AN: Sorry for the wait but here the new chapter is!
Zairyo: She wasn't named but Saki actually is already in a certain scene. I'll leave that to be a mystery :))

Temporal King: the sexual intimacy will strictly be implied when they're older. I got plans for this fic and there is a ton of other stuff going on. I'll smother the fic in fluff (as the title implies) but sexual intimacy, even implications, not so much just yet. Hope you understand.

Beta: XenoTime39

"What? We're going to the beach?" Lala asked, very confused yet very excited by the news.

"Yeah, it's a yearly trip that the school mostly facilitates," Rito explained matter-of-factly, "I'd say the purpose was to give us a little break in school assignments, but in reality I'm pretty sure it's so the principal can have an excuse to goof off."

"Wasn't there supposed to be a big storm soon?"

Rito looked away. "I hear a traveling swordsman cut the wind with a single slice." 'Lala would've been miserable if she wasn't able to go because of a storm. The moment I found out, I had to call him up. Thank you traveling swordsman. I hope you didn't get hurt too badly due to my selfish request.' Rito thought.

"Really? We should go thank him then!" Lala exclaimed.

"Don't worry," Rito said, giving Lala a smile, "I already thanked him the moment he did it."

"Good! Everything is cleared so we can spend a lot of time together!"

Rito took a good look at Lala's beaming face. 'Even though I see it everyday, her smile still can catch me off guard,' Rito thought. "Yeah, I hope it'll be a fun time for the two of us."

Lala took both of Rito's hands into her own. "Oh, don't be like that! We're both going to make sure it's a fun time!"

Rito smiled at her bountiful joy. 'Both of us, huh. You're already doing your part being yourself, Lala. I'll take care of everything else.'

(-)

A few days later, after packing the necessary provisions, Rito and Lala went off to school to meet the crowd of students that were also attending the Seaside Summer School. The principal who was just excited as the students gave a rousing speech for everyone to enjoy their time as everyone loaded into a fancy bus.

Rito sat down next to a window seat with Saruyama who sat next to him. Within a few short minutes, Rito was out like a light.

Saruyama gave out a groan. "Someone talk to me! My best friend abandoned me for sleep!"

A head poked up from behind his seat, "Can you not yell? I'm trying to sleep myself."

"Ack, Sawada-chan? You're trying to deny me of a conversation as well? I'm hurt," Saruyama said in an exaggerated manner.

"Oh shut it," Mio said before lowering her face to cover her mouth, "I guess I can spare you some words before I nap. Risa is busy talking to Haruna-chan right now it seems." Mio's eyes wouldn't face Saruyama fully as her cheeks were slightly red.

"Hmm? What was that? You'll talk to me?" Saruyama asked, hearing little of it as he took out his earbuds.

"Why did you ask for a conversation if you were going to put in earbuds!" Mio angrily yelled.

"Oh well you know?" Saruyama said, trying to come up with an appropriate answer.

All the while preparations were talked about. Risa whispered, "Does that sound good? Since you have a crush on Rito-kun, me helping out with setting up situations where you two are together would be preferable, no?"

The past conversation between Haruna and Risa has been Risa going into extensive detail where she could set up Rito and Haruna. Needless to say, Haruna didn't know what to say.

A cloud of steam seemed to erupt from Haruna's head as her face was fully red. "I-I d-don't know if I-I l-like this idea!"

"Why not? Surely it'd help you out."

Haruna took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "I don't know if I want to have an event like that artificially set up. I may have trouble showing my feelings for Yuuki-kun, but I don't think I'd want things like this to go my way. I'd rather have it of my own merit o-of reaching out for Yuuki-kun."

"I see what you mean. Don't think that makes you off the hook. I'll make sure that you talk to Yuuki more often. That won't discredit your merit."

"Risaaa," Haruna cried out in embarrassment, "It's not only that. I don't want to be too selfish. There are a fair number of girls that already seem to favor Yuuki-kun. Kotegawa-san seems to think favorably of Yuuki-kun as well as the new transfer student, Run. Lala is also incredibly close with him despite only knowing him until recently. E-even yo-"

"What's going on Haruna-chan? I heard my name," Lala said, interrupting her.

"C'mon Lala. You can't quit playing while you're ahead," Run said, holding a controller up to a small screen that was set up on the bus tray.

"We'll continue playing Game Game Puro Beta after I finish talking with Haruna-chan and Risa-chan!" Lala said firmly. She quickly turned her head to Haruna and Risa expectedly.

"A-ah. It's nothing Lala-chi. Haruna-chan and I were just talking about how much fun we're going to have at the Seaside Summer School!"

Lala let out a giggle, "It was my first time buying a swimsuit when Rito and I went shopping for this trip! It was already so much fun to prepare for the trip, so I know the actual trip has to be 100 times more fun!"

'Oh, Yuuki-kun went swimsuit shopping with Lala-chan. I can only imagine how close they got with that. It was like the day they ran into me at the store…' Haruna thought.

"Oho? I hope you're right Lala-chi. I'm surprised that that was your first time going swimsuit shopping. What did you do before?"

"I didn't buy my clothes. Someone else would," Lala said, a finger to her chin as she thought about her life at home.

'I guess being a model from overseas would give you that perk,' Risa thought, surprised by Lala's bluntness at being that wealthy or famous.

"Can you all get on with it? I wanna play you again, Lala. It was best 5 out of 9," Run said, exasperated.

"Ok, Ok. We'll play again," Lala said, using her controller to navigate the menu.

"What's that, Lala-chan?" Haruna asked.

"Oh this? This is-"

"Game Game Puro beta. A handheld game system she made," Run said, eager to not have Lala drawn into another conversation.

"It looks like a lot of fun. Can Haruna-chan and I play?" Risa asked, intrigued by the new device. 'To think that Lala built it herself. She must be really talented,' Risa thought on the side.

"Sure! You can watch us play to learn the game!" Lala said excitedly.

(-)

After a few hours, the bus ride had to come to an end. All the students departed from the bus and laid their eyes on the big and fancy inn they were being hosted by. 'The principal actually went all out so we could enjoy the trip,' many thought before the principal killed that notion with his arrival.

It should've been to no one's surprise that the principal's true objective had been partially fulfilled upon arrival, that is laying hands on the beautiful landlady. Thankfully, it seems the beautiful landlady, "Takami-chan" was used to the Principal's antics and could deal with it as she crushed him into the ground. But something that the principal said did intrigue Rito and the other students.

"So, we're participating in a dare tonight. I wonder how that'll go," Rito said out loud to his roommates. Right now, there was some free time for the students to set up their room and wash themselves. It was the female students' rotation time to wash, so most of the guys were just lounging around in their respective rooms.

"Of course you'd be interested in the dare. Getting to cozy up to a girl while she's afraid is an enviable position. Knowing you though, you're going to get paired up with Lala," Saruyama said.

"Yeah, Saruyama's right. That girl is all over you," one of Rito's roommates added.

"I don't know guys… Sairenji-chan also spends a lot of time around Rito. In fact, Saruyama and Rito both are the only guys to eat lunch with such a large group," the other roommate chirped.

"Oh shut it," Rito said, trying to change the topic. 'Considering my engagement with Lala, I can't afford to not spend time with her. In fact, I want to. I probably shouldn't bring that up with them though. It just gets more complicated from there,' Rito thought, his mind moving over to a certain message of alien suitors fighting him for Lala's hand in marriage.

"Anyway Rito. Me and some guys are going to check out the ladies in their full glory. Wanna come?" Saruyama said, as an evil smirk took over his face.

Rito snorted, "No, I don't want to be a part of the peeping parade. I'm going to rest up before the dare. Also, I'd advise against peeping in general." Rito gave Saruyama a dirty smirk, "Don't worry, I won't report you. I'll just let your natural consequences take their course."

"Har har. We won't get caught. I'll make sure of it!"

Rito just sat back as he rested his eyes. The dare was for sure going to be an event he'd want to be ready for. 'Who knows? Maybe Lala will actually be scared and will cling to me…' Rito thought as he drifted into sleep.

(-)

"Pfftahahaha! You sure got what you deserved!" Rito said as he looked at the swollen faces of Saruyama and some of his roommates. It was time for dinner so everyone was moving over to the meal room.

"Yeah yeah. Laugh it up. We would've gotten away with it too if it wasn't for the Principal getting thrashed and landing on us. We were in the clear otherwise!" Saruyama muttered.

"Maybe we wouldn't have gotten thrashed if Rito was with us," one of the roommates said.

"Yeah," the other one agreed, "Lala-san and everyone else would've been too embarrassed to react."

'Lala? Embarrassed? Naaaah. Also, I doubt she was the one to deal with their punishment. If it was her, they wouldn't have survived,' Rito thought. "I think you guys just wanted me there so you could throw me under the bus," Rito muttered.

Upon entering the meal room, a voice called out, "Oi, Yuuki. You should sit with us over here!"

Turning his head, Rito saw that Risa was waving him over. Rito yanked on the back of Saruyama's robes and said, "They're calling us over. C'mon."

"B-but, Rito, they beat me up. Have you any mercy? They might want to dish out seconds."

"And you'd deserve it if they wanted to. I doubt they will though," Rito said as he dragged Saruyama over towards an open seat near their regular group, leaving behind their roommates. Rito sat down and gave thanks for his food before addressing Risa, saying, "How was your bath?"

"Ara? You want to know the secrets that lay in the women's bath?" Risa said with a hand raised to her mouth. "Well, if you really want to know the ongoings of it besides the obvious perv intrusions, you can ask Haruna." Risa sent a secret thumbs up Haruna's way.

The seats were arranged where Risa sat on Rito's left and Mio sat next to Risa, whereas Yui, Run, Lala, and Haruna all sat in a row, mirroring their row.

Rito just sighed at Risa's games and looked at Haruna. "Well, Sairenji-chan. Since Momioka is being difficult, can you fill me in on how good of a time it was in the bath?"

Haruna's cheeks naturally grew to be red at the strange question and for… other reasons. Finishing the food she was eating, Haruna said, "It was an enjoyable time. Aside from some actions that Risa and Mio usually take, it refreshed me completely."

"Ah, so you're going to be ready for the dare?" Rito replied.

"I hope so. This might be a little difficult for me," Haruna said with a slight frown.

"Mmm right, you're bad with ghosts and stuff like that. I almost forgot," Rito said.

Lala chimed in, "Don't worry, Haruna-chan. Your partner can help guide you through it even if you're afraid." Lala took a big serving of food in before continuing, "Rito and I will be there to help you if you need it."

"I appreciate that Lala-chan. Thank you," Haruna said.

"Oh Rito. I know that I'll need help with the dare. You should pair up with me. I'm absolutely petrified with scary stuff," Run said, leaning over Lala to get Rito to see her.

"Weren't you and Ren supposed to be on a journey?" Rito asked.

Run pouted, "Stupid Ren made that choice all on his own without taking into account that we have school. Of course, I didn't go along with it!" Run said before leaning back over to her seat.

"How shameless," Yui said, looking at Run's flirting. "You better be sure to have proper etiquette with whoever you pair up with Rito-kun. You wouldn't want to be seen as someone indecent now would you?"

"Oh, I'm sure Rito has many chances to be indecent. But seen as? Nooo, that's only me," muttered Saruyama as he wallowed in the pain he faced.

Rito ignored Saruyama and replied to Yui, saying, "Don't worry, Yui. I'll be sure to be on my best behavior with whoever I'm paired up with."

"That does make the question of the hour all that more important," Risa said, "Who're you going to pair with?"

It seemed as if that question had made a lot of eyes look at him more closely. Rito shrugged as he said, "I'm pretty sure it's random so it doesn't matter."

"Oh?" Lala said, "I'll just have to hope that I get paired with you, Rito! That way, we can enjoy the dare lots!"

Everyone had their own thoughts about what they wanted to happen and while the conversations continued, those thoughts definitely stood out.

'I hope I get Yuuki-kun,' Haruna thought, as she munched away at her food while worrying about the scary parts that might be integrated into the dare.

'I'll make sure I get paired with Rito!' thought Run as her fist was clenched underneath the table. 'As long as Rito isn't paired up with Lala, it'll be alright!'

'What a shameless conversation. M-maybe it'll have to be me to pair up with R-rito-kun so I can keep him in line!' Yui thought.

Needless to say, lots of people had their own plans for the dare.

(-)

"Alright everyone! It's time to draw the pairings for the dare!" the principal's voice boomed despite his roughed up face. Everyone was lined up to draw their own lot.

'I wonder who I'll get paired up with if this is random,' Rito thought as he grabbed a card out of the box. "I drew 12," Rito said.

"Yay! I have 12 too!" Lala said happily, "It must be fate, right?" she added with a wink.

"I guess so," Rito said. "Let's make sure to do our best."

"Right!" Lala agreed, "I wonder how everyone else did with the pairings?"

"Hmm, it looks like Run is paired up with someone in our class. I forget his name, but he looks a little weak willed. Haruna is paired up with someone from another class. I have no idea how that'll turn out," Rito commented. As they talked, Rito and Lala walked to an open part of the field where they waited their turn.

"Oh, oh! It looks like Mio-chan and Saruyama are a pair! I bet they'll do well!" Lala said, excitedly.

"Yeah. Saruyama may act like a wimp sometimes, but he'll be dependable, especially with a girl like Sawada to keep him in line. Oh, look over there," Rito said, pointing to a pair. "Yui is paired up with one of my peeping tom roommates. That can't end well."

"So you're scouting the pairs?" a voice spoke up.

"Risa-chan! Who is your partner?" Lala asked, eager to meet new people.

"Just some guy from the baseball club that worships that one senpai," Risa waved it off. "How disappointing, right? I was hoping for someone else…"

"Who were you hoping for then?" Lala asked with a tilt of her head.

"Ah, nobody. Don't worry about it," Risa laughed off the question.

"Next group," one of the inn's staff called out."

"I guess that's us," Rito said, "We hope to see you on the other side."

"Yep yep! Good luck!" Lala said, waving to Risa as the two walked forward. On the way there, the staff member who called them out gave them their instructions.

"Making it to the shrine should be a breeze," Lala said, pumped for her first dare as she bounced around a little bit."

"I assume this'll be especially easy for you Lala. Something tells me you don't scare easily."

"Lala-sama is more likely to scare whatever comes after her," a small voice said nestled in Lala's robe.

"Peke, don't be like that! I'm not that scary," Lala said, pouting slightly. "Peke's right though. I'm stronger than I look in that regard, right?" Lala smiled wide at Rito.

"You're definitely strong in a lot of respects," Rito agreed before he reacted to the commotion up ahead. "Look, a lot of pairs are running back. It looks like they got spooked by whatever showed up."

"This makes me want to do the scaring instead," Lala said playfully.

Rito lightly tapped her on the head with the side of a flat hand. "You can't do that. We're doing the dare properly."

"Oooook" Lala said reluctantly.

"Bwaaaaah!" a rotting samurai yelled out.

Lala laughed at the design while Rito said, "Nice try." The samurai immediately looked depressed at that reaction. It seems like all the staff wanted to scare everyone.

While Lala and Rito were having a good time, the same could not be said for Haruna. Haruna was alone and afraid in a small clearing off to the side of the path.

'I-I don't know what to do. I've always been afraid of these kinds of things, so why did I make myself go through with it,' Haruna asked herself in her thoughts. 'Oh that's right. I wanted to have some fun with everyone, but we all got separated when we went to our groups.'

'This dare is the worst,' Haruna said as she trembled in fear. But then some voices changed everything for her.

"Sairenji-chan? I guess your partner left, huh."

"Haruna-chan, in that case, you can go with us! It'll be fun to do the dare together! And don't worry, we'll protect you from the scary stuff!"

"R-Rito, Lala, thank you," Haruna said as her scared state let up bit by bit with the comfort of her friends. "I-I hope it's not any trouble."

Rito took one of her hands into his and said, "It's no trouble at all!" Rito said cheerfully. 'She must be really afraid to use my first name. Usually she'd be too embarrassed to do so,' Rito thought.

The three went back on the main path and made some light conversation so Haruna could relax more.

"So you two have really been doing this the whole time?" Haruna said, curiosity taking over fear at this point.

"Yep, that's right!" Lala said bubbly. "Rito refused to let me do some scaring," Lala said, showing deflation in spirit.

"I don't think Haruna would like the extra fright factor going on. Also, I doubt the other groups would be able to handle it. You tend to go overboard, y'know." Rito said, smoothly redirecting the conversation.

"Yuuki-kun's right. You'd make it way too scary, Lala-chan. If it's anything as realistic as that tail of yours then I'd freak out. The bath really showed off how close you can make some things look," Haruna said.

"A-ah, I guess you're right," Lala said awkwardly as she tried to move the conversation away from her tail. 'Rito wanted to keep it a secret!' Lala thought. "Anyway, I wonder how the other pairings went if yours became like that. Maybe we'll become a giant group!"

Rito laughed at Lala's exuberance. "Somehow, I don't doubt that possibility happening." Noticing something was up at the trail ahead, Rito said, "In fact, we might get another person to add to the group here.

The three walked up to the next 'monster' to find it… getting scolded?

"To think that you could be so shameless being my partner! How dare you, especially after what you did in the bath!"

On closer inspection, it was Yui scolding her partner and the staff member sitting nearby. "I don't think she's directing that at you," Rito commented.

"Ah, sorry," the hog monster said, scratching the back of his head. "I have an older sister back home, so it was just instinct I think."

"Screw this. I'm outta here," Yui's partner said, running off.

'Yui is really intense, but it was likely my roommate's fault considering his perversion,' Rito thought. Rito stepped forward towards Yui, saying, "Looks like you're alone now. How about you join our little group," Rito asked.

"R-Rito-kun? How did you get Sairenji in your group?" Yui asked.

"It seems her partner got scared and ran off, so Lala and I added her to our group!" Rito smiled at the humor of it all.

"T-Then, I guess I'll have to join you three to keep you in line!" Yui said haughtily.

"Hey, wait up! Can I join you too?" a voice said from behind.

"Risa-chan? Why are you alone?" Haruna asked.

Risa's hands wandered towards Haruna's breasts. "Oh my guy ran off quite easily. None of the costumes and makeup bothered me, so I walked on ahead alone for most of the trail. I'm glad to find you though.

Haruna couldn't help but blush at Risa's actions as she said, "I wish you wouldn't g-greet me like this."

"Awww you know I only do this because I love you," Risa said.

Lala laughed at Risa's shenanigans. "You seem to have a lot of fun, huh."

"S-Shameless! Get your hands off her you pervy mutt!" Yui said. "It reminds me what a disaster the bath was for me."

Risa complied and kept her hands to herself, acting innocent as she said, "What? You didn't like bonding with me and Mio-chan? That'll hurt my feelings, you know."

Yui huffed as she said to Rito, "Let's move forward. We shouldn't waste any more time else I fear for my body." Yui said, her arms covering herself as she moved away from Risa.

"Right, we'll push onward," Rito said. He led the 5 of them, taking the lead in this. While walking, Rito noticed that Haruna was doing much better and was way less frightened. 'Maybe Momioka purposefully annoyed her like that with her groping. That and being in a group has probably taken her mind off of the whole scary aspect of the dare."

The group rounded an edge of the path as it took a dip to the right. "Raaaaawr," roared a jumpscaring cyclops.

Haruna dove for Rito's arm and then froze in fear. Everyone else shrugged off the guy's jumpscare. They moved forward with Haruna hanging off of Rito's arm.

"How tacky," Yui said, looking back at the guy's attempt to scare.

"He tried his best, but it wasn't very scary for me," Risa shrugged.

"All their costumes just look funny to me," Lala said. Lala looked at Haruna and said, "Are you okay Haruna-chan?"

"I-I'm okay now. It just gets too scary when they're right in front of me. It takes a lot for me to just stand there and take it," Haruna said.

Lala grabbed onto the other arm of Rito's. "Rito's arms can make you feel safe though so you should be all good!" she said, leaning into Rito.

'I guess this is her way of getting Sairenji-chan to calm down,' Rito reasoned, 'This can get a little embarrassing with the others staring though.'

"Y-yes," Haruna said with her face getting redder by the second, "I'm sorry if this is making you uncomfortable Yuuki-kun."

"That's alright. I'm happy to help," Rito smoothly said.

"Also happy to feel Haruna-chan's embrace," Risa commented.

"He is behaving right though. J-just like a gentleman," Yui said. 'I just wish that was me," she thought before slapping herself for that, 'W-what am I thinking. I'm just here to keep them in line!'

"Riiiiiitooooooo" yelled out a voice from behind them.

"Oho? Sounds like one of the monsters is after you, Yuuki," Risa said with a smug laugh.

"They are?!" yelled out Haruna in an increasing pitch. It seemed the notion scared her a great deal.

"Riiiitoooo," the voice got closer, revealing a running figure that collided with the back of Rito. "Finally, I caught up to you!"

"Run? That was you?" Rito said, regaining his senses fast. "What happened to your partner?"

"Eh, he was boring, so I ditched him and ran to you!" Run said, hugging Rito from his back.

"Oh, I'm glad you're here, Run. This way we really have a large group to have a lot of fun together for the dare," Lala said.

"Ack," Run said, "I mean, I guess so," Run said, grumpily acknowledging Lala.

"Let's just finish this up," Rito said, "I think we're almost done. I see steps ahead."

"Ara, finishing with a bunch of beauties at your side," Risa said. "I hope you appreciate it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rito denied, feeling the bodies of 3 girls on him. Only Risa and Yui were not touching him.

"Y-You guys should really give Rito-kun some space!" Yui said, forgoing her tolerance of it earlier. Her face was red at this point and it seems the sight of Run hugging Rito from behind put her SHAMELESS meter over.

"You can take my spot, Yui-chan?" Lala offered, raising Rito's arm.

'I guess I'll let everyone use me as they like for now,' Rito thought.

Yui's face somehow emitted steam as she denied Lala's offer. "N-no, I'm fine."

"I'll take that chance then," Risa said, taking Rito's free arm. "I gotta make sure Yuuki is enjoying this a lot," Risa said, pulling his arm close against her body.

'Nope. Not going to think about the many body heats I'm feeling. I can get through this. I know I can," Rito thought. 'I… might need some time to cool off afterwards.'

The 6 of them chatted energetically with each other, moving past the final staff members attempting to scare them.

Suddenly there was some clapping. It was the principal. "You're the second group to get through the entire dare?"

"Ara, it seems most of you were not so easy to scare," the beautiful innkeeper said, almost like she was a little disappointed in that fact.

"The second group? Who was the first group?" Rito asked.

The principal laughed him off. "It was Saruyama-san and Sawada-san if I'm not mistaken." His face shaped to a slightly perverted one as he said, "With a large group of girls, it makes this news all the more exciting, but…" the principal cleared his throat, "It's a legend here that whichever courageous pair makes it to the goal in this Seaside Summer School's dare will surely become a couple!"

That was some alarming news for Rito and some others in their group.

"W-wait, but I joined their group," Haruna whispered.

"I guess that'll make for a lot of fun in the future," Risa teased.

Yui was at a loss of words and instead stumbled over various butchered forms of shameless.

"That legend is going to be proven false when only I get with Rito," Run announced boldly.

"Aha, I know Rito is going to be able to handle everything!" Lala said, calm but excited as always.

Rito tried to take the attention off of him somehow. He was really interested in who was the 1st pair to pass. He looked further beyond the principal and innkeeper, seeing two figures.

Walking up to them alone, Rito comments, "So how was the dare, Saruyama, Sawada?"

(-)

Alone in the forest, one of the cyclops let out a groan. "Damn that Yuuki Rito. My form should've scared him out of his engagement!" His form withered away into a little deformed flying creature. "I guess I have to go home if he's not scared of that form.

The alien continued to talk to itself. "I never thought I'd believe the rumours that the earthling is strong enough to unintentionally take out the competition. He even had his own harem!"

The monster flew away into the night. "I'm never coming back again. That guy… he didn't even spare me a glance! He acted as if I was nothing but a bug, no, less than a bug!" The monster kept to his words and from that point on, never went to Earth for anything.

Sometime In the Future

A figure was relaxed in a chair, resting after a hard day of work. The figure was somewhat tall and imposing, muscled but not overly so.

A sneaky figure draped over his seat, hanging her hair over, covering his face.

"You're still as cheeky as ever," the first figure said.

"I'm just tending to my dear husband," the sneaky figure said, walking around the chair to sit in the other's lap. "We were fated to be, so I have to do my best!"

The "husband" hugged the other figure into his arms. "Are you bringing up that old legend? The one from Seaside Summer School way back when? You know, I never gave it a lot of thought. I was always determined to protect you, Lala."

Lala relaxed into her husband's embrace and said, "That makes me a little sad, y'know. I couldn't help but think about it every step of the way, Rito!"