Chapter Ninety One: The Sun and The Sea

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Bink's Sake (Bink's Brew) from One Piece

Theme 17: Beach

It wasn't that Mamori disliked the beach.

It was that she disliked all the attention that she received at the beach.

There were actually a lot of things that she liked about a good old fashioned beach day. She liked the sun and the sea as much as the next person. She liked being able to go out for a swim in the waves only to come back to the shore and sunbathe on the sand. She especially enjoyed going out with the girls to lunch afterwards and splitting the most elaborate dessert the menu had to offer. What she didn't enjoy was having her nice day out interrupted by unwanted advances.

Now most of the time it wasn't too bad. Mostly somebody asking for her number or invading her personal space when she clearly wasn't interested. Eventually they would get the hint and she could return back to the conversation with the girls or to the book she was reading if she opted to go alone. It wasn't ideal but it certainly wasn't the worst.

Then there were the more aggressive encounters. The ones who decided that, since she was alone, it meant she wanted company. The ones who offered to apply sunscreen or asked questions that they really didn't want answers. The ones who thought that being in a bikini meant it was okay to throw an arm over her shoulder or around her waist like they were good buddies instead of complete strangers. It didn't let up if she was out with the girls either. She had more than one afternoon spoiled by jerks who thought it would be funny to untie bikini tops while walking by or to toss ice cubes at them while sunning. In fact, the last girls only beach day had almost broken out into a straight up brawl. The most persistent asshole to date had actually come straight up to the table and proceeded to chat her up, completely disregarding the fact that she was not only with Suzana but with half the cheer squad.

That was annoying in and of itself but then the man had the gall to grab her arm and try to get her to leave with him. Which is about the point that shit was really starting to hit the fan. The waiter managed to intervene before Suzana was able to chuck her skates at the guy but only after Mamori had broken his nose. In fact, by the time the waiter made it to their table the rest of the girls were already on their feet, yelling and putting as much distance between the two of them as possible.

After that it seemed pointless. What was the point in going if she was going to spend the whole time looking over her shoulder? The whole point was she wanted to relax, not have an anxiety attack. Nowadays it was easier to stay in, maybe take a walk around the park if it wasn't too hot.

Except for today. Today was a perfect day for a swim and then some sun. The problem was she was certain that if a man so much as eyed her the wrong way she was going to go ballistic.

All she wanted was a relaxing day at the sea. No well-meaning chatting up. No creepy come ons. In fact, the only social interaction that she really wanted was the waiter asking for her order. Between the team, school, and her other extra-curricular activities she had earned the right to be left alone.

Mamori didn't bother looking up from her book. "Can you pass me a juice?"

Well, mostly alone.

Hiruma paused from his diligent typing to root thru their small cooler. "Apple, strawberry, or-" Here he paused for a moment to take a closer look at the can in his hand. "Fucking kiwi? Really?"

It was a well-known fact that if one wanted to be left completely alone in a public place then one had to convince Hiruma to come along. The general public tended to give him a wide berth, and those who actually knew of him gave him an even wider berth. Alternatively people tended to cower and give in to whatever his demands were at the time. The guys didn't see the use of this but the girls had used this knowledge on more than one occasion. Suzana was especially fond of inviting his out for drinks and dancing.

"Stawberry, please." It had taken her a while but Mamori had finally cracked the discourse code in their relationship. Instead of rising to his bait, which inevitably ended in a bullet broomstick fight, she ignored his biting remarks completely, which typically ended in him grumbling to himself before returning to his previous activity. Sure enough he continued to muble expletives about the stupidity of anything kiwi flavored before eventually passing her a bright pink can. "Thank you."

He waved his hand and went back to his typing.

She supposed that they probably made quite the odd couple to outside viewers. They were sharing the shade a beach umbrella and they were both sitting in ridiculous low chairs but that's where the similarities stopped. She had chosen to wear a cute bikini with a wrap, the cheapest pair of sunglasses that she owned, and a floppy straw hat that Suzuna had threatened to set fire to on more than one occasion. All in all nothing that really made her stand out from anyone else who had decided to make a trip down to the sea.

This was not the case for Hiruma, who had chosen to not only dress in all black but had decided to accessorize like he was the designated cool guy loner in an American television special. This included some sort of studded bracelet that she had distinctly remembered trying to talk him out of buying and the earrings that Suzuna had bought him in the shape of hardware screws. It also involve full length pants (unsurprising), a black shirt (also unsurprising), and an open jacket covered with non-descript but vaguely threatening patches (low-key surprising but mostly confusing). All of this plus the fact that he had refused to discard his boots upon sitting gave the very specific impression that he was definitely the leader of a stereotypical Western motorcycle gang, but one who moonlighted as the most dedicated business man ever as he was still furiously working away on his laptop.

Honestly, Mamori could care less what he was wearing or what he was working on as long as he kept the creeps away and let her read her book in peace. So far their day had been surprisingly uneventful. He managed to carry their cooler and umbrella through all three of their train stops without hitting anyone. She found them an excellent spot to settle down away from the rowdiest of the crowds but close enough to the main area to be convenient. He had put sunscreen on her back and shoulders without making it weird. She found three spelling errors and wrangled half a page of poorly worded nonsense into recognizable sentence structures on one of the grants that he was preparing. She found that she could get used to more outings like this.

She had just finished her chapter and was contemplating whether it was worth the energy to go for a swim when the unnerving feeling of being watched crept over her. Scanning over the crowd, it didn't take long for her to spot the man walking straight towards her with the clear intention of starting a conversation that was sure to make her uncomfortable. Worse she accidently made eye contact and he seemed to take it as a sign to pick up his pace. With her shoulders curling about her ears and her book in a death grip, Mamori braced herself for another forced conversation about how much she really didn't want to talk to this man.

Than an amazing thing happened.

The man's attention drifted over to her left. Upon breaking eye contact, he slowed down to a complete stop. He seemed to have a small internal debate before abruptly turning on his heel and running back off in the direction that he just came from.

Instant relief washed over her followed by immediate confusion. Normally nothing short of divine intervention or bodily violence was enough to scare off unwanted attention, and yet this man had run off without so much as a standard Thank-You-Not-Interested.

Then she remembered Hiurma.

Sure enough Hiruma was starting down the man's retreating form with such focused intensity that she was genuinely a little disappointed that the stranger didn't catch fire even a tiny bit. He maintained this glare long enough that she was starting to get concerned about his distinct lack of blinking. Just as she was getting ready to comment on it, he went right back to his computer.

Mamori found herself smiling and burrowing her bare feet a little deeper into the hot sand.