As time went by, Ryuji learned to adapt to his new life but seeing his hands and feet covered with scales whenever he touched water was still unnerving no matter how many times he saw it.  But there was nothing he could do about it if he wanted to stay clean.


    As long as he avoided getting wet in front of people, the easier it was to keep his secret hidden. As long as he dried his hands and feet off, the scales would disappear within seconds.  On the other hand, if he let his hands air dry, it would take about one to five minutes depending on how fast his hands dried naturally.


    Over the summer, he did his best to avoid swimming with his friends.  He would find a way to avoid going to the beach or pool, claiming that he was busy, or pretend to have stomach aches or be sick whenever they invited him to hang out somewhere that involved getting wet.


    His friends couldn’t help but notice that he kept avoiding places with water. After weeks of inventing random excuses, they finally decided to confront him.


    "Anytime we ask you to join us at the beach, pools or some water park you just make up some excuse to not go.  It''s been happening for weeks now. What''s up, bro?" Ajax asked, trying to mask his concern.


    He hesitated, shifting uncomfortably. "I don''t know... just not feeling it, I guess." he said, looking at the ground.


    His friends looked at him, not buying any of it.


    Another one of his friends, Mika spoke up, "It’s definitely way more than that dude.  You used to love going to the beach with us."


    “Yea.  you used to be the one making all the plans for pool parties or meeting up at the beach.  You would be the first into the water and the last one out.  We practically had to drag you out of the water.  What happened?  Did you have a bad experience or something?”


    Ryuji looked at his friends and decided to tell them about the dream that he had. He just ignored it but then recently his body was changing and maybe the “dream” wasn''t really a dream.


    “I had a dream… It was more of a nightmare…” Ryuji hesitated, his friends watching him closely.


    He took a deep breath and continued, his voice trembling slightly as he continued to retell the dream that had haunted the back of his mind for so long.


    “I had a dream that I was trapped inside a cave.  There was only one way out.  It was to swim through the tunnels that went on and on forever.  I was being guided by some floating lights, like they were showing me the way through the maze.  It was scary at first but I started to enjoy the quiet peacefulness of being alone as time went on.  But then I entered a tunnel.  I was swimming along like normal but then something appeared on my neck.  It scared me so much that I opened my mouth in shock, and all the air just left my lungs. I couldn’t breathe... and just as I felt like I was going to drown, I woke up.”  Ryuji shivers at the memory.


    His friends looked at him in silence, a heavy feeling filled the air around the three of them.


    “Well…” Mika said, trying to comfort Ryuji with a hard shoulder pat. “It''s quite understandable now why you avoided going to the beach and pools after having that crazy nightmare.”


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    “Yes.  Yes, it is.” Ajax agreed, “But you should''ve told us this.  We thought you didn''t want to hang out with us anymore.”


    Ryuji was surprised.   He hadn’t expected his avoidance of the beach to make his friends feel that way.


    “I’m sorry guys.  I didn''t think about how you would feel.  I only thought of myself, I guess.  I didn''t want to look like a wimp in front of my best friends…” he said regretting his decision to just avoid everything without any explanation.


    “Well, now we know what''s going on, right guys?” Mika said brightly, wanting to shift the mood, “We can all just hang out inside.  Who said that you need to go to the beach to have fun?  All that sun will make my skin turn red like a lobster.  I would much rather not be turned into a lobster over my vacation, thank you very much.”


    She grinned as the boys bursted into laughter at the thought of her turning into a red lobster.


    “Maybe go shopping at the mall.  There is a store I''ve been meaning to check out recently.  What do you guys think?  Let''s go tomorrow, ‘kay?”  Mika suggested.


    Ryuji and Ajax exchanged glances and shrugged. “Okay sounds good.” They smirked.


    Ryuji added, “Just try not to get carried away and buy half the store like last time…”


    Ajax nodded, “Yeah, remember when you swore you’d ‘just browse’ and ended up making me and Ryuji carry all your bags.  We could barely see in front of us.”  He shivered as if he was reliving a traumatic event.


    Mika gasped in mock offense. “Excuse me!  That was one time, and I needed those items.  They were limited edition.”


    They exchanged knowing glances with each other as Mika continued to speak.


    “Besides, I got you both snacks, didn’t I?  You two eat enough to feed a family with three kids for an entire year.” she said, pretending to be annoyed at their appetite.


    Ryuji chuckled, “Yeah, yeah. You bribed us with food so we wouldn’t complain.”


    “Classic Mika.” Ajax said and they all started laughing.


    Mika jumped up filled with excitement and exclaimed, “Great! Let''s go tomorrow! Oh, and I already know the first store we’re hitting.”


    Ryuji groaned dramatically. “Oh no…We’re doomed.” he looked over at Ajax who nodded in agreement.


    “Guess we better prepare ourselves huh?”


    “Guys!!” Mika said aspirated, “Enough teasing me for one day, please!”


    “Okay, okay," Ryuji and Ajax said.


    “We’ll stop, but it''s just so fun to see your silly reactions.”


    Mika glared at them intensely and they shivered in fright.


    “Oh wow…look at the time.” Ajax said suddenly looking at his non-existent watch.  “It’s getting late guys. I gotta get back home and umm… help out around the house. Bye guys!”


    And so Ajax quickly ran out the front door leaving Mika and Ryuji gaping at how quickly he disappeared.


    Mika huffed after his shadow and grumbled, “Looks like he wants to do all the heavy lifting tomorrow.”


    Ryuji gulped at Mika’s ruthlessness and thought, ''Farewell Ajax.  You were a real good buddy'', silently praying for Ajax’s safety in tomorrow’s shopping spree.


    Mika turned to Ryuji.


    Still concerned, she asked, “Are you sure everything is good?  You know you can always lean on us if you need any help.  That''s what friends are for, you know?”


    Ryuji nodded, “Yes I''m fine now, thanks.  No need to worry now.”  He said, grateful for his friends and how much they cared for him.


    “Okay,” Mika said, hesitating to leave, “Just give us a call anytime.  I gotta go home as well now. See you tomorrow, I guess.”


    And with that, she left, leaving Ryuji alone in the quiet house.