Even during the evening, even on a small island, the summer heat was rough, especially for the fair skinned Hakuryuu, who had a tougher time handling the temperature than the tanner Shuu. The birds and cicadas chirping, a faraway running river, and a soft breeze rustling the surrounding trees' leaves made for nice background noises. In addition to the warm light of the setting sun, the overall ambience was somehow very nostalgic and soothing. Hakuryuu knew the night was falling and decided he wouldn't bother Shuu with his complaints. After a couple of hours practicing together in a more remote part of the island than the stadium, Shuu was walking his friend to the SEEDs' residences. The both of them ran out of conversation topics a bit under a minute ago, for Hakuryuu, the silence was getting almost as heavy as the heat. Then Shuu spoke up:
"Hakuryuu, thank you for always practicing with me in your free time even though you're probably already under a lot of pressure from the Fifth Sector. It means a lot to me."
Hakuryuu didn't manage to answer right away. His face, already red from the heat, grew a shade darker.
"D-don't mention it." He looked away. "Actually Shuu, is it fine if we don't head back to the residences right away?"
Shuu wasn't sure what to make out of that, so he just smiled, a bit awkwardly, and nodded. "Sure."
The darker boy didn't want them to walk aimlessly. He took the lead towards the closest beach, where he decided they would settle down until his friend wanted to return to the residences.
"What's that out of nowhere though?" Shuu questionned.
"... I'm sorry if that was awkward, Shuu, it was spontaneous." Hakuryuu paused. "You just got all serious, and I thought it would be a good time to keep on being serious, and have a conversation I've wanted to have for a while now."
Shuu only nodded in acknowledgement, and did not speak up until they arrived at the beach. The air was much colder and the wind more violent, he thought going there was not only for a good setting, but also would be nice on Hakuryuu who was struggling with the temperature. And it was obvious the later was getting relieved.
Shuu led his friend to a cove, to be shielded from the gale, where he would sit down on the white sand. Hakuryuu would sit besides him.
"So, what was that you wanted to talk about?" Shuu was a bit nervous, but he managed to hide it perfectly.
"Well, I never asked you before because that didn't seem like a... polite thing to do. But uh, who are you?" Hakuryuu didn't look at his friend when speaking. Maybe he didn't feel like looking at him was the thing to do in this situation, or maybe he was just embarrassed.
Shuu did not answer straight away. He laid down, and after a dozen of seconds, spoke up. "Who knows?" Was all that the slightly smaller boy answered, in a very soft voice.
"How long have you been living in the island? Where do you even live?" Hakuryuu questionned him further. Shuu did not answer. The white haired teen was getting impatient, but he had no reason to raise his voice or get mad, he knew he would be the one in the wrong if he did start a fight over that. Shuu could sense that Hakuryuu was tensing up. He gently put one of his hands over Hakuryuu's. "I will tell you, eventually."
Hakuryuu grabbed the hand of Shuu and squeezed it softly. He knew he wasn't getting anything else out of him. The sky was getting visibly darker, to the point seeing clearly was becoming tougher for Hakuryuu. He joined Shuu in looking at the now starry sky.
"You don't have to go back to the residences anytime soon, do you?" After a few long minutes of silence, Shuu spoke up.
"I do, but I don't want to." Hakuryuu replied. "To be truthful, I want this moment to last forever." He was glad Shuu couldn't see his pink face in the dark of night.
"Yeah, so do I." And following a few more seconds of silence, Shuu locked his fingers with Hakuryuu's. The younger male then shifted his head to try to get a glance at Shuu, who was already looking at him. They did not need to exchange any words, what they both wanted at this instant was obvious.