What Tohka was wearing when she emerged from the changing room was a white, full-body swimsuit.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Shido!”
[Oh! This is excellent! A provocative choice that makes Tohka’s innocent beauty stand out thanks to the simple design!]
Kannazuki launched into a long-winded explanation, proudly flaunting his perverted instincts. Since it was at least a full-body swimsuit with modest exposure, I managed to keep my composure.
“S-so, what do you think, Shido? Is your heart pounding?”
At Tohka’s shy question, Shido blushed and nodded.
“Y-yeah...”
“If you say so, then I’ll have to try even harder!”
While Tohka burned with determination, the curtain on the other side opened and Origami stepped out.
“Shido.”
[What destructive power! Her pale skin stands out against that dark color! And because she tied her hair up to match the swimsuit, her nape is completely visible!!!]
Yeah, okay. The moment I realized it was a bikini, I closed my eyes. At least thanks to Kannazuki’s commentary, I could vaguely imagine the look.
“How is it?”
“Huh? Oh, um, it suits you really well...”
“You bastard!!!”
From the sound of it, Tohka must have felt a sense of crisis and bolted back behind the curtain to change again. Then I heard the curtain slide open once more, and this time it was another bikini. A purple one.
“How about this, Shido!”
[Here it comes—!!! That healthy-looking figure! That faint embarrassment stirs a man’s heart!!!]
This was still being done under the pretense of "training," so I tried my best to keep my eyes open and endure it. We were going to Ocean Park anyway, and there would be outfits like that everywhere; I couldn't afford to be this overwhelmed there.
“Shido.”
After Kannazuki finished his explanation, Origami stepped out from the other side. This time, thankfully, she was wearing normal clothes, so I could hold out.
“Hmph! So you’ve finally admitted defeat!”
Tohka spoke as if Origami had given up, but Origami ignored her and walked over to Shido. Then, she grabbed his hand and pulled it toward her skirt.
“...”
“Lift it.”
“Huh?!!!”
“What are you doing, you brat?!”
Before long, Origami had shoved Shido’s hand under her skirt and lifted the fabric, revealing the swimsuit she was wearing underneath.
[Unbelievable! It’s not the sight itself that raises the excitement, but the concealment! This is true exposure! Victory through conceptual brilliance!!!]
Please stop narrating, Kannazuki.
“Uuuugh!!! Not yet! The match isn’t over yet!”
As Tohka said, the match really wasn’t over. Murasame hadn't said anything yet. Probably because her heart rate after seeing the two of them was just as high as theirs.
Just then, a voice called out to me from the changing room.
“H-Hieta-san... Hieta-san...! P-please help me...”
At Yoshino’s tearful plea, I hurriedly opened the curtain to the changing room. “What is it? Did something happen—”
What I saw when I opened the curtain was Yoshino in the middle of putting on her swimsuit.
“I-I can’t put it on properly with just one hand...”
Yeah. I see. That happens. Right.
“H-Hieta-san...?”
[Oh no. That was too much of a shock. He’s dead from shock.]
“Dead from shock?!!!”
******
My "shock death" ended the swimsuit showdown with no winner at all. The good news was that I came to in time to help Yoshino. Once the chaos subsided, Shido and I returned to the [Fraxinus] to talk with Kannazuki.
“We really went through something incredible...”
“Tell me about it...”
“Hahaha, I enjoyed watching. Still, since you saw so many girls in swimsuits, the training should have been effective. I didn’t expect Hieta-san to actually die from shock, though.”
At Kannazuki’s words, I simply kept my mouth shut. It was an undeniable fact. I hadn’t expected to die from shock either.
“That’s true. We have to save Kotori.”
Just as I was feeling that shame all over again, Shido mentioned that we had to save the commander. Save her?
“Save the commander? Is something wrong with her?”
“N-no, it’s nothing.”
He said it was nothing, but there was definitely something hidden that I didn’t know about. Still, I couldn’t just pry, so I decided to wait until he was ready to talk.
“If it’s something you can’t say, then you don’t have to. Everyone has at least one secret.”
“Yeah. Thanks for understanding. Still, if I could at least remember what happened five years ago...”
As he spoke, Shido crumpled the cup in his hand, looking frustrated.
Right, Shido had mentioned he didn’t remember anything from five years ago.
But what happened five years ago? I’d been here for less than a year, so I was completely in the dark.
“Kannazuki-san, what happened five years ago?”
“Ah, Hieta-san wouldn’t know. Five years ago, there was a major incident called the Nankocho Great Fire. The commander caused it, and Shido-kun sealed her back then.”
That was the first time I’d heard of such an event. If it was called a "great fire," just how large was the area it burned? And the commander had been the cause.
“I see... Ah, is Shido okay?”
Come to think of it, this was a personal family matter. At my words, Kannazuki’s face also stiffened in embarrassment.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Still, I wish I at least remembered sealing her, but I don’t remember anything.”
Listening to Shido’s worries, Kannazuki seemed to think of something. “I don’t know if it’ll help, but we do have footage of the great fire from five years ago. Would you like to see it?”
“You do?”
“Yes. Please follow me. Hieta-kun, would you like to watch too?”
“If Shido is okay with it.”
“I’m fine.”
With Shido’s permission, we followed Kannazuki into another room.
Inside the room was a single beam projector. When Kannazuki operated the remote, a video began to play.
[What tremendous flames! The heat is intense!]
In the video, a female reporter was broadcasting while filming a village from the air. True to the name Nankocho Great Fire, the flames had spread across an enormous area.
“We obtained this from a broadcast station that had aerial footage. Now, here it comes.”
As Kannazuki said, the video showed the commander manifesting her [Zaphkiel], with Shido collapsed on the ground nearby.
“Kotori and me?”
“I’ll keep playing it.”
The figures of the commander and Shido gradually zoomed in, and then a noise-like shape appeared in front of the commander.
“Please stop!”
“Why? I don’t see anything particularly noticeable...”
“...You can’t see it, Kannazuki-san?”
“Pardon?”
Judging by his reaction, it seemed Kannazuki couldn’t see it. Only Shido and I had noticed the glitch-like shape of the noise. I didn’t know what it was, but judging from Shido’s reaction, it was definitely something unusual.
“Who are you! Who the hell are you?!”
“‘Who are you’? Hieta-san, too? Who are you talking about?”
“That guy!”
After saying that, Shido suddenly staggered and collapsed.
“S-Shido-kun?!”
“Shido?!”
Kannazuki and I quickly carried the unconscious Shido to the infirmary inside the [Fraxinus].
“Haa, what on earth is going on...”
Shido had suddenly collapsed after seeing the noise-like figure in the video. And Kannazuki’s reaction made it clear he couldn’t see that figure at all. There was definitely something to it, but there was no way to know what.
“Hieta-san, you have plans tomorrow too, so why don’t you head back first?”
While I was pondering the noise, Kannazuki suggested I go home. I had no reason to refuse, so I agreed and left the [Fraxinus].
“I still have no way to learn anything about that noise. I’ll think about it later.”
After returning home, I lay down on my bed, sorted out my thoughts, and fell asleep.
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