Chapter 186 – Umi and Swimsuit (1)

About ten minutes later, Umi returned to the inn.

Returning on a bike, she was ringing the bell with a happy expression as she approached me.

"I'm back. Did you behave while I was gone, Maki?"

"Of course. Woah, there's a lot of stuff in that basket."

"Mhm. They don't serve lunch here, so Grandma gave me these so we could eat together. Let's go over there and eat, c'mon!"

In the bike basket, there was a large four-tiered box and bottled tea. We were thinking of sharing some with Shizuku-san, but she was currently out for a delivery, so we left some in our room to give to her later.

Umi was about to change her clothes, so I left the room and waited at the front desk.

We would be going a little further from the inn, so I asked Shizuku-san's mom, who was at the front desk, to let me borrow a bike. They had some on standby for deliveries.

It had been a while since I last rode a bike, but I'd like to think I still remembered how to ride one. Still, I rode around the grounds to get a feel for it before going. Not long after that, Umi finally came.

"Thank you for waiting~ C'mon, let's go~"

She said that she wanted to change her clothes, yet her attire wasn't so different from before she changed. She was wearing a blue checkered shirt on top, and half pants and flip flops on bottom.

Also, she was wearing a straw hat. The only thing she was missing was a bug net, then she would look perfect as a bug catcher.

Of course, she looked cute as hell in it.

"Maki, did you pack your swimsuit and spare underwear?"

"Yeah. Everything's in my bag. What about you?"

"I wore my swimsuit already. I don't wanna change there, after all… So…"

"So?"

"You know…"

She hugged me before sending me a whisper while smiling mischievously.

"Wanna take a look?"

"Ugh…"

That was dirty. Now I would inadvertently be drawn to her chest.

All that time I spent with Reiji–kun to take my mind off what happened yesterday was ruthlessly thrown aside with a single whisper.

"…Let's do that after we get there, okay?"

"Oh, that's unexpected. You're still holding on."

"Barely… In any case, we're only going to play in the water today, right? We can't exactly do anything perverted out in the open."

"You say that, yet you brought those with you."

"Ugh…"

I guess she rummaged through my bag when I wasn't paying attention.

I brought the whole box with me, not one or two, so I couldn't say anything back.

"…Fine, I won't bring them with me."

"Sorry, sorry, just bring them if you want to, okay? Anyway, we should get going. Also, if you pedal your bike as hard as you can, you might be able to let off some steam."

"Jeez… Fine, it's a race. Let's see who gets there faster."

"Hoho, that's a good idea. Let's do that."

And so we decided to race down the hill and follow the road straight ahead for about five hundred meters away from the inn. We would be using the village's information board as a landmark.

"Alright, are you ready, Maki?"

"Whenever you're ready."

"Okay, one, two… Go!"

With Umi's words as a cue, we started pedaling with all our strength.

The one lane road was surrounded by trees and we were the only ones there save for one or two cars that passed by.

A refreshing wind blew on our faces as we pedaled our bikes.

"Maki."

"Hm?"

"The wind feels good here."

"I know, right?"

It was the middle of the rainy season, but today's weather was fair. Still, we had to be cautious of sudden downpours because we were out here in the mountains. Though, getting caught up in a sudden downpour sounded like it would make for a good memory.

Then again, every memory was good if Umi was in it.

Wait, I had to focus on the race. I wanted to win against her after all.

"Alright, I won."

The result of the race was my victory by a hair's breadth. Well, I was riding a brand-new bike, meanwhile Umi was using Mizore-san's old bike, so this result was to be expected.

"Ugh, you barely won… Using that bike isn't fair…"

"Choosing the right bike is part of the game, you only have yourself to blame."

"Fine, I'll admit my defeat this time… Next time I'm not going to lose."

If said 'next time' actually came around, sure. For now, I'll keep her words in the corner of my mind. I wonder when we will come back here again, though. Maybe after we graduated.

By then, I wanted to come here with just the two of us.

After our race, we lined up and pedaled our bikes together, following the guide boards up the mountain path.

According to Umi, there was a clear river at the end of the path. The water current there was gentle and it was pretty shallow, a perfect spot for us to play around.

Depending on the time of day, the children of the village would play there, but for now, we would have the whole place to ourselves.

She also said that it was a nice date spot.

I wasn't sure what she meant by that, but as long as it was a place where we could be together on our own, I would take it.

We parked our bikes at an inconspicuous spot near the road leading to the river and walked toward the river for a few minutes.

"Woah, so pretty…"

"Yeah. It's nice and quiet too, like Shizuku-san said."

I didn't ask Shizuku-san what the name of this waterfall was, but that was a trivial thing. The waterfall looked so pretty. The water flowing from the top of the mountain down to the hollows below reminded me of white threads. From the foot of the waterfall, the water gently flows toward the village.

The water itself looked so clear and it looked perfectly drinkable.

I was worried that because of the hot springs nearby, the water's temperature would be too high for us to play in, but the temperature was just perfect.

"So, what are you going to do, Maki? It's a little early, so we can still play for a bit before eating lunch."

"Let's eat first. Riding the bike all the way here made me hungry."

"Alright, so after eating your lunch, will you eat me next?"

"The order is wrong, after food, comes bath, no?" (T/N: Classic dirty joke, c'mon, don't tell me you didn't get this one.)

"You can just eat me in the water, no?"

"The hell are you on about?"

…In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing her in her swimsuit.