Ok, so if I'd known Cye was lying awake wondering, then yeah, I probably would have told him that I was interested in going to his school. But I didn't know that- didn't even occur to me, since we didn't talk about school for the rest of the week. In fact, I was kind of a little not too sure if I should tell him I might like to go there, since answering somebody's questions about something doesn't necessarily mean you think they should get involved with it....

Anyway, the stuff he told me about Hanai definitely caught my attention, enough that when I get back to the motel that evening, I told Pop about this place where Shin-san was going that sounded interesting, in Toyama. That got his attention, like I knew it would, so I went into more details and soon enough he was suggesting that I send my application there instead of Hiroshima. "It's much closer, and it sounds like you would get a better education," he said, fudging a little because it wasn't the education that had turned us off Hiroshima. "And the Honored Grandfather is there," he added thoughtfully.

"I thought of that too- of course he might not live very close to the school, but there's a lot of busses in that city," I observed. "I'll go to the library here tomorrow and see what I can find out about it. An address or something, maybe I can call them. If they're still registering." Then I yawned and Pop sent me off to bed. It was only about nine-thirty, but I didn't argue- you wear out pretty quick, being out all day in the sort of heat Hagi was producing. The kids were all asleep already, so I had to move quietly, but that was nothing new for me.

I was the first person into the tiny little Hagi library the next morning- before breakfast, even- and for a while there I sorta thought I might still be dreaming because things just don't GO that smoothly, that perfectly, in real life. First, the library had two actual computers- dial-ups, but you know, whatever works- and I claimed one right away and looked up Hanai in Toyama. I found the school webpage immediately, the very first link I clicked, and it loaded pretty fast, too, for dial-up. The first thing on the page was registration dates: they were they taking applications for the rest of the week! ...Ok, so it was only two more days, but still. I was scrolling down, looking for an email address or a phone number- because I knew no snail-mail letter was going to get from Hagi to Toyama in two days- when I found the online application form! 

How convenient! I really wonder sometimes- but what could the Ancient or the armor know about computers and high schools? And even if they did know something about it, how could they arrange it like that? But then if they didn't arrange it and it was all just fate... I dunno, it's all too deep for me.

I filled out the application in about ten minutes, hit send, waited thirty seconds, and got a confirmation of receipt right back. "Awesome," I muttered to myself, reading the email- I was using Pop's restaurant email account, the one he used to place orders with the food suppliers and deliverers. "Now all I gotta do is wait for 'em to decide!" The email said I should have a response within a week, so we'd still be here... that was good. I shoved back the chair and stretched a little, then left the library and went to find some breakfast. It wasn't until I was halfway through my meal, and feeling a lot more awake, that I started to wonder what I should tell Cye. 

It didn't take long to decide I wasn't going to say anything yet- not until I knew for sure I'd been accepted. I didn't want to raise his hopes and then have to tell him I hadn't made it in- that would be kinda embarrassing, too, if they decided I didn't make the cut. And then there was that part about would he really think it was a good idea. No, I'd wait and see and over the week I might get a better idea about how he'd react.

It wasn't a bad plan, but it didn't take into account that we might not talk about school again for the rest of the week. We talked about everything else- well, almost; neither of us mentioned the armor, either. That was something else I'd sorta forgotten about again- not really forgot, but kinda put on hold. I figured that if I got into Hanai and stayed with Grandfather, that would be a good time to mention it to him. He knew the legend, so he might know more stuff than he'd told us before. And Toyama seemed like a pretty good place to start anyway, seeing how the demon showed up there all that time ago. It could wait two weeks. Also I was training Cye every day, so it wasn't as if I was slacking off completely, defense-wise. Not that I knew I was training another Ronin, but I wasn't letting myself get rusty.

...He left that out, didn't he? Yeah. Well, usually what we'd do is meet and walk down to the pier and spend an hour or so- before it got real hot- going over the training. First review the old stuff, then add a couple new things. And then when it got too hot we'd stop and cool off a little in the water and then slide under the pier to talk in the shade. I'd tell him how he was doing, and we'd talk about kendo and other martial arts and stuff, and then the topic would change somehow and we'd just go wherever it led us. 

One thing I was really glad about was that it seemed to get a lot easier for Cye to tell me things like how he felt. I was a little worried that he'd go back to being formal-like, since I was, technically, being his sensei. But he didn't, and that was good. Almost as good as the fact that he was getting better every day. More coordinated, and better aim with the staff, though he did still kinda have trouble hitting a target with his fist. He wasn't afraid of pain, though, and that was good, too. He looked kind of thoughtful when I mentioned that on the weekend. 

"Well, I don't like pain," he said after a moment. "And I don't think that if something hurts, you should ignore it and keep going and try to make yourself stronger. Because you don't really get stronger, you just get better at ignoring a warning signal and might end up damaging yourself. But if it's a choice between straining my shoulders to get to shore and giving up and drowning because my arms hurt so much, guess which one I'm going to pick?"

I nodded, understanding instinctively what he was saying. "And a little pain to get stronger is much better than a lot of pain 'cause you weren't strong enough. Like a bruise or two now, learning to defend yourself, is better than a couple stab wounds or a concussions if someone beats you up later," I offered. 

"Exactly. It's all a matter of degree. And anyway, physical pain heals. It's inside pain- feelings- that don't go away very fast." He sighed and drew a line in the sand. "Some of those don't ever really stop hurting. They don't hurt as much, maybe, but they never go away either, so they don't stop troubling you."

"Well." I thought about that for a minute. "Yeah..."

"I know. It happens with muscles and nerves, too," Cye said more cheerfully. "Scars and- impairment. And I guess there's therapy for both kinds, too- physical therapy and psychological. Only physical's a lot more socially acceptable."

"Now that's true. Hell, maybe that's why emotional problems are worse- 'cause if people know about it-" I shrugged. "If you can't handle your emotional problems by yourself, why then, I guess you must just be a world-class loser." 

"And a weakling."

"Oh yeah, don't forget that. Too weak to control your own emotions. Just as if emotions were easy to control." I scowled. "I've always had...some trouble with that."

Cye touched my arm, something he was doing more often lately. "It's strange how that works, isn't it?" he said mildly. "You have strong feelings, but you also have a strong will. And sometimes the feelings and the will clash- so you fight yourself. That's...difficult."

"Yeah. Talk about a losing battle. ...You don't fight yourself?" I asked wistfully. 

"Sometimes I do. But then I go into the water and fight the sea instead, and that helps a lot."

"Oh, yeah...sometimes when it's real bad, I go out- there's a lot of rough ground in my neighborhood, cliffs and hills and stuff, and I go climb one of those until my head clears a little," I told him, and then stopped, suddenly remembering my climb to the top of the Rockpile...and the armor orb...and Toyama...and realized I needed to get to the library and check Pop's email! 

Irritating, isn't it, when you kinda go out of your way to do something private-like and find out it wasn't any use? I didn't go very far out of my way, just went back to the hotel a little sooner than usual, then turned around and walked up to the library- and of course it was closed, being Sunday! I called myself a dimwit a couple times on my way back to the hotel, got up early Monday and was the first one in the place again. And- of course- there was no answer yet. I supposed I should have expected that and returned to the hotel to try and grab a few more hours of sleep. I probably would have been more irritated if I'd been more awake.

The same thing happened Tuesday: no reply. And Wednesday. AND Thursday. 

It made the second week...not exactly worse, but different from the first one. I mean, I still enjoyed myself a lot, but I kept getting that impatient feeling you get when there's something unresolved hanging over you. I also kept worrying, though I'm not usually a worrier. First I worried that I might just be kept hanging until it was too late; I'd have to either give up on Hanai totally and pick another school, or try to wait it out and lose my window of acceptance into any of my other choices. You know- if you don't tell 'em 'yeah, I'll be there' by a certain time, they assume you won't be there. Second- well, second wasn't really as important, but it was important to me: I was afraid I wouldn't hear in time to tell Cye before I left. I was kinda counting on that, I wanted to know what his reaction would be. It didn't seem right, somehow, to just turn up at his school all unexpectedly...maybe 'cause I was thinking of it as 'his' school. I'm not sayin' it like I wanted his permission or anything; I just didn't- well- 

Well, maybe it was permission, I dunno. I don't spend a lot of time analyzing stuff, I just try to do what feels right, and if I got to my school and my friend was there without even telling me, I'd be glad, for sure, but I'd also be a little unhappy that they didn't tell me. Some surprises are good and some sorta backfire on you, and the bigger they are, the more likely they are to backfire.

Anyway. The point is that I went the whole week wondering what was going to happen and trying to be patient about it. I kinda dithered around a little, too, trying to decide if I should tell Cye about it yet, or keep waiting till there was actually something to tell. I finally decided that if I didn't hear before we left, I'd tell him anyway. Then I tried to shove it all out of my mind and just enjoy the rest of the vacation. I was mostly successful, though I had my moments; Cye noticed, but he was having his moments, too, and we both agreed a couple times that the last weeks of vacation were never quite as good as the first ones. "You can feel it..." was how he put it, and then he picked up a handful of sand and let it trickle out between his fingers. 

"Yeah," I agreed, putting my hand under his to catch some of the soft sand. "Kinda depressing. But you know, it wouldn't be nearly so enjoyable if it lasted forever."

"That's true." He smiled a little and we talked about other things.

My parents had decided we'd leave Saturday midday instead of early Sunday; they wanted to make the trip back in two days instead of trying to do it all in one. Pop reckoned we'd be home by midmorning Sunday if we were lucky and noon if the roads were bad, whereas if we tried to do it all Sunday, we'd probably get home around midnight. So Friday was our pack-up day, and that was an exercise in frustration. I really didn't think we'd brought that much stuff with us, and I like to think we're a reasonably organized family, but it took us all day to get everything shoved back into the suitcases. I guess part of the reason for that is Ma insisted on putting as much as possible through the laundry before it got packed (laundry facilities were included in the cost of the suite, so naturally we wanted to take advantage of that- and I think we got a real good deal on it, too), but there sure wasn't a lot of time wasted in sitting around waiting for stuff to dry. I was pulling all kinds of crap out of every corner and crevice of that hotel suite, and there was a lot of stuff that no one knew where it came from, who it belonged to, and whether it was going home with us or not.

I had warned Cye that I might not see him all day, and it was a good thing I did, 'cause I didn't. See him, I mean. Though that was my own fool fault. See, Ma sent me out to get another box of laundry soap, and on the way back I snuck into the library again, to use the computer. Again. They were getting pretty used to seeing me in there. But this time when I logged in, there was a new message- from Hanai! I think I held my breath while I opened it, which is just as well, 'cause I nearly hollered when I read it. I'd been accepted! 

There was a list attached to the official note- my schedule and the required supplies- so I printed it out, and then I made my tactical error. It was only six-thirty; I could've run up to Cye's house and let him know quick-like. But I wanted to tell Ma and Pop first, thinking maybe we could get some of the supplies in Hagi and take them home- cut down on shopping next week. So I went back to the hotel. 

My parents were almost as delighted that I had been accepted as I was, and promised to contact Grandfather as soon as we got home. And then, when the congratulations and proud looks were done, it was back to the packing again, which totally took up the rest of the day and a good part of the night. We didn't even eat supper until nearly nine, and that was only because Pop started cleaning out the refrigerator and mentioned that we had a lot of stuff that we should eat, rather than throw away and waste. Nobody needed much encouraging, though Princess and Shun Ryu both had to be woken up first. 

The next time I stepped out the door, it was past ten-thirty. Way too late to go knocking on a friend's door for anything less than critical, and telling him I'd be joining him at his school in a week didn't qualify. It was frustrating, but there wasn't any way around it; I'd just have to wait until morning. 'He said he'd come down and say goodbye before we leave,' I thought, staring into the darkness and listening to the waves break. 'But that won't give us any time to talk. I'll just go up there earlier. Maybe I'll catch him after his morning swim.'

So with that in mind, I made sure the door wasn't locked behind me, went quietly down the stairs, and started down the beach towards Cye's house. 

Logic be damned, right? Actually, I don't know what possessed me. Maybe it was the armor orb in my pocket, maybe it was something else- like fate. It certainly wasn't coincidence, I agree with Rowen about that.

The moon was very bright, and I'd made the trip so many times that I had no problem. Probably could've done it blindfolded. I wasn't at all sure what I was going to do when I got there, I think I had some vague idea of rapping on his window, but I wasn't giving it a lot of thought. When I got to the trees I recognized, I climbed up and over the sand dune, crossed the highway, walked down the shadowy sidewalk... and stopped outside the completely dark little house with a sigh. I guess I'd been hoping there'd still be a light on. I went to Vague Idea B and walked around the building a few times, trying to remember which window was Cye's, but I hadn't spent as much time in the place as I had outside it, and I couldn't make up my mind. I definitely did not want to go waking up Sayoko; she wouldn't be too pleased, all the hours she was working. And Cye's mother, well, startling her awake might be downright dangerous. Unhealthy, anyway. You just don't wanna freak someone who's got a weak heart. So after a couple circuits, I stopped, sighed again, quietly called myself a couple not-very-flattering names, and turned around to go back, feeling pretty low. 

Back up the street, back across the highway, back down the dune... and then instead of walking back down the beach to the hotel, I went to the water's edge and stood looking at the waves under the moonlight for a while. I hadn't put my shoes on; the sand was cool and damp, though the air was still warm. I stuck my toes in the water, drew little patterns in the wet sand, crouched down to pick up a tiny white shell, then stood up to throw it- and stopped, seeing something peculiar in the black-white waves. There was something- no, someone- someone was swimming! 'Weird time to be out,' I thought. 'Not that I can talk, really, but at least I'm on land. Say, I wonder-!' 

Maybe it was the link, but as the swimmer got closer and I got a better look, I grinned, pleased but totally not surprised. Cye. 

Then again, maybe it wasn't the link. Who else would be out swimming so late? 

He was coming to shore at an angle, moving away from me, so I started walking towards the spot where he'd land. Then he stopped swimming and stood up and I froze. He wasn't wearing a swimsuit, but he sure was wearing something- something white that glowed in the moonlight and covered him from neck to feet, something that looked like some weird body- 

-armor. 

I blinked and shook my head as he waded in closer, but there was nothing wrong with my eyes: Cye was wearing armor. Armor like mine, except, as he got further from the water, I could see that it wasn't entirely white. Where mine was orange, his was blue- light blue. 

'So he- he's- the water warrior...?'

Cye stopped, held his hands out in front of him, and glowed, which made me take a step back and which also lit up the blue parts of his armor more clearly. Then the armor sort of melted away and drew together into a little bright-blue spark in front of him, which dropped into his hand. Right then a wave came up around my foot and pulled half the sand away and I lost my balance and sat down with a splat.

It's strange how sitting down hard on your butt can knock the breath out of you, but it's true. 

When I got my bearings again, Cye was hurrying over to me and I was pretty damp. Wet sand tends to do that. I blinked at him a couple times as he stopped beside me; he looked just like he always did, and he was definitely wearing his swimsuit. But his right hand was closed and I knew what he was holding. "Kento! Are you all right? What happened?"

"Uh," I said brightly. "Uh, the wave. Lost my balance. Just got kinda rattled." I carefully got back to my feet, just in time to avoid the next wave, and started brushing sand off my backside and legs. 

"Oh, yes, the tide's coming in." Cye glanced at the ocean, then looked back at me. "Well, I'm glad I got to see you today after all..."

I blinked again, suddenly remembering what I'd come down here about. Hanai. "I tried to get away earlier, there was something I wanted to tell you. But it was-"

"Bedlam?" 

"That." I followed him across the sand and sat down again on a drier spot. He sat beside me, cross-legged, and I stared at his right hand, almost seeing the little glass orb inside it-

Cye shifted, wrapping his arms around his knees, and his voice sounded uncomfortable as he said, "Something to tell me?"

"I think I could ask you that." I looked straight at him; he blushed and looked away.

"I asked first," he murmured, making it sound somewhere between a question and an offer. I snorted. Fine, if that was how he wanted it...

"Well, it's really very ordinary," I said pointedly. "After you told me all that stuff about your school, I decided to apply there. So I used the computers in the library and sent an application- very helpful, having 'em right online like that- and today I finally got my answer back." 

I stopped, waiting. Cye turned to look at me again, his eyes wider. "You applied to Hanai?" he said eagerly, which pretty much took care of my irritation. "Really?"

I nodded, relaxing a little. "Yeah, my folks liked the idea and said go ahead with it, so I did, and I got the word today, I'm accepted- kinda thought you might be interested to know that, so-"

"Interested?" Cye almost yelled- and then he leaned over and hugged me, which chased out any leftover irritation I might've had. He didn't do that very often; physical contact was something he reserved for special occasions (though I didn't really think that in so many words at the time) and it took me by surprise. "Crazy boy, I'm- I'm- I'm so glad to hear it I can't even think! Interested, he says." He laughed, shaking his head a little as I patted his back. 

"I wasn't expecting such a- such an endorsement," I said after a minute, then sort of wished I hadn't. Then again...

"You didn't think I'd be happy? Why not?" Cye sat up and gave me a puzzled look. 

"Well..." I sighed and looked down at the pale-white sand. Confession time. "Look, I have two younger brothers. And I love 'em both, but sometimes they're the biggest pests in the world. Tagging along and being rowdy and... and I just don't..." I frowned, trying to find the right words- and maybe stalling a little, too. Then Cye's hand touched my shoulder and I jumped.

"Kento..." he said softly, "please, come to Hanai so we can keep being friends?"

I stared at him.

"I've wanted to say that all week," he admitted, trying to smile. "But I didn't because I didn't want to put pressure on you. I wasn't sure you could still get in, and I wasn't sure you'd want to. There's better reasons for picking a school than because someone you know goes there." He took a deep breath. "I come down to the sea when I'm unhappy, and I was very unhappy tonight, thinking of you leaving in the morning and maybe never getting to see you again...and I was having all kinds of miserable thoughts about how we'd call or write, at first, and then get too busy and too involved in other things and sort of forget about each other. And it seemed..." He sighed and shook his head. "So I came to the sea, as usual, and it- it didn't help very much. You're the best friend I've ever had- it would be wonderful to see you at school, and do things, and- and you're not a pest, please don't think that. I like spending time with you."

I almost said something there- almost said, 'well, you might change your mind after a couple months of that'- but I didn't get a chance to, because Cye added, in a voice almost too low to hear: "I don't have anyone else to spend it with..."

So I didn't say anything, just leaned over to give him another hug, the way I would if Yun said something so pitiful. I knew he wouldn't pull away, but I was pretty pleased when he hugged me back. Cye definitely had a restrained upbringing, so two hugs in five minutes had to be a personal best for him.

"You're my best friend, too," I told him after a minute or so. "I know plenty of people and we get along okay, mostly, but I can't talk to 'em, you know?"

"Oh, I know exactly what you mean." My friend sighed and patted my arm, then straightened up and held out his closed fist, opening his fingers so that the blue orb shone in the moonlight. "So, now, about this. This is my last big secret and I- I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you. And you might have trouble believing me. But I trust you." 

I was hardly listening; I put my hand under his and lifted it so I could read the character inside it. Trust. And it was definitely the orb glowing, not the moonlight reflecting off it; there was a soft-blue haze all around the glass. "So which one is this?" I asked. "Water?" And as I spoke, I inadvertently touched the orb with a fingertip.

Talk about your New Years fireworks, that was nothing to the light-show that orb put on at my accidental contact. Cye and I both recoiled at the wildly dancing shafts of pale-blue light; I heard Cye shout something and suddenly the light was gone, leaving me blinking in the moonlit darkness. It took a minute or so for my eyes to readjust and longer for the after-images to leave me alone. "Wow," I observed.

"I don't think anyone's supposed to touch it but me," Cye said hesitantly, and I noticed that his fist was clenched again. He looked puzzled, though, and I got the feeling it hadn't done that before. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, it didn't hurt or anything," I answered, a suspicion growing in my mind. I knew something he didn't, and maybe his orb knew it too. "So that's water?" I repeated.

"Yes, it-" Cye stopped, looking quickly at me. "You know the legend? The five warriors, and the elements, and the demon world?"

I slid my hand into my pocket, nodding, and started to slide the earth orb out. "Yeah, our grandfather told us the story a couple years ago. He said it happened before Toyama was built, but it happened in the place where the city is now."

"Yes, that-" Cye stopped again, his eyes widening and then narrowing. I looked where he was looking and wasn't surprised to see orange light glowing out of my pocket. 

"Yeah," I said, and pulled my hand the rest of the way out, letting him see the Hardrock orb. The Justice icon was all lit up like a Christmas tree, not surprisingly. "I think yours recognized me or something- I bet if you touch it, we'll get another firework show, in orange."

Cye, a dazed look on his face, reached over and brushed his finger against the glass. This time neither of us flinched much when light shot into the air- orange light, of course. "Kongo..."

"Now that we're all introduced-" I said as the light faded back down. I was grinning like an idiot, I couldn't help it. Cye gave himself a little shake, then gave me a puzzled and ever so slightly irritated look.

"And you were so surprised to see me in my gear?"

"I wasn't expecting it, any more than you were," I pointed out, amused. "I mean, who would think we'd meet up here on the beach in the middle of the night?"

"Well yes, no- but you didn't- the school-!"

I shrugged. "Armor's just armor. Friends are more important." 

Besides, he was the one who insisted that I talk about my little errand first and the armor second, but I didn't remind him of that until a long time later.

Cye's mouth opened a little when I said that, then his eyes got very soft and he smiled that sweet smile of his. "Yes," he said, and leaned over to put his arm around my shoulders. "Yes, you're absolutely right. Friends are more important."