Here's Chapter 11. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.
Chapter 11- A Day at the Beach
"Oi Oga! You ready to hit the beach?" Furuichi asks. I come out in my dark green swim trunks and Beel wears a pair of pale blue Gohan-kunswim trunks.
"Yeah. I was just looking for his inflatable ring," I say. "Well, I found it now, so let's go."
We walk down to the beach where Natsume and Yamamura are sitting. "Hey, where are the others?" I ask.
"The girls are all taking their own sweet time," Yamamura replies. "Probably squealing at how cute their swimsuits are."
I sit down and open up a bottle of sunscreen. "Okay Beel, I'm going to put sunscreen on you," I say. However, Beel stubbornly shakes his head. "Oh come on, you have to!"
"Da bu da!"
"What do you mean it's oily? It doesn't matter, it protects you from sunburn!"
"Da bu ba da!"
"Hey, this is for your own good, Beel," I say in a gentle, yet firm voice. "You need the sunscreen. A real man wears this, right?"
"Da!"
"Listen to your brother, Beel-chan." I look up and see Hilda standing next to us.
Let me tell you, she looks pretty attractive in her swimsuit, which is a bright blue bikini. I sigh in relief. "Good, you're here," I say. "Can you help me get Beel to realize that he needs sunscreen?"
She crouches down to Beel's level. "Listen, little master," she begins.
Little master? I raise an eyebrow.
"You need the sunscreen before playing in the sun, because it protects your skin from being burned," she says in a gentle, yet firm tone. "You don't want to get burned, do you?"
Just like that, Beel obediently listens. "Wow," I say as I rub the sunscreen on him. "Thanks. But, why'd you call him 'little master'?"
She smiles. "I put him in a position of power, so he would listen easier," she says. "Can you put some sunscreen on my back as well?"
I nod wordlessly as she sits in front of me. As I apply the sunscreen on her back, I can't help but feel my face heating up. I try and act nonchalant, but in reality, I'm trying my best not to mess up and say something offensive or anything that will most likely get me killed. As if sensing my hesitance, Hilda glances back at me. "Why're you so reluctant?"
"S-Sorry…" I mumble.
"Ne, Furuichi!" We turn and see Kunieda, wearing a pink two-piece swimsuit with a skirt, standing in front of Furuichi. "How do I look?"
"Um… uh… you l-look… cute!" he stammers.
"She likes him, doesn't she?" Hilda asks.
I nod. "Kunieda's been dropping hints, but he never takes the hints," I say. "With someone like Furuichi, you can't just drop hints. You have to throw them in his face, or be more obvious."
Ever since that game of Truth or Dare, both Furuichi and Kunieda have been more nervous around each other. Even now, when I look over and see him applying sunscreen on her back, I can see that he's extremely nervous.
"Daahh!" Beel points to the water.
"You want to go into the water?" I ask. "Okay."
The three of us wade into the water, and I make sure to keep Beel close to me. He splashes around for a bit when Kunieda comes up to us. "Hey, Hilda, Oga! Do you want to play some volleyball with us? Furuichi and me against the both of you!" she offers.
"Sure thing," Hilda says.
As we go back to the shore, we suddenly see Tojo happily embrace another girl with reddish-orange hair, like he hadn't seen her in a long time. "Huh? What's going on there?" I ask.
"Tora, it's been a while!" the girl exclaims.
"What're you doing here, Shizuka?" Tojo asks.
"You two know each other?" Furuichi asks.
"Oh hey guys!" Tojo calls. "This is my girlfriend Nanami Shizuka from St. Ishiyama, and she's a member of their breakdancing group called the Six Holy Knights."
Six Holy Knights? That name sounds familiar. I swear, I think I know someone who's a part of that group. "Who are the Six Holy Knights?" Hilda asks.
"The Six Holy Knights are a group of six students who are the captains of different teams or clubs and they have a lot of strength and fighting experience, and they're a very skilled breakdancing group," Fujisaki explains. "They also uphold the conduct of the school. The members are Izuma Kaname, the former president of the student council; Nanami Shizuka, the captain of the Archery Club and the former vice-president; Gou Hiromichi, the captain of the Radio Club; Shinjo Ichiro, the captain of the Boxing Club and current president; Sakaki Mitsuteru, the captain of the Kendo team; and Miki Hisaya, the only first-year and captain of the Karate Team."
"I had no idea you were dating, Nanami-senpai!" Yamamura exclaims. She smiles.
"Tora and I have been friends since childhood," she says. "What brings your dance group here?"
"We're just on a vacation," Tojo says. "And you?"
"Same here," she replies. Right then, a tall guy with black hair and glasses, wearing a pair of black swim trunks, approaches us.
"There you are, Shizuka," he says. He suddenly looks at me. "Oga Tatsumi, the leader of the JD Dancers." He speaks with a fairly polite tone. "I've actually been looking forward to meeting you."
"Huh?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"One day, I'd like to have a dance battle against your group, after I heard about the dance-battle against the MK5," he says. "Well, enjoy the rest of your day."
We brush off this incident and start our game of volleyball, after I give Beel to Tojo. Throughout the game, I can't help but notice how Kunieda acts towards Furuichi. Eventually, the game ends, with Hilda and I winning. "So, you want to go on a walk, Hilda?" I ask.
"Sure," she says.
"You two can go alone," Furuichi says. "We'll watch over Beel."
We walk along the shoreline, admiring the view of the ocean. "It's quite beautiful," Hilda says.
"Yeah."
We eventually come across a boardwalk, where we see various couples walking down the platform or swimming in the water. Suddenly, I feel myself being pushed into the salt water. When I resurface, I see Hilda laughing at me. I frown at her before an idea comes to me. I climb out of the water and run towards her, a grin on my face.
"Tatsumi, don't even-" I cut her off by picking her up and jumping into the water with her.
"Payback for earlier," I tease, grinning at her pouty face. I laugh. "You're kind of cute like this."
The pout disappears from her face and a soft smile appears. "You think so?"
I nod. "Yeah. I think you look cuter when you smile," I say sincerely.
"Oi, lovebirds!" We turn and see Oomori and Hanazawa.
"When are you two gonna stop makin' eyes at each other?" Hanazawa asks.
"We're going back to the hotel," Oomori informs us.
Later that evening, I go down to the beach to do some thinking. The sun is well below the horizon, but I'm sitting at a safe distance away from the waves. I'm wearing a white muscle shirt and brown shorts right now, as I listen to the sound of waves washing up onto the shore. I've left Beel with Furuichi again, saying that I wanted to go on a walk. Fortunately, there's no one else on the beach.
"Why don't we practice here?" I turn and see Hilda, wearing a strapless blue summer dress.
"We don't have music," I say. She smiles, holding a portable music player.
When the music starts, we start dancing gracefully in time to the song. Strangely enough, I don't feel too uncomfortable by the body rolls and the hip movements that is all part of bachata. During the part where we get closer, I can almost smell Hilda's sweet and fruity body soap. Bachata on the beach at night? I never thought I'd be doing this. Also, this is actually kind of romantic. It's as we dance, that I realize something. I really do have feelings for Hilda.
The song ends and I do the usual dip. However, when I bring Hilda back up, I can't help but notice how beautiful she looks in the night. The moon makes her look almost celestial and mysterious. "T-Tatsumi?" she asks in a soft tone, looking at me in confusion.
I gently caress her cheeks and a light blush crosses her face. Right then, I slowly lean in and press my lips against hers, closing my eyes. Hilda kisses me back hesitantly as she wraps her arms around my neck. I move my hands to her waist, kissing her softly and gently, for what seems like a long time.
I gently pull away and look into her eyes. "I… I'm not too good with this, but…" I start. "You mean a lot to me Hilda. I have feelings for you."
Hilda smiles at me. "Me too," she says, wrapping her arms around mine in a hug. I hug her back, feeling much more at ease this time as I kiss the top of her head. Who would've thought that my first kiss would be with the daughter of a CEO, under the moonlight? How cliche…
"Well, we should go back, right?" I say. She nods.
"Yeah. Good night."
That night, when I go to sleep, I feel an unusual warmth and joy.
