Rhyme giggled as the waves bowled her over again. The twins chuckled and helped her to her feet...or tried to. The result was all three splashing in the waves and laughing heartily.

After a while, the three gathered on a towel and dried off.

"Should we go back to the hotel?" Mina asked, stretching and wringing her hair out.

"Yeah." Rhyme agreed "Trixie already went to reserve a spot for us girls in the restaurant. Best not keep her waiting, you know?"

"I can't wait!" Mana exclaimed. "I heard that the hotel food is simply to DIE for! My friend Elisa said that she vacationed here, and ate at the restaurant almost every day."

"Well, I heard on the grapevine that poor people pay through the nose to even get in the door." Sakura snooted, slapping a towel onto her shoulders and showing off her jeweled two-piece swimsuit.

Rhyme sighed and followed the Sarahara twins into the hotel. The air conditioning instantly made all three shiver and hurry to the table that held one Trixie, beaming and waving her friends over. "Hey! I finally got us a table!"

As everyone sat down, Sakura turned up her nose and went to sit at a booth nearby, her clique following suit. Before migrating over with her fellow snobs, the blonde sneered at the brunette and turned up her nose. "Not a bad choice of seat, but one must wonder how dumpster divers could afford to give their spawn the money to afford it. Oh, that's right...Adam Nuraki sleeps around doesn't he? No wonder-"

SMACK!

Every eye turned to the scowling source of the massive slap that flashed into existence without warning like a lightning strike of epic justice. Sakura was stunned into silence for a full minute, staring to the side, head still turned from the force of the strike, red mark already forming. The culprit narrowed her eyes and, with a voice devoid of her usual timid niceness, ground out the next words devoid of fear, and filled with rare, unashamed rage.

"That is enough out of you, Sakura Shoru. I'll put up with you tearing me down, but don't you dare drag Trixie through the mud! That comment was as fake as your makeup, and I won't have you spreading lies about two of the kindest people I know! ESPECIALLY in front of their daughter, who happens to be my best friend!"

The blonde bimbo's eyes lit up and she finally turned to the defiant Bito, fists clenched and a viper's sneer on her face as she rose up to her full hight, towering over the giirl who had dared lay a putrid, slimy, poorman's finger on her let alone dared to strike her beautiful face!

"Oh I see how it is, Little Bito." she sneered "You date Yoshiya Kiryu, and all of a sudden, you think you have the right to even stand in my shadow, let alone TOUCH ME! Well, let me give you a reality check…" She raised her hand, expectiing the little girl to flinch and retreat into herself like she always did.

Rhyme didn't move. Her gaze didn't soften. And most importantly...She didn't flinch. In fact she did the complete opposite, and actually took a stance. Sakura was beyond suprized, but of course, she couldn't let it show. So she did the next best thing and leaned down, venom dripping from her voice as she hissed menacingly,

"We aren't done, Bito. You'll pay for this humiliation."

Rhyme kept her confidence as the blonde practically stalked to her own table, her nose in the air and smoke coming out of her ears.

Trixie and the twins just stared open-mouthed, jaws slowly reatatching themselves to their skulls. Little Rhyme Bito had just stood up to the richest, snobbiest, most powerful girl in the school…

and she had won.

"Wow...I never knew you had it in you, Rhyme. In all our years of friendship...well...thanks for standing up for me. That was amazing!"

Rhyme blushed "It wasn't a big deal. I just kinda..reacted, that's all. Maybe Beat is finally rubbing off on me."

"I don't care where it came from, I'm just glad it happened. Sakura's had that coming for a long time." Mana said, patting Rhyme on the back.

The girls finally sat down and picked up their menus, the sound of the slap still replaying in their minds and the satisfaction of seeing the small girl stand up for her friend wetting their appetites.

"Now then, let's eat!"