It’s been several months since the whole Nevada scandal blew up. Eventually, most people moved on, and nobody knows why Nevada was sealed. The Government isn’t being helpful, so it was better not to cling to unnecessary things. After all, everyone has their own problems. Like Arlo’s constant compining about the summer heat. Can’t bme him, though. For some reason, the weather has been feeling a tad bit hotter for some inexplicable reason.Zero was casually lying on the beach with a light jacket and some shorts. Luna rested on the sand beside him, even though she hated getting sand on her fur. Arlo tripped trying to run away from a crab; it ended up pinching him. Which caused him to accidentally use Echo of a Memory by accident to pinch the crab back with a spiritual manifestation of itself. The crab won the mini-battle.Jayden, Muhammed, and Micah arrived at the beach afterward. “YO, YO, YO!!!! BEACH DAY! BEACH DAY! LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOO.” Jayden said enthusiastically. Muhammed tried to stifle his snicker when he saw Arlo’s battle with the crab. It was hiriously pathetic. Muhammed and Micah weren’t wearing anything that showed too much skin. Arlo noticed that Jayden and Muhammed were shirtless. However, Muhammed was wearing three-quarter pants instead of typical shorts, like he and Jayden. Micah, on the other hand, was wearing something more modest. At this point, Arlo learned not to question it anymore.Then Scarlett arrived, and Arlo and Jayden’s jaws struck the floor as they saw Scarlett in her swimsuit. However, specifically to Arlo, he was not witnessing a mere girl. He was looking at a goddess— Don’t feel like actively breaking the fourth wall in this chapter. You handle it. Oh, wait, by the way. Make sure I shove a crab up the sheep’s ass if he doesn’t stop staring at me like some goddamn pervert. And make sure I get to kiss Zero again. Scarlett sps Arlo. “Stop staring, idiot,” Arlo shouts out. “YES, MY GODDESS!” Jayden's grin remained on his face, but he looked dumbfounded by Arlo’s reaction. “Uh, ok. Moving on.” They all went down to the beach, closer to the shore, where they found Zero sleeping on the sand.Luna patted Zero’s face, nudging him to awaken. Zero slowly opened his eyes to find everyone standing above him. “What is this? The beach episode or something?” They were all on the beach even though Zero hadn’t opened their group chat to coordinate with them. But of course, Scarlett, who left the group chat, also knew. Because why not?Arlo raised an eyebrow. “What are you—” Muhammed cut over him. “You guys wouldn’t believe it… I saw Arlo getting into a fight with a crab, and he lost!” He and Jayden burst out ughing. Micah was amused by the revetion. Scarlett didn’t care, but Zero had to comment on it. “I guess you can say he was in a… pinch…?” This caused Muhammed and Jayden to ugh even harder. Not cause the joke was funny, but because it added to the already hirious situation. Micah was grinning at this point. Even Scarlett was giggling. Arlo was thoroughly embarrassed, he tried to muster up a defiant retort. “Sh—shut up. The— the crab was hacking.” This comment only served to fuel the group’s amusement. Hacking? Seriously?

  Arlo casually pulled on Zero’s jacket out of annoyance, accidentally tearing off the fabric with ease. He forgot to account for the passive strength buff that magic users receive, but since this was a very thin jacket, it ripped easily. The removal of Zero’s jacket revealed several things. His figure was lean, his arms were covered in countless scars, and he had a massive singur prominent diagonal ceration scar across his chest. But, the most significant reveal of all was that he had a massive sshed zero (?) in a gothic-style font marking right on his back.

  The group went silent, the ughter instantly died down. Micah used his Cognitive Simution to simute the future of this conversation. In all of the trillion scenarios that pyed in his head, none of them were of which Zero revealed the origins of this mystery. Luna’s eyes narrowed at Arlo’s blunder; usually, Zero wears full-sleeved tops to hide those. Not to hide his insecurities, but because then he’d have to expin himself. She knew that was the one thing he hated doing the most. Not out of a desire to forget. But because people were inconvenient.

  Scarlett immediately rushed to Zero out of concern. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, as she looked up at him and softly whispered. “What happened to you?” Zero's eyes also narrowed, but he kept his casual demeanor. “Oh, you know, magicless struggles.” Jayden tried to speak up; his expression was no longer amused, he was concerned for his friend. But Micah, already realizing there was no point, pulled Jayden back.

  Muhammed, who couldn’t read the scene, spoke in awe. “BRO, you’re so badass! This is wild. You look sick.” He went closer to inspect the sshed zero (?) on Zero’s back, but he realized this wasn’t a mere tattoo. A tattoo wouldn’t have enough opacity to be fully dark, but the marking on Zero’s back was pitch bck. As if the marking was drawn out of the void. Muhammed didn’t question it, it was whatever. Still looked cool. Jayden decided maybe it was time to change the topic. “Okay, so today’s pn. We pyed some volleyball, we swam for a bit, and then we ate some ice cream!!!” Zero casually chuckles. “You won me at ice cream.” During the volleyball match, when things were getting intense, the ball was headed straight for Zero. He was too zy to move, so the ball bounced on his head preventing it from falling to the ground and giving Scarlett enough time to serve it back. Meanwhile, Arlo severely overestimated the ball and completely went too far to serve back the volleyball. Then everyone went swimming. Arlo, despite the odds, was actually pretty good at swimming… if there are no crabs in his pants, that is (Nice one - Scarlett). Jayden and Muhammed were spshing the water at each other. Zero was just casually floating on the water on his back since he was too zy to move. Scarlett constantly made sure he didn’t accidentally drown. Even Luna joined the waters, but mainly to clean her fur.As the sun was setting, the day ended with everyone enjoying some ice cream and walking back home. They were joking about Arlo’s fails and Zero’s ziness, completely forgetting Zero’s mysteries. They kept walking together before each of them split their own way, going home.