A/N: Finally! A new chapter to this fic! And it's the beach episode...hooray...
Summer, Taisho 6
It was a peaceful night in the ocean, and the pearl oysters were sleeping in the waters of Tokyo Bay. Then a pair of tweezers came down and picked out a lone oyster. The random people then shoved something small into the oyster before putting it back in the ocean.
Late June-Early July, Taisho 8
It was a nice summer morning on the weekend, and Tomo was sleeping in her futon, dreaming about her efforts of being a good baseball player and a loving wife to her fiancee.
"Masaki-kun…" Tomo said in her dream, "Can you give me my bat?"
At the same time, Komori-kun was flying around Tomo's head as Maya chased the bat, which caused him to pounce on Tomo's face, which woke up the wildcat idiot.
"GYAH!" Tomo shouted, "Who woke me- oh, it's just you, Maya." Tomo then stand up and stretched her arms. Just then, the telephone started ringing, and Tomo picked it up.
"Hello, who's calling?!" Tomo said on the phone.
"Tomo-san, you're awake!" Say Chiyo, who back at her house was also awake.
"Of course I am! Now then, what are our plans for the summer?!"
"Well… of course, we're still doing some baseball practice, but I also want to participate in your little star festival and sea day parade!"
"You mean Tanabata and Marine Day? Yeah, I'm really excited about that as well! Plus, dad got me a swimsuit, so I think a journey to the beach is in order!"
"The beach? What's that?"
"Beautiful clear waters, sandcastles, the swimming! Face it Chiyosuke, the beach is the best place to be in the summertime!"
"Okay then, I'll meet you at the beach, Tomo-san. Bye now."
"Bye-bye!"
And with that, Tomo hanged up her phone and started to change out of her yukata.
After her dad dropped her off, Tomo shielded her eyes from the blazing sun. That's a sign meaning that she's at the beach. She then dashed to the changing hut, and to her surprise, Yomi and Chiyo were already there.
"Tomo, what took you so long to get her?" Yomi asked her best friend.
"Oh, the restaurant's busy this morning," Tomo answered, "Dad just installed the somen bamboo slide for the summer, and ho boy, people were flocking to get those noodles!"
"Bamboo slide?" Chiyo said in confusion; her little mind still not having a grasp of Japanese culture.
"You'll understand later, Chiyo-chan," Said Yomi, "For now, let's change into our swimsuits."
"Well, I have mine already on, underneath my kimono!" Smirked Tomo as she removed her obi.
"Tomo, you're not a kid anymore," Sighed Yomi.
On the other side of the changing hut, Ayumu was walking by when she saw Sakaki already in her maillot swimsuit.
"Whoa!" Ayumu exclaimed, "An American! There's an American among us y'all!"
"Oh, I can hardly believe that last year, you were still in middle school!" Tomo bunged in, also already in her maillot swimsuit, only it has a bandeau halter-like strap instead of the normal-looking tank top look.
Sakaki's face then turned a tomato red. After all, she was embarrassed by her friends mentioning her breast size and how unusually big they are by Japanese standards. Then, Ayumu then stared at Tomo's breasts.
'Huh, what are you looking at?" Tomo said awkwardly.
"Ya are Japanese," Ayumu blurred out.
"But!- oh yeah, I'm Japanese…"
"Tomo-chan, there's nothin' wrong with bein' Japanese."
"I know, Ayumu, but I don't wanna be called flat-chested!"
"Flat-chested?"
"Yeah, flat-chested. Speaking of which… Ayumu, figure out where Yomi comes from!"
"She's from Hawaii."
"So she is Hawaiian!"
Yomi then sighed, "The Hawaiian Islands are part of the American Empire, just like how the Ryukyu Islands are part of our own Imperial Empire. In fact, I think I have a better breast size system than Ayumu's."
"Go on Yomi," Tomo said, "Explain your system."
"There are three types of women in this fair empire of ours. There are women like Sakaki and Kagura, whose breasts are huge beyond Japanese standards. There are women like Kaori, Chihiro, Kotori, and I, whose breasts are average-sized; not too big, not too small. And then there are women like you two and Chiyo-chan, whose breasts are so small that the Tottori sand dunes are more busty than you."
"You… you compare us to sand dunes?!" Tomo retorted, "Yomi, you're so mean!"
"Oh wait, I forget," Yomi smugly said, "Chiyo's just a kid, therefore her growing has just begun!"
"So, ya mean Chiyo-chan's a traitor?" Ayumu said, "It cain't be…"
"Forget about Chiyosuke, Ayumu!" Tomo shouted, "Yomi's the true enemy here! She's nothing more than a social Darwinist!"
"What's a social Darwinist?" Ayumu asked Tomo.
"I dunno," Tomo answered. As she said that, she saw Chiyo already in her own swimsuit, only it looks more like a dress than an actual swimsuit. "Chiyo-chan, what are you wearing?!"
"Oh, this is my bathing dress," Chiyo answered, "It's a little old fashion, but it's like brand new."
"Well, that swimsuit is a little too baggy," Tomo said as she plays with the skirt of Chiyo's dress, " Not that skin-tight as these maillot swimsuits." Tomo then strikes a pose, which weirded out Chiyo.
"Okay, I'm going out of the changing hut," Chiyo said, and she soon got out.
The little girl was soon in awe of the beach. Thousands of youths were either swimming in the water or hanging out on the beach, catching the rays of the sun. She then lay down her Neko Koneko bath towel while Sakaki was walking by. The tall girl saw the towel, and happily placed her kitty towel next to Chiyo's towel. Then, Kaorin noticed Sakaki laying down her beach towel, and then decides to lay her own towel next to Sakaki's.
"Ah, Kaorin," Sakaki spoke, which made Kaorin blushed.
"Don't mind me, Sakaki-san!" said a flustered Kaorin, but Chihiro and Kotori decided to shove the girl towards the taller girl.
"Well well well," Tomo said, "Looks like the whole baseball team is at the beach!"
"'Cept Kagura-chan," Ayumu pointed up.
" Ayumu-san's right!" Chiyo shouted, "We have to find Kagura-san!"
And so, the eight girls started to look for their friend, with Sakaki, Kaorin, Chihiro, and Kotori going in one direction while Ayumu, Tomo, Yomi, and Chiyo go to another.
In a different spot of the beach, Yukari and Nyamo were sunbathing as many adults would do.
"Ah… this is so relaxing," Nyamo said.
"Yep! This is the life!" Yukari said back, "No teaching, no bratty kids annoying me, and of course, some delicious dinner for us!"
"Yukari, why do you have to be so blunt?"
"Eh, no reason! So Nyamo, what do you want for lunch: raw ham with melon or sweet-n-sour pork with pineapple?"
"Definitely the raw ham with melon. I mean, who in their right mind would eat pineapple with sweet-n-sour pork?"
"I would."
"Yukari, do you have some tact?!"
"Yes, I do! It's just that I lost it in a car accident!"
As the two women fought, Sakaki and her fan entourage were nearby, watching the teachers arguing about food and marriage.
"I think asking Yukari-sensei and Kurosawa-sensei is kinda pointless," Chihiro commented.
"Yeah, I think they're way too busy with something else," Kotori added.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the beach, Chiyo, Yomi, Tomo, and Ayumu were searching for Kagura when they saw a policeman with some measuring tape with him.
"Uh oh!" Tomo said as she stopped running, "It's the modesty police!"
"Modesty police?!" Chiyo shouted, "What's that?!"
"Not only do the men of this empire want women to be proper," Yomi explained, "But they also want our gender to be modest at the beach, so the mayor of Tokyo decided to dispatch police on the beach to see who's decent and who's indecent."
"But if Japan ain't got a swimmin' kimono for women, who's allowin' the women to wear them swimsuits?" asked Ayumu.
Suddenly, the sand starts rumbling as a figure arises from the ground. And the figure was the totally perverted Mr. Kimura!
"BANZAI!" Kimura shouted at Chiyo and a very confused Ayumu.
"BANZAI!" he shouted at Tomo and Yomi.
"BANZAI!" he shouted at Sakaki, Kaorin, Chihiro, and Kotori.
"BANZAI!" he shouted at Yukari and Nyamo.
"BAN-" Kimura was about to continue, but Yomi left uppered the creepy man, sending him to the ocean.
"Oh, Ah got mah answer," Ayumu said.
"Welp looks like Kimura-sensei and other people of his caliber would encourage feminism in this empire," Yomi sighed.
"Even if they're...tasteless…" Tomo added.
"But, we still haven't found Kagura-san yet," Said a very worried Chiyo, "I hope she's okay."
As the four girls continued to search for Kagura, Ayumu saw a cliff off of the distance.
"Hey, what's that cliff over there?" Ayumu asked as she pointed to the cliff.
"Oh, that's the Cliff of the Mermaids," Answered Yomi, "That's where 'mermaids' could dive for pearls."
"Oh, you mean the rusakli?" Chiyo added, "Because they look like mermaids, but they'll kill those who come close to them."
"YOU MEAN KAGURA WILL DIE?!" Tomo said with shock, "I CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE ONE OF OUR TEAM MEMBERS TO SOME ROUGE WATER SPIRITS!"
And with that, Tomo dashed through the cliff, while the others go after the wildcat idiot.
On the top of the cliff, the four girls were gingerly walking on the cliff; the wind was blasting violently through their hair, and Chiyo was trying to not look down.
"This cliff is so tall…" a scared Chiyo said, "I shouldn't look down at all!"
"Hey Chiyo-chan!" Tomo shouted at the little girl before she picked up Chiyo with relative ease.
"Whoa, whoa-Tomo-san! Don't drop me, DON'T DROP ME!"
"Oy Tomo!" Yomi shouted, "Let Chiyo-chan go!"
"CHIYO-CHAN!" Ayumu shouted as she lunged at the three other girls, causing them to fall off the cliff, diving into the water.
In the water, Kagura was picking up some oysters and opening them up to collect the pearls hidden in the shell, when she saw Chiyo struggling to swim. She swam up towards the little girl and took her to the surface. Chiyo then grasped for some air when she got to the surface.
"Chiyo-chan," Kagura said, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," Chiyo answered, "But I was worried about you not coming with us."
"Sorry if I did tell you before. I was busy doing my job as a umichu."
"Umichu?"
"You know, a pearl diver? A person who dives to the depths of the ocean to gather pearl oysters and collect the pearls inside of them?"
"Oh! You're saying that oysters are like Faberge eggs?"
"Faberge eggs? Chiyo-chan, what are they?"
"I'll tell you as soon as we find Tomo-san, Yomi-san, and Ayumu-san."
And with that, Kagura dragged the four girls to the shore, although getting Ayumu up to the surface was easier said than done.
"Kagura, thanks for saving us," Yomi said as she dries herself.
"Yeah! You almost worried the crap out of us!" Tomo added, "I mean, I thought that the mermaids or rusakli or whatever were going to kill you, Gura!"
"One, why would you assume that I'll be dead? You know that there's no such thing as mermaids," Kagura said, "And two, why are you calling me 'Gura'?"
"You know, it's sorta like a cute nickname like Chiyosuke!" Tomo explained, "I mean, you got the name Maya from yamamaya!"
"Touche, Tomo. Touche."
"Well, now that we found you, Kagura-san," Chiyo said, "Let's go to our spot at the beach so we can have some lunch!"
And so, the five girls all walked back to their spot on the beach, though there was some fun conversation.
"Say Kagura-chan, what do ya do as an ama?" Ayumu asked the dark-skinned girl.
"Well, I mostly collect pearl oysters," Kagura answered, "And if I got lucky, there might be a pearl in there."
"Say, where do pearls come from, Kagura-chan?"
"Uhm… how to explain it without grossing you out… pearls are essential oyster boogers!"
A strong, unpleasant wind blows through the beach.
"SO IF PEARLS ARE OYSTER BOOGERS, WHY DO WE VALUE THEM?!" Tomo shouted in fury.
"You know what they say, Tomo," Yomi added, "'One person's trash-"
"Is another person's treasure," Tomo finished for Yomi, "But still, picking anyone's boogers are just… EEWWW!"
"But Tomo-san, I think the pearls are more like diamonds in the rough," Chiyo added.
"Yeah, if the rough is squishy oyster innards!" Tomo objected.
"I wouldn't compare pearls to diamonds, Chiyo-chan," Kagura said, "In fact, ever since cultured pearls were starting to become more widespread, my job as a pearl diver got way easier!"
"Oh, the marvels of the 20th century," Ayumu commented, "Ah wonder what's next for Japan?"
"Feminism will come next, my dear friend Ayumu!" Tomo boasted, "As soon as we beat a high school baseball team that is in Tokyo, then I'll challenge Korea, Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Taiwan's own baseball teams, and after conquering the empire, I'll take on the USA!"
"Tomo, are really going to do that?" Yomi questioned her best friend.
"Of course I am, Koyomi-kun!" Tomo answered, "You just gotta believe! And if you can believe it, then you can do it!
Yomi face-palmed as Tomo continued to boast about her great ambitions to the setting summer sun.
Next chapter... a sleepover and some spooky scary stories that may be true!
So, read and review!