Waterpark (1)
The day the waterpark finally opened its doors.
I changed my clothes in the locker room.
“Been a while since I put on a swimsuit.”
While the others had been picking out theirs, I'd already selected what I would wear ahead of time.
I opened the locker, folded my clothes neatly inside, and gave myself a quick rinse in the shower. I slipped on a square-cut swimsuit that hugged my skin, then pulled trunks over it.
And that was that.
Since I hadn't come here for any serious swimming, there was no need for a swim cap or goggles.
Not bad, actually.
Looking at myself in the mirror by the shower, the physique was even more pronounced now. With the trunks layered on top, there was none of that scrawny, pathetic look — just pure, solid fitness on display.
Some people might get an eyefuls upon seeing me like this, so this was the right way to cover up.
Takes me back.
I'd been taught sports from an early age, and swimming was one of my favorite events. At one point I even entered an amateur marathon swimming competition to get some experience under my belt.
All I got was a participation medal, sure. But I finished the race, and I placed in the upper-middle of the pack, so I could at least say I had the fundamentals down.
Not that it mattered, since this place was designed more like an amusement park than a swimming facility.
Anyway — I love playing in the water.
Plus, I'd get to see the ladies in their skimpy little swimsuits while I was at it.
The pool here banned fashion-first bikinis and only allowed proper competitive swimwear for actual swimming purposes.
You could apparently ogle half-naked women at the beach too, but outside of certain areas you'd only catch the occasional glimpse. Here, wherever I looked, there was no such thing as a feast for the eyes.
If you wanted to watch families building sandcastles or kids paddling around in tubes, soaking in wholesome togetherness, maybe this place wasn't bad.
Swimming means bikinis, and bikinis mean beauties!
My hot-blooded twenty-something self knew nothing of wholesome family time — my heart raced at the thought of seeing the girls in their swimsuits. Since the whole point of coming here was playing in the water with beautiful women, I hurried up and headed outside the moment I finished changing.
Whoosh!
Waves crashed with a slap against the shore. Artificial waves made by human engineering, and crowds of people on inner tubes getting swept along in the froth.
Play structures blending in with the beach-like colors of the floor led into a whole chain of water attractions. Water slides with friction reduced along the channels, and a lazy river that pushed people along effortlessly by flowing in a single direction. There were saunas that warmed your back and bath houses, pools of every concept sprawled out before me.
It being the height of summer with the sun beating down, the pools were packed with people clinging like cockroaches.
Was this just what places with people were like? Not a whit different from where I used to live.
“Look over there! There's a person floating inside a soap bubble!”
That's a little neat, actually.
Fitting for a world of magic, I kept spotting rides that flat-out ignored the laws of physics. Since I might never get the chance again after leaving this place, maybe I should come back later and ride them myself?
“Solis, over here.”
Just as I was busy ogling all the strange sights, a voice called my name from far off. At the familiar sound, I hurried my steps toward it.
“You're late.”
“You're just fast. Didn't expect you to be changed and out already.”
“Simple. Practiced putting it on.”
Marin flashed a V-sign and squared her shoulders with confidence. She was bobbing on the surface of the pool astride an inner tube I had no idea when she'd gotten her hands on.
“How's the outfit?”
“It suits you. That swimsuit was made for your style.”
A bikini striped in alternating white and sky blue. Frills like lazy little clouds trimmed the edges, playing up the cuteness that was her greatest asset. And the effort she'd put into cinching the top's strings to squeeze out every last bit of bust size was so apparent that a laugh slipped out of me before I knew it.
“Solis. Expression says bad mood.”
“It's all in your head. All in your head. I absolutely was not thinking your chest is small.”
“Hurt.”
Marin's timid little foot kicked out and tapped lightly against my leg. She was annoyed enough at my words to say so with her body, but apparently she didn't actually want to hurt me, because not an ounce of force went into it.
“Sorry, sorry, my bad. Forgive me.”
Splash!
I dove into the pool, wrapped my arms around her, and wriggled us both. Her bone-dry clothes, without a single drop of water on them, and her pale skin soaked through in an instant.
“There, I'll let it slide.”
Apparently my desperate apology had done the trick, because Marin accepted me into her embrace like a mother's warm bosom. Such merciful kindness — I hardly knew where to put myself.
Though the feeling of her chest pressed against my head was, well, not exactly lacking in firmness.
“You two, maybe stop clinging to each other like that. You're bothering everyone else.”
And here was someone jealous of us.
Chloe stretched and rose up out of the water. Her tight, form-fitting racing swimsuit shed droplets back onto the pool's surface. The athletic, powerful figure she maintained through training, her smooth skin gleaming in the sunlight — it was mesmerizing enough to pull the eye whether you wanted it to or not.
“Honestly, no restraint whatsoever. Just humping away like beasts, the pair of you.”
Anyone overhearing would get the wrong idea. We'd simply hugged each other because we liked each other — why did she make it sound like we'd committed some unspeakable crime?
“Solis.”
“What is it, my dear Marin?”
“Chloe is jealous. Watching us must have put her in heat.”
“It is NOT!”
RAAARGH!
The black-haired monster roared. She gnashed her teeth like she was about to pounce on us at any second, but—
“Hey, what's all that ruckus over there?”
“Did a fight break out or something?”
Tch!
With people's stares turning toward her, she reined it in halfway.
“Everyone's already here, I see. We've been looking all over for you.”
“You changed fast too. I expected it to take a while.”
“Only because the others helped me get ready.”
Kaya was pressed to my side before I even realized it — just like the first time we'd ever met. The archmage's mana sensitivity, that gift of hers taken to its extreme: a stealth technique that let her melt into reality itself.
Even for me, an awakened Divine Artifact bearer, this wouldn't be easy to notice on purpose.
“What do you think of my swimsuit? May I ask for your honest impression?”
“Pretty. Good enough?”
“Ehh~? That's it? What kind of answer is that? You could put a little more effort into your evaluation, you know.”
“You asked for my impression. That's my answer.”
I kept Kaya at a firm, deliberate distance. It might have come across as cold, but this was the best I could do.
I could have showered her in flowery compliments. A white swimsuit with frills, like Marin's — nothing especially distinctive, but a decent choice where the simplicity itself made it stand out. I could have said that, bonded a little, and it would've been one way to go. I wouldn't have lost anything by it.
She was Eva's little sister, after all. Being frosty toward her felt a bit wrong of me, I'll admit.
But she was a year younger than Eva — one more year before she was an adult.
In other words, to sum it up: a walking bomb.
Touch her wrong, and she'd blow sky high. The apocalypse, plain and simple.
Ask me again when you're a second-year.
When that time comes, I'll give you all the attention you want.
Not now, though.
“Anyway, where'd Eva go? Everyone else is gathered here.”
Only one person left. If Kaya was beside me, she couldn't be far.
“Um... sir?”
A trembling voice behind me made my head turn.
“Th-this... how does it look... I wanted to ask you...”
Petra wanted to bind me to her family. She'd chosen Eva as the means to that end — and Eva would one day become head of that house.
Her mother had prepared everything so Eva could inherit safely, but it hadn't been perfect. The sticking point, as expected, was that Eva had contributed nothing to the family herself.
But what if a man who could wield mana — a human on the level of the archmage — married into the family and watched over the succession? The ones objecting inside the family would be the ones purged instead. It would be like backing the Sword Saint, and the authority the family wielded over the kingdom would expand on its own.
So of course Petra was the one who'd told Eva to stand before me in a swimsuit and ask my opinion. And Kaya must have masked Eva's presence on purpose to surprise me.
I knew all of it. And still—
“Wow.”
I couldn't help the gasp that escaped me. I'd meant to keep my composure, to deliver my critique with the cool head of a critic — instead my jaw dropped like an idiot's.
It was an ordinary bikini. Turn my eyes anywhere right now and I could see plenty of others wearing the same thing.
But not one of them carried the sheer violence Eva did.
Huge. Her chest strained so tight against that stretchy nylon it looked ready to snap. The swell of it bounced with every step she took, and it drove a man insane.
Hypnotized, I stared at her upper body with the rapture of a moth drawn to flame.
Squish.
“Huh...?”
My hand had moved on its own.
It was an accident. An accident.
But there was no explaining it to them, and no way to clean up a mess that had already happened anyway.
Knead.
“So this is what Eva's chest feels like.”
Better to touch my fill and accept my punishment in silence — that was the decision I made.
“KYAAAAH!”
SMACK!
As a scream demanded the whole venue's attention, the incoming slap descended upon me — and I received it with perfect serenity.