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Last Day ~ A.K.A. BEACH DAY!

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A/N:The next chapter would be an “Interlude” meaning “a break from the story”. Because I know this story is getting to the point of “shoot! It has this many chapters already?” for the author. So I might have missed something or haven’t mentioned something in the story, and have my readers puzzled. So I decide to use this Interlude to answer those puzzles ^^

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The sea salted breeze brushing through their light sweaters, freezing the warm wrapped skin; Koki hissed at the cold weather; even though the sun was out, the wind didn’t make it better. Mi-chan and Ueda rolled their eyes at Koki when the spiked hair man glared at the two; they knew he was just exaggerating, in no time he would join in the fun, they just knew it.

“It’s NOT that cold, you spikey!” Maru shouted from his spot. He rolled his eyes along with the others as he stood up on the side supporter of their SUV in order to untie the surf board on top of the car. Kame laughed at the shivering man and the eyes rolling from others, he loved it when his friends were being immature. It felt like old time.

“Shut up, you big nose!” Koki yelled back, quite annoyed at the cold weather, he was never the type to like coldness.

“Hey! This is called normal size you dumb !” Maru retorted back, jumped down from the SUV and locked it.

“Seriously, do you two HAVE to do it first thing of the day?” Junno complained as he made his way in the front, taking the lead to their usual spot.

“We have a private spot?” Jin asked when he saw that the group had entered the private area.

“We do,” Kame replied with a smile, “Mi-chan has some useful connections to these escapades,” he added and Jin’s eyes lit up in amazement.

“What else do I need to know about your cousin?” Jin joked and Kame just shook his head lightly.

“She somehow in some way always manages to get whatever she wants,” Kame shrugged, “it’s scary sometimes as how much she knows and what information she can obtain in a short span of period.” Jin turned his gaze to stare at Mi-chan’s back, wondering to himself how much the girl actually knows about him because it looked like she does have a hunch about him and his complicated life, or current situation to be more precise.

“She can be scary as that,” Ueda voiced from behind, startling Jin. “Scared you, didn’t I?” Ueda mock laughed at Jin, “but not to worry, you’re not on her black list, because if she detests you, you would have been long gone by now,” the man assured Jin with a wink, he then picked up his paces to catch up to his boyfriend, hooking an arm around Ryo’s arm with a silly grin.

“He and Mi-chan are of the same kind,” Kame explained, “you should give yourself a pat for being a good kid,” Kame laughed at Jin’s frown.

“Good kid?” Jin questioned accusingly, “I’m WAY older than a good kid,” he yelled and chased after Kame as the younger man had already run off to the shore. 

“Oh children,” Mi-chan shook her head, finding the usual spot and placed a towel on the sand and settled down.

“It’s kinda odd to have you here,” Koki opened his mouth again, and the others could already sense the danger.

“And what that has to do with anything?” Mi-chan’s eyebrow twitched in an annoyed frown.

“It would be hard for us to pick up girls with you around, I mean com’on you’re the ONLY GIRL in a bunch of guys,” Koki immediately found himself being pushed backward, back landing on the sand, one of Mi-chan’s foot had already found its rightful position on Koki’s chest.

“Do you want to drink sea water? OR you want to eat sand?” Mi-chan smiled too sweetly at the man and Koki knew he had just hit the wrong button.

“He never learns,” Junno and Maru shook their heads, sometimes Koki could be a bit airhead than the rest of them; they found it was odd for Koki to always irritate Mi-chan, as if the man wanted the girl’s attention or something. As those thoughts crossed Junno’s and Maru’s minds, the two immediately screamed, “NO FREAKING WAY” and turned to look at each other as they knew what the other was thinking and gave a knowing smile, and hands already shaking in secrecy.

“Sometimes I don’t get how I get along with these children,” Ueda sighed out, placing down their supposed picnic food on the spread table cloth.

“Because they are silly and childish, which is perfect for you to lecture and to nurse them when they need a mother figure,” Ryo replied for the man as he helped his boyfriend taking out the food.

“I’m not a woman,” Ueda pouted at the remark, he hated to be seen as a woman, he might look feminine but he was nowhere near a woman, he worked out for god’s sake.

“I know that, but you love to take care of them, and they love to be taking care by you, it’s a mutual understandings and needs, so it works out both ways,” Ryo explained his reason; Ueda’s pout slowly faded away, it was not like he hated to look after them. They were the gifts giving to him at his most desperate stage of life. He was more than thankful to have them around. Sometimes they were a bit too stressful to handle but it was never bored to have them around.

“They can be adorable sometimes,” Ueda smiled on his last statement, his young friends were the second best damn thing that had had ever happened to him; of course Ryo was the BEST damn thing ever.

“Glad you have noticed so,” Ryo ruffled his boyfriend’s hair as he lifted the other chin up and leaned in for a chaste kiss. “And I like it when you’re being dominant,” Ryo had triggered the older man’s ert instinct.

“You ask for it,” Ueda said knowing and Ryo laughed out loud at the other’s words. They were sure a match made in heaven. As much as Ryo enjoyed the company of his boyfriend and would love to be lovey-dovey, the sight of a lonesome Yamaa was irritating him.

“Don’t like the beach?” Ryo asked jerking his head at Yamaa whose eyes had been gluing on Mi-chan and Koki. The man didn’t respond to Ryo’s question which only irritated Ryo.

Ryo stood up from his spot and came to face Yamaa, hand waving in front of the mesmerized man. Yamaa instantly broke out of his trance and turned to face Ryo, a bit startled at how the man had come to stand in front of him.

“If you want her, go get her,” Ryo said, pointing towards Mi-chan, who was now pulling Koki by the legs and dragging the spiked hair man, with back on the sand, around on the sand while said man screaming for help.

“I—“

“Don’t second guess yourself,” Ueda voiced from his spot, “she gave you the signal already, don’t let it go,” he added to lighten the man.

Yamaa still looked at the couple in confusion; he didn’t understand what the other was trying to tell him. Were they trying to say that Mi-chan is considering going out with him? He didn’t receive or feel any signal from the girl as far as he had known.

“She let you sit next to her at the VIP table last night; she didn’t brush you off when you held her wrist, and she didn’t decline your offer to drive her home afterwards. Mi-chan might seem like an easy-going person but there are certain rules she abides herself to. However, last night, she broke all those rules for you; that should say something,” Ueda enlightened Yamaa. He waited to see any reactions from the other and he was more than pleased to see Yamaa ran out to where Mi-chan and Koki were at and joined in the torment.

“Geez, kids these days, way too careful,” Ueda laughed.

“They take too many cautious steps that it makes outsiders just want to beat some good senses into them,” Ryo joined in.

“Why weren’t we like that? I think we were too light striking,” Ueda recalled their memories.

“We were faster than speed of light,” Ryo agreed, pulling the other by the shoulder towards him. He loved it when they were both in sync like that.

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Kame stood at the sea shore, admiring the coastline as he watched the clear blue sky shining upon the horizon end. It was a beautiful view which made him feel warm, despite the cold wind blowing unsympathetically at his skin. He smiled contently when he felt Jin’s presence next to him when the older man had caught up to him. He turned to his right to stare at what the older man was doing.

“Are you really going to surf in this kind of weather?” Jin asked warily, he wouldn’t want to catch a cold the next day.

“Of course I am!” Kame confirmed proudly, which made Jin stare at his dress code.

“In your swim trunk?” Jin asked pointing at Kame’s casual attire.

“Of course not!” Kame rolled his eyes, “I’m not that insane Jin; I still have some common sense left in me,” Jin huffed out a relief, which made Kame laughed harder.

“Is it hard?” Jin pointed at the surf board Maru was carrying out for them, Kame turned to look at Maru’s direction and chuckled.

“Depending,” Kame replied, “you know how to swim and not acrophobia, yes?” Jin nodded to both question as confirming that he was ok with both. Receiving the affirmative answer, Kame continued, “then it should be easy for you.”

“Maru made it sound like it was the most horrible thing in the car,” Jin recalled the conversation he and Maru had back in the drive.

“Of course it was the terrible thing for him because he is acrophobia, the last time we went bungee jumping, he used up the two hours just whining and weeping; not even jumped. Tat-chan and Ryo were so pissed at they paid a lot of money for those weeping hours of his,” Kame retold the story with an amused smile.

“Kame, your board!” Maru shouted when Kame finished the story, the younger man waved in acknowledgement. He turned to grab Jin’s hand and led the man back to the group.

“Do you want to give it a try?” Kame asked when they reached the group.

“But I don’t have surfing clothes,” Jin whined, not liking it when he would be missed out on one of the water sports. Kame looked at Jin’s form from head to toe, biting his bottom lip to think of which size would fit him.

“That look is very suggestive,” Jin commented laughing at Kame’s crimson cheeks.

“Shut up, you ert!” Kame embarrassedly walked away, heading off to Junno’s side to look into their surfing materials to look for Jin’s size. With less than five minutes, Kame had found the size that he believed would fit Jin perfectly. Kame looked back at Jin and used his index finger to point at Jin and gestured the older man to come over with a demanding smirk.

Jin pointed at himself in question and received a nod as he quickly followed the command, snickered along the way when he realized what Kame just did and he had just naturally followed the younger man’s order. He could see the future laid in front of his eyes.

When the two of them were fully equipped and ready to take over the portion of the beach to their adventure, Kame winked at Jin with a knowing smile.

“Let’s race to the water, winner gets a wish,” Kame challenged already in the set position to dash out.

“Don’t cheat!” Jin shouted when Kame actually dashed away when Jin nodded to the idea. The older man immediately chased after the younger man, panting heavily as he reached the water. Finally caught up to Kame as pulled the younger man back by the arm, resulting in Kame falling backward and first on the soft wet sand.

“HEY!” Kame shouted at the sudden fall.

“That’s for cheating,” Jin grinned victoriously, and continued dashing out to the deep level of the water.

“Who’s cheater now!” Kame shouted after Jin, swiftly picking himself up and followed the older man to where Maru and Junno were already sat comfortably on their own surf boards and watched the childish couple.

Maru rolled his eyes and muttered out, “children” when Jin cheerfully yelled in victory while Kame protested in his defense of Jin cheating. Junno just shrugged his shoulder at the scene and moved his sight to where Koki, Yamaa, and Mi-chan were at.

“Talking about children, I bet the trio over there has won the title,” Maru turned his attention to where Junno nodded his head at. He couldn’t disagree to that statement.

Maru and Junno watched as Mi-chan gave Koki a hard push, making the man lost his balance and fell face first onto the sand. The girl smirked as an evil idea crossed her mind, she used her leg to roll Koki sideway towards the water, the spiked hair man was yelping for help, knowing exactly where Mi-chan was going with her brutal ministration. Luckily for him, Yamaa came to the rescue and helped him up. Koki thought the mistreatment would stop here, but he was so damn wrong when Yamaa turned him around and locked his arm behind his back in a firm hold. Koki’s eyes widened when Mi-chan holding up a beach ball with a grin. The girl aimed the ball directly at Koki’s stomach and repeatedly threw it at Koki’s trapped body, loving the way the other man was screaming for help. Only when Mi-chan had become bored with the game, she told Yamaa to let go of Koki and walked off to the opposite direction. The two men quickly followed from behind, with Koki’s crouching about Yamaa taking girlfriend over friends; of course with the correction, “he is not my boyfriend, spikey!” from Mi-chan.

 “Wonder what will become of them?” Junno said out loud, looking over to Maru who also wondered the same thing.

“I don’t know much about Mi-chan but I know that Pi is serious; the man never chases after the same girl for such long period of time,” Jin informed the two as he finally reached to where they were. Kame appeared shortly from behind Jin with a pout.

“You said you don’t know how to surf!” Kame pointed his finger at Jin accusingly.

“I don’t know how,” Jin answered truthfully.

“Then how come you can sit on the board as if you have known how!” Kame pointed his finger at Jin’s sitting comfortably on the board along with the other two.

“I don’t know, just thought I need to talk to them at the same high level, this is the basic?” Jin asked, just realized that he had successfully passed the few first basic steps.

“Well, look like we have ourselves a clever student!” Maru said happily.

“That would make the teaching much easier,” Junno nodded along.

“Not fun!” Kame sulked as he got up on his board to sit waiting for a good wave.

“Why?” Jin asked, wondering what was so wrong with him being a quick learner.

“Then I won’t have the joy of watching you fall off the board and drink sea salted water; that’s the best joy an instructor can gain when teaching the kids new trick,” Kame voiced out his thought.

“What kind of instructor is that?” Jin stared at Kame with horror.

“ME!” Kame proudly pointed at himself with a grin.

“You should have seen the way he tortured Koki; there was bliss in his eyes whenever Koki failed to catch a wave  and consumed lot of sea water,” Maru filled in the information for Jin, the older man now felt scare towards Kame’s sadistic side.

“He is not an S-type, right?” Jin leaned in to whisper to Maru but he soon found himself slipped off the board and dropped into the water after one hard blow from the side. When he got his head to the surface of the water, he glared at Kame for the deed.

“No talking behind my back, Bakanishi!” Kame glued the nickname that he hadn’t used for a long time on Jin, the older man laughed when he saw Kame’s pout. He just couldn’t get angry at such cute sight. Maru and Junno just laughed heartily at the scene. They loved lovers-bickering, those are fun.

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When the sun had finally set, Jin and Kame decided to catch the last wave before putting a stop to their activity. As the two of them waiting for the good wave, Jin turned to watch Kame shinning beautifully under the sunset color. He smiled at the content grin on Kame’s face; he loved to see his boyfriend smiling like a child. It was the most breathtaking sight one man can ever ask for. With all the rough and depressed time he had been through his teenager life, the one thing he had learned to hate was faking a smile. He himself was trapped into that zone for as long as he could remember. He still remembered the day his brother decided to break away from the cage, Reio had the most elegant and beautiful smile on his face that made Jin feel so flustered and light hearted at his brother’s freedom. He was wondering at the time that would he be able to break free and smile like that. His prayer had been answered when Yamaa came to him with a plan to help him get out of the cage. The business proposal had been offered to his father and Jin was a free man at the old man’s agreement.

When he saw Kame for the first time, he was mesmerized by the younger man’s characteristic, but not too long after, he was slightly disturbed by the younger man’s pretended happiness. He just wanted to put an end to the suffering the man was going through. He understood what the pain felt like and how it cut deeply into one’s soul every single day. He was more than glad to be able to lead Kame out of that darkness and out of the secured shell to be happy with a true feeling.

Jin grinned idiotically when he saw Kame turned to him with a smile and a hand waving in front of him. The younger man’s mouth was moving as Jin smiled at the gentle gesture. Jin frowned when Kame’s happy grin turned to a worried expression and then a hard slap coming down on his cheek.

“OUCH!” Jin screamed out painfully and finally pulled himself out of his reverie.

“WATER! NOW!” Kame said in one breath, dropping himself under the water. Jin was still hazy as to what was going on and when he looked up, he too dumped himself under the water in one quick reflex. He had understood the situation now.

He quickly found himself floating up on the surface of the water, one hand holding onto his board as the other grabbed Kame’s one to pull it closer to him. Kame brought up his hand and whacked mercilessly down on Jin’s head.

“What were you thinking? Wanting to know how it feels like to be drown by the wave?” Kame spat out angrily. The older man had him worried sick back then that he thought he had lost Jin somewhere in the older man’s own dream land.

“Sorry, I didn’t—“

“You should have!” Kame cut the man’s words.

“I’m sorry,”

“It’s cool,” Kame heaved out a sigh, “at least you were quick witted enough to know what to do,” Kame brought himself up on the board in the lying position, “ready for the ‘last’ wave?” he said pointing to the next oncoming wave. Jin nodded his head and started to get into position as well. The two headed off on their boards to catch the actually last wave of the day.

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On the way back to their supposed picnic tablecloth, Kame could already see Koki and Mi-chan were trying to set up the bonfire for their night outing. The tents had already been setting up a long time ago. However, what really had him worried now was Jin’s situation. The older man was having an argument with his mom on the phone last night from what Kame could get out from the man’s monologue. And today, Jin was spacing out during their last wave catching. He wondered what was really going through Jin’s mind.

“Are you ok now?” Kame dared to ask, the silence and the thought of those events wouldn’t let his mind rest.

“Yea,” Jin nodded, shaking his head to shake off the water.

“What made you space out back there?” Kame took up the courage to ask.

Jin halted on his steps and turned to look at Kame, “my brother,” he replied with a soft smile.

“Oh,” Kame softly mumbled.

“He is going through depression right now,” Jin smiled sadly.

“Something happened to him?” Kame asked concerning.

“Remember what I told you about my parents? And our perfectly ed up family?” Jin stared deep into Kame’s eyes at those words. The younger man nodded his head, “it looks like my father wouldn’t let my brother off that easily,” Jin scoffed out. “I just wonder when he decides to inject some desperation into my happy life.”

“Does he have that power?” Kame asked, he knew little to nothing about Jin’s family to be honest.

“I don’t know,” Jin honestly replied, “but one thing I know for sure, if he wants to do something, it will happen.”

“You have us to back you up,” Kame comforted the older man.

“I know, but I don’t want to get innocent people involved into this mess,” Jin sighed.

“We’re not innocent people, Jin,” Kame laughed, “we’re wicked and despaired than we display,” Kame added. Jin frowned at the younger man.

“Each life has its own autobiography book,” Kame smiled softly at Jin, he brought his hand to brush through the wet strains of Jin’s hair, messaging the older man’s scalp with his slender fingers. 

“Ok, let me rephrase: I don’t want to get uninvolved people to get involved in this,” Jin grinned when Kame laughed out loud.

“Ok, I can accept that,” Kame smacked the older man’s arm playfully.

“GUYS! HURRY!” Koki called out to Kame and Jin with a wave of his hand. The said pair turned to the shout and cackled up when Mi-chan whacked Koki over the head, telling him off for disturbing the love-bird moment. The spiked hair man once again found himself pouting at the severed whacks he had been receiving all day. Mi-chan had made sure to turn him into her play thing for the rest of the week as his punishment.