FMS Episode One 6

It turned out to be a great day.

The sun was scorching the ground from the morning. The shrubs were close by, and the chirping of cicadas were raining down on Chihaya’s ears. She felt as if she was in the woods and not in an inn house on a beach.

"Chihaya, hurry up!"

Aya waved at Chihaya's room window from below. It seemed like yesterday’s shy island girl was gone for good. Aya’s outfit was still a white T-shirt over a navy-blue swimsuit -the shirt must have been soaked and dried a number of times, since the fabric looked weathered and stiff.

"Hold on!"

Chihaya quickly finished changing. She donned a patterned pareo skirt over bikinis of light orange color and wrapped it around her waist. Then, she grabbed her backpack and a buoy and hurried down the stairs. On the way out, Chihaya also put on a pair of sandals, feeling the warmth of the sun against the soles of her bare feet.

"Hi!"

Aya was waiting in the yard. She already seemed wet – did she use the garden hose? Aya concluded her hand waving with a smile, but after noting Chihaya’s swimsuit body she paused, displaying a bit of a surprise on her face. Her reunited cousin was a beautiful girl, with a markedly punctuated torso but long and curvy limbs, and very fair skin accentuated by the strong sun.

"You're beautiful, Chihaya."

"Huh?" The sudden compliment threw Chihaya off.

In fact, It’s not seldom that Chihaya’s looks earn such words of praise. A few months in her freshman year, someone in her class had told her, half-jokingly, "Congrats, looks like you did great in the boys’ polls. You’re officially the best looking in class." Afterwards there was a stream of notes that were inserted into Chihaya’s shoe locker, commenting on her outer beauty and hinting a potential relationship. Nevertheless, Chihaya never felt thrilled by all that buzz. She was somewhat amused as well as alienated by how people began to judge by her outer shell, while her rather introvert and occasional self-doubting nature remained as is. Thus all the extended invitations were politely declined - sorry, Chihaya thought then, I’m just awkward and immature, and not someone whom you think I am.

"Ahem, thank you," Chihaya replied. “But Aya, I think you’re also a jem.”

"Am I?"

Aya seemed unconvinced by Chihaya’s honest opinion. But whether she was a budding beauty or not did not seem high on Aya’s priority list anyway, and she nonchalantly began her walk down the gravel path down to the beach. Chihaya followed suit a few meters behind carrying her stuff.