I saw Aoi's face every now and then. Everytime I began crying hysterically. Whether it was mental or physical, I wept. When I awoke to full awareness, I found Ms. Chou and Nagisa Hyoudou talking beside my bedroll. I groaned and rolled over to see them better. My head felt fuzzy, my eyes felt like falling out of their sockets, and my throat killed.

"Ms. Chou?" I half whispered, half croaked.

My guardian looked over and smiled at me. She stroked my hair.

"You're finally up, hmm? You fainted in the heat out there. Ichirou and Aoi-kun said you had been crying, but neither boy would tell me why. Of course, Aoi-kun stayed by you for awhile, but three times you woke up and burst into tears. After that, he ran out of the room whenever he saw your eyes remotely open. Once I swear he was going to start crying. He and Ichirou refused to sleep, but we made them sleep anyway. Since this morning, Aoi-kun had been out of the house, but he came back around noon with this."

Nagisa was smiling as he picked up a decently sized red bucket overflowing with seashells. I blinked at it in surprise. There were even a couple perfect sand dollars in there. Aoi's aunt laughed at my expression.

"Aoi-kun has been coming here since he was small. If there is anyone who would know how and where to find the perfect beach shells and critters, it is him. I assume that you had been looking for some yourself before you passed out."

Ms. Chou helped me sit up. I saw fireworks flash before my eyes and my head ached, but when the feeling passed I began looking through the bucket. Ms. Chou patted my hair and stood up.

"It's already evening and there is dinner downstairs that I suggest you come eat. You've been out for over a day. You need to be feeling well by tomorrow. You're not allowed to feel ill on your birthday. Nagisa-senpai and I are taking the kids to the convenience store. Aoi-kun will be around to look after you."

I wanted to protest as the two women got up and left the room, but I felt saying something would lead them to know that the dating was a lie. They would probably just tell me that couples had to sort out their own problems anyway. I wasn't sure I was ready to see Aoi yet, but I was incredibly hungry. I slipped out of the bed roll, only to shiver. The AC was on high. Sucking it up, I stumbled over to the door and opened it. I could hear the others leaving for the store. I was almost at the bottom of the stairs two minutes after they had left and found Aoi-kun coming up from the bottom. I squeaked, making his head pop up from the stairs.

"Mariko-chan?"

I turned to hustle back up the stairs, only to miss grabbing the railing. I began to fall backwards. My foot slipped past two stairs before I was grabbed around the waist from behind. I looked over my left shoulder to find Aoi holding the rail with his left hand for balance. I blushed and looked away.

"I'm sorry."

"You have to be careful. Gave me a heart attack."

I was suddenly lifted up and Aoi brought me down the last few stairs. He set me down at the bottom. His face looked more concerned than I'd ever seen. I was herded into the kitchen, which I hadn't yet seen. It was rather large, since it was a beach side hotel. I was pushed into a seat at a small table that I guessed wasn't used that often. I watched silently as Aoi moved around the kitchen. The dinner had apparently been rice balls. I saw Aoi look between the rice and the rice cooker. He had obviously never cooked in his life if he couldn't even use a rice cooker. I pulled myself out of my chair and went over to him. Without a word, I took the rice from him and did everything myself. He protested, saying he should do it, but his argument failed due to the main fact that he didn't know what to do. Aoi moved around the kitchen while waiting. It was awkwardly silent. I didn't blame him. I'd had an emotional breakdown, he didn't know why, and he couldn't figure out how to respond to something like that. After the rice cooker beeped at me for being finished, I formed four rice balls and went back to the table, where Aoi was now sitting. As I nibbled on one of the rice balls, I looked at the boy sitting across from me. He had his arms crossed on the table with his chin resting on the table as well. His eyes stared down at the wood. I only blinked at him when he raised his eyes to look at me. He could only hold my gaze for a moment before he looked away.

"I don't know…hmm."

He went quiet again. I nibbled on my rice ball a little more before swallowing and addressing him.

"Thank you for the sea shells. They were pretty."

Aoi's cheeks tinted pink as he stared off to his left.

"It was…whatever…you know…"

I was able to finish my first rice ball by the time Aoi spoke again. He sighed heavily and did his best to keep looking at me.

"I was mean and I'm sorry. I…I'm just so used to being mean to you…I suppose people in general…that I didn't even think I could hurt someone's feelings. No one really cared enough to get upset before I guess. It's not like I have that many friends. What I said was rude…and I guess I went too far with the teasing. To be honest, I kind of test out how male I can act when I'm with you since I don't have friends my age and…since you're a girl…You just kind of freaked me out. I mean, I don't exactly like being slapped, but you wouldn't stop crying. And you kept saying you were sorry when it wasn't even your fault. You're just so passive most of the time…and I've just been so used to taking advantage of you because you agree to help me. And then that stupid little kid came and yelled at me."

I hid a hint of a smile behind my second rice ball at the sour look on Aoi's face as he thought of Ichirou.

"While you were asleep, we had time to spend with each other. I guess he isn't completely horrible. He told me he likes you mostly because you're his image of the nicest kind of female. He has feelings mostly for who you represent as a person and knows that you won't like him. And he actually kind of likes it that way, because he feels that you're a moralistically decent person and should date someone your age."

Aoi ran his fingers through his bangs and covered his face with a sigh.

"And then…while you were out of it, you'd cry whenever you looked at me. I-I was- Ugh. I didn't want to lose my friend. I was-"

My heart skipped a beat as looked away and put a hand in front of his eyes. Sad. That was what he wanted to say. He was sad. I could hear a few sniffles from him. I almost fell out of my chair in surprise as he suddenly leapt up.

"I'm going to take a walk!"

"Aoi!"

He stopped mid-movement and looked back at me. We stared at each other before I pushed the last two rice balls at him.

"I'm not that hungry."

There was a hesitation before the both of us cracked smiles. Walked over to me and grabbed the plate. He ruffled my already messy hair.

"Wasteful," he chided, stuffing an entire rice ball into his mouth.

I stared at him in awe as he was actually able to chew the entire rice ball with relative ease. After we'd finished the rice balls, we moved back upstairs. Aoi went with me back to the room I was staying in.

"Emiko stayed the night in Ms. Chou's room so that you could sleep," he informed me as I changed in the closet," You should just leave your bed roll out since you'll have to go back to bed later. Lazy."

I came out of the closet in jean shorts and a pink tank top. I found Aoi sitting next to my bedroll with my hairbrush in his hand. He motioned me over with it. I tried to take my brush from him but he whacked my shoulder gently with it and instructed me to sit in front of him. It embarrassed me, but I let him brush through my hair. I noticed how aware of his movements and actions I had become after realizing my feelings. I felt nerves fluttering constantly in my stomach, but they were also kind of nice. Once Aoi finished with my hair, he put my hairbrush back in my bag and pulled me to my feet.

"Want to go for a walk?" he asked.

I nodded.

"I probably should, since I slept for so long."

He grinned and moved toward the door. I followed him downstairs. As we stepped outside, we spotted the others returning. All the kids swarmed me with hugs and exclamations. Emiko was incredibly intent on telling me everything they had bought. In a moderately short amount of time, only Ms. Chou and Nagisa stood with us outside.

"We're going for a short walk," Aoi announced.

"Alright," Nagisa said," Just don't stay out too long. There is supposed to be a thunderstorm tonight. We heard thunder faintly on the way back."

"Okay," we said in unison, bounding off the porch and onto the sand.

We were a few feet away from the beach house when there was a clap of thunder. I jumped in surprise by how close it was. I stopped moving and looked at the waves. The wind was picking up, swirling my hair around my face. The same wind was making the water look dangerous as the waves were bigger than I'd seen them before. I felt fingers interlace with mine. Looking over, I saw Aoi smirking at me, his dark hair flying around his face in the wind.

"Don't be a baby. You'll be fine."

He tugged me toward the road that led toward the town. We walked quietly, holding hands with my heart beating against my chest, until reaching the town within five minutes. As we turned back, we could see lightening. Aoi frowned up at the sky.

"It's going to be bad. But don't worry, we'll be fine. And the beach house is really sturdy, too."

As we walked back, I began to notice that Aoi was trying to find a moment to say something. He kept looking over at me and sighing every now and then. Eventually, I looked up at him.

"Aoi?"

He blushed slightly and looked down at me.

"Yeah?"

"Is something wrong?"

He looked forward down the road before looking back at me. His hand squeezed mine.

"It feels awkward to mention already…but, do you want us to keep up this fake thing? I mean…after yesterday…"

I smiled to myself in the dark before wrapping my hands around his upper arm and leaning against him like we'd done once before.

"I kind of like the attention you have to give me."

Aoi looked down at me, his face slightly astonished.

"I never pegged you for the needy type!"

I laughed, hearing the joking tone in his voice. He chuckled and shrugged.

"I don't want to let my parents down…or Nagisa-san. But if it was going to mess with your head or something, I'd be okay with stopping the act. But…that leads me to ask…what should I really call you?"

I looked down at the ground, my face warming up from the memory of yesterday. I thought about it. I ran both options in my mind. I recalled him saying both Mariko and Ri-chan. Before answering, I looked up at Aoi.

"Would a guy really have to be stupid to want to kiss me?"

From the moonlight, I could see his eyes widen. He looked away guiltily with a blush on his cheeks. I bit my lip, feeling somewhat disappointed.

"It's okay. I get it."

Aoi looked at me in alarm.

"No! I just…I'm the stupid one for saying something like that," he gushed," I said that yesterday because I was…getting a bit carried away. My embarrassment kind of…negatively affected my response. You told me once that you wanted your first kiss to be meaningful and special. I didn't know how to explain that nicely without seeming like I was scared to kiss you or something."

I pressed my forehead against Aoi's shoulder. I didn't want him to see the smile on my lips, because then he might start to figure out I liked him.

"Ri-chan," I said to his shoulder," I want you to call me that so everyone thinks it's a pet name or something. But…when we're alone…just call me Mariko."

Aoi nodded. He was slightly stiff from embarrassment. When we were almost back to the beach house, there was a huge crash of thunder and than an alarmingly bright flash of lightning. I shouted and grabbed Aoi's arm tightly in surprise as the lights all along the beach went out. I could barely see the boy right beside me.

"Aoi, Emiko is afraid of the dark!"

At that moment we heard high-pitched wails coming from inside the building. Aoi's hand slipped into mine and he led me into the house to find the little girl. Nagisa and Ms. Chou were running around downstairs, trying to find candles.

"Mariko-chan? Aoi? Is that you?" Nagisa asked.

Ms. Chou turned toward us.

"Mariko, could you go take care of Emiko, she's upstairs in your room. The boys are already asleep."

"Sure."

Aoi, knowing the place better than I did, led me up the stairs as it began to pour heavily. Rain pounded the wooden building while thunder and lightning continued. It was easy to navigate toward the little girl because of her screaming. In our room, she was on my bedroll crying.

"I'M SCARED! MARIKO! ! WAAAAAAAA!"

I swept over to her and pulled her into my arms. I shushed her as I sat down on the bedroll with her. Aoi lay down in front of us on the bedroll as I put Emiko on my lap. She hugged me tightly, crying her eyes out.

"It's okay. I'm here and so is Aoi. It's okay. Shhh."

As I held her, she screamed less, but kept on crying. After about an hour I began to feel tired. My head kept drooping forward. I felt an arm move around me and Emiko, pulling us down to lie on our side. Emiko whined, but seemed okay with having been relocated to the floor. Her sobs seemed to quiet even more as she was now between both Aoi and myself, though she still clung to me. I felt better now that I could rest my head on a pillow. At some point my eyes closed and I could just hear Aoi setting out another bedroll and pillow, widening the space. Another hour later, I opened my eyes to find Emiko asleep and Aoi with his eyes closed.

"Mommy," I heard the little girl sigh in her sleep.

I kissed her forehead before looking back up at Aoi to see him grinning, his eyes still closed.

"You hear that, Mariko? You're a good mommy."

"Shut up," I told him, resting back on the pillow.

I was asleep within a few minutes.