Book 6: Chapter 2: Part 3

Part 3

“Eeii.”

“Ah!”

I shifted my body to the side in response to the ball coming at me from behind. The beach ball went right through where I had been a moment ago with great force.

“Ah! I’m sorry, Yuuya-san!”

“I-it’s okay.”

I can avoid it, but if Kaede and Kaori were teaming up, it might have been dangerous…

As I was thinking of that, Rin grinned when she saw Kaori’s serve.

“Heh? It seems that Kaori is not good at sports, huh? Let’s aim at her.”

“Eeh? A-as expected that’s…”

“Kaede. This is a match, you know. It’s a great strategy to win.”

And Rin began to aim at Kaori with the next serve as she declared.

“Soryaa!”

“Eii!”

Kaori managed to deal with Rin’s serve, but the ball flew in the wrong direction. That direction was out towards the sea. However, I thought that I shouldn’t let the ball go out. I ran along the surface of the sea without thinking, caught up with the ball, and returned it to Rin’s court.

“Haah!”

“Wait… how can you pick that up!?”

“I mean, how can you run on the sea’s surface like that?”

“Eeh? Y-you must have seen it wrong.”

“No, I think so too, but…!”

I was chasing after the ball, but it was definitely not normal to run on the surface of the water! Or rather, I’m surprised that I can run on the sea’s surface myself.

It seems that during my training with Master Usagi, my leg strength had become extraordinary. However, after I returned the ball to Rin’s court, Kaori was the only one left on our court. Rin took advantage of that and scored a point.

I tried to get back onto the court, but my feet got caught in the sand. Well… I don’t have much experience moving in the sand. It’s hard to move, and it takes more energy than usual… This seems to be a good practice for me.

Although I was here to play, I couldn’t help but think about such things due to my training with Master Usagi.

After that, Kaori was intensively targeted, and Kaede’s team defeated our team.

“Ugh… Yuuya-san, I’m sorry… I’m just slowing you down…”

“Well, don’t mention it.”

At the time of the ball game tournament, it was still possible to cover since we played tennis, but it wasn’t as easy to do so in beach volleyball. Of course, Kaori always tried to keep the ball in play with volleys and receives, but all of them flew at me with lethal force.

…On the other hand, if there was a competition where that ball could be fully utilized, I think Kaori could compete well enough. After all, it was not only unpredictable but also very fast, so that even I had to rush to avoid it. I think it’s at a level that even the monsters I’ve fought in the Great Devil’s Nest would be afraid. I was really surprised.

After that, we also played against Ryo’s team, but the result was still our loss. Kaede’s team won in the end.

“Ugh… Yuuya-san, I’m sorry… that we lost because of me…”

“N-no! You don’t have to worry about it…!”

I’m not sure what the right thing to say to her would be, so I just panicked. But then, with a grin on her face, Rin called out to Kaori.

“Kaori’s team lost all of their games… Isn’t that a sign of a disaster?”

“Y-you don’t have to say that!”

Rin laughed out loud at Kaori’s reaction.

We enjoyed playing beach volleyball for a while and decided to take a break since we played for a long time.

“Let’s take a break and eat somewhere, shall we?”

“Yes!”

We all agreed to Ryo’s suggestion and decided to have lunch at a beach house. The place we were at was far away from the crowds, so there were only a few people at the nearby beach house.

When we turned our attention to the more crowded area of the beach, we noticed that the beach houses there were very busy.

“Even though there seemed to be more people over there, is this beach house okay with you guys?”

“I think it’s fine.”

“Yeah, I guess so. It’s probably only crowded there because it’s in a good location. The taste won’t have much difference.”

So we headed to the nearest beach house──.

“Oh, Tenjou and the others. What a coincidence.”

“W-what?”

“…I’m surprised.”

“W-what’s Sawada-sensei doing here?”

Our homeroom teacher, Sawada-sensei, acted as a waitress at the beach house we were headed to!

What’s more, she was wearing an apron over a black bikini. Unlike her usual loose shirt and lab coat. I-I don’t know where to look… No, I always have trouble looking at her!

We were surprised, but Ryo, who came to his senses quickly, hurriedly asked.

“Sensei! What are you doing here? You’re a teacher, aren’t you? Huh…? Is it okay to have a second job?”

“If you ask me that…”

Of course, I was surprised because I hadn’t expected to meet her in such a place.

She had an image as someone who didn’t go out much and might be doing experiments at some facility aside from being a teacher, but now when seeing that she was working as a clerk, I thought it would be unsuitable for her profession to have a second job.

Moreover, Kaori, the daughter of Tsukasa-san, the chairman of the board of directors, was also here right now, and I felt like Sawada-sensei couldn’t make any excuses for it…

Then, Sawada-sensei replied in a tone with no particular agitation and without hesitation.

“It’s not a side job. Because this is my parents’ house.”

“Eh?”

When I was surprised again by the unexpected answer, a stern man came out from the beach house. The man was wearing the same apron as Sawada-sensei, but he had a very tough expression on his face, which was somewhat mismatched. He also had a large scar on his face, and with his body being large and muscular, he was quite intimidating. Um… he didn’t look like an average person…

“Hey, Rie! Don’t slack off!”

The man probably called Sawada-sensei by her first name and yelled at her.

His loud voice, coupled with his appearance, was quite intimidating. We froze, but Sawada-sensei didn’t seem to mind and replied in her usual tone.

“No, Dad. These are my students.”

“Your students?”

“Dad?”

We and the man──Sawada-sensei’s father──overlapped our surprised voices. Eh, he is her father?

Even though I knew it was rude, I couldn’t help but compare the two of them. D-do they even resemble each other?

We were dumbfounded, but as soon as the surprise subsided, the man’s expression changed, and he spoke to us with a smile.

“Ah, it can’t be helped if you kids are Rie’s students! Since this girl is like this, you kids must be having a hard time, right? Is she a good teacher?”

“Y-yeah, she’s a very good teacher…”

When Kaori, the chairman’s daughter, answered in confusion, Sawada-sensei’s mouth twitched.

“You don’t trust me, do you? I am an excellent teacher, you know?”

“Even if you’re talented, I don’t know if that makes you a good teacher. That’s for the students to decide.”

“That’s a good point, I guess.”

Sawada-sensei laughed and nodded. Sawada-sensei’s father looked at us in amazement.

“Oh? When I looked closely, I realized that all of the girls were beautiful! And the guys are handsome, too. What’s this? Are all the kids at your school like this?”

“Hmm. All the students are like this.”

“What kind of monster school is that…?”

No, Father-san. I think so too. There are a lot of students with good personalities and have appearances that are beautiful or cool like Kaori and Ryo.

“Well, as you may have figured out from the conversation, I’m Rie’s father, Ginji. Since you’re here, I’m going to treat you all to lunch.”

“Eh? N-no. We’re sorry for the trouble!”

“Don’t worry about it! Hey, Rie! You’re not busy anyway, right? Show them to the tatami room while I’m making the food!”

“Hmm, I’m not busy, but that’s because there are no customers.”

“Shut up!”

C-certainly, there are a lot of people on the beach, but there are no customers here… Is it possible that being just a little bit farther away from the beach can make such a difference?

Sawada Sensei’s father… Ginji-san shouted at her, but Sawada Sensei walked out of the reception area and came over to us.

“So that’s it. Sensei’s family runs this beach house. That’s how I was forced to help out during the summer vacation if I was free. Of course, I don’t get paid.”

“I-I see…?”

In other words, it doesn’t pay as it’s an extension of helping out at home, so it’s not a side job. I don’t know if that’s really true, but it’s not something we can talk about. Kaori might be able to say something, though.

Sawada-sensei led us to the tatami room, and after waiting for a while, Ginji-san brought us some food.

“Hey, you’re all still growing up, right? Eat a lot, eat a lot!”

“Yeah!”

What came out in front of us was a large bowl of yakisoba, the aroma of the sauce stimulating our appetite. When we took advantage of Ginji-san’s kindness and tried the yakisoba, we were surprised at the taste.

“Delicious!”

“Amazing… I think I’ve never had such delicious yakisoba before.”

“…*munch**munch*.“

The yakisoba we were served was delicious. Of course, eating yakisoba at a beach house, combined with the situation, might have made it taste better than usual. However, the yakisoba made by Ginji-san was even better than that.

As everyone was absorbed in eating the yakisoba, Kaede muttered to herself.

“Why are there so few customers when it’s so good?”

“Kaede.”

“…Ah! I-I’m sorry!”

Kaede hurriedly apologized when Rin warned her in a dumbfounded manner. But Ginji-san didn’t get angry about it as he smiled bitterly.

“It’s okay; it’s okay. It’s the truth anyway.”

“Well, the location is bad. It’s located at the edge of the beach, and when you compare it to the most crowded part of the beach, there are far fewer people here. That’s why we don’t get many customers.”

“Besides, I’m pretty sure the store over there has a better variety of food than this one.”

“I see…”

Indeed, when I looked at the menu for Ginji-san’s beach house, there were only curry and beer on the menu aside from yakisoba.

“I-it’s such a shame when the food is so good…”

“…It’s a pity.”

As Shingo-kun and Yukine said that, Sawada-sensei seemed to notice something and stood up.

“Right!”

“Oh? What’s the matter, Rie?”

“Sensei’s got a great idea.”

“Good idea?”

We tilted our heads in confusion, but Sawada-sensei nodded confidently.

“Yeah, a good idea.”