As the sun moved through the sky, Izuku enjoyed the festivities his friends had planned for the day. He spent some time building sandcastles with the buckets Yuyu and Nejire had brought for their trip until the waves swallowed the grandiose structure of unstable sand into the floor of the ocean.

Sero used his quirk to tape the sandcastle back together, but the tape deflated with the sandcastle, leading them to mingle with each other in a sad pile of sadness. The waves of the ocean laughed at them as another crest crashed upon the shore where the remainder of the sandcastle finally washed away.

Sero picked the tape up and rolled it into a ball before he threw it inland where Ojiro was. "Well, there goes the sandcastle we were working hard on. Maybe we could create a moat around the castle to protect it while I tape it up to keep it stable."

Ojiro frowned as he found the white ball of tape next to him on the towel he was sunbathing on. He picked it up with his hand and raised an eyebrow at Sero, who flashed him a bashful smile. Sero clapped his hands together, signifying a plea to Ojiro to trash the ball of tape for him. Ojiro nodded his head and laid back down to throw it away later.

"You know, I think the tape is the least of our problems..." Izuku mentioned as the cogs in his brain turned. "We could probably build the castle further away from the rising tide of the ocean and make a moat as you said, but add several more moats around it to truly counter the waves unless we dig the first one deep enough."

"Good idea! I should bounce more ideas off you to understand what goes on in that brain of yours, so I can become as smart as you!" Sero grabbed the buckets and ran a few meters up the beach while Kirishima and Izuku chased after him along with Aoyama, though he took his time.

When Kirishima made it to the area where Sero was, he held up his finger as if he had been struck with a great idea. "Maybe we could dig a vast pit in front of the castle we build in the shallow part of the ocean for the water to gather! Then move the sand we dug up to make a shield around the castle!"

"T-That sounds like a bad idea!" Izuku exclaimed, unsure how to convince Kirishima otherwise. "I'm not sure we should cause a big scene just for a sandcastle when we're going to leave it alone by the end of the day!"

Kirishima smiled, flashing his pointy teeth in Izuku's direction. "Exactly! Once we leave, we have to wait until springtime to come back to the beach since it's still early September! We must live before we run out of pleasant weather to play around in! So, off to the excavation project!" He yelled as he ran off to the beach with one of their buckets.

Izuku was about to prevent him when he heard Yuyu calling his name. "Ah, yes? Did you need something from me?"

Yuyu waved a credit card in the air as the sunlight glinted off the surface. "Why the formal tone? I'm sure we're close enough to be best friends at this point. Anyway, since we won the little volleyball match, Nejire and I were thinking of treating our team to some drinks at the beach bar, provided they're not alcoholic."

Izuku found himself looking for Nejire the moment he heard her name. It's been a little while since he saw her, but that was because he was spending time with his classmates after avoiding them for so long. He didn't think he would miss their company to this extent, but it seemed like Nejire understood because shortly after the volleyball match, she disappeared to spend her time with Yuyu.

"Er, I was thinking of..." Izuku trailed off as he looked behind himself to see Sero shooting him a thumbs-up and a wide grin.

"No worries here! We're going to prevent Kirishima from digging straight down to the middle of the Earth!"

Izuku watched Sero and Aoyama chase Kirishima with buckets of their own. He couldn't tell if they were being serious or anything, but his only hope of them being safe was now in responsible Iida's hands. "I'll take you up on that offer," Izuku said as he turned around to face Yuyu.

"Sweet! Follow me." Yuyu flipped the credit card that was between her fingers into the palm of her hand. "Also, I was lying about the part where I was treating you guys; it's all Nejire because this is her credit card. It's so you can have some revenge on her for bringing all your friends to the beach without telling you."

Yuyu's laughter drew out some chuckles from Izuku, though it was short-lived when he discovered it truly was her credit card when Yuyu handed it to him. Nejire's name was written on the back of the credit card in plain silver letters.

"M-Maybe I could pay the expenses of my girlfriend in place of our orders?" Izuku suggested.

Standing still in her tracks, Yuyu studied him for a few seconds before words came tumbling out her mouth. "You're such a nice little brother. Metaphorically, of course." Yuyu added as she reached out to pat him on the head.

"Uh... Thank you?"

"Don't mention it," Yuyu responded with a smile. "Anyway, she can afford a few drinks here and there. Her hero work studies pay her generously, especially since her skill level towers above others. Speaking of which, I should probably get around to lecturing her about the way she spends her money. She needs to learn to restrict herself, but that's out of my reach with all the impulse purchases she's been doing lately."

"Hmmm… I haven't seen her buy much when I spend time with her." Izuku tried to dig through his memories to see if there were any instances of her spending like a cash machine, but he came up empty. The purchases she did for him seemed normal enough.

"Well, it happens more when we go shopping together."

"I should have seen that coming," Izuku said, a chuckle escaping his lips.

As they made their way over to the beach bar, Izuku noticed two people were already there. One was his girlfriend and Bakugo, who wanted him to kill his classmates to score a point for their team. Or did he mean the ball? However, he used a plural version of something singular, so interpretation was up in the air for what he truly meant.

Nejire was busy talking Bakugo's ear off as she cheerfully engaged with him in a conversation while the bartender cautiously stared at them. It wasn't until Yuyu approached the area and told the bartender they were underage and only wanted to order juices did the bartender's expression soften.

"Izuku, you made it! I've been waiting for you, and so was Bakugo!" Nejire exclaimed as Bakugo clicked his tongue in annoyance, his arms crossing over his chest in disapproval.

"Were you really?" Izuku asked, a smile growing on his face while Bakugo stared up at him with a disgusted look. "I'm glad."

"Of course! You're my one and only!" Nejire stood up and opened her arms up to signify to Izuku that she wanted a hug.

Izuku reluctantly opened his arms to give her what she wanted. It was embarrassing when Bakugo had his eyes glued to him like an owl, calculating its prey from an undetectable distance. He was fine with Yuyu's presence, but performing a flirtatious action in public just wasn't his style. But how could he say no to his girlfriend?

Just as Izuku leaned in, Nejire's patience ran out, so she closed the distance quickly by giving him a tight embrace. He squeaked in shock while a rosy blush colored his face. "N-Nejire, that surprised me!"

"You were taking too long," Nejire responded with a laugh. "Besides, it's been a while since I spent some quality time with you!"

"Weren't we watching a movie together yesterday?"

"Yesterday isn't today. Today is today, and I'm not satisfied with the time I spent with you today, despite how fun the trip has been so far!"

"Fair enough." Izuku agreed as he flashed a nervous smile towards Bakugo, who crossed his arms over his chest with a venomous glare.

"It was getting good until Deku had to show up and ruin everything. First, he interrupted the fun with his presence. Then he fumbled the incredible volleyball set I introduced for him." Bakugo mentioned, stepping into the conversation with his signature brash tone and snarky remarks.

A drop of sweat rolled down Izuku's head with an odd swiftness to it as if it sensed Bakugo's anger increasing. "I don't think that's very fair, Kacchan! We still won the volleyball game by a small margin!"

"Thanks to me."

"Y-You can't attribute all our points to yourself!"

"But I just did."

Nejire laughed at their bickering while Yuyu ordered her drink and asked for a tab just in case they ordered multiple drinks. Yuyu glanced nervously at Bakugo as he heated up and threatened to blow Izuku up if he didn't shut his mouth. Nejire took notice of this when Yuyu gently tapped her on the shoulder with a panicked expression.

Nejire gave her a thumbs-up and stepped in between the two of them. "Right, let's not blow anything up! If Bakugo gets aggressive and attacks you, I'll be the one to protect you, Izuku! Though I remember Bakugo blowing everything up at Gym Gamma, so sorry for not protecting you then!"

"I'll blow him up at Gym Gamma again when I get the chance."

"Thankfully, I'm quick to evade everything," Izuku murmured.

"Hah?!"

"Nothing!" Izuku exclaimed to no avail as Bakugo began chasing him around the beach with a variety of explosions popping off around the beach while Izuku scurried in fright.

"Disaster averted!" Nejire exclaimed pridefully towards Yuyu as if she had successfully defeated a villain. "The beach bar is still up and running!"

Yuyu groaned as she dragged a hand down her face in embarrassment. "I actually thought you had the situation under control for a second, but I guess this also works."


Izuku stood in the ocean with the sun dipping towards the horizon behind him, creating an orange hue to streak across the water brilliantly. The colors of the sky showered the land, entrusting its natural tinctures to paint the sand into itself.

The waves of the ocean circled his legs as he felt himself sink into the grainy sand when the tide receded. Wiggling his toes around in the sand, he buried them in the sand and relaxed. There was something meditative about it all when he was just relishing the wilderness for what it was.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Izuku turned his head around to see Nejire standing next to him. "Yeah... It's lovely."

A few seconds of silence passed by while the shade of the sun continued its downward travel to the other side of the Earth. From the shore of the beach, he could hear the chattering of the others in the background as they cleaned up the mess they had made from their stay. And somewhere in the mix of it all, Bakugo could be heard yelling at someone.

"Anyway, it's time to go home."

Izuku nodded his head but took the time to vocalize his internal thoughts. "I wish we could stay here longer..."

"You and me both." Nejire agreed with a giggle. "But you know, there's always next year when we come here. Just the two of us."

"But wouldn't you have graduated from U.A. high school by then?"

"That doesn't mean I won't have some days off!" Nejire responded by nudging him with her shoulder.

Izuku laughed at her reaction. With her plan in his mind, there was no way he was going to miss the event. Perhaps they could experience the world a bit more when everything settled down, but for now, he had to concentrate on his studies and the League of Villains. Or whatever life decided to throw at him, but he was ready for it because he had Nejire by his side.

Until the end of the year, but that was better than nothing.

Author's Note: My symptoms for carpal and cubital tunnel syndromes are pretty much gone, but I encountered a brief writer's block, yet I managed to create this chapter!

I won't stop until I finish this story and a few others! Hopefully, early next year by March or something, I can take a short three month break to give myself time to recuperate from the creative damage I inflicted on my brain!

Or maybe I'll stop writing after I finish those projects and edit the ones I have finished and post them because I'm feeling burned out! Still, better to burn out than fade away!

Also, it was Nejire's birthday a few days ago on October 6th, so yay for best girl!

With love from your favorite writer, Out4Lunch!