RIDE THE WILD SURF
a Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Fanfiction
by Adrimarie
Giant Wave Monster
Hanon screamed with huge delight after learning that Lucia had the possession of a certain dark blue cotton beach sweatshirt with trimmed faint white outlines that compliment the dark blue cover. At the front was a slightly ripped zipper loose. During her break she ran quickly to Lucia's bedroom where she visited the manager's younger sister after her hours of rehearsing with the newly-named band, OC-5, in front of the beach enthusiast public. Nicola gave the band a break for this particular day in order to decide which songs they were going to play or do a bit of composing when there was time. At this point Lucia decided to rest her hands from her guitar strumming earlier knowing she sews best when her hands are relaxed and not tense from other activities such as strumming her guitar.
Her daffy blue-haired friend marched to her room with excitement on her face, wanting to confirm what the rest of the Pearl Waters staff had been buzzing about during their breaks. Once she got inside she spotted Lucia sitting on her bed with her personal sewing kit in front of her while she was examining the sweatshirt's ripped zipper, determining how she was going to sew the zipper back to its proper place and which stitch she should use to make the zipper more secure to its place than its original stitch.
Hanon cheered and giggled happily once she spotted her friend with Kaito's sweatshirt on her hand. "No way! No way- Lucia! You do have Kaito's beautiful sweatshirt! The staff wasn't kidding!"
Lucia gazed at the sweatshirt and smiled nervously towards Hanon. "But Hanon... this is just a simple-designed sweatshirt, but Kaito said that he loves this sweatshirt and couldn't afford to just toss it away because the zipper's ripped like this..."
"Those stupid fan girls... and that crazy girl Michal Amagi too- I don't care if he's that hottie Rihito's sister... I have never seen a girl so obsessed- that is- a non-one week girlfriend type of girl..." Hanon frowned with her arms crossed. She took a seat at the edge of Lucia's bed, fixing her white blouse and her blue denim skirt. "You are like my hero now, Lucia Nanami. You did something that no other girl- most especially his one-week girlfriends- was able to do."
Lucia chuckled softly. "Well, I wouldn't know... I'm still trying to get familiar with him, you know..."
"Still! This is just your second day and Kaito Doumoto already trusted you with fixing the zipper of his sweatshirt! What on earth did you say to him?"
"Nothing much. I just offered that I would sew and fix his zipper of his sweatshirt so he doesn't have to waste money taking it to a professional tailor. I also told him that I have a side-business and gave him my business card-"
Hanon giggled and winked. "You told him about your friendship bracelets and bead jewelry accessories business hobby thing? And you gave him your business card too... you know that's the same as you giving him your phone number! You are seriously on a roll!"
Lucia smiled and blushed slightly, lowering her head a little. "I just hope he doesn't see me as another one of those girls who try to pick him up and hit on him... but I didn't get to sing him a song earlier..."
"I heard the surf tribe is coming over here tonight to see you guys perform. I'm pretty sure you'll have a chance to sing whatever that song is to him when you see him. Oooh Lucia you are one smooth girl! I seriously think Kaito Doumoto is absolutely smitten with you... he couldn't get away from you earlier today and that was already proof! You guys talked to each other several times too- I'm pretty sure you guys are talking about each other now and what you guys think about one another, right?"
Lucia gave a slight shrug and answered. "Oh, we talked about surfing- and OC-5- and more surfing- and his sweatshirt with his ripped zipper. That's about it... and his crazy What do I know about Lucia Nanami? List that he's building in his mind. I think he wants to be friends with me too!"
"Well duh, Lucia! Of course he wants to be friends with you. He'll do all he can to get close to you... and maybe start hitting on you too... and the next thing you know he may even-"
"But it's too early, Hanon!" Lucia exclaimed, cheeks blushing like raspberries. "I want him to get to know me... the real me... because I don't want to be a one-week girlfriend to him. I don't want him to get tired of me, Hanon and then dump me like I'm soiled trash... I know I've dreamed of being with him for too long but... not just for a fling... "
Hanon chuckled softly and patted Lucia on the shoulder. "You silly. You're not the type to go for stuff like that anyway, but despite of that, you need to have Kaito see that in you... and he won't like... pick you up or do anything funny just for a dumb fling."
"If only he'd spend more time with me... he didn't seem to mind hanging out with Michal Amagi and whoever her friends were who did this to his precious sweatshirt... but as people say, friendship before love!"
Hanon nodded in agreement and her eyes slowly pointed right towards the sweatshirt. Right then she quickly grabbed the sweatshirt from Lucia and began to sniff it slowly. "Mmm... Fly Ace..."
Lucia stared at Hanon with a rather suspicious look. "Fly Ace...?"
"Kaito's signature cologne... so light... faint... and fresh... mixed with his own essence... what a man, Lucia... I swear you are going to be the luckiest girl in the entire world when Kaito becomes your boyfriend!"
Lucia sighed and lowered her eyes. "You mean... if."
"No. When."
"I know I've won his trust and friendship today but I don't think our newly-built relationship will ever get to... the boyfriend level right away... but somehow my heart is still hopeful... not just about the boyfriend thing but in regards to the boy I saved from drowning seven years ago. I still have yet to prove that Kaito is that boy."
Hanon sighed and lied down on her bed, relaxing. "You're still in to that thing with that missing boy you rescued from drowning when you were a kid? Lucia, you really need to get over that. Just face it. That boy isn't coming back to that beach where you guys first met and it's highly unlikely he'll even plan to come back. It's been way too long that you haven't seen each other... and besides, he may probably think of you as a weird girl who happened to save his life from drowning. I'm pretty sure he already said his thanks while you were sleeping and just walked off." She fell silent for a few moments to gather up her new thoughts.
"Still, Hanon..."
"Okay, let me ask you this, Lucia. What would happen if Kaito wasn't the boy you rescued? What then?"
Lucia fell silent at first, thinking of the real answer she would give Hanon. A few moments later she answered: "Nothing... I'll still stay with Kaito and... most likely... I'll move on too... and forget about that boy... since Kaito is here and that boy... isn't..."
Hanon switched her position so her body is facing down the surface of the bed. "Have you checked on any of Kaito's accessories for that bracelet you gave away when you were a kid today?"
Lucia shook her head. "Not yet... I didn't even get a chance because those girls kept dragging him away... plus I was playing with the band earlier anyway..."
Hanon, who was still holding on to Kaito's sweatshirt passed it back to Lucia. "Since you're fixing the zipper of his sweatshirt, Lucia, how are you going to give it back to him? Are you going to head back to the beach and look for him? Is he coming over to Pearl Waters later today? Or are you going to visit his house- that is, when he's actually at home?"
Lucia reached for the sweatshirt and focused her eyes towards the zipper's rip. "He's coming over here later, Hanon. He went back home really quick to get a change of clothes. I think he's done surfing for the day."
"Those girls... and that Michal girl... I feel sorry for them, honestly." Hanon sat back up on her bed, facing Lucia. "It's like... they're going to die without Kaito near them, you know? I feel sorry for Rihito for having such a bratty sister like her..."
"Oh come on now, Hanon, I'm sure Michal isn't that bad..." Lucia chuckled while she analyzed the original stitch that was done on the zipper against the fabric of the sweatshirt. "If only she could hang out at Pearl Waters and see her brother play something hard-edged than conducting a symphony band during school days she'd really appreciate him more. Him and Taro are like... a lethal combination when it comes to music, both classical and pop tracks like surf rock. Best of both worlds, I'll say!" After a few moments of silence a content smile appeared on her face.
"Kaito really enjoyed our music earlier today, Hanon. So what if he didn't dance like everybody else did then. He was there up stage and I can tell he was enjoying it. I don't know how to describe it... it's like... he's totally stoked like how he gets really stoked when the breakers rise up to forty feet or something... It's like... total bliss!"
Hanon smirked and answered. "Lucia, you really need to stop using all that surfer slang in your speech sometimes. It's really funny how you and your brother are totally in to the sport when you guys don't even surf yourselves."
"Hey, lots of old-school surf bands, surfing journalists and columnists, and even surf photographers don't surf. They love to watch people take on the waves. It's exciting, Hanon! It's out of this world! And for some reason I could kind of feel what every surfer feels once they catch their wave to ride on. It's bliss, I tell you. Totally bliss..."
"Right... I gotcha." Hanon chuckled softly and changed the subject. "Say, Lucia, not to be all gossipy and all that but... have you noticed something weird earlier about Rina?"
Lucia began to insert the right colored thread through the hole of a small needle and set the needle ready for the stitching of the sweatshirt. She answered right then. "Rina? What about her?"
"Okay, you and I both know that Rina doesn't read magazines but earlier today while you guys were setting up she kept staring at this fashion magazine... and not just any magazine, Posh Mode magazine!"
Lucia gave a perplexed expression knowing the fact that Rina always looked down at fashion magazines in general and girls who are obsessed with them. "Maybe she was bored and... uh... asked some random beach girl to borrow one of her magazines or something..."
"Well, if that was true then tell me why she would still have that magazine and continued staring at it- most especially the cover of the magazine- during her break earlier today? She still has it even until now and she just couldn't keep her eyes off of it! And whenever one of us asks her what she's got there she'd play it all off and acting her usual cool self. I think she's hiding something, Lucia!"
"Hm... then again..." Lucia recalled what she and Rina talked about earlier during their short meeting. It was the time when Rina mentioned that she was most likely to compete in two events in the tournament. She already knew that the first one would be the surf band contest. The second event was the one she would not mention. "I wonder if that magazine has something to do with that second event she mentioned earlier..."
Hanon's eyes widened and gasped with anticipation. "Second event? What second event?"
"Something to do with the tournament, Hanon. I don't have all the details about that tournament. I need to ask Hippo about that-"
"Or ask Kaito, Lucia," Hanon winked with a grin on her face. "Come on now, you always gather all your surfing information from your little brother. You're here on a mission to win Kaito's heart here! He should be your new source of all your surfing-related needs, girl! The more you show your true love and enthusiasm for surfing he's going to seriously fall head over heels for you!"
Lucia laughed at Hanon's anxious chatter and responded. "It's not that easy, Hanon... but you make it sound so easy!"
"Well, imagine this, Lucia. You keep talking to him about surfing, the tournament, your favorite surfers in the surfing world aside from Kaito himself, you know, everything that you know! He'll be sure to really communicate with you openly. Plus, he already knows you don't surf, so time will come when he'll offer to teach you how to surf! Right then you show up with your best bikini ever- or a wetsuit if the water turns out to be cold at that time- he'll be more than willing to not just teach you how to surf... but... a whole lot more..."
Lucia shrieked in shock and covered her blushing cheeks. "No no no... that can't happen... that's just wrong... that's like a fling already... I'm looking for true love, not a one-week fling, Hanon! He's not just going to do that to a girl hodad..."
"Um... I don't know what a hodad is but... not when the two of you are slowly falling in love with each other, silly! Anyway, you get another chance with him later today when he comes over to pick up his sweatshirt! Think about it! You can just go 'I love surfing so much! I can just live with it forever!' and then Kaito would be all 'Oh Lucia... what about me? Don't you love me too...?'" Right at that moment Hanon shrieked happily like a daffy little girl looking forward to a first date.
Lucia laughed loudly in amusement at Hanon's out of control imaginations while Hanon joined in the laughter. She began to sew a new and more secure stitch pattern on the zipper as carefully as she can at the right pace. Hanon, on the other hand, gazed around Lucia's room to see if there was anything she can look at. Then at Lucia's desk she found this month's edition of Surfer Styles magazine. It was the extra copy Hippo gave her last night. She asked Lucia if she can take a look at the magazine and Lucia permitted her.
In the meantime at Pearl Waters the girls had been very busy serving their customers their dishes and their drinks. Rina worked at the juice and coffee bar serving coffee, tea, and juice blends to those who only stopped by for their award-winning refreshments. Just as she was serving drinks to the customers at the front she came upon a group of four young and pretty teen girls in beach gear looking very curious towards her.
"Uh... may I help you?" Rina asked curiously at the four girls. Just by gazing at them they looked about the same ages as Hippo and Nagisa, but decided to act mature and cool as always.
"H-hi..." A raven long-haired girl walked up to the counter gazing at Rina curiously. "We have a few questions... and four Coconut Cappuccino Shakes..."
"O... kay..." Rina began working with the Coconut Cappuccino Shakes when the girl continued on with her questions.
"We were wondering if you know anything about Cole Seahart. She's the legendary surfer girl gidget of all time, known for riding a 65-foot monster wave during the Regional Surf Tournament Girls Division and winning the tournament too!"
Cole Seahart? Where have I heard that name before? Rina's eyes widened in shock to hear that particular name. She gulped nervously and turned towards her. "Well... I sorta... heard of her... why?"
"Well, the girls and I aren't from Nijibe but we're from two towns away from here. See, we're the new generation of Cole Seahart's devoted fans who still worship her like a surf goddess regardless of who's the best surfer girl ever to come at the this year's first annual surf scenes tournament. There's even rumors that even Cole Seahart herself may show up sometime at the tournament. See, we came here to meet her in person and you know... get to know her and... get her autograph and picture and everything!"
Rina chuckled nervously, wondering how to answer these four girls. The name Cole Seaharthad not been mentioned all around Nijibe for so many years that it was rather bizarre for outsiders like these girls to mention this particular name. "Well... I wasn't old enough to remember or even hear of her, but I'm pretty sure the vets around town may know of her."
Another one of the four girls stepped up to the counter looking more hopeful towards Rina. "Oh, if only the rumors are true that the legendary Cole Seahart would be at the tournament in two months... and if she were actually here since the tournament will take place here too... I mean there aren't as many surfer girls as it used to be in this region and... When Cole Seahart suddenly disappeared from the face of the surfing world the spirit of the surfer girls faded so fast that the female competition in surfing had completely disappeared... until today when they changed everything to a surf scenes tournament and they're reviving the all-girls competition too. I wonder if Cole Seahart will show up again..."
Rina finished the four orders and passed them on a tray to the girls. "Well, sorry I'm not much of help regarding Cole Seahart, but here are your Coconut Cappuccino Shakes."
"Thank you!" The girls take the tray from the counter as Rina continued quickly.
"Here's a tip. While you're here, ask around the beach peeps out across the street from here. I'm pretty sure they may know a thing or two about your idol. I'll even ask the people around here myself for you guys. Come back here if you find anything."
"Thanks!" The four girls left the juice and coffee bar area and to their tables.
Rina gave a small smile towards the girls and began to wipe the kitchen area when she spotted Noel passing by the booth. Quickly she ran to the open area and called out to her in a whisper. "Psst... Noel! Get over here really quick!"
Noel heard Rina's silent call and turned to her at the bar. She ran quickly to her and answered in whispers. "What is it, Rina?"
"Got a quick question. Do you know anything about Cole Seahart?"
Noel's eyes widened in shock and quickly invited herself behind the counter. The two friends hide themselves at the kitchen area and began their chatter. "Rina, where did you hear about her? No one is supposed to talk about her here... it's kinda like an unwritten illegal law in here..."
Rina raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What do you mean by unwritten illegal law?"
"Well... it's sorta sensitive to talk about her in Nijibe, most especially here at Pearl Waters... Even our parents told Caren and me not to talk about her around here. It's sorta like a request from Cole Seahart's family to the mayor not to talk about her including her legacy and her set records or promote her around these places. Just where did you hear about her anyway?"
Rina looked around to be sure no one was eavesdropping and continued on. "Okay, these four girls from out of town just came by to order four Coconut Cappuccino Shakes and then asked me about Cole Seahart because they happen to be a new generation of Cole Seahart fans and they wanted to meet her and get her autograph and picture and all that stuff... I told them I don't know much about her and that was it!"
Noel sighed and swallowed deeply to calm herself down. "Wow... so you don't really know the story about Cole Seahart, do you, Rina?" Rina shook her head slowly with curiosity in her eyes.
"Okay Rina, here's a short version. Cole Seahart was a total gidget of Nijibe, okay? Her parents were champion tandem surfers long time ago and thanks to her parents Cole learned how to surf at age six. Then at age nine she entered her first major surfing competition that was strictly for girls and even won that competition too. At age fourteen she had her debut at the Regional Surfing Tournament, which had both the boys and the girls division in it. In the girls division she did a whole lot more than just winning. She set a major record that even surfer boys weren't able to do in the entire surfing history, 'kay? When she paddled out at the ocean that day she was struck with bad luck when the wave that nature decided to challenge her was definitely the deadliest wave could ever face, almost near the same size of a tsunami, about sixty to seventy feet, they said."
"No way! That's like... suicide in style, Noel!"
"You said it girl. Anyway... She rode that wave like she was flying through the stars and was the only one who was able to have a very smooth ride with a wave that huge without getting wiped out! Ever since that day Cole Seahart became the Ultimate Gidget and a true legend to all surfers, most especially to the surfer girls. That's why little girls from about the coast worship Cole Seahart, not just because she was a girl but because of that serious record that she made that day!"
"Man... that's serious history in the making, Noel. It's too bad I didn't know all about this until now..."
"Apparently that day was also the last day she surfed altogether because a major tragedy struck right after her victory that killed two champion tandem surfing couples. It was because of that tragedy that Cole Seahart disappeared from the surfing world and that's also the reason why the spirit of tandem surfing here in this region, most especially in Nijibe, slowly died down. It was also one of the reasons why activity at the beach across from us suddenly died down too. Ever since then there hasn't been any tandem surfing competitions these past years until this year with that first annual surf scenes tournament coming up..."
Rina remained in utter shock to hear this short version of this Cole Seahart legend and gulped nervously. "Wow... that was... I've never heard of that and I've been living in this town all my life!"
"Well, that's all I can tell you about it, Rina. Promise not to tell anyone here, most especially Lucia and Hippo and most especially not the Boss! See, we're not allowed to talk about Cole Seahart or anything related to the Dainami-Oni incident at all."
Dainami-Oni? I thought I heard Hippo babbling about that earlier today... Rina began to think of what Noel had just explained as Noel headed back out to the counter.
"Hey Rina, I better get back to work. I don't want the both of us to get in trouble."
Rina waved at her best friend. "Thanks for the small info about this, Noel."
Noel hushed at Rina silently as she headed back to her post. Rina sighed deeply and rested at a stool in the bar. At the side somewhere was a stack of papers and documents where that Posh Mode magazine that Masahiro gave her earlier today, where Rina grabbed it and stared at the cover of the magazine once more. As she stared she closed her eyes and began to imagine how she would look like in those pair of bikinis on the cover. At that point she remembered Masahiro telling her that she may probably even look better than the cover girl on the magazine if she would just give it a shot.
Hamasaki said he would take care of everything and all I needed to bring was myself...
She sighed afterwards and turned back to the magazine cover again. I wonder if I would really do make a... a hot... beach babe... for the tournament that is... Besides, it's not like I'm going to dress up like it after the tournament's over... right?
At that time the surf tribe still continued to spend their days at the beach, still surfing the waves, give each other's turn to catch their rides after they were done, and still checking out any cute and sexy girl they could feast their eyes on at this particular strip. At this point Masahiro laid out his plans for Rina in order to prepare for the beauty pageant segment of the tournament to Gaito, Sara, Nagisa, and Seira. Kengo and Daichi were still in a daze playing babe rank games by giving every single girl who pass by them a score of one to ten, with one being flat and ten being total hotness.
"Wow, Masahiro," Sara chuckled while she rested herself against Gaito's bare body with her hands around her bent knees. "You've already planned all this way before you asked Rina Touin to be the beach babe entry?"
Masahiro grinned as he adjusted his eyeglasses after wiping his face off with his towel from his wild ride earlier at the sea. "You know me, Sara. Unlike most dudes I know, I plan everything ahead."
"Man, I envy you Hamasaki..." Nagisa sighed sadly and lowered his head. "Just one talk with the biggest tomboy in town and you already got her attention. What's up with that? I gave Hanon my sweatshirt because her bikini was just way too revealing... and she hasn't even given my sweatshirt back... and she's at work at Pearl Waters right now..."
"You're an idiot, Nagisa," Seira giggled while sticking her tongue. "That's a good sign, you know? Maybe she wanted to keep your sweater because she's probably realizing something new from you, you know. Maybe she's finally beginning to see you in a new light after you gave her your sweatshirt to cover herself up."
"Well then, proceed, Hamasaki," Gaito said, waiting for Masahiro to lay out his plan.
"Okay, check it. Sometime later this week- depending on Rina's schedule that is- I plan to take her out shopping."
Just as he was beginning to unleash his plan Daichi and Kengo laughed at the statement and joined in the conversation. "Whoa... that's just like... weird, dude!" Kengo laughed. "We've usually used to having girls taking us along to shop with them and treat us like slaves by carrying all the stuff they bought but... you're actually taking the tomboy Touin shopping?"
"Hey!" Sara and Seira exclaimed with glares on their faces. "What's wrong with dudes taking girls out shopping?"
Masahiro responded with a smirk on his face. "You know, I'm not very surprised you'd respond like this, Kengo. I've read the details in the beauty contest regulations and their recommended shops we were supposed to go are all upscale for rich girls only type of stores. Knowing Rina, we all know she doesn't fall in that category. My mission is to make her shine out against all those rich girls we know around this region because I know her beauty, in and out, can seriously gives us a competitive edge at that pageant. Plus she's got that cool exterior that makes her an untouchable, which is a true plus for our beach babe candidate. After shopping I can ask her to go wherever she wants to go, since we are going to travel by the cycle."
"Cycle- you mean your motorbike, dude?" Nagisa asked curiously. "I get it. So you'll be taking her out shopping in style, right? Her being a tomboy having a shopping date with one of the coolest surfers in this region! I bet you peeps are gonna travel by the coast too... show her the world that we call home!"
Sara sighed with a smile on her face. "You really are a true romantic, Hamasaki... I wish my man would take me out traveling like that... with the beach breeze flowing through my hair while clinging on to my man for warmth... don't you think that would be fun and romantic... Gaito?"
Gaito startled for a few seconds after hearing what Sara just said and cleared his throat. "I, uh... sure... just as soon as I come of age and be eligible to get a motorcycle license... or driver's license for the matter... for now we'll have to stick with manual bikes... heh..."
"Idiot!" Sara quickly gave a slight push on Gaito's shoulder and turned her head away with a frown on her face.
"Yo, speaking of idiots," Seira interrupted with a smile on her face, "I just noticed that Kaito's not around... where'd he go?"
"He went to take his favorite sweatshirt to the tailor or something like that," Daichi answered. "He said he's done for the day catching waves because he wanted to come to Pearl Waters tonight to see the band... CO-2 or something like that?"
"OC-5!" The entire group corrected Daichi with enthusiasm in their tone.
"Um, right... OC-5... sorry!"
"You can't get the band name wrong, dude!" Nagisa exclaimed right at Daichi and Kengo. "They're going to be our surf band that would help us sweep the tournament, you know that? Once they do win the name of OC-5 will become a household name everywhere where beach life and surf culture is active!"
"Kaito seems to like the stuff OC-5 performed earlier today," Gaito mentioned with a smile on his face. "He didn't dance, sure, but he was up stage watching the band play. You know, I think he's finally opening doors to some of the qualities that made up who he was in the first place."
The entire crew turned their heads with perplexed looks towards Gaito wondering what he was talking about. "What do you mean by that, Gaito?" Daichi asked curiously. "Kengo and I have been best friends with Kaito since we were kids, man... what could possibly be something that we don't know about him?"
"Listen and learn, dudes," Gaito answered and he began his statement. "Our late parents... they were avid musicians... composers even... of classical music. They dug old school surf rock too since they're all music students and all that. Before surfing, music was our first love... especially Kaito. He was more of the musical genius than I was. But at the same time the parents were tandem surfers too. They were one of the best in this region's history. It was because of them... and one more... that Kaito and I took up surfing. After our parents died seven years ago, we just sorta lost interest in music and concentrated more on surfing. Our guardians then advised against us to surf but Kaito and I wanted to carry on the surfing legacy of the D-Couple. I guess we have a lot of pride with our family which was why we decided to do this. Kaito though was more passionate with music than I was and it was kind of a shock to me that he just stopped practicing music altogether. He was part of the Nijibe Junior Boys' Choir when he was little-"
Kengo and Daichi gasped in pure shock while Masahiro and Nagisa stared blankly. "Wait... we're talking about Kaito, right?" Kengo asked curiously. "As in four-time consecutive champion surfer and smooth player Kaito Doumoto?"
"But Gaito- you're more sensible than he is. It'd be no surprise to us if you used to be part of the town's choir but... Kaito?" Daichi asked curiously, still not believing what he just heard.
"It's hard to believe, isn't it, heh." Gaito smirked. "There's a lot more to Kaito than him being the consecutive champion surfer or a borderline perv or a one-week girlfriend player- well semi-player now since he hasn't had one for the last three months, but yeah. He used to sing- and not just plain sing, but he sings really well! Sometimes I can feel that even when he tries to play it all off to everyone I can still hear his soul singing within him when he felt like it."
The rest of the crew fell silent when Masahiro made his statement. "Then again... he kinda acted a little weird last night. If he really loved music and singing, Gaito, then why the heck did he walked off when we listened to Lucia Nanami sing last night at the beach?"
Gaito continued on with his smirk. "Well, that's Kaito for you. When he falls in love with something no one expects he'd get in to, he'd play it off. I'm his twin, and remember, anything deep that he feels, I feel it too. Kaito fell in love with Lucia's song. The song somehow hit a spot in his heart. I admit I liked the song too but not as much as how Kaito felt with that song, you know?"
Sara interrupted the conversation with her own reaction. "Wait wait... you dudes heard Lucia sing some song at the beach? Did she invite you guys or something?"
"Erm..." The boys with the exception of Gaito began mumbling their own excuses which only gave Sara a suspicion that they were spying or eavesdropping on Lucia at the beach.
"You perverts!" Sara shouted at the boys. "Here you all think Lucia is some kind of a loser like those immature popular girls in your school and at the same time you've been stalking her? Lechers..."
Gaito shrugged his arms. "I'm not one of them, Sara- they just dragged me along with them because everyone was worried about Kaito last night... and it was an accident when we heard the girls chatting at the beach... something about Lucia's long lost love since she was a kid..."
Sara stood up in slight disgust, releasing herself from Gaito. "I can't believe you dudes eavesdropped on Lucia and her friends. You guys are really sick! I mean okay, so it was an accident that they happened to be there while you dudes were hanging out at the beach. At least what you could've done was to show yourselves and say hi to them! That would've been more polite! I'm gonna have to say that the girls who were present there are Lucia, her two friends from school, and the three surfer girls, since all of them are from Pearl Waters!"
Gaito sighed and stood up from his spot and stood in front of Sara with his eyes on hers and his hands on her shoulders gently. "Sara, listen. It was all an accident. Sure we admit we check out girls a lot but we'd never go further as to eavesdrop or spy on them for our enjoyment. Besides, what those girls talked about had no importance on the dudes and myself. Though I have to admit that the best thing that we heard from that night was Lucia's song..."
Sara found the serious level through Gaito's eyes and sighed. "Lucia's song, huh... I sure would like to hear that song myself. I bet it was beautiful that you pigheaded surfer dudes were actually drawn to it!"
Gaito raised an eyebrow of suspicion while Sara stuck her tongue. The older Doumoto twin slowly slipped his arms around her and gave her a quick kiss. She accepted it and returned in the same fashion. At that time the couple's kiss were interrupted immediately with something unfamiliar and unexpected.
Those three same girls who were hiding at the rocks spying on Kaito and Lucia earlier suddenly appeared in front of the couple looking like starstruck fans. While the girl with the yellow bandanna around her began to shake in nervous, the older girl with dark red ponytail hair spoke to the couple.
"At last, we found you, Gaito Doumoto!" The girl cheered with enthusiasm on her face. "You had no idea how long we've searched for you! For a beach town Nijibe sure is huge!"
Gaito stared at the three bizarre-looking girls while Sara gave a slight snicker towards her boyfriend. "Sara... don't look at me like that..."
"Explain, Gaito... I'm very interested in our little situation right now, heh."
Gaito turned to the girls with suspicion on his face. "Uh... who are you?"
The bandanna-wearing girl stepped up out of her nerviness and answered him. "We're the final three remaining fans of the now-dying Gaito Doumoto Fan Club! We're now here to serve you, Sir!"
"Fan club...?" Gaito murmured in a startle while noticing Sara's snicker towards him. "Oh wow... I had no idea I had a fan club too..."
The third girl, greenish blonde hair and pale white as if she was half-undead, answered in a rather soft voice. "We are a different fan club from most fan clubs, Sir. You see, we aren't fans just because you're hot... we're fans because we admire all your accomplishments as a surfer and a soul supporter of the entire Rainbowside Surf Tribe... most especially the four-time consecutive champion, your twin brother Kaito."
The redhead continued from where the pale girl left off. "We are familiar with our fan club rivals, which is the heavily hardcore obsessed Kaito Doumoto Fan Club. They're such perverts and airheads who only see Kaito for how hot he is and not for his accomplishments. You see, it's thanks to you that made Kaito Doumoto look so awesome to the surfing world. Your fan club- that's us- had been dissolving ever since you began dating and..."
Sara quickly turned to Gaito, still with the snicker on her face. "Well now, isn't this interesting? A Gaito Doumoto Fan Club. I guess your twin isn't the only hottie around this town, hm?"
"Wait a sec, Sara, I'm serious... I never knew I had one!" Gaito sighed and then turned to the girls again. "So uhh... what are your names?"
The redhead answered first. "I'm Izuru. The bandanna girl here is Eriru. And this half-dead girl next to me is Maria-"
"Half-dead?" The pale-skinned Maria shrieked towards the redhead leader, Izuru. "Just because I'm beautiful and a lot sexier than you, you just gotta hate on me now, do you?"
Izuru glared at Maria but decided to drop it. "We don't just watch your every single move in the surfing world, Sir. We also watch every single move of the rivals as well. We are very well-informed about this year's Regional Surf Scenes Tournament and which teams are going to participate in it. See Eriru here? She's got hookups with the tournament committee so she's able to gather some fresh info- all to your advantage, of course."
Gaito still stood looking perplexed while Sara continued to snicker. "Well, Gaito, they're not just a fan club, they're hired spies too! At least with whatever information they got it'll help us prepare the right way for the tournament."
"Our latest info we gathered as of earlier today, Sir," Eriru answered with a cheerful tone. "I know it's like Friday today but all the participants who already entered ahead of time will be arriving here for on-location practice! Sir, the competitors are coming soon!"
"Well... I see... thank you..." Gaito murmured his response and right then was convinced that these three may be useful to their preparation's advantages. "I guess I'll have to introduce you three to the rest of the team..."
Gaito, Sara, and the three remaining Gaito Doumoto Fan Club, Izuru, Eriru, and Maria, gathered back to their spot where they meet Seira and the rest of the surfer dudes, sans Kaito.
A few minutes later at the shack, Kaito stepped out of the shower, all feeling fresh and new, after a long day of riding the waves at the beach across from Pearl Waters. He had a quick change while his boom box was on, playing the latest surf forecast news. As he gelled his hair and dried it with a dryer he heard something from the surf forecast news that was compelling in some way.
The forecasts stated the official date for the First Annual Regional Surf Scenes Tournament being the week of August 23rd, which was exactly two months from today's date. They even listed out the schedule of events from Sunday to Saturday. The schedule were as followed:
08/23: Opening Ceremony & Luncheon, Nijibe Central Beach
08/24: Regional Surf Scenes Beach Babe Beauty Pageant, Kaigara Blvd. Sector 3 Beach
08/25: Women's Division Surfing Championships, Kaigara Blvd. Sector 7 Beach
08/26: Men's Division Surfing Championships, Kaigara Blvd. Sector 7 Beach
08/27: Regional Surf Scenes Surf Band Contest – Surf Rock Instrumentals Segment, Nijibe Central Beach
08/28: Regional Surf Scenes Surf Band Contest – Pop & Vocals Segment, Nijibe Central Beach
08/29: Regional Surf Scenes Tandem Surfing Championships, Kaigara Blvd. Sector 7 Beach / Crowning of the Team Champions & Final Ceremony, Nijibe Central Beach
August 29th...? Kaito's eyes opened wide in surprise to hear the dates and somehow a slight shiver came on to him. Mom and Dad died that day... seven years ago...
He quickly wrote down the schedule on an open notebook on his desk and placed that notebook in his small backpack. After he was done styling himself and wore back his accessories from his earrings to his necklaces to his bracelets he gazed to that white and blue shades bracelet he was staring at last night.
My competition bracelet... guess I'll have to wear it throughout the week of the tournament... You haven't let me down for seven years already...
He grabbed his backpack and headed out from his house. Once he got to the streets he made sure no one recognized him. For his safety from those nutty fan girls he wore a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses. He stared at his shirt that had a printed beach design at front and made his way to Pearl Waters on foot. On his way he called his twin at the beach via cell to let the rest of the tribe know that he was on his way there but not at the beach itself. It was that time where their beach chilling period was done and it was time for them to get themselves ready for tonight's debut performance of the OC-5.
Once Kaito entered Pearl Waters he was immediately welcomed by Hanon, who was assigned to be the entry host for the restaurant that day. She chuckled happily and embraced him tight. "Welcome to Pearl Waters, Kaito! This is your first time being in here, hm?"
Kaito softly chuckled and said "I won't be here long. I'm just here to pick up my sweatshirt-"
"Not long?" Hanon frowned in disappointment. "But... why?"
Kaito released Hanon from their embrace and answered her: "I got some business to deal with the dudes about the tournament- besides, we're gonna come back here later to see the band anyway."
"But Lucia's still in her room sewing your zipper back, Kaito! Don't you want to spend more time with her?"
"Are you trying to hint something, Hanon?" Kaito raised an eyebrow of suspicion while Hanon hooked his arm with her own. "Hey- Hanon?"
"See, we're all busy and the boss gave Lucia a break so she can prepare for the performance tonight and of course, to fix your sweatshirt... and we're all worried that she may be lonely before the big night and all..."
Hanon quickly dragged Kaito forward through the entrance and reached the juice bar area where Rina was mixing drinks for the waiting customers. The archway at the back of the juice bar booth leads to the stairway to the second and third floors as well as the storage room for the juice and coffee bar supplies and equipment.
"Hey- where are we going?" Kaito asked curiously as he was being dragged along by Hanon to the juice bar.
"Upstairs, of course!" Hanon giggled as she reached the door to the juice bar. "Third floor!"
Rina served the drinks she recently made to the customers. After she said her thanks to the customers she spotted Hanon and Kaito entering the bar. She frowned and crossed her arms. "Ahem... Hanon, what are you doing with Kaito...?"
Hanon heard Rina's voice and turned to her. "Lucia needs company upstairs and it's a good thing Kaito came by, hm?"
Kaito shrugged his arms and gulped. "I just came here to pick up my sweatshirt after Lucia's done sewing the zipper back-"
"Hanon, if the boss sees you fooling around during business hours you're gonna be in big trouble-"
"Oh hush, Rina," Hanon frowned. "There weren't any empty tables available- we're pretty booked today- so I'm giving Kaito the peace and quiet he deserves while he waits for Lucia! Right, Kaito?"
Kaito gave a blank stare at Hanon. "Uh... I guess..."
Rina sighed and decided to let the two pass. "Fine, fine. But hurry up, Hanon, and get back to work before the Boss comes by."
"I will, I will!"
By the time Hanon and Kaito reached the second floor the door leading to Lucia's room remained open. Inside Lucia was still stitching the zipper back to its original form on the sweatshirt. While she was creating the perfect unbreakable stitch pattern on to the zipper she accidentally pricked her middle finger with the needle when Hanon called out her name loudly from outside her room.
Ow! Oh no... my finger's bleeding! Lucia walked out of her room to find Hanon and Kaito at the living room area of the second floor.
"Kaito! What... what are you doing up here...?" Lucia gulped nervously without bothering with her bleeding finger.
"Lucia, what's with the 'what are you doing here, Kaito?' bit? You should be happy to see-"
"Your finger! It's bleeding!" Kaito approached Lucia once he noticed her finger bleeding fast.
Lucia gulped and slowly backed away from Kaito. "W-wait... I... I was just heading to the restroom to patch up my finger- I accidentally pricked myself so... no biggie!"
Kaito slightly glared towards Hanon. "It looks like your friend accidentally pricked her finger thanks to you yelling out for her..."
Hanon frowned and crossed her arms. "Kaito, be nice. I'm doing you two a favor! Now, I'll have to get back to work now before the boss finds out I've been slacking off again." Right at that time Hanon headed downstairs to head back to work, leaving Lucia and Kaito alone at third floor.
"Well... I guess we're alone again..." Kaito chuckled nervously with Lucia joining in the slight laughter.
"I... I guess... you'll have to forgive Hanon, Kaito... She gets overly excited about everything and when she does she-"
"I dated her for a week months ago, Lucia, so I know how she's like."
"Hah... hah... of course... right..." Lucia replied with a grin on her face to hide her embarrassment. "Well... I just need to patch this middle finger up- I always wore a thimble on my pointer since the pointer is always the potential finger to get poked the most by a needle, but apparently I accidentally slipped the needle from the thimble to the middle finger because Hanon startled me, so it's bleeding right now. You just wait here, let me get a band-aid and-"
Quickly Kaito reached for his backpack and took out a First Aid kit. "Surfing is a dangerous sport so the team and I always pack ourselves with our own First Aid kit when one of our fellow surfers gets injured."
"Ah that's right. How can I forget about that?" Lucia approached Kaito as he reached for a band-aid and an antibiotic cream.
"Here, give me your hand."
Lucia blushed right then as she gave her hand to Kaito. Using a cotton ball he gently wiped off the blood from her middle finger. Next, he spread a bit of the antibiotic cream with a cotton swab on to her finger. Finally, he wrapped her finger with a band-aid. He made sure that he did not wrap it too hard so the finger will have its breathing room.
"Thanks, Kaito. It's perfectly snug."
Kaito re-packed his First Aid kit and placed it back in to his backpack. "No problem, Lucia."
"Sorry about all this, Kaito. Hanon shouldn't have brought you up here. I don't mind you waiting downstairs at the dining area and I'll just come downstairs, you know? But now that you're here, I'll just have to bring out your sweatshirt and my sewing kit so I can finish it while we... um... talk..."
"Well, up to you, Lucia. This is your place after all. I'll wait here."
"Be right back!" Lucia dashed to her open-door room and grabbed his sweatshirt and her needle set while Kaito sat on one of the break tables, waiting for her. A few seconds later Lucia came out with the sweatshirt and her needle set.
"Okay, here we go." Lucia sat at the chair across from Kaito. "Oh, you don't happen to have an alcohol pad, don't you?"
Kaito reached for his First Aid kit again and tore a pack of alcohol pad for her. "Here you go."
"Thanks." Lucia reached for the alcohol pad and wiped the needle. "I just need to sterilize the needle since it pricked my finger and I don't want your sweatshirt to be stained with my blood and all..."
You're thoughtful and amazing, Lucia... Kaito remained smiling as he continued to gaze at her. After Lucia wiped the needle with the alcohol pad she showed the new stitch pattern she used for the zipper to the owner.
"Here's what I did. The original stitch of your zipper here were sewn by an automated sewing machine. I could have fixed this in a few minutes with my own sewing machine but the machine's broken and it's a bit expensive to get the machine repaired so I'm doing this by hand. I learned this particular stitch pattern from some sewing website that I stumbled upon one time and I practiced it on some of Hippo's ripped shirts. It's very stable and quite tough and they last long too!"
"That's just... amazing, Lucia... you're a genius..." Kaito gave an honest compliment to the still-mysterious girl from his homeroom class. He was not sucking up this time nor he was using this as one of his pick-up lines. "And you saved me money too..."
"Always welcome!" Lucia grinned humbly and continued on with her sewing explanation. "I tested it a bit as I was stitching it and I was thinking of replacing the entire original stitch with this new one and redo the whole thing but I thought I should get permission from you for me to do that..."
"I don't know a lot about clothes and sewing and all but if you think your new stitch pattern is going to keep my zipper securely tight to my sweatshirt then I say go for it. I'll pay you for the extra work!"
Lucia shook her head and continued on with the stitch. "You don't have to do that, Kaito. I volunteered to fix your zipper and volunteers don't get paid. Besides, sewing other people's clothes isn't part of my job description, so this is all volunteer work."
"Still... I feel kind of greedy for letting you do this for me..."
"Don't be, Kaito!" Lucia answered with a smile on her face. "I'm doing this because-" I love you, Kaito... with all my heart... "- because I want to support the Nijibe Surf Scenes Team. I know I'm competing along with you with the surf bands contest while you're competing for the men's surfing championships and since we're technically teammates, I think it's important we back each other up. After all, that's Surfing Etiquette Bill number six!"
"'Always aid another surfer in trouble'..." Kaito recited the particular numbered bill Lucia mentioned just now. "Well in this case, always aid another surf scenes teammate in trouble, huh?"
"You could say that, sure!" Lucia chuckled softly and continued on with the stitching. "So, you really want me to re-stitch the entire zipper then, Kaito?"
Kaito nodded. "If you can do it, Lucia, then please do. As long as you know how the zipper is going to be stuck and secure to my sweatshirt then go for it. Take your time though- I know you have to rehearse with the band for tonight and even for the tournament and I don't want to be all demanding and all that."
"Well, if you insist, then I'll do it. It's a promise."
"Deal." The two teens linked each other's pinky fingers as their sign of keeping their side of the promise together.
"I'll be sure to have the zipper fixed before the tournament, Kaito. I'm pretty sure this sweatshirt is probably like your good luck charm or something. Whenever I watch you from afar during those tournaments you always wear it."
"Well... I wouldn't say that, Lucia. I've got... one special lucky charm that I only wear during tournaments. I try not to reveal it to the media and to the public because it's a very special and personal lucky charm. I don't want it all commercialized and have those crazy manufacturers make and sell the stuff I wear and make money off of it, especially this lucky charm of mine."
Lucia nodded, understanding what Kaito was trying to explain. "It's your best kept secret after all."
"Hey, that reminds me." Kaito began to change the subject. "You... you make friendship bracelets and bead jewelry and all that, right?"
"I gave you my business card, right?"
"Well... I told you about my special lucky charm- I call it my competition bracelet- well, it's a friendship bracelet or whatever they call it. I only wear it when I go out to the sea and ride my surf to win. I've had it when I was seven-years-old..."
Lucia felt a jolt inside of her once Kaito mentioned a friendship bracelet being his lucky charm, but what really triggered the jolt was how long he possessed the charm. "Seven-years-old...?"
"Yeah... I know it's kinda stupid but... it's a mystery to me. I know someone gave it to me because I don't remember having my parents buy it or anyone I know would give it to me... but I do know someone gave it to me. I asked Gaito about it if he knew but he had no clue either. I've been searching for the person who gave this to me for seven years and even until now I still don't know... And the more I look at the bracelet the more I think of the person who gave it to me. For some reason deep within I feel that it was a girl who gave this to me... and if it was then I've been yearning for her... and I just realized that you make these on the side so... um... I was wondering if..."
Lucia felt her heart beating fast and her hoping of finding her mystery boy from her childhood was unraveling at last. Kaito... was it you who I saved seven years ago...? I don't want to jump in to conclusions now but I have to know... I have to know if you really are that boy...
"Lucia... I was wondering if you knew... anyone else who makes friendship bracelets... in this town..."
"Oh..." Lucia sighed deeply in disappointment, hoping that he would make a guess or ask her if she happened to be the one who gave him that bracelet. "Well... it's... hard to say. I learned how to sew and make friendship bracelets all on my own and my usual customers who buy my stuff were all from Hippo's class and some of Nicola's friends. I also made some for the girls in the Pearl Waters staff too... except Hanon... she hasn't bought any of the stuff I made yet but I'm not expecting her too... heh..."
Kaito sighed in the same fashion and responded. "Oh... well, thanks anyway..."
"But... I'm wondering... I know this may probably be personal but... can you... well if you don't mind that is... can you tell me what that friendship bracelet looks like?"
Kaito was silent at first, wondering if it was safe for him to tell this girl about his best kept secret in winning his surfing tournaments. Then again her volunteering to redo the zipper's stitches on to his sweatshirt already proved him that she can be truly trusted. In addition to that, she was also part of the Nijibe surf scenes team along with him and will also be competing in the tournament in the surf bands contests. Why ever not?
"Don't tell anyone about this, Lucia... do I have your word?"
Lucia lifted her pinky again to offer him her pinky swear. "You have my word." Kaito linked his pinky on hers as his answer to her trust.
"Okay, here goes. The bracelet was a mix of colors... well one plain color, which is white... and various shades of blue... from sky blue to navy blue, I think. They were all mixed together randomly in one pattern... I know I'd sound all wimpy to say this but I have to admit... it was beautiful to look at. I've seen tons of friendship bracelets here and there at the stores and at the street booths but this one was like nothing I've ever seen at all. Because of that it felt like a thread-based bracelet like the one I had was very unique. It kinda makes me feel that I'm unique and one of a kind too. That's why I've been hiding it from anyone at random- well Gaito and the rest of the dudes know about it but that's it."
Lucia gave a loud gasp and dropped the sweater and needle on the surface of the table. Immediately she covered her mouth once she learned of the bracelet's description. The description obviously sounded very similar to the friendship bracelet she left to the boy she rescued seven years ago. Just but the utter shock she found her eyes filling with tears. At the moment she could not think straight and her eyes were not even looking straight at Kaito's.
Kaito... why won't you ask me if I was the one who gave that bracelet to you? Why won't you look at me like the way you look at all those one-week girlfriends you used to date in the past? Am I really that... unattractive to you? Even with this new friendship we've made not enough for you? Why am I crying like this? It's so embarrassing... oh man... now he's going to wonder why I'm crying and he'll suspect that I'm like all the other girls in this town too...
Right when the tears fell from her eyes Kaito also felt a jolt within him. In his mind several images of his past began to appear. One of these images happened to be a time where he and a certain little girl were lying down somewhere still unknown, both were completely drenched in water. At that moment he found the girl lying next to her asleep but the tears still continued to fall from her closed eyes. He also saw that he wiped those eyes from the girl's eyes and once he did he noticed a mysterious white and shades of blue thread-sewn bracelet on the wrist while he wiped those tears and stared at it for a few moments. Not caring how he received the bracelet, he slowly took her in his arms so both can keep each other warm from the raging storm that was happening outside. Right as he had her in his arms he gently kissed her on the lips. Just before he then he also fell asleep.
The little teary-eyed sleeping girl whom he kissed at that moment somehow resembled the teary-eyed Lucia sitting across from him that made him feel like he was being delusional. He then returned to reality and had to react.
"What's wrong, Lucia?"
Lucia gasped once more and began to wipe her own tears with her hands. "I... I'm sorry... I just get emotional at random times, you know? Heh... heh... heh..." Oh who am I kidding? Why am I playing it off? Why can't I just tell him the truth? I'm being an idiot right now...
Kaito gave a more concerned look, which was something that never happened to him before when it comes to girls in general, most especially those one-week girlfriends. He even had Michal Amagi cry in front of him a few times in the past and this was regarding to her love and devotion to him but for some reason he just had no reaction to her either. But with a girl like Lucia Nanami? She was just a new friend and yet here he was actually caring about the tears in her eyes. Was it because she would not admit what made her cry?
"Was it something I said?"
"No no... not your fault... heh..." Lucia denied her emotional moment with the tears by giving a nervous laugh. "It's just that... your bracelet... the description and all? It reminded me of my very first friendship bracelet that I made when I first got my first friendship bracelet sewing kit from Nicola. The thread colors were the same as what you described and... well... I just got all emotional about it... it brings back special memories to me." You have no idea how special those memories were...
Kaito reached for his backpack again and took out a piece of facial tissue from his boxed pack of pocket tissues for Lucia's tears. Somehow deep inside he had the urge to wipe her tears himself since she already had her hands full with the sweatshirt and the needle and a bandaged bleeding middle finger. Just as he was about to Lucia quickly held the tissue from his hand.
"Thanks, Kaito..." Lucia smiled but this time somehow Kaito would not let go of the tissue. "Hey- what are you doing?"
"Let go... and... stay still..."
Lucia let go of the tissue in his hand and gave a soft chuckle. "What... what are you doing...?"
Kaito used the tissue to wipe off the tears on her face gently and slowly as possible. "You've got busy hands, girl... stitching and a bleeding middle finger... and later you'd be strumming your rhythm guitar all night too..."
Lucia blushed heavily but still kept her grin fixated on her face to keep her cool as Kaito continued to wipe her face. "You... didn't have to do that, Kaito... plus I got a pick to strum my guitar so my bandaged middle finger wouldn't affect my playing... heh..."
"Don't be stubborn. You know, this is the first time that a girl who isn't hardcore-obsessed with me cry in front of me like that."
"Erm... right... yeah..." He doesn't know... he can't see me being in love with him... One half of me says that's good news... for now that is... the other half of me felt rather sad knowing he'd never fall in love with me or probably any other girl for the matter of fact...
While he continued wiping out the tears he found himself blushing slightly, which to him, was very uncommon. He always loved it when he was in control when it comes to girls. He never blushed whenever a girl teases and flirts with him or felt any form of a deeper emotion towards the girl, simply because every girl he got involved with always said the same to him. It was always about his looks or how hot he looked whenever he surfed regardless if it was only for practice or during the tournament or even on a tiny wave to a larger one. He loved to flirt and seduce and even with a single hello he already had the targeted girl wrapped around his finger- hook, line, and sinker. Apparently it would only take him a week to get to know the girl and see if he would end up getting interested in her. On the other hand when did he began doing this one-week girlfriend project he had been playing for the past three years? Even at age eleven all the fawning girls already proved to him being the most irresistible boy in his class. He even beat his own twin brother Gaito, which to him was rather unusual because he always thought that Gaito would have the same effect on the girls around them. Then again Gaito never complained about their powerful appeal to the opposite gender. Kaito never complained either.
Why did he begin going through that ridiculous one-week girlfriend project? He knew on one part that the project was just wrong, but the other half made him feel more desperate. Like Lucia yearning for the missing boy she rescued seven years ago, he also yearned for the girl who rescued him those same number of years. Thanks to the sudden past memories that flashed in his mind while talking to Lucia about his competition bracelet he came to conclude that the one who gave him the sewn bracelet and the one who rescued him from a possible death seven years ago were one in the same. He began the project because that was the only way for him to find this girl. Not just any other girl but the girl who brought him to this present. He felt like he owed his life to her and at the same time he also felt that the girl also had special feelings for him. Then again he had to live with reality as well. He had no proof if that girl- wherever she may be now- may be sharing the same yearning for him as well. The only key that would lead him to her was the bracelet he mysteriously received and since then he began to win so many surfing tournaments from the most local and at times international.
Three months before the present day he gave up on his one-week girlfriend project. Though it was a major shock to his fellow surfer dudes deep within him told him that this project was only a lost cause. He was ready to give up his innermost feelings for his guardian angel, as Gaito once called his rescuer, and move on with his life and let fate lead him to wherever he may end up. He planned to start moving on and forget his savior this summer but he never expected it would be this soon. Yesterday, the last day of school before summer, he spoke to Lucia Nanami for the first time in three years when they first ended up in the same homeroom class in sixth grade. He thought he was finally moving on with this new friendship he built with Lucia, but after he revealed to her about the competition bracelet he found himself yearning for his guardian angel again. Why? It was a simple answer, he thought. He felt something a whole lot different in Lucia than how he felt with the other girls. Sure, there was Michal Amagi, who was not exactly the same as his one-week exes, but he discovered that she was on the same level of obsession towards him like all the other girls who admired him and whom he got involved with.
Somehow deep within he felt as if he had known Lucia for the longest time even if they first saw each other in sixth grade when they ended up in the same homeroom class. There was no proof that was factual but somehow he was slightly hopeful. Right now he could see Lucia's teary eyes resembling the closed teary eyes of his rescuer seven years ago. He really could not say that they looked alike from each other because he still had no proof of that. At the same time he just could not help himself but to think this way.
"Lucia..." He made his statement after a few moments of silence and after he was finished wiping of her tears.
"Yes, Kaito?" Lucia answered, still continuing to smile despite of the accidental tears.
"I know... we've only started talking to each other since yesterday... but after the moments earlier I feel like we've known each other for the longest time. Even knowing that we never really talked to each other in school I'm having these weird feelings about you..."
Lucia had to play things cool and not let her heartfelt emotions take over her and produce more tears. She had to come up with a good response that was unsuspecting. After a few seconds she found what she wanted to say. "Well... we've sorta known each other... or rather we've known of each other since sixth grade, so that should tell you why you get those feelings and all..."
"Well... I guess you're right..." Kaito, for the first time, sighed deeply in disappointment right in front of a girl. Normally he was always playing cool with any other girl and never sighed for a hopeless cause but once again he reacted differently with Lucia. "Sorry to mention it-"
"But..." Lucia gulped nervously and found her fingers entangled together and twiddling her thumbs to keep herself as cool and calm as possible. "I... I exactly feel the same too... with you... it's like... we've known each other in a different past life or something, you know? Heh... heh... heh..."
Oh come on, Lucia, enough with the "hehs"... it's getting really old! But I can't help it... Kaito's like Prince Charming right now... his words... so deep... and heartfelt... I feel like I want to cry again... and maybe he'd just take me in his arms and let me cry on his shoulder instead of wiping off my tears with a piece of tissue...
"Lucia... I... I think you and I should-" Just as Kaito was about to respond they were interrupted by the loud ringtone of his cellphone. Lucia sighed lowly while he gritted his teeth in disappointment. One of his personal pet peeves was getting interrupted in a special moment.
"Ugh, dammit..." Kaito cursed lightly and grabbed his ringing cellphone. "Hang on a sec... let me take this call."
"Sure. No problem." Lucia went back to her calm smiling mode as Kaito ran downstairs to answer the phone call. There was no one at the second floor with the exception of Taro, Rihito, and Hippo discussing about the songs they needed to play in one meeting room. He found the men's restroom around the corner and went inside.
When Kaito gazed at his caller ID at the front screen of his phone he frowned once more. He answered the phone right away. "What do you want, G? I was in a middle of a meeting!"
"... at Pearl Waters, Kaito? Heh, why do I find that hard to believe?" Gaito's voice spoke on the other end of the phone conversation.
"Look, enough with the questions, dude. What do you want?"
"Quick meeting ASAP right now at the beach across from Pearl Waters. We just got the official schedule of the tournament. We gotta discuss how we're going to prepare for training in all sections of the surf scenes team. I was going to call the OC-5 band members to join in the meeting too..."
Kaito shook his head and responded. "Dude, we haven't even formed the entire team yet. We still have yet to hear Rina Touin's decision to see if she's going to be our beach babe for the beauty pageant and most of all we haven't even found our tandem surfing partners yet!"
"True, but see, we're nearing to completion of the tandem surfing division of our team, Kaito. I already talked to Sara a few minutes ago and she agreed to be my tandem surfing partner. Nagisa the hodad here still has yet to ask Hanon because he actually forgot to ask her earlier today when OC-5 was rehearsing outside..."
From behind Kaito could hear Nagisa complaining through the phone. "That's because I was doing my assignment in our plan, which was getting 0C-5 to be our surf band for the tournament, man! Why do you always make me look like-"
Gaito continued on despite Nagisa's background complaints. "You, on the other hand, Bro, haven't gotten a tandem surfing partner yet. At least Nagisa already knows who he was going to ask for his partner but you? You disappoint me, Brother. Seriously stop fooling around with other girls and actually find the right girl to be your partner!"
"Dude, I was working on that! I still haven't come up with our team name too but I'm also working on that as well. Why are you being all bossy all of a sudden?"
"Because I am the boss, Bro! Anyway, the meeting starts ASAP... as in right now. You'll have to postpone your little meeting to tomorrow or something... or later tonight when we watch OC-5's debut night. It'll only take a few minutes."
Kaito sighed, knowing he would have to leave Lucia again. On the other hand Lucia had to rehearse with the rest of the OC-5 for tonight's debut night anyway. He would not want to stay this long to distract her, plus she still had to replace the entire stitch pattern of his zipper of his favorite sweatshirt. I'm sorry, Lucia, but I have to go... but I want to talk to you more...
After the call he headed back to the third floor where he found Lucia still working on the sweatshirt. Once he got to the table Lucia looked up to him. "Need to do some errands or something?"
Kaito's widened his eyes feeling Lucia may have read his mind in an instant. "Y-yeah... Wow, you're good."
Lucia smiled humbly at him. "Your cellphone tells it all and you had to head downstairs to talk so I figured it must be important."
"Sorry about that..." Kaito returned the humble smile. "But I'll be back tonight... watching you guys on stage."
"Glad to hear! Be sure you bring your dudes too, okay?"
"You still owe me a song."
"I know, I know. I've never forgotten. I'll sing you a song tonight."
"Looking forward to it!"
Lucia stood up once Kaito did and decided to escort him downstairs. Halfway at the second she broke the brief silence. "Kaito, I'm really sorry about Hanon dragging you up there..."
"Nah," Kaito shook his head. He turned to her and smiled. "After our small talk I'm kinda glad she dragged me to you."
"You're just saying that to make me feel better," Lucia responded with a soft chuckle along with it.
Kaito raised an eyebrow at her. "Hey, what kind of dude do you think I am? You actually believe all that gossip and rumor people been talking about me or something? Yeah, I'm not that dumb."
"Kidding! Kidding!" Lucia chuckled in amusement, with Kaito following the same reaction with her.
Once the two arrived downstairs they met up with Hanon, who was now taking the juice bar position for the time. She grinned happily once both Lucia and Kaito arrived.
"Aww... you're leaving already?" Hanon pouted sadly with her arms crossed.
"The dudes need me for a little meeting, Hanon," Kaito answered with a slight frown on his face. "And what's with all this aww thing? We're coming back here tonight when OC-5 starts taking over the stage."
"Well, I suppose you're right. Okay then, so how's your sweatshirt?"
"Kaito asked me to re-stitch the entire zipper," Lucia answered from behind Kaito. "I'll be glad to do that. In that way the entire zipper would be a lot secure against the fabric of his sweatshirt. I hope to have it done before the tournament begins."
"Well," Kaito interrupted with a grin on his face, "look at the time. I better get going or Gaito will kick my ass for being late."
The three teens waved each other goodbye for the time being as Kaito exited Pearl Waters. Lucia was about to head back upstairs to meet with the rest of the OC-5 at second floor when Hanon chased after her and dragged her back to the bar.
"What... what, Hanon?"
"Hee hee hee..." Hanon chuckled and nudged her on the shoulder.
"What?"
"Sooooo? You two seem to be having a ball for the past hour, Lucia! What did you two talk about while you were sewing the zipper of his sweatshirt? Come on... there must have been something else... intimate..."
Lucia snickered and released her arm from Hanon's grip. "Ahahaha... wouldn't you like to know, Miss Curiosity!"
"Oh come on, Lucia, you're killing me here!"
"Okay then..." Lucia giggled and answered. "We talked about his sweatshirt-"
"Well duh! I mean that's the main reason why he came here an hour ago, right?"
"Okay fine. Aside from his sweatshirt. We talked about surfing-"
Hanon sighed and crossed her arms. "What else is new? Aside from his sweatshirt and surfing!"
"The tournament's coming up in two months and obviously that's all he's gonna be thinking about, Hanon!" Lucia exclaimed with a fist tightened. "What else are you expecting? I mean I'm pretty sure he wouldn't just hit on a girl he'd only known for two days..."
"I'm pretty sure you guys talked about other stuff aside from his sweatshirt and surfing... I mean you two would end up like those weird geeks who only talked about one thing the entire day! What about your lives? Like... past lives?"
Sorry Hanon, but there are some things that are worth kept secret. "Okay, Hanon. We talked about his sweatshirt. Next we talked about surfing and the tournament and all that. Then we talked about OC-5 and how he and the dudes are looking forward to it and how I owe him a song and that I have to sing it to him tonight. We also talked about my bandaged middle finger-" Right then Lucia showed her hand with her pricked middle finger wrapped snugly with band-aid. "- and we talked about my side business..."
"Now we're getting somewhere!" Hanon exclaimed happily as she came closer to Lucia and whispered. "So... did you check his accessories for that missing bracelet you've been babbling about for the longest time?"
Lucia shook her head. "Actually... I didn't ask him..." More like his competition charm sounded similar to the bracelet I gave to that missing boy I rescued seven years ago... Darnit I know that boy was Kaito... I can just feel it in my bones! "He was interested in the types of friendship bracelets and bead bands and other handmade jewelry and all that so yeah, we talked about that..."
"You really are hopeless." Hanon shook her head with disappointment on her face. "Don't say I told you so when Kaito starts hitting on a new girl for another one of his one-week girlfriends, Lucia. Just pray that he'd still talk to you. At least that should suffice for the time being."
"But Hanon, you don't understand!" Lucia sighed deeply with a few thoughts in her mind. I'm not like you... or those other girls who became his one-week girlfriends in the past. I just want to be myself with him... and that's how I feel like whenever I talk to him. I feel like I didn't have to be someone else just to get his attention. "... I still owe him a song... and he won't just ignore me without that song..."
Hanon was ready to respond to that when Rina arrived from the stairs. "Hey Hanon, it's not polite to gossip, you know."
The two girls turned to see Rina peeking downstairs. "Oh, hey Rina..." Hanon greeted in a low tone. "Why don't you lay off for once? It's not like you care about Lucia's progress with Kaito anyway..."
Rina rolled her eyes as she climbed downstairs to meet the girls. "Yeah, whatever Hanon." She turned to Lucia quickly. "Anyway Lucia, the band's looking for you. We need to decide what to perform for tonight. Tonight's our first night as OC-5, you know."
"Thanks for reminding me, Rina!" Lucia returned her response with a smile and turned to Hanon. "Well, gotta go rehearse now. See you later, Hanon!"
Hanon waved at Lucia as she dashed her way to the second floor with Rina, where the rest of the OC-5 were waiting.
Two hours later during the surf team's short meeting and OC-5's rehearsals, Taki arrived at the second floor of Pearl Waters to look for her nephew, Hippo. Once she got to the practice room she was in time that the band decided to take a break. She knocked on the door first before she entered the room.
Rina opened the door and greeted the somewhat matriarch of the Nanami Family. "Hello, Mrs. N... come on in, we're just taking a break."
"Why thank you, Rina." Taki smiled at the tall long-haired tomboy and found Hippo gently tapping the cymbals of his drum set with his drum sticks. "Hippo, you got visitors."
Hippo turned to his aunt with curiosity in his eyes. "Visitors...?"
"Yeah... that young surfer boy and that girlfriend of his-"
"Oh!" Hippo quickly stood up from his seat and ran to the entrance. "Thanks, Aunt Taki!" Quickly he dashed downstairs to meet Nagisa and Seira standing at the lobby area of Pearl Waters with Hanon accompanying them behind the juice bar.
Once Hippo got there Hanon chuckled. "They've been waiting for ten minutes, slow poke. Was that rehearsal intense or something?"
"Whatever, Hanon." Hippo rolled his eyes and turned to Nagisa and Seira. "Well...?"
Seira brought out a black folder from her backpack and passed it to Hippo. "Here you go."
Hippo opened the folder and looked through the documents inside it. Right then he snickered and nodded to the two. "Thanks for the printouts, dudes! I really appreciate it!"
"No problem!" Seira giggled happily. "You can always count on Nagisa and me when you need something, Hippo!"
"Heh... and vice versa." Hippo gave a wink on the eye as he was about to head back upstairs. Before he did Nagisa immediately grabbed Hippo's arm to stop him. "Wh- what?"
"Hold it, Nanami! We want some answers!"
Hippo slowly turned to Nagisa with an eyebrow raised. "Hm...?"
"Dude, okay... what's up with you bugging us to dig up these articles about some town history through the net? Luckily Hamasaki had a laptop, USB net connector thing, and a FedEx Kinko's was only a block away from the beach for printing and worked our butt to search for the stuff you're looking for. Why didn't you look for them yourself?"
"I was rehearsing with OC-5 for tonight, dude," Hippo gave a slight glare towards Nagisa. "You can't expect me to do all that during rehearsals- I only got two hands and my drum set is bigger than my laptop! And of course, the rest of us who live here are- hello- working!"
"Then why don't you wait until tomorrow, genius? You got the entire summer to do all that research and stuff. We're on summer vacation here! Why the hell are you doing all these research stuff about the town's history?"
Seira stepped in to hush the two bickering boys. "Okay, stop it, you guys! You're embarrassing everybody else here including Hanon here. She's probably laughing at you guys right now!"
Nagisa gasped and turned towards Hanon at the juice bar, who was trying to prevent herself from giggling. Then turned back towards Hippo and Seira. "Ugh... thanks for the warning."
Hippo sighed and invited the two to the stairs. "Come on, you two... I'll explain why..."
Seira shrugged and followed Hippo. Nagisa tailed Seira but before he headed to the stairs he turned to Hanon with hopes of getting her attention this time. "Hey, Hanon. You got some time later tonight? It's kinda important."
Hanon blinked her eyes in curiosity and answered. "What about?"
"Well, it's um... tournament-related..."
"Oh... tournament-related?" Hanon sighed in relief. "Okay! I thought you were gonna try and hit on me again or something... heh..."
Nagisa gave a slight frown of disappointment, but he still had hopes with Hanon. "Erm... I don't have time to hit on girls just like the rest of the surf team. But anyway... I wanna talk to you about something important... maybe like after hours?"
"After hours? Wouldn't your parents worry about you for staying up that late?"
"My parents are on their second all-summer honeymoon so I'm staying over at the Doumotos' shack, so I got all night!" Nagisa grinned with a wink of the eye, which made Hanon a bit nervous.
"Um... okay... sure..."
Nagisa gave a one-finger salute to the blue-haired girl and headed upstairs behind Hippo and Seira. Hanon slowly turned back to the juice bar and sighed nervously. What is up with that kid now...? I hope it's not something that would embarrass me... why am I having bad luck with guys lately? Even Taro and Rihito don't even notice me and I know I'm pretty enough... I mean, I got Kaito to get me to be one of his one-week girlfriends... Oh this is awful... what am I gonna do?
Once the three kids reached second floor Hippo reminded the rest of OC-5 in the practice room that he needed to have a little meeting with Seira and Nagisa in his bedroom for a bit. After their exchanges of greetings the kids enter Hippo's bedroom, complete with the second floor balcony area overlooking the ocean across the street with two telescopes and other photographic equipment parked there.
"Well, dude and dudette... welcome to my room." Hippo presented his very spic and span bedroom with its walls colored pastel sea green with hordes of framed images of the ocean and random surfing images at the coordinated places. Above Hippo's bed was a pastel yellow shortboard with pastel green and dark blue stripes around the surfboard's lining. At the nose was a yellow star with a purple flower at the center and at the tail are small calligraphic initials C.S. written on it. To Nagisa and Seira, Hippo's bedroom looked more like a mini-surf museum than an average boy's bedroom.
Nagisa stared at the walls while Seira stared at the surfboard above Hippo's bed while Hippo turned on his laptop on his lap and an 8-inch netbook at the side of his desk while moving his mouse on his desktop to reveal the working screen. He went to the official website of Surfer Styles magazine and in to its user forum.
"Man, Nanami... your room is shweet!" Nagisa complimented his bedroom in awe. "Your parents had gotta be the coolest! My parents wouldn't even let me put up a family photo on my room's wall... that's just retarded."
Hippo scrolled through the forums as he answered. "I don't have any parents, Shiroi..."
"Oh!" Nagisa covered his mouth while Seira spanked him on the head. "Ow!"
"Watch what you're saying, Nagisa! You didn't know that the Nanamis are orphans?"
Nagisa approached closer to Hippo with guilt on his face. "I'm sorry about that, Nanami... I didn't know..." At the same time he had another thought in his mind. Just like the Doumoto Twins... they're orphans too...
"It's cool, it's cool," Hippo shrugged the remark. "You didn't know so don't blame yourself."
Both Nagisa and Seira sat on their spaces on Hippo's bed, now facing Hippo from across. "Well... I'm wondering... what happened to your parents? Well you don't have to answer if you don't want to, Nanami..."
"Nagisa, stop asking personal questions!" Seira continued to warn him but Hippo hushed her.
"They're happily down the ocean, Shiroi," Hippo answered calmly. "I don't know a lot about my parents to be honest. All I know was that, according to my sister Nicola, they were true legends. I don't know what she meant by that since she hardly even talks about them to Lucia and me. But one day we're gonna find out more about who they were and what type of people they were. We were gonna ask our Aunt Taki but she was only the in-law to the Nanamis, so she doesn't know much about them either. She was widowed too so we don't really have an uncle related to the Nanami line, you know? And then there's our cousin, Taro Mitsuki. He was always helpful to us but he didn't want to talk to us about them too. I belong to a really messed up family who kept keeping secrets away from each other. What's up with that?"
"Okay, let's not get personal now... sensitive stuff here!" Seira chuckled nervously and began to change the subject. "Okay, Hippo. What gives? What's up with you having Nagisa and me dig up all these articles from the net earlier?"
Hippo opened the black folder and showed the various articles about the same subject. "Dude and Dudette, I bring you- Dainami-Oni!"
Nagisa and Seira took an article and began reading to themselves. Hippo took a more prominent article that was gathered from the news archives of the Surfer Styles magazine website and paraphrased the text.
"Check it. Dainami-Oni is a wild and deadly ocean phenomenon primarily occurring at Eastern coastal area and it is very common at the coastal towns of Nijibe, Hoshino, and Karukotan. It was believed that the Dainami-Oni phenomenon was originated from Nijibe as it was commonly spotted at the town's local beaches, primarily the Kaigara Boulevard Sector 7 Beach-"
"Hey... Sector 7 Beach? Isn't that beach the one we're across from now?" Nagisa asked curiously.
"Yup. That would be it." Hippo confirmed and continued. "Ancient legends through these three towns believed that the Dainami-Oni was a sign of the nature gods' challenge to the settlers and prove their worth and devotion to the gods by commanding the seas to break and roll in ridiculously giant waves measuring sixty-five feet breaker measurement. In simple terms, peeps, if you see the ocean breaking crazy wild waves measuring about sixty-five feet or possibly larger than that, that would be the Dainami-Oni."
Nagisa and Seira stared at Hippo with rather blank stares, now wondering why majority of the town of Nijibe would not even mention about this particular ocean phenomenon. "So... let me get this straight," Nagisa began, "so this Dainami-Oni thing is actually... a 65-feet ocean wave...? That's it?"
Hippo nodded. "Yup. That's it."
"Then why are a lot of people here in this town are too scared to talk about it or just flatly refused to talk about it when it's just a huge giant wave?" Seira shrugged with curiosity on her eyes.
"I'm about to get to that part, Seira." Hippo took another article and paraphrased from the text. "TheDainami-Oni only happens every seven years at late summer, in which surf forecast analysis predicted that the deadliest Dainami-Oni wave occurs late August."
Nagisa and Seira's eyes widened in shock. "Every seven years?"
"I wanted to research this because I heard about it from the surf forecast news radio. They started talking about it and it just so happened that the Dainami-Oni waves may occur during this year's first annual surf scenes tournament. This is going to be a problem to all the surfers, most especially if they haven't ridden a swell that huge."
"Wait... you're lying!" Nagisa exclaimed in fear. "Sixty-feet wave? I've never ridden a wave that huge before and I'm chickening out already! That's like- suicide, man! They should postpone the entire tournament because of these conditions... I mean they even got a creepy name for it... Dainami-Oni? Sounds like a hungry giant demon hungry for human meat and blood, dude!"
"That still doesn't answer my question with the people of this town, Hippo! Why is it that everybody here is hiding secrets from each other? What happened here the last time that Dainami-Oni waves rolled in? I mean something huge must have happened at that time!"
"Well, this next article you peeps printed for me but never even bothered to read should answer your question, Seira." Hippo took the last article and went on with the paraphrasing. "Well, Seira, this is it. On August 29th, seven years ago, two things happened. The Dainami-Oni rolled in rapidly during the last day of the Regional Surfing Championships Tournament. Back then the tournament only lasted two days with the last day being the finals for all divisions. Two things- one victory and one tragedy. In the all-girls surfing championships a record was set when fourteen-year-old Cole Seahart took the challenge to ride the Dainami-Oni instead of backing out and wait until the ocean conditions are a lot calmer. She rode theDainami-Oni as if it was just a bike ride at the park- very smooth, very fast, as if she just conquered the demonic wave just like that. That was the victorious event that happened that day."
"... And the tragedy, Hippo?" Seira asked curiously while Nagisa found himself in contemplative mode about what he was hearing from Hippo.
Wait a sec... didn't the Doumoto Twins' parents died seven years ago on August 29th...?
"Hold your horses, Seira, I'm about to get to that part." Seira fell silent and allowed Hippo to continue. "Check it. The tragedy of that day happened just four hours after Cole Seahart returned to land victoriously, the Tandem Surfing Championships were about to take place then. While Cole Seahart's record-breaking 65-feet wild surf ride was the central story of the all-female surfing competition- and the entire surfing world in general, the tandem surfing competition had two couples who were the spotlights then, not just at that tournament alone but also in the tandem surfing world too. And here's the interesting part. These two tandem surfing couples- both couples married and both couples had been the best of friends and rivals in competitive surfing- have been head to head in every tournament they enter and both equally share the championship titles year after year. One of the two couples was actually Cole Seahart's parents, Tack and Tish Seahart. The other couple were Gen and Kim Doe. The tandem surfing tournament was done differently and two couples were sent out to catch their waves and surf all at once. They're not being scored based on speed but more on the artistic display and tricks that they can do while they remain on the board. Those two couples were placed together again to surf the waves. They paddled out and surf conditions were somewhat mild to moderate and once they found their waves they began their tandem tricks and artistry. Things were smooth then until the Seahart couple began to swerve a little bit, losing their balance, but they hung on anyway. Right then the judges at the boats began to see some signs of a major breaker uprising. The measurement just rose up from twenty feet to forty... fifty... and approximately sixty feet... and the wave was rolling in very fast... and right then everyone at the shore panicked and the entire atmosphere just went wild..."
Silence befell between the three kids as Nagisa and Seira stared blankly towards Hippo, waiting for him to continue. As for Hippo, just as he was paraphrasing the articles, his mind began to flash out past images which he had not thought of for the longest time. Not only that they were just images of the past but somehow those images perfectly described the articles about Cole Seahart and the two tandem surfing couples who lost their lives then.
All that Hippo visualized with those images was seeing a young seven-year-old Lucia holding him tight while screaming: "Don't look, Hippo... don't look! We have to run! Run, Hippo, run!" Moments later another image came, but only this time both seven-year-old Lucia and himself as a five-year-old were being held tight and close to a weeping teenage Nicola with the words: "Lu... Hippo... it's all my fault... it's all my fault... they're gone... they're gone..."
Right then Hippo jumped back to reality and found Nagisa and Seira staring at him. "Are you okay, Hippo?" Seira asked with concern on her face.
"You just like... spaced out like that, Nanami..." Nagisa added, also with a concerned look on his face.
Hippo turned his head around and placed his hand on to his forehead to be sure that he was not seeing things or just daydreamed in front of his two comrades. "N-nothing... I'm good." He went back to the article again and continued on with the paraphrasing. "Tak and Tish Seahart... and Gen and Kim Doe... both were completely wiped out by the Dainami-Oni in a matter of three seconds... the rescue team found their surfboards but their bodies were never found. It was late morning to early noon when theDainami-Oni suddenly broke and rolled in fast that it scared the entire scene. It was because of the tragic wipeouts of these two tandem surfing couples that the spirit of tandem surfing in Nijibe just died out. Everyone became afraid of the Dainami-Oni... Everyone avoided the Sector 7 beach because of theDainami-Oni and the tragedy that happened in that part of the ocean. Now I see why the beach across from us had been dead for so long... until today..."
Wait a sec... Kaito and Gaito said their parents were tandem surfers who died at August 29th that one time... how come the couples' names are different? I didn't hear a Doumoto name from that article... Something weird is going on here... Nagisa's voice spoke within him but decided to ignore the thought and began paying more attention to reality.
Seira gasped in shock and placed her hands on to her mouth while Nagisa gulped in fear once Hippo was finished with his paraphrasing. Hippo placed the articles back in the folder and closed it. He turned to the two and said: "Let's not talk about this incident anymore. It's just... too depressing..."
"I guess that's the reason why no one in Nijibe would want to talk about this Dainami-Oni thing in the first place..." Seira sighed deeply and lowered her head. "But still... they could have taught the newer generations about the entire history of this town instead of hiding everything from us... I mean we learn history so the past can be prevented from happening again in the present, right?"
Hippo sighed and lowered his head gradually. "I'm really worried about this tournament. Did you hear the live surf forecasts on the radio today? They just announced the official schedule of the surf scenes tournament. You won't believe the date the tandem surfing championships is going to take place..."
Nagisa's eyes opened wide in fear and answered. "No... you're kidding, Nanami, right? Are you telling me that the tandem surfing championships is gonna be on August 29th?" Hippo nodded slowly. "No... I can't do that! I... I volunteered to be in the tandem surfing champs with Hanon- though I haven't asked her yet- but... I'm kinda terrified with that Dainami-Oni thing... what happened to those two couples seven years ago... We can't have another tragedy like in two months, man- and it'd be too much irony if the Doumoto Twins... oh man!"
"Calm down, Shiroi, chill!" Hippo hushed the rookie surfer. "Look, right now it's just predictions and signs. We'll just have to hope and pray that the Dainami-Oni surf doesn't roll in anytime during the tournament week. Pray that it'll be right after the tournament so we can sit back at the sands, relax, and enjoy the beautiful and powerful view of the sea. Just... just don't think about all this right now. But I'll be sure to keep an eye on it."
Seira patted Nagisa on the shoulder with a confident smile on her face. "It's still far off, Nagisa. We may never know how the water conditions are gonna be like once the tournament begins. But you guys still need to prepare for the tournament too. I mean we're aiming for a total sweep, right? This is for us and for our beloved Nijibe!"
"Thanks, Seira." Nagisa gave a faint smile while Hippo also patted him on his other shoulder.
Just as they continue on with their concerns they hear a door knock coming from Hippo's door. After the four knocks came a familiar voice. "Hippo, we're setting up at the stage now. Come on!"
"Be right there, Lucia."
Hippo, Seira, and Nagisa stood up from the bed as they exited the door, with Hippo being the last person to exit. Seira and Nagisa exchanged their greetings to Lucia as they proceeded downstairs. Just as Lucia was about to head downstairs Hippo immediately placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Lucia... wait..." Hippo called for his older sister.
"What's up, Hippo?" Lucia answered with her usual calming smile on her face.
"Okay, I got a stupid question but I'll ask anyway."
"Alright. Shoot."
"Um, Lucia... do you remember what happened seven years ago at August 29th?"
Lucia fell silent and began to think and recall whatever she may remember on that date. "I wish I can remember clearly, Hippo, but... I didn't want to remember it at all so I pretty much erased that day from my memories on purpose. Why do you ask? You can always ask Nicola since she was around fourteen or something seven years ago..."
Hippo shook his head. "No, nothing. Never mind. Let's just go and get our stuff set on stage."
Lucia shrugged her arms and followed Hippo from behind downstairs to the dining area.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Back from the funeral and as the grieving goes, I continued to write to overcome it. Notes below:
#1 – Hodad (or ho-dad) – This is an old surfer lingo term but from what I heard it's still being used today when needed. A hodad is a beginner/newbie surfer who still is learning to master the art of surfing. In the case of this fanfic, Nagisa would be considered a hodad because he's the rookie of the team, but on the other hand, every surfer, both seasoned and beginner, are pretty much considered hodads, one way or the other. In other words, the entire surf team including Kaito are all hodads.
#2 – Surfing Etiquette #6 – There are 10 rules (or "bills") in the basic Surfing Etiquette Billsaccording to prominent surfing website (Surfline). Surfing Etiquette #6 is, as Kaito explained, Always aid another surfer in trouble. A few of the surfing etiquette rules will be mentioned throughout the entire story, possibly all ten rules but we'll just see.
#3 – Yes, there are FedEx Office printing shops in Japan! As of today they're still called FedEx Kinko'sfor the time being.
More to come, obviously! Please keep the reviews coming! I really appreciate it! ^_^
RATED T for the VERY mild language AND slight adult situations.
Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch is © 2003 Pink Hanamori and Michiko Yokote. All songs used are © respected songwriters/owners. No copyright infringement intended.
