06: Chuuya Nakahara

The beach was unusually lively that afternoon. The sun hung high in the cloudless sky as the waves rolled gently against the shore. Chuuya had actually managed to get a few of his friends and several Mafia members to take the day off with him, though he insisted it was not a vacation.

“C’mon! Is that really all you got?” Chuuya laughed, dropping into the sand as he prepared for another round of the push-up contest.

A few of the Mafia members groaned while his friends immediately joined in.

“Ready?”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

Everyone started doing push-ups at once.

Chuuya smirked confidently, easily keeping up with the others. He was determined to win, mostly because he refused to hear any teasing about losing later. But then, His eyes drifted toward the other side of the beach.

A group of girls were sitting together, talking and laughing about something. And then he saw you. Chuuya froze.

His arms nearly stopped moving beneath him. For a moment, he completely forgot about the contest.

…Whoa.

His eyes stayed fixed on you as you laughed with your friends, completely unaware that someone across the beach was staring. Chuuya’s face warmed. He quickly looked away, pretending nothing happened.

“Oi, Chuuya! You slowing down?” one of his friends called.

“Tch. Shut up.”

An idea suddenly struck him.

If you were going to notice him, he might as well give you something worth noticing. Chuuya pushed himself up, shifted his weight onto one arm, and continued the push-ups with the other arm tucked behind his back. Fast. Then a little faster. His friends stared at him in disbelief.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!”

“Winning,” Chuuya replied smugly, though his eyes kept sneaking back toward you.

He switched arms and continued without slowing down. Meanwhile, the other Mafia members were just staring.

“Since when can he do that?”

“He’s just showing off.”

“Obviously.”

Chuuya ignored them. All he cared about was whether you had noticed him*