Yoh squealed in delight. He was so excited about the large pool of water they were going into, and Mikihisa was glad that he was wearing the floaties.
"Careful, Yoh," he reminded him. "Otherwise you'll step on a seashell or a jellyfish, and it will hurt."
The toddler stopped momentarily, allowing Mikihisa to catch up to him. He took him by his hand.
"Let's go, slow and careful now, alright?" he said, and the two went to the beautiful mass of water.
"Aa," Yoh wailed when his foot made contact with a sharp seashell, and he stopped, tears in the corners of his eyes. He put his thumb into his mouth and sucked on it, trying to calm himself down.
"Come," Mikihisa encouraged him, but Yoh didn't budge. He stubbornly refused to go further, afraid of more steps like this one.
His father crouched down.
"You don't want to go to the ocean anymore?" he asked him, and Yoh pouted, shaking his head. No, water was scary!
Mikihisa sighed and took him into his arms.
"I will carry you, alright?" he said, looking over his shoulder to see where Hao was, whether he was following them, but, to his surprise, the older twin stayed in the shade of the tent, and was keeping Keiko company.
Yoh reluctantly nodded.
"Hao?" he asked, looking back to the tent.
Mikihisa turned and waved at the two of them.
"Keiko! Hao! Come join us!" he called, and waited for the two silhouettes to get up from the floor, secure the tent and come to them, at a leisurely pace. They didn't need to hurry, they were at the beach quite early (since the boys were early risers, they could also leave home a little earlier than some other beach visitors).
Hao made sure not to do such an amateur mistake as Yoh did and almost floated over the shells, and soon made it to them. Standing on the warm sand, morning sun shining and a warm sea breeze blowing into his hair was a wonderful feeling, one that he liked for many reasons. Keiko was slower in her approach, and chose her steps rather carefully. When she had seemed pale from the lack of sleep, soaking up the sun would soon make her face gain a healthier colour.
"Mama," You cheered, and Mikihisa set him down. The toddler took both of his parents' hands. Hao huffed. Guess he came here for nothing then.
Keiko chuckled and extended her other hand to Hao, and he reluctantly took it, looking away. The young family stepped over the last seashells to the wet sand where the waves reached. They weren't so big to reach them right away, but as they stepped closer to the water, one of the waves swelled over their feet, and Yoh squeaked.
The water was quite cold for Hao's liking. He would've liked it to be a few degrees warmer, but for him, it was no problem to make it a little warmer. And, since the water was cold (in his opinion), he did Yoh a favour and warmed the water up around him too.
"It's quite cold, isn't it, Yoh?" Mikihisa asked with a smile, and the child just hummed, not really sure. He only felt the soft sand that his feet seemed to fall into, and the water around his ankles and legs as they continued walking into the sea.
Soon, it was too deep for the children to stand in. Thankfully, Yoh and Hao were both outfitted with their floaties, so they were kept on the surface, and the water didn't even reach the parents' waists. If anything, it was up to their knees. Keiko seemed to be quite happy like that, but Mikihisa went further and dove into the water, and Hao felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, feeling like he had a new-found respect for the man.
Yoh and Hao stayed where they were, gently flowing back with the waves. One such wave crashed against the floatie Yoh had, and water splashed his face. The toddler didn't expect that but he instinctively closed his eyes to prevent water going into his eyes. Some of it made it into his mouth and Yoh swallowed.
"Ehh?" he was confused. Why did the water taste different from how it usually did?
Keiko smiled and patted his head.
"It's salty, isn't it, Yoh?" she asked, and he looked at her with big, innocent eyes. "That's because the sea water is full of minerals and salts."
Hao narrowed his eyes. Yoh's thoughts were racing so fast that he had trouble grasping them. Therefore, even he was surprised at what his twin brother did next.
Yoh opened his mouth and took a big gulp of sea water, swallowing it. He looked insanely happy. This new type of water was strange and salty, and Yoh liked salty things.
"You're no't supposed to drink the water," Keiko said, her eyes wide with surprise, and she made her way to wipe Yoh's mouth.
Dummy , Hao narrowed his eyes. He could accept that salty water was alright, but who knows what all was in it. Better to wait for regular water.
Yoh laughed and started splashing. Keiko squealed as the cold water made contact with her skin, and Hao paddled away from the two of them. Mikihisa was already at one of the buoys where he turned and swam back to the family. The toddler decided that he didn't actually want to stay in the water, and let the waves carry him back to the shore. On the way to the sea, he saw a nice lagoon with warm water where he could chill for the rest of the beach day, and Hao got out of the sea and out of his floatie, leaving it at the shore of the lagoon. He sat in the warm, shallow water, turned to face the sun, and closed his eyes.
He sensed Keiko's panicked thoughts when she realized that one of her sons was gone.
Don't worry, I'm on the beach , Hao told her. He registered a relieved feeling, but also annoyance.
So much for a child who knows not to run away , Keiko thought, referring to the earlier accident when Yoh went exploring.
Hao huffed and turned his attention to the shell next to him, overcome by the urge to scoop some of the sand with it, and without thinking, that was exactly what he did. He barely registered what he was doing until two ladies commented on how cute that child was from the side. Hao blinked; then saw the hole he had made with the shell.
Damn this baby body, he cursed to himself and threw the shell as far away as he could with his tiny arms, continuing by crossing them over his chest and sulking.
Yoh, meanwhile, seemed to enjoy the water immensely. He splashed around, his hair was wet, his skin, if it had a chance to dry a bit, was sticky with the salty water, and he was beaming. Yoh truly enjoyed the water, and he paddled his little legs to where his father was, then back to his mother, and he quite literally forgot all about Hao at that moment.
Mikihisa quickly returned to the tent to bring a soft ball. He handed it to Yoh.
"Do you want to throw the ball?" he asked, and Yoh, excited, immediately threw the ball. It landed right in front of his floatie and splashed his face. The child blinked, surprised by the sudden splash, and then took the ball again and threw it. It landed a little further this time, and Mikihisa took it, laughing.
"You'll learn that," he said, and squeezed the water out from the ball, proceeding to throw it back at Yoh. His son laughed and paddled towards the toy.
They kept it up for the next few minutes when Keiko took Yoh's hand. She studied his face for a moment, and said: "Let's go warm up. Yoh's lips are all blue."
Mikihisa opened his mouth, and Keiko narrowed her eyes.
"You can play later on again, but he needs to get out of the water," she said in a tone that didn't allow for any objections, and Mikihisa and Yoh followed her to the shore. The wind blew and Yoh started shaking, but Keiko got one of the towels and wrapped it around his shoulders. Yoh looked up at her and smiled, even though his teeth were still chattering. Mikihisa called out to Hao, and the older boy grumpily made his way towards them.
The four of them came back to their tent, and Mikihisa took out a blanket and spread it on the sand. Keiko made sure that her boys were in the shade of the tent, sitting on their towels, warming up, and she herself sat on another towel, content not to wrap it around herself but enjoy the summer breeze.
"Do you like the beach so far, boys?" Mikihisa asked, and Yoh squealed in delight. The beach was definitely one of his favourite places right now. Hao grumbled.
The water could be warmer. Let's try this again in September.
Mikihisa let out a laugh and took the latest newspaper with his wet hands.
"We can see to go again then," he said and turned attention to the daily print. Hao rolled his eyes.
"Would you like some snacks, boys?" Keiko asked, opening a dose with cut fruit that she had prepared in the morning. Yoh's eyes started shining when he saw the small pieces of tangerine, and reached out for them.
They munched on the fruit and Hao looked around. Mikihisa was now napping with his face covered by the newspaper. He nudged Yoh.
His younger brother looked at him, confused, and Hao nodded towards Mikihisa and stood up. He walked to his father's legs and started covering them with sand. Yoh, thinking this was a wonderful activity to spend time, joined in, and the two of them started working together to bury Mikihisa's legs while he slept.
Maybe I could get used to this type of lifestyle, Hao thought. Working together with his little brother seemed like a very distant dream, one that he might've had as a young child. It was almost as if Ohachiyo was back-
Yoh threw a handful of sand up into the air and Hao's peace was disturbed. The boy growled and did his best to get out of the way of flying sand. He was only half successful, and a lot of grains landed in his hair. Hao narrowed his eyes, trying to get his temper under control, but he truly wanted to do the same to Yoh.
"Yoh…" he growled. He had no idea what was happening to him. First the shell, now this, was he acting like a regular child? Were the Asakuras being successful in their attempts to change him? Still growling, Hao went around Yoh and into the tent, sitting on his towel. He didn't like this at all.
"Aw, we'll have to wash your hair when we get home," Keiko patted his head and Hao turned away, showing his back to her. Washing hair wouldn't help his problems. Washing hair wouldn't stop this change, whatever was happening to him. Hao buried his head between his knees.
For the rest of the day, he stayed in the tent, ignoring everyone. Yoh went into the water with Mikihisa twice more, napped after lunch, but no matter how much he tried to nudge Hao into playing with him again, the older twin wouldn't budge.
Yoh was out playing with the ball with his father, and Keiko offered Hao some water.
"Hao, what's wrong? You've been ignoring us all day," she tried to nudge him to talk, but even she didn't achieve anything. Hao just turned more away so that she wouldn't see his face, and refused to take the drink.
"I wanna go home," he said finally, his voice barely above a whisper.
Keiko blinked in surprise. That was the first thing he had said since falling silent. Keiko had to wonder what exactly went on in his mind, because he seemed like a completely normal child before.
That's the problem, Hao thought bitterly, picking up on her thoughts. Nevertheless, he waited until Keiko fetched Mikihisa and Yoh and didn't say a word the whole way back home.