He can't remember if he dreamed, but Akihiko feels like his head is stuck in a vice the next morning. He tossed and turned a long time, looking at the ceiling like it had all the answers. As usual, his body wakes him at dawn, and for once he wishes he could just fall back asleep.
It takes 15 minutes before he gives up, looks outside at the golden hues brushing the edges of the horizon, and decides to train to clear his tension headache.
The water is cold and not yet warmed up by the sun, but after some laps he can barely feel it. The pleasant numbness of exertion and the power of the waves pushing all around him acts like a therapy of silence for his brain. Akihiko spends quite some time, floating on top of the moving curtain of water, just watching the colors of the sky turn.
He eventually makes his way to shore because of hunger pangs, ruffling his wet hair back into spikes once he emerges from the waves, and spots the figures at the small wooden pier on the edge of the beach.
The twins are sitting close together like they often do, a blanket around them both to offset the winds and looking in the distance like statues. The rays of sunlight are right in their face, illuminating their eyes as they talk quietly, and he gets an instant flashback of the first time he saw those devilish stares in the dorm's security monitors.
Funny how things have changed over the last months. He remembers that flash of red piercing through him in the camera feed, but now the intense crimson glints are watching him rise out of the water and she's smiling shyly.
Akihiko feels very self-conscious for some reason, grabbing his towel clumsily and making his way back to the mansion. It still feels like he saw something he shouldn't. Also, he still hasn't learned how to gracefully exit the scene.
The boys stroll to the beach somewhat later the same morning, and nobody else is there, to Junpei's dismay.
"Huh? Are the girls not up yet? Man, those sleepyheads! The ocean's not gonna sit around and wait for us, y'know?"
"Actually, they've gone to see the Jomon Cedar Tree."
Minako pops her head from the beach chair near the closest parasol, thoroughly amused.
"Then Mina-tan, why are you here?"
She gestures at the ocean with a dramatic hand.
"And miss this? Are you blind? You being a perv is not gonna get between me and the ocean."
Junpei puts his hands on his hips with a growl, definitely frustrated.
"At least you get it. We're at an island resort in the middle of summer! Why aren't they going to the beach!? That's just not right."
Akihiko shakes his head and rolls his eyes.
"Well, she just said it, it is your fault."
"Whaddaya mean? I just wanted the lighten the mood yesterday. Well, it doesn't matter now, anyways… This is the frontier of romance! We're bound to meet someone new out here."
Their leader is snorting in laughter from her spot, hitting the armrest like it's just too much. Junpei glares at the chair.
"Just pretend you aren't here! Actually, let's just go elsewhere, she's going to ruin everything."
He grabs his two companions by the wrist and drags them to the edge of the trees excitedly. Akihiko sighs, this feels like a disaster brewing.
"We'll call this: Operation Yakushima Beach Fling!"
Disaster confirmed.
He rolls his eyes at Junpei. He owes him for yesterday, but this is too much.
"You mean you want to pick up girls?"
Iori is wiggling his eyebrows at him, not registering his exasperation.
"How 'bout it, Sanada-san? With you on the squad, and if you remove your shirt, we're guaranteed to succeed."
"Hard pass."
He crosses his arms on his chest to make his point, this is ridiculous and she's standing right over there. He looks at Minato with a side eye, he has about the same level of enthusiasm at the idea. The blue hair barely moves.
"Sounds like a hassle."
"Actually, can I join?"
Junpei screams in fright when Minako pops from behind her brother, her face all business.
"What are you doing here, you're a girl! You can't join!"
"So? I'd even bet I can pick up a girl faster than you."
She smirks in defiance and Akihiko chuckles at the whole debacle.
"I'm never betting anything with you again, you cheat!"
Composition sucked, eh Iori?
She huffs vainly, nose pointed upward like it's a compliment. This is a surprise performance that keeps on giving and he exchanges a glance with Minato, who's half-smiling at Junpei's discomfiture.
"Aww you wound me; I have the biggest disadvantage out of all of you too. Well, you should at least take him along, he looks cute, that makes him a good wingman."
She's pointing at Minato with a finger and Junpei narrows his eyes, suspicious. The twins look at each other with vivid stares and she's mouthing something silently Minato's way while he rolls his eyes and mutters.
"For fuck's sake…"
Junpei glares at the nonchalant teenager.
"You better take this seriously. It's an important operation. "
Minako waves them goodbye mockingly and makes her way back to her beach chair with him. Junpei keeps casting them evil glares over his shoulder, he knows he has an audience and it's apparently distracting. She laughs and looks at Akihiko.
"Apparently my attempts at blackmail gathering are backfiring. Up for a swim? If we pretend to be busy, I can probably snatch a few juicy bits on the downlow."
Eventually, she leaves the deeper waters to sit closer to shore, lapping waves up to her waist. She cups some sand and lets it trickle between her fingers, admiring the view as it falls in the sea and gets washed away.
It's not yet noon, but there's quite a few people around the beach now enjoying the perfect weather. A young family, with a small boy in tow, is making their way nearby to some of the beach chairs. The kid is throwing an ear-piercing tantrum, his mother is screaming at him in reply, but Minako just smiles in quiet tolerance.
They eventually leave with the screams in their wake just as Akihiko sits down next to her. She's looking a tad pensive again but it's more like she's reminiscing. Akihiko chuckles.
"Well, he was full of energy!"
She grins, glancing the way of the receding family.
"Yeah, but it's not his fault, at least he has a mom to keep him in line. Minato and I had it a bit rough, everyone thought we were some kind of weird monsters growing up. At least we turned out okay."
She's chuckling self-deprecatingly, but it hits him different. He grounds his hands in the sand on his sides, laying some of his weight on his elbows, and the words just come out.
"People used to tell me all the time that I was weird or acting strange when I was a kid, because I had no parents."
He doesn't think about it as much anymore, but there's something like a dull ache sometimes in the depths of his heart. Minako's looking at him as if she's trying to gauge his emotions and he shrugs in reply.
"Don't worry about it, the orphanage wasn't all bad. I just never had an opportunity to mention it, but I grew up in one, with my little sister. She's long gone now…"
Maybe there's a weird note in his speech, but he can feel her staring at his face and he's trying to keep his eyes straight toward the horizon. He's probably still being weird, again.
"Sorry for rambling on, I don't know why I'm saying this…"
Her hand takes position in the submerged sand to his left, right next to his, the inside of her wrist barely touching his own. The foam recedes and all his thoughts scatter along with it when she speaks.
"Maybe it's because we're the same."
Akihiko looks down where her skin meets his own, forearms crisscrossed and their mirrored sprayed fingers like the wings of a bird in the sand. Minako takes a breath.
"And for the record senpai, you're not weird at all…"
There's a lull in her phrase intonation, as if she's challenging him to look at her so she can continue. When he looks up, she's staring at him with resolve and a brilliant smile.
"…You're simply charming."
Something inside can't process the curveball she just threw at him; he can't even stutter a reply, but his face is melting.
Then, someone screams somewhere down the beach and the surprise takes her eyes off his. Still stupefied, he follows her gaze to the commotion and sees Junpei panicking as Minato is dragged forcefully to the woods by someone. There's always something in the way...
He never got a chance to reply what he wanted to say once his wires straighten, much later.
So are you.