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!

9. Secret Surfing Spot

RIDE THE WILD SURF
a Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Fanfiction

by Adrimarie

Secret Surfing Spot

TWO WEEKS DOWN, SIX TO GO!
(OFFICIAL COUNTDOWN to the Regional Surf Scenes Tournament)

Nicola, Lucia, and Maki stocked their supply room with all the food products for their business when huge cargo trucks came by to deliver their ordered goods. While Maki checked the inventory to be sure that all their orders arrived safely, the two sisters were at the supply room arranging the goods at their proper places with Lucia counting the items and record them on the manual worksheets. Thanks to the Pearl Waters' business activity for these past two weeks the business made major profits enough for them to do some minor repairs and retrofitting around the building, not just at the dining area and the kitchen but also at their living quarters as well.

This time they had enough money to order the freshest ingredients to present more items in to their menu. The family-recipe Seven Seas Coconut Shrimp Stew was a complete hit and even became the official favorite dish of the surf tribe. Nicola had been digging through old boxes to look for old notebooks when their late mother used to write any family recipes she remembered so she can experiment and practice these cooking techniques and add more items to their menu.

As Lucia continued to make count on the spreadsheet she ran out of space on the worksheet pad. "Hey Nicola... I think we're out of worksheets."

"Give me what you got. I have some more worksheet pads at my office. It's at the bottom drawer to the right." Nicola answered as she reviewed the worksheets Lucia filled.

"Okay, thanks!" Lucia made her way to the manager's room to look for a fresh worksheet pad.

Once Lucia arrived at the manager's room she found Rihito sitting at Nicola's desk working on the spreadsheets using the hard copies of the invoices they received, Rina at the open area of the office sweeping the floor, and Hippo dusting the furnitures. Though it was normal to see Rina and Hippo there but seeing Rihito working with the business documents and soft-copy spreadsheets was rather unusual.

"Rihito, what are you doing with the invoices? I thought that's Taro's job," Lucia wondered curiously.

Rihito gazed up towards Lucia and smiled. "Taro's out on a mission, so I'm doing his tasks for the day. Don't worry I've got some experiences working with spreadsheets before."

"On a mission? What do you mean?"

Hippo snickered as he sprayed some dust cleaner on the wood-finish bookshelf adjacent to Nicola's desk. "Some of the competitors for the tournament arrived last week so now they're here to do surf training so they can get used to the waters of our beach. Nijibe Central Beach and Kaigara Sector 5 Beach. No one from outside Nijibe arrived at Sector 7 Beach yet, so that's a good sign."

"Yeah, seriously." Rina nodded while sweeping the wooden floor with a broom and a dustpan. "I'd seriously hate to see any outsiders snaking in our beach and act like they own it. Especially those jerks at Seiyo Valley? They're gonna be so sorry if I see their asses hanging around across the street..."

"Well, okay... I know that the tournament competitors arrived recently, but what's that got to do with Taro?"

"Taro's out on a mission, I'm telling you," Rihito repeated, still finishing up the spreadsheet report for Nicola to hand in later. "Besides, it's no shock that other competitors would be hanging around all over the town to spy on their competitors, as long as they don't sabotage the opponents."

"So... are you saying Taro's out somewhere in Nijibe... spying...?"

"Spying on the competitors, dude!" Hippo cheered happily with his fists. "I heard that Seiyo Valley's surf band entries consist on two groups--- one actual band that does the instrumentals and some pop group who would the vocals. Kinda waste of money to have more than one unit in one surf scenes team if you ask me."

"No kidding," Rina snickered. "Does that mean we rule, guys?"

"Of course we rule, Rina!" Hippo exclaimed with pride. "We do instrumentals and we sing! We got the best songwriting team in this band alone! We're gonna seriously rock the competition out of stage, man! We've got hometown advantage, dude!"

Lucia chuckled as the other three followed the laugh. "Well anyway, I just stopped by to get another worksheet pad. Wow, we've got so much stuff in stock now after the profits we earned these past few weeks. We've earned so much and loads more people are coming to Pearl Waters too! I think it's because of the tournament being taken place here that's making Pearl Waters as busy as possible!"

"We need to hire more people then," Rina made her statement. "The more we get customers the more we're all gonna be overworked."

Lucia headed for the desk as Rihito scooted himself to the left so she can have room to look for the fresh worksheet pad. She searched the drawer Nicola specified but there was no worksheet pad found. "Okay... she said bottom drawer and it's not here..." She opened the rest of the drawers for the worksheet pads but they were still nowhere to be found.

"Okay, this is ridiculous... we can't run out of worksheet pads like that..." Lucia continued to search Nicola's desk until she stumbled upon a huge cardboard box underneath the desk. "Hey... what's this?"

Rihito looked underneath the desk and spotted the box. "No idea. It's probably office supplies or something. Maybe the worksheet pads are there." He stood up and aided Lucia by pulling out the huge cardboard box from the desk. "Okay... let's see what we have here."

The two opened the box easily as the box was not sealed. Once they opened the box they discovered something else other than office supplies. Scores of old trophies from small to big, framed certificates here and there, and old authentic photos were scattered through the box disorganized, which intrigued both Rihito and Lucia.

"What's all these...?" Rihito wondered as he reached for the trophies and the frames first before the photos underneath.

Lucia picked one small trophy and read the inscription: "Little Miss Beach Bunny Award..." Just as she saw the name underneath her eyes widened due to a jolt. "No... no way!"

Rihito gazed at the inscription Lucia was reading and read the name: "Cole Seahart?!"

"What?!" Hippo exclaimed in shock, overhearing Lucia and Rihito checking the contents of the huge cardboard box under the desk. "Cole Sea--- let me see that!"

Rina gasped at the same time and ran to the door and closed it gently. She turned to the others and said: "You guys better hurry up and put that box back under the desk before the Boss comes!" She peeked through the small opening of the door, keeping an eye to be sure no one was coming their way while the three snooped through the box's contents.

Hippo picked a medium-sized trophy and read: "Junior Gorgeous Gidget of the Year: Cole Seahart..."

"National Amateur All-Girl Surfing Tournament First Place: Shortboard Division--- Cole Seahart." Lucia read another trophy inscription.

"Junior Regional All-Girl Surfing Championships First Place: Shortboard and Longboard Division--- Cole Seahart." Rihito read a slightly larger trophy's inscription.

As the three read more inscriptions of each trophy in the box it was clear to the three that the trophies stored in the cardboard box all belonged to the mysterious surfing legend Cole Seahart. The entire room began to wonder what Cole Seahart's connection and disappearance was towards the Nanami Family. In fact, the first question that all four of them would ask was...

"How come Nicola has all of Cole Seahart's trophies and certificates and...?" Hippo asked the question loudly as he dug through the box and found a series of article clippings from magazines and newspapers as well as magazine photos and pin-ups. There were also framed photos of random surfers as well. He pulled them all out and gazed at the photos. The photos even made the ones present in the office a lot more startled than what they saw on the trophies' inscriptions.

"They're all... they're all... hey... this girl looks a bit like Nicola... and she's got a wetsuit on and a bathing suit on and she's even balancing herself on a surfboard? She looked really happy and cheerful then. But I thought Nicola hated surfing... or the beach even?" Hippo made a comment as he went through the clips and pin-ups. "I just realized something... how did Nicola end up in magazine photos and pin-ups?"

"Maybe that's Nicola's secret, Hippo, that's why she doesn't want us to talk about Cole Seahart under this roof!" Lucia gasped and made her theory. "Maybe Nicola and Cole Seahart were best friends or something? I mean how come Nicola has all of her trophies? Maybe Cole Seahart died and promised Cole she'd keep her stuff...?"

"Not all trophies are here... Most..." Rihito corrected the siblings. "Cole Seahart's trophy from the Regional Surfing Championships Tournament Female Division is missing... the 65-feet wild surf ride she made a record on that made her the winner of the championships seven years ago--- is missing."

"Well, still!" Hippo exclaimed. "How come Nicola hid all of Cole Seahart's trophies in her office? Something weird is going on here..."

Just as Lucia was about to make her comment Rina hushed the three: "Guys! The Boss is coming! Hurry!"

"Oh snap!" Rihito exclaimed as he, Lucia, and Hippo quickly brought back all the Cole Seahart memorabilia inside the box and placed it back under the desk. Hippo ran back to the area where he was dusting and Lucia opened one drawer and continued to look for a new worksheet pad.

When Nicola arrived she noticed the four just minding their own business while Lucia lifted herself from behind the desk. "There you are, Nicola! I can't find a fresh worksheet anywhere!"

"Hm? Really?" Nicola headed to her desk to check on the bottom drawer to the right. "That's strange..." She checked all the other drawers and other closets and cabinets around the office, but still no sign of the worksheet pads. "That's odd... I guess I ran out." She scratched her head in curiosity and shrugged her arms. "Well, I guess I'll have to go to the office supplies store later and buy some more."

"May I suggest something, Boss?" Rihito interrupted with a question.

"What is it, Rihito?" Nicola asked curiously.

"Why not purchase a netbook or even a Blackberry phone so instead of wasting paper using standard worksheet pads you can just punch in the numbers on a spreadsheet form and upload it in to the main system's database here?"

Nicola smiled and crossed her arms. "That would be such an awesome idea... now if I can afford to spend 40,000 Yen or so to buy one then inventory counting would be a lot easier and faster."

"I'll buy one! I'll donate one!" Rihito immediately proposed an idea.

"Rihito, I'm not paying you to work here and yet you still insisted to contribute something for the restaurant. It's unfair for me to let you do that when I can't even pay you---"

Rihito shook his head. "Don't worry about me, Boss. I don't mind spending 40,000 Yen or so for a small netbook. Consider it as a gift of appreciation for letting me work here for free."

Nicola was speechless and just could not say no for an answer. "Alright, Rihito. I guess it's alright. But I'll definitely keep in mind that I need to repay you somehow for your kindness."

Rihito finished what he needed to do and saved the file in the system. He still smiled at Nicola. "Well if you insist paying me back, take your time with it. I'm not expecting a payback right away."

"Thanks, Rihito. You really are a sweetheart!" Nicola patted Rihito on the shoulder and was about to leave the office. She turned to the others with a smile on her face. "Thanks for keeping my office spic and span. We're almost done with the inventory and we've got about three hours to re-decorate the entire dining area. Taro and I have been talking these past weeks and he still insisted we fill the walls with pictures and pin-ups of the region's greatest surfers as well as our prominent local surfers too--- All Nijibe-based."

Lucia gasped in awe and turned to Nicola. "You mean--- you'll also have Kaito's pictures on the wall too?"

"Ah, that's one thing I needed to ask you today. I almost forgot to ask you this. I would love to post Kaito's images on the wall at Pearl Waters too, but I need his permission. I don't know him that well but you're the closest to him among us, so when you have time later today, could you ask him and see if he's okay with us posting pin-ups and photos of him on our wall?"

Lucia felt her heart jolt through her. She felt a lot more guilty than ever. She had not spoken to Kaito for the past two weeks ever since that night. She missed him very much deep inside but at the same time she was a bit nervous and scared to face Kaito again after what she said to him when he made that one hurtful accusation against her. Though that may be the case she was relieved that she was able to finish the zipper re-stitching of his favorite sweatshirt last night. She made sure it was tight, clean, and secure that it would not easily rip from the main fabric. On the other hand, two weeks was too long to wait. She needed to gather up her courage to come up to him and apologize. She cannot afford to wait longer than two weeks due to the tournament.

"Sure. I'll go find him at the beach today." Lucia answered immediately. "In fact I should... right now. Since we can't really finish the inventory count."

Nicola smiled and patted her younger sister on the shoulder. "Don't worry about the inventory. I'll just ask Maki to help me out instead."

Rina raised her hand to volunteer. "I'll go with her, Boss, in case she chickens out---"

Lucia quickly covered Rina's mouth and smiled nervously towards her sister. "Um... what she meant to say is that she's gonna come with me because she has other important things to talk about with the surfer boys, you know? Heh..."

Nicola raised an eyebrow of curiosity and shrugged her arms afterwards. "Alright, Lucia, Rina. Make sure you ladies come back when it's opening time!"

"Thanks, Boss!" Rina was already finished with the floor and took the mop and dustpan out. "Come on, Lucia, let's go."

Meanwhile at the beach, it was another typical surf day for the surfers and the beach bums around. At the same time all of Nijibe's regular beach bums were occupying the entire Sector 7 beach, enjoying the morning sun and heat while getting themselves tanned. It turned out that the competitors who came from all around the region were assigned to have a designated beach for the surfers to train per team. This was good news for the Nijibe locals knowing there would not be any invaders or snakes muscling in the beach and cause trouble.

As of last week, Hanon had been hanging out at the beach with the surfer boys as well as Sara, Seira, Coco, Noel, and Caren for one reason. After she learned two weeks ago that Nagisa wanted her to be his tandem surfing partner instead of being the beach babe for the beauty pageant. Though she had no idea what on earth tandem surfing was she accepted Nagisa's offer anyway. It was only because she would get involved with the tournament with all of her favorite people from Kaito and the surf tribe to her friends Lucia, Rina, the surfer girl waitresses of Pearl Waters, and the rest of the OC-5.

At the same time Hanon wanted to know what was up with Kaito after he had not spoken to Lucia for the past two weeks since that night. While Gaito and Sara had been training Nagisa and Hanon the very difficult and dangerous sport of tandem surfing she also acted as a temporary bodyguard for Kaito against her former friends of the Rainbow Pop Girls clique and any hardcore Kaito Doumoto fanatic who may come near him. She tried to do the same with Rihito's younger sister Michal, but somehow Michal was able to bypass Hanon's defenses.

Lucia was not the only one who missed Kaito for not seeing him and speaking to him for the past two weeks. The surfer boy uncharacteristically had been wiping out constantly whenever he caught a good wave. His rather inconsistent rides for the past two weeks had been a major concern for Gaito and the rest of the surf tribe, but knowing Kaito for the longest time they knew that his focus was not on his ride but rather on something else. His best friends, Daichi and Kengo, felt that Kaito needed to have another one-week girlfriend to get himself going. Masahiro and Nagisa, on the other hand, still felt that his little moon stint with Lucia was what was in his mind while he was out riding his surf.

Kaito was not used to apologizing to a girl. He never had in his whole life except his late mother, his late grandmother, or any one of his aunts. Not even with this one-week girlfriends, Hanon included. He always felt that he was always right when it comes to relationships and that any girl he ended up with never really cared about how he felt but rather his looks and his skills and his reputation. He already knew that whoever he ended up with would leave him if he ever ended up losing his niche in surfing or if his reputation sank down. That was why as of late he was conscious with the girl he dated and gave him the limit of one week to get to know the real girl.

After three months of not having a one-week girlfriend he met a longtime classmate with a rather not-too-popular reputation named Lucia Nanami. Sure, she did not have the fashion model-type of look, but she was quite cute. He could see that she deserved a nice guy who would be good and loving to a girl like Lucia. But considering that she loved surfing and loved to talk about surfing he also thought that Lucia may want to have a surfer boy for a boyfriend. But in reality and in generally speaking, most surfer dudes were not exactly the faithful-type of guy. They would only spot their types of girls on the beach and in bikinis no doubt. Who would be a nice surfer dude who would be good and loving? Masahiro Hamasaki, maybe? He would be the type, but considering he may have a thing for tomboy Rina Touin his name was out of the question. And then there were his best friends, Kengo and Daichi. The problem with those two was that they would like to have a nice girl who wears wild bikinis at the beach and obviously Lucia would not be that type of girl. In fact, Kaito also did not trust any one of the two with girls like her anyway.

Kaito still had the guilty feeling for the past two weeks for what he said to Lucia. Of course she was not pretending that she knew a lot about surfing just to hit on him because she even sang about surfing and was even a member of a surf band so awesome as the OC-5. Why would she be singing about surfing if she was pretending she knew a lot about surfing? That was just plain impossible. She admitted she did not know how to surf because no one taught her how to surf, but at least she was honest about that part.

He knew that he was not doing well with his recent rides for the past two weeks because of his small argument with Lucia that one night. He admitted that he really did have a good time that night and deep within he also loved the surfer moon song that he and Lucia made up that night. What he wanted to know was why he was trying to be all cool and play things off when he could not even admit that he liked anything Lucia would come up, such as making up a song about the moon from their heads. In fact, he knew deep within that he liked anything Lucia was: She can sing, write songs about anything on top of her head, most especially surfing. She was knowledgeable about the sport of surfing spot on and he can tell that she does have a broad knowledge. She can even sew from friendship bracelets to minor clothing repairs and alterations. And like him during his childhood, Lucia can play the guitar quickly even if it was a rhythm guitar. There were other things he noticed about her. The girls he ended up meeting already made moves on him during the first few days of getting to know each other. All that Lucia did was talk about surfing, surfing, surfing, and more surfing. The song they even made up that one night was not even about falling in love but it was about the full moon with some surfing accent in to it. He did not recall her giving him some hints that she was interested in him. He could not even figure her out or what her real motives were. Normally it was easy for him to read what was in that girl's mind, which also included Hanon and most especially Michal. Sure, Michal was a nice girl and the fact that she was Rihito's sister, but the way she acted around him made it obvious to him that she wanted to be more than just having a little sister-big brother relationship with him. Though she was only a year younger than he was there was something in Michal that was missing that would probably hook him to her.

Lucia, on the other hand, her rather quirky personality and attitude with people truly shielded her innermost thoughts and Kaito just could not seem to truly read her. It was probably because of this fact that got him interested in her. Maybe it was because that they only had a chance to get to know each other for two days personally and even if the second day ended badly with empty accusations he still hoped he would get to see her and talk to her again. Normally when he would make accusations like that to any girl she would immediately admit to it, but that night Lucia did make a point then. He still did not know who she was as a person. She only knew her as a surfing enthusiast, a friendship bracelet tailor, and a freestyle singer who was also a rhythm guitarist of a local surf band named OC-5. That was the first time that he admitted to himself that his accusations were wrong, that he acted poorly right at her, and the one thing he did not want to end up doing with nice, simple girls like Lucia. He made her cry (according to Masahiro and Nagisa after that small argument anyhow), which also meant he hurt her feelings unintentionally.

At that moment while he continued to ponder about Lucia, Kaito maneuvered his board forward once the wave he was riding was slowly rolling down back to the ocean. He had to catch up to the wave's speed so he may end up reaching land. Just as he found the view of the shore from where he was riding he began to scan the shore to see if Lucia was there, standing still and watching him have one of his best rides. Unfortunately, like the last fourteen days, the girl he hoped would shout out Ride! to him was not present.

Where are you, Lucia? Why don't I see you anymore? And just with that thought, he found himself losing balance and the speedy wave rolled on him, wiping him out from his board.

"Ugh... not again..."

Kaito swam quickly to his board and clung himself on to it. He got on to the board and paddled back to the shore. It was another disappointing ride for him and he had nothing or no one else to blame for his poor ride but himself. Once he reached the shore he spotted Gaito, Sara, Nagisa, Hanon, Seira, Masahiro, Daichi, Kengo, Coco, Caren, and Noel looking very shocked right at him. Yes, he thought to himself. I screwed up... again.

"This is the umpteenth time you wiped out of your best rides for the past two weeks, Kaito." Gaito spoke with a serious tone to his twin brother as Kaito stood up from his board and reached the sand. He stuck his surfboard through the sand and sat on the sand, resting himself against the standing board. "We're getting a little worried about you, man."

"What of it, G?" Kaito shouted with a glare on his eyes. "Like everyone else in this world I'm not perfect! I don't always get perfect rides all the time!"

"Yo, calm down, dude!" Masahiro exclaimed as the entire tribe stopped what they were doing then and sat around in a circle with him. "Okay, I know not everyone else knows what the hell's going on with you during these past two weeks, man, but I'm gonna go ahead and take a guess."

"Me too! I'll take a guess too!" Nagisa raised his hand.

"Me three! Can't forget me!" From out of the blue Hanon also did the same as Nagisa.

"Oh God... This, I gotta hear..." Kaito shook his head and raised an eyebrow at the three.

The three blurted out their guess simultaneously right at the sarcastic surfer boy: "You miss Lucia Nanami, don't you?"

"GAH!" Kaito was startled enough to hit his back against his standing board, which caused him and the board to fall down on their backs. He recovered and sat back up to his original position. "What--- what the hell? Where'd you get that idea from? I don't have time to be all sad and missing some girl I'm not interested in---"

"Heh... talk all you want, man!" Nagisa snickered, nudging Kaito on his side. "But your eyes and your twitching body and even your soul are saying something else!"

"That's right!" Hanon gave a huge grin and pointed her finger right at Kaito. "You miss Lucia! Stop denying it, Kaito Doumoto! I can see it in your eyes! I'll even go further to saying you're even in love with her!"

"You read too much shoujo manga, Hanon... You need to cut that habit and wake up to reality!" Kaito retorted right back at Hanon for the statement she made. "In love? I don't have time to fall in love! Why the hell would I want to miss a girl who's a major fanatic of the moon that she'd even sing a song for it?!"

Masahiro shook his head with a slight smirk on his face. "Kaito, your moon excuses are getting to be really old. You may be slick and smooth around girls but you can't use the same trick on your surf tribe, dude. Even Kengo and Daichi here can even see that you're lying through your teeth."

"We do...?" Kengo asked Daichi curiously while his friend slapped him at the back of his head. "OW!"

"Yeah, Kengo. We do." Daichi grinned.

"Unless you mean to say that your codename for Lucia is the moon!" Masahiro continued with his statement with the surfer girls giggled.

"Oh shut up, Hamasaki! You assume too much about me. What the hell is wrong with y'all?"

Masahiro and Nagisa gave fist-pumps on each other with snickers on their faces while Hanon continued grinning. From out of the blue Sara joined in the conversation. "Kaito, there is nothing wrong with having a little crush on a nice and pretty girl like Lucia Nanami. I would call it irony and foreshadowing too. Sure you had your little flings with the town's hottest teen girls in the past but when you're in love with one certain special person, the entire feeling is completely different. That's how I feel when I think about your twin, Kaito."

Kaito raised an eyebrow towards Sara and then instantly glared right at his twin brother, who was giving a hint of smile on his face. Gaito spotted his brother's suspicious look at him and returned his reaction with an eyebrow raised.

"Don't look at me, Kaito. I didn't say anything."

"No, but I do know you're thinking the same thing as everyone else, G!"

Gaito sighed and lowered his head. "Alright. You got me. I also think you're in love with the Nanami girl, but I can't help it, Bro! She's perfect for you. I even told you beforehand! I had a feeling she'd make a perfect girlfriend for you!"

"What the hell... what are you all now--- matchmakers?"

"But you and her would look so cute together!" Seira giggled happily. "And when you do end up together with her you can have me have her hook me up with her adorable brother!" She giggled even more and began to daydream about her crush, Hippo Nanami. "Hippo Nanami gets so gorgeous and hot when he gets all sarcastic..." While daydreaming Nagisa stared at his ex-girlfriend friend and shook his head at her.

Unaware of who may be present at the beach there were a few people outside the surf tribe who did overhear a few of the conversation. The only problem at this point was that those who overheard the surf tribe's conversation were rather startled and felt a major jolt within them as they only paid attention to one statement they gathered.

"Did you hear that? Kaito Doumoto is in love!"

The rumor spreading began with the Kaito Doumoto fan girls whose devoted members had been disguisting themselves as regular beach bums sitting around and getting themselves tanned as long as they were close to Kaito whenever he was resting. They passed on this one statement to their fellow fan girls and without even realizing it this particular statement even reached the male beach bums and even right towards the Rainbow Pop Girls clique. The statement continued to spread from the Rainbow Pop Girls to the female regular beach bums, up to the point where the word also reached Michal Amagi, who had been at a secluded area of the beach studying with her private tutor.

"What's that? Did you hear that? Kaito Doumoto is in love... oh gosh!" Michal shrieked in surprise as she found herself blushing and covering her cheeks at the same time.

"Miss Michal," her private tutor called her, "you really need to concentrate on your studies right now..."

"But don't you understand?" Michal continued on with her excitement. "My beloved Kaito must be in love with me! I knew it! I just knew it!"

"Erm... Miss Michal... Surely without proof how can we know for---"

"Kaito is in love with me, you hear?" Michal gave the expression to her private tutor with a rather desperate look. The private tutor sighed and confirmed her assumption.

The word continued to spread and this time the word had escaped the beach and now at the street of Kaigara Boulevard. Majority of the females were getting excited with cheers and eeks hearing this particular rumor, knowing that it could be one of them and also knowing that they already had no chance to be with him. Apparently those who gathered that statement did not pay attention to the mystery girl's name, nor the reactions of the rest of the surf tribe at the same time.

At that time, Lucia and Rina exited Pearl Waters with Lucia carrying a large bag on her shoulder, in which her freshly-washed, neatly folded Kaito's sweatshirt and her free copy of Surfer Styles magazine with the award-winning Kaito Doumoto in action pinup that earned her brother Hippo a spot in their professional surf photography division. She appeared with her usual t-shirt and knee-length shorts with her beach slippers, while Rina appeared in a still plain white polo top but was now wearing denim shorts.

Just as the two girls were about the cross the street they were interrupted by the three strange girls who called themselves the Gaito Doumoto Fan Club with serious eyes on their faces. "Uhh... can we help you...?" Lucia asked the girls nervously.

Izuru stood in front of the two and answered: "Well, let's just say... it's more of like what we can do for you!"

Lucia turned to Rina and Rina shrugged her arms. Lucia turned to them and asked: "Who are you girls?"

"Oh!" Maria exclaimed and pushed Eriru out of the way. It looked like Eriru had been randomly dancing wildly all over the place. "Well, we are the official Gaito Doumoto Fan Club, but we are also his personal informants. Anyway, we have a short little message for you---"

"Our beloved idol's twin brother is in love!" From out of the blue, Eriru stopped twisting her body and giggled her message.

"Wait..." Rina answered curiously. "Are we talking about Kaito here? In love? Really?"

"That's what everyone's saying right now," Izuru said with a sigh. "Now the entire female population of this town are going bananas, thinking that the lucky girl would be them. But yes, according to the surf tribe's excitement with Kaito's recent wipe out problems for the past two weeks the surf tribe had determined that he is indeed in love with someone..."

"No!" From out of the blue Lucia exclaimed in shock while gripping on to the handle of her bag. "He... he can't be in love in just two weeks... he... he just can't! I know because he never falls in love!"

"But... but... even the surf tribe thinks he's in love!" Maria exclaimed in a rather hopeful expression. "It's about time too! At least our beloved Gaito has moved on and now has the lovely Sara Iria... it's about time the player twin brother finally gets serious about having a romantic relationship with someone."

"The problem is!" Eriru continued on with her babble and placed her arms around Izuru and Maria. "The problem is--- see--- whoever heard this didn't even hear who the lucky girl is, so now every single girl we've passed by are thinking that the lucky girl is themselves! This town is crazy!"

Lucia felt both fear and nervousness. Just as she was ready to apologize to Kaito openly she just had to hear this. Rina gently nudged her on the side and spoke:

"Lucia, don't think too seriously about this. It's just a rumor some idiot may have overheard from the surf tribe. It'll take a long while for Kaito to actually fall in love, since he has never fallen in love before and he'd been doing this one-week girlfriend thing for the past two years according to Hanon. Besides, you can't let rumors get to you." Rina placed her hand on to her friend's shoulder. "If you really want to find the real truth, then ask Kaito yourself. I'm guessing but I think you and he may probably have shared intimate secrets with each other already so I'm pretty sure he'll be honest with you."

"You're right!" Lucia said, clutching her fist at the same time. "I know I was rude and mean to Kaito those two weeks but I have to be brave!" It's more of like... I'm deeply in love with Kaito and true love also involves trust and belief. I believe with what Kaito would say instead of what the rumors say, simply because not everyone in this town knows who the real Kaito is...

"Well, shall we head to the beach now, Lucia?" Rina asked with a smile on her face.

"You bet!" The two girls headed across the street and right at the beach to meet with Kaito and the surf tribe.

Right when they reached the sidewalk pavement leading to the sand Lucia stopped immediately while Rina was about to walk ahead. Rina turned her head to see Lucia's back turned to her. "Hey! Lucia, what are you doing?"

"I... I can't..." Lucia murmured with her body slightly shaking in nerviness. "This is all my fault..."

Rina approached her and placed her hand on her shoulder. "What is it now, Lucia? I thought you're excited to see Kaito again..."

"I stopped coming to the beach for two weeks and now Kaito met another girl and now he's in love---"

Rina dashed in front of Lucia and placed both her hands on her shoulders. "Lucia, look up. Don't tell me you're gonna believe all that rumor crap now, are you? They're just rumors--- doesn't mean they're true. Remember what we talked about? When it's rumors, the best thing for you to know the real truth is to head to the real source. That means you have to talk to Kaito about it--- no one else except him, got that?"

Lucia sighed deeply and slowly nodded her head. "Now come on, snap out of it! Let's go." Rina placed her arm around her as she escorted the nervous girl right at the beach.

Once they got to the area not too far to the shore the girls looked around the area to see if there were any signs of Kaito or anyone else in the surf tribe nearby. After a few moments of scanning Rina spotted an area with surfboards stuck through the sand. She also spotted Sara and the surfer girls at that area as well. Quickly she nudged Lucia on the side.

"We found them. Let's go."

"Rina, I'm not ready---"

"Yes, you are, Lucia. Come on!" Rina dragged Lucia by the sleeve of her shirt as they proceeded towards the surf tribe's spot.

"Rina--- wait--- Rina!" Just at a short distance the surfer girls, Sara, Seira, and Hanon already spotted Rina approaching while dragging Lucia by her sleeve. As the girls meet up with Rina and Lucia, the boys still continued to tease Kaito with Lucia.

"Well, okay... I admit... Nanami's kinda cute but her weirdness still tops over her cuteness." Daichi made his statement, then nudged Kaito from his left. "But man, you better keep Lucia away from the upcoming tournament. You don't want those losers from Seiyo Valley muscling through our beach, spot her, and start hitting on her. Besides, we gotta protect our chicks from snakers like them, especially that Sakiya dude and that other dude who hangs out with him!"

"Ugh!" Kengo shrieked in disgust. "What's that dude's name? Kawamoto dude..."

"Johnny Kawamoto?" Kaito asked curiously.

"YEAH! HIM!" Both Daichi and Kengo exclaimed with disgusted looks on their faces. "Aside from Sakiya that dude Kawamoto's the worse when it comes to chicks!"

"Will you two calm down?" Kaito raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Sure, they're rivals in surfing but it's not like we hate each other and all that. We're all good sports... Though I gotta agree with you guys when it comes to the babes. Once they see some cute girl they'll go for the kill..."

"Our concern here is," Nagisa joined in the conversation, "Lucia Nanami can be one of those babes you're talking about, Kaito! Sure she's like... not much to most of us dudes but she can be a potential target to those surfer players, man!'

Kaito began to have some suspicion that the boys in the surf tribe may have something else in mind other than dealing with the rivals. "So... what exactly are you trying to tell me here?"

"Dude, are you like stupid or something?" Masahiro joined in with concerned looks on his face. "Unless you don't care, Kaito, we can't have our team contact be picked up by those guys. In other words, the only way for us to be able to protect Lucia is for you to convince those dudes that she is your girl!"

Kaito shouted right at his friends: "Why me? Why don't you dudes do it? Why is it when it comes to some lonely girl I have to be responsible?"

"Oh come on, Kaito!" Daichi exclaimed in desperation. "All of us are taken, man! Your twin's got Sara, Hamasaki's got the Touin tomboy, Nagisa's got Hanon, Kengo and I got the hot twins--- or Coco even--- and you've got the entire girl population of this town, dude!"

"Hell no!" Kaito exclaimed with a frown on his face. "Not only that I don't wanna do it, but Lucia wouldn't be interested in this little game that you guys are planning on me either. Besides... I'm not exactly her type---"

"Really, Kaito?" Masahiro began to question Kaito's reasoning. "Do you know exactly what type of guy Lucia likes?"

Kaito found himself lost at thought and began to think. "Well... uh... not really... but with a nice girl like her I'm pretty sure she would want a nice guy for her boyfriend..."

"But Kaito, you are a nice guy!" Nagisa cheered with a smile on his face. "You're not like cruel and mean to her like how you treat your previous one-week exes except the ever lovely Hanon--- we all think Hanon's the smartest of all your exes because she actually moved on--- but aside from Hanon, we're talking about a girl who supports the entire surf tribe and all other leveled surfers here. It's not often that we see a non-beach bunny girl who'd run out to the shore shouting ride the wild surf, dudes! to all the surfers out at the ocean! I mean just that call gets us surfers stoked, man!"

"Man," Daichi sighed. "I'd love to get a girl who'd shout out stuff like that while I'm out riding my surf, yo! But in Nijibe, Nanami is the only girl who does that... and she's not exactly beach babe material, you know?"

Kengo turned to Gaito, who had been listening but not exactly joining in the conversation. "Are you hearing this, Gaito?"

Gaito nodded and acknowledged. "Yeah, I'm listening. I'm just not saying anything."

"Because I can tell by the way he's thinking that he's making fun of me too." Kaito added with a suspicious look on his eyes. "On the other hand, I'm not worried about Lucia."

Masahiro and Nagisa gasped in shock to hear Kaito making that statement. "What? You don't care about Lucia? You're cruel!"

"Yo! I didn't say that to be cruel, dudes!" Kaito glared directly towards the two. "I only said that because I know those Seiyo Valley surfer dudes. Lucia never wears bikinis at the beach and those two only pay attention to girls who do. They'll ignore her easily. And she's not helpless. She proved it to me before. She's not afraid of anything. And uh... if it makes you all happy... I like brave girls--- cute and brave girls... and she doesn't suck up, you know?"

"Aww... you boys still talk about that certain cute girl?" From behind, the girls returned, with Sara interrupting their small gossip. "And you guys say that us girls gossip a lot..."

The boys slowly turned to the girls, with Rina standing behind them and Lucia standing at a slightly further distance from them. "Welcome back, honeys!" Kengo and Daichi greeted them with winks on their faces.

Hanon giggled and stepped up front. "Oh Kaito... guess who's heeere!"

Kaito's eyes opened wide and quickly gazed right at Hanon. "Hanon, I ain't kidding this time. Stop playing around. I get it. You like to make fun of me---"

The girls turned behind and noticed Lucia was not with them. Rina sighed and found Lucia standing further from where they were standing. She walked up to the shy Lucia and dragged her again by the arm.

"Stop running away, Lucia! It's not gonna work this time!" Rina warned her as she continued to drag her to the surf tribe's spot.

"No, Rina... I'm just being respectful! Uh... I don't think Kaito would want to see me. I mean he's probably going to run away once he sees---" Just as she was about to finish her complaint she shrieked in a jolt once she saw Kaito and the boys standing right next to the girls. She continued to struggle to let her arm go but Rina's rather manly grip made it impossible for her to escape. "Rina..."

At that time, the two pairs of chocolate brown eyes of Lucia and Kaito found each other. Once their eyes met, a blissful yet invisible tune played all around the atmosphere. It seemed that the voices of the ocean, the waves, the seagulls flying around the beach, and the sea creatures sang an a capella that depicted the spirit of a budding beach side romance. This invisible tune made it seem like the two young beachsters had not seen each other for so many years. Even if that was the case, neither Lucia nor Kaito were able to say a single word.

"Hey!" From behind, Hanon shouted at the two. "Say something! We're dying to hear what you two have to say to each other!"

Rina nudged on Lucia's arm with a smile. "Come on, Lucia. You're even prepared for this. You two haven't seen each other for the past two weeks. Come on now... say something!"

"I... I..." Lucia was able to speak a few words, even if it was only one letter.

"Come on, Kaito, you're the man of the day, dude!" Kengo shouted from behind. "Aren't you going to make moves on the pretty young thing?"

Kaito turned to the entire surf tribe with an annoyed expression. "Do you mind? Only reason why I can't say anything and she can't say anything because all of you are staring at us! This ain't no free show, man! Now get out!"

Masahiro's eyebrow raised with a frown. "Yo, why do we have to leave? This is our spot! We can stay and hang around here whenever we want!"

Before things could get worse, Lucia stepped in with her nervous response and gulped nervously. "Um... maybe this is a bad time... I'll head out right now---"

"Lucia, wait!" Kaito called for her, which instantly made Lucia freeze at her spot. "Please... stay." He turned to the rest of the surf tribe and others involved and shouted: "Everybody else, leave! You got surfing practice to do!"

The surfer boys with the exception of Gaito moaned and frowned while the girls happily dragged the boys away . Rina patted Lucia on the shoulder and smiled. "Guess you're on your own now, Lucia." She turned to Kaito and said: "Take care of Lucia, would you? Go easy on her..."

"Rina, wait!" Lucia tried to stop Rina from leaving but the tall long-haired beauty called for Masahiro to discuss about the other event which she had not yet revealed to any one of the girls as of yet.

After everyone at their spot cleared out Kaito and Lucia sat at the beach blankets surrounded by surfboards stuck through the sand. Once they settled themselves, Lucia gulped nervously in order to keep calm and cool while being alone with Kaito. "I... I guess I came at the wrong time..."

"No!" Kaito exclaimed with his hand holding on to Lucia's arm. "Stay for awhile... I haven't seen you in two weeks."

Lucia sighed deeply and lowered her head. "I'm so sorry, Kaito. I was horrible to you those two weeks... I didn't mean what I said about you being... self-centered and conceited... it's just that..."

"No, you're right about that." Kaito interrupted and sighed. "I should be the one to apologize. I don't know what came over me. I know you weren't pretending to be someone you're not or act like you know everything about the sport I love just to get my attention. And you're right about me not knowing who you really are. I feel like a total jerk saying all that to you."

Lucia gave a small smile to herself and turned to him. "Kaito, thank you. You see... I've spent these past two weeks rehearsing with OC-5... and also... this..." She opened her bag and reached inside for Kaito's navy blue zipper sweatshirt with the zipper re-stitched securely and also freshly laundered, good as new. "After what happened I had a feeling that you'd probably want your sweatshirt back right away so I worked on it and made sure that it's sewn securely and that the zipper works and did some other testing with it. I thought you didn't want anything to do with me anymore so before I forget---"

Kaito slowly took the sweatshirt from Lucia and checked the newly-sewn zipper on the fabric. He even detected a faint light flowery scent of the detergent from the sweatshirt knowing that Lucia washed the clothing clean before she returned it to him. The like-new quality of the sweatshirt made the surfer boy smile and clung on to the sweatshirt to him. "Thank you, Lucia. The sweatshirt's like brand-new again and I like what you did with the zipper." He tested the zipper by opening it and closing it a few times. "The zipper's perfect too!"

"I made sure that everything's fixed and that the new stitch is tear-proof... you know... in case those crazy girls start ripping it off from you again..."

"Haha..." Kaito chuckled and placed the sweatshirt on his other side. "Girl-proof sweatshirt..."

Lucia joined in the laughter and slightly shrugged her arms. Afterwards the laughter ended and Lucia's expression changed. "I have one more thing for you... before I forget."

"Hm? What is it?"

She reached in her shoulder bag again for the free copy of Surfer Styles magazine she received from Hippo two nights ago and opened the page where the pinup was located. She already removed the pinup from the magazine carefully long ago, ready for an autograph. She pointed to the folded pinup. "Would you... sign the pinup for me? An autograph!"

Kaito took the pinup and unfolded it. He was amazed to see what type of pinup it was and just smiled. "Wow! I've never seen this one before... but I really like this one! I don't normally read surfing magazines myself but Gaito subscribes to them. Maybe he has this issue already."

"Well, Hippo took the photo and he submitted it to Surfer Styles magazine for a possible pinup image. I really like it. It's the best one I've seen--- not because my brother took it, but because it actually shows who you really are to the surfing world--- a world-class surfer."

"Man!" Kaito felt delight at the image itself. The shot of him with his 360 aerial really looked like he was flying up to the sky from the wave he was riding and the best part was that the image also showed just a side view of his face but the expression also showed how focused he was. "The colors really are vivid on this one... and just looking at the wetsuit I was wearing this was shot at the Northern Surfing Invitational Meet five months ago. You and Hippo were there?"

Lucia nodded with a soft chuckle. "We were there! Hippo took photos of every surfer from our town in action at that meet! He's really good with what he does but not very many people take him seriously just because he's a kid. The Rainbowside Surf Tribe rocked the ocean at that meet. You guys had the best rides ever executed out there that it seriously wowed everyone including the judges and all the rival surfers. Hippo took pictures of the other guys too and submitted them to the magazine, but you know how the media is..."

"Yeah, I know. I feel sorry for the other guys for not getting the credit they deserve, but you know, we're all cool with it. Most important part of surfing is that we're having fun with the sport and it's a lot more fun when there's more than one surfer in action. I mean Gaito gets exposure too but the other guys are only mentioned in text, not in pictures."

"Don't worry, Kaito," Lucia answered with confidence inside. "This upcoming tournament is a team sport, not an individual competition, so whoever sweeps the entire tournament the entire team will be credited--- and we'll have all our pictures together in the magazine with our names underneath! We may even get to have our own pinup with everybody in it! Then all the fans would be chasing us, wanting a piece of Kaito Doumoto, the beach babe, and the OC-5 and would ask us for our autographs! I can see it now---"

Kaito quickly placed his hand on Lucia's mouth to keep her quiet. "Whoa--- don't let your imagination run wild there, Lucia!"

Lucia giggled silently and placed her hand on her mouth, removing Kaito's hand. "Whoops... sorry!"

Kaito gazed at the pinup of himself surfing once more and smiled again. He folded the pinup and turned to Lucia. "Yo... do you mind if I... hang on to this pinup for awhile? Don't worry, I'll sign it for you. I just need to borrow the pinup for awhile..."

Lucia giggled humbly. "Sure. No problem. Take your time."

"Thanks!" He placed the pinup in his backpack securely and turned his view towards the sea. "I'll give it back, don't worry."

"No. No worries at all, Kaito."

While the two finally found their niche of their fresh relationship the entire surf tribe along with the girls were somewhere not too far from their spot hiding behind the rocks. Though Kaito ordered the tribe to leave the scene, who said they had to be present in order to listen to them?

Hanon looked rather irritated at the new conversation between Lucia and Kaito and turned away to face the rest of the team with fists tightened. "What--- what's up with this? Lucia and Kaito should be confessing each other's love for each other already! Why the heck are they still talking about surfing?"

Nagisa frowned with his arms crossed. "Seriously--- those Seiyo Valley players are gonna be arriving here soon and if they fall for Lucia they're gonna make moves on her--- Kaito should declare now that Lucia is now his girlfriend and she's not allowed to hang out with jerk-face gassers like Sakiya and Kawamoto, so yeah!"

"Seriously Nagisa!" Hanon sighed, agreeing with Nagisa at the same time. "What kind of a love story is this? A girl and a boy secretly love each other shouldn't be talking about something else unrelated like--- surfing! This is so wrong!"

Masahiro shook his head and sighed at the two. "You two are expecting too much from those two. Do you seriously think those two have strong hearts to actually come forward? We don't even know how those two feel for each other and we're already assuming their feelings for each other. Besides, we shouldn't delusion ourselves or else there's gonna be some crazy rumor that may spread around town about all this too..."

"Ahem," Rina cleared her throat, slightly shifting her eyes towards Masahiro. "Oh... I wouldn't bet on that... Hamasaki..."

Hanon and Nagisa turned towards Gaito, who was busy discussing with Sara their ideas on how their tandem surfing routine would look like. The daffy girl called out to Kaito's twin: "Gaito! You have twin telepathy with Kaito, right?"

"Hm?" Gaito raised an eyebrow of suspicion while Sara also looked up after drawing quick sketches on the sand.

"You know--- you should know what Kaito's thinking about Lucia right now!" Nagisa exclaimed. "I mean--- are those two kidding me? I can tell they really like each other like bad--- and they're talking about surfing?"

Gaito got up from his seat at the sand and crossed his arms. "Who do you all think I am? I'm not an eavesdropping gossip like the rest of you! Jeez, give the poor dude and the nice girl the privacy they deserve."

"Aww..." Both Hanon and Nagisa sighed lowly when Sara softly chuckled at their reaction.

"Besides... we don't have enough time to deal with other people's business." Sara made her statement at the situation. "Nagisa, you better start hitting the gym with the guys--- build up your strength or else you and Hanon would wipe out easily once you even start lifting her. And Hanon, you have an easier job--- just try to look cute, beautiful, graceful, refined, and relaxed--- and of course, you have to trust Nagisa to like you're both in love with each other---"

"Aaah!" Hanon shrieked and turned to Nagisa, who just winked at her along with a thumbs up. "You're kidding me--- Nagisa?! Do I have to, Sara?" At the same time she had one thought in her mind. Why Nagisa? How come Taro or Rihito aren't surfing? Darn, I wish neither of them weren't in the band... and why did I decide to do this tandem surfing thing? Simple, Hanon--- you're left out since Lucia and Rina are gonna be competing for the surf band contest with my beloveds Taro and Rihito and that kid Hippo too...

"Do you want to win, Houshou? You're not going to disappoint us now, are you?" Gaito smirked at her reaction.

"This is a team sport, Hanon. Think of it this way," Sara continued, "Nagisa is the surfer and you're not. But see, he'll be in control of your entire ride while at the same time use all his strength to make you look good on the air. I mean, doesn't it feel to look really good and everyone would be watching your grace and beauty? That's your task, dear."

Hanon gasped in shock to listen to Sara's advice and felt a jolt of energy quickly within her. "Aaah!" She turned to Nagisa and quickly took his hands on hers. "Do your best, Nagisa! Start hitting the gym and build those muscles! No pain, no gain! Work those muscles up 'cause you're going to make me look beautiful in front of the world! I'm so excited! Let's work together and win this contest! Tee hee!"

Though Nagisa felt blushing on his cheeks, his goals in mind was not exactly the same as Hanon's. "Right. I'll do what I can so we can be the best coup--- so we can win... yeah!" I was hoping you and I would get closer together and... well... After his brief enthusiasm with Hanon's encouragement he lowered his head and sighed.

"Then again," Kengo joined in the tandem surfing conversation with his own statement, "You know how biased everyone in the surfing media are. Kaito and whoever his partner's going to be are gonna win the tandem surfing competition, simply because it's Kaito, you know? Don't you get a little jealous or something when it comes to your twin, Gaito?"

From out of the blue Kengo's head was smacked by Gaito himself. "You fool! Don't assume what you don't know, Kengo. You may think that we're complete opposites for each other but he and I are inseparable. Jealousy? What for? When he's happy, I'm happy. And when I'm happy, he's happy. That's all there is to it!"

"Ah... I didn't mean it that way, Gaito! Sorry about that!" Kengo chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his head slowly.

Gaito smirked as his reaction, but deep inside he knew exactly why he devoted his life to Kaito's well-being. It was a simple answer, really. He almost lost him seven years ago.

If it weren't for that girl who saved him when that dreaded wave crashed over our boat... Kaito would have died and I would have been an orphan and on my own... I wish I stayed a little longer and took a look at that girl, then I'd be able to find her for Kaito and thank her for saving his life...

"Hey!" Daichi hushed the others at the back. "Kaito and Lucia are changing the subject!"

"Eh?!" Hanon and Nagisa exclaimed and headed back to their spots in between the rocks again. "No more surf talk?!"

"Yeah!" Daichi snickered with a grin. "The lovely songstress Lucia is finally going to sing a song!"

"A love song!" Hanon exclaimed happily and pushed Nagisa out of the way so she could have a bigger opening to eavesdrop.

Sara stood up and joined the others in order to listen. "Now Gaito, I'm only listening because I want to hear Lucia's new song!"

Gaito shrugged and joined Sara. "Eh, why not? It's just a song..."

Just as the surf tribe began to listen, the song coming from Lucia began...

We've got an early start

We're gonna have a ball

We're gonna ride the surf

Yeah, and that ain't all!

Nothing is greater than the sand, surf and sun there

I'm gonna ride my board just as soon as we get there

Stack 'em in the sand when the breakin's just right

We'll be surfin' all day and we'll be swingin' all night

Vacation is here--- Beach Party tonight!

"Ah!" Hanon shrieked in shock to hear that this particular song was none other than another surfing song. "More surfing...? Will anyone here ever get sick of talking about surfing?"

"No!" The entire surf tribe responded while glaring right at the impatient girl.

Hanon sighed deeply and made another complaint. "Doesn't anyone want to fall in love in the summer anymore?"

"Hanon," Rina called from the side, "not everyone wants to fall in love in the summer. In fact, not everyone wants to fall in love period!"

"Hey!" Daichi hushed everyone once more. "They're talking again... listen!" The surf tribe fell silent again and went back to their eavesdropping.

"So," Kaito continued on with the concentration. "You're not finished with this song yet?"

Lucia shook her head. "Well, no... I only had two verses down. I hoped that maybe we can have this song completed and use it for our contest entry in the tournament." She turned her head and curled herself with her arms around her knees, gazing at the ocean with the beachsters swimming, splashing each other with water, and others surfing or learning how to surf.

"That'd be awesome if you guys did. The song's kinda... cute... except no one's going to know what on earth you're talking about except for the surfers themselves... and enthusiasts like you."

Lucia chuckled nervously and nodded in acknowledgement. "That's okay. If not that song, I got plenty of songs to use for the contest. But one of them has got to be a romance ballad. I have plenty of that too."

Kaito sighed in relief right when he heard Lucia mention the romance ballad part. "So you sing other songs too aside from surfing?"

"Yup!" Lucia nodded with a proud grin on her face. "In fact, I have more romance ballads than those silly surfing songs, heh..."

"Is that so?" Kaito snickered and slowly scooted himself closer to her, which startled Lucia right then.

"Ah--- Kaito? What...?"

"Then that's the song you'll have to sing for me, Lucia. Forget all that surfing stuff--- I'll hear them anyway from the OC-5--- and sing me a love song."

Lucia felt her conscience breaking in to small pieces, knowing that most of her so-called love songs were all declaration songs. In fact, most of those songs were all dedicated to her love for...

"Y-you want a... love song?" Lucia gulped nervously, grinning to keep herself calm.

"That's what I said. I haven't heard you sing any songs that's not related to surfing. When will you sing a song like that?"

"But... I sang about the moon two weeks ago!" Lucia tightened her fist and attempted to gather as many excuses as she can. Oh no... he's gonna find out that I'm in love with him if I sing one of my so-called love songs...

"Wrong--- we sang about the moon two weeks ago--- or have you forgotten already?" Kaito winked with a grin on his face. "I didn't get to say this to you but... I... I like our moon song... and we need to finish it..."

"Eeeeeehh?!" The surf tribe gasped in shock at what they just heard and then turned to each other with widened eyes.

"Hamasaki!" Nagisa whispered softly on his ear. "He wasn't kidding about her singing about the moon... maybe he wasn't kidding at all when he said that he and she had an argument over the moon..."

"That's got to be the most bizarre argument I have ever heard about then..." Masahiro whispered his response.

Hanon dashed to Rina and the rest of the girls from Pearl Waters with a desperate expression on her face. "Okay--- did Lucia ever told you guys anything about a moon song? Honestly, who sings about the moon these days? Has everyone gone loony around here?!"

Rina shrugged her arms as well as the three surfer girls. Hanon shook her head and shrugged her arms. "How could you do this to us, Lucia... details... that's all we want... details... and you neglect telling us about your little moon song with Kaito?"

The girls hushed Hanon and to lower her voice down as the eavesdropping continued. All they heard now was laughter from both Lucia and Kaito after a hilarious conversation that the eavesdroppers may have missed. After a few moments the laughter died down.

"Um..." Lucia began to break the laughter with a subject change. "When Rina and I were on our way here earlier... um... we came by those weird Gaito Fan Club girls... and they told us something... interesting..."

Kaito raised an eyebrow and slightly twitched after hearing the term of Gaito Fan Club from her statement. "Yeah? What about?"

"They told Rina and me that you're in love with someone..."

"Excuse me...?" Kaito's eyes widened in a startle. "In love--- where on earth did those weird chicks get that idea from?"

"Well... they said every girl around has heard and now they're thinking that it's them and they're dying to know---" Before Lucia can finish what she wanted to say, Kaito placed his hand on her mouth to keep her from talking.

"Listen... um... if you really want to know if this dumb rumor is true... I can't tell you here."

Lucia slowly placed Kaito's hand out of the way from her mouth and spoke: "Not here? How come?"

Kaito snickered and decided to speak loudly: "This is the beach, Lucia! It's open ears here and the ocean has plenty of them! That would mean that everything we talk about here echoes out through the ocean and the entire beach so nosy people like the surf tribe and the surfette babes would be eavesdropping on us about we're talking about--- right?"

At that moment Kaito turned to the huge wall of rocks where he spotted bodies through the holes in between rocks. The surf tribe shrieked in shock to learn that they were easily caught. Kaito stood up and turned towards the rock. "Nice try pretending you actually left the scene, dudes! I can hear all your complaining and whining from here!"

The surf tribe slowly show themselves with nervous looks when Kengo answered for them: "You told us to leave! You didn't exactly tell us where to go!" Right then, both Daichi and Masahiro slapped Kengo at the back of the head once more. "OW!"

Lucia stood up and turned to the wall and gave a wave: "Hello!"

Kaito crossed his arms right at them and said "What is wrong with you dudes? We've got to get prepared for the tournament!"

Slowly the surf tribe turned their heads towards Gaito, who was still discussing their tandem surfing routine with Sara while drawing illustrations on the sand. The couple noticed they were being stared at by the rest of the surf tribe and gazed right at them.

"Don't look at me like that." Gaito answered right at them. "I don't know a thing."

With the complaints and the arguments going back and forth between Kaito and the rest of the surf tribe, it turned out that the surf tribe were not the only ones who were eavesdropping. Not too far from where the surf tribe were hiding earlier were outside eavesdroppers. The strangest part of this was that these eavesdroppers were not Kaito Doumoto Fan Girls (or Gaito Doumoto Fan Girls for that matter) or even the Kaito-obsessed Rainbow Pop Girls clique.

"So... this is the championship-winning Rainbowside Surf Tribe of Nijibe... what a bunch of gassers..."

"What makes you say that? They're just chillin' at the beach..."

"What? No surf practice? They think they're all that by just chillin'... oh well... we'll blow them off of their own home turf when we take over their beach and this entire tournament."

"Hm... that'll be tough. These Nijibe surfers--- they gots skills, man... especially the fearsome Doumoto Twins. Those brothers are unstoppable... most especially the younger one..."

"Kaito Doumoto? Oh yeah, I heard of him. He's good, man... he's really good... but then him not talking much makes him look like a gasser too... I've never heard of a top-notch surfer not bragging to the media, really."

"Oh well... he's going down this upcoming tournament--- him, his twin brother, his fellow surfers, and whoever else is involved in their team. We'll show them who's the real deal in surf scene styles, dude..."

"Whoa... who's that blonde cutie next to Kaito Doumoto? Never saw her before... I wonder if she's Kaito's chick?"

"Yo, stop checking on the enemy's girl... for all we know she's a surfer girl... or a member of their surf band... or worse--- a tandem surfer--- if she's any one of the three then is she's also a foe."

"Damn... too bad... but hey... maybe she's open... if you know what I mean..."

"Who knows... you know us surfers... we always love a good fling..."

"Yeah... heh... fling..."

While these mysterious eavesdroppers continued to eavesdrop, there was another eavesdropper nearby, except this particular eavesdropper happened to be inside his vehicle, staring towards the two mysterious eavesdroppers listening in the Rainbowside Surf Tribe's affairs. As this third eavesdropper listened to the plans of these two mysterious surfers, he reached for his cellphone and dialed a particular phone number.

"Hello, Amagi speaking..."

"Rihito, listen. Looks like we got spies hanging around..."

"Spies? Where?"

"At the beach... spying on the tribe, the girls, everybody involved in the tournament. This is gonna be a problem, even if it's legal and that none of them are ripping off our stuff."

"Hm... they may probably know about us rehearsing at Pearl Waters during closed hours if they were eavesdropping on our surfers. We need to come up with a plan."

"I'll meet up with you at Pearl Waters behind the building. You should contact Gaito to let them know. We need to find a new place to rehearse aside from Pearl Waters. I can't risk rehearsing here with those nosy surfers around. For all you know they're from the Seiyo Valley team or something."

"Thanks for the heads up. I'll let Hippo know too. I have a feeling this is also OC-5 related too."

"No problem. Will be there."

Taro Mitsuki hung up his cellphone as he drove his pick up truck back to Pearl Waters and parked at the back of the building.

*****

A voice of a fourteen-year-old teenage surfer girl cried out to a prominent and popular tandem surfing couple once they were able to take the ocean at a major surfing tournament that took place at the Kaigara Boulevard Sector 7 Beach. This was the highly-anticipated tandem surfing championships where the coolest, most beautiful, and the most recognized surf couples from all around the region gather together, not just to compete, but to wow and awe and entertain the spectators all over the beach with their strength, grace, beauty, and the true integrity of the sport of surfing. Surfing can be shared by two people, presenting their love, dedication, and trust to each other, to their fellow surfers from the singles to the couples, and towards the sport itself. Sure, there were the hotdogger surfer boys and surfer girls all surfing fans always looked forward too, but to the truest, most hardcore surfers and surfing enthusiasts all around, tandem surfing was the major event of every major open tournament, not just on certain regions, but in any country around the world who know what the sport of surfing truly consisted of.

The young surfer girl ran to this tandem surfing couple who had an important message to give to them before they paddle out on the ocean in order to perform their tandem surfing technique. She tugged on the male tandem surfer as she got his attention. "Please--- change your board!"

The male tandem surfer gazed at the young surfer girl: "Change our board? We already decided what board to use!"

"But--- the ocean conditions--- look at it! It's like there's a storm coming in! If you don't change your boards you'll... you'll..."

"What's going on here?" The female tandem surfer turned to the conversation between her partner and the teen surfer girl. "What's wrong?"

"Please!" The surfer girl turned to the female tandem surfer with concern on her face. "Please listen to me, just this once! I heard from Hi-Mack and T-Mack about the predicted ocean currents right now! I mean look at the ocean! It's roaring mad like it wants to wipe out the entire town! None of the judges and the officials would wanna listen to me when I asked them to postpone the competition because the breakers are just too dangerous to ride on. Please... please... if there won't be a postponement at least change your board. Use a tandem gun board!"

The male tandem surfer bent down to the surfer girl while the female tandem surfer stood behind the surfer girl and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Honey... you did wonderful out there earlier today. You've already proven yourself that you can take on the 'giant wave monster' on your own. You made us and the rest of the surfing world look really good. You've set yourself a record."

"Besides," the female tandem surfer smiled and gave a peck on the surfer girl's cheek. "If you can do it, your father and I can do it as well."

The surfer girl sighed deeply with more worry. "But that's just it! I was by myself when I rode that wild surf. And there's two of you--- plus you have to do your tricks too. I... I don't know if you'll make it--- let alone getting wiped out--- at least you'd be landing safely in water... but with that wave like that..."

The tandem surfing couple embraced the surfer girl with smiles on their faces, comforting their worrying daughter. The girl felt tears falling from her eyes when the male tandem surfer wiped off her tears.

"What did I tell you? No surfer cries no matter how much it hurts. You were brave out there earlier and I know you can be brave and strong when your mother and I are out there. We'll win this competition so we can join your victory today. Just watch us, okay?"

The female tandem surfer turned around to see a group of familiar young men from teenagers older than the surfer girl to the ones twenty and over. He waved at one of them and the young man about the age of seventeen or eighteen approached the female tandem surfer.

"Hi-Mack," the female tandem surfer called for the young man by his surf nick. "Watch over Cole when we're away, will you?"

The teenage Hi-Mack gave a one-finger salute to the tandem couple, keeping the promise. He turned to the surfer girl, named Cole Seahart, with a confident smile on his face. "Come on, Cole. Let's watch them at a different spot. Don't worry--- no 'giant wave demon's gonna slow the Seaharts down, right?"

"But what about---"

Hi-Mack walked up to the male tandem surfer and the two exchanged fist pumps on each other as their own call sign to the still living Rainbowside Surf Tribe and this same young man embraced the female tandem surfer.

"Tack and Tish Seahart..." Hi-Mack called for their names. "Make the Rainbowside proud!"

"This is for the Rainbowside!" The tandem couple cheered happily, raising their fists of victory.

"The Rainbowside!" Hi-Mack raised his fist the same way.

"Let's go Rainbowside!" Cole swallowed her worry and pumped her fist up high. The boys with Hi-Mack earlier did the same.

Before the couple were about to take off and paddle out, the male tandem surfer called for one of the boys: "Sea-Moon... get over here."

A timid yet tall dark-haired teenage boy, around sixteen-years-old, stepped up and faced the tandem couple. "Yes, Uncle?"

"Sea-Moon... I know you're the only one in the tribe who doesn't actually surf, but if anything happens... well, you know what to do."

The young man, surf nicked Sea-Moon, nodded humbly and embraced both the tandem surfers. After they released each other, he placed his hand on Cole's shoulder and said: "I'll take care of them--- I'll be like the big brother they never had."

"Good. And remember," the male tandem surfer, Tack Seahart, continued on. "Your surf nick Sea-Moon will always be with you forever no matter what happens to any one of us. You're family, both with us and with the rest of the tribe. Never forget that."

Sea-Moon nodded in agreement. "I won't, Uncle Tack. I won't."

After Tack and Tish Seahart made their messages to their team they spotted another tandem surfing couple already rehearsing their tricks and approached them. At that area they also spotted a teen girl watching two little boys--- twins, as a matter of fact--- building a small sand castle together. The teen girl shifted focus on Tack and Tish Seahart as they approached the tandem couple next to her.

"Gen, Kim!" The two couples greeted each other with fist pumps on each other.

"Ready to ride the wild surf, Seaharts?" The male tandem surfer, Gen Doe, responded with a smile on his face.

"We're riding for the Rainbowside, man. You guys will be taking the waves after us, right?"

"Yeah," Kim Doe, Gen's wife, chuckled softly. "The officials put us last again."

"Remember what we talked about the last time," Tish Seahart said with a smile on her face. "I'm so excited when that time comes... they would look so cute together!"

"Yeah," the four tandem surfers laughed excitedly as they embraced each other good luck.

"Win for the Rainbowside and Nijibe, Tack and Tish Seahart!"

The Seahart Couple gave a thumbs up to the Doe Couple, as they carried their tandem longboard to the sea. Once they reached the sea the Seahart Couple began paddling their board together to meet with the mighty breakers.

"Come on! This way!" Hi-Mack took the young Cole by the hand and called the rest of the boys standing there. "Come on, dudes! The Pacific Heart's riding!"

Sea-Moon gave a thumbs up to Hi-Mack as he turned to the two younger children also playing with their beach toys. The two young children whom Sea-Moon was watching over---a girl around age seven and a boy around age five--- looked up to Sea-Moon and giggled happily and excitedly. They stood up and joined Sea-Moon, holding each of his hands.

"Are they finally going to surf? I wanna watch!" The young girl cheered happily while she squeezed Sea-Moon's hand. Sea-Moon carried the younger boy around his arms so he won't get lost.

"Yup. Hi-Mack is leading the rest of the surfers now at a more open spot so we can see them. Let's go follow them."

"Hey, where's Cole?" The little girl asked curiously.

"Cole is with Hi-Mack right now. Let's go!"

The kids followed Hi-Mack and Cole as the two led them to a more secluded high-elevated spot so they would easily spot the Seahart Couple paddling to the water and ride an incoming wave. Moments later as they get far enough the couple encountered a breaking wave so huge like no other. To Cole Seahart the wave looked almost the same size as the wave she rode earlier during her competition. She began to panic right away when she estimated the height of the breakers and regardless of everyone's excitement she began to shiver right then.

"No... that wave is too big... Mom... Dad... no..."

Right in an instant, even when the couple have not had the chance to stand up on the board the wave immediately swallowed them, wiping them out of their board and completely disappeared on sight.

"No! Mom! Dad! No!" Cole screamed out to the beach but her voice was too far away to reach to the ocean. Next thing everyone knew the breaking wave was approaching the beach that everyone on the scene began to scream in panic and fright and began to run amok for their safety.

At that time, the little girl grabbed her younger brother and held her to him. "Don't look, Hippo... don't look! We have to run! Run, Hippo, run!"

The little boy, Hippo, had no reaction and was more curious than frightened but he let his older sister drag him hurriedly to safety. While the chaos continued the two kids were immediately grabbed and held on by a familiar teenage girl and dragged them to a safer place. Once they got there, the teen girl embraced both the little girl and the little boy tight to her.

"Oh!" The little girl shrieked when she saw the teen girl holding her and her little brother in a protective mode. "What's going on? Why is everyone running scared?"

"Lu... Hippo... it's all my fault...it's all my fault... they're gone... they're gone..."

Right at that point a scream was heard. The Pearl Waters staff dashed to the manager's office where they found Nicola sweating and looking rather shocked while sitting behind her desk. It looked like Nicola took a nap from working on her budget report for the restaurant for awhile and was awakened by a nightmare.

"Nicola!" Taki shrieked and checked on her niece. "We heard a scream from your office. What's the matter?"

Nicola gazed at her aunt with a panicked expression on her face. "Aunt Taki..." She closed her eyes, keeping herself from shedding any tears.

"What's wrong, hun?"

"Aunt Taki... it's coming back... the one I'm trying to forget... it's coming back..."

Taki went behind the desk and embraced her niece, calming her down by rubbing her back gently. Right at that point, Maki, Rihito, and Taro arrived at the office, also worried.

"What happened? You okay, Boss?" Rihito asked with worry.

Nicola sighed deeply and released herself from Taki and turned to the three males. "I'm alright, guys. I... fell asleep while I was doing this budget report. I just had a nightmare..."

"Are you sure, Nicola?" Maki asked curiously, placing his hand on her shoulder.

Nicola smiled and quickly embraced Maki. "I'm fine, Maki. Don't worry about me." She checked her watch to see the time. "Well, just thirty minutes till we open for lunch, guys."

Taro walked up closer to Nicola and whispered on her ear: "We're all getting worried about you, Nicola. But tell me... how long are you going to play this charade with Lucia and Hippo?"

Nicola hushed Taro but said nothing regarding the question. "Let's all get back to work now."

"Nicola," Rihito interrupted and continued. "Taro, Hippo, Lucia, Rina, and myself are gonna head out on a mission."

"Mission?" Nicola raised an eyebrow of suspicion as Taro patted her on the shoulder.

"We'll be back later. Don't worry, I'm coming with them so I can keep an eye on them. You got nothing to worry about."

"Where are you guys going?"

"Out." Taro answered right away. "It's a secret location that we can't reveal to avoid all the competitor spies hanging around Nijibe right now. You know many of the ones who will be competing for the tournament this coming August are all here now, getting familiar with our beaches, our swells, the entire Nijibe atmosphere. And spying among other rivals is a common thing."

"Of course..." Nicola frowned with her arms crossed. "Brings back memories." She sighed deeply and nodded. "Alright. I was told by Coco, Caren, and Noel that the Iria Sisters want to volunteer to work here so we're covered. Hippo, Lucia, and Rina can have off today since this is tournament-related after all... band-related too!" She then gave permission to her cousin and Rihito with a nod. "Okay. Don't take too long. Is it just you, the entire band?"

Taro and Rihito turned to each other, then Rihito answered: "Well we'll have a few of the surfer dudes with us since they're the ones who know a more secluded location around the Nijibe beaches."

Nicola raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Which surfer dudes?"

Taro sighed and answered Nicola's curiosity. "Nicola, like I said, I'll take care of everyone while we're there. I'm the oldest of the group so it's my responsibility. It's also good job training for me too as a new teacher at Lucia's and Hippo's school, so again, don't worry."

"Well you know what my concerns are, guys. I'm concerned about Lucia. At least Rina knows how to defend herself if she's been treated wrong but Lucia is my concern---"

"Nicola, you got nothing to worry about," Taro continued to insist. "Like I said, if anything happens to Lucia or anyone in the Pearl Waters staff, I'll take responsibility. Don't forget that I'm pretty much the head of household of the Nanami Family at this point since I'm also older than you." He patted Nicola on the shoulder with a smile on his face.

Nicola returned the smile, knowing Taro was indeed a responsible young man. He always was even when they were little. To her, he was the older brother she never had. "Alright then. I give Lucia and Hippo, the Pearl Waters staff, and the Rainbowside Surf Tribe in your hands."

Taro grinned and gave a thumbs up at Nicola. Rihito patted Nicola on the shoulder and said: "Well then! We're outta here! We won't be long, promise!"

"Alright. See you peeps later!" Rihito and Taro dashed out of the office and headed to the kitchen's back door area. On the way they found the female staff members at the dining area who just arrived after their time at the beach with the surfer boys.

Nicola followed the boys from behind and found the girls already gathered and ready for their shift and open up Pearl Waters for lunch. She whistled to get all the girls' attention. "Ladies, glad to see you all here!" Among the girls she found Sara and Seira with them. "Well... the Iria Girls are here!"

"Hi, Nicola," Sara greeted the boss of Pearl Waters. She also turned to the boys as well: "Long time, no talk, Rihito... and of course, Taro!"

"Hiya!" The boys waved at Sara with grins on their faces as Nicola cleared her throat.

"So you ladies heard the news already?" Nicola asked curiously.

"Yup!" Seira answered with a smile. "My sister Sara and I are happy to volunteer to work at Pearl Waters for the day in place of Lucia and Rina, since they need to go on an OC-5 mission--- at least, that's what Gaito said."

Lucia and Rina gasped in shock while Hanon shrieked louder than the two. "Wait--- what? Where's Lucia and Rina going?"

"Whoa..." Rina blinked in surprise. "Even I had no idea we were gonna go somewhere. You know anything about this, Lucia?"

Lucia shrugged her arms, looking clueless. "Nope." She turned to the boys and asked curiously. "What's this OC-5 mission you're talking about?"

"Yeah!" Right at the kitchen area Hippo joined in Lucia's curious question. "Why'd you make me pack up the instruments in the pickup? Where are we going anyway?"

"Well!" Rihito interrupted immediately and slowly heading his way to the kitchen back door. "We got no time to lose... we'll be back!" He nudged Taro on the side. "Come on, let's go."

"No fair!" Hanon frowned with her arms crossed. "I wanna go..."

Coco patted Hanon on the shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry. The dudes and OC-5 will be back. This is for tournament reasons after all."

"But you girls are surfer girls! Why aren't you going with them?"

"Because we have to work, silly!" Caren and Noel giggled. Hanon sighed and lowered her head in disappointment.

Taro said the same to Lucia and Rina as they followed the two young men to the kitchen, where Hippo was waiting at the Pearl Waters pickup.

A few minutes later, Taro drove the pickup truck through the beach where the surfer boys waited, surfboards and other gear ready and packed. Quickly the boys helped the surfers carry their surfboards and load them in to the pickup when Lucia and Rina jumped from the back to meet the surfers. Hippo jumped off the pickup prior to Taro driving it to the beach to be sure that there were no spies around just like Taro asked him to earlier.

"Yo!" Kaito was rather surprised to see Lucia from the pickup truck. "You're coming too?"

Lucia nodded. "Rihito and Taro said it's OC-5 mission, so Rina, Hippo, and me are coming along."

"Awesome! Glad you're coming along!" Kaito gave a thumbs up at the OC-5 rhythm guitarist girl.

"Well, where are we going, Kaito?" Lucia asked curiously.

"Let's just say we're going to a certain spot where the kooks and the posers and any fan girls never go!" Kaito slightly snickered. "To be honest I was planning to take you there myself one day..."

Lucia found her cheeks blushing but tried to keep herself cool with the situation. "Really, Kaito? Wow... I bet this is also a place even Hippo haven't discovered yet."

Hippo overheard the conversation while he was loading up the surfboards in to the pickup. "Well, now here's my chance to discover it. That's why I brought my camera equipment with me. Gonna take more shots."

"Oh!" Gaito overheard the conversation as well and turned to Hippo. "That reminds me--- my twin brother Kaito said you took the photograph of him on his aerials that became a pinup of this month's Surfer Styles magazine. Is it true?"

Hippo turned to Gaito and answered: "I have it in the SD card of my SLR if you want to see the original copy."

"Well, congratulations for the photograph, Nanami. You've got real photography skills, kid." He turned to his backpack and took out his own copy of the magazine. "Here."

"Hm? Your copy of the magazine?"

Kaito responded to Hippo's curiosity. "Will you sign the pinup of my picture, Hippo? You took the photograph so you should sign it."

"Oh! Sure... no one's asked me for an autograph before..." He took the magazine from Gaito and placed it in his backpack. "I'll give it back to you guys. Who should I sign it for?"

"For Kaito," Gaito chuckled. "What can I say? We both fell in love with it, especially him."

Hippo somehow felt appreciation coming form the twins. He was not very much fond of the twins as individuals, especially the champion surfer Kaito, and he was also conscious about Lucia's relationship with him like Nicola was. But at this point, seeing the twins ask him for an autograph of a pinup he took a photograph of made him feel a lot more appreciated.

"Thank you. I'll be glad to." Hippo gave a slight smile as he continued to load the surfboards along with Nagisa. They climbed up the pickup to stack the surfboards properly.

"See, Nanami? The Doumoto Twins are totally awesome when they got you on their good side!" Nagisa began with the chatting. "And Kaito's not that bad. I think he likes your sister a lot, Nanami."

"Does he?" Hippo asked curiously. He placed the straps around the surfboards tightly and securely so they do not slip out. "Well, as long as he doesn't treat her like she's one of his one-week girlfriends---"

Nagisa whispered softly: "Dude, Kaito gave up on that one-week girlfriend thing long time ago. I think your sis is the real deal true love for him! I can see it in his eyes. I mean he wasn't doing so hot these past two weeks during surf practice because he misses seeing your sis at the beach. She's like... his power-up!"

Hippo raised an eyebrow of suspicion. "Power-up?" Nagisa nodded enthusiastically. "O... kay..."

Meanwhile, Rina and Masahiro were having their own conversation while their equipment was being loaded. Rina still remained at her cool state while Masahiro gave a slight worried face at her. "I can't let them see you, Rina..."

Rina blinked in curiosity. "Who?"

"The competitors... the rivals... you know in surf competitions such as this it is perfectly legal for teams to spy on others as long as they don't sabotage or rip off stuff from them and make them as their own. If they see you they may change their strategies in the beauty contest and find someone who may possibly look better than you."

Rina nervously gritted her teeth but remained grinning. "Well... I don't care about looks. If the judges don't like me for who I am and how I look then obviously they got some serious problems with people in general..."

"Don't think about the judges, Rina," Masahiro patted her on the shoulder. "Just be yourself when you get up there on stage. You're already beautiful as you are right now. Of course the judges would prefer seeing you in wild bikinis and what not since this is a beach babe beauty pageant after all..."

Rina found herself blushing and her heart pounding rapidly. Being the independent girl that she was among her friends and other girls around town she always remained calm and cool and straight to any boy who may try to make a pass at her. However at this point she felt Masahiro's tone in his voice sounded so honest and true that she could not help but feeling very flattered by his words.

"Thank you, Hamasaki... That... that means a lot..."

"Masahiro, please..." Masahiro quickly responded with a smile on his face. "I don't... usually... allow girls in general to call me by my first name but... you're the exception."

"A-are you sure?" Rina asked nervously and slightly lowered her head. "I don't want to feel embarrassed and all that."

Masahiro gently lifted her chin up to face him. "Very sure."

Rina smiled humbly at Masahiro as they continued on chatting. At that time both Lucia was staring at her tomboy friend and the handsome bespectacled and slightly stacked surfer boy having their chat and became curious. She turned to Kaito, who was currently chatting with this twin brother about the tournament.

"Say... Kaito... Gaito... does Hamasaki like Rina?" Lucia asked curiously at the twin brothers.

The Doumoto Boys took a glimpse of Masahiro and Rina and then turned to each other. Then Gaito answered Lucia's curiosity. "You do know that Touin is our representative for the Beauty Pageant portion of the tournament, right?"

"Eh?" Lucia's eyes widened in surprise. "Rina never said anything about a beauty pageant... no wait... now I see why she's been acting weird as of late... Okay, check this out. At work sometimes we catch her staring at this month's issue of Posh Mode magazine's cover and we couldn't understand why since she's not really in to all that stuff. And then she mentioned about a second contest that she was gonna participate in the tournament but she never mentioned anything about a beauty contest. We know she's with OC-5 for the surf bands contest but we never knew the second contest she mentioned."

"Well," Kaito snickered, "if you don't know, Lucia, now you know!"

"Though I'm not exactly sure about Hamasaki himself though," Gaito said and sighed. "He's very selective with girls. He knows he's one of the most popular dudes in school and he knows he's got girls flocking on him, glasses or not. The girls know exactly why they like him a lot: surfer boy, hot looks, perfect muscular build, and most of all, he's heavily loaded."

"He's... he's rich?" Lucia gasped with her hands over her mouth. "No way..."

"Yup," Kaito nodded. "His family were friends with our late parents, so that's how we met him. His father owns the famous Green Pine Boxing Gym and Spa and his mother is the Editor-in-Chief of Posh Mode magazine, which was why he always gets the issues for free. He's got a good collection of motorcycles, motorbikes, and mopeds; lives in a mansion estate located at the hillside district of the town... oh, he's also a boxer in training to and he's good at it."

Lucia softly chuckled thinking how lucky her tomboy friend Rina was for having a boy as hot and handsome as Masahiro Hamasaki who may possibly be in love with the cool and independent tomboy. You rule, Rina! You go, girl!

"I'm a bit surprised though," Gaito continued the conversation which hooked Lucia's attention towards him.

"What do you mean?" Lucia asked curiously.

"Masahiro had his own share of girls in the past, but that dude has very high standards. He dated some of those fashion models featured in Posh Mode magazine and other rich girls. He rarely even checks out other girls who are on the same class as he is. That's why the girls in school who are in love with him got absolutely no chance with him. Sure, our family's rich too but his taste in girls is pretty shallow."

Lucia sighed sadly for Rina. "Poor Rina... she's like me... not exactly rich... it's obvious she's way out of Hamasaki's league if he only dates fashion models and other rich girls. But what I don't understand is... among the girls in our town... why did he pick Rina for the tournament's beauty pageant? You know she would never wear a bikini, let alone a bathing suit."

"The only reason why he picked Rina was because she looked like the cover girl of this month's issue of Posh Mode," Kaito added with his arms crossed. "He even said that the model on the cover was his favorite... for all we know that girl on the cover may be his girlfriend whom he never mentioned to us or something..."

"Oh..." Lucia frowned in sadness and sighed. Hamasaki, you shallow jerk... You only picked Rina just because she looked like the fashion model on that magazine? What about Rina as a person?

Rihito whistled at the others who were chatting out of the van to get their attention. "You dudes--- and dudettes--- ready? Let's go!"

"Awesome!" Those who were out climbed over the pickup, claiming their spots. Gaito took the front seat while Kengo and Daichi took the back seats. At the pickup, along with the instruments in the surfboards, are Rihito, Lucia, Rina, the Doumoto Twins, Nagisa, Masahiro, and Hippo.

Just as they were getting themselves secured Rihito was startled to hear Michal's voice calling to him from a distance. He turned his head and spotted Michal running to the pickup. "Oh, Michal!"

"Rihito, where are you going?" Michal demanded with a frown on her face. "You're gonna leave me behind here?"

Rihito sighed and said "This is an OC-5 mission, Michal. You wouldn't want to hang out with us---"

Michal shook her head and glared. "Well, if you say that this is an OC-5 issue then why are Kaito and the entire surf tribe with you?"

"Michal, I don't have time for this... we have to go---"

"I wanna go, Rihito--- please! Besides... Kaito may be lonely without someone next to him---"

Kaito's eyes widened and spotted Michal: "I'm not lonely, Michal. I'm heading out there for surfing practice..."

"Still! You need company!" Right then Michal climbed slowly over the pickup and sat right next to Kaito. Across from Kaito was Lucia, who gave a slight frown and a sigh.

"Fine..." Rihito frowned and lowered his head. "Do you mind Michal coming along too, Kaito?"

Kaito shrugged his arms. "Well, she's already here and ready to go."

"Alright." He climbed over the pickup and gently slapped the roof of the pickup to signal Taro to drive off. "Let's go."

"Right." Taro turned on the ignition and drove off from the beach to the road on to the further side of Kaigara Boulevard.

Rina turned to Lucia, also wondering what she would say once Michal began leaning her head on Kaito's shoulder. Lucia then changed her facial expression from worried to glad. "Hi, Michal! I don't think we've met personally. I'm Lu---"

Michal opened her eyes and gazed right at the girl across from her and Kaito. "Lucia Nanami, I know. You're my brother's band mate, co-worker, friend. Right?"

"Um... right..." Lucia chuckled nervously.

"And you're Rina Touin. I've heard so much about you," Michal continued.

Rina raised an eyebrow of curiosity. "Oh?"

"Yeah. You're not very popular with boys in school, aren't you?"

"Not my problem."

Rihito overheard the short conversation and glared at Michal. "That's not a nice thing to say, Michal."

"But the girls at the beach said---" Michal wanted to argue but Rihito shook his head right at her.

"Don't worry about it, Rihito," Rina gave a slight smirk. "I'm used to people talking behind my back. I know who I am and that's not gonna change."

"I think those girls are just jealous, Rina." Across from Rina was Masahiro, who joined in the brief chat. "Only because the hottest of the hottest dudes are checkin' you out!" He gave her a wink while the rest of the boys chuckled and Lucia nudging Rina on the side with a grin on her face.

Rina could not help herself but to blush. It was true, she thought. It looks like a surfer boy named Masahiro Hamasaki was definitely tearing down her defenses.

Michal continued on with her topic. "How come you girls, Lucia and Rina, don't wear bikinis or bathing suits at the beach? Shouldn't you be? I mean, you're in a surf band!"

Kaito suddenly snapped out from out of the blue and interrupted. "Can we talk about something else besides judging each other by the clothes, please?"

"Oh! I'm sorry Kaito!" Michal gasped with worry and cuddled herself against his arm while everyone else shrugged like no one cared.

Nagisa, who was sitting at the end of the pickup with Hippo watching the rear, raised his hand. "Okay, I know I've asked this several times and I haven't gotten an answer from you dudes yet. Where are we going?"

"You'll find out once we get there, Nagisa," Kaito reminded the younger surfer. "You see, we're heading to the official haven of the Rainbowside--- location unknown. Only the true blue Rainbowside surfers and devotees know the real location. But you're not alone, Nagisa. Most of us haven't been there in awhile because it's only accessible through dirt roads and it's kinda far from Sector 7 Beach. We needed someone to drive us there or have someone let us borrow motorbikes or mopeds or bikes to get there, but since we needed to carry our surfboards there too we obviously needed a bigger auto--- like this pickup."

The back window opened and both Kengo and Daichi peeked through the back area and overheard the conversation. "Question, dudes. How come Taro Mitsuki's driving?" Kengo asked curiously. "I mean, I thought this place is the Rainbowside's true blue location?"

Once again he felt another sharp slap at the back on his head by none other than his best friend Daichi. "'Cause he's the only dude in this group who has a driver's license! Masahiro can drive too but he only has a provisional license and would need to be accompanied by an adult!"

"Wrong!" At the front seat, Gaito joined in and corrected the two boys sitting behind him. "Taro Mitsuki is driving because he's been there--- several times! Even if we wanted to head there we'd never find the location through the secret path."

Lucia and Rina gasped and turned to the window. "Really, Taro? You've been there?" Taro took a quick glance at the back and winked at the two girls.

"Man, Lucia, Hippo, you guys got the coolest cousin ever!" Rina chuckled with a thumbs up.

"Yup!" Lucia cheered excitedly. "Oh man, I hope we get to have Taro as our new homeroom teacher!"

Kaito's eyes widened. "Wait... Taro Mitsuki's gonna be a teacher in our school?" Lucia and Rina nodded. "Hey... that'd be cool... having a surf tribe supporter as a homeroom teacher. We'd probably head out to the beach for study hall period, man!"

"Hell yeah!" The rest of the surfer boys cheered along.

Rihito turned to the open back window and called out to Taro. "Dude, looks like you're getting popular within the Rainbowside--- then again, you've always been a prominent part of the Rainbowside all your life!"

Taro did not answer verbally but instead raised his arm through his side window and gave a thumbs up to Rihito. Just as everyone settled at their spots, Hippo had been busy taking pictures of the rear view when he noticed another pickup stacked with surfboards at the back appeared from out of the blue, tailing right behind them. He slanted his eyes in suspicion and hushed the others with him.

"Great..." Hippo murmured in a low tone.

"What's wrong, Hippo?" Rihito asked curiously.

"Valley kooks at six o'clock." Hippo said calmly but in a defensive expression. He already identified the pickup truck by the pattern on the hood as well as the license plate. Nijibe's rival surfing team from Seiyo Valley had just arrived and were now tailing right behind them.

"Oh hell no..." Rihito turned to everyone at the open area. "Guys, we got company tailing behind us. Everyone hang on to something and don't let go!"

Daichi and Kengo turned back to the front to pass the message. "Gaito! Those Seiyo Valley surfers are tailing behind us!"

Gaito grunted in frustration with a fist tightened. "They'll find out where our haven is! Damn--- we can't let them see where we're going!"

"Tell everyone to hang on tight as much as they can." Taro answered right away and shifted gears on his pickup. "We're gonna have a little wild ride!"

"No way!" Gaito exclaimed and quickly hung on to the handle at the side top of the passenger seat. Daichi and Kengo clung on to the front seats while checking to be sure their seat belts were secure.

Michal suddenly clung on to Kaito while Lucia moved forward and hung on to a nearby surfboard. Kaito let Michal hang on to him while he also clung on to the same surfboard as Lucia. Rina, Masahiro, and Rihito hung on to the closest surfboard or other item nearby. Nagisa hung on to the tails of the surfboards while Hippo positioned himself facing the rear, leaning his back against the surfboards' tails, keeping an eye on the rear.

"What--- what's going on?" Michal cried while still clinging on to Kaito. "Are we going to be in trouble?"

"Michal, this is my cousin driving!" Lucia answered while leaning closer to the surfboard. "When Taro is behind the wheels, crazy stuff happens!"

"Really?" Kaito chuckled while Michal began to panic. "Hey... not too tight, Michal!"

"Oh yah!" Lucia answered. "See, he hates it when someone tailgates him and tries to pass him up. He has some bad habits on the road, heh..."

"Heh... cool!" Kaito snickered.

As Taro checked the mirrors he spotted the rather dark yellow pickup truck behind them, almost tailgating behind him.

You wanna race, huh? You're on, dude!

He switched gears again and pumped his accelerator, speeding his pickup with a full blast forward.

"Whooooaaaaa!" Everyone felt the sudden jolt on the pickup that the force almost did a bit of damage to their secure positions.

"Jeez!" Nagisa exclaimed with shocked expressions on his face. "That Taro Mitsuki sure is a total gasser--- and I mean it in a good way, Nanami."

"I know, Shiroi." Hippo snickered. "I know."

The Seiyo Valley pickup truck suddenly switched lanes since the street was not busy and had one broken border and one solid border at the center, meaning anyone can pass safely. The head of the pickup was closing in, with some of their surfers also sitting at the back. The scene looked as if a battle was about to begin.

Taro shifted gears again and gassed the accelerator, completely ditching the Seiyo Valley pickup at a car away, but the rival pickup still continued to speed, attempting to catch up to their hometown advantaged rivals. At that time, Gaito was getting worried inside.

"How long till we get there?" Gaito asked curiously.

"We're close. Don't worry," Taro answered calmly, still focused towards the road.

"Where exactly are we going to turn to? It's all like forest out here now!"

"Like I said. We're close."

Just as the other pickup continued to speed it finally caught up and was now next to the Rainbowside pickup. One of the passengers at the yellow Seiyo Valley brought out something that looked like a round orange fruit. Kaito slightly looked up and spotted that particular passenger, ready to launch that item right at their direction.

"Michal! Keep down!" Kaito held Michal down to keep her from getting hit by whatever that item was.

"Kaito!" Michal shrieked as Kaito held on to her. He got himself visible and open for whoever that passenger on the other van was. Right at that moment the passenger threw his item right towards Kaito's and Michal's direction.

Just as the item was flying right at their pickup, Lucia stood up from where she was and used the flatter side of her handbag to ricochet the item back to where it came from. Without intent, the item hit another passenger next to the one who threw that item right directly at the face. The item was smashed right at the passenger's face with pulp and juice spread all over. The sight was just too hilarious that it made some passengers from the other van and the entire Rainbowside pickup burst in to laughter.

Right when both pickups were almost at top speed, Taro quickly pressed the brakes, which shoved everyone forward. The other pickup sped away unknowingly that the other pickup just stopped immediately and disappeared right at the distance. With that forceful stop, Lucia was shoved right against the back window due to her standing up to ricochet that fruit back to its origin. Though not completely injured, she was a bit in pain right on her left side of the head.

"Hey Lucia... you okay?" Kaito asked with worry as Lucia slowly recovered from that major shove.

"I'll be fine, thanks. At least you guys didn't get hit by that tomato." Lucia sat back to her seat. Right then she felt something wet slowly dripping on her left side. "Oh... I need a tissue!"

"I have some... let me..." Michal reached for her purse for her pack of tissues when Kaito noticed something else on Lucia's side.

"Lucia! You're bleeding!"

"Eh?" Lucia gave a blank stare as Kaito moved his position to the other side of the pickup and sat at Lucia's left side. He reached for his backpack for his First Aid Kit. Michal was able to find her pack of tissues and handed it to Kaito. "No no--- it's okay, Kaito--- I can patch myself up---"

"Oh no! Lucia, are you okay?" Rina shrieked in shock once she heard of the bleeding.

"I got this, don't worry," Kaito reminded Rina while Lucia grinned nervously while her body began to twitch for a bit.

Rihito shook his head seeing what had just happened and turned to the window: "Taro! Why'd you brake all of a sudden? We got a minor injured passenger here!"

Taro sighed and turned his head towards the window. "We're here."

"Here?"

"Yup. The path we're taking to the spot."

Gaito turned his head curiously towards Taro. "How do you know that we're here?"

"You see a tree there with a crescent moon and three stars surrounding that moon and the sea at the bottom?" Taro pointed to a tall pine tree to the right side of the forest with a crescent moon and three stars with an ocean below carved on its trunk.

"Yeah...? I don't get it..." Kengo and Daichi answered from behind them.

"That's my surf nick. Look at the ground. It's the path to... you know... the spot."

"Holy jeez!" The surfer boys shrieked in shock to see the perfect carving on the tree.

"Who carved that drawing over there, Taro?" Masahiro asked curiously while staring on the trunk.

Taro turned to everyone behind him and smiled. "I did... with some help."

"You did?" Hippo and Nagisa gasped in surprise.

"Yup. Well then, you all can relax now. Let's go!"

Taro turned his pickup to the path with the moon, stars, and sea marker on the tree was located and drove down the path. The dirt road was naturally bumpy but this time Taro was being a more careful driver than he was on the small paved road.

Just as they drove while Kaito continued to patch Lucia's small bleeding wound on her left temple, Taro began to reminisce the history of that particular marker and why he referred to it as his surf nick. Sure, the rest of the surf tribe today did not catch what he just said earlier, but Taro did not mind. He knew exactly what happened then.

The carving was ten years old, just three years before the Dainami-Oni incident occurred. It was one late afternoon and Taro was only at a tender age of thirteen. He even remembered the inspirational voice that aided him in creating that carving and he always kept it to heart whenever he wanted to go to that particular spot.

"This represents you, Taro. That's why we're carving this marker together. Whenever you're lonely, whenever you need anything, this marker will guide you to the place you want to be."

Yup. Taro's voice spoke within him and nodded on his one. This is the real world of the Rainbowside Surf Tribe. Thanks for opening your kingdom to me, Uncle...

After Kaito was done placing a bandage patch on her left temple, Lucia slightly chuckled and also thanked him. "Thanks again for patching me up. I'm injury prone all of a sudden..."

"Not your fault, Lucia. At least it's not a huge cut or anything." Kaito decided to remain on his new spot next to Lucia, facing Michal this time.

"Thanks for the tissues, Michal." Lucia thanked the second person who volunteered the tissues when she asked for them. "I really appreciate it."

Michal gave a soft giggle. "No problem, Lucia. I hope you're okay with that bruise..."

"Nah, this is nothing. I can suck it up. But thanks for your concern!"

Though Michal was happy she could lend a hand she sighed sadly knowing that Kaito was not sitting at the opposite side of the pickup next to Lucia instead of sitting next to her. At this time Hippo took photos of certain spots of the dirt road while Nagisa continued to gaze at the awe and beauty of this particular spot. He was becoming more anxious for their destination.

"Mmm... I can smell the fresh sea breeze..." Masahiro murmured softly as he could feel the soft warm breeze blowing through his hair. "We're almost here, guys."

"No kidding!" Hippo gasped in awe once when the trees were spacious enough for him to have a closer view of what was within them. "That's one clean, blue, glassy ocean, dude!" Right through the spaces between trees he began to take pictures. "Man oh man! The water's dang clean! The sun is really bright and I can feel the warmth too! And... is that a rainbow I see? This view is just sweet!"

"Whoa! I've... I've never seen this place before!" Lucia exclaimed in shock and a huge grin appeared on her face as she gazed towards the view of this brand-new beach.

"Are we still in Nijibe?" Rina asked curiously, also looking amazed at the beach they were about to reach. "You guys gotta be kidding me--- this is still Nijibe?"

"You better believe it, Rina," Masahiro answered Rina quickly. "This entire beach belongs to the Rainbowside Surf Tribe since the beginning of its foundation. Only those in the tribe are allowed in here and outsiders who come here are invitation only."

"That's just insane..." Rina murmured as she kept her eyes glued towards the beach. "Seriously insane."

Kaito stretched his arms and had his happiness glow on his face once he saw the view of this mysterious yet flawless-looking strip of beach anyone has ever seen. It had been awhile since the last time he and the rest of the team been there and he was glad that they were heading their way back again.

Just as everyone enjoyed the view of the beach, Taro the driver began to sing one line of a song that he had in mind:

Look out here come the Rainbowside Surfers!

Once the others heard that first line, everyone on the pickup except Michal joined in with this familiar song:

Nijibe is getting' hot!

Taro took a glance at everyone and smiled. The group continued singing again:

There they go cruisin' down that coastline

Lookin' for their favorite spot

We'll find a big one!

Michal gasped and turned to Kaito, curious with the song. "What song is this, Kaito?"

"The Rainbowside Anthem, Michal!" Kaito winked at Michal. "It's our song!"

Right then the song continued with Lucia, Rina, and Hippo taking the next verse:

Oh, the dudes are rough and ready

To handle anything!

They take the big one!

The rest of the boys continued from where the three left off:

They've got to be the best thing going

Rainbowside Surfers really swing!

"Rock out!" Taro called as everyone began clapping along with the beat.

Oh Seiyo Valley, can't you hear them?

Hear that shore pound slam!

You're gonna eat it! SPLASH!

Rumblin' clear from Central to Sector 7!

Rainbowside Surfers let's go!

You'll catch them surfing!

Everyone bursted in to laughter as they applauded each other for the slightly imperfect-pitched surf tribe's anthem. This particular song was written for the Rainbowside Surf Tribe ever since its foundation about forty years ago and the song had been passed on from generation to generation with new or altered lyrics. Though anyone in Nijibe knew this song it was clear that anyone from the surf tribe may have taught others the song.

"I just learned this song from Taro and Rihito during rehearsals not too long ago." Rina admitted with a shy laugh.

"I learned the song from Kaito and Gaito when I first joined the tribe." Nagisa replied along with Rina. "Where'd you and Lucia learn the song from, Nana--- Hippo?"

Hippo chuckled nervously. "You know, good question. Funny answer too."

"Yup," Lucia chuckled along at the same time. "Hippo and I learned it from our parents when we were little."

"Seriously?" Kaito chuckled as well. "Same with Gaito and me. Our parents taught us the song."

"I also learned the song from Gaito and Kaito's parents as well," Masahiro joined in. "I was pretty young as well... like... nine-years-old I think?"

Kengo and Daichi answered simultaneously: "We also learned it from Kaito when we first joined."

"And I learned the song from Taro." Rihito chuckled and turned to Michal. "Unless if you don't want me to I'll teach you the song one day, Michal."

"Cool! Thanks, Rihito!" Michal answered happily. "Then Kaito and I can sing this song everyday when we get bored! Right, Kaito?"

Kaito shrugged his arms. "I guess..."

"What about you, Taro?" Daichi asked the driver. "Where'd you learn the song from?"

"Simple," Taro began his reply. "I learned it from Lucia and Hippo's parents too. In fact... I was the first person to learn that song before they taught it to Nicola."

"Eh?" Hippo gasped. "Nicola knows the song too?"

"Of course she knows the song, Hippo." Taro confirmed Hippo's question. "It's obvious she knows the song too... even Aunt Taki and Maki know the song as well."

"I wonder if Coco, Caren, and Noel know the song too..." Lucia began to wonder to herself.

"Hanon?" Rina added their third friend on the list as well. The two girls turned to each other for a few moments, then simultaneously answered:

"Nah."

Minutes later the pickup drove out of the forest and now landed on the white sand. They finally reached the shore with the glassy blue ocean rolled in a huge series of breakers throughout the strip, with Hippo continuously taking pictures. Just as they were driving to the actual spot where Taro intended to park they were encountered by a slightly huge group of teenagers (and young adults, maybe?)--- surfer boys and surfer boys' girlfriends (no surfer girls around)--- running to them like a huge mob of fan girls spotting their favorite idol.

"Hey--- what's going on?" Nagisa wondered curiously.

"The entire tribe is here..." Masahiro smirked.

Just as these teens arrived Taro found his ideal parking space and braked the pickup. As the surfer boys jumped off from the pickup they were greeted by this particular mob of teenagers with exchanging pump fists and embraces from the girlfriends. With this scene alone it was obvious to Lucia, Rina, Hippo, Nagisa, and Michal that the rest of the surfer boys and these group of teens were very familiar with each other.

Gaito turned to Lucia, Rina, Hippo, Nagisa, and Michal, who had blank expressions on their faces once they saw the boys greeted the mob that approached them. "Welcome to the Rainbowside S-Cube. All of the selected future senior surfers of the Rainbowside Surf Tribe begin their training here--- that is, if you live far away from the Kaigara Boulevard beaches."

"Oh!" Nagisa's eyes widened in surprise. "No wonder I've never been here. I live near Kaigara Boulevard."

Gaito turned to the mob of teens and introduced the newcomers. "That young girl there is Rihito Amagi's sister Michal. This young surfer boy here is Nagisa Shiroi--- at a young age he's already in the major tournaments. These three here are three of the five members of our new surf band, OC-5."

As they exchanged greetings Nagisa still had the confused look. He turned to Hippo, Lucia, Rina, and Michal and asked. "Rainbowside S-Cube? What does that mean?"

"Dunno... sorry..." Lucia shrugged but still continued to observe the entire brand-new atmosphere. Rina and Michal also shook their heads.

"S-Cubed... nice..." Hippo smirked with his arms crossed. "Very nice..."

"Well what is it, Nanami?" Nagisa asked once more.

"You don't know? S-Cube... S-Cube means three S's. It's a very quick short form of the abbreviation of S.S.S.--- Secret Surfing Spot."

"Secret Surfing Spot?!" Lucia and Nagisa exclaimed in shock. "No way!"

Hippo nodded his head. "It's obvious, you guys! This particular strip of beach is so isolated that it could only be accessible through the forest dirt roads. No one in Nijibe knows about this spot unless if you're a member of the Rainbowside Surf Tribe, a relative of one of the surf tribe surfers, or even a friend of one of the surf tribe members. No wanna-bes, posers, kooks, or even those stalking fan girls or the Paparazzi have access here. You can only access here via a pickup truck like Taro's truck, by bike like how I usually travel from place to place, motorbikes, mopeds, you know the deal."

"So in other words--- we're actually at the most secret spot of the entire town..." Rina softly grumbled her response. "Wow... this is like... serious paradise... serious..."

"It's beautiful..." Michal whispered in awe. "I can't believe Kaito and the surfer boys train here... hang out here... and they own this entire strip of beach... we feel so special now!"

"Heh... I had a feeling that the Rainbowside Surf Tribe had a secret surfing spot... every surf tribe from town to town would always have a secret surfing spot. And here we are, standing at Nijibe's most isolated--- yet very breathtaking--- spot. Crazy stuff!"

While the newcomers continued their discussion Lucia ended up wandering around the beach on her own. As she walked further and further from the crowd, wading along the wet shore with the very clean warm ocean rolling in over her bare feet, her mind began to flash images within her.

Wait... wait a minute... this... this beach... Lucia continued to turn around in all directions, still observing the atmosphere, while at the same time she began to see more images in her mind. Why does it feel like... I've been here before? Why do I feel like... I know about this place but... not? What's going on...?

From behind she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She turned her head to the sand where she saw Kaito running to her. "Oh, Kaito!"

"Lucia!" Kaito approached her right where she was standing. "Got a moment?"

Lucia smiled humbly. "I was just looking around this... this... secret surfing spot."

"Listen, Lucia. I meant to take you here myself earlier. It's not just because I wanted to share you this secret surfing spot with you, but it's about... it's about the rumor you told me about earlier that those crazy fan girls started spreading around."

"About you being in love...?" Lucia asked curiously and Kaito nodded.

"Yes, Lucia. The rumor is true. I am in love with someone..."

Lucia suddenly felt a huge jolt of beat in her heart knowing that it was ready to shatter in to small pieces at the moment. "Then you really are in love..."

"... I met the girl I'm currently in love with here at this very beach. But... I was taken away from her right after I met her... told her how I felt when she was asleep... I even had her in my arms when she was asleep to keep her warm... and the next thing I knew... I was being pulled away from her. Afterwards, I never saw her again, Lucia. I know I should move on but I can't... I can't forget her... and I got desperate... that's why... the one-week girlfriend thing."

Lucia's eyes opened wide in amazement. Though she already knew deep inside that she would feel her first heartbreak she decided to continue listening to his story. "So you had a reason why you did all that... You were looking for her... right?"

"It's stupid, I know... but it's really hard to remember how she looked like after not seeing her for seven years."

"Seven years?!" Lucia gasped and covered her mouth in shock. "Kaito... you've lingered for her... for seven years?" What am I saying? I've been looking for that mysterious boy I saved for seven years too... and I haven't even told Kaito my story yet... But you know, I feel for you too, Kaito. I can seriously relate with you.

"Do you think I'm being insane to even look for her, Lucia? I don't know about now... I feel like giving up on her and just move on with my life... I tried... but it's no use..."

Lucia shook her head and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You'll... you'll find her, Kaito. Even if you're already with someone else... I'm sure she'll show up one day in your life. But my concern with you, Kaito, is that I don't want you to feel sad and lonely just because of your memories with her. Your happiness makes me smile a lot, Kaito, whether you're out there riding the wild surf or just hanging out with your friends. I just want you to be happy... always happy."

Kaito then placed his hand on to Lucia's hand on his shoulder. He did not attempt to remove her hand off of his shoulder but he meant to hold her hand right then. He gazed at her and smiled: "Thank you, Lucia. Thanks for listening to me. You really are a good friend."

Lucia just gave another humble grin. "Always welcome, Kaito." She released her hand from Kaito and then gazed her face towards the beach. "Now that you told me your story. Can I tell you mine?"

Kaito nodded instantly. "Sure. You listened to mine. I'll listen to yours."

"Well, first up... I don't know what it is but... I know I've never been here but somehow... my messed up memory is telling me otherwise. I feel like... I've been to this beach before. I'm not sure how... not sure why... but I got here somehow... I... I just can't recall how... when... why... and what path I used to get here."

"Well," Kaito began his response, "Gaito and I have been here several times. Our parents always took us here whenever they're with their surfing sessions with the rest of the Rainbowside. We also learned how to surf here. Lots of future generation Rainbowside surfers begin their training right here at this secret surfing spot. If your cousin Taro have been here many times since he was a kid then maybe that's how you got here. Maybe your cousin took you here at one time?"

Lucia sighed and headed back to the sand and sit to rest. Kaito joined her right on spot. "Maybe... maybe Taro took me here at one time... I know Taro hung out with a lot of the Rainbowside surfers but... why would he take me down here?"

Kaito shrugged his arms and shook his head. "I'm just making guesses, Lucia. I don't know the answer either. If I did then I would've known you back then and we wouldn't be strangers turned friends this summer, you know?"

"I know."

While everyone was settling down at this point Lucia and Kaito fell silent from their conversation and watched the rolling swell on the clean and glassy ocean and enjoy the oceanic view.

---

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

#1 – A gasser is an old (?) surfer lingo that refers to a person (usually a dude) who is boastful, self-centered, and conceited. It's another variety of a poser/kook. It also refers to a car-addicted driver who loves speed, speed, speed on his nifty cool car. In this case, while every surfer calls each other as a gasser for being boastful and stuck-up, Taro was referred as a gasser due to his hefty speeding on his heavy pickup truck.

#2 – Surfers, in general, are kind of like gypsies. They travel around in groups most of the time, always searching every beach, coast to coast, for the perfect waves they can ride on. Many surfers have discovered secluded areas not open (or rather not known) to the public and they usually claim these secluded, unknown spots as their "secret surfing spot."

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.