"Please don't leave me…" Those were the first words heard by Rinse as something other than darkness began to fill her vision. As she began to regain her consciousness, the girl coughed up the water inside her throat painfully as she gasped for air.
"Wh-what… Happened?" She spoke, still in a daze from her near-death experience. There were dozens, probably all of their classmates, surrounding her. Every single one of them had a worried expression on their face as she slowly sat up. The girl person before her was Ishi, who for the first time to her, looked like he was really relieved.
"You really scared us there when you wiped out." Otoya was the one to explain the story to her. When she went under, people at first thought it was a nasty wipe out, but that she'd be getting up soon enough. However, that proved not to be the case after about five to ten seconds of waiting. It was at that moment of realization when Ishi knew for a fact that something was wrong and dived into the water towards her. "It's honestly crazy how fast he was. We'd win more games if he would put that much effort when we're in physical education."
"I can't believe you're really cracking a joke at a time like this." Ishi scolded him.
"I guess it's just my way of trying to calm all of us down." Out of everyone, Otoya was certainly the one who was the most scared about the ordeal.
"Anyway, I guess that means it's my turn to explain what happened next." Ishi picked up the story where it was dropped off. Once he was in the waters, the boy quickly made his way to where they saw her get washed over and dived down to look for her. It wasn't easy because she had sunk to some rather deep depths, a fact that massively worried him as he grabbed her by the arm and worked his way back up to the surface.
Fortunately by then, he was aided by some other boys who jumped in to help out as they swam back to shore. Time was of the essence when he noted that she wasn't breathing. "You're lucky I know CPR." His parents had made him take the course, which wasn't something that the boy wanted to do. At that point, he assumed that he would never even go anywhere that had water deep enough to harm anyone. Thankfully he did pay attention in class and was able to resuscitate her.
"Are you feeling all right?" Somebody in the crowd asked.
"Yeah, I can take you from the hospital if you'd-" Ishi offered a hand to her, which earned him a slap on the wrist.
"No!" She yelled back at him, feeling frustrated with herself. "I mean… I'm sorry for making everyone worried." Rinse couldn't even bear to turn her head up to address the crowd. To her, she had broken a cardinal rule she kept for herself ever since becoming an idol. To never make people's faces turn to sorrow. "I really ruined the fun today." Quietly, she got up and walked away from her classmates.
Normally, someone would want to speak up to stop her. She was clearly in despair, but the mood and energy she gave off was like a force field preventing anyone from stepping towards her.
"Rinse…" Ishi murmured to himself as he looked at the hand she slapped away.
After this tense and awkward moment, the student did their best to try and return things back to normal. Ryugi had slaved over the hot grill to make their food, so it would be disrespectful to not eat it. So everyone headed to the tables, rather quietly, to pick up some paper plates and place on some good barbecue to enjoy on a warm beach.
Ishi was the last one to take a plate. In fact, he took two and filled them to the brim with ribs, pork chops, and grilled veggies.
"Wow, I didn't realize you had a huge appetite." Chiana commented. While she attempted to maintain an upbeat attitude, even her persona was aware to keep things toned down due of the atmosphere. It was either that, or Chiane was really shook up about the ordeal. Fake or not, she certainly cared about someone that was a good friend.
"Only one of them is for me." He replied. "I know that Rinse hasn't left the beach yet, so it would be a shame to leave her out on the dinner."
"Ah, that's a wonderful idea." Said Chiana. "Then I should come along and we can… Share a… Feast?" Her words slowed down as he simply walked away from her without responding to anything she said.
"Sorry." Finally he paused and spoke up. It seemed as though he was deep in thought about something important. "I think it's best if it's just me. Don't worry, I promise I'll bring her back so everyone can feel a little better."
That was his plan as he walked towards the direction that they saw Rinse head to. Considering the large rocks that covered a subsection of the beach, as well as assuming she actually did stay on the beach, then it was likely she was sitting alone there.
However, as he was about to head around the structure to see if she was there, a few boys stopped him.
"Where do you think you're going?" One of them asked. It was obvious what their intentions were as he scanned the expressions on their faces.
"I'm going to find Rinse." Ishi answered, not scared of this clear intimidation tactic. "Nothing wrong with consoling a friend, is there?"
"We're pretty sure we know what you're actually up to." Another one of them said. To them, along with a lot of other students at school, he was someone that appeared to be trying to take advantage of the idol. People had their suspicions from their oddly close relationship that he might be doing something to her, as if tricking the girl to fall for him.
In this case it seemed a little more clear. He dove into the water to save her from drowning, basically becoming her hero. Then, when she was still shaken up by the experience, be the one next to her all alone on the beach. "Plus, you even gave her mouth-to-mouth." That last point was something which drew mixed feelings for everyone, as well as shocked them when he placed his lips on hers.
"Heh, that's really funny." Ishi couldn't help but give a small laugh to their description of events. "You guys really give me way too much credit here, but thanks for assuming my IQ is leagues above you're own." His words of harshness suddenly turned to words of something much worse after that last sentence. "You know, I really hate that she's an idol sometimes."
"Uh…" His last statement struck fear into their very souls.
"It's already annoying enough to have to deal with everyone showing up wanting to talk to her during school. Especially because she had the gall to sit next to me." He began to go on a rant. "Not to mention that people are always wanting to be close with her like they have a real chance. It's honestly really pitiful." At this very moment, it seemed that he had been pushed beyond his limits of tolerating his classmates attitudes. While he certainly never hid his displeasure, at least the boy was able to manage himself about these issues.
However, during a time like this, he was very upset with them. "Worst of all, I get really tired of having to hear about people saying how talented she is at singing." Not that he was jealous of her about it. If anything, he felt bad for her and hoped that his hints over the past couple of months were enough. Clearly, that wasn't the case or else none of them would be in this situation. "Why does everyone keep forgetting that she's also just a normal girl like the rest of us? We keep putting all these expectations on her. Why else do you think that she's not feeling well right now?"
"…" It seemed that he had given them enough of a lecture. The boys who were initially complaining about his actions had now apologized with their heads hung down in shame. They then left Ishi to allow him to follow through on his plan. He took a moment to collect himself, since his mood had taken a swing and it would be a bad idea to see her if he was still a little irritated.
"Finally." He took one big sigh to relax and began to walk towards the rocky area. However, his trip didn't last long as Rinse showed herself from around the corner.
"H-hi." She quietly greeted him.