Chapter 33: Summer, the Sea, and a Swordfish

We spent another two days doing farm work with the After-School Sweets Club. They were still handling simple tasks like carrying things—same as on the first day—but even so, our efficiency had noticeably improved.

"Alright, everyone. Today will be a full day off, so please head back toward the central area once. Come back again tomorrow around noon, okay?"

"Okayyy."

Today was a no-work holiday. For me and my parents, who were used to this, it wasn’t much. But for the Trinity students—who probably had zero connection to agriculture until now—making them work several days in a row would be rough. My parents had planned this break from the start.

After we saw off the four girls from the After-School Sweets Club, Dad turned to me.

"Aika, you’re heading out too, right? To the beach with your friends."

"Yeah, I’ve already finished getting ready. Guess I should head out soon."

I picked up the Boston bag I’d packed yesterday. Inside were my swimsuit, a change of clothes, towels, my wallet, a flashlight, an emergency power bank—everything I might need just in case. I also brought a small cooler box with a homemade lunch, freshly picked fruit, and unsweetened tea.

As for how we were getting to Muigahama, our destination…

"Heheh, this really is the best."

It was the Remarkable. Naturally, the air squadron had also been prepped so they could launch at any time.

"Royalties can’t handle sandy beaches, y’know. Nothing we can do about it."

So we were leaving the Royalty behind. And since the pom-pom gun couldn’t be used without the truck it was mounted on, I brought my Brown Bess musket instead—the one I’d temporarily taken home.

Funny how it used to be just a spare, but the more I used it, the more natural it felt in my hands. I even used it during the first gunfight to drive off enemies. At this point, it’s practically a second partner, right up there with the pom-pom gun.

After about an hour of rocking on the ship, we finally reached the pier at Muigahama. I unloaded my tablet, luggage, and the musket first, then ordered the ship to remain waiting offshore.

When I walked to the station near our meeting point, I found Maiha and Masa waiting in their casual clothes. Maiha wore a light blue and white striped one-piece dress, while Masa had on a thin white blouse and black culotte shorts—a simple, streamlined outfit.

"Huh? Aika-chan, where’d you come from?"

"Did you take your usual truck? The parking area should be on the other side though…"

Normally, you’d get here by train or personal car—the same methods the two of them used. If it was neither… naturally, questions would arise.

"I came by ship. I left the Royalty behind since its movement on sandy beaches is unreliable."

"A ship? Wait, do you mean that one?"

Maiha pointed offshore, where the Remarkable floated just as I had instructed.

"Judging from its silhouette… it looks like an aircraft carrier."

"Yes. Millennium’s Department of Naval Engineering remodeled it from a fishing vessel."

"Whoa… that’s Millennium for you. That’s some extreme modding…"

The two of them looked a little overwhelmed. I get it. If someone told me that thing used to be a normal fishing boat, I’d also be like, What is this person talking about?

"Well, anyway! Should we hurry and change into our swimsuits?"

Nodding to Masa, who had already started walking, we headed to the changing rooms on the beach. …And no peeking, please?

Once we’d changed, the three of us gathered together. Our swimsuits were the same ones we tried on before, but…

"Oh my, Masa-san, you tied your hair."

"Then so did you, Aika. Yours is still braided."

Masa had tied her hair into short twin tails—probably for easy movement—giving her an even more childlike impression. As for me, I had absentmindedly braided my hair into twin braids this morning and just left it, since wearing it straight would get in the way anyway.

"So, what should we do first?"

The moment Maiha said that, something faint echoed from far away.

"…Hehe…!! Kihyahhahahahahahahaaaa!!!"

Ugh. I recognized that scream. And it had never led to anything good.

"………Let’s move. As far away as possible."

Seeing Maiha’s strained expression, Masa and I nodded vigorously and hurried to relocate.

"So, what should we do first?"

Maiha repeated herself as if she had completely erased the previous incident from her memory.

Yeah… that was definitely Tsurugi. Which means our plans overlapped with the Summer Wish List event… So, uh… if things play out like the event, a bunch of thugs are absolutely going to show up next, right?

"Let’s see… shall we swim first?"

"We came all this way in swimsuits, so it makes sense~ What about you, Masa-chan?"

"I…"

Masa started to answer—but suddenly stopped. And the reason was obvious.

"Kihyahhahaha!!! The sea! The sea is heeere!! Bwahahaha!!!"

"W–what!? Scary!!"

"A g-ghost!? It’s a ghost!! Everyone run!!!"

We moved away from you on purpose, you know!? Can’t you not come toward us!?

…Though calling her a ghost is kind of mean. But still, that’s that, and this is this. I pressed the brim of my straw hat forward to hide my face and whispered to the other two:

"Maiha-san, pull your hat down low. Masa-san, put on your goggles. Let’s disguise ourselves as much as possible."

Until Azusa, Hifumi, Mashiro, or Sensei—who were surely with her—managed to calm her down, we’d have to wait it out. Fortunately, Tsurugi was too absorbed in running around to notice us, and eventually, the beach regained its peace.

"…It seems the danger has passed. So, swimming, right? Let’s go into the water."

"Y-yes, let’s…"

"Hahaha…"

Maiha let out a wry laugh, her eyebrows forming a troubled ハ shape. We finally had a day off and came all the way to the beach—hopefully nothing else would happen…

After that, we started by inflating our float rings, then headed into the water. The three of us drifted with the waves, swam a little, just enjoying ourselves.

"Still, Masa-san, you’re quite good at swimming."

In my previous life it was whatever, but in this one I could swim at an average level. Maiha didn’t seem to have much experience with swimming and wasn’t very good at it. And then there was Masa, who swam with complete ease—even diving under with her goggles on.

"I took swimming lessons as a kid, so I’m used to it. Although I don’t have much experience in the ocean."

"That’s amazing~ As you can see, I’m totally hopeless~"

Even so, watching Masa float around lazily inside her float ring made her look nothing like a high schooler… And compared to Maiha, who could casually stand even in fairly deep water, the difference was even more obvious.

"Alright, maybe we should head back sho—"

Masa started swimming toward the shore, but right then, her float ring suddenly burst. Considering she’d bought it just the other day along with her swimsuit, there was no way it had simply deteriorated.

"Hey you three! Who said you could swim here, huh?"

A voice came from the beach. When we looked over, a gang of delinquents in flashy swimsuits stood there, wearing sunglasses and holding a sniper rifle still smoking at the barrel. Yeah. I knew it. It really was going to happen.

"This beach’s ours since yesterday! If you can’t pay our protection fee, get your broke butts off our turf! Gyahahahaha!!"

Excuse me—who’s broke? We’re members of Trinity’s Tea Party, you know? That pissed me off, so I held back Maiha and Masa, climbed onto the sand, pulled out my tablet, booted it up, and operated it while approaching the delinquent.

"Hah? What d’you want?"

"Your… protection fee, was it? Very well. We shall pay you ten thousand dollars."

The moment I heard the comforting hum of a reciprocating engine from above, I hopped back to gain distance and spat out:

"However, not in cash—rather, in ten thousand dollars worth of bombs!"

"Huh? What are you—even saying—ubwah!?"

The delinquent froze in confusion, only to be knocked out seconds later by a direct hit from a grenade dropped by the Swordfish air squadron.

"An air raid!? Why the hell is there an airstrike on a beach!?"

"L-look! It’s that airplane! Shoot it down!"

They opened fire, but even if they were radio-controlled planes, they still moved far faster than any human could track. And besides—

"H-hey!? I hit its wing! Why isn’t it going down!?"

Swordfish biplanes have fabric-covered wings. Shooting them only puts holes in the cloth. If you want one to fall, you have to damage the main body—specifically the engine. But with their lack of skill, there was no way they could manage that.

"Air squadron, all planes returning. Prepare the second strike force with the least damaged aircraft. …Would you like to continue?"

I subtly urged them to surrender, but one of the delinquents just snorted.

"Hmph! We just need to beat you before that plane comes back! We already lost to some other brats earlier, so we gotta redeem ourselves!!"

It’s “restore your honor” or “reclaim your reputation,” not “redeem your disgrace”… I was thinking that when they struck first. Submachine-gun bullets hit me—it hurt a little.

"I see… You will regret that choice."

They had ten delinquents. All we had to do was hold out until the next bombardment. At some point, both Maiha and Masa had already gotten ashore and raised their guns. Honestly, this should be easy.

"What the—guuuh!"

I lowered my stance, charged forward, and fired a point-blank blast of buckshot straight into the stomach of the nearest delinquent.

"…You’re paying for that float ring."

Masa slammed her stock into her opponent first, then, while they staggered, fired once—twice. The delinquent collapsed to her knees. Meanwhile, Maiha took cover behind a rock and calmly landed a headshot, already taking down one. The delinquents’ numbers advantage crumbled rapidly, and then—

"Masa-san, dodge!"

"Yes."

"Huh? Tch—another airstr—bwagh!?"

The second strike group arrived and carpet-bombed the area, wiping out the remaining delinquents in one go.

"Phew… Honestly, what a noisy bunch."

"And they even called us poor and broke. So rude, right~?"

As I glanced across the beach, something caught my eye—an enormous yellow structure, bigger than the changing rooms. Huh? Was that there earlier?

"What is that… Maiha-san?"

When I looked over at Masa and Maiha, the two of them were already sitting on the sand. Maiha was using her rifle’s scope like a telescope, checking out the mysterious building.

"That’s probably a really, really huge sand castle~. And for some reason, it looks like Azusa-senpai and Mashiro-chan are inside~."

"The sand castles I know were… much smaller and cuter than that…"

Yeah… When someone says “sand castle,” nobody imagines something the size of a three-story building. And it definitely wasn’t there before we went into the water. How did they build that in such a short time?

"Yes… let’s just leave it alone. If we poke at it and accidentally collapse it, they’ll snipe us from above."

"Hahaha, true~ …Ah."

Just as we decided to quietly observe from afar, Maiha—still peering through the scope—muttered something.

"What’s wrong?"

"Those delinquents we beat earlier are heading that way… Ah, looks like they’re about to start fighting~."

Right, they were yelling something about “redeeming their disgrace” or “restoring their honor”… So they picked a fight over there and lost, thought they could handle us and lost again, and now they’re going to pay them back? They really never learn…

"…Let’s ignore it. Kenzaki Tsurugi is over there; they’ll be taken down in no time."

"Yeah~. So anyway, what should we do next~?"

We thought for a bit, and then Masa spoke up.

"Shall we put on some sunscreen? Look, I brought a parasol and a sheet."

She pulled a collapsible beach parasol and a leisure sheet from her bag, set them up, and held out a tube of sunscreen gel—completely prepared.

"Come now, let’s get started."

…Wait, seriously? Are we doing that? As in… applying sunscreen for each other? I mean, I’ve almost forgotten at this point, but I was a guy in my previous life… Is it really okay for me to join in on a cute, girly “let’s rub sunscreen on each other!” moment…?