x
The next morning, Mizuha slowly woke up, her eyes adjusting to the soft light coming through the window. She glanced at Elly, still curled up beside her, peacefully asleep. As Mizuha turned to the other side of the bed, she noticed Shimizu's bed was empty.
Huh, she's already awake? That's so early, Mizuha thought, quietly slipping out of bed.
Mizuha left the bedroom while yawning and noticed the balcony door wide open, allowing the cool morning air to flow through the room. She walked toward the door, and as she stepped outside, she saw Shimizu sitting on a chair, facing the ocean, a book resting on her lap.
"There you are. You're up so early, huh?" Mizuha said, walking up to Shimizu.
Shimizu turned her head to look at Mizuha. "Oh, it's you, Mizuha. Already awake, huh? Good morning," she said, offering a smile.
"Good morning," Mizuha replied, standing beside her. "You're up really early."
"Well, it's my habit to wake up early if I wake up in a place that's not my house," Shimizu replied.
"Is that so? I didn't realize you were like that. Guess it's a good way to start the day, though!" Mizuha replied.
"By the way, what are you doing here with that book, looking for some inspiration for your novel?" Mizuha added.
"Yeah, you got me there. I was so bored waking up so early, and not wanting to waste time waiting for you guys to wake up. Luckily, I brought my usual notebook for novel ideas and took it out to write down some ideas for my novel," Shimizu replied.
"You really can't stop thinking about your novel, huh? Even first thing in the morning," Mizuha said with a chuckle.
"Well, it's the same with you - you can't stop thinking about your drawing," Shimizu replied.
"So we're in the same boat, huh?" Mizuha said.
"It looks like that," Shimizu replied. The two of them chuckled together.
"Mizuha, look - the sun is rising. Look at the view," Shimizu said suddenly as she noticed the sun rising from the opposite side of the sea.
"Yeah, you're right. It's such a beautiful sight," Mizuha said.
"It's really beautiful, like when we saw the sunset yesterday," Elly said while stretching her eyes, standing beside Mizuha.
"Yes, that's right, Elly-chan, it similar from what we saw yesterday" Mizuha replied.
"Wait, Elly-chan, when did you get here?" Mizuha asked, shocked by Elly's sudden presence.
"Yeah, even I didn't notice when you came out," Shimizu said.
"It was just now. I heard you two chuckling with each other earlier, so I came to join you," Elly explained.
"Sorry about that. Were we so loud that we woke you up?" Mizuha asked.
"No, don't worry about that. Thanks to you both, I could wake up early. If not, I might have woken up late today," Elly said with a chuckle.
“Yeah, the bed here feels very comfortable and makes you not want to wake up,” replied Shimizu.
“Oh, you guys are already awake, huh? That’s good—you look lively this morning,” said Hikaru, calling to them from the next room’s balcony. Zul stood beside him.
“Hikaru, Zul, good morning,” Mizuha replied. “Good morning,” Hikaru responded.
"Looking at the sunrise, huh? That's really a beautiful sight, right?" Hikaru said.
"Yeah, it's really a nice view here," replied Mizuha.
"Ah, you guys are already awake too? I thought you were still in bed enjoying your sweet dreams," said Shimizu.
"That's so mean, Shimizu. You thought we were too lazy or what?" Hikaru replied.
All of them laughed at Shimizu and Hikaru's funny conversation.
Zul then spoke to Elly. "Elly, how was your sleep last night? Did you get good and enough rest?" Zul asked.
"Yes, I had a good sleep last night. The bed here felt very comfortable," replied Elly.
"Really? I'm glad to hear that," replied Zul, smiling at her.
There it is, another romance talk between these two this morning, thought Shimizu.
"But why did you ask me that suddenly, Zul?" said Elly, confused.
"No, I just thought Shimizu was disturbing your sleep last night," said Zul with a chuckle.
"Hey, I'm not so bad to do that to her, you know," said Shimizu, glaring at him.
"Sorry, I was just joking," said Zul, still chuckling.
"Haha, that's nice, Zul. Shimizu, you got the morning hit from him today," said Hikaru, laughing at her.
Damn these two, thought Shimizu, upset.
Suddenly Mizuha's stomach growled. "Haha, looks like someone here is hungry already," said Shimizu, laughing at Mizuha.
"Yeah, it looks like that," Zul added.
"Ah, this is so embarrassing," said Mizuha, blushing with embarrassment.
"Then why don't we go to breakfast right now at the cafeteria?" said Hikaru.
"Oh, that's a nice idea, Hikaru. I can't wait to taste the food they serve us today because the food from yesterday was so delicious," said Shimizu excitedly.
"You really get excited when hearing about food, Shimizu-chan," Elly said with a chuckle.
"Haha, that's very typical Shimizu attitude," Mizuha added, chuckling.
"Then go tidy up yourselves first. We'll all go together after this," said Hikaru.
After that, the girl trio prepared themselves and then moved to the cafeteria along with the boys. Just like the previous night, they took their food and sat together.
"Umm, delicious!" said Shimizu, excitedly tasting the food.
"Right, even for breakfast, their food tastes so delicious," said Mizuha.
"As expected from this hotel - not only do they look fancy, but they also serve us delicious food like this," said Hikaru.
As they continued eating, Mizuha spoke up. "Umm, Hikaru, when is the time for us to check out of this hotel?"
"As I remember, it's supposed to be at 2 PM," said Hikaru.
"Oh, I see, so we still have more time," said Mizuha.
"What are we supposed to do after this?" asked Elly.
"How about we go to the beach for swimming?" suggested Shimizu.
"Nah, I'll pass. I don't feel like swimming at the beach today," said Zul.
"Me too, we spent too much time playing at the beach yesterday," said Elly.
"Then why don't we just walk around the beach? Let's look, maybe there are some good places we can visit," said Hikaru.
"Oh, that's nice Hikaru, as expected from our leader," said Shimizu.
"Shut up, since when did I become your leader?" chuckled Hikaru.
"Since last week, when you brought up this vacation topic to us," replied Mizuha.
"Really? I didn't notice it," said Hikaru with a laugh.
After finishing their food, the group went to the beach and walked around to explore.
"Woah, there are a lot more visitors today compared to yesterday," said Mizuha, looking around.
"Well, this is summer break holiday, so many people are here with their families," replied Hikaru.
The group walked along the shoreline, chatting about the crowd and pointing out interesting things along the way. Suddenly, a volleyball flew toward Elly, cutting through their conversation.
"Elly-chan, look out!" warned Mizuha immediately.
"Huh!?" said Elly, confused and shocked.
Zul quickly protected her by slapping the ball down.
"Zul!" said Elly.
"Elly, are you okay?" asked Zul.
"Yes, I'm fine," replied Elly.
"Thank goodness it didn't hit you," said Zul.
A young man approached them to collect the ball. "Sorry, my friend hit the ball too far. Can you give it back to me?" he asked.
Zul picked up the ball and handed it back, giving the man a threatening glare. "Here, but please be careful next time. Thank goodness the ball didn't hit her earlier. If it had hit her, I would never have forgiven you for that."
"I'm really sorry, please excuse me," said the man, fleeing with a fearful expression.
Wow, Zul really gets angry if something bad might happen to Elly, thought Mizuha. He really cares about her.
After the situation ended, the group continued their walk. Suddenly, they stopped when they noticed a jet ski with a banana boat attached to it.
"Hey everyone, how about we go for a ride?" suggested Shimizu.
"That looks fun. Let's try it," agreed Hikaru.
Hikaru paid the person in charge, and they prepared to board the banana boat after wearing the life safety jacket.
"Everyone hold on tight. We're about to begin," announced Hikaru before starting the jet ski.
While Hikaru operated the jet ski, the others took their positions on the banana boat. Shimizu sat at the front, followed by Mizuha and Elly, with Zul at the back.
Hikaru accelerated the jet ski, causing the banana boat to surge forward.
"Yahoo, go faster, Hikaru!" called out Shimizu excitedly.
"You want more speed? Here it comes!" responded Hikaru.
Mizuha, feeling nervous, held onto Shimizu, while Elly gripped Mizuha's waist. They circled the sea for about ten minutes before their rental time expired and they had to return.
They returned to the beach, and Shimizu immediately expressed her disappointment. "That was too little time. I want to ride it more," she said.
“Hey, Hikaru, let’s go for another round,” Shimizu suggested.
“Too bad, Shimizu. We don’t have much time left—maybe next time,” Hikaru replied.
“Ah... why does the fun time always pass so quickly?” Shimizu sighed.
Hikaru then noticed Mizuha walking unsteadily and approached her with concern. "Hey, Mizuha, are you okay? What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm fine, thanks. I just feel a bit nauseous, maybe I got seasick earlier," she replied.
"Ah, why didn't you tell me earlier that you couldn't handle the sea?" asked Hikaru.
"Sorry about that, but I didn't want to disappoint you all just because of me," she explained.
"You don't need to go that far. We would have understood," replied Hikaru. He then turned to the group and announced, "Everyone, let's take a rest for a while. Mizuha got seasick."
The group stopped and found a spot to rest under a tree. Hikaru purchased some water and offered it to Mizuha. "Here, Mizuha, drink this," he said, extending the bottle.
"Oh, thanks, Hikaru," replied Mizuha before taking a drink.
As they rested under the tree, a gentle sea breeze blew toward them. "Ah, this feels so comfortable," said Mizuha contentedly.
"Yes, it makes me want to sleep here," Shimizu added dreamily.
"If you sleep here, we're going to leave you behind," warned Hikaru.
"I know, I was just saying that. Don't take it so seriously, geez," replied Shimizu with mild exasperation.
Suddenly, Elly exclaimed, "Kyaa!" in shock, startling everyone.
Mizuha quickly turned to her. "Elly-chan, what's wrong?" she asked, concern etched on her face.
Elly, looking shaken, pointed to her feet. "Something is moving and it hit my foot!" she cried.
Zul immediately leaned forward to inspect. "Let's see what it is," he said, peering closely at Elly's feet. After a moment, he chuckled. "Don't worry, it's just a crab."
Elly let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness. It scared me for a moment there," she said.
Just then, Shimizu shrieked, "Oh! There's another one here!" She pointed to her own feet, where another crab was making its way across.
"Look, there's another one over there," Hikaru said, pointing a little further away.
The group turned to see a small procession of crabs walking in front of them, some of them disappearing into the sand.
"I think this area is their habitat," said Zul, watching the crabs with interest.
"Wow, I've never seen so many crabs up close before," said Mizuha, fascinated.
"It's like they're having a little parade," Elly added with a giggle.
As they watched the last of the crabs disappear into the sand, Hikaru checked his watch and sighed reluctantly. The peaceful moment had reminded him of how quickly their vacation was passing. He then stood up, brushing off his pants an "Okay, you guys, it's time for us to head back to the hotel. We're getting close to check-out time," he said, glancing at his watch.
"That's right, we need to pack up our belongings first," said Mizuha, standing up.
The group began to rise, but Shimizu remained seated. "Mizuha, please pull me up. My body feels heavy and doesn't want to move," she said with a dramatic sigh.
"Geez, you're so hopeless," Mizuha said, shaking her head. "Here, take my hand." She extended her hand to Shimizu, who took it with a giggle.
"Thanks, Mizuha," Shimizu said, finally getting to her feet.
"What's wrong, Shimizu? Don't want to go back home yet?" asked Hikaru with a knowing smile.
"Of course, I don't want to go back yet! There's still so much fun to be had here," she replied, pouting.
"Maybe next year, we can come here again. How about that, everyone?" Hikaru suggested as they began walking back to the hotel.
"Agree," replied Zul and Elly in unison.
"Next time, we should stay a bit longer than this time," added Shimizu.
"Well, this time we only got two days and one night because we used a ticket from a lottery prize that we won before. Next time, we'll pay with our own money," said Hikaru.
"Yes, let's look forward to that," replied Mizuha.
The group arrived at their hotel rooms and began packing up their belongings before the checkout time. In the boys' room, Hikaru took out his phone and called his family maid, Kirisaki, to arrange for their pick-up.
"Hello, Kirisaki-san. We're almost ready to check out. Can you come pick us up?" Hikaru asked.
"Of course, Hikaru-sama. I'll be there shortly," Kirisaki replied.
"Thanks, see you soon," Hikaru said, ending the call.
Once they finished packing, the group met in the hotel lobby. After checking out and returning the room key, they waited for Kirisaki to arrive. During their wait, they visited the nearest souvenir shop to buy gifts for their families.
"Wow, so many things they're selling here," said Elly.
"Yes, there are shell necklaces, bracelets, t-shirts, and more they sell," said Mizuha.
"Okay, it's time for me to buy something, if not that old hag maybe will yell at me if I don't bring anything home," said Shimizu, talking about her mother.
Oh yeah, I should buy something too for mom and dad, thought Mizuha.
Meanwhile, Hikaru was choosing some snacks that he wanted to buy. Better I buy something, if not my little sister maybe will give me a hard time if I don't buy anything for her, he thought.
As Hikaru reached to take the snack, his hands hit Mizuha's hands beside him, and both of them blushed.
"Oh Mizuha, you want to take it too? Go ahead first," said Hikaru.
"Thanks, Hikaru," said Mizuha. "Umm, buying something for your family?" she added.
"Yes, this is for my little sister. I bet she's going to lecture me if I don't buy her something," he said with a chuckle.
"Haha, your situation looks like Shimizu's too," said Mizuha, chuckling.
"Yeah, it looks like that," he said, smiling.
After finishing their shopping for souvenirs, the group left the shop. About ten minutes later, Hikaru's maid, Kirisaki, finally arrived to pick them up with the same van from yesterday. Kirisaki stepped out of the van, greeting them with a warm smile.
"Good afternoon, Hikaru-sama and everyone. I hope you enjoyed your vacation."
"Thanks, Kirisaki-san. We really enjoyed the vacation, and we appreciate you coming to pick us up," said Hikaru.
"Everyone, please get into the van first. Let me carry all these bags into the van," said Kirisaki.
As Kirisaki started moving the bags into the back of the van, Zul approached her and said, "Ah, it's too much. Let me help you."
"Oh, thanks, Zul-sama, but this is part of my job. You don't need to help me," said Kirisaki.
"Don't worry, I'm glad to help you," said Zul.
After they finished loading all the bags and belongings into the back of the van, Kirisaki started the drive back home.
As they settled into the van and began the drive home, the group started talking about their vacation. This time, inside the van, both Zul and Elly sat in the back seats, while Mizuha and Shimizu sat in the middle seats. Hikaru sat in the front passenger seat beside Kirisaki.
"That was such a fun trip," Mizuha said, leaning back in her seat.
"Yeah, that was a blast," Shimizu agreed. "I wish I could have stayed longer."
"Then why don't you stay behind, Shimizu? We'll pick you up later," Hikaru teased.
"Oh, come on, don't be ridiculous. I actually have plans for the day after tomorrow. If not, I could have stayed," Shimizu replied.
"Haha, that's very like you, Shimizu," Mizuha chuckled. "How about you guys, Zul, Elly-chan? You've both been quiet for a while."
Hearing no reply, Mizuha turned around to check on them. "I see, both of them are sleeping. That's why I got no reply."
"Wait!? Both of them are sleeping?" Hikaru said, surprised.
"Yeah, maybe they're too tired from today," Shimizu said.
"Ah... seeing them sleeping makes me want to sleep too," Shimizu said, yawning. "Mizuha, lend me your shoulder. I want to sleep too," she added, resting her head on Mizuha's shoulder and then drifting off.
"Geez, you're so hopeless, Shimizu," Mizuha said, chuckling as she watched Shimizu sleep.
"Mizuha, don't you want to sleep? If you do, go ahead. The journey is still long. I'll wake you up when we arrive," Hikaru offered.
"No, I'm fine. I'm not feeling sleepy at all. Besides, I want to look at the sea while I can before we lose sight of it," Mizuha replied.
"I see, then enjoy yourself with the scenery," replied Hikaru.
So many things happened between yesterday and today during our vacation. I can't wait to share this moment with Mom when I get back later, thought Mizuha while looking at the scenery.
As the van continued its journey along the coastal road, the sound of the waves accompanied their thoughts. The scenery outside was a blend of the ocean's expanse and the picturesque coastline, providing a serene view for the final leg of their trip.
Kirisaki glanced at Hikaru, who was seated beside her in the front passenger seat. "It sounds like you all made some wonderful memories, Hikaru-sama. I'm happy to hear you and your friends enjoyed yourselves."
Hikaru smiled, leaning back in his seat. "That's right, Kirisaki-san. It was a perfect getaway. All of us did many things since yesterday and today as well."
Kirisaki nodded, her eyes softening with affection for Hikaru and his friends. "I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure your mother will be happy to hear about this too."
As the van moved steadily toward home, the conversations dwindled, and a peaceful quietness enveloped the group. Mizuha continued to gaze out at the sea, cherishing the last views of the ocean.
Hikaru turned to Kirisaki with a grateful smile. "Thank you for picking us up for yesterday and today, Kirisaki-san. We're lucky to have you."
Kirisaki smiled back. "Well, It's my job to assist you, Hikaru-sama."
And with that, the van continued its journey, carrying them home.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
