The summer holidays were right around the corner. It was a lot of fun last year when I went to Karuizawa with Serika-chan and the others. I wondered if anybody wanted to go this year too.

When I asked them I was filled with hope but the responses weren’t good. Our schedules wouldn’t line up, myself included. Thanks to that we just couldn’t find a time. That was a shame. We didn’t even have to stay anywhere. I would have just been happy meeting up and going somewhere to play. Come on, guys~

Speaking of my group, it had gotten pretty big by now. Thanks to that it actually comprised smaller groups of closer friends. For example, my one was the one with Serika-chan, Kikuno-chan, Ayame-chan, Ru’ne-chan etc.

Anyway, on a more hopeful note, bringing that up had stirred the enthusiasm in my friends, so we decided to see about rearranging our schedules. Hooray!

It’d be nice if I could see Sakura-chan and Aoi-chan too.

Still feeling exciting, I headed to the Handicrafts Club to find everybody there. Apparently each year they all gathered to discuss the wedding dress for the school festival. I was only a provisional member last year so I wasn’t called. I obviously did this year. I was totally useless with the sewing machine and embroidery so they couldn’t count on me. I attended though. If I didn’t I would shame my position as an official member of the club. I could help clean up the sc.r.a.ps of cloth and thread that fell around when they were creating the dress. While I wasn’t cleaning I could focus on my own exhibition instead. I took Minami-kun’s advice and decided to create as large a doll with needle felting as I could. With my meagre skills I needed to start now or I’d have no chance of finis.h.i.+ng it in time. That meant I had to decide on what I wanted to make, and quickly.

At first I thought about making a teddy bear, but there was already a girl planning on making plush doll teddy bears. She was so much better than me that I chickened out. Still, a cute animal would be nice~ Maybe rabbits, or dogs, or cats~? Hmm, but it wouldn’t be very impressive if they were too small either… Oh, something perfect came to mind.

It was my confidante, Beatrice.

The first thing I did at cram school was ask Umewaka-kun if I could use Beatrice as my model. He happily agreed.

“A doll of Beatrice… What a wonderful idea, Kisshouin-san!”

“You think?”

“Yeah! I understand, Kisshouin-san. By doing this, we can immortalise Beatrice’s cuteness forever. Bea-tan is the cutest in the world, isn’t she! Ah, but what if more Bea-tan fans appear in Suiran because of this!?”

Umewaka-kun was uncontrollable. I really should have just asked somebody else or gone to the zoo… If by some chance I made her ugly I could see a huge mess coming from this. Better make her 30% cuter than she is.

“And so, Umewaka-kun, I would like to have her measurements, as well as photos of both her entire body and individual body parts. Could you prepare these for me before we meet next time?”

“Size? Beatrice is 32 centimetres long. Her weight is… No, no! She’s a girl so I can’t tell you! Bea-tan would get angry if I did!”

“I see…”

He began to happily speak nonsense so I ignored him. 32 centimetres though. She was surprisingly small. Wait, so maybe I could make her life-sized then!?

“The weight is fine, but if possible could I have her girth and other size measurements? If possible I would like to create something life-sized.”

“Eh!? Really!? A life-sized Bea-tan doll… She’ll be so cute once you’re done… Oh! Then what if you measured her directly? Wouldn’t it be easier to measure what you want yourself then? And I think it would be easier for you to picture her after you’ve really met her.”

“May I truly!?”

“Yeah. We can meet at a park sometime. Is that okay?”

“Most definitely!”

This would make my life so much easier! I could even take photos of all her parts now!

“Then when shall we do it? I will be happy to do this whenever is convenient for you. Please let me know when and where.”

“Hmmm… Oh! But you need to wait a little! Right now Bea-tan is in the middle of exercising and dieting. She ate a little too much and hadn’t been exercising properly so she’s gotten a little fat. Please just give us a bit more time!”

Oh my G.o.d!

I feel you so bad, Bea-taaaaan!

Are you actually my doppelganger!?

“…Of course! A girl must be at her best for these things. I will wait. To do otherwise would only be humiliating for her!”

“Thanks, Kisshouin-san! We’ll definitely make the cutest Bea-tan possible!”

The two of us exchanged a firm handshake.

Oh. Dog Lover-kun’s silver ring was actually designed after a dog’s footprint.

Maybe I could thank him with a matching necklace and collar.

I got another email from Bea-tan.

“I’m so happy that you chose me as a model! I’ll do my best with Aa-tan to diet, so just you wait! Bea-tan won’t lose to an empty stomach!”

Since the other me, Beatrice, was giving her all, I had to be doing the same. After some thought, the way I spent lazing around each day was making me slack, both in body and mind.

So to counteract that my first idea was running. It was inexpensive too, since I only needed my body. It was summer though. Since getting a heatstroke would be pretty scary, maybe I could run around the neighbourhood in the early morning or maybe in the evening instead?

At dinner I brought the topic up with my family, and somehow ended up with a dedicated bodyguard for when I went jogging. Was it that big of a deal…?

It was just going to be around the neighbourhood, so I told them so many times that it would be fine, but every single one of them told me it was too dangerous to go by myself and rejected the idea. Ehhhhhh. If they got me a bodyguard just for jogging then wouldn’t that make it really hard to give up…? I knew myself really well, so I could already see what was going to happen. What was I going to do… Take back what I said…? Yeah, that sounded good.

Or so I thought, but they had immediately prepared the bodyguard for me so I had no path of retreat…

Mmmmm… It was going to be really warm… I was thinking of changing to doing radio callisthenics instead~

Haha, no good…?

When they introduced me to my bodyguard he was a tanned, muscular ojisama.

“Reika-ojousama! I had track experience back when I was a student, so I can guide you on your running form as well! Please don’t worry about a thing! Let’s try our best together to improve your records! Today we’ll start with a light 3 kilometre run! Let’s begin!”

Just how enthusiastic was he about athletics… Oh dear…

“Perhaps instead of jogging, we could do radio callisthenics,” I tried, but…

“I understand! Let’s add radio callisthenics on top of the jogging then!”

What was I going to do. I was filled with anxiety now. I couldn’t even run 500 metres, you know!?

Okaasama took me to the beauty parlour, maybe in preparation for the detox course or something.

They oiled up the fat I had gained from eating these last few months and then began ma.s.saging it mercilessly.

I suddenly remembered The Restaurant With Many Orders.

Were they rubbing the flavouring into me to make a French tart or something…?

Aahh… And so my 2nd year summer holidays began.