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They spent some time in the water, floating around in inflatable rings they borrowed.

Then the girls went and buried Subaru into the sand (Kou did most of it), who was the only male in the group as Ryunosuke was a distance away watching over their belongings instead.

From time to time, they were approached by young men who wanted to hit on Kou and Hijiri, or a few ladies interested in Subaru, but none were overtly aggressive and they just left after a brief rejection, so there was no major trouble there.

Overall they had a rather common day at the beach, and eventually the sun was getting closer to the horizon.

“We’ve really had a lot of fun…”

Kou, who was wearing a rash guard on top of her swimsuit, muttered that.

The whole group was walking away from the beach, feeling the warmth and reassuring exhaustion from playing in the water. Ryunosuke brought some carbonated soft drinks for them, which had not changed over the years, and he guided them to a nearby beach hut so they could rest.

There they spent some time relaxing and drinking from those classic bottles with marbles in them.

Hinagiku, who had been the most active in the group, had already nodded off while sitting next to Miyuki, who looked troubled that she could not move as Hinagiku’s head rested on her shoulder.

“Thank you for keeping watch over our things too, Ryunosuke.”
“You’re welcome. Though I was able to be productive during that time anyway, so don’t worry.”

Kasumi politely bowed and thanked Ryunosuke, and he replied by waving a tablet PC he had with him. He had been able to get some work done that way while everyone else played around.

“Is there anything planned for later, Ryunosuke?”

Kou asked that. Ryunosuke opened his scheduler and looked through it before replying.

“Nope, I don’t really see anything. I think we’re basically free to do whatever we want until dinner.”

He did not see anything on the rest of their days there either, and with that concluded, he put the tablet away.

“I see. But mom told me to not make any plans for the third day’s evening.”
“She did?”
“Yeah, apparently there’s some buffet party thing everyone can attend, and she wanted us all to go together.”

Kou’s parents were busy for most of their time there, even if it was a vacation trip for Kou, so she was more than willing to spend at least that time with her family. But…

“A party… Do you think I’ll need a dress? I didn’t bring any.”
“They said anyone can attend, so I guess it’s more of a casual thing?”

Hijiri and Subaru began discussing that. And to Kou, that felt like she had just triggered a dangerous flag.

“Dress… That word gives me a really bad feeling.”

All of a sudden, she was starting to feel unsure about the whole thing.

“Well, what should we do tonight then?”

Kou voiced the question in everyone’s mind.

Dinner was scheduled for 7pm, in the fifth floor’s balcony that faced the sea, and was supposed to be an all-you-can-eat buffet. It was still slightly past 4pm, so they still had plenty of time to kill, but they needed to figure out how.

“…I have an idea!”
“Hinagiku? What would you like to do…”

Hinagiku had woken up at some point and energetically raised her hand, making Kou wonder what she was thinking.

“I’d like to nap until it’s dinner time, and then we should do a test of courage!”

The moment she heard those words, Kou froze visibly.

“I…I’d like to avoid doing anything scary.”

Miyuki was the first to reply, looking saddened that she got scared too easily. But that brought some relief to Kou, as she realized she was not the only one.

“Y-Y-Y-Y-Yeahh… I…I mean, it’s umm… It’s dangerous at night too…right?”
“Kou, you’re stuttering a lot.”
“S-Shut up Subaru!”

Subaru pointed that out with a teasing smirk, as a form of revenge for the way Kou buried him earlier, and Kou snapped back with tears forming in her eyes.

She did not want her image tarnished in front of the two youngest, as she was their Guild Master and a few years older than them.

“Mitsuki has never been good with horror, yeah.”
“Yup… She’s fine with jumpscares, but she’s always freaked out instantly with anything more grotesque or creepy like ghosts or zombies.”

But then, Kasumi and Hijiri continued leaking her information without regard. Everyone looked at Kou with almost pitiful eyes, but there was someone else who felt hesitant about the idea.

“I can’t say I’m fully on board with the idea either. I’ve been entrusted with your safety by your parents, and I can’t say I’d feel comfortable bringing young girls outside late at night.”

It was Ryunosuke, who was in charge of them. Hearing that quickly made Kou feel at ease, seeing a way out.

“Y-Yeah… T-That’s too bad, right?!”
“Mhm… But well, if Hinagiku’s mother comes along it’d probably be alright.”
“Hmm… I guess it won’t work then.”

Hinagiku also stepped back after hearing Ryunosuke’s assessment. She was a really reasonable girl, so she would never throw a tantrum or insist after that.

Good, let’s just pray that her mom isn’t interested and I’ll be safe.

Kou celebrated in her mind and smiled slightly after hearing that.

“Well, maybe the test of courage won’t work, but we can still go on a walk around the area before dinner, right?”
“Oh right, I think I heard they restored some of the old buildings as lodging, in the same style as the people who used to live on the island?”
“Mhm I’d like to see that too. Let’s go sightseeing around the island before it gets dark.”
“Ah, yeah, let’s do that!”

As everyone quickly agreed to it, Kou also jumped on her feet to go with them.

The pamphlets mentioned that new hiking paths had been built around the island, so taking a walk around there sounded like a good idea, especially considering how beautiful everything about the resort had been already.

“We’ll go take a walk around the island before dinner then. Let’s go back to change into better clothes, and meet in the entrance hall by 5pm, sounds good?”
“““Yeah!”””

Ryunosuke would also go with them, to continue his duty as their guardian, and everyone gave an energetic reply.