𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒; 𝐈𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐢 𝐘𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢

03. SEAWEED

THE BEACH

"WOOO HOO!" Bachira whooped as he carelessly threw his shirt onto the sand, stampeding into the ocean without a second thought. He jumped right in, paying no mind to how cold the water was.

"Meg, wait up!" You weren't far behind, stripping your sweatpants and tank top on your beach towel and nearly tripping over your flip flops as you stumbled after Bachira in nothing but your two-piece, right into the sea along with him. You squealed as the cold water hit your skin.

"They're like two children." Nagi sighed, squeezing more sunscreen onto his palm as he observed the two of you flail around. "It's too cold to go in the water... the sun isn't even out yet."

"Tell me about it." Isagi laughed, watching as his two best friends galavanted through the waves, splashing each other in the process. It was hilarious to watch.

Today, Bachira decided it was nigh time that they all went on a beach trip together. He knocked on each of their doors at the crack of dawn, shoved them into his minivan, and then drove an hour to the nearest shore so they'd arrive before everyone else did.

The gang consisted of You, Bachira, Isagi, Chigiri, Nagi, Reo, Kunigami, and Barou. Don't ask how they all fit into the car for an hour-long trip. It took a lot of grit, tears, and a pit stop at starbucks to get here.

"Ugh, your beach towels are nasty." Barou rolled his eyes, unveiling his large picnic blanket. It was pristine, per Barou's typical fashion.

"Get used to it, we're surrounded by sand, King." Reo quipped, tying his lavender hair up into a mini ponytail.

"I'll make the sand obey me." He muttered.

Chigiri walked up and set his beach towel on the ground beside Isagi's, sitting down on his left. He sent him a smile. Then, he asked as loud as humanly possible: "So, when are you asking out Y/n?"

Kunigami snorted as Isagi quickly manhandled Chigiri to keep his mouth shut. He hurriedly looked over to the ocean, where you and Bachira were already nearing the buoy far off in the distance. You were definitely too far away.

"Wow, could you have been any louder, Chigiri?" Isagi glared.

"Sorry!" He laughed. "Well, are you? We're all dying to know... college is right around the corner."

"I... don't know. If I ask her out, and she says no," He sighed, "I'll lose half of my life. It's like if you took friggan' football away from me."

"And if she says yes?" Reo smiled, crawling over to sling an arm around Isagi. "You'll have your other half forever, right?"

"Like a constant football session." Nagi dumbly pitched in. Reo laughed out loud.

"No, she's more than football, actually." Isagi sighed. He really thought about it... if he lost football, he'd still have an amazing best friend. But if he lost her, he'd only have football. Weird analogy. "But either way, I don't want to risk it."

"Your odds are good, Isagi." Kunigami spoke, knocking the boy on his head. "Unless she's a manipulative and heartless monster, I have no doubt in my mind that she'll accept."

"Ah— hey, why are we talking about this?"

"Because, we can't stand seeing you looking like a lost puppy all the time." Chigiri joked, nudging him in the side. "Seriously, when you're staring at her, it's like all thoughts leave your brain, man."

"What?! Do I really?"

"Yes!" They all replied.

"Also, I have three thousand yen on your relationship." Nagi admitted.

"Huh?!"

Chigiri laughed. "Yeah, that too."

"Guys!" Bachira called out with a smile on his face, waving his arms towards the ocean. "Come
in! The water's fine!"

"No way in hell i'm swimming now. You guys go on, I'm getting a tan in." Kunigami yawned, sitting down on his beach towel and removing his over shirt.

"Yeah, we'll swim in a bit." Reo nodded, speaking for himself and Nagi. Barou didn't look so interested, anyway. He was already reading a book on his picnic blanket.

Isagi and Chigiri glanced at each other with determined grins, now fumbling to take off their shirts and hit the water to join the other two. Isagi tried his hardest not to pay attention to the cold ocean water that rubbed against his torso. Isagi never really liked the ocean, mainly because of how freezing it could be.

Suddenly, a splash of water hit Isagi's face out of the blue. He sputtered, wiping his eyes to regain his vision, only to see you standing there with a mischievous grin. Your hair was up in a low bun, your jewelry all mangled around your neck because of your roughness.

"Like old times, Yoichi!"

"Oh, you're on!"

Isagi sent a whole ass tsunami your way by using both his arms to create a wave, completely drenching your frame. You quickly retaliated and slammed your fists into the rocky water, laughing as the two of you went back and forth splashing and thrashing about.

This reminded you of your time in the Caribbean on vacation. Each year, your family and Isagi's would go together and stay at your grandparents house on the islands for an entire two weeks. Ever since you've been young, you and Isagi never stopped playing on the beach, whether it be constructing sandcastles or crashing in the water.

"Aww they're so cute." Bachira mumbled to Chigiri as the two watched them from the sidelines. He tapped the red head on the shoulder, leaning in to whisper.  "Want to spice things up a bit?"

You were laughing and trying to somehow dodge Isagi's relentless splash attacks when you felt something. Something weird and ticklish that caressed the bottom of your foot. At first, you thought it was some sort of seaweed that you trampled over— but then it grabbed your leg.

You yelped, shaking your feet like crazy while trying to shove off whatever had your leg in its grasp. Once you felt the same feeling again, you bulleted over to Isagi.

"Help! Omg help, help, help!" You squeal, jumping to wrap your arms around his neck and lift yourself out of the water. Your knees were tucked into your stomach, trying your best to avoid placing your legs back into the water. Isagi stumbled, eventually finding a grip beneath your knees and around your waist.

"What?" He asked, praying that his evident blush wasn't something you were focused on.

"Something grabbed my foot!" You cried, grabbing onto Isagi tighter as if your life depended on it. "It was slimy and weird and—

Bachira popped out of the water, a stupid expression on his face as he began to point and laugh.

"Bachira?!" You gaped. "You asshole!"

The boy only winked at Isagi before submerging in the water once more.

It was all a blur to Isagi, the only thing he could clearly see was your arms wrapped around him, your torso pressed against his, and your pissed-off face that was throwing insults at Bachira. Damn.