The sun beamed down on the shores of Waikiki beach, but even that was not enough to light the dark clouds in Jomei's mind. He absent-mindedly finished the rest of his soda and thoughtlessly slammed it on the bar's counter.

"What's eating you pal?" the bartender asked.

"What makes you think something's eating me?" he asked back.

"Well, you're drowning your sorrows in soda at a bar," she pointed out. "And that's not even getting into you just slamming the empty can down without even realizing it."

Normally, such a remark would get a chuckle out of Jomei, but his current state of mind would not allow that. After quickly downing another can of soda, he slid out of his seat and returned to the beach outside.

"Time to get to work," Jomei said as he glanced at his surroundings. Suddenly, his eyes widened with shock as they beheld something he never thought he would see again. "Huh. That's interesting."

What he saw still wasn't enough to improve his mood, but while Jomei was afflicted with negative emotions, his son was experiencing their polar opposites as e walked home.

"It's a really nice feeling when you buy new art supplies," Shujinkou happily thought. "Then again they didn't have everything I needed so I got to get the rest of it online."

He continued his stroll home until something commanded his body to stop. Without turning around, Shujinkou retraced his steps back a few feet and turned to his right. There was a young lady laying on top of the nearby grass, staring up at the sky.

"Kiyoko?" Shujinkou called.

The girl immediately looked up at him. Upon confirming who spoke to her, she waved and flashed him a friendly smile.

"Hey, Shujinkou. What brings you around these parts?" Kiyoko asked.

"I was just heading home," he answered, scratching his right cheek. "What are you doing here?"

Kiyoko's head turned back to its found position, her eyes once again glued to the sky.

"I'm just enjoying some downtime," she answered.

"Downtime?" he repeated.

"Yep. It's always nice to have some downtime and just relax. Summer's one of the best downtime periods around."

"She does look relaxed," Shujinkou acknowledged in his head. "If that's how she feels, maybe that's why she's half-asleep a lot in class. But I wonder just how relaxed she is right now?"

As if called upon by his thoughts, a single bird flew down and perched itself on Kiyoko's head.

"Oh… That relaxed…" he stared in disbelief at the sight in front of him. It was strange, but it was almost as if he was getting lazy vibe from the basketball player. He continued to watch her as the girl sat up and motioned the bird to perch on her right pointer finger. She then whistled a short tune that prompted the bird to happily sing with her. Seeing all of this caused one word to escape from his thoughts, "Wow."

"Hm? 'Wow' what?" Kiyoko queried.

"It's just…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he pondered the right way to answer the question. "It's just that I've never seen a bird so comfortable around a high school student or the student not freaking out about it at all in real life."

"Well, I don't really care that he/she decided to spend its downtime with me," she casually replied.

"And how do you know how to bird whistle?"

"I learned it from one of Yoki's songs."

"Yoki? You know about Yoki too?"

"Yeah. She's that popular mystery idol. You a fan?"

"Well…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he formulated the sentence structure of his response. "It's not that I'm not a fan. It's just that I just found out about her. To be honest, I don't really pay attention to mainstream singers. The closet I am too that are the Vocaloids."

"Plus, you're kinda in your own world when at school so you naturally block out any conversation that relates to her," she chuckled. "But hey, it's not like I'm going to judge you over your answer."

"What about you? Do you think she's really good?"

Kiyoko casually shrugged her shoulders, a response that confused Shujinkou. But before he could make a response of his own, Kiyoko raised her free hand and motioned him to come forward. Shujinkou willingly followed the silent instruction and did the same with the second that instructed him to sit down.

"Didn't want you to stand there the whole time," Kiyoko grinned. "Anyway, I guess I don't really have an opinion on her like everyone else. I just listen to music I like."

"Oh…" Though he had trouble understanding how one could not form an opinion, Shujinkou accepted the answer. He then watched Kiyoko gently pet the bird's head, an act the tiny animal clearly enjoyed. "You seem to be good with animals."

"I wouldn't say that."

"You wouldn't?"

"It's not that hard for birds to come to you," Shujinkou curiously watched the finger the bird was perched on slowly and gently move towards him. "Try sticking your finger out at 'em."

Shujinkou did as he was told and raised his finger towards the winged animal. The bird responded to the action by flying up and perching itself back on Kiyoko's head.

"I don't think it likes me…" he said before sighing in disappointment.

"It's not that he/she doesn't like you, it's just that they can tell that you aren't super calm and composed enough to approach," Kiyoko replied with a grin. "Try again while letting them know you're safe to be around."

Shujinkou nodded his head and slowly raised his finger towards the avian creature, his head filled with nothing but thoughts of how calm he had to be. His gradually tensed up as his index finger drew even closer to the bird until it dropped down to Kiyoko's right shoulder.

"You know, Shujinkou, constantly thinking and stressing yourself trying to be calm doesn't make a person calm," she casually pointed out.

"Maybe I should try again when I'm not thinking about it…" Shujinkou replied, scratching his right cheek.

Instead of continuing the conversation, Kiyoko gently pet the bird's head once more and let it go to fly into the distance. A yawn then broke through her lips and the golden-haired girl allowed gravity to guide her back to the soft grass.

It was at that point that Shujinkou felt the awkwardness of being unable to continue the conversation set in. He tried to think of something, but it was extremely tough for him given that he didn't know much about her in the first place.

"Maybe I should use this opportunity to try and know her better…" he said.

"You know you were thinking out loud, right?" Kiyoko pointed out.

"Uh…" Shujinkou's cheeks grew red with embarrassment.

"So, what do you want to know?"

"Um, well… Do you come out here often?"

"Not specifically here. I can do this anywhere that doesn't have a roof, though you probably mean whether or not if I do this often. Like I said before, it's nice to have some downtime every now and again."

"Is that why you sometimes sleep at school?"

"Yep. Gotta get sleep whenever you can too," a large yawn inserted itself into the conversation as Kiyoko stretched her legs. "Speaking of school, how are things going for you?"

"What do you mean?" Shujinkou wondered.

"You seem to be a lot less unapproachable than you were at the start of the year."

"Unapproachable?"

"You know? Like you rather be left alone."

"Oh. Well, I guess that's true. I was actively seeking ways to be alone with my thoughts."

"Guess joining the club you joined was good for you."

Shujinkou scratched his cheek as he thought about Kiyoko's words.

"Yeah… I think so too," he agreed. "Hey, Kiyoko…"

A familiar song swiftly interrupted his sentence.

"Love Deterrence?" he marveled.

"I like Peace Walker," Kiyoko casually shrugged before humming along with the song. She then reached into her pocket, pulled out her phone and read a new message on the screen. "Gotta go."

The golden-haired girl jumped onto her feet and stretched her arms.

"Huh? Where to?" Shujinkou queried.

"A place to take care of some Kiyoko business," she answered with a sly wink.

"Wha-?"

"I heard your grandmother say something similar to you during our stay at her resort."

"Ho-?"

"It's not exactly hard to figure out since you guys seem really close."

"…Point taken."

Kiyoko chuckled as glanced into the distance, "Anyway, see ya later, Shujinkou."

As she disappeared into the distance, Shujinkou could hear her whistle the last few notes of another song he was familiar with.

"She likes Sly Cooper too…" he whispered under his breath. "Huh. You learn something new every day."