After trying out three different waterslides, Itsuki was staggering around the paths, ready to burst into tears.
“Wait, don’t you love roller coasters?” Haruto asked, astonished. “What’s up with that?”
It was more than two years ago now, but when Itsuki, Haruto, Nayuta, and Miyako had gone to another amusement park once, the first two went on a wild tear, “conquering” every roller coaster the park had to offer.
“I like to enjoy the speed while I’m held firmly in place… Waterslides don’t work that way… I’m all sore from getting bumped around, I hit my head when my inner tube flipped on me, and I got water up my nose in the pool at the bottom… If roller coasters are a pastime for nobility, waterslides are just a test of courage for the common rabble…!”
“You’re that bad with them, huh?” Haruto audibly snickered at him. “I’m not a big fan of coasters, but these are pretty fun.”
“Itsuki! Let’s go on that really steep one next!”
Nayuta was also a waterslide girl, apparently, because she was all smiles and pointing at another one not far away.
“Noooo, no, no, no, no!” Itsuki shook his head as strongly as he could. “I’m gonna take a break, so just go have fun for a bit, okay?”
“Oh, I think I’ll rest for a little while, too,” Miyako said. “I don’t think I’m too good with this scary stuff…”
“Me neither. If you’re taking a break, I’ll join you—”
Before Aoba could complete the thought, Nayuta grabbed her by the hand.
“Okay, Ao, let’s go on that together!”
“Huh? Kani?! Wh-what?! Um, I, I don’t think I like them too scary…”
Nayuta was too busy dragging away Aoba to take any notice.
“Ohhh noooo, you don’t want to slide down with me, Ao?”
“N-no, no, it’s nothing like that!”
“Then let’s go! I want you to get a real good taste of what hell is like today, Ao!”
“Whaaa—?!”
After Nayuta and Itsuki had broken up, Aoba had expended more than a healthy effort seducing Itsuki at his apartment. Once Nayuta learned of that at last year’s Christmas party, she began to pick on Aoba noticeably more than before.
Aoba, meanwhile, didn’t remember exactly what she had said at that party for some reason, so she wasn’t really sure why Nayuta was carping on her so much.
“Let’s go, too, Haruhiko!” Chihiro clung to Haruto’s right arm, cheeks blushing.
“Huh? Ch-Chihiro?!” Haruto panicked.
Ui took the opportunity to grab his left arm, too. “Hee-hee! Let’s go, Haruto.”
Ever since they came to this park, Ui had been putting a move or two on Haruto as well. She had given up on him at one point, but it looked like some of Chihiro’s audacious behavior had rubbed off on her. She had kept her makeup subdued for today, but those breasts still packed a punch, and clearly they were swaying Haruto more than Chihiro’s assault.
“Ah… Wait, Aioi! You too, Chihiro! I’ll go, all right?! Let me go!”
“Ee-hee-hee…”
“Heh-heh-heh…”
So Haruto was dragged away by the pair, a somewhat irritated Miyako watching.
“Haruhiko” and “Haruto,” huh…?
She began to wonder if she could’ve called him something friendlier like that by now. But he had always been Fuwa to her, and it’d be weird to suddenly change that now, so…
“…You okay with that?” Itsuki asked as he watched this charade unfold.
Miyako sighed deeply. “…I do trust Fuwa, more or less.”
“Right.”
Then they left, looking for somewhere to sit down.
…Kaiko, by the way, went right to the restaurant after changing to start sketching up her next manga chapter, so she wasn’t there.
Being part of a hot-spring resort, the water park had a number of small heated pools dotted around the property. Since they were here and all, Itsuki and Miyako headed for the nearest one and hopped in. It was quite warm inside, just hot enough that going in with a swimsuit (as opposed to in the buff) seemed to be the way to go. Also relaxing in the pool were a few families with small children, along with a couple or two who looked around college age.
Wow, this is kind of like a unisex hot spring…
Knowing what she did about Itsuki’s unique romantic interests, Miyako didn’t think he’d try anything weird, but joining a man in a public hot spring made her feel terribly self-conscious. Itsuki acted the same way, his eyes fixated on some faraway point in the sky so he wouldn’t catch sight of her.
“…S-so they announced the release date for your new series?” Miyako ventured, trying to break out of this weird atmosphere.
“Y-yeah,” Itsuki replied.
GF Bunko had updated their website the other day to announce that Volume 1 of LR Days, the latest from Itsuki, would go on sale in October, or next month. Sisterly Combat, which had been running for the past three years, concluded in July with the release of Volume 10, making this the perfect time to announce a new series from him.
“Did you finish writing the volume yet?”
“Well, naturally, of course. The author proofs are done, too.”
…Considering Itsuki’s history of ignoring deadlines all the way up to the month of release, there was no “naturally” to this at all. Miyako refrained from pointing that out to him.
“Think it’ll do well?”
“…Well, I’ve done everything I can for it.”
“…Doesn’t sound like that’s all you have to say about it.”
Itsuki shook his head. “No, I really do like how it turned out. It’s definitely the most engaging book I’ve ever released. It’s just that…you know, it’s still so far away from my ideal.”
“Mmmm…”
What Itsuki really meant by that wasn’t too clear to Miyako.
So he’s trying his best to press on, too, huh…?
“But it sounds like the book you edited is selling well, Miyako.”
“Oh? Ah, yeah…”
Her lukewarm reaction gave Itsuki pause.
“…? Aren’t you glad for that?”
“No, no, of course I am. But…it was already pretty popular as a web novel, and really, it’s mostly thanks to Ayane that we got it out as a book in the first place…”