C86 The Sea, a Girl, and Fruit Wine

Nanami’s steps along the beach were far from slow; she bounced and skipped as if the recent gloom had been completely swept away.

Occasionally, when Shion wasn’t looking, she would bend down, scoop up a handful of water, and splash it towards Shion.

Shion, a girl whose athletic prowess could only be described as negative, often failed to dodge in time, leaving several cool streaks of seawater across her face.

“Hey?! Honestly, Kazama-san!” Shion exclaimed, watching Nanami scoop and splash water at her.

Unwilling to be outdone, she cupped her hands to splash water back at Nanami.

However, Nanami’s movements were far more agile than Shion’s, and she easily evaded Shion’s attack.

No matter how Shion tried to sneak an attack, she couldn’t get a drop on Nanami’s face.

“Huu, huu…” Shion appeared exhausted, panting heavily.

Nanami, who had been walking ahead and had just deftly dodged another of Shion’s water attacks, now approached with graceful steps.

Her hands, tanned a healthy bronze by the seaside sun, gently pinched Shion’s small, damp cheeks.

“Shion-san, your athleticism isn’t quite up to par,” Nanami remarked, still gently pinching Shion’s cheeks.

“Just having ‘girly charm’ isn’t enough; you need to exercise more.

If you don’t have any stamina, you won’t have much fun at the beach, you know.”

Shion tried to exert a little force, but she still couldn’t escape Nanami’s playful grasp.

Consequently, her voice emerged sounding as if it were trapped in a bottle.

“It’s-it’s not like I want to be this way!” Shion protested.

“I have no athletic talent; there’s nothing I can do!”

“Alright, alright, I’m not blaming you, Shion-san,” Nanami said, releasing her grip.

“It’s just that to have more fun, you really need good stamina.”

Before fully letting go, she playfully poked Shion’s nose, concluding her teasing.

Shion, for her part, didn’t mind Nanami’s physical contact at all.

She knew this was simply Nanami’s personality—boisterous and unreserved on the surface, which was precisely what made her Nanami.

“Ah, seriously, if only there weren’t any academic tests!” Nanami suddenly spun around and shouted at the vast, azure ocean.

“You just said academic tests didn’t matter!” Shion, standing nearby, retorted.

“But if I don’t do well, my parents will still scold me,” Nanami said, scratching her head.

“Shion-san, won’t your sister lecture you if you don’t do well?”

The thought of her upcoming test scores made her wince; her combined results for three subjects wouldn’t even surpass Ayane’s score in a single one.

And then there were all the other subjects to come: social studies, history, natural science, chemistry, and a whole host of others…

Just thinking about it gave her a headache.

‘Ah, surely it won’t happen that my combined score for seven subjects is lower than Ayane’s score for just one, right?’

‘Hmph, big sister is such an idiot, an idiot, an idiot!’ Shion imagined Ayane holding a near-perfect test paper, while Shion herself scored only a dozen points in each subject, her total not even enough to match Ayane’s single paper.

‘It was like playing cards… I had a hand full of absolute garbage, while my sister, right in front of me, was practically turning into a smug little imp.’

‘I truly wanted to give that smug little imp the punishment she deserved!’

“So, you’re still playing at the beach? Don’t you need to go back and study or anything?” Shion asked, making a funny face.

“Uh… well, anyway, if you have any worries, just shout them out to the sea, and they’ll all disappear,” Nanami replied, shaking her head.

“So… I’m not worried anymore.”

She then playfully bumped Shion’s head with her own.

‘What a magical way of thinking…’

Just as Shion was about to retort, Nanami walked around a rather large stone in front of her and pulled out a white seashell.

The shell was exquisite.

White patterns etched along its surface formed a beautiful design, and Nanami had preserved it meticulously, with hardly any sand clinging to it.

Nanami casually handed the shell to Shion.

“Here, it’s for you.

Make sure to keep it safe.”

Before Shion could even utter a thank you, Nanami crouched down again, seemingly searching for something.

As Shion leaned closer to look, she saw Nanami pull out two cans, each emblazoned with the prominent characters for “Fruit Wine.”

“Huh?! Kazama-san, are you going to drink alcohol?” Shion asked, her face etched with shock.

Nanami made a shushing gesture to Shion.

“It’s just low-alcohol fruit wine, really—more of an alcoholic beverage than actual liquor.

You have to keep it a secret for me, Shion-san~ I wouldn’t dare put these bottles in the fridge at home; my parents would absolutely give me an earful if they found them.”

“Then why keep them here…?”

Nanami directly placed one of the cans into Shion’s hand.

“It’s so hot right now; if I kept them anywhere else at home, they wouldn’t taste good, they’d spoil, and my parents might find them.

So, I found a shady spot here at the beach where the waves don’t reach, and it stays nice and cool.”

Shion took the can of fruit wine, feeling its refreshing coolness.

Although the beach offered a cool breeze, she hadn’t had a single drink since leaving Shigure’s house, and under the still somewhat scorching sun, she had indeed grown thirsty by now.

“But can we really drink this now…?” Shion whispered, still somewhat doubtful.

Having lived a life of strict adherence to rules since childhood, she couldn’t help but feel a slight pang of guilt indulging in such a small pleasure that skirted the boundaries.

Nanami chuckled.

“I never said you *had* to drink it, Shion-san.

It’s really rude to try and convince someone who doesn’t want to drink.

If you don’t want to, you can just hold it for me for a bit, and I’ll bury it again later.”

Nanami lightly hopped onto the stone, settling down, then pulled Shion up to sit beside her.

The sea remained its customary blue, a clear azure that seemed to merge seamlessly with the distant sky.

Even after walking along the shore for quite some time, the ocean didn’t appear any different.

“Just remember, after drinking, no cycling, no boating, and no swimming,” Nanami instructed.

“Just sit here quietly and gaze at the sea, and you’ll be fine.

Oh, and don’t litter, or the sea will get angry, and you won’t catch any fish next time you go out.”

Nanami effortlessly popped open her can and took a large gulp of the fruit wine.

The sweet strawberry aroma mixed with a hint of alcohol wafting from the can made Shion waver slightly.

After taking a sip, Nanami, though showing no blush on her face, leaned naturally against Shion’s body, resting her head on Shion’s shoulder.

“Watching the sea together with someone… I can’t even remember when I last did that,” Nanami murmured after another sip.

“It feels like… such a long, long time ago.”

Shion, having walked for a long time, was quite thirsty, and days of studying had left her both physically and mentally drained.

She, too, yearned for a way to properly relax, using methods that weren’t excessive or troublesome to others.

“Then I’ll keep Kazama-san company.”