The heat arrived suddenly.
Not the gentle warmth from before, but the heavy kind that settled over everything. The sidewalks radiated heat, and even the ocean breeze felt warmer than usual.
Yuna wiped her forehead as she walked toward school.
"Welcome to real summer," Hana said dramatically beside her. "You survive this, you survive anything."
"Encouraging," Yuna replied.
Hana grinned. "You'll get used to it."
Used to it.
That phrase appeared a lot lately.
Used to the city.
Used to new friends.
Used to new routines.
Yuna wasn't sure how she felt about that.
Back home, Ren kicked off his shoes and collapsed onto the wooden boards of the pier.
"It's too hot to exist," Aio complained beside him.
"You say that every summer," Mio replied calmly.
"But this one feels personal."
Ren stared at the sky. It was bright and endless, the kind of blue that made the ocean sparkle painfully.
Summers here used to mean long beach days, lazy afternoons, and the four of them arguing over nothing.
Now it felt… different.
His phone buzzed.
Yuna: I think the sun here is trying to kill me.
Ren smiled instantly.
Ren: Weak.
Yuna: I grew up by the ocean. The ocean had mercy.
He sat up slightly.
Ren: The ocean never had mercy.
She could almost hear the teasing tone.
Yuna stopped walking and looked toward the distant shoreline of her new city. The waves here crashed harder, louder than the ones back home.
Still beautiful.
Just unfamiliar.
Yuna: Okay, maybe you're right.
Back at the pier, Aio peeked at Ren's screen again.
"You two text like an old married couple."
"Go away," Ren muttered.
Mio chuckled quietly.
Yuna reached the school gate where Hana waited with two cold drinks.
"Peace offering," Hana said, handing one over.
Yuna blinked. "For what?"
"For surviving the heat."
She laughed and took it.
Her phone buzzed again.
Ren: I miss when summer meant all four of us at the beach.
Her fingers paused.
She remembered those days clearly.
Sand everywhere.
Aio yelling about waves.
Mio pretending she wasn't competitive during volleyball.
Ren pretending he didn't care when Yuna splashed him.
Yuna: Me too.
She added another message before she could overthink it.
Yuna: But this summer isn't bad either.
Ren read that slowly.
Different didn't always mean worse.
Just unfamiliar.
He looked out at the ocean again.
The sunlight danced across the water, bright and restless.
Maybe this summer wasn't the one they expected.
Maybe it was the one they needed.
A summer of distance.
Of growth.
Of learning how connections stretched without breaking.
Across the city, Yuna sipped her cold drink and watched the wind ripple through the courtyard trees.
A different kind of summer.
Not easier.
But real.
Summertimes were coming.
And each of them was learning how to live inside it—no matter where they stood.