157) Chapter 22. Because It’s Summer! (5)
I mean, I didn’t buy anything so revealing that it would be completely impractical to wear…
But I still ended up buying a fairly normal bikini with a decent amount of skin exposure.
To be honest, I still think it might be a bit too provocative for a high school student to wear, but compared to those swimsuits that Soi and Chae-yi had recommended, I suppose it's much more acceptable.
…….
No, wait.
Don’t tell me they recommended those swimsuits first just to make me feel this way?
I feel like I’ve been tricked—
“Rua!”
But before that thought could even finish, it was cut off by the sight of Soi waving vigorously at me.
We had all changed together at the hotel near the beach. Since we had all gone into the room together anyway, there was no need to go in and out separately just to change.
But, well, I… hmm.
I couldn’t last long in there.
Even when I was really young and went to a water park with my family, I felt the same way—changing clothes around other girls is still kind of hard.
Especially because you have to take off everything, including your underwear, to change into a swimsuit.
Even though I’ve lived my whole life in this world up to high school, the time I spent as a man in my previous life is still longer.
It feels embarrassing, like I shouldn’t be there, and most of all, Soi, Chae-yi, Hyeonji, and Jinwoo were all in the same room!
Obviously, there was no way to keep any distance!
I felt like I might lose something precious in my life if I turned my head even slightly, so I hurriedly changed and practically fled the hotel room to wait outside.
Standing outside wearing only a bikini, people passing by kept glancing at me.
Both men and women.
Thankfully, no one actually came up to me to ask if I wanted to hang out.
……Anyway.
“Rua!”
All those useless thoughts vanished the moment I saw Soi running toward me, waving one hand energetically.
Soi was beautiful.
Her blonde hair, usually tied back, was now loose and swaying.
Her swimsuit was… well, normal. A cute, mostly yellow bikini.
But since it was still a bikini, it exposed quite a bit. The space between her breasts was clearly visible, and every time she ran, her chest bounced, revealing a bit of the underside.
The bottom piece had a design that looked like it was tied at the sides with strings. Of course, it wasn’t actually held together by real knots—it was just decorative—but the way those decorative knots swayed gave off a lively yet slightly dangerous vibe at the same time.
Swoosh.
I finally snapped out of it when Soi stopped right in front of me.
“How is it? Did you fall for me? You look like you did. Were you so dazzled by this cool unnie that you lost your senses?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Huh?”
“Y-you look cool…”
Honestly, I thought she looked incredibly pretty rather than cool, but saying that felt like it would make things way too awkward.
“O-oh, yeah, I see, hehe.”
Soi scratched her head shyly as she laughed.
She went from a super cool unnie to a slightly clueless girl my age in an instant, but… well, that’s also part of her charm. Because she’s Soi.
“Ruuuaaa~”
The one calling my name in a long, drawn-out voice as she ran over was Chae-yi.
Her eye-catching pink hair bounced energetically.
Her swimsuit was pink. Also a bikini, but while the color was flashy, the design itself was rather modest.
But that honest, very classic bikini style somehow looked amazing on her. Her naturally striking features made the swimsuit look even better.
She looked both pure and incredibly bold at the same time.
My face heated up for no reason.
“How is it? Does it suit me?”
Chae-yi stopped in front of me and spun around once with a smile. Her slightly long bob fluttered out in a pretty arc.
“Y-yeah. It suits you. It suits you a lot.”
“Huh?”
And when I complimented her honestly, she reacted exactly the same way Soi did.
They always bicker, but since they’re always together, maybe they’ve started to resemble each other in some ways.
“Um, well…”
Chae-yi twisted her body shyly. When she clasped her hands together, her chest pressed inward. The gesture looked a bit childish, but her body definitely wasn’t.
I quickly looked away out of embarrassment—only to see Soi glaring like she’d grown horns.
Just then, I noticed someone approaching hesitantly from afar.
Blue hair. A blue ponytail tied back exactly the same as usual.
She was wearing the blue bikini Soi and Chae-yi had insisted on, but it wasn’t overly revealing.
The bottom piece came up slightly higher, covering her lower stomach generously up to just below her navel, but it also hugged her body tightly, emphasizing her slim waist.
The top didn’t show any underbust and was much more modest compared to Soi’s or Chae-yi’s, but it still highlighted Hyeonji’s well‑toned figure, making it suit her extremely well.
She had a slightly mature aura.
But in contrast to that mature aura, her expression full of self-consciousness, her flushed face, and her hesitant steps created a huge gap in impression.
It gave her a strangely precarious charm.
…….
I’m not sure why I’m analyzing all this, though.
“I-It suits you.”
Maybe because she looked so embarrassed, I snapped back to my senses.
And compared to complimenting Soi and Chae-yi, this was a bit easier.
“O-oh. Th-thank you.”
I even got to see the extremely rare sight of Hyeonji stuttering.
Seeing her like this… she was kind of cute…?
“But where’s Jiwoo?”
Soi asked, using Jinwoo’s girl name.
“She looked like she was thinking hard about something before coming out.”
Chae-yi tilted her head.
“S-she was changing when I came out.”
Hyeonji added cautiously.
So we didn’t need to go back in to get her.
She might be trembling in embarrassment after putting it on.
Even Hyeonji, who normally wears skirts without issue and doesn’t dress like a boy at all, was overwhelmed by wearing a bikini.
And Jinwoo—who looked like she might die of shame just from wearing women’s clothes—was told to wear something that exposed her stomach.
……She didn’t actually faint from heart trouble or something, right?
I remembered Jinwoo burying her face in my chest and fainting with a nosebleed, and I worried for a moment.
“Oh, she’s coming.”
Chae-yi pointed toward the hotel room door.
Hesitantly, Jinwoo’s brown hair peeked out.
When her face appeared, she briefly looked androgynous. Her hair was just short, but her eyebrows were long, and her lips and skin looked incredibly soft.
But once her collarbones appeared below her neck, the impression shifted—
“Hey, if you stand there like that, it looks like you’re not wearing anything, you know? Come out properly.”
Soi frowned.
Right.
Jinwoo’s swimsuit didn’t have shoulder straps.
If she only stuck out her head and one shoulder, of course it looked like she’d just stepped out mid‑shower and peeked out of the hotel door.
“O-okay.”
Jinwoo stepped out, looking like she might die of embarrassment.
……Hmm.
Her body had fewer curves than ours. With a tight bandage, she could probably make her chest look completely flat.
But that didn’t mean she had no feminine lines.
Her waist was slim, and her lower body—when not hidden by slightly oversized pants—was quite defined.
And she definitely did have a chest, even if small.
Honestly, if she’d worn a typical bikini like ours, it might have been less noticeable. But because she was wearing a strapless, thin tube‑top style, it actually emphasized her chest more. Even though it covered more area than mine, it somehow looked… very bold.
The bottom piece was just a normal bikini bottom.
It was only white, but maybe because of Jinwoo’s attitude…
It felt like it would turn transparent the moment she went into the water.
“D-does it suit me?”
Jinwoo asked.
She lowered her arms, revealing her stomach, and even though she was just showing her midriff, it felt strangely transgressive.
Maybe because she usually wears men’s clothes.
“…It suits you.”
When I said that, Jinwoo smiled bashfully.
She looked like she might die of embarrassment, but since I said it suited her, she seemed relieved that it wasn’t a mistake to wear it.
“…Let’s go!”
Soi immediately hooked her arm through mine.
“Hyep!?”
Of course, I could feel her warmth instantly. The warmth you can’t feel through clothes.
The boundary between swimsuit and skin, the softness and warmth I usually only felt through fabric.
Then Chae-yi hooked my other arm.
“Let’s go.”
She smiled brightly at me.
Ugh.
At this rate, I’m the one who might end up with a nosebleed.
A word from the author (A/N):
Thank you for reading again today!