The lounge chair is so soft—I’m about to sink in…

No!

Now that the rash guard has been given to Rinka, I should really enjoy the water park instead of wasting this precious time lying around like one of the "Elite Four of Lounge Chairs" here.

I need to do something that fits the theme of a water park.

First things first, I should find out where Tangerine is. Before lunch, she was making a fuss about wanting to play with me. She’s probably thinking about her dashing older brother right now!

Ah, my dear little sister just can’t live without me~ Eh heh heh~

Beep beep beep... Ah, the call connected.

"Hello? Oniichan… I’m on the lazy river right now… Yeah, with Haitang… It’s a thirty-minute ride… Sorry, Oniichan, but after this, it’s time for barbecue… Let’s play together in the afternoon, okay? I gotta go."

She hung up. Seems the call was not exactly great timing.

The lazy river is hidden within the tropical palm forest that surrounds Aqua World. Drifting slowly along the waterway on a raft gives you a mystical tropical rainforest experience.

At least, that’s what the park sign says.

Damn, the artificial mountain at the start of the lazy river is even taller than the scenic viewing platform at the entrance. From my position, I can’t even tell where Tangerine and the others are.

There’s still an hour until our noon meet-up, so I decided to take a stroll.

"Rinka? You have a jacket now, want to go out and do something?"

"Just the two of us?"

He glanced at Yan Liuzhuan, hesitating a bit.

So far, we’ve both silently avoided bringing up that agreement.

Removing makeup doesn’t mean removing one’s mask entirely, but Rinka chose not to crossdress today, which must mean he’s giving it some serious thought—maybe he wanted to have a heart-to-heart with me to see if he can convince me to seek out the Divine Emissary… Or maybe he just doesn’t want to risk crossdressing in a water park.

Speaking of the Divine Emissary, I could still go find Zhao Zhao right now, but as soon as I remembered that he’s in the deep-water zone, I scrapped the idea. I may have brought swim goggles, but I can’t actually swim—I’m a total landlubber.

"I’m not rushing you on that matter. I can tell you’re working on it yourself. Let’s just take a walk—besides, it’s almost lunchtime. I need to digest my breakfast a bit."

Rinka dawdled on the lounge chair for a while but eventually stands up.

"Alright, where are we going?"

"I haven’t really decided. Any attractions you want to try?"

"The 30-meter high slide."

Rinka pointed at the tallest slide in the water park.

Brightly colored tubes twist and turn down from a towering metal frame, stretching all the way across the ground. One after another, gravity-bound earthlings shot out from the exit.

That thing… might be even scarier than a roller coaster.

"Whoa, you want to start with something this intense? No way, I’m not going."

(Extreme close-up face shot with sparkly filter applied.)

Suddenly, a character introduction appeared:
Chang Kai, the beautiful protagonist. His stand: Bishoujo Notebook. His defining personality trait: extreme caution. An absolute anti-crossdresser.

Such an overly thrilling ride—I won’t do it unless forced by violence.

Rinka shot me a look of pure disdain.

"Kai, I’ve been meaning to say this—you’re such a coward."

"It’s called being cautious! If I slide down from that height with the wrong posture, I’d end up in a world of pain!"

"Forget it then, it’s already almost 11:30. If we play anything big, we’d be late. Let’s just go for a ride on the rubber boats."

Rubber boats.

I followed Rinka’s gaze to the far side of the artificial beach.

So not all the coastlines here have wave machines—there’s a calm section of water where people can row inflatable rubber boats. …Feels kinda weird to visit a water park and not get in the water, but it’s a decent way to kill time.

"Alright, let’s go row a rubber boat."

With our destination set, we picked up the pace and soon arrived at the boat rental dock.

Unexpectedly, we ran into Bei Qiaojue, the cool tomboy, who’s waiting in line at the dock.

She’s accompanied by two beautiful girls I haven’t seen before, one of whom is a blonde foreign girl with shy-looking blue eyes.

"Yo, isn’t this Chang Kai-chan? Here to row a boat with a friend?"

And what’s with the Chang Kai-chan?

Noticing my stare, Bei Qiaojue casually wrapped her arms around the two timid girls.

"These two adorable angels are my new friends. I saw some shady creeps trying to hit on them, and since they didn’t have the courage to refuse, I stepped in and saved them."

Wait, wasn’t this kind of cliché scene supposed to be my event as the protagonist? She’s a girl herself—why was she snatching all the rare bishoujo encounters from me?!

I force a smile and wave.

"Hello, little sisters."

"Hello, big sister."

"……"

Rinka and Bei Qiaojue both let out an audible "pfft."

I should explain this "big sister" thing, but Rinka patted me on the shoulder…

Fine. I won’t shatter these girls’ dreams today.

"Are you all waiting in line? Are the boats all taken?"

"The four-person boats are gone, but there are still two-person ones. You guys can go ahead."

There are two types of inflatable boats: a large one for four people and a smaller one for two.

"Alright, we’ll head up first."

For some reason, Bei Qiaojue let out another suspicious chuckle.

To simulate a real beach, this artificial shoreline takes up the entire southern section of Aqua World, making the designated boating area quite spacious. The boats weren’t too crowded.

We stepped into our rubber boat, and a dock worker handed us two plastic paddles before using a long bamboo pole to give our boat a strong push off the dock.

Although we have two paddles, we’re sitting face-to-face—if we both row at the same time without coordination, the boat would just spin in circles.

So we took turns rowing. Once we drifted to the middle of the water, I set my paddle aside, letting the waves carry us as I enjoyed the gentle up-and-down rocking.

We start chatting about random, insignificant things.

"Kai, I still haven’t figured out… what my true self is."

Then, we finally got to this topic. Honestly, even if Rinka hadn’t brought it up, I would have tried to—just that I didn’t know where to start.

I tried moving to sit beside him for a more heartfelt talk, but the tiny rubber boat nearly flipped over… I glanced nervously at the depth marker—3 meters.

We’ve drifted pretty far.

"Even without crossdressing today, do you still feel like you’re wearing a mask?"

"I don’t know… I’ve just been trying to act as naturally as possible."

"Then let’s not talk about yourself for a moment. Rinka, tell me—what’s your impression of me?"

He presses a long, slender finger to his forehead, furrowing his brows in deep thought, tilting his head in a way that—if he were crossdressing—would probably look adorable. But right now… it just looks kinda effeminate.

"Kai-chan is a good-looking good guy."

That’s it?! You rack your brain and that’s your final verdict?!

"Good or bad, it’s fine—just say whatever comes to mind. I won’t get mad."

And suddenly, he has a lot to say…

"Kai-chan is self-righteous, likes meddling in other people’s business, and gets smug about it. You’re a coward but have this useless little justice complex. You have no real abilities, so your justice doesn’t actually accomplish anything. You’re also slightly greedy—you’ll roll over if given even a little benefit. You’re pretty, but you don’t know how to use your looks properly. Honestly, just put on a dress—"

So you’re just roasting me from the heart, huh?!

"Enough!" I wail to the heavens.

Ow, my heart!

Rinka jumps at my outburst.

"Whoa! Didn’t you say you wouldn’t get mad?!"

"I’m not mad, Rinka! But do I really have zero good qualities?!"

"Even though I said all that… I actually like you quite a lot. You are one of the few people who truly treated me as a girl."

"That’s because back then, I really thought you were a girl."

"I know… and I really enjoyed being treated that way, so I never corrected you. I never expected that you’d—"

Never expected me to get carried away and confess.

"Stop, please. This is so awkward, I’m about to jump into the water out of embarrassment!"