Dream
"Where am I ?" I said as darkness was around me, out of nowhere wedding bells were ringing, and in front of me was Kawashima who is in a wedding dress and holding flowers in her hands and I was in tuxedo.
"This is the greatest moment of my life, were getting married and your going to be my husband!!!" she chirped as she got closer to me, I couldn't move, I was mentally freaking out as her lips got closer to mine and-.
Dream End
I sprung up from my bed in a cold sweat, breathed in and out realizing it's only a dream, l also remembered that today was the day me, Taiga, Ryuuji, Kitamura and Kushieda were going to Kawashima's beach house. I heard knocking on my as they were getting progressively louder.
"I'm coming..." I said with a tired I opened it to reveal Taiga.
"Oh morning Taiga, you sleep well? I asked but no answer for a couple seconds then she responded.
"I had a horrible dream... Ryuuji my husband. And he was a dog." she said shuttering
"Couldn't be worse then mine. I was going to marry Kawashima and she was gonna kiss me" I said giving me chills (still can't believe I use to have a crush on her when I was young)
"Guess we both can agree..."
"Worst dream ever" we both said as we both chuckled.
Still Morning
So why is me, Taiga and Ryuuji in a badminton area, we'll find out won't we?
"It was a warning?" Ryuuji said referring to the dream Taiga had.
"Yep. It was showing me what my future is gonna be like. But if that's what I've gotta look forward to, Have to do something about it. And fast. This trip is a chance to get the ball rolling in the right direction again" the palmtop tiger explained
"So it's time we figure out if Taiga helps Ryuuji or Ryuuji helps Taiga this time around." I said earning an approving nod from Taiga
"Okay, I get all that, but how does badminton fit in?" Ryuuji asked while holding his racquet
"It's like Ren said, it's how we'll decide. Y'know, who helps who." Taiga said as if she knew she was going to win
Oh how naive she was
After Ryuuji explained to his mom the stuff she needs to do to sustain herself while we're away we head to the train station and Ryuuji was pretty happy.
"Man, is this a perfect day, or what?" he asked with no response from Taiga.
"And this time, you're helping me!" he continued with now Taiga gritting her teeth.
Flashback
(So remember that badminton game with Taiga and Ryuuji that was supposed to happen, well it never did because a large dog knocked over Taiga and tried to lick her face, while she tried to keep the dog from doing so.)"Uh… are you sure about this?" Ryuuji asked
"Yes, damn it! You win! You win! Now hurry up and get this thing off of me!" she pleaded
End of Flashback
"And I would've beat your ass if that stupid dog hadn't gotten in my way." she said annoyed
"Well karma always finds a way when you challenge someone to a game they have little to experience in" I responded
"Nothing good ever happen when dogs are involved." she angrily muttered.
"Hey, uh… do you really think this is even gonna work?" the dragon spoke up having slight doubts
"Yeah, just leave it to me and Ren. By the time this trip to the beach is over, you and Minorin'll be-" Taiga stopped talking as me Ryuuji stopped walking
"What's up? What'cha staring at-" she asked then she looked at what were looking at.
It was Kushieda and Kitamura doing a set of elaborate and choreographed moves, not even caring about the fact the two were in public, or people are staring at them.
"Good morning! You made it!" Kushieda greeted
"And it's about time, too!" Kitamura chimed as the the three of us stood baffled at the display
"Come on guys! Get into the spirit of it! Let me hear you say "yay!" she continued
"Uh… yay?" Ryuuji said trying to sound cheerful
"Uh oh! Ami's not here yet!" Minori exclaimed
"We've still got some time before the train leaves!" Kitamura chimed in
"Neat! I got an idea!" she responded earning confusion from the three of us.
"Okay… where is everybody? Don't tell me they're late." Kawashima said as she enter the platform for the train only to look into the direction of Ryuuji, Tagia, Kitamura and Kushieda were they were still doing the elaborate movements from tallest to shortest, I didn't join in for obvious and embarrassing reasons.
"You're two minutes late, Ami." Kitamura said first
"Morning, Ami!" Kushieda second
"You're late, you dumb chihuahua!" Taiga said third, Ryuuji giggles sheepishly, I didn't respond but I gave a wave hello.
"Oopsie! Wrong platform!" Kawashima said nervously as she didn't want to be associated with the five of us, quickly turned around and walked away.
You can't escape us, dumb chihuahua!" Taiga yelled
"Wait Ami! We're right here!" Kitamura said as the four walked after her not breaking their formation and I walked after them, this is definitely going to be a long vacation.
After that whole "event" the six of us got on the train and it leaves. Later on we were eating rice ball for a snack that I made for the first time thanks to Ryuuji teaching me and Kushieda was loving it.
"Wow! This tastes great! The plum inside makes it super plummy!" she chirped happily
"You really know how to cook!" Kitamura told me as I smiled, glad everyone liked
"Yeah! You wanna marry me?" Ami asked teasingly
"Nope" I responded blankly
"Aw… you big meanie. Hang on. Has anyone seen Aisaka? I could have sworn she was here. Maybe you should call her, Takasu, and-" she joked knowing Taiga was right in front of her, she got her foot stomped by the palmtop tiger for her trouble.
"Ow! What the hell are you doing?" she asked Taiga annoyed
"Oh look, the dumb chihuahua's awake. I thought you were sleeping with your eye's open." Tagia blankly responded to Kawashima clearly making a joke at her expense
"What!?"
"Can you two get along for than five minutes, were on vacation after all" I said started to get annoyed myself at there fighting.
"So anyway... Kawashima. What have you been doing over the break so far?" Ryuuji said trying to change the subject
" I don't know, just a bunch of modeling and stuff." Kawashima blankly replied
"Oh, you went back to work huh?" Kitamura chimed in.
"You do anything?" Taiga asked Kushieda, as she said what she did was basically doing softball and work.
Uh- how about you? Ryuuji asked Taiga
I made a mix." she responded as she takes out her mp3 player and place an ear bud in Kushieda's ear
"Wait, what are you doing?" she asked confused
" Just listen. You'll see." Taiga replied as she pressed play on her mp3 player and cranked the volume for her to hear, but when she does hear she takes the bud off and recoils in fear.
"I heard a- a creepy voice say "Master…"" Minori says frightened
"Uh huh. I made a spooky voices mix from some CDs that are supposed to be haunted." Taiga says while Kushieda put her hands one ears and was squirming and said
"I knew it! Oh no, the forces of darkness are calling out to me!"
"Do you really like scary stuff like that, Aisaka?" Kitamura asked the palmtop tiger
"Hm? Oh, uh… I guess." she answered bashfully
"That's news to me. It's also kind of surprising that Kushieda doesn't like it." he said referring to the still squirming
"No way, I hate it! Absolutely, positively, completely with every fiber of my being!" Minori said while still being frightened and covering her ears, while that is happening, Ryuuji was smiling.
Why you ask? It's all Taiga's plan for this entire beach house vacation, to frighten Kushieda enough for Ryuuji to be her knight in shining armor, which is basically name of this plan, Operation: Scare Minorin/Knight in Shining Armor. (Taiga came up with the name)
"Oh my god! No more scary stories on this trip!" Kushieda says while me, Taiga and Ryuuji looked at each other with smiles on our faces knowing the plan is off to a good start
"Look!" Kawashima said as the train got out of the tunnel and we got a beautiful of the sea as i took in how great it looked
"Sweet! Ryuuji said
"The ocean!!!" Kushieda gasped with excitement.
We got off the train for the right bus we needed to get on to, and finally we reached out stop, and now we're walking to the beach house.
"Man, how far do we have to walk to get there?" Taiga asked getting restless with all the walking.
"It's up ahead! See? Let's go around back. You guys should see what the view's like from the porch!" Ami responded as up ahead from the woods to show a big beach house, we made it to the porch to see the beach which was beautiful.
"This is your beach house?! We get to stay here?!" Kushieda said with wonder in her eyes.
"That's right, Minori!" Kawashima confirmed
"Holy cow! This is awesome!" Minori replied excitedly
"Hey, do you guys mind helping me clean the place first? No one's been here since last year so-" Ami asked while Ryuuji perks up with an smile creeping on his face
"No way! Seriously?!" he asked excited I looked at him with a "really" face
"…Yeah. Why?" Ami asked confused.
"Aww! When we got that big beautiful ocean out there?! Save the cleaning for later! Come on!" Kushieda said as she grabbed my hand before I can protest and went down the stairs full speed ahead to the beach.
"She's right! We'll clean up later!" Kitamura said headed to the beach as well
"Hey! Wait for me, guys!" Taiga yelled going after the three of us Kawashima came to the beach as well, with no Ryuuji (most definitely cleaning by himself, he's my friend and all but he can be weird sometimes).
For a while Kawashima, Kushieda, Taiga and Kitamura played volleyball while I was refereeing, after that Kitamura and Kawashima were sitting on the sand, while me, Taiga and Kushieda were ankle high in the ocean.
"This feels good!" Kushieda said while stretching her back
" Look!" Tagia said point at something
"Okay, I'm looking." Minori responded a little bit confused
"See that? Is that a head floating in the water?" Taiga said pointing at the cluster of seaweeds next to a rock in the water
"AHHH! Floating corpse!" Minori said letting out a piercing scream as well, while jumping into my arms outta nowhere.
"Oh my god, I've been standing up to my ankles in corpse juice!" she continued holding onto my as tight as she could, while i was fighting off a blush.
"Why do I feel that this was meant for Ryuuji" I thought to myself
"It's just seaweed Kushieda, Taiga made a mistake" I said trying to get her off of me as my face couldn't take it and it was now blushing.
"AHH! It's a seaweed corpse!" Kushieda replied, not budging and was still holding onto me for dear life.
(No Pov)
Kawashima and Kitamura we're watching the entire display unfold
"They look like they're having fun. Don't you think?" Kitamura said enjoying what he's seeing.
"You wanna tell me why you came along? Be honest." Ami questioned him
"Are you kidding? Takasu and I are like, best friends! I mean, it's only natural for me to go wherever he goes" he responded
"Everything okay with the student council, then?" she asked changing the subject entirely
"What do you mean by that?" he asked Kawashima with a confused face
"Oh, nothing." she said dropping it all together.
I was mid afternoon and everyone was doing there part in cleaning the beach house.
"Takasu! Ami wants us to go to the grocery store. Says we can take her motorcycle." he said to Ryuuji, in turn the dragon had an idea
"Really? Oh. Actually, how 'bout you take Taiga instead?" he said to Kitamura as Taiga frozen in place her hair covering her eyes.
"Do you want to go with me?" Yusaku asked Taiga, she was silent for a second.
"N-no way. I… I hate those things." she rejected going with him getting a shocked look from Ryuuji
"What?!" he said yelling and next thing we know we were seeing Kushieda and Kitamura on Kawashima's motorcycle ready to head to the grocery store.
"Make sure you drive safe guys" i said with a closed eyed smile.
"You know it!" Kitamura said putting the bike in gear as the two drove off I can hear Kushieda say
"So long, suckers!"
"Man… That was the perfect chance for you to get some alone time with him." Ryuuji sighed
'I was using my head. Unlike some people. With them gone, we've pretty much got the place to ourselves. So let's pick out a good spot for our plan before they get back." she said but Ryuuji didn't buy it and had a smug look on his face
"Just admit you were too shy to- Mmmph!" he said but got Tagia's hand on his mouth but it felt like a slap
(Later)
Kushieda and Kitamura hasn't returned I find myself scoping out the second floor.
"What could she mean by finding a good spot?" I thought to myself before entering the bathroom
"This must be the bathroom, needs a little cleaning, Ryuuji would have a field day with this" as I continued my thoughts I didn't realize somebody was in here because the water starts running.
"Ah! Who's there?" it was Kawashima who was in the shower
"Sorry! I didn't know!" I said as my face was burning red
"Saikawa?" she asked
"Yes. No! I-I'm leaving-" as I tried to leave quickly but reached outside of the shower curtain and grabbed my wrist to stop me.
"You must be pretty brave to just walk right in here while a girl's taking a shower." she said as my mind was going haywire
"I… I didn't do it on purpose!" I said slightly panicking
"Don't worry! This'll be our little secret…You wanna do it with me?" she said in a seductive tone, my face was blood red at this point.
"Do what?!" I said with full panic.
"Clean the bathroom!" Ami said changing her tone to upbeat.
"What?!" I thought and it hit me, Kawashima was teasing me the entire time.
"Oh, please! What were you expecting? *giggles* You should see your face!" she said laughing at me, and at this point I just want to hide in the corner and not leave.
I went down to meet Taiga and Ryuuji, they saw me, a embarrassed mess, I tried to explain to Taiga what happened. I tried my best but I was to embarrassed to form sentences.
"The dumb chihuahua did what? …She pretended like she was taking a shower and teased you and then she gave you the straight arm?" she explained it perfectly as I stiffly nodded
"Okay. So are you done checking the second floor yet?" she asked me but I shook my said to indicate that I didn't.
"You're USELESS! No wonder you were tricked so easy by that over-sexed dumb chihuahua! Whatever. I'll do it myself. And while I'm at it, I'll go yell at that airhead, too." she exploded at me and went upstairs to the second to deal with Ami, but I didn't really care as I just sat on the floor with my knees to my chest and face down.
"Come it couldn't have been that bad" Ryuuji said putting his hand on my shoulder.
"If you were in my place you'd probably do the same thing-" I said but I couldn't finish as the two of us heard screaming coming from the bathroom after it died down, Taiga was walking down the stairs with a visible red handprint on her face.
"The dumb chihuahua really was taking a shower……and she was all… boom, and… boing, and…BAM! And-" she said explaining her features but she couldn't finish because a metal tray was thrown to her head, it was thrown by Kawashima herself (fully clothed mind you) while saying.
"THEY DON'T NEED TO KNOW THAT!"
After that fiasco Kitamura and Kushieda returned from the grocery store. Me and Ryuuji was helping Kushieda with the bags, while Kitamura was putting away the motorcycle. Taiga however was on the second floor scaring Kushieda with a rope with a cluster of seaweed causing her to run off.
Later on Ryuuji was washing his hands finishing making curry for dinner (with my help of course) behind us was Taiga and Kawashima was fighting over a box
No way! I can't stand spicy food! Tagia said struggling
"But I like spicy food!" Ami fought back
"But I like curry sweet Hey, Ryuji!" she said letting go turning her attention to Ryuuji causing Ami to fall on the floor
"Yeah, I know. I promise whatever I make for you is gonna be sweet." he said calmly on Taiga's side
"There you go, giving Aisaka special treatment. Keep doing that, and other girls won't like you. Including Minori." Kawashima said to Ryuuji teasingly
"You rang? What's the dealio? Almost done, huh? You know your way around a kitchen!" said Kushieda who came out of nowhere
"Uh- thanks! I still need to add the roux, though. Um… maybe you guys could start setting up the-" Ryuuji said accepting her praise and instructing to set up but was interrupted Kitamura who wasn't wearing a shirt
"Whoa! Look like dinner's almost ready! If you need help setting the table, I'm up for it!" he said with a smile
"Oh… goodie." I said while Taiga was frozen not working properly, her eyes fully white and was about to faint and I caught her to keep her from falling
"Hey! Taiga!" I said a little worried
"Are you insane, Yusaku?" Kawashima asked annoyed
"Hm? Oops, my bad! I heard Takasu talking, and forgot you girls might be down here, too." he said as he was completely naked with a towel loosley covering his um *cough* parts"You are such a moron!" Ami said now very annoyed
"C'mon, Taiga! Say something!" Ryuuji said trying to get her to regain composure
"Sorry guys!" Yusaku said sheepishly
So...um Kushieda took to this differently she took out her phone and started taking pictures of him in multiple different angles cause him to get flustered and he let go of his towel and it fell causing it to fall, and Kushieda from what I can tell she saw some of Kitamura's "parts" but Ryuuji in the nick of time pulled the towel back up to up to re-cover Yusaku.
"Holy cow… I just saw… something black and bushy…" Minori shaking her phone, Ryuuji thought fast to redirect what she just saw.
"L-like a seaweed ghost?" he said to her
"…Seaweed…ghost?" she said while fainting to the floor
"Kushieda?!" I said and I went to check on her
"Yusaku, that's so disgusting!" Ami said disappointed at her childhood friend
" …Sorry." he said embarrassed
"Kitamura put some goddamn clothes on!" I slightly yelled
"…Right." Yusaku replied as he went back to the bathroom, meanwhile Taiga was curled in a ball trying to figure out what just happened, Kushieda was taking slow breaths.
"Watch out, you guys… I think this house is haunted by evil spirits…" she said blankly.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" I asked worried about her well being
"…Make the curry really, really spicy." she said, a very odd request.
"Yeah sure, no problem" I said
This first day at the beach house so far was certainly eventful
After a great, yet spicy dinner, me and everyone were having popsicles to cool our burning mouths. Tagia was slumped on the table.
"Oh… my tongue wants to kill me…" Ami said still having her popsicle, i finished mine.
"All done! I'm gonna go do the dishes now, want to help me Saikawa? she asked me.
"Sure i guess I can" i said as i was about to do so Taiga grabbed my shirt stopping me.
"What's up Taiga? something wrong?" i asked
"Food… too spicy… need stomach medicine…" she said weakly
"I'm sorry, i didn't bring an-" i was interrupted by Kitamura.
"Is your stomach bothering you, Aisaka?I've got some medicine that'll help you out. It's in my room, do you wanna come up and get it?" he asked her, Taiga was about to say no but i had to jump in
"She'll be happy to go with you!" i said Taiga stood up to try get out of going with Yusaku.
"This is your chance to be alone with him, don't lose an opportunity like this" i said as she blushed a bit.
"What wrong?" Kitamura asked
"Huh? Nothing! She's going with you." i said watching the two go upstairs and and i went to help Minori with the dishes. Ami was talking to Ryuuji about heading to the beach to talk, i guess he couldn't get out of it, so they went.
Me and Kushieda just finished the dishes, there were nice and clean.
"Gotta admit, you've have a great method for cleaning dishes Kushieda" i said giving her praise.
"Thanks! I get a heck of a lot of practice at work! Oh, by the way. That curry you and Takasu made was super awesome!" she said giving a compliment of her own.
"Thanks but Ryuuji did most of the work you should be thanking him" i said not giving myself a lot of credit.
"That reminds me, I wanna give you something for helping me out with the dishes. Keep it a secret from the others!" i said raising an eyebrow in confusion.
We found ourselves on the balcony eating a matcha wafer bar, the skys were clear with a full view of the moon.
"What do you think? Is the green tea flavour good? The red bean's kinda bleh." she asked me I responded with a nod as i continued eating.
"Would you look at all those stars?" she told me as i look up they look nice.
"Yeah there beautiful" i said as i kept looking at the stars.
"Y'know that seaweed ghost? You think it's still around somewhere?I wonder… Saikawa have you ever seen a ghost before?" she asked me i shook my head to indicate that i never saw one
"Well me? I believe in ghosts. Even though I've never actually seen 'em before. And get this: I don't believe any of the people who say they've seen 'em." she continued as i didn't get what she meant but i hung on to every word she said.
"It's kinda like… how I think about the concept of love. Like, I believe one day I'll fall in love, get married, and live happily ever after. Even though I've never actually fallen in love with anyone yet. You see what I'm saying? For some people, falling in love's like second nature, but I can't even relate to that. So if I've never experienced love before, is it real? And that makes me wonder if ghosts are real. I haven't seen one yet, so maybe they're not. See?" she continued as i slowly being to understand her word
"I have never seen ghost, but how about you? Have you ever seen a ghost before?" she asked me as i now finally got to understand what love is through her point of view.
"No...I haven't but i would love to someday" i said as she to a quiet breath and let me continue
There were a lot of times i believed i saw a ghost, but in they weren't a ghost at all, so i never seen one, makes me feel jealous that i see people who have saw a ghost easy, but they're still amazed every time they see one. Then you got people who've seen ghosts, and for some reason, deny they even exist. And then, you've got people who have to work really hard just to see them at all. Even though I've never seen a ghost before, I'm not going to give. And who knows? Maybe some day I will see a ghost." I said finishing up as Kushieda was looking at something.
"Oh, look! What's that?" she said looking amond the stars.
"No, that's just a satellite, Kushieda" i said looking at it myself
"Satellite, huh? That sucks. For a second there, I was hoping it was a UFO." she replied a little disappointed.
"Hey, Kushieda.I hope you get the chance to see a ghost someday, because I'm sure there's a ghost out there somewhere who wants you to see it, ok?" i said to her with a smile ( as i referring to Ryuuji)
"Hey, maybe that's why so much weird stuff happened today! It's that seaweed ghost! He's reaching out to me!" she said as i chuckled a little at her statement
"What are you talking about?" i said still chuckling
"Maybe I will see one someday." Minori continued
"Huh?" i asked
"Nothing! Never mind." she said giggling as i rolled my eyes still smiling at my cheerful friend
"Weirdo" i thought to myself, we finished our wafers and went inside as we parted ways to our room.
"Jeez what a day I'm going to sleep like a log-" i got out of my thoughts as i saw my bed covered with slime and seaweed and to be honest i was a little afraid
"What the hell i going o-" i couldn't finish my sentence as Taiga burst into my room, grabbing my hand, she went to get Ryuuji too, after that she lead us to her room to show a worn dress and the matress covered in the same slime.
"This is really weird! I left this in my bag but- but when I touched it, it was warm! Like someone was just wearing it or something!" she said fearfully
"My bed was covered in slime, hair and seaweed." i said afraid as well
"There's… something weird in my room too. I found hairs on my pillow. And-" Ryuuji couldn't finish as we heard banging on the door and windows, it's safe to say we were all fearing for our lives"
"W-we're dreaming, right guys?" Taiga asked very terrified
"Yeah, it's gotta be a dream! We're picking up from that one where you had puppies, and Ryuuji was living in a doghouse and i was getting married to Kawashima!" i replied to her equally as scared.
"So, if we close our eyes, we're gonna wake up, right?!" she said getting more terrified
"Right! We'll wake up! Right?" i said but in the end we weren't dreaming.
A/N: Phew finally I'm done. So did you miss me, i sure miss you guys, So I'm back and better than ever. Remember what what I said from Chapter 9 onwards, the seeds were planted for the Ren and Kushieda paring and the growth of said paring will ramp up, with a little competition from Ami so be ready for that. So that's it for me. Make sure to Like, Review and Follow, and i will see you all in Chapter 10 stay safe and healthy and Peace!!!!!!