“We’re here!” Airi loudly proclaimed as she leaped off the bus before anyone else as they came to their stop. It really hit Kichi hard like a truck to see her quickly slide over him as she had taken the window seat to get out as soon as she saw they were getting to their stop. Probably the first time he had ever had a girl slide over his lap in that manner and it wasn’t even meant to be anything intimate.

“Yep, we made it.” Said Kougi once the others caught up to her. In her excitement, Airi had forgotten about their bags, so they had to carry a little extra weight. “You owe me for getting your things too.”

“Sorry about that.” She nervously rubbed the back of her head. “I’ll pay you back if we get some treats later.” On a hot day like today, going out for frozen and/or cold delicious treats was a guarantee.

“You better.” She handed the girl her bag, which contained their swimsuits. “There’s some changing stations just over there. So how about we all get ourselves beach ready?”

“Sure.” Aoi spoke quietly as she took her swimming suit. The girl held it tightly to her chest as she carefully moved into one of the vacant stations.

“Say...” The boys headed off to the spot for men so they could put on their swimming trunks. “Does Aoi looks a little miserable to you?” Asked Kichi.

“Doesn’t she always?” Chuuya responded with little care. “Why are you so worried about her anyway? Got a little crush?” He gave him a smirk that only served to get the boy a little nervous about his secret.

“C-crush? Well…” He quickly looked around, his eyes darting about and unable to meet with the person’s he was talking to. “I mean, nothing wrong about worrying for a friend.”

“True.” His friend fortunately let it go as they went to change. But his stop to that conversation was only a temporary pause as they had to separated for a moment for some privacy. After the short amount of time it took to get themselves properly dressed for the beach. Chuuya was already prepared to continue talking about it. “So, who do you like more?”

“Huh?” By this point, it had already left Kichi’s mind. So he wasn’t prepared for him to continue to bring up the twins as a subject. “Like who more?”

“You know what I’m talking about.” He got a prodding in the side from his friend playfully teasing him about the idea of romance. “Between Airi and Aoi, who do you prefer?”

“Hmm…” When he thought about it, he wasn’t sure on what was the truth to that answer. “I’m taking you won’t take a ‘I can’t decide’ for an answer?”

“That just sounds like a typical Kichi response.” He laughed. “Next you’re going to take your coin out so it can answer for you.” He laughed even harder after that joke.

“That’s a good point.” Though Kichi didn’t take it as a joke as it pulled it out from the pocket of the shorts he had just changed out of. “It probably knows me better than even I do.”

“Come on, you can’t be serious.” He got a scowl from his friend in response to his idea. However, he decided it couldn’t hurt to see the results as he flipped it up in the air. Unfortunately, before he was able to catch to see where the coin would land, Chuuya plucked it from the air.

“Hey, what’s that for?” He attempted to take back what was his, but the other boy kept a good distance between him and the coin with his body. “That’s mine. You can’t just take it from me.”

“Aside from the fact I just did.” He placed it into a small compartment in his bag and zipped it tightly. “You really shouldn’t answer that question with your coin.”

“Says you, I can answer any question with any manner I want.” Though Kichi said this, he wouldn’t admit that there were times during tests where he consult the coin for answer. Though in his defense, he had yet to fail a test thanks to the coin’s wisdom. “Now give it back.”

“Nuh uh uh.” Chuuya pushed him back by putting his finger onto the boy’s mouth. “I’ll only return it under one condition. You have to tell me who you like more, Airi or Aoi.”

“Okay fine, it’s-”

“And you have to think about it seriously.” He knew that it would be too easy for Kichi to randomly pick one just for the sake of getting his stuff back. “Don’t worry, I’ll be a fair judge about it.” Though he doubted that statement, Kichi also knew that he would never withhold his coin longer than he needed to.

“Fine.” He crossed his arms to feign apathy. Though on the inside, he was already a nervous wreak without his coin. What if something came up and he actually had to choose on his accord? It had been ages since he did something like that for something not mainly involving romance. “I’ll know soon enough anyway. So I’m not going to be without my coin for long.”

“My money’s on Aoi for when you finally make up your mind.” While Kichi had no idea on how Chuuya had that idea, it didn’t matter. Even though it wouldn’t affect how he treated anyone, nor did it minimize his feelings. He was going to figure how who he preferred between the twins. Surely with their wildly different personalities, he would know what he personally liked in a girl. After ditching the idea of picking just one and ending up dating three girls. It would be nice to know what would be considered his type.

“Looks like the two of you finally made it here.” Said Kougi as she greeted their return. “Sheesh, I thought it was girls who took forever to change.”

“Yeah, you guys took forever. And I thought I took long.” Said Aoi. When the boy saw the girls again after changing, they were both shocked to see how different she appeared compared to the other two. Airi and Kougi basically looked as what Kichi expected they would once changed into their bikinis.

Yet with Aoi, she had something strange about her skin. It was a lot more paler than he could’ve sworn she was. It was clearly shades lighter than her sister, meaning something about it had changed. “What’s up with you two? Why are you staring?”

“Oh, um…” Said Kichi, realizing they had been a bit disrespectful to her. “It’s just that… You look a little different.”

“I just put on a little sunscreen.” She pulled out the bottle she used. The previously full bottle of sunscreen was more empty now than full.

“I think that might be more than just a little.” Chuuya chuckled.

“I… We.” She turned to glare at Airi, who had failed to put on any amount of sunscreen. “Take the sun in a bit too much. So it’s important to make sure we use this so we don’t suffer the effects.”

“She’s worrying too much.” Airi brushed off the not so subtle words of concern about her health. “We’ve never been sunburned before with or without sunscreen. So I don’t need any.”

“I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Said Kichi, who didn’t care if they wanted it or not. “Anyway, now that we’re all together again. How about we get on the sand to enjoy a little beach time?”

“Ah yeah!” Kougi did a fist bump and picked up all their things. She spotted a good place for them to set up their towels and umbrellas away from most of the crowd. Of course, she had little plans on sticking to this area for long as she hastily and messily dropped all their things to the ground. “Now, let’s go swimming!” She was more excited to get her bikini wet and break thing in.

“Like I said, can’t swim.” Said Aoi, who had a mean look towards the older girl as she picked up some of the things dropped to the sand. She decided it would be better for her to get an umbrella up so she could find cover from the sun’s hot rays. “Just go on and have fun without me.”

“I’ll catch up with you guys later.” This was the opportunity Kichi had been looking for once he rejoined the girls. “I think I’ll catch some rays first before I hit the waves.” What he told them as they left was only just an excuse for him to have some private conversation with Aoi. Something had been up with her during their trip to the beach and he intended to get to the bottom of it.