The next day, Ryo slept in late. That was not like him, but Sage reassured the others that he was fine. It was summer, and a hot one at that. Rowen sat in front of the TV fanning himself as he watched in horror as the weatherman rambled on about the beautiful weather and how much hotter it's expected to get. Rowen groaned and fanned harder.

Cye and Kento were in the kitchen. Kento was quickly downing another glass of ice water, and Cye was kneeling in front of the open refrigerator, flapping his shirt open so it wouldn't stick to his chest by his sweat.

"My goodness… this heat is the worst!"

"No kidding. I don't see how Ryo can sleep through it all. Well, okay; maybe I can."

Cye let out a heavy sigh and half climbed into the fridge where it was decently cool. He stayed there for a while, until his friend tapped him on the shoulder.

"Come on, Cye… at this rate, all the food will go bad!"

Cye groaned, not moving.

"We can buy more food, then. I'm just to hot to move right now…"

Kento sighed and set his glass down, then proceeded to haul Cye out of the fridge. From the living room, Rowen moaned.

"They say this heat will get worse within hours!"

Cye lifted his head and groaned, letting it fall down to his chest. He was sweating more now, and he barely had the strength to move. Kento led his dehydrated friend into the living room, where Rowen had just shut the TV off and tossed the remote on the table. Cye sat down on the cough, but it was too warm, so he slumped down and stretched out on the floor.

"It's too hot… I can't move!"

Sage looked up from the morning paper and stared at Cye. Out of all of them, Cye was the most sensitive to the heat. How ironic it was that he and Ryo were such good friends. Sage, himself was trying to keep cool by sitting in the moving fan's path, on the window seat and with no shirt on.

"Hey, man… why don't I go throw you in the lake? That'll help ya cool off!"

"Yeah, but then who'll throw YOU in, Kento?"

Despite the heat, Rowen had enough energy to crack a joke or two. Kento slumped in the armchair.

"I'll walk in, run in, or jump in… I don't care if the water's a little dirty! I just want to cool down!"

"Unfortunately…"

Cye began.

"That lake soaks up heat like you wouldn't believe. It's probably boiling by now!"

"Aw, man…"

Sage stared down at his paper for a while, but he hadn't been able to focus on anything on the page since he had picked it up. Then, a smile came to his face.

"What about the beach?"

All heads went up, and Cye immediately went into a sitting position, smiling like he had just won the lottery.

"Are you serious?"

"Sure. It's warm enough, and the water in the ocean is always cold. It's perfect!"

"yes, yes, ye-"

"But we still have a problem."

Everyone looked at Rowen, and Cye stopped doing his happy dance. Rowen pointed upwards, where Ryo's room was located. All hopes fell.

"Someone has to convince our leader to let us go."

"And if we go, he should go, too."

"But considering his accident the other day, he may be reluctant to get in the water with us."

"But, all we need is his permission, right? He doesn't have to swim, but he can get a tan or something instead!"

"True…"

"Okay, then I volunteer!"

"You seem pretty energetic for someone who could barely lift their head a moment ago."

Sage shook his head, noticing that Cye was already halfway up the stairs.

"But this is about the BEACH!"

Then, he disappeared up the staircase.

In his room, Ryo had just awoken from the same dream he had been having since a few days ago. The lake, White Blaze… It felt a little warmer than usual, but it was a comforting kind of warmth. He curled back up in his blanket and threw an arm to the other side of the bed. It was empty. Ryo propped himself up at feeling the cold emptiness where Mia had been when he fell asleep. Sighing, he suddenly remembered that she had to be at the university early that morning. Oh well, he thought. He was about to fall back asleep when he heard a small noise. He opened an eye to see two sea green orbs staring at him from just over the edge of the bed. Ryo stared tiredly at them for a moment before yawning and sitting up in his bed. He rubbed his eyes.

"Good morning, Cye."

The other smiled and got up from the floor. Ryo was rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and then he felt the bed lower ever so slightly as Cye sat on the end of it.

"What's up?"

"Oh, nothing, really."

Ryo noticed how fatigued Cye looked, and only then did he notice the heat seemed worse than it had been in a while.

"Wow, it looks really hot outside today. What temperature is it?"

"It's just reaching the hundreds now."

"Wow, that's warm! What a pretty day…"

Ryo turned back to his friend with a sympathetic smile.

"Too bad it's so hard on you and the others."

"Yes, well, that's why I came up here. We were talking, and…"

"Yes?"

"Well, we'd like to take a small trip."

Ryo raised an eyebrow.

"Go on…"

"Well… since it's such a nice day, and we're all overheating, we thought about…"

"Yes?"

"The beach?"

That got his attention. Ryo sighed and looked out from his balcony. It was hot, which didn't bother him, and he was reluctant to leave the house in order to go to a place with cold water. However, he thought about how the others must be feeling. Turning back t Cye, Ryo nodded.

"Okay… we can go to the beach."

"Oh, yay!"

Cye leaned over and hugged his friend, who laughed and tried to push him away. When Cye wants to latch onto someone, it would take 50 weightlifters and a pry bar to get him loose. Still, Ryo appreciated the gesture, and waited until the grip around his neck was loosened to pat Cye on the head. The other leaned back and smiled before getting off the bed and padding his way out of the room. Ryo sat up and listened as his friend quietly walked to the staircase, and then ran down it shouting with joy.

"We're going! We're going!"

Ryo could not help but laugh. He was happy to have made his friend happy, but as he turned back to look out the window, a feeling of uneasiness swept over him.