My Stepsister is My Ex-Girlfriend - Volume 11 - Chapter 3

The Deeply Involved Third Day

I Don’t Want to Stay in Uncertainty...

On the morning of the school trip’s third day, I slowly sat up in my bed and found that out of the four beds in our room, one was already empty. Asuhain-san... Even her belongings were gone. The only evidence of her having ever been here was the still messy sheets.

I couldn’t help but remember the events of last night after I’d simply stood in place, not able to do anything as I watched Asuhain-san disappear into the night. After that...

“Asuhain isn’t the culprit,” Mizuto had said as he stood next to a tree. The lights hanging on it had been irritatingly bright. “I’m convinced she isn’t, now that I know that Minami-san was standing guard by the pool entrance. I should’ve listened to you a little closer. Sorry...”

“What do you mean?” I asked weakly, curled up in a ball.

“Since Minami-san was standing guard by the pool entrance, the culprit had to have been hiding in the locker room and didn’t leave until we were all gone.”

“Wait...so they were hiding and we just didn’t see them?”

“That’s the only possibility. You saw all the tall lockers in there, didn’t you?”

Oh, right. They’re big enough to fit a person. We could’ve easily overlooked that.

“Do you remember how I came out of the locker room after you? That’s because I was checking inside all the lockers. I’m guessing you didn’t.”

“Right...”

So that means the mysterious individual was hiding in one of those lockers?

“The culprit must’ve stealthily left the locker after Minami-san ended her stakeout of the pool entrance. As a result, the culprit couldn’t have gotten back to their room before either of us.”

“Okay...”

“When you got back, Asuhain was already there, so that’s why it’s impossible for her to be the culprit. If she was, she would’ve had to have passed by you to get back to the room first.”

“Yeah...”

“Do you know why we’re talking about this right now, Yume?”

I meekly shook my head. I didn’t have the will to think too much about anything.

“The culprit’s someone else,” he said gently. “That being said, it’s a fact that her thigh has a cut on it, and it’s true that someone cut themselves on the bushes.”

“Oh...”

“Asuhain also started acting differently today. I’m thinking that she probably did hide behind those bushes, and that there was some kind of reason for doing so. But it wasn’t when we met up. She must’ve been there before us and seen something, which made her start acting differently. I think the answer has to lie in the words she said to you.”

The last words she said to me before running off had been so emotionless. It sounded as if she’d given up.

“Do you really not want to know what happened to her or what she’s thinking? Would you really ‘not get it’?”

I looked down and buried my face into my knees. “I don’t know... I really don’t, but I don’t like not knowing...”

I was acting like a child, but that was how I truly, honestly felt.

I could tell that Mizuto had crouched down next to me, and then I felt him gently lay his hand against my back.

“I can stay by your side, but I can’t really give you superficial words of praise, and I definitely can’t bad-mouth Asuhain to make you feel better. That wouldn’t be fair, since she doesn’t have anyone like that for her. More than anything, I’m sure you wouldn’t be able to forgive yourself, would you?”

He’s right. I think that even having him talk to me like this is taking advantage of his kindness. Even if Mizuto helps me get back on my feet and I try to patch things up with Asuhain-san, I get the feeling I still might not really ever understand what’s going through her head. I’ll never be able to deny what she said to me.

“Take a night to sleep on it,” Mizuto said. “Then decide what you want to do. I’ll help you as much as you need after that.”

“Thanks...”

And now, I’d slept on it. The girls in our room changed in a more or less awkward atmosphere before leaving the room to go to the restaurant for breakfast. I spotted Mizuto when we arrived. Seeing me, Mizuto put the slice of bread he’d been eating down and looked up at me.

“Made up your mind?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

I want to know. I don’t want to stay in the dark. I’d been able to become an honor student, make friends, join the student council, and get a boyfriend. But even so, at this rate, I was on course to repeat the same mistakes I’d made as a middle schooler. I’d be passive, foolish, always waiting for someone to solve things for me. If I didn’t face this head-on and find out what was going on, I’d never “get it.”

“In that case, there’s something we need to do first.”

“Like what?”

“Don’t you remember the other weird thing that happened during this trip?” he asked, a teasing smile spreading across his face.

The Reason behind the Seemingly Meaningless Incident

Eventually, I found myself getting on the bus without anything actually being explained to me. True, we hadn’t had much time, and there had been a lot of people around us, but I was sure that he was just being mean and withholding the explanation from me. If you figured something out, tell me! I was truly getting the full experience of being Watson while Sherlock, Mizuto, was seemingly having a lively conversation with his seat partner, Higashira-san.

“Isana, can I see your guidebook real quick?” Mizuto asked.

“Sure, but what happened to yours?”

“I put it in my luggage before we got on the bus.”

“Oh, in that case, here you go.”

“Hm... Wow, it’s clean. Not a single mark or anything.”

“Ehe heh heh. What a wonderful feeling, to be complimented... I take good care of my textbooks and notebooks. They’ve practically never been touched!”

“No, you should actually be using those.”

Amid the anxiety that I felt during the entire bus ride, we reached our destination for the day—the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. Being here reminded me of the date that Mizuto and I had gone on a year ago, though this aquarium was at least twice as huge as that one.

After taking our commemorative photo by the whale shark statue in front of the aquarium, we walked inside the building, which was as spacious as an airport terminal. We took the escalator down and as we did, we all fell in awe at the beautiful blue of the ocean in front of us. Though this was nothing more than the entrance to the aquarium, there was a high ceiling that made it easier for us to get a great view of the huge ocean in front of us.

After getting off the escalator, we went to the right and finally gave our admittance tickets. For some reason, we were on the third floor. Apparently the route we were supposed to follow started from the entrance on this floor, then led to the second floor, and finally the ground floor.

“So what’s the plan?” I asked Mizuto in a low voice while walking next to him.

We didn’t have to stay in our groups at the aquarium, so we could essentially just go around with whomever we wanted. Aquariums were typical date spots, but it’s not like I was in the mood to boldly walk around with Mizuto. He, on the other hand, seemed perfectly normal.

“We’re tying up loose ends for the other incident that occurred on this trip, not the peeping culprit.”

“Do you mean the guidebooks getting stolen? What does that have to do with anything? All I want to do is figure out what’s on Asuhain’s mind.”

“If I’m reading things right, then the incidents are very closely related. After all, Asuhain’s the one behind that.”

“Huh?”

I couldn’t help but express my surprise at his statement and look at him. As I did, a large tank with planted coral (or something?) came into view.

While Mizuto watched the fish, which were such vivid blues and yellows that they almost looked painted, he began his explanation. “More specifically, she was an accomplice.”

“An accomplice...? Why would Asuhain-san do all that?!”

“I’m not sure, but I have a good guess. That’s why we need to clear things up.”

As we passed by the tank with the coral, we entered the tropical fish area. Students from our school and tourists alike were loudly clamoring over the brightly colored fish swimming around. Though I’d always envisioned aquariums being quiet places, it was the exact opposite here.

The top of the tanks here faced the outside, so the rays of the sun were reflected through them. The blue that came through the tanks illuminated the path as well as the guests. As I walked through, I gazed at the tropical fish through the crowd.

“I wish I could take a better look at everything since we came all the way here...”

“But you can’t focus like this, right?” Mizuto said, sympathetically. “We’ll just have to come again some time with Minami-san, Asuhain-san, and the others.”

“Yeah...”

Previously, I’d thought that if we were to come again, I’d want it to be the two of us. After all, if we were going on a trip, I wouldn’t want our time together to be interrupted by other people. But honestly, now, I was thinking that it wouldn’t be too bad to go on a trip with Asuhain-san and the others. The fact that I could think like this now was a show of how blessed I’d become. How’d I get all these people that I want to go on a trip with—a boyfriend and so many friends?

Past the large tanks, we walked a narrow path to get to the next area. The light reflecting through the tanks began to lessen and suddenly, it was like we were in a dimly lit movie theater. Partway through there, I saw some girls from our class that I recognized. They were from the group that’d been late yesterday. They were cackling and talking loudly.

“Hey, got a sec?” Mizuto asked, calling out to them.

The three of them turned around, surprised expressions on their faces.

“I-Irido-kun? Need something?” the girl in the middle, their leader, asked, clearly confused and surprised.

I was in the same boat. I’d thought we’d be talking to Yoshino-san’s group since we were investigating their theft case.

“Sorry, but could I see your guidebooks? Just wanna check something real quick,” he asked.

“O-Oh. W-Well, that’s kinda...”

The three of them looked at each other uncomfortably. Huh? Why are they reacting like this? But my confusion was answered by Mizuto’s next statement.

“They were stolen, weren’t they?”

The three of them gasped simultaneously. They had theirs stolen too? Seeing them freeze up, Mizuto continued to put on the pressure.

“You don’t have to be so scared—I’m here as a friend. To be honest, I think I know who stole them, but I’m gonna need the guidebooks you three have right now to prove it.”

Huh? But you just said theirs were stolen! They can’t show you guidebooks they don’t have! I was extremely confused, but Mizuto turned around to me.

“Don’t you remember what I said about how they just talked on their own?”

“Oh, you mean when we spoke with Yoshino-san and her group?”

“Yeah.”

Yesterday morning, Mizuto and I’d gone to their room, and during our conversation, Mizuto had picked up on something but decided to keep his mouth shut because he wanted to bully me.

“They said that the four of them couldn’t find their guidebooks, so they concluded that they’d been stolen. They were very emphatic about that. You could interpret that as them having woken up, checked their bags, and immediately jumped to conclusions. It’s clear that, in their minds, all of their guidebooks had been stolen.”

Now that he’s laying it out like this, it does seem a little odd. If I’d checked inside my bag and seen that the guidebook was missing, I wouldn’t immediately think that it was stolen; I’d think that I’d lost it.

“I can only think of one reason that the simple act of checking in their bags would lead them to confidently declare that their guidebooks had been stolen.”

“What is it?”

“Their guidebooks were switched out with other ones.”

“Oh!” As soon as I reacted, an awkward look spread across the faces of the other three girls. That makes sense. If they were switched out, then it’d be obvious that they’d been stolen, not lost.

“But...the contents of the guidebooks are all the same, right? How’d they know that they were switched out? Was it because a different class number was on them? Or that something was written inside them?”

“If they had a different class’s guidebook, they could just go straight to a teacher. After all, it’d be clear as day to anyone that the guidebooks had been switched. But if your guidebook got switched with one from the same class, then there’s no way for a teacher to be a hundred percent sure that it was actually stolen. After all, it doesn’t really matter what’s written in there. That’s not something teachers are concerned about.”

“So was the writing in the guidebooks the culprit’s objective?”

“At the very least, that’s the only possibility I can think of.”

The only reason someone would steal something as meaningless as a guidebook was to obtain the extra information written inside. That had been the culprit’s objective.

“The guidebooks most likely contained information that the victims wrote down. Something that couldn’t easily be erased. Maybe something that’d been written in ink,” Mizuto said, looking at the three girls who’d clammed up. “That’s the reason you three got the time wrong yesterday and came late, right? The part about the meeting time had been blacked out.”

Wait, he was thinking about this all from such a trivial incident? That’s all he needed to suspect that these three had had their guidebooks switched out like Yoshino-san’s group? The three of them once again looked at each other before whispering among themselves and then finally slightly nodding in agreement.

“Okay...” The girl in the middle sighed. “If you’ve figured out that much, then there’s no reason to hide it anymore... You good with mine?”

“If possible, I’d like to see all three of yours.”

Then, each of them took out their guidebooks and placed them in Mizuto’s hands.

“It’s kinda dark here, so let’s go somewhere brighter,” Mizuto said.

We moved as five down the path until we got to an area with tanks on the walls. Right next to the entrance to the area, there were countless long tentacles that looked like curtains of beads hanging down. The jellyfish almost reminded me of Cthulhu. Looking at the plaque there, I learned they were apparently habu-kurage, a type of box jellyfish.

Mizuto approached the wall, avoiding the crowds around the tanks, and began opening the guidebooks.

“I see...”

“You figure something out?” I asked.

Mizuto showed each one of them to me. As he’d said, each of them had been marked by a pen. Where they’d been marked seemed random. There didn’t seem to be a pattern...or at least that’s what I thought.

“Why would anyone switch out the guidebooks?”

“If someone blacked out the characters, you wouldn’t be able to write on them anymore, right?”

“By writing on it...do you mean like marking them with circles and x’s?”

“Yeah. What if the stolen guidebooks had been marked up like that? If you pick out each marked letter, then...”

“It spells out something?”

Mizuto smirked, showing off his mind for mystery solving. That’s what the culprit was aiming for? They stole the guidebooks that had hidden messag—

“If you look closely, each of these guidebooks have the same letters marked,” Mizuto said before I could finish my thought.

Mizuto took out his clean guidebook and compared it with the other three to confirm what the blacked-out letters had been.

“Broadly interpreting it, there are three types.”

And then Mizuto showed me the guidebook and pointed at each letter that the culprit desperately wanted Yoshino-san and the other girls to see.

I. Ri. Do. Whether they marked kanji, hiragana, or katakana, they’d carefully spelled out “Irido.” It was unmistakably our last name.

“Wh-Why...?”

Why is our name—my name there? But judging by how this is going, then the message the guidebook is trying to spell out is...

“They used the guidebooks for cryptographic communication,” Mizuto said calmly. “It’s like passing around notes in class. Probably using it in lieu of a phone since we don’t have ours. My guess is that if they’re going through the effort to share information, then it has to be about...” Mizuto’s gaze showed no emotion, but it was piercing through the three who’d had their guidebooks stolen. “Who Yume’s dating. Right?”

The three of them looked away and clammed up. Who I’m dating? Like, the identity of the person I say I’m dating when I turn people down?

“It’s been a target for rumors anyway. You’ve made it obvious that it’s someone at the school, and if it’s someone our age, then it wouldn’t be crazy to assume that you’ll be meeting with them sometime during the trip. They’re probably using the guidebooks as a way to collect information and spy on you. Figured as much...” Mizuto said, closing the three guidebooks and stacking them on top of one another.

It makes sense. This is why Yoshino-san didn’t want to reveal that their guidebooks were swapped—not stolen outright. Now that I think about it, it felt like she wasn’t super happy that I’d come to her room.

“S-Sorry...” one of the girls quietly apologized as she accepted the guidebooks back from Mizuto.

“I’m not mad or anything, and I doubt she is either,” he said, shooting me a glance. “She hasn’t been shy about the fact that she’s seeing someone, so I can’t blame anyone for being curious. If anything, it’s her fault for making things so mysterious in the first place.”

“Hey! Who’s side are you on?!” I protested.

“But,” Mizuto continued, “I know you guys had no ill intentions, but it doesn’t feel great to know that people are sniffing around my stepsister’s business. Just be more careful in the future.”

After giving back their guidebooks, Mizuto didn’t even so much as say goodbye before turning his back to them and leaving.

“You’re a little angry, aren’t you?” I quietly asked after catching up to him.

“Nope. You heard me. You’re in the wrong here.”

Really? I could sense that there was some kind of societal politeness and rigidity in his voice and actions. I got the feeling he’d acted like this as well when guys had begun swarming around me at the start of our first year. I could feel myself smiling a bit. I considered poking him in the ribs, but I noticed that the girls were still watching, so I stopped myself. Instead, I decided to tease him a bit.

“You really emphasized the ‘sibling’ part back there, huh?”

“What? Did you want me to say, ‘Leave my woman alone’?”

“No way. I’m just surprised that someone who hates conversing with others as much as you can be so deliberate with your words.”

“Yeah. I’ve grown a bit.”

“And who do you have to thank for that?”

I looked at Mizuto as he fell silent, still looking forward. Even so, I knew exactly what he was thinking. He was probably going to put on airs and say that it was all for Higashira-san’s sake, but he most likely stopped himself because that wasn’t something that he should say to his girlfriend. I intertwined my fingers behind my back, feeling a new spring in my step.

“As your big sister, I’m so happy that my little brother’s grown into such a cool young man.”

“We have something more pressing to talk about.” Perhaps sensing that he was at a disadvantage, Mizuto forcefully changed the conversation. “So, we know that Yoshino’s group and those three girls were using the guidebooks as a way to pass notes to each other. If that’s the case, then what was the goal of the person stealing their guidebooks?”

“Uh...to see what they were writing?”

“If so, then stealing the guidebooks on the first night was way too early. It’d be better to wait until the second night when the girls had gathered more information. Besides, with a simple code like that, they could probably just glance at it and understand without having to go through the effort of stealing it.”

“True... So then...”

I thought back to the condition that the guidebooks they’d had were in. Because of all the blacked-out words, they couldn’t be used for codes anymore.

“To stop people from looking into me?”

“Yeah, that’s probably why.” I was slowly beginning to understand what was going on behind the scenes. “The girls in our class are pretty much divided into two forces,” Mizuto said, sticking up two fingers like a peace sign. “The first group is Yoshino and her friends. They wanna know who your boyfriend is. The other group are the thieves—the people who want to get in their way.”

Apparently, it was right to assume that the guys weren’t involved at all. According to Mizuto, the information he’d gotten from Kawanami-san had been correct. Now that I had a clear picture of all the pieces in play, I lightly stroked my chin while trying to put everything together.

“I think...I might have figured it out,” I said.

“Figured what out?”

“The mastermind behind the guidebook theft.”

“Me too,” Mizuto said, grinning. “There’s only one girl in our class who could do it so naturally.”

What Does the Number of Guidebooks Have to Do with Math?

After leaving the area with the individual tanks, a huge tank on the right side called The Kuroshio Sea came into view. Before we knew it, we saw a massive manta ray swimming in front of us, which kinda startled me. The tank’s glass sparkled blue. It was almost like we were at the Ryukyu palace. It felt so fantastical, out of this world, and more than anything, huge.

After walking the path for some time, we came to a kind of theater. It almost didn’t even look like part of an aquarium anymore with how many people were there. The crowd reminded me of the kind that you’d see at Kiyomizu-dera. Moving from the back where the seats were and through the crowd of people, we came in front of a colossal tank. There was a movie-theater-screen-sized square acrylic panel that looked like it’d been cut out of the ocean. Unlike the guests who were snapping pictures and taking videos right in front of it, I felt like staying back, slightly frightened, despite not being particularly traumatized by anything similar in the past.

Inside the tank was the main attraction of the aquarium, the whale sharks, majestically swimming around. I tugged on Mizuto’s sleeve while looking up at their white underbellies.

“I found her. Over there.”

Mizuto looked in the direction I was pointing. The hall, illuminated by the blue light filtering through the huge tank, was split into two sections: a viewing area, and a sloped area with rows of seats for guests to look at the tank from. I could see her from up where we were near the seating area. I saw Akatsuki-san enter the path to the left of the tank with Maki-san and Nasuka-san, who had been in the same class as us in our first year, and then Higashira-san, who he’d entrusted our suspect to.

“Let’s go.”

Mizuto and I walked down the ramp, slipping through the huge crowd by the tank to get to the path that they’d gone down. Then, we entered the Whale Shark and Manta Ray Corner. Turning right brought us to an area that was unexpectedly bright. Looking up, the world beneath the waves extended as far as the eye can see.

The glass above us was bent in an arc to show the bottom of the huge tank we’d seen in the theater. It was a really strange feeling—like being at the bottom of the ocean. I couldn’t help but feel anxious over the idea of the glass breaking and us being swallowed into the sea. All I could do was gape at it.

Underneath the transparent ceiling, there were benches where many guests were already sitting, and just like me, they were all looking up at the ocean. This was known as the Aqua Room. Akatsuki-san’s group was standing in front of acrylic glass, excitedly gushing and squealing about it all.

“Oh, Irido-san! ’Sup?!”

Before we could call out to them, Maki-san, a tall girl with short hair, noticed us and waved. As she did, the other two turned to look at us, gave a quick wave, and greeted us. Higashira-san alone was obviously trembling from the ocean being right above her. We walked down the stairs to the bench they were by and as soon as she saw Mizuto, she scurried over to him like a small critter that was being chased by bees.

“Mizuto-kun!” she angrily whispered. “Do you know what manner of people you’ve stuck me with?! I’ve had the most difficult time with all the teasing regarding you!”

“Better than being ignored by them, right? You should get used to communicating with other girls.”

“It’s impossible! I’m a virgin otaku at my core! All I can do is act strangely!”

“You seem so confident. Why don’t you allot that confidence to other areas?”

A smile crept over my face as I watched her act as she usually did.

“Whoa there,” Maki-san interrupted, grabbing Higashira-san from behind. “You tryin’ to get all lovey-dovey on an aquarium date with your boyfriend when I’m not lookin’? Not happening!”

“Eek! Th-That’s not what I—”

“Your body’s so squeezable! It feels so nice! Do you use it at night to turn your boyfriend into a crazed animal? Huh?”

Higashira-san screamed as Maki-san continued to squeeze her like a stuffed animal. Since it was obvious I had a boyfriend due to how I’d turned other people down, Maki-san was the only one out of the four of us that had hung out in our first year without a special someone. As such, she’d only recently developed this jealous trait. For the record, though, Akatsuki-san doesn’t have a boyfriend either, but since she has something like a childhood friend, she counts as “taken” in Maki-san’s eyes.

“Chill,” Nasuka-san, sporting her usual bob cut and gentle aura, said, gently soothing Maki-san. “Even if you try to interfere with the romance of others, it’s not gonna make you any more successful yourself.”

“How can you say that with a smile?! Are you tryin’ to kill me?!”

Contrary to her peaceful appearance, Nasuka-san’s words cut deep, making Maki-san release Higashira-san.

Using that as an opening, Mizuto approached Akatsuki-san.

“Minami-san, you mind showing me where the bathroom is?”

That’s a really weird question. Why would you ask her and not your best friend, Higashira-san? At first, Akatsuki-san also seemed confused by the question. But then she cryptically smiled.

“The bathroom’s right back where we came from. I don’t mind showing you the way.”

“Thanks.”

“Sorry, gonna go to the bathroom real fast. Go on without me!” Akatsuki-san said to Maki-san and the others before going back the way we came with Mizuto.

I nonchalantly followed them as well. We passed back through the Whale Shark and Manta Ray Corner and headed to the narrow path where the toilets were at the end of the hall. When we reached there, Akatsuki-san leaned against the blue wall, her ponytail swinging a bit as she turned to Mizuto.

“So, what’s up?” Akatsuki-san asked, jumping right into the topic. It was as if she knew that she’d be talking with Mizuto here today.

“Got some questions, obviously,” Mizuto said, not hesitating at all, just like Akatsuki-san. “After dinner on the first night, where were you, and what were you doing?”

After dinner? Did something happen then? But even though I was confused, she began cryptically smiling, intertwining her fingers behind her back.

“If you’re asking that, I’m assuming you saw something around then?” Akatsuki-san asked.

“Not really. I didn’t see anything at a decisive time, but I saw Asuhain being surrounded by Yoshino and her two friends. They were telling her off, saying something about not trying to put any moves on me.”

“That happened to her?” I asked.

I was a little surprised, but I could kind of imagine those three doing something like that. They were the people who joked about Mizuto and Higashira-san’s relationship, so I could easily imagine that they’d tell off Asuhain-san, who had asked Mizuto out due to some kind of sense of justice or lone-wolf mentality. None of them would be too happy about Asuhain-san asking out Mizuto. I hadn’t seen Asuhain-san do it myself, but they had probably witnessed her putting the moves on Mizuto. Personally, I couldn’t even imagine Asuhain-san getting close to a guy.

“I didn’t really care about the contents of their conversation, so I didn’t try to butt in or anything. The one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that Yoshino-san and her friends weren’t in their room at that time.”

“What do you mean... Oh!” When I realized what he was saying, I couldn’t help but turn my mumbling into a gasp. “You’re saying that’s when their guidebooks were stolen?”

“When dinner ended, there weren’t any particular plans until lights out. So if you wanted to steal them, you’d have to wait for the opportunity for Yoshino and the rest to leave their room. To avoid that, you chose right after dinner.”

It’s true that it would’ve been impossible to precisely guess when they’d be out of their room since there weren’t any planned activities that would’ve required them to leave. In that case, it’d be best to go right after dinner. All she’d need would be for someone to buy her time.

“You said that Asuhain-san was an accomplice, right? Is this what you meant?” I asked.

Akatsuki-san tilted her head slightly, a troubled expression on her face. “Hm... I don’t really get what’s going on, but since things are starting to heat up, I’ll say something like a culprit would. You’re talking about how someone sneaked into their room to steal their guidebooks, right? Sounds kinda impossible. After all, how’d they even do that without a key?”

“By having someone who has the key open it. There was one more girl in their room who isn’t part of Yoshino-san’s usual trio. She was your spy, wasn’t she?”

Oh... In that case, she wouldn’t need to sneak in. She could simply have her spy stealthily switch out the guidebooks when Yoshino-san and the others weren’t in the room, and then hide them so they couldn’t find them. It’s that simple.

“It was important for all four of them to have their books switched out. Otherwise, one of them might’ve been a suspect. Maybe they even helped with the secret messages.”

Wow, just like a spy. That girl doesn’t really seem the type to me, but I guess you can’t judge a book by its cover.

“Interesting. Okay then, onto my next question. Why are you coming to me? If what you just said is right, then you’re sure that Asuhain-san was involved, but I’m not sure where I really fit into this,” Akatsuki-san asked.

“Because you’re an integral part of the entire scheme.”

“How’s that?”

“That’s just how things add up.”

“Addition? Like one plus one equals me?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh?” I muttered. His answer surprised me, so I found myself looking at him.

“There were seven girls total whose guidebooks had been stolen—four from Yoshino’s group and then three others. All of them had their guidebooks switched out, but the spy’s one could be reused, so really, that means there were at least six guidebooks that the culprit needed.”

“So...four used for Yoshino-san’s group, but one was the spy’s, so excluding that one, six total?”

Mizuto nodded at me as I counted, using my fingers. “In other words, excluding the spy, there were six other culprits. And as I said before, the victims—including the spy—were seven people. Furthermore, the only people involved in this incident were the girls, and there aren’t any extra guidebook copies since the teachers only made enough for each student.”

“So in other words, only the girls in our class... Oh...” As I said this out loud, it clicked. He’s right. It is simple math. After all... “There are fifteen girls in our class...”

“There were thirteen guidebooks in play, both the victims’ and perpetrators’. There were only two girls in our class who weren’t involved.”

Fifteen minus thirteen...two. With the number of victims confirmed, and the two people who weren’t affected at all, it was only natural that the remaining six were the perpetrators. It was also really easy to identify who at least one of the two uninvolved parties was.

“Yume already checked her guidebook. Besides, it would’ve been pretty much impossible for them to steal hers. But either way, judging from the way she’s acting, it’s pretty easy to tell that she’s not involved.”

“Phew, you’re, like, on the same wavelength? Gettin’ steamy in here!” Akatsuki-san teased.

But also, I knew that I wasn’t involved. Mizuto probably trusted me. Then again, I wasn’t exactly the best at lying anyway.

“So then, who is the remaining person?” Mizuto continued, ignoring Akatsuki-san. “I had a feeling it’d be one girl in particular, and I confirmed it by doing something really simple.”

“What’d you do?” Akatsuki-san asked.

Mizuto calmly responded. “Whoever stole the guidebooks would have the ones that Yoshino and the others had been using. There would’ve been secret messages written inside. Regardless of what writing instrument you use, there’d definitely be some kind of trace of something having been written. It’s a simple matter of looking at the guidebook and seeing if there’s any trace of something being written or not to determine if they’re involved.”

Then I suddenly remembered that on the bus before we got to the aquarium, Mizuto had...

“Isana immediately showed me hers when I asked, and wouldn’t you know it, it was completely clean.”

Yeah, I remember him commenting on how clean it was. Back then, I’d thought it was a weird thing to say, especially because of how messy and filled with books his room was, not to mention his lackadaisical attitude towards keeping things orderly. He wasn’t exactly the type I’d take to focus on things being clean, and as such, it had been out of character for him to praise the cleanliness of something, especially a guidebook.

“And that’s when you confirmed that she wasn’t involved...” I said.

“Exactly. With that, I confirmed the two people who weren’t involved. Naturally, that pinpointed who the thieves were. Asuhain-san was one of them, but so were you, Minami-san.”

Of course, out of the seven potential culprits that we could’ve gone to, I would have chosen Akatsuki-san. She was my closest friend, and pretty much the only person I could think of who’d go so far as to steal to protect my reputation. Even last year, I could feel that things would get out of hand when Akatsuki-san involved herself with me.

I had no evidence, but I was almost a hundred-percent sure that she was the ringleader of this whole thing. As if to confirm that, Akatsuki-san didn’t seem to try and contest anything and simply smiled at Mizuto before talking.

“You’re pretty sharp, Irido-kun. You got me. I surrender! I wanted this to stay under the radar so Yume-chan wouldn’t find out, but after you laid everything out so clearly, I can’t exactly make up any excuses.”

“Akatsuki-san...is this how you’ve been protecting me this entire time?”

I thought back to the start of the school year when she asked me if I knew how to turn people down, and then immediately after, a guy suddenly asked me out. I had no doubt that Akatsuki-san had been working behind the scenes to help me out.

Akatsuki-san looked guilty. “I don’t usually do anything so direct... I chat on LINE and stuff, and try to subtly get people to give up—stuff like that. By the way, Kawanami’s a culprit too—not with the guidebooks, but he does help swat down anyone who tries anything on the two of you.”

“I had a feeling. Though the way you phrased that kinda infringes on his honor.” Mizuto shrugged.

It’s precisely because Kawanami-kun had that side to him that he’d been so surprised when Higashira-san popped up by Mizuto’s side.

“I was thinking you might not need me to help you anymore, and I was thinkin’ that you two might wanna score some good memories together since it’s our school trip and all. So this was mostly just running a teensy-weensy interference.”

“You’ve really mellowed out,” Mizuto said.

“One thing you’ve never understood about me is that I’ve been mellowed out since last year. I only messed up once, right?”

“That one time was more than enough.”

It seemed that something had happened without me knowing, but there was something else that I was more interested in.

“Asuhain-san stopped Yoshino-san and her friends to buy time, right? Is that also why she asked Mizuto out?”

By getting close to Mizuto, she could use Yoshino-san and the rest’s desire not to see any girls closer to him to bait them towards her. To make sure that Mizuto wouldn’t catch onto that intention, she’d made sure to ask him out before the school trip. Was that it? Was that really the only reason she’d asked him out?

“Oh wait. Full stop! Don’t misunderstand, Yume-chan!” Akatsuki-san began frantically trying to clear something up. “I didn’t tell her to do that! I wouldn’t ask anyone to fake confess for something like this! Whether I’d do it myself is another story, though...” she said, as if she’d done it before. “Asuhain-san just said she’d do it. I said that all she had to do was lend us her guidebook, but she was the one who brought it up and asked us if it’d work.”

“Asuhain-san did it...by herself?”

Akatsuki-san folded her thin arms and tilted her head. “I told her she didn’t have to go that far, but she wouldn’t listen and said that this would make things more certain. I thought that maybe she actually had a thing for Irido-kun, but judging by last night...” Akatsuki-san glanced at me.

N-No. I don’t think Asuhain-san feels that way about me...right?

Mizuto folded his arms as well. “So I’m guessing you don’t know anything about why she started acting weird on the second day?”

“Nope, not at all! I tried asking, but she wouldn’t tell me. Maybe I shoulda stopped her from fake asking you out...”

“I suppose only Asuhain knows the answer,” Mizuto said indifferently to a deflated Akatsuki-san.

I think I’m slowly starting to piece everything together. I think I see the situation surrounding Asuhain-san. Though I still have no clue what’s been going on with her ever since the start of this trip.

“It’s time to talk about the real topic now.”

“Right...”

Even I knew what he was getting at. Asuhain-san had entered the aquarium faster than any of us here. Mizuto looked right at me. His eyes were gentle but powerful. I could feel myself relying on him immediately as usual, but the next thing he said to me wasn’t him being soft on me at all.

“The rest is up to you.”

“Huh?”

During my confusion, Mizuto began talking to me like I was a kid. “It won’t mean anything if I’m the one solving everything. After all, I’m not the one she’s after, right?”

Then I remembered back to what Asuhain-san had said about how she couldn’t stop thinking about me and how I didn’t get it. I’d been the one to push myself closer to her. I’d been the one who wanted to get closer to her. I’d been the one who wanted to learn more about her.

“Okay...”

Though I felt alone and uneasy, I’d borrowed more than enough strength. I needed to do my best. I needed to figure out Asuhain-san. I wouldn’t let her say that I didn’t get it anymore.

Her One Weapon, Her One Relationship

After I passed through the Aqua Room, there were suddenly fewer lights, and the other guests looked to be nothing but shadows. In the darkness, a specimen of a massive giant squid was lit up, welcoming me. Its white skin and slender tentacles that shone in the light looked more like they belonged to a monster than any living creature. It was clear that I was entering the Deep Sea area.

The individual tanks glowed a dull, deep blue, and each of them had an explanation panel and were lit up by artificial light. Since there were a lot of people, despite it being dark, it wasn’t as frightening as being in a haunted house. But as I walked alone along the sole lit path, like the aisle of a movie theater, I felt like I was deep in the sea moving further away from civilization and the light of the sun.

As I walked through the darkness, I remembered something. When I’d asked Asuhain-san why she wanted to beat me so badly, she’d said she had nothing else going on. The only way she could take on others was through her grades. That was the only way she could prove her superiority to the people who belittled her. And when she was so confident that she could win against anyone with her grades, I appeared.

When did I forget her intense gaze? She’d always been looking at me, her rival—her sworn enemy who’d taken away her one weapon. On the other hand, I thought back to how indifferent she’d acted when Aso-senpai and I had been talking about romance. Most likely, every time we discussed it around her, she wished she could be a normal girl like us so she wouldn’t have to be so focused on something like her studies to protect her identity.

When did I become a normie? I used to be just like Asuhain-san. The only thing I’d had going for me was my seriousness, and just like her, I’d been frustrated about not getting the highest grade on a math test—my best subject. I don’t know when, but at a certain point, I found that I didn’t need to rely on one specific thing anymore because I had so many more important things to me. Suddenly, I remembered how Mizuto had teased me by saying that I’d grown as a person.

He’s right, though... But up until now, most of the relationships I’d had weren’t ones I’d developed on my own. So much of what I had now all started thanks to meeting Mizuto. Somewhere along the way, I forgot what it was like to be someone who had nothing—no, who had only one thing.

My high school glow up had only been surface level. Though I wanted to say that I’d grown, I’d lost understanding of my past self in the process. Could I really call that growth? That’s more like running away from who I used to be. Ultimately, I was still shy, pessimistic, and narrow-minded. It would be sad if growth meant living on while forgetting about that. After all, the more you grow, the more things you don’t understand.

I was starting to understand why neither Mizuto nor Higashira-san ever attempted to do anything about their lack of friends. They were preserving their identities. They were fine as is and thought that was the best way to be happy.

That’s why they never tried too hard to be understood by others. If anyone showed up along the way who understood them, then that would be nice, sure, but otherwise, it wasn’t a big deal. It was that simple.

So what about Asuhain-san? What my past self had wanted was someone who understood me. Whether that manifested as a friend or a boyfriend didn’t matter; I wanted someone to prove to me that I wasn’t alone. Which means Asuhain-san wants...

After walking through the long, dark hall with the individual tanks, a path to the right appeared. Down it was a curved wall that faced left. On it were small, square-shaped windows of different individual tanks in two rows. Near the ceiling, there was a sign emitting a dull blue light that read: “Tiny Marine Life in the Deep Sea.”

I wasn’t sure if it was just because most of the people were gathered in the previous area, but there wasn’t much of a crowd here. I passed by about four or five people and continued down the path until I reached an area with a huge tank, nearly two blackboards long. Standing in front of it was a single girl.

She was vacantly staring at the bug-eyed fish swimming around in the dim, blue light of the deep sea. Her profile was beautiful enough to send electricity through my body. She’d always had a pretty face, but when dyed by the light from the tank and the darkness from the hallway, she had the same transcendent beauty of a sculpture.

It was an ironic sense of beauty that the less emotion showed on her face, the more beautiful she became. Oh, wow. How am I only realizing this now? I...don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile.

“Asuhain-san,” I resolutely called out, prompting her to sluggishly turn her head towards me. “Would you like to go around the aquarium together?”

In response, she responded robotically—cold and emotionless. “There’s nothing left to see. The exit’s right around the corner.”

“Then let’s go to the beach. Or even the gift shop on the first floor.”

“You really think that I’ll go along with you if you strong-arm me again?” Asuhain-san turned her gaze back to the tank. “How long are you going to keep up that arrogant attitude of yours? Your actions practically scream that you want to save the charity case.”

“I might be arrogant, yeah.”

Her words were as sharp and direct as a knife, but I took them head-on. I was sure that acting like a Goody Two-shoes here would only get on Asuhain-san’s nerves.

Suddenly, I got it. I didn’t use logic to reach a conclusion like Mizuto or my best subject, math; instead, I used my own instincts.

“You’ve been trying so hard to understand me this entire time without me even having to do anything.” Asuhain-san’s eyes flicked over to me as I said this. “The reason you chose Mizuto as the person to ask out was by process of elimination, right?” Still, she stayed silent. “The only guys you’ve really had any interaction with are the ones from our Kobe trip. There wasn’t anyone on the student council you could go after without getting in someone else’s way, and Kawanami-kun is the kind of guy you’d probably hate the most, which naturally left Mizuto as the only option. After all, he’s not the type to brag about getting asked out and aimlessly spread that news around.” Still, she stayed silent. “All you wanted to do was ask someone out, hoping to find out if something inside you would change. Mizuto was the most convenient person for your experiment since he was the one with the highest possibility of making you experience romantic feelings.” Still, she stayed silent, so instead, I answered for her. “You were studying romance, weren’t you? For my sake...”

Asuhain-san stayed completely silent, but she guiltily looked away. Even though she had finally beat me on a test, I’d been so enamored with my budding romance that I hadn’t reacted like I was bitter about losing at all. That was why she decided that she needed to change herself.

It was all to understand what I was saying—to be able to have the same conversations that I enjoyed. So she used her one weapon: studying. She tried to understand what’s so wonderful about romance.

“I have no way of knowing how your experiment turned out for you, but I’m pretty sure that Mizuto would have accepted you even if he hadn’t seen right through you. He’s kinda like you in some regards, after all.”

Specifically, how he’s so removed from the world that he barely reacts to anything. But on the flip side, when there was something he was really passionate about, he’d get so into it that his surroundings disappeared. I was almost jealous of how much like Mizuto she was in that regard.

“But after the first day...you stopped that experiment. Was it because you realized that it was pointless? Or because you started to hate yourself?” I’m not sure, but I have a feeling it’s the latter. Asuhain-san was pretty hard on herself. I wouldn’t be surprised had she reflected on how she was acting and suddenly started to hate it. “And then, when you were trying to distance yourself from Mizuto and me, I chased after you, not knowing what was going through your head... At first, you tried to pretend like nothing was wrong and go back to how things used to be, but it hurt that I didn’t know what you were going through, and then you changed your mind, thinking that there was no need to push yourself to act like everything was okay. Am I right? I’d like you to say something if I’m not.”

Even the greatest literary detectives couldn’t always precisely guess every little thing going on in the culprit’s mind. There was no way that someone as unimaginative as I was could do anything better than desperately trying to think that I understood.

I thought she’d be mad at me for not understanding her. I thought I would’ve made her mad. But even so, I felt like I was making progress. Compared to how I was before, completely in the dark, I knew what I didn’t know, and was starting to move towards feeling like I understood. That was why I thought hearing Asuhain-san’s true thoughts would be a big step towards this goal.

But then, Asuhain-san betrayed my expectations. “You’re wrong,” she said, not in an angry tone, but a voice as quiet as if we’d been submerged into the deep sea. “I was simply in despair... I was sad and lonely, like a child whose parents didn’t buy them something they wanted. I couldn’t even get mad... I didn’t give up because I didn’t want to force myself to be something that I wasn’t anymore. If anything, I think I gave up on the very act of giving up.”

She did? So she didn’t simply toss away her loneliness and sadness because she didn’t care anymore, but she’s dragging those weights around with her.

“Oh...” I was a little bit lost, but still, I said, “That’s rough.”

“That wasn’t exactly thoughtful of you to say,” Asuhain-san said, turning to look at me.

I slightly smiled and nodded. “Better than saying nothing, isn’t it? Words are too unwieldy to convey what’s in your heart, but...there’s nothing else we can do but use our words.” If we aren’t able to experience what they’re feeling, then all we can do is talk it out. Useless actions or direct, uncouth, thoughtless words were better than not saying anything at all.

“I see...” Asuhain-san said, beginning to look up at the top of the tank where the dim light that filtered in almost looked like a stairway. “So, you’re not a skilled enough speaker to be tactful, I see.”

“I’m a lot better than I used to be, especially in comparison to how I was in middle school!” I said, jokingly.

As I did, she looked back at me. Then, just slightly—very, very slightly—the end of her lips curled.

“I can more or less imagine,” she said.

That was the first time I’d ever seen her smile from the heart.

Since more people began to come in, the two of us left the aquarium. The exit was connected to the beach that we’d seen a little bit of from the entrance. It was vast, and there were a lot of people there, swimming in the ocean or playing in the sand. But even though it was a beach, not everyone was in a bathing suit. About half of them were in normal clothes. Oh, right. I think I saw in a video or something once that people in Okinawa don’t wear swimsuits when they swim.

The white sand crunched under our feet as Asuhain-san and I entered and began looking at the emerald ocean.

“There...aren’t as many people as I expected,” Asuhain-san said.

True. It’s probably because it’s not swimming season. I feel like there were more people in the Churaumi Aquarium.

“Have you ever been to the beach, Asuhain-san?”

“My family doesn’t really go on trips, so I’ve only really been on field trips.”

“Now that you mention it, I think I’m in the same boat...”

It went without saying that I’d never gone on one with my birth father, but my mom and I never went on trips either. She was always so busy with work.

“So...” I looked at Asuhain-san. “Wanna go in?”

“Huh? By ‘in’...do you mean into the water?”

“Yeah.”

Asuhain-san looked down at what she was wearing—a white tunic bound at the waist with string, and skinny capris. It was a very summery outfit.

“I didn’t bring my bathing suit...”

“We’ll just dip our feet in,” I said, taking off one of my sandals. But when I put my bare foot onto the sand... “Ow!” Of course, the bottom of my foot felt like it’d been burned, and I began hopping on the foot that was still wearing the sandal.

I looked at Asuhain-san, and tried laughing it off. “I’m sure it’ll be cooler near the water.”

“Right...” Asuhain-san said in an almost annoyed tone while looking at the vast sea. “It might be nice once in a while.”

I put my sandal back on, and we went towards the edge of the water. This time, I took off both of my sandals and stood barefoot in the cool, wet sand. It was a strange feeling of freedom that my feet, which were typically wearing shoes or socks, experienced from the unfamiliar touch of nature.

Following my lead, Asuhain-san took off her shoes, rolled up her socks, and put them inside her shoes before carrying them. She nervously looked at her feet while cautiously stepping on the sand many times as if to check something. Right after that, the water flowed back in and washed over our feet.

“Eek!” Asuhain-san softly yelped from the cold water, jumping back and grabbing my shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

Hearing my question, Asuhain-san looked at me and gasped, before looking down with embarrassment. This might be my first time seeing her act like her true self too. Despite how long we’ve worked together on the student council, I can’t believe how many new sides of her I’m seeing. I’m so touched!

After playing with the water that ebbed and flowed, Asuhain-san suddenly began speaking.

“I saw...” she said softly.

“Huh?” I looked up at her.

She continued looking at the waves while talking. “On the night of the first day, at the hotel pool, I...I was hiding in the bushes. I wanted to understand you, so I went there. This wasn’t at nine, though.”

Mizuto said that Asuhain-san wasn’t the one who’d seen us together, but it’s still a fact that she has a scratch on her thigh. I wondered if Asuhain-san was going to give an answer to what I’d asked her last night, now that I’d actually tried thinking from her perspective.

As I tried to mentally organize all the information, I spoke. “Not after nine, right?” Mizuto and I found the blood after nine, so if she hid there, it had to have been before nine. “You’re talking about earlier.”

“Right. It must’ve been around eight thirty... I was looking for a place to be alone, and when I arrived on the floor with the pool, I saw two people enter. I couldn’t help but be curious, so I followed them.”

“And then what happened?”

“At first, I heard a voice say something about how they wished they could’ve been in the same group. Or at least, that’s what I think they were talking about. Their tone of voice was different than usual, so in the spur of the moment, I hid in the bushes by the entrance, and then...”

“And then?”

“I saw a confession.”

Huh? “Like someone asking another person out?”

“I believe that’s the right interpretation. I saw that and...became frightened.”

“Frightened?”

“I was afraid that having a fixation towards someone was incredibly shallow, and that same fixation had taken root in my heart as well.”

I can’t deny that it’s shallow. I did a lot of shallow things in order to date Mizuto. But I can’t believe she felt that way after seeing someone bare their heart like that...

“I...guess it didn’t go well for them, then,” I said.

“Yeah... They were turned down and quickly acted out. Though, now that I think about it, I think they became levelheaded again. But I...wanted to deny that I was like that person—and I wanted to prove it—so I immediately jumped out of the bushes...” The waves washed over our feet with a soft sound. “And I pushed the two of them into the pool.”

Now she was demonstrating the other type of confession—a confession to a “crime.” Nobody got hurt, so she shouldn’t have cared too much, but for Asuhain-san, this had been a very important event. No matter how much Aso-senpai annoyed her, Asuhain-san never shoved her off or slapped her hands away. This might’ve been the first time in her life that she’d ever been violent.

“You were trying to help the person getting asked out, right?” I might’ve just been trying to give her some peace of mind for the time being, but I gave her my frank opinion while looking at her. “You’ve told me before that you look up to President Kurenai for helping you when you couldn’t get away from someone hitting on you, right? It’s basically the same thing.”

“I...suppose. That’s one way of looking at it.”

“What happened after that?” I asked.

“One of them immediately left. The other one asked me to bring them a change of clothes from their room; I did, and then we went our separate ways. While they changed, we didn’t say anything. Nobody else came into the locker room either. It was an awkward situation from start to finish. I can’t help but wonder if there was a better way to have handled that.”

“I see...”

Even now, I remembered the conversation we’d had last night and wondered if I couldn’t have done a better job talking to her. There probably wasn’t a person in this world who didn’t think back on something and wonder if they could’ve done something differently. In that regard, I felt as if Asuhain-san and I could relate.

“By the way...you haven’t referred to those two by name, but did you know them?”

“Yes...”

“Is it okay for you to tell me who they were?”

“I’m really sorry, but I can’t tell you that much,” she said in her usual resolute tone of voice. “I think it would hurt their reputations if I blabbed about it. It isn’t my place to spread this around.”

“I see. Yeah...that’s good on you.”

“You think so? I thought it was the norm for people to enjoy gossip.”

“What’s normal isn’t important. What’s important is whether it’s right for you.”

I got the feeling that I’d been like her, trapped by the shackles of “what would a normal person do?” But now I could honestly think that what was normal and what was common sense were stupid compared to the individuality that people bring to the table.

“You shouldn’t go by what’s normal,” I continued. “If there’s something you want to do, you should do it without caring what other people think. Remember? Whoever gets the lower score on the test has to listen to what the other one says, so I’ll do anything I can as long as it’s in my power to do so. It’ll be my way of apologizing for alienating you.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I’m going to. I won’t accept anything less. Here’s the thing, Asuhain-san,” I said, turning to face her and grabbing her small hands. “It’s true that I wasn’t bitter when you beat me in the finals. If anything...I was happy.”

“Happy...?”

“Yeah, of course! I’d been watching you work hard all this time. I saw you cracking open your textbooks and notebooks whenever you got a chance. You worked so much harder than I did, how couldn’t I acknowledge that? After seeing you work so hard, I couldn’t even be mad. Your hard work was rewarded, and I was genuinely happy about that. That feeling came before anything else.” Well, also, my head was occupied by the fact that I got a boyfriend... I could feel myself wryly smiling. “So that’s why I want to apologize. I’m sorry that I stopped being your rival...”

I couldn’t view her as my rival. I saw her as my hardworking friend. But that’s not what Asuhain-san wanted from me. Even so, she wouldn’t be satisfied if I just pretended to be the person she wanted. That’s why all I could do was apologize. I’d ask her to be my friend with all my heart.

“Then...” Her voice had gotten so soft that I had to lean in to hear her. “Could I...you?”

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

“You know...like what you do with Minami-san and the other girls... Um...” The words she wanted to say were on the tip of her tongue, but she had trouble getting them out. Her cheeks grew a brighter pink with each passing second. “Could I...hug you?”

Oh... I see. I smiled and opened both my arms. “Of course. Come on.”

Asuhain-san nervously looked both ways before looking to the right again and then looked at her feet for some reason. Then she quietly took a deep breath and looked at my face and cutely grunted as she fell onto me. I caught her small body in my chest and wrapped my arms around her back. She was so soft, warm, and cute. This was Ran Asuhain.

“Um, Irido-san...?” she said in my ear.

“Yeah?”

“I... I’m not very good at this, and...”

“Yeah?”

“And I might say rude things without being able to read the room, and...”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t talk about romance at all, but...”

“Yeah?”

“Will you...still be my friend?”

“Yeah.” I nodded without any hesitation. “Of course!”

Happily Ever After (for the Girls, at Least)

Mizuto Irido

On the afternoon of the third day, our activity schedule was the same as the first day; we’d split up into our groups and go around the southern part of the main island. Though each group was free to decide where they’d go, most of the groups decided to go to the Naha Kokusai Dori Shopping Street, and our group was not an exception.

Though it was a shopping district, it wasn’t on the same large scale as ones in Tokyo. It was a street with two car lanes and a mishmash of chain stores, showrooms, and gift shops. It might’ve been closest to the vibe of the Compasso Teramachi shopping arcade in Kyoto. The only difference was that there wasn’t any kind of roof, so you could see the sky, and also the roads were larger.

The biggest tell that this was Okinawa were the palm trees planted on the sides of the street. The reason I thought about this was most likely because I wasn’t usually all that interested in cities. But the first thing on the list was grabbing food, so we went into a café that mainly Kawanami and Minami-san had looked up and had their eyes on.

Opening the menu, I saw a picture of a crepe with a lot of cream and a lot of fruit. Eating the crepe would be like a balancing act between sating one’s desires and getting heartburn.

“Oh god, oh god... The calories...” Isana weirdly mumbled while looking at the menu.

Minami-san gently patted her on the back while talking like a scam artist. “Don’t worry about it. Not today. One day of eating bad isn’t enough to put on weight.”

“Th-That’s right... It’s a mere day...”

“You’ve worked so hard on your diet! You deserve a little treat...”

“That’s right... This is my reward!”

It was like watching an addict rebound. I wasn’t going to say anything, and instead count this as a cheat day. But still, when she got back, I’d have to make her exercise. I wasn’t about to let her live an unhealthy life.

On the other hand, Yume and Asuhain were looking at the menu together.

“I think I’m gonna get this one with all the stuff on it. What about you, Asuhain-san?”

“I think I’ll...”

Yume smiled as she watched Asuhain think about her order at this place that she wasn’t used to being in. They seemed more like siblings than she and I did. Asuhain had really warmed up to Yume and didn’t seem to want to leave her side. It wasn’t as close as Isana stuck to me, but she stayed by her side even when Yume talked to me or Minami-san. Her facial expression didn’t change a bit until Yume spoke to her, and then it loosened up slightly. Yume seemed happy when Asuhain reacted like that.

After we finished our fight with the mountains of whipped cream and fruit, we left the café and walked around. While looking around at the stores, Yume talked to Asuhain actively, and Asuhain did her best to respond, albeit with a little awkwardness and stammering.

Minami-san had some mixed feelings watching them act like a pair of sisters from behind. “That’s... That’s my spot...”

“You’re such a child...” Kogure Kawanami said, exasperatedly sighing. “Irido-san’s usually so reserved, but look at her being all aggressive like that. Just stay back and happily watch over them.”

“I am! I’m lonely and jealous, but Yume-chan acting like a big sister is also cute...”

“So all’s well that ends well, right?”

Behind the pair of childhood friends, Isana and I were watching over all of this.

“Mizuto-kun,” she said suddenly. “Recently, I’ve begun to think that yuri does it for me as well.”

“Why are you coming out to me all of a sudden?”

“But in that case, you’re a huge obstacle. What do you believe I should do?”

“How should I know? Don’t act like I’m the third wheel here. If anything, she’s the one getting in the way.”

“Hm... But both of their boobs are large... I’m not sure if I’m too fond of that. It’s better if there’s some kind of difference between the two of them... It’d be perfect if this was a harem, though.” Isana began tilting her head in deep thought with a worry that most people would not even begin to understand. I decided to ignore her as well.

For me, seeing Yume get a new straitlaced friend made me happy. This had been a connection she’d made with her own two hands, and besides that, her only best friend up till now had been Minami-san, who was kinda...out there.

Asuhain would never stalk someone, nor would she propose to someone she had no feelings for, all just for the sake of being part of Yume’s family. Unlike Minami-san. I was sure that even if we revealed our relationship to her, Asuhain would calmly accept the truth...or at least that’s what I thought at the time.

When we finally entered the arcade shopping district, it was really hard not to think about the Compasso Teramachi shopping arcade in Kyoto. There were mountains of colorful products stacked up. This scenery that drew in the eyes of those walking by really reminded me of the stalls at festivals. One such product that was drawing the attention of Yume and the others was a colorful aloha dress with a flower pattern on it. They were shoulder to shoulder while looking at it, fussing over whether they’d look good in it. I stayed back, watching them.

“I guess...I should thank you,” a voice from nearby said.

Before I knew it, Asuhain was standing next to me. She wasn’t really looking at me, though—instead, she was watching as Yume excitedly browsed. I couldn’t help but smile a little.

“What exactly are you thanking me for?” I asked.

“On the first day...on the bus, you accepted me. I think I felt...comfortable.”

“Happy to hear that.”

“If that had happened maybe two or three times more, I might’ve actually fallen for you.”

I was a little surprised to hear this—not by what she said, but the fact that she said it.

“But that’s not how you actually ended up feeling, right?” I asked.

She nodded. “You’re decent for a guy, but not so much that I’d let you have your way with my body.”

I paused for a second. “And that’s your basis for whether or not you can date someone?”

“What else would I base it on?”

She was similar to how logical Isana was. If she didn’t understand the concept of love, then naturally, she’d end up with that kind of biology-based mindset.

“Well, that works out for me. I can’t have you actually falling for me; it’d be pretty inconvenient.”

“The way you said that’s kinda gross, but I’ll leave it at that. After all, I was rude to both you and Higashira-san.”

Oh, right. She thinks I’m dating Isana. Since she’s gotten so close to Yume, it’s gonna be annoying to keep hiding our relationship, so maybe I’ll come clean. But just as I was thinking that, I was given reason to not.

“However,” Asuhain started, glaring at me with a look so deadly it would’ve easily killed a puppy. “Though you may not be related by blood, I will end your existence if you lay a finger on Irido-san.”

I could feel a cold sweat break out on my back, and in the next moment, Asuhain left without saying a word, returning to Yume and the others. All I could do was watch as her small back became even smaller. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Of course I couldn’t. When animals feel as though they’re in danger, they keep their eyes on the threat until they’re safe.

“Hm? Irido? You good? Hello?”

In comparison, Kawanami called out to me, but I couldn’t even properly respond to him. Well, crap. I’m totally gonna get my shit kicked in.

Enjoying the School Trip Normally

Yume Irido

It was now the evening of the third day of our school trip, and as soon as we entered our new hotel’s room, Akatsuki-san excitedly cried out in amazement. The room’s decor gave off a clean look, as all the wallpaper and furnishings were pure white, but there was one part that stood out in particular—the beds.

Like at our last hotel, there were four beds, but two of them were lofted, accessible by ladder, and two underneath. There was enough space for Akatsuki-san and Asuhain-san to stand on the bottom beds without hitting their heads. It was the kind of room I’ve dreamed about. I really had no qualms with staying here.

Akatsuki-san quickly climbed into the loft bed and peered down at us from up top, squealing excitedly. “This is so hype! Can I sleep up here?!”

“Anyone else want to?” I asked, looking at the other two. Higashira-san seemed a little restless as she looked at it. “Do you want the loft bed too, Higashira-san?”

“Huh? W-Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to take a look,” she said before shakily climbing the ladder into the bed.

I hope she doesn’t fall off... I worriedly watched as she got into the bed before I sat on the one underneath.

“Welcome!” Akatsuki-san said warmly.

“Oh! It’s like a secret fort!”

“Nobody’ll get in our way up here. You can be as loud as you want!”

“Eek!”

I could hear them energetically playing above me. Asuhain-san sat down on the other open bed, and our eyes met. It started to feel a little awkward, so I forced a smile.

“Sounds like they’re having fun up there,” I said.

“I suppose...”

Asuhain-san wasn’t used to having casual conversations yet, so she was still speaking stiffly. I told her she doesn’t have to be formal with me, but maybe it’s just a habit of hers at this point. At least she wasn’t like Higashira-san, who would always speak formally because she felt it was too troublesome to figure out who she should and shouldn’t speak casually with. Asuhain-san had much better reasons for her manner of speaking, surely.

In order to help her come out of her shell, I decided to tease her. “Should we get touchy-feely like them?” I asked.

“Huh?!” Asuhain-san’s face went bright red from surprise as if she’d just gotten out of the bath. “N-No, we don’t have that kind of flippant relationship, but also as student council members, we should refrain from such proclivities...”

“Aw, don’t be shy.” I got up from my bed and knelt on hers, grunting slightly as I pushed her down, eliciting a surprised scream from her.

“Let’s see...how’s this spot for you?”

“Mmnnf... Th-That’s... Ah...”

I embraced her body and began tickling her around her ribs, making her face go red. She trembled and began to let out soft, sweet moans.

She’s so cute! I totally get why Aso-senpai hugs her like a doll now! She’s so small and adorable; plus, her reactions are great. This is amazing! I wanna do this forever...

“Uh...” Before I knew it, the two who’d been making a racket before had quieted down and had begun to whisper to each other. “They’re...”

“Indeed.”

“They’re doin’ it, huh?”

“There is no doubt that they are indeed doing it.”

“We aren’t!” I yelled back up to them.

Don’t make it sound like we’re the horny couple in the booth next door at an internet café!

When we went down for dinner, I met with Mizuto. There was still some time before the dinner buffet began, and since we hadn’t had much time to talk alone, I called out to him.

“You got a minute?” When I got his ear, I started telling him about everything that had happened with Asuhain-san earlier today. “So that’s about the gist of it.” I felt that, as Mizuto had put effort into my reconciliation with Asuhain-san, he deserved to know what had happened.

“I see... A romantic confession, huh?” Mizuto seemed to have really zeroed in on what Asuhain-san had seen at the pool. “Does seem like a good place to do that.”

“I know, right? I didn’t think other students would’ve had the same idea to go there to be alone with someone.”

“Maybe they didn’t. Maybe they just happened to enter it, got into the mood, and things went from there.”

True. That’s possible. Including myself, the people I knew had only ever asked someone else out after clearly setting up the situation to do so, so it was hard for me to imagine.

“Can I ask you something? Asuhain didn’t say anything about what time she and the person who did the asking out left the pool, did she?” Mizuto said, asking a strange question.

I tilted my head, trying to think back to my conversation with her, but I couldn’t remember her saying anything about that, so I shook my head. “No. All she said was how she went into the pool around eight thirty—nothing about when she left. Besides, she doesn’t wear a watch or anything, so it’s not like she could tell the time.”

“Right... Nobody has their phones either.”

Without a watch, the only way to check the time is by asking the group leader for the phone. Those who’d anticipated that situation had come with a watch—Yoshino-san being one of those people.

“By the way...” Mizuto said, suddenly changing the conversation. “Did Asuhain say anything? Like...about us living together?”

“Hm? Why? Are you worried about gossip all of a sudden? Have you always been such a delicate little flower?”

“It’s not that... Asuhain is the straitlaced type, so I was thinking that she might have some opinions on a guy and a girl living together, even if they’re family.”

“I feel like she would’ve brought that up a while ago. She knows we’re stepsiblings. Maybe I could even tell her that we’re dating...”

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” he said quickly and firmly. Seeing my confusion, Mizuto continued on to smooth over what he said. “Sure, she might accept that we live together, but there’s no guarantee she’s okay with us dating.”

“That’s true... Um, did something happen?”

“Like what?”

He’s acting suspicious, but his poker face is way too good. I can’t catch him slipping up. “Anyway, we have to continue hiding our relationship from Asuhain-san, right?”

“Yeah, I think it’s for the best.”

“If you’re only keeping our relationship from her a secret so you can cheat on me with her, I’ll kill you.”

“Like I would do that...” Mizuto scoffed.

I know he wouldn’t, of course. As we chatted, the doors to the banquet hall opened. It wouldn’t be good to keep up this chummy conversation, so I waved goodbye and began to leave, but before I could, he stopped me as if he were Columbo.

“Just one more thing. If Yoshino talks to you, there’s something I want you to tell her for me.”

“To Yoshino-san?”

After hearing what he wanted me to tell her, I tilted my head even further in confusion.

“At any rate, just tell her that. It’ll be more than enough,” he said.

“For...what?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just focus on having fun with Asuhain. Isn’t that what’s most important?” He turned his back to me and began walking towards the banquet hall, leaving me with the following words: “I’ll clean everything up, so leave the rest to me.”

And now that the buffet had begun, an opportunity came to speak with Yoshino-san, as if it’d been fate.

“Oh, Yume-chan! I’m super-duper sorry about everything!”

As I was walking around the buffet, putting food on my tray, Yoshino-san came up next to me with a guilty look on her face. Today, she was wearing a baggy blouse that hid the lines of her torso, and black skinny jeans that showed off her long, slender legs. It was the kind of cool outfit a model would wear—one that showed off the wearer’s confidence. Right now, however, there wasn’t a hint of confidence on her face—only meekness.

“It was just supposed to be a little bit of fun we were having, but it sucks that you found out about it— No, that’s not right. I’m so sorry we snooped!”

“Oh... Are you talking about the guidebooks?”

The dots finally connected. They’d used the guidebooks to secretly communicate with each other to figure out who I was dating. I probably should’ve been more displeased, but I was so busy with Asuhain-san that I’d completely forgotten.

Seeing my reaction, a look of surprise filled Yoshino-san’s face. “You don’t seem too bothered. Wow, you’re so bighearted!”

“Oh, no, that’s not it. I just had my mind occupied by something else... Besides, it doesn’t seem like you really had any bad intentions, and it’s also partly my fault for turning it into a mystery.”

“No, no! If I were in your shoes, I’d be bragging just like you! I’d want people to know to back off if I were taken!”

“If anything, I feel more concerned about how the class was divided into two because of me...”

“Ah...don’t worry about that! As the representatives of the two sides, both Akatsuki-chan and I buried the hatchet! Like it never happened!”

But it did.

“It was kinda like we were havin’ fun playin’ spies, or at least that’s how we settled it. You don’t have to worry about a thing!”

“Well, that’s good...” She really thinks about other people. I’m pretty sure I’m right, and she’s not a bad person. She might be nosy, and a little flashy appearance-wise, but she’s not a bad person.

“Sheesh, this trip’s been a whole thing. I’ve messed up a lot. Totally down in the dumps...” Right when I was thinking that it was rare for Yoshino-san to look so gloomy, she did a one-eighty. “But, y’know, the ocean was suuuper fun! The dolphins at the aquarium were hella cute too! Overall, the trip’s been awesome!”

“O-Oh... That’s good...”

It was like the pessimist in me was being purified by the bright optimism she was radiating. I was simply envious of how easily it seemed she could enjoy life.

“Well, so that’s basically how it is! I wanted to apologize in person, so I’ll see ya around!” And just as she was about to disappear as quickly as she appeared like the typhoon she was, I suddenly remembered what Mizuto had asked me to do for him.

“Oh, wait! Mizuto wanted me to tell you something!”

“Huh? He did? Why?”

“I’m not really sure, but... Uh...” I tried to remember exactly what he’d said and then regurgitated it: “It might be too late by now, but you should tell our teacher.” As soon as these words left my mouth, Yoshino-san froze.

Huh? Why? What meaning was in the words he said? It seems like she knows what he’s talking about, though. Then, Yoshino spoke in a soft voice, her expression still frozen.

“And...Mizuto said that?”

“Y-Yeah. He didn’t clue me in on what he meant by that, though.”

“Oh... Okay. Thanks. I’m not really sure either, but I guess I should go straight to the source, right?” she said, snapping back to her usual brightness, but I couldn’t get her previous expression out of my head.

It was as if her mask had been broken, like a crack had formed on her face. I couldn’t help but envision it. I silently watched as Yoshino-san returned to her friends and remembered how Mizuto said he’d take care of the rest.

I guess there’s nothing left for me to think about. That’s what Mizuto had said. All I needed to do was focus on having fun with Asuhain-san on this trip. In that case, I needed to do just that. I stuffed Yoshino-san’s expression into the back of my mind and returned to the table where Asuhain-san was waiting.

A hero was born in the changing room.

“Huh? Huge... Ginormous!”

“What the hell’s your diet like?! Do you do gymnastics?!”

“No, it’s a guy! It’s true what they say about them getting bigger when guys grope you!”

“M-M-M-M-May I touch them?!”

After opening her shirt and revealing her bra, Higashira-san was currently being swarmed by a group of very excited girls, like an idol and her fans. Higashira-san, however, was unable to say anything resembling words, and instead kept muttering “um” and “uh” while her arms flapped around.

The biggest difference between tonight’s hotel and all the other ones up until now was that it had a communal bathing area, which featured a hot spring. All the girls basically decided they couldn’t not go, and as a result, the situation in front of me was born. It’s only natural, I suppose...

It was only a matter of time until Higashira-san’s huge boobs became known to the girls in the class. Until now, she’d been able to avoid this because her clothes, her slouch, and her lack of a presence hid her breasts. She’d inevitably drawn attention to herself when we changed for phys ed. Thanks to the sheer size she was packing, she was soon unable to shield them from others.

But up until now, nobody’d had any chance to really get close to her to really experience them. Her “boyfriend,” Mizuto, was very protective of her, so no one ever had the chance. He would never let anyone try to embarrass her in an open area, or a closed one for that matter. Nor would he let her be alone with just me or Akatsuki-san.

From the girls’ perspective, they didn’t want to garner any ire from the popular Mizuto, so it was kind of an unspoken agreement that none of them would lay a hand on her boobs. That’s how things had been, but now, in this space filled with just girls, our bodies were laid bare. In this case, the interest of the girls couldn’t be contained any further.

“Okay, folks, back it up!” In place of Higashira-san, who’d gone beet red and silent, Akatsuki-san stepped in and played bodyguard. “Form a single line! It’s a thousand yen per grope!”

“That’s highway robbery!”

“A thousand yen? Sheesh...”

“I-I have ten thousand... Will that work?”

“Do it! Use that money you got from your parents!”

“Hey! Put your wallets away!” I yelled.

As a member of the student council, I couldn’t allow this to happen right in front of me. Hearing my angry voice made the girls scatter, allowing Higashira-san to heave a sigh of relief.

“Thank you very much, Yume-san...”

“No worries. I can only imagine how pissed Mizuto would get...”

“I was so close to developing a fetish for high school girls lining up to fondle me one by one.”

“Maybe you’re the one he’d get pissed at...” I really want to believe she’s trying to make a joke. Then I looked at Akatsuki-san, who had already stripped down to her panties. “You shouldn’t sell other people’s bodies!”

“I thought they’d back down with that price, but I freaked out when they actually took it seriously, ha ha ha!”

“Sheesh...”

But then again, I think the only reason that Akatsuki-san and I were able to fight temptation is because we’d already fallen prey to it during our Kobe trip. Though, I definitely wouldn’t have paid a thousand yen.

Finally, Higashira-san put her hands on the back of her bra, unhooking it with a satisfying click. The girls that’d run away were shooting side-glances at her. After Higashira-san released her boobs from the cups of her bra, the swellings on her chest bounced around like rubber balls, eliciting impressed gasps from the girls.

But also, with Higashira-san getting all this attention, I should probably help her out. I wasn’t going to deny anymore that I wasn’t also like her, someone with large boobs, but Higashira-san was acting like a lightning rod, keeping other people’s eyes off of me. But more importantly, all was silent around Asuhain-san.

She’d quickly changed out of her clothes, and covered her curvy breasts with a towel. Of course, there was no way that she could really hide the huge lumps on her chest, but thanks to Higashira-san, leering eyes kept away from her. Asuhain-san would be able to handle this even less easily than Higashira-san, so I was happy she didn’t have to experience anything bad before I took her into the hot spring.

“Irido-san?” Asuhain-san asked, looking at me curiously, most likely because I was taking so long to get changed.

I took off my blouse and put it into my clothes basket. “I have to tie up my hair, so you can go ahead if you want,” I said.

“Oh...” She didn’t move from my side.

It reminded me of how I used to be, which warmed my heart. I used to always stay with the one person I could actually talk to in middle school. That being said, it must’ve been awkward standing naked in the changing room. After stripping down to just my underwear, I turned my back to Asuhain-san.

“Want to help me tie it up?” I asked.

“Sure,” Asuhain-san, who looked like she had nowhere to go, said, looking up before beginning to cautiously touch my hair.

First, she helped straighten out my hair, and then she held most of it in place while I took the rest of it and wrapped it into a bun before fixing it in place with a hair accessory.

“Thanks!” I said, turning to her.

“Sure...” she said, a little sheepishly.

Afterwards, I took off my bra and panties, put them in the basket, and picked up my towel. Right around then, Akatsuki-san, who’d been boldly walking around without hiding anything with her towel, came by with Higashira-san.

“Let’s go, Yume-chan!”

“Yeah.” I nodded, turning around.

Asuhain-san stood next to me, and Higashira-san stood on the other side of me, shrinking her shoulders with embarrassment. Akatsuki-san suddenly clammed up and looked at us one by one.

“Wh-What?” I asked.

Akatsuki-san surveyed our breasts, waists, and butts emotionlessly.

“Beep, beep, beep—boom!” She mimicked the sound of an explosion and suddenly pointed towards Asuhain-san. “Eighty-six, fifty-three, seventy-four!” Then she pointed at Higashira-san. “Error, sixty-three, ninety-four.” Lastly, she pointed at me. “Eighty-five, fifty-six, seventy-nine.” After mouthing off all these mysterious values, she staggered back from us. “Sorry, I really can’t stand next to you three.”

“Huh?”

“Your boob levels are over nine thousand!” she yelled before fleeing into the bath.

Y-You’re overreacting... Akatsuki-san might’ve been on the shorter side, but she still had a good body. I really don’t think she has anything to worry about. It seemed that Akatsuki-san wasn’t the only one bothered. Higashira-san’s eyes flung open and glued themselves to my own boobs.

“E-Eighty-five...”

“What are you so freaked out about, Ms. ‘Error’?”

We entered the bath some time later, coming upon murky water flowing into gray stone. We saw some familiar faces excitedly making a ruckus, mysteriously going from one end and then running back out. I called out to Nasuka-san, who was leaning against the edge as she soaked.

“What are they doing?” I asked.

Nasuka-san’s short bob cut shook as she pointed at the ceiling. “Look up there.”

In the middle was a square hole through which you could see the night sky. The starlight that filtered in through it dimly lit the bath, and the wind coolly blew against our naked bodies.

“It’s an outdoor bath...” Asuhain-san murmured.

The girls who were acting up were going into the spot where they could see the sky, getting embarrassed, and then splashing away. It was like playing a game of chicken. Unless someone magically came crashing down, there wasn’t any way that someone could’ve seen them. That being said, it did take some amount of courage to be naked outside, even if there wasn’t anyone around. It seemed that there were two kings of the chicken game, and they were two people I knew. They were boldly resting their shoulders against the stone border while soaking up the starlight.

“Oh, there you three are!” Akatsuki-san said.

“Over here, Irido-san!” Maki-san followed up.

There was a significant difference in their heights, but both girls had slender, sporty bodies and were stretching their legs in the water. Will these two be okay without me? I glanced at Asuhain-san and Higashira-san.

After a few seconds of feeling out our intentions, Higashira-san took a step back.

“Go ahead,” she said.

“Don’t act like I’m raring to be over there,” I said.

I guess I don’t have a choice... Higashira-san and Asuhain-san already stand out enough without any help. I can’t have them get caught up in a game of chicken. I stepped into the bath and nervously stepped towards the part with the open ceiling. The cool night air caressed my skin.

Looking up, I saw a square cutout of the starry sky. The gentle light filtering in reminded me of opening a treasure chest in a video game, but what weighed on my mind more was the fact that I didn’t have any clothes on. I’m naked...outside... It was a weird sense of freedom from normal day activities, but also...

“Feels kinda naughty, doesn’t it?” Akatsuki-san smirked when I looked back down.

She and Maki-san had their limbs stretched out, embraced by the night sky.

“The feel of the wind on every crevice of your body...”

“This is how our ancestors lived! I might get hooked...”

I’m sure this isn’t the wrong way to enjoy outdoor baths, but I’m not sure why, but I don’t want people to think I’m the same as these two. Right then, I heard water splashing as someone approached. I turned around, and I saw a pair of boobs just barely being covered by a towel. Asuhain-san was wading through the water over to us.

“Asuhain-san? Are you sure?” I thought this would be too embarrassing for you.

Then she looked up at the night sky. “This doesn’t happen every day. When in Rome...”

Wow, I never thought I’d live to see the day that she’d say that. She wasn’t the type to do anything unnecessary that didn’t have to do with studying...the exception being if President Kurenai asked her for help. Well...I guess she’s right. When in Rome, do as the Romans do! Plus, with Asuhain-san here, people won’t lump me together with Akatsuki-san and Maki-san.

Asuhain-san and I sat next to Akatsuki-san and Maki-san. We placed our towels on the edge of the bath and then slowly dipped ourselves into the water. As we did, I noticed that Maki-san’s eyes locked onto a certain part of our bodies.

“Look at them jiggle. Let me feel ’em.”

“No.” These are for Mizuto’s hands only.

“Damn you, you lewd woman! You sayin’ your boobs are only for your boyfriend?!”

I fell silent, surprised by how Maki-san had jokingly expressed exactly what had been on my mind. I-I’m not lewd! This is normal... Asuhain-san’s flushed face rose to look at the starry sky above.

“What do you think?” I asked.

After a few seconds, Asuhain-san answered. “I feel like I’ve had a lot of firsts after meeting you...”

Though it didn’t really answer my question, I didn’t let myself get thrown off. “Really?”

“Getting frustrated that I didn’t get the highest grade, going on a trip with school acquaintances, sharing ice cream—all of them were things that I thought I’d never experience.”

“Well, the trip was more thanks to President Kurenai,” I said, wryly smiling. “But I get you. I’ve had a lot of firsts since entering high school.”

Even excluding my ex becoming my stepbrother, I never expected that I’d join the student council. Also, all the things she experienced for the first time, I did as well. Asuhain-san scooped some of the water and looked down at the tiny hot springs she’d made in her hands.

“It’s not like I ever was interested in these kinds of things, but...they’re more fun than I expected. Learning that must be a good thing... That concludes my impressions.”

I wasn’t sure how to describe it—roundabout, logical? But she could’ve only said all of that after coming to terms with her feelings. This is on-brand for a straitlaced girl like her.

“Your name’s Asuhain-san? Nice to meet you,” Maki-san called out, judging that our conversation was over. “I’m Maki Sakamizu, and I was in the same class as Irido-san last year. I’ve only heard some stuff about you—pretty much rumors—but let’s be friends!”

Wow...she’s a true socialite. She really fits the bill as a basketball team member (my own bias). But she isn’t the kind of person that Asuhain-san does well with. She’ll probably give Maki-san the cold shoulder, so I should intervene here.

But just as I went to, Asuhain-san betrayed my expectations. “Thanks... Likewise.” Though it was stiff, she still gave a friendly response. And then, Asuhain-san followed up. “Um...what exactly have you heard about me?”

Whoa! She’s actually continuing the conversation on her own! As far as I knew, this might’ve been the first time Asuhain-san had tried to continue a conversation with someone she was meeting for the first time. She’s grown so much! This is something that neither Mizuto nor Higashira-san can do! Not that they’ve even tried.

An expression of joy filled Maki-san’s face and she began talking. Though they were talking about me, I couldn’t help but smile at Asuhain-san’s cute and valiant effort. After chatting for some time, she got worn-out, as expected. Her face had grown considerably red, so I proposed that we get out and wash our bodies.

“Want me to wash your back, Asuhain-san?”

As soon as I said this, Akatsuki-san began complaining. “Hey, that’s not fair!”

But my suggestion was a way to reward Asuhain-san for working so hard. Though she seemed a little lost as to how to respond, eventually, she did.

“Well...in that case, I’ll help you,” she said.

“Hm? With what?”

“Um...your hair. I’ve been thinking that it must be difficult to wash hair as long as yours.”

“Oh, you’ll help? Thanks! You’re right! It’s a pain!”

The two of us stood up and got out of the bath. As we did, I noticed a light red line across her outer right thigh from where the bush branch had cut her.

“Is your thigh okay now?” I asked.

“It’s mostly healed by now.”

“That’s good. I guess being in the ocean probably helped.”

I reached out and touched the scar, making Asuhain-san jump a little.

“Eek! Th-That tickles...”

“It’s that sensitive? Then how about this?!”

“Ah! W-Wait, it seriously tickles!”

Watching the two of us play as we left, the girls around us began whispering.

“Aren’t they a little too friendly?”

“Now that I think about it, Irido-san’s dating someone, right?”

“Yeah, the smartest person in the school... Wait!”

“Asuhain-san scored highest on the finals last year, right?”

Hm? I’m getting the feeling that a new misunderstanding is being formed, but...whatever for now!

“Night!”

“Good night!”

“Yep, night!” I said to Akatsuki-san and Higashira-san before turning off the light.

A faint light filtered through the curtains. I walked back to my bed, crawled under the sheets, and lay on my side. As I did, my eyes met with Asuhain-san, who’d done the same.

We stared at each other in silence before I broke out laughing. I didn’t feel sleepy at all yet, plus locking eyes with Asuhain-san as we both lay in bed was funny. That’s why I started talking to Asuhain-san in a low voice with my face half buried in a pillow.

“I guess the school trip’s gonna be over tomorrow, huh?”

“Yeah...” she replied in a low voice.

“Did you have fun?”

“Ultimately...”

“That’s good.”

What do people talk about at times like these? As soon as I thought about that, I realized that this was a cliché situation. School trip nights were meant for gossip!

“So...what happened with Mizuto?” I asked.

Asuhain-san didn’t really have anyone to gossip about besides him, so I brought up the guy that she unlikely had feelings for. My boyfriend.

At first, I thought this might’ve been a mistake, but she didn’t seem bothered at all. “I don’t think he’s a bad person. He gave me proper support.”

“O-Oh...”

It was better than getting hurt by tactless words, but I had complicated feelings, hearing how my boyfriend had been nice to another girl.

“But I don’t think I could ever date him.”

“Huh? R-Really?”

“Really. He’s intelligent, but he seems boorish. It’s like he can see through everything; it almost makes me uncomfortable. Thinking about how despite being so intelligent, he indulges in Higashira-san’s chest evokes a hard aversion on a biological level.”

Sh-She’s really pummeling him... But also, that last bit is just your own imagination.

“He doesn’t seem to be the type who’s driven by his sexual urges, but I think he’s the type to lead girls on and make them misunderstand his feelings towards them. You should be careful not to be fooled too, Irido-san.”

She’s very talkative today. Did he actually do something to her? He was strangely insistent that we don’t reveal our relationship to Asuhain-san.

After that, we started talking about everything that had happened today. In that time, I began noticing that the amount of words we spoke lessened, and our eyelids had gotten heavy.

It’d been a while since I’d felt a wave of sleep this comfortable. Now that I think about it, I was worried about a lot of things on the first and second days. The first day, there was the pool incident, and then the second day, I had Asuhain-san to worry about. That must be why I feel so fulfilled right now before sleeping. It’s been three days since I’ve been able to sleep without any worries.

Right as I was about to drift off to sleep, a certain thought passed through my head. Oh, now that I think about it, who was that person who saw us at the pool?