Hakuta explained to Ninka how they had been set up by his friends. Which would clear up the misunderstanding, but it did nothing to keep her from taking advantage of the situation.

“Oh well.” She spoke in a sarcastic manner to the news. Even if he wasn’t the one to ask her to be alone here didn’t mean they weren’t alone here by the rocks where most didn’t hang out at. Mainly due to the potential dangers of slipping and getting seriously hurt due to lack of clothing to protect the skin. “Anyway, let’s go swimming.” She took his arm and led the way towards the crashing waves.

“Whoa, you should be more careful.” He warned her. But it was less about her safety and more about his own. Hakuta would hate for his day to end poorly and suddenly due to some scrapes or a twisted ankle. “And who said I wanted to swim with you!?” There was also the matter that she had not taken his feelings into account and rather wanted to dive in headfirst as if they were actually dating.

“Whee!” She didn’t care to listen to his concerns and took them over the edge. He had no choice but to jump along with her as the pair fell into the ocean’s waters with a big splash. “Now that’s a rush.” She said when they surfaced to get air. Despite the hot weather, or perhaps because of it, the sea felt like a shock of cold hitting into their veins.

“I prefer getting myself a bit adapted first.” He said, spitting out the salty water in his mouth. “What’s so special about swimming together anyway? We’re both old enough that we don’t need anyone’s help to swim.”

“I’m honestly a little surprised you do know how to swim.” She laughed with unease. “I was trying to get you to be in a bit of trouble so I could come in and swoop you up for the rescue.”

“You were going to try and drown me for the sake of flirting!?” He yelled in response. That would’ve been a massively stupid thing to have happened if he truly had no idea on how to swim. These girls really were crazy, or at least Ninka had a poor sense of what a guy like him actually wanted in a girl. “Didn’t your dad teach you that’s a bad idea?” Of all people, he assumed that man to be the rational one in this situation since she had talked about him to her family.

“Actually, this was his idea.” She admitted. “He said that you can man’s heart racing for you if you surprise them with a display of strength and bravery.”

“I see.” He responded with pure and utter disappointment. “Something tells me he had something like that with your mom.” Hakuta wouldn’t be wrong, but he was also right in knowing that it wasn’t a set up situation her mother did to save her father. Rather simply she stepped up to the challenge when the emergency ensued.

He didn’t know how he would feel if a girl saved his life. A part of him wanted to believe he wouldn’t be moved so greatly by those actions. At the same time, there were a lot of way he reacted that the boy never expected himself to react when it came to these tender moments. “Look, just let me swim in peace.”

She would then proceed to do the complete opposite of what he had asked for. As he went deeper into the water, she would follow. If he went towards the rocky shore, she was right behind him. There was no way for Hakuta to get any distance from her because they were swimming. He might’ve been able to stay afloat just fine, but this didn’t make him have olympic levels of speed. If only he had spent more time working out instead of gaming all these years.

“Can you stop harassing me?” He asked, still attempting to put space between himself and her. “What’s wrong with letting me be?”

“But isn’t it kind of lame to just swim away from each other?” She countered. “Come on, no one can see us while we’re here. So really we could get away with anything we want to do.” She gave him a wink. Were he an individual of low moral standing, Hakuta might’ve considered for a moment to do something she wouldn’t like. In fact, considering her moral standing he wondered if she was considering it herself.

“I already told you. I don’t know what’s so special about swimming together.” He responded.

“I can give you one good reason.” She proceeded to dive under the water. He was confused onto what her plans were, but they became apparent as he felt a force from beneath him push him upwards above the water’s surface. Hakuta then flew up into the air without any control and found himself falling head first back into the ocean. Ninka had given him a dive attack from a popular video game franchise ‘Bagmon’ where the creatures caught would be capable of such moves.

“That wasn’t very fun.” He resurfaced, shaking his head to clear the water now soaking his hair.

“It totally is.” She laughed as the girl splashed water onto him. “Bet you won’t do it back to me.” Ninka egged him on, knowing the boy was raring for some revenge. So unsurprisingly he went and took the bait.

Hakuta took a deep breath and dove under the water’s surface. He was like a shark ready to attack its prey as he swam towards the girl. She was completely defenseless from what he believed to be her simply allowing him a free strike. After all she was fun with him, not some weird sort of competition.

As it turned out, this was actually a trap laid by her. When he swam underneath and launched his attack by rushing upwards from below, she countered. Hakuta pushed her up into the air, but she tightened her legs around his neck and held on for dear life so that she would not end up flipping over.

“N-Ninka, what are you-” He attempted to speak, but her weight pushed him downwards below the water’s surface, preventing the boy from being able to speak normally. Instead he struggled for air as he pushed up to get above the water, but this also meant pressing his head and face to the only logical place after being under her and having her legs hang on tightly to him. This being her butt which was only covered by her bikini bottom that was clearly a size too small for a rational human.

He would struggle for the next 15 seconds, where Hakuta could say later that he got a real good piece of Ninka if one understood the meaning. It was during this time that his life flashed before his eyes and he questioned the whole reason as to how he got into this situation. Which was his friends getting him away from the others for their own personal gain. If only they knew what he had to live through for their sake.

Finally, the ordeal was over and without even realizing it, Hakuta laid out upon the rocks on the shore. “Ugh.”

“Hahah that was a lot of fun.” She laughed, sitting down besides him. “And it sounds like you got quite a bit extra there too.”

“A bit extra I didn’t want.” He responded, barely able to get a sense of where he was. “You’re quite the handful, aren’t you?”

“Heh, I can see why you keep wanting to hold back with me.” She said, acting as if the reason he didn’t accept her courtship was due to his own personality. “Everyone thinks of me as a fun girl, but I can a sensitive side too you know.”

“Oh yeah, prove it.” He replied with a bit of irritation.

“You promise you won’t laugh at me then?” She asked in response in a tone he didn’t expect it to be in. Ninka had turned a bit meek in setting this conversation up.

“You’re being serious?” He was in awe at how quickly she turned the switch. Perhaps because they were alone here away from the rest of the beach goers as this was not a safe spot. “I would never consider making fun of you.” Hakuta answered, bracing himself for whatever it was she was about to say.

“I’m a little worried that I’m drifting apart from the other girls.” It was a concern he never imagined she would ever hold. All the gyarus appeared to be so close to one another that he almost was jealous of their bond. “Lately, it’s like Shiuka’s just not in for going out as much anymore. Like she needs to be at home more than ever. Then there’s Rouko, who I know something’s up with her. Usually she’s an open book, but I feel like she’s hiding something.”

“Oh.” He knew exactly who to blame for that. Which would be himself, laying right besides her. “I mean, we are in high school. Things change and I’m sure they both got a lot of things to worry about.” As he continued to live with Shiuka, Hakuta began to see the consequences of his wish to her. All this information did was serve to him how selfish he had become. “But if it makes you feel any better, I get that feeling with the boys too.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, ever since we entered high school it’s always been about you girls.” He sighed. When they were in junior high, his friends were still just as annoying. But now things had changed where they were trying to date girls. Hakuta wondered if they were successful in their endeavor, would he end up being left behind? “I always say how annoying those guys are, but I’d be pretty sad if we weren’t friends anymore.”

“Yeah… Whew sure glad I got that off my shoulders.” She let out a sigh of relief. “But hey, if we’re right and we do end up alone. I mean, I’d like to be alone with you, if you get what I mean.”

“I’m not going to make any promises.” He responded to her obvious forward gesture. “But sure, if it ever did end up being me and you. I might, and I really do say I only might.” He got up from laying down to make his words clear to her. “Consider dating you.”