Ride the Wild Surf

by Adri Mars

AU:: In a small beachside town of Nijibe, here is a story of a girl named Lucia, a boy named Kaito, and a surfboard... and everything else in between. #16 up--- NEED REVIEWS, THANKS!

6. Oceanic Crib 5

RIDE THE WILD SURF
a Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Fanfiction

by Adrimarie

Oceanic Crib 5

Despite that the surf crew and the three surfer girls Coco, Caren, and Noel had come to an agreement to form an alliance for the upcoming First Annual Surf Scenes Tournament, the crew's champion surfer Kaito did not have his mind at the meeting. His older twin Gaito did most of the deals and managing the entire team altogether anyway and in some ways did not need Kaito's presence when it comes to creating relationships with other groups like the three Pearl Waters waitresses. While Daichi and Kengo continued to stare at the three waitresses from head to toe while Masahiro and Nagisa listened on with the meeting, Kaito had something else in mind.

Michal still continued to talk to him as she had her school books open but was unaware that Kaito was not listening to her at all. There were other bikini-clad girls from his school from the Rainbow Pop Girls clique to his own personal fan club who tried to get attention but failed to even receive a single hello. In fact, he was not even staring towards the sea as he was sitting on his spot with the ocean behind his back. He had his eyes directly towards a certain surf band who were setting up their stage and their instruments. To be more specific he could not take his eyes off of Lucia Nanami.

The song she sang to the girls at the beach last night was what captured his attention to her. Though he left the scene early there was no doubt that he could not ignore her. He was tempted to stay longer that night but did not want to embarrass his friends alongside him. Besides, he did not want Lucia and the girls find out that they were spying on them which was why he bailed out early.

He tried to play off these sudden feelings he received that night around his friends. He pretended he did not have a care with the song Lucia sang and thought that it was a lame song. But deep within he knew the song was way beyond lame because of one reason. It was not the words that captivated him to her, but it was the way she delivered the song from her voice and how she sang it to her friends. As of today he wanted to hear more from her. He wanted to hear her sing more songs like she sang yesterday but was afraid to even admit it to her.

In fact, Kaito still remembered the words and the notes of Lucia's song clearly in his mind. He was always fond of music in general since childhood. He was taught to play the piano and guitar, not to mention singing, along with his twin brother Gaito along with learning how to surf from his late father at a young age. Though he was well-versed with the piano, guitar, and even the craft of songwriting, singing was his favorite activity within music. He had a voice angelic enough to be part of the town's junior boys choir. After the twins' parents' death they somewhat abandoned their love for music and focused more on surfing in order for them to ease the pain of losing their parents to death. Eventually surfing became a part of their lives. Not only they play the sport but they live it as if it was their alternative oxygen.

When he heard Lucia's song that night he began to recall a special memory that he experienced during his childhood. That particular moment was not just a special memory to him but it was also the particular time when he stopped singing. But the day before he stopped singing he sang his last song and it was not just a song he particularly loved but it was a song he sang with someone whom he found very special.

Of all the songs he heard why Lucia's song? Kaito still could not find the explanation how or why Lucia's way of singing suddenly got to him. He wanted answers to these inner musical mysteries and why Lucia's singing style attracted him so much. How and where to find these answers were quite obvious. He had to get to know more about the mysterious blonde girl who had been in his homeroom class for the past three years in school but never really spoke to her in an open conversation until yesterday. This summer was the perfect time for him to learn more about Lucia Nanami.

Sure, he did admit to his friends that he had no time to fall in love or even make passes at girls who may catch his attention due to the tournament, but who would have thought that he would ever meet a girl who was completely different, and on top of that, one who is a major fan of the sport he loved the most? She was not even a surfer and he felt as if she knew more about surfing than he did.

"Kaito. Hey dude. Wake up, man!"

Kaito felt a hard nudge from the side and finally woke up back to reality. He turned to his left to see Masahiro Hamasaki speaking to him. "Oh..."

"You alright, dude? You're like... spaced out!"

Kaito quickly turned his head. "I'm fine. I was just having my own alchemy hour, dude."

Masahiro raised an eyebrow at him. "Alchemy hour? Dude, we haven't even surfed out the waves yet because we haven't seen any breakers yet! We're just sitting around here waiting while we're chatting with our newly-formed surfer girls here. How can you be on an alchemy hour?"

"Well... I have other definitions of my alchemy hour--- and it still involves surfing!" Kaito insisted his reasons before Masahiro became more curious about his mood.

"Alright, alright, I won't argue. Whatever you say, man." Masahiro raised his arms letting him know he would not probe further. "But man... your eyes seem to be staring at something going on over there... with a stage and everything."

"That must be the Friday night band who performs at Pearl Waters. They're going to rehearse their stuff out here at the beach today instead of behind closed doors. This is the same band that we're after according to Nagisa."

"That reminds me, dude, why were you over there by the way? Were you talking to that Nanami girl?"

Kaito turned to Masahiro with an eyebrow raised. "I had to make contact with my contact for updates. Apparently these three fine surfer babes work at Pearl Waters--- and one of them is Sara's best friend. She still has yet to talk to the rest of the band members about the tournament thing but I think Nagisa and Seira were already doing that with Lucia's brother."

"Um, what about Rina?" Masahiro asked curiously, looking hopeful.

"What do you mean? She's a member of that band---"

"I mean... about the beauty pageant thing..."

Kaito stared at Masahiro with a slight dull expression. "Dude, weren't you supposed to take care of that? No, I didn't ask Lucia to talk to the Touin girl about the beauty pageant thing because that's your responsibility. She's over there right now setting up. Why not go and talk to her?"

Masahiro sighed and reached for his duffel bag. He pulled out his Posh Mode magazine that had the Rina look-alike model on the cover. He winked and flashed the cover page at Kaito once more. "I'm going to sacrifice my wonderful face in order for me to convince her to be our beach babe for the beauty pageant, Kaito. I can take any girl's sack on the face anytime!"

"Don't kill yourself, Hamasaki." Kaito grinned and waved at his bespectacled buddy as he stood up from his spot and approach the stage where Rina was busy setting up their instruments on their newly-assembled mini-stage.

As Masahiro approached the stage, Kaito decided to return to the stage area and continue his premiere moment with the one and only girl in his homeroom class whom he never spoke openly. To Kaito, Lucia was completely different from all the girls he met and the girls he chose to date for one week. She was certainly different from Hanon Houshou and sighed in relief that Lucia was still her own person. Just as he was about to get up he was caught by Michal, who just returned from her private tutoring spot with a smile on her face.

"Oh Kaito--- where are you going?"

Kaito turned his head and spotted Michal approaching him. "Michal, what about your private tutoring?"

"I can't concentrate whenever you're not around, Kaito." Michal frowned sadly and gazed right up at his face lovingly. "Don't you understand that true love actually helps a person gain more confidence in doing better with everything? Just the thought of you really helps me boost up my motivation to study and work harder, you know?"

"Michal, I'm just gonna be at the stage area because Hamasaki may need backup with his assigned task with one of the band members there. I'm not gonna leave the beach or anything. Just chill and go back to your studying or else I'll get in trouble with your brother, okay?"

Michal sighed deeply and gazed down. "Why is it that between my brother and me you trust my brother more? It's not like I get in to trouble all the time or anything or that I get bad grades. Why won't you let me be a normal teen girl for once, you know? I want to experience beach life like you and Rihito too!"

Kaito tried to keep his cool without getting annoyed by the girl who was obviously in to him. He was not even surprised anymore if any of his closest female friends also were secretly having crushes on him. Michal was another girl different and like Lucia she is another nice girl who seems to have a focus in her life, which was why he was being cautious.

"Okay, Michal. Want to come with me to the stage so we can back up Hamasaki while talking to your brother too?"

"What? No way!" Michal exclaimed with her arms crossed. "Is that all you're going to do? Just go there to talk to my brother and help Hamasaki? Why didn't you tell me! I'm really worrying about nothing!" She chuckled in relief as she waved towards Kaito. "Well, sorry to make you worry! I'm going back to study now!" She left Kaito standing while the surfer boy sighed in relief at the same time.

No, not talking to your brother or back up Masahiro Hamasaki, Michal. I want to talk to Lucia... alone...

He made his way to the stage area for a chance to speak to Lucia again. In the meantime Gaito and Sara, along with the three newly-formed surfer girls Coco, Caren, and Noel, looked on at Kaito approaching the stage area where the OC-5 band were setting up. The three girls snickered and turned to the couple.

"So, did Kaito ever talk to you guys about his love life?" Coco asked curiously with enthusiasm.

"He's got a love life? Really?" Sara responded with a slight snicker on her face. "I never knew Kaito can be sensitive too..."

"Don't count on it," Gaito joined in the snickering. "Kaito would only be sensitive if it involves the dangers of surfing or the ocean in general. Why are you ladies look rather hopeful? He's not gonna get a permanent girlfriend soon..."

"Okay, I know we're not supposed to tell you guys about all this but since we're all teammates and we're all cool and everything we'll tell you anyway!" Caren giggled happily while Coco and Noel gazed at the daffy girl with raised eyebrows.

"Caren, there is a reason why it's called a secret," Noel answered with a sigh. "Okay, a certain person from Pearl Waters is in love with Kaito--- but before you say that's nothing new, this girl is different. She's got a lot of reasons why she's head over heels on that kid and they are very personal, deep reasons."

Sara rubbed her chin in contemplative mode while gazing at Kaito at the stage area. Then she spotted Kaito climbing over the stage and greeted Lucia while the girl was gathering the wires of her rhythm guitar. She smiled to herself and turned to the girls. "Does this girl happen to have have medium-length blonde hair, brown eyes, a cute smile, and is inches shorter than Kaito?"

"Hm...?"

The rest of the group snapped their heads to the stage area where they spot Kaito and Lucia talking on stage once more. Also on that stage they find Hippo warming up his drumming by beating his drumsticks together while Taro and Rihito were discussing the songs they were going to play. At the opposite side of the stage from Lucia and Kaito were Masahiro and Rina discussing about the beauty pageant portion of the tournament.

Rina still had the same reaction as she did the other day when Masahiro made the fashion model cover girl remark the first time they spoke to each other at first. Masahiro anticipated that he would get the same uncertain reaction from the school's biggest tomboy which was why he presented her this month's issue of Posh Mode magazine with the cover of the look-alike. Rina slowly picked the magazine from Masahiro's hand and stared at the cover.

"Wow... you weren't kidding..." Rina murmured as she observed the model on the cover. "Well... she does... a little bit..." Quickly she gave the magazine back to Masahiro and turned her head away. "But you can't possibly imagine me in that getup. No way."

Masahiro gave a concerned reaction and asked. "Why do you always say that? Have you actually tried wearing a bikini and looked at yourself in the mirror? Or even a standard dress?"

"Why would I? It's not like guys actually care about what girls think or what girls really want to be as long as they look... hot and sexy... anyway. Besides, I can only be me, you know?"

"I understand, Rina. But this tournament is coming up and even if the rules stated that the surf tribe would be the one to choose which girl should represent our town in the beauty pageant we all decided that you're the best fit. And besides, you're only going to show yourself at the beauty pageant. Afterwards you can be whoever you want to be and I'll leave you alone---"

Rina's eyes widened and gazed at Masahiro's eyes through his eyeglasses. "Is that how you surfer dudes are? Once you're done with a girl you picked you're just going to dump her like trash like that? Who the heck do you think I am, man? No wonder a lot of girls are hurting because of you dudes. I mean really, you're not just a bunch of players but you're serious heartbreakers too! You guys just don't surprise me anymore..." At that point Rina attempted to turn herself away from Masahiro and mind her current business.

"Wait, Rina." Masahiro stopped her with his hand on her shoulder and cleared his throat. "That's not what I meant. I didn't come to you so I can pick you up and dump you later. I'm here because we want you to be the one to represent us in the beauty pageant segment of the tournament. I know this beauty pageant thing is a stupid addition to the tournament but you're not only doing this for us but you're doing it for Nijibe. We want to sweep the entire tournament and without you we won't achieve that."

Rina turned her head with her arms crossed. "Yeah right. Sure I'll do it for Nijibe and I'll do it for you guys but what if I don't win and not reach your sweeping victory? What are you gonna do then?"

Masahiro shook his head. "If you don't win it won't be your fault. We may still win at other segments but it won't be a sweeping victory. Either way we should win something coming from that tournament and that still counts too. Besides, you may never know if you're going to be the one who will lose our chance of a sweep if you don't try entering. I told the dudes that I'll take care of everything if you do agree to be our beach babe."

Rina was still skeptical, but for the first time she was actually listening to a guy who claimed he was not there to hit on her. "I don't know how you're going to help me, Hamasaki, but as you can see I'm not a rich person's daughter like half of the kids in this town are so I can't exactly afford to buy a dress or a really nice bathing suit and all that for the pageant..."

Slowly Masahiro touched Rina's chin and slowly turned her head back towards him. "I said I'll take care of everything. The dress, the bikini or bathing suit, everything... the only thing we need from you is your talent, poise, grace, and most of all, beauty--- in and out. Sure everyone in school sees you as the biggest non-girly tomboy around but I don't see that when I look at you."

Rina fell silent and found herself in a trance from Masahiro's kind words. This was the first time that someone would actually say a lot more meaningful gestures other than her being pretty underneath the tough exterior. She felt that Masahiro wanted to know more of who she is as a person, not as a tough girl untouched.

"You're really serious about this, Hamasaki..." Rina murmured while feeling nervous all around her. Though she was used to having boys attempting to make passes at her somehow Masahiro Hamasaki was able to break through her barriers with just honest words and no flattery.

"I can't really tell you how much beauty you truly possess, Rina... but I want to show you if you would let me..." Right then he gave his Posh Mode magazine to Rina. "You don't have to look exactly the same as the girl on the cover. In fact, I think you would look better than this cover girl."

Rina gazed at the magazine cover and sighed. "I'll... I'll think about it. I'll let you know what I decide later. I gotta head back on stage and set up..."

"Keep the magazine. I have an extra copy. Take your time. You don't need to give me an answer right away."

"Thanks. I will." Masahiro waved and headed back to the surf crew's spot. As he walked off Rina held the magazine to herself and then her cheeks blush red. Masahiro Hamasaki... maybe you're not such a bad guy after all...

At that time Lucia and Kaito were having their small moment together, even if it was chatting about anything else other than themselves. Kaito knew he had to start some form of conversation to get Lucia's attention and he found it right away when he saw her pick up her guitar and connecting the plug to the amplifier.

"So, you not only sing but you play the guitar too." Kaito pointed out to the red rhythm guitar Lucia possessed.

"Not the lead guitar," Lucia chuckled nervously. "I can't do riffs as fast as Taro can, but I'm pretty good playing melodies sometimes. He and Rihito took some time to each me how to play because they needed a second guitar between the lead and the bass, so here I am!"

Kaito sat on the edge of the stage while Lucia sat next to him with the guitar. "Is there anything else that you can do that majority of us don't know about?"

Lucia smiled happily with her head slightly turned from him. "Mmm... that depends."

"Okay, here's what I know about you so far. You sing surfing songs--- even sing them from your head too without writing the lyrics down; you play the rhythm guitar and a member of the band that still has no name---"

"OC-5!" Lucia exclaimed happily. "We just came up with the band name earlier today, which is why we decided to rehearse out there--- to introduce ourselves."

"Okay, I'll add that," Kaito chuckled. "OC-5, huh... that's a pretty cool name for a surf band... Okay, so you're a member of a band known as OC-5; your family owns Pearl Waters; you live with your older sister and your brother who happens to be the drummer of OC-5; you're best friends with the school tomboy Rina Touin---"

"Oh come on, Kaito, she's not always that masculine. She can be girly too when she wants to be."

"Alright. You're best friends with the ultra-cool hot chick Rina Touin and later on former prominent Rainbow Pop Girls Hanon Houshou started hanging out with you guys; you're quite well-informed about surfing, the industry, and even our very own surf culture. You live practically at the beach as in oppose to across the beach, which makes you a surf bum. But for a surf bum... why do you always show up fully-clothed? This is the beach, babe!"

Lucia suddenly found herself blushing at the thought and quickly covered her face to hide the red. "Well I... I love my clothes, so what? I think I can get by with just a shirt and shorts!" She fell silent for a few moments and sighed lowly. "I guess everyone's right about you surfer dudes always checking out girls in really kinky bikinis whenever the surf's down... and the problem is that not all girls would look desirable in a bikini and it's unfair..."

Kaito slowly scooted himself closer to her and whispered. "Don't feel that way, Lucia. I admit, I like girls in bikinis--- especially the most revealing ones--- any guy would like them. Even if that was the case, I never said they're my only type. There's a difference, you know."

Lucia's eyes widened in surprise at first but then turned to a nervous chuckle. "Oh... well you have a point there! It's just that..."

Right at that moment Kaito gently touched Lucia's chin with his thumb and forefinger and winked. "This is your territory after all, Lucia. You can show up at this beach wearing whatever you feel like wearing. With just a t-shirt and shorts you'd still attract guys--- even the hot dudes, you know..."

Even guys like you, Kaito? Lucia slightly blushed thinking of that particular thought, then shook her head right away. "Well, right..." Quickly she changed the subject before anything awkward may occur during their chat once again. "Well Kaito, I heard from my brother that the waves will break about thirty feet in just a few hours. I know you're probably stoked right now, getting impatient and all."

"Stoked, yes. Impatient? Not part of the surfer's vocabulary." Kaito jumped from his seat to the sand.

Lucia chuckled shyly, nodding at the same time. "The ocean never loses its cool. Thus surfers shouldn't lose their cool too. The breakers will roll in soon. It'll come because the local surf forecasts predicted it--- and they're never wrong."

"Exactly." Kaito smiled along with his response. "Well, another thing I learned about you on my What do I know about Lucia Nanami? List."

Lucia stood up from her seat and laughed at his statement. "Really? What's that?"

Just as Kaito was about to answer he and Lucia were startled to hear numerous voices calling for his name. He turned his head to see Michal and a few of her friends--- many of them are from the Rainbow Pop Girls clique--- waving and calling for him.

"Looks like your girl friends are calling for you." Lucia reminded Kaito while still trying to keep her cool.

"Ugh..." Kaito frowned and gazed right back at Lucia. "I'll... I'll come back to you later---"

"Silly, I'll be right here with the band."

Lucia... Kaito shrugged his arms and waved at Lucia. The confident girl waved in return as the two part their ways for the moment.

There's no point to be jealous at all. After all, I'm doing this little by little, right? I think today I can finally consider him a friend... Even if he teases me sometimes...

She headed back to where the band was and all their instruments were all wired, set, and ready to play. Just as she was about to mingle with the rest of the band she spotted Hanon hiding nearby the rocks at the other side of the stage. It looked like she was eavesdropping but decided not to accuse her of that.

"Hanon? What are you doing hiding behind those rocks?" Lucia called down for her. Hanon felt a startle and looked up to see Lucia looking right at her.

"Ah! Lucia!" Hanon gasped and smiled nervously. "Um... how are you guys doing there with the stage?"

Lucia sat on the edge of the stage and continued. "We're done, actually. I think the guys were just tuning their guitars and stuff. We're ready to do our warm-up run. What about you, Hanon?"

Hanon slowly stood up from the rocks, showing herself with a rather sultry-looking sky blue string bikini and dark sunglasses on her eyes along with white beach sandals on her feet. "I'm actually hiding from Nagisa Shiroi... oh man... why am I being hit on by a little boy, Lucia?"

"Hanon, Hippo is a little boy. I think Nagisa Shiroi is close to being a man... I mean he hangs out with the surf crew now with the Doumoto Twins and the other guys. I think he's kinda nice---"

"Nice, Lucia?" Hanon frowned in desperation. "He's obsessed! Do you see him over there where those surfer dudes are? He's got that little girl hanging out with him and while she's talking he kept staring at me! What is wrong with that kid?"

Lucia chuckled and jumped from the stage to stand next to Hanon. "The boy's got a crush on you, silly! He doesn't look like the lecher type like most dudes around town nowadays. But what's two years, Hanon?"

"You're not helping, Lucia!" Hanon sighed sadly and lowered her head. "With him around both Taro or Rihito would never see me as a woman..."

"Um, I don't mean to burst your bubble, Hanon, but I don't think Taro or Rihito are interested in hooking up or looking for romance right now. Like the surf dudes focused for the tournament, both of them are very focused for... for the... tournament...also..." Lucia frowned knowing what she said was rather wrong and began to think.

"Well anyway, enough about me. Let's talk about you, Lucia." Hanon grinned and nudged her on the side.

"Hey!" Lucia shrieked. "What?"

"Kaito's What Do I Know About Lucia Nanami? List? Do you know what that means, Lucia? It means you completely caught his attention and now he just couldn't get away from you! I mean... I don't think he's ever said things like that to any one of his one-week girlfriends but since he's got that so-called list, it means he's interested in you! He wants to get to know you more. Okay, I'm just going to say flat-out, Lucia--- Kaito Doumoto is in love with you!"

"Aaaaahhhh!" Lucia shrieked in horror and covered her ears to hide her blushing red cheeks. "No no no... that can't be possible. If he really was in love with me then he would've ignored those crazy fan girls afar and just stay with me, you know? Well, he went to them instead of staying with me, which concludes he's not interested in me--- well not in that way anyway."

"Hm, you could be right, Lucia. Kaito hasn't exactly experienced how it really feels to be truly in love after all. He wouldn't know what on earth he's really feeling. Well, see, you're different from all the girls he got involved with so I'm guessing he wants to get used to girls like you, is all."

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far just yet, Hanon." Lucia gave a slight smirk and turned her head across from the stage area where the surf tribe including Kaito, Michal, and the girls were resting and waiting. "You see the surf tribe over there? Do you see Kaito and those girls? If you check out the younger looking girl with short red hair, that's Michal Amagi. I'm pretty sure Kaito can handle nice girls like me, Hanon. I mean, why is he letting Michal cradle all around him like that while the rest of the girls complain and begging Kaito to let them hold him like that? And on top of that--- his zipper sweatshirt is coming off---"

Hanon gasped and blushed right when she spotted Kaito almost shirtless when his zipper sweatshirt was slowly slipping down from him thanks to Michal's rather obsessive clinging. Lucia paid no attention to what was going on then and stared at Hanon's reaction to the rather tantalizing view of Nijibei's big kahuna.

"Ugh, this is so unfair..." Hanon sighed and lowered her head. "I know I'm so over Kaito but I can never get over his hot bod... the faint six-pack he possesses... I swear Lucia he is all man!"

Lucia shook her head and snickered. "You really are something, you know that Hanon?" Deep inside Lucia knew that she had to agree with Hanon regarding Kaito's perfect build. For a boy at a tender age of fourteen he looked a lot more mature than his own age in terms of appearance. Even if this was the case his clean cut body was not one of the factors why she fell in love with him.

"Lucia... I think I'm gonna faint... be sure to catch me when I do..." Hanon continued to sigh and blush staring at Kaito's now fully-bared body but also sighed in relief to see Rihito at the crowd moments later scolding Michal and warning the rest of the girls around Kaito to back off. "Okay--- I think I'm going to faint more... that Rihito hottie is the hero of the day!"

"Oh Hanon..." Lucia sighed deeply with her eyes lowered. Moments later from the stage, the two girls were startled right when Taro spotted them at the side of the stage.

"There you are, little cousin!" Taro called for Lucia along with a grin. "Why are you down there? We're ready to rehearse. Rihito had to take care of some things with his sister."

"I'm ready for rehearsals, Taro!" Lucia quickly climbed back up on stage while Taro stared at Hanon curiously.

"Hey Hanon, can you do us a favor?"

Hanon gasped and turned her head towards Taro and blushed once more. "Yes, Mr. Mitsuki?"

Taro chuckled and answered. "Can you round up the beach peeps nearby so we can have an audience while we rehearse? Oh, don't forget to put a towel around you. Guys would be looking at you..."

"Ohhh?" Hanon blushed even more and covered herself with her arms.

"Take it slow, Hanon... don't be too revealing. You're way too nice for that." Taro smiled and waved at her as he headed back to his position on stage.

Hanon stood in silence while gazing at Taro Mitsuki adjusting the strings of his guitar while Lucia did the same with her rhythm guitar. After a few moments of contemplation she began to blush even more with her hands on her cheeks.

My sweet Taro Mitsuki... you're so sweet and protective... but... you don't like me in a bikini...? But I'm a woman... don't you see me as a woman...? Once more I sigh again...

Hanon stepped out from the rocks and ran to all the people she was familiar with. While she was on the task

she bumped in to Nagisa also doing the same with the boys. "Oh!"

Nagisa gasped to see Hanon on her sultry bikini and quickly removed his zipper sweatshirt and placed it around her. "Nagisa--- what are you doing?"

"Guys are looking at you with dirty minds, Hanon." Nagisa warned her and forcefully placed her arms around the sweatshirt on her to keep it closed. "You don't know these beach bum dudes. Their perverted minds are a lot worse than Kaito's!"

With Nagisa's sweatshirt around her Hanon felt something else within her. She slowly zipped up Nagisa's sweatshirt to keep herself secure and not completely exposed. "You... you know that's my purpose of having a bikini on--- to catch guys!"

"Uh, don't you think I don't know that, Hanon? In my case you're attracting the wrong guys here and you deserve a lot better... seriously."

Hanon sighed in surprise. Who would have thought that even a younger guy like Nagisa would even be more concerned about her well-being in public just like that? He was a surfer boy and Hanon always had the idea that all surfer boys all thought of the same things thanks to her one-week girlfriend experience with Kaito last year. She even thought that Nagisa was a poser like most of the boys in school who dreamed of hanging out with the Doumoto Twins and the entire (soon to be formerly known as) Rainbowside Surf Tribe, but after this event she was beginning to see something else with this particular admirer.

"Thanks... Nagisa..."

"You better head on stage. I'll round up the people here." Nagisa gave a thumbs up to his crush as Hanon smiled faintly. She returned the wave and headed back to the stage area.

Nagisa Shiroi... I never thought you'd be like a gentleman but... you're still too young for me...

Meanwhile Seira arrived at the surf tribe's spot where she met with her older sister Sara, her boyfriend Gaito, the three surfer boys Masahiro, Daichi, and Kengo, and the three surfer girls. She announced to them that the band on stage was ready to perform for their rehearsal and that everyone present at the beach were being gathered around for a preview show.

"Well," Coco stood up from her spot and stretched her arms. "The Age of the OC-5 begins!"

Sara followed Coco and did the same to get herself in shape again. "OC-5? That's the band's new name?"

"Bingo!" Coco gave a wink. "They just came up with it earlier today."

"OC-5!" Seira exclaimed happily. "That's just so cool! It fits them too--- with three cool guys and two cool girls--- the name says it all! And Hippo--- I can't wait to see Hippo roll those drums like crazy!"

"Rihito Amagi's a genius with names like these," Gaito answered from behind. "Well, what are we doing sitting around here for? Looks like we won't have any luck expecting any swells at this time so we might as well get ourselves hyped with the band."

Sara stood up and pulled up Gaito from his seat as the others got up from their spots. Daichi and Kengo ran to the twins with hopeful faces to the Lake Twins.

"Um... we were wondering if you... wanna dance with us?" Kengo asked nervously right at Caren.

Caren gazed at Kengo with a grin on her face. "I prefer group dancing. What do you think, Noel?"

Noel shrugged nervously and turned to Daichi. "You don't mind, do you? Besides, the more, the merrier!" She turned to Caren and nudged. "Come on, Caren, let's take front row!"

"Okay!" The sisters dashed their way ahead of the group, leaving the two hopeless boys behind.

"Hey--- wait up!" Daichi and Kengo ran after the sisters from behind.

Masahiro walked right next to Gaito and whispered: "I think I may have accomplished my task for today."

Gaito shifted his eyes towards the tall, bespectacled surfer-biker. "What do you have, Masahiro?"

"I talked to Rina Touin earlier and I gave her my copy of the magazine. I advised her to think about it further and let me know when she makes her decision."

"You did tell her when the tournament is, right?"

"I'm pretty sure she's well-informed. I mean she hangs out with die-hard surfing fans, right?"

"You better make sure you remind her, Hamasaki. We don't want to waste any more time looking for a beach babe at the last minute."

Masahiro turned his head and walked backwards while facing Gaito and Sara. "I got this all covered, Gaito. Don't worry about a thing."

At that time as the beach crowds gathered around beneath the stage Lucia was just finishing tuning her rhythm guitar with Taro's help. Rina finally took her eyes off of the Posh Mode fashion magazine Masahiro gave her earlier today and began to test the keyboard that was just put up not too long after she practiced blowing through the mouthpiece of her saxophone and unleashed some portable percussion instruments from a small bar of bells and tambourine to small bongo drums she quickly picked up from Hippo's percussion skills. Hippo had been warming himself up by beating his sticks against a wooden beating pad rather than using the actual drum set.

Just as Hippo was getting ready to head back to his drum set he caught Nicola, his aunt Taki, and their part-time cook Maki approaching their way to their spot on the beach from Pearl Waters with excitement on their faces. At that time Nicola spotted Hippo and waved at him.

Hippo stood up and waited until the three reached the stage area. He approached them and jumped from the stage. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Don't ask questions like that, Hippo," Nicola answered with a chuckle. "You think we're not gonna watch your rehearsal outside? We can't miss this for the world, kid!"

Hippo scratched his head and raised an eyebrow of suspicion. "Well, it's kinda weird you'd come out here, Nicola... since you never really liked the beach and all."

Taki shifted her eyes towards her manager niece and crossed her arms. "This is still bothering you, Nicola?"

"Auntie, I don't want to talk about it," Nicola answered with her arms crossed. "I have exceptions too, you know."

Maki looked rather confused with the situation and patted Nicola on the shoulder. "Nicola, it's okay. I know you have your reasons why you've been avoiding the beach for many years now. I've known you since you were still Nijibe's Gorgeous Gidget and I always thought you were one of the coolest, bravest girls who lived in this strip of the beach."

"Maki, I get it." Nicola frowned and sighed deeply. "Please don't mention about that. It's one thing I'm trying to get rid of from my personal memories. Let's just enjoy the present, shall we?"

"Gorgeous Gidget?" Hippo asked in wonder about his older sister. "How come I didn't know about this, Nicola?"

Nicola hushed her younger brother and whispered: "Maki was just joking... don't mention anything about it, okay? It's a silly inside joke that he and I share..."

Hippo shrugged his arms and decided to ignore that tidbit. "Alright then, Sis. You guys enjoy the show. I think it's time for us to get---" Just as the young boy was heading back to his drum set both Lucia and Taro appeared at the same area, also looked surprised to see Nicola, Taki, and Maki on the scene.

"Whoa, Nicola!" Taro exclaimed in shock. "You're... you're here!"

"Hey guys!' Lucia waved at the three adults who just arrived. "Aunt Taki, Mr. Maki, glad to see you here! But Nicola... I didn't expect you to be here..."

Nicola frowned with her arms crossed. "What's the matter with you kids? Okay, so I'm here, standing on these warm sands of the beach. Sure I praise the beach across the street from us but I never really wanted to be standing here--- but then you guys will be performing even if it's rehearsals and I wanted to watch, so I decided to come out here."

Taro jumped from the stage, looking rather worried, as he took his cousin by the wrist and found an area where they can talk alone. "Be straight with me, Nicola. I'm family too and I'm worried."

Nicola patted Taro on the shoulder with a smile. "I wanted to see you and my siblings and your friends perform, that's all. I mean, what kind of a manager would I be if I'm not present and supporting the OC-5, hm?"

"Nicola, you know what I'm talking about. It makes me wonder if something finally helped you overcome your fear of standing at the beach. After many years of your screaming tantrums while we were trying to get you out of the house and make yourself more familiar with the beach again we gave up trying. And now seven years later you're back in the beach again."

Nicola lowered her head and sighed. "Even until now I'm still not over it, Taro. You have no idea how happy I was to see you living with us permanently. I kinda needed a big brother around the house and all."

Taro took Nicola in his arms and embraced her like a good big brother he was. "You're a cool and brave girl, Nicola. I remember how every little girl always wanted to grow up to be like you around town. You had no idea how much the entire surfing world cried along with you about the tragedy that happened seven years ago---"

Nicola immediately shook her head and closed her eyes, trying not to shed any tears. "Taro, let's not talk about what happened seven years ago--- and also, don't tell any of this to Lucia and Hippo. They were still young when that horrid tragedy happened and I don't want them to go through the pain that I've been going through even until now. It's unfair for them to break their happiness just like that. Lucia was already my age when the tragedy happened and Hippo isn't far back either. I want them to have a happier life than I did. That's all that matters to me right now."

Taro released his cousin from his arms and nodded. "Alright. Just remember whenever you need someone to talk to, I'll be around." The two cousins pumped each other's fist as an alternative to a hi-five and Taro climbed back up on stage again. Once he stood Lucia tapped him on the shoulder and whispered.

"What's up with Nicola, Taro? Is she okay?" Lucia asked with concern.

"Don't worry about her, Lucia. She's a tough girl. I think she finally overcame her fear of the beach."

"I feel weird sometimes having a cool sister who's afraid of the beach, Taro. I mean Hippo and I love the beach so much that we practically live in it!"

"Well, if you're worried about her, Lucia, let's do her a favor. Don't ask her about the beach or anything about your parents."

"Why would I ask her that? We already know how our parents died. I just wish Nicola would talk to me and Hippo more, you know?"

Taro patted Lucia on the shoulder. "We a got a show to perform, Lucia. Better get ready."

"Alright, alright."

The band members on stage finally got in to positions just as Rihito arrived on stage along with Kaito, Michal, and some of Michal's Kaito-crazy friends behind. For his sake Kaito quickly ran to where his surfer crew were standing to avoid being wrestled down by any obsessed girl he may end up encountering. He thanked Rihito for saving him from the crowd earlier when Rihito lectured his younger sister and her friends about respecting a person's request (which in this case was to leave Kaito alone when he asks them to leave him alone). Once Kaito got to his spot he noticed his twin brother Gaito snickering right at him.

"Well then," Gaito snickered while patting his younger twin on the shoulder. "This is what you get for seducing too many girls too much for your enjoyment."

"I wasn't doing anything, G! I was just sitting there waiting for the band to play and I was still gathering information from our special contact." Kaito glared towards his twin as he put his sweatshirt on. Because of the obsessive struggle with Michal and her friends the zipper of his sweatshirt was already ruined. "Man, this was my favorite sweatshirt too. I'll just have to have it sewn at some tailor shop or something..."

Gaito raised an eyebrow at him. "Just buy another sweatshirt or something. Hell you got too many sweatshirts in your closet that you barely even wear. Why have that thing sewn? It's already ruined---"

"G, this sweatshirt is a sentimental value to me and I'm not just gonna stop wearing it just because the zipper's jacked. Ever heard of this thing called saving your money?"

"Fine, fine. I won't argue, Kaito. You're more of a fashion expert than I am after all." Gaito shrugged his arms as the twins fell silent.

In the meantime the three surfer girls spotted their boss Nicola standing with Taki and Maki at the side of the stage waiting for the band to get ready. Like the rest of the family and those who were close to Nicola the girls were also shocked.

"Wow..." Noel gasped with her hands on her cheeks. "Was that... Boss?"

"That's Boss, alright," Caren confirmed. "No doubt about it."

Coco sighed in amazement. "This is awesome... is Boss finally overcoming her personal fear of the beach?"

Masahiro, Kengo, and Daichi overheard the surfer girls' conversation and decided to join in. "Boss? You mean the owner and manager of Pearl Waters, right?" Daichi asked curiously.

"Well, we did say Boss, right?" Caren giggled and nudged Daichi on the side. "You know, she's the reason why the Lake Twins and myself decided to work part-time at Pearl Waters. She was the inspiration of all Nijibe surfer girls everywhere!"

Sara joined in the conversation and nodded in agreement. "I wanted to work for Pearl Waters years ago because back then I used to have a huge crush on Taro Mitsuki. At that time I didn't know that Nicola Nanami was related to him and by the time that I finally decided to apply all the spaces were filled, so I missed out. Thanks to Coco and the twins here I found a lot of respect and admiration for Nicola Nanami. She's like... the coolest person you'll ever meet..."

"Okay, you girls lost me," Masahiro answered with perplexed expression on his face. "The only thing we know about her is that she's the owner and manager of Pearl Waters. We also know that she's also the older sister of the two Nanamis in our school, Lucia and Hippo. That's about it... but you girls seem to know a lot more about her. It sounds like you honeys look up to her... for some reason."

"You know Hamasaki," Coco answered, "if you do some historical research of this town you'll know."

"Heh, make us do all our own work, are we, Coco?" Masahiro gave a slight smirk on his face.

"We ain't your slaves, dude." Coco retorted with the same smirk on her face. "Do your own work!"

Kengo and Daichi laughed while Masahiro quickly glared right at them. Just then the two boys stopped the laughter.

"Hey, shhh!" Sara hushed them and points towards the stage. "I think it's starting!"

At the stage, all of the band members of OC-5 were ready to go with their instruments with Rihito taking the microphone and calling out to all the beach goers around. "Everyone gather around and give us a chance to talk to you beachsters and surfers of all ages and types!"

While Kaito continued to stick to his position next to his twin brother and Sara, Michal alone found her way through the crowd and found the love of her life on spot and ran to him. "Kaito... I'm sorry about earlier... it's just that... I don't like the way those other girls nearby looking at you like that---"

"Shh..." Kaito knew Michal just arrived but he had no time to deal with girls like her. But because the show was going on with her older brother talking he remained silent and listened to Rihito's announcement.

"Thanks for being here and I'm pretty sure you're all hyped and stoked to see the next major breaker like the one you all saw yesterday, right? Local surf forecasts today predicted a thirty-feet swell rolling in at our strip in just a few hours, so while you all wait for yet another major event let us raise up your stoke level with a quick warm up."

Rihito placed his bass guitar around him and turned to the rest of the band, waiting for his signal. He turned back to the mic and spoke: "Warming ourselves up we have a little jam called Pressure. Feel free to get wild if you like."

Right then Rihito backed from the mic and gave a soft three-second countdown. After the countdown was over Hippo began his short drum roll and the rest of the band began playing their parts: Taro on lead guitar, Lucia on rhythm guitar, Rihito on bass guitar, Rina on the keyboard, and Hippo on the drums. Just a few seconds of their chords majority of the beach enthusiasts began to dance along with the fast-paced, uptempo beat.

It was a pumped up surf rock instrumental! This intense sound was only for warming the band members up with their instruments? Anyone would think that a band would start their warm ups with something slow but a low-key band such as the OC-5 would do something non-traditional to get their audience to listen to what they were playing.

Michal cheered happily for her brother on bass guitar and then turned to Kaito, whom she caught him slightly bobbing his head to the beat. Right then she took a hold of his arm with a smile on her face. "Come on, Kaito, let's dance!"

Kaito slowly dragged himself away from her. "I don't dance-- hey, lay off, will you?"

"But you like my brother's music, don't you? Come on, if you don't dance he'll be upset!"

"Michal, you just won't give up, won't you? I just don't---" Before things can get out of control between the surfer boy and the daffy little sister of a fellow surfer boy Hanon appeared right at them and from out of the blue began dancing. "Uhh... Hanon?"

"Come on now, Kaito, you don't expect Michal to believe that, won't you? You were really hot when you dance the last time when you and I used to be together..." Hanon winked with a grin on her face.

"Uhh... that was different, Hanon! We were---" Before he can continue he immediately stopped himself knowing Michal was still at the front of him. "Girl, you can't expect me to dance to a song this fast! I'd have to be drunk or something for me to dance this fast. Besides, none of the dudes in the surf tribe can dance this fast anyway!"

Hanon snickered and pointed her finger towards the rest of the boys along with Sara and the three surfer girls on a circle, dancing their way through the fully-charged surf rock being played. "You mean that surf tribe, Kaito?"

Kaito spotted his dudes including his twin brother dancing wildly along with the girls and glared at the entire crew. "You traitors! What the hell?"

"Hey! Group dance!" From behind Nagisa and Seira arrived at their spots and found Kaito, Hanon, and Michal immediately.

Kaito turned to Nagisa and began to get down along with the beat and frowned. "Oh great... you too, Nagisa?"

Seira chuckled and nudged at Kaito. "Oh come on, Kaito, you were really cool when you dance--- I mean we've seen you dance several times during your nighttime parties at your place!"

"That was private!" Kaito continued to make excuses for his refusal to dance in public.

"But Kaito... I always wanted to see you dance..." Michal sighed sadly with a frown on her face. "Rihito even said that you dance really good--- especially when you're dancing with a really pretty girl..."

Hanon became frustrated with the situation and got closer to Kaito. "Listen, Kaito... Do you realize who's on stage right now? Lucia Nanami, that's who! She's rockin' hard with that guitar of hers and I'm pretty sure she'll be looking for you and if she finds you not dancing it'll break her heart!"

Michal raised an eyebrow of suspicion towards Hanon and turned to her. "Lucia Nanami--- you're not talking about my brother's boss' sister, are you?"

"Why? How many Lucia Nanamis do we have here in this town, hun?" Hanon stuck her tongue at Michal and continued to dance. She turned her head back towards Kaito who suddenly just disappeared from his spot. "What the--- where'd he go?"

"Kaito--- you left me again?" Michal frowned and crossed her arms in disappointment. "Kaito, where are you?"

Hanon turned her head towards Nagisa and Seira who continued on dancing and simply having fun. "Hey! Where'd Kaito go?"

Nagisa opened his eyes and noticed Kaito gone, then shrugged his arms. Seira looked around to find him and quickly spotted him. "He's over there--- right in front of the stage! He's... he's watching the band playing and... snapping his fingers... and bobbing his head... and tapping his feet!"

"Man, I didn't know you were the observant type, Seira," Nagisa made his remark at her description. Seira answered by sticking her tongue out at him.

Hanon followed where Seira was pointing and stared at Kaito slightly from his backside. He noticed the angle his head was lifted and where his eyes was directed. Just by judging by the smile on his face his eyes were fixated towards Lucia, who had just given a solo guitar rip on the second half of the song by lead guitarist cousin Taro Mitsuki.

Lucia definitely had a smile on her face as she played her part of the entire song. When it came to music she was always hyped and completely filled with joy. Just as she spotted Kaito right at the stage gazing at her her smile widened and played her best guitar solo for this song, even if this was just a warm up.

To hell with the dancing, man... the only thing that matters here is the band! Judging from the way Lucia smiled Kaito felt that she did not have a care in the world if he danced to the song she was playing or not. In fact Kaito even wondered if Lucia knew how to dance herself since all she was doing was bobbing her head while playing her guitar.

A few moments later the song finally reached its end. Just as it ended everyone stopped dancing or getting wild with the song and applauded along with cheers and whistles towards the band. The band faced the crowd and bowed gracefully. Afterwards they stood back up and applauded along with the audience. Rihito took the mic once more with his gracious smile.

"That was Pressure, one of our newest compositions and yes, that was just a warm up for us. Thanks for sticking around and let us entertain you and get you all psyched as we wait for the big break of the ocean in just a few hours from today. We a very local band, all born and raised in Nijibe, bringing you the spirit of Nijibe's beach life through music. Our awesome lead guitarist is our future music teacher at Nijibe Junior High when summer's over, Taro Mitsuki."

Taro gave a small salute to the audience in exchange for the cheers, praises, and applauds.

"On the keyboard, sax, and portable percussion is the naturally talented cool babe, Rina Touin."

Rina gave a thumbs up to the audience and received applauses, cheers, and even seductive whistles from dirty-minded boys around, which made her frown and turn her head. Bunch of perverts...

"On the rhythm guitar and on the drums are the very cool sister and brother team--- Lucia and Hippo Nanami!"

Lucia waved while Hippo saluted the audience by pointing a drum stick to them accompanied with a wink. Kaito applauded loudly for Lucia while Seira suddenly fainted and caught by Nagisa before she hit the ground.

"Seira... are you okay?" Nagisa asked curiously and then looked towards Hippo and raised an eyebrow at him. He just pointed out his drum stick and she faints...? What the heck...?

"Last but not least, yours truly, Rihito Amagi, bass." Rihito continued, introducing him the last. "Nice to meet all of you. We're the OC-5--- Oceanic Crib Five." More applauding came and in general the faces of the audience all flashed with glees and smiles. "We're still warming up--- except we got vocals this time. Here we go with Surfer Set."

Rihito gave the countdown again as the band began to play. The bass player went for the mic again and began to sing while the rest of the band wait for the part for them to sing back vocals.

They go around the coast and there they have a lot of fun

Out there from the mountains slowly comes out the sun

And when I get a board now you can just bet

I'm gonna be a member (of the surfer set!)

I'm gonna take my money and I'm gonna put it away

And take every paycheck when it comes to pay day

I'm gonna pay a little cash so I won't be in debt

And I'll ride my board (with the surfer set!)

As expected the audience began to dance and some, like Kaito, bobbed their heads with foot tapping and even fingers snapping, simply enjoying this song that only Nijibe beach goers will ever hear. That was fine, according to both classical musicians Taro and Rihito. Their classical music training and composing skills helped them experiment and created new sounds in new types. Who said they had to be rock enthusiasts in order to write compositions as heavy and fast-paced? Legendary rock and rollers of the past all started as classical musicians anyway.

After the instrumental break, the song continued:

(Of the surfer set!)

Now I saw a longboard and the price is just right

So I'm gonna take my money and I'll pick it up tonight

And with a really pretty chick, I'll be sure to get

We're gonna ride together (with the surfer set!)

(We're gonna ride together with the surfer set... with the surfer set...)

After the song ended everyone applauded again as the band gave another humble bow. Rihito took the mic again and announced: "Well, I think we're warmed up now. We'll be taking a break now because in the meantime, dudes and dudettes, the swell's getting rapid again and it looks like our 30-feet monster wave has finally arrived!"

"MONSTER WAVES, DUDES! SURF'S UP, BABY!"

From out of the blue Kaito pumped up his fist and led the surfers (and the kooks) back to their spots, grab their board, and paddled their way out to the ocean where even the smallest swells can provide the awesome rides. For experts like Kaito, Gaito, and even the rest of their surf tribe as well as the three surfer girls, it was the 30-feet giant wave that they were after.

Lucia jumped from the stage and ran towards the shore along with the non-surfers at the same time. While Michal and the Kaito fan girls ran right at the shore itself, Lucia stood on dry sand knowing she would have a better view of the surfers, most especially Kaito, at the right distance between the wave and the land. After watching Kaito take on the 30-feet wave with everyone else behind him she turned around to look for her friends and anyone else she knew, wondering if they were watching this rather historic moment. At the stage she caught Hippo and Maki watching the waves with Hippo looking through his pair of binoculars.

Maki lent his earphone from his portable player to Hippo to listen to the live local surf forecast reports. After a few moments he turned to Maki with a curious face. "What's this that they're talking about?"

"You didn't know, Hippo?" Maki asked curiously. "The infamous Dainami-Oni incident that happened in this particular beach around seven years ago."

Hippo shook his head as Maki gently placed his binoculars down. "What is it? I don't remember anything about a... Dainami-whatever you just said."

Maki turned to the side of the stage to find Taki standing, watching at the waves with slightly fearful expression. Nicola was nowhere to be found. "Looks like Nicola already left..."

Hippo still looked perplexed at what the surf forecasts were discussing on the air and turned back to the direction of Pearl Waters. At the third floor balcony he spotted Nicola staring towards the sea with both fearful and worried eyes. Maki patted Hippo on the shoulder right on the spot.

"I think you need to take a trip to the library or surf the net to find some information about the Dainami-Oni incident," Maki said. "I think it's very important. You'll find your answers there and these answers are also a tie-in to your family's history."

"My... family's history?"

Maki nodded. "I can't say any more about this, Hippo. I think you and your family should take a break and sit down and discuss about this incident. I better head back and get the kitchen ready."

Hippo still stood completely perplexed while still continuing to watch the surfing action going on at the sea. While he stood there he heard someone climbing over the stage close to him. He looked below and saw Seira climbing up the stage slowly to meet him. "Oh... Seira."

"Hi Hippo," Seira greeted with her sunny smile. "Mind if I join you?"

"I'm just standing here watching the surfers rip the waves." Hippo shrugged his arms as Seira stood right next to him.

"Awesome day, isn't it? The warmth of the sun is just perfect, the atmosphere is happenin', and man... the waves are going insane again like yesterday!"

Now that he had someone to talk to at this point it was time for him to talk about this new piece of information Maki provided him just now. "Hey Seira... um... how much do you know about this town's history?"

Seira gazed at Hippo wondering what the question was for but decided to answer him anyway. "Whatever I learned from school is all I know about Nijibe. How come you asked that?"

"What's this Dainami-what's itincident thing... or have you heard of it?"

Seira shook her head and shrugged her arms. "Never heard of it. Most likely because it probably happened when we weren't born yet... or maybe we were just too young to remember? Maybe Sara would know? Or maybe your sister--- not Lucia--- the older one--- ah, Nicola!"

Hippo gave a faint smile and nodded. "Thanks for the tip. Honestly I don't know why I didn't come up with that. On the other hand Nicola and surfing don't actually mix, but she's gotta know about this Dainami-whatever thing and what's it."

"Say, Hippo... are you going to play more? I mean you guys played two songs and that's like... not enough!"

"We're saving our energy for tonight's performance at Pearl Waters you know."

"Yeah I know. Hey--- what about our deal from earlier?"

"I'm about to get to that, actually," Hippo chuckled. "But Shiroi's out surfing right now. Better wait for him."

"Well, I'm gonna head out to the shore to meet up with Nagisa then. I'll see you later, Hippo!" Seira waved at him and jumped off the stage.

Hippo then turned to Rihito and Taro who were discussing which songs they needed to rehearse while they were out at the beach. Seeing the two young men he figured that both of them must know about this particular incident. He approached them and interrupted.

"Uh, sorry to bug you big dudes but I gotta ask you guys something."

Rihito and Taro looked up to see Hippo standing between them. "Sure, what's up, little dude?" Rihito asked curiously.

"Have you guys heard about this... uhh... how the hell do you say this... uhh... Dai... na... Dynamo? No, not that... well it sounds like that..."

"Uh, could you be more clear on that, Hippo?" Rihito asked, looking confused as ever.

"Dainami-Oni... isn't it, Hippo?" From the side Taro answered the young boy's question.

"Ah! So you've heard of it!" Hippo exclaimed happily towards Taro. The older cousin gave a startled expression and avoided the subject as much as he can by slightly turning his head away.

"Uh... not really... I just know the name..." Taro gulped nervously, not keeping any eye contact with his younger cousin.

"Hey! I know that look, Cuz--- you do know something about the incident!"

Taro slowly backed out from the boy and answered: "Okay, you got me, but I'm not at liberty to talk about it... It's a very sensitive subject matter!"

"It's this town's history, dude! Why not? I heard from the surf forecasts about possible signs of this Dainamo-what's itbased on the increasing measurement of the breakers as of late and Maki had to remind me about it. I mean people would talk about some brutal murder cases and other criminal cases that happened here but no one wants to talk about this thing?"

Taro sighed and lowered his head. "I guess you really don't know... Nicola never told you... or Lucia even?" Hippo shook his head with concern. "Hippo, if you're concerned about this... why not do some research or something before you start confronting about Nicola about it?"

Hippo frowned in disappointment and crossed his arms. "Fine... I guess I'll check it out later online or something..."

A few hours passed and it was almost noon at the strip and Pearl Waters was ready to open for the lunch hour up until late night. OC-5 continued their rehearsals with more instrumentals. Taro and Rihito decided they would do the vocal jams at tonight's performance even after Lucia requested Rihito if she can sing a song per Kaito's request earlier that morning. Rihito did not mind having the other members have a chance to sing but he also had another advertising strategy.

"Thanks for coming, everyone, and thanks for giving us a chance to make your morning at the beach rockin' and swingin'! We're done for the day here but if you really enjoyed our preview show and you want to see more of us, come over to Pearl Waters tonight at seven o'clock sharp! We're not starting before that time or even a few minutes after that time. We're starting at that time--- sharp! If you guys got any questions about us, our music, or even directions to get to Pearl Waters come on over and ask any one of us. But if you spend the entire day at the beach, even better. Pearl Waters is just across the street from the beach! Again, thank you all and we hope to see you tonight at Pearl Waters when you do!"

Almost every single beach goer applauded with excitement and enthusiasm that many of them came up to stage to talk to Rihito and Taro. Rina, Lucia, and Hippo began tearing down the set and bring them back to the restaurant and set them again at the actual stage. Just as the three began cleaning up a few of their friends came by with excited faces.

"You guys seriously rock!" Hanon exclaimed happily which caught the attention of the three on stage. "No kidding... I'm not just sucking up to you guys--- you guys just rule like that!"

"Thanks," Rina chuckled. "Well, I was kinda nervous out here earlier but everything went fine. We didn't mess up or stumble or anything."

"There's no doubt about it!" From behind Hanon the three surfer girls arrived, all wet and pumped, along with their surfboards in their arms. Coco continued on with her thoughts. "So, check this out, guys. Sara helped bridge the gap between us girls and the surf tribe and now we're one surfing team now. The girls and I are going to compete for the girls' surfing competition of the tournament. It's gonna be a lot of fun and seriously competitive!"

"And all that the dudes need is a surf band and whoever's insane enough who'd want to partner up for the tandem surfing contest and then the Nijibe surf team would be good to go and enter that upcoming tournament!" Caren snickered with a wink of her eye.

"Oh! Now that you guys are here!" Hippo dashed quickly to the group with an anxious expression. "Give me some info about a particular historical event that happened in this town!"

The girls stared at Hippo looking confused when Noel answered. "Sure, Hippo? What is it that you need?"

"Have you guys heard of Dainami-Oni?"

Lucia turned to Hippo with a blank face. "What did you say?"

"Dainami-Oni... I just heard of this term earlier during the life surf forecast news on the radio today. It's really important for me to know what it is..."

Coco, Caren, and Noel stared at each other with confused looks while Hanon and Rina also stared at each other confused as well. They looked up towards Hippo and shrugged their arms with heads shaking.

"Sorry, dude... I don't think we've heard of such thing." Caren answered with a slight frown on her face.

Noel, Hanon, and Rina also shook their heads as Hippo turned to his sister. "Don't look at me, Hippo. That's the first time I've heard of it."

"Now I'm really curious as to what this thing is..." Hippo rubbed his chin and contemplated. "See, I wanted to know from anyone who lived in this town long enough about that thing before I ask Nicola..."

"Oh..." Coco murmured softly and lowered her head. "Well, um... I think it's best if you do your own research instead of asking your sister... See... it's this particular thing you mentioned that Nicola refused to talk about. I'm even surprised she actually came here to the beach after so many years..."

Just as the conversation was about to continue Taro and Rihito arrived at the scene with smiles on their face. Taro waved at Rina, Lucia, and Hippo letting them know that they have a short meeting. The three followed them to the other side of the stage as they circled around.

"Rihito and I spoke to Gaito and Nagisa just now," Taro began. "It's about this year's first annual surf scenes tournament and because this is about surf scenes there is a surf band competition. We're the only band in this town who performs surf music so we're pretty much the only option the surfers have to enter the tournament."

"Wow!" Lucia smiled happily. "That's so cool! We get to compete alongside the surfers against the rest of all the surfing teams around the region--- except with music! The turnout was just overwhelming earlier today and they seem to like us... so I think we have a chance to win too!"

Hippo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I meant to talk to you guys about this because Shiroi and Seira just won't stop bugging me regarding the surf band entry in to the tournament but it kinda slipped my mind for awhile."

Rina chuckled and answered nervously: "Looks I'll have to compete in two events..."

"Two events, Rina?" Lucia asked curiously. "What's the second one?"

"Er, I..." Rina turned her head away quickly, feeling embarrassed to mention what the second event was going to be. "Well... the second one... it's not official yet... but I'd like to join the surf band competition, guys."

"Aw come on, what's the second one?" Lucia begged while Rina remained silent, trying to keep the beauty pageant segment a secret to herself for now.

"Um... I'll tell you later, Lucia. This is more important."

"Aww..." Lucia sighed sadly with her face lowered from Rina.

Rihito took out a few documents that he received from Gaito after their short meeting moments ago and read what was on it. "So, Gaito provided us some copies of the rules and regulations regarding the surf band contest segment of the tournament. There's a limit of seven members that consists an ideal surf band. We have to perform seven songs total with equal distribution of instrumentals and vocals and one extra from either one of the categories. I've got enough instrumentals that Taro and I wrote back in college so we don't have a problem with that part. I haven't spent time composing vocal-contained tracks as much so we'll have to come up with these vocal songs. One of the vocals, it said here, has to be a summer or beach-style love ballad. Hm... never wrote one of those before..."

Rina nudged Lucia with a smile on her face. "You'll cover that summer or beach-style love ballad part, Lucia. That's your department right there!"

Lucia gave a short smile and shrugged. "Well, I'll do my best, Rina... although I gotta admit that most of the stuff I composed in my head are all... love declarations..."

"Gee... I wonder why..." Rina snickered while Lucia hushed her immediately.

"So, what we need from you band members is your okay for us to agree and have our band name entered in the surf tribe's entry in to the tournament," Taro continued from where Rihito left off. "So, are you guys okay with that? Rihito and I are saying yes on this one. Now we need your vote."

"Yes!" Rina answered enthusiastically.

"Me too! I say yes!" Lucia voted cheerfully.

Hippo shrugged his arms and answered: "Eh... why not? What do we have to lose besides the championship? I'm aiming for a sweep at this tournament too."

"Okay... unanimous vote," Rihito confirmed and smiled widely. "I can't wait for the tournament to begin. We got two months to rehearse and decide which songs we're gonna play as our entries to the contest. At the same time we'll have to scout around other surf bands too to see what type of bands we're actually competing against..."

"Well, we got the entire month to plan out what we need to do to prepare, Rihito." Taro said with a nod. "Today was just a warm up. Tonight will be our first day of preparation for the tournament, so let's give it all we've got, alright?"

The entire OC-5 gave each other a thumbs up as they go back to tearing down their set. Moments later during the tear down Kaito stopped by at the stage area where Lucia was the closest. Lucia spotted him standing beneath and dashed quickly to say hello.

"You guys really ripped like the surf is getting ripped by surfers like us!" Kaito expressed his enjoyment and gave Lucia a thumb up along with it.

Lucia chuckled humbly and answered. "Glad you liked our first sneak peek of our stuff, Kaito. Sorry I didn't get to sing today."

"Well, I heard you'll be singing tonight anyway so I can wait."

Lucia sat on the edge of the stage, facing him. "So you guys are planning to come to Pearl Waters tonight?"

Kaito nodded. "I didn't get my song from you today so obviously I'd expect a song from you tonight."

"You demand too much, dude. I thought impatience isn't part of a surfer's vocabulary." The two teens laughed at the remark.

Just as they were laughing Lucia caught the rather ripped zipper from Kaito's favorite sweatshirt and the laughter was over. "Hey..." Lucia jumped and immediately touched the ripped zipper from his sweatshirt, avoiding the halfway exposed body of his at the same time. "Your zipper's ripped... and you're wearing a sweatshirt with a ripped zipper? How did it happen?"

"Uh... love?" Kaito snickered with a slight humbleness along with the snicker.

"Are you planning to take it to a tailor or are you going to dispose of it?"

"Taking it to the tailor, man. I can't get rid of this sweatshirt--- it's one of my favorites."

Lucia chuckled and gazed at Kaito, observing his appearance, and slightly blushed for admiring his look with that sweatshirt on. "I can see why. The sweatshirt does look good on you."

"You got taste, girl." Kaito winked as Lucia let go of his zipper.

"You know, you can save a lot more money if you have your zipper fixed for free..."

Kaito raised an eyebrow with confusion in his eyes. "What do you mean for free?"

Lucia humbly answered with her usual smile: "I'll fix it for you!"

Again, Kaito discovered another hidden talent from this still-mysterious girl and added it in his personal What do I know about Lucia Nanami? List in mind. "You do tailoring?"

"You could say that. I actually sew handmade friendship bracelets and bead accessories. I make some part-time cash by selling them to people who may want to purchase them." Right at that point Lucia reached for her pocket and revealed her wallet.

"You sew friendship bracelets and bead accessories?" Kaito asked in curiosity. "Um... how long have you been making them?"

"Since I was seven or eight. My older sister Nicola bought me a sewing kit for a birthday present and I just started learning how to make them. Afterwards I turned it in to a side business--- custom-tailored and all that--- with only the best, high-quality materials too." At that time Lucia opened her wallet and took out a business card with the following information: Friendship Bracelets and Bead Jewelry by Lucia Nanami, with her cell phone number and an email address. She handed the card to Kaito.

"I noticed you wear a lot of accessories and some trinkets, Kaito. If you feel the need of a change with your accessories, try my stuff, okay?"

Kaito smiled and placed the business card in the pocket of his sweatshirt. "Thanks, Lucia. You're a life-saver." Right then he slowly removed his sweatshirt and handed it to Lucia for her to sew the zipper back in its right place. "You don't need to do it today. I don't mind waiting for a few days till you're done."

"Oh I'm pretty quick with sewing things back in their original forms, Kaito. Sewing a ripped zipper back on its original clothing doesn't take me that long. If you want you can wait at Pearl Waters when it opens or you can wait here while you're catching waves and I'll come by when you're sweatshirt's all brand new again."

Kaito turned around and noticed Michal and those same girls who attacked him earlier that cost him his sweatshirt's zipper were walking around the nearby area looking for him. The rest of his surf tribe were still out in the ocean surfing along with the surfer girls. He was tempted to go back to the ocean again but with the pursuing girls like Michal he had second thoughts.

"I think I'll wait in the restaurant, Lucia... if you don't mind."

Lucia blushed and chuckled softly. "No problem, Kaito." No problem at all.

They continued to chat with their usual topics from surfing in general to who's who in the surfing world and now the music of the OC-5. Somewhere nearby three strange girls had been keeping an eye on Kaito from the rocks with a pair of binoculars.

"There he is, girls... our beloved's twin..."

"Dang... he sure looks like him so much... but for some reason he looked a bit more boyish than our beloved idol..."

"Where is our beloved Gaito anyway? Ugh, sometimes I get mixed up between these two sometimes..."

"I know where Gaito Doumoto is--- he's out there in the ocean with that girlfriend of his..."

"Ugh... not fair! How can that girl just... march in our way to his attention and then steal his heart from us? She needs to die!"

"Hey, we're not here as murderers, okay? Besides, we need to find a way to get Gaito's attention and get him to listen to what we have to say..."

"I agree. The rivals will be arriving in town next week to train at the upcoming surf scenes tournament... the Seiyo Valley surf team is obviously the problem."

"I know what we can do to get his attention! We dance!"

"Dance? Idiot... he'd just laugh at us!"

"No, girl! I mean dance--- tonight--- at Pearl Waters! You know that band's gonna be playing tonight, right?"

"Oh... I see where you're getting at!"

Noon already struck and Pearl Waters was open for business. For the staff today was an unusual day business wise. They do not get as many customers during lunch hours as they do during dinner hours but thanks to the preview show that the OC-5 provided earlier today their music attracted the beach goers to having their lunch at Pearl Waters. The entire staff including OC-5 and the surfer girls were already at work, serving the customers in all different aspects.

At that time, Nicola was at her office where she sat with a blank face, resting at the same time. On her hands were two small trophies that had a gold-plated statuette of a surfer along with a surfboard and waves with it. She gazed at the inscriptions on those trophies and then gazed down at the open cardboard box. Inside the box were more surfing trophies from the smallest to the biggest. They were all fit to be displayed in a display cabinet but instead they were stored in the boxes for some apparent reason.

Along with the trophies were also certificates as well as a huge collection of news and magazine articles from various surfing-related publications from the most local to even the international. These articles though were all on one subject, which was the bearer of the trophies collected in the box.

"Ah, the good old days." Nicola murmured to herself with a small smile on her face while staring at one of the trophies in her hands. Why did it have to end this way...?

Just at that moment she heard a door knock and quickly placed the trophies back in the cardboard box, closed the box tightly and pushed it inside her small supply room. Then she fixed her composure and went back to her seat and gazed at her computer screen, which also had a browser open and reading various articles about surfing and upcoming surfing competitions in general.

"Come in!" Nicola called towards the door. The door opened and her aunt Taki entered. "Oh, Aunt Taki!"

Taki took a seat at one of the chairs in front of Nicola's desk and turned to her niece. "I thought we should have a little tarot reading sessions, my dear."

Nicola gazed right at her aunt while she quickly closed her internet browser. "Tarot reading? What's it for?"

"Everyone in Pearl Waters have been very surprised to see you present at the beach earlier today. For seven years you haven't even stepped on to the sand, not even at the beach across from us, and after all of that you're back there again. I have a feeling that there was something more to that than just you excited to see OC-5 play their music at the beach."

Nicola sighed and lowered her head. "Trust me... it's for that reason only, Aunt Taki. Why is everyone worrying about me all of a sudden?"

"We would like to know if you have gotten over your personal phobia with the coast, Nicola." At that point Taki began shuffling her Tarot cards and began their small session. "You used to love the beach when you were young--- I mean I still remembered that record-breaking moment you did when you were fourteen that made the surfing world rock in awe! That was the biggest accomplishment that you have made so far in your life, for me personally."

"Oh Aunt Taki... that exact moment was what I don't even want to remember... but it's difficult... not with all the memorabilia lying around..."

After shuffling her Tarot cards she offered the cards to Nicola and gave her instructions. "Pick two cards and place them on the table. Once you do I'll explain what they mean. Now, before that, a question to ask the cards: What made Nicola Nanami, who had been afraid of the beach for the past seven years, really made her decide to come out to the beach today?"

"Aunt Taki, is that even necessary?" Nicola crossed her arms and leaned against her seat, relaxing. Then she noticed the deck of cards different than the ones Taki used. "Say... those cards you're using are different."

"Oh, these are specially ordered, imported from Italy. It has natural elements, supernatural elements, and also images of every single Roman emperor in history."

"Wow... how much did you get them for?"

Taki raised an eyebrow at her niece. "Child, don't ever ask the price of any Tarot-related items. It's forbidden. Now, let's get started." She cut the cards twice from top to bottom, then spread the deck throughout the table. "Now, pick any two cards and place them on the table face side up."

Nicola followed what Taki instructed and placed her two cards face up on the table. Taki gazed at the cards to see what they were. "Hm... the ocean and a demon..."

"What's that mean...?"

Taki gazed at the two cards and contemplated for a few moments. Around three minutes later Taki scratched her head with a rather uncertain expression on her face. "I... I'm not sure... although this reminds me of that infamous incident... you know..."

"Dainami-Oni..." Nicola felt her teeth gritting with anxiety as Taki placed the deck together and decided to do another approach.

"Well, let's see what the third card on the top says." From the top deck she picked the top card and placed it at the bottom of the two cards Nicola chose, face side up. "The Roman Emperor Octavian..."

"What's that mean, Aunt Taki?"

"Hmm... this looks bad... very bad..."

"Well what is it then?"

Taki went back in to her contemplative mode and began to think of this for a few moments. About four minutes later she shrugged her arms. "You need to give me some time to get used to these cards... they're a little blurry to me right now..."

"Aunt Taki?" Nicola sighed heavily and lowered her head in embarrassment. "You come in here looking all serious with all your fortune-telling bits and you don't even know what these cards mean."

"Now be nice, Nicola. I'm very aware that no one in this building believes that I can actually predict accurately through my readings, but don't underestimate me."

"Aunt Taki, with the way you misread these things and couldn't even come up with accurate predictions with all the flops you end up doing, it's very hard for any of us to actually take you seriously."

Taki gathered her cards except for the three facing up and stood up from her seat. "Oh well. At least I tried. These are new cards anyway. Give me time to practice and get used to these..."

"Fine, fine..."

"Oh, also, Nicola. I suggest you keep those cards with you. In that way when I'm ready I can finally read what those cards really mean."

"Whatever..."

Taki exited Nicola's office as the young manager gazed at the three cards laying on her desk.

The ocean, the demon, and the Roman Emperor Octavian... and these remind Aunt Taki of that horrid incident? I better watch myself before anything worse can happen to me...

Nicola took the cards and placed them at the top drawer of her desk. She stood up from her seat and exited her office to tend to the open and busy restaurant and hangout.

---

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Sorry for the slight delay (though probably it's not really that late for some of you) with the updating. A favorite uncle of mine passed away at exactly noon on 3/2 (Monday) of pneumonia (doctors pulled the plug from the life support system that noon simply because there was no chance of him surviving when his entire body system was completely shut down). I have to cope through mourning and grieving with my family at this point and forgive me if this chapter isn't satisfactory enough for you guys. I know some of you want to see some things happening, but I can feel that this is going to be a long fanfic, so don't fret too much. You're not missing anything. I'll do the best as I can to finish this after several attempts of writing fanfics for other series and failed to finish them.

Well, without further ado, here are some notes:

#1 – Alchemy Hour is a surfer lingo that describes a surfer's content reaction after he rode the best wave he's ever captured. It wasn't just about "Yeah baby, that was the best wave ever!", but more in the lines of some kind of aura or atmosphere that the surfer experienced during his ride as something "magical" and "enchanting" that truly touched the heart and soul of the surfer.

#2 – Big Kahuna is a familiar surfer term pertaining to the local beach's best surfer of all the surfers who surf that particular beach. He's not necessarily the leader of the surfers in that beach, but because of his awesome skills and overwhelming smooth rides and his devotion to the sport, he is considered the big kahuna. In the case of my fanfic, Gaito may be the leader of the surfer crew of Nijibe's beaches, but Kaito is considered the big kahuna of these beaches.

#3 – Gidget is another surfer term for a surfer girl who is also part of a prominent all-male surfer crew. The word is derived from two words: girl and midget. She's not just any surfer girl, but this particular surfer girl is also a protègè of sorts to the coolest surfer boys of the beach. The term was also coined by Czech-American author Frederick Kohner, known for his Gidget: The LITTLE Girl with BIG Ideas novels back in the late '50s and '60s (which also had a TV series and a series movies based on the novels too), in which the title character was based on his pioneer surfer dudette daughter, Kathy Kohner-Zuckerman. I was fortunate to read this book because my mom had the original copy of it when she was in her pre-teens and I borrowed it from her years ago. I recommend everyone to read this book for all teens and even adults and experience the real deal beach life & surf culture during the early years.

#4 – Dainami-Oni translates as "giant sea demon". Since I haven't revealed this in this chapter yet I won't reveal what this really is in this chapter's author notes either.

More to come, obviously! Please keep the reviews coming! I really appreciate it! ^_^

RATED T for the VERY mild language AND slight adult situations.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch is © 2003 Pink Hanamori and Michiko Yokote. All songs used are © respected songwriters/owners. No copyright infringement intended.