“Ugh…”

She embraced her fluffy black (swimming) dress in her arms as she made a step into the water. To be honest, this “swimsuit” of hers revealed not much more than a regular summer school uniform. Her left eye was concealed under the black eyepatch—she didn’t take it off even before going in the water. Was it even waterproof?

The sky was bright and clear, so nothing protected me from the harsh rays of sun. It was tiring and annoying, but I was able to forget about that, mainly because of her presence.

Plowing through the water with my feet made a really pleasant sound. The temperature difference was kind of a shock, but there was no avoiding it.

“Disgusting… there are so many humans here…” she complained as a kid ran just in front of her and splashed water all around.

“Yeah… but there’s no helping it. You’ll have to endure it”, to be fair, I would rather the beach to be not as full as it was now, but on the other hand, it was a relevant part of its charm. Something that made me feel that I was living. “More importantly, you’re not taking it off?”

She stared at me cluelessly at first, but when she realized what I was talking about, she immediately used a hand to cover her eyepatch and responded, vexed:

“N-no! I can never take it off, no matter where I am! You should know about that, h-human!”

“Oh, sorry. But you’re somehow able to keep going without a mask.”

“T-that’s right. I’m not that weak…” she directed her gaze aside.

“I see…” I turned around and advanced further in the water.

“…” soon, I heard a groan from her. Was something wrong? I took a glance at her again, but it seemed that another kid had run across her path, accidentally splashing water at her.

“There won’t be any kids if we go deeper.”

“O-okay…”

She walked very slowly, which made me wonder if she was perhaps afraid of water. Since she always tried to act tough and hide the embarrassing side of her from me, she wouldn’t tell me, but instead pretend that nothing was wrong. For the same reason, asking her directly would be pointless.

“Is something wrong…?”

“N-no. All those humans are annoying”, she said with her face cast down.

“Yeah, I know…”

I continued advancing, but I couldn’t stop thinking about her. On the other hand, it’s not there was anything to be afraid of. The water was rather shallow, so to accidentally drown, she would need to be like an anime character with exaggerated clumsiness. Maybe it was better that she was overcoming her fears… supposing that she was afraid of something, that is.

“Alright. I think it’s enough”, I glanced at her as I reached a point where not many people were around, let alone those kids that were annoying her.

“Yes. I approve.”

Then, what should we do now? We hadn’t brought a beach ball or anything to play with. Maybe I could lay down on water and relax, but I wasn’t confident in my swimming skills enough to leave the area where my feet could reach the ground.

“Aren’t you afraid of soaking that eyepatch of yours?” I had no idea what kind of cloth it was made of, but I could imagine it being rather uncomfortable to wear after getting soaked. I could be wrong, though.

“No. I do not intend to wet it, but even in such case, it should keep its properties.”

“Alright…”

Looking at her, a thought appeared in my mind. Would I ever get to see her left eye without the eyepatch, or would she insist that it would be deathly for me and keep refusing forever?

Of course, I wanted to see it. What color it was? Probably blue just as her other eye, unless she had put a colored contact there. In fact, it wasn’t about the eye itself, but seeing her face as a whole not obstructed by anything. Also, what made her decide to put it on? That girl, in spite of that I had spent almost four months with her, was still more or less shrouded in mystery.

“Fufu. Now, look at all those foolish humans”, she directed her gaze at the beach, where really a lot of people could be seen.

“You like watching people, Lumiya.”

“N-no! It’s not like that. I just enjoy seeing them writhing in pain… fufu.”

“Really? It seems like they’re having fun…”

“Kaka, you’re wrong here. They may not look like it, but they are actually suffering from the deathly rays of sun”, she proudly pressed a hand against her eyepatch, showing a slight smirk on her face. Well, I was somewhat suffering too, then.

“Oh. That’s right…” was she really enjoying it, or was she only pretending?

“Now then, human. Let’s enjoy this splendid view.”

“Yes. I’m glad that I can serve you… Lumiya-sama…” I immediately cringed. In fact, those words made her embarrassed:

“D-don’t make fun of me…!” unexpectedly, she turned to me and threw a splash of water at me with an annoyed expression on her face.

Although I was startled at first, it didn’t take me much to send a response.

“Oh, so that’s how you want to play? Take that!”

Well, I had to admit that I held back a little to avoid splashing at her eyepatch. Who knew what would happen if it accidentally fell off?

“Fufu. You sure are weak.”

“Right back at you!”

Unwittingly, I gave myself in to fun that at first glance seemed pointless and dumb, but it was enough for me to enjoy it. She still spoke in her strange manner, but she felt like an actual girl now. Really, it was just as if I hadn’t been living at all until today.

•

“Phew! I’m a bit tired now…”

I sat down under the red umbrella that cast the long-awaited shade.

“Fufu. It was your punishment, human”, she responded as she proceeded to do the same, next to me. The distance between us didn’t feel too close, but it wasn’t also too big—nearly perfect. All this time, she wore the thin, black dress that due to having been soaked in water, clung to her body and became slightly transparent. She seemed to be embarrassed by that as her arms didn’t let go of her body.

“Punishment for what…?”

“F-For being insolent. Be grateful that it was not anything serious, for I am merciful…” she switched to her condescending mode while retaining an embarrassed expression—there was no word for that other than cute. Although I was probably the only person on this planet that thought so.

Filling my ears were cries of glee and the pleasant noise of waves washing against the shoreline. As I stared forward, the sea in front of me seemed to be endless.

“I see. Thank you Lumiya for being so generous.”

“D-don’t say it like that…” she hid her face behind her knees as she said uneasily.

It was almost unbelievable for me that I found myself on the beach with a friend, which was the girl I liked. Such thought wouldn’t have even occurred me a few months ago, and even if it did, I would have discarded it as a distant idea of unachievable perfect life. Yet here I was. How did I manage to do that?

“You really are weak against praise, aren’t you…?”

“N-no. It’s not like that…” her voice was silent.

“Haha. Right”, it was evident that it was her weakness. Honestly, I found teasing her fun, but naturally, I couldn’t go overboard with that. I didn’t want to make her mad, because I would simply feel bad with it—her powers were not taken into account. Still, it didn’t quite make sense. She got embarrassed when she was praised, but she tried to act so tough and almighty. Shouldn’t she be aiming for that? Or maybe that embarrassment was the result of her being happy? I had no clue if it came to her emotions. “Err… Lumiya, aren’t you hungry or something?”

“K-kaka. Of course I am not. D-do you think that I came unprepared?” she stuttered, which might mean that she wasn’t telling the truth. Emphasis on might.

“It’s not like that. I just want to… visit one of those seaside restaurants when I have a chance to…”

“I-if it is like that, then very well. I shall accompany you.”

Since she accepted my suggestion, I took a look around. In sight, there were a few restaurants—some of them were empty, but in some of them, I could see masses of people. Which one would be the best choice? Maybe there was a reason some of them were more popular, but come to think of it, most people here were tourists, so it’s not like they were familiar with the food here, right?

“Food is the best thing in the human realm… no, it’s the only thing worthy of my time.”

“I’m glad”, I said even though I was sure that she was human just like me.

With that, we departed towards a wooden hut set at the other side of the beach.

•

“Well, I have to commend those humans. This isn’t half bad”, she had ordered a dish that was entirely black, just like her dress. It was probably ink… to be honest, it seemed a bit too disgusting to me, so I had ordered a simple spaghetti. I wouldn’t be surprised if the major reason for her choosing this particular dish was its color. She wanted to appear cool again or something?

Nevertheless, her positive comment and the visible enjoyment on her face showed that she didn’t regret ordering this odd dish in the slightest.

“That’s good, haha…”

“But those filthy humans really are everywhere. How can you live in this world?” with her mouth funnily dyed black by the ink, she glanced at me with the only eye of hers. True, the hut was filled with people—in fact, it was quite difficult to find a seat here. Unlike her, I didn’t hate it, though.

“Yeah. I guess I just got used to it…”

“Well, you’re human too after all… but it’s hard to believe looking at how mannerly you are”, did she just praise me? She showed no embarrassment.

“Y-you think so?”

“…” she directed her gaze at the dish. Did she just realize what she said and tried to hide her face from me? All of a sudden, she began eating it furiously.

“A-ah, you can’t do that…!” after my remark, she slowed down, but did not raise her head. “Sorry…” what was I apologizing for? More importantly, it seemed like she just got mad at me for no apparent reason. Had I done something wrong? Was she going to run away just like in some beach episodes in anime? No, no, no. I wouldn’t be able to deal with it properly, considering how I was now. She seemed to be so cheerful a moment ago… so it was impossible, right? Each second of her silence in the lively hut that didn’t mind our presence in the slightest became extremely exhausting for me.

“…”

“L-Lumiya…?”

“Human…” she uttered silently, but hearing her voice eased me enough.

“Y-yes?”

“You’re weird, you know?” her eye wasn’t looking at me.

“W-why are you saying that all of a sudden?”

“Just so that you know that you’re weird.”

“It makes no sense…”

Besides, she was weird too. Probably more than me. I didn’t wear an eyepatch, for example…

“Fufu. I know.”

“Lumiya?”

She raised her head again, and I saw nothing worrying on it. Apparently, she returned… but what was that all about? Was something troubling her? It wasn’t like I could ask her directly, though…

“That’s right. You’re loyal, and that’s very important in a servant… so you’re a very good servant…”

“Servant…? Ah, I remember.”

“Fufu, you see how great of a master I am? You even forgot that you’re serving me.”

“Haha.”

Supposing that her powers were real, and I was actually her servant, would that really be a sign of master’s generosity or rather incompetence? Nonetheless, it was true that I was having a lot of fun with her and I forgot about the servant thing. I did put up with her weird act, though.

“Thank you for the food. Again, I have to commend humans working in this place.”

“Yeah. It was pretty good.”

Apparently, the reason for the restaurant’s popularity was because they were known for serving very good food. The prices weren’t all that high either.

With that, we soon proceeded to leave the restaurant and found ourselves on the scorching beach again. I felt really good—I was sure that I would remember this day until the very end of my life, whether it ended up being a success or failure.