I had a lot of fun on the banana boat, though it’d been a little hard to concentrate… After that, we used bodyboards to play in the water, raced each other on the beach, and generally had a lot of childish, innocent fun. Ai and Sousuke easily won the races, leaving Kaoru and me breathless and panting after every round. I was thoroughly reminded of the importance of daily exercise.
Time flew by so quickly, it was evening before we knew it.
“We should probably change and start heading back,” Sousuke said. Though reluctant to leave, we all nodded.
“There’s so much sand in my swimsuit! I’m all itchy!” Ai announced, prompting both Sousuke and me to fall silent.
I heard Kaoru mutter, “Perverts,” softly, but this time I was certain Ai was at fault.
We went to go shower and change. Since the girls said they had sand in their swimsuits, I figured they’d take a bit longer.
Once I was back in my regular clothes, I grabbed my bag and left the changing room.
The restaurant had been crowded during the day, but now it was empty. Sousuke was already sitting in the tatami room when I got there.
“Oh, there you are! This one’s my treat,” he said, handing me a bottle of ramune.
“Thanks.”
I peeled off the seal, placed the plastic cap on the top, then pushed it down firmly. The bottle made a fizzing sound as the marble rolled inside.
“I already knew this, but…” Sousuke gazed out at the sun setting on the horizon. “Mizuno…really likes you, Yuzuru.” He had a calm expression on his face. “And now that I’ve seen how open she is about it, I think I should probably give up.”
“Hey, that’s not necessarily true. Maybe things will change if you go all out. You’re a good guy, Sousuke.”
He gave me a sidelong glance and snorted. “You seem pretty confident. You really okay with me stealing her away from you?”
“Not exactly. But it doesn’t seem right for you to give up, either.”
“For real though, if she likes you back, why don’t you two just start dating? If you were actually a couple, I’d have to back off,” he said casually. But it wasn’t that simple.
“…If we dated now, things would only end up the way they were before,” I said quietly. “I thought we understood each other’s feelings, but we didn’t. I want to make sure we’re more careful this time, and that we both really feel the same. That’s what’s most important… I know that now.”
Sousuke listened, a serious look on his face. Then he smiled slightly. “So it seems like you understand each other’s feelings, but you really don’t, huh?” He spoke carefully, shifting his gaze outside the cabana, the reflection of the sunset gleaming in his eyes. “I think I get that.”
I could tell he wasn’t talking about Ai or me.
“Sorry if I’m wrong,” I began, “but…”
“What?”
“Did you…have feelings for Nagoshi?”
He gave me a self-deprecating smile. “Was it that obvious?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, I did,” he admitted. “I really admired her when I was in junior high. I thought she was so cool. And then, when we met again in high school and were in the same club, I really started liking her.”
“Oh.”
“That was only a few months ago, and I’ve already fallen for another girl. I’m pretty shallow, huh?”
“Nah,” I said, shaking my head. “It sounds like you went through a lot with Nagoshi.”
He gave me a look I couldn’t quite read and then smacked me on the shoulder. “You’re so understanding, Yuzuru.”
“Not really.”
“You are, though. I can tell why Mizuno likes you.” Sousuke stayed quiet for a long time after that.
We sipped our ramune slowly and watched the sun set. We could hear the fan whirring in the tatami room and the distant crash of the waves against the shore.
“It’s not like Nagoshi rejected me, and I immediately thought, ‘Well, time for my next romance!’ My attraction to Mizuno is genuine,” he said.
“I know…… Wait, so Nagoshi rejected you?”
“Yeah. But it wasn’t just that.” He frowned, as if remembering something unpleasant. “Actually, never mind.”
He fell silent again, and I decided not to press him any further. I couldn’t bring myself to.
“I still think about her sometimes,” he said after a while. “I think my romantic feelings are gone, but I still worry about her. She’s really changed.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. I think I just wish I could see her play bass like she used to, with that sparkle in her eyes.”
As I listened to Sousuke talk, I tried to imagine Nagoshi as she used to be. It was hard to picture her playing an instrument with any kind of joy. These days, she seemed to mask all her emotions behind a vague smile. And the moment you tried to get closer, her mask would turn to ice, and she’d push you away.
“I really wanna play in a band with her…” Sousuke downed the rest of his ramune and the marble inside the bottle clinked. “And with you, Mizuno, and Odajima, of course!”
“Yeah, but I need to practice first,” I said.
“I’ll schedule something with my friend who plays the drums. Just wait!” He cackled and patted my back.
I realized there wasn’t much I could do about Nagoshi. Whatever experiences and feelings she and Sousuke shared were between them, and it was none of my business.
For now, I just needed to focus on practicing the drums. If Nagoshi did agree to play bass for us, I didn’t want to dull her performance with my lackluster drumming.
“Oh, you guys are drinking ramune!”
Ai and Kaoru finished showering and changing and joined us in the tatami area.
Sousuke cheerfully got up and said, “My treat!” as he headed toward a cooler to grab the drinks.
As I watched him go, I took a sip of my ramune and savored the cold, fizzy liquid. Drinking ramune as I watched the sun set felt somehow nostalgic.
The four of us sat together and drank our soda as we reflected on all the fun we’d had. Then, we boarded the train to return to our normal, everyday lives.
Sousuke got off two stops before the rest of us. We said goodbye to Kaoru once we arrived at the closest station, and after a brief walk together, Ai and I split up as well.
As I headed the rest of the way home alone, I looked up at the sky. The moon was peeking through the clouds.
“That was so fun,” I murmured to myself.
It was nice to go out with friends sometimes.
Reuniting with Ai in high school had made me feel like my life was slowly opening up, and I was hopeful that performing at the school festival would become yet another precious memory.