Chapter 109 – Here and Now

"That was a bit more fun than I thought it would be..."

After splashing around in the ocean for a bit with everyone else, Takei retired to go take a breather from all the fun.

In contrast to his initial expectations, Takei had enjoyed the beach a lot more than he thought he would.

It was probably due to his calculative and loner-esque mentality that resulted in Takei being extremely cautious and pessimistic about everything, but all of his expectations were blown away by the carefree atmosphere of the trip.

Everyone was having fun without a care in the world, which left a big impression on him.

Maybe I should just stop overthinking everything...

As Takei was thinking this, a shadow began to loom over him.

"I was coming over to bring you back, but you have a really creepy expression on your face, Takeichi..."

Helena looked at him with concern evident on her face, since Takei had a strange expression on his face.

"It's nothing... Wait, creepy? Are you sure?"

Takei was confused as to why Helena said what she said about his facial expression.

"Yep, you were looking like a detective looking for clues about a murder case."

"Ah... right."

At that moment, Takei realized that Helena was describing how he looked when he coldly calculated things in his head.

It seemed like that was a side effect of his loner mentality that ended up sticking with him.

"Please forget what you saw."

"I don't think that's possible..." Helena laughed. "I think I'll have some nightmares about it tonight!"

"Ugh..."

After this silly little back and forth between them, Takei and Helena returned back to the swimming area where everyone else was gathered.

Ryuto and Eiji were messing around by wrestling each other, while Akari, Rikka, and Arisa were splashing each other with water and having fun.

They all looked like they were having a grand ole time, so Takei decided to join them in the fun.

Since Eiji and Ryuto were busy doing their thing, Takei slowly crept up on the girls without being noticed.

Since Helena was staying a distance away from them and smirking at the same time, Takei guessed that she was just excited to see the outcome of his prank.

Eventually, he reached the perfect distance where he could hide without being noticed and was able to be within firing range of them.

Slowly but surely, Takei bided his time as he waited for one of the girls to let their guard down.

Seconds passed and someone finally let their guard down.

Akari had just finished a frontal assault on both Rikka and Arisa, so she was turned away from him and focused on the two people in front of him.

Once he realized that it was his cute girlfriend in front of him, Takei slightly adjusted his plans.

Instead of just splashing water, he decided to also attack her with his heavy amounts of love.

Once Akari was in position, Takei made his move.

"Kyaaah!"

A loud girlish scream could be heard as the goddess was splashed by cold water from behind and was attacked by a mysterious assailant.

Although, the assailant wasn't unknown for long.

Turning around, Akari caught Takei red-handed as he held her waist tightly.

"Surprise?"

Takei hesitantly met her eyes as he weakly uttered his intent with this sneak attack.

Once she realized that it was Takei, her demeanor got softer since she knew he would like to play childish pranks sometimes.

Turning on the full power of the goddess, Akari wrapped her hands around Takei's back and pushed him into the water along with herself in the mix.

They both gracefully fell into the water, with Takei on the bottom trying his best to protect Akari from the water.

"Hey, what was that for?!"

Takei looked confused as to why Akari would do such a reckless thing.

However, Akari smiled and explained the true reason for her doing this.

"So that I can do this..."

Akari bent down and leaned forward to position her face right above Takei's.

Once she got close enough, Akari planted a small kiss on his forehead and reeled back in embarrassment.

"Teehee, I wanted to be the one that started the kissing~"

"Akari..."

It was true that Takei was typically the one who initiated the kissing, so Akari had every reason to give it her all today.

Takei was speechless at how meticulous this plan that Akari created was.

Not knowing what to do, Takei silently patted her head and stroked her hair lovingly.

Akari understood that this was Takei's awkward way of showing affection, so she happily nuzzled against the palm of his hand.

Seeing this extensive display of affection would be able to make anyone throw up sugar.

That was indeed the case for the two people who were standing there watching the whole scene unfold.

"Did they forget about us?"

"It seems so..."

Rikka and Arisa were dumbfounded at how fast the idiot couple forgot that they were standing there.

While this whole situation was going in, Helena came over and loudly announced to everyone that it was time for lunch.

"It's barbecue time! Let's get a move on!"

With that being said, Rikka and Arisa left the scene first in order to not be among the number of casualties due to the sugary aura that was being emitted.

Due to the fact that Helena had a strong and overpowering voice, Takei and Akari's romantic atmosphere finally dissipated.

They were both slightly embarrassed at what had just transpired, but they were happy about it nonetheless.

Love really is a double-edged knife, isn't it?

Takei looked at Akari with a passionate gaze and grasped her hand as a show of his undying love for her.

"Let's go, shall we?"

In response to his show of love, Akari firmly grasped his hand back and looked lovingly back at him.

"Mm, let's go!"

---

Idiot Couple Meter: 70 -> 72%

Akari went on the offensive and pushed down Takei... why did I see this coming?

Serious-san: I'm the happiest man in the world!!!

Sugar-san: Oh you...