Chapter 5

"We're almost there, we're almost there!" Katsu, Akira's seven-year old brother, squealed as he jumped up and down on the boat. He was making it rock dangerously, and Akira had to grab him and make him sit down, shielding her face from the sun with one hand. He was just overly excited.

Akira wasn't sure what made her decide to take a trip to the island. Truthfully, not seeing the happy little blonde kid every day had started to bother her. Her life alone; going to work, reading and entertaining her siblings; all seemed very dull without Nagisa there to bother her. She'd always thought she was perfectly content on her own, but now she was… bored. Half the time she would just lie back and wish Nagisa was chattering away next to her. So she'd talked to her parents. Her uncle had a boat and a driver for it as well, and had arranged for Akira and her little brother to be dropped off at the island for a day.

"Sit down, baka, you'll go overboard," Akira scolded Katsu, who frowned at her.

"You're no fun, onee-chan," he grumbled. Although as the boat neared the island, Akira couldn't help but feel a little excited herself. They reached shore, and Katsu jumped down onto the sand, laughing as he twirled around. "Whee!"

"Come on," Akira snapped, grabbing Katsu by the arm once the boat driver had taken their bags out and deposited them on the island, with a promise to come pick them up the next day. Akira could see a pair of tents hitched in the distance. The group of shirtless boys with large muscles were unmistakable. "Be nice, okay? They're here to practice for a competition, so don't bother them too much or I'll call the boat driver to come pick you up right now."

"Hai, hai!" Katsu nodded as they neared the group.

Akira waved and called out to them, and the boys all turned to face her, looking surprised. Akira smiled and blushed a little when Nagisa's face broke into a grin, and he ran over to her, laughing. "Akira-senpai!" he yelled, before Akira was enveloped in a huge hug. His bare arms wrapped around her and Akira found her cheek pressed to his bare chest. She blushed furiously. She'd never hugged a half-naked boy before and Nagisa seemed a little embarrassed too, as he pulled away. The rest of them caught up, all expressing surprise.

"I was bored at home, and my brother wanted to come, so…" Akira trailed off casually, glancing at Katsu and trying to hide her red face. Gou was kneeling by him and pinching his cheeks happily. "This is my otouto, Katsu."

"He's so cute!" Gou squealed, still pinching Katsu's cheeks. He didn't seem to mind too much.

"Hello Katsu-chan, I'm Nagisa," Nagisa said with a grin, holding out a hand to the small boy. Katsu wrenched his cheeks away from Gou and looked up at Nagisa distastefully.

"That's a girl's name," he replied.

"Katsu, I said be nice," Akira scolded him, but Nagisa only laughed.

"Hai, I guess it is," he admitted.

Makoto looked at the various bags around Akira and gaped at them. He nudged Rei and Haru before clearing his throat. "Eto… Akira-san, that's a lot of stuff you brought. You're not planning on moving here, are you?"

Akira rolled her eyes. "Of course not, I'm leaving tomorrow. Most of it is food; Gou-chan told me you were running a little low on supplies and that the lodge didn't have much choice. Oh! I almost forgot. I should get the ice-cream out now, or it'll melt by evening."

"Ice cream?" Nagisa demanded, beaming. "Sugoi! Akira-senpai, you're the best!"

Akira shrugged, flushing. "It's nothing. I was bored."

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Akira licked the last spoon of her ice cream, sitting back on a towel. Haru had gone deep into the ocean after gulping down the ice cream in one shot; Rei, too, apparently determined to catch up to the other guys, had followed suit. Makoto and Nagisa were the only boys left on shore.

"I want to go swim!" Katsu insisted, tugging at Akira's leg. She'd taken off her outer clothes and changed into a swimsuit because of the heat; a two piece that, while it wasn't outrageously revealing, still managed to make Rei blink twice and Nagisa gape and turn red. Akira shifted uncomfortably. She wasn't used to wearing swimsuits, but staying in her normal clothes meant bearing the heat and being the only one who was dressed.

"Katsu, that's the ocean, not a swimming pool. There's a current. It's dangerous," Akira insisted.

Nagisa looked up, overhearing the young boy whine. "That's okay. We have some floatation devices, we can strap something onto him. And the water's pretty calm at the moment."

"But he's not a good swimmer… He'll just go out there and get scared and cry," Akira muttered, unconvinced. Besides, if her younger brother came home with even a scratch on him, she would be to blame. She hesitated, and Katsu whined, pulling on her leg pleadingly, promising that he wouldn't get scared.

Makoto looked up, finishing his own ice cream. "I'll go out with him, he'll be fine. We won't go deep, right, Katsu? I can carry him back even if he does get scared. He's pretty small."

Katsu let go of Akira's leg and looked at Makoto, seemingly conflicted as to whether he should thank him for agreeing to take him swimming, or get angry because he called him small. Katsu seemed to realize that getting mad wouldn't get him anything, though, so after an awkward pause, he ran over and hugged Makoto around the waist happily. "Arigato, Makoto-nii-chan!"

Akira sighed and gave in. Besides, Makoto was a responsible enough guy. "Fine, go with your new-found onii-chan, you opportunistic sneak," she grumbled, leaning back on the towel. "If anything happens to him, you're answerable to my parents, Makoto-kun."

Makoto laughed. "All right. Come on, Katsu, let's find you something of Rei's to help you float."

Nagisa was still sitting down and he watched as Makoto put an inflatable tire around Katsu and led him out to the water. He turned and glanced at Akira, who was staring at the sky. "Your brother is really cute, Akira-senpai," Nagisa said with a smile. "He looks a lot like you."

"He looks nothing like me, the snot-nosed little brat," Akira grumbled as she watched Makoto hoist Katsu onto his back and they both ran into the water. She suddenly felt worried. What if something happened to him? It was an ocean, and Makoto wasn't invincible, if he let go of Katsu and the current was strong… "He'll be okay, right? You guys have been swimming in this ocean for days, it's not dangerous, is it?" Akira demanded.

Nagisa noticed the sudden worry in her face and decided not to tell her about the incident with the storm, when they'd all gotten stranded on the other island. Instead, he plastered a smile onto his face. "Of course not. It's perfectly safe."

Akira glanced at Nagisa and flushed, realizing that he'd caught her looking worried. "Good. It would be a pain if he went and got himself killed," she mumbled, turning her head away from him. Nagisa smiled and lay down next to her, putting his arms behind his head.

"I think you really care about your otouto, Akira-senpai," Nagisa said quietly.

"Of course I don't. You don't choose your siblings, they're thrust upon you. You merely tolerate them to the point where you get used to it and grow somewhat fond of them. That's how it works," Akira replied simply. Her brother was little more than a pain in her backside; similar, she realized suddenly, to Nagisa.

Nagisa shook his head. "I think that's what you want to believe. You want to believe that you don't care about others. You like to think you're strong and independent, and that you're above caring about other people. That's why you're mean to the people you care about the most. It's your way of showing affection that you're embarrassed to show more directly."

Akira flushed red. How dare he? Did he really think he knew her that well? She glared at him angrily, and sat up on the towel. Her eyes flashed. "You don't know anything about me. What makes you think you can analyze my feelings? You're just trying to convince yourself that I like you, this has nothing to do with my feelings. You're a child searching for the most convenient explanation."

Nagisa looked at her in surprise. She was really angry. He'd never expected that he would make her this mad, and he bit his lip, frowning. He sighed. "You might be right, Akira-senpai. But is it really childish to want you to like me the same way I like you?"

Akira stared at him, her lips tight. "Is that supposed to be a confession?"

"I-I guess it is," Nagisa admitted, his cheeks flushing.

"Really? So it's your idea to call me a stubborn, cold-hearted bitch who can't cope with her feelings and then cover it up with an I like you? Do you really expect a positive response to that?" Akira snapped. Nagisa stared at her, open-mouthed. He had no idea where this was going.

"What? Senpai, I never said you were a-"

"You meant it," Akira snapped. "I don't know what games you're playing at, but they stop now. I'm not mean to you because I'm hiding feelings, it's because you're an annoying brat that wormed his way into my life no matter how much I tried to stop him. The only reason I tolerate you is because you give me no choice, not because I like having you around."

Nagisa stared at her for a long moment. He could feel his heart sink into his stomach as Akira glared at him and he blinked quickly. He wasn't going to cry in front of her. "Is that what you really feel, Akira-senpai?"

"Yes. I mean exactly what I say,"

Nagisa nodded, swallowing and getting to his feet quickly. He stood in front of her for a moment, head bowed. "Gomen'nasai, Akira-senpai. I didn't realize. I'll leave you alone now." And he turned around and headed back to his tent, leaving Akira sitting alone on the beach.

Akira sat there for a moment, tears brimming in her eyes before she quickly wiped them away. Then she stood up, folded the blanket, and hurried back to the lodge, where she stayed until the next morning when the boat driver came to pick her and her brother up.

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