"Uh..."

A hand reaches for the alarm clock still ringing on the nightstand. Kai, still a bit groggy, gets up from his bed. Sunlight brightly shines on the city he can see from his bedroom window.

Opening the window, a cool breeze starts to flow in, replacing the stale air in his room. Today is early June. Even though summer has begun, Kai still has to go to school because he needs to take care of some documents for registering things to become student council president.

Haa... a day like this would be nice to spend at the beach.

It’s been almost a few months since Kai started living in this world. Honestly, he’s starting to enjoy life here. Besides, the atmosphere of this city is still the same as the old city he used to live in. Brighton and Miami are both coastal cities after all.

Kai walks out of his room, notices Risa’s door across the hall is slightly open, so he peeks inside.

"Hmmm?" Risa is lying on her back on her bed, only wearing a tank top and shorts. Her hair is still a bit messy and she’s holding her phone. "Big bro? You’re awake."

"Yeah, just got up. Is your school on break already?"

"Yep. Already on vacation hehehe~"

"Lucky..." Kai walks over to open Risa’s window. He sees some flyers on Risa’s desk. Picking them up, his eyebrows raise slightly.

〈A few nights’ vacation at a resort near the beach at an affordable price〉

"Hey, what’s this?"

Kai holds the flyer in his hand to show Risa. Risa turns to look at her brother, her lips forming a half circle. She sits up and hands her phone to Kai.

"We promised we’d go to date during the holidays right? I want to stay at some cheap resorts near the beach."

"Hmm..." Kai scrolls through Risa’s phone screen. She’s on a booking site. Yeah, the price is affordable but there’s one problem. They’re still not old enough to rent a place by themselves.

"Hey... you know we’re still underage, right? No way we can rent a place on our own."

"Ahh~ that’s easy. My friend knows someone who can make fake IDs."

"..."

Kai can’t say anything else. What his sister said is really reckless, but when he thinks about it, it’s actually a normal thing for someone with a young spirit to do.

Yeah... as long as nobody finds out, everything will be fine.

"Don’t worry big bro, relax~" Risa says as she stands up and wraps her arms around his neck, tugging his body closer. She gives him a peck on the cheek. "Let me handle it... you just sit tight and follow my lead."

"...okay." Kai releases his sister’s hug and gives her phone back.

"I am Consider it a deal then."

Watching her brother leave her room, Risa tilts her head in confusion. Isn’t school on break already? So why is her brother still going to school?

"You still have class to go?" Risa asks.

"Yeah... I’ve got some business at school." Before closing her door, he remembers something and looks over his shoulder to see Risa getting ready to lie back down. "Hey, I’ll be home a bit late... I’ve got a part-time job."

"Hmm... yeah, bring back some chips when you come home then."

"Okay. Bye, don’t forget to lock the door if you going out."

Leaving Risa’s room, Kai closes the door and heads to the bathroom, showers, changes clothes before leaving the house for school.

He doesn’t take the bus because he’s not in a rush today. A calm day with nice sunshine, Kai keeps walking through various turns for 20 minutes before arriving at his school complex.

"Sup Kai!"

Kai gets a light slap on his back, which of course is none other than Kevin, his classmate.

"You’ve got business at school too, Kevin?" Kai asks while rubbing his back that twitches a little from the hit of Kevin’s wide hand.

"Yep, the coach told all the basketball club members to gather. I think he wants to talk about the inter-school basketball tournament that’ll be held a few months from now."

Kevin checks Kai out from head to toe, which makes Kai a bit uncomfortable because he doesn’t like being stared at like that. And Kai knows that Kevin definitely wants to ask him to join the school basketball club.

That’s nice and Kai really appreciates it, but the problem is the person inside this "body" isn’t good at playing basketball. His whole life, the only ball game he knew was one played with feet, not hands.

Not trying to discredit basketball or volleyball, but honestly I can’t get used to playing ball sports with my hands.

"You know Kai..."

"Why don’t I join the school basketball club." Kai says, finishing Kevin’s sentence. "Ha... I appreciate the offer but honestly I can’t play basketball ’professionally.’ Just messing around, sure. But joining the school club... mm... I don’t think so."

"That’s such a shame, you know. I mean, you’re tall."

"Tall people aren’t always guaranteed to be good at basketball though." Kai sighing with closing her eyes for mere seconds. "Even your vertical jump is higher than mine even though you’re a bit shorter than me."

"Yeah, because I practice, duh. You could jump high too if you trained. But seems like someone like you really isn’t cut out for physical activities."

"Fact." Kai agrees with Kevin without arguing.

Walking and chatting about unimportant things, Kai gets another slap on his back once again. What kind of karma is this? Today everyone really loves smacking his back.

"Kai~ hehehe~"

Of course it’s that dum-dum Chloe, grinning wide. Kai notices what Chloe is wearing, honestly he’s not surprised by her beauty, she really is pretty, especially in this summer when she’s wearing sleeveless clothes.

"You’re pretty energetic today."

"Of course~ it’s summer. But haa..." She lets out an exaggerated sigh. "Why do we still have to come in for a few days though?"

"Who knows. But you didn’t forget to fill out the form about joining student council, right?"

"Of course not! I always keep my promises to everyone."

Chloe reaches into her bag and pulls out a piece of paper for Kai to see. Yeah, that form is just a formality— even if you fill it out that form with stupid things, it wouldn’t matter as Kai probably will handle the rest.

Seeing Kai chatting with Chloe like close friends, Kevin tilts his head. He knows and often sees Kai talking with Chloe. Whether by the vending machine near the cafeteria, or in the hallway by the stairs.

Kevin always notices Kai’s face changes when talking with Chloe. He doesn’t know what he means exactly, he can’t describe it clearly, but if there’s one word, Kai really seems "colorful" when talking to Chloe.

"Why are you smiling like that..."

Kai’s question makes Kevin grin even wider. "You two really aren’t dating?"

"No." Kai glances at Chloe. "Right, Chloe?"

"Yep... never ever."

Hey, why does your tone sound like you’re hoping for it though...

Kai tries not to notice the red blush spreading across Chloe’s cheeks. He decides not to think about it— blushing is a normal reaction for humans. Yeah... it’s a normal reaction, doesn’t mean Chloe is actually hoping for anything from him.

Besides, who falls in love with someone they’ve only known for a few months anyway.

True love is like a plant. It has to start from the roots, grow shoots, stems, and finally flowers. That’s what love means to "Ryan," so falling in love out of nowhere doesn’t exist. Especially for teenagers, what exists is just curiosity disguised as love.

Ha... hope today is a good day.