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"Ah~ Ecstasy!" Shiraishi exclaims as he gets out of the water head first, tilting his head slightly backwards. He squares his shoulders ever so slightly that only someone with binoculars would be able to see the subtle movement and it makes the salt water that's clung itself to Shiraishi's skin glisten against the sunlight.
Once he's finally walking towards the shore, his hair falls to his face. Bangs cover the top of his eyes, but thankfully, they're not sharp enough that it's irritating. His damp silver-brown hair looks so appealing with the small curls the beach water adds.
Girls and some men welcome him back to shore after he successfully helped a turtle get back to sea. The story behind it is that a civilian found a turtle trapped in a soda can plastic ring. It was awful, but Shiraishi helped the turtle and now the issue's been resolved (hopefully).
"Che!" Kenya's pretty pissed that Shiraishi, the new guy, gets so much attention from the people. He's been watching Shiraishi to make sure he'd make a mistake so he can swoop in and save the day, but the other man's swimming technique is so good (almost biblical) that he couldn't even jump in. He throws his binoculars in his bag and grumpily joins the group to congratulate his coworker.
"So, you did it," Kenya says once he's within earshot range. That didn't sound like a display of happiness and warmth at all, but Kenya's never been that friendly with Shiraishi in the first place. There's just something irksome about him, Kenya would say, but he has to work with the new guy because he's one of the older members of the team.
Shiraishi notices Kenya pretty quickly and waves at the slightly shorter man, happy to see him. "Oh, I did!" And with that, he excuses himself from the beach patrons who have somehow become his fans so he can join his partner and they can go back to work.
As the two of them head back to the lifeguard station to monitor the beach, a small redheaded kid runs up to them.
"HEEEEEYYYYYY!!!!! You guys, can I join the lifeguards yet?"
Kenya frowns, then glances at Shiraishi who seems to be trying to figure out if this is the guy the lifeguards should be wary of.
Shiraishi's the new guy; he should learn how to handle people like this, Kenya thinks. Kintarou's been wanting to join the Shitenhoji team of lifeguards for ages now but just can't because of his height. The team occasionally checks his height to see if there are any changes but it seems impossible for him to join them this year. He's got a lot of energy, at least… but they've already been told by their supervisor at the police station that they can't accept him and will have to reject him every time they're asked.
Either way, Kenya's pretty smug because Shiraishi doesn't look like the type who could ever let someone down. This'll be an interesting exchange, and if Shiraishi messes up, Kenya can swoop in and save the day! His will surely go as well as he hopes. In fact, his thoughts get the better of him and he elbows the newer lifeguard so he can be the one to speak up.
"Go on," he whispers.
Shiraishi looks at Kenya, swallows thickly (which somehow annoys Kenya!!), then looks at Kintarou.
"Kin-chan, right?" he asks at first, kneeling a little so they're both the same level in height.
"Yeah! You can call me that, sure!" the redhead beams brightly at Shiraishi. He's never actually spoken to Shiraishi before aside from the occasional yo's, because his attention is either always on Kenya or on that guy whose hair looks like a broom's (Koishikawa). Maybe he won't get rejected this time because even Shiraishi looks happy. There's hope!
"Well," Shiraishi begins, then he looks at Kenya and gives him a nod as he smiles confidently. Something about that just irks Kenya, though. Why is this guy so sure of himself? He just joined the team! First he takes away his fans, and now he looks so good looking even though he just got out of the water—wait.
Kenya immediately looks away after thinking that, face beet red. He even covers his mouth and nose with a palm as he pretends to cough, but truth is? He's just flustered for even thinking of something like that. And now, the cogs in his head begin to move really quickly that he comes to the conclusion that it's not disdain he feels for Shiraishi but appreciation for his stupid face and his stupid work ethics and how perfect he is. Dammit.
Then Kenya hears a scream. It's Kintarou, and he's running away from them both before Kenya can even look back at Shiraishi and ask what happened. And Shiraishi, instead informing Kenya of what exactly he told Kintarou just said something about how his arms are embedded with poison and if Kintarou bothers them again, he'll poison him.
What? Kenya's lips part ever so slightly before he ends up laughing heartily instead. What— What kind of threat was that?
"That's- That's so funny!" Kenya screams out, almost tearing up. His hand makes its way to his stomach so he can push it in an attempt to stop himself from laughing, but he keeps laughing and laughing. "That was so dumb! Nobody would ever fall for that!"
And yet, Kintarou did.
Just as Kintarou fell for Shiraishi's threat, Kenya Oshitari fell for Shiraishi. It's quick, like a tidal wave that just completely takes control over an entire bar of sand. Kenya thought that he'd never want to be friends with Shiraishi. Who knew all it took for him to change his mind was to watch him and have him tell a joke? Now he wants to be friends, get to know him better, and maybe hold hands.
And if anybody ever dares to ask why, Kenya'd tell them that it's because Shiraishi makes him laugh.