How many times had he been forced under now? How much more water would he be able to take in before it was too much? Rei couldn't think anymore and had lost track of how much sea water he swallowed; he tried to keep his head above the water, but the giant waves crashing into him was making it easier said than done. What had happened to Makoto? Wasn't he just in front of him?
"M-Mako—" he choked, trying to call out. He then thrashed around in the water and tried to spot him, but it was a useless attempt; he just wasn't strong enough. Another wave hit him and muffled his hearing for a few seconds, but even through that, he heard a faint shout of Makoto's name. It was Haruka's voice, and it didn't sound far.
"H-Har—" he choked again; still failing miserably at keeping his head above the water. When he resurfaced, he heard another voice.
"Rei-chan! I'm coming!" Rei was able to distinguish the faint outline of the blond swimming towards him.
Suddenly Nagisa gasped and uttered something that sounded like "No way!" Rei opened his eyes and saw the blur of a giant wall of water, the biggest wave he had seen that night, hovering over them.
"Rei-chaaan!" Nagisa swam over to Rei at lightning speed and took a firm hold of Rei's hand. "Rei-chan, do not let go of my hand, you hear me! We have to dive under this wave. Take a deep breath, hurry!"
Everything was happening too fast, and before he knew it, Nagisa had pulled Rei under the water just before the wave crashed on top of them. The pressure from Nagisa's hand on his suddenly vanished and Rei's heart dropped.
He opened his eyes to look around, though it was pointless since he couldn't see without his glasses and the water only made it worse. He felt a sudden pain in his chest and he knew he needed air. He couldn't tell where he was and just kicked his legs aimlessly, only hoping for the best until he finally resurfaced and felt a speck of relief as he swallowed the air.
"Nagisa?!" Rei managed to gasp; he looked around frantically before the water forced him under again. He attempted to call out to Nagisa every time he resurfaced, but to no avail. Rei started to panic and squinted through the rain, hoping to spot the bright color of Nagisa's hair against the dark grays from the storm. No…Nagisa…he couldn't…he can't…Rei had to hold back a sob and was forced under once again. His strength was diminishing quickly and the stroking of his arms seemed useless now. It was hopeless…he was sinking.
Rei suddenly felt something grasp his arm and he was being tugged upward toward the surface again. He sputtered and felt a pair of arms wrap around him. "Rei-chan! Are you alright?!"
Relief filled Rei's entire body as he recognized the voice. "Nagisa?!"
"Sorry for letting go of you. The current threw me for a loop!" Nagisa chuckled. "Come on, we're not far from the beach. I can't do this by myself, so kick as hard as you can, Rei-chan!"
Rei nodded and used all the strength his legs could muster. The waves kept thrashing against them, but Nagisa's grip never loosened until they were walking safe on the shore and collapsed on the sand. It looked as though they were in a little cove with a cluster of trees and an empty fire pit very close to the shore.
They laid there for a few minutes to catch their breath, then Nagisa let out an airy laugh. "That was a close one, huh, Rei-chan?!"
"Yeah. I suppose it was. I-I lost your kick board, I'm sorry."
"Oh, don't worry about that! Better my kick board than you!" Nagisa rolled over onto his side and smiled warmly at him. "I'm really glad you're okay, Rei-chan! You really had us worried." A sudden breeze made him shiver. "Ah, it's freezing, come on! Let's take cover under the trees and get out of this rain!" Nagisa jumped up from his lying position rather quickly and held his hand out to Rei. Once Rei took it and stood up, Nagisa dragged him along the beach toward the trees, but Rei suddenly stopped walking, which caused Nagisa to yank at his arm and come to a stop as well. "Rei-chan?"
"How…how can you be so calm about this?! I nearly…you nearly…you…nearly…" Rei covered his face with his free hand. "I didn't know what to do when I could no longer feel your hand on mine. I thought that you…I thought I'd lost you."
Nagisa only smiled again. "But you didn't, did you? We're both here and fine! No use worrying about things that could have happened, right?"
"But…but what about Makoto and Haruka?! What happened to—"
Nagisa put a calming hand onto Rei's shoulder. "Stop worrying, Rei-chan. I'm sure they're completely fine. Everything's going to be okay." Nagisa gave him a warm smile again. That's when Rei finally hit his breaking point and he pulled Nagisa into a tight embrace, resting his head onto Nagisa's shoulder.
"Rei…chan?" Nagisa questioned softly, only to return the warm embrace when he heard a quiet sob in his ear, courtesy of Rei. "Everything's fine now, Rei-chan." Nagisa ran his hand up and down Rei's back to comfort him. "We're okay."
After a few minutes of this, Rei's sobbing finally subsided and they pulled apart from the embrace. The hug made him feel a little better; he was just so shaken up about the situation and was just glad that nothing happened to Nagisa because of the stupid thing he did. He still felt horrible, however, for getting everyone into this mess and was still worried about Makoto and Haruka. He remembered Makoto hadn't looked quite himself while trying to save him.
Rei turned toward the trees and collapsed on a log that had probably been placed there for the campfire. He rested his face in his hand once again and noticed Nagisa gasp and rush to the shore out of the corner of his eye.
"Hey, Rei-chan! It's your kick-board!"
"Don't you mean your kick-board?"
"Nah, I don't really need it anymore. It's your kick-board now." He scooped it up from the water and brought it over and handed it to him. "Here, Rei-chan."
"Thank you very much."