AN: Finally, I got around to updating this. Sorry, but it was hard to pump this one out hence the wait. Hope it's worth it.
Feedback is appreciated as always.
Beta:XenoTime39
"Uahh," yawned a lethargic Rito the morning of the next day. Having a Dare so late into the night was a struggle to keep balanced with getting to sleep early.
Also given that Saruyama wouldn't stop trying to tease him over who he came out with, he couldn't have gotten sleep if he tried.
Thankfully, the water was going to wake him up. What water you might ask? Well-
"Ritooo! It's time to play!" Lala called out as she rushed towards Rito. Her swimsuit being a white bikini top with a flowery bottom portion really made Lala have a lot of eyes on her including Rito.
"You look good, Lala," Rito commented, "How're the others doing with getting ready?" Since today was scheduled for free time at the local beach, it was a perfect opportunity to get a group game going.
Lala's smile widened at the compliment, "Hehe, thanks! I got a head start on everyone, so it's just us for the time being. How lucky, right?"
"I guess so," Rito chuckled before facing the ocean, "I don't know what you have in space, but views like these are usually well-liked," Rito said, admiring the bright sunny beach that accompanied the shimmering Ocean.
"There's some planets that can rival Earth's views, but these are more special to me," Lala said.
"Why's that?" Rito felt that he should ask.
"Because I get to have so much fun with Haruna-chan, Run-chan, and everyone else! And I get to spend time with you, Rito!"
Lala's smile while she said that almost put Rito in a daze. With the wind blowing her hair and her pale skin contrasting against the sandy beach, it was a truly picturesque scene to witness. "I may not have visited other planets, but I'm inclined to agree." Rito said, averting his gaze towards Lala and instead looking to the ocean.
"Hey, Rito! Let's spend some special time together!" a voice called out to him before a weight could be felt on his back.
"Run-chan? You seem super excited to play at the beach! That's great because that means we can have a super time!" Lala said.
Ignoring the sensations on his back, Rito coughed before saying, "Run, can you get off my back? We're not going to be able to do anything with you like this."
"Awww, but I was growing attached to this back," Run said, pressing harder on his back purposefully.
"Then I guess I'll take his arm!" Lala said, pulling it close to her.
Run dismounted Rito's back and instead grabbed his other arm, "I'm not going to let you take the lead, Lala!" Run announced, pulling Rito closer to her.
"What lead are you talking about? I thought we could all have a fun time with Rito," Lala said, tilting her hand. "This is my first time at a beach with Rito, so we should make this special!"
Rito didn't have a chance to jump in and get a word in at all as Run and Lala argued, well Run argued with an unsuspecting Lala. Rito could only hope that the others would come fast.
"Hey, it's my first time at a beach with Rito as well! I plan to make it very spec-" Run fired back before getting interrupted by an assertive voice.
"Wah! What shameless acts are you doing, Jewleria-san, Lala? Get off Rito-kun!" Yui yelled out approaching the group with a temper as endless as the ocean.
"Ah, Yui. That's a nice swimsuit for a hot summer day. I bet you're as excited as they are," Rito said, trying to divert her attention. Yui's swimsuit was surprisingly a black bikini swimsuit, seemingly the same as Lala's. The only difference was that the bottom portion of the swimsuit was a regular bikini bottom as opposed to the flowery bottom Lala had.
"A-ah, yes. While admittedly I'm not that adept at swimming, I do share a fondness for the beach," Yui muttered with a healthy blush on her cheeks. "A-anyway, Lala and Jewleria-san should get off of you and stop showing such shameless actions to the rest of the student body!"
"Awww, ok." Lala said with a giggle, releasing her grasp on Rito's arm. "Let's make sure to have a fun time together Yui-chan!"
Run, on the other hand, relented only after saying, "Fine, but only because Rito hasn't complimented my swimsuit."
Rito stretched his free arms, saying, "Thanks Yui. As for your swimsuit," Rito said, taking a look at Run's insistence. It was a slim yellow bikini, seemingly showing off her curves in a much more provocative light than even Yui and Lala's bikini. "It certainly plays to your strengths. I'm surprised it doesn't clash with your hair, but I imagine you would've already considered that when picking it out."
"Hehe, that's right," Run said, her head upturned with a smug impression, basking in the praise. Run was very prideful, especially considering how she stacks up compared to Lala. 'If only I could appeal to Rito like Lala and Kotegawa-san could. At least I'm able to show off more. I'll make sure that today, Rito looks my way!' Run thought.
While Rito was trying to think of something to do to make everything more manageable for himself, his eyes caught the look of something, someone that gave him a surprise. "Mikado-sensei? What are you doing here?"
"Hmm? Am I not allowed to be a part of the Seaside Summer School, Yuuki-kun?" Mikado said with a sultry entrance.
"That's not what I meant. I was just surprised you were here. I haven't seen you for a while, sensei."
"Ah, but you forget Yuuki-kun, I'm the school nurse, so I'm always in the infirmary. You should come and visit," Mikado said.
"I'm sorry, but I didn't want to disturb you. I haven't needed medical assistance, but rest assured, if I did, I would've gone to you," Rito said.
"Ah, that's reassuring," she said before turning away as she commented, "I have a little job for you after this trip. You'll be able to help, right?"
"Sure, sensei. I'll help out with whatever you need," Rito said. It most definitely had something to do with alien business, so Rito was well aware that he should make time to deal with whatever needs to be dealt with. "Is there something that I should prepare for now?" Rito asked.
"Hey, Yuuki. Check out Haruna!" Risa cried out, her, Haruna, and Mio arriving from the changing rooms.
Mikado, hearing this, said, "Don't worry about it Yuuki-kun. Have some fun while you have the chance."
"Right," Rito replied. Rito turned away from Mikado and instead took a good look at Haruna and her friends. Haruna had on a daring red bikini which made it seem like she was coerced into picking it out from the blush on her face. Risa and Mio had an orange and a blue bikini respectively that covered more than would be expected from the pervy duo. "You guys have a hand in Sairenji-chan's current embarrassment, I take it?" Rito asked rhetorically.
"Aww, you look sooo cute Haruna-chan!" Lala said, pouncing on Haruna, bringing her into a hug. Haruna's blush calmed down somewhat from Lala's encouragement.
"Thanks Lala-chan. Y-you look great too."
Risa and Mio gave each other a thumbs up as they took a look at their handiwork. "Of course we had to get Haruna-chan into a swimsuit worth looking at. It took us a fair bit of convincing but it was worth it hehe," Risa said.
"Looks like you didn't use all your swimsuit picking skills just for Sairenji-chan though," Rito said, eyeing theirs. "Are you guys actually fashionistas?"
"What? Is that surprising? We like looking cute, you know!" Risa said, looking more mischievous as she went on.
"Looking cute is key!" Mio backed her up.
"All right then," Rito turned away before his eyes caught the figure of Saruyama skulking away. "Oh no you don't," Rito said, grabbing him and dragging him back towards the group. "I need you here, Saruyama."
"I wanna have some fun with the guys! I don't wanna be here, especially with her!" Saruyama said, pointing weakly towards Mio.
Rito chuckled, "What exactly happened at that Dare that I don't know about?"
"Nothing. I just don't wanna be around her," Saruyama said weakly.
"That's a lie. We're around a bunch of attractive girls you very much appreciate the view of. Now let's get this party started!"
"What's got you so pumped?," Saruyama asked.
"I don't know," Rito said, "I just sort of want to have a good time today!" Rito turned towards the group and eyed everyone. Run was being tended to by Yui who was struggling to get away from her. Lala was engaged in a conversation with Haruna who had Mio and Risa to talk to as well. Mikado-sensei overlooked everyone with a smile.
"All right!" Rito yelled, addressing the group as a whole. All of their eyes turned to Rito. Rito's face was overtaken by a smile as he said, "Let's have some fun!" he said, raising his arm.
(-)
The beach day was in full swing with many activities being littered throughout the day, everyone doing their own thing. The first activity on the menu, however, was a group volleyball game.
With Mikado acting as ref, the teams were Rito, Lala, Haruna, and Run vs Saruyama, Mio, Risa, and Yui.
"Here it goes!" Saruayama called out, serving the ball. Surprisingly, Saruyama had some skill in general sports, so the ball sailed over the net to the other side easily.
"I got this!" Run said, easily returning the ball to the other side with a smaller hit.
The ball didn't go far and so the two in front, Risa and Mio, were ready to receive it. "Risa, spike it!" Mio said, hitting the ball up to the air, setting her up."
With athleticism that her physique allows, Risa energetically jumped to an impressive height and easily followed through on Mio's order. "Right there!" Risa said, aiming for a spot no one was.
The ball quickly fell towards the aimed spot, seemingly having no one to get it.
"Ooh, I got it!" Lala said, speedily getting under the ball at the last second and hitting it up. "Haruna-chan, this is to you!"
"Eh? O-ok," Haruna said, adjusting her position to better hit the ball. "Get over!" Haruna said to the ball, hitting it up. Unfortunately for her, the ball didn't seem to have enough forward momentum to get over. 'Oh no, it's not going to reach their side,' Haruna thought.
"Here's the finisher!" Rito said, running out from the far back of the boundaries towards the front, jumping and spiking the ball downward to the other side.
The ball fell fast towards Yui. With little time to react though, the class representative panicked and hit the ball back over. "What a stressful game," Yui commented.
"This rally is still going on!" Rito said, eagerly competing.
'I don't know how long I can keep this up,' Haruna thought, quickly growing tired.
It ended up being a close game where it was going back and forth too much until Lala showed her strength a little bit, getting caught up in the competitive spirit, spiking the ball into the sand and popping it. It was a fun time for the whole team, even Mikado who, for the most part, just tanned in the sun while she informally referred.
Unfortunately, it was apparent that the less-physically inclined members of the group were exhausted, that is, Haruna, Mio, and Yui. So, it was decided to be time in the pool. The aforementioned tired members were given floats so they didn't have to put in much effort and each person had someone to guide them around in the shallow water.
Mio was guided around by Risa, Yui with Rito, and Haruna with Lala. Unfortunately for Rito, it had become obvious that Run had him in her sights and wasn't budging on spending as much time with him as possible.
"Rito, Rito, let's swim a lot!" Run said, acting as energetically as she could with no discernable alter motives.
"I already said that I'd help out Yui here since she did her best during the volleyball match. I can't leave her just because," Rito explained.
Yui, upon hearing this grew red in color as Rito's kind words were hard to swallow with how exhausted she was. "Y-you can go off by yourself if you want. I don't need your sympathy!"
"It's not sympathy, it's just that I like sticking to my wor- woah, your face is really red, Yui. Do you need to get out of the sun to cool off?" Rito asked, concerned.
"Wah- I'm fine!" Yui exclaimed, indignant in her embarrassment. She tried to stand up and out of her float, but within her first step, she lost all energy in her feet, stumbling into water.
"Wait- Yui! We gotta get her out of the water! Run, help me with this!" Rito said.
Among the commotion on one side of the beach, it was the unlikely trio of Mio, Risa, and Saruyama that stuck around together right then.
"I wonder what Rito has gotten himself into this time," Saruyama commented, overlooking Rito's current predicament of pulling Yui out of the water.
"Shouldn't you go help him as his best friend?" Mio said lazily as she reclined in her float.
"Nah, I think Rito can handle this one on his own," Saruyama said, floating with only his body in the shallow water.
"Something tells me that you're just being lazy in this instance," Risa commented snidely.
"That does seem to be a pattern with Saruyama. Laziness in every department, even volleyball," Mio remarked.
"Whatever," Saruyama said, knowing that he was just being baited for a reaction. He had tried his best in the game, but Rito exceeded him in athletics fairly easily. 'Hmm, Rito was involved with sports during middle school. And although he quit in high school, he must still retain some moves,' Saruyama thought.
"Laaaame, I wanted you to get mad so I could cut you down some more."
"Sorry to get in the way of your amusement, but I try not to make the same mistake twice."
"And what mistake exactly do you figure you'd be making?" Mio said combatively.
"Getting talked into something stupid by you," Saruyama replied, lazily pointing his finger at Mio.
"Why you!" Mio said.
Risa from the sidelines decided to chime in. "Wow, you guys really get along, don'tcha?"
"No we do not!" Saruyama and Mio exclaimed.
On another part of the beach, it was Lala and Haruna having their own little discussion, or rather, Lala bubbly chatting about how much fun the beach was.
"Oh, it sounds like they're having a lot of fun," Lala said, overhearing Mio and Saruyama's argument.
"It seems like it's only Saruyama-kun who can get that kind of reaction out of Mio. Usually, she's very quiet."
"Really? Well, doesn't it sound like Mio-chan is in love with Saruyama then?" Lala asked, excited to get into the subject of love.
"Eh?" Haruna asked, blushing at that thought. 'Mio usually doesn't have any interest in interacting with the boys in class, but Lala-chan is right. The current development seems like that would be the case, but- but' Lala tried to think before overheating, with smoke seemingly appearing from her head.
"Hehe, don't think about it too much, Haruna-chan. All we can do is support them with all we got! It's not like we can do what we want to interfere."
"I-is that so," Haruna said, seemingly more tired than she was before. Her eyes drifted to the beach's shore where Rito was tending to an overwhelmed Yui who was laid down on a beach tower under the shade of a large beach umbrella. "H-how would you support someone in love then, Lala?"
"Hmm?" Lala asked, confused by the question. "I didn't expect that question from you, Haruna-chan."
"I was just curious from your reaction earlier and wanted to know what you exactly meant by support," Haruna said slowly, keeping her heartbeat in check as she didn't want Lala to get any wrong ideas… or the right ideas.
"Ah, ok," Lala said, "I guess I'd just make sure nothing was coming between them," Lala's fingers interlocked as she said, "Love is painful, so I'd tried to ensure that I was doing everything I can to make sure that process of getting together is as painless as it can be."
'Love is painful, huh. That statement seems very true to myself, but is Lala experiencing that pain? That dreamlike expression on her face… I don't see myself being able to quite make that same expression,' Haruna thought. "That's… very kind of you, Lala-chan," Haruna said, "I'm worried that I can't pledge that same support to you without getting hurt a lot."
The last part was merely a mutter, but Lala heard it. Puzzled by this, Lala opened her mouth to respond but-
"Hey, how're you doing now after laying in a float, Sairenji-chan? Lala has been taking extra special care of you, right?"
Lala's expression morphed into a troubled expression for just a moment, 'Just for now, I'll let it go. She'll realize in the future that it doesn't matter,' Lala thought. With a bright turn of a smile, Lala said, "Of course! The most special care!"
(-)
The day seemed to flash by as lunch and the evening activities, then dinner seemed to morph into one. The group seemed to slowly dissipate as everyone winded down with the day ending. It was only after dinner ended that Rito found himself wishing that the day was longer. And with that thought, his eyes searched for Lala, but to his surprise, she wasn't anywhere near him.
"Hey, does anyone know where Lala is?" Rito asked the group of Yui, Mio, Risa, and Haruna. Run had gotten a little bit too much sun and despite not sneezing once during the trip, she got sick and needed tending to with Mikado giving aid. Saruyama broke off from the group, interacting with other classmates.
"I think she mentioned something about going back to the beach? You can find her there," Haruna said.
"You might as well go and get her because I won't have any classmates violating curfew," Yui commented haughtily.
Rito scurried off with haste, leaving the girls to talk among themself.
"Hmph, he better not act as shameless as he usually is," Yui muttered.
"I don't think there's any possibility of that personally, but who knows? Yuuki-kun is unpredictable," Risa said, lazily. Other thoughts were on her mind. 'Is it really ok with you for Yuuki-kun to run after her,' Risa thought.
"Yuuki-kun and Lala-chan will be back soon, so there's no need to worry," Haruna said with a small smile.
(-)
Rito ran out to the sight of the dark beach. The figure that he was looking for stood out from the beautiful scenery. It was Lala, now in a light sundress, overlooking the same scenery that had caught his eye too.
"Did you come here to get me, Rito?" Lala asked, not looking back at Rito.
" suddenly disappeared on me and I wanted to ask you something," Rito said.
"Oh yeah? Hehe, that's my bad. I was just stuck thinking about some things."
Rito walked up to Lala to stand next to her as he looked on at the horizon. "What kind of things?"
"Nothing too important," Lala said, sticking out her tongue in a jokey manner. "What did you want to ask me?"
Rito turned his head towards Lala, drawing her head to turn towards his as well. "Well, I wanted to ask how you like Seaside Summer?" Rito said with a smile.
Lala was surprised by the question, even if she had received a similar question after the study session. With a small smile cropping up which turned into a full blown smile, Lala said, "I loved it! It was everything I dreamed of!"
Rito returned her grin full force, saying, "Good! Glad you felt that way!"