Alisa invited Maria on a date! Maria’s IQ decreased by 5!
“Yeah, sure! Let’s go! Giggle! Alya and I are going on a date!”
“It’s not a date.”
“When do you want to go? I’m free all day.”
“Oh, uh… How about in thirty minutes?”
“Okay! I’ll start getting ready right now!”
As excited as a dog with its tail wagging furiously—she looked as if she was about to start humming gleefully at any moment—Maria closed the door and started to get changed. It was hard to believe this was the same young woman who’d been moping in bed only a few minutes before, but once again, Maria could get over things quickly. After she finished getting ready, the Kujou sisters departed from their home and started their adventure.
“Vroom, vroom! Let’s go!”
The instant Maria reached out to grab Alisa’s hand, Alisa coldly brushed her away.
“I’m not going to hold your hand.”
“Aww. ♪” Maria pouted and rushed after her sister, who had begun walking ahead dismissively.
“Come on, Alyaaa! Wait for meee! You’re walking way too fast!”
“No, you’re walking too slow.”
“You’re just going to feel even hotter in this sun if you walk that quickly. Come on, let’s take our time and talk.”
“I don’t have anything I want to talk about.”
“Alya! How can you be so cold?!”
They continued this exchange until they reached the closest train station and headed to the platform, attracting attention all along the way.
“Masha, over here.”
“Whaaat? But we’d be closer to the stairs if we got on over here.”
“I don’t care. We’re getting on the women-only car.”
“Hmm… Fine. ♪”
Maria reluctantly followed Alisa over to the next train car. Obviously, she knew what women-only cars were, and she also understood that some criminals partook in molesting innocent people, but she had never been touched by a creep before, so the reality still hadn’t sunk in. In other words, she lacked any sense for danger.
…Technically, she had almost encountered a few train perverts in the past, but either her menacing little sister would kick the stuffing out of them or the menacing vice president of the student council would snap their wrists before they could get their hands on her. So she was never a victim thanks to them, but conversely, she lacked any awareness.
“You need to take the women-only cars, especially when you get on the train alone. Got it? And if there aren’t any, you need to be alert at all times. Don’t be playing on your phone.”
“Yes, ma’am. ♪”
And yet, still following the advice of her concerned sister and friend was perhaps one of Maria’s virtues. But after she agreed to be careful, a wrinkle suddenly creased Maria’s brow.
“Alya… Did somebody touch you?”
“Huh? No way. I never let my guard down, unlike you.”
“Hmm… I usually have my guard up, too. Sah’s the only man I’d ever let touch me!” Maria pouted, puffing out her cheeks and placing both hands on her hips in an offended manner.
“Yeah… Right…,” Alisa muttered, frustrated, while checking out Maria from head to toe. It was no surprise she felt skeptical, either, since Maria’s outfit that day had her shoulders and midriff exposed, which didn’t really come across as “guarded.” Her smooth, healthy, milky-white skin was attracting an incredible amount of attention, and yet Maria mirthfully placed a hand on her hat and casually posed, either unconcerned by or unaware of their gazes.
“Oh, my outfit? It’s cute, right?”
“…I’ll admit that it’s cute, but I wouldn’t wear it.”
“What? But it’s breathable, so it’ll keep you cool on hot days like this.”
“You’re going to catch a cold,” Alisa replied curtly and glared at the rudely gawking men around them. After she promptly grabbed Maria and dragged her onto the train, they rode for around fifteen minutes and got off at a large station where they usually went to shop for clothes. Then they headed over to the sizable shopping mall across the street. But once they took the elevator up to the women’s clothing floor, Maria’s eyes instantly began to sparkle as she took in the various articles of clothing.
“That outfit is so cute!”
And she immediately stepped into a shop that obviously didn’t sell swimsuits… Alisa promptly grabbed her by the wrist and stopped her, as if she had predicted her sister would do this.
“We’re here to buy bathing suits, right? Come on.”
“Whaaat? Wait. I’ll be quick. I just want to look a little. ♪”
But Alisa continued to drag her away as if her sister’s pitiful cries were no concern of hers. She didn’t hesitate at all, since she was painfully aware of how her free-spirited sister went wherever there was something that caught her eye if left to wander of her own accord.
“Ah! That’s the skirt I saw on TV!”
“……”
“Oh, they’re having a going-out-of-business sale! Alya, everything is half price!”
Even Alisa was genuinely tempted when she heard that, but she had no intention of joining one of her sister’s never-ending shopping sprees, so she made sure to keep facing forward and press on. Only when they finally reached the entrance to the bathing-suit shop did Maria finally begin to calm down.
“Wow! Look at all the cute bathing suits!”
…Calm as a kid in a candy store for the first time. After a brief sigh, Alisa took a quick look around, then frowned.
“…? Alya? What’s wrong?”
Alisa took a sweeping glance of the shop once more…then curiously tilted her head.
“Is it just me, or are all these really revealing?”
“Hmm… I don’t know. They all look like ordinary bathing suits to me.”
Maria pointed at a one-piece swimsuit hanging on a wall.
“If you’re that worried, then you could wear something like that. It—”
“You could see my legs if I wore that.”
“…Your legs?”
Taken aback by her sister’s unexpected remark, Maria turned around and faced Alisa with a completely serious expression, only to discover Alisa looked beyond serious as well. She blinked for a few moments.
“Uh… Alya? You can usually see people’s legs when they wear bathing suits. Like—”
“No. This isn’t the school pool. There will be boys with us at the beach, right? Your thighs should be covered just like they usually are.”
“Um… So…?”
Maria was officially confused.
“We need a bathing suit that covers our stomach and thighs,” Alisa stated with a straight face as if this was obvious.
This isn’t good, immediately thought Maria. While she knew her sister never let her guard down around the opposite sex, Alisa was going to be the proud new owner of a wet suit as this rate. From Maria’s point of view as a fellow woman, that was out of the question, and as someone who loved her little sister, she wanted Alisa to wear something cute. Nevertheless, recommending a bathing suit to her sister would only have the opposite effect. It was glaringly obvious Alisa would simply criticize her taste in clothes and ignore anything she suggested, which Alisa made clear earlier today when she said she would never wear a shirt that exposed her midriff. Therefore…
“Alya, I think it’s a good thing that you’re modest, but there’s a time and a place for everything.”
Saying there was a time and a place for something would get the attention of any decent person—or at least, anyone who was trying to be a decent person, and Alisa was no exception. Her eyebrows twitched, and she gazed down at Maria, who was looking straight into her sister’s eyes.
“Although we’re officially going to the beach house for student council business, it’s really just a social trip to get to know one another better. In other words, we’re supposed to relax and have fun, so shouldn’t we dress appropriately for the occasion?” argued Maria sincerely.
“…I get that, but how does showing more skin help anything?”
“Because if you completely cover yourself like you think everyone’s a creep, then it’s going to look like you’re not even interested in socializing or becoming friends with anyone. It would kill the mood, at the very least. Besides, you know how Japan has a culture of ‘naked bonding’ as they call it, right? Like going to bathhouses and hot springs together, right?”
“Hmm…”
Alisa was at a loss for words, since Maria did have a point, and obviously, Maria wasn’t going to let this rare opportunity slip by.
“Besides, we’re going to a private beach, so it’s not like a bunch of random strangers are going to see you in your swimsuit.”
“…Masachika and Touya will be there.”
“Don’t worry about that. Touya only has eyes for Chisaki. And Kuze? I’m sure he’ll be busy staring at me.”
“Huh?”
Maria boastfully puffed her chest out before her sister, who was raising her eyebrows in bafflement.
“Kuze is a boy, after all, and you know how they are. They’re obsessed with girls’ chests. They can’t stop staring. So…when he sees me in my cute bathing suit, he’s probably not going to be able to look away.”
She bashfully covered her chest with both hands and squirmed a bit, but her uncharacteristically vain remark made Alisa smile stiffly and lit the flames of competition in her blue eyes.
“Heh… Aren’t you confident? Are you suggesting that this plump chest of yours along with that plump stomach makes you better than me?”
Alisa made sure to emphasize the word me as she crossed her arms, leaning her upper body back as if to show off her figure. She then glanced at Maria’s exposed midriff with a meaningful gaze and sniffed haughtily, but Maria wasn’t fazed by such low-level taunting.
“You still have so much to learn, Alya. Boys like girls with a little meat on them. I think your well-toned body is wonderful, though,” she replied as if to console her little sister while proudly emphasizing her chest as well. One of Alisa’s eyes immediately began to twitch in annoyance at her sister’s unusually bold attitude, since she took a lot of pride in her appearance. She worked far harder than Maria to maintain her figure, so it was unforgivable to be told that the fruit of her labor was inferior to what she considered excessive softness due to a carefree lifestyle; there was no way she would ever acknowledge such as fact.
“Hmph. Aren’t we full of confidence today? Don’t blame me if you start feeling embarrassed next to my perfect figure, though.”
“Go ahead. I guess that means you’re going to be getting a bikini?”
“…Hmm?”
“It’d be pointless if you didn’t show off your stomach. ♪ Don’t worry. I’ll wear a bikini, too. ♪ Oh, hey. This one would look great on you.”
Maria was already picking out swimsuits before Alisa could even process what had just happened. That was when a sales associate with glasses and hair tightly pulled back approached them and chimed in.
“Sorry for interrupting, but I believe that swimsuit might be a little too small for you. I recommend going one size larger,” she suggested, pushing up her glasses.
“Huh?”
Maria promptly turned around, looked hard at Alisa’s chest, and commented:
“Alya, have they gotten bigger again?”
“L-like you’re one to talk.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right… Do you think it’s Mom’s cooking? They just won’t stop growing.”
She shifted her gaze away from Alisa, who was twisting her body in odd positions and looking straight down at her chest in a troubled manner.
“Brace yourself, Alya. Your back isn’t going to be happy.”
“Brace myself for what? …Is this really the appropriate time to be having this conversation?!”
But right as she was about to snatch the swimsuit out of Maria’s hand, the sales associate swiftly grabbed one that was a size larger and slid in front of Alisa.
“How about trying this on?”
“Huh? But…”
“You’ll never know unless you try. First, put this on and see what you think. It should give you an idea of what kind of swimsuit is best for you. Please follow me.”
Before Alisa knew what was happening, she was being politely pushed into a changing room.
“I’m impressed. Thank you,” said Maria, giving the sales associate a thumbs-up.
“I’m only doing my job.”
“A real professional… By the way, I didn’t catch your name.”
“My apologies. I’m Watanabe, the shop manager.”
She pointed at the name tag on her chest while pushing up her glasses, causing light to reflect off the professional’s lenses.
“By the way, are you two sisters?”
“Oh, yes. Yes, we are. ♪ I’m the older sister, by the way ♪,” added Maria, since people always thought she was the younger one due to her being shorter and having a youthful-looking face. But Watanabe conveyed not even a hint of surprise, nodding as if she understood completely.
“Yes, I can tell. And you are searching for the perfect bathing suit for your little sister, yes?”
“Exactly! She’d choose a wet suit if I wasn’t here to stop her… Hold on.”
That was when Maria suddenly realized she didn’t hear a single sound coming from the changing room, so she cracked the curtain open slightly and poked her head inside.
“Alya, is everything okay?”
“What the…?! What is wrong with you?!”
Alisa suddenly turned around in utter astonishment, grimacing, with the bathing suit still in her hand…just as Maria expected.
“Hurry up and get changed. ♪ The shop manager is waiting for you.”
“But… But this…”
It was only natural Alisa would be hesitant, since the bathing suit in her hand was, in a way, the most bikini of all bikinis in existence. It was solid black with no ribbon or frills. In fact, there was hardly any bikini. It was thin string with a little bit of fabric attached to it. That was all. It was like something you’d see a Western supermodel wear on the runway or in a magazine.
“I can’t do it! I can’t wear this!” she cried, thrusting the bikini forward…
The hero of this tale, Watanabe, suddenly appeared.
“How about this one?”
In the shop manager’s hand was a pink bikini that would clearly cover far more than the other one. The edges were frilly and cute in a girly way.
“Oh, I guess I could wear this…”
Were these really the words of a girl who claimed she wasn’t going to expose her thighs and stomach? Alisa was completely oblivious to the obvious door-in-the-face technique being used against her as she accepted the bikini being handed to her. A few minutes went by, and then she emerged from the changing room in the bikini.
“You look sooo cute. ♪”
“That looks very good on you. That bikini style is extremely popular this year, but you’re the first person I’ve seen who has managed to look this good in it.”
“R-really?”
She probably would have just brushed it off if it was Maria saying that, but even Alisa seemed to fall for the professional’s smooth compliment.
“But I feel like pink’s a little too cute for me…”
“I see. Then how about this?”
As Watanabe swiftly extended her arm to her side, another sales associate suddenly appeared with a new swimsuit. Perhaps all the employees there did special training for this sort of situation.
“This one is the same style, but as you can see, it has a more elegant look to it with its flower pattern over blue—”
Alisa continued to try on six bikinis in the end thanks to Watanabe not exaggerating or overselling any single item.
“Hmm… This one could work.”
At long last, it was when she tried on a sky-blue striped bikini with big frills did Alisa’s lips finally curl into a pleased smile, and Maria immediately capitalized on this moment, knowing this would be her only chance.
“Yeah, that bikini is so cute.”
“Y-yeah, but…”
Alisa checked herself in the mirror once more as if the excitement had started to wear off.
“Maybe it is a little too revealing,” she worried, frowning.
“Whaaat? That’s nothing compared with what I’m going to be wearing,” Maria interjected with a mystified expression and held up a white bikini with only a few pieces of string holding the thing together in the middle. In other words, her cleavage would be in full view for anyone to see. Being presented with an even bolder choice started to make Alisa doubt herself.
“But my legs…”
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