With a last tug, Nagisa pulled her bag into her room and looked around. She hadn't been here for several weeks, as she and Tamao had spent the summer road-tripping with Shizuma and Miyuki. It had been great fun, but saying goodbye to Shizuma and to Miyuki had been extremely tough after the long time spent together, in the car, the hotel rooms and the other occasions.

Tamao had been cornered by Shion and Chikaru, so Nagisa was alone in the room that the two girls shared. Suddenly, she was startled by a buzzing sound from her handbag. She smiled and pulled out the cell phone Shizuma had given her before saying goodbye.

Hey honey! On our way to Tokyo now. Already miss u like crazy. I'll call you tomorrow. I love you!

Nagisa smiled and quickly typed an answer, telling Shizuma that she also missed her and was looking forward to their phone call tomorrow. With a sigh, the redhead put away the phone and began to unpack her bag. When she was almost finished, the door opened and Tamao heaved a huge bag into the room.

"Tamao, you're finally here! What did Shion-sama and Chikaru-sama want from you?"

"Nagisa! I'm so excited! Shion-sama and Chikaru-sama want me to run for school council president of . Now that Miyuki's graduated, we need a new president."

Nagisa excitedly grabbed Tamao's hands.

"That's great! You would be a wonderful school council president!"
"Oh, I've got to tell Miyuki about this!" Tamao reached into her bag and pulled out the cell phone Miyuki had given her after the trip. When she had typed a text message, she quickly unpacked her bags.

"So, what are we going to do today? There's no school until tomorrow and the afternoon has just started." She looked expectantly at Nagisa.

"Hm…", Nagisa thought for a moment. "We could go to the lake…and maybe visit the greenhouse. Maybe Hikari-chan and Amane-sama are already back. It would be great to see them."

"Hai, that's a good idea."

The two had just left the building when they heard a familiar voice calling their names. They turned and saw Yaya and Tsubomi running toward them.

"It's so good to see you! How was your summer? I heard that you went on a road trip." Yaya raised one eyebrow questioningly.

"Yeah, we went on a road trip with Shizuma and Miyuki." Nagisa answered, "It was really, really great. But I'll miss Shizuma even more now after spending so much time with her."

"What did you do?" Tamao asked her two friends.

"First, we went home to our families. After that, we spent some time together at the beach, with Yaya-chan's big brother." Tsubomi looked at Yaya happily.

"Yeah, it was great…" Yaya returned the look.

"So…did anything…happen?" Tamao was curious.

"What do you mean, Tamao-chan?" Yaya asked innocently.

Tamao turned bright red. "Well…you know…I thought…maybe…"

'I wish Shizuma was here', Tamao thought. 'She'd just ask if they were a couple!'

"Do you want to know if we're together?" Yaya came to Tamao's rescue.

"Well…yes." Tamao said lamely.

Tsubomi and Yaya looked at each other, a smile on their faces.

"Hai, we are", they said in unison. "And we're really happy."

"That's wonderful! Congratulations!" Nagisa and Tamao hugged their friends.

"So, we wanted to go to the lake and enjoy the afternoon. Do you want to come along?" Nagisa looked at the other girls.

"Sure. Then we can talk some more about our summers."

Arm in arm, the four girls went toward the lake to spend a sunny, carefree afternoon.

Later that night, Tamao lay in bed, listening to Nagisa's even breathing. Not feeling the least bit tired, she allowed her thoughts to wander and they wandered right to the memory of their first road-trip stop: A house on the beach, with a beautiful stretch of private beach, belonging to Miyuki's uncle. He was abroad this summer, so he hadn't minded his niece and her friends using his house. To tell the truth, he had been quite glad that someone had come to check on the house and he hadn't needed to hire anyone.

The girls had moved in, decided who would sleep in which bedroom, and had stormed the beach, spending a wonderful afternoon of sun-tanning and swimming. Later that night, they went into their bedrooms. Miyuki pulled Tamao into her arms and kissed her deeply.

"What do you want to do now?" she asked, her voice low and teasing.

"Well…I think it's quite obvious…" Tamao whispered between kisses.

"Here?"

"I hadn't thought about it." Tamao admitted. "Where do you want to go?"

"I've always wanted to do it on a beach…" Miyuki grinned. "And we have a private beach…and some big blankets…"

"Then what are we waiting for?"

They grabbed a blanket and found a beautiful piece of beach. Miyuki dropped onto the blanket and pulled Tamao down, kissing her passionately. Tamao's hand slid across her gilrfriend's smooth skin while her lips covered Miyuki's neck with kisses.

Miyuki moaned. Her arms pulled Tamao closer, her hands impatiently pulled on the younger girl's t-shirt. The poet let go for a moment to shed her t-shirt and proceeded to remove Miyuki's and her own clothing.

"You are so beautiful, Miyuki." Tamao murmured.

"YOU are beautiful, my darling." Miyuki whispered while stroking Tamao's back. The poet's hands roamed over her girlfriend's body, stroking and caressing, teasing and arousing.

Miyuki's lips moved across Tamao's neck, her chest, kissing her breasts, inching lower over her stomach and finally settled between her legs, letting her tongue play. Tamao moaned, enjoying Miyuki's caresses, lost in ecstasy. When the young poet was able to think again, Miyuki had snuggled up next to her.

"I love you, Miyuki", Tamao whispered.

"I love you, too."

"I think it's about time for my revenge…" Tamao let her hands slide across Miyuki's body, over her legs, between her thighs.

Her lips caressed her girlfriend's neck, her chest, her cheeks and her lips. Miyuki allowed herself to be swept along by her emotions, losing every sense of reality. Finally, she surfaced again, slightly surprised to find herself on a blanket on the beach.

She and Tamao lay in each other's arms, enjoying the sound of the waves and the stars above them.

"I wish we could stay here forever." Tamao whispered. "I really dread going back to school without you."

"I know it's tough. I'm going to miss you, too. But we'll see each other as often as possible. And it's only two more years until you graduate." Miyuki's voice was soothing.

Tamao sighed. "Two years is a long time…I wish we'd gotten together sooner."

The older girl laughed. "That would have been wonderful. But we can't change it, we can only make the best of our situation. And we have the summer."

"You're right. Can we go back inside? It's getting a bit cold."

They picked up the blanket, shook out the sand and slowly walked back toward the house. They had settled into bed and were just drifting toward sleep when some sounds jolted them awake.

"Ohhhhh yes…Shizuma…don't stop…Oh my gosh…ooohhhh…oooooh…oooohhhh…Shizuma, please…I can't stand it…ooohhhhh…oooooohh…oooooooohhhh!"

Tamao and Miyuki looked at each other and giggled.

"Sounds like they're having fun." Tamao whispered. "Good thing we went outside…"

Miyuki grinned. "Yeah. It's bad enough that they caught us after the ball."

The sounds from the other bedroom continued for a few moments, then stopped. Tamao snuggled closer to Miyuki and instantly fell asleep.

The next morning, at breakfast, they had talked about the trip and their stay at the house. In a very conversational tone, Miyuki had said: "You know, the walls here seem to be as thin as paper. I could hear you sneezing as if you were standing next to me this morning, Shizuma."

"Could you? Well, it's just a beach house for the summer. I guess the walls don't need to be particularly thick."

Nagisa turned a bright red. "You only heard Shizuma-sama sneeze this morning?" she asked, her voice carefully neutral.

"No, there were some…noises…during the night." Miyuki answered with a sweet smile.

Nagisa's face became even redder. "I…I'm sorry, Miyuki-sama, Tamao-chan. It won't happen again." she stuttered nervously.

"What do you mean, it won't happen again?" Shizuma stared at her girlfriend.

"Nagisa-chan, don't worry. We didn't mind." Tamao calmed her best friend. "And I think Shizuma-sama wouldn't be happy if it didn't happen again…"

Tamao smiled to herself. There had been noises in the following nights- from both rooms. The road trip had been great fun, even if she missed Miyuki. But they could talk on the phone, write to each other and see each other. So it wasn't that bad. And if she really became school council president, she'd have so much to do that the time would fly by.