Please forgive me for my slowness in getting this out to you guys! I've really been getting overwhelmed by school, so it's really forcing me to change how often I can write. Also, I love writing out responses to each review, since they all mean a lot to me, but for now, at least, I'll have to catch up on my replies, since replying to each one is a bit time consuming. Hopefully, you guys can forgive me for that as well!

Zallow: Don't worry, this isn't a story I plan to drop anytime soon.

Hopefully, you guys will still enjoy this chapter!


Chapter 8

I've never been one for mornings in the past, but today was different from the thousands of mornings I had woken up to before in the past. As my eyes fluttered open, courtesy of the beams of sunlight slipping in through my window, I felt a distinct energy fill my veins. It was an energy that could only be described as the excitement that only a free man can feel. Or, in my case, it was the effect of the first day of summer, which I had already been looking forward to already for obvious reasons. But when I remembered that I was going to be on a train to Ami's beach villa in less than a few hours, I found that the combination of both excitement and nervousness was enough snap me out of a sleepy trance immediately.

Within minutes, I had myself entirely dressed in attire appropriate for the beach, which included a loosely buttoned shirt and shorts, and was ready to leave my familiar house for the next few weeks for the beaches and sunsets of Ami's beachfront villa.

"Mom, I left the fridge stocked with some premade meals, and I wrote down the instructions for feeding Inko-chan down on a piece of paper." I lectured towards my mom, who I doubted was actually listening to anything I was saying, if the way that she was struggling to keep herself awake was any indication. She swayed back and forth uncontrollably as I finished putting on my shoes, taking care to run through the list of chores I had done the night before to make things easier on Mom while I was out of the house.

Just as I was about to open the door, I heard an urgent knock reverberate through our house. Not bothering to check the tiny peephole of our front door, I unlocked the door and opened the door to reveal Ami, who was dressed in a red top paired with dark black shorts that revealed a great deal of her long and slender legs and a trendy looking snapback cap that made her seem both extremely fashionable and, at the same time, casual in her attire.

"Good morning, Ryuuji!" Ami greeted, giving me a wave before noticing the presence of my mother, "Same to you, Ya-chan!"

"Good morning, Ami." I replied, doing my best to keep my eyes on her face and not on the other parts of her that I desperately wanted to stare at. As I had come to expect from her, her attire made it hard to look away from her, as hard as I tried my best not to.

She glanced at leather watch that hung loosely around her thin wrist, "Are you ready to go? We'll miss the train if we don't leave soon."

"Yeah, I have my bags all packed and I was just going over some last minute instructions with Mom." I replied, nodding towards the bags that I had placed by the front door.

"Have fun, Ryuu-chan!" Mom cried out, latching onto one of my legs and preventing me from stepping forward.

"All right, Mom." I replied as she reluctantly loosened my grip, allowing me to break free and hop out of the door with my bags in tow. I waved goodbye as Mom yawned once and proceeded to collapse into a pile of blonde hair, asleep before her head had even touched the ground. Normally, one would have been concerned by such an action, but after years of witnessing it from my mom, I had come to find it a normal occurrence and thus, was not concerned in the slightest about leaving my mom passed out at our front door. Actually, I was more worried about her waking up in time for work more than anything, but at this point, there was not really much use in thinking about it much more.

Right now, the only thing that was on my mind was the upcoming summer and the time that I was going to spend with Ami and her friends. While I had wanted to invite along Kitamura, Taiga, and Minori initially, I didn't really have much say in the matter, and for some reason, Ami had refused to allow any of them to come along. I mean, sure, I understood why she didn't want Minori with us, especially after the talk we had shared back in the café, but I was a bit perplexed by her additionally barring Taiga from coming with us. With Kitamura, she had not expressed any unwillingness to allow him to come, but he had graciously declined, citing the fact that he didn't want to leave Taiga and Minori alone for the summer while also giving me a sly wink and a few mouthed words of encouragement. Why was it that everyone assumed that Ami and I were going to do that?

Well, it wasn't all bad, I supposed as we arrived at the train station to find that Maya and Nanako were already waiting for us. Maya was dressed in a dark blue top paired with white shorts that showed off her physique, along with an expensive looking pair of sunglasses balanced on her forehead. Meanwhile, Nanako was dressed more conservatively than her other friends, with a simple summer dress that was decorated with a floral print. Honestly, I wasn't surprised at all by her choice of clothes. Over the course of the few weeks I had known her before summer break started, I had found Nanako to be a little less… volatile than Ami or Maya, I suppose was the best way to put it. She was consistently more level headed and prudent than her friends, which I was grateful for because I couldn't imagine dealing with another violent or unstable girl. Having Taiga, Minori, and Ami all in my life was frankly already more than I could handle.

"Good morning, Ryuuji-san." Nanako greeted with an inviting smile that instantly brightened my day. Thank God for giving me at least one person who was so pleasant to be around. I know I have already said this, but Nanako was really a breath of fresh air from my rather hectic life. It's hard to believe that I had actually been afraid of her at one point, but I guess that's how life is. Just when you think you know someone, they throw you for a loop and you're presented with a brand new image of who that person could be.

"Nice to see you, Nanako-san." I replied with a friendly wave and making my best attempt at a natural smile, although from the way that Maya recoiled a bit, it hadn't come out exactly the way I had hoped for it to. At least Nanako seemed unfazed, merely nodding along with her same expression, no change in her countenance at all.

Ignoring me, Maya skipped up to Ami energetically, "Yo, are we ready to go? The train's boarding about now." She said, pointing the doors of the train, which were hissing open, almost on cue with Maya's words.


The first hour of our trip passed by quietly for the four of us. Maya spent her time flipping through a fashion magazine lazily, only occasionally stopping on certain products before moving on lackadaisically. Beside her, Nanako silently read a novel that she had apparently brought along. I couldn't really make out the title due to her hands covering it, but apparently, it was riveting from the subtle ways that I noticed her expression changing, with slight nuances that allowed me to deduce how the plot was progressing. Beside me, Ami was on her phone the entire time, sending out texts with a cool efficiency that made me a little bit awed at the way that her phone was constantly buzzing, with that being the only sound to break the silence aside from the occasional crinkle of a page.

"Say, does anyone want to come get something to eat with me?" I asked, standing up from my seat and stretching out, feeling the popping of some of my joints that had been cramped by my seat. Mostly, I was just desperate to find something to break the monotony of the train ride thus far. There was only so long that someone could stare out the window before he or she got bored of it. I had neglected to bring along something to read, and my phone wasn't ringing every five seconds like Ami, so I was up a creek without a paddle at this point.

"Yeah, sure." Maya grunted, setting down her magazine and climbing out of her seat, apparently just as eager as I was to escape the silence of the compartment. Frankly, I was surprised that she was the one who had decided to join me, but finding no further responses from Nanako or Ami, I was left leading Maya into the dining car alone, just trying to understand exactly what was going on.

We slipped into a small table that was smashed up against the window of the train, apparently meant to offer diners as close of a view of the Japanese countryside as was possible in the limitations of a train. I awkwardly drummed my fingers against the white tablecloth of our table, trying to hide my anxiousness, but to no avail. The truth was that I had seen the way that Maya could mercilessly rip into hapless students all throughout middle school, and I didn't want to be subjected to the same treatment by her.

"Would you stop that?" Maya snapped at me, an annoyed tone to her voice. Well, there goes my plan of being discreet with my nervousness. Now it was perfectly on display for her to see and attack as she saw fit.

"Sorry, Kihara-san." I apologized, deciding to grab a menu to take my mind off of the fact that I was sitting across from someone who I knew did not care for me in the slightest, which was actually a lot harder to do than it sounded.

"Seriously, stop that." Maya repeated, another level of anger rising with her comment. At this point, I was definitely feeling a bit more intimidated than I already had been, if that was even possible.

"Sorry, Kihara-san." I apologized again.

That certainly wasn't the right thing to say because before I knew it, Maya had her hands slapped onto the table and a vicious sneer was displayed on her face, "Stop being so formal." She snarled, attracting the attention of the other diners, but evidently, she did not care, as she made no move to back down, "It's uncomfortable."

"O-okay, Maya-san." I stuttered, doing my best to keep my heart from bursting out of my chest from how hard it was beating. Jeez, why was it that every girl at our school could raise my heartbeat like that? I swear, it was like dealing with a testy pack of wolves every single day of my life. Between the violent way that Taiga often greeted me, to the antics of Ami that seemed to only be worsening my reputation, if that was even possible at this point, I have no idea how I hadn't suffered a heart attack yet.

"That's better." She sighed, seemingly satisfied for the moment. With that, she sat back down into her chair, pushing herself back into her original position, running a finger through her hair to restore it to its original state, after it had whipped around wildly during her outburst.

"Seriously, what's your problem?" Maya snorted as a terrified waiter came up to our table, quickly taking our orders for two Sprites before dashing off so that he would not have a chance to incur the wrath of Maya.

"What do you mean? What is your problem?" I replied, shocked at the way that she could just ignore her own actions, "Weren't you being a little extreme back there?"

Maya chewed her lip thoughtfully, having not decided on a response just yet, "Okay, I guess that I was being a little bit harsh on you."

"A little?" I laughed incredulously. However I classified her explosion at me, there was no way that I could call it being just a little harsh. Okay, maybe by her standards, it was, but frankly, getting practically yelled at in front of a bunch of terrified passengers wasn't exactly putting me in the best mood, which explained my unusually snarky remarks.

"All right, I'm sorry." She said with an annoyed roll of her eyes, "I just don't like it when people call me by my last name, all right?"

Swallowing my own irritation at her tone, I decided to reply as cordially as possible, despite my overwhelming urge to stand up and desert my seat, along with Maya, because honestly, she deserved it, "And why is that?"

"Look, I don't have to tell you anything." Maya answered quickly, crossing her arms across her chest, just as the waiter returned with our drinks, quickly placing down before he snuck away without another word. He could definitely tell that tensions were high, and I didn't blame him for wanting to get away as quickly as possible. If I were in his shoes, I would have done the same.

"All right." I nodded, standing up to leave. If Maya didn't want to talk to me, then I was fine with not knowing every detail of her life. I had not known them up to this point of my life, and I could easily live the rest of my life without knowing any more about her.

"Wait." Maya interrupted my departure with her words, "I'll talk to you, if you want."

Arching an eyebrow in interest, I stopped in my tracks and turned to face her, making no effort to hide my curiosity. She was gently stirring the straw of her drink, while light was refracted by the ice cubes floating around in the bubbly liquid, casting spectacular rainbows all over the previously ordinary tablecloth. I eased myself back into my seat across from Maya, who actually seemed surprisingly docile.

"Sorry, I'm just not used to people wanting to hear me talk." She said tentatively, almost as if she were testing the waters with her words, ready to jump out if my response wasn't one that she desired.

I shrugged, "Well, that makes two of us."

Maya seemed shocked for a second, whether it was due to my words, or just by the sheer fact that I had responded, I don't know, but quickly, she caught herself and her surprise melted away, before it was replaced by something completely different that I couldn't quite put my finger on. It was a mixture of both fond remembrance and also a distinct sadness. Perhaps nostalgia was the best way to describe it, with a hint of melancholy dashed in.

"You know, I used to ride in trains like this all the time when I was younger." She told me, looking up at me with rust colored eyes that seemed to be more vulnerable than I had ever remembered them appearing. I noticed as she tightened the grip she had on her glass as she continued to recount her memories, "My dad was a businessman, and me and my mom used to go with him on a lot of his trips. I always looked up to him for the longest time, up until one trip that we took to Kyoto. I was around six or seven at the time, and I was wandering around our hotel when I saw my dad with another woman. I didn't know it at the time, but it turned out that he was cheating on my mom, and when she found out, it took them no time before they decided to divorce."

I nodded along slightly, faintly sympathizing with her. Now that I thought about it, I couldn't ever remember seeing Maya's dad at any school events. Her mother usually showed up, and I remember thinking how nice she was in comparison to her daughter, but I never really thought about it beyond that.

"I guess I never really forgave him for it, and ever since then, I've hated it when people call me by my last name, since it forces me to think about that bastard and what he did to my mom." Maya finished, her anger building with every word that she spoke.

"I understand." I replied, "I hate hearing that I look like my dad. He left me and my mom behind, just because he couldn't quit his lifestyle and it got him killed. He had us, and it wasn't enough for him to stop messing around in dangerous business. Because of that, my mom has to work twice as hard as any mother should, and I've been forced to grow up without a father. I can't, no, I won't forgive him ever for that."

Maya seemed legitimately taken aback at my words. No doubt, she had no idea who I actually was, much like most of the students at our high school. However, suddenly, she smiled softly and chuckled, "Isn't this so weird?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, completely baffled as to why she was finding our situation funny. If anything, I would have expected her to be dead silent from the heavy topics that we had just been discussing.

Maya stopped her light laughter and shrugged, "I was just saying that I never expected to share my secrets with someone like you. I've never told anyone else about this."

I paused, "Then why did you tell me?"

"I don't know," Maya admitted after a stagnant silence, "I guess that you seemed like a good listener. I mean, if Ami can open up to you, I thought that I could too."

"I get it. It's hard to find anyone who cares, let alone, wants to listen." I answered in agreement with Maya's words, which actually reflected my own thinking, surprisingly. It was hard to discuss anything so personal with someone who had not experienced the same thing, which I guess explained our willingness to reveal our secrets. Despite our general animosity for each other, Maya and I were kindred spirits in a way, who were connected by our shared experiences.

"When did you get so smart?" Maya muttered to herself softly, shaking her head in disbelief. Hey, are you trying to say that you don't think that I'm smart? Sure, I don't have grades at the top of the class, but I'm far from being in the bottom, and I definitely outscore you on all of our exams!

"You know, I can't help but to feel insulted by that." I mumbled. I'm not going to lie and say that I wasn't at least a little bit peeved by her comment, because I definitely was.

"Don't. I didn't mean anything by it." Maya replied, although the edge to her voice definitely told me that she wasn't being one hundred percent honest with me. Still, the fact that we were even at this point was incredible enough.

Before I could reply, I felt a buzzing in my pocket interrupt our conversation. Quickly, I fished out my phone from my pocket and flipped it open to find a text from Ami. Leave it to her to have perfect timing, even when she was just using her phone.

"Mind bringing me a can of juice?" I read aloud, grateful that I had an excuse to get away from Maya. This was just too weird for me to fully comprehend, and I really needed a moment to take it in. I mean, with Nanako, I actually wasn't too surprised because she was at least a more placid girl, but with Maya, someone who I knew to be more open in her disdain for me, well, all I could say is that I was surprised that she had chosen to even talk to me in the first place.

I stood up from my seat, getting the attention of the waiter, who quickly ran off and returned with a can of juice for me. I reached into my pocket and slapped some money on the table to pay for my half, nodding to Maya as I motioned to leave.

"Hey Takasu," Maya said as I reached the exit, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." I answered before I opened the door to return to our compartment, reeling from Maya's surprisingly civil gesture.


"Thanks, Ryuuji!" Ami said with a wink as I handed her the juice that she had requested, with tiny drops of moisture trailing down the sides of the ice cold can. I plopped down into my original seat to her left, watching as she popped the top of the can and took a deep drink, obviously thirsty from the way that she that she was hungrily imbibing her juice. Not that I was staring at her or anything. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I didn't want to stare, or anything! You know what, let's just forget what I said.

"So, Ryuuji, what were you and Maya doing for so long?" Ami asked me as she set down her drink and phone, turning her full attention towards me, evidently done with whatever she had been occupied with earlier.

"Not really anything." I answered, mind already flashing back to our conversation, which was not easy to put out of my mind. Although I wouldn't say that it made us friends or anything, nor did it have even the same sort of effect on our relationship that my initial conversation with Nanako had, I knew that something was now changed between us, as the keeper of each others' secrets. I had never imagined that such a thing could have happened between me and Maya in a million years, especially when I thought back to the way that she had shunned me back in middle school, and yet, here I was, someone who knew about her life almost as intimately as she did herself.

"Oh all right." Ami nodded, seeming to have accepted my answer. Honestly, I was expecting her to be more suspicious of me, knowing her personality, but I wasn't going to complain about her lack of questioning.

After a pause, Ami grinned and inched up to my ear, "So, are you excited to see me in my swimsuit? I brought along something special for this trip."

Did I forget to mention how good of a girlfriend that Ami was? Immediately, I glanced out the window, silently cursing as I saw absolutely no sign of the beach. This trip was definitely going to be one to remember.


So, did you guys enjoy my take on Maya's history? I thought about what made her into who she was today, and I came up with the idea that her father was absent, which would make her bitter and more like the fiery and strong willed girl that I always saw her as. But then again, I can totally understand if everyone else saw it differently, so please tell me, do you think that my take on Maya makes sense?

Also, I really do want to apologize once more about how long it took for this chapter to come out, and I wish that I could promise that the chapters will return to their original speed of uploading, but I can't guarantee anything. For now, if I don't update for a week, assume that I will be coming out with a new chapter the week after, okay?

Thanks so much for reading!