Chapter 72: Chapter 72: Interlude Let’s Go Swimming

Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations

Author’s Note: Before getting to the main story, I wanted to write something flirty and erotic, so this happened…

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It’s. Time. To. Swim!

The case with miss Levy was taken care of, and I was free on this sunny day, which means it was high time we should hurry out to play around.

Beneath the sparkling sunlight shining down on me, I spread my arms wide and shouted aloud!

“It’s hot! In fact, it hurts! How am I supposed to wear a swimsuit in thiiis?!”

… The blazing sun’s rays were practically a weapon.

~*~

“We finally took the time to go to the beach, and yet what are you doing?”

“The sun is hot, it hurts, and it’s going to turn my skin bright red, so I’m hiding.”

Underneath a large umbrella—used as a beach parasol stand-in—I had wrapped myself in Haster’s shirt (adult sized).

It’s no wonder it killed his swimming mood.

“Don’t they have suntan oil or something in this world…?”

“Oil? Are you going to fry some meat or something?”

“That conceptualization is off, but part of it is correct.”

They probably haven’t thought much about protecting their skin yet.

Besides, the sand is too hot to walk on more than a little bit.

“Well, it certainly is hot, now that we’re here. But it’ll be nice and cool in the water.”

“Yeah, it probably will be, but… Aw, sheesh, this is a hassle. Haster, could you take me there?”

“What would you do without me?”

He swiftly removed my shirt… Yeah, he’s gotten really used to removing my clothes by now… And then took me in a princess carry over to the sea.

“Ah, what about little ol’ me?”

“You sit there and watch our stuff, Levy.”

“Ain’t that a bit cruel?!”

“Then I’ll leave Yig with you.”

“That don’t amount to a lick o’ shit!”

“Shagya—!”

I left Yig, whose intimidating cry seemed to be asking if she had any complaints.

Now our belongings should be secure. He doesn’t seem to enjoy cold water anyway, so there are no gripes from him.

“E’en though I done gone all out with a swimsuit an’ all.”

“I went all out too, you know?”

“That swimsuit just ain’t fair.”

Is there some problem with my school swimsuit? I’ve got the bib on and right, don’t I?

By the way, miss Levy is looking pretty stylish.

Her figure is trained to maintain her agility, and coupled with her petite stature, it gives her the impression that she has the suppleness of a cat.

Her chest and stuff aren’t all that large, but they are clearly present, and if not for how short she was, she could probably have been considered a model.

Her expression is like a cat sleeping in the sunlight, and her body has the supple quality of a wild cat… I want to put cat ears on her. Meow, meow.

And that very woman is wearing a bikini without too much exposure, so the surrounding gazes are gathering so much it hurts.

“It looks like I may have to take a bath together with her later, Gufufufu.”

“Then me too.”

“You’re not allowed, Haster. You go into beast mode whenever you’re in the bath, see?”

“It’s all right for her to see, isn’t it?”

“I don’t want anyone else seeing you.”

“Ya’ll just go explode!”

Fufufu, the tears of the have-nots bring me such joy.

Leaving her there, I went to over to the water, but…

“Come to think of it, can you swim, Yuuri?”

“I may have been raised inland, but I could swim more than 200 meters in elementary school. That won’t be a problem!”

“That confidence actually worries me…”

“Oh, now you’ve said it, huh? Then watch and be amazed at my magnificent swimming!”

Upon saying so, I jumped from his arms, and began swimming towards the open sea.

~*~

“… Are you satisfied?”

“Wheeze, wheeze…”

“The very basic idea that someone who can’t even run 100 meters would be able to swim 200 is just ridiculous, isn’t it?”

“Cough, cough cough.”

“By the way, you haven’t even gone 20 meters yet.”

“M-my legs! My legs can’t reach the ground?!”

“Oh, but if you cling on to me now, I’ll go into beast mode.”

“Are you a demon?!”

“Joking.”

Sure, I had my pride, but I didn’t want to drown, so I had him lend me his shoulders to cling to.

I swam about 20 meters, but the depth of the water must have surpassed 1 meter.

My height cuts off at 130 centimeters, so my feet won’t reach the seafloor at this depth.

For a normal person it would be just the right depth for swimming, so crowds were still all around us.

“Well, to be honest I’m surprised you managed to swim this far.”

“Just how lacking in athleticism do you think I am? I may not have much strength, but I’m actually pretty good at athletics.”

“Lies should be told by people who are good at it.”

“Kgh, I’m telling you, my reflexes aren’t that bad!”

I truth, this body’s dynamic vision and reflexes are more on the sharp side.

Even so, I immediately fall over when I run, and drop things that I carry. I can only see this as very strange.

“Isn’t that just because you’re inattentive?”

“My powers of observation are really sharp!”

“Observation and attention are two different things.”

“Grrrrr…”

But I guess I really am lacking in attentiveness.

Like now, how we are grabbing an awful lot of notice from our surroundings, and I wasn’t aware.

Yeah, hugging each other directly from the front and flirting is bound to attract the attention of others!

“Whaawa?!”

Panicking at the surrounding gazes, I pushed him away and once again began drowning.

He exasperatedly presented his back to me, offering to carry me.

“Can’t be helped, I’ll carry you to where your feet can reach the ground.”

“Uuu, sorry.”

Clinging to his now thoroughly thinned out body, I had him carry me to the shallows.

His muscles are thin now, and yet he’s stronger then before. It’s strange.

Entrusting myself to his thin, and yet able-bodied back, my heart began thumping a bit. I couldn’t really help that I absently closed my eyes.

I couldn’t really help it, but…

“Haster, I’m glad we’re getting out of the deeper water, but why are we getting closer to the edge of the beach?”

“Must be the flow of the waves moving us there. I have no ulterior motives.”

With my eyes now open, I realized that the number of people around us was decreasing.

Ahead of us I could see a seemingly unpopular rocky area.

“I see some kind of rocky area where we’re headed.”

“We’re near the edge now, so there would be places like that.”

“Doesn’t, uhh, look very popular, huh?”

“A rocky area isn’t exactly suited for swimming, after all.”

“Why are we headed somewhere that isn’t suited for swimming?”

“… … …Because there’s nobody watching there, I guess.”

Dammit, he’s already in beast mode?!

Now that I think about it, I can feel the hands he’s been carrying me with stroking my thighs and butt in a rather sinister…

“A-at least wait until we get back to…”

“Yuuri, swimsuits sure are exciting in a strange way, huh?”

“What are you talking about?! You’ve really been turning into more and more of a fallen sage lately, you know?!”

“The only one I’m looking at is you, Yuuri, so that’s perfectly fine.”

“No, it is not—Ahya?!”

The hand he was using to support my butt slipped under my bathing suit. It’s already too late.

When all was said and done we began heading back to miss Levy a few hours later.

At least there was plenty of water to wash off with, so that’s one saving grace, I guess?

~*~

We decided to have a meal to relieve our fatigue after we finished our bout of hard exercise.

While being carried on his back, we ordered at a food stall, and ate together at a table seat.

The sea brings thoughts of curry, ramen, large sausages, grilled fish and the like, but neither curry nor ramen exist in this world.

In their place, they have noodles and a paella-like fried rice.

“Haster, the thing weighing most heavily on my mind is… Why did you make a beeline for the sausage stand?”

“Er, just because.”

“I’d prefer some paella.”

“Uhh, when you pushed me down a while back, I kinda awakened to a new world. I was thinking, ‘being licked sure is great,’ and stuff…”

“Forget about thaaaat—!!”

“That cylinder-shaped frozen sweet might be nice too?”

At the time I lost my senses, I was skillfully playing in a way that would probably appear in adult DVDs.

So then I was thinking about the taste it must have, but… Seeing as I’m a former man, I still have some lingering aversion to that!

Well, I’ve heard women have some aversion to it too.

“Right, so as a substitute for that.”

“I don’t need that kind of substitute.”

“Wanna go another round?”

“Do. Not. Even. Dare!”

Even while I was angry like that, I ended up licked the frozen sweet for him. I think I might be just as bad as he is at this point.

With the last of it, I bit down as fiercely as I could and crushed it in front of him. This is my line of protection. Sure enough, a cold sweat overtook him.

Oh, right. We should get something for Yig and miss Levy too.

~*~

The shaking of my legs from fatigue had yet to recover, but for now I let out a sigh. And then, upon heading back with him to where our belongings were, bringing along some souvenirs, a reverse harem had amassed there… What’s going on?

A woman was lying on a mat, being waited on by several men while enjoying a drink, and Yig was flipping around in the sand, taking a sand bath.

Yig seemed to be in a good mood, as he was having his belly rubbed by women in bathing suits.

Miss Levy was striking what could only be called a ‘sexy pose’ while being fawned over by the male guests.

“What the hell are you guys doing?”

“Ah, welcome back ya’ll?”

“You sure have some gall to be making a reverse harem while under probation.”

“Why’re them legs o’ yours all shaky?”

“Shut up.”

Seeing me barely able to to support myself as I clung to Haster’s arm, she asked that in curiosity.

“Swimming takes a lot of energy! I just played around a wee bit too much.”

“Yeah, we sure did enjoy ourselves. Yep.”

I sent powerful thwacking punches to his body after he carelessly informed her of that.

In reality they felt more like light slaps though.

While having me hit his body, he spoke to the surrounding men.

“We’re thinking of heading back for the day. Sorry, but I’ll have to ask the spectators to take their leave.”

“Hah? What’s with you? Brats can go swim somewhere else.”

Were they thinking he was trying to take her for himself? The guests of poor character bore their fangs at Haster.

Even though he doesn’t have even the slightest of such intentions towards her.

“She’s under our protective observation.”

“Don’t be makin’ shit up.”

“Levy, you should think more carefully about the quality of the people you surround yourself with.”

“You snot-nosed brat!”

In an indignant rage, the man came over to beat Haster up.

Haster calmly readied himself… And then the need to do so vanished.

“Shagya—!”

Suddenly judging the atmosphere to have gone sour, the ever vigilant Yig released a breath towards the man’s feet.

Exposed to the long, high temperature breath, a part of the beach melted into glass, and the splash from it jumped to the man’s feet.

“Guah, hot! HIEE, my feet…?!”

Bathed in the heated splash, the man fell to the ground, bearing the speckled burn marks.

In front of him Yig heroically stood alone. Did he look a bit like a parent?

“Gurururu…”

“W-wait! I got it, I’ll go! I’m going already!”

Unable to stand, the man departed while crawling on the ground. Of course, the other spectators drew back too.

“Good work, Yig. Now then, shall we start getting ready to head back?”

“Agyah!”

Haster acting as if nothing happened, and beginning preparations is making me pull back a little too, you know?

“More extreme than I expected from ya, little Yig.”

“Fusha?”

“Yig, didn’t you overdo it a bit?”

“Ugyu?”

“Giving a strong threat to guys like that prevents future trouble. They’re just gonna bother other people anyway.”

He spat that out while watching the other spectators leave in small groups.

I apologize to all the people who just enjoyed communicating normally.

“Well, let’s leave it at that for today… Wanna come here again tomorrow?”

“Eh? Can we?”

“There are swimsuits you haven’t worn yet, right?”

“So that’s your goal, huh?”

“Yep.”

At this rate, it looks like I won’t be able to stand right tomorrow either…

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Translator’s Note: Next chapter returns to the main story