VOLUME 6

Chapter 1: Part 3

“Ukyaaaahhhh~~~!!!”

An ear-shattering girly scream rang through the air and got closer and closer to me.

I was helping Yuu practice her swimming kicks with a kickboard, but I realized that I was in danger and suddenly changed course.

Zabaaann~~. Really, that’s the only sound effect I knew to describe this situation.

Haruna flew right towards our place in the pool, and it looked like she was performing a Southern Star Cannonball from Fist of the North Star.

Warm water rained down all around us. Yuu stood up, and together we stared at Haruna in shock.

“Stop flying right at us each and every time.”

Haruna had been jumping right at us every single time. And each time, a huge sheet of spray and the sound of her smacking into the water’s surface would disrupt Yuu’s swimming practice.

“Ayumu! This place is amazing! It’s super fun! Nessie is definitely here!”

No, Nessie isn’t… ugh. Even if there was something that looked like Nessie here, we weren’t in the Loch Ness, so that wouldn’t technically be Nessie. I had tried to explain this to her over and over, but…

“I wonder if I can find a Gau Ha Nessie here too~~.” (1)

She wouldn’t listen to me at all. When everything went in one ear and out the other, exactly how was I supposed to get my message across?

Also, didn’t she mean Gau Ha Les.h.i.+? Les.h.i.+, not Nessie…

Maybe Haruna thought there were multiple types of Nessie or something?

I see… just like with dogs and cats, there were many different Nessies in the world, and one of them was here at the… wait, why am I even humoring her here?!

“M-Maybe that thing is Nessie?”

Haruna asked that in a stupidly loud voice, but when I looked at her it became reaaaally clear to me why. She was just having way too much fun. Were there no pools back in the world she came from?

“That’s a water slide. You just slid down it, didn’t you?”

“Hmm… if I don’t do it again I can’t be sure. Ayumu! Let’s go together!”

Haruna c.o.c.ked her head to the side before wrapping her arm around mine. You… you already know that thing isn’t Nessie, don’t you?

Haruna gripped onto me like a koala, and I began to relax into her grip, but… suddenly, I felt something soft press firmly into my arm, and I pulled my arm from her grasp.

“Go by yourself. I’m busy.”

Seriously, I was surprised. To think that her b.r.e.a.s.t.s could feel so much more substantial by just tying them up a bit…

“Ugh, why…? Okay, gloomy necromancer, let’s go!”

Haruna pouted, but I just waved her off like some stray dog. Stop trying to get Yuu involved in your weird adventures.

“Just go by yourself.”

I put emphasis on the “yourself” part of that sentence, which just caused Haruna to stick her tongue out at us and dash for the water slide. Ugh, she’s such a kid…

Yuu looked up at me. She still didn’t have any expression on her face, but I could see her fists clenched tight on her kickboard.

The Yuu inside of my head was saying this: Are you going to leave me with Haruna?

Of course, Yuu never showed any emotion, so I really couldn’t tell what she was feeling, but I sensed some loneliness in those blue eyes of hers as she looked up at me.

Also, I personally would rather spend some quiet time with Yuu than go off and be led around by Haruna.

“So, shall we continue? Looks like you’ve gotten the hang of going straight, so I think you’ll be able to swim soon.”

I placed my hand on top of Yuu’s silver-haired head and nodded. I focused all my attention on Yuu, trying to ignore the residual warmth that Haruna had left in my arms.

Yuu stretched her arms straight on the kickboard and began to kick her feet. It was a rare sight to see her trying this hard, so I just found the entire scene really cute.

Yeah. She really should try to move a bit more. I knew she was trying hard, but if she made her movements a bit more dynamic, I’m sure she would be able to swim soon.

As I listened to the sound of Yuu’s high socks kicking the water, I felt my gaze begin to wander.

At the poolside, Sera was wearing a maid outfit and was getting bathed in attention. Maybe she was satisfied after swimming a lap around the pool, but she was now enjoying the cosplay portion of this event. Sera sure did like her cosplay… she was always quick to just flood me with abuse whenever she saw me in my masou shoujo cosplay though…

Orito was risking his life trying to capture Sera’s image in film by putting his single-lens reflex camera to good use and taking her photos from many different angles.

Sera didn’t look too happy with that though, and at some point it seemed she had reached the limit of her patience. She went over to Orito and smacked him across the face. Without a single word too… geez, that was harsh. It would’ve been better if she called him a piece of unburnable trash or the hair on a caterpillar or something.

And of course, as Orito was falling into the deepest pits of despair, he came over to Yuu and me.

“Orito, you have to ask before you take a picture.”

“I did. I asked if I could take just one picture…”

“Oh, hmm… and what did Sera say?”

“Well, Sera-san gave me this look like a person who had just trampled the single remaining flower in a big field…”

–

“No thanks?”

–

“Is what she said.”

What kind of face was she making when she said that? Did she look like she was making fun of him, or maybe like she was having fun herself?

“Anyways, I’d give you ten to zero odds that this was your fault… hey, stop crying, dammit.”

“But, Aikawa. Just look at that beautiful maid over there! I could just die happy today.”

Orito’s eyes sparkled from behind his gla.s.ses. Well, it might actually have been his tears sparkling, but… either way, it was gross.

Yuu stopped kicking her feet (maybe she was tired?) and came out of the pool. She then took her gauntleted hand and smacked Orito across the cheek. Wow, he was just getting completely kicked around today… although, I guess instead of kicked, it was slapped.

Orito didn’t seem to understand why he had just gotten slapped again, but I explained it to him.

“Yuu is offended by anyone who takes death lightly.”

Yuu gave a firm nod at my words and sat down at the poolside, soaking only her legs in the water. She looked almost like a mermaid in a school swimsuit, who also happened to be a fairy necromancer G.o.ddess.

There was power contained in Yuu’s words. So, she couldn’t let out a single sound. But that’s also why Yuu understood more than anybody how heavy words could be.

“Ah, I see. Sorry about that.”

“Well, if you’re taking pictures, I’ll have to ask you for a couple of copies later.”

I wanted those pictures as well… pictures of Sera. Orito pointed the Camera at Yuu and brought his elbows tight against his sides.

“… Can I snap just one picture?”

Orito raised his index finger and Yuu gave a single nod. Orito then snapped a photo of Yuu in her swimsuit like his life depended on it.

… I’ll have to ask for a copy of that later too.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) Reference to Heavy Metal L-Gaim, a mecha anime.