I could hear the anger clearly in Haruka’s voice, so I let her drag me away without any further provocation.
The men’s swimwear section was relatively small, with far less variety than the women’s section.
“Okay, I’ll pick out some swimwear for you.”
“I’m good with anything.”
“Then let’s get that one; that’s pretty much just a string that barely covers your private parts.”
“Be serious, okay? Don’t go too crazy.”
In the end, I chose a pair of simple, navy blue swim trunks, like the kind I’d worn for swimming class at school. I grabbed a few spares and carried my five identical pairs of shorts back to the fitting rooms, where the others had already finished changing back into their uniforms.
“Too bad, Yuuma,” Haruka said, suppressing a laugh, but I pretended not to have any idea what she was talking about.
After Haruka also got changed, the five of us hopped in the car and left.
The first thing I did when we arrived at the riverbank was to go out by myself and take a look around, but I couldn’t see any zombies anywhere. Since the zombie outbreak had started on a weekday afternoon, there probably hadn’t been many people out here in the first place, which meant relatively few zombies.
I returned to the car and led the others down the embankment.
“—Wow! Kousaka, did you set everything up by yourself?” Tsukishiro asked, wide-eyed.
To save us some time, I’d laid out the bricks for the foundation of the bath and placed the drum on top when I’d come earlier.
“I’m amazed that you managed to do this all by yourself…”
“It’s no big deal.”
That was a lie. The huge oil drum probably weighed more than twenty kilos, so it would’ve been a pain to move if I hadn’t turned myself into a zombie.
But when Haruka looked at me, I could see envy in her eyes.
“…Yuuma. Please don’t try to use every opportunity you get to make yourself popular with women.”
“I told you: I’m not.”
“Now, then,” Tsukishiro continued, “let’s get to work. Ichinose and I will be responsible for starting the fire. Hyuuga and Hoshimiya, can you two fetch water from the river and fill the drum until it’s about seventy percent full? It can hold up to two hundred liters, so we’ll need one hundred and forty liters of water. Kousaka, please keep an eye out in case any zombies show up.”
“Got it.”
With our roles divvied up, we got to work. My job was just to stand watch, though, so I observed what everyone else was doing. Tsukishiro and Ichinose tried to light the firewood using a pack of fire starters they’d brought from the shed, but it didn’t appear to be working. Haruka and Lisa carried buckets back and forth between the river and drum bath, filling it up. They could carry about two liters of water at a time, which meant they’d have to make thirty-five trips each…
Eventually, the fire caught and began to heat the bottom of the drum, but it didn’t seem very strong. Having finished fetching the water, Haruka checked the thermometer in the bath with a despondent look.
“It isn’t warming up at all… I wonder how long it’ll take before we can go in.”
Ichinose pulled out a pen and notebook and started doing some calculations. There were a lot of symbols there I’d never seen before, so I had no idea what she was writing.
“Based on the current water temperature, it will probably take around three hours.”
“Three hours…?!”
The sun would go down if we waited that long, and considering the possibility of zombies showing up, we wanted to pack up and leave before it got dark.
We had to do something.
“I have an idea,” Haruka said. “How about we reduce the amount of water in the drum? I think we can make do with less water if we bathe in pairs.”
But Tsukishiro spoke up against her idea.
“That means Kousaka will have to bathe alone, and there won’t be enough water.”
“That’s okay!” replied Haruka. “I’ll go in with him!”
We agreed to go with Haruka’s idea for today, though it still took more than an hour for the water to reach thirty-eight degrees Celsius. Starting tomorrow, we’d have to use a portable gas burner or find some other way to shorten the time it took to heat the bath.
“The water’s just about ready,” Tsukishiro announced. “Why don’t we go and change into our bathing suits?”
“We’re going to take turns getting changed in the car, right?” I asked.
“You can see in through the windows, but I’ll make sure Yuuma doesn’t look, so don’t worry about changing,” Haruka told the group.
I really wished she wouldn’t say something like that; it would only make everyone feel insecure.
Tsukishiro gave me a gentle smile. “It’s okay. Everyone here trusts you. Now then, who wants to get changed first?”
“Oh, uh, I’m already wearing my swimming trunks underneath my clothes.” I hadn’t taken them off when I’d tried them on at the store.
“What a coincidence. I’m still wearing my swimsuit, too,” Lisa said, pulling her T-shirt up to her belly button.
I knew she was wearing a bikini underneath, but I still couldn’t help swallowing.
“Then Hyuuga, Ichinose, and I will need to get changed in the car.”
“As the owner of the car, I’ll go first,” Haruka said. “It should be okay, since we’re this far away from the car, but please check to make sure you can’t see me inside.”
She went running to the car she’d parked at the top of the embankment, and naturally, I immediately looked away.
…Any second now, Haruka’s going to be completely naked inside that car…
But no sooner had that thought flashed through my mind than Lisa pulled off her T-shirt to reveal the pink bikini top I’d seen back at that store. I followed suit, doing my best not to look in her direction. Haruka still wasn’t back yet, but Lisa and I were already fully changed into our bathing suits.
“…Hey, Yuuma. Would you mind getting in the drum bath for a sec so I can see how high the water rises with one person?” Lisa asked out of nowhere.
True, we could probably bathe in less water, in which case I wouldn’t have to sit in the drum with Haruka in front of everyone. I made up my mind to get in the warm water and try it out for real.
I took off my shoes, climbed the short three-step aluminum ladder, and slipped a foot into the hot water. I’d set the wooden pallet underneath the bottom of the drum, so I didn’t think I’d burn myself.
There wasn’t as much water in there as I’d thought there would be. I put both my feet in the drum bath and stood up, but the water only came to around my waist.
“Figures. I thought it might be tough for one person to bathe in there,” Lisa said. She’d taken off her shoes and was now standing on the stepladder looking inside the drum.