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Jotaro so loved the ocean. What better family trip, then, than to go to the beach? Holly and Sadao had planned the excursion in secret, telling Jotaro they were going on a more typical road trip of dropping Sadao off at an airport for the start of a new tour. In reality, they snuck him to the coast instead. He moped in the back seat until they parked and he looked out the window. His look of realization was downright precious .
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Noriaki was already much too reserved for his age, and lately he was so quiet. As his mother, Akari worried her sweet, summer child would never make a friend in this world. She blamed herself. They told him to get rid of his first friend and Noriaki did not understand why. Then the start to school had been rough for him, also. Her bright boy had become a sullen thing she didn't recognize at times. Trying to cheer him up, his mother decided to take him to the local beach on the holiday.
"Good morning, Nori." Akari kissed her son on the top of his head when he came to eat breakfast.
Noriaki was fully dressed already, his red hair combed and his face washed. Taking care of himself had been a habit before he began school, now it was routine. He was sure to grow into a capable adult.
"Morning, Mama." He dutifully said.
The bruise on his face was only a yellow mark now, he didn't say so, but his mother was sure it still ached. Children were so cruel, she knew. Noriaki had inherited his mother's hair color. Akari had been teased for it, also, but while girls were mean with words, the boys had been physical with Noriaki.
"Here's your breakfast, dearest." Akari gave him his plate of pancakes with cherry preserves and sat down opposite him to eat her own breakfast.
"Thank you, Mama." He said.
"Let's eat." She intoned and they began the meal.
Noriaki methodically cut up his pancake, eating big bites. Taller than average, he was growing like a sunflower.
"Noriaki, since Papa is on a work trip, why don't we go down to the beach today?" Akari said.
Noriaki, his mouth full and preserves on his chin, nodded.
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The beach wasn't empty. Noriaki clung to his mother's leg as they made their way down to the sand. Usually Noriaki had this beach to himself. He rubbed the bruise on his cheek. The adults in the family of three turned and watched Akari and Noriaki.
"Good afternoon." The woman called, walking over to Akari, "I'm Kujo Holly, it is nice to meet you."
Akari bowed, "I'm Kakyoin Akari, this is my son, Noriaki."
Noriaki shyly bowed, too.
Holly wasn't Japanese, she was blond with blue eyes, and she had a big smile.
"Oh, what a cutie!" Holly cooed, "You don't have to be nervous, sweetie."
Noriaki ducked further behind his mother's skirt.
"How old are you, Noriaki?" Holly asked.
Noriaki held up six fingers.
"Six? Wow! You're so tall, I thought you were a little older than that." Holly said, "You're the same age as my son Jotaro. He's over there playing with his papa."
Both Noriaki and Akari looked over at the two dark haired figures digging in the sand. They wore matching swim trunks.
"If your mother is okay with it, would you like to play with him, Noriaki?" Holly asked.
"I wouldn't mind at all." Akari said.
"No, thank you ma'am." Noriaki politely declined and ran away to the other side of the beach.
"Noriaki!" His mother called him, but he didn't turn back.
Noriaki picked a spot in the sand while his mother and Mrs. Kujo talked some more. He laid out his towel with Nausicaä on it and sat down while he sorted his pail and shovel from the other toys he brought.
Akari walked over to him after a bit and put her towel down, too.
"Nori, will you at least come and introduce yourself to the boy?" Akari asked.
Noriaki pulled on his long, wavy bang, hiding his face.
"No? Why not?"
"He might be mean." Noriaki said.
"I see." His mother hugged him, "Do you want to play with Mama?"
Noriaki shook his head, "I'm going to look for shells."
"Okay." She nodded, "I'm going to talk to Mrs. Kujo, so I don't want you to go too far down the beach where I can't see you. If you want to swim, you have to ask me first."
"Yes, Mama." Noriaki said.
"Good. I hope you find some good shells for your collection." She kissed his cheek and stood.
Noriaki looked around their towels first, not finding any shells worthy of his bucket. His collection was getting too big, Noriaki's Papa had told him, so he had to be picky. Any time the little boy thought no one was looking, a flash of green would help him dig. He had two things in his bucket, a small bubble conch shell and a green piece of sea glass, when he wandered close to the Kujos again. The adults were still talking, but Jotaro stood up and came over to Noriaki. Kujo Jotaro didn't look much like his mom, besides having blue eyes. His big eyebrows and wavy black hair had sand in them. He also had a bucket of shells. In fact, he had a wentletrap shell in his bucket, Noriaki noticed. Noriaki had never seen a wentletrap in real life, only in books, and this one was even completely intact.
"Hello, I'm Jotaro."
Noriaki gave him a small bow and continued on.
"What's your name?" Jotaro asked, doggedly following Noriaki.
"Kakyoin Noriaki."
"Nice t'meet you." Jotaro said.
"Nice to meet you." Noriaki said in kind, avoiding looking at the other boy.
"What're you doing?" Jotaro asked.
Noriaki showed him his bucket.
"Cool." Jotaro said.
Noriaki kept walking, but Jotaro stayed with him no matter how fast he walked. Noriaki was slightly taller than Jotaro, but Jotaro had longer legs.
"Nori! You're going too far!" Akari called.
Noriaki pivoted and walked back.
"You're not diggin' any shells." Jotaro pointed out, "Let's build a sand castle."
"I don't want to." Noriaki said.
"I don't care. We're the only kids on the beach. Let's make a sand castle." Jotaro stubbornly insisted, beginning to dig a moat.
Noriaki stood silently a moment before pointing at Jotaro's bucket.
"I'll help only if you give me your epitonium scalare shell." He said.
Jotaro didn't even hesitate, and he picked the right shell out of the pile. Noriaki looked at it in his palm, glistening, before putting the shell in his bucket and kneeling down to help the other boy.
"Did you know, there's thirty thousand species of sea snails that we know of." Noriaki said.
"Yeah." Jotaro said, "And some o'them eat fish 'stead of plants."
"Yeah." Noriaki nodded.
Noriaki put his two shells and sea glass on the sand and filled his pail with sand for the castle.
"We'll use my shells for the windows." Jotaro said, "'Cus my dad won't let me take them all home. The one I gave you was the only good one, anyway."
"You can't have it back." Noriaki said.
"I gave it to you, didn't I?" Jotaro scowled.
Noriaki looked away.
"Why d'you keep lookin' like that?" Jotaro asked.
"Looking like what?"
Jotaro imitated Noriaki ducking away, "That."
"I don't want you to hit me." Noriaki said.
"I won't hit you! Why would I hit you?" Jotaro exclaimed.
"I don't know." Noriaki said.
"Did someone hit you before?" Jotaro continued.
"Yes." Noriaki rubbed his cheek.
"Why?"
"Because I have red hair."
"Stupid."
"I'm not stupid!" Noriaki frowned.
"Not you. You know about sea snails, you're not stupid." Jotaro said, "The guy who didn't like your hair is stupid. Some guys don't like me because my mom isn't Japanese. They're all stupid. If they hit me, I hit them back."
"You're not supposed to hit anybody." Noriaki said.
"Why should they get to do it, but I can't?" Jotaro huffed, "An'body who hits me, is going to get hit back."
"What if it's more than one guy hitting you?" Noriaki asked.
"My grandpa taught me a secret tech-nique," Jotaro sounded out the word carefully and whispered to the other boy, "It's something only our family knows, but I'll teach you if you promise to keep it secret."
Noriaki nodded.
"You," Jotaro leaned closer and Noriaki did the same, "Run away!" He finished loudly, startling Noriaki.
"That's it?" Noriaki said.
"That's it! The Joestar tech-nique." Jotaro laughed.
Noriaki laughed, too, "I'll try it."
"It works really good." Jotaro proclaimed.
Their sand castle was getting bigger between them. Jotaro had dumped out his pail, too, and was trying to make a tall section. It fell over twice before Noriaki helped him to get it right.
"That looks good, it just needs a shell on top." Noriaki grabbed a flat bottomed one and stuck it in.
"If you let your green friend help more, we could make a really awesome one." Jotaro said.
Noriaki looked up at the other boy, "What?"
"Your green friend, he seems like a good helper." Jotaro said.
"What?" Noriaki repeated.
"He seems t'want to." Jotaro pointed at the length of green and white around Noriaki's bucket.
"You can see him?" Noriaki shouted, before smothering his mouth and looking across the beach at his mother.
None of the adults had noticed his shouting, they were too wrapped up in their own conversation.
"Yeah, I can see him." Jotaro straightened up from where he was filling his bucket, "It looks a little like my mom's friend."
Noriaki just gaped as the other boy continued talking.
"But hers is like a plant, like my grandpa's, and yours isn't like that. He's just vines?"
"He's not a plant." Noriaki whispered, "I'm not supposed to talk about him anymore."
"Okay." Jotaro returned to castle building.
"You can really see him?" Noriaki asked.
"Yeah." Jotaro nodded, "Wanna see mine?"
Noriaki looked over at his mother again and played with his bang.
"If you don't tell my mama." Noriaki whispered.
"I won't tell." Jotaro said.
Behind Jotaro the same sparkle of sunlight from the ocean shone and his friend appeared. Jotaro's friend was light purple, and he had swaying, long hair like he was swimming under the ocean. His eyes matched Jotaro's. Gold squiggling stripes ran along his skin, and he wore a white mawashi like a sumo wrestler. Noriaki ogled for a long moment.
"Um, this is mine." Noriaki said.
Behind Noriaki, surging like a fierce wave, green energy formed a humanoid figure that wore a fundoshi and a matching white harness across the chest. His friend was veined green with yellow, shining eyes.
"He looks like a shiny melon." Jotaro said of the bald head.
"Yours looks like purple seaweed." Noriaki said.
They both laughed.
"You have a friend, too, that's so cool. You're cool, Jotaro." Noriaki declared, beaming at the other boy.
"Mn." Jotaro bashfully accepted the praise.
"A friend like mine. Wow. Cool." Noriaki muttered to himself as they went back to work.
The sand castle was looking good. Both boys were enjoying the cooperative play, though neither said so. Noriaki was trying to make a wall around the moat when he accidentally knelt on his shell. Seeing the pieces, he immediately began to cry.
"What happened?" Jotaro noticed right away.
"Th-the sh-shell…" Noriaki miserably managed between hiccupping sobs, "I r-ruined iiiiit!"
"Don't cry, you can have any of the others." Jotaro crouched next to him, flustered, "It's okay."
"It isn't." Noriaki insisted.
"Nori, what happened?" Noriaki's mother rushed over.
Noriaki went into Akari's arms, sobbing.
"What did you do to upset him?" She asked Jotaro sternly.
"I didn't do anything!" Jotaro protested.
"If you bullied my son-"
"No mama!" Noriaki shouted.
"No?" Akari was surprised Noriaki had interrupted her.
"Jotaro gave me a shell and I-" Noriaki's lower lip trembled and he began crying again, "It was so cool! I broke it! I ruined everything again!"
"I told you don't cry!" Jotaro snapped.
Jotaro balled up his hands and his face squinched up, before long, he was crying, too.
"Oh, goodness!" Holly came over as well, "What has happened here? I thought everyone was having a good time."
"I apologize, my Noriaki upset your Jotaro." Akari said.
"It's not Noriaki's fault." Jotaro sniffled, "It was an accident! Noriaki didn't do anything!."
"We understand, JoJo." Holly soothed, "It was an accident."
It took the children several minutes to calm down and be able to explain what happened fully.
"I'm sorry your shell broke, dearest." Akari held Noriaki as she dried his face, "I know you were looking for a new one to take home today."
Noriaki laid his head on his mother's shoulder.
"Why don't you boys finish your sand castle?" Holly suggested, "I'd like to get a picture of it before we leave."
"I'm going to find Noriaki another wentletrap shell!" Jotaro decided.
"There's not enough time for that, Jotaro, we have to leave soon." Holly informed him.
It was getting close to evening and the Kujos had a long drive. Jotaro scowled at the lowering sun.
"Let's finish the castle, Noriaki." Jotaro said.
Noriaki nodded and Akari put him down.
"I'm going to go get our things, Nori, I'll be right back." Akari said.
"Okay, Mama." Noriaki said.
"I'm getting the camera." Holly said.
Jotaro and Noriaki built another tower, and Noriaki's friend made a spiral design on it.
"I'm sorry about your shell." Jotaro said.
"It's okay, it was my fault." Noriaki said, "I forgot I put it there. It was special, I should have been careful."
"I'm going to find you a new one." Jotaro vowed, "A better one. I promise!"
Noriaki wiped away a stray tear.
"Oh! What a wonderful castle!" Holly returned with the camera, "Now, both of you sit behind it. Yes, close together, and strike a pose for me."
Jotaro put his arm around Noriaki's shoulders and Noriaki held up his shovel across his chest like a sword.
"Say cheese!" Holly said.
The boys grinned while the woman snapped a hundred pictures from every conceivable angle. She even laid down in the sand and rolled around, praising them as she went.
"Your mom is really nice." Noriaki said.
"She's annoying sometimes." Jotaro responded.
"Where do you live, Jotaro?" Noriaki asked, picking at the sand.
"Far away." Jotaro answered, "We drove forever to get here."
Noriaki hung his head, "Oh."
"Are you going to cry again?" Jotaro panicked.
"Maybe."
"How come?"
Noriaki sighed, "I'm sad. I thought we could be friends."
"We can still be friends!" Jotaro said, "I can call you like I do with grandma and grandpa. Mom!" He ran over to Holly, who was talking with Sadao and packing up.
"What is it, honey?" Holly asked.
"I need paper!" Jotaro said.
"What for?" She cocked her head.
"I want to give Noriaki our phone number." Jotaro explained, "He's my friend."
"Of course, there's some paper in the car, give me a minute." Holly left the packing to her husband.
"You know how to talk on the phone, don't you, Noriaki?" Jotaro asked.
Noriaki, who had followed Jotaro, bashfully nodded.
"You made a friend, Jotaro?" Sadao ruffled his son's hair.
"Yeah, Dad! He's cool, he knows about sea snails and he has a fr-" Jotaro slapped his hands over his mouth and whipped around to Noriaki, "I didn't say it. Sorry, Noriaki, I almost did."
"Didn't say what?" Sadao questioned, "You guys already have a secret?"
Both boys nodded.
"You really are friends, then." Sadao said.
Jotaro and Noriaki laughed behind their hands.
"Do you have your bucket and shovel, Nori?" Akari returned.
"I'm getting them!" Noriaki rushed back to the building site.
Jotaro tugged on Akari's hand.
"Yes, Jotaro?" She crouched to his level.
"Will it be okay if Noriaki and I talk on the phone, Mrs. Kakyoin? I would really like to. I like Noriaki." Jotaro told her.
"Yes, it would be just fine." Akari nodded, swinging Jotaro's hand for emphasis.
"Mom! Hurry!" Jotaro hollered.
"I'm coming, JoJo!" Holly answered.
"Jotaro, why are you holding my mama's hand?" Noriaki demanded, "Only my papa or me can do that!"
"It's okay, Noriaki." Akari laughed.
Noriaki broke their hands apart anyway. Holly and Akari exchanged phone numbers giddily while the children chatted about sea creatures.
"Now!" Holly clapped her hands after she tucked the folded paper away, "Let's start over as friends. Please, take care of us."
The Kujos all bowed formally, though Jotaro peeked at Noriaki with a twist.
Akari put her hand on her son's back and they bowed, also.
"Please, take care of us." The Kakyoins both said.
Jotaro jumped Noriaki in a hug, lifting the taller youth off the ground in his enthusiasm.
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"Look, Nori, you got a package in the mail today!" Akari showed her son a small box.
"For me?" Noriaki asked as he hung up his school bag.
"Look, it has your name on it." She handed him the box.
Noriaki used his finger to trace the characters of his name on the shipping label.
"It does!" He exclaimed.
"Do you want to open it first or change clothes first?" Akari asked.
"Open it! Open it! Please, Mama!" He jumped up and down excitedly.
"Okay, okay! Let's be a little more gentle, though, what's inside might break." Akari said.
"Oh!" Noriaki realized and walked slowly to the living room with over-exaggerated carefulness.
Akari giggled, he was so bright and cheerful again. And it was all thanks to meeting the sender of that very package. They sat together at the living room table and Noriaki wiggled excitedly.
"Can you read who the sender is, Noriaki?" Akari asked.
Noriaki studied the label again but shook his head. This time, Akari traced characters for him.
"Kujo Jotaro." She sounded out.
"Jotaro!" Noriaki shouted, rattling the table when he jumped up, "It's from Jotaro? Jotaro sent me a package? What did he send me?"
"Sit down and open it." Akari laughed.
With his mother helping him with the tape, Noriaki ripped into the box. On top was a letter. Noriaki opened the folded paper, finding a message clearly penned by a child. Akari had to help Noriaki figure out what it said.
"Hello, Noriaki," Jotaro wrote, "I miss you big. I went to the beach with mom today. I found one! For you!"
"What did he find, Noriaki?" Akari asked.
Noriaki pulled the package out of the box, something wrapped in bubble wrap. He unrolled it and gasped. A wentletrap shell. A perfect wentletrap shell with 'stairs' along the spire clean and white. He looked up at his mother with big eyes.
"Mama, I have to call Jotaro and thank him. I have to find a return gift, too." He said seriously.
"Of course, my dear baby, of course." She smoothed his hair, "That was nice of Jotaro to remember you wanted one."
"He promised." Noriaki said measuredly before shouting, "This is so cool! I want to put it on my shelf!"
"Yes, it will look very good. I'll make you a snack while you do that and change, okay?"
"Okay!" Noriaki grinned, but didn't run off.
He collected the letter and again walked carefully with the shell cradled in his arms like it was the most precious thing to ever exist.