"SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW?!"
"LET'S GET HAMMERED!"
"HEY, LET'S NOT!"
The abrasive atmosphere in Taki's apartment dissipated, and suddenly Taki, Mitsuha, and their presumed wedding party were at a standstill over what to do with the rest of their night. They were already gathered, so why not do something fun, even though it wasn't even a full day ago that Taki and Mitsuha were completely hungover. The idea of alcohol didn't sound particularly nice to them either, but everyone was here already.
"I…I'm not a drinker." Tsukasa was quick to deflect the prospect of doing alcohol tonight. Or period, for that matter.
"Well you don't have to drink. Hell, if anything you'll be sober enough to video tape everything!"
"Don't you guys have any better ideas? And besides, not all of us are even legal to drink."
Yotsuha didn't exactly appreciate being used as a scapegoat for this guy's rather prude antics. "What, you think that's gonna stop me?"
"YOTSUHA!"
"C'mon, onee-chan. You're my big sister, you can take care of me."
"The time for discourse is OVER!" Tessie's thundering voice overtook all the overlapping conversations, and caught everyone off guard since up to that point he'd said next to nothing. "Alright, Saya and I are gonna run to the liquor store."
"Well, Miki and I are gonna go then."
"Uhh, what, no we're not."
"Excuse me?"
"C'mon, don't think of it as drinking to get drunk, just stay and have fun. With some old and new friends. Don't be that guy, babe."
"Yeah, you don't have to drink, dude."
Tsukasa wrestled with his intentions, but realized that it would've looked really bad if he left. Taki certainly would've been a little bothered. This gathering was for him, after all.
"Mmm. Alright. But I'm telling you, I'm not having a sip."
"We're not asking you to, man. Just stick around and hang out, that's all."
No one seemed to mind the limited floor space in Taki's apartment, as everyone found a little spot to get comfortable in. While Tessie and Saya went to grab the goods, the rest of the party got more familiar with each other. Especially Shinta and Yotsuha, who were getting a little chummy with each other. But Mitsuha became more of a mom than a sister, and interjected whatever conversation Yotsuha and Shinta were having, to lay down the rules for her impending consumption.
"Yotsuha. I'm keeping a very short leash on you tonight. You stop drinking when I tell you to, got it?"
"Jeez, alright, loud and clear, ma'am."
Part of her wanted to drill the idea into Yotsuha's head even further. But, alas, for the most part, Yotsuha had demonstrated a notable amount of maturity, save for the incident just a couple weeks back. So she left her younger sister alone for the time being.
She noticed Taki talking to Tsukasa and Miki, and had a little hesitation joining in. Ordinarily, she'd jump in no problem, but given the circumstances, it was totally possible they were talking about something pretty personal. After all, this couple was the same two people who accompanied him on his journey to Itomori.
Her indecision didn't go unnoticed, as her fiancée was quick to call her over, not wanting her to feel left out. "Mitsuha? What're you doing, come over."
Mitsuha's face lightened up and made her way over to where he and his companions stood in a small circle. He wrapped his arm around her when she got close enough, and pecked her with a quick kiss.
"Y'know, I find it…kinda weird. That we all decided to get married at the same time." It didn't quite over everyone's head. Tsukasa was the first to point out this lucky timing.
"It does seem pretty coincidental, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. Actually…I had this crazy thought…what if we all got married on the same day?"
"A triple wedding? How would that work?"
"I'm assuming it'd be the same as a regular wedding. Just with all three couples standing."
"Well that's definitely outside the box. But I think for the sake of the wedding guests, it probably wouldn't be such a good idea. I mean, your family would there, my family would be there, everyone else's families would be there. And they'd have to sit through a wedding for people they could care less about." Taki subjectively liked the idea, but there would a lot of awkwardness if that were to happen.
"True…"
"Mmm, I wouldn't exactly think of it that way, though." Miki interjected, sort of trying to deflect the idea of the other families not caring. Part of her knew that her own family would be open to the idea.
Before anyone else could say anything, Tessie and Saya returned with the toxins. "Okay, I don't know what people like to drink, so I just got a little bit of everything."
What happened next, no one would've been able to remember for the life of them. The playing cards and yen coins on the ground would've suggested that there was some gambling involved.
"I CALL YOUR BLUFF! AND RAISE YOU THIS MUCH!"
"I CAN'T CALL THAT! WAIT, HOW 'BOUT MY FIANCEE?"
"HEY!"
The movie streaming service on Taki's TV and the empty bottles of liquor all but meant a "drink when this happens" game took place.
"This is actually a really fun one. We use an RNG to assign everyone a word. And take a shot every time we hear that word."
Perhaps as a prelude to their heads feeling like they were in another galaxy, they decided to watch a western classic in Star Wars. Which everyone had seen once or twice before.
"Alright, let's roll for words!"
Some were less than excited about the word they were assigned, feeling almost cheated in a way. "'Force'? I got 'force', are you kidding me?"
"You shut your mouth, I got 'hope'!"
And the kitchen littered with food particles and packaging were more than indicative of a bad case of the drunken munchies.
"Hey throw all this in the blender and see what happens."
And before them sitting in Taki's blender was a cesspool of various alcoholic drinks, natto, bananas, rice, and raw eggs.
"Alright, everyone. Bottoms up!"
"I'm not drinking that!"
So in short, everyone had a good time.
Each and every person had a varying intensity of their hangover. Some didn't have one to begin with, namely the people who either drank very little or didn't drink at all. For others, it wasn't so bad, just a slight headache. But there were a few individuals who had the worst, and felt like their head was on a yo-yo.
"Aaauuuggghhh! Make it stoooppp!"
"Here, drink this."
"I literally can't ingest anything right now. I'm gonna throw it back up."
"Well, try to hold this down."
"A sports drink? What would that do?"
"It hydrates, and replenishes the electrolytes you lost after drinking all that alcohol."
"Well, aren't you a scientist…"
So much had happened, though. The past 24 hours could very well be considered the most eventful for both Taki and Mitsuha. Hell, the past month or so couldn't have changed their lives any more than it had. So much happens in such little time. Which is why it felt like an eternity ago that they themselves were experiencing the agony of alcoholic dehydration. It wasn't fun.
But soon enough every one recovered, and were able to leave Taki and Mitsuha's domain under their own power. For the most part, at least.
"Okay. Let's take a moment to pray…that it's Sunday and not Monday."
The potential consequences that could ensue if it was indeed Monday made them very panicked, and very uneasy. And yes. It was Monday. But the mini heart attack both of them experienced came and went quickly, because they realized that it was Health and Sports Day. So no one was due for work.
But they were afforded the chance to even process what was happening, because loud banging on the door emphatically grabbed their attention.
The couple was almost bewildered when they saw that the entire group from last night remained, at their door step, and not off doing their own thing.
"BEACH DAY!"
A few hopeful members of the party shouted in unison a pretty good idea of what to do with their holiday. It was bright and sunny out. Not too hot either, and almost no humidity to speak of. And with such a sizeable group, the variety of things to do was almost beyond what could be done in one day.
"Beach day?"
"Taki-kun, let's do it! Let's all go to the beach!"
"YEAH! But yeah, before we all left, someone just threw it out there, I don't remember who it was though."
"It was yours truly." Yotsuha took a little bit of pride in generating such a genius plan, but no one really seemed to care.
"Oh, think of all the things we could do! Beach volleyball, watermelon smashing… it is Sports Day, after all."
"I've got a portable grill, so we can, ahem, 'smokes them meats'."
All the males in the immediate vicinity burst into intense laughter, while the ladies just scoffed and tried to ignore that crude remark.
"Umbrellas?"
"We've got some!"
"And I would assume everyone's got towels. Let's take an hour to get ready, and we can meet…"
"We can all meet back here when everyone's ready."
"Can I bring my friends?"
Yotsuha's friends. Suddenly, Taki was stricken with memories of what happened the last time he encountered Yotsuha's friends. It was stressful, to say the least. And he didn't exactly portray himself as an upstanding citizen. In fact he just looked like this creep that brought teenage girls home. But. Everything was okay. Everyone was safe in the end. And if anything, it was something he could reference if he ever needed any affirmation of his responsibility and maturity. So why not bring them along?
"That's fine with us. The more, the merrier!"
"What?"
"It's an, uhh, English saying. Always fun with more people."
"Can't argue with that, I guess."
"So that settles it. Lemme get a head count here…"
"Eleven."
"HA! ELEVEN!"
And the guys once again burst into laughter, but this time the girls had no idea what was so funny about eleven. There was probably one of the guys laughing that didn't even know himself, either.
"Well, you guys are more than welcome to laugh at middle school jokes all day. We're gonna get ready for the beach."
The group dispersed, went their separate paths, and Taki and Mitsuha retreated into their own abode. Taki began gathering necessities for their beach trip, but Mitsuha wanted to take a moment with him. And just savor the sentiments of everything going on.
She wrapped her arms around Taki from behind, and pressed her head against his back, sighing in pleasure. "Everything is so great right now…"
And like most great boyfriends, Taki knew exactly what was going through his fiancee's head. "I thought you weren't a sentimental person."
"Oh Taki. I know I said that. But just…how many conversations have we had? I'm totally a sentimental person…"
"That's why I was so confused when you stated otherwise the other night."
"I just…wanted to take a moment to…more or less, express my appreciation, how 'bout that…for this…gratuitous turn that our lives have taken…"
"Yeah, it has. Everyone's getting along. Getting along great, as a matter of fact. I know for a fact you agree with me that…seeing our friends get along like this is awesome."
"It is. It really is. But again…everyone just met. And we're all going to the beach together. I'm at that point again where…I feel like we're going at warp speed."
"Yeah. It does. But we've been through this before. And don't you think everyone else kinda feels the same way?"
"I guess so…"
"I mean. Well, they may not feel the same. But they're our peers. And they're going through something very similar to us. I think you're overthinking it."
"If you say so…"
Melancholy aside, they were still excited to hit up the beach, and the hour put aside to prepare went by rather slowly. It only took them about 15 minutes or so to pack up, so they were just kinda sitting there doing nothing.
"How long 'till we're supposed to go?"
"About 40 minutes."
"Ugh, we've been sitting here foreverrr!"
"What were you just saying about everything going by super fast?"
A less-than-amused Mitsuha just ignored him, and rolled to her side on their bed out of boredom. Taki laid down on the bed next to her, and hovered over her, with one arm wrapped around her stomach. She turned her head to see Taki, and turned enamored by his dashing good looks.
"I can think of a way to kill time." Taki smiled at his fiancée, who had more than hunch of what he could hinting at.
What happened next could be left to anyone's imagination, but needless to say that the next 40 minutes flew by, and knocking on the door snapped them out of their trance, all but confirming that it was beach time.
Back again, with Yotsuha, were Yotsuha's friends. Kaori, Shizuka and Rin. The four victims of a little oversight that kept them in the apartment for a fortnight. At first they were a little nervous about coming back in, because none of them really knew what Taki and Mitsuha were thinking. But their welcoming demeanor helped them relax a little. But it obviously wasn't a problem for Yotsuha, who noticed something about the bed.
"Hey, that bed was made when I left."
"Ooohhh!"
"YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOTSUHA!"
Her snap was followed by laughter, and Mitsuha flushed red with embarrassment. More knocking came, and before any awkward conversations got going, the boarding group had arrived in full.
"What's this, Taki?!"
Shinta pointed at Taki's t-shirt, and the latter was notably confused as to what could be going on.
"What, my shirt?"
"SUN'S OUT, GUNS OUT!"
"Wha-…'sun's out guns out', what does that mean?"
"Oh, it's an American phrase. Basically pointing out tank top weather."
"Oh…okay."
The hour or so trip to Zushi Beach felt short-lived, mainly because all the trains they were on were empty. As in not a single other soul than themselves. So they used the vacancy to mess around and whatnot.
But when they got to the beach, they soon realized why no one was on the trains. Because they'd been beaten to the punch. And everyone and their mother had the same idea of going to the beach on Health and Sports Day. Only they were wise enough to get ready at the crack of dawn. The mass of people was discouraging, and there wasn't even a square foot of free space to set down all their stuff, let alone a spot for their entire group.
"Why did we come here?" Yotsuha had an inflection of confusion of in her voice
"What do you mean, we always come here!" This was the very first beach the Miyamizu family came to when they migrated to Tokyo. Or first beach, period. And it was one of the only that Mitsuha knew of.
But it might've been a better idea to heed advice of those who probably have the most beach experience in the entire group. And it didn't surprise anyone that Yotsuha and her friends knew all the beach spots. So when the high school girls guided them to Isshiki Beach, and its serenity and general lack of beachgoers, the mixed feeling of excitement and confusion as to why they didn't come here in the first place created an awkward atmosphere.
"Why didn't you say anything the whole time we were on the trains?"
"Oh, gimme a break, you would've ignored us anyway. And besides, the route we took was the fastest way to get here to begin with. We would've had to have come this way, regardless."
With sunblock freshly applied by their significant others shielding their skin, the girls ventured off into the shore. How the water was at such a balanced temperature, no one would ever know. It was right at that fine line between warm and cool, and the girls wasted no time enjoying it.
While the guys got to putting up the phalanx of parasols, something was on Tsukasa's mind, but wasn't really sure how to personally address it. So he figured maybe the other two soon-to-be grooms would know.
"Can I ask you guys something?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Do you guys ever feel like…our lives are…kinda like an anime, or a story?"
"What makes you say that?"
"Don't you think everything's kinda happening so surreally? I mean, we're all almost at our 'happily ever after'. We're all gonna be married men pretty soon."
"Well. If you want my honest opinion, we're not anywhere near our happy endings. I mean c'mon we're all in our twenties." Taki was more than familiar with the fairy tale course of action his life has been lately. And it was true. Everything was happening very smoothly. Pretty much like a story.
"I do get what you mean, though." Tessie interjected, acknowledging Tsukasa's sentiment. "Everything has happened, like you said, pretty much like a story. Almost like it's too good to be true."
"Aren't you guys worried about…what's gonna happen when it gets to the bad part of the story?"
"So be it, dude. That's life. Ups and downs. And not every relationship is perfect. Not everyone's life chronicle is perfect. And really, I would've thought Miki would be the first one to tell you that."
"We've actually never had that conversation before."
"Well, you have with us, now. And what's been with you, lately? You're usually a lot more outgoing than this. I would actually go as far as to say that if I didn't know you already, I'd say you're a totally new and different person"
"Just…new people. Don't wanna give anyone the wrong impression. If you're talking about last night, I think it was best just to keep it cool, especially with alcohol involved."
"I can understand that. But I can tell you that some of the others already have the wrong impression. The real you is a lot cooler than this. Just be yourself."
The beach was no place to have any sentimental talks. Well, at least not for the entire day. So the boys tarried no longer, and hustled out to the shore. Taki tackled Mitsuha into the water, and Tessie did the same to Saya. Both of the girls squealed out of pleasant surprise before having being muffled by the ocean water. Tsukasa just lightly jogged to where Miki was standing, who was slightly disappointed that he didn't do the same, and just looked at him with a blank face.
"What, you wanted me to push you into the water, too?"
No audible response was offered, as Okudera instead just pushed Tsukasa into the water herself. Eventually Shinta and Yotsuha joined them in the water, while the other girls remained ashore sunbathing.
Maybe a half-hour was spent in the water, and the group returned to their encampment, wet and freezing from the difference in body temperature and the weather. It didn't take long for them to acclimated, though.
"Say, what's in that bag?" They noticed a rather large bag among the others, the kind that looks like it would carry equipment of some sort.
"Oh, there's a little volleyball net inside. This beach doesn't have any of their own, so we usually bring that one for ourselves, just in case. If we wanna play at some point, we should get to setting it up." Of course the bag belonged to the beach queens. And everyone was quickly turned on to the idea of volleyball.
So without haste, a volleyball net was up, and the group began to decide on teams.
"Okay, so we all play volleyball." Kaori gestured to signify who 'we' was. As if she could've been talking about anyone else. "I don't think it's fair for all of us to be on the same team."
"I thought you guys played basketball."
"You can play more than one sport, Taaaki-kuuun."
With the odd number of people, it already created a rather tricky scenario. Eleven doesn't divide into 2 even teams. And it would've been really awkward to try to make teams based on skill, because other than Yotsuha and her friends, they were all generally around the same in terms of volleyball prowess.
"Hey, how 'bout one person refs?"
"For beach volleyball, seriously?"
"Well, that way, we can have even teams of 5."
"Well, how would we decide who has to rotate in and out?"
"Okay, everyone stop. We're making this too complicated, let's just make some random teams and just play! It's not like we're out here seriously competing or anything."
The advice made sense; they came out to the beach to have fun, not to beat each other at a sport they don't even play. Who was on whose team shouldn't've mattered to begin with so. So with that said, the group broke off into singles vs takens. Shinta had the luxury of 4 volleyball players on his team, against the rest of the party.
For the sake of fun and having a good time, Yotsuha and her friends played with around half effort, which still proved to be a competitive challenge for the opposition, which included Taki and Mitsuha, Saya and Tessie, and Tsukasa and Miki.
Eventually, though, with some pointers and tricks of the trade from the athletes themselves, the group experienced a sharp increase in their volleyball skills after about a half-hour of playing.
When fatigue settled, the party retreated to the ocean, allowing their bodies to cool down and relax.
"Did anyone bring a watermelon?"
The next great idea spawned, but the physical toll of volleyball still lingered, so they stayed in the water for a while longer before heading back to play a beach classic.
Blindfolds and a smashing stick to boot, a watermelon was placed down, and the choice of the first guinea pig was imminent.
"Who's going first?"
Each and every party member was hesitant to go first for whatever reason. But the first demonstration of bravery came from maybe the least expected source.
"I'll go first!"
When the group turned to see that Tsukasa had volunteered as the first participant, it caught some people off guard, more so for those who didn't know him as well, since up to this point he'd been pretty prude with just about everything. But nonetheless, they didn't question not having to go first, so Tsukasa was promptly blindfolded, spun around and handed the stick.
The dizziness had a heavy impact of Tsukasa, who was obviously not used to disorientation, of any sort, really. But he did a rather good job of disguising it, and put up a veil of composure that more or less impressed his peers.
But alas, it was almost for naught, since Tsukasa was unable to locate the watermelon, and crushed an empty patch of sand with the stick.
And one by one, each member of the group took their stab at suikawari, all up until the last two participants failing to strike the large fruit. Some members were met with enough struggle with the dizziness by itself. Others were able to fight the dizziness, but not enough so to navigate through clamoring voices from every direction, obfuscating their sense of location, and as such, no one even came close to reaching the watermelon.
Only Taki and Mitsuha were left, and maybe 5 seconds into Mitsuha's attempt, she gave up on finding the watermelon, and followed the source of Taki's voice, surrendering her turn and using her dizziness as an excuse to tackle him. And no one really knew why.
Which all but left Taki as the sole hope of the watermelon being split. And perhaps this was the moment that proved which couple had the strongest affinity, because Taki, deterred by dizziness, was still able to distinguish Mitsuha's voice, who wouldn't ever lie to him, from the others, and use it to pinpoint the watermelon. And after 11 tries, the watermelon was divided, and a victor was declared.
It was more of a blessing in disguise, because everyone was able to get a shot, and the advent of people not being able to play because the melon was smashed early never happened. And the ultimate goal of everyone having fun was realized. But perhaps the bigger, more long term destination came faster than maybe anticipated. Much, much faster. Strangers just hours ago, now friends and companions for years to come.
The intensity of suikawari took away everyone's sense of time, because around the end of the game, it was time to eat. The original plan of grilling their own food was marred by the fact that no one remembered to get anything to grill. But it was all good, because the nearby beach bar was plenty satisfactory for their hunger.
Since everyone else had gotten acquainted the night before, the center of attention rested in Yotsuha's friends. Normally, there might've been some discomfort around strangers who were years older than they were, but that night at Taki's apartment more than established an unbreakable foundation of trust between the girls and Taki and Mitsuha. So there weren't any awkwardness or nerves to speak of.
And from the way everyone was getting along, it would've seemed like they'd known each other for years.
"Can I get everyone's attention?"
Yotsuha's quiet and reserved nature, much like that of her sister's, yielded very few words from her on a normal basis. But maybe out of all the people there, she herself could've argued to have had the most fun. Maybe it was because she and her sister were back together as sisters again, but in the process, she got to meet a lot of good-hearted people. A nice distraction and escape from everything happening elsewhere.
"I think I speak for my friends when I say that…we're so glad to have met you all. I think it'd be okay for me to share this…" she quickly glanced at her friends, who knew right away what the younger Miyamizu was referring to.
"Long story short, a couple weeks ago, we came to find a lot of trust and confidence in Mitsuha and Taki. So…I think it's really cool to have met all of you. And I know some of you are getting married pretty soon. And that's really cool too! So…ugh, sorry, this is weird for me…here's to years and years of friendship…and hanging out and stuff!"
Everyone was impressed with Yotsuha's composure delivering such a heartfelt toast to so many new faces. But none more so than her own sister, who felt like she'd almost learned as much about her imouto in the last 3 minutes as she did in the last 17 years.
Despite the hijinks, it escaped the mind of no one that tomorrow was work day, and school day for some others. Even more apparent because of the fact that around 20:00, the beach had pretty much vacated. But Yotsuha and company had other plans. And the group mutually agreed to take advantage of the emptiness, and stay a little later and deal with the next morning however it came.
The beach queens once again proved their experience, and revealed fireworks in another bag. Whether they were supposed to have them in the first place could be debated, but nothing was worth worrying it. The myriad of flashing colors in the sky provided a more than fitting finale to an eventful day. And the dark of the night obscured everyone's field of view, affording Taki and Mitsuha the opportunity to enjoy each other under the lights.
They laid against the rocks, clung to each other, and held their faces to each other's before meeting lips for a kiss, letting the rest of the night take course while they did their thing. When their lips separated, Mitsuha let out a small remark under a light whisper.
"Everything works out in the end. Doesn't it…"
"It's not the end, though. Really. We're just getting started."
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A/N: Hey y'all! So yes, I've set a record for the longest gap between chapters, but I CAN EXPLAIN! To any of my readers still left, I owe you a huge thank you to your loyalty. And being patient through my effort to keep this story going and balancing my personal life.
So yes, school has been in session for some odd weeks now, and as a red-blooded American male, football has also consumed a lot of my time (I don't play anymore, but I like to watch on the weekends). That being said, I still try to put aside time to get this story where I want it to be.
I realize that this chapter was not very much about Taki and Mitsuha, but rather all the other characters, but I figured since I got it started already, might as well finish it. The attention will shift back to the stars of the show soon enough.
My main concern at this point is the entertainment factor, though. To be totally honest, I've experienced a personal dropoff in quality of this story's writing, and I wish I knew why. Maybe it's because it's been so long since the movie. And I do feel like I cheated a little bit by inserting an obligatory beach episode into the story.
Nonetheless, this story's not over, and frankly there's still a lot of left to go. But two-week gaps between chapters might become normal, now. The length, however, will look be sorta like this. And I'm gonna try to structure each chapter to be like an episode of an anime. And drag out one single event and put it into one episode. That's what anyone still reading can expect.
So as usual, thank you all for giving my fic a shot. Any new readers, welcome to the fringe, and to readers from the beginning, thank you for your continued loyalty. I can't tell you how much it means to me.
With that said, until next time, everyone. Cheers.