Chapter 398: Heading up the Mountain
"Tomorrow is summer vacation! Everyone, we absolutely have to go to the beach this year, otherwise our last high school summer will be wasted!"
Inside the student council room, the air conditioner had just been turned on, so the air was still a bit warm.
Because of that, an extremely exaggerated scene appeared.
All three girls were pressed tightly against Sakurai Saki, enjoying the continuous stream of cool air emanating from his body.
Shirogane Miyuki looked at Sakurai Saki being surrounded by three girls. A hint of envy emerged in his heart, but when he remembered these three were not the type one could handle easily, he gained newfound respect for Sakurai Saki.
A man running a harem without dying yet was… pretty incredible.
He regained his composure and continued from Chika's topic: "Secretary Fujiwara, last year you went to England for vacation and got tanned that badly. This year if you go to the beach, will you be alright?"
"My body has always been like that. But at most I turn to wheat-colored skin, not the deep dark type you get from tanning."
"Tanning? You mean the beauty treatment where you sunbathe on purpose to darken your skin?" Hayasaka Ai still preferred pale skin.
It wasn't discrimination — she genuinely couldn't appreciate dark skin tones... Even though she is considered a Gyaru.
"Secretary-chan, have you tried using sunscreen?"
"Useless." Fujiwara Chika sighed. "Before, when I went to the beach, I didn't dare stay on the sand for long. If I didn't go into the water, I'd be dark in just one day. I don't even dare wear bikini styles that expose too much — the tan lines would show, and Moeha always teases me about them."
"I remember the Fujiwara family has a private beach, right?" Shinomiya Kaguya didn't think tan lines were anything to be embarrassed about.
After all, no one outside could see them.
"That's right. And the Kaguya-san household has several private beaches too, plus an undeveloped private island."
Yo. Why did the topic suddenly shift into something strange?
Talk of private beaches and private islands at the drop of a hat — was this how boring and showy rich people were?
Shirogane Miyuki glanced at Sakurai Saki.
"Sakurai, your family doesn't have a private beach, right?"
"We don't."
"Good." Shirogane Miyuki let out a sigh of relief.
If Sakurai's family also had a beach, the student council room would be filled with suffocating rich-people air.
A guy as poor as him shouldn't even be upstairs — he should probably go hide in the parking garage.
"My family only has a few mountains, it really doesn't have a beach." Sakurai Saki recalled.
He had asked his mother before.
Jinguuji said the family only had mountains, no sea, because she was originally a fox.
What fox lives by the ocean?
"Your family has mountains?"
"Just some small hills near Kyoto, close to Kobe, nothing noteworthy."
Small hills in Kyoto? Even 'small' would still be valuable, wouldn't they?
As expected of Kyoto people — even if the family struggled, they still had land.
"If you guys are interested, we could go climb the mountains this summer, though the trails haven't been repaired, and the biggest structure there is just a vacation villa…"
As soon as he finished speaking—
Silence filled the student council room.
Aside from the cat–dog argument, the topic of summer vacation destinations was always one of the hottest.
"Why are you all quiet?"
Sakurai Saki, the one who ignited this war, didn't realize at all.
"Saki-kun, you want to vacation in the mountains?" Fujiwara Chika asked in a heavy tone.
If they went to the mountains, how would she show him her bikini?
Last time when they bought underwear together, everyone bought bikinis too — all in preparation for this very moment!
They planned to entrance Sakurai Saki with revealing bikinis, but the operation was about to begin and now it was ruined?
"I think it's not bad. It's cool on the mountains, we can catch insects, go fishing, and play in the streams too."
Sakurai Saki didn't understand their intentions.
It was just a choice of summer vacation location — why were their expressions like that?
Kids choose one, but as mature high school students, shouldn't they choose both?
"I want to go to the beach…"
Shinomiya Kaguya also firmly stood on the beach side.
But right after she spoke, Hayasaka Ai shot her a warning look:
'Kaguya-sama, we can't win against Secretary-chan!'
'Hayasaka, you must understand, a woman's charm isn't determined by breast size.'
'I was going to agree with you, but hers are too big! We can't win. The moment a male student sees them, their eyes get sucked in—that's real-life experience.'
'...'
So what now? To avoid being crushed by Fujiwara Secretary's chest, are they going to give up wearing bikinis? No way, that's way too stupid!
No!
Kaguya refused to lose.
Giving up this early was not her style.
Kaguya's body wasn't inferior to Fujiwara Chika's. Thanks to years of archery training, she had defined abs and firm hips. Using those advantages as her cards wasn't impossible at all—she could absolutely beat those two useless lumps of fat!
Hmph, in the end, they're just two useless lumps of fat!
"Kaguya-san… what are you staring at?" Fujiwara Chika felt her gaze was a bit indecent. She covered her chest, cheeks flushing bright red.
Kaguya ignored her and instead asked someone else: "Sakurai-san, let's still go to the beach together this summer, okay? Going to the mountains is boring."
"…You guys are misunderstanding something. Actually, we can choose both. Everyone in the student council is still free during summer." Sakurai Saki glanced at Chika on the left, then Kaguya and Ai on the right, and suggested: "I want both."
At this moment, Shirogane Miyuki suddenly spoke: "Sorry Sakurai, but I have to fly to the U.S. in mid-August to prepare for school, so if we pick both locations, I won't make it."
His words made everything much simpler.
"Shirogane, which one do you want to go to? And don't say 'either is fine.'" Sakurai Saki immediately blocked his neutral response.
"Mountain."
"Then let's go to the mountains near my place at the beginning of August, okay?"
"Umu, but saying 'the mountains near my place' sounds so fancy." Shirogane Miyuki muttered.
Shinomiya Kaguya followed along with the flow of the conversation: "Then after we send the president off to America in mid-August, we'll go to the beach, okay?"
"Umu umu, and at that time we can invite Nakano and Eve-chan too! As for Ishigami-kun, let him take care of himself."
Shirogane Miyuki felt increasingly uneasy.
Ishigami wasn't going… and there were no other guys…
Didn't that mean the beach trip would turn into… Sakurai's full-on harem party?
Good thing his little sister wasn't joining.
Shirogane Miyuki let out a sigh of relief.
"Hm? Fujiwara Secretary, who are you chatting with?" Shirogane Miyuki suddenly noticed Fujiwara Chika had taken out her phone sometime earlier and was typing rapidly.
Chika raised her head and said cheerfully: "I'm inviting Kei to come with us, and we're going to shop for bikinis too!"
Shirogane Miyuki: "..."
Suddenly, he did want to go to the beach. He had a strong feeling that Sakurai Saki—this scumbag—would corrupt Kei-chan.
But with so many people around during the summer trip, Sakurai wouldn't be able to do anything anyway.
"Kaguya-san, this time can we choose your family's private beach?"
"Of course. I don't want to go somewhere crowded either."
"It's really embarrassing being stared at by strangers while wearing a bikini."
"Then I'll contact the manager in charge of the beach right away, so nothing goes wrong."
'It's over. Total defeat.'
Shirogane Miyuki closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and felt life grow darker.
Sorry, Kei-chan. Your big brother tried his best.
When you go to the beach, please don't let Sakurai lure you into some dark place! Especially the rocky areas along the shore!
Your big brother truly! Truly! Does NOT want that guy as my brother-in-law!
.....
Note: Lately there's been a constant stream of parties, weddings, engagements, birthdays... and today there's another one, my cousin's daughter's first birthday party. Seriously, I have so many relatives, just counting my mother's side, I have 8 aunts and uncles, 19 cousins, and 10 or 12 nieces and nephews I can't remember and I'm pretty sure it will continue to double in the future, and my father's side is just as many... my wallet hurts :(((.