The scene before him couldn't be any more peaceful to Astral. The serene calmness of the waters reflecting the glistening rays of the sun. The rhythmic, splashing sounds of the tides as they collided with the sandy shore. The cool breeze that fluttered by, caressing the ocean and creating small waves upon the ocean's surface. The sight looked so surreal, almost familiar to the spirit, like a long forgotten memory realized.

This image was instantly shattered by the yelling of his human partner. "Woohoo! The beach!" Yuma cried, towels and an umbrella in hand as he dashed across the sand.

"Yuma! You didn't help us finish unpacking!" his sister Akari called from the car. But the younger sibling didn't hear as he searched for a good spot to place the items.

"Ah, let him go," Tetsuko said to her friend, "He's been waiting all week for this."

"Yeah, but so have we." Last week, she and Tetsuko found out that they had breaks off from their busy schedules to hang out together. They planned to go out to the beach. Overhearing this, their respective brothers begged to go with them since they had a day off from school that day. And of course it wouldn't be the three musketeers without Kotori, so she was invited to tag along too.

"Oooi, wait up Yuma!" yelled Tetsuo, chasing after his friend while carrying the cooler. Kotori was right behind him carrying her towels. Yuma was already done pitching up the umbrella.

"There, all set," he grinned. Astral came to look at his work.

"An umbrella? Do you expect it to rain soon?"

"No, it's just to provide shade if it gets too hot."

"I thought you said those are what hats are for."

"You can't wear a hat while you swim, silly."

"And you can wear an umbrella?"

Yuma was just about to retort when Akari said, "Tetsuko and I will be further down the beach. If you need anything just yell." And the sisters walked off to hang out together.

"So what should we do first?" asked Kotori. Yuma grinned, jerking his thumb toward the ocean.

"Swimming. Might as well do it now before the tide kicks in." The children hurriedly took off their shirts and pants (since their bathing suits and swim trunks were underneath their clothes) and raced each other to the water. The only one not eager to go was Astral who, unlike the humans, was hesitant to approach the shore.

"Yuma, you don't really plan on swimming in the ocean, do you?" he questioned seriously, thinking back to all the times Yuma swam in the school pool and nearly drowned while trying to reach the other side in one go.

"Course I am. What else do you do at the beach?"

"But you'll never make it!" Astral didn't believe his partner to be this idiotic; he couldn't even see the other side. Not only that, but it felt as if there was something eerie about the sea. But the boy only laughed.

"This isn't like school; it's almost impossible for anyone to swim across the ocean. Relax, we're not going to go out too far." Astral still wasn't too sure but he followed his partner out. He watched as his friends began swimming after each other in a water-version game of tag. Whenever the chaser got too close, the other player would splash water at them to keep them at bay. Yuma splashed just a little too hard, and though he missed Kotori he did catch Astral off guard, almost sending him into the water.

"Watch it," the spirit growled, only a few inches away from touching the surface. The middle-schooler shook the water from his eyes.

"Lighten up, it's just a little water. Don't tell me you're scared of it." Astral didn't reply. "You're scared! No way, stop teasing!" And he began splashing water at his invisible friend who deftly avoided it.

"Yuma, you blind? We're over here," Tetsuo said. The former smiled mischievously.

"Astral's scared of water," he practically laughed. Even Kotori smiled.

"You should invite him to come play with us. Maybe he'll learn to get over his fear." The spiky-hair boy nodded.

"Yeah, come play with us, Astral."

"I'd rather not."

"Come on, play with us." And he began splashing more water at him. Again the blue spirit floated away.

"Don't worry Astral, the water's fine." Great, even the girl joined in on trying to get Astral wet. Yuma laughed as Tetsuo came over to "persuade" him. Since his friends couldn't see Astral, their aim wasn't very close, letting his spiritual partner to easily dodge them. But he noticed that Astral flew just out of reach to avoid the water, his pride preventing him from actually running away from either Kotori or Tetsuo. Yuma grinned as he realized Astral inadvertently joined their game of tag.

However, the boy spotted something out in the water. Though it was far off, there was no mistaking that shape. "Shark!" he yelled, and he turned back to shore. Astral instantly looked over toward the shore.

"Where? Does he want to duel?" It took Yuma a moment to figure out what he was asking.

"Not the person, the fish!" Tetsuo quickly high-tailed it out of there but Kotori, who had been splashing, hadn't heard the cry. And the fin was fast approaching her. "Kotori!" Yuma yelled. Too late did she look up. The boys watched in horror as she was pulled under.

"KOTORI!" they screamed.

A few moments passed before the girl resurfaced, a smile on her face. "Yuma! Tetsuo! Come over here! You won't believe it!" Both boys were just about recovering from their heart attacks. Kotori giggled. "Dolphin!"

"Wha-really?" Tetsuo asked. The green-hair girl nodded enthusiastically. As if to prove her point, the animal stuck its head out of the water, revealing itself to be in fact a dolphin. The two boys laughed embarrassedly.

"What is that creature? And why is it grinning?" Astral couldn't help but notice the dolphin looked to be smiling at them.

"It's a dolphin," Yuma answered as he and Tetsuo swam over, "And I think he wants us to play with him."

"He wants us to play…is that what all animals want?"

"Many of 'em, yeah." The three circled around the aquatic mammal. The dolphin let loose a series of shrill clicks before diving underwater. Tetsuo and Kotori dove after it.

"Wait," Astral called out before Yuma dove under as well.

"What now?"

But again Astral didn't reply. Yuma, serious this time, said, "You gotta' trust me on this." Astral looked a little shocked before a smiling Yuma added, "Come on, let's do Kattobingu together." The spirit nodded and he and his partner plunged into the water.

After a few seconds of bubbles swirling around, Astral found that being underwater wasn't nearly as frightening as he thought it would be. He still moved about as if floating on air. And his vision wasn't greatly impaired, so he could see the human children swimming after the dolphin. Yuma motioned for Astral to follow. The humans played tag while Astral observed his surroundings.

Humans, he observed, are mysterious beings. He'd never admitted it but he was scared of the human world. Everything here was strange, many things making no sense at all. Humans by far were the oddest creatures, pushing themselves even when the odds were against them. They were naturally headstrong, rarely showing signs of submission. But here before him were three children who willing emerged themselves into a world so unlike their own just so they could play with an animal not at all like them.

Smirking, the spirit hurried over to his friends, eager to discover what makes the ocean, and the dolphin, so irresistible.


My gosh, I had sooo much fun writing this chapter! I especially want to thank Clare-stovold for the inspiration. Now for confession time– this is not the original version. I had to greatly edit the original version because I wanted to keep the chapter relatively the same length as the others (but as you can see it is still longer). I'm sorry if this version doesn't seem as funny as the other chapters; this was more of an inspirational one for me and some friends. I'll be posting the original (and funnier) chapter up later on this month (the last day of summer, to be precise) along with the next update that Friday. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this!