Okay, NEVER listen to stupid people on youtube while writing. Then it makes every bit of dialogue sound like them, and then you think the story's dumb, and then you rewrite it….

So instead, I listened to "Hello/How are you?" while writing. If you're interested. It almost goes along with this chapter, I guess. The mood, I mean!

Have….fun!

This summer, I know, will be spent with Kaito and Lola, Kaito and Lola, Kaito and Lola. Like last summer, and the summer before, and every summer prior. We'll go to Kaito's our last day of school, and Lola's on our first, and we'll spend the days in between at the library and the public pool. Lola's going to ask me how she looks in a bikini, and I'll tell her to ask Kaito, and he'll blush, like usual. We're all close …. In our neighborhood, aside from Akaito, I just have them. There are a few others, but we've never spoken outside of school. I'm not sure if they'd want to. We don't talk much in school, either.

Summer's a nice time, isn't it? You're done and don't have to worry over homework, and it's hot outside…

Two very cliché reasons.

Anyway, back to my summers. When we go to the swimming pool, we have a system. Yuki pushes Lola into the pool, Lola pushes Kaito's little sister, Kaiko, Kaiko pushes me, and I push Kaito. Kaito's persistent; he'll never fall in. Usually it takes four pushes, or Kaiko will grab his foot and drag him into the pool, calling him "Bakaito". Kaiko's strong for a ten-year-old. One day she pushed me in, right onto the filter, and I scraped my hand pretty bad. Another time, she pushed me in right after I pushed her brother, and I accidentally kicked him in the head.

We like to play a strange variant of hide-and-seek with partners. The teams are always Kaiko and Lola, Meiko and Kaito, Yuki and Leon, Lola's brother. Kaito and I hid in Kaiko's toy closet, which had a small window. She noticed movement, said "I've found you, now you die!" And threw herself through the window, landing on Kaito. I had to step as far as the closet space allowed to avoid falling victim to a sibling wrestling match. In short, Kaiko's a ball of energy, and dangerously competitive in hide-and-seek "Shion edition".

Currently, I'm backstage with Kaito. Surprised?

"Kaito, are you addicted to stairs?" I joke. There's some stairs leading up to a platform on stage, and I've found Kaito sitting on them, and he looked like he'd been thinking when I came. Thankfully, he's not interrupting the show. The curtain's closed for a duet.

"No," He laughs, "Unlike you, I have no addictions."

"What about ice cream?"

"S-shut up."

"If you're not addicted to that, I'm not addicted to green tea."

"M-Maybe a little."

At this point, I'm on the stairs too.

"How much did you drink today?" He asks.

"None…" He smiles warmly.

"See? I knew-"

"…Yet," I interrupt. He rolls his eyes.

"Meiko!"

"Hmph!"

" Meiko?"

"Hm?"

"What did Miku and Rin say the other day?"

"Oh…Nothing. I don't think they heard. I acted like I'd been talking about Ms. Kiyomi."

"Nice recovery, then."

"Thanks."

"Kaito?"

"Yeah?"

"Sorry I interrupted you."

"It's okay."

The next few minutes are quiet as we sit. The curtain starts to open, and we get off.

"Meiko! Dell kicked me!" Aku yells.

"Dell!" I scold, "No kicking!" He sticks his tongue out, "Ugh, Dell."

Kaito's sitting behind us, and staring at his feet.

"Hah!" Dell shouts suddenly, aiming at Kaito's face with his finger pointed like a gun. His PSP is in his hand as usual, but behind his back. He's pressing buttons to make it sound like gun triggers.

"Cut it out, Dell!"

"Hah!" He spins, doing the same to me. I rip an ear bud out his ear.

"Gah! Gaaah!" He hisses, "Meiko!"

"Don't shoot me, idiot!" I joke.

"Onstage for bows!" Ms. Kiyomi calls.

"Here we go!"