W-what…?? A p-pool!?
Arisa said frantically.
(Maybe I should just call it off.—)
Yuzuru sighed, while thinking what to do.
It happened roughly an hour ago.
His old man suddenly said—
“I got these as a shareholder benefit. You should go with Yukishiro-san.”—
as he gave him two tickets to a well known water park.
A pool, huh.
Going to the pool means waring a swimsuit.
In turn, wearing a swimsuit means exposing one’s skin.
Arisa didn’t seem used to being around men and was uncomfortable looking at male skin.
And she would probably hate the idea of showing her own skin as well.
As for Yuzuru, seeing Arisa in a swimsuit… well, it would be a lie to say he didn’t want to see it, but he would probably get nervous if he actually saw her like that.
It was obvious that the combination of nervousness and embarrassment would prevent him from enjoying himself properly.
He wanted to refuse… But when Arisa said–
Don’t normal couples go to the pool or the beach in the summer?
He couldn’t argue with that.
Well, yeah… I suppose you’re right.
Hmm… the pool. …Doesn’t that mean I’ll have to wear a swimsuit?
She seemed flustered at first, but Arisa’s voice quickly regained its composure.
It’s hard to gauge her emotions over the phone.
But knowing her, she most likely isn’t too keen on the idea.
The Arisa Yukishiro that Yuzuru knows would surely hate going to the pool with a man she doesn’t like.
I assume you don’t really want to, do you? Right, I’ll have a word with the old man for you, then.
…Are you sure that’s what you want to do?
If I say something along the lines of ‘Yukishiro will be embarrassed about being seen by other people’, or ‘I don’t want other men seeing her skin’, I reckon he’ll back down.
He couldn’t force them to go, after all.
But they probably would have to go to an amusement park, the cinema, or somewhere similar, instead.
Even if you gave him a believable reason, convincing him doesn’t sound exactly easy, right?
Yeah, I suppose you’re correct…
How many girls these days would actually say they’re embarrassed to wear a swimsuit at the pool?
What do they do in school swimming lessons, for example?
It’s not like his excuses are foolproof.
It’s fine, I can go.
A calm, composed voice replied.
For Yuzuru, that was a very welcome response… yet it made him anxious.
He wondered if she was forcing herself.
You don’t mind?
If I don’t like it, I should say so—that’s what you told me. I don’t mind, so it’s fine if I go.
…Won’t you be embarrassed?
It’s a matter of time, place and occasion. There’s nothing embarrassing about wearing a swimsuit at the pool. …After all, we wear swimsuits for swimming lessons.
She was right.
(Is that really how it is? Or was I just overthinking it?)
Yuzuru tilted his head as he pondered that.
Ah, of course. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, but… as a rule of thumb, I don’t go to the pool with members of the opposite sex I’m not interested in. I don’t know about other girls, but I wouldn’t go, and I don’t want to. I do have self-restraint, and above all, it would be a hassle if they thought I fancied them.
Arisa said that with absolute certainty, continuing in a matter-of-fact tone.—
But you wouldn’t get the wrong idea, right, Takasegawa-san?-
Well… I guess not. I wouldn’t ask you out in the first place unless we were already “engaged”—
Right. Besides, you wouldn’t try anything, would you? If you had ulterior motives, your true colours would have been revealed already. …Or maybe, you’re just incredibly good at hiding them.
Hey, it’s not as if I’m some sort of pest or vermin! …Well, but they do say men are wolves.
After all, Yuzuru truly didn’t have any ulterior motives he was hiding.
But he did have the same same sexual desires as any other healthy high school aged boy would.
Are you a wolf too, Takasegawa-san?
…I’d say more like a well trained, big dog.
I see. For the record, I’m a cat person, so I wouldn’t particularly fancy a big dog.
Is that so? Well, when it comes to me, I prefer dogs.
For some reason, the conversation shifted to whether they were cat or dog people, which was in no way important in this context.
Firstly, I brought up the “engagement” first. And you agreed to it in order to protect me. So it’s only fair I have to deal with all the things that come with it.
No, you don’t need to feel so responsible about it, really…
Actually, a week ago, thinking I might be invited by a girl in my class, I bought a new swimsuit. Although… I didn’t expect to be invited by you, Takasegawa-san… but well, the timing turned out to be not so bad.
I don’t mind. In fact, I’m happy to go.— Is what Arisa was trying to say.
(I can’t help feeling she’s going out of her way for me, though…)
Even so, it would be rude to Arisa to turn her down by assuming—‘No, you probably don’t want to go.’
That would be the same as telling her not to have contacted me in the first place.
Right, I understand. Regarding the place and time…
Yes. Give me a moment, I’ll write it down.
A couple days later.
Yuzuru, having already changed into his swimming trunks, was waiting for Arisa by the poolside.
Around him, there were other guys waiting for their dates, just like him.
Doing something like this gives off a vibe that they’ve actually become a couple.
But of course, Yuzuru doesn’t see Arisa that way, and she doesn’t either.
Pretending to be a couple even though they don’t like each other—
It’s quite unusual.
It’s bound to be a memory that stays with him for life. For better or for worse.
As he was thinking about this, he noticed that the gazes of the men around him were being drawn to a single point.
Yuzuru, too, found his gaze drawn in that direction, as if lured by it.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“…Oh.”
A gasp of admiration escaped him involuntarily.
That’s how beautiful Arisa looked in her swimsuit.
Even Yuzuru, who described himself as a ‘big dog’, found himself mesmerised by the sight.
“Takasegawa-san, I’d appreciate it if you’d say something.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
Met with a cold stare and a frown, Yuzuru snapped back to his senses.
He then once again looked at Arisa in her swimsuit.
Surprisingly, it was a triangle bikini.
It was black.
Well, the design wasn’t entirely black—there was a white pattern near the edges, and the centre was stylishly adorned with a large bow.
Her snow-white skin stood out beautifully against the black swimsuit.
It felt as though her skin, smooth and lustrous like white porcelain, was emphasised even more.
Given that she was wearing a bikini, Yuzuru’s gaze naturally drifted to three points—the top, the middle and the bottom.
Although her slender build gave her an overall delicate appearance, she had curves in all the right places.
First, the smooth clevage line running from the nape of her neck to her collarbone.
From there, the dazzling white cleavage, with beautifully plump, ripe fruit.
Below that, her tapered, smooth curved figure, leading to a splendidly defined waist and a perfectly shaped navel.
Beyond that point, her hips suddenly begin to curve outwards, allowing one to imagine the contours of her back even from the front.
The two slender, long legs emerging from her black swimsuit are nothing short of magnificent.
(It’s too bad that her upper arms are hidden by the light blue rash guard she’s wearing, but in a way, I feel this actually stirs the imagination even more.)
“Well, um… you know.”
“You know what?”
“I just felt a bit disappointed for a moment that you aren’t my real fiancée.”
Yuzuru complimented her in a half-joking way.
Perhaps realising it was indeed a joke, Arisa laughed.
“That is a shame. …You look very well-built too, Takasegawa-san. You mentioned working out at home and going to the gym with friends—and now I can see you were telling the truth after all.”
“Of course, why would I lie. …Well, men do care about their physique to some extent, don’t they?”
Perhaps not as much as women, but a flabby physique is still embarrassing.
At times like this, taking care of your physique really pays off.
“But, Yukishiro… You, well, how should I put it? I thought you were the type who’d be embarrassed by this sort of thing?”
Showing one’s own skin and seeing a man’s.
This was a place filled with countless other men and women—and inevitably, one’s skin would be seen by unfamiliar men, and one would end up seeing the skin of unfamiliar men.
“I did say it was a matter of time and place, didn’t I? And please don’t point it out. If I think about it, it’s just plain embarrassing.”
Arisa’s cheeks were flushed a rosy pink.
It seems she is embarrassed by this sort of thing, after all.
“I’m sorry. …Where shall we go first?”
“Hmm… I’d like to take it easy and just have some fun to start with.”
“Right then, shall we head to the lazy river?”
