OreShura: Volume 4 Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Enjoying the Flavor of the Seaside Mayhem
The resort facility that Saeko-san referred us to had a detached building on the high ground facing the beach. It was a compact and elegant two-story building, with a brand new facade and very clean interior. It looked like a cozy place to spend three days.
After obtaining the key from the hotel manager and listening to all kinds of relevant information, we sat down on the living room sofa to discuss the next activities on our schedule.
"Huh? Of course we're going swimming, right?"
Chiwa said as she started doing stretching exercises on the spot.
"I'm already wearing a swimsuit under my clothing."
"Are you an elementary school student?"
Chiwa looked as if she was ready to take off her clothes and rush to the beach, after all, she really liked to swim.
"We didn't come here to swim. We're here for club activities."
Thus, Masuzu said using a demeanor fit of a club president.
"Since you have the free time to splash about in the salty water, we might as well turn this into a ｢cute and popular｣ practice for monopolizing all the attention on the beach.
"That's because Natsukawa can't swim, right?"
"No, I can swim, but I have no need to hide a flat Loli-body under the water, unlike a certain someone."
"Who's has a Loli-body!"
Like usual, I tried to appease them two, ｢Okay, okay｣, as I said:
"Hime, what do you want to do?"
"I want to make a one-thousandth scale model of the castle, ｢Anastasia｣, that I lived in in my past life."
In short, she wanted to play in the sand. Well, that really was a classic.
"And Fuyuumi?"
"How about picking up sea shells? Isn't that quite suited for maidens?"
"Oh, that's a good one."
Since I was in a rush to head out in the morning and went without breakfast, I was presently very hungry. I really wanted to eat clams, shellfish, and things like that.
"Then what does Ei-kun want to do?"
"Eh? Me, I...... I want to split a watermelon."
Rather, I didn't so much want to split watermelon. It was better to phrase it like I really wanted to eat it.
Masuzu clapped her hands and said:
"Then let's do it everything."
"Ah?"
"Because, It's cute-popular sea bathing, cute-popular playing in the sand, cute-popular picking shells, and cute-popular splitting watermelon. It's fine if we just do all of those."
"There's no reason to add ｢cute-popular｣ before each one" [1]
How could one become popular by splitting a watermelon? Are we going to give slices away free of charge after splitting it?
"We can also consider these activities to be special training for the beauty contest. Although it's already a fact that I'm going to win first place, I still want everyone else to get decent places."
Masuzu gave a provocative smile, and the expression in the eyes of the other three changed.
"Then let's do it! I'll show you why my swimming style is called ｢The Chihuahua that drops in the water｣!"
Chiwa, I don't think that phrase has anything to do with praising.
"｢Anastasia｣ is no ordinary castle. It's a fighting fortress equipped with a spirit magic engine. Apart from the main cannon, ｢Salamander's ThunderFire Dragon's Lighting｣, it is equipped with two hundred thirty-five magic cannons, and possesses enough firepower to destroy Mars ten times over."
Hime, even if it can destroy Mars ten times or a hundreds times, unpopular things will stay unpopular.
"While the sea breeze is sweep my hair, and I delicately hold a cherry-colored shell next to my ear….. let me show you who is the best suited in the mannerisms of a maiden."
Forget about that, Fuyuumi. If you find any clams, you can bring them back to the hotel to make miso soup; otherwise, we can use wine to steam it.
—Of course, if I happen to throw a tsukkomi here, it would be totally and utterly ignored.
After everyone returned to their rooms to change, we borrowed an entire set of beach equipment from the beachside clubhouse before heading to the beach.
When we originally walked from the station, I never noticed the strong aroma of the beach, but now hot sand was bore in through the cracks in my sandals. A flood of FM radio sounds poured from the beachside clubhouse, along with the sound of waves leaping, and the sound of people swimming and playing in the water, all formed unique palettes of noise that struck my naked upper body.
The sea.
The genuine sea.
What's with this? for some reason the excitement is running really high!
"It's —————— the ——————— Sea!"
Next to the place where Masuzu and I set up the parasol and the beach chair, Chiwa suddenly pulled on Hime's hands towards the sea.
"Wait a minute, you should warm up first!"
—Even despite Fuyuumi's stern screams, everything just flew over their ears.
"C-Chihuahua, is it really not scary? Is it really not scary?"
"Ahhahaha don't be afraid, don't be afraid! Let's go! One, two, three, jump!"
Chiwa fearlessly faced the incoming wave and even submerged in the water via head sliding. As she was still holding onto Hime's hand, she was forced to follow, and the two of them stirred up huge waves after they slide into the sea.
"Yay — ♪ this feels great—!"
"I have finally conquered the seven seas......!"
Chiwa innocent laughter and the witch-like ｢Fufufu｣ laugh of Hime overlapped.
I was stunned.
"Are they children?"
"Seriously. There's no way to be popular."
Masuzu hugged her knees as she sat under the parasol, I could feel a ｢yare yare｣.[2]
"And? Are you really not going to swim?"
"……to say such malicious things. Do you think that it will be forgiven just because it's Eita-kun?"
Hey, she's angry. It's actually really concerned about the not being able to swim thing.
On the other hand, it looked like Fuyuumi had immediately begun picking shells. After brushing aside and brushing aside her smooth and supple hair, she knelt down, staring at the white sand. That appearance was actually quite good, and it might make her quite popular.
"How is it? Are there any clams? Any shellfish?"
"Sorry, I'm not digging for clams...... ah!"
Fuyuumi lifted a tiny white shell, and happily handed it to me.
"Hey, Kidou-kun, don't you think the shape of this shell is like a heart?"
"Really? I feel like it looks like fried horse mackerel."
Heck, I was getting more and more hungry.
Also, it was almost noon, so I could probably go to the beachside clubhouse to buy something before it gets too crowded.
Fuyuumi's face twitched slightly, as she stared at the shell and said:
"T-There has to be another piece that's shaped exactly like this one, somewhere out there. Why don't we look for it together?"
"Look for fried horse mackerel?"
Fuyuumi's shoulders started to tremble, and the fried horse mackerel shell clasped within her hands gave a ｢crackle｣ sound.
"I don't care anymore, Ta-kun you idiot!"
Fuyuumi gave a ｢hmph｣ and turned away, with heavy footsteps she walked into the sea. What made you so angry, A-chan?
"It looks like Fuuyumi-san's cute-popular power can't match up with Eita's ｢thick-head power｣."
Masuzu said rather indifferently. Because Chiwa and the rest of them weren't nearby, she had turned into ｢cold Masuzu｣ mode.[3]
"So what's your ｢cute-popular power｣?"
"......It's just as you can see."
I did as Masuzu said and looked around. Although they were standing rather far away in a circle, there was still a small crowd of people, and the sex ratio appeared to be approximately seven to three, male to female. Most of them were watching Masuzu. Some of them looked enchanted, and others were whispering into their companion's ears.
It looked like the destructive power of silver hair and blue eyes had significant influence even at the sea.
"This ability to catch attention is at the level of koala in a zoo."
"Hmph, who's a Koala biscuit?"
"I didn't say that! Don't tell me you're filled with chocolate on the inside?"
Masuzu twisted as she held her knees, as if she wanted to hide her body. Although she should have been accustomed to being watched, it must have been uncomfortable to be treated as a ｢showpiece｣.
I took a towel from my bag, and covered Masuzu with it.
From around me, I heard something from the men that sounded like sighs, ｢don't do unnecessary things｣, but I played dumb and ignored it.
Masuzu's eyes sharply stared at me:
"Your acting lovestruck. What's the meaning of this?"
"Well, we are here on this boarding trip to demonstrate to Chiwa and the rest that we are really ｢boy and girlfriend｣, right?"
Masuzu pouted and wrapped the towel around herself:
"......Then, I'll thank you first."
"Oh."
"But those three weren't looking this way at all."
I looked in the direction Masuzu pointed, and those three were certainly not paying attention to anyone else.
Chiwa was shouting, ｢Yahhh—!｣, as she was swimming towards rock with a long pine tree grown on it. Hime and Fuyuumi were unceasingly piling up sand. The battle fortress ｢Anastasia｣ seemed to be quite a big thing, as the amount of sand piled up for the foundation was quite amazing, though it didn't look as if it could destroy Mars. But it was at least enough to make those two's muscles quite sore tomorrow.
"Everyone's enjoying themselves."
Although I didn't know was was cute-popular about it.
—Whatever, it was still quite peaceful!
After playing for about an hour, it was time to eat lunch.
At the beachside clubhouse, we bought five portions of fried noodles and lemon soda, and we ate under the beach parasols.
"Tastes incredible."
Hime said immediately after taking a bite of noodles.
"Well the taste itself is so-so, the sauce is only salty without flavor, and most of all this that there's still the taste of flour — but what's incredible is that it still makes one want to eat more and more."
Apart from her Chuunibyou talk, Hime rarely spoke much, so it was surprising that she paid so much attention to the taste.
"No matter what you eat at the beach, it's all delicious—"
Chiwa had long ago emptied the food in her container, and she was currently slurping the lemonade. You should clean off the pieces of seaweed that are still stuck to your cheek? Like this, you're pretty far from becoming cute-popular.
"The reason why the taste is so heavy is probably because to peep up people who are tired from swimming, I wonder if they thought about it like that."
Like if she was eating pasta, Fuyuumi rolled up little pieces of noodle around her chopsticks and placed it in her mouth. It was quite a personal way to eat it.
With regards to Masuzu who normally didn't eat very much, she was almost finished with eating the fried noodles at the seaside. It was a really good thing, because I was getting worried if this girl ever had a proper meal.
After waiting for Hime, who ate the slowest, Masuzu opened her mouth and spoke:
"Eita-kun, could you please prepare the dessert."
"Ah?"
"Wasn't it your suggestion after all? Here."
Masuzu pointed to watermelon purchased from the beachside clubhouse (I was forced to pay).
It looked like she wanted me to ｢split it｣!
"Good luck Ei-kun! You have to hit it cute-popular-ly!"
"With Eita's cute-popular smooth swordsmanship, this should be easy."
"As a cute-popular disciplinary committee member, I will help score your splitting of the watermelon with all good intentions!"
Ahhhh, just drop it with the cute-popular cute-popular already!
I was asked to sit with my back to the watermelon, as Masuzu used a towel to blindfold me.
"Oh, where's the stick?"
"We don't have, such a thing."
"How I am supposed to split it without it?"
"For that, please you use your head."
"So I need to figure a good way of splitting it?"
"Yeah. Just handle it easily by ruthlessly banging your head into it."
"That's the physical nature of the head!"
Masuzu ignored my protests and declared, ｢now begin!｣
For the time being I stood up and took the first step, but—n-now what was I supposed to do?
At this time, there was a clap from the right:
"Heyyyy, Ei-kun, this way, this way ♪"
It was Chiwa's voice, so I started walking towards the right.
Then a voice came from the left:
"No, Eita, that way is to the underworld. Come to my side?"
Thus Hime let out a cute voice, and I corrected my path towards the left.
This time, a voice came diagonally right behind me:
"Kidou-kun, this way! You'll never go wrong listening to a disciplinary committee member!"
Hence, after Fuyuumi said, I shifted my path towards her direction.
But from behind me, Masuzu's voice came:
"Everyone's trying to trick you! I'm the only one who's right."
How could it be behind me? I changed direction, and the three of them protested simultaneously:
"Natsukawa is the only one you definitely can't listen to!"
"The president is a dark demon god….. a chaos demon king….. devil general……"
"You have to be careful, this women will make Kidou-kun depraved."
As such, the the three of them said in unison, "Don't trust Masuzu."
—Well, what am I supposed to do?
In the past, it hasn't turned out well when I was ordered around by Masuzu.
The possibility of getting burned this time was also very high.
But in this situation, how could a ｢boyfriend｣ not believe in his ｢girlfriend｣?
Then I'll take a chance and throw myself in to fry!
In Masuzu's direction, I forcefully stamped on the sand and approached step by step, as for the noises that came behind me from Chiwa and the club, I didn't put any attention to it.
"Masuzu, where's the watermelon?"
"From your position, five meters straight forward, and then please jump and catch it."
"......can I trust you?"
"Of course, something wonderful will happen."
Then I'll make a firm decision.
I moved to the point where Masuzu indicated, lowered my stance, and then jumped forward.
Momyu. [4]
—Huh?
My face seemed to have hit something?
This isn't a watermelon, right? I doubt that there is a watermelon that is this round?
It was rather springy, and my fingers seemed to fit over it just right. Also, there was this indescribable wonderful fragrance.
Furthermore, there were two watermelons, gently enveloping my cheek.
"How is it Eita-kun? Aren't these watermelons…… delicious?"
Masuzu spoke as if she were trying to hold back her laugh, her voice tingled my ears.
Hmnp.
I understand the punchline.
I never expected she would use such an old-fashioned tactic.
Many would think of this as something wonderful.
It does feel incredibly good.
"Ei-kun? W-W-W-Whalt are youuuu doiimg?"
"……You didn't came to hug me......"
"S-S-S-S-Shameful—!"
I heard voices full of hatred.
After this, what is waiting for me is, hell.
A hell which goes by the name mayhemshuraba.
For that very same reason; might as well, just stay a little bit more. Just stay a little bit more in this position……
I don't really want to remember what happened afterward.
The disciplinary committee member wrote on my back with oil pen, ｢I am a shameless man｣, and the entire afternoon I was stuck in the predicament of watching over the bags. I truly felt it was a good thing that I brought by textbook.
Well, at least in terms of trying to demonstrate to them our relationship as girl and boyfriend, it wasn't a bad show if appeal….. I tried to comfort myself.
When I looked in the mirror while showering after we returned to the hotel, I discovered that those words were the only part of my body that wasn't tan. It looked like I would have to spend the rest of the summer carrying the ｢shameless｣ text.
"Hmph! I've been branded with the crime, eh."
I muttered like a Chuunibyou warrior, my fingers tracing the words on my back.
Aahh, having said that—
"I just need to rub it a little bit moreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
Notes
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