Maidens of Cygnus - Volume 5 - Chapter 1.2

The next day was a Sunday. As if the cold summer days in the middle of this century were a lie, Shibuya was bustling with large crowds of young people.

“Ah, that hurt! Asha, over there, over there.”

Marika left the station and pointed to a part of the crowd.

“Looks like we’re the last ones.”

Alisa, approaching Marika’s side, nodded while partly closing her eyes behind her sunglasses.

Marika took Alisa’s hand and started running.

But when met with an unexpected resistance, Marika brought her feet to a stop.

“Asha?”

“We’re not in a hurry, right?”

Alisa’s hand was fully stretched out as it was being pulled by Marika.

With that hand, Alisa had pulled Marika back to stop her.

“It’s not like we’re late for the meeting. There’s no need to get hotheaded.”

“Uh... Sorry.”

Marika knows full well that Alisa is weak to the heat and ultraviolet rays. Being glared by the eyes behind the sunglasses, Marika released Alisa’s hand and lowered her head.

“The sun is so strong too...”

While saying that, Alisa took out a parasol from her tote bag.

“Here, shall we go?”

At the same time as she said ‘Here’, she slightly held over the open parasol towards Marika.

“Yeah!”

Marika and Alisa shared the parasol and headed over to their friends who had arrived before them.

Alisa’s group of five girls went to a fashion mall close to the station. They organized today’s shopping trip in a hurry last night, but they had looked up information about each floor beforehand. As such, they expected to stroll past the information booth at the entrance, but Koharu spontaneously stopped and raised her voice.

“Uh, Joey?”

The boy standing still, looking at the information booth, was someone the five of them knew.

Kagari Joui. A student in the same year as them at the National Magic University Affiliated First High School.

“Koharu. Are you shopping with the others?”

Joui turned around and replied to Koharu. He had a friendly tone of voice because Joui and Koharu have been friends since their first few years in elementary school... Though this relationship should generally be called ‘childhood friends’, Koharu vehemently denies that.

“That’s right. You too, Joey? In a place like this?”

“...Is there something you want to say?”

“It doesn’t suit you at all, that’s what I was thinking.”

When it comes to Joui, Koharu lacks restraint, no, she lacks mercy.

“I know that! Sorry for being like this!”

“No, no, I actually think it’s a good thing. Even you have to be mindful of how you look once in a while.”

“Once in a while... You’re so rude! I pay attention to how I look all the time!”

Though, this attitude from Koharu, who was giggling, was one that is used towards a ‘good-natured childhood friend’.

“So, what did you come here to buy, Joey?”

“I was thinking about getting new rainwear for the training camp.”

Though it’s in Shibuya, this fashion mall has an especially complete stock of sportswear. Alisa’s group had also come here expecting that.

“What about you?”

When Joui asked in return, Koharu’s smile turned smug.

“W-what is it.”

“Fufufu. You really want to know?”

“Not really, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to...”

Joui turned timid.

Koharu disregarded that hesitation from Joui.

“Guess what! We came to buy swimsuits.”

“E-Eeh~.”

Joui’s face stiffened slightly.

It wasn’t just Koharu, Marika and Hiyori were also amused as they watched his lack of composure.

Alisa and Mei looked at him with pity. But they didn’t send him a lifeboat just yet.

“Wanna come with us?”

“N-No!”

“Oh, there you go again~. You really do want to come with us, don’t you?”

“I don’t!”

Joui argued, with his face bright red and a strong tone. The red in his face, was it due to embarrassment rather than anger?

“Really? I’m whatever, but Alisa-san and Marika-san are here too. Don’t you want to see them?”

“Koharu, we should get going.”

Mei interrupted them. She must have felt sorry for Joui, who couldn’t fight back properly. Or perhaps she considered Koharu’s attack a little too persistent.

“Kagari-kun must also have plans, so we shouldn’t keep him for long.”

The reason Alisa slightly knitted her brows was, most likely, the latter.

“Maybe Koharu wants to keep talking with Kagari-kun for a little longer, though.”

Marika joined the war with a mocking smile.

“T-That’s not true at all!”

Koharu quickly fought back.

“Everyone, let’s go. Joey, you just missed a rare opportunity.”

Koharu turned her back to Joui and headed towards the escalator.

“...Is she a tsundere?”

Did Hiyori’s murmur fail to reach her, or did she did she pretend not to hear it?

Either way, Koharu did not turn back.

The halfway point of August has arrived, but the season seems to be a long way away from being over. One floor was completely devoted to selling women’s swimwear. For the men, it was a different floor, along with the swim rings and goggles. If Joui had followed Koharu’s taunt, he would certainly have felt uncomfortable.

“Good thing you didn’t force him to come along...”

Thinking exactly that way, Hiyori mumbled her thoughts.

“I wasn’t going to allow him to come with us in the first place. If it was just me then whatever, but wouldn’t it be unthinkable to show him all of us in swimsuits?”

That was Koharu’s slightly-too-serious response.

“It would be fine if you were alone?”

Hiyori disguised that as a ‘simple question’.

“That’s not what I—” “Okay, okay, that’s enough of that, okay?”

Sounding completely fed up, Mei interrupted Koharu who was still trying to talk back.

“We came here to buy swimsuits, didn’t we? At this rate we’ll never get that done.”

Due to what Mei said, Hiyori embarrassingly averted her eyes. She was the one who suggest ‘Everyone, let’s go buy swimsuits!’ last night.

“Well then, should we split up for a while? How about meeting in the dressing room in 30 minutes?”

Marika must have wanted to blow away the awkward mood. She deliberately gave that suggestion with a cheerful voice.

“Won’t 30 minutes be too little?”

Whether knowing or not of Marika’s intentions, Alisa immediately replied.

“Asha, it’s ‘for a while’.”

“...What do you mean?”

Alisa tilted her head, looking seriously confused.

“We’re going to bring along candidate swimsuits and show them to each other, right?”

It was Koharu who answered, in the form of another question.

“Exactly.”

Marika nodded with a smile as if to say ‘Spot on!’.

“And with that said, let’s go, Asha.”

She then pulled Alisa by her hand, walking quickly not towards the 3D fitting area, but to the section where swimsuits are hanged.

“...I’m going to look around by myself.”

“What about you, Koharu?”

“Can I go with you, Hiyori-san?”

“Sure, I’m okay with that.”

The discussion was settled, and they started looking for swimsuits, Mei alone, and Hiyori and Koharu together.

The spot Marika pulled Alisa to was the area with all the swimsuits with separate top and bottom aimed at adult women.

“Mina... Are you going to wear this kind of thing?”

“Eh? No way. It doesn’t suit me at all.”

Marika replied while smiling indifferently.

Alisa got a bad premonition.

“Then why?”

“I thought it would suit you.”

Marika replied, emphasizing the end of the sentence with an excited tone of voice.

“Rejected.”

Alisa’s response to that was to immediately turn it down.

“Eeeh.”

“No way! Absolutely no way!”

Marika loudly protested, looking disappointed, to which Alisa repeated ‘no way’ over and over.

“I just thought something like this would look good on you!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! That’s more like a bikini than a separate-type swimsuit!”

“I thought you could wear them with style, though... Then how about something like this?”

Marika said, picking up a swimsuit that was not much different in terms of covered area.

Alisa stared back at Marika, her eyes unmoving.

Then she began going her way through the rows of colorful hanged bikinis with great enthusiasm.

“Mina, what do you think of something like this for you?”

What she took out was a real bikini, moreover, a bikini with strings tied to the sides and a leopard print design.

“What were you fighting about?”

Thirty minutes had passed and Alisa returned to the front of the dressing room, where that was the first thing Mei asked.

“Mina was doing nothing but messing around...”

“Ah, you’re aawful! You’re the one who was messing around. I was dead serious.”

“If that is what you call serious, that just makes you even worse.”

Alisa’s and Marika’s line of sight clashed. From Mei’s perspective, it was a situation that should be described as less like ‘they were at loggerheads’ and more like ‘a battle of wills’.

However, it seemed that Mei was the only one worried about Alisa’s and Marika’s petty squabble — playful banter, rather.

“Anyway, what kind did you end up choosing?”

Hiyori approached Alisa with an extremely interested look on her face.

“Quick, go wear it and show it to us, please.”

Koharu looked at Marika with excitement in her eyes.

“...We’re not the only ones trying them out, you know?”

Alisa said while entering the dressing room, and Marika, pushed by Hiyori’s and Koharu’s gaze, also went into the neighboring one.

Maybe in order to prevent insolent behavior in the dressing rooms, there is a gap above and below the door.

The sounds of clothes rustling and footsteps could be heard from those gaps.

After some time, the sounds coming out of both dressing rooms disappeared.

They have probably finished putting on the first set.

“Alisa-san?”

“Marika?”

But their doors did not open. Finding it strange, Koharu and Hiyori called out to them.

“You’ve finished putting it on, right? I’m going to open the door.”

Saying that, seeming impatient, was Mei.

Though, naturally, the door has been locked. Unless magic is used, it cannot be opened as one pleases.

And Mei is not the kind of thoughtless person who would use magic in a place like this, for something like this.

That is something both Alisa and Marika should know.

And yet—,

“Hang on a second!”

“Okay, okay! I’ll open it myself!”

The first to talk was Alisa, then came Marika. The two hurriedly put a stop to Mei’s reckless actions and slowly opened the door to their dressing rooms at the same time.

“Ooh, sexy...”

Once Hiyori saw Alisa’s swimsuit, she let out her impressions, similar to those of a guy — more specifically, similar to those of a dirty old man.

A black one-piece, not a bikini. Her skin was not that exposed. Though since the sides are laced up (with decorative strings knitted in cross patterns), it is, as Hiyori said, a fairly sexy design. It is a design a little daring for a student in the first year of high school, but as Alisa’s arms and legs are long and slim, it suited her well.

“Hiyori, phrasing...”

Maybe embarrassed, as expected, Alisa weakly protested with her head looking down slightly. The girl’s white skin appeared to be slightly reddening.

“Wow! Marika-san, amazing...”

On the other side, Koharu was at a loss for words when she saw Marika.

Marika’s swimsuit was white, with separate top and bottom. The bottom was shorts so it didn’t expose as much as a bikini. The top had frilled shoulder straps, a cute design appropriate for her age.

But white is a color that makes you look bigger. It emphasized Marika’s already glamorous chest even more. If one were to describe Marika’s skin, it would be fair-skinned, but it was of course not as vivid as the brilliant white used in the swimsuit. As a result, the parts covered by the swimsuit looked even larger.

“What is ‘amazing’ supposed to mean?”

Marika spoke with an angry tone while averting her eyes.

It was plainly obvious that, despite being obstinate about trying to wear it, just as expected, they looked very embarrassed. In all likelihood, they’re regretting it right now.

Incidentally, the doors to the dressing rooms they’re using open outwards on the right side, and from Marika’s point of view, she’s on the left side. Alisa’s dressing room door acts as a screen so, as it stands, they cannot see each other.

And that must have been weighing on her mind.

Marika held onto the door and peeked into Alisa’s dressing room.

“Woow!”

Then her voice raised and she stared in wonder.

“W-what?”

Alisa’s body suddenly quivered and, as if doing so already too late, she covered her chest with both arms.

That bashful look was so sexy even people of the same sex would spontaneously become dizzy.

“Oh, it just suits you better than I thought it would.”

Marika’s voice got excited as she answered.

“...Lewd.” 

Alisa glared at Marika with teary eyes.

“L-Lewd!?”

In dismay, Marika became speechless.

“Your eyes just now, they were a bit lewd.”

Alisa demanded an explanation.

“These are false accusations!”

Marika snapped out of her speechless state and fiercely argued back.

That probably made her stop being nervous about other things. Marika stepped away from behind the door she was hiding herself with and revealed her whole body in front of Alisa.

As a reaction to her energetically rushing out, the white top covering her chest shook violently.

“...Lewd.”

Alisa spoke the same words with a different tone, like she was murmuring.

“What is it this time!?”

From the difference in her voice, Marika knew Alisa’s ‘Lewd’ was referring to something different.

“Those huge breasts... Are you flaunting them?”

It was probably not just imagination by the others: Alisa’s look had become envious.

Marika quickly hid her own chest with both her hands. It was the complete opposite from before.

“Asha, you were the one who chose this!”

Marika fought back with a squeak.

“I didn’t expect you would put them on display like that.”

Compared to the usual, Alisa’s voice was at least half an octave lower.

“I’m not putting them on display! And aren’t yours on the big side too anyway!?”

“They’re not as big as yours!”

“Okay, both of you, stop. Recompose yourselves.”

When the volume of their voices raised to a level it would bother others, Mei finally stepped in.

“Have you calmed down?”

“I’m sorry.”

Alisa and Marika collectively bowed their heads to Mei who was sitting on the other side of a table.

The five had temporarily interrupted their shopping and moved to a fast-food joint in the same mall.

“I expected this from Marika, but to think even Alisa would get that agitated... it’s not like you.”

“It is as you say. I don’t have any excuses...”

Alisa’s voice got increasingly lower.

Marika murmured “What do you mean, expected...” with a dissatisfied voice, but when she was glared at by Mei, she curled herself even more than Alisa.

“So you care about your bust size too, Alisa-san.”

Koharu’s voice was filled with a sense of surprise.

“Honestly, it is surprising.”

Hiyori followed suit.

“It’s... It’s the swimsuits, they make me care about things I usually don’t care about...”

Alisa gave a weak excuse.

“Marika-san already said it before, but I think your chest is large by anyone’s standards.”

“If anything, in Alisa’s case, if they got any bigger it would become unbalanced.”

Koharu and Mei, one after the other, pointed out Alisa’s misunderstanding (?).

“Exactly. Asha, your chest is a luxury.”

Marika got into the bandwagon at just the critical time.

“Yours are a luxury too, Marika. What is there to be displeased about having such enormous things.”

Hiyori’s eyes as she looked at Marika’s chest were more resentful than envious.

“Eh, but...”

“Okay, stop. Are you trying to cause a scene here too?”

Marika started to argue, but she was once again restrained by Mei and turned quiet.

After killing some time at the fast food restaurant, they returned to the swimsuit section.

Apparently, the level of disturbance wasn’t particularly an issue, they didn’t get unpleasant looks from the staff, and the five finished their shopping without incident.

In the end, neither Alisa nor Marika bought those swimsuits.