Disclaimer: None of the characters...blah blah. This is just a hobby, alright? ha.

From all the physical action we had, the air was hot and musky between us, but our focus was on the moment. "Ready?" I breathed; our close proximity made it unnecessary to go above a whisper.

My breathlessness came from our prior exertions; The sweat on my brow wiped away with a quick backhand swipe as my palm was slicked from gripping them so tightly for so long.

Our eyes met, his golden pupils looking straight into mine. Within my view, his heaving chest was highlighted under the daylight, accentuated by perspiration that slid down his visible abs. I swallowed to clear my parched throat as I waited for him.

He let out a long exhale to gather his center before blinked with a slight nod in affirmation. Reading his nonverbal cue, my already pounding heart sped up.

I took a deep breath, having prepared myself for exertion for a new round, adrenaline coursed through my veins…

Winding back the clock to get to this moment:

Day 3 and 4 at the sea house restaurant went into a simple routine: Work in the morning, milling about in the afternoon, and I had time to myself to finally finish my light novel at night.

As for Yukihira... He disappears after closing shop and supper, only to be back in our shared residential area a few hours later.

One intelligent guess as to where he'd be late into the night.

How did I know that? Well, I was in the sitting area outside our rooms until he came back...no, I wasn't on guard…neither was I being territorial or anythi-

Look, it was my area too. so it's not going to stand for my roommate to bring a stranger up and trespass-

…

Ahem, circling back.

Since I've finished my light novel, I decided to do some experiments in the kitchen: There's always some excess that was left over and restaurant owner Mitamu-san, had in good faith in our stock management being Totsuki students, allowed us to deal with whatever was left over for the day as he preferred to serve items made with fresh supplies.

Perhaps I'll make a new drink for the menu.

I started safe, mixing known drinks on our menu but substituting or adjusting ratios that are more beneficial costs wise while making sure it tastes great. I found that it was feasible to offer sugar level adjustments to the customers to cut consumption, and that coffee goes surprisingly well with pineapple.

That was when Yukihira casually walked in through the backdoor.

A slight tension in the atmosphere stemming from that card gaming night has returned. It's a unique tension that disappears in the day when we were either too busy with work, or having swimming lessons; It's like an elephant in the room that we had simply chosen to not talk about it. While I appreciated his efforts to make his date scarce in my presence, there was something about his disappearing after work hours that, for whatever reason, doesn't sit quite well with me.

Why should I care anyway?

I looked up from what I was doing, a glance at the clock told me the night was still young, so I tilted my head a little in puzzlement. He simply shrugged, "Ended early."

A feeling of satisfaction came from those words that I had to suppress a smile.

Yukihira approached the counter and I simply gestured for him to wash his hands first before handling foodstuff. He stuck his tongue out playfully and obediently complied. Giving his wet hands a few good flicks into the sink, he then started trying all the drinks i made,

He suddenly did a spit take into the sink after taking a swig from a drink that I had intentionally pushed to the far corner. I placed it there because it was one that I'm sure anyone would have done the same after tasting coffee mixed with soy sauce.

I was supposed to grab the brown sugar syrup squeeze bottle but I got distracted….sue me.

After a stunned pause with us looking at each other, I actually burst out laughing despite myself while Yukihira bit his bottom lip playfully and went to make a drink of his own.

From that moment on, we didn't hold back.

There was something about the moment that felt… domestic: two of us alone in the kitchen, casually exchanging ideas and pointers as we sampled each other's creations, filling the area with lighthearted banter and laughter from the more and more outrageous creations: Coffee banana smoothie, orange flavoured green tea, soy sauce on vanilla ice cream… We started to get carried away after introducing Irish Cream in our concoctions. I know my limits (and the legal drinking age) so we took sampling sips, having us slightly tipsy but still aware.

I was leaning against the counter, nursing a small shot of coffee, Irish cream and dried coconut shavings. I watched with amusement as Yukihira moved around the kitchen, clearly in his element and enjoying himself as he mixed in things that he brought down from our residential area.

I would point out that I flat-out rejected the dried squid milkshake.

He looked about for something, shifting the clutter, pausing every now and then to read a label. He finally turned towards me, and stopped, as if he found what he was looking for.

There was a mixture of excitement and want in his eyes.

He let out a gentle smile and approached, a light enticing masculine sandalwood scent growing stronger with every step forward. I instinctively set my drink down, though not really knowing what to do at this time. All I could say was that excitement welled within me as I saw his flushed face and shivered in anticipation in his presence. I subconsciously wet my lips, tasting lingering notes of different drinks, while a part me of wondering if I was about to taste something delicious.

The space between us being small as it was, he was finally in front of me. His breathing was audible at this close distance, deep and sure. I am not sure how I was at that time but looking ahead with our height difference, I could have been focused on his lips.

And I didn't resist as he closed the distance between us: didn't pull away, didn't even blink while getting lost in his pools of gold.

I slowly let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as he paused for a moment, then slowly reached out his hand…and grabbed something behind me.

Wait...what?

"Just the thing I'm looking for," he turned away, opening the can of matcha powder we got from the kind old lady at the market. I caught my breath as he whipped up another drink that also involved coconut milk and a spoon full of use in a blender.

Stumped, above the thump of my beating heart, an odd feeling washed over me: somewhat like having something right under my nose snatched away.

...how could he be so nonchalant while sipping his latest creation?

Argh...

"Here, try this, I've used your ingredients," Yukihira said, offering me a glass of the milky green drink.

Being that we had already sampled many drinks together, we had already got over sharing the glasses. But this one, held in front of me, seemed unlike the rest: Not because of the content but because of what just happened.

That and there was a blush on his face which I believe did not come from a few drops of alcohol.

Perhaps it was my lowered inhibitions; perhaps it was the heat of the moment and impulse: rather than simply receiving the glass, I placed my hand over his and gently pulled the glass to my lips, taking a long sip while our eyes locked with each other. I barely noticed the taste; my focus was on him.

I could see his mind was racing, his lips slightly parted as he blew an involuntary puff of air when the moment our hands met.

"It's good." I whispered, preserving the atmosphere, guiding our hands down to put the glass on the counter, all without breaking eye contact.

He swallowed; his visible hesitation likely due to inexperience... not that i'm any better.

This time, though, he didn't pull off a shtick; This time, he simply stood over me, returning my gaze. Our breaths mingled between us; it was a sweet mixture of rich green tea and nutty coconut but it have been ambrosia at the moment.

The sound of jingling keys abruptly brought us back to the present.

He pulled away and turned around just in time to hear the door open, letting the restaurant owner, Mitamura-san, though.

"Oh, I was wondering why the kitchen lights were still on," Mitamura-san paced down a box of documents before scanning our mess, "I take it that both of you were working on something?"

"Yes, Mitamura-san, we were trying to create a new drink." Hoping to pull his attention away from our flushed faces, I looked around and grabbed the nearest drink. "Green tea with coconut milk."

Mitamura-san considered it for a second before breaking into a smile, "That sounds good, add it to the menu tomorrow. I knew having both of you here was a right move." than as quickly as it came, it faded with a wistful sigh, "but perhaps the beach store association could have been better organised. I was going to tell you guys in the morning but since you're here." Mitamura went on to explain during the meeting at the association, they were told that the response for the beach volleyball competition wasn't as warm as they hoped, as such, the association had placed the proposition that all fixed sit down stalls like ours are to send two players each to compete in the games to a vote...

In short, we were both suddenly entered into the beach volleyball tournament.

"I'm sorry to suddenly impose this on both of you but the association has assured me that the whole thing should not take more than 2 hours after the lunch rush. Games will be first to 5 points so it is possible. As one of the association members, I have other roles in that time; so can I ask both of you for your help?"

Yukihira and I exchanged looks. We came to the same thought. "Of course Mitamura-san, this is also a good opportunity to market our restaurant."

Mitamura-san brightened and beamed at us. "So about this new drink," changing the topic, he took a sip from the mug Yukihira prepared for him while he was talking, "Nicely done; what's it called?"

"We haven't really thought about it."

"Then, would you mind if I name it? I have one in mind." We nodded, curious of Mitamura-san's idea. "新幸抹茶" he declared, "In dedication to our two amazing chefs, it's named after the first character of your names."

"New Fortune Matcha…" Yukihira grinned widely, "I like the sound of that," he turned to me, "the name of our drink."

An unfamiliar feeling came to me at those words.

"Right then, I've taken enough of your rest hours," Mitamura-san got up, placed his box of documents away before wishing us a good night and left. There was a short silence between both of us from the moment the door closed and locked; The moment we had before Mitamura-san's entrance had already passed and we had returned to our senses.

"So, how are you in volleyball?" Yukihira asked as he began clearing the table. That was when I noticed that it had adjusted his attire somehow: were his shorts pulled that high before?

"Casual" I joined in to put away the items. "Let's just do our best and have fun."

There was a short gap in the conversation as the glasses were washed. "I'm thinking, perhaps we should try to win this."

"Why?"

"For one, it does serve as an avenue for marketing, so the higher we go, the more the exposure. For another, since we're in it, let's win it!"

There goes his usual competitive nature, I mused, in a way, I was expecting him to say something along those lines, as such I was already prepared to go along with his idea. "That's good and all, but I'm guessing our skill levels aren't exactly top tier, are they?"

"Well, there is someone who may help…" the way he said it and the limited number of people we know here narrowed down to the only one person he could be referring to.

"Really?" I asked with an incredulous deadpan.

"She is a volleyball player in her school…I know both of you have had differences but just give it a shot."

If I had to guess, I believe he was trying to mend bridges between her and I. Evidently Yukihira isn't so socially dense after all.

That, or he's just very eager to win… I'd rather believe this reason.

And so, it leads back to the present:

I yelled "Go!" as I set the ball up for a spike.

The ball flew over the net and Fujiwara Yumiko was there to easily intercept with a set and attack.

Yukihira dived to save the ball, it sailed a smooth arch and I set it up again for Yukihira's follow-up attack.

The ball came back towards us almost immediately. It was my turn so I dove for it, just managed the pass by a hair's breadth and Yukihira then set it up for me. I scrambled up in time and hit it towards the other side… only to see the ball hit the net and fall to our side. Knowing that it's over, I fell to the ground.

"We did alright," Yukihira panted an encouragement as he stood over me, perspiration glistening in the sunlight, offering a hand to help me up. "We're definitely better than when we first started."

I simply nodded and looked over to our opponent. She was wearing a red and white striped bikini today with a pair of sport sunglasses, resting the ball on her left hip. Unlike us, she seemed like she hardly broke a sweat.

"Let's take a break," Yukihira announced, "I'll get some drinks for us." He then dropped his voice to privately say to me "Play nice" with a wink and left before I could reply.

Fujiwara walked past the net and joined me at a shaded spot. Neither of us wanted to speak with the other and awkwardness started to fill the space between us. However, since she's doing us a favour, I'll be the bigger person and throw her a bone, "Yukihira wasn't kidding when he said you were a volleyball player. You could have mopped the floor if you had joined the competition."

"I'm doing this as a favour to him." Fujiwara didn't meet my eyes, "And I couldn't join the tournament." Fujiwara was still guarded but at least she wasn't freezing me out.

"Why couldn't you join it?"

She considered me for a moment, "I have my reasons. Don't you think I'd have asked to join if I could?"

Guess she hasn't warmed up to me yet. "Right." was all I could answer. An uncomfortable silence fell between us again. Yukihira must be taking his time, I felt the material of the bandanna wrapped around my wrist. Okay, lets try this again, "So how should we improve our game?"

"Just keep practising. Both of you have good coordination," the last line sounded a tad begrudging, "I find the best is to-" she went on to provide pointers, quite well explained and logical: positioning, coordination, ball control... She ended with "I won't worry about the first few brackets, you should breeze through them."

My curiosity was piqued, "Why?"

She allowed a small smile and explained the reason.

A/N: Our two MCs' names are Arato Hisako 新戸 緋沙子 and Yukihira Soma 幸平 創真. Does that new name 新幸 (Shinko) sound like a good brand?

PS: I wonder though: was I subtle enough but clearly pointing it out on the mention of Yukihira's… attire adjustment for "certain reasons" or was it too subtle to note?

Look forward to your kind reviews! They are great motivators!