Getting over an embarrassing moment is hard, especially when it leads to an awkward moment right after. Rima quickly got dressed and finally gathered the courage to exit out of the bathroom. She grabbed her phone, and as she checked it, sighing when she saw it was dead. She glanced around for Tadase and saw him ending what she was guessing was an important phone call.

"Just avoid eye contact…" Rima reminded herself, as she gave Tadase a quick hug.

"Thank you so much Tadase. You're the best." She smiled. "I'm going to the beach to clear my mind."
Tadase nodded returning the smile, "Anytime, bye."

On Rima's way out she concluded that it's not so awkward if someone sees you naked. As long as you don't look them straight in the eye, and get the hell out of there. But, she knew this would probably bug her for awhile. She just had to pretend that, that whole situation never happened.

Later in the afternoon Tadase made his way over to Nagihiko and Rima's apartment. Even if she didn't want him to talk to Nagihiko, he couldn't just sit there and watch Rima always coming to him heartbroken. Even if she did say he was giving her comfort, it felt like he wasn't giving anything in return. Being the good friend he is, he knew he had to do something since no one was helping.

He took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. The door opened and he saw Nagihiko giving him the same exact look when he dropped Rima off the other night. It was most definitely a déjà vu moment for both of them. They awkwardly stood there in silence until Tadase spoke,

"I need to explain some things to you." He added, "And maybe since we're here, I should give you a proper greeting."

Nagihiko just nodded and opened up the door wider for Tadase to step inside.

Tadase took in what he saw and realized the apartment was real nice. Everything was well organized and clean. He looked for a place to sit, and took a seat at the table in the kitchen. "Well I'm-"

Nagihiko interrupted, "We both have a good idea of who we are, and therefore I don't see the point of introducing."

Tadase just sat there sighing, "This is going to be harder than I thought..."

"Where's Rima?" Nagihiko asked. Of course he'd ask something like that, Tadase snapped out of his thoughts, "She went to the beach, to clear her mind."

Nagihiko sat at the chair across from Tadase. Tadase decided to come right out and say everything, "Rima has never gone a day since the accident where she doesn't talk about you." Tadase inwardly smiled, thinking of how excited Rima gets when she does mention him. It made him happy when she was. "You can see it in her eyes. All I know is she loves you a lot. No other guy can change that. Not even me."

Tadase noticed Nagihiko was more of a listener than anything. "And… those pictures were my fault. If I hadn't agreed on taking her with me, none of this would have happened."

Nagihiko just nodded, as though he was agreeing with him.

"But, she is right about Hitomi taking the pictures. She's been trying to screw up your guy's relationship. Rima had told me earlier that the only encounter you two had together of Hitomi was when you went river rafting."

Nagihiko used this time to talk, "Actually a friend of mine told me yesterday that he never heard of Hitomi till Rima mentioned her in a phone call."

Tadase scratched the back of his head, and decided to Nagihiko take his turn in talking. He said with a serious tone and concerned voice, ""I still care about Rima and hate seeing her hurt. I want to trust her I really do, but it's difficult when I hear everyone's interpretations. But something is telling me to believe her."

Tadase responded back,

"Even if you don't remember everything...by the way you talk about her I can still see you have a connection with her."
Nagihiko continued speaking staring at the table; it was as though he was talking to himself out loud and not directly to Tadase. "…And Rima's a wonderful person. I know how hard she's trying…"

"Why don't you talk to her? She probably would feel better if she heard that from you."

It was like Nagihiko's senses got knocked back to him, and he got up from the table. He slipped on his shoes, "I need to talk to her." He needed to go with what he felt for once, without listening to anyone. He decided to forget all about the pictures. He stepped out the door forgetting Tadase was still there.

The blond man sat there awkwardly and slowly got up, confused at what just happened.
"Never mind, that was a lot easier than planned."

Rima plopped down onto the sand, not caring if sand tangled up in her hair. She groaned, and winced as the sun's rays struck her eyes. She felt a shadow eclipsing the sun. She opened her eyes wide enough to see vibrant pink hair.

"Amu?" Rima sat up seeing black spots cloud her vision. Amu bent over so she was at Rima's level. She gave her a huge hug, knocking them both over.

"Wait for me!" Rima could recognize that voice anywhere. It belonged to the hyper redhead. Both Rima and Amu felt a hard impact and Yaya tackled both of them into a hug.

"C...an't…b…b-breathe!" Rima tried to say, for she was the helpless one on the bottom. Amu and Yaya quickly stood up.

"Sorry!" Amu apologized for Yaya. Rima was dazed; she surely thought her friends were possibly mad at her?
Yaya screeched, "We were looking all over for you yesterday and grew worried! We figured you were at Tadase's!"

Amu joined, "I want to say sorry! About me and Utau at the party a few nights ago. We just were concerned about you and Tadase…and well you know…"

Rima laughed it off, "Yeah I get it. It's fine." She was just glad to see her friends. She missed them.

Amu added, "We both know you wouldn't stoop that low."

Rima raised an eyebrow, "Where's my apology from Utau? She made me sound bad to Kukai!"

Yaya laughed, "You know Utau! She never apologizes, but expects you to forgive her anyways!"

Rima listened as the ocean waves settled down and heard a singing voice somewhere towards the other side of the beach.

"Utau has a concert here tonight, she's practicing." It was like Amu read Rima's mind. Yaya got up brushing the sand off her dress, "I'm going to get food!"

Amu watched as she read on Rima's expression that she was still stressed out. "Don't worry!"

Rima blinked a few times. Amu smiled, "Nagihiko will remember someday, and that's a fact." Rima didn't say anything and sunk her toes deeper into the sand.

"If you lose hope, nothing good will play out." Rima kept the frown on her face. Amu glared, and grabbed both ends of Rima's cheeks and squeezed them tightly, "Put a smile on your face!"

Rima ripped Amu's grip away from her now stinging cheeks, and gave a big cheeky grin. Amu grinned back satisfied, "Good." She got up; knowing Rima wanted her time alone.

As she began to walk away Rima plastered the same frown on her face. Amu stopped in her tracks and whirled around.

Rima quickly smiled, "I'm smiling!"

Amu narrowed her eyes at her, and began walking backwards watching Rima until she was out of sight. Once Amu was gone Rima sighed and rubbed her sore face.

Nagihiko was driving to the beach. He knew there was something wrong about Hitomi. Especially when Kukai had said he hadn't heard of her. And now Tadase had mentioned that Rima had told him Hitomi was only around the river rafting experience. Was it really possible that Hitomi lied to get this far? Was she competing against Rima? Nagihiko was shocked. But it was simple. Especially when he had lost his memory it was the perfect way to make a move.

Nagihiko noticed the sunset and how magnificent the layers of the sky looked. The top of the sky was gentle lavender, with smears of dark violet. As the colors cascade downward toward then sun, there was a wide strip of tangy orange with splotches of red. And surrounding the sun was a soft honey yellow, which reminded Nagihiko of Rima's eyes. Just thinking about Rima, he felt refreshed.

He stopped at a red light and looked to the side and saw from a distance an amusement park being taken down for the year.
As he stared at the bright neon lights a Ferris wheel caught his attention.

He was in a trance suddenly having a flashback. Images rushed through his head, like a movie on rewind. But it stopped at a certain memory.

He remembered the time him and Rima and their friends went to the amusement park, and how he and Rima rode the Ferris wheel together.
He was soon knocked back into reality when he heard violent honking behind him and noticed the stoplight light had switched to green.
Finally he remembered something. That was definitely a good sign.

As he made it to the beach he barely got out the car. The parking lot was madly crowded, with a bunch of screaming teens running toward the same direction. He guessed a popular idol was around and pushed through crowds of people.

Amu was whispering Yaya trying to convince her to talk to a guy. Yaya ignored her, and had her eyes locked on someone who looked familiar.

"Yaya? Hello?" Amu asked, annoyed that her friend was no longer paying attention. Yaya smacked Amu on the shoulder a few times, "Amu! Isn't that Nagihiko?"
Amu looked to where Yaya was pointing at and saw the tall man with his intoxicating eyes.

"Yes!" Amu grabbed Yaya and pulled her out of the crowd, and toward Nagihiko.

"Nagihiko!" Amu reached him. He noticed their presence and gave his classic smile, "Hello you two."

"Rima's over there! Over there!" Yaya blurted out getting overly excited, and pushed Nagihiko in the direction Rima was in.

Amu giggled too, and both girls ran back to the concert, not wanting to intrude on the Nagihiko and Rima.

Nagihiko thought that was weird, and headed down a stone cobble path that leads to the quiet part of the beach. He felt the sand sinking into his shoes, making his feet feel heavy. He saw Rima sitting with her legs crossed close to the shore.

"Rima, I want you to listen this time."

She gasped and turned her head to see Nagihiko dressed in a loose button up shirt and nice pants. She never would have expected to see him. He sat beside her. She looked back at the ocean. "I'm listening."

"I should have never of lost trust in you." Nagihiko took a deep breath, he would need it, and it was going to be a long talk.

Rima interrupted, "I understand it's hard to believe people when you've lost your memories about them."

Nagihiko sighed, "Still, I'm sorry. You don't deserve to be hurt like this."

Rima smiled and glanced in the corner of her eye at Nagihiko, "I think I'm getting use to it."

Unexpected Nagihiko wrapped his arms around Rima and gave her a long hug. Rima never expected to feel his touch again.

Rima returned the hug, and stated. "I don't want you forcing yourself to trust me."

"But I do trust you."

Rima shook her head disagreeing.
Nagihiko whispered in her ear, "On my way here I remembered going to the amusement park with you. It started to rain as we rode the Ferris wheel, then we kissed."

Rima gasped and hugged him more tightly; she was at a loss for words. It was the best news she heard yet. Maybe Amu was right, Nagihiko is going to remember.

Rima felt a strong ache in her chest, and realized it was her heart beating. She blushed from embarrassment, and quickly pulled away from the hug. That nervous rush she would use to always get around him was back. She hid her face with her hair and instantly stood up and turned her back towards him. Her balance was soon thrown off when a huge gust of wind collided with her and she felt herself wobbling backwards.

Nagihiko quickly got up and grabbed her hand, to save her from falling into the water. But the ocean wave had a good hold of Rima and tugged her into the water pulling in Nagihiko with her. Rima screamed as the splash of cold water hit her. Both of them were buried beneath the water. As the waves slowed down both of them came up for air, and Rima began laughing, as she crawl her way back to shore, "I'm so sorry!" She lay in the wet gooey sand, still trying to control her laughter. Nagihiko joined in with the laughs, as he lay beside her.

Rima stopped her laughter as soon as she heard no response from Nagihiko. She rolled over on her stomach and saw he was staring off into space. Concerned, she put a hand on his shoulder and lightly shook him, "Nagihiko!"

He blinked a few times, and said "I remembered something." Rima could not believe her ears. He remembered another thing? "What is it?"

"It must have been from the surprise rush of water. I remember river rafting and falling off our raft."

Rima wanted to jump up and down, he's remembering more! She knew this had to be too good to be true. She kissed his cheek, "I'm so happy."

Nearby on top of a ragged cliff was Hitomi sitting on the edge watching the whole scene below her. It made her cringe at what she was seeing. She gritted her teeth, thinking of how to look at this. She knew she was already in trouble if Nagihiko was already starting to get his memories back.

"This is ending soon Rima."

She laughed to herself being content to what was to come to next.

A.N. -How's that saying go? Umm…better late than never! I was supposed to upload this Sunday…but I…procrastinated. Shame on me!

There was something I was going to say…Oh yes! 3 chapters left!

I'm sorry to say but I can't respond to your guy's reviews this time again! D: I'm deeply sorry. It's just I'm really busy! D: Gaaaah! I will next chapter and I promise this time! I love you all! =D Thaaaank yooou everyone!