Last Good Summer

"Hey, Nojiri, why are you wearing your shirt while you're in the water?"

It was a simple enough question, wasn't it? And yet, no matter how innocuous the question may have been, it gave him goosebumps that weren't caused by the ocean water. After all, when guys go to the beach, they tend to dive in wearing nothing but a pair of swim trunks. Benjiro's hand unconsciously began rubbing the back of his shoulder, "Oh, j-just you know, s-standard r-reasons. The s-sun just k-kills me this time of y-year. I get b-burned something awful and only get a l-little bit of a tan out of it."

He knew it was only because he was actually thinking about it. It was like breathing. You find yourself just doing so by reflex but once you started thinking about it, you suddenly stop breathing automatically. The girls each took turns looking at one another, having some sort of telepathic debate with one another.

'You think he's telling the truth?', Akiko wondered.

'I don't know, he's being dodgy about the whole thing', Saori internally remarked

'He has to be lying. I've seen him in a t-shirt before. His face and arms tan super quickly. But why would he lie about something like that', Daitan wondered, 'I know the guy isn't the most impressive physical specimen, but he's nowhere near as bad as some.'

'He's rather evasive when you ask him most things about his personal life', Hiromi considered, 'And every time we learn something about him, it just creates more questions. Why does he just live with his Dad? Does he really have a brother who's a gangster? Why does he have such good skills with makeup? It all just leads nowhere.'

'Not that I'm interested in him that way', the four girls all thought in unison, as their faces took on a crimson tint.

"Hey, are you all feeling okay", Benjiro asked with concern, "You're all cherry red. Has everyone been drinking enough water? Does anyone need to reapply their sunscreen?"

Various responses that all, essentially boiled down to, "No no, I'm alright", came from each of the girls. After agreeing that maybe they should all take a break and get some soda, the kids exited the water and discussed their plans for the day.

Checking over her phone's checklist, Hiromi announced, "OK, so, it's only about eleven in the morning. Ordinarily, one might say we need to head out now if we want to beat the lunch rush, but as your magnanimous host-",

"Which you aren't", quipped Daitan.

"I decided", Hiromi continued in a clipped tone, "That I would let you see how the other half eats and give you all a small culinary tour."

Yamanaka smirked evilly "Why Hiromi-"

"I didn't give you permission to use my first name!"

Ignoring her, "That sounds like a rather roundabout way to say you want to have lunch with your friends."

Looking at her haughtily, "And whoever said you were a friend of mine, Ms. Yamanaka?"

Putting a hand over her chest in mock pain, "You're not my friend? You wound me."

"Keep testing me and emotionally won't be the only way I wound you."

Not seeming bothered in the least, Yamanaka continued, "I was just wondering, were you doing all this because you're just that good of a host or you're hoping to catch the attention of someone in particular?"

Hiromi's face lit up like a candle, but she kept her features as schooled as she could, "Ahem, anyway, we will break to have some lunch, and from there we can discuss any plans we'd like."

Hiromi led the group over to where a white car that was looked too expensive to even look at was waiting. Eventually they arrived at a beach house that was more like a decently sized manor with a white exterior, where a trio of adults were waiting. As soon as the group stepped out of the car, the trio bowed and said, "Welcome home, Mistress Hiromi."

A man who seemed to be the leader stepped forward, "You and your guests may come this way. Everything is prepared."

The teens were led along a large patio and into the back yard that was surrounded by an enormous hedge, a well manicured lawn and carefully placed flower beds. In the center was a small gazebo where everyone sat down. Hiromi acted as if this were all perfectly natural, while all the rest were feeling hilariously out of their depth. 

"Domon, remind me again, what is it that your parents do", Daitan asked as her head swiveled around as if on a wheel."

Waving her hand dismissively, "We're not here to discuss my parent's business, we're here to have a little fun. And speaking of fun", she snapped her fingers and one of the servant approached with a binder in hand, "I took the liberty of planning out what all we can do over the next week."

The binder which was almost as thick as a person's hand was wide was full of notes that were written in Hiromi's small and tidy handwriting, small pictures and clippings of brochures. The rich young lady, began telling them about all that there was to explore within the town and surrounding countryside of the beach they were at. All the while, servants brought out food that according to Hiromi was made out of different local produce. 

Everyone took turns poring over the binder. There was plenty to do. Of course, there was the beach, but there was also any number of small shops and restaurants, a few minor art galleries, plenty of places to explore the surrounding woods. And of course, there was a fireworks display at the end of the week. Akiko wanted to visit the local shops to pick up mementos and maybe an outfit or two. Daitan thought that exploring to find a nice spot in the woods sounded nice. Hiromi suggested that they could take out her parent's speed boat which everyone immediately agreed to. And Saori simply seemed to be happy to just go along for the ride. 

As soon as Hiromi suggested it though, all the teens immediately wanted to see what her family's boat could do. 

....

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! AHAHAHAHAHAHA", Benjiro screamed and laughed. They attached a rope to a tube that was being dragged behind the boat. Tubing was actually suggested by Daitan since it was something she always wanted to try. After Benjiro claimed he had never done something like that before, she immediately roped him into joining her on the tube. When the athletic girl dragged him along, he noticed the other girls looked a little disappointed. For whatever reason, when he said he wouldn't take up too much time and they'd all get a turn, it didn't improve their mood. 

Currently, he was holding onto the handle of the tube not sure if he was yelling out of fear or excitement. But then again, maybe that was the idea? Every time he opened his eyes to try and see which way he should lean, his eyes twitched with getting a face full of seawater. 

He felt a hand grab his own, "Enjoying yourself, Nojiri", he heard Daitan yell.

"Is that what you call this", he yelled over the sound of the water and the boat.

She tightened her hand a little and smiled wide, "Hell yeah, I do!"

The boat in front of them slowed down a little and they heard Saori call out, "Hey, are you two doing alright out there?"

Benjiro gave her a quick thumbs up. Through the water spray, he saw her turn around and say something he couldn't quite make out. 

He heard Daitan make a little gasp, "Wait, Nojiri, you just told her that you wanted to- WOAH!"

She didn't get the rest of her sentence out before the boat in front of them suddenly increased its speed. The two of them somehow tried to cling even harder as they bounced up and own on the water. Benjiro tried to lean into the side of the boat's wake but as soon as he did, the boat changed direction and he found himself flying. As he crashed through the waves and opened his eyes, he could somewhat make out the ever sprawling sea. He could even see a small school of fish swimming out in the distance. But more than anything, it was still. 

His ears were surrounded by the soft sloshing sounds of the ocean in his ears and the water seemed so much more peaceful below than what it was above. But he couldn't enjoy it for long. As good as he was at staying underwater, he didn't have a chance to take a proper breath before he fell off the tube. Popping his head above the waves, he saw the others looking relieved when he surfaced. 

"Geez, Benjiro, you scared us", Akiko called out before her cheeks tinged pink, "Not that we were too worried, mind you."

"What the heck was that about", he asked as he hauled himself onto the boat.

Hiromi giggled, "Silly, when you're doing some kind of boat sport, giving someone a thumbs up means you want to go faster."

Mine ruffled his hair, "I tried to tell you that but you weren't paying attention. Were you trying to show off or something?"

Feeling a sudden bout of inspiration, "Th-that depends. Was I imp-pressive?"

"That's one word for it, Benji", Mine laughed.

Oh, hearing that still made his insides do funny things. Little did he know, he was doing something similar to the boat's other female passengers.