Bonus 2

It had been a long time ever since the group had got together. Although they had promised to keep in contact with each other, the new opened chapter in their lives seems to take more time than they expected. They did meet occasionally when they can but they were never complete. And so, when Ran Kotubuki saw an opportunity to gather the group together – a mini vacation along the beach – she immediately called her friends and convinced and even coerced some to come. However,

"Yes Ran. I understand. That's the reason I studied in advance in the first place… yes. I'm coming even if my finals are coming up."

Aya Hoshino said over the phone while she was studying. Ran called her, again, for the nth time confirming if she was surely coming and was not cancelling on the last minute because of her finals. Aya understood why Ran continuously called her, first reason was that she had cancelled on them a number of times due to academic reason and the second was…

"YAAY, Ah Aya! Tell that baka boyfriend of yours to come. He told me that he can't come because of work. Stupid Otohata, choosing work over friends. Neh, I'm sure if his girlfriend convinced him, he'll come right? He's the only one not coming…" Ran said excitedly over the phone.

Aya sighed. It's true that Rei had been busy the past few weeks. She shouldn't be surprise though, the more famous her boyfriend got, the more projects he was offered both in his modeling career and his hobby in music. She sighed again and answered Ran,

"I can't promise that he'll come Ran. You know Rei…" Aya paused, thinking of the proper words to use, "…his work is really important to him. But I'll see what I can do." Aya said.

"…fine, alright. Alright. Ah! Did you know, I got these new boots…" and with that, her talk with Ran drifted to other things.

.:.:.

Rei Otohata had just finished his work for the day but he stayed inside his assigned room, waiting for his manager to tell him his schedule for the week. He ran a hand over his face and massaged his temples as he felt the exhaustion catching up. He never would have thought that his popularity would ever reach this point wherein projects just comes one after another that his manager needed to really be selective about what he would and would not take – well, not that he was complaining or anything – but now that he was actually taking his model career in a serious level, he realized its huge difference from those modeling jobs he took back in high school. His thoughts were cut when he heard his phone ring. He looked at the screen and smirked,

"Hey, missed me already?" Rei joked to the person on the other line.

"Mou. Rei…" whined Aya Hoshino who had called her boyfriend right after her conversation with Ran ended.

Rei chuckled, even without seeing; he could feel his girlfriend pouting from the other line just like she usually does when he teases her when they are alone. That was another notable change in their relationship – it seemed like both of them managed to be more open, freer and comfortable with each other's antics.

"Really? Can't wait for tonight, huh?" Rei continued, pertaining to their daily-nightly talks in which he is the one who usually calls once he had reached his apartment.

"Rei, you're tired, aren't you? You're too talkative…" Aya said in a soft voice, mentioning her observation about him. It made him chuckle – he found it weird since she was the only one who was able to sense that he was tired just by the way he speaks, not even he himself can do that.

"…well, I called because Ran required me to convince you to come. So… let's just say this is me convincing you." His girlfriend said with a giggle.

He sighed, he should have known that that Kotubuki would not settle with just bothering him numerous calls but would also involve Aya in trying to get him to come. It's not like he didn't want to or that he was purposely not coming to group gatherings – it's just that he was simply busy. When he didn't speak for a moment, Aya sensed his frustration…

"Rei, relax. I'll explain to them, okay? At least I can tell Ran I tried… Although, I really want you to come, Rei. I miss you." Aya said, almost whispering the last part.

"Aya…" he said softly, damn he missed her. Not only was this busy schedule keeping him away from his friends – it was also keeping him away from her. He paused and smirked to himself – he then realized what just happened, Aya had bluntly told him that she missed him without hesitation. Truly his mole is slowly having more and more confidence.

"Are you done for the day?"

"Yeah. I'm still in the in the site though. I'm waiting for my manager to inform me with my schedule." He said, looking at the door as he heard it open, revealing his manager. He raised a hand and gestured with his finger, signaling 'just a minute'.

"Oh, I won't keep you then… Don't forget to take care of yourself, Rei. Ja."

He smiled, "Hey, later alright?"

"Hai."

As the call ended, he looked at his screen that displayed the picture of the girl that he had just talked to and smiled. It was her picture, sleeping peacefully in the passenger seat of his car – a photo he took the same day he met that partner of hers, Heero Naga.

"Girlfriend?" his manager asked.

"Hn." Rei said as he kept his phone it the pocket.

His manager chuckled, already used to Rei's dismissive nature. "So, here's your schedule for the week…"

"Manager, about that…" Rei said.

.:.:.

The day of the mini vacation had finally come. The weather was even perfect for their beach outing. Ran Kotobuki led the group as they entered the beach, dragging Aya Hoshino with her, following them was Ran's boyfriend Yuuya Asuo who was struggling in bringing both his things and hers. Yamato Kotubuki followed soon after with Miyu Yamazaki attached to his arm.

"It's the beach! Come on guys!" Ran exclaimed.

"Ran slow down!" Aya said panicky.

"Na-uh. No slowing down! It's been a long time since we had gotten together! We are so not slowing down! Don't worry! You won't regret coming even if that stupid boyfriend of yours isn't here." Ran said to the girl, then stopped walking to face the others, "Alright, here's the plan…"

And just like the usual, they went on with Ran's plan – which of course made them enjoy the day to the fullest. It was already late in the afternoon when they decided to cool down. Well, 'cool down' in a sense where the men were free to do what they wanted, while Ran, Miyu and Aya played beach volleyball.

"Oh damn! Sorry Aya! I didn't mean to hit it that hard!" Ran apologized as the ball went pass Aya

Aya giggled, "It's fine Ran, I'll get it." And said as she left to retrieve the ball

Well, typically, this is the scene where in men would usually notice an attractive beauty who's alone in the beach. And that's exactly what happened – as Aya retrieved the ball, two men approached her,

*Whistle* "Hey there, love. You want to play?" said a man who was wearing shades, feeling pretty cool about himself

Aya looked at them shyly, "Uh… no thanks. I have to get back to my friends."

"Aw, come on. How about you introduce us to them? The more the merrier right?" said the other who had ear piercings.

"I—I don't think that's a good idea. Well… I really need to go." Aya said, trying to avoid the fight that would surely happen when Ran finds about this situation. But as she was about to leave, the man with shades held her arm.

"Aw, don't go yet love. After all, a pretty girl like you shouldn't be alone in a beach. How about we accompany you to them?" said the shades-guy

"Please let me go. I don't want -" Aya was about to say that she didn't want any trouble but, it was too late since she heard,

"YOU BASTARDS, GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" Ran exclaimed as she went over – or rather fly over the two men with her famous kick. As usual, they went down having no match for Ran.

"Sorry. We didn't know you were with Kotubuki." Whimpered both men as they hit the ground

Aya exhaled, this was exactly what she was avoiding. Poor men.

"No wonder you were taking so long! These jerks were keeping you. Honestly, I shouldn't keep my eyes off of you or else you'll find trouble, huh?" Ran said

Aya just let it pass, already used to this rant as she had heard it multiple times whenever Ran comes to her rescue. She smiled and just said her thanks to Ran for coming and saving her – again.

"But seriously, none of this would have had happened if that baka-boyfriend of yours came. Then he'll ward off these useless men… stupid Otohata, not coming because of work…" Ran seethed but was cut when a familiar voice spoke, catching both Ran and Aya's attention.

"Care to say that again?" said a cool and deep voice which made Aya's heart beat faster, she knew that voice all too well. There standing a few feet before them was Rei Otohata, with shades and cap, wearing a wife beater that exposed his well toned body, and board shorts – bottom line is, he was hot but his get-up was enough to conceal his identity to those who don't pay too much attention.

"Rei…" Aya said with wide eyes – too surprised to move from where she was standing. She couldn't believe that her boyfriend was here even though he had already said that his schedule won't be able to permit him to do so.

"Yo."

"Otohata!" Ran said, scratching her head, moving her other hand side to side motioning to let the words she had said pass, "oh… I didn't say anything. Wait what are you doing here? I thought you were busy, huuhh?"

Rei shrugged his shoulders and walk towards them. Ran then raised an eyebrow and sighed, realizing that the 'ice prince' would not answer her question she then motioned to leave. "Fine. Anyways, I'll leave you two. Byeee!"

Finally, they were alone. Rei then looked at Aya who still looked a little surprised. He then decided to break the silence saying, "Getting into trouble again?" When she still didn't respond, he tried to bring her back by pinching her nose and saying, "You can't be that surprised."

That was enough to break her shock, "Mou, Rei. Of course I am. You told me you were busy."

"So do you want me to go?" Rei asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Iie! You could have just told me you'd come." Aya said with a pout.

Rei chuckled and said, "Well, I had to come since a little mole bravely told me that she missed me."

With that he slowly started to walk to go back to their friends, leaving a very blushing Aya.

.:.:.

Much later, as Ran, Aya and Miyu played along the shore, Yuuya Asuo went near his best friend…

"Glad you can come Rei." Yuuya said, resting a hand over his shoulder.

"Yeah." Rei simply answered, while both men continued to watch over their girlfriends.

"So you managed to convince manager to move your schedule?" Yuuya inquired, because more than anyone, he was familiar with the demands of Rei's work since he's also in the industry.

"Not exactly. We worked it out." Rei said as he removed his shades since the sun was setting and it was starting to get dark.

It was during this that Yuuya noticed how tired and exhausted Rei looked. He then realized what 'worked it out' meant. "So, you had to do an all-nighter huh?" Yuuya concluded, it was the only explanation he could come up on how Rei managed to get this time free given his busy schedule.

"Hn." He'd take that as a 'yes'.

Yuuya then smiled, his best friend indeed changed. "Neh, Rei. You've changed," with a chuckle, he continued "back then, you wouldn't have given the same amount of effort just to be able to come here. You're not the same ice prince as before eh?…" Yuuya then followed his best friend's gaze, landing on an undoubtedly attractive woman with a porcelain face which perfectly contrasts to her raven tresses. "…hmm, she made you better Rei." Yuuya concluded.

"Yuuya," Rei started,

Yuuya looked at his best friend, silently asking him to continue, thinking that he was either about to confirm what he had just concluded or maybe give him a punch on the face for being so meddlesome, he shuddered, hopefully it's not the latter. But all his best friend said was, "…shut up."

Yuuya eyes widened, shook his head and chuckled, well, at least that's a proof that he still is the ice prince... and he didn't get punched in the face. At least his best friend did not deny his sentiment, that's something, right?

.:.:.

The group just had dinner when Ran initiated that they go karaoke-ing, reasoning out that it had been a long time since they did that and they were going to take advantage of this time and be up until dawn. However, it seemed that Aya Hoshino had different plans…

"Ano, Ran. Um, we'll pass." Aya said, surprising Ran and the others. Rei, on the other hand just looked at his girlfriend, waiting for her to continue.

"EHH? But Aya, we're already here. It's been a while since we went to a karaoke!" Ran exclaimed.

"Gomen, Ran. I'm tired, I really would like some rest. We can go to the karaoke tomorrow, if that's alright." Aya reasoned

"…but, but… Aya…" Ran whined, only to be stopped by her boyfriend who had placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ran, let it go." Yuuya said, "If you want, I can treat you where you'd like to eat?" Yuuya offered, hoping it would cheer his girlfriend up.

Miyu then added, "Oh, Miyu also wants to have alone time with Yamato. If that's okay?"

With that, the Gal had no choice but to concede, "Fine. We're done for the day, but tomorrow we'll go karaoke, alright?"

The group agreed and said their goodbyes. Rei and Aya started to walk towards the hotel. Actually, Rei was surprised that Aya turned down the plan. So he decided to ask her as they walked side by side, "You didn't want to go?"

Aya shook her head, "Iie."

He continued to ask her, "So, you're gonna rest?"

"Iie."

Rei raised an eyebrow, one-word answers were his thing, not hers. "So?" He asked, which meant two things: 'So what did you want to do? So why did you turned it down?'

Aya stopped walking, and shifted her head to the side, "We…" she motioned to her and Rei, "…are gonna rest."

He raised his eyebrow once again, "We?"

Aya nodded and smiled, "Hai. We can go karaoke tomorrow anyway. For now, we rest."

"Aya…" Rei began.

Aya huffed, "Rei, I decided that on my own. We will rest…" she then lifted a hand to his face, "you're tired, Rei. Surely you had to work more to be able to be free today. I told you to take care of yourself didn't I?"

Rei stared at his girlfriend, chuckled and said, "That's coming from a girl who have bags under her eyes… say that to you first."

Aya then became self conscious once again and touched her face, trying to cover her eye bags.

Rei then ruffled her hair, "You didn't need to go all defensive on me. Come on, we will rest." With that, he grabbed her hand and led her to their room.

He smiled, although he would never admit it, he agreed with everything that Yuuya had said – she managed to bring out the better him. He also can't deny the fact that he is pleased with her being more outspoken, less timid and more decisive yet remaining to be her pure selfless self. As they walked, he looked at her and saw her blushing. Perhaps it's because of her sudden attitude, or the fact that he pointed out that she herself wasn't taking care of herself that well, maybe it's even because he was holding her hand now, but it was during this times that he was glad that some things remains the same.

But seriously, who knew his mole could be so demanding?