"We're really on the beach." Yukinoshita was speechless. She held her book and tightened her jacket as she fixed her messy bangs, which were blown by the night wind.
It was three in the morning, and coming to a beach at such a time, they should be greeted by beautiful scenery that they might not be able to forget in their lives. However, unlike what they imagined, the view around them was scary and menacing.
The moon didn't appear since it was a new moon. The stars also couldn't be seen because the cloud was quite thick. Everything was covered in darkness, and everything was pitch black.
"Are-Are you sure you want to be on this beach, Mashiro?" Saki asked nervously. She had been hugging Shishio's arm the moment they went to this beach, and she had never let him go. While she kept it a secret, she was scared of ghosts, so it was also why she had never tried to read the new manga of Shishio and Shiina since it was a horror type.
Honestly, she also wasn't good with the horror theme for the literature club during the culture festival, but even so, she didn't want to break her cool and aloof persona, so she tried to endure everything. However, what she didn't know everyone had already known was that she was scared of ghosts.
"Yes."
On the other hand, Shiina nodded and started to draw. She didn't continue to talk and drew the scenery around her surroundings. She even imagined how this place would be when it was hit by a storm or disaster.
Everyone was speechless when they saw Shiina start to draw and fall silent. They knew the reason why she wanted to come here was because of the manga, and they were just curiously coming along, but when they arrived, they didn't know what to do.
While it might still be summer, it was still in the middle of dawn, and the beach was far from being fun and exciting. Instead, it was quite strange and disturbing for some reason, especially when they were the only ones in this place, and they could hear a strange noise from time to time. The sea also wasn't clear. Instead, it was like an abyss that might pull them down until they were drowned and unable to get up anymore.
This place might be a perfect place for a horror setting, but it was far from a vacation place.
Was their summer going to end with such a strange experience?
They felt reluctant somehow.
"By the way, do you want to play with the fireworks?" Shishio suddenly said and took out the fireworks he had brought from his apartment. As for why he had fireworks, it was such a stupid question since it was summer, and it was normal to have them, right?
"Nice idea!"
They quickly became excited and took some water from the sea on the basket before they started to play with the fireworks.
Shiina also stopped drawing and joined everyone in playing with the fireworks.
Under this darkness, the light from the fireworks was particularly noticeable. It was like the only light in this world and extremely beautiful. The colorful sparks could be seen everywhere as they moved their hands around, trying to draw something with the fireworks in their hands. It might be only normal fireworks, but it was so much fun.
"Shishio! Shishio! Look! It's like a peony!"
Shishio was sitting on the log on the beach, watching Nana, showing the sparkle of the fireworks that seemed to shape into a peony. He had to say the fireworks in this country were quite advanced, and they were all beautiful.
"It's great."
He then looked at Yukinoshita and Sakurajima Mai, who sat on his left and right side, seemingly in the middle of a discussion of a movie, while ignoring him, who was in the middle.
"Can you talk about a movie later?"
"What are you talking about? It is such a time that we need to use our time smartly."
"Don't you want to make a movie, become a famous director, and marry me? Or are you lying?"
"...I want to marry you, but I have never said I will become a director."
Still, he could feel that Yukinoshita was staring at him intently. "Anyway, we can talk about the movie later when we have entered the school. By then, we can also talk with Yui-senpai and Hikigaya-senpai. It isn't fair if we leave them out of this discussion."
"That's true." Yukinoshita nodded and agreed to his words, stopping their discussion about a movie. She knew that she was no longer trapped by her family. Even though her mother told her to go with Shishio all the time, she did that, and she was happy. She looked at him for a moment, looking at his arm, before she held it and wrapped his hand around her shoulder before rubbing her face around his chest.
Watching Yukinoshita, he felt like he had kept a big female cat for some reason.
"But except for fireworks, what can we do here?" Mai sipped a can of warm red bean juice in her hand. It was summer but quite cool at dawn, especially when autumn was about to arrive. However, she anticipated it since being in autumn was better than summer.
"We can wait for the sunrise. By then, we can also eat at the nearby restaurant. I have heard that there is a good restaurant that serves a delicious champon."
"Champon..." 2x
The two gulped and held their stomachs, feeling hungry for some reason. While many were unfamiliar with this dish, it was a traditional dish from Nagasaki. It was a bowl of noodles with soup filled with a lot of vegetables. It was more like a Chinese dish instead of Japanese. Still, all of them were familiar with this dish since they had tasted it in the past.
"Warm soup, fresh vegetables, thick meat, and elastic noodles." He also felt that his mouth was watery. "Then, when we give it a splash of vinegar, ugh... I can already taste how good it is."
"Damn, don't say anymore!"
"Yeah, you make us hungry now!"
Everyone was also the same, and they were all looking at him with a grudge for saying such a thing. They felt their stomachs rumbling, thinking of such a delicious champon in the morning.
"Calm down. Calm down. At sunrise, we can stop at the shop later."
"How much longer is the sunrise?"
"An hour or so?"
"Oh."
They sighed in relief and felt that an hour or so wasn't that long for them, and they could wait. They had come so far to this beach in the middle of the night and arrived at dawn. What welcomed them wasn't the beautiful beach where the reflection of the moon and stars could be seen on the surface of the water, but a menacing and horrible beach, which wasn't much different from a horror movie.
If Shishio wasn't here, they were afraid they already wanted to go home.
However, since he was there, there was no need for them to be afraid, and they wanted to see the sunrise at the end of their summer vacation to erase this horrible experience before they went to the nearby restaurant to eat a bowl of warm champon.
Still, the number of fireworks wasn't unlimited, and they finished all of them before long.
By then, they had nothing to do.
The only light they had was coming from the nearby vending machine, but even so, it was quite far, so everything was pitch black, and they felt that they could see nothing but human eyes were adaptable, so soon, they were able to see their surroundings, but they had to say this place was scary.
They knew that they should talk, but somehow, there was no conversation between them, and they were all in silence. The only noise they could hear was the scratching sound from the pencil against the paper from Shiina.
It was dark and hard to see, yet Shiina continued to draw after she had played with the fireworks.
"Shishio, say something."
Everyone also looked at Shishio, waiting for him to say something.
Shishio looked at everyone, one by one, without missing a single one, wondering whether someone that shouldn't be would suddenly join this party. However, it seemed that such a supernatural thing wouldn't appear.
Honestly, the only supernatural thing that he experienced was when he was with Mai. It was a scary experience, and he hoped nothing like that would happen. Still, he was in silence for a while and wondering what to say. Even if he was good at talking, he wasn't in the mood to talk, especially on this type of occasion where everything was pitch dark.
He looked at the sea and could see nothing. The only thing that he could see was the movement of the waves, which were hardly similar to each other. The waves were relatively calm, and it was particularly quiet, giving an eerie kind of feeling.
"You know, I shouldn't say this, but don't you think our future is like this."
"Like this?"
"I mean, this pitch-black sea. I can't see what our future is like. As of now, while I can promise you not to make your life uncomfortable since I believe that I can become rich, marrying all of you is quite hard since I have to change the rules in this country for my selfishness. While some people might support me, some people will reject me since not like all of you, who can accept each other, many won't accept such a relationship."
"......."
They were silent. While they believed that he could become a mayor of Kyoto, or even the prime minister, allowing polygamy in this country wasn't so simple. It was tough, and he might need many years to do it. There was also an age limit if one wanted to enter politics too.
"While I repeatedly tell you that I will make sure that I can let you stand beside him on the altar with beautiful gowns, and a lot of people congratulate us, the reality isn't so simple after all. It's like this place now. It's pitch dark, and I am not sure what to do for a while."
They looked at him in silence since they thought he had always been able to do anything, but they knew he wasn't omnipotent.
"You know, I don't particularly care about marriage or whatever. I want to be with you. That's all," Ebina Hina said.
"Me too." Shiina was the same since she had never thought much about marriage or whatever. The only thing that she wanted was to be with him.
"I am the same." Unexpectedly, it was Saki, who followed, but unlike Ebina or Shiina, who just wanted to be with him, she knew her situation well, and she didn't think her status was suitable to become his legal wife. As of now, she only wanted to be with him.
However, the others were different since they wanted him to marry him, but they also understood that their wish might put him under pressure.
Still, he suddenly chuckled, which caused all of them to be stunned.
"I am not saying that it is impossible. I just need some time to do that. I am not giving up yet. You all have decided to stay with me, so I also have a certain determination to marry all of you, even if it's hard, but I hope you're going to prepare." He stood up and walked into the water. His shoes and the end of his pants were wet, but he ignored them and looked at everyone who was still in a daze.
"Being with me is like this. I might need a few years or even a decade, or we might not be able to do it at all to get married to each other, but I am ready for it but what about you? Even if you think that there might not be a future with me, do you still want to stay with me until that day?"
In this darkness, his figure was particularly visible, and they couldn't take their eyes away from him. They stood up and leaped into him, ignoring the cold water, hugging him tightly without letting him go.
"Don't underestimate us. I know you're a scumbag, but we have decided to be with you, so even if you die, we will follow you."
He looked at all of them and thought their feeling was almost burning him, yet why did he feel this was comfortable?
Then suddenly, the darkness was torn apart by the light.
They turned and saw the sun start to rise from the horizon. It was intense yet warm and calm. Yet it was also powerful enough to cut down the seed of doubt and darkness in their surroundings.
However, for some reason, they felt like the higher beings in heaven approved and blessed their relationship.
"Thank you. I won't let you down."
They smiled and hugged him tighter, but suddenly...
*Growl!*
"........"
"I am hungry. Should we eat?"
They laughed and thought that this might be the most unforgettable summer vacation in their lives.