It's been soooo long! I'm so sorry, guys. It's really hard to find the time to write fanfiction in between school, show choir, work, and homework. But I hope you enjoy this chapter anyway. Even though it's far overdue.

Also, fun fact about the date on the text message. That wasn't a random date I pulled out of my ass. It was carefully calculated based on P4's date of start and end and the sequences of Kiss Me. Also, while calculating the date for the text message, I also discovered that Souji and his class graduate the same year that I do (2013)! Nifty, right? So we're the same age. Anyway, yeah. Hope you like it! Don't forget to review when you're done!

So we picked everybody up and drove all the way to the beach in Yosuke's SUV. Chie didn't end up going, but I can't say I was surprised. The whole ride there, I peeked into the back seats and silently watched Kanji sneak glances at Teddie, who sat in the seat next to his. It was a little sad to watch the two of them and think of how impossible this was going to be; I couldn't help but feel terrible imagining what it would be like if (or when) Yosuke and I failed. I leaned over and rested my head on my boyfriend's shoulder as he drove, sighing and getting my fill of a clear head while I still could.

Eventually we made it to the beach and we all scrambled out of the vehicle, excited and giddy because of the beautiful August weather, and we all lugged our beach bags and chairs down the beach until we found the spot we liked best. We set up our umbrellas quickly and took a look around, feeling pretty elated by the fact that there were hardly any people there besides us; we had practically an entire beach to ourselves. Rise and Naoto insisted that they didn't want to splash around in the water very much and Rise laid out her orange striped beach towel in the sand immediately with the intention of sunbathing. Naoto, clad in a loose-fitting T-shirt and cargo shorts, just sat down right in the sand under an umbrella and said nothing, instead pulling out a book.

"Will someone put tanning oil on my back for me?" Rise cooed as she lay on her stomach and untied her bikini top, letting the strings fall to her side.

I felt myself begin to panic as soon as I saw Teddie perk up and look in Rise's direction and I grabbed the little blonde boy by the arm and dragged him away from the mostly-naked temptress. I found myself about to be angry with Rise, but she didn't know why we were there; she didn't know that she was about to steal Teddie from Kanji. I shot Yosuke—who was right by my side—a look as I tried to lead Teddie toward the water.

"C'mon, Teddie," I said with a smile. "Let's go test the water!"

Teddie pouted. "Oh, but! I wanted to rub Rise with that oily stuff!" Yosuke laughed immediately and I almost leaned over to punch him. I didn't need him ruining my daring rescue.

I could already see Kanji sitting disappointedly on a towel under his umbrella and looking rather put off, and at that one moment of distraction Teddie slipped from my grasp and ran quickly to Rise. He grabbed the bottle of tanning oil and squeezed some onto his fingers, massaging it into Rise's skin next.

"That feels goooood, Teddie," she purred, and Kanji fell backward onto his towel. Yosuke and I looked at each other for a moment, our eyes telling the other that maybe this would be harder than we thought, and we both approached our friend and sat on either side.

"Oh, yeah," Kanji said sarcastically as he turned his head to look up at me. "Clearly he's not straight. Only a gay man would run oil onto a hot model like Rise and be so clearly miserable." We were far enough from the model and her personal masseur that neither of them could hear Kanji's critical satire, and good thing, too. Yosuke and I both looked over to where Teddie and Rise sat and cringed; Teddie looked positively ecstatic to be touching Rise in such a way. I groaned quietly.

"This isn't going to be easy," I reminded him, turning my attention back to Kanji. He sat up and stared down into his lap.

"I know that," he said quietly, his voice small. "But it's not a game for me. This is my life."

Yosuke nodded, breathing slowly. "Yeah…" he said. "I totally understand."

"A game…" I breathed, trying to remember why 'not a game' had stood out in my mind so much when Kanji'd said it. Then I remembered my dream from the previous night and lit up. "Oh, I had a dream last night," I said after a few moments. "It actually was a game, Kanji. Like a carnival game."

I went into further detail about my dream, including the last part where Kanji loaded up his last heart bullet and the sound of the gun woke me up. Both of the men I sat with stared at me blankly.

"I think that pretty much sums it up," Yosuke said with a laugh after five or six seconds of staring, and Kanji laughed as well.

"Yeah, I'd have to say it does," he agreed, clearly now in a slightly better mood than before.

"So, what do you guys say to finally testing out that water?" I asked, beginning to rise from my spot in the sand. "It's not super hot outside, but the water shouldn't be too cold. It's summer."

"Sure, let's go," Kanji said with a smile as he and Yosuke stood up as well. I threw off my T-shirt to remain just in my swim trunks and Kanji and my boyfriend both followed suit shortly before following me to step carefully into where the tide was rolling in gently.

Kanji took a few more steps until he was out to his knees, the sparkling ocean water surrounding him quickly. "It's not too cold," he said as he bent over and splashed some water to where I stood next to Yosuke, just up to our ankles.

"Maybe not for you," Yosuke chuckled as he splashed back.

"Swimming!" came a voice suddenly from behind us. "I want to swim, too!" And suddenly Teddie came running and stomping into the water, splashing water on Yosuke's and my legs as he went by, and he joined Kanji in the deeper water, going out even further, up to his waist. "Come on, Kanji! I bet I'll win in a splash fight!"

I watched as Kanji's face flushed slightly, unable to stop myself from smiling like an idiot as our friend happily complied. I took a step toward Yosuke and slid my hand into his casually.

"Maybe this won't be so hard," I said softly into his ear, and he gave me a gentle smile in return.

"Are you kidding? I'm going to win!" Kanji returned as he waded out to follow Teddie and splashed him with a giant wave of the salty seawater.

"Hey! No fair, you got a head start!" the bear-boy whined as he rebutted with a large quantity of water as well sent straight toward Kanji's figure.

"You're just afraid I'm going to beat you!"

And for a moment, I felt hopeful.

I had to work early in the morning the next day, a shift from six until ten, so Yosuke just dropped me off at my apartment when we were done at the beach and he went home. It was admittedly lonely without him there, so when I got back after such a long day all I wanted to do was sleep.

I was lying in my bed just minutes from falling asleep and sending my last goodnight texts to Yosuke.

"Hey, I had fun today. :) Thanks for taking me,"I told him, and a minute later he replied, "I had fun too. You don't need to thank me. (:"

I flipped open my phone to reply and typed, "Still, it was fun. Anyway, I'm about to go to sleep. I have to work at 6 tomorrow. :/"

Pressing the send button, I gripped my phone in my hand and leaned back against my pillow, letting my eyes fall shut and I dozed off for a moment before I felt my phone vibrate with a reply.

"Sleep well, then. I love you. 3"

I smiled and replied only with, "I love you too."

And I laid back into my bed after placing my phone on my bedside desk, pulling up the covers and stretching before letting sleep take me.

I awoke a few hours later when I heard my phone buzz again, and my first thought was that it was Yosuke; something was wrong. I immediately threw off my covers and reached over to the device, throwing it open as quickly as I could to read the message.

When I saw who it was from, I was surprised at once—but when the message opened and loaded, I could only stare at the screen.

From: Chie Satonaka
Received: Tue August 27, 2013 2:17AM

Yukiko's back.