CH. 20 - Beach Day!

Not long after that, spring break rolls around. Shiori and Hikigaya are in their rooms, hanging out, not doing much when their phones vibrate. Shiori looks at it and sees Chizuru messaged their group chat. 

‘I’m boredddd!’

‘What do you want to do, then?’ Lucy responds.

‘Are y'all busy??’

‘Not really. It’s spring break’ Hikigaya types.

‘Then let’s make plans! Tomorrow, meet at my place, get ready for a wet time!’

‘Wet..?’ Ryuji texts.

Shiori gets a look of slight surprise and excitement.

‘Beach?’ Shiori guesses.

‘Yes, sir!!’

Shiori smiles and gets up from her desk and rushes over to Hikigaya next door. She swings open the door and startles Hikigaya. She excitedly takes a seat on his bed as he watches her come in.

“You know, you should really knock. You never know what I could be doing.” He says with a playfully mischievous look. Shiori just rolls her eyes.

“So about tomorrow.”

“Excited are we?”

“Shut it.”

He smiles at her but does as told. Shiori inhales a bit and sits up, looking a little nervous and embarrassed.

“Look… I’ve never actually… gone to the beach before…” She looks down, slightly embarrassed, waiting for him to laugh at her, but when she looks up slowly, she just sees him looking at her intently, waiting for her next words. After a moment of silence, he nods.

“And..?”

“You’re not… gonna laugh at me?” She asks, surprised.

“Why would I laugh? Not like I’ve been either. It’s not exactly my cup of tea.” He cocks his head to the side and motions his hand matter-of-factly. She gets a slight look of surprise, but nods as well.

“I’ve never been so I’m not entirely sure what to do at the beach… And I wanted to try to make a move toward Ryuji since I’ll be…” She swallows nervously. “In a bikini and all…” She is blushing and embarrassed. Hikigaya gets a bit jealous seeing her like this for someone else, but starts screaming at himself in his head.

‘Stop feeling this way! Why do I even care? It’s fine.’ “Well, that should be easy enough. He may be a little weird, but he’s still a guy, after all. And your friend.” Hikigaya says, clearing his thoughts away. Shiori gets a conflicted look.

“It’s not just that though.. I really want to wear one… But at the same time I don’t. It’s just very frustrating.”

“Why don’t you want to?”

She looks at him and gets a little irritated.

“You don’t have to know, alright? I’m just conflicted and venting.”

He notices her sudden defensiveness and understands it must be something personal, so he pulls back from the question. He instead looks over at the corner of his bed and gets up to grab something. As Shiori follows him with her eye, she is suddenly hit in the face with a piece of clothing. 

“Hey! What was that for?! Huh?” She looks at it and realizes it’s his blue button-up shirt. She looks up at him, confused, while he sits back down in his chair. 

“I say go for it. Show off a little. Maybe he’ll notice how cute you are.” She blushes a bit at his comment and he notices. He starts blushing more, realizing what he just said. “I-in your swimsuit and all, ya know? Anyway, you can just wear that over yourself if you start feeling too exposed or something. Then take it off when you’re ready.”

Her eye lights up a bit at the perfect idea. She looks back down at the shirt and holds it a bit tighter. 

“Thanks.. Hikigaya.”

“It’s what friends are for.”

She nods, but then laughs a tiny bit. He looks at her, confused.

“What’s up?”

“There’s just one other problem… I don’t actually own a swimsuit.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Another voice says. They both look over, surprised to see Ace standing in the doorway. “I’m sorry. I was just walking by and heard you, so I thought I’d help. Come on, I’ll take you shopping. Give us a chance for some girl's time.” She winks at her. Shiori is stunned for a moment before agreeing. 

Ace drives them to a nice clothes store. Shiori has never been here before, so she looks around in awe. They come to the section where they’ll be spending most of their time. They look around for a bit and come to three last picks. Shiori tries them all on but can’t decide. 

“Ace, I can’t figure out which one I like the most. What do you think?” She holds up the options. Ace puts her hand on her chin and thinks intently. “Well, which one are you most comfortable in?”

“They all fit me well and I think they look good on me. But I don’t want to get all three…”

“Oh, well, don’t worry. I’m buying today so you just worry about looking your best.” She says casually as Shiori gets a shocked look.

“What?! No way, I can’t let you do that!”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. We’re pretty much family now. I’ll take care of you like I would Hiki.” Shiori wants to argue about it more, but Ace hushes her. “Back to the matter at hand. Hm…” She inspects them more before coming to a decision. “I say go with that one.” She points at the more normal one. It is black and red striped with white lacing around the top and bottom. It ties at the hips, back and neck. “We don’t want to go too extravagant for your first set, but be just cute enough.”

Shiori looks at it and nods happily. As they check out and leave, Shiori looks at Ace. She blushes a bit and gets a little embarrassed.

“Thank you… For today.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s the least I could do to pay you back.”

“For what?” Shiori looks confused. Ace smiles at her.

“For making my brother so happy.” She rubs Shiori’s head, and she smiles back.

Once they get home, Shiori hangs out in her room and looks in the mirror, holding the new swimsuit up to herself, smiling happily. She puts it down and sits on the edge of her bed before falling back on it.

‘My first beach day!’ She thinks with an excited look on her face.

As the next day comes, the group meets one by one at Chizuru’s house. They are all in casual warm weather clothes. Hikigaya and Shiori are the last ones to arrive. Chizuru waves to them as they walk up. 

“Alright! Everyone ready to have an amazing day?!” Chizuru asks excitedly. They all shout, Shiori and Sugawara, a bit more timid than the others. The day is warm with few clouds in the sky. A very light, cool breeze blowing through. A perfect day for the beach on this spring break.

Naturally, once they arrive, the beach is full of people. Hikigaya and Lucy sweat a bit out of disappointment. Haru comes out from behind them, almost knocking them over, yelling excitedly. 

“Come on, guys! We have to go find a good spot!”

“What’s the rush? Not like the ocean is going anywhere.” Lucy jokes, making Hikigaya laugh. They all follow him while he sporadically searches for a good spot. Eventually, he finds one not too far from the water, but not too far from the food stands and bathrooms.

He takes a dive into the spot to ensure no one would take it before him, burying under the stand a bit. Everyone is staring at him, confused as no one was even looking at the spot. Sugawara watches and sweats, embarrassedly. 

“You’re really crushing on this guy, huh?” Lucy asks with a smirk while leaning closer to Sugawara.

“Yeah…” He responds shyly. They make their way over to Haru and place their stuff down. 

“Alright! Since I’m in my shorts already, I’ll stay here while y'all go get changed!” He says, while taking his shirt off. Ryuji takes his shirt off as well as he too is in his shorts already. Shiori blushes intensely as she turns away to avoid staring. Lucy blushes a bit too. Hikigaya and Haru roll their eyes.

‘Of course they would.’ They both think at the same time.

After the group has left to go change, Lucy is the first one out. She is in board shorts with a bikini top that straps a few times over her chest. She stretches her arms across her chest. 

“Ah~ that’s more like it on a day like this.” She puts her hands on her hips while Hikigaya follows out.

“That was fast.” He says to her as she smirks with a thumbs up. He is in shorts with a different button-up shirt that is more colorful. Lucy’s eyes widen a bit as she blushes, which makes Hikigaya turn around as well only to blush too. Chizuru comes out in a bikini which they did not expect from her, however she too is wearing a beach shirt. She’s blushing from embarrassment a bit.

“W-what do you guys think? I look silly, don’t I?” She asks with a shy, blushy smile.

“Not at all.” Hikigaya says.

“Yeah, you look great! Where did you get that shirt?” Lucy asks.

“Oh! It’s Hiki’s. He let me borrow it for the day since I had none for the occasion, hehe!” She sticks her tongue out and bonks her head a bit, as if to imply she’s silly.

“Ah, that makes sense. Anyway, come on, let’s go!” She says with a smile. The two of them head back to the others while Hikigaya stays. 

“Um, Hikigaya?..” He is surprised a bit and turns back around to the changing room's entrance. He sees Sugawara peeking his head around the corner a bit.

“You okay?”

“Yeah… I’m just a little… embarrassed.” Sugawara says shyly. Hikigaya chuckles a bit as he approaches him.

“Heh, you guys really aren’t used to showing off skin. Here, take this.”

He takes off his shirt and hands it to Sugawara. He looks surprised.

“You sure? You don’t want it?”

“Nah, I’m okay with my body. It was just to look cool, but don’t tell anyone that.” He smiles at Sugawara and puts a finger to his lips. Sugawara smiles back and puts the shirt on. Hikigaya notices him in short swim shorts and a bando around his chest. Sugawara buttons up the shirt, that is clearly too big on him, to about halfway up his chest. Sugawara smiles at Hikigaya again and heads to the group. Hikigaya smiles back, then goes to lean against the outside wall of the changing rooms, letting out a sigh.

“Man, I’m gonna lose all my shirts at this rate. Tss! Ah hot!” He exclaims, hopping off the hot wall from the sun. He rubs his back in a bit of pain. As he does this, someone slowly walks out from the changing rooms. He stops and stares with a slight blush on his cheeks. Shiori stands there, obviously embarrassed, and holds her arm over her stomach. She is in the swimsuit Ace had picked the day before and the shirt Hikigaya gave her buttoned up to the second to last one from the top. She notices him staring and gets even more embarrassed, blushing harder. 

“Stop staring, you’re being creepy…” She says softly while looking to the side, obviously not actually offended by his gaze.

“Oh! Yeah, sorry…” He rubs the back of his head, embarrassed as well. They head back over to the rest of the group, who are already getting to their activities. Haru, Sugawara and Ryuji are building a sand castle while Chizuru and Lucy sit in the warm sun on their towels. 

“Took you guys long enough.” Lucy teases.

“Yeah, sorry..” Shiori says.

“Eh, come on. We’re at the beach! Relax! Let’s have a good day.” Lucy says, throwing her arms up. Shiori shakes her head slightly and smiles back.

“Yeah.”

Throughout the day, they do many activities. From sand castle building to flag racing to burying Hikigaya against his will. Shiori watches Ryuji as he smiles and buries the struggling Hikigaya. 

‘Now’s my chance. I have to try!’ She thinks. She crouches down next to him shyly and starts putting sand on Hikigaya’s feet that are sticking out while Ryuji works on his shoulders.

“Y-you like building things in the sand, Ryuji?” She asks awkwardly. He looks at her, a bit surprised by her question, but looks back to Hikigaya after a moment. 

“Yeah, I don’t mind the sand too much. And it’s fun to build things with it.”

“Haha, me too! Maybe we could build a huge castle together?”

“Sure, that’d be- Oh-” He looks past her to see Lucy getting up and heading to the concession stand after laughing with Sugawara for a moment. He nods at Shiori as if that's a proper way to end the conversation, then gets up and immediately follows her. Shiori watches him approach her, smiling back at him and nodding. She gets a pouty look on her face.

“Well, that certainly could have gone smoother.” Hikigaya says from the sand, witnessing the whole thing. She gets angry and slaps some sand in his helpless face.

“Shut it!”

Ryuji and Lucy come back with some drinks in a bag for everyone. They all come in on the towels and a few of them under the large umbrella they set up. Ryuji hands Shiori a can of juice.

“Thank you.” She says, blushing a bit. He nods and sits next to her while taking a sip of his juice. She looks down at it and then gets an idea.

“Uh, Ryuji?”

“Hm?” He looks at her with the can still pressed to his lips. 

“Could you help me open the can? I’m kinda having trouble..” She smiles shakily and blushes from embarrassment. ‘This is so embarrassing! Who has trouble opening a can of juice?! But, anything to get closer to him.’ She thinks. He nods and reaches for her can before Haru interrupts.

“What’s that? You’re having trouble! Not to worry! I am here!” He shouts proudly while taking the can from her hand and opening it for her. Shiori gets a shocked look, and the color drains from her while Hikigaya tries to hold back a laugh, almost spilling his drink.

“Here you are, Shiori. One open can of juice!” He holds the can to her, and she takes it.

“Th-thanks..” She says, slightly irritated. Chizuru and Sugawara shout his name through gritted teeth before yanking him back. After they’ve had their drinks and lie around a bit, they decide it's time for the main course. To have fun in the clear water of the beach. Haru jumps up with excitement as Lucy follows suit. Hikigaya stands up while Ryuji begins to step forward. He stops only a few steps out cause he notices Sugawara hesitating. He stares at Sugawara with a blank look for a moment before speaking.

“You’re embarrassed.”

“Yeah, thanks for noticing!” Sugawara shouts, irritated, before sighing and pulling his knees to his chest.

“I’m just… I’m not like you guys. You, Haru, Hikigaya. You’re all so big and masculine.. I’m not… What if… Haru doesn’t like my body?” Sugawara says softly. Ryuji stares for a moment before turning to see Haru jumping around in the water, splashing Lucy a bit. Sugawara stares at the ground before a hand reaches out in front of him, offering him to take it. He looks up at Ryuji, who is smiling softly at him. 

“Come on. Haru isn’t the type to care about stuff like that.”

Sugawara blushes and his eyes shine. He nods a bit before getting to his feet. He shakily grabs the buttons on the shirt and slowly takes it off, dropping it on the towel. Ryuji, still holding his hand, leads him to the water where the others are currently. Haru looks over and blushes, seeing Sugawara all embarrassed.

“Sugawara… You’re… So cute!” He splashes over to him and hugs him tightly. Sugawara is blushing and steaming from the hug while Ryuji smiles and stands next to Lucy.

“Good job. Never seen you do that before.” Lucy says, as he shrugs and smiles at her. They turn to the beach where the others still are.

“Come on, guys! Waiting on you!” Lucy shouts.

“Yeah, the water is great!” Haru shouts too.

“Yeah, coming!” Shiori shouts back happily and looks at Hikigaya, who is also excited for the water. She takes a couple of steps forward with a smile on her face before stopping and realizing something. Shiori looks down at herself, seeing the shirt she’s still wearing. She stares at it as she grabs the ends up it, hands shaking ever so slightly. She lowers her head as strong emotions of sadness, jealousy, frustration begin to well in her chest.

Her eye begins to get watery as she wants to cry, frustrated by something she hasn’t made clear yet. Hikigaya stops and notices her hesitation. He looks for a moment and steps back to her. He doesn’t say anything immediately but right before he can, his thoughts are interrupted by Chizuru speaking out loud. 

“Well, if we’re going in the water, I guess I gotta take mine off, too.”

As soon as she says that, she takes her shirt off and tosses it on her towel. Shiori looks over and her eye grows wide. As Chizuru rushes by, she sees a large scar across Chizuru’s chest going from below her left shoulder to right below the middle of her chest, above where her heart is. She runs out into the water and is met with joy and cheers while getting splashed with water by her friends. She turns back to them with a happy smile on her face.

“Well?” She calls out. Shiori still stares with awe before Hikigaya reaches out his hand.

“It’s just us now, you ready?”

She looks at his hand and nods slightly. She begins to take off the shirt he lent her. As she does, Hikigaya’s eyes widen. He sees scars across her body. A couple on her hip, a short one over her shoulder, one across her arm and one down the lower side of her tummy, but the ones that catch his eye the most are the three across her side.

He thinks back and remembers the fight with the Beast at Holden Manor and the moment it slashed her with its claws. He looks at her with a bit of sadness on his face, now understanding why Shiori hesitated.

‘I could have prevented that…’ He thinks with a regretful tone. She takes his hand gently, and he smiles, shaking off his thoughts. He leads her out to the water and, of course, the others pause for a moment, noticing her scars. This makes Shiori self conscious before Lucy speaks up.

“Wow, I knew you were thin, but I didn’t know you were so fit.”

“Yeah! Get it Shiori! Looking good~!” Haru hypes her up, which makes her blush and a bit more confident in herself. Hikigaya continues to lead her into the water until about hip depth. As they went, Shiori was looking down into the water, trying to avoid eye contact, and didn’t realize Hikigaya was leading her next to Ryuji. Once there, he lets her go, and she blushes intensely. Ryuji looks at her and smiles.

“You look great.” He says warmly. 

“Thanks..”

Hikigaya smiles while watching them, but gets a bit sad. Before he can sink too low though, Haru splashes him with water. 

“C’mon guys! Let’s have fun!” He shouts while splashing water into the air. They splash around and dive under the water a bit. At some point, Haru put Sugawara on his shoulders while Lucy did the same to Chizuru. They struggle to push the other off until eventually Sugawara does, tossing Chizuru and Lucy into the water. Haru and Sugawara laugh victoriously while Chizuru and Lucy giggle to themselves, the others laughing at the sight. 

After some time in the water, the sun begins to lower, so they decide to call it and head out to dry. They decide to hangout for a bit more and snack before heading back home. Hikigaya buys two snow cones and begins to head back but is met by Shiori coming up to him at the stand. She gives him a soft look and smile.

“I wanted to thank you, for everything today. I don’t think I would’ve been able to do anything on my own if it wasn’t for you.” She says with a warm look.

“I’m glad I could help.” He says back with a genuine smile. She nods and gets an excited look.

“Yeah, you definitely did. As a matter of fact, I was gonna get icecream for Ryuji and I to share right now. Things have gone pretty well so far, maybe if I-”

As she talks about her plan, she turns to look back at the group only to see Lucy sitting down next to him with some icecream in a cup in hand already. Ryuji smiles at her as she takes a spoonful and lifts it to his mouth, happily feeding him some icecream. Shiori’s smile slightly fades a bit, and she looks down. Despite what she sees, a slight smile is still on her face.

“Heh… Who am I kidding? He’s never gonna notice me over her..” She says with a sad smile on her face. Hikigaya looks at them for a moment before looking back at Shiori.

“He seemed to have noticed you plenty today, right? Besides, it’s only been one day. It’ll work out eventually if you keep trying. For now,” He lifts one of the snow cones he has towards her. “Just enjoy the things you can. You had a good day. Don’t let this ruin it.” 

She looks at it, surprised for a moment, before taking it. She licks at the flavored shaved ice gently, still slightly troubled by her thoughts, but that quickly goes away.

“It’s my favorite flavor… How did you know?” She asks, genuinely surprised.

“Eh. You seem like a yellow watermelon type of girl.” He responds casually and smiles at her, she smiles back at him. They all sit together, eating their snacks. Chizuru takes a big bite out of some icecream, which gives her a brain freeze. Haru laughs at her while he and Sugawara enjoy some churros. Sugawara has three in hand, while Haru only has one. Shiori looks around and smiles to herself, happy at the great day she had with her friends.

After they had their fill, they take the train back home. Shiori falls asleep on Hikigaya’s shoulder as Hikigaya dozes off, too. Chizuru sleeps on Lucy’s shoulder while the others stay awake. Lucy nudges Ryuji a bit and giggles, looking at Hikigaya and Shiori. 

“Today was a good day.” Sugawara says happily while blushing with joy.

“I’m glad.” Haru smiles widely at him. Lucy looks at them, then back at Shiori. She stares for a moment before whispering to Ryuji.

“So you really think it’s her?”

“I’m pretty confident. Hikigaya has never gotten along with anyone so quickly before. That has to mean something.” Ryuji responds.

“True. Well, if she is, I hope things keep going as well as they are.” She says with a warm smile as she watches her two friends snuggle up to each other ever so slightly.