UtaPri: Everlasting Gift

Brightness In The Night

"Okay, now the lyrics after the chorus should be a breeze now we've got the tune nailed down..."

I muttered to myself as I walked along the beach, scanning through the music sheets Makoto gave me. I was so focused that when a beach ball hit me, I was actually wondering why was I staggering.

"Eh...?"

"Ah Rei! Sorry 'bout that! Are you okay?"

Mr 'I'm-not-short!' Kurusu Syo ran up to me, with the gang behind trying to catch up to him. I went to get the ball and threw it straight at Syo's face, knocking him off his feet and went "Oof!" onto the sand. Oh, how satisfying.

"Now we're even."

"Rei where have you been? Earlier on that ice-cream stall was open and we all ate ice-cream!"

"Eh seriously?! Oh man, I was busy working on the song with Makoto just now."

"Already?! Can we see it?"

Feeling cheeky, I held the sheets out of Syo's reach and gave them my best smirk.

"Not if you beat me in a match of volleyball! What do you say, two on three?"

"...I'm not playing..."

"What Masa? That means only Rei, Syo, Natsuki and I are playing! Maybe we should play two on two."

"Isn't it supposed to be three on three in the first place? Let's invite two more people to join~ let's see~ Ah Jinguji-san! Want to join us in a volleyball match~?"

Bad move Natsuki! I silently screamed in my head as he approached us.

"Volleyball? Sure sounds good, but I think we're lacking one more person."

"How about we ask Ichinose-san over there to join us?"

Nobody noticed me giving frantic signals as soon as Haruka brought up that idea and the whole group went "Okay" with it. Are you guys serious?!

"Aizawa-kun? What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh I'll go put away the sheets."

"Okay then, we'll go borrow the net first!"

After putting away my things underneath a coconut tree, I ran back to see a volleyball court already in place with the participants waiting for me.

"There you are Rei! C'mon, we're about to draw lots!"

Otoya held out a bunch of straws from the drink stall nearby and when I pulled out the straw I looked at the tip. 

"Okay, so Aizawa-kun, Jinguji-san and Ittoki-kun will be in Team A while Syo-kun, Ichinose-san and Shinomiya-san will be in Team B! I, Shibuya Tomochika will be your referee for this match! Teams, get into positions!"

That was just like Tomochika, to elect herself as referee when nobody said anything about it. I took the right side with Ittoki on the left side and Jinguji at the back, and while the other team was still deciding their positions I gave Jinguji a glare.

"You better not bring us down Jinguji, or it'll be round two of punching you again."

"I got it, I got it, the same goes for you too Aizawa. Are you sure that fragile body of yours can handle the harshness of volleyball?"

"You're seriously asking me that? Worry about yourself more Jinguji, because after this you're getting a knucklesandwich."

"Guys, please stop arguing, the match's about to start."

I reluctantly kept quiet only because of Otoya and faced forward. Directly opposite me was Syo and I could see Ichinose at the back. Somehow, Tomochika got herself a whistle and a referee's chair from somewhere and Haruka who was sitting beside the chair underneath the parasol cheered us on.