"Last time I saw him was around here." Ryugi pulled them into the busy part of the beach. This was where most of their classmates were enjoying the usual activities at a setting like this.
"This wasn't just your dumb trick to get me away from what I really want to do, right?" Ishi was suspicious of her plans. She was always one to try and annoy him. Probably due to their odd relationship, she really went out of her way to get him. He always chalked it up as him being that kind of guy that would get the most effect for a trickster.
"I'm being serious." She responded. "That kid was around here with some other girl." When she made that commented, he already knew who Ryugi was talking about. "What was that girl's name?"
"It was Seyuki Oizumi." He answered. "She played Juliet in the play."
"Ah, I see." She snapped her fingers. "Then, I guess your younger cousin's has more game than you. He's already got himself a girlfriend first."
"I doubt that." It wasn't that Ishi was jealous of that relationship. But rather, it seemed that Koto was apprehensive towards that girl for a multitude of reasons. Most of them, he thought were rather silly and stupid. "He's probably in some trouble, and he's going to be in more of it if I don't give him some sunscreen."
"Sheesh, aren't you a stick in the sand." She replied disappointed that even at a leisurely day at the beach, he was still thinking hard. "Come on and loosen up a bit, it won't kill you."
"I don't know what's up with you lately." He was irritated just being here. "But I don't need to be spending any time with you at all. So why do you want to?"
"Hmpf." She giggled, putting on numerous exaggerated movements as she made her explanation. "Maybe I'm just jealous of Rinse and want you all to myself."
"Real funny." He sarcastically replied. Ishi looked at this girl unimpressed with her joke. "Now if you excuse me, I need to look for Koto."
"Ishi! Ishi!" Or his cousin could come find him instead. "I need your help." He seemed to be afraid for his life as he hid behind his older cousin. This was a pitiful sight, seeing as he was much too old to be doing this.
"Aw, is your girlfriend giving you trouble?" Ryugi gleefully teased the boy.
"She's not my girlfriend." This was precisely why he didn't want to be stuck with that girl all day. People would start to get the wrong idea about them. Which was a problem since he still had the delusion of somehow wooing Rinse. Obviously that would be impossible if she thought he wasn't single.
"Hey, it's Koto's cousin." When Seyuki made her appearance, Koto retreated behind Ishi, so that he was out of sight. "Ishi, right?"
"Right. And I'm guessing that you're looking for him."
"He ran off somewhere." She told them with disappointment in her voice. "I only wanted to make some sandcastles with him." That sounded like some innocent fun for the pair. Apparently way too innocent for the younger boy. "He looked like he would love to do that."
"Only kids make sandcastles!" He yelled out from behind Ishi, blowing his cover.
"And you're even dumber than a kid." Ishi scolded him as the boy revealed himself gingerly from behind. "Now stop being so stupid and go play with her."
"But Ishi…"
"You're being disrespectful." He cut him off by pinching the boys cheeks. "Just try to enjoy the beach with your friend, don't worry about other pointless stuff for now." The one thing that Ishi wished he could've beaten out of his cousin would be his desire to go out with Rinse. It was one thing with Otoya, at least they were all classmates. With this young boy, it was practically impossible given her position. Plus, he already had what seemed to be a nice girl.
"Okay…" Koto relented and was relieved of the pain of getting his cheeks pinched. "Come on, let's go Seyuki."
"Yay!" She cheered as he walked up to her.
"Oh, by the way." Ishi grabbed their attention before leaving and tossed Seyuki a bottle of sunscreen. "Can you make sure he gets that on before he gets a sunburn?"
"I'd love to!" Her eyes lit up as she grabbed her friend and dragged him away from Ishi and Ryugi.
"Guess that's all taken care of." He was prepared to return to Youna, but the gyaru took his arm.
"Shouldn't you take your own advice?" She turned around what he told Koto around on him. "Come on, just have a little fun with a beautiful girl like me." He rolled his eyes from her forward nature. This girl was really good at getting on his nerves more than anyone else.
"You win this time." He relented to her, as this could be interesting. Unfortunately it was off to a bad start when she went to introduce him to her friends. Ishi wasn't a fan of gyarus, as they cared heavily on their image and usually wore clothes that he didn't care for.
"Hey girls look, I got Ishi to come hang out with me." For whatever reason, she continued to show him off like he was a trophy of some kind. Perhaps it was because of his reputation that made it seem like she was able to get through his hard exterior.
"Wow." One of them seemed impressed. Her name was Nayaka Matsuo. Their names were unlikely to be remembered by him, but one could never tell how many times he was going to see them. "I guess you really have the most charm."
"Is it true that you kissed her at the bonfire?" Asked another one whose name was Non Yamamori. It seemed that she had bragged about that to her friends. Given how much they gossiped among the school. Ishi had to wonder how far that news had spread.
"She wasn't the only one." He answered, which caused Ryugi to respond in a rather anxious fashion. So it seemed that she had also twisted the truth about the event as well. "There were three others for some reason." That part of the night was still weird for him to think. The boy blamed it on Rinse for making everyone else feel like they shouldn't miss out on a such a supposedly important moment at their final culture festival.
"Wow, so you're like a real pig." The third and final friend, who was a lot harsher than the others spoke. Her name was Ritsuko Shono. Among the four of them, she was clearly the mean one. "Treacherous leech, go die."
"Ritsuko, it's no big deal." Ryugi went to calm the girl. "He's just the type of boy who can't say no."
"I know how to say no." He wasn't sure what she was up to with all this business today. All he knew was that he was missing out on a perfectly good time with Youna with lazing about under the sun. "Anyway, what's the point of all this? You want me to hang out with your friends?"
"Ah, I bet she just wants you all alone." Nayaka teased her own friend. This time, it was Ryugi's turn to get a little embarrassed about things.
"Come on now girls, you know it's not like that." She tried to brush it off. "It's Ishi we're talking about. He's rude, doesn't care about girls, and totally so lame."
"I hope you didn't bring me along just to insult me." Chinae already did that to him, so he'd rather not double that trouble. "So if you don't need me, I got a nice spot besides Youna that's calling my name."
"Wait." Ryugi once again, took his arm as he attempted to make his exit. "I was just messing with you, don't leave yet."
"Yeah, we're slowing you two down. So we'll just leave you alone." Said Non. With that, the trio of gyarus walked off and left them. That was odd to him. It felt like they all changed their attitudes in an instant.
"So come on Ishi, let's find something to do on the beach." She encouraged him to move alongside her on the hot sand. This girl had a plan for him and he intended to find out what it was that had her so interested in him lately.