The Seryu Military Company's Picnic
I woke to the sound of soft snoring. Lianna Holden was using my left arm as her pillow, breathing in a tiny, rhythmic snore. On my right, Sawayanagi Azuma slept peacefully, while Mimata Chieri had curled herself into a ball at my feet like a cat. Was she actually a cat…?
I groped around for my phone and saw it was already eleven. Time for everyone to gather for lunch. After going at it until sunrise, it felt like we’d slept just the right amount.
The moment I stirred while checking my phone, the girls began to wake one by one.
“Huaaam…! Seeing honey’s face first thing in the morning is getting me all fired up.”
I let out a small laugh at Lianna Holden’s shamelessly middle-aged-man comment. Sawayanagi Azuma rose from the bed, stretching her arms high above her head with a big yawn, while Mimata Chieri performed a perfect cat-like stretch. Had she heard me call her a cat earlier? How interesting.
“We’ll head down first, so please take your time, Investor-nim.”
The three of them left the room. I got up, stretched myself, washed up in the bathroom, and made my way down to the dining hall.
Everyone seemed to be suffering from serious hangovers after drinking so heavily the night before. Their hair was a mess and they were rubbing their temples.
“Ryuta, you sleepyhead.”
“Haha, sorry. I drank quite a bit yesterday.”
Alik, who hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol, looked perfectly fine as she scolded me. I smiled and gently patted her head.
Alik closed her eyes in pleasure, clearly enjoying the affection.
“That little cat named Alik has surprisingly good movement. I gave her some pointers on her form during morning training.”
Fujigasaki Rinka, dressed in a tracksuit, entered the dining hall while speaking to me. She must have washed after training; she was vigorously drying her hair with a towel. She shook it so enthusiastically that water droplets flew everywhere, including all over me.
“Ah, you’re getting me soaked, Master! Couldn’t you have dried it first?”
“Kahahaha! Consider it your master’s droplets of love!”
“What the heck are ‘droplets of love’ supposed to be?”
Still, the fact that Fujigasaki Rinka had personally overseen Alik’s training suggested the girl had real talent.
After chatting with Fujigasaki Rinka for a while, everyone gradually gathered in the dining hall. Lunch was ochazuke—the classic Japanese hangover remedy. The toppings were luxurious: umeboshi, salmon, mentaiko, katsuobushi, and more.
Since I hadn’t been drunk, I finished my bowl in seconds and asked the pension owner for another. After moving my hips nonstop from last night until dawn, I needed the calories.
“After we finish eating and rest for about thirty minutes, we’ll head to the valley today. If you plan to play in the water, change into your swimsuits.”
Sawayanagi Azuma announced the day’s schedule and headed upstairs, probably to change. Today was going to be a feast for the eyes.
I returned to my room, put on the trunk-style swimsuit I’d worn during the trip with Yuukiko, and headed outside.
When we reached the valley, a few people were already enjoying the water—it was a summer Sunday, after all.
“Ryuta~!”
Alik came running toward me in a one-piece swimsuit. The navy design resembled a school swimsuit, but her body had an unexpectedly voluptuous figure. I could sense she was growing. I hadn’t exactly raised her, but watching her develop filled me with a strange sense of pride.
“Mari-chan picked it out for me.”
“It looks cute, Alik.”
“....Ryuta looks cute too.”
Alik spun once in front of me. It really was the perfect cute swimsuit for her. She beamed when I told her it suited her.
Kiyona Mari clearly wasn’t above it either. The moment her name came up, she appeared with her older twin, Kiyona Hori.
The gothic-lolita-style lace swimsuits suited them perfectly—Kiyona Hori in white, Kiyona Mari in black.
They clearly cared about fashion; both looked great. Kiyona Hori’s chest was overwhelmingly large, but Kiyona Mari’s swimsuit complemented her frame nicely too.
“I-It’s not like I wore this for the investor or anything…!”
“What do you think, Investor-nim?”
“Both of you look fantastic.”
I gave them a thumbs-up. The sisters blushed deeply at the praise, clearly delighted.
Next came Mimata Chieri in a red bikini that matched her orange hair, followed by Sawayanagi Azuma in a green bikini.
Of course men came down too, but there wasn’t much point describing their swimsuits, so I’ll skip that.
“Ehehe, Ryuta-nim…!”
Konoe Akina descended in a white bikini, immediately linking arms with me and pressing her breasts firmly against my side. Was a virgin allowed to provoke like this? Especially one who was the head of an entire noble family?
“It looks great on you, Konoe-san.”
“Ehehe…!”
She placed both hands on her cheeks, glowing with happiness at the compliment. Soon after, Fujigasaki Rinka arrived with her signature “Kahahaha!” laugh, a beer can in one hand.
She wore a black bikini top with short denim shorts. The terrible wounds she’d suffered yesterday had completely vanished—not even a bruise remained.
“Master, you’re completely healed?”
“I was deliberately suppressing my recovery to teach you some caution. Did you really think I’d be beaten by one of Takakusaki Gengo’s disciples? Not even by Gengo himself.”
Suppressing recovery? Just how high was her level? Even with my special trait, I couldn’t suppress my regeneration for even a second.
“It looks good on you, Master. A bikini definitely beats bruises.”
“This brat has no respect for her master!”
Fujigasaki Rinka gave my stomach a playful “Pow!” at the compliment. Her strike carried monstrous power; my organs felt like they’d been shaken, yet strangely the pain traveled to my back.
“Oh! Ryuta-nim! There’s a fist mark on your back…!”
“Ryuta, are you okay?”
The mark would disappear quickly thanks to my regeneration, but the fact that a stomach blow had left a mark on my back spoke to nearly divine skill.
“Honey!”
Lianna Holden made a flashy entrance in an American-flag bikini. In contrast, Sawayanagi Seari wore a pure-white one-piece and came down blushing shyly. Sniper Sawayanagi Mikiyo had unfortunately opted for a rash guard, while the final woman, Jeong Darim, wore a swimsuit but seemed uninterested in the water—she had thrown on Seryu-tai’s green field jacket instead.
She’d probably spend the day examining the plants around the valley. I hoped she’d find some good medicinal herbs.
“Those who want to play in the water, go ahead! Everyone have fun~!”
“Yesss~!”
At Sawayanagi Azuma’s signal, people rushed into the water. A few of the men were already approaching the female tourists, successfully flirting. Being PMC agents with excellent physiques clearly helped.
“Kahahaha! Come at me!”
Fujigasaki Rinka splashed water indiscriminately. Somehow she infused the water with energy—her splashes actually stung.
“Ouch!”
“Go easy, Rinka-san!”
“Kahahahaha!”
It was good that she was excited, but this was a bit much. In that case, I’d fight fire with fire. I poured a touch of the abyss into my splash and sent it flying at her.
SPLAAAAASH!!!
The water struck her far harder than I’d expected. Caught off guard, Fujigasaki Rinka actually staggered.
I got a little nervous myself, but the playful glint in her eyes remained, so I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Ryuu-ta! You’ve done it now…!”
“You started it, Master!”
After that, we went wild splashing each other. My serious hit seemed to have sobered her up; I could tell she was controlling her strength better. Of course, whenever she targeted me, the water still came flying like a cannonball.
During the chaos, Alik took the full force of a blast Fujigasaki Rinka had meant for me and was knocked over by the current.
“Alik~! Are you okay?”
“Mmm…! I’m fine, Ryuta.”
She said she was fine, but her frustrated little huffs suggested otherwise. Instead of splashing back, Alik charged straight at Fujigasaki Rinka in a full-body tackle.
“What are you doing, you little cat! You’re supposed to use water, not your body!”
Visible electric sparks crackled across Alik’s body where it clung to Fujigasaki Rinka.
“Uwaaaaah!”
The zap-zap of electricity surged through Fujigasaki Rinka. She shook violently from the shock. The problem was that we were all standing in the valley water, clustered together.
Everyone except me—who possessed resistance to status effects—got electrocuted and floated limply on the surface.
Luckily, the tourists were far enough away that they weren’t affected.
“Ah…!”
Alik looked around at the fallen bodies and panicked.
“Let’s pull everyone out first.”
“Yeah…”
Fortunately Alik hadn’t used her full power, so no one was seriously hurt. They were simply startled by the sudden shock.
We dragged them onto the rocks one by one. They began to regain consciousness. Naturally, Fujigasaki Rinka woke first and immediately roared at Alik.
“You little cat brat! Want to get punished?”
“I’m sorry…”
Once everyone else woke up, Alik bowed deeply to them all and apologized. The Seryu-tai members had experienced similar incidents since childhood, so they forgave her easily.
Swimsuit illustrations of the remaining members!
Jeong Darim
Lianna Holden
Sawayanagi Mikiyo
Mimata Chieri
Sawayanagi Seari
Sawayanagi Azuma
Alik