OreShura: Volume 4 Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Enjoying the Flavor of the Seaside Mayhem
The recuperation facility that Saeko-san spoke about was 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."
Masuzu said, using the demeanor of a club president.
"Since you have the free time to splash about in the salt 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 Lolita figure under the water like a certain someone."
"Who's this Lolita figure!"
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.
"Fuyuumi?"
"How about picking up shells? Isn't that quite suited for maidens?"
"Oh, that's true."
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 watermelon."
Rather, I didn't so much want to split watermelon. It was better to say I really wanted to eat it.
Masuzu clapped her hands and said:
"Then let's do it all."
"Eh?"
"It's cute-popular seawater bathing, cute-popular playing in the sand, cute-popular picking shells, and cute-popular splitting watermelon. We can just do all of it."
"There's no reason to add ｢cute-popular｣ to each one?"
How could one become popular by splitting water? Were we going to give slices away free of charge after we split it?
"We can also consider these activities to be special training for the beauty pageant. Although it's already fact that I'm going to win first place anyways, we still want everyone else to win prizes."
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 I'm called a swimming beauty, ｢sinking Chihuahua｣!"
Chiwa, I don't think that really counts as a point of praise.
"｢Anastasia｣ is no ordinary castle. It's a fighting fortress equipped with a spirit magic engine. Apart from the main cannon, ｢Fire Dragon Thunder｣, 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 letting the wind sweep my hair, as I delicately hold a cherry-colored shell to my ear….. let me show you who is best suited to 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, my tsukkomi was completely ignored.
After everyone returned to their rooms to change, we borrowed an entire set of beach equipment from the beach kiosk before heading to the beach.
When we originally walked from the station, I never noticed the strong odor 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 beach kiosk, along with the sound of waves lapping, 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.
These factors all made my spirits rise so high!
"The sea — is — huge!"
Next to the place where Masuzu and I set up the beach umbrella 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 cries, it flew over their eyes.
"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 her head in the water. 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 — ♪ so comfortable—!"
"I have finally conquered the seven seas......!"
Chiwa innocent laughter and the witch-like ｢hehehe｣ laugh of Hime overlapped.
I was stunned.
"Are they children?"
"Absolutely correct. There's no way to become popular like that."
Masuzu hugged her knees as she sat under the umbrella, and sighed.
"What about you? You're not going to swim?"
"……yes, deliberately make it difficult for me. Even if it's Eita-kun, I won't forgive you."
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 beach kiosk to buy something before the crowd picks up.
Fuyuumi's face twitched slightly, as she stared at the shell and said:
"T-There must 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.
"Whatever, Ta-kun you idiot!"
Fuyuumi gave a ｢hmph｣ and turned away, her footsteps violent as she walked into the sea. What made you so angry, Ai-chan?
"It looks like Fuuyumi-san's cute-popular power can 't match up with Eita's ｢oblivious｣ power."
Masuzu said rather indifferently. Because Chiwa and the rest of them weren't nearby, she had turned into ｢cold Masuzu｣ mode.
"So what's your ｢cute-popular power｣?"
"......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 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.
"You're like a koala in a zoo."
"Hmph, who's a Koala biscuit?"
"I didn't say that! Don't tell me you're filled with chocolate in 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 bad, and covered Masuzu with it.
From around me, I heard something from the men that sounded like sighs, ｢you're so nosy｣, but I played dumb and ignored it.
Masuzu's eyes sharply stared at me:
"Your acting lovestruck. What's your motive?"
"Well, we're here on this trip to demonstrate to Chiwa and them all that we're a real ｢boy and girlfriends｣, 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 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 beach kiosk, we bought five portions of fried noodles and lemon soda, and we ate under the beach umbrellas.
"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 acting cute-popular.
"The reason why the taste is so heavy is probably because people are tired from swimming."
Like she was eating spaghetti, 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, please prepare the dessert."
"Ah?"
"You were the one who suggested it, right? Look."
Masuzu pointed to watermelon purchased from the beach kiosk (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 stop with the cute-popular cute-popular already, it's annoying—
I was asked to sit with my back to the watermelon, as Masuzu used a bowl to blindfold me.
"Oh, where's the stick?"
"We don't have one."
"How I supposed to split it without a stick?"
"Please you use your head."
"Wisdom sure comes in handy in these kinds of situations, right?"
"Of course. Just solve it easily by ruthlessly banging it with your forehead."
"Why are we using the physical nature of the brain?!"
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?"
Because Hime's voice was so cute, I changed direction 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!"
Because Fuyuumi said it, I started walking in 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."
Then 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 ruined this time was also 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 see!
In Masuzu's direction, I forcefully stamped on the sand and approached step by step, and despite the noises that came behind me from Chiwa and the rest, I didn't care.
"Masuzu, where's the watermelon?"
"From your position, five meters straight forward, and then please pounce."
"......can I trust you?"
"Of course, you'll be very happy."
Then I'll make a firm decision.
I moved to the point where Masuzu indicated, lowered my stance, and then pounced.
Soft.
—Huh?
My face seemed to have hit something?
This isn't a watermelon, right? How can a watermelon be 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? Are these watermelons…… good?"
Masuzu spoke as if she were trying to hold back a smile as she scratched my ears.
Well.
I understood exactly how it happened.
I never expected she would use such an old-fashioned tactic.
Well, it certainly did make me very happy.
Well, it did feel — really comfortable.
"Ei-kun? W-W-W-What are you doing?"
"……You didn't even want to hug me......"
"S-S-S-S-Shameful—!"
I heard voices full of resentment.
What was waiting for me after this — hell.
A hell called mayhem.
So let keep this position for just a little bit longer……
I don't really want to remember what happened afterwards.
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 bad publicity….. 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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