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“Touma… what the hell are you wearing?!”
Seiji’s choked outburst made Touma lift her nose out of her book with a raised eyebrow. “I thought it was obvious,” she drawled, carefully noting the page before closing it, sensing it was going to be one of those conversations. “A swimsuit, same as you.”
“No,” Seiji refuted, shaking her head, blonde hair moving along despite the clips she had slipped in to hold her bangs in place over half her face. “What I wear is a swimsuit,” she gestured at herself, showing off her rather modest green and black one-piece, the two colors blending together above her left hip, with a white bow added as a cute detail. The cut for the chest was high, allowing the blonde Trooper to hide her breasts well from prying eyes, but it didn’t do much to hide the fact she had large boobs underneath the stretched fabric. “What you wear is… it’s indecent!” Seiji finished, visible eye twitching ominously.
Touma looked down at herself and shrugged. What was wrong with a string bikini? Perhaps it was the black color that was shocking Seiji? Touma tilted her head and glanced at Seiji’s disapproving face again. Alright, so perhaps the two triangles covering her ass and her pubis mons were narrow and left little to the imagination but come on! It wasn’t the worst thing worn on the beach either!
“I don’t see a problem with what I have. Do you, Shuu?” she called to the Chinese girl, who was busy putting sunscreen on Jun’s skin despite the little boy’s protests that he ‘didn’t need it, Oneesan, I’m not a baby’. Shuu wouldn’t let herself be deterred, though; as an older sister, she took seriously to the task of protecting everyone from getting sunburned during their ‘beach day’, and Jun even more so than the Troopers.
Touma had already put her own sunscreen on, thank you very much; she had no desire to get burned to a crisp, and she knew she got sunburned easily. Seiji had put lotion on as well, but she had informed them it was mostly for show, as she had rarely if ever been bothered by the sun despite her pale complexion. Kourin apparently gave her a natural UV protection. Lucky gal, Touma thought mournfully. Shuu and Ryo were also lucky, because they belonged to the category of people who got a tan from the sun. Ryo, perhaps because of Rekka or because of extremely good genetic, had even confessed she had never gotten a sunburn in her life.
Touma wasn’t jealous buuuut…
Shuu turned toward them, blinking. Like Touma, she had opted to wear a bikini, but whereas Touma had gone for one with as little coverage as possible, Shuu had gone for something more ‘sportive’. Her top was modest, though the plunge was lower than Seiji’s, and she wore a square-cut bottom that integrally covered her butts and the top of her thighs. Yellow didn’t look half-bad on her, either, Touma mused, and the sunflowers pattern was kind of neat.
“Hmm? Well, the bikini bottom might be a little too much for my taste, but the whole thing suits you, so…” Shuu shrugged before turning her attention back to the squirming Jun. “Hold still, kiddo, I haven’t finished with your back!”
“But I want to go play, Oneesan!” Jun whined.
“Not before I’m done, and that’s final,” Shuu declared, huffing. “Also, avoid going into the water just yet, will you?”
“I’m waiting for Shin-neechan, anyway,” Jun stated, sounding dejected as he clutched the rubber ring he had already passed around his waist. “She told me she’d teach me how to swim better. Do you think she and Ryo-neechan and Nasutei-neechan will be back soon?”
“Depends how much time it takes for Ryo to stop being shy and embarrassed and to accept buying at least one decent swimsuit of her own,” Touma drawled as Seiji gave her a look. “Hey, I’m not the one who freaked when she saw Ryo only had her school swimsuit to wear,” she explained, throwing her arms in the air in defense. “I thought she was fine with it.”
But then again, Touma had repeatedly been told she had no real fashion sense, unlike, say, Seiji and Shin and Nasutei, who had all taken one look at the blushing Ryo and decided that nope, it wouldn’t do. Cue Shin and Nasutei dragging the Rekka bearer off to the nearest beach shop for a change of wear despite Ryo’s weak protests.
“School swimsuits aren’t exactly made for the beach – and what you wear isn’t suited for a girl your age either!” Seiji reminded them all.
“I haven’t seen you freak over Nasutei’s own bikini when you saw it,” Touma mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Because Nasutei is older, and she’s also wearing more fabric than you,” Seiji insisted, her cheeks flushed, avoiding looking too closely at Touma.
She was the only one. Quite a few boys walking the beach were giving their group long, admiring looks, and Touma smirked and winked back at them, enjoying the way they quickly looked away, embarrassed at being caught ‘ogling’.
Touma rolled her eyes. “Seiji, Nasutei has more boobs than me, in case you forgot,” she pointed out before patting her chest to emphasize her point. “I’m basically a stick figure! Excuse me for wanting to feel at least a little sexy once in a while, since I obviously cannot pull it off otherwise,” she huffed. “Mom helped me to pick that bikini specifically because I wanted to draw gazes!” Because let’s be honest: even if Touma didn’t bother acting in a very feminine way half the time, she was still a fourteen years old teenager girls. She wanted a boy to look at her sometimes and sees her as a woman – even if she had no plan to go any further than that.
That, and because both of them had been curious about how Hashiba Genishirou would react upon seeing his daughter ‘all grown-up’. That one experience had been a failure so far; her Dad hadn’t reacted except to mumble about ‘very pretty, Touma, but I’m working’ the one time Touma had tried to show him her swimsuit.
Boy, would he be in for a surprise once it properly sunk in…
Seiji’s expression faltered. “Oh. You… and your mother…? I… I’m sorry, Touma, I just…” she turned away, her lips thin as she spotted another group of boys elbowing each other as they looked at the Troopers – and Seiji specifically.
Her own annoyance faltering, Touma patted her on the shoulder in comfort. “I get it,” she stated quietly. “Boys do not usually look at me, so wearing something a little revealing doesn’t have the same impact on me as it obviously does on you.”
“Amen to that,” Shuu sighed, contributing to the conversation. “Shin says they are often looking at her ass, too. I promised to wrestle them down for her if I spotted one, so don’t be alarmed if I end up throwing it with some random guy,” she warned.
“Noted, though if you do so, careful they don’t plant their face between your boobs,” Touma said dryly, but inside, she was frowning.
They had all agreed to that beach trip as a bonding moment but now they were here and seeing Seiji’s unease and hearing Shuu, the blue-haired girl had to wonder if it was such a good idea, after all.
You had to be blind not to see how guys always tried to ogle Seiji’s chest when it wasn’t Shuu’s. Touma had never really thought about it before because she had no prior experience but… it must become really tiresome after a while, especially for someone as reserved and ‘proper’ as Seiji.
What did people see, when they looked at her right now? At Shuu? At Touma? At Shin, Ryo, Nasutei? They didn’t see warriors, heroines who had given their all to stop a demon from claiming Earth as part of his kingdom. They just saw attractive female teenagers in skimpy outfits and people just… didn’t respect teenagers in general and female teenagers in particular.
Especially not those who looked both foreign and with a larger than average bust size.
No wonder Shuu hadn’t tried to go for a sexier bikini either, Touma thought with a faint grimace.
“If you’d prefer that we go back…” she started, only for Shuu to snort.
“No way! Do you know how much I’ve dreamed of a beach day without having to run and look after four to ten kids when my cousins come with us?” she exclaimed. “For once it’s just the one well-behaved boy, I’m NOT cutting our time here short!”
“Am I well-behaved, Oneechan?” Jun smiled, puffing his chest when Shuu winked at him.
“Best kid I ever had to look after,” she proclaimed. “’cept Chun-Fa, but nobody can ever beat my baby sister,” Shuu clamored.
“Shuu’s right; we’re here to enjoy ourselves, and that what we will do. I shouldn’t try to police what you want to wear, though,” Seiji shook her head, unaware of her friend’s thoughts pattern. “Not when we’re out to have fun and relax.”
“It’s forgotten,” Touma patted her shoulder again, her expression turning rueful. “Try to see the bright side, o Kourin no Seiji. If boys are busy ogling me because I’m basically wearing four fabric triangles on a string, maybe you’ll get a break yourself,” she teased.
“As if you could draw them all, with your ‘stick figure’,” the blonde chuckled in amusement.
Touma pouted. “I happen to think I’m a very pretty stick, thank you,” she informed the other Trooper.
“So you believe,” Seiji elbowed her with a smirk, making Touma yelp in surprise.
“Oh, you’re on!” she claimed as she threw herself at her fellow Trooper, who laughed and took to running circles around Shuu and Jun with Touma on her heels.
The improvised game of tag was joined in short order by Jun, who had finally gotten freed from Shuu’s hold while the Chinese girl rolled her eyes and went to pick a snack in their basket, waving at the approaching forms of Nasutei, Ryo and Shin as she did.
“Hey, girls! Hurry up, else Touma is going to strangle Seiji!” she called with good cheer.
“Not strangle, just make her eat sand!” Touma corrected as she reached but Seiji easily ducked under her arm before running away from Jun with a laugh.
“Should I ask what Touma did to earn such a fate?” Shin asked dryly. She had wrapped a towel around her hips, hiding the bottom half of her pale blue and white Vichy bikini briefs, but it made a nice effect with her halter top.
“Friendly banter, that’s all,” Seiji called, ducking behind Nasutei before giving Ryo a smile. “I like your swimsuit, Ryo, it looks really nice on you,” she complimented before turning quickly to Touma. “Safe spot!”
“Drat,” Touma snapped her fingers playfully before patting Jun’s head. “We’ll get her the next time, kiddo.”
“Yes!” Jun nodded. “You’re pretty, Ryo-neechan!” he added as he beamed at Ryo too.
The black-haired girl blushed. “Oh, it’s nothing,” she murmured, hiding her hands in the pocket of the unzipped gray jersey she had yet to remove from her shoulders.
“It’s not ‘nothing’, Ryo,” Nasutei chided her, a hand over her shoulder. “You should take pride in how good you look.”
Ryo’s blush worsened.
She had picked a one-piece (which Touma had bet she would, because Ryo was just predictable like that), a bright red one with discreet white and red ruffles over the thighs and the straps. Modest and girly, Touma noted in approval (though Ryo needed to drop the jersey, because it didn’t go at all with the swimsuit, but she understood that baby steps were needed right now; Shin’s warning look when Touma opened her mouth again was telling enough).
“It suits you well,” she nodded in approval as Shuu repeated the same.
Just what Ryo needed, although she was all but certain that even picking the clear-cute model must have been a battle. After all, the three girls had disappeared for the better part of one hour, and she was all but certain Shin and Nasutei had tried to coax Ryo into trying different styles and/or pick more than one swimsuit.
The red color, Touma was amused to note, was the same shade as Nasutei’s bikini. If that wasn’t a declaration all of its own, Touma didn’t know what it was.
Ah, well. Better not tease Ryo too much just yet; she risked to self-combust at this rate.
But that was fine; the day was sunny and warm, Arago was dead (or so they all hoped), things were slowly going back to normal, and they were teenagers (and one kid) together at the beach, with the sea, the sand and many snack shacks to try.
No matter what, Touma was sure they were going to have a nice day.
And if anyone tried to bother and flirt with them when it was unwanted… well, she was sure ‘accidentally’ drowning them wouldn’t be too much of a problem.