Chapter 6

Rivalry

Bold = Characters talking in unison

It's been about a week since we had encountered that Matsuri girl. The good news is that she's not been showing up for the past week, which gave me time to think of something to do with Reo. And I know just the place to go. I decide to take Yuuna-san's advice. Stretching out my arms after sitting up from the same bed that Reo is sleeping in, I softly shake her awake.

"Mm . . . just five more minutes," she mumbles while shuffling around.

I softly giggle at this adorable sight. A sleepy Reo is too cute to even wake up. "Aww . . . but we're not in school anymore. So, I can wake you whenever I want to."

Just then, she sits up as well, revealing her cute little nightgown that I bought her some time ago. "Now, look here: you may be living in this apartment, but it's still my room and you can't do whatever you want to me either!"

"Oh, but I want to," I teasingly reply.

Reo blushes bright red and turns away. "Sh-shut up! I lived here longer than you, so you need to abide my rules!"

"Who says anything about rules?" I say with a smirk. "We're together now, so it's no big deal."

"Hnnnnnnn~"

"What's wrong? You don't want me to be with you?"

"Ugh . . . Hmph! Fine, but I'm warning you: if you do something so ridiculous, I'll make sure you've learned your lesson!"

"Fine, fine." I chuckle while dismissively waving my hand. "Anyway, I have an idea of where we can spend our time together."

"Eh? We're going somewhere already?"

"Mm-hmm," I reply. "And it's not the mall either."

"Then, where are we going?"

I smile as I wink at her. "It's my own little secret."

Reo groans as she slumps back down on the bed. "Argh! Why do you always have to keep secrets!?"

"Because it's fun, silly!"

"You're no fair, Mai!"

"Here it is, Reo," I say as I release my hands from her eyes.

Her eyes widen as she notices that we are now at a water park, the biggest and most fun water park in all of Japan.

"Wow!" she says, looking around the park.

You could tell that it's pretty amazing, from great water slides, fountains to the giant bucket on top of the park, in which she notices. "What's that over there?"

"Oh, that's one of the best parts of this park," I explain. "Once the giant bucket fills up with water coming from that yellow pipe, lots of water will come pouring down the entire park! Like Ka-bloosh!"

Reo's eyes widen. "That's sounds . . . scary."

"Oh, crazy, not scary," I chuckle. "Come on, let's go change."

I'm about to leave when I feel a tug on my sleeve. I turn around to notice Reo, face flushing red while slightly turning away.

"What is it, Reo?"

"U-um . . . I can't . . . even swim."

"Don't worry. I can teach you how."

"O-okay," she says with a slight nod.

Oh, Reo? Why do you always have to be this cute? Even for a fact that you don't know how to swim. Both of us go to the changing room to put on our bathing suits that we wore that summer when we were on the beach with everyone else, including Rikka-san and Sayuki-san. After about 10 minutes, I am the first to come out of the changing room.

"Reo, come on! The water's going to be fun!"

"I'm not coming out," she mutters from behind the door.

"Aw, why?"

"It feels embarrassing! Besides, you're gonna be all over me like last time!"

"Oh, don't be such a guppy."

"I'm not a guppy!" Reo shouts, still from behind the door. "I can come out whenever I feel like it!"

I just shrug. "Whatever you say." I start walking towards the park when I turn back and say, "Hey, Reo! I'm going to leave without you!"

"That's fine with me!" Reo calls back.

I'm about to say something when someone crashes into me, making both of us fall on the hard ground. I rub my head in pain as I sit up.

"Can you watch where you're going?" I say to whoever crashed into me. But when I fully take a look at the person, my eyes widen.

"YOU!? WAIT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"

We both point at each other.

"I ASKED YOU FIRST! NO, I ASKED YOU FIRST!"

Finally, we realized we were just being silly.

"Okay, okay, look," I say, holing a hand up. "I think we both know why we're here, but it's strange having to meet each other here."

I take a look at her swim suit. She seems to be wearing a regular teal colored bikini. Both of us stand up and glare at each other.

"I don't know what you're up to, but you're not getting near Reo-sama," Matsuri says.

"Oh, yeah," I say, while putting my hands on my hips. "I was the one who decided to go to this place."

"Well, so did I," Matsuri counters.

"What!?"

"Now, enough chit-chat. Where's Reo-sama?"

I turn away in disgust. "L-like I would tell you!"

A smirk comes across Matsuri's face. "I think I know just where she is." She makes her way into the changing room.

Dang it! She must have heard Reo somehow. "NO! You can't go in there!"

"I can do whatever I want." Matsuri shrugs and continues her way to the room.

"I don't think so!" As quick as light, I tackle the silver haired girl to the ground and try to wrestle her from getting closer to Reo. Matsuri tries to break free from my grasp, but I tighten my grip even more. She's not getting to Reo, even if it means sacrificing myself for her!

"Get off me, you witch!" she shouts as she continues to try to break free.

"Not gonna happen!" I shout back, keeping a tight grip on her.

We continue to wrestle each other until Reo peaks out from the changing room. Her eyes darted to Matsuri, which startles her and hides behind the door. I push away Matsuri and try to reach out towards her.

"Reo?" I say gently, "Don'to be shy. You can come out."

Reo remains hidden behind the door, feeling very scared. Matsuri just rolls her eyes.

"Oh, please," she scoffs. "Is that how you beckon your girlfriend? I've got a better way." She forces the door open, grabs Reo by the arms and pulls her close. "There, now we're together."

My eyebrows furrow at her as I take Reo back. "I don't need advice from freaks like you."

The silver haired girl glares back at me. "Oh yeah? I bet she's just afraid of you the way you were holding your hand out like that. You're not her pet, you know?"

"I can be, sometimes!" Reo shoots her own glare at the silver haired freak.

Matsuri just gazes down lovingly at the blonde. "Aww . . . you finally spoke. Why don't you be my pet instead?" She tips Reo's chin as she says this and is about to kiss her.

My inner volcano has finally erupted. Before Matsuri could plant her lips against Reo's, I quickly pull my lover away from her just in time. Reo wraps her arms around me as a thank you. Whew, good thing she still loves me.

"Well, well," I say with a smirk, "look what the judge picked as her final decision?"

Matsuri's eyes widen a little, but then scoffs as if my joke didn't even surprise her. "Whatever."

"Face it, Matsuri. You can never have Reo because she loves me more than you do. You shouldn't have waited so long to confess to her when she is already in love with someone else!"

"That doesn't concern me any more!"

"You're pathetic. Now if you'll excuse us, I'm going to teach my Reo how to swim."

With that, the two of us leave with Matsuri clenching her fists in anger.

"THIS IS NOT OVER YET . . . MAI SAWAGUCHI!"

Over at the shallow section at a little pool, with Reo on a floatie, I stay beside her while teaching her how to swim. I had told her to lightly kick her legs while hanging on to the edge is good practice for when she's really swimming. So she does. I can't help but giggle at how adorable she looks when she's kicking her small legs like that. It makes me want to push her down right then and there.

"Maiiii, this is so exhausting!" She complains.

"You've only been doing it for 10 minutes, right?" I ask as I raise an eyebrow while putting a hand on my hip.

"10 minutes is too long!"

"Oh, stop complaining and kick your cute little feet." I slightly giggle at that last part.

"Mai, you idiot." Despite the complaining, she continues to do what I told her. Oh, Reo, you're just so cute~

"Wow, great teaching session," Matsuri's voice says from above.

I look up and glare at her. Why does she have to ruin everything? "Can you freaking get out of here? I'm trying to teach her here!"

"Oh, at the shallow end for little kids? I can do better than that. Come, Reo-sama." She pulls Reo out of the water and skips over to the bigger pool, where I know that it might be too dangerous for her to go.

"No, wait!" I beg as I burst out of the water and run after them.

As I finally arrive at the bigger pool, I find Reo and Matsuri already in the water . . . with Reo's floatie left behind! If Reo drowns I'll never be able to forgive myself!

"Now then," Matsuri says. "Here's how a pro like me teaches you how to swim. I've been on the swim team since I was 4, so I know what I'm doing." She then eyes me viciously. "Unlike Mai-sama over there."

My eyes widen as though I was offended. "Hey!"

From them on, while sitting on an edge of the pool, I reluctantly watch the two as Matsuri is giving her lessons. To be honest, even if my lessons were simple, Matsuri's way of teaching is way more advanced and detailed and it actually made Reo interested. Each time Matsuri teaches a lesson, Reo would quickly follow and maybe even ask her to show her. And each time Matsuri would gladly show Reo and touch her arms or whatever parts of her body, I become even more angry than before. Is Matsuri really trying to show me off?

"Great job, Reo-sama!" Matsuri says while looking up at me and winking. "Was my lessons less boring than Mai-sama's?"

I give her a dirty look and mimick mockingly, "Less boring than Mai-sama's? Give me a freaking break!"

Matsuri just chuckles. "Jealous?"

I feel that if that witch says anything more aggravating, I'm going to go in there and drown her right here. So I just don't say anything while biting my lip and clenching my fists in anger, trying not explode in front of millions of people.

Matsuri just shrugs and turns to Reo. "You want another lesson, Reo-sama?"

"U-um . . . actually, I don't feel like swimming anymore." Reo slowly makes her way out of the water and comes near me.

"Reo-sama!" Matsuri begs as she turns around and makes her way out of the pool as well.

I look down at her worriedly. "What's wrong, Reo?"

"I'm hungry," she says softly. "Can we get something to eat?"

I nod. "Of course. I'm starving, too. Why don't we grab ourselves a smoothie?"

"That sounds good," Reo says with a smile.

"Great," I say. "Since we're buying it . . . "

"I'LL PAY FOR IT!"

Matsuri and I look at each other and each shoot a glare.

"NO, I'M PAYING FOR IT! NO, I AM! NO, I AM!"

I hold my hand up again. "Look, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"Well since I'm buying a smoothie and other food, too, I think I should pay for all of it!"

I roughly shake my head. "No, I can pay for all of it since it's only for me and Reo!"

"I told you I was going to pay for it!"

"I am!"

"No, I am!"

"GAAAAAHHHHHH! THAT'S IT!" Reo cries out, finally losing her patience. "IF NO ONE'S GOING TO PAY FOR THIS DANG FOOD, I GUESS I HAVE TO PAY FOR ALL OF IT!"

About 10 minutes have passed and Reo pays for the food just as she promised. We were told to wait for a couple minutes for the food to get prepared, so in the meantime, our smoothies are served right away. Matsuri and I keep shooting glares at each other as we try to find a table to sit in. Once we both see one that is suitable, both of us try to push each other out of the way to escort Reo to the table.

"Hey, Reo," I try calling out. "I found a table we could both sit in."

"No, I found it first," Matsuri counters as she shoves me out of the way.

"I found it first."

"No, I did, Reo-sama."

Reo just closes her eyes, walks right past us and sits down at a random table that Matsuri and I didn't even pick. With that in mind, I shove Matsuri to the ground and walk over to Reo's table.

"On second thought, this is perfect," I say with a smile since this round table fits only two people.

Reo just giggles as she takes a sip of her smoothie. As I take a sip of my own, I slightly look over at the silver haired girl and just wink at her. I'm sure I've set her off into flames of fury, which is probably a good thing to me. I'm not going to give up that easily, you freak.

Suddenly, a guys comes in the middle of the cafe and holds up a sign that says, "18"

"Number 18?" He calls out.

I look over at the number I was given when we payed for the food. Sure enough, it looks like it's our turn, so I stand up, tell Reo that I'll be back with the food momentarily and leave in a flash. But look who decided to join me?

"Matsuri, I'm sure one person is able to handle the food," I notify her.

"Oh, don't worry, Mai-sama," she says with a smirk. "That's why I'm going to beat you to the counter to get the food." With that, she runs past me at a burst of speed.

"HEY!" I shout as I run after her.

Both of us get to the counter just in time as our food is served. I shove Matsuri out of the way, quickly get the large tray of food and leave with Matsuri running after me.

When I arrive at our table, I greet Reo with a smile. "Hey, Reoooo~ I brought our food." I serve a fish sandwich with fries, some lemonade and a cookie for desert. I basically got the same thing.

Matsuri has the chicken kabobs she ordered, in which I leave it on the tray and toss it to another table far from where I am. Gritting her teeth, Matsuri stomps over to the table and reluctantly eats there while me and Reo happily eating together and sharing each other's food like we used to as lovers.

A half hour later, the three of us eventually played around the huge park with the other kids. We were having fun with all the water slides, toys and other fun stuff to play with. But Matsuri and I were mostly fighting over playing with Reo. That only was short lived because Reo had grown tired of playing with Matsuri after about 5 minutes. She then asked me to play with her, in which I accepted her offer and the two of us ended up having fun together even longer than she had with Matsuri.

And the best part is that I took Reo to where the giant bucket is since it's almost time for the huge downpour to start. When it finally reached its limit, Ka-bloosh! The bucket pours huge amounts of water on a big flat board, making the water spread out through the entire park, making almost everyone, including me and Reo, completely drenched.

When we get bored of playing, I decide to buy us some toys and souvenirs at a little store that's across the park. Both of us go in and look around for a bit. A couple of Nerf Super Soaker water guns catches Reo's eye rather quickly and runs over to it.

"You want that one?" I ask.

"Yes!" Reo replies excitedly.

"Alright then. Two Super Soakers for us." I take them and put them in the basket I am carrying.

We end up buying more stuff from there, like new sandals, toy fish that swim around in your pool when turned on and some floaters for Reo to put on the next time she swims. We exit the store to notice Matsuri standing there with clenched fists.

"You're lucky that I didn't have enough money to buy stuff for Reo-sama," she says.

"Huh, well too bad for you." I reply sarcastically as both Reo and I walk away.

Finally, it's about 5:00 and the sun's about to set. Reo and I were at the huge pool with me giving her more lessons on how to swim. It didn't go as well as I had hoped since Reo was making a lot of mistakes, but most of the time, I would laugh to myself at some of those adorable ones that I couldn't resist watching.

When both of us finish, we get out of the water and grab some towels to dry ourselves off. But the one thing I notice is Reo's ring finger is empty.

"Reo," I say. "Where is your ring?"

"Hm?" She checks it to see that it's gone. "Wha!? H-how . . . I swear I set it down somewhere before we got to the pool!"

"Looking for this?"

Reo and I turn our heads to see Matsuri holding up Reo's engagement ring with an evil smile on her face.

"You have no chance of proving that you're engaged without this, can you?" She chuckles.

I glare at her. "Give that back this instant!"

"How did you find it anyway?" Reo asks.

"I noticed you putting it in your little bag to keep it from sinking into the pool, which gave me an idea," Matsuri explains. She turns to me. "Now then, surrender Reo-sama to me or this ring's history."

"Never!" I shout at her.

"My, someone needs to learn some manners."

I clench my fists in anger. "Maybe someone should learn to not interfere with my relationship with Reo!" As quick as light, I rush in and grab hold of Matsuri while trying to reach for the ring.

The silver haired girl skillfully keeps it out of reach while backing away to the deep end of the pool. While I keep straining myself to get it, Matsuri holds the ring above the water with a smile on her face.

"Now, I'll ask you one last time," she says, "Surrender Reo-sama to me and everything will be all over."

"I told you, I will never give my Reo to you!" I shout. "I've known her longer than you have, so it's too late for you to have a relationship with her!"

"No, it's not," she sneers into my face. "You know why?" She lowers her right arm where she's holding the ring. "I always win."

But before she lets go of the ring, Reo immediately dives right into us, causing Matsuri to toss the ring in the opposite direction and land safely in a potted plant. We fall to the ground after the unexpected attack, but I suddenly hear a slash that soon followed. I quickly look around to notice that Reo is not here. Which could only mean . . .

"Help!" Reo cries while waving her arms around. "Mai, help me! I . . . I still can't swim without a floatie!" She was thrown far from where we are and there's practically no one watching, even the lifeguard who is gone for some freaking reason!

"MAI!" Reo shouts, trying to keep herself above the surface, but with no avail. "HELP! I . . . I can't . . ." Her head sinks down the water, making my eyes widen in shock.

"Reo!" I cry as I run over to the edge. "Don't worry! I'll get you out of here!"

"Hurry! I think I'm gonna . . ." She sinks to the bottom again with only her hands out at first, but then sinks down again.

I immediately dive in and paddle as hard as I could to reach Reo in time. Once I see her, she's slowly floating down to the bottom, unconscious. With all my determination and strength, I swiftly swim over to my lover, grab her by the waist and pull her back up to the surface. Once out of the water, I swim as fast as I could back to the dry area with Reo on my shoulder. I set her down gently, face up and quickly shake her.

"Reo?"

No response.

"Reo, can you hear me?"

Again, no response. I quickly check her pulse. Luckily it's still beating, but it won't be for long if I don't do something. So I perform CPR on her. After doing it a few times, I plant my lips against hers and breath some air into her, hopefully to make her conscious again. When I part lips from her, Reo is still unconscious, despite my effort on trying to save her. Is she really going to die?

"Reo!" I cry as I can feel tears trying to come out. "Reo, please speak to me! Reo!"

Sure enough, her eyes slowly flutter open, letting out a few small coughs, making some of the water come out of her mouth.

"M . . . M . . . Mai . . .?" She whispers.

Despite the tears falling freely from my eyes, I'm so happy that she's alive. "Reo! Thank goodness you're okay! Thank goodness!" I immediately give her a hug while crying. "I thought . . . I was going to lose you."

I can feel Reo's arms gently wrapping around me. "Mai . . . you idiot. You saved me, that's all matters."

I can tell from her voice that it wasn't anger, but gentle and kind. "REO!" At last, I let out my sobs from Reo's words. Once again, we are still together and nothing in this world could tear us apart.

"Mai . . ." Reo whispers once we part from the hug. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Reo," I sniffle as I try to smile at her. "I love you forever."

With that, both of us share a passionate, heartwarming kiss. I feel like we're in our own little world, with just me and Reo in it, no one else.

A/N: My goodness! 6 reviews in one month for July? That's really amazing! This totally makes my day! Thanks so much you guys! :) I never thought my story would be this likable. But hey, that's a Mai x Reo fan for ya! Haha! :D

And I apologize for the late update. It took a lot to write this super long chapter. And I've actually have been to a water park that has that huge bucket on top of it. I just decided to add a few things that maybe wasn't part of the park, but who knows?

Thanks so much again for the awesome reviews! :) You guys rock! I would mostly like to thank Avlionempire127 and Groove Armada for reviewing the last chapter. Keep on reviewing you guys. It gets me motivated to write more. Once again, you guys are the best and thanks so much for the support! ;)

Anyway, feel free to . . . well, you know. :p