A/N: Hey readers. This chapter was actually timed perfectly since I started college again this week. So summer is finally over for me. Don't worry though, I still plan to try and keep updates for this fic on a weekly basis.
It had been a long summer vacation for Rin. She had hung out with friends, fought in a tournament, and helped prevent a large scale war from breaking out in ALO. But there was one thing she still had trouble with doing for the few months she had off.
Summer homework.
"Ugh…" Rin groaned as she planted her face on the kitchen table. "This suuuuccckks!"
"It's your fault for waiting so long." Lilly reminded her sister. "You spent so much time training for the tournament, you didn't even do an ounce of your schoolwork."
"But it's so BORING!" Rin moaned.
"Your sister's right, Rin." Alicia told her daughter. "You only have yourself to blame."
"Who's idea was it to create homework during summer?!" Rin complained. "Whoever it is has got to be the evilest person to ever live!"
Lilly sighed and shook her head. "There's still a week left before summer ends. You'll just have to power through it."
Rin pouted at her sister. "Easy for you to say. You already finished yours."
The younger sister let out a giggle. Suddenly a thought crossed her mind. "Oh that's right. We planned to go to the beach to celebrate Tetsuya's victory in the fencing regionals. We'll need to do that this week." She shot a grin at her sister. "Well, at least those of us that aren't busy with other things."
"No fair!" Rin complained. "I wanna go to the beach!" She looked at her mother. "Mom, can I go? Pretty please!"
Alicia shot a knowing grin at her daughter. "Young lady, I'm not letting you goof off and not finish your homework."
"I'll finish it in time, I promise!"
"I'll make you a deal then." her mother told her. "If you can finish over half of your homework by tomorrow, then you can go."
"Really?!" Rin asked with her eyes gleaming with excitement. The teen quickly began writing through her report. "Alright! Time to power through this!"
Alicia and Lilly looked at each other and giggled to themselves. "I'll go check with the others when they want to schedule the beach day." Lilly said as she walked into another room to message Yui and the others.
"Woohoo! Hello beach!"
Rin smiled proudly as she stared out at the vast ocean. After spending the entirety of yesterday working on her summer homework, she had managed to get enough done for her mother to allow her to go for a beach day.
Lilly shared in her sister's excitement. After all of the hard work they had put into the tournament and defeating Lucifer's group, a day of relaxation and fun in the sun was just what they needed. She scanned the area. "Now where's Yui and Strea? They texted me that they were already here."
"Yo Lilly! Over here!"
Turning their heads, the two sisters saw Yui and Strea walk up to them. Both girls were dressed in bikinis, like the Hiryo sisters. Along with them was Sayaka, wearing a bikini of her own to the girls' surprise.
"It's a good thing it's not too crowded." Yui pointed out. "We need a decently open space for everyone to be together."
"Ugh, where are Naoki and Tetsuya anyway?" Strea groaned. "They're making us wait."
"Just give them a bit." Yui told her sister. "I'm sure they're almost here."
A few minutes passed by, and just as Yui said Naoki and Tetsuya could be seen coming up towards the beach. The two guys were already wearing swim trunks, clearly looking forward to some time in the ocean.
"Alright, that just leaves one more group." Yui said.
"What, we have to wait even more?!" Strea whined. "Who else is coming anyway?"
"I invited Miku and the others to come along." Yui explained. "This was originally supposed to be a celebration for Tetsuya, but with everything that happened I'd say it can double for us celebrating taking down Lucifer and Team Demise. And Miku and Apollo helped us back then, so it seemed appropriate to invite them and their team too."
"Looks like we won't have to wait very long." Rin said, pointing out in the distance.
The group looked over and saw Team Mighty five walking over to them. Miku, or Mika as she was called in the real world, was dressed in a white and purple two-piece swimsuit, a frilly white bikini top and a pair of violet swim shorts. She had inherited her father's black hair which she kept in a ponytail that fell just past her shoulders, but her eyes had the same purple color as her mother.
Mika's brother Apollo, also known as Taro outside of the virtual world, was wearing black swim trunks with a blue stripe down the sides and silver stars at the hem of the legs. His hair was blonde much like his mother's, and his eyes were an ocean blue. Both siblings had goggles on their heads with Mika's having a purple tint and Taro's being blue tinted, showing they were ready for the ocean.
Neko's real name was Cho. Her hair and eyes were the same has her avatar's, though her hair had a few bits of strawberry red in it along with its black color. Even for a girl at her young age, she was pretty flat-chested, but she never seemed to care. She was dressed in a lime green one piece swimsuit with a red trim.
Jinketsu went by the name of Ronin in the real world. He kept in shape, as shown by his six-pack abs. His swim trunks had the emblem for his father's old guild, Furinkazan. He also had a red bandana tied around his head, with his messy black hair above it.
Erika had the same black hair as her mother Suguha, though she kept it longer falling about halfway down her back. The emerald green bikini she wore showed off her rather large chest, another thing she had inherited from her mother.
"Hey guys." Mika greeted with a wave. "Ready for some fun in the sun?"
"You bet." Strea grinned.
"Let's go find a good spot." Yui suggested as she led the way.
The large group of teens all walked together, finally finding a nice spot to put their stuff down. Almost immediately, most of the group headed out to the ocean. A few stayed behind however, preferring to bathe in the sun and relax. Lilly and Mika were two such people.
Naoki was one of the ones staying behind, but sunbathing wasn't his motivation for doing so.
He wore a pair of shades to be "discrete" as he stared at the girls playing in the ocean. He tried to hide it, but the small grin on his face made his actions all too obvious. Watching the exposed skin and bouncy chests of the girls at the beach was all the entertainment he needed.
"Dude, stop being such a pervert. Seriously." Tetsuya said as he sat in the chair next to his friend.
"Oh come on Tetsuya, you can't honestly say you aren't checking them out at least a little."
"No, because I'm not a pervert." Tetsuya told him. "Honestly, I don't know who's going to slap you first. Rin for looking at her, or Taro for looking at Mika."
Naoki waved off his friend's concern. "Relax. Mika's good and all, but there's way better contenders than her."
"And what is that supposed to mean?!" Mika asked as she glared at Naoki with a small blush on her face.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with them being regular sized. It's just that it doesn't compare with the melons that Erika and Strea are packing."
Mika's blush became all the more apparent as she covered her chest with her arms. Naoki soon felt something slam against the top of his head, causing the teen to hold his head in pain. "Ow! What the hell?!"
"That was for your comment about my sister." Taro said as he walked past Naoki and laid down on a beach blanket.
Naoki continued to nurse his aching head, while the others paid no mind to his suffering. He only had himself to blame as far as they were concerned.
Mika put on a pair of headphones as she listened to some music while she sunbathed. Lilly looked over at her friend curiously. "What ya listening to, Mika?"
"Ever hear of Akimi? She's a idol that recently started to get popular." Mika explained.
"Oh yeah, I heard about her." Lilly recalled. "Her singing is amazing. Didn't she say she's taking a hiatus soon though?"
Mika nodded her head. "Yeah. Something about wanting to focus on school for now."
"Well she is only 14. Juggling school and idol work sounds like it'd be pretty hard." Lilly pointed out.
"I saw a video of her." Naoki chimed in. "She's got some gorgeous looks."
Both Mika and Lilly rolled their eyes at Naoki, unable to comprehend the red haired teens inability to think of anything other than outward appearance.
After another hour or so, the others returned from the ocean. After eating a quick lunch, Yui came up with an idea of what to do next.
"There's an open net over there." Yui pointed out. "Who's up for some beach volleyball?"
Naoki raised his hand. "I'm game."
Tetsuya shrugged his shoulders. "Why not? Sounds like fun."
"If Naoki's playing, then so am I." Mika said sternly as she stood up. "I'll show you who's 'just average'."
The others looked at each other curiously, not knowing what she meant by that. Ronin was next to volunteer. "I'm in."
"I'll play." Rin offered.
"I'll join too." Erika said. "Should be a good time."
"I guess I'll join in." Taro volunteered.
"Perfect. We'll do boys against girls." Yui said. "It'll be a four against four battle."
The group of eight walked over to the volleyball net and took their positions. Mika was serving first for the girls. A fierce determination burned in her eyes.
"Get ready to lose boys." Mika said.
"As if. You're going down." Naoki retorted.
The black haired girl threw the ball up and smacked her hand against it, sending it over to the other side. Taro saw the direction it was going. "Tetsuya, heads up!"
Tetsuya leaped up and hit the ball back over to the girls. Rin went for it and knocked the ball up. "Erika, it's all yours!"
Jumping into the air, Erika slammed her hand against the ball and delivered a devastating spike to the boys, giving the girls the first point.
The others watching could see the strong team made by Yui, Rin, Mika, and Erika. "The boys are gonna have their work cut out for them." Lilly observed.
"They've got no chance." Cho said.
"We'll just have to prove you wrong then!" Naoki told them, picking up the conversation to the side. "Alright girls, do your worst!"
"Our pleasure." Mika smirked confidently as she served the ball again.
The game went back and forth, with the girls managing to hold a slight lead over the boys consistently. The boys were not going down without a fight however, managing to score some important points when they could. But before long, the girls were one point away from winning the game.
"Alright, time out! Team meeting!" Naoki declared. The girls rolled their eyes as the boys huddled up to discuss some strategy.
"What do we do? If we lose, the girls are never gonna let us live this down." Tetsuya questioned.
"Well maybe if someone hadn't pissed off Mika, her serving wouldn't be so deadly." Taro pointed out, eyeing Naoki.
"Come on, we can do this." Naoki said encouragingly. "If we win, think of all the hot girls watching that will be drawn to our mad skills." The red haired teen soon found his three teammates looking at him in disbelief. "What?"
Tetsuya rolled his eyes. "Ignoring Naoki over here, we need some teamwork to pull off a win here."
Suddenly Taro's eyes flashed with inspiration. "I've got an idea." The other three guys looked his way as a devious grin came to Taro's face. "And best of all, the girls will never see it coming."
"Oh? Do tell." Ronin said.
"Here's what we'll do."
On the other side of the net, the girls were getting impatient at how long their opponent's were taking. Rin called over to the other side. "Are you guys done yet? We want to finish this game sometime today."
"Yeah, yeah, we're ready." Naoki said as the guys broke out from their huddle and took their positions.
The girls all got ready. They were one point away from winning this. Mika readied herself and tossed the ball into the air. "Get ready guys."
"Don't get nervous about being a lackluster server, Mika!" Naoki called out. "I know another category you're already lackluster in compared to other girls!"
Naoki's comment made Mika's cheeks go bright red. She was thrown off balance and hit the ball poorly, knocking it right into the net.
"Aw yeah! Point for the guys team!" Naoki grinned.
"NAOKI!" Mika shouted. "What the hell was that about?!"
"Hey all's fair in love and war." the red haired teen argued.
Mika glared at Naoki as she grabbed the ball. "Then don't go crying home when I beat you into the dirt." She tossed the ball up and prepared to serve it.
"You sure Erika or Strea shouldn't serve it?! They're used to carrying some big round packages!"
'Stay focused.' Mika told herself. 'Tune it out.'
Everyone watched as the raven haired girl leaped into the air and smacked the ball to the other side of the net with a powerful amount of force.
"Shit, now you've got her pissed! Good going Naoki!" Tetsuya remarked.
"Hey it was Taro's plan!"
"I said throw her off her game, not make perverted comments and turn her into a wild animal!" Taro yelled back as he hit the ball back.
"Rin, you're up!" Yui called out.
"On it!" Rin confirmed as she jumped up and spiked the ball to the guys.
Ronin barely managed to save his team by hitting the ball up. Taro followed up by knocking the ball back to the girl's side of the net.
The ball went back and forth between the two sides for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, the guys pulled off a desperate move. Ronin hit the ball into the air and kneeled down. Tetsuya leaped off him like a springboard and delivered a powerful spike before rolling into a land on the sand.
Yui quickly acted and managed to hit the ball into the air, preventing the guys from scoring another point. Rin hit it next, setting up for a deadly spike from Erika that hit the ball into the sand on the guys side.
"And that's how it's done!" Erika cheered as she and the rest of her team celebrated their victory.
The guys all collapsed onto the sandy beach, exhausted from having to put their all in and still lose. As the four of them caught their breath, Mika walked over to the other side. A fierce glare was coming from her.
"So Naoki, want to make another comment?"
Naoki gulped as sweat began to run down the back of his neck. "Oh boy, I suddenly got an urge to use the restroom. Good game girls, gotta go, bye!"
Mika chased after Naoki for a few minutes after that, but ended up letting him off with a stern warning at the end. The beach day continued as the group of friends had fun, but it eventually came time for it to end.
"I really wish we could have brought Luna along with us." Lilly said as she and Rin walked home. "She's our sister, plus she helped a lot in stopping Team Demise too."
"I wish she could have been here too." Rin agreed. "But look at it this way. By next summer, she should have her body ready. Then we can bring her to the beach for her first trip."
Lilly nodded her head. "Yeah, I bet Luna will love it." Suddenly a thought came to her mind. "I wonder how she'll handle school. I know Yui had a bit of trouble adjusting at first."
Rin let out a groan. "That's right. School. I forgot I still have homework I gotta finish."
Lilly giggled at her sister as she and Rin walked back home. School would be starting soon, meaning that summer was over for them. A brand new school year with a new share of memories to make.
A/N: And with that summer is over, both for me and the characters of this story. Next chapter will have something a little unique in it, so be sure to look forward to it.