It’s summer holiday now. Students at the Academy are excused from lessons during this holiday period, but are required to take on missions depending on their Ranks. The lower their Rank, the more missions they need to take. Those Rank A and above are only required to take on urgent missions like say, a large Destroyer invasion that affects the whole city.

   I look at my schedule. It’s mostly full. Moreover, there were no serious arcs on the original anime during this holday, so I can go wild without having to worry about a new arc for a whole month.

   I don’t believe it. For the first time in my life, my free time during summer holiday aren’t mostly spent on doing summer homework or doing part-time jobs in order to earn money to buy games that I wanted. Finally, I could enjoy the summer holiday like a normal student.

   I have something to worry about though. Akira’s parents might ask me to go visit them. Honestly, I wouldn’t know what to do if they did ask me. If I do visit them, my cover will definitely be blown.

   For now, I’ve tried to find out more about Akira’s parents, just in case someone asks me about them. Apparently, they’re rice farmers. I know this because there’s a picture inside my phone that shows Akira’s parents wearing farmer’s gears and working at a rice field.

   Also, I’ve looked at the past conversation Akira had with his parents in his LINE app. I’ve learned a few things:

   1.Unlike me, Akira has a good relationship with his parents. I could tell from the way they text each other. The tones used are warm and caring, and not sarcastic at all.
   2.Akira is an only child. The group they created only has three people. Nice. The last thing I need is a younger sibling getting enrolled here and finds out that “Akira” has become a totally different person.

   Until I can find a method to retrieve Akira’s memory, I have to act busy and refuse their invitation should it ever arrives. It’s a cruel thing to do, but I can’t let them find out that the body of their son is occupied by the soul of another person.

   While I’m still pondering about all this, I got a call from Sakuya.

   ‘Akira-kun? Are you still getting ready? We’re about to depart, you know.’

   ‘Oh, sorry about that, Sakuya-senpai. I’m coming out now.’

   Today, we’re heading to a private beach owned by Sakuya’s family. They even have a villa there. Since it’s private, there’s no risk of the girls getting hit on, or having to share the place with a huge crowd of people.

   Most of us would have been fine with going there by bus or something, but not Sakuya. She used her authority as the student council president to have a chopper ready for us. That’s our president and the principal’s daughter for you.

   I grab my bag that I placed on the floor and sling it over my shoulder. I then lock the door and go to the entrance of the dorm. There, the girls are waiting for me.

   Besides the girls in my harem, Sara and Madoka are also going. Sakuya was the one who invited them. I don’t even know how did she manage to convince Madoka to come along.

   Everyone’s wearing their summer outfit: shirt with short sleeves, short pants, frilly dresses that almost reach the knee, the likes. Sakuya is wearing a stunning white one-piece dress with a straw hat on her head. Madoka’s probably the only who’s out of place, since she’s wearing a camouflage shirt, cowboy shorts and a pair of black boots.

   All the girls are carrying a bag of various sizes which probably contain their change of clothes and swimsuits.

   As for me, I’m wearing a simple white shirt and a pair of black swimming short pants.

   ‘Akira-kun, remember to stand behind me when we get out.’ Sakuya whispers at my ear.

   ‘Huh? Why?’ I ask her with a bewildered expression.

   ‘I watched the weather report. It’s going to be windy today.’

   I still couldn’t figure out what she’s getting at, until I look down at her dress.

   I gape at her.

   ‘Akira, is something wrong?’ Ichika asks me when she saw me with my mouth open.

   ‘No, nothing at all.’ I manage to say.

   ‘Yes, it’s nothing.’ Sakuya chuckles and winks at me.

   Now that got Ichika’s attention. She’s glaring at the both of us like a hawk now.

   Sad. I was kind of tempted to do as Sakuya says.

   Anyway, we carry everything that we’re using at the beach to the chopper (parasols, picnic mats, floats, etc) and sit down at the seats. After getting a green light from Sakuya, the pilot starts the engine and flies the chopper towards the beach.

   ‘Um, thank you for inviting me, Morifuji-san.’ Sara says to Sakuya.

   ‘You’re welcome~. You must have had a rough time inside that cave, so you should have as much fun as possible. And there’s no need for formality. You can call me Sakuya onee-chan~.’

   ‘Yes, Sakuya onee-chan.’

   Sakuya screams in delight. ‘Finally! Someone’s willing to call me onee-chan!’

   ‘Sakuya-senpai, please stop corrupting her, or you’ll have to answer to Albanese-san.’ I warn Sakuya.

   ‘I’m sure he won’t mind~.’

   After we rescued Sara, we visited her at the Church a few times when we were free. She used to look so frail when we first rescued her from the cave. Now that she’s well rested and fed, she looks so much better.

   She’s one year younger than me, so she’s currently attending a girl’s only middle school. She doesn’t have any aptitude for magic and battles, so she can’t join the Academy and have to enroll to a regular high school.

   Like her father, she has devoted herself with Christianity and become a priestess in training. When she’s not studying, she’s busy with religious stuff.

   At this point, she’s pretty much accustomed to us, and is happily chatting with everyone. Sadly, the same can’t be said with Madoka.

   Ever since she got on the chopper, she was sitting all by herself at the backseat and didn’t start a conversation with anyone. Yui, who’s our friendliest girl had tried to talk to her, but all she got was one-words-replies like ‘yes’ and ‘maybe’.

   ‘I was hoping we could be friends after the group hug. Looks like it was one-sided.’ Yui whispers to me dejectedly.

   ‘Just give her some time. She’ll open up eventually.’

   I hope.

   It only took the chopper around twenty minutes to reach the villa. After we unloaded the cargos, the chopper takes off and goes back to the Academy. The pilot will come get us at tomorrow morning.

   ‘Well then, let’s get changed.’ Sakuya tells the girls.

   The girls nod and go inside the villa.

   Before Sakuya goes in, she mouths ‘You can come in too and have a peek if you want.’ to me.

   I mouthed back ‘No, thank you.’

   While waiting for them, I open up the parasols and stab them on the sand. After that, I spread the picnic mats right below the parasols.

   ‘Thank you for waiting~!’

   I turn and try not to gape again, but it’s much more difficult this time.

   Sakuya who’s at the front is a simple black bikini, as a contrast to her simple white dress just now. I never had a good chance to bring it up until now, but Sakuya is actually quite…blessed when it comes to her body. I guess having a British mother helps.

   Behind her, Ichika is fidgeting while wearing a blue one piece. Although not as much as Sakuya, Ichika is also quite well developed.

   Next, there’s Madoka. She’s wearing a camouflage sport top and swimming trunk. Compared to the student council duo, Madoka body isn’t very dynamite, but at least she’s slender.

   Lastly, out comes Yui, Sara and Mashiro.

   Both Yui and Sara are wearing tankinis, although Yui is wearing a white one and Sara is wearing a red one. Both of these tankinis vary in design too. As for Mashiro, she is wearing a yellow frilly two piece.

   All three of them look quite depressed, so I couldn’t help but ask the reason.

   ‘Well…’

   Yui didn’t continue, but her and the other two are glancing at the other three’s chests.

   Ah, so that’s what it is.

   ‘Don’t worry, I heard that some girls are late bloomers. Even if they don’t grow, a girl’s charm point is not only on her chest.’ I tell them.

   Sara doesn’t look very convinced, but Mashiro and Yui look more cheerful after hearing what I said.

   ‘Akira-kun, Akira-kun! What about you big sister? Does she look good in this?’ Sakuya asks while posing in a sexy way.

   ‘...! Ah, yes! Very!’ I had to look away before a certain body part of mine awakens.

   Sakuya chuckles. ‘You can keep looking, you know. By the way, what about Ichika-chan?’

   Ichika looks dumbfounded. ‘Me?’

   ‘Didn’t you spend hours just to pick that swimsuit so that you can show of-’

   Before Sakuya could continue, her mouth got covered by a blushing Ichika.

   ‘Well, it does look very nice on you. I mean it.’ I compliment her.

   ‘I-Is that so…’

   Ichika is now busy twirling her hair with her finger. Recently, I notice that she does that a lot when she’s happy.

   ‘Akira-kun, can you help me with this?’ Sakuya asks while holding a bottle of sunscreen.

   Oh boy. Well, this is a beach episode after all, so I guess this scene is inevitable.

   ‘Sure.’

   The moment I took the bottle, I realize there’s something wrong with it.

   ‘...Senpai, why is this refrigerated?’

   ‘Well, I mistook it for salad oil. Tee hee~’

   ‘Are you sure you didn’t create an excuse to make weird sounds when I rub this on you?’

   ‘Of course not! Your big sister would never do that kind of thing!’

   ‘Uh-huh.’

   Ichika hands me a spray-type sunscreen. ‘Here, Akira. Use this.’

   ‘Thanks.’

   ‘Aww, why did you had to take that out, Ichika-chan?’ Sakuya pouts.

   ‘Please show some restraint, president. Sara is watching you.’

   The person in question is looking at the entire exchange with a confused look. Yup. It’s better if she stays away from Sakuya.

   I use the spray on Sakuya, then myself, then I pass it around everyone else. After everyone is protected from the harmful UV Rays, it’s time to have fun.

   Mashiro is busy building a sand castle, and she’s extremely good at it. Within ten minutes, she managed to build a sandcastle as tall as she is. She’s currently working on building a second one.

   A bit further away from Mashiro, Sakuya, Ichika, Yui and Sara are bouncing a beach ball. The student council duo are careful not to bounce it too hard in case Yui and Sara got injured from the impact of the ball.

   Meanwhile, Madoka is just sitting on the sand and just looking at the ocean, not doing a thing.

   I did tell Yui to give Madoka more time, but this is getting sad to look at. I’m pretty sure Madoka wants friends, or she would have declined Sakuya’s invitation.

   ‘Hey Kojima, Want to walk along the beach and find seashells or something with me?’ I invite.

   She looks kind of surprised that I would invite her to do something together.

   ‘I don’t mind, but are you sure you want to leave behind your harem?’

   I turn around to look at them. Far from looking jealous, the girls are looking at me with eyes of encouragement, as if they want me to help Madoka.

   ‘Yeah, I’m sure. Let’s go.’

   She shrugs and got up.

   While we’re having a walk, I decide to continue our conversation from last time.

   ‘You still haven’t tell me the reason you wanted to come with us to rescue Sara.’

   ‘It’s not much of a big deal. I couldn’t bear the sight of seeing a girl being separated from her father, so I wanted to help her. That’s all.’

   ‘You know, you could have just told us that. If you did, we would have brought you along, with or without the discount.’

   ‘Well, I was scared that you wouldn’t trust me if I told you up front.’

   ‘Look, Kojima. You actually want to make friends, right? That’s why you came here with us.’

   ‘...Yes.’ she whispers.

   ‘Right. Now, the first step in making friends? You need to trust people. Honestly, I didn’t really trust you when you made that offer all of a sudden. I thought you had a hidden agenda. In the end, I gave you an okay because I chose to believe in you. And turns out you didn’t betray my trust.’

   ‘But, is it that simple? That I can become friends if I trust them?’

   ‘Hey, you wouldn’t let a complete stranger inside your room, would you?’

   ‘Now that you mention it...’

   ‘Exactly. Granted, having friends isn’t always fun. You’ll disagree on things, you’ll have arguments, you might even stop being friends. But that’s the real trial in differentiating true friends who’ll always be there for you and those fake friends that abandon you on the first spot of trouble.’

   ‘But, I was alone for so long I don’t know how to act around people. Back in the helicopter, I treated Kiryuu coldly too…’

   ‘That’s why you’ll need to learn more social skills. If it bugs you so much, you can just apologize. I’m sure she doesn’t mind. After you did that, you can go have fun with them.’

   And that’s what she did. She kept apologizing to Yui even though Yui continuously tells Madoka that she’s not even mad. After that, she joins the rest of them in playing with the beach ball while slightly smiling.

   As for Mashiro, she’s building her fifth sand castle. If we let her be, the whole beach would be full of sand castles.

   I sit down behind her. ‘Having fun?’

   Mashiro nods, her hands never stopping.

   ‘You could join them, you know, although I’m not the one to talk.’

   ‘It’s fine. Mashiro hates moving all over the place just to chase a ball.’

   ‘If you say so.’

   I continued to watch Mashiro making the sand castle. She’s making an arched front gate without putting much effort. Honestly, it’s an art at this point.

   ‘How did you manage to convince Madoka to join the group?’ Mashiro asks me all of a sudden.

   ‘Huh? Well, I just told her that trust is very important in making friends. She did looked like she wanted to make some, after all.’

   ‘She reminds Mashiro a lot of herself. She also has a troubled past and is scared to interact with others because of it. That’s why Mashiro is happy that Madoka is starting to get over it.’

   ‘You’re a good girl.’ I would stroke her head, but my hands are dirty with sand.

   After making one more sand castle, Mashiro is finally satisfied. She takes out her phone and takes the pictures of all the sand castles she built.

   Soon, it’s lunchtime. On the previous day, your truly, assisted by Ichika and Yui, made lots of food and stored them inside picnic baskets. They’re just simple things like sandwiches and fried chicken, but I’m glad everyone’s enjoying them.

   ‘What shall we do once we finish with our meal?’ Ichika asks.

   ‘We could go for a swim.’ Sakuya suggests.

   I had to bite back my comment about the ocean is where the whales reproduce.

   ‘Mashiro doesn’t know how to swim.’ Mashiro says.

   ‘I’m sorry but, me neither.’ Sara says.

   ‘If I remember correctly, there were float tubes inside the villa.’ Sakuya muses. ‘You can use those if you want.’

   Turns out that there are not only float tubes, but there’s an inflatable pool bed. We drag all these things out and inflate them with an air pump, also found inside the villa.

   After a warm up session, all of us head towards the ocean with Mashiro and Sara equipped with the float tubes, while Sakuya is dragging the pool bed behind her. I took off my shirt and left it on the picnic mats.

   Since Sakuya requires assistance to move while she’s on the pool bed, Ichika offered to push it. Meanwhile, the rest of us are keeping our eyes out on Mashiro and Sara while we’re swimming, in case they somehow fell from the float tubes.

   Soon, we are quite far away from the beach, and the two non-swimmer are getting more and more nervous. I had to hold Mashiro’s hands to calm her down, while Yui is doing the same with Sara.

   ‘D-d-don’t ever let go of Mashiro…’ Mashiro says.

   Although she says that and she’s stuttering, she doesn’t look scared at all. I have the feeling that she just wants to hold my hands. I give her an assurance anyway.

   ‘Don’t worry, I won’t let go.’

   We swam for around an hour, which surprised me. I didn’t know I had this much stamina and my muscles could actually keep up with all this swimming.

   We get back to the beach and decided to rest for a while in the villa. Some of us are chilling at the living room while enjoying the cold air coming out from the air-conditioner, and some of us are busy washing off the sands stuck to our body in the bathroom.

   Now, it’s an absolute bliss to have a kotatsu to warm you up during winter. The air conditioner is kotatsu’s summer counterpart. Both of them can guide mankind to the path of sloth if misused. And that’s what happened to us.

   We promised to rest only for an hours at most but by the time we realized, it was already evening. Even the usually disciplined Ichika and Madoka have lost to the almighty air conditioner.

   ‘I have disappointed all of you…’ Ichika says while hanging her head.

   ‘Sorry…’ Madoka apologizes in a small voice.

   ‘No worries. All of us made the same mistake.’ I comfort them.

   ‘Our enemy was too strong, after all.’ Sakuya adds.

   ‘Yup, it was so strong senpai took a nap at the sofa.’

   ‘Come on, there’s no harm done, right?’

   Mashiro shows us her phone. She took a picture of Sakuya grinning stupidly and drooling while she’s sleeping.

   ‘Mashiro-chan, delete that~!’

   We’re kind of hungry, so we proceed to deal with our dinner by barbecuing them. Thankfully, the portable grill stored inside the villa operates by using gas, so we don’t have to use charcoals that takes ages to heat up.

   After we filled our stomach, we clean up all the non-disposable utensils and throw away all the disposable ones. Our next activity is playing fireworks, but not without filling a bucket with seawater first.

   The ones we brought are mostly sparklers, and we watch them burn out while squatting down.

   We end it by lighting up some huge rockets that probably cost several thousand yens. They rise up to the sky and explode into several colors.

   ‘TAMAYA!’ I loudly shouts when they explodes.

   The others follow suit, although Sara has no idea what it means. I had to explain it to her later. Even Madoka joined in, earning surprised looks from the rest of us.

   We toss the sparkler sticks inside the bucket to make sure the flames are extinguished, then we take them out and throw them inside a rubbish bin.

   ‘Well then, let’s go bath.’ Sakuya proposes when we’re done.

   At the back of the villa, there’s an open-air hot spring. Unfortunately, it’s not separated into two sections. Wearing swimsuits while going in there is both bad manners and dangerous for the skin, for the swimsuits might slightly melt after getting exposed to high temperature water.

   ‘I’ll wait right here.’ I tell the girls when we’re back at the living room.

   ‘You sure you don’t want to go in with us, Akira-kun?’ Sakuya asks me while smiling mischievously.

   ‘Yes, I’m sure.’

   I’m kind of surprised to find that Sara is the only one who’s uncomfortable at the thought. Even Madoka looks cool with it.

   Oh well, maybe I could join in next time when Sara’s not around.

   While they’re inside, Sakuya is commenting on everyone’s body in a loud voice. She definitely wants me to hear it.

   ‘OH MY~! EVERYONE HAVE SUCH FAIR SKIN! AND YOUR CHEST IS SO HUGE, ICHIKA-CHAN! NOT AS BIG AS YOUR BIG SISTER’S THOUGH!’

   It didn’t last very long. Ichika probably stopped her.

   When they got out, their skin have gone slightly red from the hot spring water. They look kind of erotic. To make things worse, all of them are wearing bath robes.

   ‘You can go in now, Akira.’ Ichika tells me.

   ‘Yeah, thanks.’

   ‘Enjoy the broth, Akira-kun~’ Sakuya says.

   ‘Do not ask.’ Ichika quickly tells Sara when she looked like she wants to know what Sakuya meant.

   When I was done with my bath, the girls have spread futons on the living room, even though the villa has lots of rooms with beds in it. I guess they want to have another slumber party. I don’t want to interfere, so I tell them I’m sleeping upstairs inside one of the rooms and wish them good night. They wish me good night as well.

   When I wake up the next morning, I find Sakuya sleeping on my left side and Yui on my right. Both of them are holding me tight with their arms.

   ‘What on earth is going on?’ I ask out loud.

   ‘You see, all of us draw lots last night, and two people who won get to sleep with you.’ Sakuya answers without opening her eyes.

   ‘And Ichika was fine with it?’

   ‘Oh yes. Believe it or not, she was quite eager to win. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t win, as you can see right now.’

   ‘She was quite depressed when she lost.’ Yui adds, also without opening her eyes.

   ‘Is that so? Well, can the two of you get off? I want to get changed.’

   ‘If you want us to move, you’ll have to give us a morning kiss~’

   ‘...I beg your pardon?’

   ‘It doesn’t has to be on the mouth, the forehead or the cheeks will do.’ Yui says.

   ‘All right, all right. Fine. Just let me go first, will you? I can’t even move my body with the two of you hugging me so tightly.’

   They oblige, and I proceed to kiss the both of them on the forehead. They open their eyes while blushing furiously.

   I start to blush as well. ‘Can you guys leave now? I want to get changed.’

   They left without saying anything. Not even the usually mischievous Sakuya has anything to say.

   I go down to the living room once I got changed. The other girls got changed to their fresh clothes as well, Yui and Sakuya who are not here. I guess they’re changing now.

   ‘Did you had a good night?’ Madoka asks me.

   ‘Heck, I didn’t notice them until I woke up just now. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all.’

   ‘That’s a shame.’

   ‘No kidding.’

   While waiting for the chopper, Madoka surprises us once again, this time with a speech.

   ‘Um, thank you all for inviting me. This is the first time I got invited to go out somewhere, and I…I had lots of fun.’ Madoka says with an embarrassed expression.

   ‘Gosh, you’re so cute Madoka-chan! Group hug!’ Sakuya shouts.

   I was going to skip out on this one again, but Yui make me join in by pushing me from behind. And now, I’m hugging Madoka directly, with the rest of the girls hugging us from all sides.