that I couldn't forget.
"Uh…un…" I didn't know why I couldn't form a simple sentence, nor did I understand why my face felt so warm. I had vaguely thought that it must have been the heat of the day.
"You alright? You look a bit over heated. Come inside." she offered, again being forward by grabbing my arm and pulling me inside. It was a small interior with slightly dim lighting and only a handful of customers, all of which were elderly folk.
"Ba-chan! I'm here for my shift and I brought another customer!" she announced loudly. Her personality was upbeat. Not at all fake and forced like I'm used to seeing. "Have a seat, I'll be right back."
Having no choice, I sat down at a small table that wobbled and the chair creaked under my weight, making me slightly nervous that it would break any second. It was stuffy and smelled a bit of dried seaweed. It was obvious that there was no air conditioning and that the building was as old as this small town and I wondered why Kai was working part time here.
"Thanks for waiting," I heard her voice say. When I looked up to see her coming out from the back carrying a chipped bowl and set it down in front of me on the wobbly table.
"What is this?" I asked, staring down at the lump of shaved ice swimming in some syrup and what I hoped wasn't spoiled red bean paste.
"It's shaved ice with honey and red bean. You strike me as the type who doesn't like super sweet things so I used mildly sweet toppings." she said to me.
"It's true I don't like sweets, but…this is geezer food." I said.
She snorted at me and then giggled. "Just try it, it's pretty good on a hot day."
I picked up the spoon that was conveniently stuck in the lump of honey covered ice and took a spoonful into my mouth. The cool and mild sweetness of it was refreshing. I had always disliked sweet things, I even disliked adding sugar to my tea. But I actually liked this. Was it because it was served by Kai?
"Hey, what's your name?" she asked.
"Hm?" I looked up at her. She was resting her chin in her palms, watching me. It was a bit embarrassing.
"I forgot to ask that day when I knocked your head with my board. By the way, the shaved ice is my apology."
"Sanada Genichiro," I said.
"I'm Amane Mikai, though my surfing buddies call me Kai for short." she said with that bright smile. "You can call me Kai, too, Gen-kun."
"Gen—" she even had the nerve to call me by my first name, and even shortened it! On top of that, she even gave me permission to call her Kai. My face felt hot.
"Eat some more, you look hot."
I cleared my throat, feeling uncomfortable for no reason and ate another spoonful.
"Mikai-chan, let's have lunch together." said Atobe Keigo. It was by the cruel hand of Fate that Atobe from Hyotei Gakuen, and Sanada were in the same class together. Luckily, they weren't sitting anywhere near each other, but it was always a silent battle between them ever since Atobe set his sights on Mikai their freshmen year.
"Mimi-chan, Atobe-kun is asking you to have lunch with him." whispered one of Mikai's friends in a giddy voice. "And in front of the whole class!"
"Don't be shy, Mikai-chan. Ore-sama knows that it is an honor to even be in my presence." Atobe said.
Sanada was sitting in the seat behind Mikai, grinding his teeth, irritated by the nerve of this spoiled rich boy.
"I recall saying this the first time you asked me this and I'll say it again: It's not as interesting when it talks." Mikai said.
"Mimi-chaaaan!"
"Still with the sarcastic brush off." Atobe said, not at all deterred.
Sanada phased out from listening to their "conversation" as gazed out the window and allowed his mind to wander off again back to that summer. Lately, for the past week before school started up he had been thinking a lot about the past.
I didn't expect to spend my summer vacation out on the beach everyday with a girl. Especially when the girl made my heart race like it would during an intense tennis match, but the adrenaline rush made me giddy and uncertain of myself.
I would normally just sit in the sand and watch Kai surf on the high waves. It was almost enchanting to watch how she would glide over the wild waters, the sun and water making her shimmer and sparkle. In such a short amount of time, I began to open up to someone and become rather comfortable around. Kai was the second person to know exactly what was on my mind and tell me without hesitation on what I needed to hear. Yukimura-san was the first to light a fire within me about pursuing tennis, and Kai made me want to better myself as a man.
"Hey, Gen-kun!" Kai called out to me as she returned to the beach from surfing, her board under her arm. It still struck me how shameless she was about her body, wearing a bikini without any concern of the lecherous stares she got from the other guys on the beach.
"Kai, are you done surfing?" I asked.
"Yeah, it got a little too crowded out there. Too many wave hogs." she said before lightly coughing into her fist.
"Are you coming down with a cold?" I asked while I handed her a towel.
"Nah, I'm fine." she said, taking the towel from me as she set her board on the sand and sat on the blanket next to me. "Aren't you bored just sitting here and watching everyone else having fun?"
"I'm alright."
"Hey, wanna learn how to surf?"
"Not really."
"Why not? It's fun."
"Surfing isn't something I'm interested in trying."
"Then what are your interests?"
"I like playing tennis."
"Really? That's surprising, I never would have guessed you played that type of sport. Can you teach me how to play?"
I paused, almost unbelieving of my own ears. I would never have guessed that she would ask me to teach her to play tennis. I was also slightly touched. And I felt my face feel hot.
"Uh…s-sure."
"Great! Let's make it a date and go tomorrow after my shift at the snack bar." she said, making the arrangements on her own without asking if it were fine with me. But then again, it's not as if I had any plans. "Pick me up at two."
"Ooooiii, Sanada-kuuuun." called out a monotone voice through the window that separated the classroom to the hallway.
Sanada looked up from his notes and instantly suppressed a grimace when he saw who it was calling for him. It was Hikaru Amane, a.k.a. Davide, with his hair styled by hard wax to keep its form and his deadpan expression looking down at him.
"What is it, Amane-kun?" Sanada asked.
"Did you see the latest sports issue?" Davide asked, holding out the lasted issue to Sanada, already open to the centerfold. Sanada glanced at it briefly before having a double-take. The centerfold was a full coverage of Mikai surfing and the article was dedicated to "Rising Young Surfers."
"What's the reason for showing this to me?" Sanada asked.
"You've got a thing for my sister right? This is just my way of saying that I'm alright with you staring at her photos wearing only a bikini." said Davide in a matter-of-fact tone. "But that's about it. I still don't approve of you dating my sister."
"For the last time, we aren't dating." Sanada said.
When Sanada first found out that Davide and Mikai were siblings (and twins at that!), it had come as a surprise. But when he got past the surprise, he began to see the similarities. Their hair color, their eyes, the bluntness of their speech, and they were taller than their average peers (though the height between them was a big difference). It was even more of a surprise that they were all attending the same high school together.
"What are you doing, Hikaru? What is that?" Mikai asked, appearing beside her brother, surprising both boys. She snatched the magazine from Davide and her mouth dropped and then slapped it across her brother's head. "Don't go around showing this off to people! Why can't you be normal and just share your porn mags with your friends!"
"But embarrassing you is so much more fun than beating off." said Davide, only to be kicked over the head two seconds later by Kurobane "Bane" Harukaze.
"Quit causing trouble, class is about to start." said Bane as he dragged Davide away, leaving many confused students in their wake.
"That stupid brother of mine." Kai said as she entered the classroom and took her seat in front of Sanada's.
"It's a good picture of you," Sanada said.
"You think so?" Kai asked, turning around in her seat to look at Sanada.
"Oh? What a good picture of Mikai-chan. You're so photogenic." said Atobe, peeking over Mikai's shoulder to look at the article.
Mikai slapped the magazine in Atobe's face as she turned back around in her seat. "It's rude to look over someone's shoulder, y'know." she said.
"So cold on such a lovely morning." Atobe said as he went to his seat with Kabaji close behind.
Not even a week into the new term and things were slowly becoming chaotic once again.
AN: It's been awhile since I've written a PoT fic, and I feel kinda guilty for not finishing my first one (I can't make any promises that it'll be finished because I'm debating if I should continue it with more chapters or simply conclude it all in one big finale of a chapter), but I can promise that I won't stop writing. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and please review to encourage me to continue with this story.
I have been toying with the idea of writing a PoT fic with surfing in it, but I didn't know which characters to bring in, and on top of that, I had been wondering on how to build the relationships and the story arc and then I came up with this. I'm not a surfer but I do think its an awesome sport and there have been several PoT episodes where they're at the beach and so that's what gave me the idea in the first place.
Ciao for now!