Chapter 76

It all seemed suddenly funny, and I had to laugh. “No, nothing romantic, at this point.” Kaito smiled, like he didn’t suspect a thing. “Right! Good, that’s a relief!” “Why, what’s up?” “Well…” After a little hesitation, he continued. “No, I don’t think I’ll say it after all.” His face grew solemn. “Hey, Saku… Can you promise me just one thing? It’s not my place to say it, I know, but someday I want you to face up to her feelings head-on. Don’t just laugh it off or run away from it.” “Wow, that’s poetic stuff.” “Well, it seems like the right time for it.” We looked at each other, and then we both burst out laughing. “That’s right,” I said. “Okay, it’s a man’s promise. And I’ll make sure to let you know when it happens.” To borrow Haru’s words, it was a clear line that couldn’t be avoided anyway. Kaito smiled. “Just so you know, even if you do come to me with it, it’s not like I’ll be able to advise you, you know?” “Why would you think I’d even expect that?” Then us two jerks laughed, our shoulders shaking. I promise, I thought. That’s my version of sincerity, toward you and your endless kindness. It was just past noon on the third day. We’d come to Mikuni Sunset Beach, which was about a ten-minute bus ride from our hotel. It was the peak of the season, so even though it was a weekday, the beach was bustling. Colorful pop-up tents dotted the sand, and more importantly, young girls were walking around in colorful swimsuits. We boys were only wearing swim shorts and T-shirts, so we just stripped off our shirts and ran across the sand barefoot, until… ““““Agh!!!”””” …we quickly ran back and put on our sandals. I was busy with club activities, so I actually don’t know how many years it’s been since I’ve been to the beach to swim. I’d completely forgotten about the heat of the summer sand. It seemed like Kazuki and Kaito were the same, and any way you slice it, Kenta wasn’t the type to come to the beach each summer. The sky was as clear as Blue Hawaii syrup, and thunderclouds floated there like freshly shaved ice. The sun’s glare was strong, and it seared the skin like squid grilled at a beach hut. We set up our rental beach umbrellas and pop-up tents that we’d registered for in advance. We spread out vinyl sheets under the former and threw our stuff into the latter. Filled with a swelling feeling of excitement for summer vacation, for this trip, and more than anything else, for the prospect of finally seeing the girls’ swimsuits, I couldn’t help but dash to the beach, when… “““Yodele-hee-hoo!””” Kaito, Kenta, and I all hollered. “Hey, quit yodeling! That’s for the mountains!” Kazuki rolled his eyes. “““Goddammit, ocean!””” “Stop yelling at it!” Everyone burst out laughing. The Sea of Japan was a dazzling cobalt blue, or maybe emerald green—ah no, I can’t stretch the truth that far. It wasn’t that transparent; the blue was actually quite dark. Still, it was the color of summer to us. It always had been, ever since we were young. I called out to Kenta, who was standing next to me. “Hey, you really have gained a little muscle.” Following his success with dieting, I’d gotten the impression that he was secretly more of a skinny type, but now it seemed that he’d filled out a little. He was sturdier. Kenta puffed out his chest and chuckled. “Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of research into bodyweight training and trying to challenge myself with it. I hated it at first—it was pure torture—but I guess I’ve gotten into the habit.” “Have you, now? That’s fine. Just be careful not to overdo it.” “You mean like injure myself?” “No, I mean I don’t want to see you turn into some kind of macho muscleman.” “You’re the one who told me to make an effort to change.” For a while, we screamed and ran around, and then we returned beneath the shade of our beach umbrella. If we didn’t wait here, Yuuko and the others wouldn’t know where we were. Even so, I thought… “It’s hard to just sit still.” “““Agreed.””” The other three, including Kazuki for once, responded to my words in unison. No matter how cool he usually tries to act, he’s a healthy high school boy who gets excited by the glimpse of bra straps. He was about to get an eyeful of his classmates—all of them really pretty girls at that—in their swimsuits. Staying cool at a time like this was just unfeasible. “All right everyone, let’s have a serious discussion.” Gazing into the distance, I spoke in a mysterious, somber tone. “Why is it that we can look at swimwear, but not underwear? The amount of cloth coverage is exactly the same, is it not? Yet a glimpse of panties gets us yelled at. Doesn’t that strike you as unfair?” “Oh man!!!” Kaito whirled to face me, bellowing. “Oh man, I’m scared all of a sudden! What if I pitch a tent when I see them? Man, I just might!” “Hmm, I would like to make fun of you for being vulgar, but I can’t exactly laugh at the idea, either.” I mean, right? Wouldn’t it be normal to get excited if Yuuko or Nanase appeared in front of me in their underwear? Yes, absolutely. But in swimsuits? What am I expected to do, retain a glacial calmness? I mean, does that sound realistic? All of a sudden, Kazuki grinned a confident grin. “You’re all still just boys.” Annoyed, I opened my mouth. “What, are you saying you wouldn’t be excited at all?” The preternaturally cool guy that he was, he wagged his finger in front of his lips. “I’m wearing a cup.” “I didn’t know that was an option!” “Just joking.” Kazuki laughed. Yeah, he was definitely as on edge as the rest of us. I thought about what he’d divulged in the hot spring, and I looked at Kenta to distract myself. “She sells seashells by the seashore, the shells she sells are surely seashells, so if she sells shells on the seashore, I’m sure she sells seashore shells…” Ah, thanks. I feel a bit calmer now. But just as I thought that… “Saaaku.” I was tapped on the shoulder from behind. I swallowed and made eye contact with my group of buddies. Then I took a few deep breaths and slowly turned around with a steely determination. —Whoa. Two goddesses, Yuuko and Nanase, stood there. Yuuko was wearing a bikini covered in bright-yellow pop art–style flowers. The center of the bra and the sides of the shorts were laced up with strings, so you could see not only the cleavage but also the underboob. Honestly, when people describe a physique as “a teen boy’s dream,” this is what they’re talking about. She was curved out in certain places, curved in in others, and the whole effect was covered with a thin gossamer veil of “female.” If you touched her skin with your fingertips, they’d melt in, it seemed. The strings ate into her skin a little around the boobs and the hips, which added to the soft impression. And the destructive power of her hemispherical E cups was formidable. I knew they were big, and frankly, if I’m honest, I’ve caught a glimpse of her cleavage before, but in a bikini like this… Well, I couldn’t look directly at them, nor could I take my eyes off them. “My eyesss!!!” The guy beside me seemed to have blown a fuse. “Hey, Saku? Whatcha think? Huh?” “S-stay back! Let our eyes adjust first!” “Huh? What kind of reaction is that?!” “You mistake me. It suits you very well, but it’s a lot for high school boys.” “Does that mean your heart’s pounding?” “My heart is pounding, and it’s going so fast, it feels like I’m gonna die.” “Hee-hee, then I guess it’s fine!” Yuuko gave a small smile, and Nanase stepped forward. “Sorry if this makes your hearts give up the ghost for good…” She placed her hands on the back of her head and posed like a swimsuit model. After this demonstration, she half-turned around and exposed her back. “…Guhhh!!!” Yikes, I might have popped a blood vessel. Nanase wore a navy bra top with no pattern and shorts with bright-blue hibiscus flowers on them. Now, you’re probably thinking a plain bra is surprisingly simple, right? But not when it comes to Yuzuki Nanase! Wait, who the heck am I talking to? Two wide strings extended from near the center of the bra, then went around the back so they crossed and were then tied into a low bow. In other words, there was the bra, and then the strappings of the bra, which were so devilishly appealing, I didn’t even have the right words. With the thick straps deliberately concealing parts of the skin, the lustrous beauty of the skin sandwiched between the two navy blue stripes was vividly emphasized. Just like Yuuko, she had a well-defined body shape, but the impression the two gave off was quite different. Here, the whole body was vibrant and supple. From the top of her head to the tips of her toes, her body went in a beautiful S-shape, like a flowing waterfall, and there was something mystical about it. And her distinguished, bowl-shaped D cups had an air of dignity, as if your fingers would bounce off when you touched them. Despite that, the armpits visible when she raised her arms had cute depressions in them. The soft skin and muscles had been moderately trained by basketball. Now, the last thing she’d be expecting is to have her armpits checked out, I thought, and I felt like I was peeking at some kind of hidden secret belonging to the seemingly perfect Yuzuki Nanase. It gave me a rising sense of forbidden pleasure. Unusually, Kazuki had averted his eyes. Nanase smiled provocatively, laughed, and licked her lips. “Would you like a taste?” “I’m begging you, can I ask you not to give me any more stimulation?” “So what do you think?” “Your entire presence should be X-rated.” “Hey, listen here… Hmm. Well, I guess you gave an honest opinion, which is all I was after.” “Hey, I’m doing my best here?!” Man, this was no joking matter. “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood…” Good boy, Kenta, keep it up. Anyway, I’d made it past my first encounter with this dangerous pair of sexy beauties. Haru and Yua were both cute, but I doubted their swimsuits could cause an impact greater than what we’d just seen. But as I was thinking that… “Hey, Haru! Why’d you stop over there?” Yuuko hopped up and down and waved her hand. This she did with such naturalness that it was scary. My eyes bobbed up and down in rhythm with her. Well, putting that aside, I was curious what Haru was wearing. Calmly, I turned to see… “…Groo!!!” The swimsuit she was wearing was an actual off-the-shoulder. Huh? Huh? Sorry to be crude, but Haru’s boobs are smaller than the other two’s. So I’d expected her to choose a top that completely covered the area. If I looked at this rationally (not that I could, but if I could, I’d be able to tell), it was, indeed, that sort of design. The bra and shorts, which were a translucent sort of bluish purple, were decorated with curtain-like wavy frills, giving the chest a little volume. However, my eyes skimmed over the fine details to the healthy skin showing from her neck to her chest. Is it possible to appear so close to being naked just by removing the shoulder straps from a bra? I’d never tell them, but if Yuuko or Nanase wore the same thing with their big boobs, I doubt it’d have as much impact on me. But on Haru, it looked dangerous, like it might suddenly shift and expose too much, and it made her seem innocent in a way that contrasted with her usual strength. And she was walking out on the beach in public in it… I wanted to grab her hand and pull her away where no one else could see her. “Uh, Chitose, don’t look at me like that.” The sight of her fidgeting and saying my name made my heart thump again. Looking closer, I noticed faint tan marks on her neck and arms. Seeing the parts that wouldn’t usually be exposed was distracting. The outline of abs was visible on her stomach, which was even more toned than Yuuko’s and Nanase’s, and her small, well-shaped belly button looked like some kind of decoration. Haru opened her mouth again. “Hey, if something’s wrong, tell me. I don’t mind.” “Y-you look great, Haru.” “Th-thanks, er, hubby…” “Yeah.” Before I could say anything else, Yuuko and Nanase both started yelling. ““Hey!!!”” Yuuko was the first to speak. “The reaction I got was completely different! I wanted that kind of serious reaction!!” Nanase clenched her fists in an exaggerated manner. “The contrast! That was the key after all!” Come on… I mean, sure, something vastly different from the usual does tend to have a big impact, no mistake there. Yuuko shows a fair amount of skin even in her ordinary clothes, and Nanase usually exudes sex appeal. And when Nanase stayed at my place, various things happened… Even Haru often wears shorts, but she doesn’t wear girlish clothes, so maybe that’s the difference. Suddenly, something crossed my mind. …A contrast from the usual? “I’m sorry, everyone, I ended up being the last one here.” As she spoke, Yua came trotting across the sand, the last to arrive. “…Guhh!!!” Her dark-red and retro floral swimsuit was worn with a sarong wrapped around her waist, so she was less exposed than the other three. But let’s unpack this. Yua usually sticks to the orthodox school uniform style, and even in her everyday clothes, I’ve rarely seen her wear anything with a low V, or short shorts, or skirts. At school, she often wears black tights during the winter, so even just seeing her bare legs in her summer clothes makes me behave quite suspiciously. It’s rare to have a chance to worship the thighs. Just the other day, she got furious just because I sneaked a glimpse down her shirt. And here was Yua in a bra! A bra! Her body was somewhere between Yuuko’s and Nanase’s, I’d say. Moderately curvy, just the right amount of tightness and girlish roundness. I guess the talk was no lie after all. Every time she took a step, the edge of her abdominal muscles lifted slightly, and her bell-shaped D cups swayed, seemingly softer than Nanase’s. The impression she gave off seemed to be a mixture of the other three. Looking at Yuuko and Nanase made me feel like I was looking at a photobook of a celebrity. But seeing Yua bounce over the sand came with a sense of realism—I was really seeing a cute girl from my class in an actual bikini. “Saku, mind if I sit here?” Yua sat down beside me without even asking for my impression. She seemed to be putting her stuff in the pop-up tent. She twisted her upper body, turning her back to me, and… —Rustle. …slowly, maddeningly, the sarong began to bunch up. Her plump, white thighs were revealed, and the part hidden between her open legs was briefly visible. Sand drifted loose from where it had adhered… “…!!!” Instinctively, I looked away. I felt a sweet tingling from near my midsection. Yua finished putting away her stuff and looked at me curiously, still propped up on her hands. Now my gaze was arrested by the smooshed-together area between her upper arms. “What’s wrong, Saku?” “Can you squeeze a little tighter, Yua?” “Er, why? I mean, I guess so… How’s that?” Looking around, I saw that Kaito, Kenta, and Kazuki were all gazing at the ground as if in deep meditation. Glancing at us with satisfaction, the girls disappeared off toward the sea. I was still too riled up to go and join Yuuko and the others in the surf, so I wandered the beach for a while instead. We didn’t discuss it, but I was sure Kazuki and the others felt the same way. We’d spent the morning studying, taken a short break after lunch, and then left the hotel, so somehow it was past two PM. Swoosh, swoosh. I was chatting with the sand. If you walk on the dry sand, it comes to play in your sandals, and if you walk in the surf, the sand returns to the sea. Hey, how’s your summer going? Not bad. How about yours? Not bad at all. Feels like I haven’t had a summer vacation like this since elementary school. Thinking of the faces of my friends, I thought, oh yeah. What are we going do to for our beach trip? Beach volleyball, banana boats, snorkeling…? We don’t have any of the stuff for that, and it feels a little restrictive. What did I use to do as a kid? I wondered. …Ah yes, building sandcastles, digging a hole, and making a path to the sea from there and trying to get the water to flow through the channel. That was a popular one. Putting on goggles, going out past my depth, trying to see if I could touch the bottom, picking up loot from the ocean floor. And I never got tired of just lying on the water’s edge and feeling the waves coming and going. Feelings of childish frivolity swirled within me, when… “Hey, friend! I found you!” …a beautiful girl with short hair came running over. I waited for her to reach me before speaking. “Recently, I’m not getting as excited when we run into each other.” “That’s so mean! Hey, you hurt my feelings a little with that!” “Just kidding. I thought you weren’t going to come to the sea.” Asuka was wearing a turquoise rash guard. It was long and covered her shorts completely. Normally, I would have been distracted by the translucent white legs that stretched out like thin icicles underneath, but the stimulus I’d received earlier was too strong. And after all, I’d gotten my fill of her legs during our date the other day. Asuka smiled. “I wasn’t going to, but I saw you leaving the hotel, so.” “So…?” Asuka gripped the hem of her rash guard and looked down. “I figured you were going to the beach with Hiiragi, Uchida, Nanase, and Aomi…but when I thought about it, I couldn’t stop myself. My friends suggested that we go at some point, so I brought swimwear…just in case. So this time, it’s not a coincidence, us running into each other.” “Does that mean you came here alone?” Asuka nodded. “I wanted to see the ocean with you, while we’re both in high school.” Ah, man. I scratched my head. Just when I’d finally managed to calm down. I responded in a jokey tone, as if trying to deceive myself. “Since I’m here to make some memories, I guess making one of you in a swimsuit would be…” —Zzzip. Asuka unzipped her zipper loudly, cutting me off mid-joke. Then stripping off her rash guard… “—So! I wanted you to be the first one to see!” She was shouting; that wasn’t like her. Asuka stared at me with her lips tight together, looking like a snow fairy who’d gotten lost and ended up on the beach in midsummer.