Chapter 122: The Swimsuit Contest
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 122: The Swimsuit Contest
We spent the next hour or two swimming and playing in the ocean.
It felt like we’d crammed all the swimming we were going to do this year into one day.
At one point, the Class President blushed after seeing my body, but that was entirely because she had no immunity to a man's physique.
When everyone else saw me and just reacted with things like, "Wow! Ryu-chan! Your body is amazing!" the Class President just muttered, "...Am I the weird one?" and let it go.
Though the brown-skinned foreign ghost floating behind Ryuji did make the cringey comment, "Truly, a body sculpted by the gods themselves."
Climbing back onto the shore, we gathered around our parasol and enjoyed the cool sea breeze.
"Ah, this is nice."
"The sea in Japan is certainly wonderful."
Hearing Sasha's comment, Yaguchi tilted her head and asked.
"Is the sea in Russia different?"
Sasha nodded.
"I was born in Vladivostok, which is a port city. It's a rare ice-free port in Russia. But unlike here, the water temperature is incredibly low, so jumping into the sea like this is something I could never even dream of back home."
"Oh..."
Yaguchi's face lit up with understanding at her explanation.
It made sense that people from different places would have different images of the sea.
Just then, Ryuji, who had been drinking some water, spoke up.
"By the way, isn't it about time for Satoru to get back?"
"Now that you mention it, what's taking him so long?"
It's not like he'd be trying to pick up girls all day, but he hadn't shown his face for hours.
Just as an air of concern for Satoru began to form...
"Hey, guys~!"
Satoru's voice called out from a distance.
I turned my head, thinking I'd wasted my worry, only to blink my eyes at an unbelievable sight.
Next to Satoru were three women who looked like they were in college.
Wondering what was going on, I looked at him, and he just smiled and winked one eye.
It seemed like he was trying to send some kind of signal.
I asked Ryuji, who was next to me.
"Did you talk to him about something?"
"Nope."
It seemed to be the first Ryuji was hearing of it, too.
Soon, Satoru arrived at our parasol and said in a cheerful voice.
"Ladies! These are my friends!"
"Oh my, they're all so handsome."
"They look much better in person than in the photos."
"Look at those bulging muscles."
We thanked them for the sudden compliments while looking at Satoru, wondering what this was all about.
Satoru approached with a smile, called me and Ryuji over, and whispered.
"You two, help me out here. I barely managed to charm these ladies after hours of trying, and they said they'd hang out with other people if the numbers don't match up."
"Now? At this timing?"
The gazes from the other kids resting under the parasol were anything but friendly.
No matter how I looked at it, this was a poisoned chalice.
But Satoru was desperate.
"I want to make some unforgettable memories this summer, too! Please, just help me out!"
My eyes met Ryuji's for a split second.
'What should we do?'
'I think it's probably best to help him.'
'What about the girls?'
'Maybe they'll understand if we explain the situation?'
Having reached an agreement, Ryuji and I asked Satoru and the trio of college girls to wait for a moment, then went to explain the situation to the girls resting under the parasol.
As expected, the atmosphere instantly turned icy.
"Hmph. So, Ryu-chan wants to ditch us and go play with those older girls, is that it?"
"Kim Yoo-Sung, I'm disappointed in you. I can't believe you'd say that so brazenly."
"If you didn't want to hang out with us, you should have just said so. We would have gotten out of your way."
"Hah, what a letdown. I thought you weren't that kind of person."
"Ryuji, why don't we have a little 'chat'?"
Just as we'd feared, public opinion was not on our side.
Of course this would happen when the guys you were having fun with suddenly announce they're leaving to hang out with other girls.
We came to the conclusion that we had no choice.
'Sorry, Satoru.'
In my heart, I wanted to help his love life, but the situation was just too grim.
"Ah, sorry. It seems it'll be difficult for us to act separately since we came with our group."
"Our apologies. Let's definitely hang out next time we meet."
"Huh? Hey! Wait a minute!"
Satoru looked at us with a panicked expression, but the bus had long since departed.
The college girls Satoru had barely managed to pick up looked at each other, let out a "How weird," and walked away without a second glance.
As his last hope was crushed, Satoru collapsed onto the sand and screamed.
"DID YOU REALLY HAVE TO REJECT THEM ALL LIKE THAT?! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!"
Sorry, Satoru.
Next time, let's just the three of us guys go out.
*
Thanks to our quick decision to cut Satoru loose, we were able to recover our fallen reputation.
Of course, Satoru was sulking as a result, but he's a good kid at heart. He'll get over it quickly once we apologize.
After a quick rinse in the shower to wash off the salt and sand, we gathered again in front of the beach house.
"What should we do now?"
At Karen's question, the Class President checked the time on her phone.
"It's 4:30 PM right now. If I remember correctly, there's a swimsuit contest starting at 5 PM on the special stage at the beach."
"Oh, the contest the owner was talking about earlier?"
"If we don't have anything else to do, you guys want to go watch?"
The Class President looked around at the group as she asked, and we all agreed without hesitation.
We had played our hearts out for hours, so now we just wanted to sit back and relax.
Following the Class President's lead, we headed toward the special stage set up in a corner of the beach.
*
Perhaps because of the swimsuit contest starting at 5 PM, the area around the stage was already packed with people.
Well, local events like this are part of the fun of traveling.
And the first-place prize of 100,000 yen was nothing to scoff at.
We found some empty spots and sat down in a line.
Since the contest hadn't started yet, people who looked like stage staff were bustling about on the stage, carrying various things.
Before long, the empty seats in front of the stage began to fill up. Just as the shouting of the stage crew died down, a man in a Hawaiian shirt and black sunglasses stepped onto the stage and yelled.
"Alright~! Thank you for waiting! The famous event of Onjuku Beach! A contest with 17 years of tradition! The Onjuku Swimsuit Contest starts noooow!!"
Pop! Pop! Pop!
As soon as the MC finished his line, fireworks shot up from the stage.
The spectacle made even casual passersby stop in their tracks to watch.
"I'm your MC for this contest, the comedian Saruyama! As summer ripens, I hope all you audience members have a great time, and with that, let's get this contest started!"
The stage MC, with his smooth delivery, proceeded to give a basic explanation of the contest.
"All participants will be in swimsuits, and during the preliminaries, each person will have about three minutes for a charm appeal. We'll select the finalists based on the crowd's reaction and the judges' evaluations. From there, we'll do another round of interviews and then pick the final winner through a popularity vote!"
For a contest with 17 years of tradition, the rules were quite unusual.
The crowd's reaction was more important than the judges' scores.
Well, with rules like these, at least there wouldn't be any talk of rigging.
"Alright, then, will all participants please come up on stage!"
Following the MC's direction, the swimsuit contest participants, who had been waiting backstage, began to appear one by one.
What was a little surprising was that they didn't separate the men's and women's divisions, but ran it all together.
Even Satoru, who had been sulking the whole time after his failed pickup attempt, suddenly brightened up at the sight of the beauties in swimsuits.
'Won't this make all the men's votes go to the female participants?'
Well, the contest organizers must have had their reasons for running it as a mixed-gender event.
I was looking over the faces of the participants on stage when it happened.
"And at this time! We'll be taking on-the-spot participants from the audience!"
The audience began to murmur.
No one had expected them to accept additional participants at this point.
Karen crossed her arms with a look of disbelief and muttered.
"Who would even enter something like that?"
The Class President, who was next to her, chimed in.
"I know, right?"
The MC came down from the stage and walked through the audience, saying.
"Anyone want to participate! We're also taking recommendations!"
The crowd watched with interest.
But not a single person stepped forward.
Well, unless you were a massive attention-seeker, no one was going to volunteer when all eyes were on them.
That's what I thought.
Suddenly, Sasha, who was next to me, shot her hand into the air.
The MC didn't miss it.
"Yes! You, the beautiful foreigner over there!"
He walked straight over and held the microphone out to Sasha.
"Are you thinking of participating in the contest!"
But Sasha just shook her head from side to side and said.
"It's not me. I'm recommending this man."
And her finger was pointing right at me.