Idea

"So did your date fail?" Shima asked the very second he saw Suguro walk through the front doors of their dorm hall. He'd been waiting in the lobby on the couch with Konekomaru, who was pretty much waiting there unwillingly, in order to ask Bon about his date.

"Leave me alone…" Suguro replied dismissively, walking through the lobby and heading right to the elevator.

Shima got up and followed Suguro quickly, "So, it didn't go well?" he asked again as the elevator doors closed in his face.

"Shima, do you think it's a good idea to tease Bon? I mean, it's bad enough he has to face Kamiki-san tomorrow. Leave him alone for a while." Konekomaru chimed in with slight defense.

"He's such a drama queen. It's just a bet. Either way, he was gonna lose, right? Date a guy and like it, or lose a bet to Izumo-chan… Well, for me, I'd rather just lose the bet. But Bon had no chance at happiness going into this thing. You'd hate either option."

"…Don't base how others feel on how you feel, Shima." The shortest of the three said as he headed to the doors that led to the stairs.

"Oh come on! You know he would've lost regardless of what he did tonight!"

"I'm putting this whole thing out of my mind. It'll be over tomorrow, let's just hope Kamiki-san doesn't make a big deal about it in class tomorrow…"

"Hey, how'd your date go?" Yukio asked when he got into his and Rin's room and saw his brother lying on his bed, tossing a ball up at the ceiling.

"It was fine." Rin replied a little flatly.

Yukio, ever the wiser since he had actually witnessed the majority of the date, raised an eyebrow, "Fine? Not good? Not bad? Just… fine?"

Rin stopped tossing his ball and rolled over so his back was facing Yukio, letting the ball bounce off his bed and onto the floor, "Yeah."

"From your demeanor, I could guess it wasn't just fine. But if you don't want to talk about it, then that's that." Yukio said. He dismissed it because he knew if he went to class tomorrow, he'd have his definite answer from the way the others were acting. For now, he was more concerned with the reports he'd received from Osaka claiming there was dark pollution in the water at the beaches. Not to mention he was a bit worried about whether Rin and Shiemi would pass the exam he would be administering tomorrow. "You might want to study a bit." He advised as he sat down at his desk.

"I studied already. I'll be fine."

"Alrighty. But who knows? I may toss in some trick questions just to catch you."

Rin sat up and squinted at Yukio, who smiled back at him innocently. After snatching up the notes Suguro let him borrow yesterday, he got off his bed and made his way out of the room. If nothing else, studying on the roof in the moonlight would be good for relaxing his nerves.

Rin wanted his date with Suguro to have gone well. No, it didn't have to be perfect, and no, it didn't even need to lead to another date. But this was his chance to make a decent impression on Suguro; let him see that he wasn't just a comrade, but a friend. That idea went up in flames, though. Suguro had been annoyed and acted a bit weird most of the night they spent together.

Staring down at the man's neat handwriting under the bright, pale moonlight, Rin wondered if they would ever be actual friends.

After leaning back, he let the open notebook slip from his hands and rest on his stomach. If anything, at least a piece of Suguro could be his for just a moment.

He didn't know why he wanted Suguro's approval so badly, nor did he know why he wanted to be close to him right now, but it didn't stop him from enjoying the notebook's presence on his body.

"Heh, you'd think I want him as my boyfriend or something…" he said, and then laughed at the jive idea of him and Suguro together in that way. Not long after his laughter faded, the silence of the night sank in, and crickets chirped against his not-so-funny joke. Silence ate away at him seamlessly as he let it sit in his mind and nestle there comfortably.

And it was then he realized wanting Suguro in that way wasn't as far from the truth as he first thought it was.

The idea of dating Suguro… Going to the movies and spending more time together—laughing and talking aimlessly while simply enjoying each other's company—it enthralled him. And the more he considered it, the more the idea shined dazzlingly like the moon up in the burnt out night sky. Him and Suguro. His tail wagged, exuberant and reflecting his blissful excitement as it slid back and forth against his back. Sure, there'd be arguments, and probably fights, but no one had captured his attention, and even very recent lustful desires, the way Suguro had. Heck, their first few times interacting, all he did was marvel at him, his smarts, style, and attitude alike.

It was a bit of a long shot, but he allowed himself the pleasure of this notion. Because nothing in this world was impossible. All he had to do was work for it.

"Maybe if he's here this summer, I'll visit him." He said to no one but the wind lightly breezing overhead. Yes, that was a sound idea. And hey, he could use hanging out with Shima and Konekomaru as an excuse to see him, seeing as he and Suguro weren't to a point where they could just hang out alone together.

Though, their date hadn't been so terrible that their relationship was inoperable, he thought with a smile.

First thing was first, though. He had to finish studying for his exam tomorrow. If he failed, he'd let Shiemi down, since they promised each other they'd pass this together, and he'd prove Yukio right that he wasn't yet fit to be an exorcist.

"I'll show everyone what I've got!" He said, stapling that statement on his determined heart in the midst of the airy, calm night.

The next morning, Yukio woke up to a cold, empty room. This was strange because normally, Rin was still sleeping at… pulling out his glasses and looking at the clock on his desk, he was surprised to see that it was six thirty in the morning. Yes, this was strange indeed.

Normally, he'd have to ask Rin to wake up at least a couple times before the alarm did the job for him.

"Nii-san may have fallen asleep on the roof…" he suspected as he tossed his sheets back and went on looking for his twin brother.

To his surprise, Rin was not on the roof, and there was no sign of him anywhere in the dorm. Even Kuro and Ukobach hadn't seen him.

This was borderline worrisome.

Had some demon came and defeated Rin…?

If he didn't show up to the exam at 8, something he knew his brother wouldn't miss, Yukio decided he would have someone else administer it and track down Rin himself. And with that, he stared getting prepared for the day ahead of him. Not to mention, he was asked by Mephisto to come visit him after he gave his exam.

"R—Rin?" Shiemi's sweet voice called as she trekked onto campus and saw the demon-boy sitting on the fountain with his nose in a notebook.

"Oh, Shiemi!" Rin smiled, his tail wagging eagerly, "What's up? What are you doing here so early?" he asked her when she came over to him and sat down with her suitcase.

"I was going to eat breakfast with Paku-chan and maybe Kamiki-san if she comes. Would you like to join us?"

Rin shuddered and trembled at the idea. Paku was a delight to be around, but Izumo was bad enough on her good days… Just thinking about her hounding him about his and Suguro's date made him uneasy. "I think I'll keep studying. Thanks though."

"Those are Suguro-kun's notes?" the blonde observed as the pages blew in the light morning breeze. She recognized the handwriting a little, and was under the impression that Rin had given Suguro back his notebook already.

"Yeah. He left it in my dorm that night. Guess he doesn't need it." Rin grinned, beaming about what good luck it was that he'd come across this notebook in their living room area.

"You should return it to him. He's smart, but he might need it too."

"…Oh… yeah!" Rin agreed.

"Well, I'm going to eat for a bit. But I'll be in class a little early to finish studying. We can use my notes, if you want?"

Standing and nodding, Rin waved Shiemi off. "Sounds good!"

"Oh!" Shiemi seemed to remember something she wanted to say, "Well… Never mind! I'll ask you after breakfast!" she said nervously.

Finding Suguro in the morning wasn't exactly something Rin knew how to do. He didn't remember it when he was talking to Shiemi, but he usually didn't have the foggiest idea about when Suguro got to school. He was in class on time, but where he spent time before eight was a mystery.

For a moment as he walked around school hopelessly, he considered calling Kuro to help him. However, the sight of Shima's pink hair off in a crowd of students going about their respective morning routines made his eyes light up.

"Shima!" he called, running towards him with his tail wagging.

Shima raised an eyebrow and turned at the sound of his name, and he jumped when Rin was upon him, knocking them both to the ground from his eager speed. "Okumura! Watch it, will ya!?" he said, rubbing his side consolingly.

Rin sat upright and grinned, "Sorry! But if you're here-"

"Oh, I wanted to ask you! How'd your date go?" Shima suddenly said.

Had he not seen Suguro last night?

"Oh! Well… um… it-"

"Shima-san!"

Shima turned around, his eyes going wide, "Paku-chan!" he nearly swooned at the sight of her waving at him with a warm smile from the second floor of the lunch room. "Sorry, Okumura. We'll talk later!"

The sight of the adorable and sweet candy drop that was Paku was calling him, tugging at his heart near violently. Today, maybe he could get somewhere with her! Or Izumo. Either goddess was fine.

"W-wait! Where's Suguro?!"

"In class, duh!" the pink-haired, love smitten teen said as he stood up and hurried to the lunch building.

"Why didn't I look there first?!" Rin shouted in a berating manner before tearing off in the direction of that building he'd become too familiar with this past semester.

"Paku-chan!" Shima called as he came up to her in the lunch line with a grin on his face that tried for enchanting.

"Good morning. I was just looking for you because Izumo-chan was wondering about you for some reason."

Heartbeat accelerated. "Me? She was looking for me?!" Shima asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, and I think she had something to ask you. Oh, what was it?" Paku asked herself, closing her dark eyes and tapping her forehead with the backside of her thumb.

"Might it have been about a d-"

"Oh! She wanted to see you to talk about some game you played last night."

"Eh? Why would she…? Oh well, I've got to go find her. We should eat together sometime!" the pink-haired teen declared as he left Paku to the breakfast line.

Paku shook her head, but when she noticed Shiemi coming her way, she smiled brightly as she always did.

"Morning, Shiemi-chan. Is there any news I should know about?" she asked when the blonde got to her.

"Morning! And news…? Hm… Not that I can think of. Well, other than Rin and Suguro-kun going out on a date."

"Is that so?"

"Mhmm!"

Heart pounding nearly out of his chest at the thought of seeing Suguro again, Rin hurried down the halls of the True Cross Academy. Never had he wanted to get to class so badly before.

"No running in the halls!" a teacher scolded as she saw him coming her way.

"Right!" Rin said, slowing his pace so he was only fast-walking.

The classroom was just ahead of him now. Suguro was just ahead of him now.

But he had to play it cool. So he stopped before reaching the door so he could catch his breath and took a few deep breaths. His heart was another story. After all, what he was considering was quite bold and nothing less.

"So it failed, huh?" Izumo's voice came from inside the room. "Your date?"

Rin tensed up, and jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Rin?" Shiemi said curiously.

"Sh—Shiemi!"

"Wanna go inside and study a bit? There's still ten minutes."

"What are you doing here? I thought you were eating with Paku!"

"Oh, well, we decided to save it for lunch… our talk… Is it… is it okay that I spilled the beans?"

"Huh?"

"About your date… I'm sorry… I wanted to ask you about it, by the way. How'd it go?"

"It… uh…"

"Well, well! Look who got to class early! Hope you studied well, Nii-san." Yukio said as he came down the dim hallway. "Where have you been, anyway?"

"Nowhere." Rin said, and then entered the classroom. Most of the class was here and ready to take the exam now. There was nothing he could do in regards to asking Suguro out at this point.

Speaking of, Suguro was sitting in his usual spot and looking a bit irritated.

"Morning Izumo-chaaaan!" Shima said as he and Konekomaru arrived.

Before he took his seat, Rin went over to Suguro and handed him his notebook, avoiding eye contact. "Here. You left this at my place."

Taking his notebook, Suguro thanked Rin. "I'd been looking for this."

"Well, I kept it last night because I figured I'd need it more than you. And it was too late to bring it."

"Aw, isn't that sweet? The ape let the demon keep his notebook." Izumo teased from across the class. "So, just how did that date go?"

"It didn't go at all." Shima replied, waving his hand teasingly like a gossiping girl.

"Shima!" Suguro hissed irately.

"Well, no need to lie. You knew this was coming. Everyone, the date failed. We were right." The pink head said as he took his seat and pulled out a comic book. Sure, he was playing on Izumo's side, but it was just a silly idea anyway. There was no need for Suguro to be mad at all just because he couldn't prove himself right. He and Okumura were clearly not meant to get along in that way. After all, they were both guys, which was just strange to him. That was Shima's reasoning behind not having his best friend's back. It was in Suguro's best interest if he didn't.

Izumo continued her condescending look at Suguro. "Hah, I knew it. Guess you're not as capable as you thought you were."

Suguro fumed by leaning on his hand so that it covered his mouth. If he said anything now, he'd likely get into trouble.

Feeling a little bad for him, Rin wanted to say something to cheer him up, but in front of the class, no words would come out. So he retreated to his seat beside Shiemi and remained quiet, contemplating what he should do about this situation. Many things came to mind that were retaliation-oriented, but he wanted to go for a bit more subtlety.

"Class, it looks like it's time to begin the exam." Yukio said as he gazed at his watch. After picking the exams up, he walked around the classroom and distributed them. "Good luck everyone." He finished as he gave out the last one.

Rin looked down at the paper presented, but avoided looking at any of the words. He was so nervous, his heart beat much faster than it had been. What if he failed? Looking over to Shiemi, he found a bit of confidence in the girl as she placed the first letter in an answer space. If she would try, he would try as well!

Yukio read over some papers from a previous assignment as his class reached the end of their examination. This was the last classroom activity they'd be doing together for a while… It depressed him the tiniest bit. But seeing his fine students learning the information necessary to have successful careers in exorcism softened the blow, even if only a little.

"Everyone, please read your emails today as I will be sending you something important." He said as he noticed some students finishing up. That needed to be said before any of them left, as none of them would after this exam in which they assumed the semester was over.

"Here you go, Okumura-san." Izumo said as she handed in her paper with quite the accomplished and somewhat smug look on her face. Yukio took it with nary a doubt that she'd missed any more than ten questions at most.

"Whew! Glad this is over." Shima was next to hand in his paper, looking exhausted and relieved as he left the classroom. "Paku-chaaaan!" his voice came from the hallway.

Rin watched as the rest of his classmates got up and handed in their exams. Shiemi even finished before he did. They usually finished around the same time, which was why this was weird. Maybe all her studying prepared her better than he imagined.

"Finished yet?" Yukio asked once Rin was the last one in the class, still hovered over his paper and making marks only to quickly erase them.

"Yeah, yeah!" the demi-demon replied, squinting down at his paper suspiciously. After picking it up and kissing it for good luck, he got up, packed his bag, and then headed to the front of the class. Without a second thought, he dropped it on Yukio's desk and quickly headed to the door.

"We have a mission, Rin. I know you'll forget to check your email, so let me tell you now. Please pack your things for summer vacation. We're going to the beach." Yukio said with a smile.

"T—the beach?!"

"Yup! Your classmates will be joining us. As I said, we have a mission."

"Awesome!" Rin said excitedly. He already let the exam he possibly failed escape his thoughts. He was just so relieved that everyone wasn't gonna just split up this summer. With Suguro around a lot more, maybe he could even-

"Well, guess I'd better get to grading. Please don't linger around this place too long, Nii-san."

Rin flashed a grin and hurried to the door, "Right. See ya!" he said, before tearing out of the classroom. He was about to go get his things ready for this trip!

With white clouds stacked overhead in the open blue sky as he merrily trotted back to his dorm, Rin couldn't help but wonder just what this mission was. And why a beach?

Well, he'd have his answers in time. For now, he could just relish in the fact that Suguro was up for the taking this summer.

The dorm came into sight, however, an unexpected person was waiting on the steps for him.

"Suguro?"

Said man looked up from the ground and seemingly grew shocked to see Rin coming his way. "O—Okumura…"

"What are you doing waiting around my dorm for? You can't think my brother graded your exam already now, can you?"

Suguro stood up and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Something was bothering him, it seemed. "That's not what I'm here for. Is your brother coming here anytime soon?" he said.

"What is it then?" Rin asked, tilting his head to the right in curiosity.

"I need to talk to you about something. Can we go somewhere quiet?"

A/N: I'd been sitting on about 3/4 of this chapter for a while, but never got around to working it to completion until recently. And it's because you all are showing a lot of interest in this story! Things like reviews, follows, and favorites really help. I sometimes sit down with a chapter simply because I saw something like that and it encouraged me.

Anyway, thanks a bunch for feedback to those who gave it. Until next chapter!