I somehow endured the children's "praise my swimsuit" attack. Actually, it was heaven. I felt like I'd interacted with enough little girls for a lifetime, almost turning me into a lolicon.
The children were now swimming all over the river. They weren't just swimming to the other side; they were jumping from rocks, playing water volleyball, and practicing their martial arts forms as if the water's resistance didn't matter.
Their swimming was so good that even Ein-chan and Kuro could barely keep up. I was surprised that Tina could keep up, too. Yami was swimming at her own pace, but it was still amazing that she could keep up.
Nove-san apparently takes them to the pool during their Strike Arts (martial arts) training. This helps them train their entire bodies with flexible muscles.
As for me,
"Hey! Your flutter kick is getting weak!"
"Huh, wapu, yes!"
I was holding Kirin's arm and teaching her how to swim. She was able to put her face in the water, so now it was time for the flutter kick. This river, with its moderate depth and slow current, was perfect for swimming practice. The water was clean, too.
After a while, we went back to the shore to take a break.
"I'm sorry, I can't do the gliding kick properly."
"You just have to practice."
Well, I guess it's hard when you're carrying two large flotation devices. When they float in front of you, they're nothing but a distraction.
I didn't say my true feelings out loud.
"Hah, hah."
Ein-chan also came ashore, out of breath. The kids seemed to still have a lot of energy.
"How was it? The little ones' swimming?"
"I'd say they have a lot of energy, or rather, too much energy..."
"Hahaha, was it hard to keep up?"
"I thought I had good stamina..."
"You want to join them, Sho?"
"You were enjoying yourself the whole time, weren't you?"
Nove-san came closer. In this short time, we'd become something like mortal enemies (at least in my mind), but she was stepping into my personal space without knowing a thing.
"Whoa, don't give me that look. I'm sorry! I don't have anyone in my family to talk about stuff like that with, so it was a little funny. I couldn't help it."
"I almost feel like killing you."
"Stop it. I can't beat you."
She flapped her arms, dodging my glance.
"I can't even keep up with their energy."
I looked at the energetic kids. It was good that not just Kuro, but also Tina was fitting in.
"To get a burst of speed in the water, you need to use muscles you don't normally use. Since we're here, I'll show you something good."
Saying that, she called out to Vivio and the others, who were still swimming around.
"Hey! Show us a 'Water Cut'!"
"'Water Cut'? Got it!"
Ein-chan and Kirin looked puzzled, as if they had never heard of it.
"Oh, it's just a little game. But you can also check your striking power with it."
When she answered, Vivio, Rio, Corona, Kuro, and Tina crouched down in the water.
"Yah!"
When Corona-chan threw a punch, the force of it sent a pillar of water shooting up.
Next were Rio-chan, Kuro, Tina, and finally Vivio-chan. Lutecia didn't participate.
"Here I come!"
Vivio-chan created a much larger pillar of water than the other four.
"How was that? You two wanna try?"
"Ein-chan, you're good at martial arts, right? You should try it."
"Yes. I'll give it a try."
"I'm not so sure... I'd be better with a sword."
At Nove-san and Lutecia's invitation, Ein-chan got into the water.
"A sword, huh... would a tree branch work?"
"Well, I don't know..."
"Oh, I can do that."
"You can!?"
Seriously?! The Todo-style is amazing!
"Yes. Part of our training is cutting down a rock with a bamboo sword."
"You can do that...?"
"Okay, then this."
Kirin grabbed a suitable-looking branch that had fallen nearby and got into the river. As I stood there in awe, I noticed two pairs of eyes on me.
"Something wrong?"
"Something wrong? That's obvious, isn't it? Aren't you going to do it?"
Nove-san said it as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The girls in the river were also looking at me. They all seemed to think that everyone was going to do it.
"Fine. I'll give it a try."
I stood up and got into the river.
My martial arts are just a copy of Aria's. The purpose is a bit different, so I don't think it'll be that good. My main goal is to restrain criminals. Aria-san usually just punches them.
First up was Ein-chan. Let's see what a user of the "Hao-style" can do.
"Hah!"
She sent up a pillar of water about the same size as Vivio's, who had the best record. However, the pressure from her punch didn't seem to travel forward, and the pillar of water disappeared quickly.
Next was Kirin. Let's see what the young genius swordsman of the "Todo-style" can do.
"Hah!"
The wooden stick she swung broke in half. Because of that, there was almost no water pillar. It must have been a result of her swinging it with the same mindset as her usual weapon.
"Well, Kirin's is a special case. Ein-chan's initial speed was too fast. You have to relax at first... and then build up speed. Like this!"
Nove-san got into the river and, as if to demonstrate, cut the water with a kick. A pillar of water rose so high that you could see the riverbed.
Ein-chan nodded eagerly at the demonstration. She must have grasped something.
"Now, the main act has arrived."
Why does she have to phrase it in such an expectant way?
"You're going to do it too, Brother!"
"I wonder if he can do it better than us?"
"It's his first time, so... I don't know..."
"Brother is out of the ordinary in many ways."
"Yes. I'm sure he's amazing."
The children were all giving their own comments. With that much expectation, I couldn't give a half-hearted result. I'll do it seriously.
First, I had to use my Dark Magic, "Magia Elevea," to get into the "Dark Night Form." Actually, without it, I'm just as strong as a normal person. I'd probably lose to Vivio. I'm too weak.
"Phew..."
ZOWAH
"!!"
The air around me changed.
Wrapped in a black aura, I got into position.
"Hah!!"
I threw a punch.
No water pillar went up.
Instead, the pebbles on the other side of the river flew away, and the shape of the river changed. In my defense, the water cut was a failure. I unconsciously released the overflowing magical power from my Dark Magic.
"..."
Everyone went silent.
"Well, you know! Power is meaningless if you can't hit anything!"
I tried to follow up. By myself. But everyone was still frozen. The only one who moved was Nove-san.
"(That black aura felt dangerous, is he okay?) So you turned your magical power into a bullet and shot it. The power is impressive, but the water cut itself was a total failure."
"It's my first time, after all! I need to practice this!"
She covered for me. I quickly jumped on board.
"You're amazing, Brother! Can we do that too!?"
"We'll teach you the Water Cut, so teach us that!"
"Uh, if you don't mind, me too..."
"Alright, alright. Sure."
I was surrounded by Vivio and the others. Oh, this is bad. I can play with little girls without worrying about getting scolded. I did it on a whim, so I don't know if I can do it again, but I'll try my best to teach them!
"This is something that needs to be reported."
"It's a wife's job to scold her husband when he gets too carried away."
"That's right, it's our job."
"Please, anything but that!"
But it seemed I had no freedom. If this gets reported, my butt's going to be spanked so hard it'll fall off. And I guess I've become Kuro and Tina's husband without realizing it.
I'm more surprised that you guys can do the Water Cut normally.
"Tina, you don't even know what you're saying, do you?"
"That's not true. I've been taught that a person who kisses you a lot is a husband, and the other is a wife."
"I was taught that. I am a wife."
The way you say it, it sounds like I'm always kissing these two! I do get magical power from Kuro, but I haven't kissed Tina yet! People are going to get the wrong idea---
"Senpai..."
"Sho-san, is that true...?"
---and they just did!
Ein-chan and Kirin were pulling back.
"Argh! Never mind that, let's do the Water Cut! Water Cut time!"
"You're right. I'll show you how. Like this."
"Huh?"
A white blade shot straight towards me. I blocked it by sandwiching it between my elbow and knee. A beautiful pillar of water stood in its wake.
"Sorry. It slipped."
"Are you trying to kill me!?"
"Of course not."
"Wow, that's beautiful. Was that your first time?"
"This isn't the time to be impressed!"
The perpetrator was Yami. Nove-san, the only adult, was just stroking her chin and nodding.
"It wasn't on purpose, so please forgive me."
"Don't lie with a straight face."
The thing she transformed was her hair. I've never heard of hair slipping out like that. If your hair slips out, you're going to go bald.
"Brother, you and Yami-san are good friends!"
"There's a saying that people who are close enough to kill each other are good friends."
Lutecia-kun, I've never heard such a dangerous saying.
"You couldn't be in the mixed bath with a girl on a trip if you weren't that close, right?"
"Wait, what---"
Even though I was in cold water, the amount of sweat running down my back was not normal.
"Yesterday, and with two of them, that's amazing."
"!"
That's killing intent!
I didn't even have to turn around to know it was coming from several of the girls behind me.
"Lu-Lutecia? What are you talking about?"
"I got a report from Garu, who was on bath cleaning duty."
Wh-what did he report!? If he reported that we were actually doing it, then she had a huge weakness to hold over me.
I-I have to handle this carefully.
"I don't know exactly what you were doing because of privacy, but I wonder what you did♪"
"Wh-what do you mean?"
The little girls started squealing.
Is that really true? But if she knew we were doing something so intense, she wouldn't be able to act so calm in front of me.
No matter what you say, Lutecia is a girl. I don't think she has that much tolerance. Maybe I should fight back a little and see what happens.
"If you're so curious, why don't you come to the hot spring tonight?"
"Huh?"
"I'm saying I'll do the same thing to you."
"H-huh? You'd say something like that?"
Lutecia's voice faltered a bit as she put her hands on her hips and looked at me. Her face was slightly flushed, contrary to her attitude.
"Alright, alright! That's enough! Sho, if you go too far, you'll get scolded."
I'm in the Assault Section; I can't be afraid of being scolded. But I'll hold back for now. It's not because I'm scared of the people who'll get angry.
"You were definitely doing more than just bathing together."
"...Yes."
Kuro's words from behind me felt like a knife being held to my throat.
"Hm, I see."
After a moment of thought, Kuro pulled my arm.
"Come here."
"Whoa, hey! Where are you going!?"
"I need to talk to you!"
With that, Kuro dragged me into the forest.
----------
"Hey, where are we going!?"
She finally let go of me when we were so deep in the forest that the river was out of sight.
"Magical power replenishment."
"Huh?"
"Right now. Here."
"Here--- muff"
She jumped on me and pressed her lips against mine. There was no foreplay at all. Her tongue immediately invaded my mouth. We exchanged our tongues and sticky saliva in battle.
The swimsuit pressed against my chest felt different from normal clothes. Since we were both in swimsuits, we were practically naked as we embraced.
"Chuu, rero, reo, chu, aah, chururu."
Just as she said, I could feel my magical power being drained. But it was a very small amount. The movement soon changed to devouring something other than magical power.
Eventually, our lips parted, and the transparent bridge between us broke.
Kuro, who was embracing me, pulled away and opened her mouth.
"That was a power I've never seen before."
"That... oh."
She must be talking about my Dark Magic, "Magia Elevea." I'd never used it in front of anyone since I learned it in my old world.
The only people here who know about it are Sakura and Fate-san.
"It felt weird. Isn't it a dangerous ability?"
"Hmm..."
I could only feel like "Yeah, it might be." It was a little dangerous when I first started using it, but ever since my stand evolved into Act 3, I've been using it without any problems.
"Right now, there aren't any problems, I think. Thanks for worrying."
"Mhm... and who did you get that ability from?"
"That's private."
I couldn't possibly tell her that I got it from being licked by Sakura ten years ago. Especially not to a grade-schooler, telling her I did something with a girl younger than her.
Just then, the grass rustled.
Is someone coming?
"What are you two doing?"
It was Tina. If someone else had seen us, it would have been a disaster. Well, seeing us in this state is still pretty bad, even for an honest girl like Tina. But she's asking what we're doing...
"Why were you two kissing while hiding from everyone?"
This is bad.
"Ah! This is a secret rendezvous, a sneak attack."
"Some parts are right, so it's hard to deny!"
"It's for magical power replenishment. We can't do it in front of everyone, can we?"
Kuro was completely calm in the face of my panic. It's not an exaggeration to say that Kuro raised Tina (it's totally an exaggeration), so she must be used to handling her.
"If you really want to know, you can do anything you want to me."
"Okay."
"Don't just agree on your own!"
"Brother, crouch down."
"...Alright, alright."
Since I had no right to refuse, I obeyed. She probably wants a hug or something. I wonder if it's okay to go back like this...
"Nn."
A soft sensation on my right cheek. Tina's face, which I could see slightly to the right, was close. Very close.
"H-hey! Tina...!"
"What's wrong?"
She looked so calm, as if she hadn't just kissed my cheek.
"You were just kissing Kuro-san, right?"
"That's not a problem."
I picked up Tina, who was spreading her arms, and stood up with Kuro on my back, who had jumped on me.
"If you want to continue with the two lolis, we can do it here."
"Hey!"
"Hehe, just kidding, of course!"
I wish she would stop with the heart-stopping jokes. I really, really do.
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