Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 05 - Summer Holiday Chapter Read online

  However, there was no way that would be tolerated. At Ushio's hapless appearance, a sudden barrage of words flew from two more ladies who came up.

  "No no, it's not like I was opening my mouth or anything......"

  If he had only been up against his true daughter, he might have been able to make something up, but also being faced with Honoka who he had loved as another daughter since primary school, even this talented businessman floundered. (Incidentally the reason Honoka had been so apprehensive at hearing that Ushio was coming might be due to him seeing her as his daughter, every time they met he had passed not inconsiderable amounts of pocket money on to her.)

  Gesturing wildly at Erika and the others who were approaching from a distance, he was obviously trying to distract the others from the topic at hand.

  "—Ooh! You must be new friends of my daughter as well? Welcome. Please enjoy yourselves.

  Unfortunately I have to go now, but please feel free to relax as if it were your own home."

  It was probably out of his depth dealing with his daughter unlike his business partners. His unrest could be discerned from his disjointed words.

  Watching him rush into a large car with indecent haste and lifting his Greek hat in regret as he sped off, Tatsuya muttered 'I think he had at least wanted to sail with his daughter......' in a voice no one could hear.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  It was around 900 km to the island archipelago where the villa was located.

  Tatsuya didn't quite understand what the fun of sailing rather than flying was (it's not unusual now to privately own VTOL propeller aircraft, and in fact that would be cheaper than a Fleming propelled cruiser), and upon asking Leo and Erika, he was simply told something like 'this is the most charming way to travel'. He almost inadvertently retorted 'the point of the trip is swimming, not traveling', but had settled for muttering 'these two really are a perfect pair' under his breath.

  Well, everyone had come along, and no one should be seasick. Taking into account the travel time, they had gathered at 6 am early in the morning. In order to leave as quickly as possible, Tatsuya got on the ship.

  The deck was even larger than it appeared from outside. There wasn't a pool or theater or any such extravagant things (this was a 'cruiser' not a 'luxury liner' after all), but even if eight people got out deck chairs and hung up fishing rods, there would still be plenty of space to spare.

  —However, since the entire deck was covered by a transparent dome streamlined for air resistance, it would be impossible to actually hang out any lines.

  "But, when cruising at low speeds the sides are opened."

  The one who explained that was the helmsman, as well as the one who had taken care of their belongings, the omni-housekeeper Ms. Kurosawa.

  From her appearance...... rather than housekeeper, it felt there should be a more appropriate word. She didn't seem any older than her mid-twenties at most.

  Though that being said she didn't give off a soft image, as she seemed more the type to come accompanied by the 'snap' SFX; still on the open sea under the blazing sun in mid summer, however much excess rays the dome could be said to cut out, Tatsuya had to wonder if she wasn't hot in that dress. Or maybe that was just him.

  Firmly wrapped up in a long sleeved summer jacket as he was, he probably wasn't quite qualified to be thinking such things.

  The ship's design placed the wheelhouse at the bow, the cabins beneath, and the transparent dome extending from the top of the wheelhouse all the way to the back half which was the deck.

  After confirming all seven passengers were aboard, Kurosawa proceeded straight to the wheelhouse, and soon the ship had left the coast.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  The weather was calm throughout, and although there were some rough patches, thanks to the stabilizers and motion absorption systems no one on-board suffered motion sickness. At length, the ship eventually made it to the villa at Nakodojima island.

  The atolls around the island had been devastated by feral goats in the latter half of the last century. After that, efforts to restore an artificial reef were unsuccessful. Later, villas were built, and the red clay that had been dredged up onto the coast were used via private funds to create a pier and sandy beach. This was what the 'intellectuals' had been decrying as 'destruction of nature'.

  However, at the time the islands had been inhabited, there had been no destruction and it had been the people who had cleared out the feral goats as well. Did the destruction of nature occur because there were people, or did it occur only after they left?

  He had been lost in such idle thoughts, but coming back to reality and in the face of the fact that he too had come to play at that very same sandy pier, he had to admit he was in no position to critique.

  As could be inferred from his monologue, they had already arrived at the beach.

  The sand was white and the sun dazzling.

  But the beach was even more dazzling than that.

  "Tatsuya-kun~, wanna swim?~"

  "Onii-sama~, the water's cool and very nice.~"

  As Erika and Miyuki called out from the beach, Tatsuya, under the shade of a parasol positioned into the beach, shook his hands with a vague smile.

  —Too dazzling.

  What was dazzling, by the way, were the swimsuit clad girls frolicking around on the beach.

  The first to catch one's eyes would probably be Erika's flashy colored one-piece. It was a simple design with no frills which brought out and enhanced her slender proportions.

  Next to her, waving her hands was Miyuki in a floral-print one-piece. Her femininity increased with each passing day, and the bold pattern served to emphasize her vibrant fairy-like charm.

  The surprise was Mizuki. While her polka-dot patterned separate swimsuit wasn't as revealing as a bikini, the deep cut at the chest area showed off her ample assets, and it was impossible to link her to her usual docile image. Perhaps because of her narrow shoulders and hips, the slender curve of her waist resulted in a particular attractiveness.

  Likewise in a separate swimsuit, Honoka had a pareo wrapped around one shoulder giving off an asymmetric style of mature air. If not simply considering size, but curves, this was probably the best proportioned one out of them all.

  On the other hand, Shizuku was in a girlish swimsuit laden with frills. Even so, however, she continued to wear her grown-up detached expression, the two combining to create a perverted mysterious charm.

  Staring at this sight made Tatsuya feel peculiarly uncomfortable deep inside, and he shifted his gaze.

  To the side, flashy waves of water rose.

  Leo and Mikihiko were having a (swimming) competition.

  As Tatsuya watched, Leo seemed to be right in his element, while Mikihiko was desperately trying to catch his stride. ......For some inexplicable reason it made him recall a sense of intimacy.

  Looking further into the distance, towards the horizon, he gradually let his consciousness drift away.

  For a while, he immersed himself in solitude.

  Then suddenly, he felt the presence of people.

  Glancing at the bodies around him — Tatsuya complimented himself for managing not to utter a sound.

  Five people were bent over looking at his face.

  This would have been problematic in a normal situation, never mind in swimsuits.

  "Tatsuya-san, thinking?"

  Shizuku asked as she bent over him from the front at the waist, her hands on her lap. Looking from this angle, it appeared that Shizuku's body wasn't as childlike as he had imagined. Of course, that wasn't something he said aloud. Likewise, staring was obviously out of the question.

  "Onii-sama, we finally came all this way to the sea, so won't you come swim?"

  "That's right. Just camping under the parasol like this all day would be a waste."

  With Miyuki on the left and Honoka on the right, surrounding him in a similar posture to Shizuku, there was no escape for his eyes wherever he looked.

  Behind Shizu
ku, innocently waiting for his reply was Mizuki, and next to her was Erika wearing that evil grin of hers. Leaving things like this would be very bad. With no clear reason why, Tatsuya severely felt so.

  "Fair enough, I guess I will."

  Getting to his feet and brushing sand off his trunks, he casually removed himself from the line of sight of those five charming figures. While keeping his eyes firmly down, he took off his yacht parka.

  As the parka hit the sand, the mood visibly changed.

  Oh crap, Tatsuya thought, but it was already too late.

  "Tatsuya-kun, those are......"

  Erika couldn't hide the tension in her voice.

  What those were soon became clear. Not just Tatsuya, but Mizuki, Honoka, and Shizuku all readily realized just what Erika had been so nervously surprised about. The eyes of those maidens were glued to 'those' on his body.

  Underneath the parka hid a body forged of steel. The thickness of the muscle wasn't anything surprising. It didn't even quite approach the volume of an adult's body. But even whilst boyish, the chest and abdominal muscles were heavily toned and firm, almost like a Renaissance sculpture.

  There was one feature there that sculptures lacked however — criss-crossing all over the skin were innumerable scars.

  Many were cuts.

  Just as many were punctures.

  There were some minor burn marks in places.

  Oddly enough there was no trace of fractures, but even accounting for that it was not a body raised in a usual way.

  Mere normal training could never do this.

  Nor could simply training until your blood ran.

  Only actually being cut, stabbed, and burned, until blood flowed as if under torture, or perhaps the training itself was torture; could produce such a body. Precisely because Erika understood, she didn't scream out loud.

  "Tatsuya-kun... you, just what..."

  "Sorry, it's not something pleasant to look at."

  Returning an irrelevant answer to that unspoken question, Tatsuya averted his eyes from Erika and stretched out for his just discarded parka.

  But his hand couldn't reach it. That which he should have dropped in the sand a moment ago, was now firmly held tight against Miyuki's chest as she knelt at his feet.

  Although his sister, he would not allow his hand to go near a lady's chest, so his left arm ended up wandering aimlessly through the air. Fortunately, there was no need to worry about retracting it. Because the moment he rose, his left arm was enveloped by Miyuki's right arm.

  "Wah!"

  The one who had raised her voice in surprise was Mizuki. In close contact, Miyuki's chest was pressed against Tatsuya's arm with only a thin swimsuit between them. At that however, Miyuki showed not a hint of embarrassment.

  "Onii-sama, it's fine."

  Miyuki's face was faintly red, but it came not from any shame at clinging to him half-naked.

  "I know. That every one of these scars, is proof of the pain Onii-sama went through to become stronger than anyone."

  But rather from looking deep into his eyes at such close range.

  "So, I don't think Onii-sama's body is anything to be ashamed of."

  At Miyuki's words, Tatsuya's expression softened slightly. Then, he felt the impact of something soft pressing on his right arm.

  Erika gave a low whistle. It wasn't in ridicule, but rather in praise.

  He was pretty sure he already knew who it was, but nonetheless he turned his head to verify the presence wrapped around his right arm.

  As expected, it was Honoka. Almost as if competing with Miyuki, she hugged Tatsuya's arm tight with both hands. Unlike Miyuki, she was wearing a separate swimsuit, so Tatsuya's arm was touching her soft skin directly. Whether because of that, Honoka's face was three times as red as Miyuki's.

  "I, I don't mind either!"

  Despite fumbling at the start, she began to talk rapidly after that. Probably as a matter of course, an act which would be natural for lovers being acted upon on someone of the opposite sex, while in a swimsuit, was far too bold. It would be even weirder if she wasn't this nervous.

  Although speaking of weird, what was weirder was Honoka's actions.

  For a teenage girl, no, even a woman rich in life experience, the scars engraved all over Tatsuya's body should be something hard to face. If there were only a few small ones there might not be any problems, but those scars would normally be associated with events of terror.

  Tatsuya could only suppose that removing his parka in front of those girls despite knowing that was a stupid moment of carelessness, perhaps caused by the blazing tropical sun, he thought bitterly.

  That aside Erika's reaction, while rare, was nonetheless understandable. And as far as he was concerned he had long ago given up trying to classify Miyuki's words and actions with anything that could be considered as 'normal'. But what was behind Honoka's actions was a mystery to him. It was almost as if—

  "It's almost like... being caught between your sister and your girlfriend isn't it?"

  "Hey, shh! You can't say that Mizuki. Things had finally gotten interesting and all."

  Mizuki's words were likely not desultory, but rather simply her honest thoughts. Tatsuya understood that perfectly well, but he nonetheless wholeheartedly agreed with Erika's words 'you can't say that'. The second part however he couldn't agree with at all.

  But in between the first and second half of that sentence, Erika's voice notably changed. Her reservation disappeared. Mizuki's voice was the same as usual throughout.

  With that evil grin Erika backed away slightly from Tatsuya, who was futilely trying to deal with Honoka still wrapped firmly around his arm (he had long since stopped caring about Miyuki).

  "Uh, sorry Tatsuya-kun. I showed a strange attitude."

  "No, I don't mind. So Erika, please don't mind anything either."

  "Even if you tell me not to... ah, that's right!"

  I've just thought of something good, her expression said, as that smile lit up her face once more.

  "I will properly show my atonement as well."

  As she said so she hooked the thumb of her right hand under the shoulder strap of her swimsuit and with a wink, lifted it about the width of a finger.

  Next to Erika, Mizuki stiffened.

  With Honoka still rapidly chattering away without lifting her head, and Miyuki looking up at him with that perfect smile, Tatsuya turned to alternatively look at the two girls still clinging to his arm.

  "Let's go swim."

  With the two of them still firmly attached to his arms, Tatsuya began to awkwardly proceed towards the beach.

  Erika puffed out her cheeks, while Mizuki smiled vacantly lost in her own world.

  Passing those two and catching up to Tatsuya's crowd, Shizuku nodded and simply said 'well done' to the back of the girl on the right.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  A brilliant blue sky spread out overhead before Tatsuya. Floating on his back in the calm sea (only his almost submerged face rose over the surface of the water), the only sensation was the lapping of the waves.

  Just a while earlier a water fight had ensued, with what could be called 'jetstreams' flying everywhere (of course as if by magic, it was decided the enemy was Tatsuya); however, five girls on one guy was too much of a mental strain even for him. If Leo and Mikihiko had been around he might have been able to hang on a little longer, but the two of them must have been engaged in some serious long distance swimming as they were no longer in sight. When he had said 'I'll be off for a bit' and turned his back to those five, Miyuki's face seemed to be filled with frustration, but as expected she understood his discomfort well.

  Now the ladies were playing on a boat. The location was a beach close to where Tatsuya was drifting. Keeping a distance so as not to disturb him but within eye-shot seemed to be a compromise Miyuki, then the rest of the girls, had settled upon.

  The happy voices of the girls carried over on the breeze to where he lay. Most of it was not conversation but s
imply senseless shrieking, yet without even looking by analyzing the pushions they were emitting he could grasp what they were likely to be doing. Honoka and Shizuku were on the boat, Miyuki and Erika in the water around the sides, and Mizuki should be sitting about under a parasol on the beach.

  While being rocked by those gentle waves, Tatsuya remembered something. Honoka had said she wasn't a very good swimmer. Though she was in a boat it wasn't particularly big, nor was it particularly stable, and he wondered if it was alright for her to come so far out.

  That ominous premonition turned out to be right on the money. Whether the power of language or a flag as it's designated by various people, the idea was that unfortunate possibilities if put into words would transcend theory into reality. That doesn't simply apply to words uttered from the mouth, but thoughts formed in the mind as well.

  A scream suddenly cut through the calm summer air. Tatsuya perceived the capsizing event as information faster than the eye could see, and immediately rose onto the surface of the water and began sprinting full throttle towards the boat. It was a movement technique he would normally never use if others were around to see, but it sure was a heck of a lot faster than swimming.

  Running up next to the capsized boat, Tatsuya in one step had continuously been Flash Casting a surface tension amplification magic to achieve an effect like a 'water spider'.

  Tatsuya dived feet-first into the water. Following Miyuki's gestures who had dived in earlier, Tatsuya hooked his hand around Honoka's waist. In an understandable state of panic, Honoka was wildly flailing her limbs, kicking away even as Tatsuya brought her up to the surface of the water.

  Above him, Erika had pushed Shizuku back onto the boat. Either Erika or Shizuku had righted the overturned craft. Tatsuya decided to think about just how they had managed that later, and took Honoka towards the boat.

  Ever since making it back onto the surface of the water she had calmed somewhat, but she was still in a relatively agitated state. Desperately and unreasonably resisting being led to the boat, she kept pleading 'please wait a bit!' and 'I beg you!'. However, just by being in the hot water of that summer sea would sap her depleted strength further. Because of her weakened state, it was necessary to have her rest inside the boat. Tatsuya reluctantly shook his head, and forcibly lifted Honoka's body into the vessel. The momentum propelled half of her body inside, and before she could rise she was restrained by Shizuku. Seeing her up close from the front, Tatsuya suddenly realized why she had been so reluctant.