Angel Beats! エンジェルビーツ!

Our Beats Incarnate

Book II: The Beachfront

Chapter 3: Of Sunsets and Twilight

The resort's "Medical Centre" turned out to be a squat, ugly little building located rather inconveniently at the far side of the hotel's main grounds. The distinctive grey breezeblock walls of the repugnant little hut thankfully set it aside from the rest of the resort's white-rendered buildings, so it was simple enough to find even with the most basic of instructions.

For all of its outward simplicity, the inside of the building stood in stark clinical contrast, white-tiled and spotless, with the acrid scent of strong disinfectant usually reserved for the most heinous of hospital wards. It was basic, but clearly well-equipped for all the usual resort first-aid issues – there was even an attending doctor on the resort's payroll, and he'd proven to be a very cheerful young fellow as he'd carefully disinfected the girl's wounded hands and then wrapped them in light bandage.

To Yuzuru's eyes, in-training as he was to be a doctor himself, the practicing clinician had followed the usual routines to the letter. A capable doctor, clearly, which set his own mind at ease.

"Let these air tonight if they haven't congealed fully." He'd instructed, "If they're still seeping in the morning come back to me for a fresh dressing."

And with that he'd sent them on their way.

The silence which descended as they walked felt awkward and uncomfortable to Yuzuru, though from the thoroughly unfathomable expression on the girl's face as she intently inspected her bandaged hands he wasn't entirely sure that she was even aware of his presence.

The level of detachment she seemed to have from the world around her struck Yuzuru as particularly odd, but it didn't come across as snobbish or aloof. It struck him more as an emotional shyness on her part, or maybe she really was as at peace with the world around her as the aura she projected implied.

Whatever it was, it was clear to Yuzuru that if anybody were to strike up a conversation, it would have to be him. Though getting through her absorbed interest in her own bandaged hands may prove to be something of a challenge.

"I feel so guilty about that." He broke into the silence at last, only just above a quiet whisper.

Much to Yuzuru's surprise, though she didn't turn to look at him, the girl replied in the same quiet tone, "You should. It was your fault."

The surprise at the directness of her response sent one of Yuzuru's eyebrows high up onto his puzzled brow – surprised that she'd actually heard him, or surprised that she'd deigned to reply was anybody's guess – and was quickly haunted by a shallow frown. Was she finally giving him the guilt trip that he'd expected earlier?

No, that wasn't quite it. Yuzuru couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was an undertone to her comment which left him feeling unsure about the whole thing. Could it be that she was actually teasing him?

"Yeah, well…" he nervously rubbed back of his head, "I'm just grateful it wasn't worse. When you caught that arrow… Wow."

"Yes." She stopped walking, dead in her tracks. Yuzuru came to a halt a couple of paces ahead of her, half turning to look back. For the first time since they'd left the doctor's office she lifted her face to meet his own eyes, "I surprised myself."

It was strange to hear the way her voice lightened at her last comment, as if she was actually pleased in some way. Managing to catch the arrow was a feat of absolutely astonishing reflex, whether she'd intended to actually catch it or not, and Yuzuru was more than willing to grant her full credit for that one – had he not seen it with his own eyes Yuzuru was certain he would never have believed it.

The guilt he felt over the whole situation wasn't something that was going to go away any time soon, though, and he knew that it would keep eating away at him unless this strangely reticent girl allowed him to make amends.

"So… Erm…" Yuzuru's uncertainly returned to the forefront of his mind as he tried to think of some way to set things right, "Is there any way I could… You know, make it up to you?"

"There's really no need." She insisted, much to his dismay. But he wasn't about to give up that easily.

"I'll feel bad about this."

"It's fine now." She held up her hands, as if to show him the bandages, "You don't need to worry."

"I'm not worried." Yuzuru confessed to her, "I'm feeling guilty."

Her insistence remained, however, completely unbidden, "You needn't."

"But I do. And I want to make it up to you!" Yuzuru's voice became more forceful. Her reluctance to let him atone was beginning to grate slightly on his nerves, and he needed her to understand that and relent.

There was an incredible sensation of relief when he seemed to finally make progress.

"You're not going to drop this, are you." She stated more than asked, keeping an intensely penetrating glare into his own eyes.

"Nope." Yuzuru's resolute determination reinforced his insistence, "Not a chance."

The girl seemed to consider for a moment, never once relinquishing her emotionally neutral expression, keeping up the potent guard that made her thoroughly unreadable, "Okay then." She began, "Make it up to me."

"Great!" a warming and earnest smile lit up Yuzuru's face, "How about dinner!"

The girl's nod was slow yet thoughtful, "Okay. Where, when?"

Yuzuru thought back to the itinerary that the resort had set out as a suggestion for popular activities; the various cafés, restaurants and eateries located around the island running through his mind. It wasn't difficult to settle on one, marked out as the most popular evening meal destination for holidaymakers looking for the five star treatment and a relaxing ambiance, "The beachfront restaurant. About seven?"

Chances are it would be busy, popular as it was. But there were supposedly enough tables and seating arrangements for everybody currently resident at the hotel. More-so for anybody who enjoyed their meals on the beach itself, out in the open-air. What could be more relaxing than going alfresco?

"Okay."

"Great!" Yuzuru was genuinely pleased, even if she did seem suddenly and inexplicably co-operative, "I'll see you then."

Yuzuru turned to leave, though he caught himself after half a pace as a realisation struck. He turned back to the girl, noticing that she had yet to move from the spot where she'd come to a stop.

"I almost forgot…" Yuzuru became somewhat abashed, "My name's Yuzuru. What's yours?"

"Kanade."

"Kanade…" he whispered, trying out the word. The feel of it upon his lips brought an unexpected warmth to his heart; it was beautiful, elegant.

It suited her perfectly.

And yet, at the same time, it felt strangely familiar…

With a smile and a slight bow Yuzuru excused himself. Kanade watched him with intent regard as he departed, trying to wrap her mind around the day she'd just had. Surely holidays were supposed to be relaxing? This was essentially a spa resort, all activities aside, and the chance for a little peace and quiet were what had drawn her there in the first place

It wasn't quite shaping up that way, though.

Looking down at her bandaged hands once more, Kanade let her mind wander back to the archery range and the events that had followed – specifically, the peculiar orange-haired Yuzuru.

"Strange." She thought aloud, to nobody in particular.

Very strange indeed.

-o-O-o-

It wasn't until about six forty-five that Yuzuru began to realise just how nervous he actually was. By six fifty-five he was so anxious that he considered just having a panic attack to get it all over with. His palms were sweating, his heart was fluttering in his chest, and he just couldn't bring himself to stop pacing the boardwalk which separated the front of the restaurant from the soft, pale sands of the beach.

He'd asked a girl out on a date – and worse, without realising that it was a date. Sure, his initial intention was to make amends for the pain, the injury he'd caused her. Treating her to a meal had seemed like the obvious and most sincere way to do it, even if there was actually very little recompence for the accident itself.

But he could've taken her somewhere else, maybe to a light lunch.

Meeting at seven in the evening, in a formal restaurant for a large multi-course meal, in the most romantic setting on the island?

There were no two ways about it; it was a date.

And now he felt seriously underdressed.

What if she turned up in formal attire? Most of the guests inside the restaurant and on the beachfront decking seemed dressed almost as if they were at a formal dinner party. In his unironed and creased brown shirt and simple dark slacks, Yuzuru seemed so casual that he could've drowned in an incoming tide of nonchalance.

For the twentieth time in the past two minutes Yuzuru inspected his watch.

"Is she late, Sir?"

Yuzuru turned around to regard the attendant at the restaurant's reception desk. The man, though clad in the black, gold-trimmed formal uniform of all the resort's up-market facilities, seemed to almost slouch lazily in a markedly unprofessional manner.

"What?" Yuzuru asked, then noticed the attendant was paying heed to the watch on his wrist, "No, I just-"

"Then please refrain from pacing, Sir." The man stood upright, returning to his full height, "The boardwalk won't tolerate much more of that abuse before it falls through."

Yuzuru began to grit his teeth as he tried to keep his temper in check. When he did reply to the man it was through a clenched jaw and laced with so much irritation that the words almost turned to acid on his tongue, "Just who in the hell do you-"

"Ah, look, Sir." The attendant rose to his tiptoes, clearly looking over Yuzuru's head, rudely dismissing him entirely, "Here comes a young lady now. Perhaps she's the one you're waiting for?"

An ire-filled growl was all Yuzuru could offer the man. It could well be Kanade – it must've been seven o'clock by now – though he still had to work to let his irritation fall away. As he turned around, though, the vision which greeted him turned his anger into instant amazement.

Approaching the restaurant entrance from the far end of the boardwalk she glided, as if walking on air, dressed in an exceptionally elegant strapless a-line evening dress. It conformed comfortably to the understated contours of her graceful frame, drawing subtle attention to a form which hadn't been overly apparent to Yuzuru during their prior meeting, gracing her with an air of dignified femininity that was unmistakably beautiful.

The satin sheen of the azure mist material danced in the warm golden orange of the slowly-setting sunlight which punctuated the pleasant summer evening, each gentle footfall placed ahead of the last enticing the floor-length material of the sleek garment into fluid motion as it cascaded gracefully off the curvature of her hips. The lustrous shimmer of her long, platinum hair as it fell back over her shoulders to its full, effusive length offered little in way of contrast to the graceful refine of the evening dress.

The entire ensemble seemed perfectly arranged and toned to draw full attention to the auric depths of her eyes, as calm yet radiantly bright as ever he'd seen them.

She was truly beautiful.

"Am I late?" Kanade asked softly as she came to a timid stop before Yuzuru.

Yuzuru's mind reeled, "Erm, no you're right on time." He looked at her once more, from head to toe, "You look… Wow."

An entirely unexpected blush filled her cheeks – had he broken through whatever emotionally resistant wall she usually kept erected with that last statement? – and looked down at the boardwalk between them.

"Thank you." She looked up again, the blush no less intense, "I didn't overdress, did I?"

"No, no!" Yuzuru insisted, perhaps a bit too adamantly, "You're…" his mind tried desperately to find a word from his vocabulary which would sum up the way she looked – did such a word actually exist? No one word could do her justice, surely?

"You're…" he tried again, but his mind just ground to a halt.

"I'm…?" the slightest hint of uncertainty broke into her voice in a waver.

"You're…" he confirmed, the pause thick and heavy, "Perfect."

-o-O-o-

The maître d led Yuzuru and Kanade through the jungle of widely-spaced tables strewn across the beachfront decking of the restaurant, escorting them to a small two-seated table located in the furthest corner away from the main building, where the floorboards gave way to long, wooden steps which led down onto the sandy beach.

Despite being as far away from the building as the decking would allow, the area was shaded by a cluster of overhanging palm-trees, their fronds dancing on the breeze no doubt a good source of shade during the daytime. As the setting sun half-vanished beyond the ocean horizon which the beach overlooked, a pair of waiters walked the perimeter of the boardwalk, each lighting candles cased in protective hurricane lamps that hung two apiece from either side of an ornately-crafted lamppost. The candles brought much to the ambiance of the restaurant's outer seating area, though provided little in the way of practical lighting – thankfully, the currently fairly dim electric light in the centre of each post offered up enough soft light to comfortably see by.

Yuzuru swallowed nervously – it was definitely a date.

"Your table, Sir; Madame." The maître d stepped aside as he presented the table to them.

Doing the gentlemanly thing, Yuzuru pulled out one of the chairs for Kanade, her slight yet grateful bow offered in thanks as she accepted his gesture and took her seat. Yuzuru promptly followed, taking the seat opposite and settling himself into the table.

The waiter hesitated only a moment for the couple to get settled, a thin pencil poised patiently above a small notepad, "Would you care to order?"

Yuzuru gestured towards Kanade with one hand, a gentle smile warming his features, "Ladies first."

Kanade responded with a couple of rapid blinks before turning to look up at the waiter, her hands beneath the table straightening out the creases in her dress in an almost nervous fashion. "Can you make Mapo tofu?" she asked quietly.

"Certainly, Madame." His tone empowered yet comforting, a few quick scribbles of his pencil taking over where his voice left off, "And for the Sir?"

"I'd like the poached salmon salad, please."

A few more quick flicks of the pencil etched out the remainder of the order, "Very good, Sir." And the man quickly departed the table.

An awkward silence permeated the air around the table, descending like an oppressive fog. Yuzuru searched his mind for something to say; any way to strike up a conversation, but his mind kept drawing a blank. But then again, sitting across the table from the delicately majestic vision that was his dinner partner, it was a challenge to keep his mind focussed on anything at all. All of his senses seemed to tunnel in, forsaking their surroundings, compelled attentively to one person present and that one person alone.

From the blush filling out her cheeks, Kanade clearly knew that Yuzuru was looking at her, taking her in.

But then his eyes fell upon her hands, now resting atop the table, and admiration – even adoration – turned once more to guilt.

"I'm so sorry about your hands…" Yuzuru spoke, barely a whisper, at last looking away from her.

Now it was Kanade's turn to look up at him, the slightest of frowns pulling at the corner of her lips, "I wish you'd stop apologising." She admonished with a sigh.

Looking up and meeting her disapproving gaze, the word managed to escape Yuzuru's lungs before he could even think of restraining it. "Sorry…"

Kanade's frown only intensified further.

Rubbing the back of his head with one hand in nervous uncertainty, he ventured as far as a sheepish smile, "So… Tell me about yourself?"

Her head tilted slightly in time with the rise of an inquisitive eyebrow, "What do you want to know?"

"Well, where you're from; what you do; the usual things."

An earnest little smile worked its way onto her lips and her eyes began to sparkle. Yuzuru knew this was going to be a fascinating explanation.

-o-O-o-

Throughout the meal Yuzuru sat, enraptured, trying to absorb and retain every fine point and minutiae that their conversation revealed to him about Kanade. It came as no real surprise that she was from the same region of Japan as he was, given the subtle inflections of her softly accented voice. It was a bit more of a surprise to him that they actually came from the same town. But the most startling fact of all was that it turned out they lived only a couple of blocks away from one-another.

"And to think," Yuzuru dapped carefully at his lips with his napkin, replacing it on the empty plate and relaxing back into his chair, "how many times we may've crossed paths without realising."

Kanade absently steered the last little chunk of food around her bowl-like plate with the underside of her spoon. Not really paying attention to the action itself, she was actually looking up at Yuzuru with the slightest of smiles on her face. Despite the fact he'd shot her, and despite his seemingly incessant need to apologise for it even in spite of her objections and explicit forgiveness, he had proven most charming and ingratiating.

He'd made the evening a pleasant one.

"It's surprising that we've never met." Kanade admitted, "I can't believe you know Yuri Nakamura."

"For the longest time now." Yuzuru nodded. It was true that Yuri knew a lot of people – nobody had ever managed to provide him with a plausible theory as to how Yuri actually managed to make and retain so many acquaintances and friends. Though he did know that her phonebook contained more names and numbers than the Yellow Pages, and her social calendar was always full to breaking point.

It was a real surprise that he and Kanade had never met at one of Yuri's parties. But then again, such events were always an intensely busy affair. It was difficult to meet, know and remember absolutely everybody who attended. He knew that much from experience.

"It was good of her to organise this trip for you."

"Yes," Yuzuru nodded, looking her square in the eye, "It's proven quite… Memorable, so far."

Another uncharacteristic blush spread across the smooth porcelain of Kanade's cheeks, though she wasn't entirely sure why. Her eyes fell once more to the plate on the table before her, the figure eight waltz that the spoon was tracing elegantly through the remnants of oily sauce leaving behind a noticeable trail, as if giving form to her inexplicable bashfulness.

"Anyway," Yuzuru cut into her thoughts, "It's a nice evening. Can I walk you home?"

Kanade dropped the spoon onto the plate, raising her eyes with mild confusion, "It's not that far. You want the evening to end already…?"

To her astonishment Yuzuru smiled, then chuckled, "Well, not exactly," his fulvus eyes brimmed with amusement, "I wasn't planning on the direct route."

As he turned to look out over the beach, pale sands bathed in the blue-tinted darkness of the post-dusk sky, Kanade followed his gaze as far as the crystal ocean and its gently crashing waves. He was suggesting a walk on the beach? Well, she wouldn't object – it sounded like a wonderful idea; a perfect end to a very pleasant evening. But the platinum kitten heel sandals she was wearing were hardly appropriate beachwear.

"I-"

But Yuzuru cut her off, "I'll carry them for you."

Had he just read her mind?

But it didn't really matter. She wasn't searching for an excuse to turn him down, not in the slightest, so she nodded and turned in her chair, leaning down to guide the inappropriate sandals from her feet. They weren't that difficult to slip off – she could've been really unladylike and just kicked them off if she'd wanted to, but it seemed somewhat uncouth on the decking of a relatively upmarket restaurant.

Instead she simply took them in one hand and rose to her feet.

Seeing her move to stand up Yuzuru scrabbled to get to his feet before she did, almost knocking his chair clean over. It remained upright, but skittered across the floor with a tell-tale wooden screech. It was an old, almost out-dated tradition, a gentleman rising before a lady. But it was the little things that counted when it came to etiquette, and Yuzuru was eager to make a lasting good impression after the day's earlier events.

Besides, over time it had simply become a habit.

He reached out his hand towards Kanade, "May I?" expecting her to simply hand him her shoes.

But they remained firmly grasped in her left hand, whilst she reached out instead with her right to take hold of his fingers.

The gesture was so unexpected (had she mistaken his intent?) that this time it was Yuzuru's cheeks that flushed with a full pink blush. Thankfully, Kanade either didn't seem to notice or didn't think it worth mentioning, because she simply took his hand and worked her way around the table to the edge of the decking.

It was only a couple of steps down to the sand, but she was careful to not trip over the lower hem of her dress. The sand was soft, refreshingly cool beneath her feet. A couple of gentle wiggles of her toes half-buried her feet and the soothing texture, elicited a sigh of contentment.

More importantly to Yuzuru, though, was that she didn't release his hand once they were down on the beach. But Kanade honestly wasn't thinking anything of it, her small, delicate hand comfortable in Yuzuru's protection.

Her attention was drawn along the length of the beach, which seemed to stretch on forever into the night to both their left and right.

"Which way?" Kanade asked without looking up.

Honestly, at that particular moment in his life, Yuzuru couldn't have cared less.

-o-O-o-

Chapter 3: Of Sunsets and Twilight