After changing into the swimsuit, I started warming up on the sand. Not that I knew what kind of warm-up went with the beach, so I defaulted to the old standby — radio calisthenics.
I was facing the ocean going one-two-three-four, two-two-three-four, when a voice came from behind.
“What dance is that.”
I turned to find Elze, now in her swimsuit, standing there. Behind her, Linze too.
They wore matching bikinis but in different colors — Elze in red top-and-bottom with white stripes, Linze in blue with white stripes. The bottoms were low-rise, tied at the sides.
Linze, embarrassed, had layered a long pastel-blue parka over the top. Needless to say, both had great figures; honestly, hard to know where to look. Confirmed — the younger sister is slightly bigger.
“Not a dance — warm-up. Cramp up the moment you jump in and you’ve got a problem, right?”
“I see. Fine — we’ll go with that.”
Not just “going with it” — that’s the truth. While I glared, Elze rolled her wrists and ankles, stretched her hamstrings, twisted her hips a couple of times, then ta-ta-ta! she was off into the water.
“Oh — Elze-dono first, eh? Then I, too.”
Yae, who had appeared beside me without my noticing, smiled in delight. She wore a halter-neck bikini with side-tied bottoms in pale lavender. I’ll keep secret the brief flicker of “sarashi and red fundoshi” that crossed my mind. Thinking about it, that would have been her undergarments, so — never going to happen.
But — looking again, that… is big. She normally compresses with sarashi, so the gap-vs-usual was disorienting.
Yae paid me no mind and went sprinting for the water.
“Linze, you’re not swimming?”
“A-ah, I’m… not very good at swimming, so… I’ll rest in the shade.”
She withdrew under the sun-shade. Hm — Linze’s body isn’t the sturdiest, so heatstroke is the thing I’m worried about for her.
“Touya!”
“Touya-nii-chan!”
Oh — now the small ladies have arrived.
Sue wore a yellow one-piece with frills around the chest, and Renee a red-with-white-dots one-piece with skirt-like frills at the waist.
Pure cute. No flustering needed; I could just enjoy it as is. Sue had a swim ring, Renee a beach ball.
“Don’t go too far out. The water’s shallow here, but stay near the others, all right?”
“I know. I’ll be fine. Let’s go, Renee!”
“Mm, Sue-nee-chan!”
Sue tugged Renee by the hand and ran for the surf. They’ve gotten close. Renee’s smaller, so Sue’s playing big sister.
“Aren’t they cute together~”
“Wha——!?”
I jumped at Cécile-san’s voice right behind me. Please stop killing your presence and sneaking up on me! Occupational hazard, I get it!
Cécile-san was in an emerald-green bikini with a matching pareo tied at the waist. The swimsuit itself is normal, nothing risqué.
But… that volume — surpassing even Yae’s — was making it impossible for my gaze to settle. *Always thought she was big, but that’s past huge — that’s bombshell. The kind of mature appeal you get from older—
“Sue-sama~, Renee-chan~. Let me play with you~”
Cécile-san jogged past. …Bounce, bounce. …Bounce, bounce. Saying it twice because it’s important.
“If they’re big… do they really float…?”
“What does?”
“Hyawah——!?”
Lapis-san was standing behind me with a quizzical look. Again! I told you — stop killing your presence!
“What floats?”
“Hueh!? Ah — the swim ring! Wondering if it floats properly!?”
”…Seems fine?”
“Yep!”
Lapis-san — watching Sue’s crew playing in the water — was in navy tube top and shorts. For some reason she held a silver tray.
“What’s that for?”
“I do still need to work. Drinks for the mistresses.”
She glanced toward the umbrella shade — Queen Yuelle and Lady Ellen, the Duchess, were lounging in beach chairs, with tropical drinks on the table between them, courtesy of Lapis-san.
“Lapis-san, you should be playing too.”
“I’ll be swapping with Cécile to enjoy myself — please don’t worry.”
She smiled and walked off toward the [Gate] back to the mansion. Hah — exemplary maid. Maid Guild member, after all. Hm?
I heard a commotion — the king was leaping off the rocks into the sea. Wait — is that safe!? …Ah, he surfaced. Deep over there, then. The Duke and General Leon followed in. Then all three started racing. …What are those old guys doing. Way too hyped.
“Touya-san.”
I’d been watching the king’s gang in mild exasperation when Yumina came over. A cute white bikini with frills at chest and hip suited her well. She spun on the spot and looked at me.
“How is it?”
“Suits you well. Cute.”
“Hehe. Thank you.”
With Yumina, compliments slip out smoothly — maybe because I still see her as a kid. I don’t get flustered around her the way I do with the others. I’m safe from being conquered by Yumina yet.
“Touya-san — let’s swim together over there.”
Yumina hugged my arm. Um, that’s… pressed against me. Deliberate or unconscious — hard to tell. Hadn’t noticed before, but… she’s growing age-appropriately, hasn’t she…
The soft sensation almost had me blushing — wait, I AM getting flustered! What was that “safe from being conquered yet” line — already in danger!
“Y-yeah, gotta check the ruins first. After that, I’ll join you.”
I gently extracted myself and made the promise. She looked slightly disappointed but accepted.
“Then please definitely come when you’re done.”
Yumina left a smile behind and ran across the sand to where Sue was.
Close one… defenses critically compromised. Nothing actually bad about it, though. …Or is there?
Yumina is cute. No question. Do I like her? Yes. As romantic interest? That, I don’t know.
Hmm — what if Yumina found a guy she liked, said she was going to marry him… Eh? Something irritating about that.
Hmm — that twinges. Unpleasant feeling. …Jealousy, this is? No — protecting a precious girl, sister-like, from some random nobody — paternal instinct… or so I’m gonna call it. Sure. Probably.
“What’s with the difficult face?”
“Eh?”
I turned to find Leen, in a sophisticated black-with-white-lace bikini — and yet still holding the black parasol. If you hate getting tanned, why even change into a swimsuit? Probably ill-advised to point this out. Although — a bold side-tied low-rise on that little-kid frame…
What worried me more was the stuffed bear next to her in a Taishō-era-style red-and-white striped one-piece, doing warm-ups.
“Wait — Paula’s swimming?”
Paula thumped her chest as if to say “of course!” Is that going to be okay? I shot Leen a look; she huffed proudly.
“I don’t put [Protection] on her for nothing. Waterproof, of course.”
[Protection] is incredible. I’ll cast it on my smartphone later. Ah — Kōhaku’s resting in the equipment tent with my phone.
“All right, let me dive and check first.”
I started toward the water and Paula bobbed along after me. Really sure about this…?
The moment Paula hit the water she went head-over-paws in the surf and got rolled back onto the sand. She stood up, charged back into the water. Again rolled back onto the sand. Infinite loop?
Deciding to leave her to it, I waded out. When the bottom dropped, I switched to breaststroke and went on.
Should be around here. I drew a deep breath and dove.
The water was clear enough to show me everything spread out below.
Definitely ruins. Massive stones arranged like a stone circle, with a small shrine-like building at the center. I dove further and looked into the building’s entrance — a stone staircase descending underground.
The bottom was lost in dark — looked like a long set of steps. My breath gave out, and I surfaced.
Pwah. I gulped air and dove again. This time I tried to push down the stairs in one go, but it got tight and I had to retreat. No way. Can’t hold breath that long. Maybe a minute, tops.
What’s down at the bottom of those stairs? I wanted to know, but at this point that was my limit. Not much progress, but nothing more to do here. I went back.
Back on the beach, Paula was facing the surf and miming wiping blood from her lip with the back of her paw — “Not bad, are you…” (no blood, naturally). Still at it, huh.
I reported what I’d seen to Leen and lay down on the sand.
“Completely underwater, then… what now… maybe I’ll have to bring Marion.”
“Marion?”
“Chief of the water-folk. A friend of mine. She can move freely in water, so it’d be fine, but… she doesn’t like coming out in public, that one…”
Leen folded her arms and pondered.
Couldn’t it be any water-folk? But the water-folk’s policy was that they didn’t want to come out publicly — preferred not to involve themselves with land-dwellers — so getting anyone was hard.
“Then how did she agree to help found Mismid?”
“Bit of my negotiation skill there. She’s not a bad kid. Hundred years as friends, you start to read each other.”
A hundred years… Leen’s stories are too big-scale to wrap my head around.
“Well — that’s enough for today. Go play. Monopolizing you too long, the others will resent me.”
Leen left it at that and went off to Paula. “Others”?
The smell of grilling meat reached me on the wind. I stood up and looked windward. There at a large iron griddle were Mika-san in an orange bikini with an apron, and Claire-san in a black-and-white striped bikini with apron, both working away. Both cooks — of course they hit it off.
Beside them, Aer-san in a floral one-piece was having Linze freeze a metal container. Ice cream, probably. Post-meal dessert.
From the [Gate] back to the mansion, Frio-san — Claire-san’s husband — was bringing out one ingredient after another. Straw hat as always.
I started over to help, when I noticed two specific figures and shot them a deadpan look.
“What are you two doing?”
In this heat — black formal dress and white gloves — two stewards peering through opera glasses.
“Monitoring Lady Sue’s safety.”
“Likewise, monitoring Her Highness’s safety.”
Aren’t you a touch overprotective? What is this brotherly act? I mean, Laim-san serves the Duke, and Lime-san serves me — so what about our safety?
Saying it wouldn’t help. I left them and headed off, stomach growling.
Starving——