Chapter 21: Summer Holidays Part 1

"We have decided to go out", Haru and Shizuku announced to their three friends who gaped in shock.

"Really?! Wow, congrats!" Sohei said with a wide smile.

"Thank you, Sasayan", Shizuku replied softly.

"This is so cool!" Tsubaki added with a grin.

Natsume shook slightly and then suddenly she glomped the brunette who staggered from the force. "Congratulations!" she squealed happily.

"N-Natsume-San, it hurts", Shizuku mumbled but her words went unnoticed.

From then onwards, Shizuku was known as 'The Girlfriend' and the name stuck. Wherever she went, people pointed her out by saying that she is The Girlfriend. Girls began putting letters in her shoe locker, telling her to leave Haru and also, whenever Haru did something bad, the complaints were addressed to the poor girl. In short, her lonely life did a complete 180 turn.

The summer holidays came and Tsubaki, Haru and Natsume went to watch Sasayan at his baseball practice. They were sitting on a bench chatting while eating ice cream.

"How were Haru-kun's and Mitty's summer holiday?" Natsume asked.

"Huh? Oh, I haven't seen her much", Haru replied slowly.

"You're kidding, right? You two must have gone on a date!" she exclaimed.

"Date..? Oh, a date", he said monotonously.

"You're being weird", Tsubaki told him with a light frown.

"What's with the non-Haru like attitude?" Natsume added with a nod. "Ah, Sasayan-kun has come out!"

The baseball player appeared and he smiled widely at his friends. "Oh, you guys came to watch the practice!"

"We had to at least come, right?" Natsume said with a small smile.

"Sorry, we lost the first round", Sasayan said sheepishly. "See you later, then. Please stay throughout the match to watch me. I'll be at the base".

"Win the game, Sasayan!" Tsubaki cheered with a fist pump and a bright smile.

"Of course!"

The match went on, the scores were tight but at the last minute Sohei's team won. Once the baseball player had changed his clothes, he joined his friends. It was not long before Shizuku arrived.

"Yo, Shizuku!" Haru greeted. "Has school ended? I was thinking about visiting you".

"We're talking about the camp!" Natsume added with a smile.

The little group informed the brunette of their plans for the holidays but things did not go as they expected.

"Rejected!" Shizuku said firmly. "If it's the beach, I'm not going! Natsume-San, Haru and Tsubaki can go by themselves!"

"Whaaaat?!" Tsubaki whined as she deflated.

"That's why I said this time, we're going to the mountains!" Natsume replied. "We'll go grape picking, go rafting and have a barbecue!"

"The beach sounds good too", Sohei pitched in.

"I agree", Tsubaki said and she nodded at him.

"Natsume-San, why do you want to do so many things in one day?!" Shizuka asked with her hands on her hips.

A rustling sound was heard and a familiar blonde haired girl appeared. "Camp... How wonderful!"

The five friends turned around at the sound of the voice.

"If it's camping, Iyo knows a good place for that!"

"Iyo-chan!" Natsume called on seeing the younger girl.

"Tennis courts, pools, hot springs, they're all free!", she told them. "If it pleases you, Iyo can take you there".

A dark look came over her face and she placed a hand on her hip. "However, only without Shizuku-sempai", she decided.

Shizuku crossed her arms over her chest and she looked at Iyo blankly. "Why only me?"

"Haru-sempai!" Iyo said with a light blush. "That hairstyle is so cute!"

"Thank you very much!"

"Iyo-chan", Natsume asked cautiously. "Can it be that you haven't given up on Haru?"

"I choked back my tears when I found out he was my brother's friend but", Iyo started and the semblance of a sneer appeared on her face. "Shizuku-sempai is horribly unfashionable. Though one way or another you managed to get a boyfriend, you seem so puffed up and cocky. Iyo is much cuter!"

"Can we all just calm down?" Tsubaki asked when she sensed the beginning of yet another verbal war.

"Being carried away? Me?" Shizuka shot back ignoring her red haired friend. "But since I started dating Haru, I haven't gained a single thing".

"It's alright, I don't even feel a prick towards Iyo", Haru added with a smile. "That's because it's the face of Yamaken's younger sister".

Tsubaki placed her hand over her mouth to smother her laughter at Iyo's baffled face.

In the end, Shizuku agreed to go to the mountains as long as everything was free.

"Nee-San!" Kyoya called as he ran after his sister so as not to be left behind. The group of friends and now Iyo included, had reached a private property where they found a cottage and a few tents set up in the grounds.

"Tents!" Haru and Natsume exclaimed together.

"The manager, Tanak, put up the tents for us", Iyo told them. "But are you fine with it?"

"There's a huge cottage built here", Sohei muttered as he took in the building.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Natsume suddenly cried out in surprise.

Tsubaki turned around to find Yamaken and his friends. "Masahiro!"

"There's Tsubaki and Natsume-chan!"

The brown haired boy wrapped his arms around both girls. Natsume was freaked out but Tsubaki was smiling widely at the appearance of her other friends. The latter slipped away, leaving Natsume to be hugged by Ryuuji and Issei as well.

"Oh my God!" Iyo gasped. "The fact that you low-lives are here means that-"

"Iyo", Yamaken called from behind his little sister. His eyes briefly swept over the others and they momentarily paused on Tsubaki who was frowning at Iyo. His eyebrow raised at the strange display and he looked back at his friends. His brown eyes suddenly widened when he understood what just happened and he smirked inwardly.

'So, Kurosaki Tsubaki was offended when Iyo referred to the boys as low-lives. She barely knows them and yet, here we are'.

"S-Sorry", Iyo apologized weakly. "Iyo didn't know that brother was coming here".

"Make sure you go thank Tanaka-San for all the trouble he went through to set all of this up", Kenji told her and he turned to go back inside the cottage. "And since you came, enjoy your time here".

Iyo was surprised by her brother's words. He always ignored her and now, this sudden attention caught her off-guard.

"Yahoo!"

Masahiro, Ryuuji, Issei and Kyoya jumped off a huge rock one after the other and they landed in the river with a splash.

"This sort of thing is great once in a while!" Masahiro said as he surfaced and he brushed his hair out of his face.

"Natsume-chan!" Ryuuji called the girl who was wearing a long-sleeved shirt over her bikini. "Take that off and come over here!"

Natsume narrowed her eyes at the boys with her back turned to them. "As if I would with you boys here!"

She was standing in the shallow end of the water with Shizuku and Tsubaki sitting next to each other on the rocks close to her. Shizuku had a cardigan covering her and she was wearing a hat to protect her from the hot sun. Tsubaki too had a cardigan over her bikini with her glove on her left hand and her hair was up in a bun.

The boys began booing Natsume and a short shouting match started between them.

"Haru-sempai! L-Look at Iyo too", the short haired girl said shyly as she appeared close to where Haru was sitting.

"Iyo, what's with that?" Ryuuji asked unimpressed by the cute girl. "You put too many pads in, it's not natural".

"Stop trying to show off", Masahiro added.

"S-Shut up! Don't look!" Iyo exclaimed and she blushed while hiding herself from her brother's friends.

"I saw you. Thanks", Haru told her with a smile and he turned back to watch over Shizuku. He did not notice the downcast look on Iyo's face.

"I'm going in", Tsubaki said and she took off her cardigan, placing it next to Shizuku. "The water looks inviting!"

"Nee-San, what about your hand?" Kyoya asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, I have another one in my bag", she answered and she went up the rock overlooking the calm water. With a cry, she dived off with her body rolled in and she straightened herself mid-air to fall in the water head first.

"Tsubaki is braver than you!" Masahiro teased Natsume who pouted.

The brown haired boy joined Tsubaki and the two of them started a battle in the water. Somehow, Haru had pulled Shizuku along with him when he joined everyone else in the water and Natsume went in too, but she had not taken off her shirt. They all played around and had fun until quite late in the afternoon. After having washed up, the group formed two teams to prepare dinner and although some weird ingredients had been added in the curry, the meal came out nicely done. Shizuku went to get Kenji to join them for dinner but since the boy took some time to join them, Tsubaki had a feeling something was up and Haru wasn't with them as well.

"Come on!" Kyoya called out to everyone. "Once we finish eating, let's play some game!"

Hello! :D Look who's back from the dead! XD

~IcedLady~