The first splash came from Scáth, of course.

She charged into the waves without hesitation, purple hair streaming behind her like a banner, and dove beneath the surface with barely a ripple. Seconds later, she erupted upward, water cascading off her shoulders, and her wine-colored eyes gleamed with pure joy as she called out a challenge.

"The last one is a coward!"

The words barely left her lips before chaos erupted. Klein shrieked with delight and ran full-speed toward the water, his small legs pumping. Anna and Anasha flanked him, their laughter high and bright.

Marie was right behind them, platinum hair flying, her competitive spirit fully ignited.

Bruno didn't run but sprinted quickly, green eyes alight with mischief. Kyle and Lloyd chased after him while Jessie jogged at a more measured pace, ponytail swaying. Suzy had already moved into the sea that was coming up to her knees, hands cupped and ready.

Joseph entered the water with a slight smile on his face and betrayed his anticipation. Alger made exaggerated swimming motions before even reaching the surf, making Jake and Kite laugh as they followed.

Resa paused at the water's edge, testing the temperature with one toe before committing.

Reinhard walked in steadily, feeling the cool water climb from ankles to knees to waist. The white jacket clung to his shoulders as waves lapped against his torso.

Around him, the ocean had transformed into a battlefield of joy.

The first water fight started when Nikki sent a massive splash directly at Gran's face, drenching his glasses completely. His shocked expression was so stunned that even Reinhard, who had seen Gran stare down fiends, nearly burst out laughing.

But Gran was never one to be bested for long. Unless less than a second, he'd retaliated with a two-handed worth of water that hit Nikki and, incidentally, also caught Suzy in the crossfire. Suzy shrieked, then gleefully joined in, and the first full-scale battle lines were drawn between the three.

The rest of the group, sensing an opening, joined in with a kind of synchronized anarchy. For a few glorious minutes, it was impossible to keep track of who was allied to whom. Marie, naturally, tried to organize her own team as she shouted. "Swords to me! Let's show them what a real water offensive looks like!"

But Reinhard stayed out of it, and Joseph defected, launching a sneak attack on her from behind that left her gasping and laughing all at once.

Bruno, who'd started with the intention of soaking everyone, instead found himself the center of a four-person counterattack. With Kyle, Lloyd, and Jessie surrounding him and working together to try to dunk him underwater.

Unfortunately, their effort failed spectacularly. Bruno simply picked up Kyle and used him as a human shield, spinning him in a circle to scatter the incoming waves.

Meanwhile, the Dream Clubs were executing what could only be described as a series of highly coordinated maneuvers. Reinhard watched in amusement as Irene and Resa flanked Alger, and then Irene swept-kicked his legs from beneath the water's surface.

Alger went down flailing and sputtering.

Then Resa quickly closed in for the finishing blow, a double-handed tidal wave that left Alger blinking up at the sky in sheepish defeat. Even as he was vanquished, Kite and Jake, who had been lurking at the periphery, took advantage of the distraction to splash both Dream Club from behind and immediately dove under to avoid retribution.

The little ones were their own independent faction, a roving band of chaos that targeted whoever seemed most vulnerable. Klein was surprisingly cunning, drawing attention to himself and then leading the others in a pincer assault when their target retaliated.

Anna, ever the tactician, convinced Suzy and Nikki to join her in a coordinated sneak attack on Marie, waiting until she was distracted by Joseph's ambush and then dousing her with a bucket.

Where did they get the bucket?

Marie's shriek of laughter was so loud it startled a flock of nearby birds into the air.

Brunhilde, for her part, stood in the shallows, the hem of her azure dress drifting around her knees and her hair shining in the sunlight. She watched the water fight with an air of amused detachment, but when Anasha accidentally splashed her, Brunhilde didn't even blink.

She reached down, gathered a precise handful of water, and with a single, almost lazy flick, sent a sheet of it straight at Anasha. It was so perfectly aimed that it connected directly, making Anasha yelp and scramble behind Klein.

Reinhard was almost certain he saw Brunhilde's lips twitch in a rare, satisfied smile.

Vanna, who had until now maintained her distance, wading just far enough to avoid being drawn into the fray. But she finally relented when Suzy launched a low, arcing kick of water directly at her knees.

Vanna recoiled, then, to everyone's surprise, broke into a fluid counterattack that swept Suzy's legs out from under her. Suzy fell with a delighted squeal, resurfacing to call. "Vanna's in! No going back now!"

Vanna shook her head and muttered something, but she stayed in the thick of it, face less guarded than usual.

The cycles of attack and revenge, truce and betrayal, continued until nearly everyone was out of breath.

Reinhard, watching from a distance, found himself swept up in the infectious laughter. Even Janus, who was usually the most reserved of the group, stopped being nervous and was chasing Bruno through the water, both of them grinning like children.

Reinhard at last moved deeper into the water, the cold biting at his legs. He felt Klein trailing after and immediately trying to surprise him with a handful of sea foam. Reinhard obliged by pretending to be mortally wounded, staggering backward with an exaggerated cry until Klein's laughter nearly drowned him out.

The game shifted when Marie, still dripping from her earlier soaking, called out a challenge. "Let's see who can stay under the longest!" Instantly, the group's competitive instincts reignited.

One by one, they ducked beneath the waves, faces vanishing and then reappearing for frantic breaths. Janue won the first round to the others' chagrin, leading them to shout for a redo.

Irene, surprisingly, held out the longest. Resa tried to match her, but surfaced with a gasp at the last second, shaking her head in defeat. Bruno and Kyle both went under with dramatic gestures, only to immediately break for air and accuse each other of cheating.

After several rounds, Scáth won the overall contest, surfacing with a triumphant whoop and raising both fists in victory.

Not to be outdone, Jessie suggested a swim race to a buoy bobbing fifty meters offshore. The group quickly divided into teams, with much debate over who would anchor each relay.

Reinhard was roped in by Klein, who insisted they would be the "secret weapons" and demanded a team name on the spot. Anna named them Team Storm Wave, and they lined up with the rest.

The signal was a shouted "Go!" from Suzy, and a dozen bodies launched into the water in a mass of arms and legs.

The race was chaotic but exhilarating.

Marie's team took an early lead, but Irene steadily overtook her in the final stretch, with Scáth closing the gap. Reinhard was surprised to find himself keeping up with them effortlessly while Klein cut through the water like a seal, matching his big brother's pace.

When they finally reached the buoy and turned back, Marie was right on their tail. She tagged Klein's ankle, and the two teams crashed to the finish almost simultaneously.

Everyone surfaced at once, gasping and laughing, water running down their faces and shoulders. Anna declared the result a tie, which prompted a round of high-fives and splashing.

Even the losing teams cheered the winners, and Jessie, who'd come in last, claimed the moral victory for "best form."

Eventually, the group tired of the water and drifted back toward shore, some collapsing in the sand and others gathering towels to dry off.

The scene on the beach was no less animated than in the water. Suzy and Nikki, undeterred by defeat, began a sandcastle construction project that quickly drew a small crowd.

But Suzy's idea of a sandcastle was less "castle" and more "giant fortress with elaborate tunnels, moats, and a shell-adorned flag." Within minutes, Anna and Anasha joined as co-engineers, and even Gran, initially skeptical, contributed by digging defensive trenches.

Reinhard watched them work, a pang of nostalgia stirring. He remembered afternoons spent this way with Klein and Anna in their old life, when the orphanage took them all to the beach once.

Although the reason was to train them, he still recalls the joy of sand between fingers and the satisfaction of a structure rising against gravity.

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