It’s finally time to head to the water park. I didn’t bring a lot of things. Just my wallet, phone, and my bag which contains my wetsuit. Once again, Serizawa-san took the trouble of giving me a ride to go there.

   ‘Thank you for the trouble of giving me a ride again, Serizawa-san.’ I tell him.

   ‘Please think nothing of it. You and ojou-sama are heading towards the same place, anyway.’

   Suzu, who’s only wearing the jersey issued by the school and nothing to cover the lower part of her body, is sitting right next to me. There’s a small pouch next to her, presumably containing her phone and wallet. Her eyes are closed, and her head is keep on nodding.

   ‘Played video games for the whole night again?’ I ask her.

   ‘Yup~.’ she answers groggily.

   ‘Are you sure you can remain awake until we’re done for the day?’

   ‘If I can’t, I’ll just sleep on a bench there or something~.’

   ‘I seriously think that you’re the only person who goes to a water park and sleeps instead of, you know, have fun there.’

   ‘Not true~. I bet there are some parents who went there just because their kids bugged them to~.’

   We soon arrived at the water park. Serizawa-san stops the car at the entrance, and the two of us got down.

   ‘Please call me so that I could pick you up once you are done, ojou-sama.’ he tells Suzu.

   ‘Got it. See you later, Seriseri.’

   With that, Serizawa-san leaves with the car, leaving only the two of us.

   ‘Well, let’s go in.’ I say to her.

   ‘Right behind you~.’

   Since we already got our tickets, we didn’t have to line up to buy them. I’m really glad since the lines at the ticket booths are kind of terrifying. The water park has barely opened for business, but people are dying to get inside. Not our problem, though. I gave our tickets to an employee so that she could verify it.

   ‘Oh, this are special tickets. Please be informed that the two of you are eligible for free inner tubes.’ she tells us after she checked the tickets.

   ‘They usually cost money?’ I ask indignantly.

   ‘Please understand, dear customer.’ she says while showing me an apologetic smile.

   Well, not that I care. It’s not like we’ll be using them.

   ‘What about food? Do we get free food?’ Suzu asks excitedly.

   ‘I’m afraid not, miss. You have to fork out your own money for any food and beverages sold in out establishment.’

   That disappointed her big time.

   ‘Aww~.’

   ‘It’s not like you couldn’t afford them, so why are you so disappointed?’ I ask her.

   ‘Didn’t I tell you before, Takkun~? Food always taste better when it’s bought by others or given for free~!’

   ‘Oh yeah. You did mention something like that.’

   I look at the staff.

   ‘Pardon her outburst. Please give us the wristbands.’ I tell her.

   She hands me two orange ones. ‘Here you go.’

   ‘Thank you. Now stop sulking and let’s go, Suzu.’

   Wordlessly, she takes a wristband from me and follows me to go inside.

   While we’re going in, the lines at the ticket booths have barely diminished. By contrast, they seem to have become longer.

   ‘Heaven knows why people would actually line up to a place with lots of other people. It totally defeats the purpose of going to a place that’s supposed to cool you down.’ Suzu shudders.

   ‘I know, right? Humans can be so weird.’

   Suzu giggles at that.

   ‘You make it sound like you’re not a human yourself, Takkun~.’

   ‘Didn’t I tell you, Suzu? I’m actually an alien.’

   She gasps loudly.

   ‘So you’re from outer space~?’ she asks with wide eyes.

   I put an index finger in front of my lips.

   ‘I can’t tell you any more than this.’ I tell her mysteriously.

   I notice some people trying their best not to laugh out loud. I guess we’re kind of causing a scene here, so I decided to stop. Once we’re inside, we walk to the nearest shower room.

   ‘Well, I’m going to get changed, you should put your belongings inside a locker too.’ I tell Suzu.

   ‘Okay~.’

   ‘And don’t you dare fall asleep while you’re in there.’

   She averts her eyes.

   ‘There’s no way I would do something like that, Takkun~.’ she says with a monotone.

   ‘I mean it. If I don’t see you come out when I’m done, I’ll ask the staff for help so that they could look for you.’

   ‘No need to bother the staffs. I’ll make sure to come out by myself~.’ she promises.

   As some of you may remember, I have tons of scars on my body. I’m not ashamed to show them, but I don’t want to scare people away. Hence, I bought a wetsuit that could cover up my entire body just in case I have to go to a pool or something. There a quite a lot of people inside the changing room, so I went to one of the empty shower room and changed into my wetsuit. After I’m done, I head to the locker and place my bag inside it. There’s a transparent pouch in which I can store my phone and my wallet, so I brought it along with me.

   When I got outside, Suzu is already waiting for me while dozing off. On her hand is the same pouch I’m holding. I’m kind of surprised that no one is hitting on her.

   ‘Sorry for making you wait.’ I tell her.

   ‘No worries, I just came out myself~.’ she says groggily.

   ‘Maybe we should swim for a bit to do something about your drowsiness.’

   She looks at me like I just told her that the world is ending.

   ‘You can’t be serious~!’

   ‘Hey, we’re in a water park. What else would we be doing here?’

   ‘I told you! I’m here for the food~!’

   ‘So, what you’re saying is that you want to have a meal here and leave.’

   ‘That’s right!’ she says smugly.

   ‘Why are you being smug? And no, you can’t just spend all those money on a swimsuit and come all the way here without doing anything.’

   ‘Aww~, you can’t be serious~!’

   ‘I’m serious, alright. Come on, let’s go to that poll over there.’

   ‘...Fine.’ she reluctantly agrees while pouting.

   ‘Don’t be like that. Your meal will taste better if you eat it after a good workout, right?’ I comfort her.

   Her eyes sparkle like sapphires.

   ‘That’s true~! Thanks, Takkun~! You sure know how to make me happy~!’

   Of course, one shouldn’t expect too much from the food sold inside a water park, but I’m not going to say that out loud.

   There are some benches near the pool, and we put our pouches on one of them. There are staffs and security cameras all over the place, so we don’t have to worry about them being stolen when we were not watching.

   Suzu unzips her jersey and shows her body and the silver bikini she bought yesterday. The moment she did that, I see lots of people sneaking glances at her. Naturally, the person herself is either ignorant of it, or chose to ignore it. All she did was placing her jersey on the bench.

   ‘Before we go in, let’s do some warm-up.’ I instruct.

   She tilts her head in confusion.

   ‘Why?’ she asks.

   ‘What do you mean “why”? We’re going to swim, for heaven’s sake! Do you want to get cramps and drown?’

   Wordlessly, she points at a lifeguard who’s on duty, then at me.

   ‘Don’t cause trouble for others when you don’t have to.’ I chide. ‘Besides, getting cramps are no joke.’

   ‘...I suppose not.’

   ‘I’m glad that you understand. Now let’s do this.’

   It only took me a moment to be done with my session. However, Suzu is really taking her time with hers. As she’s struggling, I made sure to send glares all over the place since some of the onlookers are pointing their phones at Suzu. My glare worked, and all of them put their phone away before scampering.

   ‘Come on Suzu, don’t take all day on this.’ I tell Suzu.

   ‘Easy for you to say~! Do you know how tough this is for someone who rarely exercises~?’

   ‘No, I don’t.’

   A few more minutes later, Suzu is finally done.

   ‘Finally. Let’s get down to the water.’ I tell her.

   ‘Aww, already~? Let me rest for a bit~.’ she pants.

   ‘...Are you seriously panting over finish doing warm-up exercises?’

   ‘Like I said, I’m not used to this~.’

   I roll my eyes.

   ‘Fine, five minutes. Then you’re going in there, tired or no.’

   ‘Aww, you’re such a demon Takkun.’

   Five minutes went by in the blink of an eye. Suzu is still panting heavily, but I’m not fooled. She’s definitely acting like she’s still out of breath to delay this.

   ‘Come on Suzu, down to the water you go.’ I instruct. ‘The longer you drag this, the longer it takes for you to get this over with.’

   Once she knows that I’m not fooled by her act, she goes inside the pool without a single complaint. I follow suit right after.

   ‘Put your hands on the side of the pool and try tomake your lower body float. After you’re done with that, try to paddle.’ I tell her as I’m standing next to her.

   She did as she’s told and starts paddling. This lasted for five seconds before her legs are touching the floor of the pool again.

   ‘...Let me guess, another break?’

   ‘Yup, let me take five.’ she wheezes.

   I shake my head as I’m totally loss for words. This is oging to be one long lesson.

   After Suzu’s third attempt and the sixth break, a trio of small kids happen to pass by the pool. Based on their size, they’re probably in their third or fourth grade. One of them points at Suzu and laughs.

   ‘Look guys, that onee-chan can’t swim!’ he says to his friends.

   His friends also find it amusing.

   ‘Wow, even we’ve learned how to swim!’

   ‘You’re so lame, onee-chan!’

   Suzu puffs up her cheeks.

   ‘Do any of you know how Calculus works?’ she asks them.

   ‘Cal what now?’

   ‘Don’t you mean calculator?’

   ‘See? I’m smarter than all of you.’ she says smugly and condescendingly.

   I smack her lightly on the head.

   ‘Stop competing with them.’

   ‘But they started it~!’ she complains.

   I look at the kids.

   ‘Kids, it’s bad to make fun of people who doesn’t know how to do something. It’s perfectly okay to be ignorant, but it’s not to leave it that way. And it’s definitely bad for laughing at those who’re trying their best.’ I tell them.

   ‘Yeah, you tell them Takkun~!’

   ‘Quiet you, and you’ve stopped paddling again.’

   The three kids look at each other. When they turn to look at us again, they look quite apologetic.

   ‘We’re sorry about that.’

   ‘Yeah, sorry onii-chan and onee-chan.’

   ‘We won’t do it again.’

   Wow, they’re so well-behaved. Their parents must have done a really good job at educating them.

   ‘What about you, Suzu?’

   ‘I forgive all of you.’

   ‘And?’

   ‘And what?’ she asks innocently.

   ‘Aren’t you going to apologize to them for being immature?’ I growl at her.

   ‘...I’m sorry for being immature.’ she mutters reluctantly.

   ‘There, she has apologized. Will you forgive her?’ I ask the kids.

   ‘Rather than forgive, we were the only ones at fault here.’

   ‘Yup. Totally.’

   ‘Well, we’re leaving now. Sorry for bothering your couple time, onii-chan and onee-chan!’

   Suzu and I were silent for a while after they left.

   ‘...I think we missed the timing of telling them that we’re not going out with each other.’ I tell her.

   ‘Too late. And can I stop this paddling now? My feet are killing me~!’

   ‘Rest here for a bit while I go borrow a kick board.’

   ‘Aww~!’

   Suzu is a fast learner, so she could already paddle while holding to a board after only doing it for 3 minutes, not to mention the dozens of breaks that she took.

   ‘Well, I guess this is as far as you can learn, considering that you’re probably not coming here anymore.’ I say before ending the class.

   ‘Which makes it a total waste of time…’ she mumbles.

   I look at the huge digital clock placed at one corner of the wall.

   ‘Are you hungry?’

   Her mood brightens up immediately.

   ‘Yes!’

   ‘Well, it’s almost lunchtime. Might as well.’

   We got out of the pool to get back our stuff. We then went to a stand where the staffs are giving out towels. We wrapped ourselves using them and head to the food court. Suzu is holding her jersey on her hand as we walk. As I’ve expected, they sell nothing exciting here: hot dogs, yakisobas, the likes. Suzu, on the other hand, is very excited.

   ‘You’re paying for the yakisoba, right Takkun~?’ she asks me with sparkling eyes.

   ‘Sure, go ahead and order.’

   ‘Yay~!’

   She bought three servings of yakisobas, not to mention five hot dogs, three slices of pizzas and two bottles of soft drinks. I promised her that I’m only paying for the yakisoba, but what the hey, it’s not like I can’t afford them. As for me, I got a yakisoba and a cup of soft drink.

   Suzu wastes no time in devouring the food and drink she bought.

   ‘Man, all these food are so delicious~! Especially this yakisoba~!’ she says while eating.

   Sadly, I can’t share her enthusiasm. The sauce is too thin, and the noodles are too soft. The toppings are too little, and it’s too expensive for something of this portion. Well, it can at least fill the stomach. For an hour or two.

   ‘So, what are we doing after this?’ she asks once we’re done eating.

   ‘Honestly, I have no idea.’ I confess. ‘Swim some more?’

   ‘...Please drown me instead. At least the death will be swift.’

   ‘How about we go to the theme park zone, then?’

   Suzu looks more energetic all of a sudden.

   ‘Oh right, this place has an arcade.’

   ‘Inside a water park?’

   ‘Isn’t it just as weird that it has rides like roller coaster?’

   ‘Fair enough. Let’s go then.’

   As we’re heading to the theme park zone, or more precisdely towards where the screams are coming from, I couldn’t help but take a look around. There are lots and lots of boy-and-girl pair just like us wherever I see.

   ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have come here after all.’ I grumble.

   ‘Too late.’

   ‘I know, I know.’

   ‘Cheer up, Takkun. Maybe you’ll forget about them after playing a few rounds of games.’

   ‘I hope so.’

   The arcade is surprisingly huge. Sadly, they don’t offer much of a choice. Most of the available games are crane ones, and there are way too many photo booths. From the limited number of arcade games, there are only a few choices that pique our interests.

   ‘Well, it’s better than nothing. Let’s play some of them.’ I tell a dismayed Suzu.

   ‘...Okay.’

   There’s a fighting game that looks kind of interesting, so we decided to try playing it. Turns out it really is fun to play. We had quite a good time playing against each other. We ended up playing ten rounds before deciding to play something else.

   ‘Whew, that was fun.’ Suzu says with a satisfied tone.

   ‘What should we play next?’ I ask her.

   She points at one of the crane games.

   ‘There’s a plushy that I want to get from one of those things.’

   The one she wants to get is a penguin plushy which is blue in color. They’re around the same size as our head, and wears a cap which has the name of the water park on it.

   ‘Can you help me get one, Takkun?’ Suzu pleads.

   ‘You know, I’m pretty sure that you could get one easier than blinking if you use that insane built-in calculator of yours.’

   ‘But where would be the fun in that~?’

   ‘The alternative would be a huge waste of time and money.’

   ‘I know that, that’s why it would be fun to watch you struggle.’

   ‘...Don’t expect too much from me.’

   I don’t know it was luck or something else, but I got one on my fifth try.

   ‘Here.’ I say to her while handing her the plushy.

   ‘Yay, thanks Takkun~!’ she says gratefully while hugging the plushy tightly.

   ‘I hope you’re happy. You made me waste more than 1,000 yen, after all.’

   ‘Don’t you worry Takkun, I’ll take good care of it!’

   Based on her reaction, she must really love penguins or plush toys in general, or both. Come to think of it, I barely know a thing about her, even though it’s been almost a year since we knew each other.

   ‘Do you have anywhere that you want to go?’ I ask her as we exit the arcade.

   She lets out a yawn.

   ‘Not really~. Can we go back now?’

   I look at the time. It’s only three in the afternoon. Even so, I shrug.

   ‘Sure.’

   ‘Can you give me a piggyback, Takkun? My legs are tired~?’

    ‘No. Use your own two legs.’

   ‘Aww, please~?’

   I let out a sigh.

   ‘...Fine, just this once.’

   ‘Yay~!’

   I had to carry her all the way to the locker room while being glanced at by pretty much everyone who we passed by. After we got back our stuff, I had to carry her until we reach Serizawa-san’s car. Apparently, she has called Serizawa-san while I was still inside the locker room. Once we’re inside, Serizawa-san drive me back to my apartment.

   ‘Today was fun, Takkun. Let’s go out somewhere again~.’ Suzu tells me once we reach my place.

   ‘...You actually want to go outside? Is the world going to end?’

   ‘Ah, you know what I mean. Even hanging out at my place is fine, right?’

   ‘I guess. See you tomorrow at school. And thank you for the ride, Serizawa-san.’

   ‘You’re very much welcome, sir.’