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What was it like when I was young?

We didn’t go to the beach that often. Back in high school, I’d never gone on trips with friends, and it was always family gatherings that involved going somewhere together.

Plus, I never really liked the idea of going into the sea anyway.

It wasn’t until I got to college that I’d tag along with classmates for trips or gather with local friends during vacation for a little getaway.

There were girls among my classmates, but I’d never dated any of them. We’d have pleasant conversations, but we never went anywhere together.

As for my local friends… well, all the friends I made in middle school were boys.

So in a sense, I might just be living a reverse version of those days. There’s not a single ‘other-gender’ man around me. Even James, whom I thought was a guy, turned out to be a girl.

But the situation is nothing like that at all. It goes without saying that I had no sexual awareness with my same-gender friends back then.

Now it’s a completely different story.

“What’s this place? Is it some kind of private beach?”

I’ve heard places like that exist. If you own land near the beach, you could prevent others from entering. Coincidentally, most of the friends who came with me were from so-called ‘rich families,’ so it wouldn’t be too surprising if one of them had parents with such a place.

However, the answer I got was a bit different.

“No, it seems this is owned by a public institution.”

“…Public institution?”

Turning back at the astounding answer, I saw Cherry leisurely flying around on a drone.

“Yeah. To be precise, it’s for ‘training purposes.’ Or maybe for employee welfare? Anyway, it seems to be something like that. So surprisingly, the facilities are pretty ordinary.”

Well, it wasn’t any kind of ‘personal’ facility. Looking at the small wooden pensions lined up in front of the beach, it’s clear that this is a place meant for multiple people to use at once.

Ah, I see. It’s like a training center owned by companies.

“The plan is that there won’t be anybody else around while we’re here, so we can just relax and enjoy ourselves.”

“Oh, I see.”

Maybe the reporters were trying hard not to spot us.

Still, photographers would find a way to get a shot, no matter what.

“Is it alright if we just use one building?”

We nodded at that question.

Since we’d likely end up playing until late at night anyway, there was no need to split up unnecessarily. Even if we arranged separate sleeping places, we’d end up sprawled out on the floor in the end.

“Okay, then let’s just forget everything and have fun today!”

“Didn’t we just say that until recently? You claimed you weren’t in the mood to study since it’s vacation.”

“Let’s not nitpick the details too much.”

As Dalia teased from the side, Seo-hee scratched her head, looking a bit embarrassed.

I took a deep breath.

…Alright.

Then, I guess I should change into my swimsuit.

Honestly, I briefly considered just playing in my clothes, but that could end up being a bit risky.

After all, people sometimes get more excited about being less covered than being fully naked.

Steeling myself, I followed the others into the pension.

*

The first swimsuit I tried on was a black bikini.

As you can guess from the term ‘first,’ I didn’t just bring one swimsuit with me.

Simply put, there are three girls who have confessed to liking me, and of course, they each wanted to personally choose one for me.

They all had different desired styles and different aspects they considered important. Naturally, the designs varied too.

Choosing just one from among them felt like a near-suicidal act in various ways. Since I still hadn’t chosen any of them, I couldn’t morally do that.

But picking on my own wouldn’t make sense either.

Choosing one that didn’t reveal skin would contradict the intention of those three, and more than anything, if the swimsuit I picked was similar to any of their styles, I’d be indirectly declaring that I chose someone’s swimsuit.

In the end, I ended up bringing three swimsuits.

Out of those, the first one I wore was a white bikini.

Ha-yoon was seriously contemplating whether to choose between the black bikini and the white bikini. Both colors could be considered my personal colors, but having two choices seemed a bit demanding for me.

Plus—

“I’ve already seen the other one up close.”

Ha-yoon made that absurd comment, which ended up turning my face red.

Well, anyway.

So, it’s a bikini that’s almost the same size but white.

Strangely, it felt a bit less revealing than the black one. Of course, that doesn’t mean it isn’t revealing.

“…”

Once I stepped out in my swimsuit, the kids looking at me dropped their jaws.

Not just Ha-yoon, Ji-hye, and Jua. Rose, Dalia, Delphinium—yeah, and Pang-pang had that surprised look too.

“…Wow.”

And the one who actually said “wow” wasn’t any of Ha-yoon, Ji-hye, or Jua, but rather Rose—well, Seo-hee.

“What do you mean ‘wow’?”

“Nothing, just. I kind of knew, but seeing it in person is even more impressive. You’re lucky to have been so considerate. Otherwise, we would have taken a ton of photos of you.”

It was frustrating that I couldn’t immediately deny that statement.

“Yeah, it really suits you, Ji-eun.”

Ha-yoon hurriedly came over to me, linking her arm with mine.

Of course, it was only natural, but Ha-yoon was already in her swimsuit, which made things feel extremely awkward.

Ha-yoon’s swimsuit was the one-piece type that I had chosen for her.

…This could just be my selfishness. I hadn’t yet made a decision among the three, but I didn’t want to see any of those three with anyone else.

And especially with Ha-yoon… well, thinking about her next to someone else made me feel irritated.

In fact, when I chose a swimsuit for Ha-yoon, we hadn’t exactly decided where and how we’d be playing yet, so I was somewhat aware of the gazes around us.

Still, it wasn’t as if my desires were entirely absent.

From the front, Ha-yoon’s body is reasonably covered. Her pale thighs peek out, and while her arms are exposed from the armpit, they actually look somewhat like a competitive swimmer’s swimsuit at first glance.

However, the back is different.

Other than the two slender lines rising from her sides crossing at the top and leading back to the front, the part covering her back is just her butt.

That means Ha-yoon’s fair back is entirely exposed.

On top of that, since the swimsuit color matched her hair, to be honest, it gave off slightly… that kind of vibe.

And then there’s Ha-yoon, pressing up against me as if targeting me.

What I mostly felt was the rubber-like material of her swimsuit, but people process tactile sensations and visual information simultaneously. Just touching something that could feel thick like stockings or tight clothing feels different judging by how it appears visually.

“…”

And to counter Ha-yoon, Ji-hye, who looked visibly irritated, pulled my other arm.

Ji-hye’s swimsuit wasn’t of the one-piece variety like Ha-yoon’s. But even so, it was less suggestive than the one I wore.

Matching Ji-hye’s active image, her swimsuit is a bit more sporty-themed. The top part looks like a sports bra at a glance, and the bottom is sort of like a ‘bikini.’

The light green swimsuit that matched the color of Ji-hye’s eyes suited her really well.

But that doesn’t mean there were no suggestive areas at all, and rather Ji-hye’s somewhat innocent expression seemed imbalanced, which oddly tickled my insides.

“When are you going to stop just standing there?”

Jua said, sounding a bit upset.

Jua was connected at the top and bottom, but there was a little bit of her belly exposed. In fact, saying they are ‘connected’ gives off the vibe more of one single string crossing over than a one-piece.

How did I end up helping them choose swimsuits? Now that I think about it, it’s a little ridiculous.

“Let’s go! Not going into the sea after coming to the beach is nonsense, right?”

Surprisingly, Jua’s urging made us burst out laughing.

Right. We came to have fun.

Even though I still had to change into my swimsuit two more times, that didn’t change the fact we were here to enjoy ourselves.

Now that it’s come to this, let’s make some good memories.

I don’t think this is the last time.

The third-years will graduate next year, and we will be studying hard for the college entrance exam next year too, but that doesn’t mean our connections will end.

If it were just a gathering because we’re all in the same school, it wouldn’t make sense for Pang-pang to be here.

We could just call it a friend gathering.

If there’s something I regret, it’s that…

If I had just been a bit braver earlier, I might have been able to maintain this relationship a bit longer.

*

“Tickle tickle tickle.”

“Ji-hye, your laugh sounds way too creepy.”

Saying that was just an attempt to lightly tease Ji-hye, and honestly, the atmosphere was a bit more childlike.

My height difference with Ji-hye isn’t that much different from the height difference between Ha-yoon and me.

If anything, Ji-hye seemed to be about one centimeter shorter.

When we stood across from each other, I’d look down at Ji-hye, and she’d look up at me.

Ji-hye was now facing me in the water.

“But I can’t swim, you know?”

I had already changed into a swimsuit. It was a white swimsuit that Ji-hye had chosen, much like the one Ha-yoon picked. It’s a one-piece type that connects with strings.

Or rather, it just feels like a bikini with the strings connected. Nevertheless, thanks to that, the hole in the middle of my chest didn’t open too much, so I guess I could call it a one-piece.

Strangely enough, it felt like the design slightly reinterpreted my ‘Lily’ outfit. Honestly, it’s a different kind of exposure than what Ha-yoon chose.

And Ji-hye was sticking so close to me… the atmosphere was a bit awkward.

Plus, the water almost reached my chest, which felt a bit scary.

The incident started when Ji-hye shouted that she couldn’t reach the ground while riding a tube.

Thinking it would be safer for me to support her than her to grab me, I had gone over, only to end up in a situation where Ji-hye’s tube ended up thrown away, and she grabbed me instead.

“If you let go here, I might end up drowning.”

Despite there not being that much of a height difference— that thought quickly faded.

Since the water came almost to the bottom of my chest, it might be more threatening for Ji-hye. While that had to be intentional, it’s also true that leaving her could turn into quite a risk.

“Tickle tickle.”

Ji-hye’s playful voice echoed.

Water filled the space between us. That’s not how water would just naturally flow, but for a moment it appeared that way, as if our chests were filled with water.

“…Should we head back?”

“Uh-huh.”

Ji-hye made a sound like a purring cat and laid her cheek on my chest.

In the cold water, only the parts where Ji-hye touched felt warm.

She keeps making me think strange thoughts.

…Though that is probably her intention.

“Ji-hye—ah!?”

As I took a step back from Ji-hye, who was teasing me, I slipped, thinking I had stepped on a firm, flat stone, only for it to sink into the sand and lose my balance.

I fell backward just like that. Ji-hye did too.

We both screamed as we fell, and soon enough I could feel a sharp pain in my nose, followed by water filling my ears.

Through all that, I didn’t let go of Ji-hye.

In a hurry, I splashed around in the water to regain my balance and firmly embraced Ji-hye’s waist with both hands, pulling her close to me.

Ji-hye seemed a bit frightened and wrapped her arms tightly around my neck, clinging to me.

“…”

When we stood back up, our faces were almost touching.

Between our chests, this time there was pretty much a bit of water stuck.

Ji-hye looked at me with her face flushed bright red.

Her hair stuck to her face, making her look somewhat more… mature than I usually saw her.

Kiss.

As I was catching my breath, Ji-hye pressed her lips against mine.

This kiss felt a bit salty.

“…Is this really the moment for that?”

I said that almost incredulously, even as I retreated a little farther back, at which Ji-hye just laughed, “Hee hee,” and continued to do so.

In the distance, we could hear someone calling out our names as they ran toward us. This time, it sounded more concerned than jealous.

I guess they might be a little freaked out.

 

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