“Ah man, sometimes you can be no fun.” Kougi sighed as she got her bottoms back and put them back on under the water. “How are you the younger one exactly?”

“I ask myself that question everyday.” He did have to wonder how she was lacking in maturity compared to him. Though another way one might look at this dynamic was him being the one too hesitant to take any risks. Maybe Aoi was wrong about him being more like Airi. It seemed like he had much more in common with the quiet twin after all.

“I thought at your age, boys would be much more hormonal.” The way she put it. Kougi made it sound like she was trying to take advantage of him growing into his teenage years. Of course, she would never try to push him too far. But it wasn’t like he was the only teen looking for love between them. “Anyway, I gotta use the restroom. Unless-”

“Don’t even joke about it.” He cut her off before she even had the chance to say her joke. “I’ll see you later anyway. I should probably head over to the twins to check up on how Airi’s doing.”

“All right, I’ll see you later.” She got up, and thankfully for him she did have her bottoms on so that her lower half wouldn’t be exposed to the world around them. As the girl walked away, he leaned over so that he would float on his back over the water for a moment.

From the sounds of her voice, it seemed she was indeed disappointed with him. Which from all the emotions she had ever shown to him was easily the one that brought his mood down the most. Kichi hated disappointing her if only because it was not easy to do so. She normally was pretty laid back, but even she wasn’t willing to wait for him on everything.

But it was so unfair, he thought. Just because they were lovers didn’t mean he didn’t see her as a sister too. That limbo was already bad enough before they agreed on their new relationship. Now things only seemed to turn more precarious than before.

Kichi splashed some water onto his face and shook his head to dry it off his head. All these girls he took care of were getting him exhausted. So him heading back to the twins was also for his own well being as it was for Airi’s.

“Hey, you’re back already.” Aoi greeted him first. Her sister barely acknowledged him as the boy walked over and sat down on the beach towels. “Nothing bad happened, right?”

“Of course not.” He looked into one of their bags for some money. A hot summer day also built up thirst, so a quick stop to a vending machine was in order. “She just went to the public restrooms. So I decided to check up on how you two were doing.” Airi still had barely said anything to him when he returned. A bit strange in his mind. For starters, this was a girl who always wanted to dominate a conversation. That and he thought she’d be expressing some more gratitude for saving her life.

“I got all the money here.” She reached into her own bag to reveal all the various clips used to contain all their paper cash. “This is yours but… I was thinking of grabbing some refreshments too before you got here.”

“Well, I can just get you two whatever you want to.” He offered, but she had a better idea.

“Or…” She pulled the cash away from him just as Kichi was about to grab the money. “I can do that for you. Take it as my thanks for earlier.” Of course, this wasn’t done just because she was grateful for his actions in saving her sister’s life. Ever since they had separated, Aoi could feel things were awfully quiet and awkward between herself and her sister. It wasn’t often that she was the one who talked more, so this indicated a clear problem with that girl.

“Well, great.” He laid back as she walked away from the pair. Hopefully her silent plan would work in getting those two alone to work things out. Whatever it was that bugged Airi, it had to do with Kichi. “So, are you good?”

“Huh?” Airi hadn’t been expecting him to address her so quickly once they were alone. She hadn’t even been paying much attention to her surroundings, so she didn’t even realize her sister was gone until he grabbed her attention. “What do you mean?”

“I just want to make sure I didn’t break any bones.” He explained, unsure of what she would be worried about. “It doesn’t look like I did, but if you’re still feeling unwell. We can cut this trip a little short to take you a doctor. Don’t worry, we won’t be mad about that or anything.” As much as it would be a shame to leave early. He didn’t want her to hide any lingering issues just for their sake.

“Oh, I’m fine.” She replied, sounding like the complete opposite to her statement. “You did a great job and I’m sorry for doing that to everyone. I only wanted to have some fun.” He could empathize with not wanting to hold other people back from fun because lack of skill. But something like this meant life-or-death, so there were some lines that shouldn’t be crossed.

“None of us are going to hold a grudge.” He couldn’t tell what it was that her so sad. There were so many things that happened that it made sense to him that she’d still feel bad about things. Airi always seemed like someone who would get a bit overemotional on matters that weren’t worth getting worried over. “Honest, I’m sure your sister’s already given you an earful about that.”

“Yeah, Aoi really did.” She chuckled.

“Now that you know that. You can feel better now, right?”

“But I already knew all that. So why would it make me feel better?” She looked at him confused. Apparently they were far from the same page in this conversation. If anything, they weren’t even in the same book.

“What? But you look so upset. What’s wrong then?”

“Well, I am a little upset I made you have to give me mouth-to-mouth...” She answered his question with unease.

“If it’s to save you, I definitely don’t mind.” Kichi wouldn’t mind having to perform that on anyone really. It’s not like he was going to pick and choose who he saves if the situation comes along.

“But that means I ruined our first kiss…” She exclaimed, revealing the truth to the reason for why she was so down. “I wasn’t even awake when it happened.”

“What? That’s why you’re upset?” He couldn’t believe his ears. Of all the things for her to be upset by, it was the fact they locked lips in that situation. Sure, in context most people don’t want to give up their first kiss over a matter that’s more serious than romantic.

“Of course that’s why.” To her, it made perfect logical sense. She knew that out of the three girls he dated, she was the only one to had yet to kiss him. Not to mention Airi had never kissed a boy before anyway. So she had been patiently waiting for the moment to come, only for it to basically mean nothing. “We did it completely wrong.”

“Airi, we haven’t messed anything up yet.” He stated plainly. His words were nothing but pure truth.

“Of course we… Have.” When she responded, Airi noticed he had gotten awfully close. “Whoa Kichi, we have personal space, right?” Ironic coming from her, seeing as the girl hardly respected his space half the time. “You’re getting kind of close.” His face was right up to hers. She certainly couldn’t say she was used to doing that. The only other time he had been this close to her face was when he dared her to give him a kiss on the cheeks during their poker game.

“And we have shared space.” He responded to her statements, then went full on in to her lips. Kichi gave her a kiss on the lips, not just one where he gave her breath, but one charged with passion and love. Airi couldn’t believe what she was experiencing as they felt alone in this big world. Her eyes closed and legs straightened out as she was lost in the euphoria of his kiss.

“Whoa…” She was near speechless once their lips separated from one another.

“That’s different than when I gave you mouth-to-mouth, isn’t it?” He said. Though he played it cool, even Kichi felt the lingering effects of their kiss. The boy wished they could’ve stayed like that forever.

“It was…” She answered in awe. So she really was no longer a girl who didn’t know the feeling of a kiss.

“That’s why I was trying to wait for the right moment.” He was glad she could see why he wanted her to be patient after all this time. Now he knew he was right in waiting.

“Ahem.” Aoi gave a fake cough to make her presence known. This got the hairs on the back of both their necks to stand as they realized what they just did was witnessed by the girl. “I’m back.”