SUMMER VACATION

“Wanna go to the beach?”

—It all started with a few words from Shizuku.

“The beach? To go swimming?”

Standard videophone systems were capable of handling ten-way conversations these days. Miyuki, who had responded to the question with one of her own, had been enjoying some idle chitchat with her classmates Shizuku and Honoka.

“Yep” came Shizuku’s clipped affirmative.

Her reply was too short for Miyuki to really understand. Honoka, who had been good friends with her since entering elementary school, seemed to catch on immediately. “Oh, you mean…?”

“Yep, I do.”

Miyuki, though, had only met them four months ago. When they started finishing each other’s sentences like that, things got too difficult for her to handle. “‘You mean…’ what, exactly?” she asked.

Only now did they realize they’d accidentally been leaving Miyuki out. The girls exchanged glances—although on Miyuki’s display, it just looked like they were averting their eyes. Then Honoka directed her gaze back toward the center of the screen where she could see Miyuki.

“Umm, Shizuku’s family has a summerhouse in Ogasawara.”

“What? Your family has its own private beach, Shizuku?”

“Yeah…” came another short response from Shizuku. This time she nodded, looking slightly embarrassed.

It was a fad among the wealthy at the moment to have a summerhouse on one of the uninhabited islands of Ogasawara. This phenomenon was hammered with criticism—and envy—that it was an environmentally harmful hobby of the nouveau riche, an argument raised by ignorant critics who mistook mudslinging as an expression of their own intellect. All the uninhabited islands they built these holiday villas on had been inhabited once. But now they were vacant, though it was true that the emptying of people from them had caused them to become wastelands.

However, building a posh, zero-emission summer home on one (though because they used sunlight for power, if the solar panels themselves were included, it couldn’t be said that these buildings were entirely zero emission) was far from destroying its environment. It was an effective use of national land and deserved no shame whatsoever.

Naturally, Miyuki hadn’t intended to attack Shizuku or her family with the question and was merely surprised by the fact that her family had one. Owning a vacation home with a private beach was a privilege limited to a small handful of extremely wealthy people. Shizuku probably knew what Miyuki meant, but hearing the unfair aforementioned criticisms repeated over and over like all of society accepted it had likely instilled an unconscious feeling of guilt in her mind.

Shizuku collected herself (a change so slight that, again, one who didn’t know her well wouldn’t be able to tell) and explained the circumstances. “Dad told me to invite my friends. I think he wants to meet you and Tatsuya.”

Honoka pulled away a little bit. “Oh, so Uncle Ushio will be with us this year…”

She looked like she was mulling something over—doubtless a memory of the vacations she’d spent with Shizuku and her father in the past. Perhaps at the very villa they were currently discussing.

“Don’t worry. He’ll only be there at the start,” Shizuku explained. “I think he’s got a lot of work. A few hours are all he can spare.”

Honoka’s somewhat scared expression loosened in relief. Miyuki mentally raised her eyebrows in curiosity, wondering what could have happened, but the curiosity wasn’t enough to make her forget the actual question at hand. “I wouldn’t mind,” she offered. “…When did you want to do it?”

“Haven’t decided. I wanted to do a time that’s convenient for Tatsuya.”

Miyuki’s expression indicated that she would need to ask after her brother’s schedule, but Shizuku’s response indicated that she already understood that quite well.

“…And that is what they said.”

Tatsuya first heard of this potential outing after breakfast a day later. The thought This is what they were up late last night getting excited about? immediately crossed Tatsuya’s mind, but of course, something else came out of his mouth. “Would it just be Shizuku, Honoka, and us on this trip?”

“Shizuku said she wanted to invite Erika, Mizuki, Saijou, and Yoshida as well,” his sister said, looking slightly hesitant before continuing. “They aren’t as close with them as we are, so Shizuku wanted to know if I would invite them on her behalf.”

Miyuki probably hadn’t wanted to cause her brother extra work. Originally, she’d had no intention of bothering him with this, and planned on talking to them herself.

“I see. I’ll get in touch with Leo and Mikihiko, then. As for my schedule…” On the other hand, in Tatsuya’s world of preestablished harmony, he couldn’t possibly push such a trifling matter onto his sister. He took a sip of coffee and mentally unfurled his schedule. “…Next week, I’m free on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Anything after that would be a little difficult.”

Summer vacation for magic high schools lasted until the end of August. (Many high schools of science and literature ended their summer vacations in the middle of August, while art school and physical education school vacations frequently lasted until mid-September.) Last year and the year before that, most of Tatsuya’s summer vacation had been taken up by training with the Independent Magic Battalion and various research. (Last summer had been additionally packed with exam preparation—mainly as Miyuki’s home tutor.) Because the Nine School Competition had been during the first half of the year, his current schedule was excessively tight. The development of a flight magic–specific device, coming up next month, was only making it worse. For him, summer vacation would, once again, not really be a vacation at all.

“Then a two-night, three-day stay from next Friday to Sunday would be best? I will contact Shizuku and inform her.”

That was why Miyuki had been adamant about not letting this kind of chance pass him by. She was a bit disappointed they wouldn’t have alone time together, but in her mind, giving her brother some time off was obviously more important than her own desires.

Shizuku appeared willing to clear her schedule for Tatsuya’s sake; when Miyuki called her back, she nodded, with her reply ready. Shizuku then contacted Honoka to tell her the plan, while Miyuki talked to Erika and Mizuki. During that time, Tatsuya invited Leo and Mikihiko. Every single person was able to make it. Was that really just a coincidence? Whatever it was, it made Tatsuya want to keep his wits about him.

And so, still caught up in his own amazement, the day of the trip arrived. The girls in the group had gone shopping together in preparation, creating a stare-worthy event in the swimsuit section of the department store, but Tatsuya had put his memories of that away in a drawer and welded it shut, so we will omit the details here.

For whatever reason, the group finally assembled at a marina in Hayama instead of an airport.

“Wow…that’s a fantastic cruiser.”

This time (unlike during the Nine School Competition), Erika’s shorts and unreservedly exposed slender, shapely legs weren’t out of place as she looked up at the white boat, eyes glittering.

“Erika, I’m sure your family has at least a cruiser,” mentioned Shizuku, her face slightly flushed. (Tatsuya, too, had grown to understand her expressions well.)

“We have a boat, but you can’t really call it a cruiser… Or at least, I don’t want to. They always have the stabilizers turned off, so it’s a pretty terrible ride.”

“…For training?”

“That’s right.”

“You’re quite thorough with your training…” said Miyuki, amazed.

Next to her, Mizuki didn’t know what expression to make, so she just gave a vague smile.

On the other hand…

“A Fleming propulsion system… I don’t see any air ducts, so it doesn’t run on a gas turbine. Is it a hydrogen photocatalyst plant plus a fuel cell battery?” muttered Tatsuya to himself, taking a very detailed look at the propulsion system, his attention drawn to the mechanical side of the boat like any normal (?) boy.

“Just in case, there actually is a hydrogen storage tank on board as well” came an unexpected response. (The answer’s contents weren’t surprising, but Tatsuya hadn’t planned on receiving an answer in the first place.)

He turned around and saw the “captain” standing there. He wore a Greek fisherman’s cap low over his eyes and a jacket with decorative buttons. He even had a pipe in his mouth to top the image off. He did, however, seem to lack the proper physique. Obesity stemming from lifestyle issues had been eliminated from society twenty years ago with the proliferation of new medicines, but if he was going for the captain cosplay, he could have used a little bit more breadth.

As Tatsuya thought about it, face worried, the “captain” reached out for a handshake. Incidentally, he held a tobacco pipe in his left hand with an expert grip—though upon closer inspection, the pipe was empty.

“Tatsuya Shiba, right? I’m Ushio Kitayama, Shizuku’s father.”

Tatsuya couldn’t help but feel mystified—the man had an unexpectedly casual personality. Still, Tatsuya possessed a great amount more societal experience than a regular high school student. He smoothly returned the handshake without letting his bafflement show. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Tatsuya Shiba. I have heard about you many times. Thank you very much for allowing my sister and myself to be here.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

Tatsuya had intended to return the handshake Shizuku’s father offered only lightly, so as not to overstep the bounds of courtesy, but Ushio held his hand in a tight, firm grip.

His hand felt stronger than Tatsuya would have guessed. Even so, compared to Kazama’s and Yanagi’s, his fingers and palm seemed more accustomed to desk work. Actually, what got Tatsuya’s attention more than his grip was the force of the man’s gaze. It was a look of appraisal, yet it didn’t discomfort him. They were the eyes of a seasoned war veteran, a leader who stood above men and crossed swords with those of similar status.

“…Your intelligence doesn’t reside only in books. Nor does your technical prowess rely on cheap tricks. You have the look of someone truly reliable.”

Ushio’s words were quiet, to the point that one wouldn’t normally have been able to hear them; his voice was low enough that even Tatsuya had to focus to make anything out. However, he found more than the minimum required amount of polite consideration was contained within them. But even if they had been said at a normal volume, Tatsuya wouldn’t have thought them discourteous. A sense of dignity drifted from Ushio Kitayama, one that made it seem natural for him to appraise those before him.

However.

“Yes, Shizuku has sharp eyes. She really has her head on straight, if I do say so myself!”

At this sudden remark, Tatsuya, maintaining an outwardly meek expression, sighed to himself. This was the Ushio Kitayama he’d heard so much about?

It was simply out of politeness that he hadn’t told the man he was already aware of his name. Using a business name instead of your real one in order to protect privacy was the norm in corporation management these days. Tatsuya’s father, for example, was employed as FLT’s head of research and development under the name Tatsurou Shiibara rather than his real name of Tatsurou Shiba.

When Shizuku had first relayed that her father ran a company, he hadn’t realized anything, but when he asked for the man’s business name, Tatsuya was pretty surprised at how big the man really was.

Because of his late marriage, Ushio Kitayama was already past fifty (overcoming all the obstacles involved with his proposed marriage to a magician had taken years), but his nonchalance—or rather, his comical air—made him look no older than forty.

“—Miyuki!” Tatsuya called, after nodding to him.

Miyuki came trotting up, quickly gauged the situation, and then gracefully bowed to Shizuku’s father. “Pleased to make your acquaintance. My name is Miyuki Shiba. Thank you very much for inviting us along today.”

“I thank you for your politeness, m’lady. I’m Ushio Kitayama. Allow me to say that welcoming such a beautiful young woman here is an unexpected honor, both for this ship and our family’s humble home.”

Ushio returned the bow quite theatrically, with a hand to his chest, and Miyuki followed along, smiling and curtseying in the Western fashion.

Considering Miyuki’s beauty and elegance, it was no wonder Ushio’s face relaxed just a bit.

“Uncle, I don’t remember you ever saying things like that to me.”

“Dad, stop ogling and behave.”

But lack of lenience and lack of logic were different things. The two girls suddenly opened fire at the older man.

“No, no, I was doing nothing of the sort…”

Against one person, even his own daughter, Ushio might have been able to evade the issue. But even this talented businessman couldn’t seem to handle Shizuku teamed up with Honoka, her friend from elementary school who he treated like a second daughter. (Incidentally, the reasons Honoka had hesitated when she heard Ushio would be here included, but were not limited to, the distinct possibility that he really did believe she was his daughter; and how he’d give her more than a little pocket change to spend whenever she came, which she felt bad about.)

Ushio made a grand gesture and spoke to Erika and the others, who had stopped a short distance away, in an obvious effort to deflect the conversation. “—Oh! You’re all my daughter’s new friends as well, aren’t you? Welcome! I hope you have a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I need to be going. Feel free to make yourselves at home.”

Deals with business partners were one thing, but his daughter was another story entirely. Unrest was peeking through the surface, particularly in how his tone of voice kept changing between formal and informal.

Shizuku’s father hurried to climb into a large passenger vehicle. Inside, he took off his fisherman’s hat and looked at it regretfully. “He probably wanted to feel like he’d gone on a trip with his daughter, at least…” Tatsuya whispered to himself, sympathetically.

The Muko Islands, where the summerhouse was, were about six hundred miles away. The voyage took approximately six hours on a Fleming ship, which actually had a maximum speed of one hundred knots.

Right now, Tatsuya hadn’t the faintest idea whose interests had led them to use a boat instead of an airplane (VTOLs with propellers were not currently unusual, and were actually more expensive than Fleming-propelled cruisers), but according to Leo and Erika, it was all about the journey, not the destination. He almost retorted that their goal wasn’t the trip but swimming at the beach. But he let it go with a sigh, thinking instead that the two were quite the pair.

In any case, he wasn’t about to get seasick—he’d been brought here by the goodwill of others. They had met up at an early hour—6:00 AM—because of how long it would take to get there. Tatsuya boarded the ship so that they could get moving quickly.

The ship was large even from the outside, but the deck seemed larger than it appeared before. There was nothing huge like a pool or theater, of course (it wasn’t a cruise liner, but rather a cruiser), but there was more than enough room for the eight of them to set up deck chairs and cast fishing lures into the water.

…Of course, the entire deck was covered by a clear, streamlined dome to decrease air resistance, so fishing wasn’t actually possible.

“The side does open up when we’re going at low speed,” explained the cruiser’s navigator, an all-around housekeeper named Ms. Kurosawa, who, according to Shizuku, would be personally looking after them at their beach house destination as well.

As for her looks… Tatsuya felt like there was a more appropriate word for her than housekeeper. Especially since she barely looked to be in her mid-twenties.

Nevertheless, her image was not one of constant blunder; she seemed more the type to which the term well organized would apply. Though the dome cut thin the harsh rays of midsummer sunlight shining on the ocean, she must have been feeling muggy in that outfit. Actually, it made him hot just looking at her.

Of course, Tatsuya himself was unfalteringly wearing a long-sleeved jacket—albeit designed for summer—so maybe he didn’t have any room to talk.

The ship’s layout featured the bridge on the upper part of the bow with cabins below that. The transparent dome extended from the bridge’s ceiling, and behind the bridge, the deck took up the other half of the ship.

Once Kurosawa confirmed everyone was on board, she quickly withdrew into the bridge. Moments later, the ship pulled away from the coast.

Without running into any storms or letting anybody suffer from seasickness—even though the waves were somewhat rough—thanks to the stabilizer and swing adsorption system, the ship safely made it to Nakoudo Island, where the beach house was located.

The coral reefs near this island had met their bitter end in the latter part of the previous century due to goats that had gone feral. Artificial restoration of the reefs had later been planned but showed poor results. Now, the coastline, after its loam was dredged, had been converted into a wharf and sandy beach with the private capital used to build the summerhouse. This was the so-called environmental destruction that intellectuals so often targeted in their criticisms.

However, the coral hadn’t been damaged while this island was inhabited, and it was also thanks to humans that the feral goats were wiped out. So had the environmental harm come because people were present, or because they’d left?

Tatsuya felt compelled to sink further into cynical thoughts, but he decided better of it. He couldn’t arrogantly criticize the place when he was one of the people who had come to it for fun.

As you might expect from this internal monologue, Tatsuya and the others had already arrived at the island and gone to the beach.

The white sands. The shining sunlight.

But the beach shone even brighter than that.

“Tatsuyaaa, aren’t you gonna swiiim?”

“Tatsuya, the water is cool. It feels very good!”

Erika and Miyuki both called out to him from the water’s edge. Tatsuya smiled vaguely and waved his hand from the shade of the parasol he’d stuck into the sand.

…At any rate, it really is brilliant.

If asked what was dazzling so brilliantly, his answer would have been the girls clad in beachwear as they frolicked by the water.

The first one to draw his eye was Erika, who wore a one-piece bathing suit in showy primary colors. It had a simple design with no unnecessary ornamentation, which only served to further highlight her slender proportions.

Miyuki, who was waving from Erika’s side, wore a one-piece with a big flower-print design. The florid pattern visually clouded her own proportions, which grew ever more feminine each day, emphasizing her vaguely faerie-like charm.

What surprised him more was Mizuki. She wore a two-piece swimsuit with a detailed polka-dot pattern; it didn’t expose as much skin as a bikini, but it was cut low at the chest, placing emphasis on its abundance. It created a sense of seductiveness from her that he couldn’t imagine given her usual maturity. Though, on the flip side, perhaps because her shoulders and hips were slender, she didn’t have many curves around the waist area; that was more what you would call a “cute” feature.

Honoka was also wearing a two-piece, but she had a pareu wrapped around one shoulder, going for a more adult look with the asymmetric design. If judging not simply by size but the assorted variables, she might have had the best proportions of the whole group.

In contrast, Shizuku was wearing a light-hearted one-piece heavily decorated with frills. When Shizuku, who even now showed an impassive, mature expression, wore this, it seemed to have a somewhat kinky, mystical charm to it.

Tatsuya realized that he couldn’t keep staring at them like this, so he looked off to the side, where big splashes marked the water’s surface rather far from the beach. Leo and Mikihiko were having a swimming race.

As far as Tatsuya could see, Leo was having a great time, but Mikihiko was desperate and close to being finished. It was rather endearing for some reason.

Tatsuya gazed farther out to sea, toward the horizon, letting his mind empty and escape into the azure sky.

He spent a little while like that, his mind miles away.

Suddenly, he noticed someone was nearby.

Your body is blocking my view, he thought—but he kept himself from speaking, which made him want to pat himself on the back.

Five people crouched near him, peering into his face. This normally wouldn’t be an issue, but considering they were wearing swimsuits as they were crouching, it was no small problem for him.

“Tatsuya, are you thinking about something?” Shizuku asked, squatting down with both hands on her knees as she examined his face.

From this angle, he realized that she didn’t have quite as childish a body as he’d thought. But that was something he couldn’t let show in his words or attitude—and of course, staring more was out of the question.

“Tatsuya, we’ve come all this way to the ocean. Won’t you swim with us?”

“That’s right. It would be a shame to spend the whole time under a parasol.”

Unfortunately for him, Miyuki was to his left and Honoka to his right, surrounding him, both in the same position Shizuku was. His gaze couldn’t escape in either direction.

Leaving Mizuki aside—who stood behind Shizuku, innocently waiting for his answer—he wasn’t going to be able to let Erika be; she was standing next to Mizuki with an evil grin on her face. He had no clear evidence, but he could feel it.

“I suppose you’re right. I’ll swim.”

He casually averted his gaze from the five alluring figures by standing up and brushing the sand off his legs and swim trunks. Still looking downward, he took off his three-quarter-sleeved yacht parka.

With the sound of his parka falling onto the sand, the mood changed abruptly.

Oops, thought Tatsuya immediately, but it was already too late.

“Tatsuya, you… What in the…?” Unconcealable tension ran through Erika’s voice.

He knew right away what she was talking about. Tatsuya wasn’t the only one who knew what she had gone stiff in surprise for—so did Honoka, Shizuku, and Mizuki. After all, their eyes were all glued to the “things” on his body.

His parka had hidden a steeled, trained physique. The size of his muscles wasn’t so surprising in and of itself; they didn’t have the volume of a fully grown man’s. But despite the boyishness, his abs and pecs were tightly and firmly packed, carved into his torso like a Renaissance sculpture.

But there were also things that wouldn’t have been on a sculpture. Specifically, the several scars engraved in his skin.

Most of them were gashes. Almost as many were stab wounds. Here and there were small burn marks. Strangely, there were no bruises from broken bones, but even without them, his body was not one that could come from a normal upbringing.

Training your body normally didn’t make it like this. You could shed blood during training, but that wouldn’t have been enough to do this.

You could only acquire a body like this after actually being cut, stabbed, burned, and bloodied in torturous—or actually torture-like—training. Erika understood that, which was why she couldn’t help but say something.

“Tatsuya… What on Earth…? You…”

“I’m sorry. I’m sure it doesn’t feel very good to look at.”

He gave an unrelated response to the question she couldn’t ask, then looked away from her and reached out for the parka he’d just taken off.

But his hand didn’t grab it. He thought he’d dropped it on the sand, but Miyuki had quickly knelt down to pick it up and was now carrying it at her chest.

She might have been his little sister, but he couldn’t reach out toward a woman’s chest like that, so his left hand wandered through the air without a destination. Fortunately (?), there was no need to worry about the metaphorical sheathed sword, because Miyuki no sooner stood up than took his left arm in her right.

“Ah!” he gasped in surprise. His sister’s chest, separated from him only by her swimsuit, pushed up against his arm. Miyuki, however, didn’t seem to be embarrassed about it.

“Tatsuya, it’s all right.” Her cheeks did redden slightly, but her shame didn’t come from the fact that she was embracing him half-naked. “I know that each and every one of these wounds is proof of how hard you’ve worked to become stronger than anyone.” It was from the embarrassment of looking into his eyes from so close a distance. “I would never think your body is unsightly.”

Tatsuya’s expression loosened, but a moment later, he felt a soft impact against his other arm.

Erika gave a short whistle. Not out of ridicule, though, but out of praise.

He was pretty sure he knew what happened, but he craned his neck to see what was causing the enveloping sensation on his right arm.

And sure enough, Honoka was clinging to him, holding on to his bicep with both hands as if to compete with his sister. Unlike her, however, Honoka’s swimsuit was a two-piece, so his arm was directly touching supple skin. Maybe that was the reason Honoka’s face was three times redder than Miyuki’s.

“I…I don’t mind it, either,” she said, at first stammering and then rattling the rest off. That was only natural, too. It would be one thing if she was his girlfriend, but she wasn’t, and being of the opposite sex and in a swimsuit made this action too bold. It would be stranger if Honoka hadn’t been restless.

Of course, in terms of strangeness, the act itself had been stranger.

For a teenage girl—actually, even for a woman with more life experience—it should have been difficult to look directly at the wounds carved into his body. There were many of them, but they were all small, so maybe it didn’t seem disgusting to her. But still, it was normal to imagine the things that had caused those wounds and start to get scared, wasn’t it? He knew that, so the fact that he’d still taken off the jacket in front of the girls had been nothing but a mistake on his part. He reflected bitterly that he must have still been in a daze from the weather here, so far south.

That aside, Erika’s reaction might have been unusual coming from a girl as well, but Tatsuya could still understand that more than this. He’d already given up on using a normal scale to judge Miyuki’s words and actions toward him. But it was a mystery to Tatsuya what drove Honoka to do all this. It was almost like—

“It’s almost like…you’re being torn between a lover and your sister.”

“Hey, shh! You can’t say that, Mizuki. It was just starting to get interesting!”

Mizuki wasn’t teasing; it was her honest impression. Tatsuya knew that as well, though he was in complete agreement with Erika about the “you can’t say that” bit. However, he was in complete disagreement with the latter part of Erika’s comment.

But the redhead’s tone of voice was clearly different from before, regardless of the part of the sentence; she was being completely candid. Mizuki’s tone was the same as it always was.

Despite clearly hearing what Mizuki had said, Honoka was still clinging to his arm. It was just too much for him. (He hadn’t minded Miyuki in the first place.) So, Erika took it upon herself to direct a slightly awkward grin at Tatsuya. “Errr, sorry, Tatsuya. I didn’t mean to be so weird about it.”

“No, I don’t mind, so don’t be sorry.”

“Well! Even though I’ve been told not to mind it, you know…” Erika smirked as if she’d just thought of something good. “…As an apology, I’ll show you mine, too.” She stuck her right thumb under her bathing suit’s shoulder strap and winked, lifting it up about a finger’s height.

Next to her, Mizuki froze.

Tatsuya looked at each of the girls on his arms in turn. Honoka wasn’t about to bring her own face back up, and Miyuki just kept smiling at him. “Um, let’s go swim.”

With the two of them still hanging from him, Tatsuya headed for the water’s edge.

Erika puffed out her cheeks in irritation while Mizuki deflated, giving a worried smile.

Shizuku, who had passed by them to follow Tatsuya and the others, was nodding several times at the girl on his right arm, as if to say “well done.”

The dazzling blue sky spread out before Tatsuya. As he rested his back against the water’s surface (though almost entirely submerged, with only his face above the water), he floated along, drifting among the barely discernible waves.

The aquatic dialogue from just a little while ago had evolved into a playful aquatic battle, then evolved to the point where he wanted to call their shots “jet streams” (magic ones, of course, with Tatsuya being delegated to the role of target). Still, being the only boy in a group of five girls was mentally straining even for Tatsuya. If Leo and Mikihiko had been there, it wouldn’t have been bad enough for him to flee like he had. Unfortunately, the two had gone for a long-distance swimming race, and they were pretty much out of sight by now. When Tatsuya had said “I’m going out a little farther” and turned his back on the quintet, Miyuki had given him a fairly unhappy look, but she still appeared to understand his needs.

The girls in the group were playing on a boat now, a bit closer to the beach than where Tatsuya was floating. Their compromise, spearheaded by Miyuki, seemed to have been not to bother him while he was taking a breather, but still to keep him within eyeshot.

The gentle breeze carried their delighted voices to Tatsuya’s ears. All he could hear was the undulation of their speech; he couldn’t make out much of what they were actually talking about. Still, it did allow Tatsuya to keep a grasp on their positions without needing to look. Honoka and Shizuku were on the boat, while Miyuki and Erika were in the water holding on to its side. Mizuki was probably taking a rest under the parasol.

Come to think of it, he thought, his body gently rocked by the waves, Honoka said she was bad at swimming. The boat was only a shallow-draft one—small, unstable, and no more than an overgrown surfboard. Would she be all right this far out?

His ominous premonitions of this sort oft happened to be correct. Everyone had their own words for that—some called it a “flag,” while others put it down to kotodama, referring to the traditional Japanese belief that words and names were imbued with power—but the number of times that somebody around him said something inconvenient might happen and then it really did exceeded what logic would suggest. The idea was applied not only to words spoken aloud but also to thoughts people kept to themselves.

A sudden shriek pierced the calm summer air. His mind detected the boat capsizing (which he’d been apprehensive about) even before his eyes could look in that direction; in a split-second, he stood up on the water and sprinted across the surface toward the now-overturned boat.

This movement technique was certainly not something he should have used where others could see, but this was far faster than swimming. He ran up beside the capsized vessel, then cut the effects of his Water Spider spell (which increased surface tension), which he’d been flash casting with each step.

He dived into the water feetfirst. He waved away Miyuki, who had dived underwater before him, then put his hands around Honoka’s waist. She struggled, flailing her arms and legs; she was probably panicked. Tatsuya kicked them back up to the surface anyway.

Above the waves, Erika had just finished pushing Shizuku up onto the deck. Had it been Erika or Shizuku who flipped the thing over? And how did it flip in the first place? Though still concerned, he left such inquiries for later and decided to get the girl in his arms onto the boat, now that it was righted.

She seemed to calm down a bit once her face was above the surface, but her state of panic hadn’t subsided. Despite not being crazed in her resistance, she was shouting things like “Wait a minute” and “Please, stop,” repeatedly voicing her distress at climbing onto the boat. However, despite the warmth of the summer sea, it would slowly sap her endurance the longer she was in it. She’d almost drowned; she needed to rest—so Tatsuya forced her body up as she shook her head in disagreement. She was turned around by the momentum, and Shizuku, already on the boat, caught her back. With Honoka facing him now, Tatsuya finally understood what it was she was so distressed about.

It had probably been designed with an emphasis on fashion, not actually swimming.

The top of Honoka’s bathing suit had been turned up.

Tatsuya shut his eyes and let gravity pull him toward the seafloor.

Honoka gave a belated scream and curled up on deck, both hands clutching her chest.

“Hic…hic…ic…”

“Umm, Honoka, I… Is…? Are you all right…?” asked a bewildered Mizuki. Honoka had finally sat down on the sandy beach and promptly broke down in tears for real. The other three—Shizuku, Erika, and Miyuki—stood around them awkwardly.

“Hic…that’s why…ic…I said…” she sniffed, “I said to wait…”

Of course, the one finding this hardest to bear was Tatsuya. He truly wanted to run away. There was no option for a course change or a retreat in this situation, though.

“Well, I mean…Tatsuya was the one who saved you…” noted Erika honestly, but it didn’t have much effect. Miyuki couldn’t find any words to comfort her, either, given simply that Tatsuya had been one of those involved.

“Honoka, well…I’m sorry.” Tatsuya hadn’t meant to be mean—and in fact, he barely held any responsibility for this. But he couldn’t look on with indifference forever, so he bowed his head and apologized.

Shizuku whispered quietly into Honoka’s ear. “Honoka, you know Tatsuya isn’t to blame for this, right?” Only Honoka was able to hear her voice. “You had time to fix your suit.” Despite the low volume of her voice, and even though a part of what she said was contradictory, it was effective in calming her down. “I know this didn’t go as originally planned…”

But they seemed a little shady for words of comfort.

“…but this could be your chance.”

In fact, they were outright conspiratorial.

Shizuku whispered a few more words to her, and Honoka finally looked up. “Tatsuya…are you really sorry about it?”

“I wouldn’t lie about this. I really am sorry,” said Tatsuya, once again bowing deeply.

“Okay, then…” said Honoka. “…For the rest of the day, do as I say.”

“What…?” Confusion entered Tatsuya’s face at the unexpected remark. He felt like Honoka’s idea of what she should have been looking for at a time like this wasn’t the same as his. He didn’t seem to be the only one who thought that, either—Miyuki and Erika made the same sort of expression.

“And then I’ll forgive you. Is that okay…?”

Tatsuya and Miyuki exchanged glances. His sister gave a dry, resigned grin. “…If that is enough,” he replied with a reluctant nod, knowing she wasn’t the sort of girl to make wicked demands of him like in the king-playing game popular decades ago.

“It’s a promise!” nodded Honoka in return, a wide smile on her face.

When Leo emerged from the ocean after his looong (long-distance and long-sustained) swimming race, it was just about teatime on the balcony.

Cold drinks and a rainbow assortment of fruit sat upon the table.

Working as the steward, Kurosawa wore an apron, underneath which was not the same clothing as before, but a thin one-piece mini. Over that short one-piece, which exposed her shoulders and slender limbs, was a big white apron larger than the dress itself. She possessed a sexiness that would have normally made a teenage boy unable to take his eyes off her, but there were four even more powerful swimsuit wearers here: Despite yielding ground in terms of maturity, two of the girls had amazing looks, and the other two were certainly above average. For Leo, who, when faced with the myriad of swimsuits, was able to practice the old expression of “food before romance,” the adult charm that Kurosawa gave off was not that challenging an opponent.

That wasn’t to say he was entirely apathetic. When he saw the four young women in their swimsuits, Leo quirked his head to the side. “Hm? Where’s Tatsuya…and Mitsui?”

“They’re…over there…on that boat.”

The answer came not from the table but from behind him. It was Mikihiko, dripping with seawater, exhaustion evident on his frame. He spoke while trying to catch his breath and pointed.

Tatsuya and Honoka were in an old-timey rowboat, heading out to sea.

“…What’s up with that?” Leo asked.

“A lot is ‘up with that,’” answered Erika, turning a cheek to him. Her expression was less cold and more half-sulking. Instead of being offended, though, Leo’s curiosity only grew.

Mikihiko came up next to him, seeming to be highly interested in the conversation. But his attention quickly returned to the two still at sea.

They couldn’t quite make out Tatsuya’s expression, as his face was in the shadow of the straw hat he wore—much less Honoka’s, as she had her back turned and a parasol up.

Still, as the small boat drew farther away from the shore, Mikihiko felt a friendly, cheerful air about them.

“…They look like they’re having a good time.”

“H-hey—!”

…You idiot, Erika started to say, until she was cut off by a chilling air from the seat across from her.

Crickle-crackle, crickle-crackle… Mikihiko heard an ominous noise that was more at home in the dead of winter coming from the hands of the girl next to him.

“Yoshida, would you like a very well-chilled orange?” said Miyuki pleasantly.

Mikihiko nodded quickly and took the nearly frozen orange from her. As if on cue, Kurosawa held out a spoon out to him. Mikihiko took the sherbet spoon mechanically.

Miyuki took a new piece of fruit. Once again he heard the crickle-crackle, and in the blink of an eye, she’d created an ice-cold mango sherbet. She peeled her cold glare from the fruit and, with a friendly smile, offered it to the seat diagonal to her.

“Would you like one as well, Saijou?”

Even Leo could only stammer out an “Uh…thanks…”

Miyuki looked again at the pile of fruit but, perhaps finished venting, turned away in disinterest. “Shizuku, I’m sorry, but I seem to be rather tired. Would I be able to take a rest in my room?”

“Sure, don’t worry about it. Ms. Kurosawa?”

“Yes. I will show you there, Lady Miyuki.”

Miyuki followed after the help and disappeared into the beach house.

Mizuki’s scrunched-up face relaxed in relief, in good contrast to Shizuku’s customary poker stare.

For dinner, they had barbecue. The eight of them stood harmoniously around the grill, going back and forth between it and the table.

Miyuki had regained her calm after a bit of rest, while Honoka boldly hovered around Tatsuya a bit too much, and Erika had a pleasant conversation with Shizuku.

Mizuki, perhaps slightly traumatized by that afternoon’s teatime, sat slightly away from Miyuki and the others, preferring to exchange quieter words with Mikihiko.

Leo used his mouth only for eating. His appetite had basically repurposed Kurosawa into his personal waitress.

The group wasn’t clearly divided, of course. Sometimes Honoka would join Miyuki’s circle, and sometimes Tatsuya and Leo would have a small food fight.

But there was a little bit—compared to normal—of an awkward atmosphere floating among them.

The calm before the storm.

They didn’t know what would happen, but they still felt like something was coming. The one to break that mood and roll open the curtains of chaos was unexpected.

Right after the five girls had finished their card game, with Mizuki in the loser’s seat, Shizuku asked Miyuki if she wanted to go outside for a bit.

Miyuki hesitated, but only for an instant. “…That’s fine with me,” she said with a prompt smile and a nod.

“…Umm, are you going for a walk? Can I come?”

“Nope, Mizuki. You have to play the punishment game.”

Mizuki had been about to rise and follow her friends, but Erika grabbed her shirt and pulled her back down.

“What?! I didn’t hear about that!”

“The loser always has a punishment game. Anyway, we’ll be busy with that, so you two be careful,” said Erika with a wave, pretending not to notice the tension between the two girls. She restrained Mizuki, unable to tell if the girl could read the room or not.

The girls weren’t the only ones to notice the oddly nervous air. Leo had quickly gone out by himself after dinner, almost certainly because he’d sniffed out this atmosphere in its formative stage. Mikihiko, busy with a game of shogi, had stolen a glance at their exchange but wasn’t focused on it.

“Check. I’ll win this in ten more moves.”

“What? Already?!” he cried at Tatsuya’s merciless declaration.

The pair left the summerhouse and went left, following the water’s edge.

Shizuku walked in silence, and Miyuki followed in silence.

Once they had walked to a place where the beach house’s lights no longer reached, Shizuku finally turned around.

Her face was more impassive than usual—no, it was strained with tension.

Miyuki had a gentle smile on, but it was an archaic smile, one that betrayed no emotion.

“Sorry for bringing you out here.”

“It’s all right. You had something to talk about, right?”

Though expected, Shizuku didn’t broach the topic right away.

After the noise of waves washing the beach sounded ten times, Shizuku finally opened her mouth to speak. “I want you to tell me something.”

“What is it?”

“What are your feelings for Tatsuya?” she asked. Without any preamble, the question was so abrupt that “not mincing words” or “to avoid beating around the bush” didn’t even begin to cover it.

“I love him,” replied Miyuki simply, without a moment of hesitation or confusion.

“…Do you mean…as a man?” In fact, the hesitation was coming from Shizuku’s end. Still, she wasn’t flustered—though that was probably because of her personality.

“No,” answered Miyuki, not showing even a little bit of vacillation. More than anything, the look on her face was actually relaxed. “I respect and love my brother more than anyone else. But not as a woman. My feelings toward him are certainly not ones of romantic love. Such a thing wouldn’t be possible between my brother and me.”

She met Shizuku’s gaze. “Though I think I understand why you asked the question.” Miyuki smiled. “And it’s fine. I don’t plan on getting in Honoka’s way.” She paused. “Though I will be jealous, all right? I’d tell you not to be worried, but perhaps that wouldn’t work.”

Miyuki giggled a bit, but now Shizuku looked like she was going to cry. “…How?”

“How what?”

“How…can you be so rational about it? I mean, you love him so much.”

Miyuki took a step toward Shizuku. The latter tensed but didn’t retreat. Miyuki walked past her, then stopped, their backs to each other. “…It’s difficult to explain our relationship to others. There are too many opinions and expectations tangled up within it. My feelings toward my brother aren’t actually that simple…but saying I love him seems the most accurate.”

“…Are you not…related by blood?” asked Shizuku, turning around.

“My, that’s a rather intrusive thing to ask,” replied Miyuki, doing likewise.

“…Sorry.”

“No, I wasn’t criticizing you for it,” said Miyuki, shaking her head and smiling carelessly. “It must be nice, though—to have a friend who’s willing to go to such lengths for you.”

“I…consider you a friend, too, Miyuki.”

“I know. That’s why you were wondering, right? You didn’t want friends to hurt each other.”

Shizuku looked down, embarrassed under her warm stare.

“Back to the question… We are related by blood. At the very least, it says so in public records, and no DNA tests have ever come up saying that we weren’t.”

“But…”

“I know what you want to say.” Miyuki nodded knowingly as Shizuku struggled to find her words. “Everyone else thinks my feelings for him go beyond sibling love, too.”

Shizuku fell silent, her face confused.

“You see…I actually died three years ago.”

But that confession was sure to earn a “what?” from Shizuku anyway.

“Or maybe I should say I was supposed to die? But at the time, I very distinctly felt my own life leaving me, so saying I actually died isn’t untrue, either.”

Miyuki’s smile as she spoke was so fragile that it lent credence to her words. Shizuku felt a chill go down her spine.

“I’m only able to be here now, like this, thanks to my brother. The fact that I can cry and laugh, the fact that I can talk to you—it’s all thanks to him. My life was given to me by him, and so every part of me belongs to him.”

“What does…?” …that mean? she tried to ask but couldn’t—and so, she received no answer.

“My feelings toward my brother are not romantic love.”

Instead, the answer was the same as Shizuku’s second question: of whether she loved him as a man. It had an equal amount of confidence this time as well.

“Romantic love is when you yearn for someone, right?” This time Miyuki asked the question. “Isn’t love when you want someone to be yours?”

Shizuku couldn’t answer. For one thing, she thought giving a textbook answer was unfitting—

“But there is nothing about my brother that I yearn for. Because he already gave me…well, me.”

—and for another, she understood it was a rhetorical question.

“I can’t ask for anything more of my brother. I can’t even ask for him to accept my feelings. Words to express this feeling…can’t be boiled down to anything other than ‘I love him,’ I think.”

“…I give up.” All Shizuku could do after Miyuki’s confession was wave the white flag. “Miyuki, you really are something else,” she said, just shaking her head.

“I’d be the first one to admit how strange I am,” she said, shutting one eye mischievously.

Right after Shizuku and Miyuki left, Honoka stood in front of a mirror. Going out to pick flowers had just been an excuse to leave the room.

As she looked into the mirror, she remembered what Shizuku had whispered to her after dinner: “I’ll get Miyuki outside, and then you can invite Tatsuya.”

She knew right away what Shizuku had meant. They didn’t even have to talk about it, because Shizuku could read her like a book.

Even the accident earlier in the day, where the boat had overturned, had actually been a matchmaking scheme of Shizuku’s. It had been her plan to mention beforehand that Honoka was a bad swimmer, get Tatsuya to rescue her, and then have Honoka approach him in various ways as a means of thanking him. They even had a backup plan ready in case Tatsuya didn’t make it in time. The shameful event that had actually transpired was a complete accident, but as a result, she’d been able to monopolize the boy. Honoka felt guilty about it, but happy at the same time.

And now, Shizuku had set everything up for her love confession. Honoka hesitated a moment, putting on only a little bit of light lipstick so it wouldn’t stand out. After checking her hair and clothing again, she chimed an “all right!” to raise her spirits. Intending to follow the plan and invite Tatsuya out while his sister was absent, she returned to the living area.

She didn’t realize that her legs were trembling slightly.

Stealing furtive glances at Tatsuya, who walked beside her, Honoka worried over when she should bring it up. Things had gone as she’d pictured thus far: He’d readily consented to going outside together, to the point that Honoka found herself thrown off balance instead.

It had started too smoothly, and now it seemed like she was the one being pulled along.

Yet Tatsuya was silent.

They had left the beach house and gone off to the right, along the water’s edge. He was matching her pace as they walked, him closer to the water, as if to shield her from the surging waves.

Somehow, she thought, it felt like he’d guessed her intent already but was avoiding actually arriving at the destination.

She had to be the one to make the first move, or else matters would remain unsettled. The danger of doing that gave Honoka the push she needed.

“Tatsuya,” she said finally, after opening and closing her mouth several times. He stopped and turned to her.

The lights from the house no longer reached them.

The words being exchanged on the other side of the dark beach were swallowed by the waves, lost to the two.

Only the splashing of the water filled the darkness under the starry sky, as Honoka faced Tatsuya.

But she didn’t go further. Even when prompted by his gaze, she instead averted her eyes and looked down.

“Well…” After a time, she looked back up into his eyes, as though she were about to say something—only to then grow nervous and look back down. This repeated several times.

“Mmhmm. What is it?” asked Tatsuya, spurring her on. His tone and words were both softer than usual; that voice, more than his words, seemed to give her the courage she needed.

“Umm…well…I love you, Tatsuya!”

Her answer, wrung from her at the end of her wavering, could have perhaps been heard on the other side of the dark. But Honoka wasn’t relaxed enough to be thinking about that.

For her, right now, she and Tatsuya were the only two people in the world.

“…I want to know how you feel about me!”

Unable to meet his gaze, she shut her eyes tight. The answer took a while.

“…Am I…bothering you?” asked Honoka in a tearful, nervous voice after anxiously opening her eyes.

Tatsuya smiled and shook his head. “You’re not bothering me. I figured you would probably say this to me eventually. But I only realized it this afternoon.”

His eyes look sad, she thought when she looked up into Tatsuya’s face. Honoka balled her hands into fists, pretty sure that she’d have to endure the sadness that drew ever closer.

But Tatsuya’s answer was unexpected, and didn’t match the good outcome or bad outcome she had imagined.

“…Honoka, you see, as a person, I lack certain mental faculties.”

“…Huh?”

“When I was a kid, I was in a magic accident… Well, it erased part of my mind’s functions.”

Honoka’s face paled—so white he could tell even in the dark. Her eyes widened, and her hands wobbled up to her mouth to cover it. “That’s awful…” she said through them.

“I think I lost the ability to feel love after that…romantic love. It’s not locked away anywhere, so I can’t set it free or anything. It’s not broken, so I can’t fix it, either. You can’t recover something that’s been erased.”

The way Tatsuya spoke of it made it sound like it concerned someone else, not him.

“I don’t understand what romantic love is on an emotional level. I can come to like someone but not love them. I mean, I do know what it is. But I gave my heart a long, careful look, and came to the conclusion that I don’t have it.”

Honoka was still covering her mouth, and she didn’t say “That’s crazy” or “I can’t believe it.” But she couldn’t say anything else, either. She was literally at a loss for words. Dumbstruck, with Tatsuya’s confession the only thing in her mind.

“This may sound kind of mean, but I do like you, too, Honoka. But only the way I feel about my other friends. No matter how hard you work for my sake, I don’t think I’ll ever look at you as a special woman. I know that would be difficult for you—that it would hurt you if I made you do that.”

As he spoke, a powerless smile made its way onto his face.

“I can’t reciprocate your feelings for me.”

He closed his mouth.

Honoka stayed silent as well.

Only the sound of the waves coming in and going out filled the dim night.

The waves slowly drew nearer.

Finally, after enough time had passed where they were almost reaching their feet…

Honoka looked up. “Please don’t get angry at me but…I thought that you loved Miyuki. Not as your sister, but as a girl.”

“…That’s a misunderstanding.”

“Yes, that’s what it seems like. Tatsuya, you’re really smart… If you were going to lie to me, you would have told me something that sounded more trustworthy. I’ve never heard of any spell that can erase certain functions of your mind, but I guess that’s why I believe you. But that means you won’t have any other girlfriend apart from me, either, right?”

Confused at the somewhat unexpected turn of events, Tatsuya nodded. “Well, I guess not…”

“…Then it’s okay.”

“Huh?”

“You’re not going to have a girlfriend for a really long time, right? That means if I stay in love with you, you won’t go off with someone else, right?”

“I…suppose you’re right…?”

“So there’s no problem. I decided to keep being in love with you! Just until I fall in love with someone else, anyway!”

It was a cheerful declaration with a transfer notice attached.

“…I guess you’ve got me there,” nodded Tatsuya with a dry smile.

Even he wasn’t dull enough to miss what she meant by adding “until I fall in love with someone else.”

The sunlight had been asserting itself again since the first light of the day. Early in the morning, the temperature had already climbed to over eighty-five degrees.

And as if the sweltering heat covering the sandy beach wasn’t enough…a terribly hot battle was taking place as well.

“Tatsuya, show me your back. I’ll put on your sunscreen.”

“Tatsuya, do you want to some juice?”

Things like that.

“Shizuku says she’ll let us borrow a water ski. Would you like to take a ride on it?”

“I hear there’s a good diving spot a little farther out.”

And things of that nature—a new annoyingly painful heat, this time emitted by other people.

“Miyuki really had to hold herself back yesterday…”

“Honoka looks like she’s gotten over a lot…”

Erika’s and Mizuki’s somewhat amazed comments.

“…”

Shizuku’s slightly worried look.

“Err. Must be tough.”

Leo’s deeply empathetic expression.

“…Yoshida, what’s the matter?”

“Uh, er, nothing!”

Mikihiko’s—actually, it would be better not to say in order to preserve his honor.

In any case, every eye, each pair with its own set of emotions attached, rested on Tatsuya. For his part, he was fielding the requests from Miyuki and Honoka in order, sometimes with a sigh.

He dashed across the ocean surface on the water ski, with Miyuki in the tandem seat. (After that he ended up riding with Honoka, too.)

Honoka, who evidently was a great swimmer after all—her panic yesterday had been for a different reason—took him out on a motorboat to go to the diving spot. (Miyuki came with them as well.)

Applying sunscreen and having it applied (and reapplied), having one product of the sea after another pushed into his mouth had a taste of what it was like to be a foie gras goose (more commonly known as spoon-feeding )…

Tatsuya, stuck between the warm, high-pressure air masses of Ogasawara and the beck and call of the burning hot winds…

…He seemed somehow to be—more than yesterday, more than usual—relaxed and having a good time.