Date: 28th June, Monday

Tenma's POV

Usually we would be having practices on the fields but today was kind of unexpected. Coach had inform all of the members to get to the caravan for a small trip. At first we all thought we were going to play against another team. But we were at the beach. 

"Coach why are we at the beach?" Shindou asked.

"For practice." Coach replied bluntly. 

"On the beach??" Kariya questioned.

"Yes." Coach responded.

Apparently the Coach wanted to increase our stamina. So we all were wearing our uniforms in this hot weather while practicing on the beach. Fortunately none of the managers were here, because some of us starting taking out shirts of because of the heat. Why were the girls not here? Unknown. They never came to the club and Aoi was dragged away by Haru in the morning after classes ended. 

We proceeded with the similar training as the last time except we split into 2 teams and have a match. Since Shuu and Hakuryuu wasn't here the teams were split up evenly. 

Team A
FW Tsurugi
FW Kurama
MD Nishiki
MD Hayami
DF Amagi
DF Kurumada
GK Sangoku
Formation: 2-2-2

Team B
FW Tenma
FW Kageyama
MD Hamano
MD Shindou
DF Kariya
DF Kirino
GK Shinsuke
Formation: 2-2-2

Unlike last time we were playing for 30 minutes and taking a 15 minutes break and go back to playing. Would the match be over after 2 rounds? No, we kept on going. Also we all were split up into 6 sections to move around in. Which meant we could not move out of our regions. Forwards had a narrow long path from the middle to the other side of the middle. Midfielders had a wider path but not longer. Defense were stuck exactly where they were. After the first round we all took a breathe and cooled down. Some of us took ice cubes and rubbed them on our bodies. 

I decide to call Aoi though. I was kind of curious why she was taken away. I called her through my phone, and waiting till she picked up. After a couple of rings she picked up. "Hello Aoi." I answered.

"Hey, Tenma! How's practice?" She asked.

"We are on the beach sweating like bullets." I replied to her.

"Seriously? You don't get to swim afterwards?" She asked.

"Yeah Coach said we aren't allowed to get wet since we won't be able to ride the caravan back. Plus we didn't bring extra clothing for change." I explained.

"That sucks." She commented.

"I know, where are you? We don't have any managers here." I asked her curiously.

"Oh Haru dragged us away for something..." She said.

"Something?" I repeated.

"Yeah, It's a bit embarrassing to say it. Plus it's a surprise." She said.

"Hmm, something which is embarrassing but is a surprise? I wonder what that could be?" I smirked

"It's a secret so don't tell anyone else" She told me.

"Alright I won't tell anyone what it is." I promised her.

"Thanks Tenma" She said.

"As long as you tell me what it is." I responded.

"What?!" She said.

"Come on we're friends. You can tell me. I promise not to laugh." I said.

"Yeah, that puts me at ease." She said in a sarcastic tone.

"TENMA! Breaks over let's go" Shinsuke called out to me. 

"Looks like your lucky while I'm unlucky. Got to go back to sweating." I responded back to hear her giggle.

"Alright, bye" She said before hanging up the call. I chugged my water bottle down before heading to the field. 

~

In the end ended up playing four rounds. All of us were so tired and some of us somehow got tanned. But it was all worth it because after practice Coach took us all to a Barbecue Restaurant. Which was a good meal after a long day the beach. I will say, playing in the sand with shoes on was a terrible idea. Sands were in the shoes so much I could still feel it after cleaning it. 

After having myself stuffed, I went back home with Shinsuke. As we reached over to the neighborhood, Shinsuke walked back to his place on his own. I walked to the manor to see someone waiting by the entrance.

"Aoi?" I called out to her.

"Tenma! You're finally back?" She sighed. "What took you so long?" She asked.

"Sorry, Coach gave us all a Barbeque after the practice." I apologized. She gasped in jealousy. "WHat?! I want barbecue."

I smirked as flicked her nose in a playful manner. "Ow!"

"Why are you here?" I asked her tilting my head. She paused and looked away for a bit and glanced everywhere before meeting eyes with me.

"Oh I wanted to show something." She spoke softly, fidgeting her feet.

"Really? What is it?" I asked her as I leaned towards her making her jump back.

"I don't think I wanna show it here. Can we go inside?" She said looking away.

"Alright" I smirked. I entered the manor with Aoi following me to my room. It seemed Aki-nee wasn't there to greet me. Usually she would always be here. I led Aoi to my room and I told her I'd be back in a minute. I wanted to check if Tenki was here or not. I opened the door to his room and saw that he was already asleep on his bed. I walked in to turn off the light on his desk. I ruffled his hair a bit and went out of the room.

I went back to my room and I didn't see Aoi inside. "Aoi?" I called out.

"I'm in here" I heard her voice from the bathroom. I guess she was in the bathroom. I took of my bag and kept it on my desk. I took my phone and plugged it in for charge.

"Tenma?" I heard Aoi called out to me. I responded back to her with a yes.

"I'm going to come out but can you promise to keep your eyes closed?" I heard her quietly because of the wall.

"Uhh... Alright" I agreed and closed my eyes as I was sitting on the bed.

"Are they closed?" i heard her open the door creaking.

"Yes" I responded with a smile. Footsteps approached me and paused.

"Well, Haru-chan made us all promise not to tell anyone about the surprise we were preparing." She explained. "But i wanted to show it to you. Because you're my friend."

"Okay?" I softly responded back in confusion.

"You can open your eyes." I slowly opened my eyes to see Aoi in front of me wearing a cheerleading outfit. The top was sleeve less and was in a pale yellow with a big lighting symbol in the middle in white. The skirt was yellow with the edge having two stripes in blue and white.

"So how does it look?" She  said as she twirled around in it with a smile.

"Eh?" I let out as I was quite surprised. I mean I seen her in a lot of outfits before but...

Just the two of us in a room alone and her asking me this question made me feel weird. But a good weird. I was feeling a little flustered too...

"Tenma?" She said softly as I snapped back to reality.

"Uhh... You look great. So I'm guessing you guys will be cheer leaders for the finals?" I concluded.

"I'm not supposed to tell. So... I don't know." She said as she giggled. I kept staring at her as she looked really cute. She came and sat next to me on my bed. I lowered my gaze and calmed myself down. A silence passed as the two of us were a bit awkward.

"So you're gonna be wearing that for the finals. I'm looking forward to it." I broke the silence with a laugh.

"Honestly, I don't like the top." She shared her thoughts.

"Why?" I questioned. 'Why would she not like a cute top like that?' I thought.

"Cause it's sleeveless. Plus it is very short and every time I lift my arms like this." She said as she raised her arms. "It reveals my stomach. So I really don't like it. But apparently It's the school's design and we can't really change it." She frowned.

"That's unfortunate. I liked it on you but if you don't like it maybe you can find a way to change it?" I complimented and suggested to her.

"Huh? How am I going to change it?" Aoi asked.

"Well, I'm no genius but I believe our sponsor is in fashion industry right?" I smiled at her

"Yeah?" She nodded.

"And it's not like we happened to be friends with daughter of that sponsor as well." I said as i gave her the idea.

"Oh my god. That's great. I could tell her about how uncomfortable I am wearing this." She said as she looked at me. "Thank you, Tenma." As I saw her smile widely. I couldn't help it anymore...

I lifted my hand as I parted the hair in her face behind her face. I held my hand under her ear and on her cheek. He eyes slowly widened as she stared. We kept staring as the gap between us slowly got smaller....