Chapter 10.)

"So, you're a pervert, huh?"

Aizaku blushed and scratched the back of his head. "What? That's a weird question to ask randomly,"

Tomoko smiled.

It was a few days after the whole food incident, but it was still raining hard out. The couple hadn't talked since the incident—not until Aizaku invited her to see the fireworks at the beach. Naturally she had agreed—without thinking of the plethora of consequences—in order to please him.

"It should be sunny down at the beach we are going to," Aizaku said.

"Okay," she said.

"The storm is pretty bad here. I'm glad that we're escaping it."

"Yeah…"

When they finally reached the train station, they were both soaked, despite their efforts to stay dry. They boarded the train along with some other young people who obviously had similar ideas to go to where the sun was. Luckily for the couple, two open seats were available.

Ding.
The doors are now shutting. All aboard.

As the train left the station, Tomoko let out a sigh of relief. The train slowly picked up speed, giving Tomoko a sight of the beautiful gray scenery. Lights were fogged and muddled on the rain-pelted glass. A few unfortunate people were making desperate attempts to drive in the terrible weather—but the traffic was mostly at a complete stop.

Ha. Suckers.

Tomoko zoned out for a bit, and began to wish she had gone to bed earlier that night. In order to get to the beach early enough, they both had to wake up super early.

My eye bags must be really dark right now. And I didn't even brush my hair out.

"Are you cold Tomoko?"

"Huh?" she said, snapping into reality.

"You were shivering a bit,"

"Oh…I-I'm fine…" she said with another shiver.

"Here,"

Tomoko's face flared as he put his arm around her, gently pulling her into his chest. She shuddered and her whole body tingled for a second. She could hear his heart.

"Better?" he asked. Tomoko could feel his warm breath on her forehead.

Tomoko didn't respond audibly. She had meant to say "yes", but she only mouthed the words.

'What the Hell is he doing?!' Tomoko thought, before succumbing to the warmth and lack of sleep. Eventually, she drifted into a twilight sleep, with the gentle sway of the train rocking her slowly.

Slowly, the rain began to let up. Clouds began to disappear, and the sun began poking through in short intervals. Before they knew it, the day looked completely different. There were a few clouds in the sky, but the sun was still bright—and the entire atmosphere shone a healthy golden yellow. Just a few hundred yards from the tracks, the bright yellow sand of the beach was visible.

"This is our stop, Tomo," Aizaku said, rustling her a bit.

"Huh…" Tomoko said, clinging to Aizaku's side. She would have been quite embarrassed to know that she had been drooling all over him for the last 45 minutes.

The train doors opened, and the two walked into a wall of warmth. Aizaku took their coats and put them into his backpack.

"Ah this is so nice, isn't it?" he said. "The water should be really warm, too."

Tomoko nodded.

Shortly after, they reached the beach. The water was a crystal blue-green; the sky, an emerald blue.

"The fireworks don't start until later tonight," he said. "So we have the rest of the day—"

"Mokochi!?"

In near slow motion, Tomoko turned around in response to the oh-so-familiar voice.

It can't be.

"Y-y-Yuu-chan?"

Sure enough, it was Yuu, wearing a skimpy bikini, soaked head to toe in salty sea water.

"Mokochi!" she said, hugging her. Aizaku's eyebrow raised.

Oh no. Oh no.

No words could come out of Tomoko's suffocating throat.

"I…er…"

"What are you doing here, Mokochi?"

"I'm…here…uh…"

Aizaku was still silent. She wanted him to speak up—but at the same time she didn't want him to say anything.

"Oh, you must be one of Tomoki's friends. Is Tomoki here too?"

"Uh…yeah!" Tomoko said. "This is Aizaku, one of Tomoki's friends! Tomoki will be here in a little bit. He got caught up in the storm."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Yuu Naruse," Yuu said, holding out her delicate hand. Aizaku blushed and shook.

"Nice to meet you," he said shyly.

"Do you guys want to come over to our part of the beach? We have a cabana over there if you want to come hang with us,"

"Us?" Tomoko asked nervously.

"Yeah! I ran into Komi on the train here—what a coincidence that we're all here at the same time, huh?"

The slut is here too!?

"She'll be excited that Tomoki is here too," Yuu whispered.

"Yeah…"

"Yeah sounds good," Aizaku said suddenly. "But Tomoko and I are going to go get something to drink at the snack bar before we head over, if that's alright?"

"Sure!" Yuu said, her eyes shut. "Meet you guys over there, alright?"

"Alright!"

The two rushed over to the snack bar.

"What was that?!" Aizaku asked quickly.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" she said, realizing the hole she had dug for him. "I didn't know how to react."

"We're in a big mess now," Aizaku sad. "What are we going to do about Tomoki?"

"I…I'll figure it out," Tomoko said, assuring him.

Tomoko pulled out her cell phone.

"What?" Tomoki's voice was obviously agitated.

"Little Brother listen up. I'm in dire straights."

"Oh no, I'm not going to go get another towel—"

"I'll give you 10,000 yen to take the train to the beach, and hang out here for the day,"

The call ended.

Tomoko redialed.

"Tomoki please!" she cried.

"I have a game today in an hour. I'm not helping you,"

Once more, the call ended.

Tomoko went pale.

"He's not coming."

Aizaku put his hand on his face.

"Not good, Tomo, not good."

Tomoko's thought's raced quickly.

"Got it." Tomo said, redialing the phone once more.

"This better be good," Tomoki said.

"I'll give you 20,000 yen to come before nightfall. That way, you don't miss your game, alright?"

She could tell Tomoki was considering.

"If you agree to stay out of my room for a month,"

"Deal! Deal! Just come before nightfall, alright?!"

"Alright," he said.

Tomoko hung up the phone, which was now wet with sweat.

"I think we're good," she said. She could tell that Aizaku was a little bit nervous. In fact, he looked just as nervous as she was. For some reason, seeing that he was nervous too almost comforted her a bit.

"There you guys are," Yuu said, coming up to them. "What took you so long? And where are your drinks?"

Tomoko froze.

"We drank them over at the bar," Aizaku suddenly spoke up. Tomoko looked up at him, and smiled.

"Oh, alright. Oh! Komi, this is Aizaku." She said.

Komi stood up and shook his hand.

"He's a friend of Tomoki,"

Suddenly, Komi's demeanor changed completely from that of formality to that of a nervous wreck.

"Is he here." She said monotonously.

"He'll be here later," Aizaku said, trying to pull his hand from Komi's vice grip.

Komi's eyes went wide.

"Oh, I didn't see you there, slut," Tomoko said, coming up to Komi. "Trying to get into my brother's pants again?"

Komi frowned.

"Don't bother with her, Aizaku," Tomoko said.

"Nice to meet you," Aizaku said, shaking her hand once more.

"Are you guys going to come swim?" Yuu asked.

Tomoko and Aizaku said "no" and "yes" simultaneously.

"Why aren't you going to go, Mokochi?"

"I..erm…I forgot my swimsuit! How clumsy,"

"No you didn't, you're wearing it under your—" Tomoko elbowed Aizaku.

"Okay, well I guess that's just me and Aizaku then?"

Tomoko's heart dropped, and suddenly, she began to seethe with jealousy.

That slut is going to be swimming in those waves with my Aizaku?! Alone? Wearing minimal clothing!?

"Don't worry, Tomo, I'll be back shortly," he whispered to her quickly.

Aizaku took off his shirt and walked towards the beach with Yuu. Passionate jealousy that Tomoko had never seen in herself before suddenly began to surface.
"WAIT!" she suddenly exclaimed. The whole beach turned and looked at her.

"Mokochi?"

"I-I…" Tomoko panicked. "I want to go after all,"

Tomoko, shaking with anxiety, slowly took off her first layer. Her dark blue one piece swimsuit looked practically black next to her extremely white skin. She was nervous for a variety of reasons—not excluding the fact that this was the first time Aizaku had seen the fullness of her body—and especially not excluding the fact that she was somewhat terrified of the waves.

Tomoko walked over to them on the beach, holding her hands in front of her to cover up as much of herself as she possibly could. Aizaku—if he hadn't been trying to keep the blood from spewing out of his nose—would have noticed that he had never seen her as red as she was.

"What changed your mind?" Yuu asked.

"…I didn't want to stay there with Komi," she said, looking away.

Aizaku smiled at her. She was so cute when she was embarrassed, and he could see right through her. She looked away, but she had a small smile on her face as well.

The waves were quite warm. Tomoko did end up getting crushed by a few big waves—but for the most part, she had a lot of fun. It was like one of those picture-montages in animes, where it showed them splashing each other, laughing, etc.

Before they knew it, night was falling. The sun made the sky red for a short while, then purple, then deep, deep, near-black blue. In the cover of night, Aizaku cuddled up next to Tomoko in the cabana, pulled her chin towards him, and kissed her—right as the first fireworks popped above their heads.

I must have died on the train. Nothing else can explain why today was so great.

Aizaku's kiss was salty from the ocean. It tasted so good that Tomoko thought she would cry.

The fireworks continued popping above their heads. Wildly brilliant reds, yellows, greens and blues streamed across the sky.

"Tomoki! You made it!" Yuu said suddenly.

Sure enough, Tomoki had showed up. Komi, who had remained still as a stone for most of the time, stood up abruptly.

"Hi, Tomoki!" she said awkwardly.

"Hey," Tomoki said, ignoring her somewhat.

Komi sat next to him, and for the rest of the night, Tomoko watched Komi fail at trying to get his attention—all to Tomoko's delight.

Yep. This night is perfect.

As the fireworks continued, Tomoko felt Yuu-chan coming closer.

"I like your boyfriend, Mokochi,"

"What!?" Tomoko said, trying to play it off. "He's not my—"

"You don't need to worry, Mokochi," she said. "I've never seen you act like you do around him,"

Tomoko blushed.

"He's super cute, Mokochi. He acts a lot like you too,"

"Thanks…"

"I'm glad you've finally found someone, Mokochi," Yuu said, smiling.

"Yeah…" Tomoko said. "…me too,"

The train returned to their home train stop around 12 that night. They were all so tired that they were nearly drunk.

"I had a lot of fun today," Aizaku said, stopped in front of their house. Tomoki walked inside, ignoring them.

"Me too," Tomoko said, sighing.

"I love you," he whispered.

Tomoko stood up and stole a light kiss from him.

"I love you too," she said, just an inch or so away from his face.

Tomoko walked into her room, collapsed on her bed, and was asleep within 10 minutes.

Note to readers:

I'm glad to see that there are people reading! Leave your comments, and I'll keep writing! Feel free to private message me, if you don't want to leave a full comment, or you just want to chat about WataMote (I absolutely love the anime and manga). Thanks for your support!