The Songs in Our Hearts Book One: Reaching Out

Chapter Five: The Last Day on the Beach

Sora and his friends stepped back to admire the finished product. This raft was finally done; everything was secure. All they needed to do now was prepare for the journey. The spiky-haired teen could not wait to see what was beyond their ocean. By tomorrow, the three of them would be on their way.

"Hey, Sora," Riku called for his attention. He hummed in response. "Our raft still needs a name," the silver-haired youth pointed out.

Sora's fist lightly fell against his palm as he gasped, "Oh yeah!" There was a bright smile on his face as he came up with the perfect name for the raft.

"How about Highwind?" Riku suggested, turning to walk to the cove's exit.

"I like it," Kairi chimed in, looking up from the charm she was making. Sora glanced off to the side when Kairi spoke, and the grin that had been on his face was replaced with a slight pout. Kairi then asked, "What would you call it, Sora?" which startled the brunette for a moment.

Turning his head to Kairi, he teased, "I won't say it yet." Kairi rolled her eyes and laughed.

"You two might want to catch up," Riku called to them. The fifteen-year-old was already at the bridge leading to the exit. As Sora and Kairi made their way over, Riku pulled Sora to the side and started to ask, "Hey, how 'bout—"

"The usual?" Sora finished his question, already knowing what Riku was going to say.

"Let's do it!" Riku cheered, making his way to the starting point. Determined to beat Riku this time, Sora followed and got ready to run.

"You guys at it again?" Kairi joked, rolling her pale blue eyes. "All right, I'll be the judge."

The track was pretty straightforward: cross the bridge, or the beach if one was to fall, then up a tower and down a zipline, and then it was a fairly straight run to the star-shaped tree on the other side. All they had to do was tag that tree and make it back to the exit. Sora planned out the route he would be taking.

"If I win, I'm captain," Sora declared, already imagining himself as the trio's leader. "And if you win..." There was a short pause as Sora tried to think of Riku's prize.

"I get to share the paopu with Kairi." Riku's statement caught Sora off guard.

"Huh?" he asked, his face already heating up.

"Deal? The winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi," he clarified, turning to look at Sora. Sora could see a smirk growing on his friend's face.

"Wha... wait a minute!" Sora cried, trying to get Riku to change the prize. Now I really have to beat him, he thought. He couldn't let Riku share a paopu with Kairi.

"Okay. On my count!" the girl announced as she brought her arm up. "Three, two, one, go!" As her arm came down, the boys took off.

Sora jumped onto the bridge and was careful to avoid stepping on that loose board that was there. He was just barely ahead of Riku, and his only chance of keeping it that way for the rest of the race was the zipline. With a sudden burst of speed, Sora ran to the ladder of the tower with the zipline, and Riku – without much of a choice – took the lower path.

Grabbing onto the handle, Sora swung down to the base of the small ledge the tree was on. He was far ahead of Riku at this point, but he knew that the silver-haired teen would catch up. Without another moment wasted, Sora sprinted up the ramp and tagged the tree. Now all that was left was to jump across the tree tops and make his way back to Kairi. Bouncing from on tree to another wasn't Sora's best feat, and because of this, Riku started catching up too.

After stumbling on the tree tops, Sora and Riku were back on the platforms, running to get to Kairi. Sora was just behind Riku. If I just make this jump, I'll be in the lead, Sora thought eagerly. As his shoe hit the wooden platform, a board gave way beneath him. A yelp left his mouth as he grabbed the edge of the bridge he was suppose to land on.