As I was walking around without any real purpose, a strange yet familiar girl approached me. Seeing her, I subconsciously relaxed my cheek as I smiled. Her purple hair swayed around as she ran towards me. 

She talked about how her days were, and how lovely her new classmates were. As April came upon us, it signified the start of the school year, and even though it's only been three weeks of her second year, she was able to make a lot of friends from her classmates already. Time flew by so fast that I didn't realize we were already second year middle school students. In the end, I wasn't able to get the same class as her. I was frustrated, but all I could do was sigh. 

It was the same with our first year of middle school, even though we were childhood friends from elementary school that always ended up in the same class. It's as if fate decided to separate us from ever joining in the same class, however that doesn't stop us from interacting with each other as much as possible. 

Still in our middle school uniform, she held her chin high as she sprinkled in an excited twirl as she gazed upon me, "Hey, are you free this weekend?"

***

The smell of the beach was invading my train of thought as the cold breeze flew right by, I shuddered in coldness while holding tight to my clothes. 

"What are we doing here, exactly?" I asked with a puzzled expression towards the girl in front of me wearing a middle school uniform. 

The girl answered with a smile, "No reason."

The spring weather wasn't as pleasant as the summer sunlight, the perfect time to visit a beach. Even then, the girl in front of me touched the water of the salty ocean with a playful smile. 

Her smile was devoid of any gloomy appearance. However, her action was a little strange, she simply just touched the incoming waves of water from the ocean carefully so as to not ruin her school uniform. 

She stood up as she observed the vast horizon of the sea, tinted with the color orange from the afternoon sun. Her figure was beautifully admiring the sea, while her purple hair flailed around from the incoming breeze. 

"You look just like a princess," I complimented. 

The girl looked behind as she glanced at my eyes with a little laugh, "Maybe I am a princess, after all you always saved me when we used to play those games."

I tried to make a retort, however no response came. Childhood memories started to flow into me. I wished I could go back on how it was before. 

Without warning, the girl ran towards the ocean with a playful hum. I immediately rushed towards her and screamed, "Dummy! What are you doing?!" 

The girl ignored as her school uniform was soaking wet, she immediately stopped from running and grabbed a plentiful amount of salt water in her palm. 

I ignored the wetness of my clothes as I ran towards the girl in front of me, the water reached dangerously on our shoulder, and none of us could swim. 

The girl in front of me splashed me with salt water. The coldness of the water smashed my face as I squinted my eyes. The girl smiled seeing my reaction.

"Hey, let's play on the beach, Sayoko."

I retorted back with, "it's not even summer, yet."

The girl gave a similar precious smile from before, however her eyes weren't smiling. she looked at me dead in the eyes as her eyes were flowing with salt water. Her tone was anything but cheerful. 

"Hey, Sayoko. Why did you stop going to school?"

Natsumikan

Uh... Boppin'