Even Seeing My Juniors in Bikinis, I'm Still an Outsider
So I was supposed to pick which of the three looked best in a swimsuit.
What was that, anyway? It wasn’t the standard issue question senior soldiers asked the moment you enlisted—“Who’s the best-looking guy in our platoon?”
For a split second, I almost felt PTSD creeping up just from hearing it. But after parting ways with Kim Hayun and heading into the locker room to change into my swimsuit, I thought it over for a moment and suddenly had a different idea.
But do I even have a reason to be nervous?
That thought came to me all at once.
It wasn’t as if those three were my seniors—they were my juniors at school. And they were all younger than me, too.
Well, sure, being older didn’t mean I could talk down to them. But at the very least, I didn’t need to keep gauging their reactions and making up compliments I didn’t mean.
I could just do what Kim Hayun had asked and go out there, look at the three of them in their swimsuits, and honestly say who suited it best.
Yeah. That’s the right way.
Nodding to myself, I stood in front of the mirror.
While I’d been lost in thought, I’d already changed clothes, and now it was time to put in my contacts.
“……”
Ah. I should’ve just worn them from home.
I’d skipped them in case they got in the way while I was driving, and now the regret hit me late, but regretting it wasn’t going to change anything. I just steeled myself.
“Hup!”
I made a weird battle cry and got the contacts in.
I was already making noise in the locker room, and now I was even wiping away tears, so a few people passed by and looked at me like I was some kind of weirdo.
...Next time, I’m absolutely putting them in at home.
More important than my dignity was the fact that my eyes hurt, so I finished wiping the corners of my eyes with the back of my hand, grabbed my locker key, and stepped outside.
For the record, the layout of this pool was such that once you left the changing room, you went straight into a wide open outdoor area. But even when I reached the spot with the sunbeds gathered together like a little cluster, I still didn’t see the girls yet.
Since all three of them were girls, I guessed it was taking them a bit of time.
“Hmm.”
They’d be here soon enough. What was I supposed to do while waiting?
I was just standing there with my arms folded, with nothing better to do and my phone halfway out of my pocket, when—
“Excuse me.”
Someone called out to me.
At first I thought it was the girls, but when I turned around, I saw two people I’d never met before. Both women, and both around my age.
“Do you happen to know where we can borrow towels?”
Towels?
Wasn’t the towel rental place the first thing you saw when you came out?
Even though I thought it was a strange thing to ask, I pointed in the direction.
“Over there. You can get them from that side.”
“Ah, thank you!”
And I thought that would be the end of it, but the woman who’d asked me about towels didn’t leave right away. She hesitated.
“Um... but. Did you come here alone?”
“No. I came with someone.”
“Th-then how many people are in your group? We came with a friend, just the two of us. If it’s okay—”
“Oppa!”
As the woman kept talking, a familiar voice rang out from far away.
When I turned toward it, the girl I’d been waiting for was finally walking up with a smile on her face.
I lifted a hand and gave her a small wave.
“Sorry. Did you wait long?”
Kim Hayun.
The junior who came over with a bright smile was wearing, just as she’d warned me before, a bikini with a fairly bold design and a light, sheer cover-up over it.
Not only did it suit her, she was so cute and pretty it was the kind of sight that made me smile without even thinking about it.
I hadn’t seen the other two yet, so I couldn’t say for sure, but this had to be first place, no question.
“No, I just got here too.”
“Heh.... Really?”
Kim Hayun naturally moved in close beside me.
She flicked a glance at the two unfamiliar women in front of us, then looked back at me.
“But, Oppa. Who are these ladies?”
The people who asked where to borrow towels.
I was just about to answer that when the woman who’d spoken to me bowed her head in a panic.
“Ah, I’m sorry. Have a good time...!”
And then, dragging her friend along, she hurried off toward the far end of the pool.
Even though the towel rental place was the other way.
“Oppa.”
I was still staring after her, thinking she was a strange one, when Kim Hayun called me again.
I turned back to meet her eyes, and she spread the sheer cover-up open to both sides as if showing off her swimsuit.
“How is it?”
How was it?
Obviously, she looked better in a swimsuit than anyone I’d seen. Pretty and cute enough that she didn’t even need words.
I gave her a thumbs-up to mean there wasn’t even any need to explain, and she must have gotten embarrassed from that because she fluttered her cover-up around and laughed cutely.
“I’m way better than those people, right?”
“Huh? Who?”
“The people who just talked to you.”
Ah. Those women.
Of course. I nodded to say yes.
Kim Hayun let out a pleased huff through her nose.
“What about the others? Are they not ready yet?”
“No, they’re almost done. They should be out soon.”
So that was it.
But why had she come out alone instead of with the others?
I was only thinking that to myself when Kim Hayun, perhaps reading it right off my face, puffed out her lips and poked my upper arm.
“I figured you’d be waiting here alone, so I came out first.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You said it with your face. I’m super quick on the uptake, you know.”
She poked my arm again, as if telling me not to even try hiding it.
...Yeah, she is pretty sharp.
Feeling a little guilty, I cleared my throat awkwardly.
While I was avoiding her gaze, Kim Hayun tapped my arm a few more times and asked with curious eyes, “Oppa, can you flex this for me?”
“Why?”
“I’m curious how hard it is. Let me feel it once.”
That wasn’t exactly hard to do.
I clenched my fist, tightened my arm as much as I could, and held it out as she asked.
Kim Hayun wrapped both hands around my upper arm, then started stroking it with a careful touch.
“Wow.... It’s really hard.”
She didn’t stop at just saying it in admiration. She put a little force into her hands and squeezed and pressed.
As if she were checking whether fruit was ripe, she kneaded it, pinched it, let it go, then finally leaned in close enough to sniff it too.
“...Hey. What are you doing?”
No matter how you looked at it, sniffing me was a little embarrassing.
When I tried gently pulling away by holding her shoulder without much force, Kim Hayun didn’t cling any longer and obediently stepped back.
“Yeah. You smell weird, Oppa.”
“……What?”
“Ah, not weird-weird. How should I put it? It’s a little unusual, but kind of a nice smell. Like the one you sometimes get on the street in spring.”
“Sunbae!”
I was still a little shocked by her saying I smelled weird when I saw Mo Yuna and Chae Songha come out together from the direction of the changing rooms.
I gave them a small wave too, and the two of them walked over and stood side by side in front of me.
“Sorry. Were you bored waiting?”
Mo Yuna said something very similar to what Kim Hayun had said.
“No, it was fine. Hayun kept me company.”
As I answered casually, I looked Mo Yuna up and down.
Our junior, the prettiest girl at school, had come out in a bikini just like Kim Hayun.
The main difference between the two bikinis was that Mo Yuna’s was a darker color and the design was a little bolder.
She didn’t have a cover-up hiding her swimsuit, either.
As expected of a junior who secretly wore sexy underwear under her clothes.
“Oh, really? Then I’m glad.”
Mo Yuna clasped both hands together and fidgeted shyly, smiling sweetly.
Maybe it was because of what she was wearing, but even a small gesture like that looked incredibly cute and pretty.
...I really thought Kim Hayun would be first place.
This might turn into a surprisingly close match after all.
“Sunwoo-sunbae. Are you heading straight to swim?”
That was Chae Songha asking.
“I was thinking of going in right away.”
“Oh. I—”
Only then did I turn my gaze to the side.
...Huh?
I froze for a moment.
Unlike what they’d said about wearing rash guards, Chae Songha was also in a white bikini.
Whoa. She...
Maybe it was because she was in sports, but her body was already so solid and well-built that even a plain bikini design suited her almost frighteningly well.
I almost let out an involuntary gasp, so I covered my mouth a little. Right then, Kim Hayun tapped my shoulder.
“Hold on, you’ve got to answer the real question first, right?”
Kim Hayun smiled while looking the three of them over.
This is it.
For a moment, I felt like the moment had finally arrived.
She was probably going to ask me who suited it best.
“Oppa. Which of the three of us looks best?”
Saying that, Kim Hayun stepped between Mo Yuna and Chae Songha.
The three juniors, each showing off a different charm, all looked at me at once.
“……”
A moment ago, they’d all just seemed cute and pretty.
But once it came time to choose, somehow the pressure was real.
...Don’t overthink it.
Just pick the one who looked best at a glance.
I pointed at one of them with my finger.
“Songha suits it best.”
My choice was Chae Songha.
The reason wasn’t anything complicated.
Mo Yuna’s bikini and Kim Hayun’s were both very pretty and suited them well. But Chae Songha was different from the two of them—she was a girl whose life was built around exercise.
To put it bluntly, the firmness of her body wasn’t even in the same league as the other two. So if all three of them were wearing bikinis, of course Chae Songha was the one who would come out on top.
The three of them reacted in very different ways to my answer.
“?!”
“Mm-hmm, I thought so....”
Kim Hayun’s eyes went wide like she hadn’t expected it at all, while Mo Yuna nodded as if she accepted it with a little disappointment.
Chae Songha, the one who got my vote, glanced at the other two and then brushed her bangs back with a smug expression.
“This is me.”
“……”
But why was Kim Hayun staring at me like that?
I’d only chosen because I was asked to pick who suited it best. And yet she was staring straight at me with a face full of things to say, like I’d betrayed someone who’d trusted me.
That was starting to feel a little heavy, so I looked away.
“Then I’m gonna go swim for a bit.”
Chae Songha, still in her bikini, was so cool about it that she just started walking toward the indoor pool as if she were heading off to do something perfectly ordinary.
Mo Yuna looked back and forth between me and Kim Hayun, then, with the face of someone who’d sensed something in an instant, said, “Ah, then I’ll go ride the water slide for a bit...?”
And slipped away.
Just like that, it naturally ended up being only me and Kim Hayun left behind.
“……”
“……”
We’d all come out together, so why were we splitting up so naturally?
Before I even had time to wonder that, Kim Hayun opened her mouth sulkily.
“That’s rough, Oppa.”
“Huh?”
“You should’ve been hanging out with Songha, since her swimsuit suited her best. Instead, you got stuck with me.”
Was it just my imagination, or were her eyes a little sharp when she looked at me?
Probably not my imagination....
...Well.
Still, I couldn’t exactly lie, could I?
Chae Songha really was the one whose bikini suited her best.
“……”
“……”
But if I said that out loud, those eyes would probably get even sharper.
So in situations like this, the best thing to do was just—
“Hayun. Can you swim?”
—keep her entertained well enough that she wouldn’t get any more sulky.
When I asked that, Kim Hayun thought for a second, then pouted.
“I can... but not well. Why?”
“Oh, really?”
I held out my right hand.
“Want me to teach you?”
“……”
“……”
“...Hmph. ...Hmph!”
Kim Hayun lightly took my hand.
“...Yes. Please teach me.”
Her cheeks were a cute, flushed pink.