Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't have Tales of Xillia, because it was properties of Bandai Namco.

Hello my dear reader out there! Rina Aria speaking here~ I was glad that you found this story to be enjoyable as much as I enjoy writing this as well. So let's start the Summer Break! Summer Break is rather shor arc since I didn't have any idea what one would do at it. There is none in my place after all so... well, I'm doing my best anyway! Oh and anyone here love study group scene? Because now we need to study... yeah, I'm half whining right now.

Anyway, now that it was done with, let's start this chapter! Entitled~ "Summer Break – Study Session and To the Beach part 1"

Milla POV

"Hey, Milla how about this? I think it would suit you!" Leia said as she pressed an orange colored bikini with small flower printed on it.

"Leia, I think it wouldn't fit Milla too well… I personally prefer this one," Mai said as she pressed me a black one-piece swimsuit with crisscrossed neck part that was a little bit too provocative for me. It emphasized on the size of my chest after all.

"Y-you two…" I tried to voice out my opinion but both Mai and Leia who had started bickering on whose taste is better didn't hear me. I doubted that even if they heard, they would care about my opinion.

I sighed as I wondered how come it had come to this… It actually made sense when I remembered about what had happened a week ago. Because of that, they found out about another thing that became the start of this swimsuit madness. And I felt a pang of regret when I agreed.

"I shouldn't have agreed…"

(A week ago…)

I promised Leia that I would visit her house to help her to do her homework as I finished the latter half of mine. Leia also invited Mai to do hers as well but knowing Mai, I knew she had done most of it. And I knew that the reason why Leia invited us was to ask us to let her copy our work.

But nonetheless, my sister Muzét who dropped by was delighted by the fact I managed to create some friend. My sister, Muzét was actually the first in line to inherit the corporation after my Father stepped down, but because she became Gaius-niisama fiancé and she was just plain lazy, she handed the heir position to me, the second child. It wasn't that I had problem with it though.

She went overboard with what I should bring to Leia's house and she had (magically) had strawberry shortcake for me to bring. I tried to refuse since I wholeheartedly knew that if I gave Leia cake, she would stop doing her homework. But since I was weak to my older sister puppy eyes, which she pulled at full knowledge of this, I brought it along.

Leia wrote me a narrative of a map to her house. Much to my surprise it wasn't that far from the bus stop I used daily. But again, Jude used the same bus stop and the two of them were neighbor so it should have come without saying.

When I was reminded about Jude, I remembered our encounter at the start of summer break when we waited for the rain to stop. He first struck me as a cool and aloof one, but now that I had spoken with him, I realized that he was just as bad as conversation as me. And that he was actually gentle and considerate on other people. He also seemed to be a natural worrier. He was still cool in my eyes though.

It was then I realized that we were quite similar, since people sometimes mistook me as something that I unconsciously show them. Now that I knew him a little bit closer, my heart started to beat louder when the thought of him passed my mind.

But I was fixed on not rushing it. I still needed to know more about Jude and we should start as friend first. Jude looked like he wasn't familiar with girl as I wasn't so familiar with guy so I needed to start it slow.

I looked back at the map Leia had given me as I inspected the house in front of me right now. She said her house was a two-store with yellow paint and small garden in front of it. It matched the description perfectly and I made sure that I wasn't in the wrong house as I read the nameplate.

"Rolando… so this is it, huh…" I read the nameplate with a low voice as I looked back and forth the map and the nameplate.

After I was perfectly sure, I smiled to myself as I looked the house near it. Leia and Jude was neighbor so I slightly wondered which one was his house. It would be nice to know it for future preference.

'Maybe I should ask Leia to show me which one is Jude's house later…' I thought before taking a step closer to the front door.

I dusted my skirt a little bit before I pressed the bell. I waited for a while for response but no one responded. I wondered was no one at home and decided to press the bell once more. This time I had more luck with it since I heard a male response from inside saying, "Coming…"

I wondered who was the one who replied since, if I remembered it right, Leia had no brother. I did think that it was her father but, the tone was too young for a middle-aged man. I decided to push it to the back of my head as I waited for the door to be opened. If by some chance I was in the wrong house, I could apologize later.

The sound of incoming step was actually familiar in my ears though I couldn't pinpoint whose. The doorknob in front of me turned counter-clockwise before I managed to remember something. When the door opened completely, who was answering the door had made my jaws dropped.

In front of me was a guy, not older than I, with raven-colored hair was and slightly messed up hair. He wore frameless glasses with black handle that I found to be classy. But that wasn't the problem.

"Milla?" he said in questioning manner.

"Am I by some chance got the wrong house, Jude? I was supposed to go to Leia's house…" I explained briefly as I tried to keep my heartbeat in check because his appearance had made it went to the rooftop.

Yeah, the one who answered the door was Jude. The first thing I managed to notice was his hair and his glasses but now that I looked closely, he wore plain white shirt and dark brown short, an usual summer wear though I should say it was too casual. But again Leia had told me that her parents and Jude were close so they were often treated each other family member like their own family, maybe it applied on their house rule.

"N-no, this is really Leia's house. My house was one turn apart from here. Anyway Milla, you look… nice," Jude said with a surprised tone at first but changed quickly into a gentle one reaching the end where he complimented my clothing.

Today I wore blue tank top with white half-transparent shirt over it that had its selves dangled loosely on my shoulder. I wore blue-checkered mini skirt and I had cream-colored bag that I hung on my right shoulders. I wore with strapped flip-flops to match it. But it wasn't that important right now, Jude had complimented me and it had made my face red to embarrassment, but I need to answer his compliment (and reply as well).

"T-thanks…" I replied softly as I mentally hoped for Leia to save me from this predicament.

We both turned quiet for a moment until Jude finally said, "E-err… today, Leia's parents were away for some shopping. Was it the first time you go to Leia's by any chance? Leia seems to imply that when she forced me to answer the door."

I laughed nervously as I raged at Leia inside my heart. So this is a set-up! I should have not brought the cake with me even if my life depended on it.

Jude seemed as if he didn't notice my internal rage as he then said, "I see that I was right. Well, it's not particularly my house but… please go in."

I snapped from my internal rage and cursing as I diligently followed Jude inside as I said, "Sorry for the disturbance…"

The interior was actually clean and felt homey with light yellow colored paint. Jude led me through the hall and then said, "Well, Leia's room is above the stair at the end of hallway, you'll find it without much trouble. Knowing Leia, she couldn't cook even if her life depended on it so I would make your drink. How Lemon tea sounded to you?"

I smiled nervously hearing that since I was no different. Even if my life depended on it, I'm sure that I couldn't cook. I would love to try it one day… but, one day. I kept it inside however as I said, "It sounds great! And my sister forced me to bring cake with me… do you know where I could slice it?"

Jude was surprised when he saw that I did bring a package of cake with me. Maybe he didn't notice it when he opened the door. He then motioned me to follow him and I did. He showed me the kitchen and asked me to place the cake on the table as he took some plates and knife as if the kitchen was the back of his hand.

It piqued my interest so I asked, "You sure are familiar with this place, huh…"

Jude looked at me with a gentle smile as he said, "Aunt Sonia used to teach me martial arts with Leia when we are still around 5 and since Leia couldn't cook, I was the one who would help." When he said that he had a nostalgic look on his face as if remembering the time of past.

He looked so serene that I couldn't help but smile especially after hearing that he learned martial arts from such young age. That would explain a lot of thing involving his moves at his club. So Jude was indeed experienced at it.

"So that's why your move was beautiful…" I said as I smiled at the reminder of his move in Judo. His move was beautiful in my eyes.

Jude looked surprised that he unconsciously dropped the knife and the plates. Since he was a few feet away, by pure instinct I took some steps to his side and naturally saved the plates and knife without breaking a sweat. One of my lessons was reflex, and I excelled at that.

I was caught in surprise as well when I felt a hand touching mine and took the plate from it. I looked up instantly and then Jude said, "Your move in Kendo was beautiful as well… and thanks for the save…"

I couldn't stop the heat from rising as I picked up his scent, the scent of strawberry mint. It was naturally girly scent, but when Jude had it… I thought it fitted him perfectly in a good way. It made me conscious of how we were so close as well.

Another air of silence enveloped us and it felt awfully awkward. My heart didn't try to slow down at all as I was overly conscious at how Jude moved near the table behind me to slice the cake. He said that my Kendo move was beautiful as well… I didn't know how to respond on that.

"Milla…" Jude said with soft tone.

I turned around shyly as I tried to hide my flustered face somehow. I forced my eyes to go down from his glasses and to his hands that hold a tray of sliced up cake. It looked perfectly identical but before I could say anything he said, "Well, could you bring it to her room? Soon Leia would complain about how hard the homework is."

Just after Jude said it, a loud shout was heard from upstairs. It was something along the line of accursed homework and it had Leia's voice so I guessed that would be Leia. I stifled my laughter as I said, "Yeah… I see…"

I proceed to take the tray of already-cut cake to Leia's room as I wondered why Jude cut the cake into 5 slices, but again it wasn't my problem. As Jude had said it before, Leia's room was easy to find, practically because it was the only room with opened door. I looked inside and found Leia already spent with Mai who tried to cheer her up and Suzaku Jun who was for some reason in here.

"So… how far Leia had made it?" I asked when I entered the room. I didn't need to look for the answer since the scattered empty homework book explained it all. Seriously, the Summer Break would end in two weeks and she hadn't finished her homework.

"Ah, Milla… about that, well as you can see…" Mai said with a surprised tone before she trailed down on her sentence. It was obvious that Leia didn't do well on it and she knew I had noticed the empty homework books scattered on the table.

"So that 'guest' Leia forced Jude to answer to is you…" Suzaku Jun said with a low tone as he tried to change the subject for some of Leia's remaining pride. It did answer my internal guess about how Leia set me up on this.

"I can't go on anymore…" Leia complained as she had comical tears on her cheeks. It was obvious she didn't bother with Jun's attempt on telling me that she had set me up.

I simply laughed it off and set the cake on the table. Leia quickly looked up with stars in her eyes. When she tried to snatch a slice I dodged it by pulling the tray to my direction and caused Leia's face to meet with the book on the table. Pay back.

"Milla…" Leia begged with her puppy eyes.

I closed my eyes so I couldn't see her pleading face when I said, "Finish at least half of your math book, and I might reconsider."

Then I looked at Suzaku Jun, the boy Mai had crush on who was patting Leia as if she was a lost puppy, as I said, "Ah anyway, I never properly introduce myself to you. Nice to meet you, I am Milla Maxwell feel free to call me Milla."

He then turned to me and bowed slightly before he said, "Oh yeah, we never did. It's a pleasure to meet you Milla, I am Suzaku Jun, just call me Jun."

I glanced to Mai who dodged my gaze almost instantly. So I guessed she had made contact with Jun before this time. I knew Mai was obviously flustered as well when she knew that Jun was here, maybe one of Leia's attempts on matchmaking.

Then I looked down at Jun's book and saw his blank homework book as I smiled slightly. It seemed that we have another Leia in the room. Then I gave Mai her cake and kept Jun and Leia's share with me as I said, "Whoever it is who didn't do at least half of their homework got no cake…"

"W-what?!" Jun shouted in horror. It looked like he anticipated the cake as well. I couldn't deny that it looked delicious though. His reaction was normal.

"Milla, you evil demon lady!" Leia complained as she threw her book to the air and collapsed on her back. She should be glad that they set the table on a soft rug and that she had placed some pillows around as well.

I simply chuckled as Mai simply asked for their forgiveness as she ate her share of cake. Jude took that time to enter the room as well with a tray of cool lemon tea as he said, "That's a good one Milla."

I looked behind since my seat made me had my back facing the door. Jude also chuckled, darkly if I might add. Both Leia and Jun protested as Jude gave me my tea and gave the other refill of their tea. I muttered a 'thank you' as he took seat beside me, in between Jun and me. [1]

We then started to work on our respective homework, though most of the time either Mai or I would lecture Leia for slacking off while Jude hit Jun when he tried to change the subject from homework. Well, when Leia and Jun actually worked on their homework, Jude and I compared our work with each other. It was nice actually.

"Jude, do you know how to work on this problem? I felt like my equation is wrong…" I said as I gave my math book to Jude while pointing at the question I mentioned.

"Oh, that one. It took me some times to solve it as well. The equation wasn't particularly wrong though… here, let me show you…" Jude replied before he took my book and my pencil and then started writing the solution beside my work. I should admit that his writing was beautiful and neat unlike Leia.

I tried to keep myself focused on the problem instead of Jude himself since he was so close that our shoulders were touching each other. Not to mention that he was explaining the solution with that soft voice of his, right beside my ears. I only hoped that he didn't notice how loud my heart was beating right now.

Through hard work I managed to keep straight face and understood the method that he explained. I took my pencil back and then tried to work on the question using Jude's method as I said, "So, it goes like this… and then like this… oh, I got it now!"

"Wow that was fast…" Jude said with mildly surprised tone.

I simply smiled as I took the compliment politely. Jude then showed me his essay as he said, "I see from the announcement that you are better at English than me, so could you check it out?"

I looked at the book and then to Jude. I took his book as I said, "Of course with pleasure. And really Jude, my English wasn't that great. Forte-sensei tends to exaggerate my writing, that's all."

As I worked on correcting the small mistake Jude had made on his essay, I felt eyes all around me. I looked up and my eyes met with Leia who then said, "Since when you two are so close?"

I stopped writing and looked at Leia in surprised manner. I was too stunned to say anything as Jun then said, "Yeah, this past 3 months you never said a word to each other and now you are all friendly and checked each other summer homework."

I simply remained silent as I tried to look for reason. I just found it nice to be around Jude, so I had no reservation around him. Even if I didn't fell for him, I believe I would remain this way around him. But now that they said it, it was only the second time we met each other.

"If that's all you want to say go back to your work Jun… really, there is nothing wrong with us. I simply feel like it since Milla is around. She is smart and we are friend after all," Jude said with calm tone as he pushed his glasses up slightly.

I seriously lost all my words after I heard it. Mai giggled and she looked at Leia who had a devilish expression on her face as well. I felt some bad vibe between these two. They would make me do something embarrassing. I knew it perfectly.

"Say Jude, would you like to go to beach next week?" Leia said with a radiant smile though I knew that she was up to something.

Jude looked up and then simply asked, "Beach?"

"Yeah, beach. Leia would have done her summer homework by that time and we had planned to go as well but didn't decide the date yet. Let's we all go together!" Mai said encouraging Jude to just accept the proposal.

Jude looked like he contemplated on it for the moment. He then looked at me and asked, "You didn't have any family vacation or something?"

I was surprised at his question that was directed to me. I simply looked at Mai and Leia and begged them to save me but it seemed unlikely for them to do that. I gave up and then said, "My family never planned one. Most of the time I'm just killing time and work part-time. And I knew whether I agree or not, Leia would find a way to make me come."

Jude nodded for a little bit and then looked at Jun before he said, "If Jun is coming then I'll go."

Leia looked at Jun and then Mai who was flustered as she mischievously said, "Sure Jun, you can go with us. Then it's decided, next week we all will go to the beach in next town."

After Leia announced that Jun may come (maybe to hook him up with Mai) and thus made Jude goes along too, Jun pumped his fist up on the air and shouted, "Yes! Jude you are really my brother!"

Jude simply sighed but a smile was evident on his face. That smile made me smile as well since he looked very relaxed, unlike his usual expression. I personally believe that he looked better this way. I liked his school appearance as well though.

Mai, who was just recovered from the shock of having Jun aboard on our vacation, stutteringly said, "S-say… w-when we should all g-go? H-how's Sunday sound for everyone?"

"I'm free on Sunday," Jude said calmly as he turned his attention to another bespectacled girl here. Mai's serious appearance and cute personality was actually a good match. But, I didn't want to see the Mai who worked as disciplinary committee and caught some delinquent messing in the school. Even with that cute and polite demeanor, Mai was a master at martial arts, especially Taijutsu despite being a girl.

"Yeah, me as well," I replied as I briefly thought on my day's off from my family company work. Next Friday was my last day of work and from that day onwards I'm free from burden.

"Count me in as well! No practice day for me that time!" Jun added with high-spirited tone. He would make a good match for Leia's loudness.

"So that's decided. We met at the bus stop not far from this place at 10 o'clock. Pay up for yourself okay?" Leia said with a cheerful tone as she stood up and circled the date with yellow marker in a star shape.

We then started our mission to finish our homework once more. Well, it was more like Mai, Jude, and I doing our last homework check-up with Leia and Jun trying to coax us on letting them copy our finished homework. At first we all fixed on not, but seeing how Leia and Jun was so hopeless we finally gave in and let them do just that.

After we were finished albeit Leia and Jun were only half-way done, most of us said our goodbye to Leia and Jude. I walked with Mai and Jun who needed to take a bus to go back to their respective home.

But honestly, it was more as if I became their third wheel or something when we were walking. After all Jun and Mai looked like they had fun talking to each other that they didn't realize that they had reached the bus stop or even noticed that I was with them. I separated from them from that point on and walked back to my house.

It was finally that the reality struck me hard and my face turned red from embarrassment. For the whole day, I was sitting right beside Jude as we studied together. He also complimented me in a lot of aspect. It really was a nice day…

'I'm looking forward to the next week…' or so I thought.

(Back to present)

At that time I didn't knew that the preparation would be a complete hell for me. This morning Leia called me to do some shopping for swimsuit at the mall. She said that hers was completely no good and she had asked Mai to come as well. And Leia didn't take a 'no' for an answer.

We then met at the bus stop and we rode the bus to the mall. It started as something healthy with some café outing and we jumped from one boutique to other, Leia dubbed it as looking for guy magnet summer clothes. And by some bad luck, they knew that my bust were slightly bigger than the average teenager. After that, things went downhill from there…

Because when they knew it made them felt obligated to look for an appropriate swimsuit that would show it. They were actually too focused on it that they didn't realize that I had turned around and looked at the rack of more appropriate swimsuit for myself. I really hoped it would turn out well.

I sighed inwardly as I took a bikini that somehow made its way to my hands. It was plain white in color. It was held by white ribbon on the back and at the center of my chest, maybe just between it. The bottom was pretty much the same but it actually came with extra scarf-like thing with red base-color on the upper half and becoming yellow to its tip and it also had black circle pattern spread from the lighter base until the upper part of it. All in all I took a liking to it.

"Leia, Mai, would you like to stop for a bit?" I asked them as I took the swimsuit on my hands.

I turned around but Leia and Mai showed no sign of stopping. I sighed a little before I decided to just go to cashier and pay up for it. Now that I was done, I really should force them apart and look for their own swimsuit or else we would be here all day.

'I hope the beach would become a better memory than shopping…'

Anyone out here ever feel the horror of shopping? I personally didn't hate shopping but if we are faced with countless choice, it would be quite a headache. Especially with Milla who I took to be 'Magnificiently beautiful' as I saw from her wardrobe in the game DLC, taking aside the cross-dressing one. And since Jude and Milla were aware of each other right now, I started spreading some sugar and honey around.