"I don't know, Hide," Ken said, glancing around apprehensively. "We weren't even invited. We really shouldn't be here..."
Hide just laughed. "Relax! There are a million people here. Nobody's going to notice two more."
"How did you even find out about this party?" Ken asked, frowning as she looked around. Truth be told, she was claustrophobic, and crowds made her feel anxious.
"There's no party I can't find out about!" Hide said like it was a hidden superpower of his. "Besides..." He leaned closer so his mouth was three inches from Ken's ear. "There are tons of babes in bikinis here!"
Ken pushed him away, blushing lightly. "Shut up, you pervert. What's so great about girls in swimsuits anyway? Besides, you probably have porn mags at home with better graphics and older women."
"Not going to deny it," Hide said with a cheeky smirk, "but these girls are 3D."
Ken just rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot."
Hide stared at her for a long second as though just seeing her for the first time.
"What?" Ken asked, looking over at him. "Something wrong?"
"You're a girl," he said slowly as though it were an unfamiliar realization.
"Yes," Ken acknowledged, resisting the urge to smack him.
"So why aren't you in a bikini?"
Ken just rolled her eyes. It took a certain amount of patience to deal with Hide, but she'd managed it for the past ten or so years. Still, things were a bit different now that she was growing into a woman and he was growing into a playboy.
"I'll be right back!" Hide shouted, grinning and waving before merging effortlessly into the crowd and disappearing in three seconds flat.
Ken didn't even have the chance to yell "Wait". She sighed instead. This was how these things normally went. Hide would drag her places and then ditch her to go flirt with girls that were out of his league, and Ken would wait nearby so she could lead his broken-hearted figure back to his house. He'd get over it pretty quickly though. Sometimes he'd even start flirting with Ken on the way home, but she just ignored him or played along until she could drop him off and be rid of him. Men in general made her nervous, and not in the fluttery way. She was afraid of them. That's why it was strange that she'd ended up becoming friends with Hide, but she was grateful. Hide knew or at least sensed her discomfort around guys and usually acted as a buffer, either keeping himself between Ken and the other guy or driving him off somehow.
That's why Ken came to the parties, truth be told. She felt like she had to repay Hide somehow. If that was by being his DW (designated walker - she didn't have a car and neither did he), that was fine by her.
Still, that didn't mean she enjoyed it.
She worked her way to the edge of the throng of people and walked until she found a bench to sit down on. Then she settled in for a long wait as Hide no doubt flirted with a dozen girls he'd never met and all of whom had boyfriends, but her wait was almost immediately interrupted by a figure approaching her.
She tensed. It was a guy. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and his purple hair was still wet from the pool.
He walked up to her and stopped directly in front of her. Then he smiled. "Hello. I'm Shuu Tsukiyama."