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!

10. Surfer's Memories

RIDE THE WILD SURF
a Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Fanfiction

by Adrimarie

Surfer's Memories

"Hmm... Out of range, huh... I wonder where on earth Taro took Lucia, Hippo, Rina, Rihito, and the surf tribe went to..."

Nicola hung up her cellphone after dialing Taro's cellphone number the fourth time. She remained at her desk during business hours and was finally able to finish her inventory report. She wanted to let Taro know that the report was ready but after dialing his cellphone four times she kept receiving error messages about Taro's phone being out of range. She began to get slightly suspicious regarding the destination both the OC-5 and the surf tribe headed to.

She stood up from her desk and headed to the kitchen to meet Maki and her Aunt Taki busy working on their dishes. The two looked up to find Nicola standing at the kitchen door. "Hey guys, need to ask a quick question."

"What's the matter, dear?" Taki asked curiously as she placed the knife down on the cutting board.

"Hey, do any one of you know where Taro, Lucia, Hippo, Rina, and Rihito headed off to? I know they're on a surf band mission but they never exactly mentioned the exact location."

Taki shook her head. "Sorry, I have no clue at all. You know how Taro is sometimes. He makes us worry."

"Taro's been the best adopted big brother we ever had, Auntie. You know, I have a feeling those people are hiding something from me..."

Maki served his newly-freshed dish on the plate and placed it on the bar where one of the waitresses will be picking up to serve to the customer. He turned to Nicola and gave a slight smile. "Nicola, you need to take a day off. You've been stressed."

Nicola shook her head slowly and smiled in return. "Maki, I'm fine. Don't worry. I've got the reports done. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi to you guys and ask if you guys had a clue where they went."

"Well... knowing Taro there is one place he'd love to go whenever it was something important that he couldn't even tell the others where exactly that location is."

"Hmm..." Nicola began to contemplate as she walked around the kitchen. "If I were Taro here in Nijibe... where would I go?"

Maki shook his head with a slight chuckle. "Silly girl. I can't believe that you actually managed to erase a part of your memories you wanted to get rid of. You've already forgotten that one particular place. I mean you'd get there even by bike."

"Maki, don't make it so hard. I don't want anyone to get lost at some weird secluded spot where they may have a hard time coming back to civili---" Just as she was going to finish her statement that particular memory was recovered quickly in her mind. She looked up towards Maki again with startled eyes.

"What is it, Nicola?"

"No... way... he didn't..." Nicola sighed deeply and lowered her head to contemplate some more. "He wouldn't... no... he would...he seriously would..." She looked up quickly and stared right at both Maki and her aunt. "The Rainbowside S-Cube...?" She shook her head and sighed. "Why that Taro--- I... I didn't want Lucia and Hippo to see that place!"

Taki stopped what she was doing and approached her niece. "Nicola, enough, please. How long are you going to play charade with Lucia and Hippo? They're your sister and brother! Sure they were still too young back then but they do have the right to know the entire truth. This is in regards to this family, Nicola. Please, I beg of you..."

"I agree with your aunt, Nicola." Maki nodded along with Taki. "If you don't tell them the entire truth about what happened seven years ago then someone else will. That would be unfair to them and I can guarantee you they will get angry at you for not telling them yourself."

"That's the thing. I don't want Lucia and Hippo to hate me, Maki. If I tell them myself, then they will also hate me. If someone else tells them, they'd hate me too. It's a lose-lose situation!"

Taki sighed and turned to her niece. "Don't be a stubborn child, Nicola. Eventually Lucia and Hippo will find out the entire story. How they're going to react to you is up to them. And as your aunt I am tired of pretending I don't know anything about whats going on. Almost everyone here in the Pearl Waters staff know what happened then except Lucia and Hippo."

"Alright... alright... just... give me some time to get myself ready, Auntie... then I'll tell them the entire story... the real truth... about what happened." Nicola sighed deeply and turned to the kitchen door. "Please keep up the good work, guys." Slowly she exited the kitchen and headed upstairs to her room.

Once she got to her room she sat on her dresser to freshen herself up, putting on powder and lipstick. When she looked up her mirror she almost fell from her seat when she saw a very familiar teenage girl with a bikini top carrying a lavender-colored surfboard staring at her from the mirror. Nicola thought she was seriously hallucinating and going insane.

"Oh no... now I really need sleep..." Nicola murmured, placing her hand on her forehead.

"Yoohoo! You look like you're out of energy, Nicola!" The teenage girl from the mirror spoke to her with a smile on her face.

Nicola slowly looked up the mirror again and the teen surfer girl waved at her. "You... you can't be... no way... you just can't be... what on earth... am I seeing things?"

The teen girl gave a slight glare towards her and placed one hand on her waist. "What do you think you're doing, Nicola? Are you insane trying to get rid of the best memories of your life? You're still young, age twenty-one and you're already carrying on the family business. That's a good path you've chosen, you know that, Nicola? But seriously, that doesn't mean you'd get rid of the best memories you ever had in your past life. You're even trying to get rid of me--- your heart and soul? The true roots that made you who you are today? Not gonna happen, Nicola!"

"Aren't you...?" Nicola suddenly began to answer this illusion at the mirror. "Are you really...?"

The teen girl turned to her lavender surfboard and pointed at her initials near the tail of her surfboard. "Yeah! That's right. I'm your heart and soul... or have you even forgotten that you've got a heart and soul, Nicola? I mean, you're not even going to tell poor Lucia and Hippo about what really happened to us? Not cool!"

"I... I don't want anyone to hate me... why can't anyone understand that? I can't have Lucia and Hippo look at me in a bad way... but my mistake caused so many lives and tears for the loved ones..."

The teen girl illusion began to contemplate in a rather girlish manner and then snapped her fingers. "Well, that already happened. But the dumb part here is that you're blaming yourself for the tragedy. Girl, it already happened. It was bound to happen anyway. You didn't make it happen--- nature did! No human can control nature, you know. And then you warped little Lucia's and little Hippo's minds because they were too young to remember that awful day just so you'd still have their trust? What on earth are you thinking? I mean, look at me! Look at me for awhile and tell me what kind of person I am."

Nicola gazed at the teen girl for a few moments and sighed. "I love my little sister and little brother very much... I love them both... it's like... whenever Mom and Dad aren't around I was ready and willing to give all my life so Lucia and Hippo can have a better young life than I did."

"Well, I can seriously see that! I mean look at Lucia and Hippo--- they're looking really well--- best of all, while you try to get rid of your past life, Lucia and Hippo want to get in to the life you used to live. Now all of a sudden they seem to know more about surfing than you do. That's a total shame, really, if you ask me..."

Nicola tightened a fist and gritted her teeth in nervousness. "You don't understand! I didn't want them to go through the same things that I went through! It's unfair to them..."

"Uh, duh! Well it's also unfair for them to not know the truth, Nicola. You know, you should be glad that I'm still hanging on to you because you and I both know that you're the best thing that's happened to this family, Pearl Waters, and the entire town. Thanks to you all the other rivals and wanna-bes all around fear us! Look at me again. What do you see when you look at me, hm?" Right then the teen girl posed looking cool and cute along with the lavender surfboard slanted, showing off the signature motif and those initials barely visible. She gave a wink and a sideways peace sign not too close to her face as well as one leg lifted while the other with the foot tiptoed.

Nicola burst in to soft laughter once she gazed at the teen girl illusion posing. "You're funny, you know that?"

The teen girl stuck her tongue and snickered. "Of course I'm funny! Can't say the same about you. What the heck happened to you, Nicola? You used to be funny! All people like funny people! It's how you gain friends, girl! You're still nice but you're not funny!"

"Ugh..." Nicola sighed deeply and lowered her head. "I guess... I guess I should talk to Lucia and Hippo about... what happened..."

The teen girl offered a pump fist to Nicola via the mirror as Nicola responded with a pump fist. "Well then--- the big one's rolling in! Gotta ride that wild surf now. Oh, and when you have the time, Nicola, maybe it's time you do some late spring cleaning of the entire place, would you? Seeya!" Just like that the illusion disappeared from her mirror.

That was weird... I can't believe I'm talking to myself...

Nicola finished her personal touch ups and headed back downstairs and on to business again.

Meanwhile at the Rainbowside S-Cube, Lucia and Kaito continued to gaze at the ocean without any words exchanged. Both seem to have something else in mind, and although Lucia should be happy that she was alone with her one true love next to her, the story of Kaito's missing love came to her mind. Though he did not give much detail to his story somehow there were hints from his story that she just could not ignore.

There's not much detail in his story about his missing true love... Why can't I help thinking that he was talking about me? Why can't I help thinking that the boy I rescued from that storm was him? He said he was taken away from that girl? In my missing love's story he disappeared when I woke up...

Right at that moment she gasped in surprise once she realized another memory she may have recovered. Quickly she turned to Kaito, who was still staring at the glassy ocean, startled him with a call: "Kaito!"

Kaito snapped and stared at Lucia looking shocked. "Wh-what?"

"I know how to find that missing girl of your dreams, Kaito!" She stood up from her spot and wiped the sand off of her clothes with a smile on her face.

"Yeah?" Kaito raised an eyebrow of suspicion at her but decided to play along.

"Yeah! Maybe she's out in the sea somewhere, Kaito. Maybe she's... she's a mermaid!"

"You're making fun of me, aren't you Lucia?" Kaito smirked and stood up from his spot.

"Me? No, of course not! I don't want you all sad just thinking about her. There's the tournament that you need to train for--- and you have to look for a partner for the tandem surfing thing too! And with the number of the girls in this little tribe here looks like you've got plenty of options!"

"I know... I'm trying to get over her but it's not easy."

"Well if you're gonna be like that, Kaito, then you'll fail the entire team and never get to enter the tournament because you can't even get a partner for the tandem surfing competition!"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Right at that moment she began to shout out to the group of teen girls mending to their designated surfer boy after their long, wild rides. Kaito began to worry and ran behind Lucia to watch what she was about to do. "Yo, Beach Bunnies and Betties! Anyone here interested in riding the wild surf with the champion of last year's National All-Around Surfing Championships Tourney? He needs a tandem surfing partner for the upcoming surf scenes tournament!"

"Lucia, what are you doing? Don't yell that out in front of everybody!" Kaito quickly ran to her and immediately covered her mouth with his hand, but it was too late. The girls present at this secret surfing spot caught her attention, which also included those who were already taken. "Oh great! Nice going, Lucia!"

Lucia chuckled and released herself from Kaito and backed away from him unaware she was backing herself towards the ocean. "Oh come on, Kaito! Two weeks already passed and you still haven't found your partner yet! You don't have much time to train your tricks, dude!"

Just as the girls were reaching their way towards the shore where the target surfer boy was standing, Kaito continued to approach Lucia, while she continued to back away to the ocean. After a few steps Kaito stopped and called out: "Lucia! Get over here now!"

"No way!" Lucia chuckled, not noticing Kaito's serious tone from his voice. "Come on! I'm helping you out here--- why are your chasing me?"

"Lucia, I'm serious—- I'm not joking this time. You better get back here or---"

"What's wrong, Kaito? Are you mad at me again? Look, I just wanted to cheer you up so I'm doing my part for—-"

"Erm, Lucia, I'm not mad or anything--- it's just that you're---"

Before Kaito was able to complete his concerned statement the ocean rolled in a beachbreak that caused Lucia to lose her balance on her standing and fell on to the water, flat on her back. "Aaaaah!!"

Kaito burst in to laughter and ran to where Lucia fell and reached his arm to her. "Beachbreak alert!" Lucia frowned and quickly sat up and splashed some water on him. "Hey! You're the one who backed away to the water!"

"Beachbreak... this is all your fault! You forced me back to the water!" Lucia glared at him as she stood up, wet and sandy hair, drenched clothing with more sand clinging on to the fabric of her clothes. Her body spray scent of ocean breeze on her body now became the scent of salted sea sand.

"Haha... Then again just looking at you all wet like that makes you look rather hot and sexy... the wet clothes all clinging to your body like that, showing your perfectly-shaped curves... man that turns me on, girl... " Right then he gave a wink at her, which made Lucia blush and embarrassed all at the same time.

"Perv!" Lucia continued to splash more water at Kaito as the surfer boy quickly dodged the water from her, laughing at the same time.

Kaito heard the huge stampede of girls halting the sand before they made a touch on the wet sand. He turned to them with the girls giving blank stares and clapped his hands twice. "What are you standing around for? Go get me a towel really quick! Hurry up!"

The girls immediately ran from their spots to look for a towel while Michal remained standing at the shore, looking rather concerned. "Oh! Lucia, are you okay?"

Lucia gave a slight smirk on her face. "Oh I'm fine, Michal... just fine... with this big ol' patch of bandage on my forehead and now I smell like fish, oh yeah... I'm absolutely fine!" She still continued to glare at Kaito as one of the girls handed him a towel.

"Here..." Kaito handed the towel to Lucia as she quickly grabbed the towel away from him, looking rather frustrated. "What? Why are you mad all of a sudden?"

"Because--- you humiliated me in front of everybody!"

"Me? You're the one who called all the girls here, Lucia. I mean what the hell were you thinking?" Kaito tried to sound more serious but still could not help but to laugh some more as well as continuing to stare at her state at that time.

"Why do you keep staring at me like that, Kaito?" Lucia began to worry as she began to wipe herself with the towel. "Stop looking at me like that!"

"I'm a guy, Lucia! It's part of my nature to check out chicks I see anytime! If I see a hot chick and then not look at her then obviously there's something wrong with me!"

It's just that no boy has ever looked at me like that before... Lucia sighed and quickly covered herself with the towel. "Well... don't look at me like that! It makes me nervous!"

At that moment Lucia turned away from Kaito and walked back to the sand. Just as she finally escaped Kaito she was stopped once more by his rather commanding voice. "I hope you've got yourself an extra set of clothes, Lucia!"

"Eh? Why? I can just... dry myself up under the sun!" Lucia answered quickly.

"No, seriously. I really do hope you have an extra set of clothes--- health reasons."

Lucia gave the expression as if she was about to break down and cry from major embarrassment by the boy she even wanted to be with. "Health reasons? You perv... You're only saying that because I know you want to--- wait, why am I telling you all this?! Ugh!"

Kaito gave a slight snicker and placed his fingers on his chin. "I take you don't have an extra set of clothes then..."

"Why would I bring an extra set of clothes? It's not like I go in the water and swim every time I come to the beach!"

"Luckily for you these kids live in campers that have shower stalls, so you can take a shower and get rid of all that marine bacteria and all that crap that's gonna infect you if you don't wash yourself. The extra set of clothes part is going to be a problem..."

Michal gasped and ran towards Kaito with hopeful looks on her face. "Kaito! I--- I have an extra set of clothes!"

Kaito found Michal standing next to him and answered: "You do? Great! Can you lend it to Lucia?"

"Well... I can... but see... she's a bit taller than me and a bit stockier, so I don't know if my clothes would fit her..."

Lucia's eyes widened in shock to hear Michal making this particular statement but decided not to overreact by it. "Um... it's okay, Michal... I'll... I'll just manage and... I'll go to the doctor or something if I get infected---"

"It's not okay, Lucia." Kaito gave a slight frown and suddenly took her by the hand. "It's bad enough you've got that bruise on your forehead but since you fell in the water you also have a high chance of getting infected through the bruise too..."

"W-where are we going?" Right then Lucia unconsciously heard her heart beating rapidly once she felt Kaito's hand holding on to hers. She felt him gently dragging her along with him while Michal began following the two, looking a bit suspicious.

"I'm not kidding, Lucia. You need to wash yourself. Man, for someone who knows about surfing you sure are clueless about health issues regarding the sea and the beach!" He continued to lead her to a further area of the beach and found where the recreational vehicles were parked. Many of them were those fancy, expensive luxury bus conversions that can equate in to a one-room apartment unit.

"Whoa... buses?" Lucia asked curiously, staring at the elegant-designed buses.

"Bus conversions... they're like mobile houses. These babies cost a fortune, so only rich folks have them."

Lucia remained in awe as Kaito continued to drag her along like a tour guide giving a personal guide to a tourist. Michal tailed them from behind along with her bag which contained her extra clothes. She still had the same expression as she had before but at the same time she felt she had nothing to worry about, thinking Lucia was not a type of girl Kaito would actually get interested in. She still remained her confidence within her and also trusted that Lucia would not do anything to lure Kaito to her.

"I've seen you and the dudes ride buses like these when you travel to surf meets and stuff, Kaito. I always wondered how you guys were able to afford to travel on buses like that..." Lucia continued while still stared at each of the bus conversion recreational vehicles parked neatly and in uniform.

"That was a bus conversion too. My family has one too but we can't really use it since Gaito or myself don't have a driver's license, so we use Hamasaki's family bus conversion instead. His family's got a chauffeur so he drives it for us. Hamasaki can do it himself but he only has a permit, so no can do."

Michal caught up to the two and walked alongside Kaito's other side. "My family and I have one too! But sadly Rihito's not used to driving a car himself and our chauffeur isn't always available except on special occasions, you know?"

Kaito chuckled and turned to Michal. "Guess we'll never run out of bus conversions in this town then, huh Michal?"

Michal giggled along with Kaito while Lucia sighed in slight envy. This bites... both Kaito and Michal are rich too... I can't compete with anyone in this beach... the entire OC-5 except Rihito are out of everyone's league here...

Just as they continued to walk through the bus conversions they were encountered by one particular hot and appealing surfer boy who almost had the same style as Kaito resting at the front of a black and dark blue bus conversion. He stood almost the same height as Kaito, same slight muscular build as Kaito, and his overall appeal were almost as strong as Kaito's own. He wore a folded long-sleeved unbuttoned white collared shirt, showing off a bit of his bare body, and a dark blue boardshorts. Both his ears were pierced like Kaito's except the boy had more studs and hoops than Kaito's and also had two neck pieces around his neck. He had his sunglasses on and his eyes were now fixated at the three incoming kids on his way. Once he and Kaito found each other, they approached each other and exchanged pump fists on each other.

"Heh," the sunglasses surfer boy responded with a smile on his face. "I had a feeling you'd show up one of these days, Kaito."

Kaito gave a slight snicker towards the boy he exchanged fist pumps with. "Dude, you know I always come here when I can. Been awhile."

"Dude, we only hooked up two days ago. Not like we haven't seen each other in years, man!" The boy laughed.

"That was on the phone and on IM chatrooms, man! This frickin' town needs to remove all the zoning and crap so we'd all be going to the same school and all that so we can kick it, you know?"

"Damn straight." The two surfer boys nodded as Kaito turned to the two girls.

"By the way, this is Subaru Shibatani, one of the best hotdoggers in the Rainbowside. He and I have been friends since our parents hung out at the country club inland and he hangs here at the S-Cube with the rest of those chosen would-be Rainbowside surfers in the future. Let's just say he's like the head guardian of the S-Cube to be sure no invaders find this strip of beach and claim it as their own. He goes to a private all-boys school two towns away from here so you guys hardly see him around town during school days."

"To hell with Bacchus Prep, Kaito. I'm actually transferring to your school after summer, dude." Subaru snickered. "I'm tired of all-boys schools, man... I've been wanting to go to a co-ed since I was little but you know how the parents are..."

"Heh... nice." Kaito returned the snicker with a nod.

"Hotdogger?" Michal wondered curiously and gazed her eyes towards this other handsome surfer boy next to her dream boy. "I don't understand---"

"A hotdogger is a high-ranking surfer in terms of skill, artistic merit, and reputation, Michal." Lucia explained to her yet another surfer lingo. "Like Kaito, for example. He's won so many awards and is a complete competitor when he catches his wave and rides on it. In the surfing world he's considered as a hotdogger. The rest of the dudes in the tribe are also considered hotdoggers too since they're pretty known and are also tough competitors too!"

"Oh... I see... thanks for explaining to me, Lucia." Michal nodded with a slight smile on her face.

Lucia turned to the other surfer boy Subaru and offered a handshake. "I'm Lucia Nanami, Kaito's homeroom classmate. This is the first time I've been here but I'm having vibes from out of the blue that I've been here before, but still..."

Subaru smiled sweetly and shook Lucia's hand. "Welcome to the Rainbowside S-Cube!" He turned to Kaito quickly and said "Dang, Kaito, you didn't tell me she's this cute!"

Kaito hushed Subaru and replied: "Depends on your definition of cute, dude."

Subaru snickered and nudged Kaito on the shoulder. "Dude, stop denying, man! There's nothing wrong with telling a girl she's cute!"

"Erm..." Lucia chuckled nervously and shrugged her arms. "I never really considered myself cute, nor I even tried to be cute or anything! But anyway! I'm here because I'm in a band... and this girl next to me is Michal Amagi--- she's the younger sister of my band's lead singer and bass player, Rihito Amagi..."

"Ohhh!" Subaru shook hands with Michal while the younger girl greeted him with a smile on her face. "So both of you girls are surf band players?"

"Oh no!" Michal chuckled. "Just Lucia and my brother Rihito... I'm just merely a supporter, you know? I don't really have much talent!"

"Well, you're here... and man, Rihito Amagi? He used to be the leader of the Rainbowside years ago until he quit to go to college, so of course you're always welcome here!"

"Thanks!" Michal cheered happily while Lucia laughed along with them.

"Anyway," Kaito changed the subject. "Subaru, do you mind if we use your bus conversion for a bit? Lucia needs her shower."

Lucia lowered her head in embarrassment while Subaru gave a slight snicker. "Let me guess--- you tripped down the water and wet all over, right?" The completely drenched girl nodded shyly. "Well, the shower's inside. Go for it!"

"Awesome! Thanks!" Kaito proceeded and opened the door of the bus converter as he and Lucia come inside. Michal gave her bag to Kaito for the extra set of clothes. Kaito closed the door, leaving Michal and Subaru outside.

"Darn..." Michal snapped her fingers, scratching her head gently. "I just realized that those extra pair of clothes I have in there is an extra pair of bikinis... and Lucia doesn't wear bikinis..."

Subaru chuckled softly and crossed his arms, relaxing himself against the wall of his bus converter. "She doesn't, huh? Reminds me of my girlfriend..."

Michal's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh! You have a girlfriend?"

Subaru reached down his backpack for his wallet and showed Michal a photo of the girlfriend he mentioned. Michal recognized the girl's uniform as the same uniform that the girls wear at Lucia and Kaito's school, not to mention that the girl looked more of a plain jane than one of those hot beach babes that boys love to look at. She noted the girl's long braids and the pair of eyeglasses she wore.

"We met over the Nijibe Youth Study Chat site. I needed some homework help and only signed in there for online tutoring and she ended up being my tutor. And I guess from there we just clicked and the rest is history."

Michal smiled and looked right at him. "She seems nice and looks like one of those soft spoken shy girls. I guess the stereotype of surfer boys only dating beautiful beach babes isn't always true!"

Subaru shook his head and placed his wallet back in his backpack. "Her name's Misao Koshiki. Maybe Lucia or Kaito know her since she goes to the same school as them. She's one of the reasons why I'm transferring in their school after summer so I can spend more time with her. She's doing volunteer work at the library tutoring some other kids who had to go to cram schools during summer so I won't be seeing her as much during summer, but we keep in touch."

"That's so sweet! I wish I can transfer to their school... just so I can be closer to Kaito..." Michal murmured her feelings without thinking.

"Heh... I see you got a thing for Kaito too, eh?" Subaru snickered. "It's all good though. It's natural... I mean we are talking about Kaito Doumoto here. You've got the entire town to compete with for his attention..."

"I know that..." Michal answered. "Every time we hang out at the beach Kaito was always talking to some other girl from his fan club or from those Rainbow Pop Girls clique, so I know about that. But... I think Kaito likes Lucia..."

Subaru shrugged his arms and shook his head. "Sorry, can't help you with that. The dude isn't exactly the commitment type, but I've been hearing from the competitor Rainbowsides that he gave up on that one-week girlfriend thing three months ago. I don't know about him liking Lucia, but everyone in the Rainbowside knows he is in love with someone. The problem is, nobody knows who that girl is--- even Kaito himself doesn't even know her name. That's just weird if you ask me."

"Oh... I see." Michal fell silent and began to ponder about this new fact she learned. Kaito...? In love with someone whom he's never met? How is that possible? I guess the rumors were right about him in love earlier but no one knew who the lucky girl was. Oh Kaito... I guess I really don't have a chance with you then... But even then I won't give up until you fall in love with me, Kaito Doumoto!

At Subaru's bus conversion, Lucia showered thoroughly, making sure all the sand and anything that reeked sea water were washed off. Subaru's shower was very well-equipped, with shampoo, conditioner, body wash (both for guys and for girls), soap, and everything else needed to pamper themselves. While she was at the shower, Kaito used his time by washing Lucia's clothes on the kitchen sink using a liquid detergent to get rid of the sand and the any remnants of sea life clenched on the fabric.

Kaito knew he never did any type of favors to a girl, let alone washing a girl's clothes by hand since there was no washing machine or dryer machine in a bus conversion. Once he was done with her top and shorts came the undergarments. Just at the sight of Lucia's modest-looking undergarments Kaito immediately blush. Sure, she had a plain white, truly modest-designed camisole, a conservatively-designed white brassiere, and a chastely-designed pair of white panties that neither of them smelled seduction, they were still a girl's undergarments, enough for Kaito to blush, close his eyes, and swallow his tension at the same time.

Oh man... okay... so... I'm washing her clothes and then it comes to this. I can't believe I'm doing this... I should've had Michal come in here and do all this... what the hell was I thinking? Then again just by... looking... at her... garments... she's so innocent considering they look so... conservative. Dammit... somehow this still turns me on... Kaito shook his head, trying to keep himself cool and calm about this little scene. Slowly he moved his hand towards the white camisole but just as he was about too, a few inches apart, he began to shake. Dammit... calm down, dude... it's only Lucia's underwear... why am I so nervous--- not to mention totally turned on--- like this? Ugh, this is wrong but it feels so right... Damn, dude, calm down... calm down and be a man!

Kaito gazed back down at the garments. Trying to get himself together he attempted to brave himself by aiming his hands towards the camisole the second time. Just as a few inches there and halted again. Dammit... I just... I just can't... I can't do this...

Without hesitation he quickly turned away, wiping off a bit of the sweat pouring from his head, and ran outside hoping Michal was still there. Once he exited the bus conversion he sighed in relief to see Michal still chatting with Subaru outside. He grinned nervously and called for her: "Um, Michal... got a minute?"

Michal turned and smiled happily when she heard Kaito calling for his name. "Yes, Kaito?"

Kaito used his finger to signal her in to coming inside. Michal followed him as he closed the door behind her. "Michal, I know this is kinda awkward and all, but... you know how to wash laundry by hand, do you?"

Michal giggled softly and answered: "Well, since the maids do all the laundry for the entire family back home I've never really had experience washing laundry at all, let alone by hand. But I'll try."

"Oh good... um... the remaining clothes are at the sink!"

"I'm sure it wouldn't be that bad, Kaito." Michal approached the sink and found the set of underwear already in the basin, laundry soap and everything, but still soaked. Right then she realized why Kaito needed her to wash the rest and giggled to herself. Silly Kaito... it's Lucia's underwear!

With a grin on her face thinking of Kaito's rather cute expression of embarrassment she began to wash Lucia's underwear set, scrubbing off the sand, soaking it in the water, and putting as much soap as needed. She took a short glance towards Kaito, who had his back turned as to avoid seeing the underwear or worse...

"Kaito, I'm done!" Right at that moment both Kaito and Michal were startled to hear Lucia's voice from the showers. "Hey... Michal was right... her cami and underwear fit me but then... I don't see any extra clothes. Just another pair of bikinis."

"Whoops..." Michal blushed in embarrassment while Kaito sighed deeply. "I just realized it earlier... I'm so sorry..."

"I can't wear bikinis, Kaito... don't you understand? I look horrible in bikinis... plus... they look smaller for my size..."

"Uhh..." Kaito felt more cold sweat flowing from him as he ran to the door, looking for his fellow surfer friend. "Yo, Subaru! Can you get over here in a minute?"

Subaru was back at his spot again, watching the ocean and everyone else in the tribe just having fun, surfing, lounging, or playing beach volleyball sloppily. He turned his head to see Kaito waiting at him. "Yeah?" He approached the door to meet Kaito.

"Uh... we got a little awkward situation in here... um... do any of your chicks in the tribe here got any extra clothes that are not bikinis or any form of swimwear?"

Subaru chuckled and invited himself in the bus conversion. "Misao sometimes would spend the night in here with me and the dudes and the chicks so she would leave some extra clothes here." He headed to the cabinet area near the shower and began searching through the drawers.

"I'm so sorry... this is too embarrassing... and awkward..." Lucia apologized while she had her towel around her waist knowing she had a camisole on top. "I didn't know I was gonna come here in the first place and if I did I would've brought an extra set of clothes..."

After searching through the drawers, Subaru only found a pair of blue knee-length shorts that belonged to Misao. "Ah, sorry. I forgot she had to take her clothes to the laundry today. I only got her shorts here." He reached his arm with the shorts on his hand to the shower door while facing the opposite so he would not be able to see Lucia in there.

"Oh, thanks! I owe you big time!" Lucia quickly took the pair of shorts and quickly slipped them in. She sighed in relief that Misao's pair of shorts were perfectly her size. "Oh good... I wear the same size as she does!"

"Sorry, that's all I can find, Lucia," Subaru apologized. "I'll see if anyone has an extra top---"

Just as he was going to continue both he and Michal spotted Kaito removing his zipper sweatshirt and then his long gray t-shirt with a wild cartoon artwork of a fat rat on a surfboard riding a wave with a huge Surfink text right above it. Michal blushed immediately once Kaito showed off his rather shapely, manly body and handed the Surfink t-shirt to Subaru. Afterwards he put his zipper sweatshirt on, leaving the zipper halfway closed.

"Here. At least no one's gonna know the t-shirt's mine," Kaito smirked as Subaru passed the t-shirt to Lucia.

"Sorry Lucia... but this is Kaito's shirt." Lucia took the shirt from Subaru's hand and viewed the t-shirt to see how it looked like.

"Ew... this is some ugly rat! You expect me to wear this, Kaito?" Lucia shouted her complaint from the shower.

"Lucia, stop complaining! That t-shirt's rare, expensive, and imported, you know? What do you expect us to do? Steal every girl's clothes until we find something your size?" Kaito returned the complaint at her.

"Fine... fine..." Lucia sighed deeply and slipped the gray t-shirt over her. Because of the length of the t-shirt she tucked it underneath the shorts. Oh man... I can't believe I'm wearing this...

After drying her hair and putting a bit of suntan lotion around her body, Lucia was ready to go. Her wet but freshly-laundered clothes were hanging at the window of the bus converter to dry while Michal was drying Lucia's underwear with a hair dryer. She appeared out with Kaito's t-shirt tucked underneath Misao's shorts and Michal's camisole, brassiere, and panties underneath all at once. Still feeling awkward wearing other people's clothing her appearance was pretty decent.

"Hey... you still look good with other people's clothes!" Kaito chuckled while Lucia gave a quick glare towards him. "What?"

"I've heard enough from you, Kaito! I'm not exactly amused here! I need to get back to where everyone is so we can start rehearsing."

Kaito suddenly pushed Lucia down on one of the living room seats. "We still have to replace the patch on your head."

"But--- why?" Lucia asked curiously.

"I just explained to you why earlier, Lucia. Now stay still..." Right then he slowly removed the first patch he placed on her and with Subaru's help with his full-packed First Aid Kit he gently wiped the wound she got from the major shove forward at the pickup earlier today.

"Ow... ow..." Lucia bit her bottom lip to endure the pain from her wound.

"I said stand still!"

"I am standing still, dude!"

"Not still enough."

"Stop picking on me, Kaito!"

"I'm not! Just relax!" With a cotton ball and tweezers he placed a few drops of Hydrogen Peroxide liquid on them and gently applied it on her wound. Afterwards he added an antibiotic cream on the wound. Finally he placed a brand-new patch, a lot softer than the first one, and taped it securely and snug at the same time. "Okay, all done. Your wound looked worse than earlier. Luckily I replaced everything."

Lucia gulped nervously and gazed down. "Thanks, Kaito... I guess I am clueless about health issues regarding the beach and surfing and even on travel."

"If you don't know, Lucia, now you know."

Lucia lead the way outside the bus conversion while the others follow. As Kaito exited, Subaru tapped him on the shoulder as Michal went ahead of the two boys. "What?"

Subaru whispered with a smile on his face: "That's a nasty cut she's got there, huh? Don't worry, she'll get over it, Kaito. You'll win her sooner than you think!"

Kaito turned to Michal and said "Um, Subaru and I are gonna be talking for a bit so you go ahead with Lucia, okay?"

"Sure thing!" Michal waved at him as she ran forward to catch up to Lucia.

Kaito raised an eyebrow of curiosity at Subaru, wondering why his friend was grinning for. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"You know what I'm talking about... you hot loverboy stud you!"

Kaito crossed his arms and lowered his eyes in suspicion. "Are you trying to hint something here, Subaru?"

"Don't be modest, Kaito. You know what I'm talking about. Before Misao and I got together about a year ago she used to hate my guts too. But one day she showed me something that staked a spot in my heart and I couldn't get away from her anymore. Most nice girls have really strong defenses against guys like us, Kaito, and the only weapon that a guy should use to break those defenses is love, dude."

Kaito glared at his good friend while Subaru remained smiling. "Dude, what makes you think I'm interested in her? Lucia Nanami is like one of those weird girls that guys like us can't read what's really in their minds..."

Subaru burst in to laughter and patted Kaito on the shoulder. "You brought her here at the S-Cube."

"I didn't! She's one of the OC-5 band members! Her cousin and Rihito brought her, her brother, and their fellow waitress back at Pearl Waters here."

The two surfer boys jumped off from the bus conversion and made their way back to where everyone was at this point. Subaru continued with his statements. "Kaito, that's too bad you're not interested in Lucia. I thought she was a nice girl any guy would like to have for a girlfriend. There aren't a lot of girls like her in this world anymore. I was in the same place as you, Kaito, getting chased by crazy girls, leaving weird secret admirer love letters in my backpack or on top of my surfboard, dating random babes and end the relationship in less than a week... I got tired of it all. One of the reasons why I didn't want to enter the competitive surfing world, Kaito, was because I'm gonna end up having my own huge mob of fan girls like you have right now... and even if I wanted to actually compete in those surfing competitions I don't feel like I'd accomplish anything meaningful in them anyway. Unlike you who see surfing as a competitive sport, I'm more of a recreational kind of guy. You're competing and I'm instructing future surfers who'd carry on the Rainbowside once our time is up."

"I'm getting tired of all that too, Subaru, but you and I don't have the same tastes in girls. That girlfriend of yours is kinda weird--- she acted more like one of those old-fogey truant officers or those shy and nerdy library girls in school than a normal student--- and Lucia's just... weird..."

"Eh, I was afraid you're gonna say something like that, Kaito. Sounds like you and I have a different definition of weird. Misao wasn't weird, but she was blind at the world around her. I was the only one who dared to open her eyes and see what she's missing because all the other kids from what I heard weren't taking her seriously or even made fun of her because she wasn't on the same league as most girls in this town." Subaru fell silent for a few moments and changed the subject. "My point, Kaito, is that the only reason why you're not happy with all the girls you dated in the past was because you always went for the same type of girl as the last one you dated. You need to break out of that cycle, man. That girl you said who saved you from dying when you were a kid that one time? What if she wasn't a beach babe like the ones you dated? What if she turned out to be a girl like my girlfriend... or Lucia even? What are you gonna do? Are you just gonna dump her and move on with your life? 'Cause if you actually did that then man, you are one shallow dude."

Kaito frowned in discontent and sighed. "So in other words you're thinking that a girl like Lucia may be the missing girl I've been looking for all this time?"

"You may never know... for all you know it could be Lucia herself!"

Kaito quickly glared right at his friend. "Okay, that's just way over the top, man! This summer, the tournament is my priority. Besides, if you're insisting me and Lucia to actually go out we won't have time for that too. I got the surfing champs to think about and she's got the surf bands contest to think about. Not gonna happen, dude."

Subaru still smiled and shrugged his arms. "Just stating an opinion, man."

Moments later, the mob of teens gave a hand to Taro, Rihito, and Hippo regarding setting up their instruments at a large flat-surfaced boulder that was used by the Rainbowside Surf Tribe as their little entertainment stage. This particular boulder had been used for that purpose by the surf tribe for many generations since the tribe's foundation that it was considered a sacred stage for the most loyal that only the hot cats of the tribe were allowed to use the stage. Because of Rihito's young past as a leader of the tribe he did not need permission from any one present. Right at the bottom of the boulder were Rina and Masahiro chatting while gazing out towards the ocean and all other beach bums having their fun on the shore while others paddled out to catch their wave.

"I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, Rina," Masahiro began with high enthusiasm on his face. "I can't wait to take you around the high-scale shops in town so we can get started on your profile picture for the tournament entry."

Rina gave a light, simple smile on her face, also looking forward to tomorrow. "Yeah. I've never been to those high-scale shops in town so I guess I can consider this as my first trip. But you know... I can't help but think..."

"Think? About what?"

"I know... I know you showed me proof that I did look like that girl on the magazine cover you showed me awhile ago, but... for some reason I just have this feeling that you had your reasons why you want me up there. I mean, I kept hearing rumors saying that you prefer those rich, sophisticated girls that you see in your neighborhood and all that---"

Masahiro tightened his fist to calm himself down. The rumors Rina mentioned somehow hit him within and did feel rather hurt that Rina may be believing in those rumors. But in some way the rumors were correct on one thing. "Don't listen to those rumors... the problem with people today is that they just love to talk smack about anyone popular and have a high reputation. It's always been like that... it's like how a lot of those girls always talked smack about you behind your back just because you're not exactly fashion model material. There's no mention in the regulations that you have to be a fashion model to be in the beauty pageant, Rina."

Rina gave a slight nod. "Well, that's true too... but still... I'm pretty sure you've heard rumors about me not really in to all this girly stuff simply because I'm way too cool for that. It's not that I wanted to be a tomboy from the beginning--- I just believed in being independent and being my own person, you know? I mean, why do I have to wear trendy expensive clothes like most girls do? Why do I have to wear jewelry? Why do I have to wear makeup? Why do I have to wear my hair or style my hair like everyone else? Why can't people appreciate their natural selves?"

"Let me tell you this, Rina." Masahiro began his response. "If I didn't meet the Doumoto Twins and the rest of the tribe at the Nijibe Country Club then I wouldn't even be here and I wouldn't even be attending the same school as the dudes were. The rich kids here in Nijibe are only exposed to other rich kids because that's where the parents wanted them to stay. Those guys wanted me to see the world outside the estate gates, plus the Doumoto Family had a huge influence throughout the entire estate. It's like wherever they go, everyone else goes. Between them and my stuck-up upbringing I picked them. I like all the other stuff too but just being with the tribe makes living my life a lot easier and that I get to see the world outside those estate gates. Heck I'm glad to go to same school as you or else I would've known of you."

"I get it." Rina answered with a smile. "You're able to create and define what real beauty is to you, so you have your own keen eye for what's considered beautiful to you. Too bad most guys as of late aren't like that."

"Well," Masahiro smirked, "I'm not like most guys, Rina. You'll see when we head out to town tomorrow."

Rina gave a slight chuckle as her reaction. "I thought I should be the one who need to prove myself worthy of you? I mean... you dudes picked me for your beach babe at the tourney's beach beauty pageant and because of that I have to prove myself that I belong there and make you guys and the entire town proud."

"You don't need to do much, Rina, but we also gotta follow regulations too, which sucks in my opinion. You're beautiful as is right now, especially that you don't wear makeup? I swear, God created you as a goddess with all that natural beauty you possess. Just having you up there at the beach beauty pageant truly defines what a beach beauty pageant should be like. No girl wears makeup when she goes to the beach, especially when she goes out swimming and surfing. Sure there's the bikinis and bathing suits, but makeup? Why do you need makeup at the beach?"

Rina laughed softly and turned to Masahiro with that same smile. "You're not just saying that to boost up my confidence or try to make me do something I wouldn't like in front of those dudes, are you?"

"Rina, answer me this. How can I lie when everything I see in you is the truth?"

"Haha..." Rina could not help herself but to laugh in amusement. "You're really smooth, you know that, Masahiro? Real smooth, dude!"

"What can I say? It's the truth." Masahiro returned the smirk when Hippo arrived on top of the stage boulder.

"Rina, have you seen Lucia?"

The tomboy looked up to meet with Hippo looking below her. "She walked off with Kaito earlier and Michal followed them. Dunno where they went..."

Hippo gasped in panic with his hand on his forehead. "Oh no--- she ditched with Kaito? What if Kaito leads her in to some secluded place so he can have his way with her? I can't let that happen!"

Masahiro looked up to Hippo and answered: "Kid, you're talking about the wrong dude. Kaito's got no reason to have his way with her, dude. Sure despite of the one-week girlfriend game he was playing months ago he's not the type of guy who'd do that to a girl, especially Lucia."

"Hmph." Hippo crossed his arms and turned his head away. "I'm still keeping an eye on him, Hamasaki. I'm tired seeing any one of us Nanamis being toyed our feelings around by people who hang with the in-crowd. I got played by my late ex years ago, I even heard that Nicola got played too when she was a teen, I don't want the same thing to happen with Lucia. What's wrong with me thinking about my sister, anyway?"

Rina stood up from her seat and hushed. "Calm down, Hippo. I'm sure it's nothing. I haven't exactly seen Kaito try to mess with Lucia yet and I can assure you if he does anything wrong, I'll be sure to feed him with a knuckle sandwich for lunch!"

Hippo gave a slight frown, feeling a bit of worry on his part. Just as he was about to respond to Rina they spotted Taro waving right at a distance. They turned their eyes to where Taro was waving and spotted Lucia and Michal approaching their direction. Both Rina and Hippo took a closer look realizing something different in Lucia.

Once Lucia and Michal reached the giant stage boulder area, Hippo's eyes widened in shock to see his sister wearing clothes different from earlier. "Whoa, Lucia... what the heck is that you're wearing?"

Lucia climbed up the boulder and turned to Hippo and Rina. "Look, I tripped down the water so my clothes got all wet. Then Kaito and Michal took me to one of those bus campers of these Rainbowside bums, took a shower there, and the bums let me some clothes while my clothes are being dried up at the camper."

From out of the blue, Masahiro noticed the gray Surfink t-shirt Lucia was wearing and immediately recognized this. "Hey... isn't that Kaito's shirt?"

"Eep!" Lucia quickly covered the shirt she was wearing and blushed. "Well... there weren't any extra clothes so Michal and Kaito lent some of their clothes and his friend lent me his girlfriend's pair of shorts... And yeah, it's not the best-looking attire either. I look like a bum!"

Taro and Rihito were finished setting up the instruments and the necessary equipment and spotted Lucia in a rather not-so-common outfit coming from her. "You look fine, Lucia," Taro made his statement. "In fact I think that outfit matches the surf band attire, you know?"

Rina chuckled softly as she climbed up the flat boulder knowing the equipment was all set and they were ready to rehearse. "Man, Lucia... you're actually wearing Kaito's t-shirt... I bet girls would scream hardcore just to wear one of his shirts like that."

Masahiro leaned against the boulder with a grin on his face. "You know, that's the first time Kaito actually let a girl wear one of his shirts. A suggestion, Miss Nanami, is that you wear something over it so no one can tell that it's Kaito's t-shirt."

Lucia stared at the rather grotesque-looking monster cartoon on the t-shirt and then turned to Masahiro. "Kaito sure wears the strangest t-shirts... let alone this really ugly one..."

"Then again, you've got a point there," Masahiro continued. "No Kaito-crazy fan girl is gonna notice that ugly-ass t-shirt you're wearing is Kaito's."

"Then again that shirt ain't cheap," Hippo joined in the conversation, staring at the t-shirt. "I remember seeing that character at those American import surfing gear at the online shops one time. On the other hand, no one's gonna believe that a nice girl like Lucia would wear a t-shirt as ugly as the one she's wearing right now..."

Lucia stared at Hippo and shrieked: "Hey, lay off, Hippo! Kaito loves this shirt, otherwise he wouldn't be wearing it! Besides, it's the sentimental value of the shirt that counts the most!"

Hippo still continued to stare at his older sister with suspicion: "Right..."

Rihito interrupted the conversation right after he had his small conversation with his sister Michal. "Okay, enough talking about Kaito's ugly-ass t-shirt... let's get started!"

The band took their positions with their instruments. Taro reminded Lucia that the guitars were already tuned earlier at Pearl Waters so there was no need for her to adjust the strings. Normally Rihito would call out the audience to give them attention but this time he decided to begin with the warm ups.

"Out of Limits, everyone!" Rihito signaled the band, letting them know what they're going to play for their warm up track.

"Eh?" Lucia asked curiously. "You're not gonna have a short intro to the people out there at the beach?"

Rihito turned his head towards Lucia and answered: "Well, I realized that even the music itself will get people's attention." He gave the soft countdown as the band began their instrumental song.

At that time, Gaito, Nagisa, Kengo, and Daichi met with Masahiro right at the base of the flat boulder where OC-5 was performing. The four surfer dudes just kicked out from yet another heavenly ride at the cleanest, glassiest ocean they ever surfed. Once they got to their spot Nagisa first mentioned of Lucia wearing Kaito's Surfink t-shirt with a rather alarmed expression.

"Something the matter, little dude?" Gaito asked in curiosity.

"Hey Gaito... that shirt Lucia's wearing right now--- isn't that your brother's?" Nagisa asked curiously. "I mean... Kaito's like the only one who likes to wear imported surf attire as well as the stuff from the sponsors too..."

Gaito nodded in agreement. "Ooh yeah... that's Kaito's shirt alright. The sleeves are kinda hanging down on Lucia's shoulders and it's kinda sagging too. She hid it well by tucking the shirt underneath her shorts."

Kengo gasped in pure shock once he realized why Lucia was wearing Kaito's shirt at the moment. He turned immediately to Daichi. "Dude--- Daichi--- you've known Kaito longer than I have... um... I wonder if Kaito is... you know... that kind of dude..."

"What do you mean by that kind of dude?" Daichi asked curiously.

"You know... that kind of dude!"

Gaito crossed his arms, looking at Kengo with suspicion on his expression. "Oh let me guess, Kengo. You're having assumptions on why Lucia is wearing Kaito's shirt at this moment, aren't you?"

"Well... uhh... you know at those movies whenever there's a love scene between a dude and a girl and then afterwards we see the girl wearing the dude's shirt?" Kengo began his explanation. "You know.... that!"

"Ohhh..." The rest of the boys with the exception of Nagisa responded with realization in their minds. Though Nagisa was still under his teens his high grade point average in science did not leave him out of the surfer boys' gossip.

"No! No way! Kaito wouldn't do that!" Nagisa exclaimed with a fist clenched. "Well okay, he likes girls--- he likes checking them out, he likes to flirt with them, and he likes to smooth talk them, but he couldn't be doing... that! Man, you dudes gotta stop talking smack about him just 'cause most of the chicks in this town want him..." He quickly turned to the older twin and asked in panic. "Kaito wouldn't do something like that to a girl, especially with a girl like Lucia Nanami... would he, Gaito?"

Gaito remained silent and began to contemplate with his fingers on his chin. "Hmm... Well, in all honesty, I haven't exactly heard him blurt about his... adventures... with the girls he dated in the past..." Nagisa sighed in relief at that time, but Gaito continued. "Then again... anything that has... that... involved are always remained private. Unless probed Kaito's not going to say anything about it... So it's possible that... that... may have happened..."

"Nooo!" Nagisa gasped with his hands on the sides of his face. "He can't... I mean Lucia's too nice and too sweet and innocent... she wouldn't let him... he wouldn't do that... they just... couldn't... they just can't!"

"Dude! Dude!" Kengo continued on with his worry. "But what if Kaito actually did that? I mean yeah we talk about chicks a lot but he doesn't exactly talk about everything about the girls he dated... what they did... and... you know... all that... you know? I thought Gaito here is full of secrets 'cause he's all cool and calm and kinda quiet but Kaito's got plenty more secrets than he does! Dang Gaito, why don't you do your usual twin telepathy thing on him and see what's really in his mind?" Just as Gaito was about to do the usual slap on the head's back on Kaito, Masahiro already did the deed for him. "Ow! What was that for?"

Masahiro shook his head to both Kengo and Nagisa. "Have you hodads got any shame? We're talking about our kahuna dude of the Rainbowside here! Gaito is the crewmaster of the Rainbowside here and he's not that nosy regarding his twin's love life! Will you dudes calm down?"

"Besides," Gaito continued. "Our so-called twin telepathy--- if such a thing exists in the first place anyway--- is very limited. I can only see only certain things Kaito thinks about. That... as our codename for it... is one of the things I can't exactly read, so I can't really say..."

"No way, man!" Daichi began to think the same way as Kengo and Nagisa at that point. "Maybe it's true! Maybe Kaito and Lucia Nanami have... well... well, think of it this way, dudes! You know how those two haven't spoken to each other in two weeks until earlier today? Have y'all noticed Kaito's behavior towards Lucia Nanami lately? He was always... you know... next to her... and whenever the Nanami girl's alone he'd join her and keep her company? And then what... they both disappeared until it was time for OC-5 to rehearse. Lucia Nanami shows up wearing Kaito's t-shirt... what happened to her own clothes? I mean those shorts she was wearing isn't even hers because she wore a different style of shorts today!"

"Oh no... Kaito... Um..." Nagisa began to scratch his head to think. "Kaito, you'll always be my master and my role model regardless of... what you did..."

"Then it's true!" Kengo shrieked, completely in shock at the moment. "It's true! It's official! Our kahuna dude of Rainbowside really did... that!"

Before the others were about to answer, a familiar voice startled the entire tribe with the statement: "I really did what, Kengo?"

"GAH!" The boys quickly turned around to see Kaito and Subaru standing, with Subaru saluting the rest of the boys with a two-finger salute.

"Kaito!" Nagisa ran to him like a little boy looking up to an older brother. "Please... say it ain't so!"

Kengo bent down towards him as if he was pleading. "Kaito... I know we're all young and everything but--- you are seriously the man! The man, I'm telling you! The man!"

Masahiro shook his head and nudged Kengo on the side with his leg. "Dude, get up! You look pitiful bending down on him like that."

"What's going on, yo?" Kaito asked curiously with his arms shrugging. "What the hell did I do now?"

Subaru patted Kaito on the shoulder with a grin on his face. "I think the competitor dudes are getting the wrong ideas with the sweet Lucia wearing your shirt, dude."

Kaito shook his head and suddenly slapped Kengo's head from the back. "Dude, I'm a top-notch surfer, not a man whore! I can't believe you'd think of me like that! Okay, so Lucia's wearing my shirt, big deal! The poor girl tripped in the water and needed to wash herself or she'll get infected by those microbe invaders of the sea! It's bad enough she's got that bruise on her forehead..."

"See! I knew it!" Nagisa pumped his fists of victory up in the air. "I knew you wouldn't do that! You're way too cool to do that at such a young age!"

"Nagisa, you sound like an old fogey when you said that." Masahiro rolled his eyes with his arms crossed. "Kaito, it's okay. Lucia explained the entire story, so I already know."

Subaru cleared his throat and began his statement. "With God, Michal Amagi, and myself as witnesses, we can assure you that nothing happened. It's just that no one had an extra set of clothes that fit her so we all just chipped in."

"Instructor Shibatani always speaks the truth, man! Nothing happened!" Daichi gave a thumbs up and patted Subaru on the shoulder. "Long time no talk, dude, how you been?"

"Stop playing it off, Daichi!" Kengo frowned right at his best friend. "You were panicking too about the entire issue! Man, why am I always the one who gets smacked on the head?"

Gaito shrugged his arms. "What can I say, Kengo? We need a comic relief in the tribe and judging by the unanimous reactions towards you, you're it." Kengo lowered his head and sighed sadly.

After a few minutes, the song ended and the OC-5 re-adjusted their positions as Rihito began speaking through the microphone. "What's up, Rainbowside Surf Tribe? Thanks for having the OC-5 to rehearse and perform for all of you here at the Rainbowside S-Cube! We're happy to be here and we're glad we're able to introduce ourselves to you dudes and babes out there!" With that the entire tribe's eyes were facing towards OC=5.

"No way... it worked!" Lucia gasped and turned to Taro, standing next to her. "How does Rihito do it?"

"He's an orchestra conductor, Cousin," Taro grinned while quickly checking the strings of his guitar. "Except he's got the looks, the style, the charm--- he's redefining the rep of a concert maestro."

"But he's in a surf band this summer," Lucia responded curiously.

"Okay... except in the summer... heh."

Rihito was able to round up the entire tribe and continued on. "We've got this little jam that the band and I came up with not too long ago and we're thinking of playing this song for the surf bands contest segment of the tourney, but at the same time we dedicate this to all the hotdoggers--- and probably the hotdoggettes-- out there who will take the Rainbowside and Nijibe all the way to the championship throne for this very first all-around surf scenes tourney coming up next month. So dudes, grab a babe and jam along with us!"

He turned to the band, gave a small countdown, and Taro gave the first few notes on his guitar ripping, which gave the rest of the band a sign regarding the song they need to play. After a brief intro with Taro's skillful guitar rips, Rihito took the mic again for his lead voice:

We were takin' my ride and headin' on down

Where the cool cool surfers all gather round

Got a brand new board and I'm ready to fly

I'll be shootin' the curl before the sun is high

Show those hodads, grommets, heroes too

The kinda' high ridin' real surfers too

When the refrain came almost every one present grabbed a partner and began to dance. Right then the entire band began singing:

Well I'm a high ridin' surfer and it takes three crunchers

And a heavy to wipe me out

I can do a double spinner before you count to three

Whoa oh, King of the Surf, that's me

Whoa oh, King of the Surf, that's me

In the meantime at Pearl Waters, the dining area had been busy as ever, but despite of that the juice and coffee bar was still the hot spot of the establishment. There had been a few improvements made, and thanks to Maki's brother and their buddies at their family surf shop Pearl Waters now have music--- primarily surf rock and beach pop--- being played on the ceiling speakers to bring in the beach life mood in the atmosphere. There were new posters based on the breathtaking ocean photography of the young Hippo Nanami. Nicola the manager finally approved the idea of posting posters and large-sized photos of actual surfers in action; not just any surfer but a surfer from the known to the unknown who were born, bred, and raised in Nijibe. What set them back at this point was that Nicola felt they needed permission from the actual surfers to post these posters and photos on their walls.

For Nicola, this was going to be a huge challenge. She could ask Maki, his brother, and their surf shop buddies to make contacts with these surfers around town for permission but as manager she felt that she needed to do all these herself. The only problem for the ambitious manager was that she would have to overcome her comfort zone and open herself up to these Kaigara Boulevard outsiders to speak to them.

At this time, Nicola was at the attic to see if she can dig up any more memorabilia of past surfers and see if she can use them for the walls without calling them up for permission. She was able to gather a few of these framed photos and posters--- all autographed and dated several years from this year--- wiped them off gently to get rid of the allocated dust that was collecting on them. As she pulled out more old cardboard boxes filled with more memorabilia of her beach bum days several years ago she found another storage room within the attic of the building in which she had not opened for a long while.

With the keys she had in her pocket she unlocked the storage room to see what was kept in there. She turned on the old light switch once she opened the door--- still working, she thought--- and before she entered she wore a bandanna on her head and placed a face mask to protect herself from all the dust on the air. When she entered she found a small window and decided to open it to get the dust out of the room. Afterwards she turned around to see a small stack of surfboards of all sizes being stacked together, collecting dust as they were never touched. She got closer to the surfboards and slid a surfboard from the top stack and gently released it from the stack. The surfboard was about six feet, inches taller than Nicola herself. It was somewhat of a banana-shaped board with two pointed ends, bright pastel yellow with dark lavender stripes around the edges, and underneath was a huge purple plumeria flower and three fins. At the edge near the fins were initials like the one on the surfboard at the wall of Hippo's room. She placed her fingers on to the initials of C.S. once she spotted it.

On the opposite side of where the initials where another set of initials: G.G. Once she spotted these second set of initials she began to chuckle to herself. She murmured her first words towards the surfboard once she recognized what these initials mean.

"Long time no see, Gidget Gun. How have you been all these years?"

With a soft cloth and an all-purpose gentle cleaner she began to wipe off the dust on the surfboard with gentle care and the ambitious manager felt a smile forming on her face. It was the type of smile in which she felt she haven't had for the longest time. Nevertheless, she felt delighted to wipe off the dust of the board. Once she was done she stood the board upright against the wall and stared at it for a few moments.

Right then Nicola was startled to hear footsteps coming near her and turned to the door. Maki the restaurant's cook stood at the door and spotted her with a slight concerned look on his face. "Here you are, Nicola. I've been looking all over for you. What are you doing?"

Nicola faced Maki and invited him in. "Come in... I want to show you something."

"Sure thing." He entered slowly and Nicola presented him with the Gidget Gun surfboard she just dusted off moments ago."

"Hey! So here's the gorgeous stick!" Maki chuckled and placed his hand on to the board. "She still is a beautiful gun, you know."

"I know. I can't believe she was locked in here for so many years. I feel really awful now..."

"Don't be. At least even if it was collecting dust it's still in good condition."

"You know, if it weren't for... you know... I would have passed on this board to Lucia or Hippo when they came of age but... those two never even had the chance to actually learn how to surf. It's all my fault for not letting them share my world and experience what my parents and I loved those years ago."

"It's not too late, you know," Maki reminded her. "Once you tell them about the real history of your family, I'm very sure they'll be a lot more proud of being born in the family."

"I also want to apologize to you and your brother for not going all open and commercial with all your shaping business. A lot of surfers here and there would have wanted you guys to be their sponsors whenever they go to tournaments if it weren't for that day. So many private sponsors may want to invest in your Gidget Gun board, you know?"

"Haha... it'd have your name on it if that happened," Maki chuckled amusingly, then crossed his arms, gazing at the forum again. "Hey Nicola... maybe we should use these surfboards as décor for the dining room along with the ocean posters and images of local surfers around the walls. No one will be snooping around the boards anyway, plus the IDs are right at the base of the board anyway so they won't be able to see them."

"Maybe, Maki... let me think about it."

"You know what would be really cool though, Nicola?"

"Hm? What is it?" Nicola turned her head to face Maki, whose eyes were still fixated towards the Gidget Gun surfboard.

"It'd be nice if we also have the Gidget Gun's little sister too..."

"Oh..." Nicola sighed and lowered her head sadly. "I've forgotten that we've lost the little sister too. The poor thing must be lost at sea for good now... maybe it went down the sea for good."

"Yeah. Would have been nice if both the Gidget Gun and the little sister are together again."

At that point they hear another rushing footsteps closing in on them and both adults turned to see the young waitress Caren catching her breath from dashing her way up to the attic. "Boss... Maki... we got a problem!"

"Problem? What is it?" Maki asked curiously.

"We got some problem customers..."

"Problem? What happened?"

"Well, two jerk-ass dudes who were picking on Seira just because she gave them the wrong orders..."

Nicola sighed and responded: "Did any of you senior staffers take care of the situation?"

"Well, Sara is confronting these asses for picking on a kid now but see, that's where the problem is."

"What's the actual problem, Caren?" Nicola asked curiously.

"These two guys are harassing Sara now--- they seem familiar with her, especially with that punk with the long blond hair---"

Right at that time, Nicola walked out of the attic and hurriedly ran downstairs to the dining area. Maki and Caren followed her from behind. Once they got there they spotted the rest of the waitresses confronting the two rude teen boys harassing the volunteer waitress Sara just for standing up for her younger sister and her mistakes. Nicola interrupted the whole commotion with her usual authoritative mode.

"Is there a problem here?" Nicola spoke with her arms crossed.

"Yeah! That stupid kid brought us the wrong order and then the big sister decided to confront us instead of fixing this little problem," the teen boy with the long blond hair made his complaint. "What kind of a restaurant is this, having no-brained kids working here?"

Nicola knew that these two boys were indeed a problem at this point. She turned to the rest of the waitresses and said "Alright ladies, get back to work." She spotted Seira crying while Sara comforted her. "Sara, please take Seira to my office. I'll catch up with you two later."

"Sorry about this---"

"Please Sara, just head to the office, thanks." Sara nodded slowly as she took Seira to the manager's office while the waitresses headed back to what they were doing before. Nicola also asked Maki to head back to the kitchen to back her Aunt Taki with the dishes. At this point the manager was now alone with the two rude customers with dissatisfaction on their faces.

"First of all, I would like to apologize for the mistake. Today was the girl's first day and she is a volunteer waitress to cover for my regular staff who took a day off today for an emergency. Second, I'd like to correct your orders and it's in the house."

The dark spike-haired young man shrugged his arms and said "Eh, whatever. This bites, really. We heard all the rumors from all the folks here that this is the hottest spot of the year here in this town so we came here and see what the entire hype was about---"

Nicola became slightly suspicious and decided to listen to the customers' complaints. Just by that statement alone she already knew that these two boys were not locals either. "I figure this is the first time you two have been here at Pearl Waters?"

"Hell," the blond teen replied, "first time we've been here in this sorry little town. Can't believe the surfing association actually chose this god forsaken town for the first annual surf scenes tournament. What a dump compared to our home joint..."

"Where are all the rivals? Hell, where are all your surfers in this town? Don't you all have a representative? We'd like to meet them and throw them a challenge for the upcoming tournament---"

Right at that instant Nicola already determined who these two boys were and where they came from. Just by judging by their attitudes alone she already knew where they came from. "Are you finished insulting our home town, sirs?" She crossed her arms with a slight smirk.

"What kind of dump is this? Where are all the dudes and the babes? I thought this town has got the hottest surf culture around this region? It's dead!" The dark-haired teen continued on with the insults.

The blond boy went on: "Look, Miss Manager, we're here merely as observers, just to see how the people of this lovely town actually live and if they're actually up to high standards of the true surf scenes life, but what on earth are we seeing here?"

"I'll ask the questions again. Would you like to have your orders fixed or are you just going to babble your little hatred against our entire town here? I'm usually a nice person but anyone who breaks SEB #7 are being looked down upon in this town, which includes everyone in this building."

"What the hell are you talking about? SEB whatever--- do you think we're idiots? Stuff like that doesn't apply to the arch rivals, lady!" The long-haired blond boy cursed immediately towards the manager.

"You don't know the ten basic SEB--- as in Surfing Etiquette Bills? Where on earth have you two come from? You come in here to observe our way of living by the coast and you muscle in here acting like you're some kind of hardcore hotdoggers or something? Please don't insult my entire establishment with your stupidity because we don't allow waxboys here."

Those witnessing the situation gasped, murmured amongst each other, while those began to laugh. The two teens began to tighten their fists in chagrin as they glared right at the manager who now has a slight smirk at her face. The boys stood up with rather insulted expressions on their faces.

"What did you call us?!"

"You heard me--- waxboys!"

The blond stood up and approached Nicola as if he was ready to attack her physically. "Okay, that did it! You're seriously gonna pay for this and I'm not gonna go easy on you just because you're a girl!"

Nicola still continued on with the same smirk on her face. "Really now? So you're going to hit a girl in front of all these customers here? Go ahead. For all you know there's cops dining here, but hey, I don't care. You wanna kick my ass? Go ahead. I'm waiting..."

The two boys suddenly freeze knowing that they already had done enough damage to insult practically the entire town of Nijibe, even if it was just on a restaurant setting. The blond teen dropped his fist and turned to his friend and decided to leave the restaurant. The other boy turned around and pointed right towards Nicola.

"You just wait and see, lady! We're going to humiliate your entire surf tribe this upcoming tournament 'cause we are destined for a sweep, baby! Then we'll see who gets the last laugh!" The two boys quickly exited the restaurant as the entire dining area began applauding for Nicola.

"Alright, everyone. Show's over. Now enjoy your meals. Thank you!" Nicola gave a humble grin towards the entire dining area and headed back to the manager's office, where she found the Iria Sisters there as well as Hanon and Coco.

"Whoa..." Hanon gasped in shock. "You were like... totally cool out there, Boss!"

Sara sighed and stood up from her seat. "I'm really sorry about this, Nicola. I don't tolerate airheaded morons insulting my little sister like that."

Nicola patted Sara on the shoulder with a calming smile on her face. "It's not your fault. This is just your first day waitressing anyway. Mistakes happen, so make that mistake in to a lesson to learn, alright?"

Seira looked up shyly and spoke: "Thank you, Miss Nicola... I... I'm sorry I messed up with the order. I meant to give the other to the person sitting next to their table..."

"Don't worry about it. They're gone anyway... and I do know that you're still learning and you are not an idiot."

Coco quickly whispered towards Nicola: "Boss... those two groms... they're from Seiyo Valley, aren't they?"

Nicola gave a nod. "Once a Seiyo Valley kook, always a Seiyo Valley kook, Coco."

"That's just so cool, Boss!" Hanon exclaimed. "I mean, even you can tell which one of those surfer dudes come from. I mean are all surf tribes have their own common attitudes or something?"

Nicola turned towards Hanon and smiled lightly. "Oh yeah. One surf tribe is like one surfer. If a surfer is a part of a particular tribe, it's highly likely the rest of the tribe would have the same attitude--- and I'm talking about attitudes towards the sport of surfing, not empty personal grudges, rival or not, Hanon."

"I can't believe you still remember the SEB, Nicola... I thought that ever since... well... You've forgotten..."

Sara turned right towards Nicola and joined in. "Nicola, that was a bit surprising on my part... how you handled those little pricks like that. It reminded me of... well... it reminded me of a really hot and popular surfer girl I used to know when I was a young teen dealing with rival surfers."

"Ah. I see," Nicola responded quickly to Sara.

"I... I just hope that legendary surfer girl would come back... one day..." Sara gave a smile, somewhat giving a slight hint towards the manager.

Nicola just returned the smile and patted her and Seira on the shoulders. "Alright, ladies. Get back to work now and forget what just happened, okay? I don't want you girls to worry."

"Thanks, Boss!" Coco, Sara, and Seira exited and Hanon remained at the office for a bit.

"Say, Nicola? I wanna ask you something. Where did OC-5 and the Rainbowside surfers headed to? I mean, I'm part of the tandem surfing team with Nagisa and they just left like that. I know it's stupid of me to ask you this but... well in case Taro and Rihito told you."

Nicola escorted Hanon outside the office and answered her. "It's a secret, Hanon."

"Why is it a secret? Even you can't even tell me, Boss?" Hanon asked curiously.

Nicola shook her head and remained smiling. "A secret is a secret, Hanon. Now get back to work, okay?"

"Alright, alright." Hanon sighed and headed back to the juice bar where Noel was tending for the time being.

The manager leaned against the closed door of her office and gave herself a thought. The Rainbowside S-Cube is our secret surfing spot. Once a secret, always a secret.

A few hours later, Rihito, Taro, and Rina, along with a few of the teens at the beach began tearing down the stage, placing the instruments back to their cases. Kaito and the rest of the competitor surfer boys were out at the beach again riding the waves. With everyone busy minding their business, Hippo reached for his backpack where his camera gear were located and reminded the rest of the band.

"Hey, I'm gonna explore around the beach for a bit and take some pictures. I won't be long." Hippo said immediately.

"I'll go with you, Hippo!" Lucia exclaimed and ran next to him.

"Uh... you don't usually go with me when I go out somewhere to take pics but sure, I don't mind." Hippo raised an eyebrow of suspicion towards his older sister.

"Alright," Taro answered with a nod. "Don't be gone too long because there's no cellphone signals here. You don't want your sister to worry now."

"We won't take long, don't worry, Taro." Hippo and Lucia waved at the rest of the band as the brother and sister headed out to their destination. On the way they observed all the surfers and the non-surfers here and there from paddling their way to the sea to non-surfers playing beach volleyball.

The siblings passed the bus converter campers parked at one area and realized that there was still more beach but no more human presence right then. Hippo wondered if this part of the beach they ended up had been discovered by anyone around town. Nevertheless they continued to walk along the coast.

"So, Lucia," Hippo broke the silence and turned to his older sister. "Why'd you decide to come with me? I'm not irritated or annoyed or anything but you don't normally hang with me when I wanted to go to places to take pictures."

Lucia was a bit hesitant first knowing that Hippo may say something that would hurt her but because he asked politely, she decided to answer. "Hey Hippo... when we arrived here at the S-Cube... did you feel something... I don't know... like a familiar aura?"

Hippo shrugged his arms. "Well, considering that this is the Rainbowside S-Cube I'm pretty sure we've been here. Remember, Mom and Dad were surfers too during their hey days. There's a possible chance that they'd take the entire family here, but if that was the case I wouldn't remember. I was just too young to remember all this."

Lucia sighed and lowered her head. "You see... earlier when I was talking to Kaito by the beach something hit me inside. It gave me this feeling that I've been to this beach before... and I don't mean just to hang out with the parents and Taro and all that. It felt like I have been here... by myself..."

"I see." Hippo began to understand where Lucia may be coming from. "So, you came along with me because you want to find out if your aura was telling the truth or not. You want to find something that can... trigger... that hidden memory... right?"

"You could say that, yeah."

Hippo stopped for a bit and turned around to see how far they walked past civilization. The vision of the beach bums and surfer were nothing but slight tiny dots from their vision now. He looked around their surroundings and found small boulders arranged like stairways towards the upper level of the beach.

"Hey. Let's climb up there. Maybe we can find a good spot to take pictures. Come on!" Hippo lead the way while Lucia followed. Once they got to the upper level they continued to walk further until they found a higher peak of the boulders ahead of them.

"Whoa, check that out! That's a good spot!" Hippo pointed to the taller set of boulders and lead the way again and climbed right up to the top.

Once they got up to the upper level they noticed something that was slightly odd. The surface of the higher boulders had dried palm branches arranged at a particular arrangement. The two siblings gazed upward and noticed that the palm trees surrounding the beach were not lacking any branches which only meant one thing.

"Looks like someone was already here." Hippo murmured softly as he continued to walk forward, stepping over the dried palm branches. At a certain spot he began to set up his tripod and his camera.

Lucia walked over the dried palm branches and then walked past Hippo setting his camera. Just as she was nearing the edge of the walk the palm branches suddenly broke and the teen girl almost dropped at the open draft. She quickly grabbed the edge of the hole while Hippo rushed to help Lucia up.

"Aaah--- Hippo, help!" Lucia screamed as Hippo bent down and held one of her arms.

"Hang on, Lucia, I gotcha!"

"No wonder these branches were here--- there's a hole here!" Lucia shrieked in panic while Hippo still continued to pull her up slowly. After a few moments Hippo managed to save his sister from falling. "What--- what the heck is this hole?"

"Hold on." In his backpack he reached for a flashlight and a rope ladder. "Good thing I brought these. Never know when you'd need them."

"What are you doing?"

"I wanna see where this is leading..."

"But Hippo... it's dangerous!" Lucia began to panic, placing her hands on to her brother's shoulder.

"Only way to find out." The younger Nanami stood up and grabbed a few stones. He headed back to where the hole was and dropped a few of the stones. There were slightly loud thuds heard and Hippo nodded his head. "Looks like the hole isn't deep. You can pretty much jump in to it."

With the rope ladder he placed two medium-sized boulders and placed them securely on to the ends of his rope ladder and let the rope ladder roll down the hall. He carried his backpack along with him just in case he needed the other tools inside on his way. He turned on his flashlight and began to climb down. Immediately, stopped midway and used his flashlight to look at where the ground was and then frowned in a slight disappointment.

"Oh what the hell... this is weak!" Hippo released himself from the rope ladder and landed safely on the ground, still standing. "I thought this was one of those endless pits or something." He looked up using the flashlight and found Lucia looking down. "Lucia, it's okay! You can just jump down here."

"Oh!" Lucia sat at the edge of the hole and let herself drop down. She landed on to the sandy surface, also still standing. "Wow... what a small cave!"

"Yeah... weird... I wonder what this cave is used for... looks deserted." Lucia immediately grabbed her brother's arm in fear as Hippo continued to look around in a more calm and cool manner. "Don't freak out, Sis. There's nothing in here. But it looks like this cave is going a bit further."

"Um... maybe we should head back... and we can like... explore this place later when there's more people..." Lucia gulped nervously while Hippo shook his head.

"Sis, we're already here. Might as well check the place out." In Hippo's backpack he reached for another flashlight and handed it to Lucia. "I got an idea. Why don't we split up? We'll meet right here at the hole. You can see some light coming in here so it should be easy to spot. You take the other way and I'll go this way.

"But Hippo---"

"Come on Lucia, don't tell me you're scared..."

Lucia shrieked and glared towards Hippo. "I'm not scared, Hippo!"

The younger brother snickered. "Well then. See you here at the hole!" He waved at his older sister as he took his path.

"Oh... darn..." Lucia sighed and took the other way with her flashlight on. As she continued on her path she found her pathway getting brighter and brighter. That can mean one thing. The end of her path was an opening. Once she determined this she turned off her flashlight and began to run forward, following the path where the light was headed.

As the path became brighter and brighter Lucia continued to dash her way forward, feeling a lot more confident that there was no danger heading her path. She can feel the rush of curiosity building up within her as the path's light became a lot more visible. Right ahead of her was an opening leading outside.

No way! I'm at the cave's exit! Yes! Lucia became excited and dashed her way towards the exit. Just a few feet closer and instead she felt something hard on her left leg and found herself falling right on to the sandy ground.

"Ugh..." Lucia groaned in pain as she grabbed her left ankle. "Ouch... I can't believe I tripped..." She immediately punched the sandy ground in chagrin and shook her head. "I can't believe I'm so clumsy today! First I get my forehead hit on the back window of the pickup truck thanks to Taro's braking; next I trip myself in the water because Kaito was getting all weird at me; now I trip over something because---"

Slowly she turned to the ground and found one strange object that looked to be made of plastic. She crawled her way to it and quickly touched the object that tripped her foot. Hey... it's made of plastic... what the heck is this? Right then she began to dig the sand that covered it and uncovered that there wasn't just one plastic object but there were three, arranged on a triangle. She examined the three objects and recognized the shapes.

Wait a minute... they look like fins... Yeah, that's it! Fins--- of a surfboard! Quickly Lucia began to dig the sand out to uncover the rest of those three objects until it was clear enough for her to identify.

"I was right... it is a surfboard!" She began to examine the design pattern of the surfboard as well as the shape. Hm... this is pretty long... looks taller than my height, that's for sure... and the rocker is sorta shaped like a banana... and the foil is thin... the rails are kinda low... Hey! This is a gun board!

Lucia slowly lifted the sand-buried surfboard and stood it against the cave wall. At the bottom near the tail area were two initials on both sides. Her left side had the initials C.S. and G.G. II on the opposite. At the bottom nose area are two plumeria flower design with the top flower being dark purple and the bottom flower being light lavender, close to pastel pink. The edges were dark purple stripe. Right at first sight, faint images began to appear in her mind, just like earlier. In fact, the images were that of her own love story seven years ago.

*****

"Mom... Dad... I'll find you... I'm going to find you..."

A young girl, about the age of seven and filled with tears, dashed through the beach carefully, dragging along a surfboard she just picked up from the beach on the way--- a gun, as a matter of fact--- by the surfboard's leash. Though it was light to drag the little girl had a hard time dragging it. Luckily for her the board itself was not damaged while being dragged against the soft sand.

"I... I can surf a little bit... I've watched you..." The little girl found the sea and climbed on to the surfboard, lying with her face forward, and began to paddle to the sea. Though she looked rather frail by appearance she seemed to have sufficient strength to paddle the board. Luckily for her the ocean was calm and there were no huge breakers rolling in and she was able to ride the surfboard forward.

Just as she was already far away from the shore she was ready to jump underwater. Her aim was to find her missing parents whom she felt were still alive. Her parents disappeared earlier that day when a huge, giant wave suddenly broke and swallowed both of them to the bottom of the sea. Using what she observed from her parents and from the local surfers around she applied them on her current situation. Knowing the surfboard can float on the ocean she placed the leash around her left ankle and tested the string to be sure that it was stretchable and that she can easily retort back to her forum.

Though she was ready to jump out she heard an angelic singing voice not too far from where she was located. She had a choice whether she should dive in the water to look for her missing parents or follow where that voice was coming from. Since she was at a close distance anyway she decided to choose the latter and paddled her board towards where the singing voice was coming from.

As the voice got louder the girl knew she was very close. Just as she could hear the singing voice loud enough she listened to the song carefully.

The lonely sea

The lonely sea

It never stops

For you or me

It moves along

From day to day

The words from the song immediately touched her heart and found herself crying some more like she did earlier today. She decided to paddle closer and closer until she stumbled upon a small lighted boat. The light from the boat gave her way there without even worrying about any waves rolling in. Right then she found a young boy around the girl's age with a rather sad face and eyes filling up with tears. He continued on singing with his face towards the ocean.

That's why my heart
That's why my heart
Will never stay

Will never stay

"Please don't say that!" From out of the blue the girl called out to the boy knowing that the song he was singing was becoming more melancholic than ever. "Please..."

"Huh? Who's there?" The boy gasped and began to turn his head in all directions. Right then the girl paddled forward until she reached the boat and looked up to him.

"Please... don't sing that sad song... it makes me cry more..."

The boy slowly turned to where the girl's voice was coming from and finally found her, looking directly towards him. At that moment the girl found herself blushing in awe, not anticipating that not only the voice was angelic but also the boy's tender, innocent face as well. She felt her heart beating rapidly and her rescue mission of her missing parents suddenly faded. Her mind became fixated towards this boy and fortunately for her, she also got the boy's attention to her.

"You're crying too..." The boy spoke in a very soft and gentle voice. He walked to the side of the boat where the girl was looking up, still sitting on the surfboard. "What's wrong?"

The girl suddenly began to cry herself and answered slowly: "My mom... and my dad... they disappeared... somewhere in the sea... and I want to find them..."

"Really?" The boy gasped in shock and answered her in a soft whisper. "But... my mom and dad too... they disappeared somewhere in the sea... but I now know they'll never come back. That's why I was singing that song... it's my way of saying... goodbye..."

"No..." The girl continued to cry some more. "Then... that means... my mom... and my dad... they're... they're..."

"Please... please don't cry..." The boy whispered again in a more gentler voice than earlier. Somehow the tone of his voice touched the girl's heart once again and decided to wipe out her tears. "Hey... I got an idea."

The girl looked at him curiously, still wiping out her tears. "What... what is it?"

"Do you want to sing a song with me... a happy song this time. In that way, you and I won't cry anymore."

"But... what are we gonna sing about? I'm... not a very good singer... everyone says my voice is horrible..."

The boy just shook his head and just smiled at her. "I don't care. It's just you and me out here now."

"But..."

"I'll start... okay? And just follow along. In that way, you won't sound horrible like everyone says. Just listen to me... and just sing what's in your mind. Just sing what your heart tells you."

The girl shyly nodded as she waited for the boy to begin his song.

You're the one
You're the one I'll live and die for

You're the one I'll laugh and cry for
Nobody but you

As he sang his verse, the girl felt her heart sending messages to her mind like it was completely natural to her. The words immediately formed right in her mind as the messages were being transferred from her heart. Once the boy's verse was over, the girl immediately sang her turn.

You're the one

You're the one I'll walk and dance with

You're the one I'll take a chance with

Nobody but you

When she was finished she realized that she was no longer singing out of tune. In fact she thought that she sang beautifully. She knew right away because the boy continued smiling at her as if he wanted to hear more of her singing. When she got the signal from his expression alone she continued.

No one understands you
No one seems to care

The boy continued from where the girl left off with his own words. Once he sang he looked happier than he was earlier as if he really meant to sing them to the girl.

When things go bad and you are sad

That's when I'll be there

The girl blushed even more and also expressed happiness once she heard those lines. Right then, they both finish with the first verse the boy started.

You're the one

You're the one I'll live and die for
You're the one I'll laugh and cry for
Nobody but you

No... nobody but you

After the song was finished the two kids burst in to laughter, knowing both not only liked the song they made up together but they also enjoyed singing it together. After the laughter was over the two gazed at each other's eyes again. Right then, both the girl and the boy already knew that they had just found their first love.

"So, what's your name?" The boy asked curiously, still giving that gentle and kind smile towards her.

"Well... people call me Leolani." The girl, called Leolani, answered humbly. "Stupid name, huh?"

"I think it's a beautiful name. It suits you." The boy answered right away, making young Leolani blush even more.

"What's your name?" Leolani asked curiously.

"Me? Well... people call me---" Just as the boy was going to mention his name both heard a loud rush coming from the distance of the sea approaching them. Both froze in shock as they instantly recognized the rushing sounds of the water. It sounded like a storm was coming upon them, but as the two children turned to the sea and gazed forward, the girl shrieked in fear.

"No..." The boy murmured, quickly identified what the incoming danger was. "Dainami-Oni..."

"What?" Leolani called out to the boy.

The boy ran to the other side of the boat where the girl was still floating with her surfboard. "You have to head back to the shore, Leolani! Hurry! The Dainami-Oni is back!"

"I can't! What about you?" Leolani exclaimed with her eyes becoming teary-eyed again.

"Don't worry about me! I'll catch up to you! I can't leave my family here! Hurry! Go!"

Just as Leolani was about to answer, it was too late. The giant 65-foot wave rolled in on to the boy's boat, pulling in the boat and the boy falling off and sinking down to the water.

"No... no!" Leolani cried and without any hesitation she jumped off of her surfboard and swam as far as the leash would let her downward. Quickly she found the unconscious boy sinking down and immediately found his hand. Thanks to the strong rubber of the surfboard's leash, the board's buoyancy helped the leash pull back, pulling both Leolani and the boy along to the surface.

Leolani clenched on to the unconscious boy and slowly lifted him over to the board. She climbed herself quickly and clung on to the board with her front body flat against the board. As more huge waves began to roll in she maneuvered the surfboard to the wave's directions and let the waves take the surfboard right towards the shore.

Moments later they reached the shore. When Leolani got up and removed the leash from her foot she used the leash to drag the surfboard along with the unconscious boy on it forward to dry sand. Right when she succeeded after using whatever strength she had left she found a lighted cave up ahead. She dragged the board forward to that cave and then reached the entrance. The girl noticed the lighted candles that provided the light on the ground. Right then she pulled the surfboard inside the cave up until both of them felt warmth inside.

"Please... please don't die... please wake up..." Leolani began to weep again as she gently rolled the boy to the sand inside the cave. She had an idea just then. She decided to use the surfboard as their support pillow in order to have a better rest. Quickly she flipped the surfboard with the base and the tri-fins facing upward. Once she flipped the surfboard she took notice of the design. Her eyes first noticed there were two initials on each side: C.S. and G.G. II .

Right then she began to bury it with the soft sand knowing that the sand was soft and would give more comfort for their heads when they lie down. She hoped that this would help the boy become conscious again.

Leolani bent down to see if he was breathing. Thank the stars, she thought. The boy was still breathing normally. She grabbed the candles in the cave and placed them closer to where they were and decided to wait until he woke up. She lied down next to him with her head on the sand-covered surfboard and wrapped her arms around the unconscious boy to keep him warm. She placed her head on to his shoulder and continued to whisper.

"Please... please wake up... You can't die yet... not yet... It's bad enough I already lost my parents and you lost yours... But I don't want to lose you too, I mean I just met you and... and... and I don't even know your name..."

The girl waited for a few moments for him to wake up. After realizing that she waited too long and the boy still had not opened his eyes she began to worry even more. In addition to that, she was beginning to yawn and was ready to fall asleep. She felt more tears trickling down her cheeks again and held the boy's hands to hers. She still continued to speak to him but it was still no use.

Then unconsciously she turned to a friendship bracelet on her right wrist and placed it on to the boy's right wrist just in case he woke up and decided to walk off. Afterwards without hesitation, Leolani lowered herself to the boy and gently kissed him on his lips. Finally she lied back down, placing her arms around the boy, and cried herself to sleep.

Lucia found herself back to the present again and her eyes were still fixated towards the recently uncovered surfboard, but this time there were tears falling on her cheeks. The tears were there because now she remembered and why she felt so familiar with the Rainbowside S-Cube in the first place. The surfboard she uncovered helped her remember the entire story.

Of course... I didn't swim all the way out in the ocean like I mentioned before--- I was riding this surfboard to get there! That's why I was able to get out there on the sea without being much in danger! But still... I still don't know the boy's name. Oh it's so unfair... it's so unfair that he had to disappear the next day!

The teen girl slowly wiped her tears while still gazing at the board. Right then she also realized a few more facts. That wasn't a storm like I thought... it was... it was that Dainami-Oni big giant wave thing that Hippo was talking about a few weeks ago... and what's weird... Leolani? Why did I introduce myself as Leolani? Where did that name come from?

Just as she continued to contemplate she heard her brother calling out for her name from inside the cave. "Lucia! Where are you?"

Lucia snapped back to reality and turned to see her younger brother Hippo approaching her. "Oh, Hippo!"

Hippo reached his sister, panting to catch his breath. "There you are, Lucia... this is a pretty small cave! Man... I thought we'd find some ancient buried treasure in here or something..."

"Well... I found something alright..." Lucia answered and pointed at the surfboard. "I tripped on that and uncovered it. I noticed that it's a gun so obviously it was used for giant wave surfing. Do you know anything about this board?" Well... anything other than me using it to meet my first love...

"Hm..." Hippo approached the board and examined it on all sides, design, and detail. Then he noticed the initials near the tri-fin. He placed his fingers on to the C.S. initials, feeling the texture of the letters to see if they were decals or originally painted along with the rest of the design. He stood up and turned to his sister with a rather shocked expression.

"What is it, Hippo?"

"You know, if some greedy surf collector finds this this thing would've cost major smackers on eBay!"

"Eh? What are you talking about?"

"Did you realize what you just dug up, Lucia? They've been talking about this all the time at the Surfer Styles forums and on the magazines too! We need to keep this board from outside eyes!"

"What are you talking about?"

"This is the legendary gun board of Cole Seahart! Lots of collectors and enthusiasts have been looking for this baby for seven years, Sis! This is the board that Cole Seahart rode on when she set that record of riding a 65-feet Dainami-Oni wave at the regional surfing tournament back then! I know that this is it because of the other set of initials--- G.G. II!"

"I'm not sure if I follow you, Hippo." Lucia scratched her head curiously, still staring at the board.

"G.G. II, Lucia! Gidget Gun the Second!That's the name of her board according to the articles in the old Surfer Styles magazine issues! Lucia, do you know what this means?"

"No... I don't know what it means..."

"It means that whoever placed those palm branches to cover up the hole--- I bet one of them was Cole Seahart! Maybe she buried her legendary surfboard here so no greedy collectors would find it and then sell it off on eBay or those fancier auctions like Christie's in America. Lucia--- we are standing at the real S-Cube of the Rainbowside! This cave is the true secret surfing spot of the Rainbowside Surf Tribe! Look at the ocean from the opening of this cave! The swells here are a lot more active and are bigger than the beach where everyone was hanging out! This particular cave was probably like their camping area or their party area... well whatever it is, this cave is the center point of the tribe. They probably held secret meetings here where no one in the public or the media could find them. We've hit the motherload, Lucia!"

"Okay, Hippo... you're going crazy again... calm down!" Lucia wanted to tell Hippo that she was the one who buried the surfboard in the sand when she saved the mysterious handsome boy she fell in love with seven years ago but decided to listen to Hippo's theories anyway.

"I'm sure of it! On my side I found something really interesting that I decided to take pictures of it too and what I saw there is proof that my theory is right! You gotta come see this, Lucia! Come on!" Quickly Hippo took Lucia's hand with excitement on his expression.

"Wait! We can't leave this surfboard here!" Lucia ran to the G.G. II surfboard and carried it easily around her arm since it was lighter to her than when she was younger. "Okay, where are we going, Hippo?"

"All the way to the end of the cave. Come on!"

The two siblings ran their way back inside and continued inside until they reached the end of the cave. With their flashlights on they discovered a lot of graffiti--- more like writing on markers--- with more old surfboards stacked all over the place. Lucia gulped nervously as she began to read some of the graffiti on the walls.

"Okay... Hippo, this place gives me the creeps..."

"No kidding. This cave is like one of those weird shrine caves that people come and visit and worship their gods or something. I mean, take a look at the boulders here. There's a lot of old candle wax that's been preserved. I'm sure there were candles lighted here."

That's right... Lucia thought, thinking of the brief flashback she just saw earlier today. There were candles in the cave. That's why I was able to find this cave and we rested here...

As she scanned around the walls, Lucia began reading the inscription on the main wall first:

Rainbowside Surf Tribe

Nijibe 1955/08/23
Defending Champions – Local, Regional, National, International Surfing Championships
1955 - Infinity
Men's Individuals + Women's Individuals + Tandem

She backed out slowly with shock and tripped herself down the sand. "Whoa.... 1955?"

"Yup. August 23rd, 1955. That was when the Rainbowside Surf Tribe was first established." Hippo answered with his usual noggin.

"I had no idea they've existed this long!" Hippo nodded in agreement.

"And the surf tribe is dying... there's not very many of them left because of what happened seven years ago. Everyone got discouraged in getting in to surfing because of that tragedy. But the current surfers in the tribe, like the Doumoto twins, they're really dedicated with the tribe and they're doing everything they can to keep the tribe alive. The only way for the tribe to survive is to continue competing and win those competitions while they pass on their surfing techniques to the newer potential upcoming new generation. That's why winning is the only option these dudes have. I'm glad they are doing their best to keep the tribe alive. This is why the Regional Surf Scenes Tournament this coming August is very important to us, Lucia. If we sweep the entire tournament, then the Rainbowside Surf Tribe will be saved. The tribe will grow again with new and upcoming surfers. Not just that, there'll be more surfer girls and tandem surfers too. If you read more on the sides you'll see how many names were written in them along with the date they first joined."

With her flashlight she gazed at the long list of names from top to bottom and across. There were so many names all over that there was no way she could memorize all of them. "My goodness... look at all these names, Hippo! This is crazy! And..." She began to read a few of the names herself.

Doghead... Animal... Sea-Breaker... Stingray... What's up with these names? How come they're all weird like this? Lucia began to wonder as she continued to read more of the names written on the walls. "Hey Hippo... these aren't real names... let alone Japanese names... but how come some of these peoples' names are all weird like that?"

"They're probably code names or something," Hippo answered as he too continued to scan around with his flashlight. He stumbled upon the last few lines of names slightly at the bottom and discovered something rather bizarre. "Hey Lucia, come take a look at this!"

Lucia approached her brother and looked down. "What is it?"

"Read the last name on the list."

Lucia pointed her flashlight to the last name and read it aloud: "Nagisa Shiroi."

"Now, look at the names before Shiroi's. The year he joined was last year, so yeah, he's definitely the grommet of the tribe."

"Okay." Lucia read the next line before Nagisa's name appeared on the list: "Kengo... three years ago... Daichi... four years ago... Subaru Shibatani... six years ago... Masahiro Hamasaki... ten years ago... Rihito Amagi... twelve years ago..." As she continued to read the names she realized what Hippo was trying to point. "Hippo! This... you're right! Where are the Doumoto Twins' names? Why aren't they here? They should be like... in between Hamasaki's and Rihito's names!"

Hippo nodded and shook his head. "This is really weird, Lucia. I mean Gaito Doumoto is the crewmaster of the entire tribe! He replaced Rihito Amagi after he resigned to go to college. I don't get it... his name and Kaito's name should be in between Rihito's and Hamasaki's names... why aren't they on the list?"

"Who usually writes these names on the walls whenever they get a new recruit in the tribe, Hippo?"

"Probably the crewmaster... or the entire current tribe to witness it..."

"Now I'm beginning to wonder why the Doumoto Twins' names aren't on this list... I mean both of them are very important to the tribe with Gaito being the leader and Kaito being the local, regional, national, and international champion of almost all the major surfing contests! Oh man... wouldn't they feel hurt when they find out that their names are not even in this great cave?"

"Well obviously we can't tell the Doumoto Twins and those surf tribe dudes or even Rihito or Taro that we found this cave, Lucia. We'd be seriously busted if we do. You and I are are on the same side regarding this whole surfing history and crap. Everyone's hiding secrets from us about all this and I'm sick and tired of being always left out in the loop. I'm a new surf photographer for Surfer Styles magazine as of recent and I have the right to know all about it as a photojournalist! This is why I'm really pissed now..."

Lucia sighed deeply knowing she can't help to know the fact that she and her first love rested in this very cave. How am I going to tell Kaito my story now? I can't tell him that the boy I fell in love with and I ended up at his tribe's secret surfing spot cave and rested here! Why is life so unfair nowadays...?

"Look, I took photos of every single tidbit of the cave including the names--- the entire list. I made sure they were legible so we can just read each of the names and review them at home or something. In that way no one would get suspicious of us. It's just you and me who are in this, Lucia. We need to work together and dig deeper because right now I don't even know who our family really is. Nicola kept hiding things from us. She even forbade the entire staff not to talk about what happened seven years ago and this whole Cole Seahart thing."

Lucia sighed deeply and leaned against the wall next to the last few names written. "Hippo, this is just too much for me... I thought that despite that our parents died that we would be happy and we'd be okay... and now this stuff happens?" She closed her eyes, trying to keep herself cool while thinking through the flashback again.

How am I going to tell Kaito my story now? I can't exactly tell him that we ended up in the real secret surfing spot after we got out of the ocean... and I can't exactly tell him that we both escaped the raging sea by riding on Cole Seahart's surfboard that won her that championship title and set the record of being the first surfer to ride that Dainami-Oni wave thing... He's gonna laugh at me for one thing. Then he'll get really furious for discovering his tribe's secret surfing spot cave. And then he'll accuse me for being a nosy brat and he'll never want to talk to me again... Dangit I'm so confused now. I still can't help thinking about Kaito and that boy I saved... I still can't help thinking that he and that boy are the same person. Dammit, what's wrong with me...?

"Lucia..." Hippo called her name as the older sister opened her eyes to reality.

"Wh-what?"

"Are you okay? You're like... shivering... like you're nervous about something."

"Sorry Hippo... it's just that... I'm so confused now... I don't know what to do when I face Nicola when we get home. She's going to get all suspicious and then she'll be really pissed at us for snooping around at things we shouldn't know."

Hippo placed her hands on Lucia's shoulders to calm her down. "Sis, calm down. All we gotta do is be cool about it like we don't know anything about it. We'll deal with this later. We still gotta rehearse for the band for the tournament. Focus, Sis... focus!"

Lucia took a few deep breaths to keep herself calm. After a few moments, she sighed in relief and was feeling calm again. "Thanks, Hippo."

"Well, we better head back. We have to go through the hole and cover it back up with those palm branches. We don't want anyone getting all suspicious wondering who the heck opened up the hole." The older sister nodded as the two headed back to where they started. Right when Lucia reached the top she felt that slight pain on her left foot after tripping over the main fin of the surfboard she uncovered earlier today.

"Ouch..."

"What's wrong, Lucia?" Hippo asked with worry.

"My left foot... when I found Cole Seahart's G.G. II gun I tripped over the main fin."

"Jeez, Sis... you got really jacked today! First the forehead bruise, then the ugly-ass t-shirt you're wearing that's supposed to be Kaito's shirt, and now this?"

"Oh shut up, Hippo, and help me up!"

"Okay, okay. Just chill, Sis." Hippo placed Lucia's arm around him as the two slowly walked together with Lucia limping.

Once they got there and climbed back up the rope ladder, Hippo removed the rope ladder and placed the heavy boulders back where he found them while Lucia began to gather the palm branches and covered the hole just like how they found it. After Hippo packed up his things they headed back to the meeting spot the same way they got to the cave so no one would suspect the footprints they may see on the sandy land.

About fifteen minutes later the Nanami Siblings arrived and the pickup truck was already loaded up with the instruments and the surfboards. Rihito and Taro were waiting outside while the surf tribe were at the front of the pickup truck chatting, also waiting. Rina was already at the back of the pickup, tightening up the ropes so nothing slips out. She spotted the siblings and waved at them as she jumped off from the truck. She ran to them with a huge smile on her face.

"Nice to see you two back," Rina said with a calm smile on her face. "Where'd you guys go?"

"More of the beach," Lucia answered nervously with a chuckle while Hippo removed his backpack and placed it in the pickup.

"Yup. Really beautiful spots out there. I was able to take the best shots I could find," Hippo added, remaining calm and cool after the very shocking discovery he and Lucia found at that particular spot.

Taro turned to his cousins and gave a small smile. "You two ready to go home?"

Hippo turned to Taro and asked a quick question: "Hey, Taro, I was wondering... when are we gonna head back here again?"

Taro slowly turned to Rihito, and then towards the surfer boys. Gaito decided to answer the question for him. "Probably this weekend. We're bringing Hanon Houshou and the surfer girls with us the next time since Hanon's gonna be in the tandem surfing competition with Nagisa. I'm hearing rumors from the tribe members here that those Seiyo Valley surfers had just arrived in town today. We need to keep away from them as much as possible when we train, especially with the OC-5."

From out of the blue, Kaito and Subaru, along with Michal with her arm around Kaito's once more, arrived at the scene and joined the conversation. "You guys are always welcome here anytime," Subaru said with assurance in his tone. "It's safer if you guys rehearse here than back at Sector 7 Beach. At least you won't get any spies hanging around if you guys aren't comfortable having spies around you."

"I think it's best if we go with OC-5 too," Kaito made a suggestion. "It's best the entire surf scenes team practice here--- band and everything--- but it's kinda impossible because the surfer girls also work at Pearl Waters..."

"Well, I'll talk to Nicola about that," Taro joined in. "We could use a lot of workers there but we don't have enough money to pay all our employees, so we just opted for volunteers instead."

Subaru gave a slight nod and winked. "I'll talk to the babes here at the S-Cube. Most of them are the surfers' girlfriends anyway and they don't really surf. My girlfriend's the only girl in this crew who actually does something other than bumming around the beach. Makes me feel disappointed that all the other girls here aren't doing anything. Get the girls in shape, you know?"

Kaito snickered at Subaru, grinning immediately. "Get the posers to work too, dude, not just the babes. Gotta respect the babes, you know?"

"Hey, hey," Rina interrupted with an eyebrow raised with her arms crossed. "Let's quit the sexist talk, alright? Those who want to volunteer to work at Pearl Waters for the summer while the rest of us train for the tournament would eventually end up working there. As long as they don't slack off, we're good. That place can get crowded, especially on Fridays. The juice and coffee bar is the busiest and we need more people there."

"Yeah! OC-5 night!" Michal exclaimed happily. "It gets really wild at Pearl Waters on Friday nights!"

"Right." Rihito nodded and turned to Michal. "Michal, why don't do some volunteer work at Pearl Waters too since you're not really doing anything, hm?"

"But Rihito--- I got tutoring!" Michal pouted and used her summer tutoring as her excuse while clinging on to Kaito's arm. "Why are you making me work there?"

Kaito raised an eyebrow and turned to Michal. "Michal, you've been spending more time hanging out with us than actually studying... I don't even know if you really need the tutoring or not since you get pretty good grades in school from what I heard."

"Besides," Rihito added, "don't you want to support your brother and Kaito on their roles in the tournament? You won't be able to support us by sitting around the beach snuggling yourself against Kaito---"

"Rihito!" Michal frowned with her arms crossed. "Not in front of everybody!"

Kaito patted Michal on the head and slowly released himself from her. "Too much snuggling can slow me down in riding my wave, girl. Besides, you working hard at Pearl Waters encourages me to work hard too."

"Same with me," Rihito continued. "We all want to win and if we don't work hard we won't accomplish what we need to do. Understand, Michal?"

"You guys are so mean..." Michal sighed deeply and contemplated. If I work at Pearl Waters with all the non-surfer people there then I won't get to see Kaito as much. What if some other girl shows up in his life and he ends up falling in love with her? Ugh, I can't let that happen... I just can't... but I wanna support him too... and Rihito too... so I have to work...

"Well then," Lucia joined in, "since everyone's going to work hard so we can win the tournament, then we should all work hard. I'll work hard with my rhythm guitar for OC-5 and I'm gonna rock hard!"

"And the singing too..." Kaito added with a smile on his face.

"Yeah... that too..."

Subaru reached for his backpack and handed the newly-washed clothes to Lucia. "Here you go, Lucia. You can give back Misao's shorts to me the next time you guys come back here."

"Thanks so much, Subaru! I owe you one, seriously!" Lucia thanked the surfer boy enthusiastically.

"And you can give back my... um... clothes... when you do," Michal said with a nod on her face.

"Thanks to you too, Michal! I owe you one too!"

Kaito listened to both Subaru and Michal and finally it was his turn. "You can keep the shirt."

"Eh?!" Lucia exclaimed in shock. "But I thought you said this is imported and---"

"I know and it is one of my favorite shirts," Kaito said with a slight smile on his face. "I just want you to keep it so you can have something to remember our first time together..."

Everyone including Lucia suddenly fell silent once they heard the last statement from Kaito. The blonde girl shook her head immediately. "First time? What are you talking about?"

Kaito continued on with his usual teasing. "Lucia, come on. You were wonderful earlier today... I can't wait for us to do it again the next day... and we'll do better the next time!" Right then he winked and burst in to laughter.

"What?! You perv!" Right then Lucia ended up slapping Kaito's cheek out of chagrin. "It's your fault you made me fall in the water and got all my clothes wet and I had to borrow other people's clothes including your hideous shirt!"

Though the slap on the face did not pain the attractive surfer boy, Gaito and Taro shook their heads, knowing Kaito was just joking around. Michal giggled softly and turned to Lucia. "Don't worry, I'm on your side. I was nearby and I didn't hear anything weird. Kaito's just joking!"

Subaru snickered and shrugged his arms. "That's Kaito for you. He always does that to girls he's interested in---"

Kaito quickly covered Subaru's mouth and said: "Say one more word and I'll kick your ass, got that?"

"Alright, everyone, let's head back." Taro reminded everyone as everyone boarded the pickup. Once as they climbed down, Lucia attempted to get up herself but the pain on her left foot was not helping.

"Um... help...?" Lucia called as Kaito turned his head to her.

"Jeez..." Kaito reached for Lucia's arm and lifted her easily on the pickup. "What's the matter now? You look like you're in pain."

Hippo closed the hatch of the pickup and claimed his usual spot. "She tripped. That's why."

"Again?" Kaito quickly turned to Lucia with a suspicious expression. "Jeez... today isn't your day, isn't it?"

"Oh be quiet, Kaito," Lucia glared right at the surfer boy with her arms crossed.

"What'd you trip on this time?" Kaito asked curiously.

"Uh..." Lucia realized that she had to keep her and Hippo's discovery a secret and began to think of a good lie that would convince him otherwise.

"She tripped on a buried log, that's what." Hippo answered immediately with his arms crossed.

"Oh jeez, Lucia," Kaito shook his head. "You tripped on a log? Are you blind or something?"

"It was buried under the sand, you idiot!" Lucia shouted furiously. "How can I tell that there was a log under the sand? I don't exactly look down the ground when I walk, you know?"

"Alright, you two," Rihito hushed both Lucia and Kaito. "Quiet down, would you?"

The two remained silent as Taro drove off from the S-Cube back to the Nijibe civilization again. As they drove on the highway they can spot the sun setting slowly down the sea. Hippo continued to take photos of the beautiful sunset.

"This is beautiful," Hippo murmured to himself. "This spot is absolutely beautiful." You peeps have no idea how beautiful this spot really is...

---

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

#1 – Just in case some of you may not know, I did a bit of a crossover here with one of Pink Hanamori's short stories included in vol. #7 of the Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch manga, Get Nude. I'll probably be having more of these mini-crossovers with some of Hanamori-san's short story manga included in the MMPPP #7 book. The hot and handsome surfer boy character Subaru Shibatani was the main guy of the short story along with the stern, conservative, and bespectacled Misao Koshiki as the main girl. Because of the surfer dude thing and the entire story took place in the beach, I thought it was perfect to include him (and Misao) in the fanfic too. Just like the entire fic, I also changed their background story a little bit to fit within the storyline. Another small fact that I wanted to add here. Being Johnny's fans that Hanamori-san and myself are, I do know for the fact that she got Subaru Shibatani's name from another Johnny's idol dude, Subaru Shibutani, of the Johnny's Juniors subgroup Kanjani 5 (Kansai Johnny's (Junior) Five). I lost touch with Johnny's back in '06 so I'm not sure if Shibutani-kun is still around or not. But as you can see that Hanamori-san had a spelling change between Shibutani (the real dude) and Shibatani (the character) to differentiate from each other (then again, those who aren't familiar with Johnny's wouldn't catch that in the first place).

#2 – The Surfink character/artwork was once popular during the '60s featuring a hideous-looking "human"/monster artwork by known cartoonist and stock car designer, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, most notably known for his signature character, Rat Fink. Ed Roth also had his own surf/hot rod band known as Mr. Gasser & the Weirdos with their only album release, Surfink. The Ed Roth designs still exist today but they're very hard to find (so far you can purchase the goods at the Ed Roth website) and are usually more of a collector's item now.

#3 – What is Hydrogen Peroxide? Look it up! It's a colorless chemical formula used for bleaching, for disinfecting, and for cleaning wounds!

#4 – SEB (Surfing Etiquette Bill) #7: When traveling, respect the locals (both surfers and beach goers). (Source: Surfline)

#5 – Grom – newer term for a young beginner surfer, derived from the word grommet. The older term was grem or gremmie.

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.