Siopao: (05/20/2013) I'm back with a swifter update! Thanks to luckyclover15, ayaloverei, and CuteBubbles for reviewing chapter two. It means a lot!
Disclaimer: I don't own GALS!, or its characters. Plot's mine.
Setting: Post series. In the manga version, the group goes to Hawaii after graduation. This story takes place after that trip.
One Summer's Day
Chapter Three - Conflict
By: Screaming Siopao
"Ugh," Yuuya groaned as his eyes fluttered open. He supported his head, afraid that if he didn't it would just roll off his body. It was pounding as if there was a jackhammer in his brain. The new light entering his pupils burned like hell as he cursed under his breath. He looked around briefly at his unfamiliar surroundings— a pink wall, white bed sheets, multiple stuffed animals, and an orchid on the window sill. 'Where am I? What happened last night?'
Suddenly, a flashback. He remembered the bar and all those damned shots he shouldn't have taken. He remembered hopping into a cab. Where to? the driver asked. I don't know, he replied. Anywhere. Anywhere with her. Then, he remembered her face. Her skin. Her intoxicating scent. He put the bits and pieces together.
'Dammit. Don't tell me I did something stupid.'
"Nii!" a certain brunette suddenly barged in. "You're awake, that's good. I thought you'd never get up."
"Aya-chan," he mumbled. His rough voice startled him and he tried clearing his throat. "Where am I? What time is it?" she let out a soft giggle, amused by his disoriented state.
"You're in my room. And, hmm, it's just about 10 o'clock," she chimed, setting down a glass of water and a bowl of oatmeal on the nightstand. "I know this isn't much, but it's light so it'll be good for your headache."
"Th- Thanks, but how do you know I have a headache?" Yuuya immediately gulped the entire glass of water down and started making his way to the oatmeal.
"I just figured you would, after... after all the drinks you had last night," Aya stated, awkwardly looking away. She recalled his strange behavior from last night. "You really worried me, you know."
Yuuya looked at the angelic being before him. There he was, sleeping on her bed, taking up space in her room, eating her food, and causing her a burden. Yet, she was always so kind. Aya never failed to comfort him. He wanted so much for her to take care of him like this forever.
"You know, Nii—"
"Yuuya," the boy directly and promptly said to her. Aya's eyes lit up in surprise.
"E- Excuse me?" she asked, a bit surprised.
"Yuuya. You can just call me Yuuya," he explained. Aya blinked a few times upon his request. Her lips parted, but a sound didn't escape for a few moments.
"Ah... Yu- Yuuya," she slowly said, as if it were some new foreign word that she had just learned. "Yuuya-kun."
This did it. He set the bowl down and, in one swift movement, pulled Aya towards him onto the bed and wrapped his arms around her small figure.
"Ehh? What are you—" Aya struggled to free herself from his firm hold.
"Say it again," he whispered to her. "Say my name again." She calmed down a bit, but flushed hysterically due to being so close to his face.
"Yuuya-kun," she softly repeated, granting his request. 'Nii- er, Yuuya-kun... is so handsome.'
It's not like it took her long to realize this. She had always known that the best friend of her boyfriend was undoubtedly gorgeous. Every girl in Tokyo would do anything to make him theirs. She had always been fond of him, but her emotional attachment to Rei was just much stronger since the beginning. Nonetheless, she was captivated by Yuuya at this moment; she was human, after all.
Yuuya had to admit it— he loved the sound of his name on Aya's lips. Her sweet, gentle voice enunciating his name for the very first time was perfect to him. Mami was always so direct— never had she once called him "Nii" but she had never called him "Yuuya-kun" either. It was just plain, old "Yuuya" since the beginning with Mami, and it kind of intimidated him, a bit. She skipped all the formalities and went straight to being intimate with him.
"Can you do that?" Yuuya asked softly, barely inches away from Aya's face. "Can you just call me by my name?" Aya gulped, nervous all of a sudden.
"Y- Yes," she nodded. Suddenly realizing how close Aya had been, Yuuya reluctantly let her go. She took a step back and looked away, her angelic face covered in an intense blush. It kind of please him to know he had that type of effect on her.
He knew this was wrong. Showing up to her house late at night, drunk as all hell. Sleeping in her bed. Being so close to her like this. She was his best friend's girlfriend. And although they were on rocky grounds, he did have a girlfriend of his own. He knew this was all utterly and undeniably wrong of him.
Yet, being with Aya just felt so right.
o0o0o0o
"Ran! Miyuu!" Aya shouted as she stepped onto the hot sandy surface of Isshiki Beach, Rei close behind. It had been quite a few weeks since the gang's last beach trip, the last one being their graduation trip to Hawaii. Although Isshiki Beach was no Hawaii, Aya would still choose nature over city life any day.
"Oi! Aya!" Ran waved her hands, signaling her two friends to come over. Miyuu was standing by her, with Yamato and Tatsuki skim-boarding on the water. Aya ran towards her friends, not even realizing how excited she was.
"Aya! You're finally here!" Miyuu exclaimed while hugging her best friend.
"Yeah, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Aya returned the hug.
"I know," Miyuu blushed, holding her face in her hands. She looked over at Yamato lovingly. "I'm still getting adjusted to the married life."
"You're so lucky," Aya looked back at Rei, who was slowly approaching, and couldn't help but feel a bit envious. Don't get her wrong, Aya was completely content with how things were with Rei. This was the most stable their relationship had ever been, but she couldn't help that a storm was brewing...
"Aya-chan," a voice called out, snapping the brunette out of her thoughts. She spun around to see the handsome face, broad shoulders, and toned chest of a certain second placer.
"Yuu.. Yuuya-kun," she slightly blushed at his presence, not even realizing that he had been here the entire time. It had been about a week since their last encounter at Aya's house.
"Hey Nii," Ran called out. "Where's Mami-rin?"
"Ehh, she's really busy this summer what with her own shop in 'Bukuro," he stated, never taking his eyes off of Aya. She was only wearing a pink and white striped bikini with a straw summer hat, and suddenly felt very self-conscious. Luckily, Rei arrived and came to the rescue.
"Yo," Rei coolly greeted his friend. Yuuya simply looked away nodded his head. Without a word, he went towards the water to join Yamato and Tatsuki on the skim boards. Rei shrugged his shoulders, not really caring about Yuuya's dismissiveness.
"I'm going to go into the water, Rei-kun," Aya said as Miyuu motioned for her to join the rest of them. "You coming?"
"Nah, I'm just going to set up the blanket and umbrella."
"Alright then," she sweetly smiled as she ran over towards the group who was currently laughing at Tatsuki, who had just slipped off of his skim-board. As Rei looked on at Aya, he noticed that he was not the only one watching her. In the distance, Yuuya was intently watching Aya as she approached the group. "Tch," he scoffed, but decided to let it go.
It annoyed him, he wasn't going to lie about that much. Yuuya had been keeping his eye on Aya when he had his own girlfriend. Where the hell had Mami been anyway? He wished she would just show up and put the tight leash around Yuuya's neck once again.
As Rei finished setting up the umbrella, he heard his best friend's voice call out to Aya.
"Ne, Aya-chan, do you want to go get some snow cones?" Yuuya asked. Aya looked at him, as if she was unsure.
"Eh... well, sure, why not? Let's go Yuuya-kun," she smiled softly at him. She thought about asking Rei, but remembered that he wasn't too fond of sweet things, so she decided against. it.
'What the hell?' Rei thought as he overheard their conversation. 'When did she start calling him by his name?' Yeah, it bothered him, but Rei, being himself, just quickly shook it off and tried to pretend he thought nothing of it. However, he was really starting to become ticked off, though he didn't want to admit it.
Meanwhile, at the snow cone stand, Yuuya was trying to ease the awkward tension between him and Aya. He knew that showing up to her house drunk last week made her uncomfortable. He could tell she was just trying to forget about it, but he could see right through her, by how fidgety she was acting.
"I'll have mango please," she smiled at the snow-cone clerk, who was an old man with a grey mustache.
"My, my. What a beautiful young lady," said the old man who, then, turned to Yuuya. "You're quite a lucky boy, aren't you?"
"Ehh? N- No, I'm not her boyfriend," Yuuya said nervously. He was a bit sad at the statement he just said.
"Well, then what are you waiting for, young man?" the man asked, chuckling. Aya blushed in embarrassment and took her snow cone, trying to get out of this situation as quick as possible.
"W- Well, we should get back to everyone now," Aya stuttered, obviously a bit fidgety. She started pacing away quickly from the snow cone stand.
"Wait, Aya-chan!" Yuuya grabbed his lychee-flavored snow cone and chased after Aya, who was already some distance away. She sure was fast, Yuuya thought. Wait... what was that thing ahead of Aya? He started running towards her. "Aya-chan, stop! You're about to step on a crab!"
"What?" she suddenly screeched to a halt in panic, for she did not even spot the clawed creature. Yuuya, who was now close behind, bumped into her as she suddenly stopped, sending them both to fall down on the sandy ground.
At this point, both of their snow cones were on the ground, rolled in sand. Aya was on her back, with Yuuya hovering above her.
"Ouch..." Aya whimpered. Yuuya was gripping her wrist tightly. He was mesmerized by her beauty. Her eyes were big and dark. Her face was pale but held a slight red blush due to the heat. Her collarbones were prominent and her chest was covered in a thin layer of sweat.
'Dammit. She's gorgeous...' he inwardly thought as weird feelings started to stir inside him.
"Yuuya. What do you think you're doing?"
Shit. A low, cool voice. A voice he was all too familiar with, ever since junior high. He looked up and peered through his bangs, only to see the great Otohata Rei.
"O- Oh, Rei," Yuuya got up and brushed the sand off of his arms and legs. Aya sat up slowly and held her head, which she hit pretty hard on the ground. "Ah, Aya-chan, are you alri—"
Before Yuuya could help Aya up, Rei had already beaten him to it. She groaned as Rei helped her up, her head swooning from the dizziness.
"Aya! Are you alright?" Miyuu came running down towards the three. Luckily, she was the only one who witnessed the ordeal.
"I- I'm fine," she lied, still holding her head. She tried to smile.
"Yamazaki," Rei called out. "Help Aya back and get her some ice for her head."
"But, Rei-kun, I'm alright. No need to—"
"Just go." Rei's tone was curt and firm. Aya knew better than to go against him now. Miyuu nodded and put her arm around Aya's waist to help support her.
"What the hell are you thinking?" Rei spat at Yuuya once the two girls were out of hearing distance.
"it was an accident, Rei." Yuuya was admittedly a bit intimidated by his best friend. He started blurting things out with no filter, all of a sudden. "Everything was. When I held her for the first time at the train station. When I showed up to her house drunk last week— it was all an accident."
"What?" Rei was shocked at what he was hearing. "Yuuya, Why?"
"Because," Yuuya paused. He looked at the intensity in Rei's eyes. He knew Rei could probably kill him, or at least inflict some major injuries on him, but he had to be open with him. He had to say what he was about to say. He was his best friend, after all. He deserved the truth. "Because I— I like Aya."
Without a word of reply, Rei clenched his fist and sent a potent blow to Yuuya's face, causing him to face the sandy ground for the second time that day.
One Summer's Day
Chapter Three - Conflict: End.
Siopao: Yikes! Please review, my lovely readers. It'll help me to update quicker!
