"Will that be all, miss?"

"Hm?" Fuu looked up from the screen of her cell phone to see the smiling ice cream vendor offering her a bag full of sea salt ice cream bars. She promptly flipped her phone shut, slid it back into the back pocket of her Capri pants, paid the man, and left with the bag of sea salts in hand.

"Have a nice day!" called the smiling man as she walked away, but Fuu went straight back to looking at her cell phone again.

She wondered why she was even staring at it in the first place. It wasn't like she had anyone to call, besides her usual group of friends and her mother. Upon closer inspection of her contact list, Fuu realized that she didn't even have Vivi or Rai in her contacts. Only her mom's name and Seifer's were there to greet her on the glowing cell phone screen, and the only reason she even had Seifer's number was because he gave it to her promptly before he left with Vivi and Rai earlier.

She scoffed as she dismissed the phone to her pocket once more. It wasn't like she cared. Phone calls or texting weren't the quiet girl's style anyway. For a brief moment, she wondered if Hayner had a cell phone. Or if she'd ever have a chance at getting it from him. Or if-

She quickly silenced the novel thought and bit her tongue, cursing herself for thinking of the wretched boy. Why would she even have reason to like him anyways? He was the one who cost her team the game. He was the one who ruined her face for a week with a rubber dodgeball. And he was the arch-nemesis of her friend and leader, Seifer. The blonde was an enemy, both professionally and privately.

While many people around her were having trouble traversing through the deep sand, Fuu's small, light feet floated on top of the sand as she searched for her friends. She hadn't received a text from Seifer yet, so she presumed that they were still searching for a spot. Judging from the unusual thickness of crowds this particular day, she wouldn't be surprised if they never called.

But Fuu didn't want to keep walking and searching for hours. She decided to rest somewhere for a bit while waiting for Seifer's message. However, all of the benches around her were filled by either giggling groups of girls or overconfident packs of teenage boys. Also, there were very few empty spots on the sand. Most of the beach's sandy space was swallowed up by fellow teenagers, playing volleyball on makeshift courts or laughing and conversing around a barbecue pit.

She recognized Tidus and Wakka practicing their blitzball moves by the shore, clumsily kicking the bumpy ball to and fro. Fuu didn't approach them, simply because she had no interest in them. But deep inside, she was also painfully awkward due to her minimalist manner of speech.

Because of the fact she didn't talk much, she never made a lot of friends throughout her childhood, and had no deep bonds with anyone outside her family. The only exceptions were Seifer, Rai, and Vivi, who, through some miracle, been able to connect with the girl without needing to go through hours of (in her opinion) "useless small talk". She was happy that they accepted the fact that she didn't talk much, and she liked to think they preferred her this way. Many of their conversations were one-sided, with Rai and Seifer being the most conversational while she and Vivi stood off to the side, listening. That's how their dynamic had always been and would continue to be, and she didn't mind. Besides, other than Rai and sometimes Seifer, she hated loudmouths anyway.

But in that case, why did she suddenly find herself thinking about…him? She had no previous reason to like him, nor a current reason. They'd had no personal interaction with each other, beside the occasional sneers they'd exchange while passing in the hall, or the offhand comments they'd say behind each other's backs.

They were polar opposites, as well: she was a silent girl with so much on her mind, while he was a loudmouthed fool, with probably nothing in his thick skull. She was very conservative, while he was practically made up of body language. The only time she ever came close to smiling was when she smirked, and Hayner…always smiled.

Of course, his smile was never directed at her, but she saw it constantly. He had that toothy grin plastered on his face after every Struggle he won, every terrible joke he told, and for every cute girl he saw. Come to think of it, Fuu wondered if Hayner didn't smile at her simply because she was affiliated with Seifer. Or maybe it was because he didn't think she was cute.

Not that she cared.

…Or at least she tried not to.

Now that she thought about it, Hayner had the most peculiar smile: bright, white teeth revealed by a wide grin. Few people she knew had a smile as sincere as Hayner's, and she probably saw him smile a hundred time more than any of her own friends. Absent-mindlessly, she sighed wistfully as she continued floating forward on the soft sand.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she came across a large clearing in the beach. It would've been a perfect place for Seifer to train: no annoying people, no stinky trash, and it was close to the shore. She thought about texting Seifer herself and telling him about the spot, but then she noticed a peculiarly large shape of sand about ten meters away from her. She squinted her red eye at the shape and soon realized that it wasn't sand, but that it was a human head. At first, she dismissed it as an illusion caused by the heat: a mirage. But then she saw the head move. It was struggling, even, as if trying to free itself from the sand. Most likely, it was some dumb ass kid who got buried in the sand and was left there as a practical joke. One of the reasons she didn't like, nor trust people.

She was about to leave the poor fool there, when she heard a familiar voice call out: "Somebody help! Please!"

She turned on her sandaled heel back towards the source, and realized the voice was coming from the buried boy. He had slicked back blonde hair. His voice had a slightly annoying cadence to it. Him?

"Roxas, Pence, Olette! I'll kill you, you bastards!"

It was him, all right.

She debated whether or not to approach him. She hated him, after , she was supposed to, anyway. She scoffed, turned on her heel away from the head, and started walking back towards civilization. To hell with him, and leave him here to be swallowed up by the approaching waves!

But something in the back of her head told her to stay. And help him. She tried to just leave the yelling boy alone, but every step away from him made her feel…guilty. Was it her conscience, the little Jiminy Cricket she never knew she had? Or did she…want to help him?

…Fuu exhaled deeply, and, turning on her heel once more, approached the annoying, screaming head sticking out of the sand.