I finally realized what Mai had been trying to do: She hadn’t been trying to run over it but move it onto the bridge. I quickly picked up its body, walked to the railing, and threw the zombie into the river far below.
I looked down at the river for a while, but the clawed zombie didn’t resurface. I wasn’t sure whether it couldn’t regenerate in the water or if it had just been swept downstream, but even if that were the case, it would have ended up a long way away from here.
Mai and I went back to the house we’d found earlier and carefully checked it for other zombies. We looked around every inch of the house and confirmed that it was safe. All we had to do was put up a fence around it, and we could turn it into a second base.
As I was thinking about what we’d need to do, I realized it was already past two in the afternoon, so I decided to call it a day.
Once Mai and I returned to the dorm, we had a late lunch and told the others about the clawed zombie we’d run into. We explained how it had come after us at a normal human running speed, regenerated even after its head was crushed, and that we had no idea what had happened to it after we pushed it off the bridge. We also described what it looked like, since there was also the possibility that it might resurrect itself and one of us would run into it at some time and place…
After lunch, the seven of us got into the black van and headed to a clothing store where Amano and Kamiji could get bathing suits.
I tied up the zombies inside the store, and we went inside.
This was a store that not only sold bathing suits but also offered a variety of clothes and accessories. It would be boring to just wait around while Amano and Kamiji picked out their swimsuits, so the rest of us would choose whatever clothes we wanted.
I picked up a black backpack and stuffed it with every piece of men’s underwear I could find. We couldn’t use the washing machine now, and we had to wash everything by hand. Haruka and Mai had offered to do my laundry, but while T-shirts and other clothes might be okay, it was a bit hard to ask them to wash my underwear…
That was why I’d come up with the idea of having a huge stock of undies that I could wash all at once when I had the chance.
After stuffing my backpack and leaving the underwear section, I happened to see Haruka and the others choosing new bathing suits. I waited a short distance away since I felt a little awkward approaching them.
Looking around the store with nothing to do, I ran into Amano, who was wearing a blue bikini.
“—Oh! Hey, Kousaka, what do you think of this one?” she asked, beaming.
Her breasts were bigger than Haruka’s and even on par with Lisa’s. Of course, not that size mattered, but it was still nice to see a large pair of boobs…
“I think you look great,” I said with a goofy look on my face. As soon as I spoke, I noticed Haruka in her school uniform staring at me with her eyes narrowed.
I was sure she would complain, but instead, she took the bathing suit she was holding into the fitting room without a word.
Had she forgiven me for my behavior just now…?
The curtain outside the fitting room eventually opened, and Haruka emerged. For some reason, she ran toward me, holding her swimsuit top against her chest.
Then she spun around to face away from me. I couldn’t believe it—the hooks of her bikini top weren’t fastened, and the neck strings were hanging loose.
“Yuuma, could you do these up for me?”
“…Is this really happening?”
Haruka hadn’t complained because instead she was competing, using an extreme method.
I was the luckiest man alive.
Fastening the hooks of a girl’s bikini was an all-new experience for me. Haruka had let me enjoy her breasts to my heart’s content that morning, but this was a different kind of excitement.
“Hee-hee… Thanks,” she said with a smile—but I was the one who should be thanking her.
As that thought crossed my mind, Mai came walking toward me. She was trying on a white bikini, holding it to her chest the same way Haruka had.
She shyly turned her back to me.
“Yuuma…will you also do mine…please?”
“O-okay…”
She must have seen what Haruka had done and figured that, as my girlfriend, she had to do the same thing.
Was I grateful or what?
Touching Mai’s smooth back, I firmly fastened the hooks in place.
Meanwhile, Haruka watched me, her cheeks puffed out and her dissatisfaction evident. She seemed to feel the need to compete with her rival.
I was wondering what she was going to do next when, right in front of me, she began undoing the bikini bottoms she was wearing.
Then she looked up into my eyes, holding out the strings she’d just undone.
“…Yuuma, will you please tie these for me?” she said nervously, offering me the strings.
I couldn’t see the part that counted, but her half-undone bikini bottoms were incredibly sexy.
Maybe even sexier than not wearing anything in the first place…
Stunned, I took the strings in hand and carefully tied a butterfly knot.
“I can’t believe how dopey you look, Yuuma.”
“I can’t help it. It’s hard to imagine anything in the world that’s more fun than this.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.” Haruka laughed in pure delight when I finished tying the strings.
I was starting to get my hopes up a little that Mai might do the same thing, but she didn’t make a move. I guess undoing the strings that held her bikini bottoms in place was too embarrassing for her. Haruka watched on, appearing satisfied that she’d defeated her competition, then went back into the fitting room.
I stared at my hands and thought about how it felt to touch Haruka’s back and hips. It was genuinely an amazing experience…
After relishing in those moments for a little while, I lowered my gaze—and noticed something serious.