Day at the Beach

Inspired by the omake at the end of Volume 2 of the manga


The young Esquires didn't care why their principal had given them permission to go to a beach outside of campus—they hoped it was for their performances during their exam—but they loved it. The sun was so bright; the clouds were few, but fluffy white, and they were all managing to get along on this once-in-a-while deal.

They'd decided to wait until everyone was finished in the change rooms so that they could head to their spot on the beach together—there were a lot of people out after all, and they were still a little jittery from the atta—exam just the day before.

Shima looked beyond Konekomaru as he walked out. "Where's Okumura?"

"Ummm, which one?" The short boy asked after a moment.

Shima started. It wasn't often that he or anyone else had to differentiate between the two boys. "Well, either I suppose. I didn't even see them go into the change room."

Konekomaru shrugged and stopped to wait with their nearly completed group. After another 10 minutes passed and there was still no sign of the two boys they all agreed to walk a little ways down the beach to see if maybe they were already out there.

And they were. Just not looking the way any of them expected.

"W-what are you two doing?" Shima asked quietly, arms limp and neck drooped.

A quiet 'hmm?' was the harmonious reply they received. Both of the Okumura's looked upwards at their peers and students; both were sitting on a towel side by side, and were shaded by a large umbrella perched in the sand.

"You don't even have bathing suits on!" Shima complained.

And they didn't. The twins both wore cargo shorts, sandals, t-shirts, and plain button up shirts over-top of that. Little did they know, Rin could no longer go in public shirtless, lest his abnormal tail be seen. So, he would have to remain on the beach, fully dressed, and watch his friends swimming in what looked like the most refreshing water he'd ever laid eyes on.

Yukio on the other hand...

"Don't you want to go swimming, Rin? Yuki-chan?" Shiemi asked, pulling on her fingers nervously—she wasn't used to wearing a bathing suit, let alone wearing one where other people could see her, so she was hoping she'd have her closest friends there to help take her mind off how uncomfortable she was.

"W-well, I kind of have a headache, so I don't really feel like swimming today," Rin laughed.

Bon's eyes narrowed at the lame, and very obvious, excuse, but if the guy didn't want to go in the water then he wasn't going to bother with it. Then his eyes shifted to the young teacher. "What about you, Sensei?"

Yukio's back got straighter and his hand lifted to push back his glasses. "Someone has to supervise."

Rin snorted. "Yeah, right, 'supervise'. You just don't want to take your shirt off in front of them." He said lowly.

But not low enough for no one to miss it. All eyes were now trained on Yukio, whose face slowly turned pink (something that none of them, bar Rin, and maybe Shiemi, had ever seen).

"That is not why, Rin!" He whispered vehemently. "I am your teacher; therefore I should supervise the activity."

"There's a lifeguard."

"He's not a trained Exorcist, now is he?"

"No, but at least he's not afraid to take his shirt off in front of someone with a pair of eyes."

"I am not afraid to take my shirt off!"

"Then do it!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

The group watched in shock as the two of them continued their verbal spar; sure, they'd seen the twins goad each other before, but this in front of them spoke of a deeper relationship that had been invisible to them before now. They jumped when Rin's hand grabbed at Yukio's face, and they realized he'd grabbed the glasses right off his brother's face and thrown them over his shoulder. Shiemi's jaw dropped when Rin wrestled Yukio to the ground and somehow got his button-up off his shoulders.

"Hey, you guys..." Shima started nervously, hands raised defensively.

But nothing could be heard through the growling, and the 'stop it, Rin's, or the 'I am making you take this shirt off, moley-four-eyes''! , or even the 'I swear to God I will shoot you's.

"Ok, that is enough!"

Everyone stopped at Izumo's harsh bluntness.

"Rin, get off of your brother! If he doesn't want to go swimming, for whatever reason, then just leave him be! You got it?"

For a moment nobody moved. When Izumo still hadn't taken her hands off her hips, Rin finally released a frustrated sigh and got up from where he'd pinned down Yukio. In silence Izumo walked to the water's edge, and in silence the rest followed her.

Rin sat with his arms across his knees, chin resting atop the pile of limbs. He felt when Yukio lifted himself up from the ground, when he straightened his side of the towel, and when he too sat facing the water in the same fashion as he.

"They're just moles, Yukio," he mumbled. "Nobody gives a shit but you."

Yukio just pouted.


A/N: This can be considered fluff, right? I think it's cute and funny anyway. In case nobody knew, the omake I'm talking about shows Yukio and there's all these little arrows pointing to the moles all over his face and arms. And he's saying "They're multiplying" or something like that. It just makes me laugh how self-conscious he is about them, and I just know that he probably has them all over his chest and back and legs.

I realized after reading chapter 2 over again that I have a couple of spelling and grammatical errors. Also, I shifted tenses in a few spots. If this were something for class, or for a publication, I would go back and edit it, but I can't find the want to do so here.