"This is our pad? It looks amazing!" Mio exclaimed in front of my parents' beach house.

Kana, Rika, Hitomi, and Kaede followed up behind her, jaws hanging open from being at awe of the place. The chic and modern design of the two-story beach villa was a far cry from what I was used to in the city. There was a grill and pool in the backyard in case someone wanted to enjoy the waters away from the beach. We saw the interior through the wide window along the first floor, furnished with expensive leather couches and an enormous flat screen TV.

As soon as Mio entered, she threw herself onto the couch.

"I fucking love this place! Can we stay forever?" Mio asked.

"Nope. Five days and it's back home. We still have summer Comiket, remember?" I reminded her and tossed my duffel bag onto her chest.

"Thanks for inviting us, Saeko!" Rika smiled as she shook her shoes off in the foyer. "It feels like ages since we saw each other, but it's only really been a few months."

Hitomi, burdened with both her and Rika's bags, came in with sharp eyes scanning the room. Her gaze flicked to the island countertops in the kitchen. She drew a finger across the surface and squinted.

"This place is spotless. Did someone come to clean it beforehand?" Hitomi asked.

"My mom mentioned she had a cleaning service come by to take care of things so we wouldn't have to. We also don't need to worry about leaving a mess behind. The same people will deal with it after we leave," I said.

"A group of youth going on a beach vacation… in swimsuits, experiencing the height of romance, underneath the beaming sun… My mind is just racing with ideas on my next manga!" Kaede exclaimed, already with the sketchbook and pencil in hand.

"I'm beat…" Kana dragged himself through the door with bags under his eyes rather than his arms.

Mio and I hadn't given Kana much time to rest lately. Last night, we were all over him until morning.

We headed upstairs to pick a room. There were four. Kaede occupied one. Rika and Hitomi took another. The master bedroom went to the three of us lovebirds. To our surprise, it had a glass wall into the bathroom. We would be able to see each other showering, not that I minded. Even better, the bed was big enough for all of us.

"Alright, enough screwing around. Time to hit up the beach!" Mio tossed her clothes off right there and rummaged through the suitcase for her swimsuit.

"If you're going to strip right there at least do it away from the window! People can see you!" I quickly pulled her away. The adjacent house had a car parked in front with a bunch of guys just now coming out. Fortunately, it didn't look like they saw. Judging by their foreign language, they must be here for vacation from another country.

"You guys go on ahead. I'm going to take a nap," Kana said, letting himself fall flat onto the bed.

"Whaaaat?" While still bare naked, Mio embraced Kana from behind in an attempt to pull him off. "You can't just stay in when we're on vacation! Besides, I wanna fuck on the beach. Get your ass moving and come on!"

"Just half an hour is enough… I'll meet you guys there," he mumbled.

"Fiiine!" She got dressed in a black bikini, slung a towel over her shoulder, and went to get the others.

When it was just me and Kana in the room, I sat down next to him.

"Maybe we should go easier on you from now on?" I offered with a giggle.

"Meh. I'll be fine." Kana rolled over onto his front to face me. "I know I'm your guys' favorite snack, and this is supposed to be a vacation for all of us. I'm just glad to be out here with you two."

A smile crept across my face. "Are you? Or is it because we're going to try your new fetish of me having sex with other guys in front of you?"

An erection instantly popped up between his legs. Just the thought was enough to get Kana going, and that made me even more excited. Although Mio, Kana, and I already had a relationship talk about screwing other people given our succubus nature, it was mostly a 'do, don't tell' kind of thing between us. Now, Kana seemed more inclined about the 'do and show'.

"If you're going to tease me about it, then we don't have to." Kana grabbed a pillow to cover his face.

"Awww, don't be like that!" I pulled the pillow away and snuggled into his chest. "I want to make you happy, because you make me happy."

"Okay, well… Let's get changed before Mio throws a fit again," he said.

I got changed into a white bikini, and Kana into swimming trunks. The others were already gone, but it didn't take long to catch up since the beach was on the other side of the street. Kaede, who was scribbling into her sketchbook, and Rika sat together underneath the beach umbrella. Meanwhile, Mio and Hitomi had gone to the nearby shop.

"What's the point of going to the beach if you're staying in the shade?" I joked to them.

"I'm in the water enough at my parents' sento!" Rika retorted. "Though, it's been a while since I worked behind the counters."

"I almost forgot you, Hitomi, and Kana are going to Tokyo together. Mio was really sad that you decided against attending Tsukiji," I told Rika.

"Aha… Life always throws you curveballs. My father convinced me. I'm attending business management courses in Tokyo, so that I can one day run my family's sento properly! Until then, he's taking it easy and hired help to run the place in his stead," Rika explained.

"Listening to you guys talk about college makes me regret not going…" Kaede stopped sketching and deflated.

"You're working on manga full-time, aren't you?" Kana asked.

"I am! I even have an assistant now! But I've been in a slump. Maybe it's the Saeko and Mio effect. Being around them again is giving me all the motivation I need. Which means I can't waste this opportunity. I'll draw until my hands fall off!" she declared, recommencing her sketches.

"This is starting to feel less like a vacation, and more of Kaede's revival arc as a mangaka," I said, drawing laughter from Rika and Kana.

The others were right. Coming out to Okinawa for vacation could only be a good thing. I didn't need to worry about all the problems back home. It was fine to leave it for when we get back. All I should focus on was having the best vacation possible with my friends.

Kana and I set up a second beach umbrella to make room. After we laid some towels down, I tugged on his hand to help put some sunscreen on me. He squeezed cool cream onto my back and began to spread them to a thin finish. Just having his hands glide across my body was enough to make me shiver in pleasure.

A minute in, however, we started feeling the burning gaze of a desperate mangaka on us.

"Hey, Kaede? You're staring so hard that I don't even have to turn around to sense it," Kana said.

"This is great… You're both doing great! Don't mind me and keep doing what you're doing. I'm just going to capture these memories in drawing for references in my manga!" Kaede shouted.

"Well, we can't help but be conscious about it now!" I shot back.

Thankfully, Mio and Hitomi got back with giant tubs of ice cream in hand to break the awkwardness.

"Check it out. They were selling buckets of this shit." Mio scooped some neapolitan for me to take a bite.

Hitomi sat down next to Rika and just stared down at her two tubs of ice cream.

"Is something wrong with them?" Rika asked.

"I suddenly have buyer's remorse," Hitomi answered emotionlessly.

Mio bursted out laughing. "Kahaha! It was a buy two, get one free. I convinced Prez to go for it."

"What? Why? One tub would've been enough for all five of us. For our entire stay!" I exclaimed.

"Mostly because I know she hates wasting food," she replied while laughing with a mouthful of ice cream.

"I bet you haven't made any friends in college with that attitude," Kana said, but Mio seized the opportunity to stuff a spoon of ice cream into his open mouth.

It was too much for Kana, making him clutch his head from an apparent brain freeze. He recovered a moment later and finished helping me put on sunscreen, then moved onto giving Mio a hand.

"Saeko!" Kaede kneeled down next to me as I was slipping my top back on. "Can I borrow you for a minute? Just real quick!"

"Sure, what for?" I asked.

"I want to experience flying over the ocean. For reference!" she insisted eagerly.

How could I say no to such a passionate request?

I let Kaede climb onto my back. She wrapped her arms around my neck and held both her sketchbook and pencil. Together, we waved goodbye to the others and flew out over the glimmering waters. The ocean was calm. Beautiful blue waves gently crashed over each other and foamed out. We were low enough to feel the sea spray.

"This is so cool!" Kaede was in awe. She adjusted the position of her arms to start drawing, giving me a real-time process of her artistry in action.

"You know, Mio and I actually joined a manga circle in college. The guys in there are really big fans of Megane-sensei," I teased.

"Th-They don't know my real identity, do they?" she asked.

As I figured, Kaede was definitely not big on people knowing her identity. She was a cute girl, too, and the otaku world could get pretty weird.

"Don't worry. They don't. We might… run into them at Comiket though…" I muttered.

"If they're your friends, then maybe it won't be so bad. I'll just be wearing a mask from now on to protect myself," Kaede said.

As the rising mangaka continued to draw, the ocean became very still to me. The water was so calm that it reflected the entire sky. Beatrice's taunting face appeared like someone switched on the television. I tried to ignore her, but the piercing gaze followed my movements.

"Oh, the beach! Mio loves the water, I know that very well. I just don't understand the appeal. What's so fun about getting wet other than getting wet? Know what I mean?" Beatrice cackled between my ears.

"Saeko, can we go over to that buoy?" Kaede pointed to the yellow flotation device drifting to the whims of the wave. I did as she asked while Beatrice continued taunting me.

"You know what sounds fun? Drop this chick into the water. She's buried her face in it since you got on the plane, drawing probably a month's worth of art in it. Wouldn't it be fun to see how devastated she gets from all her hard work being destroyed?" Beatrice asked.

Kaede yelped out loud. I tightened my grip on her. She almost slipped off my back when I stopped too hard in front of the buoy.

"Sorry! You hanging on tight back there?" I asked.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine!" Kaede nodded.

I repeatedly told Beatrice to shut up in my head, but she fought back like waves crashing in opposite directions. What was supposed to just be a stupid, nagging voice gradually became a painful biting sensation. Somewhere inside me, I knew it would stop once I dropped Kaede into the water. I hated it so much that I was beginning to want to listen to her. I could make it look like an accident. 

"Kaede, I think we should get back," I said, hoping to return to land before I did something bad.

"Remember the last time we were in Okinawa?" Kaede suddenly asked.

Those words snapped the nipping urge Beatrice had been slowly urging me towards. My mind thought back to when I first tried to get to know Kaede, the quiet and solitary girl.

"I wouldn't be where I am if it wasn't for you," she continued. "Probably still be with my shitty boyfriend. Now I have so many friends and fans. I want to hang out with you guys more and more. When you're gone, I'm always a little sad but always hopeful to see you all again. It… It must be weird hearing this from a mangaka drawing inspirations of you and Mio in porn, but I'm so glad to have you around— as friends, I mean! Not just as references!"

Beatrice clicked her tongue so loudly in my mind like someone clapped their hands next to my ears. Her reflection disappeared from the waters. 

"Thanks, Kaede. I'm glad you're my friend, too. And if you ever want to fly out anywhere again, just let me know." I smiled over my shoulder.

Kaede had stopped drawing and started fidgeting.

"I do have one more selfish request. Can I kiss you?" Kaede asked, then immediately flustered a second later. "I-I know you're in a relationship with Mio and Kana, so it's fine if you say no! I just thought that you guys were in an open relationship and wanted to give it a try!"

I repositioned myself into a cradle in the air for Kaede to lie on top of me. We floated listlessly in the air like the buoy in the water. She blushed deep red. Her fingers wrinkled the pages of the sketchbook held tightly between our chests. The glasses on her face, spotted with droplets of water on each lens, sagged a little. I cupped Kaede's face, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut, and then kissed her as tenderly as possible.

Seagulls squawked above us, and water crashed against the buoy. All I heard was Kaede's rapidly beating heart. It wasn't lust that I tasted, but a kind gratefulness to me, and I returned that gesture by the kiss until our lips parted.

"How was that?" I asked.

"My stomach is full of butterflies… and now I have energy to draw all night!" Kaede roared with great vigor.

We brought that high back to the beach and played with everyone for a while longer before returning to the house. Kana wanted to fire up the grill, so Mio and I went to a grocery store to buy things to barbecue.

"You and Kaede were out in the waters for a while. Got a little frisky, carrying her around?" Mio asked, hip-bumping me and nearly knocking the grocery basket from my hand.

"Maybe you'll find out in her next manga issue," I joked back.

A group of rowdy guys around their mid-twenties shuffled out of an aisle. They were only in swimming trunks, bodies slightly glistening from having come out of the water recently. One of them locked eyes with me. A caucasian man older than the others, sculpted like a Greek statue, with side-swept blonde hair and eyes as blue as the sea. I quickly looked away and returned to what Mio was checking on the shelves.

"What do you think? Buy meat marinated with spicy sauce, or just buy the meat and sauce separately? Could get some spicier…" Mio mulled over the many hot sauces on display.

"Hey, you girls from the other house?" one of the other dudes, a lighter cocoa skin, asked us in English.

"Told you I wasn't seeing things. They really are succubus!" another said.

"Huh? What'cha want? We're busy looking up some stuff to get our grub on," she said, brushing them off without so much as glancing their way.

There were maybe five of them. It was just a guess, because for some reason I was too nervous to turn around. Just being underneath their shadows several times larger than me was making me feel things. Did men from other countries get this big? Or was I just too used to my people being regular-sized?

"Quit bothering the locals. You're probably scaring them! Booze is this way, so come on!" the blonde hollered from the end of the aisle.

I breathed a sigh of relief when they gave up and left, then peeked down the aisle and met the blonde's eyes again. He flashed a heart throbbing smile, and I waved back to show thanks.

"I found it!" Mio exclaimed, lifting a bottle of extremely spicy sauce. "Hehe… I can't wait to drizzle this on Prez's food."

"You're going to get yourself killed." I rolled my eyes.