Time flew by quickly, and the opportunity to avenge last year’s humiliating defeat was just around the corner.
It’s truly frustrating, but the time for the summer festival, which has been dubbed the “Get Tournament,” has arrived.
To be honest, last year’s defeat seemed like something transcendent was conspired against Trinity, so saying we lost feels like an insult to my pride.
And rightfully so, as there wasn’t a single aspect in overall performance where we fell short.
Therefore, it’s only fair to consider last year’s tournament as an act of record obliteration. I truly mean it.
The Get Tournament, not the Trget Tournament!
What a ridiculous world we live in. I don’t like how it sounds, and I like the content even less.
Anyway, the player roster for this year’s Get Tournament is somewhat finalized. So now is the time for revenge!
At Trinity, discussions about swimsuit designs for the festival were lively, and I figured it would be similar in Gehenna.
Amid this, I ran into a girl who was a former member of the Arius Squad.
“Hehe… What do you think, Mika-chan…?”
It was Tsuchinaga Hiyori.
To be honest, the Arius Squad wasn’t exactly disbanded. Even Misaki, who betrayed us to join the Rescue Knights and found her own path, often joins in on the squad’s activities.
The current identity of this squad had essentially become my private army. Not for Pater, Trinity, or Arius, but a group existing solely for me.
What’s important here is the part that says “just for me.”
This kind of thing often connects to situations where Hiyori expresses her feelings for me in a somewhat special way.
“…I guess I’ll see it first.”
Recently, Hiyori had measured my sizes incredibly meticulously. It was a shady act that involved unnecessary physical contact.
At that time, Hiyori brought up that she wanted to personally design the swimsuit I’d wear this year, asking if I’d be okay with that. I told her I would decide once I saw the finished product.
Though I said that, I was willing to wear it unless the design was extraordinarily terrible. Considering Hiyori’s effort, it felt only natural to do so.
With that thought, I picked up the first swimsuit and let out a silent gasp.
“U-uh, ah?! I’m sorry…!”
“Wow—oh. Uh-huh.”
Hiyori hurriedly reached out to snatch the swimsuit from my hands. After successfully keeping the swimsuit away from her, I awkwardly scratched my cheek.
“Um, Hiyori-chan…? I don’t think I’m bold enough to wear something like this in front of everyone.”
“Uwaaa… It’s a disaster… That wasn’t supposed to show today, so how did it end up in there…? This world really is like a roller coaster, just when you think it’s getting better, it crashes down like my coin…”
“What? Coin?”
“Ah, that was a secret! Actually, I heard this from Hibiki-chan. Apparently, there’s a coin investment craze among the Students of Millennium, so I decided to dabble a little…”
Pushing the design of the bikini out of my mind for a moment, I straightened up and faced Hiyori directly.
“Hiyori-chan, I’m not completely clueless about coins, you know. Yeah. I actually know quite a bit about it.”
As someone who knew the madness of the recent coin craze that swept the world, I hoped Hiyori wouldn’t get involved with such things. I didn’t want to witness someone close to me despair as their coins turned into worthless data within an instant.
“So, I hope you won’t invest too heavily in it. You need to keep in mind that while earning is instantaneous, losing can be just as quick.”
“…”
Hiyori paused at my words.
Soon, tears began to well up in her eyes.
…Why?
“Uuuh… Mika-chan, this is all a m-misunderstanding… I only put in 10,000 yen. And I lost it all, so I wasn’t planning on touching coins ever again…!”
“…Pffft.”
I couldn’t contain my laughter at Hiyori’s words. 10,000 yen, while not exactly chump change, was still a bit of a small amount in my eyes.
“You’re even laughing… I get it. Mika-chan must think I’m pathetic for losing money so easily.”
“Huh? No, that’s not it.”
…I wouldn’t think she was pathetic even if she had dumped all her savings into it. I’d just feel sorry for her.
Even if that happened, our Hiyori has me as a reliable support, so isn’t she in a better position than most?
I’m more than willing to back her up. Yup.
“This world really is a place filled with suffering. Even the trusted Mika-chan has stabbed me in the back, so what meaning is there in struggling through this pain…?”
“Seriously, Hiyori-chan. You’re overreacting. Yeah. I only thought you were cute, so calm down a bit… Huh?”
While holding Hiyori’s hand as she cried with her eyes tightly shut, I caught sight of a bizarre scene.
Hiyori was sneakily glancing at me with her eyes half-opened, as if checking my reaction.
“…Heueng.”
So she was pretending to cry. It was all crocodile tears.
“Wait, hold on. Mika-chan, this is a misunderstanding…”
“Really now? What part is a misunderstanding?”
Realizing she had painted herself into a corner, Hiyori rolled her eyes, glancing at me, before she broke into her signature giggle and attempted a negotiation.
“Hehe… Mika-chan, nothing happened between us just now. You didn’t see anything, right?”
“Ah, I see. So that’s what happened.”
“Y-yeah, that’s what happened… So could you just pretend you didn’t see anything…?”
Seeing Hiyori have the audacity to ask for that, I chuckled silently. Honestly, I couldn’t understand how she could be this cute.
“Well, it seems like I can let it slide for today☆”
Chuckling, I picked up the swimsuit I had set aside for a moment.
To put it succinctly, it was quite revealing. In fact, ridiculously so.
I couldn’t imagine wearing it in front of others, it was that insane.
Even though I’ve become quite lenient about exposure lately, this slingshot micro bikini? Hmmm.
Definitely not happening, to be honest.
“You said it wasn’t supposed to be shown today…”
“Yeah, yeah, I heard you. So that means, you intended to show it later, right?”
“Well, that… um… hehe…”
Hiyori, with her index fingers touching, smiled awkwardly and avoided eye contact. It meant she wasn’t denying it.
“H-Hiyori-chan?”
“Yeah, our perverted designer made this as a swimsuit. Why do you call?”
“You’re gonna wear it, right…?”
Good grief, she’s a pro at pretending while cleverly getting what she wants.
“What? You want me to wear this?”
“I had a feeling you wouldn’t. I thought I’d slide it in just for fun, but I figured it wouldn’t work out…”
“…Heueng. I didn’t say I wouldn’t wear it, though hearing that you slid it in on purpose makes me want to wear it even less. Hmph.”
“…Boohooo!!! I-I can’t let this happen… After going all out, to just be kicked away like a fool. It’s frustrating. I can only resent this world that’s so harsh towards me…”
Hiyori punched her head onto the table, bursting into tears. This time it seemed genuine, but I knew better.
Well, Hiyori’s thought process is predictable. She likely thought I’d just give in if she played the pity card.
And there was some rationale to that. I usually let my girlfriends win rather than getting all competitive.
Nonetheless, since Hiyori’s being a bit annoying today, I set the slingshot micro bikini, which gave me a headache just thinking about it, back down.
“Ah…”
Hiyori’s sigh full of disappointment reached my ears as I moved on to the second swimsuit she prepared.
“Heueng… This one’s pretty nice.”
Maybe the first one was so shocking that this one didn’t feel off-putting even with a lot of exposure compared to last year’s swimsuit.
Could it be that Hiyori was aiming for this effect?
Well… that’s unlikely, but anyway.
The second swimsuit was a white halter-neck monokini. It had large side cutouts, with the cleavage fully exposed and little coverage on the back…
If the old me was here, I would have immediately declared it unacceptable.
“Is it really good?”
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s bad.”
Setting the swimsuit down again, I picked up the next one.
This time, it was a cropped rash guard swimsuit. A simple black design with the Arius mark printed on the chest.
“While it is simple, Uhm. It doesn’t spark much interest.”
“Hehe… Were you saying you didn’t like our Arius mark? The princess will be sad…”
“Wow—oh…? I didn’t say that much. Yeah, more importantly, what do you mean by ‘I thought so’? Are you implying this was placed as a smokescreen?”
“…”
Hiyori refused to answer. It was certain now that she was hoping I would wear either the second swimsuit or the one after it.
Shaking my head gently, I picked up the final, much-anticipated fourth swimsuit.
“…Hee.”
And instantly, I was hooked.
A cool sky-blue base with light pink straps, a classic triangle bikini. It came with a sheer white chiffon wrap skirt.
“I really like this one. Yeah. I’m a bit embarrassed, though…”
“Is it real…?!”
Showing off my bare skin in front of others felt way more embarrassing than I’d imagined. My memories of running around in just a triangle swimsuit at a water park while being a guy didn’t help either.
But now, I couldn’t take my eyes off this swimsuit that seemed to be a perfect match for me after just one glance.
Maybe trying it on and asking for opinions from our husbands wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Plus, putting this on would also make the embarrassment I’d surely face a lot easier to handle.
Thinking of showing it to our husbands made me feel like I could manage it just fine.
Now, looking at Hiyori, I felt I should give her some compliments, but I wondered how I should do it.
While thinking this over in my mind, I smiled softly. It seemed like it’d be good to add a little flair to the compliment I was originally planning on giving her.
“Hiyori-chan, as a reward for creating such a pretty swimsuit, how about I give you a very special prize…?”
“Ah! What kind of prize…? Just so you know, I really like Mika-chan!”
“…Ahaha! Seriously, how did I get so lucky with you?”
“Uwey?!”
Unexpectedly bursting into laughter at Hiyori’s honest cuteness, I began pinching her cheeks and, after a moment of hesitation, finally shared what prize I had in mind.
“The first swimsuit I saw.”
“…!”
I could see Hiyori’s eyes sparkle with anticipation. While I should dampen that excitement for a more entertaining reaction, I decided to hold back.
After all, if I did that, it wouldn’t be strange for Hiyori to start crying for real. And I didn’t want to make her cry.
“Details… I’ll reveal them specially, just between the two of us when we’re alone☆”
“I love you, Mika-chan!”
“Th-that kinda gives me a sense of déjà vu, so please don’t say it like that…?”
Even though Hiyori had a bit of a dull side, she knew how to read the room at times.
As she confessed her love while clinging to me, I thought to myself.
Leaving aside Hiyori, just what was going through the heads of those who designed such swimsuits for the first time?
As someone who had to wear it rather than spectate, curiosity could not help but arise.
