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I clean and gut the fish, and then get up again, since that’s all I can do with it for now.

“Heyy, Ruri.”
“24 b̲o̲o̲b̲s̲, 25 b̲o̲o̲b̲s̲, 26…”

Ruri’s eyes still look dead as she mindlessly puts stones on top of others.
Clank clank clank
But then the pile tips over and the stones scatter around.

“…1 b̲o̲o̲b̲, 2 b̲o̲o̲b̲s̲, 3 b̲o̲o̲b̲s̲…”

After a moment of silence, she starts over again.
Is she stacking zen stones?

“What should we do?” Plum looks at me with her expressionless face, but Ruri’s mind is gone, we can’t do anything for her.

Actually, there’s one way to bring her back, but I don’t wanna. I still don’t think it’d be a good idea to leave her here though.

I was born a guy in my past life so I don’t really have any thoughts on how the size of my b̲o̲o̲b̲s̲ compare to others, but I can relate with having a complex with one’s own body. And I do want to cheer her up somehow, we’re friends after all.

Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to step in and help.

“Ruri.”

I squat next to her and call her, which makes her slowly turn to face me. At least she’s still somewhat responsive.

“Here, they might be manufactured, but just snap out of it with them already.”

Just like Plum had done earlier, I take Ruri’s hand and place it on my chest.

“Oh…oh…ohhh… Such abundant yet ideally shaped lumps, but just as springy and soft as the real deal… Is this what manufactured perfection feels like…”

Ruri begins to squeeze her fingers and feel around my chest. I’ve admired them myself in the past, but hearing someone else compliment them makes me feel really embarrassed.

“This is an invaluable treasure of all humanityyy!!”

Then she lets go all of a sudden and raises her arms in celebration as she announces that. Why am I friends with her…

“Thank you, that really helped me sober up.”
“If this is you being sober I shudder to imagine what you must be when insane.”
“You really are the best friend.”
“Why am I friends with you…”

Earlier I kept those thoughts to myself, but I couldn’t stop them from coming out this time.

“Say, since we’re already at it, how about you do some boing boing action-”
“Sure, after I cave in your skull.”
“Oops, sorry I can’t keep Lady Ryuka waiting. I need to go!”

Ruri runs away, splashing water from the river bank with each step. I sigh, and Plum just watches her go with her emotionless face.

The cool river water wraps around my feet while its surface reflects the sun like glittering spots.

“Woof woof!”
“Eyy!”

Clarissa is running around happily, and Christina scoops up some water and throws it while creating a large splash.

“Hyah! Chris, now you’ve done it!”

Ryuka had mentioned that this was her first time coming to play in a river, so at first she had remained in the safety of the riverside, but now she moves closer to splash water back at Christina.

“Ahahahahahahah, this feels so nice! The world is so beautiful! Ahahahahah!”

Amy had been completely depressed just moments ago, but I’m glad to see she’s doing better now.

Meanwhile I’m watching all of that from atop a large rock jutting out over the river. I do a bit of a starting run and then jump off the rock, aiming for a part where the river is a bit deeper.

“Woohoooo!”

SPLOOOOOSH!

I know a tall column of water formed above the spot where I entered the river, but I don’t get to see it myself.

Underwater, the surface looks almost like a pane of stained glass, with the rays of light entering appearing like a thin veil.

“Phew! Hm?”
“Hah hah hah! No one can beat me in the water!”

Once I return to the surface, I hear a weird voice coming from downstream.

Looking there I see a tall spray of water left by Ruri, who’s swimming at an unbelievable speed.

“Ruri, where’s Nata-”
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!”

I wanted to ask where Natalia went, but Ruri just speeds by and continues going upstream away from us.

“Olivia, was that Ruri..?”
“Yeah, she went over there.”
“Oh Ruri… She’d be such a good girl if only she wouldn’t lose her mind randomly and have such a dirty mind.”

Ryuka places her hand to her cheek as she sighs. Soon after Natalia and Plum arrive here too.

“Sorry for the delay, everyone.”

Natalia seems to have finished her initial preparations for lunch, and looks satisfied with herself. Meanwhile Plum looks up to the rock I just jumped off from.

“Plum, what happened?”
“I was just wondering if the thing Lady Olivia just did is fun.”

Plum tilts her head slightly, curious about jumping. Seeing that, Natalia and Christina open their eyes with a bit of surprise.

“Are you… Never mind, would you like to try it together then?”
“Yes, Sister.”

Saying that, Natalia goes over to climb the rock, with Plum in tow. Christina starts to smile happily watching that too.

I wonder why?
Oh, if they’re going to jump I probably should move out of the way.

A few seconds after I move away from the rock, I see their faces peek over from above. Then they hold hands and jump off. A large plume of water rises up and sends drops of water everywhere like it’s raining. Multiple waves of water also spread from the point of impact.

“…”
Bubbles start to blob up where they fell.

“…”
Then the bubbles stop and the water surface starts to look like normal again.
But the two don’t show up.

“Umm, Chris, Olivia, do magic automatons float on water?”
“”…Ah!””

The moment Ryuka asks that we two gasp loudly.

While there’s some wood involved in the construction of magic automatons, they’re largely made of metal, so there’s no way they can float in water. I realize they’re in danger so I take a deep breath and get ready to dive for them when…

Splash

I hear something behind me.

I turn around and see that Natalia came out of the river, carrying Plum under her arm, and there’s something in Plum’s mouth. I hurry over to their side.

“Natalia, are you okay?!”
“Yes, somehow. It turns out we aren’t buoyant. I never went into a river or the sea so I never noticed.”

They couldn’t swim, so they just walked along the riverbed to get out. I was really worried, but I’m glad to see they’re okay.

Natalia lowers plum and then starts drying her face and hair.

Meanwhile Plum takes out the thing from her mouth, which turns out to be a small fish that flops around her hands.

“It got in my mouth earlier.”
“We got more than enough earlier, so you can let it free if you want.”

Hearing that, Plum releases the small fish, which continues to wrestle around the water for a bit before realizing that it’s free, at which point it vanishes into the river.

“So Plum, how did it feel to jump into the river?”
“…It was really intriguing, feeling released from gravity while we jumped, the sudden coldness of the water, and the way the surface looked from underwater.”
“Heheh, I’m glad to hear that.”
“…Yes, Lady Christina.”

Plum’s face is as unchanging as ever, but she sounds satisfied with the experience, which makes Natalia and Christina happy.

But still, the way Natalia is drying herself looks so sexy… At this point it’s safe to assume she’s just trying to tempt me, right?

“By the way, I don’t see Ruri anywhere. Did she go somewhere?”
“Ruri? She passed by swimming really fast and went upstream earlier.”

Just as I’m replying, the spray of water appears again, moving closer.

“I regret to inform you that I’ve returned!”

Just as expected, it’s Ruri, and seeing her makes Natalia and Ryuka start to massage their temples.

“I caught this upstream!”

Ruri stops on the riverside and places the gigantic fish she’s carrying onto the ground.

“Is that a White Bass? I heard they never stop growing while they’re alive, but I’ve never seen one this big before.”

Christina quickly identifies and explains what it is, I remember Natalia also cooked this type of fish before. I had no idea they were this big though.

After that we continue playing around for a while until Natalia and Ruri finish cooking lunch. And obviously enough it’s delicious.

“Food is so good! The world is at peace! I can be happy even if my chest is small! Ahahahah!”

Amy is in a good mood too, I’m glad I brought her along.
Let’s play a lot more after eating!

Natalia: “Ruri, you’re really good at swimming I see.”
Ruri: “It’s not my fault my body is so aerodynamic!”
Natalia: “You really should tone down your persecution complex…”
Amy: “I don’t remember anything that happened after we got there…”