Chapter 20: A Not-So-Romantic Walk on the Beach

Teruteru looked terrible. He'd barely reacted when Byakuya had explained the newest partner change to him. He hadn't complained, he hadn't looked interested, he hadn't even really looked at either of them. Ibuki understood quickly why Byakuya had asked them about dealing with emotional stuff when they'd discussed the change in partners. Being cooped up in a small cottage for three days now, with just his thoughts to keep him company, clearly hadn't helped his mental state.

Seeing him like this could almost make you forget that he was a murderer. Well, attempted murderer. Was that the real term for that? Anyway, he did some serious stabbing, but all Ibuki could think was how miserable he looked. The gloom that came from him even affected her own mood!

That was why she would do something to fix that!

Step 1: Drag Teruteru out of his sadness! And to do that, she'd need to drag him out of his room first. That was probably a good start.

Who knew what step 2 would be. She hadn't thought that far ahead.

"So, can we go to the beach now?" she asked.

Byakuya needed a moment to catch up with her train of thought. Maybe it was because she had just interrupted him mid-sentence. After all, he had still been going on and on about rules and instructions and all that stuff after they had left Teruteru's cottage. Ibuki couldn't remember what he had been talking about right at that moment. Her mind had been stuck on the idea of breaking Teruteru out of his prison ever since Byakuya had mentioned that she could. The rest couldn't have been that important. He had been repeating a lot of stuff he had already told her earlier, so it had probably just been more of the same.

He grimaced in a very comical way. "You want to take Teruteru to the beach?

"Yeah. You just said Ibuki could go wherever with him, right?"

"Only because Chiaki insisted," he mumbled under his breath. Louder, he said, "I did say something along those lines. I just didn't expect that this would be the first thing you want to do."

She furrowed her brow in confusion. "Why not? What am I supposed to be waiting for?"

He sighed. "He's probably still eating now."

Oh, true, she hadn't thought of that. "Once he's finished, then!"

Byakuya still looked like he wanted to say no. Which confused Ibuki. Maybe she had misunderstood something?

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I clearly said you could only leave the hotel area if you're accompanied by a second pair. I hope you didn't just forget that part."

Ibuki shrugged. "So I'll just ask someone to come with us!"

"Whom?"

"Hmmmm…" She tilted her head as she thought. "Dunno. Whoever is available. Why don't you come with us?"

"No. I'm busy enough."

Wow, that answer came fast! That was almost rude but she decided to let it slide.

"Come to think of it, you're the only one who gets to go wherever he wants alone, aren't you?" Ibuki said as she remembered she had seen him wander off without a partner yesterday. What a luxury. Wasn't that dangerous, though? Well, his partner was Nagito, right? Could Nagito even walk again? Probably not. And if he did, Byakuya wouldn't let him come out. Come to think of it, she hadn't heard any updates on that guy. Maybe he was dead? No, Byakuya was still visiting him regularly, wasn't he? He wouldn't bother if—

"Are you even listening?" Byakuya interrupted her thoughts.

"Is Nagito okay?" she asked.

"What? Why are you—" He paused for a second, then he confirmed, "Yes, he's doing alright considering the circumstances." However, he gave her a look of scrutiny as he told her that. Then he added, "I'm starting to think this was a mistake."

"Why?" Maybe he was the one who'd misunderstood something. "Look, Ibuki wants to take Teruteru to the beach to make him feel better. He should move a little, get some air and sunlight. It'll be good for him!"

Byakuya sighed again. He sure did that often. "Alright. I'll allow it, because I said I would. But if there is a single problem, if I hear about anything that went wrong—"

"Nothing's gonna go wrong. I promise, I'll have my eyes on him at all times. Everything's gonna be super-duper safe."

Another sigh. That one was clearly exaggerated. "Remember, you still need—"

"Yup, I'll find someone right now! Don't move, I'll be right back!"

Ibuki took off. Where would she find another buddy-team-pair to come with them? Well, her feet carried her over to the hotel, so she would start looking there. And her feet had made the right choice! Akane was the last one still at the breakfast table and she was quickly convinced. A toast for the road and they were on their way back.

Byakuya really hadn't moved from where she had left him between the two rows of cottages. As she passed him, she yelled at him: "I'm gonna get Nekomaru!"

With Akane being still at the hotel, there weren't many places where Nekomaru could possibly be, so finding him in his cottage was incredibly easy. He greeted her cheerfully as he opened his door. When she asked him to be their bodyguard-slash-babysitter at the beach, he agreed immediately and said it would be a great opportunity for some training.

Ibuki liked his enthusiasm.

While Nekomaru went to join the waiting Byakuya and Akane, Ibuki rushed over to Teruteru's cottage to get him. Then she realized she didn't have the key yet, so she went to get it from Byakuya with a bit of embarrassment.

Then—finally!—she entered Teruteru's cottage. He flinched a little and his head swiveled around to look at the door. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, and his full plate on the nightstand.

Ibuki realized her mistake immediately. "Oh, I forgot again. Sorry, I'll let you finish eating and come back in a bit."

However, when she was about to go right back outside, Teruteru shook his head quickly.

"No, I was already finished. You don't have to wait."

"Are you sure?" Skeptically, Ibuki came over to him and took a closer look at his breakfast. "Did you even eat anything?"

"A little."

Ah yes, it looked like he had nibbled a bit on a rice ball. And one of the omelette slices was missing. Still, it wasn't much. Pity, really, after all the effort she went through to make him a rolled omelette with carrot and onion bits in it.

"I wasn't very hungry. It's fine," he said.

Was it really fine? Well, Teruteru would probably know best how hungry he was. But Ibuki certainly wouldn't have been satisfied with just that. That wouldn't have even fed a mouse. Or, well, mice were small, so it probably would've. But it definitely wouldn't have been enough for all of Gundham's hamsters.

"Why did you come back?" Teruteru asked after a moment.

"Hm? … Oh, right, we're going to the beach with Akane and Nekomaru," she told him with a bright smile.

"We…? We're going out? Are you sure?" Oh no, he looked awfully confused. He glanced at the door almost in disbelief before he looked back at her.

"Yeah." Her smile dropped and was replaced by a frown when she realized that he didn't look happy at all. "Unless you don't want to?"

Teruteru didn't answer immediately. "It's not that I don't… What did Byakuya say?"

"He's okay with it."

"Is he really?" His voice was full of doubt. "Is he coming with us?"

"Nope. He said he's too busy."

"Huh."

She watched him carefully. Didn't miss the slow blink and the way the wrinkles on his forehead gradually smoothed out. She waited a moment, either for him to say something else or to get up so they could leave. Neither of those things happened, so she verbally nudged him a little. "So? Are we going?"

He nodded slowly, casting another look at the door. "Yeah…" The first one was soft-spoken, but the second one was said with more conviction. "Yeah, that would be nice."

"Okay!" Her excitement came back full force and she grinned at him. "Then come on! They're waiting for us!"

She went ahead of him and checked at the door if he was following. He was right behind her and gave her a hopeful smile, so she gladly led him outside to their classmates.

"We're here!" she announced.

"Yo," Akane greeted neutrally with a short glance toward Teruteru.

Nekomaru looked a bit more reserved but still gave him a "Good morning".

Byakuya did his best not to look at Teruteru. Ibuki noticed that Teruteru did the same. So there really was some bad blood between them. Scary! That would explain why they were so weird around each other. Well, maybe it was for the best that Byakuya would stay behind.

Better to separate them quickly! She grabbed Teruteru's arm and dragged him along, ignoring his confused outcry.

"Alright, let's gooo!"

They soon ended up walking at a more leisurely pace when Teruteru kept protesting that she was going too fast. Instead, Nekomaru and Akane took over the lead and discussed what they were going to train today.

Teruteru fell silent again as they both trailed behind. Ibuki tried to talk to him (twice!) but she couldn't get much of a reaction out of him, so she figured he probably needed a moment to breathe. She used the time to observe him instead.

At first, he looked down at the ground as they walked, apparently deep in thought. However, he gradually relaxed, looking around at their surroundings or up at the sky, squinting in the sun. When they arrived at the beach, he stopped and looked out over the calm sea, his eyes fixed on some point at the horizon.

Nekomaru and Akane wandered off to do their own thing. Ibuki half wished she could go with them. Doing nothing apart from watching Teruteru was starting to become a bit tedious. It made her itchy. How did he even manage to stare at the sea without going nuts? It was a bright sunny day as always, so the ocean was shimmering like crazy. Ibuki couldn't watch the glittering waves for long without having spots dance in front of her eyes.

Ah well. As Teruteru's new buddy, she had to stick with him. Byakuya would probably be able to sense that she abandoned her duties if she left him alone. And then he would follow them just to yell at her. He was a bit like a dog in that regard, wasn't he? Ibuki wouldn't be surprised if he was able to smell rule breaks.

Ha, now she had to imagine him with floppy puppy dog ears and a tail! The image was funny but also strangely adorable. It made him instantly less imposing.

Oh!

Teruteru moved. He took a deep breath and let his gaze sweep over the beach before it settled on her. "Thanks for taking me here," he said.

Ibuki smiled. "No problem. Wanna move?" They must've been standing here for ages. Like, at least ten minutes.

"Uh, sure, we can walk around."

So they did. They walked and walked. They walked so much they reached the end of the shoreline and had to turn around to walk back. Still tedious. But she wasn't going to demand more of him than he was ready for. She'd already scared off Peko. She needed even more restraint for Teruteru.

Ibuki wasn't good with restraint.

Thankfully, Teruteru thawed out on his own eventually. He chuckled a bit and an amused little smile formed on his face.

"You know… I always wanted to do this. I just didn't expect it to happen under these circumstances," he said.

Ibuki had no idea what he was talking about. "You always wanted to do what?"

"Take a long walk on the beach with a girl."

She didn't get it. "Why would you want to do that?" It was awfully monotonous. What was the appeal?

"Seriously?! It's one of the most romantic things you can do," he said as if it was obvious. "The only thing that would make it even better would be a sunset."

"Huh. Well, if you say so."

He clicked his tongue disapprovingly and stopped walking. Ibuki had to walk two steps backwards when she noticed.

"Come on, it's such a movie cliché. There's no way you didn't know that."

"I don't really watch romantic movies. They're too boring." Well, most movies were boring, but romantic chick flicks were the worst!

"Not a romance expert, then? That's a shame. Have you ever even kissed a guy?" he asked with genuine curiosity and started walking again. Ibuki fell into step with him.

"No, what about you?"

"Sadly, no. But I do have some experience kissing girls."

Probably kissed his mom on the cheek a couple times. Oh no, warning, warning! Bad topic! Don't mention his mother!

His expression turned sly and he peered at her mischievously. "Did you know that you get better at kissing if you do it a lot? Wouldn't it be super embarrassing to kiss your boyfriend for the first time and you realize that you're a bad kisser? Why don't I help you practice a little, just to make sure that doesn't happen? I could teach you a thing or two, show you some of my secret techni—"

He was cut off at this point, courtesy of him tripping over Ibuki's leg and landing face first in the sand. He spluttered as he got on his hands and knees, wiping his face urgently and shooting her a betrayed look. "You could have phrased that a little more nicely!" He spat out some sand. "It's all between my teeth now…," he whined.

Ibuki ignored him and responded to what he said before. "Romantic relationships are seriously overrated! Even if I find my soulmate one day, it's possible that we wouldn't work as a couple. But assuming we do, so what if my first kiss is horrible? Where's the problem with that? If they're really my soulmate, they're just gonna laugh about it with me." Ibuki shrugged.

He looked so pitiful she offered him a hand to help him up which he took. As soon as he did, she dragged him to his feet.

"That's… that's actually pretty wholesome." He looked thoughtful. Then his eyes lit up. "Hey, did you consider that we might be soulmates?"

No way in hell.

She was going to tell him that, when—

Something barreled toward them! Fast!

She screamed! She jumped! Teruteru was dragged along. They got out of the way just in time! Akane crashed on the ground where they had just been standing, spraying sand in every direction.

Ibuki was shocked. Teruteru, who had landed in a heap next to her, looked shocked. The only one who wasn't shocked was Akane herself. She just got back on her feet like it was normal to just go soaring through the air like a missile and shook some sand out of her hair. Maybe it was. New gymnastics exercise discovered: Missile Launch! Akane would totally rock that discipline!

"Shit! Sorry about that!" The booming voice of Nekomaru reached them. He hurried over to them. "I put too much strength into that and I saw you a bit too late. Are you two okay? You're not hurt?"

Her heart was still going badum-badum-badum like a drum but apart from that, everything felt normal. "No," Ibuki said, meeting Teruteru's eyes who shook his head. She gave Nekomaru a thumbs up. "Everything's a-okay."

The coach sighed in relief. "That's good. I'm really sorry. Uh, hey, can we keep this a secret? Byakuya doesn't have to know about this, right?"

Ha! Even Nekomaru knew he would get chewed out for this.

Teruteru snorted as he got up, brushing the sand off his clothes. "My lips are sealed. If he finds out, I'll never get to see the sun again."

Nekomaru frowned. "Well, I don't think you need to worry about that. It wasn't your fault and Byakuya's not unreasonable. He wouldn't keep you locked up over that."

"Probably!" Ibuki added.

"Probably," Nekomaru confirmed with a grin. "Thanks, though. I really went a bit overboard."

"What were you trying to do anyway?" Ibuki asked.

There was a split second of hesitation that made it sound a bit suspicious when he said, "Just a partner exercise."

Akane drove the nail in his coffin by assuring them unconvincingly, "Yeah, we weren't sparring or anything."

Ibuki laughed at how uncomfortable Nekomaru looked. Even Teruteru had to chuckle.

The coach cleared his throat. "Anyway, are you doing alright? No problems?"

"Everything's fine, just a bit boring."

Teruteru squeaked indignantly. "Boring?!"

"You're always welcome to train with us," Nekomaru said.

"Yeah!" Akane immediately agreed. "More people's always fun. We can make it a competition."

Teruteru however raised his hands and took half a step back. "Uhh, I think I'll pass."

"Don't be like that," Ibuki said. "You've been sitting around for days. You should get your blood pumping properly."

Teruteru still looked like he had been force-fed a lemon.

"We're not making it a competition," she added.

A noise of heavy disappointment came from Akane. Sucked for her but it looked like there was no way Teruteru would join if they compared scores.

"Just some simple exercises. Right?" Ibuki sought confirmation from Nekomaru, who nodded.

"Of course, we won't overdo it. Especially since you're not used to it. A bit of cardio, nothing more than that."

"Alright," Teruteru agreed hesitantly.

Satisfied, Nekomaru told them to run five laps around the beach—Akane was supposed to run fifteen—, pointing out certain palm trees to mark the track. Pretty simple.

He blew his whistle, making Ibuki flinch with how shrill it was. Then they started running.

Akane immediately left them behind in the dust. She already passed them before they had finished the first round. Ibuki tried to stay near Teruteru to cheer him on, but it was hard. He was even more out of shape than she thought. He started out slow and was already out of breath when they passed Nekomaru for the first time. As they did, Nekomaru ran with them for a bit to point out how Teruteru shouldn't breathe in through his mouth and correct his form, before returning to his spot. Despite doing a bit better afterwards, Teruteru only slowed down further the longer he ran.

The fourth lapse was Teruteru's col-lapse. He slowed down until he stood, doubled over, and sank to his knees. Then he let himself fall on his back with his arms stretched out, making this the third time he laid in the sand this day.

Ibuki skidded to a halt in surprise and checked on him. She wasn't sure if he was really that dead or if he was exaggerating. Though just a quick look told her that his exhaustion was real.

Teruteru squinted up at her, his face beet red and damp with sweat. "I… can't," he wheezed.

Quick footsteps in the sand announced Nekomaru who squatted next to Teruteru and handed him a bottle of water. Where he had taken that from, she had no idea. She hadn't seen him bring anything but then again, she hadn't paid attention to him. Or… maybe Nekomaru was secretly a wizard!

"Here, drink something," he said as he helped Teruteru sit up.

Teruteru didn't have to be told twice and almost drank the whole bottle in one go.

"Are you okay?" Nekomaru asked.

Teruteru took a moment to answer. "Dizzy," he then mumbled. He really did sound terrible. Wait, was he shaking? Oh no, he really was shaking!

Now Ibuki felt bad for him. She wasn't exactly fond of him but that hadn't been what she wanted.

Nekomaru pulled a little box out of his jacket pocket and gave him a white tablet. "Here, have some dextrose to get your cardiovascular system back on track. Did you eat and drink enough?"

Ibuki gasped. "No, he didn't. I didn't think about that."

Teruteru ducked his head.

"Yeah, that would do it." Nekomaru sighed, wiping his hand over his face. "I'm sorry, I should've checked before."

Akane reached their location, not having interrupted her run before, but she stopped now. "What's wrong with him?"

"It was a bit too much for him," Nekomaru said. "Let's give him some time to recover, then we'll take him back to the hotel."

Akane did some stretches while they waited. Ibuki didn't feel like moving. She sat down cross-legged opposite of Teruteru, which prompted him to look up at her cautiously. He was pale and his breathing was still labored.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I tried to help but I just made it worse."

"Don't beat yourself up over it. It's my fault, too," Nekomaru butted in. "Things just didn't go quite right today."

"Yeah, it's fine," Teruteru mumbled.

That wasn't reassuring at all.

As soon as Teruteru said he felt well enough to go back, they left. Ibuki kept to his side, ready to catch him in case he got lightheaded again. Thankfully, that didn't happen. When they reached Teruteru's cottage, Nekomaru and Akane left them to tell Byakuya that they were back. Ibuki and Teruteru went inside.

"Are you sure you're good? We can raid the kitchen if you need anything," Ibuki asked.

"No, thanks, I have everything I need." Teruteru picked up his breakfast and raised the plate pointedly to her, then he sat down on his couch to eat.

Right, he still had his leftovers! That was good! Well, maybe this wouldn't have happened if he had eaten more earlier, so it probably wasn't good after all.

To make herself useful, Ibuki raced to the kitchen and brought back a random bottle of a carbonated sugary drink. Even if he said he didn't want anything, it was surely better than plain old boring tap water. She was rewarded when Teruteru's face lit up as he saw the bottle. He thanked her profusely and Ibuki was happy that she had at least managed to do one good thing for him.

Nekomaru had said that Teruteru should have something to eat and then lay down. So that was probably the point where Ibuki should leave and let him rest, right?

However, when she said so, Teruteru stopped her.

"Wait, I just…" He trailed off and put his plate on the table to turn toward her properly. "I wanted to thank you again for doing this today."

She felt torn. "You almost fainted."

"Yeah, well, I would've preferred if that hadn't happened, but it's still better than…" He paused, shook his head and started over. "Listen, it doesn't matter if I got a bit dizzy. You and Nekomaru both blame yourselves but honestly, I'm the one who didn't eat, so it's my fault in the end." He smiled apologetically. "So… I'm sorry for being so troublesome."

Oh great, so they all felt guilty about it.

Soon enough however, his face fell and he broke eye contact. "You know, you don't have to try so hard. I don't deserve this much effort after what I've done. I…" He paused to lick his lips. "I know Byakuya doesn't care. And, well, he's right not to. What I did was horrible and inexcusable and I can't tell you how sorry I am but I can't turn back time. I wish I could but I can't. So…" His voice was shaking. Still, he took a deep breath and kept going.

"So you don't have to do all that. I know you're just doing that out of pity or because you were told to do it. But I… I don't deserve your pity. And I won't tell on you if you just leave me alone, so… yeah."

Teruteru fell silent. Ibuki kept staring at him but he didn't move.

"You're an idiot," she finally said.

His head snapped up to look at her with big eyes.

"Of course I pity you. It's hard not to pity you when you're so pitiful," she told him matter-of-factly. "And yeah, you totally screwed up. Like, catastrophically bad! But I can tell that you were honest just now. You're sorry? And you won't do it again?"

His hands flew up in an instant and he waved them in the air. "No! No, of course not! I feel terrible for what happened. I'm so glad I didn't… y'know, kill anyone." He swallowed heavily. "I don't think I would've forgiven myself. There's no way I'd try again, you have to believe me."

"I believe you."

His face was so open and vulnerable.

"Doesn't mean I forgive you!" she added with a raised finger.

"Of course not," he said hastily. "I'd never expect you to."

"But!" She grinned at him. "I can't just watch you moping around in your room. It's pathetic. So, I'll keep dragging you out. And I don't care what you have to say about that. This time didn't work out so great," she admitted with a shrug, "but I'm not giving up that easily."

A smile lit up his face and softened his eyes. "Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me."

Ibuki was stumped for a second. She hadn't expected how much hearing him say that would mean to her. Maybe she had done something right, after all. "Okay, then you can repay me by not being such a downer. Eat your breakfast and rest! I'll be back later to check on you."

"If that's your only requirement, I'm happy to comply." And he did look the part.

Ibuki left with a good feeling in her gut. There was a lot of room for improvement; exercises and Teruteru weren't a good match. Lesson learned. That just meant that she would have to rack her brain a bit harder and find the perfect activities for Teruteru to enjoy. And… maybe something that wouldn't bore her to tears either.


A/N: Next chapter isn't finished yet, so I don't want to promise an update on a certain day, but I'm aiming to have it online in early March.